eric goldstein's blog

I'm retiring from blogging...sort of.

When I first started blogging, I speculated that I might not be long for it.  I suggested that using Clipmarks to spontaneously clip and editorialize on things I find online might become my go-to method of sharing what I find, communicating what I think and expressing how I feel.  I half-heartedly referred to this as "Clogging."

Turns out I was right.   I have been thinking a lot about writing a blog that centers on my personal experience trying to build Clipmarks and how that affects my life, family, friends, etc.  I honestly think that it would be a a unique, good contribution to the web.  Problem is, whatever little time I do have available, I want to devote to my life, family and friends, so I don't think I have it in me right now to produce that particular blog. 

Aside from that, I love being able to share my thoughts on the things I find on the web.  And for that, I truly find Clipmarks to be much more spontaneous and satisfying than my blog.  So for now on, if you want to know what I'm interested in, what I'm reading and what I think of it all, visit my Clipmarks page here: http://clipmarks.com/user/egoldstein/.   

Hope to see you there...

eric

Clipmarks update

A new version of Clipmarks for Firefox was recently made live on our site.  This version has a number of improvements (many of which were requested or brought to our attention by our users...thank you all so much for the great feedback). 
Mozilla.org has not yet made this updated version of Clipmarks available on their site.  There are some pretty substantial differences between the two so i strongly recommend installing Clipmarks from our site for now to get the latest.

FYI...there are some cool new things coming to the site soon...i'll keep you posted shortly.
eric

wtf tag

Inspired by Mark Pincus' call for a 'larrydavidmoments' tag, i'm proposing one of my own.  It's the 'wtf' tag.  There are so many things in the world these days that cause me to scratch my head and utter a wtf to myself.  Many of these moments occur when i'm reading something on the web.  I have a feeling i'm not alone here.

So, when i have these wtf moments, i'm going to clip what i'm reading and tag it 'wtf'.  Perhaps if we all clip these things and tag them 'wtf', the collection will prove somewhat therapeutic and maybe even have the positive impact of calling out the people who create these wtf moments.

Here's a link to the first few public Clipmarks that have been tagged wtf: http://clipmarks.com/tags/wtf/

What Web 2.0 means to me

Dion Hinchcliffe's 10 issues facing Web 2.0 and David Beisel's perspective prompted me to write this post.  There is so much hype and over-use of the term that i'd like to articulate what Web 2.0 means to me.

Simply put, web 2.0 is a collective realization that we have reached a pivotal point on the web where we agree that it's time for the "next" chapter.  Why now?  Just because that's how it is.  AOL, Yahoo, MSN, Ebay, Amazon and Google defined and lead Web 1.0.  Maybe those same companies will continue to lead the way.  Maybe new companies will. 

Either way, it's now time to make the online experience better in such a signifcant way that it's worthy of being called Web 2.0.  That's it as far as i'm concerned.  Specific ways that we do that: AJAX, social bookmarking, RSS, etc are all important means to this end but they should not be used to define Web 2.0. I hope this definition isn't too boring or straightforward, but that's how i see it...nothing more.

As an aside, i think a lot of the new so-called Web 2.0 companies/services are more focused on offering "more" than on how to truly make things better for people.  That doesn't surprise me as i think it's human nature, but it will rapidly change if/when they fail to gain wide adoption. 

Invitations to try new things

It feels like a nearly daily occasion lately that a new company/technology releases a pre pre-alpha version of their technology and makes it available by invite only.  you submit your email address and then hope to get invited.  i wonder two things about this:

1) how do they decide who gets invited? 
2) isn't this contrary to the whole "web 2.0" attitude they espouse? 

i just kind of think that if you've got something you want to share with the world, share it.  if you don't, then invite your friends, family, etc.  As far as i'm concerned, this whole process of making people request an invite and then deciding who gets in and who doesn't with some kind of online velvet rope is just lame. 

Commenting on blogs

Often, when i go to comment on someone's blog i end up reading the other comments that have been added...end up feeling like those comments are better/smarter than mine would have been...decide not to comment  Am i the only one?

del.icio.us

I'm often asked about  del.icio.us.  So often, that i figured i'd post some of my thoughts about them for anyone who is wondering.

first, let me be clear.  we're clipmarks (specific information), they're bookmarks (entire pages).   both are helpful tools for managing information on the web.  personally, i use both.

second, it seems like there have recently been near-daily announcements of new companies popping up with the stated intent of offering a more user-friendly version of social bookmarking.  many of them are taking explicit shots at del.icio.us - specifically regarding their user interface.  I can't say that i'm surprised, as i do know a lot of people who are turned off by the UI of their site.  i have no idea how that will play itself out but i'm interested in watching it unfold.

I admit that i often wonder why del.icio.us hasn't tweaked their interface to make it more accessible and inviting for non-geeks?  No doubt, they must know that ordinary people will look at their site and be intimidated.  I know how important it is for new, innovative technologies to appeal to hard-core early adopters, but I really hope we haven't gotten to a place where we have to alienate most people in order to make techies feel at home.  That wold be a shame.  That's something we'll never do. 

Basically, i think that the del.icio.us social bookmarking solution should, could and would appeal to everyone.  And maybe it will.  But i don't think that it's going to happen as long as the current UI is in place.  That's my honest opinion.

I truly wish the guys at del.icio.us well.  They have pioneered the social bookmarking /community search sector and have given people a very needed solution.  In many respects, i'm envious of them.  They are well known and well respected by the online community.  That is something that none of the other solutions out there, including us, can yet say.    

There you have it.  My thoughts on del.icio.us.

My take on Web 2.0

I just read a quick synopsis by Jeff Jarvis of the new companies that were introduced at the Web 2.0 conference.  I hesitate to say it, but the truth is, i don't get what many of them do (and i really don't like the names of most of them, but that's besides the point).  Maybe it's because i'm not a techie, but many of these technologies seem like they are built for the sake of technology and will make sense only to other techies.  I just can't see ordinary people like myself embracing a lot this stuff (at least not yet).  Though i regret not attending the Web 2.0 Conference, as i think Clipmarks would have impressed a lot of the attendees, i think there is a kind of 'mine is bigger than yours' thing going on with companies trying to develop amazing technolgoy instead of simply trying to solve problems.  Again, it might be that i just don't get it...but at the end of the day, doesn't that fact alone say a lot?  I hope that Clipmarks can gain the respect of the Web 2.0 crowd while not alienating ordinary people.

"Clogging"

Trying to be consistent with my previous post to blog or not to blog i haven't been blogging lately.  There are 2 reasons for this. 

The first is that whenever there is something in the news that i feel inclined to blog about i'm beaten to it by other bloggers who are smarter than me, so i just don't feel i'll be adding anything valuable by blogging about it.

The second reason, and the subject of this post, is that writing a blog post is often a natural, reflexive response to something i read online.  well, in those instances i've been finding that creating a clipmark about it and adding a comment is more satisfying and significantly quicker than composing a new post on my blog. 

In my earlier post, i suggested that clipmarks might prove to be a cure for over-blogging (my observation that many bloggers seem equally if not more concerned with quantity of posts than with quality of posts).  i think this will be the case even more than i had thought.

A good example i have for this is alternative energy.  i'd really like to help people become more aware of it and receptive to it.   so, whenever i find something important about the subject , i clip it and sometimes add my own comment.  I find it much easier and much faster than creating a blog post.  now, anyone who wants to keep up with my alternative energy clipmarks can simply subscribe to them using rss.  here is a link to my a.e. clipmarks: http://clipmarks.com/folder/egoldstein/Alternative+Energy/

I am extremely curious to see whether this trend continues and whether other people find themselves feeling the same way. 

Google to buy the Pacific Ocean

In an effort to transmit information between continents through water, Google is planning on buying the Pacific. 

Just kidding of course...but it just blows my mind how many companies are being bought these days.  It's like there will be 5 companies left to dominate the world and each of them will do EVERYTHING.  Every morning I wake up and either Google, Yahoo, News Corp, Interactive Corp or Microsoft is buying a company and getting into a new field. 

I think Google should change their mission to "dominate the globe via the Internet" because it sure feels like we're headed in that direction.