Excited about a new lifestreaming option for Windows Live users, I decided to go check out the new offering. I signed up to get a Windows Live account yesterday. The experience is terrible. I haven’t a clue as to how to get the new aggregation features to work. Navigation is horrible. Even finding my profile (From Home, Click Spaces (?), then click Profile) was a chore. Despite the fact that their blog talks up the social networking feature, there’s no apparent or obvious UI to set it up. It seems like you have to be a Windows Messenger or Hotmail user to get the aggregation feature, but that requires a Windows-only installation process (I <heart> Mac). This is retarded and I can only see this feature set appealing to dedicated Windows Live users that have some clue as to how the navigation works. So, enjoy it, whoever you are.
Windows Live Navigation Sucks
14 11 2008Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: lifestream, Web 2.0, web20 microsoft, windows live
Categories : Web 2.0
Zen and the Art of Twitter
6 11 2008The ephemeral nature of Twitter leads me to compare the experience of meditative “letting go” of concious thought with scanning my twitstream. Indeed, as I skim through the thoughts of my friend stream, I reach a similar state of abstraction as in deep meditation–what Castaneda’s Don Juan refers to as “shutting off the inner dialogue.”
Perhaps, Twitter is training me to truly engage, to mindfully read as well as see “my original face” as the followers of Zen say. Given the pace of today’s modern world, The Zen of Twitter is a tool to manage attention and to tune it even while consuming information.
Behold the Buddhist Twitterati!
The claws that tweet,
The jaws that Jott,
Behold the tweeting bird, and shun
The frumious fail whale.
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Tags: buddhism, lifestream, web20, zen
Categories : Web 2.0
Late Service on the Web
2 11 2008I use Flock 2 and was excited when Beta 2 was released a few months ago. Somehow I fubared the system after a while and none of the social features worked anymore. Essentially, no matter whch social network I logged onto, the People Sidebar never activated anymore. I searched in vain for a solution, and while I found other people with the problem, nobody had an answer.
I sufferred in silence for a while until the Flock 2 went out of Beta. New download, but still no luck. After submitting a tech support request; however, I did eventually find a solution to the problem in a user forum. I applied the suggested steps and all was good!
Yesterday, several weeks after my tech support request, I finally get a response from the guys at Flock. A few weeks late, but at least they’re reading their e-mail and had a good response.
My point is: If you get ready to launch, you must also be ready with speedy tech support. Now, the positive thing is the folks at Flock offer the support, do so for free, and must just be inundated due to their success. These are all GREAT things! Still, during my wait for a solution, I explored plenty of other options besides using Flock for lifestream and social network interactions. My inability to find or get a quick answer to a software problem led me to look elsewhere, and that’s what late service means on the web. As my friend Isabelle says “You only have one shot” when it comes to a Web 2.0 launch.
Personally, I think the folks at Flock did pretty well with this launch, and more power to them for making a great product. But there’s a lesson about execution here that shows everything must be in synch at launch, especially when it comes to the techncial support aspects of your product.
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Tags: lifestream, service, technical support, web20
Categories : Web 2.0
Lifestream.fm is ho hum, ahem.
7 10 2008Checked out another lifestreaming site: Lifestream.fm. Reasonable sign up and setup. The site supports lots of services, with some notable exceptions (e.g., It doesn’t support MySpace!).
The system shows you your updates, in order. That’s about it. With Twitter-like followership and in-system comments based on yet another group of friends you have to setup. They do offer friend import features to use your address book to invite them.
Again, what’s with the services that tell you only what you did? (You know: You where there.) Again, one of the interesting features of Web 2.0 is that it is about conversation! What I say is just not as interesting as what the community collectively says. It’s just like Jazz, baby. People require the canvas of social context and feedback to paint a whole that is greater than the parts, to riff upon each other and create harmony and discord. In short, to improvise the funky groove jam that is our collective symphony of communication.
Maybe I should give Lifestream a try and invite a friend or two. Maybe the site is more interesting with friends in it. Probably, but I really want feed aggregation in my life stream to capture the conversation. That conversation is already going on outside of Lifestream.fm on other services and without that in the application, the site leaves me a little bored and looking for more utility.
Hope they keep working on it though. I’ll come back and check out how they’re doing in a few months and let you know.
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Tags: aggregation, feed, identity, lifestream, web20
Categories : Web 2.0
Strands Response
3 10 2008Here’s a shoutout to the Strands guys for taking it on the chin!
E-mail I just sent:
“Hey guys,
Much respect for the comment on my blog post regarding your service. Glad you’re listening and thanks for engaging me, even though what I said wasn’t that nice. That’s impressive and appreciated.
-Stephen
WhiskeyMambo.com”
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Tags: lifestream, strands, web20
Categories : Web 2.0
Strands Kinda Sucks
3 10 2008So I’ve been looking at a new service called Strands that’s in private beta right now. On the upside, Kalong, a University of Michigan student who provides support is earnest, trying hard, and engaging, though her humour ranges to the scatalogical. Still, she asked me to contact them via their feedback link, which I did, and I’m supposed to get a t-shirt for it. That’s cool, but I really just want an answer to my question. It’s been over 24 hours and nada, nyet, nothing. I could Twitter her instead, but I think that a startup service like this should provide way faster customer service.
As for the site itself, I’m not sure I get it. You enter your services just like most lifestreaming services, but what you get is an aggregated list of what you said or posted. What’s the point of that? I know what I said. I was there! I guess the point is that the service will find other items of interest based on the content of your various feeds, but the feature is kind of a let-down.
For example, I posted an entry about the new Facebook app a few days ago, so the system thinks that I want to read about some other guy who said he liked the new Facebook sign up page. Ok, but the only commentary about it is within the Strands Beta community, all of whom are people I don’t know. Hence, their opinion is of less interest to me than what people in the great old blogosphere, or better yet, my friends, are saying. It’s like having a conversation about fruit in the check-out line just because the stranger in front of you also has bananas. Ok for small talk and meeting people, but the online analog feels just as forced.
The interface is nice, but a little quirky. I’d give them feedback , but I’m not sure anyone is listening besides Kalong. And she probably has something better to do. All in all, Strands kinda sucks.
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Tags: web20 lifestream
Categories : Web 2.0
Web 2.0 NYC 2008 Postmortem
22 09 2008Hi guys,
Well commuting to and from Philadelphia to New York and back every day can be a little annoying. Thankfully, my wife saved from having to/from bike to the train station; she a trooper!
Also, thank go to Amtrak for putting power outlets all over their trains. Just one thing, Amtrak, free wifi would rock! You know it and I know it. Come on, you know you want to!
Overall impression of the conference was a 6 on a scale of 1-10. Some of the sessions and speakers were fantastic (Huffington, O’Reilly, Fried, Porter, and more) and other were just the opposite of fantastic. To quote Nina Garcia from Project Runway, “I’ll say no more.”
Would like the Development Track to include more hard-core development; most of these presentations I saw were either fluff or boring! On the other hand, every session I caught on the Design and UX Track was superb. Kudos to thos guys.
Got a few good work contacts and felt the vibe. I’m juiced! Wish I could focus on our Web 2.0 initiatives more often, so this trip was a treat.
And as O’Reilly said in his keynote: Get registered! And “do stuff that matters” and “vote” “Obama”. Kick-ass.
I’m out to pour over Joshua Porter’s book, “Designing for the Social Web”
. It’s freaking awesome.
-Z
PS: Check out Isabelle Lopez’s blog. It’s some good stuff. It’s in French, but she’s getting it translated to English.
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Tags: #w2e Web 2.0 Web20
Categories : Web 2.0
