I mentioned the other day in my post about moving to Feedly, that I was unable to share to Facebook via the Feedly desktop app.
Later, I resolved to figure out the problem and fix it. Without going into all the nerdy details, it turns out there was a conflict with one of my Chrome extensions. Specifically DoNotTrackMe.
Once I disabled that extension, I was able to share to Facebook via Feedly.
Hopefully this will save others who run into this issue a little time.
I see that right on the heels of killing my beloved Google Reader, Google has launched Keep, a note taking service.
So I gave it a try. Here’s my considered analysis, in the form of my one and only Google Keep note.
It’s no secret that almost all of my web content consumption is done via Google Reader. Which, of course, means that like most TV shows I watch, it was doomed.
I have been dreading, expecting and/or denying the reality of this event for a while. So when I read the official word, I was more resigned than sad. Google Reader is awesome and, to be frank, Google sort of owes it to us to keep it operational even if it isn’t making money. But even in the unlikely event Google capitulates to the hue and cry of the masses, if it’s not going to actively develop the app, it’s better to pull the band-aid off quickly.
I looked at the various alternatives, and have decided that Feedly is clearly the best bet. In fact, in some ways it may actually be better. Feedly is catering to the displaced Google Reader masses and promises a seamless transition when Google shuts off our beloved service. The interface is more feature rich. Sharing is easier (even if sharing to Facebook doesn’t work for me). I am warming to the Magazine layout (particularly for news-related media), though Titles will remain my preferred view.
With just a little work, Feedly can be almost perfect. Here’s what needs to be tweaked immediately.
First, make my Facebook connection work. Currently, my Facebook sidebar feed is in forever load mode.
More importantly, the Facebook sharing button at the bottom of each post doesn’t work. I click on it and nothing happens. Ever. Twitter and the other sharing buttons work fine. This must not be a widespread issue, as I only see a couple of posts about it.
I miss the Readable add-in for Google Reader, which pulls full feeds from a lot of sites, but Feedly’s Preview feature is growing on me. It’s more or less the same thing – just in a pop-up.
I wish they would tweak the menu in four minor but important ways.
1. Increase the contrast and/or text size in the side menu. It is really hard to read. Much harder in the app than in the screen capture below.
2. Auto-sort the categories with unread items to the top.
3. Let me sort feeds within categories alphabetically, or at least manually by dragging them around.
4. Make Titles (Feedly’s list view) a default view option.
It may sound like I’m complaining here, but that’s not the case. I really dig Feedly. It’s about to replace Google Reader as my must used and important app. I just want to see it evolve into the perfect app it can be.
Yes, I am paraphrasing Zoe Muth.
I’m a big believer in the cloud. I also know a lot of folks- I’m talking way more than half the people I know- who dabble in the cloud, but don’t trust it fully. If someone access your vacation photos, so what. But if someone accesses your financial records, personal information, etc., that is a much bigger problem.
I tell people all the time that it’s OK. Your information is safe, encrypted. Hashed, salted and secure.
But stuff like this doesn’t help. Let me be clear. If this is what cloud computing looks like, no one is going to trust important data to the cloud.
Evernote says in a blog post:
The investigation has shown, however, that the individual(s) responsible were able to gain access to Evernote user information, which includes usernames, email addresses associated with Evernote accounts and encrypted passwords
Headlines like this reinforce the phobias that lots of people already have about seeding the cloud with stuff that matters. Hell, it makes me think twice (or thrice) about all the data I have in the cloud. If Evernote can be breached. If Dropbox is even partially vulnerable. Then the whole cloud business, at least as it exists today, if flawed and probably dead. Free space for photos and other non-sensitive stuff. Sure, thanks. But becoming a paying customer and going all in? Nah, not so much.
I don’t know the answer. Maybe there isn’t one. But I know this. If I am getting nervous about the cloud, so are 95% or so of the rest of the potential customer demographic.
I can, sort of, understand why someone might voluntarily choose an Android phone over an iPhone. I have a harder time understanding why someone would voluntarily chose a Windows Phone, but I can get there. But I cannot in my wildest dreams understand why someone would voluntarily choose a Blackberry. Here’s a good review of the new (years too late) handset.
I gave up my virtualization software when I finally admitted that my Windows Live Writer days were behind me. But if I hadn’t, I would read every word of this. If you have a Mac and want to run Windows programs, start there.
I guess there’s some part of me that is a little old lady in disguise, because I have to tell you that I would never, ever buy something off of Craigslist. Sorry, but the whole place seems like a scam for all.
So Iran sent a monkey to space. Space monkey, space monkey, whatcha doin’ up there….
My buddy Will wants to go hunting, but he doesn’t like guns. So he wants to use a slingshot. OK. We can do that. Here’s one.
Here’s some dude named Abe’s list of 50 essential science fiction books. I can’t list 50, but the Hyperion Cantos, the Pelbar Cycle and Star Man’s Son would be at the top.
I don’t always want to be a cat, but when I do, I want to be a Canada Lynx.
Speaking of cats, my cat wouldn’t cross the street to come back to us (literally, I’m not kidding), but this cat travels 200 miles?
It’s been a long time since I played computer games, but I can tell you that I’m intrigued by the forthcoming SimCity reboot. SimCity was one of the first computer games that really got me hooked. Actually it was the mostly forgotten SimFarm first, and then SimCity. The fact that the new version will be released on Mac doesn’t bode well for my free time.
RIP Leroy Bonner. When my kids want to talk to me about the non-music they listen to and how lame daddy’s music is, I make them watch this.
Nothing, and I mean nothing, on the radio today rocks like that.
Speaking of old things. I am bewildered by the gems that Raiders of the Lost Walmart uncover. My first digital camera was a Sony Mavica. You can have your own, for a mere $269. You’ll also need an ancient computer with a floppy drive.
If there is one thing that should never be consumed, it’s non-diet soda. I go postal on the rare occasions when my kids ask me if they can have one.
I’m sure internet dating is a little scary. Getting stabbed 10 times while on an internet date is probably really scary.
Delaney saw some deer tracks, and decided she needed to carve a spear. Maybe persistence hunting will be her next sport.
I think Y2K was the last time I was as militantly uninterested in something as I am in 3D printing. In fact, reading things like this convinces me that someone has too much time on his hands. Call me when you can print backwards or forwards in time.
I used to love to eat at Roy Rogers in college. Tab, not so much.
So we have known for a while that the Surface RT sucks. I still think the Surface Pro will be a nice device. Would anyone with two brain cells to rub together prefer it to a MacBook Air? Nope. These things are going to be way too expensive. TechCrunch is wrong about them being priced right, but right about the prior release of the Surface RT being wrong.
Google Apps are getting closer and closer to becoming a viable Microsoft Office alternative. Here’s the thing, though. No one needs an office suite at home any more. Everything is done via email, Evernote and social networks. And few big companies are going to abandon Office any time soon. So it doesn’t really matter. Office suites are the fax machines of this decade.
WikiCancel looks like a promising compilation of how to cancel accounts.
Here’s a cool slide show of Apple’s home page through the years.
Charlie Brown is doing his part to highlight the growing problem with rock violence in America. We need rock control and we need it now.
The last meal of Lennox, the Boxer.
Oops.
Well, at least I didn’t buy more Apple this week. I thought long and hard about it.
Meanwhile, on the internet, it’s all about the headline…
And I feel sad.
Of the many, many tech gadgets I have bought, my Chumby takes its place among the most used and useful. It soldiers away on a shelf in my closet, and has shown me weather, news, the Onion and some awesome webcams for years. I use it literally every day, if only for a minute or so as I am getting dressed.
But that’s about to end.
The company that made Chumbys and operated the servers that run them went out of business last year. Since then, an awesome group of volunteers have kept the platform operational. But according to a blog post in the Chumby community forum:
As most of you know, Chumby Industries went out of business just about a year ago. The current service has been maintained by a handful of volunteers, including myself, and the service itself has been paid for by various entities – the Chumby estate, then the assignee for the assets, and finally a company that does not wish to be identified.
Unfortunately, that will be coming to a halt soon. As of the end of this coming February, the current service will no longer be paid for.
So – what does this mean? Well, if nothing happens, all of the devices go dark, and all of the various services, including this forum the wiki, the widgets, the Control Panel, source code, development tools, etc., all disappears
There is a plan to keep at least some functionality operational, as outlined later in that same post. People are working hard to keep Chumbys operational, but it will depend on a lot of volunteer work and, likely, some donations. It costs around $4500 a month to keep the platform operational.
There is also offline firmware that will allow Chumbys to retain some functionality, independent of the platform. Unless this last gasp effort succeeds, I will go that route. It’s not as feature-rich as the original Chumby platform, but any functionality is better than a brick.
It seems to me that saving Chumby would be a good Kickstarter project. Maybe if the people involved can get the intellectual property rights from the original Chumby developers, someone will look into this. Update: between my first draft of this post and now, people seem to have started looking into this.
I hope someone saves Chumby. Because Chumbys are still very useful. Unlike a lot of things I have bought.
If you’re like my wife, all technology dies at your fingertips. If you’re like my wife, before your iOS technology dies, you load it to death with all kinds of random photographs and whatnot. Here’s how to tell when you’ve done that.
The only thing Samsung is going to take on with a new Galaxy tablet is water. Once more, with feeling: I will not buy another Android anything unless and until Google addresses the fractured nature of the various versions and the complete uncertainty of the upgrade process. Actually, I won’t buy one then either, but I wouldn’t be philosophically precluded.
I can’t believe Rhapsody is still around. Here’s why I would not use their service again. On the other hand, I am about the dump Sirius XM in favor of all-Spotify all the time.
Two of the best things ever are John Carpenter’s The Thing (one of my top-10 movies, all time) and Battlestar Galactica. Anything with DNA from both of those would have to be great.
I still have some Super Balls.
Not a great day, for Catholics or Notre Dame fans.
Or Lance Armstrong. Live updates here.
But let’s not forget this. In the words of a great American, “Why do you lie!”
When I read stuff like this, it makes me even more concerned about eating at restaurants. It also explains why we are an overweight nation. Here’s a better plan.
Just as soon as some idiot on the left thinks we can solve the world’s problems by magically making all the guns disappear, some idiot on the right says we can solve all the world’s problems by praying. It’s not that simple, dudes.
The Onion nailed what I want from the internet. “I don’t want to take a moment to provide my feedback, open a free account, become part of a growing online community, or see what related links are available at various content partners.”
On a related note, I really don’t want Facebook to be my telephone. I just want to see funny cat pictures and whatnot.
This young man is giving some idiots hell. Anyone who wants to teach creationism or deny climate change in a classroom should be tossed in Guantanamo Bay, water-boarded for a few months and then tried for crimes against children. Once again, so-called religious leaders: if you want your congregation to stay above zero, stop trying to tell people things that are clearly untrue. God and science are not mutually exclusive.
Newsome.Org 