Microsoft’s Silverlight will change the way we use the web. Good overveiws at TalkCrunch and ScobleShow. Look out Google!

Once upon a time I used to have about 30 tabs running in my browser (Flock) which had the effect of slowing it’s performance down to a crawl.  Then one day I discovered Netvibes and I reduced the number of tabs down to about eight since many of the services and sites I used could be dealt with within my Netvibes page.

Today I revisited 30Boxes, the calendaring site, and now I only have two tabs open in my browser.  Using their nifty ‘webtop’ feature it can incorporate all the websites/ services I use into one location which behaves like desktop within a web page. Stunning!

Gmail is the only web service which doesn’t work within the 30Boxes ‘webtop’ (it opens itself in a new browser page) which means I might as well have it as a separate tab.

The only thing I’m waiting for from 30Boxes now is the ability for it to suck in my Google Calendar data automatically.

I bravely tried to use Podshow’s website again today to check out Natelie Del Conte’s new show Tech Check. Big mistake. Podshow has to have one of the most complicated, confusing and, quite frankly, unusable interfaces I’ve encountered.  Beware!

I have my doubts about the potential success of Apple’s new iPhone which Steve Jobs launched to great fanfare this week.

I think the problem is that it has more in common with existing Apple Mac computers (it runs OSX) than the iPod. Paradoxically it does too much. The iPod does one thing. Brilliantly. I fear the iPhone will do three things adequately. Not good enough if you’re looking to ‘revolutionise’ a market.

Apple Mac computers have single digit market share whereas the iPod has something close to 70% market share. Given that the company has now changed it’s name from Apple Computers to Apple Inc. and alongside the iPhone Jobs announced AppleTV (a direct link between computers and the lounge), it’s pretty safe to say Apple is attempting to transform itself from a computer/ technology company into a mainstream consumer media company.

The success of the iPod is the bar Apple have set themselves as they move into the mainstream consumer market and, alas, the mobile/ telco market is a minefield. That said, Jobs took on the might of the record industry and has successfully transformed the way we buy and listen to music and I’m sure will subsequently do the same with television and movies with AppleTV. The big question is can he do the same with the mobile phone industry? I believe he can but not with today’s iPhone. The iPod is simplicity personified. The iPhone, though beautiful, elegant and seductive is simply too many devices-in-one. What we need is the iPod of the mobile market and the iPhone isn’t it.

iphone, apple, stevejobs

Jason Calacanis recorded a conversation between himself, Dave Winer and Peter Rojas about the RWC media player. The most exciting aspect of the discussion was the focus on features that no other devices have like real wi-fi and podcatching. I want one so badly. Listen and yearn.

rwc, mediaplayer, jasoncalacanis, peterrojas, davewiner

The current discussion around the net about the Calacanis/ Rojas/ Winer white label, open source media player is getting really fun now. Everyone with an opinion or an idea for a feature is weighing in. It could go one of two ways. Splinter into peices under the sheer weight of input or actually get some traction provided there is some clear leadership to guide it. In this regard I can’t think of two more determined and willful people as Dave Winer and Jason Calacanis. If the project is to prevail Winer, Rojas and Calacanis will no doubt piss alot of people off but ultimately I’m hopeful and optimistic.

jasoncalacanis, davewiner, peterrojas

I’ve read and heard three ideas recently that have made crystal clear how the future creation of consumer products should, and hopefully will, be.

The first was the suggestion made to the newly unemployed and not unwealthy Jason Calacanis, that he should team up with Engadget’s Peter Rojas to design the Wi-Fi enabled media player the market place is crying out for, but the vendors are failing to supply.

The second was Dave Winer’s idea that ultimately we the users will control what we want by telling our peers who have the skills to make the products and services we crave (see above really).

And the third was an extended ramble by Doc Searls around the idea of Vendor Relationship Management (VRM) whereby we the users are in control of the relationships we have with vendors instead of the vendors controlling and telling us what we want.

Ultimately it all boils down to a market ecosystem where we the customers supply ourselves with the help of other customers who have the skills to fulfill our needs.

UPDATE:  Interesting post from Dave Winer.

jasoncalacanis, davewiner, docsearls, vrm

All the mobile version needs now is for the Subscriptions page to only show updated feeds and not the entire list, which is completely pointless.

Google’s design has long had its detractors. Competitors Yahoo, Microsoft and myriad Web 2.0 upstarts all have apparently slicker or more design than Google but all that so-called design hides a lack of understanding of exactly whose sites they are. Google seem to be the only web services company who truly grasp that their sites actually belong to the users. We take Search, Gmail, Reader, Calendar, Notebook etc. and make them ours. What appears to be ‘no design’ is in fact all the design we the users need. And that is enough. It also happens to be extemely effective branding in the same way that Craigslist is. Google’s design is a case of when less really is more.

Technorati tags: google, design

I've was tinkering and fiddling with the visual design of this site when it occurred to me - who cares? I'm only doing it for myself and my favourite themes wax and wane weekly. In an RSS/ subscription world how a site looks is virtually irrelevant when compared to the value of the content. Website themes are like clothes. Wear whatever takes your fancy on any given day. The person wearing them doesn't change and neither does the inherent value of the content of your website. Mmm, what shall I wear today?

Maybe I'm just an old stick-in-the-mud but I don't like the new 'Gamma' redesign of Flickr. It certainly doesn't improve the usability. The new Organizer is much less intuitive and the drop down menus on the home page are extremely tiresome. Do Yahoo's designers have too much free time? Evidently, otherwise why employ them to fix something that isn't broken.

My understanding and usage of CSS is probably best described as basic. I'm not overtly technical nor completely code-phobic so I suppose I would describe myself as an advanced beginner. I'm trying to find a book which will give me good, simple overview of CSS while also pointing the way to more sophisticated uses. What would you recommend? CSS for Dummies? Or would an O'Reilly book be of more use. I'm all ears. . .
[Technorati tags: css book learn]

How times have changed. Once upon a time I might have got excited about the Guardian’s new offline redesign but not anymore. The first thought that entered my head was: so what? Then: how will this help? Chris Locke’s Titanic Deckchair Rearrangement Corporation sprang to mind.
To tell the truth I don’t care. Which is sad. I’m not sad about the newspaper industry slowing dying, I’m sad that the newspaper industry thinks that dressing up a dead horse as if it’s a sure-bet filly will save the day.
And I’m also a little astonished. Of all the UK quality dailies the Guardian was the one that ‘got it’ the most. Their website is streets ahead of other UK news sites and I’ve always been a great champion of the Guardian online. It’s just tragic that so much time and effort has gone into spray painting a turd.
[Technorati tags: guardian redesign format berliner]