Bwana.org » news

Google Comes Out Swinging At IO ’10

Bwana — Thu, 20 May 2010 14:58:35 +0000

We expected a lot of announcements related to Android (more coming today), but yesterday’s barrage of Google news was downright overwhelming. Google IO is a developer’s conference hosted by Google in California to … well this:

Google I/O features 80 sessions, more than 5,000 developers, and over 100 demonstrations from developers showcasing their technologies. Talk shop with engineers building the next generation of web, mobile, and enterprise applications.

Quick breakdown of highlights:

That’s just some of the news.

The most exciting ones for me were Google Buzz API and WebM. When Google Buzz came out, Google promised us an API in the future so that developers could write custom applications and consumers could mingle with Google Buzz’s data. That day has finally come and based on the partners that have launched Google Buzz support, the future looks great.

WebM, however, has me excited on a whole new level. Why? Because it could mean a Flash free browser for me.

[WebM is] an open web media format project and open-sourced VP8, a high-quality, web-optimized video codec, that we are contributing to the project under a royalty-free license.

Hear me out. Even though Adobe has already announced that they are going to implement this new WebM/VP8 codec into Flash, we really don’t need it. Based on what I’ve gleaned from this new open sourced video codec, it’s perfectly compatible with HTML5. (although not in the official specification…yet) Anything that gives me a way out of Flash is excellent news.

I’ll have many more thoughts as Google IO progresses, but for now, these are my two favorites. Look for more Google announcements today at approximately 10:30AM EST on their live stream.

Socialmedian Improves User Experience With Filters

Bwana — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:39:18 +0000

The folks over at Socialmedian have listened to their users and have improved their user experience by implementing news filters:

Users can now filter news by the following services: Twitter, Blogs, Google Reader, Youtube, Flickr, Digg, and FriendFeed. To filter a service, simply click the desired service icon, and it will toggle it grey. If you wish to filter out all the above services, simply click the “s|m” icon. Users can also filter news by popularity. Socialmedian’s popularity filters are very similar to FriendFeed‘s “Best of” feature which quickly shows you the best posts of the day or week.

These updates are a welcomed change especially for seasoned Socialmedian users who have established many networks and have grown their newsmaker database. New users will also be happy to see only the most popular stories for the week or the day. Combined with the new s|m Today page, these new filters propel Socialmedian into a fantastic way to see the best of the best, user filtered news from the web.

Are you new to Socialmedian? Check out my tutorial on the basics and how to get started and follow me on Socialmedian.

Socialmedian Provides A Refreshing Take On News Aggregation

Bwana — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 23:21:40 +0000

Today, I made my fourth attempt to understand and utilize the new social network, Socialmedian. I’ve tried in the past with failed results. Why? I believe it may be due to laziness and also some social media burnout that I’m fighting through. Thankfully, this time around, I was able to dig deep and find some cool features. Check out my walkthrough video:

Click To Play

Socialmedian gives you the tools to effectively track and discover people who share your interests. They’ve taken some of the most powerful features of popular sites like Digg, FriendFeed, and Twitter and given us all the good stuff while leaving out the bad. For example, FriendFeed has a nifty “like” system, where you can elevate stories and let your friends know that you really enjoyed it. The word “like” presents a stumbling block if the story is tragic or full of hatred and violence. Socialmedian, took this concept and added a feature called “Mood” where you can state whether you like OR dislike a story, but still elevate it for your friends while letting them know how you feel about it.

Discovery is easy with Socialmedian through the “networks” feature. I recommend new users get started by tapping into the established networks on Socialmedian. Once you’ve discovered a network that interests you (there’s a high chance you will), then participate. Comment, add moods, use sharing mechanisms, and find new people to follow. This is the magical formula of Socialmedian. It’s not obvious by a long shot (hey, it took me four tries), but now that I know the ties with Google Reader, Twitter, and Facebook, it’s easier to contribute and participate in discussion.

If you choose to use Socialmedian, follow me at http://www.socialmedian.com/bwana