Showing posts with label Internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Internet. Show all posts

Friday, March 12, 2010

RSS for Dummies


Not long ago I had to explain to someone (who I thought should have known better) what an RSS feed was and how it's so much easier to follow all of the websites and blogs you like with an RSS reader.

I've been using an RSS reader, mostly Google Reader, for years. Almost as long as I've had this blog and certainly longer since I've been on Facebook and Twitter. So I guess I take for granted that everyone knows what it's all about.

I posted this "RSS in Plain English" video almost three years ago. For those who still don't get it, here's a refresher.

Monday, February 15, 2010

App writers unite!

Remember that blog post I wrote about the Internet becoming fractured by all of the different options for wireless apps depending on who manufactured your device or what carrier you used?

Well, maybe it won't come to that.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

The Splinternet


Is the World Wide Web an endangered species?

Driving home last night I listened to author Josh Bernoff on NPR's Marketwatch make the case that the golden age of the Internet is over. Bernoff argues that smart phones and devices like Apple's iPad are fundamentally changing the nature of the Net.

...it's really the Web that is shattering into pieces here. We've had 15 years now where there was a common standard for the kinds of computers that were connecting up to Web sites, and this really made it easy for the people who were delivering content to those folks. But now, between iPhones and Tablets and Kindles, you can't be sure if you build a Web site that everybody will experience it the same way anymore.

The comparison was made to the early 1990s when you had AOL and Compuserve -- the Coke and Pepsi of the Internet. You either used one or the other. There some features and services that one had the other didn't -- pros and cons to each. Then the Web came along and unified the way we use the Internet.

But up until now the Internet has been tied down to our home computers or even our laptops.

Now it's gone mobile. We carry the Internet around in our pockets with iPhones, Blackberries, Droids and whatever else. The Internet is often accessed and utilized through various apps. But there is no standard for them. An app for one device won't necessarily work on others.

This could pose a challenge for developers and consumers alike as they try to choose which horse to back. Is this the Internet equivalent of Beta vs. VHS?