How many of us were more up to date on Louis Gray's kids' birth than his family? - Ontario Emperor via fftogo
That post is messed up. This person he's not bothering to keep in touch with is his "best friend?" Strange definition of friend. You all are interesting to track, and I hope to meet many of you one day, but there are these things called priorities. When I consider my tried and true friends on one hand and my socnet acquaintances on the other there is just. no. contest. - Jim Stanger
i find myself completely dis-connected with real life people. at times i feel closer to my online friends on twitter and other social media friends then say classmates... i feel like twitter constantly throws little balls of information that are constantly spinning in my head. floating about. sometimes i crave physical connections with people maybe lunch or star bucks.. thats the only down side to our world. - Caroline
Rings true to me. There's a depth of experience in the 'meatworld' that the socnets can't touch. I think that an hour a month can easily be much more meaningful than the constant 'light touch' of the tweet. But, the constancy and breadth of the socnets is hard to replicate IRL. What I read in the post was just a frustration that the 'best friend' was rebuffing the posters' advocacy of the online tools available to deepen their preexisting relationship. I think that's a fair and insightful point. - Madsimian
I think a lot of this is because online friends are so easy to shut off and out. No messy offline issues. Apples and oranges. Both are good in different ways. - Mark Forman
What gets my goat about this post is that Stowe is laying this issue of *his* at the feet of his so-called friends. If you feel disconnected from the people around you, fine. I mean it sucks, but ok. But don't blame those people for your breakdown. Stowe wrote it right off the bat, after weeks his friend had to contact him. The friend contacted him using the most ubiquitous long distance communication device on the planet...a phone. Nothing wrong with that. - Jim Stanger
I write all this even though most of the people I consider friends, along with family, co-workers, and most everyone else around me, don't "get" Twitter and the like. Hell, they barely know it exists. But they're people I know, love and respect in ways not possible to communicate in 140 words or 140,000 words. It's worth it to me to keep in contact with them no matter what tools they're comfortable using. And if I don't I certainly won't chalk it up to their inability to anxiously hover over Twitter. - Jim Stanger
Funny thing is most of my communication with my meat-space friends takes place online too, except that it's typically through email and Livejournal, not Twitter. - Morton Fox
I left a comment on the blog as well, except...it's moderated. From the post and the moderation it appears he's more about keeping people at arms length than mingling. So much for the "social revolution." - Jim Stanger
I wrote the article (not Stowe). It's not that I don't keep in touch with Steffen, just that I don't have a daily flow from him 'cause he's not online. That's starting to make a difference. Of course when we *do* see each other, it's deeper and more intense than Twitter contact. That's obvious. - Matt Balara
Re: Stanger's remark - We have to moderate /Message or we drown in spam. It's nothing about 'keeping people at arm's length'. - Stowe Boyd
I can so relate to this article!! Good to see others share my preference for non-face-to-face socialization. I even hate talking on the phone. Have a friend who always calls me right after I text her a simple 'yes' or 'no' question... hate that! If you have something to discuss, fine... but don't call me to ask 'what am I doing' 12 times. - Shelly Weiss
I have two different groups of "friends" the online ones and the real life ones. The two don't intersect much. - Jason Kaneshiro
Stowe gets props for writing honestly about this, but I gotta' say I'd have to reconsider friend status with someone who referred to me as "meat"... ;-) - Sprague D
Sprague D - I've never been a fan of the phrase "meatspace". Can someone think up a better term for this? - Mike Doeff
Meativerse? Meatosphere? Series of Meat Tubes? EDIT: I just looked up the etymology on "carnival." It apparently means "leaving the meat behind" (carne + vale, as in, giving up meat for Lent), so perhaps we should start calling the interwebs a "carnival." Step right up, step right up, I've got JPEGs of Jo-Jo the Dog-Faced Boy... - Karim
Matt and Stowe: Fair 'nough, guys. I gotta admit, that piece really rankled me yesterday. I often show people these online social tools, and their first reaction is a recoil. The impression they get is it's a bunch of introverted shut-ins with nothing better to do than chat with each other. "Don't these people have lives?" It's a fallacy that gets harder to dispute when I actually read someone saying they have better online relationships than in-person, or that they retreat into this "world." *facepalm* - Jim Stanger
@Mike, well Morpheus called it "The Desert of the Real" -- but I think I prefer "the reality-based community". - Sprague D
I think it's incumbent upon ME to remember how my friends prefer to be contacted. Some like email, some like Twitter, some like the phone, some prefer that you show up at their house. - Ontario Emperor via fftogo
Sprague, Morpheus was only a simulacrum of Baudrillard. Though I suppose this means Baudrillard was right when he said it's the territory that falls apart under the map. - Karim
@Jim read it again. That's not at all what I said. I don't have "better" online relationships than in person. Online contact expands my offline relationships. Just tonight I was out with 3 friends, and quite a lot of what we talked about was stuff we'd seen from each other in Twitter. Twitter made us aware, and meatspace (beerspace?) was where we deepened and intensified the conversation. I'm anything but a shut-in. - Matt Balara
just had to look up simulacrum. friendfeed is educational... - Ontario Emperor via fftogo
@Matt Great to hear, bud. My last comments were veering into the general...not really addressing the blog post. Augmenting offline relationships here is great. Replacing them...not so much. - Jim Stanger
@Soulhuntre I'd like to think not. In fact I believe that Disqus & FriendFeed are working on something that will combine disqus comments into FriendFeed & vice-versa. I recon that would render my plugin redundant - Glenn Slaven
Glenn, I think there would still be a demand for your plugin for those who choose not to use Disqus on their wordpress blog - Bwana McCall
for me all those social lifestream sites, killed the RSS reader long time ago... - Orli Yakuel
It's made it less relevant for me. By the time I get to a story in Greader, it's already been shared several times over in Friendfeed. I mainly use Greader to bookmark stories for later now. - Mark Trapp
I'm neutral on this one, Steve. My Google Reader habits haven't changed since I started using FriendFeed. - Bryan Person
I haven't found enough people yet for it to replace Google Reader. Lots of tech stuff here, but not the spectrum that I subscribe to in Google Reader - Bwana McCall
It has the same relevance, because it is finely tuned to my likes and dislikes. A social network... even of peers... can never replicate that. So while FF works nicely for breaking news, it won't replace the depth of knowledge I acquire from Reader - Jamie
less. except your statement presumes that Google Reader was relevant. not. - dave mcclure
Less for some items discussed by subscirbers and more for topics I am passionate about. - Gerry Garcia
I might say just a bit, when twitter came along, that's where the news were breaking, the same is with friendfeed maybe even more, but good old reading of feeds is different and still part of the game - Dobromir Hadzhiev
The same. Google Reader is an essential element of FriendFeed. - Louis Gray
@Lee I agree re. shared items.@Dave Google Reader is second to Bloglines. - Steve Rubel
I think it really adds to GReader. I share stuff all the time now with notes and its great to see it get out there and spark some conversation. It's not quite there yet to replace GReader from a usability perspective but if it did get there I would probably switch to it. - Devlin Dunsmore via twhirl
FF makes GReader more relevant for me. I see stories here first. I use my reader as a way to catch up on news that I may have missed. - Alex Williams
I tried to go all FriendFeed, but found I was missing too many stories...so I'm back to using both. - Chris Rossini
FF has allowed me to trim my GR feed list. For example, I dropped my various Scobleizer feeds from GR because FF does a better job of filtering them for me. - Scott Cropper
The uses are different. My primary use of Google Reader is to gather together the content I need to read. That doesn't necessarily equate to a need to solicit the reactions of others to that content. FriendFeed is handy if I do feel a need to gather reactions. But I cannot see myself giving up one for the other. - Jill O'Neill
More relevant and useful. Reader serves as a content delivery system will FF serves as an excellent aggregator and recommendation system. - tsudohnimh via twhirl
FF will reduce reader usage a but it's not a real feed reader e.g. can't play podcasts - Adrian via twhirl
Depends. For me, neither has a significant impact on the other. At least not yet. - Mike Keliher
I think they are complementary in the sense that some things just don't do well in FriendFeed. I want to be able to read all of my tech news, but the friendfeed river is time-based which makes it more difficult to keep track of. - Rob Diana
I don't think it makes it less, necessarily. After all, *someone's* got to find a story initially, right? - Sean Goller
FriendFeed and Twitter have nearly replaced GReader for me. The trusted human filter beats scanning through 100s of posts daily to get to a gem. Hopefully not all will stop using them or the great posts will eventually dry up. Based on other comments here I might cull my subscriptions and then share more. P2P-like over me just taking and taking. - Jay Gilmore
FriendFeed is a social media aggregate that embraces a movement toward OpenID. - Anne-Marie McReynolds
Less; until Reader becomes as social. - Stowe Boyd
For my personal workflow, Google Reader feeds my blogs as well as FriendFeed. So I vote for "more." It seems easier to track shared items on Google Reader than liked items on FriendFeed. - Ontario Emperor via fftogo
FriendFeed is very useful, but in a very different way than Google Reader. I need both. - ron k jeffries
because of FF, I have LESS TIME for my RSS reader :-) - Thomas Ho via fftogo
More, for depth (and because FF adds meaning to share). But FF has it for discovery of new stuff. - Eric Johnson
I almost completly stopped using RSS reader. I use FriendFeed and one custom news page on NetVibes....via feedalizr - Shahar Nechmad
I don't feel it's made it less relevant, I come across blogs here that I wasn't aware of and add them to my subscriptions there! - Joe Dawson
I want to be able to mark FF treads and ditch the ones I have viewed. Until then, I have to use my reader. - morten saxnaes
using both but finding that I'm starting to use Google Reader differently. More like a discovery device by following search-based feeds and then using FriendFeed to follow specific humans. - Marnie Webb
Google reader is simply another source of data for Friendfeed to aggregate. The environments can exist independent of each other. The wonderful thing about Friendfeed is that you can continue to use all your applications/data sources and have them automatically collected and displayed. Applications such as Flickr, Google Reader, and Youtube have become popular because they are good at doing specific tasks. An aggregator does not make those applications irrelevant. - Mark Nassal
I still use GR occasionally, but most of my information comes from FF. Digg usage way down too......via feedalizr - David Sim
I use gReader to follow blogs I can't find in FF. Also as a discovery tool, because sometimes I share stuff from there here. Sometimes directly with gRader and sometimes using the bookmarklet. I'm using it less because of FF, though (I deleted a lot of Tech blogs subscriptions the other day). - Alejandro S.
I prefer GReader to FF. It's less cluttered than FF. With FF I check in to see the things I missed in my feeds. - Snay Trivedi
I primarily use GReader - it's easier to locate information. I just come over to FF to see what "friends" are doing. - Kim
I agree with Snay and Kim. Comparing the 2 is like apples and oranges unless you simplify the scenario to include only breaking tech news. My scope spans far beyond that and I can't get the health, auto, environment, local, mountain bike and personal blog articles in FF that I subscribe to in GReader. I don't consider it a replacement but another way of getting information. - Jon West
"When a new key is inserted, a greedy approach is used: The new key is inserted in one of its two possible locations, "kicking out", that is, displacing any key that might already reside in this location. This displaced key is then inserted in its alternative location, again kicking out any key that might reside there, until a vacant position is found, or the procedure enters an infinite loop. In the latter case, the hash table is rebuilt using new hash functions.
Lookup requires just inspection of two locations in the hash table, which takes constant time in the worst case." - Paul Buchheit
Ah, those wacky hashing algorithms. I used to study these. - Morton Fox
this is giving me a headache... need more Malbec wine! - Susan Beebe
@Paul From what you pasted it sounded like as if they'd be using some sort of linear probing, but the "alternative location" is apparently computed by re-hashing, utilizing another hash function. Interesting that despite occasional table rebuilds, performance proves to be good in some very standard cases. - Mustafa K. Isik
"The basic version of cuckoo hashing has load factor limited to 49%." -- that's pretty much overhead. I'd say if it's possible to design a good hash function (that is, you know what you are storing), the basic hash table with open addressing will behave as well, while having 2 times less memory overhead. - Igor Sereda
makes me feel so dumb and inadequate !! - viki saigal
Igor: There are hashing schemes with less memory overhead, but the nice thing about cuckoo hashing is the constant lookup time, which is not guaranteed with most other hash tables. - Bernhard Bauer
49% doesn't sound great, but "Generalizations of cuckoo hashing that use more than 2 alternative hash functions can be expected to utilize a larger part of the capacity of the hash table efficiently while sacrificing some lookup and insertion speed. Using just three hash functions increases the load to 91%." - Paul Buchheit
An example of better algorithms: takes more time at start-up (in this case, building the hash table) in order to get better performance at run-time. See http://www.stoweboyd.com/messa.... - Stowe Boyd
Bernhard: I see, that makes is well-suited for realtime tasks, that is, if you don't need realtime insertions. - Igor Sereda
In terms of speed (not predictability), much depends on how keys are compared and how hashes are calculated. For example, if you have int keys, a lookup into open addressing hash table with "+1" index increment on collision will be very fast thanks to memory caching -- I bet it will be faster in most collision cases than cookoo hashing, despite larger number of compares. - Igor Sereda
Looks great! I gather web-based or desktop would act the same, just a matter of storage and privacy thoughts, yes? - Mike Sansone
Too bad you only get 100MB storage on Evernote Web... - Svartling
Been fond of this for awhile. I use it to capture and store whiteboard notes all the time. The only thing I don't like is the not being able to choose how I want to sort my notes (e.g. alphabetically or dragging them into whatever order I want, as done in Google Bookmarks) - Bill Bittner
Also trying it out. Like it so far and keeping it manly for ideas and supporting stuff. - Johan Bryggare
I am loving it, I use my NOkIA E90 to take photos of business cards, newspaper articles and hand written notes. it syncs to the Evernote servers and to my Mac. - Zamil A. Safwan
Great software...I've used it off and on for years...they've come a long way. - Chris Rossini
I've actually been really happy using evernote. Specifically in organizing online resources for specific issues and technologies. - Kevin Bondelli
This has really helped me cut back on things I was saving in my RSS feeds, emails, etc. Now it's all streamlined in one place. - Jessica
I've got plenty of invites if anyone needs one - mickmel@gmail.com - Mickey Mellen
Not enough storage, not enough organization options, ugly UI. I like it, but I'd like it to have a baby with Springnote. http://www.profy.com/2008/05/1... - Cyndy
how much can you store on evernote? is there a limit? - benedikt
it's easier on my workflow than a lot of the other information managers and the fact that I can email a note or picture to it from my iphone is a huge bonus. - Greg Newman
Has some great features, but feels over-designed, @ Cyndy - ditto on the UI; especially compared to Backpack. - Sam
I've been using Evernote for years and the new version is simply outstanding. Highly recommended to everyone. - Akiva Moskovitz
How does Evernote compare with Rememberthemilk? - Sally Church
I've had a Evernote 3 beta login for quite some time but I'm still using Google Notebook. - Morton Fox
Yeah I'm having a hard time remembering to use it. Need to develop a habit - Shey
Sally, I wouldn't use Evernote for that sort of thing. It's a good dump for just about any scrap of website, idea, one-liner, phone number, birth date, grocery list, or any other thing you'd otherwise quickly scribble into a notebook or on a napkin. It is not, however, a task manager by any means. - Akiva Moskovitz
Sally, Evernote is very different to RTM - it's more about document storage and notation, while RTM is primarily to-do management. I use both, for different tasks. - Ian Betteridge
Thx guys; I like to avoid duplication of tools so Evernote sounds like a cool new thing to try, sort of like desktop stickies then. That would be great - I'm always losing scraps of paper with crucial bits of information :) - Sally Church
Still luuuurve Google Notebook, with my tags and Google Bookmarks all talking to each other & no issues on memory - viki saigal
Has anyone used Microsoft's OneNote and does it compare to Evernote? - Lindsay Donaghe
I made the switch over from gNotebook to EverNote because it has a much better mobile support that I saw. I can snap pictures and send them to EN, send text emails, and their mobile version of the website is also better formatted on my phone's screen (LG Voyager). With gNotebook I could only retrieve notes from their system, only add them when at the computer. - Aaron Kurtz via twhirl
I've switched over from Google notebook, too. But I was sad to do it. - Francine Hardaway
The service is pretty damn cool. I think it would be great for trying to go totally paperless. Which I pretty much have. - Andrew Dobrow
@Francine Hardaway Sad? Which feature did you miss the most from Google's offering? I'm just curious. - Aaron Kurtz
I've already used up all of my available storage on Evernote :-( - Nick Humphries
It doesn't work with Linux, and the beta doesn't work with FF3. I use it on my Mac and PC. I'm liking it a lot. - Henry Burger
Well I've been trying it with FF3 and it's a wonderful tool for organising lots of different stuff by topic. One of my favourite apps so far. - Sally Church
So far: 1. Camera is sharper. 2. Phone is smaller and has fewer moving parts so should be more water resistant, etc. 3. lots of little fixes to UI and syncing experience. 4. Flash is better. 5. I hear GPS is better, but haven't tried that yet. 6. Flickr upload worked, always had trouble on N95 for some reason. 7. Contacts have pictures from Plaxo. And I'm still discovering new things. I'll test battery usage tomorrow as well as 3G. - Robert Scoble
Yang lost control the moment Ballmer's letter hit his hands - probably before that really. - Morgan via twhirl
Yes, and he told Balmber to go away. Now that's being in charge. Most execs would have taken the money with their short-term focus. - TranceMist
Its necessary for the board to kill this guy, make the deal, and start dismembering the corpse. - Stowe Boyd via twhirl
i wonder, 'quo product' from PR brainwashing the public with that 'get Yahoo down!', apart from Ballmer obviously? - silpol
How much longer we he be at the helm, if as expected Microsoft come in with a new offer? Will they leave it up to him again, to take all the flak and then move him aside or will they appoint someone else to pick up the pieces!! - Joe Dawson
I don't think so. I feel like Yahoo was more of a technology play (buying Valley talent and credibility). AOL would just amount to buying eyeballs. - Carter Rabasa
@Mike Reynolds I was thinking the same thing. Grab the smaller ones with loyal users and "mesh" it all together... - Anthony Farrior
Actually think AOL could be a better match for MS than Yahoo. Less overlap and probably less money. If they want content and user-base, they'll get it with AOL--if they wanted search tech and a bunch of services, Yahoo was the better choice, but I think Yahoo can stay indy if they reorganize quickly. - Paul Salzman
quick fix, load facebook page in MozillaPrism :) chat does not show up :) - Fred Grott
Facebook messaging is a joke. It's totally unusable. - Stowe Boyd
Facebook is what it is, everyone; live with it or leave it. Chat is not meant to be IM and messages are not email. Those exist already, outside of FB. - Shawn Farner via twhirl
I am lucky in the sense that I don't even receive a fraction of the messages that you do as that would take an age to get through. Totally agree with what you write as being able to export would be quality! - Joe Dawson
I pretty much agree with this statement, with respect to the work that was put into Alert Thingy. - Vince DeGeorge
"The browser" is not a push technology, Louis. The browser requires you to interrupt what you're doing, load friendfeed, READ IT, see if there are any items you like or want to comment on, and THEN post. With AlertThingy you get an update when someone does something, and you can instantly make the decision about whether you want to bother with it right now. (via Alert Thingy) - Adam Posey
I disagree. The browser is limiting. The point is to expand and improve the experience. Example: Twhirl (via Alert Thingy) - Bwana McCall
cos its annoying to have web applications hidden away in browser tabs? - Samuel Bostock
Adam yeah right, as if I would need even more interruption. The browser does not interrupt me but is at my deposition when I request it to reload. Additionally, with the web browser, I have an easier time deciding if I want to follow up on discussions or not, have hiding available (including items with comments) and more. So when you ask this general question, you get this general answer. Every person is different, but for me, Alerthingy is just an annoyance. - Nicole Simon
When any kind of technology is designed to PUSH information to us, we typically use applications to bring it to us in an easy way. Twhirl, RSS readers, SMS updates, email notifications, etc. The end goal is to get information to us more easily and AlertThingy does that very well. (via Alert Thingy) - Adam Posey
friendfeed/twitter are applications as in I interact with them. I want to use the browser, to browse! (via Alert Thingy) - Adnan
Adam, point taken, which is why I did install it, but online use it as a popup notifier, nothing more. Bwana, Alert Thingy actually limits my experience. Because it limits it only to my "friends" tab. I check "everyone" quite often. It's not a "bad" app, but far from necessary. - Vince DeGeorge
I'd agree if you were talking about Twitter (fairly light-weight), but I find FF's different. It's nice to 'break' things like this out of the browser (like how some people prefer Word/Writer to Google Docs or Thunderbird to Gmail). Until now, what I've been doing is Prism-ing FF out into a separate instance of Firefox so I can isolate it. Edit: Basically, what Adnan said. - Cyvros/fyc
Yes. And there is a limit for evey person of what they want to be pushed to them - be it designed for that or not. You prefer such an app, I prefer the browser. Or let me rephrase that: I do not mind an app as long as it is configurable to what I consider to be a good way of pushing information to me. - Nicole Simon
Vince, Alert Thingy's shortcomings are irrelevant. They can be fixed. It doesn't take away from the fact that a desktop client can greatly enhance the experience. You shouldn't expect version 1.0 to do everything you want. (via Alert Thingy) - Bwana McCall
Uh, except it's a client app, and stuff pops into your awareness instead of having to go find it. (via Alert Thingy) - Stowe Boyd
In a way, it's also similar to why some people (like me) prefer IM for Twittering. Also, if you're using Firefox 2, less tabs make all the difference to the memory munching. :P - Cyvros/fyc
I'm trying to see what's wrong with having a choice. If the entire FriendFeed world was supposed to be in the browser, why even bother with an API? (via Alert Thingy) - Bwana McCall
Absolutely nothing wrong with having choice and I don't think anyone thinks that Alert Thingy is a bad thing, but some of us just don't get the "why." I just find the web access sufficient for how I use FF. - Vince DeGeorge
i'm not interested in taking up more of my screen just for FriendFeed -- i'll use the browser when I want to check in (via Alert Thingy) - Shey
Is this not the same thing as saying "What's the point of RSS feeds since you can just go to the website"? Being able to interact with FriendFeed without visiting the site cuts down on time and creates a more immersive experience. (via Alert Thingy) - Brandon Titus
I think one of the primary problems here is the baiting way in which Louis' twitter post was written. "Alert thingy isn't for me because:" would have been a much more benign way of phrasing it. (via Alert Thingy) - Adam Posey
Exactly Adam. If you ask me, the phrasing came across as very Duncan Riley'ish. "Why is this product X getting so much attention, when I can already do this with product Y" I have a feeling Louis is not as closed minded as Duncan can be, but this post doesn't support that claim. - Bwana McCall
Whether baiting or not, this is getting the answers we were looking for, right? - Louis Gray
I prefer FriendFeed via the browser, but AlertThingy may appeal to people who like desktop apps. I don't like 'em. - Mike Reynolds
Come to think of it, any posted links I click on in AlertThingy will pull up a browser anyway and ultimately waste time. - Cyvros/fyc
Louis just asked a question, and you answered it. ;) I agree with Mike, it''s a matter of taste; I also prefer the browser. - Alejandro S.
So the end justifies the means? Bad form sir. (via Alert Thingy) - Bwana McCall
I currently have 14 tabs open and I can only look at one of them at a time. I'm a multi-tasker and I like to have things in front of me instead of switching between tabs all the time. Now if only I could get a sidebar for OS X so all this stuff would be nice and neat in one place (and no I don't mean hidden away in the dashboard). - Erica Baker
Although AlertThingy is full of shortcoming, but I think it will get better soon. (via Alert Thingy) - terababy
Louis, you're getting an argument with the occasional post from someone who can fence-sit and appear to be objective. I understand that it's boring to just say what you think in a way that doesn't make people angry enough to comment, but it certainly would have been possible to skip straight to the constructive comments and leave out the harsh-tone. - Adam Posey
"This is just stupid. Why do we need a FF desktop app if we have the browser?" THAT would have been harsh, IMO. - Alejandro S.
I think it's a good first step, but not ready for primetime yet. I'm sticking to the web for now. - Sarah Perez
Because I don't like keeping open a Friendfeed tab in Firefox. Firefox is slow enough if you're not using the beta and this is a more streamlined way of getting Friendfeed updates. (via Alert Thingy) - Corvida
So while I won't comment specifically re: Alert Thingy... a push client is necessary. Using "autoRefresher.start(300 * 1000);" in Javascript or hitting F5 in a browser for updates is barbaric :) - Mark Krynsky
I've decided to keep AlertThingy installed b/c it it gives me an alerty-thingy alert when something new happens. - Mike Reynolds
Corvida is spot on, Firefox performs better with fewer tabs open, plus alerts a nice to have for flow apps like Twitter and FF (via Alert Thingy) - Jake Kuramoto
Can I just say that what has me hating Alert Thingy without even having installed it is that annoying "via Alert Thingy" after every comment? Get rid of the advertising spam, and we'll talk. - Shannon Jiménez
oh come on, shannon. they're not allowed to self promote? every twitter post has a via snitter, via twhirl, via web, via text. what's the diff? (via Alert Thingy) - Sarah Vela
I don't use twitter, but, yes, I would find that annoying too. Who cares where the comment comes from? - Shannon Jiménez
look, it's a free app. i think they deserve to get some self promotion in there somewhere. it's not like a huge, glaring print ad. *shrug* - doesn't bother me. (via Alert Thingy) - Sarah Vela
@Shannon Jimenez I'm with Sarah Velo on this one. It's not spammy in the least if you ask me, because it's not in your face nor is it linking back to the original website. It's promotion and there's nothing wrong with that. - Corvida
Guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one :) After reading "via Alert Thingy" approximately 8000 times today I've developed quite a bit of animosity toward the product. I think they should attract users through merit, not through meaningless comment attachments (not to mention the fact that, in my case at least, reading the phrase has had the opposite of the intended reaction). - Shannon Jiménez
I like how Twitter handles service attribution, though it adds clutter. One option that might be nice is if '(via Alert Thingy)' were automatically inserted into the comment field as the user composes their comment, so if they choose they could edit it out, or if it was a pref. This is analogous to the iPhone's default 'Sent from my iPhone' email sig. It's there by default, but doesn't force itself as a condition of using the product. - Kevin Fox
Kevin's idea is good. I still like the idea of a Twitter-style tag. It wouldn't bug me so much if it were <small>ed. Mock-up || Comment text. - Voyagerfan5761 - via Alert Thingy || with the latter three words small and grayed so as to be more unobtrusive. - Voyagerfan5761
FriendFeed shares, if they're interesting, require a browser to fulfill, no? So I don't see the utility of a desktop app over the browser. That's not even to mention the UI disasters of Alert Thingy itself. Conversely, tweets can be, and often are, self-contained in a formal sense. - Rick Powell
There's so many things the website does that the API doesn't support yet. Use the website. Use firefox. Grab some scripts to add functionality: http://ffapps.com - engtech
but twitter does it with the clients in a way your brain knows "stop reading, advertisement here" which is not what it does here (because it suggests normal text which you should pay attention to). For me the fact that you cannot turn it off is an annoyance in any kind of application. @kevin in the regard from sending from a mobile, there is a value in knowing it came from mobile. As for api - you can do more than just a reading client with it ... - Nicole Simon
having been really enjoying twhirl for twitter I for one welcome alert thingy to the game - not that they are the same service - but having twhirl open on my second screen is sure nicer then having twitter buried in a tab - the same goes for friendfeed. (via Alert Thingy) - ben rogers
I like Alert Thingy for a number of reasons. Firstly, I tend to open a number of tabs while I browse. I dislike having friendfeed (or twitter for that matter) buried deep within my firefox tabs. Secondly, I think popup notifications of new items is quite useful. Finally, I think the desktop app looks sexy :-) (via Alert Thingy) - David Adam
I didn't get it either - thought I was the only one. I can do more on the web too - so what is the point of this app other than it looks cool in screen shots and bloggers wrote about it? - Wayne Schulz
Louis, I guess it's nice to have because it's one less tab to have open in my browser - there are too many open there as it is. Guess it's really just a personal preference thing. You are right, there really isn't anything new here, other than another demonstration of what Adobe AIR can be used for. Still I'm finding it useful to run side-by-side with Twhirl. (via Alert Thingy) - Rick Mahn
Restart your copies of AlertThingy v1.1 is here! ...via AlertThingy - Jeremy Baines
All the people who are desktop app vs web browser. Check out http://ffapps.com . There are tons of more features available via Firefox scripts that you won't get in a desktop app. - engtech
so 1.1 allows you to have an opaque window... anything else? ...via AlertThingy - Samuel Bostock
