racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

I’ve been using my Nokia E51’s browser extensively since I acquired the phone a few months back. It lets me check emails, post blog entries, and even read my feeds while mobile. I can do this both thru WiFi hotspots or even via 3G/GPRS. My old LG had a browser, too, but the phone was simply too, well, simple for my growing needs. I installed Opera Mini on the LG and it made a big difference in terms of functionality.

And so having grown quite bored of the same old Nokia browser I use everyday, I decided to install Opera Mini. The diminuitive browser is well-praised for its speed and ability to render pages nicely on small screens.

However, I do have issues with speed. I don’t know if it’s a limitation on the part of my phone, or the software itself. Frankly, I find that Nokia’s built-in browser is just faster in most cases. From startup, to loading pages, to the general responsiveness of the interface.

I guess this is how it is with built-in software vs. add-ons.

Am I alone here?

A few months back, I was supposed to design some sort of ad-listing site that would aggregate appropriately-tagged content from blogs and other XML-generating websites. The idea was like craigslist, Yelp and all other such places combined, but better, because you could post listings on your blog, tag it (using a plugin or some XML code), and the site will automatically post it as a listing in the appropriate categories/areas.

I guess that effort is now rendered moot, with edgeio in the picture. I tried it out earlier, and here’s my first shot at creating a post from my blog.

My first impressions

Things are made simple because you don’t have to install any plugin to your blog, nor do you have to use a specific platform or content management system. What’s important is your site supports RSS or other XML feeds (i.e. ATOM), which pretty much makes that about 98% of blogs around. You simply key in the site URL and edegio would auto-discover the RSS feeds, if any, and pull in the entries from there. You then mark which entries you want to include in the listings.

You then have the option of claiming your blog–done in a few easy steps (depending on blogging software). Thereafter, posting listings is easier, since you only have to tag an entry as a “listing” for edgeio to pick it up automatically. You no longer have to go to edgeio to tag your entry as a listing.

From the edgeio support page:

New items found with the “listing” tag are automatically added to edgeio where they can be discovered using search or by navigating our real-time taxonomy. The edgeio taxonomy leverages all tags used to describe an item and a concept called Clustered Tagging

On this note, Migs posted some concerns on edgio a couple of days back. Yes, there are concerns, as with any other publishing and aggregating site. There is a tendency for abuse.

But for me, the concept is a rather cool and interesting one. Pretty soon, I think edgeio should add more features, and support more content types, such as reviews, business listings, and the like. They already have an aggregation infrastructure that seems efficient enough. So the next logical step is to further refine and improve on the service.

I’ll be watching out how this one turns out.

Well, some (or most) of it, at least.

Ahmed writes on the pitfalls of Web 2.0 and AJAX, and how some companies and sites are doing well, while most others are destined to the Internet trashbin for sucking big-time.

99% of web 2.0 is crap. The 1% that isn’t can stand on their own or be a smart acquisition. Note that the ‘or’ part is the key element. Some good early products, some interesting ones coming out, and the rest just burning money.

I see people trying to reinvent the wheel all around. And I can also predict that most startups (or established companies trying to create their own, seemingly innovative product) are bound to fail, wasting precious time and money in the process.

Businesses have to take calculated risks. But if it can be avoided, then by all means why not?

That’s life, I guess.