Ed Berger dot com

FT.com / Home UK – Google to offer online market for retailers

This is interesting, although I think the article is missing the point. Apparently Google wants retailers to upload their stock and prices which they will then put on-line in Google Base an easily searchable form for consumers.

Google Base is also spoken of as an alternative for local classified advertisements (just what newspapers want to hear!). Now put these two ideas together with the Froogle price search and Google Maps. Voila.

What you get is an easily searchable product database that will tell you what price you can order the item for, how much it would cost locally both retail and used and finally give you a map to the local sources.

Now that would change the way I shop! How about you?

Programmable Web: The Web As Platform
Okay so you’ve heard that web 2.0 is about services and mash ups — what does that mean? It means that some web sites especially some of the big ones like Google and Yahoo have exposed an API that lets third party users create applications using their data and services. A mash up example might be real estate listings built on top of Google maps.

So now how would one go about finding these services and some examples of great mash ups? Well that’s easy! Just go to the link above and find out what’s exposed ;-} . This is really just emerging as a new use of the Internet, so the next great idea could easily come from you!

Even if you aren’t feeling creative the information on what is being done is just fascinating.

TiddlyWiki – a reusable non-linear personal web notebook

I gotta say I just LOVE TiddlyWiki! Well ok everything but the name. It is a Wiki in a single file combining HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in one file. The user opens the file in a browser and then has the experience of using a wiki even though there is no server involved. You can just save the file or let it autosave and you’re done.

What I love is to be able to create Hypertext documents as opposed to linear documents, such as a memo. This allows the reader to choose the order of headings they want to read. One reader can read Conclusions only and an another reader can start with Scope for example.

More technically this is an example of how to create and organize Microcontent. Microcontent is fragments of information which are less than a full page and sometimes more than a paragraph. This blog entry is another example of microcontent and so are the RSS feeds which may have led you here.

TiddlyWiki is therefore a way to enter and organize microcontent in a local file using the simplified markup language of Wikis. Get it? Cool now get it.

So what is all this Web2.0 stuff? Well you can make a good case for it just being the latest technology hype. There are certain very useful services emerging on the internet such as word processing at writely.com and social bookmarking at del.icio.us or furl.net and todo lits at rememberthemilk.com or backpackit.com.

When you combine these services with the quick response times you seem to get using a collection of browser technologies dubbed AJAX and add a social component that allows sharing with friends, family or others, then the site gets annointed Web 2.0.

Actually the term Web 2.0 was a conference sponsored and HYPED by O’Reilly on the future of the internet and it has no definable meaning.

All that said these sites have a lot in common and they are much more useful in everyday life than the older “pamphlet sites with files” so prevelent on the net. So we need a catch phrase to encompass this movement. I’ve got nothing better than web 2.0 and the Semantic Web doesn’t do much for me,but I am all ears if any of you have suggestions!

Remember The Milk

This is another great web 2.0 service site. It is a place to consolidate your todo list ala “Getting Things Done” allowing you to access your too list from any networked computer. Remember that the GTD precept is that you have one and one only list of “Next Actions” and projects, deferred etc.

The coolest part of Remember the Milk in my estimation is its pre-programmed active reminders. For example, if you neeed to remember the milk, you can set the site up to SMS text message you via your cell phone at the appropriate time. It can pro-actively remind you of things via e-mail, IM, text messages and it is currently free. In addition, as a web 2.0 service, there are also social aspects where groups can share lists or you can make portions of your list public.

Google Reader

Here is a new beta service from Google. Its a very nice RSS reader that gives a nice flow to keeping up with the sites that matter to you. I think its a nice alternative to having a different reader (keeping different lists of what you have already read) on every machine that you use. This centralizes your reading and is very usable.

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