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Archives for March 2009

50 Websites That Control The Digg Front Page

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When I found this story late last night, I had the sneaking suspicion that I wouldn’t be surprised by the sites found on this list to be controlling the Digg front page. I and many others who have commented on these findings are indeed, not surprised by the results. Soshable.com is reporting that 46.6% of the Digg front page is controlled by 50 websites according to data taken from di66.net

I remember a time when I was a Digg fanatic. The site used to be filled with all sorts of content that was hard to find without someone recommending it. Now a days, all I see on Digg.com is political stories, Apple fanaticism, and Microsoft bashing. Those three categories can be used to describe the Digg front page at any time. But every now and then, a stupid picture of a cat with illegible language text written on it makes the front page to offer up diversity.

But you know, even though it’s somewhat the fault of Digg and their spam algorithms as described by Soshable for not allowing diverse content to appear on the front page, much of what makes it to the front page is still user driven. Human beings voting for certain stories to make the front page. So with that in mind, the majority of blame should be shifted to those who actually use and participate on the site. When a website can be described as a bunch of political, Microsoft bashing, Apple fanboys controlling the site, you know that there is no diversity thanks in large part to a majority of people on the site having something to do with one or more of those three topics.

While Digg can still provide webmasters a huge influx of traffic if you’re lucky enough to make the front page, I as an end user no longer use Digg as my source for finding great information online. That has been replaced by those I follow on Twitter. The only time I ever come across a Digg article is if it is linked to by one of my online friends.

My only hope is that in the future, Digg is not looked at as an example to prove the ‘Wisdom of crowds‘ theory because if you take a look at the comments or some of the stories that make the front page, you might think that is the last place on the web where wisdom actually exists.

Will iPhone 3.0 make the iPhone a better blogging platform?

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In my opinion, no mobile phone / smartphone will ever be a substitute for a decent desktop, notebook or even netbook PC for the nitty-gritty of blogging, and yet that hasn’t stopped plenty of applications being released for mobile phones designed to allow access to blogging platforms.

The current incarnation of the iPhone makes anything but micro-blogging a fairly painful experience. Even dedicated blogging clients still suffer from basic architecture deficiencies such as the lack of cut and paste and difficulty interfacing between native and third-party applications.

Yet, with yesterday’s announcement of the third version of iPhone software, there may be some hope for doing a bit more blogging on the go using Apple’s revered handset.

Here’s why.

When it comes to the creation of content, cut, copy and paste is finally available. Though it’s taken Apple a long time to sort it out, the implementation is pretty slick.

With it, you can copy and paste from any application (including third-party ones) such as the Safari web browser, and then paste into any other. You can also do the same with images, including the ability to copy multiple photos in one go from the built-in Photos application.

This means that bloggers who rely heavily on the quotations of others, to which additional commentary may be added, can now much more easily clip the relevant passages from web pages or RSS feeds and paste into a blogging application. It will still take longer than doing it on a computer with a mouse, keyboard shortcuts and much more screen real estate, but it’s a start.

There’s also auto-fill for Safari, meaning that filling out some form fields will now be done automatically. That’s great if you comment a lot on other blogs.

As for staying in touch with people — also important for many bloggers — there’s the introduction of a native version of Meebo which can manage all your instant messaging clients from one application.

Added to which, Apple has finally sorted out its push notifications system, which means that you can be alerted whenever new messages arrive, without having to keep the application running in the foreground.

Perhaps you’re a blogger who does podcasting or audio interviews? There are some pretty decent third-party applications for audio recording already in the App Store, but Apple will now bundle its own memo recorder, with built in editing and mailing functions.

Notes can be synchronised between the iPhone and a PC or Mac using iTunes. This may not be essential for bloggers but it means that, if you take down notes — ideas for future blog posts, perhaps — you can have access to them on your computer too.

If you use public Wi-Fi networks a lot, Apple has made it easier to sign in and out automatically, too.

Apple has promised greater support for accessories, which means that it may be possible to add an external keyboard either via Bluetooth or the 30-pin connector. We don’t yet know what restrictions Apple will place on developers, but if it’s possible to add extra hardware it could make text entry a lot easier.

Finally, the landscape keyboard should be available in every application, not just a select few, making typing a lot easier than trying to use the portrait version for everything.

The iPhone is unlikely ever to be an ideal workhorse for blogging, but the iPhone 3.0 OS could make it a lot more pleasant to use when you just have to blog something on the go. It’ll be available to download from the summer.

What do you think?

What Makes a Good WordPress Theme? Tell Us And Win a Free Premium Themes Club Account

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Premium Themes Club has launched, in partnership between Splashpress Media and R.Bhavesh of CSSAce.com.

Premium Themes Club exemplifies an exciting new idea in sharing premium WordPress themes with the community. You don’t have to spend money each time you want to try out a new theme. But rather, by being part of the Club, you get access to a wide array of expertly-crafted WordPress themes for your blog. You can download and re-download to your heart’s content. There’s no limit to what you can do with Club themes, as these are lightweight but powerful designs that can be adapted to any need, whether it’s a blog, online magazine, or even a corporate website.

As part of the launch, PTC is offering Performancing readers the chance to get free Club memberships (worth $150 per year). Simply answer this question on your own blog:

What Makes a Good WordPress Theme? Why?

It’s up to you what you want to answer. Is it browser compatibility? Is it being lightweight? Is it stand-out graphics? Is it the sidebar layout? Typeface? It’s up to you. Just be sure to answer why, as that would help the folks at the Club develop better themes.

We’ll then give the first 10 good answers free Club memberships. By “good” I mean something with substance, and at least an explanation why that particular aspect of a WordPress theme is the most important one.

The only catch is that you’ll need to post your answer on your own blog (do remember to link to premiumthemesclub.com), and then leave a comment on this particular post. It’s up to you how you want to write your answer, and what title to use, of course.

The Club already has about 30+ premium themes available for download (these are also available for individual purchase). Aside from Club membership, the Club also offers an opportunity to earn, through the affiliate program. Do check out updates at premiumthemesclub.com or follow @premiumclub on Twitter.

Folks connected with Splashpress and CSSAce are, of course, ineligible. As are Hive members already given free access.

Get Free, High-Quality Content Custom Written For Your Blog

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I’m a big fan of guest posting high-quality content on high-quality blogs. Guest articles are one of those win-win transactions that take place all the time on the Internet without the transaction of money. The writer of the article gets the benefit of exposure and branding (assuming the article is good). The blog owner gets the benefit of a unique perspective and interesting content that wouldn’t otherwise be seen by his or her readers.

I’m offering to do 10 free guest posts over the next month for high-quality blogs (as determined by me). Every guest post that gets done will be custom written by me and I will strive for professional quality. Here are some samples of my guest posts from the past:

If you are interested, please contact me at the following email address [email protected] so that I can look over your blog.

Taking AllTop To A Personal Level

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It was announced in an email on Monday sent out by Guy Kawasaki that the popular site Alltop.com would be launching version 3.0. This new version contains a slick new feature called MyAlltop that basically enables users to create their own personal collection of Alltop feeds. Each MyAlltop page that is created is public meaning all of them are shared. Each Alltop page you visit, the RSS feeds will have a plus sign in the top right corner. Clicking on this plus sign will add that particular feed to your personal Alltop page.

I can see how Alltop could be used as a simplified aggregation page for anyone who doesn’t want to deal with say Netvibes or iGoogle. I’m interested in knowing if you’ll be using MyAlltop or, if you use Alltop at all to keep tabs on specific topics?

Furl.net Calls Diigo Home

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Furl.net which is a bookmarking service announced today that they have been absorbed by Diigo.com. Diigo is a research and collaboration tool that essentially takes what Furl did and takes it to the next level. With Diigo, users can not only save bookmarks, but highlight things on webpages, add sticky notes, and all sorts of other cool things. Here is a quote from the official announcement:

The Furl team is very pleased to announce that Furl has become part of Diigo.com. We worked hard to find Furl a home where loyal users like you could continue to benefit from best-of-breed social bookmarking and annotation tools. Hands down, Diigo.com was the winner due to its innovative approach to online research tools and knowledge sharing.

The Diigo team is dedicated to making sure you continue to get top notch features and service. They’ve got a crack team of technologists who love making research and knowledge sharing as easy and efficient as possible.

If you are a Furl user, make sure you visit this page to begin the process of exporting your data to Diigo.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see more announcements like this during the year due to the economy and most Web 2.0 startups that launched in 2007 figuring out that it takes more to succeed than just a bright idea.

Help Redesign The Mozilla Website

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Happy Cog which is one of the leading design firms online released an update on March 11th regarding their work on redesigning the Mozilla.org website. The update contains three seperate concept designs with the goal of each one to encapsulate what the Mozilla universe is all about. Each concept contains an explanation behind the design. The redesign is still very early in development but Happy Cog is asking that you take a look at each concept and then drop them a line in their comments section to provide feedback on what you think.

Personally, out of the three concepts presented, I don’t like any of them. But if I had to choose just one, it would be concept number one. The other two appear too graphically heavy and I don’t like the content alignment on concept number two. While concept one is simplistic looking, it is the one which was easiest on my eyes.

22 Detailed Icon Sets

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It’s not that often where icons by themselves can be looked at as a work of art. Henry Jones over at WebDesignLedger has compiled a list of twenty-two different icon sets but these are no ordinary icon sets. These particular icons specialize in being extremely detailed. One of my favorites from the list is the NES Icons Pack created by DeviantART member Ahuri.

The compiled list does not contain information regarding how these particular icons can be used so be sure to read that information on the icon sets respective home page.