Trimming in Public is a series where I go through my list of 293 RSS feeds, 10 RSS feeds at a time, give some detail as to why I subscribed to a particular feed, and then decide whether or not to keep on consuming that feed. In Episode 1 I explained what RSS is and how to use it, please read that if you need a refresher on why RSS is awesome and why you should be using it if you take reading news on the internet seriously . The prefix to Trimming in Public is “Becoming a better blogger, reader and helping me take out the trash.” For the bloggers out there who read IntoMobile, I hope you get a better idea of what I do to keep on top of the news. For the readers who read IntoMobile, I know that this site isn’t the only mobile focused technology site on the internet, and by sharing which sites I read I’m hoping that you’ll keep on coming back here. Taking out the trash has an obvious explanation, I can’t keep up with my RSS feed and need to trim my list. For those who want to download my complete list of 293 RSS feeds, feel free to grab my OPML file.
Check out Episode 2 after the jump:
- Anders Conbere’s Journal: Anders Conbere is a hard core developer. He wrote a series of blog posts about XMPP and Erlang that struck my fancy, back when I was learning about the real time web and the protocols that would be driving it in the future. He hasn’t blogged since February and honestly I don’t really care all that much about the real time web anymore. I’m convinced that the real time web is not meant for consumption and manipulation by humans, but instead it is for machines to talk to each other and trigger scripts based on a particular set of criteria occurring at a particular time and place. Semantically speaking, what I just described is called an agent. Knowing where the future of the internet is heading academically is one thing, waiting for people to build it is another. Decision: Unsubscribe.
- Andrew McAfee: Enterprise 2.0 is a phrase that if heard in public, you can guarantee it was uttered by a jerk off consultant working in a small company of less than 50 employees, flying around the world and telling Fortune 500 companies with many thousands of employees, how they should run their business. Now I’m not going to admit to being a consultant, but there was a time when I was drinking the social media koolaid by the fucking keg. This guy, Andrew McAfee, is the master of Enterprise 2.0 or as some people like to call it: bringing Web 2.0 into the corporation. I realized hard and fast that you can give people the best tools in the world, but if they’re not “mentally Web 2.0” than all the tools you give them will go to waste and the lowest common denominator of information broadcasting and receiving (email) will be used instead. I’m personally waiting to see what the world will look like when the kids who were born when YouTube launched are around the age a C level executive is today. Until then, academic theory is a waste of my time. Decision: Unsubscribe.
- Android Developers Blog: When covering an operating system, application, or software company in general, there are usually two forms of public relations: developer focused and user focused. The type of news covered on Developer blogs is more in depth and useful for people who create applications, while the type of propaganda spewed forth on blogs meant for end users is meant to build hype for a particular feature or new version. I’m not a developer, but if you really care about software, you want to read the PR material that was meant for developers. You may find a nugget of information there that was not posted on the consumer facing blog. Decision: Unsubscribe.
- Apophenia: Social media used to be all about getting your voice heard and competing with professional media, now it is about making money off your personal brand and other bullshit objectives that if accomplished do not make you smarter, wiser or increase the amount of skills you have. Danah Boyd however, she talks to young people and asks them how they use social media. The generation that was raised with social media is much more interesting to me personally than the generation who comes to the table and asks how their company can use these new tools to peddle their bullshit to an even wider audience. I read her blog because I myself am a young person and have moments of clarity (read: the day after a heavy night of drinking) where I sit and ponder what is of value to me and my peers in the grander scheme of things. We pirate everything, we don’t pay for anything, what then has value and what does the term value even mean? Danah is now being paid by Microsoft to answer these questions. Decision: One of my favorite blogs.
- Ari Jaaksi’s Blog: Ari is the head of Maemo, or something like that, I’m not really sure. Maemo is a Linux based operating system being developed at Nokia. I’m sure he will start blogging regularly again once the first Maemo device with a cellular radio ships, but honestly, I don’t care about Maemo. At all. I hope my friends in Finland working on it are not offended, they know how I feel about open source in general. Decision: Unsubscribe.
- Ars Technica: Some sites break news, but have misspellings and incomplete data included. I know because I’m guilty of this. Ars Technica waits, writes a thorough blog post, and then hits publish. They also have several blogs, one dedicated to science, hardware, open source and more. I really like this site, scratch that, I fucking love this site, but I have to ask myself: do I really want to read everything they publish? The answer is yes and I’m happy to see they have a new RSS feed that displays everything they publish. Decision: One of my favorite internet properties.
- Atmaspheric | Endeavors: Jonathan Greene has been one of my readers since the Ring Nokia days, he also has been blogging forever. I’ve had beers with him in New York City, Helsinki, and a few other cities, but I can’t be sure since it is usually Nokia who paid the bill so I typically drank until I blacked out. One of the main reasons I read his blog is that he has his Delicious links in his RSS feed. Jonathan always manages to bookmark something cool that I haven’t seen before and for that reason alone his blog will stay in my RSS reader. Decision: You are what you share on the internet, and you share awesome stuff.
- Autoblog: I love driving, cars, and Top Gear, but since moving to Finland two years ago, I haven’t been behind the wheel. They’re beautiful, they’re powerful, the models I want are really fucking expensive, so why do I read this blog? Decision: Unsubscribe.
- Big Picture Notes: Boston.com’s The Big Picture is one of my favorite blogs out there. Created by Alan Taylor, the Big Picture takes between 30 and 40 photos by the Associated Press, adds captions, and presents them as a blog post to better illustrate something that has recently occurred in the news. The Big Picture Notes is kind of like a “behind the scenes” of The Big Picture. While it may be interesting and nice to know what Alan is up to, no offense Alan, but I don’t care. Decision: Unsubscribe.
- Biskero: Written by Alessandro Pace, this guy loves Adobe and Flash Lite. I can’t say the same thing. If you want to know what’s going on with Flat Lite, read this man’s site. Personally I think the fact that Adobe has such a strong death grip on the online video space is slowing down innovation and adoption across multiple platforms. Microsoft’s Silverlight is not the answer either. OGG would like to be the answer, so would h.264, but it is far too early to say who will be the winner. Decision: Unsubscribe.
Hope you enjoyed this episode of Trimming in Public, more tomorrow! I’m up to 284 RSS feeds now, but no where near being more capable of hitting zero every day.