#8 Making life "really simple" with RSS

Oxymoroic, misnoma or literal truth? I can see how RSS feeds can simplify things, but do they just allow us to save time which we later use worrying that we are not keeping up with technology? They are really simple as opposed to importing raw XML but not as simple as picking up a newspaper, magazine or book.

Some sites have clear RSS feeds and some are more elusive.

RSS also takes away some of the stream of conscious or serendipity methods of searching - you never know what path the undisciplined mind may follow when looking for information.

RSS works best when you need to monitor a limited number of sites for new content - the straight line approach to information gathering.


http://www.bloglines.com/public/libraryluddite

#7 Blog about technology

The CD is dead! The DVD is dead! - these were the pronouncements at a recent Web 2.0 seminar. Tell that to my huge collection of CDs and DVDs that have not vanished just because they are no longer cutting edge. I still have a dinosaur VCR and would have to spend the rest of my life to watch all the videotapes I own. Yes I do have a PVR, a digital box and HDMI. No I don't have an iPod, but I do have the first model MP3 player which is the size and shape of a brick.

At what stage should we adopt or delete technology? There is so much out there and sometimes it is not clear what will survive and for how long. Does anyone remember digital audiotapes? How much should we learn about things that may not last long, or how many things should we know something about? The high definition war between BluRay and HD DVD is reminiscent of Beta and VHS. VHS won on the marketing, not the technology and largely because the adult entertainment industry supported it.

The next life changing technology is always just around the corner...

#6 More Flickr fun

Trip planner allows you to dream of the next trip or prolong the last one. It seems similar to some of the content on TripAdviser or any of the travel websites noticeboards. When I first started travelling it was difficult to get information except via travel agents. Now it is easy to get information, but there is often too much of it, or it's not accurate. I'd never plan a trip based only on information from blogs and web tools, just as I wouldn't rely on Wikipedia for a reference enquiry...

#5 Flickr

I've already had a good look at this site - it's often better than searching other image sites.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/awfulsara/11917149/

I do seem to already get an awful lot of baby photos sent in huge JPEGs to block up my email. The subtle difference of expression over a series of 100 photos taken on the same day usually escapes me. As the last of many children there are few photos of me in existence, and I was a much cuter baby that adult. I grew up in the age of black and white photos and the start of the polaroid. These eventually fade away to nothing - so perhaps flickr is Karma in action. Someone has the thousands of photographs that rightly belong to me?

Technology is good...sometimes. It's great when it makes your life easier, not so good when you can't get away from it. Blogging seems a bit like letting everyone reading your diary, or having loud conversations on your mobile phone in public. The diaries you would really like to read are usually still under lock and key, and many blogs seem akin to watching Big Brother where nothing much happens, but what does is examined to a level of detail it does not deserve. There are interesting people blogging, but I'd still prefer to read a book or talk to a person, in person. Choose the technology that works for you and leave the rest behind - someone else will always want it.