This Blog Has Moved
The new address is www.andrewbusey.com.
 |
Austin,
TX
United States
I am the creator of Shadows - check it out! It's a new way to remember the things you find on the web (better than bookmarks) and find things you might like based on how the things you are interested in intersect with the community as a whole. This has two parts - tags and shadow pages.
Tags allow you to assign your own keywords to any page on the web and then when you search on any of those words again you'll ifnd the pages you wanted to remember along with all the pages the rest of the community tagged with the same words. Shadow Pages are a new content discovery and discussion mechanism and they exist for every page on the web. Just click "Shadow Page" from a Shadows toolbar and you'll see the tags, ratings, comments, and Shadows users, for any page on the web. |
11.28.2006
1.17.2006
Shadows and MySpace
MySpace has become very popular as a way for users to express there individuality and network with friends. Any MySpace does a good job allowing you to express your interests and your point of view - especially with regards to music. It's easy to list the bands you like and there are a lot of external modules that let you plug videos and music into your MySpace page.
However there is no way to show the world what you think is interesting on the web! As a MySpace user you are by definition also a web user and, therefore, presumably like other things on the web (maybe not as much as MySpace, but hey). Shadows is a great way to organize and display (through your Shadows user page - you can see mine here) what you are interested in on the web. And now you show off what you are interested in on MySpace using the new Shadows Tag Cloud. It's easy to set-up and plug in to your existing MySpace page. How you ask? Wait, I'll tell you more!
To generate your Tag Cloud code for MySpace, you can simply go here.
To configure a Shadows Tag Cloud you then enter your Shadows user name, select a text color, and generate the HTML code to paste into your MySpace page. The Tag Cloud is displayed using Flash (MySpace does not allow Javascript).
Visitors can click on any of the keywords in the Tag Cloud to see the collection of related web pages (that have been tagged).
Some example Tag Clouds displayed on MySpace pages:
More?
The Tag Cloud shows up to 200 of the user's top tags weighted by frequency of use. This is a fun & powerful way to represent the user's interests on the web (based on previous tagging activity). In the next few weeks we will be introducing additional modules for MySpace, including one that displays the user's most recently saved bookmarks, thereby giving users of Shadows and MySpace multiple ways to express their interests and activity on the web.
However there is no way to show the world what you think is interesting on the web! As a MySpace user you are by definition also a web user and, therefore, presumably like other things on the web (maybe not as much as MySpace, but hey). Shadows is a great way to organize and display (through your Shadows user page - you can see mine here) what you are interested in on the web. And now you show off what you are interested in on MySpace using the new Shadows Tag Cloud. It's easy to set-up and plug in to your existing MySpace page. How you ask? Wait, I'll tell you more!
To generate your Tag Cloud code for MySpace, you can simply go here.
To configure a Shadows Tag Cloud you then enter your Shadows user name, select a text color, and generate the HTML code to paste into your MySpace page. The Tag Cloud is displayed using Flash (MySpace does not allow Javascript).
Visitors can click on any of the keywords in the Tag Cloud to see the collection of related web pages (that have been tagged).
Some example Tag Clouds displayed on MySpace pages:
- http://www.myspace.com/michaelrhall
- http://www.myspace.com/elvesoncrack
- http://www.myspace.com/akay13
- http://www.myspace.com/prentissriddle
- http://www.myspace.com/my_shadows
More?
The Tag Cloud shows up to 200 of the user's top tags weighted by frequency of use. This is a fun & powerful way to represent the user's interests on the web (based on previous tagging activity). In the next few weeks we will be introducing additional modules for MySpace, including one that displays the user's most recently saved bookmarks, thereby giving users of Shadows and MySpace multiple ways to express their interests and activity on the web.
1.12.2006
MacBook Pro
Happy Holidays to everyone. I know, politcally correct and everything. How about Happy New Year? That's pretty non-confrontational as well. It's probably again a sign that I deserve a beating with the blogstick that this is my first entry of the New Year. But things have been busy! I'll be posting an update on Shadows soon.
But since I haven't done a blog entry for a while I figured I should get motivated, so here I am. As the title foreshadows this post is about Apple's new MacBook Pro. It's the first Apple laptop with Intel and it is, IMO, the best laptop on the market. I mean how can you argue with a Core Duo, an ATI X1600 256mb video card, a 100gb 7200 rpm SATA drive, the promised super-bright LCD, and a super drive, all in a 1" thick package. I'm sure there will be surprises - maybe battery life - but I hope they aren't too bad.
Since I bought one yesterday. And I'm not even a Mac user. The big question for me will be do I shoehorn Windows into it somehow (and I'm sure there will be a way) or do I go Mac and wait for Virtual PC to be native? I'm not sure, but I'll let you know in a month or so when I get the laptop.
I had been waiting to upgrade for a while - my current laptop is 2.5 years old. While this might not be ridiculously old or anything, it has been gnawing at the gadget geek in me. I like to have the latest and greatest computer stuff. And I'd been procrastinating on buying a new laptop until the release of the Intel Core Duo. And, IMO, the MacBook Pro kills anything else on the market and given the general PC industry it will likely be way better for a while. (At least in size and aesthetics.)
So I just had to share my excitement, which has been dampened by the lack of instant gratification. But I guess that's the price I pay for being on the cutting edge.
Anyway, happy new year and check back for a Shadows update soon.
But since I haven't done a blog entry for a while I figured I should get motivated, so here I am. As the title foreshadows this post is about Apple's new MacBook Pro. It's the first Apple laptop with Intel and it is, IMO, the best laptop on the market. I mean how can you argue with a Core Duo, an ATI X1600 256mb video card, a 100gb 7200 rpm SATA drive, the promised super-bright LCD, and a super drive, all in a 1" thick package. I'm sure there will be surprises - maybe battery life - but I hope they aren't too bad.
Since I bought one yesterday. And I'm not even a Mac user. The big question for me will be do I shoehorn Windows into it somehow (and I'm sure there will be a way) or do I go Mac and wait for Virtual PC to be native? I'm not sure, but I'll let you know in a month or so when I get the laptop.
I had been waiting to upgrade for a while - my current laptop is 2.5 years old. While this might not be ridiculously old or anything, it has been gnawing at the gadget geek in me. I like to have the latest and greatest computer stuff. And I'd been procrastinating on buying a new laptop until the release of the Intel Core Duo. And, IMO, the MacBook Pro kills anything else on the market and given the general PC industry it will likely be way better for a while. (At least in size and aesthetics.)
So I just had to share my excitement, which has been dampened by the lack of instant gratification. But I guess that's the price I pay for being on the cutting edge.
Anyway, happy new year and check back for a Shadows update soon.
11.28.2005
Xbox 360 and "Scarcity" as Marketing
Ok, so I'm going to deviate a little from the norm. I've typically posted here about Shadows. So instead, I'm going to talk about the Xbox 360 and marketing. I waited in line at CompUSA and Best Buy to try and buy one last Tuesday. I'm not a big fan of waiting in lines, but I figured what the heck I'll give it a try. CompUSA shut down the line about 15 people in front of me. At Best Buy it was three people in front of me. Let me tell you, that sucks. I guess I shouldn't be surprised given my general unwillingness to spend the night in front of a retailer so I can get a new game machine.
What I am most fascinated by is Microsoft's approach to this on a marketing level. Frankly, I'm kind of pissed about the whole thing. I am pretty sure the shortage was fabricated (or at the very least could have easily been avoided with some better planning) and, therefore, people like me that didn't get there early enough wasted a lot of time for no really good reason. (I'll take a little bit of the sucker label for this one too.) But I'm betting that before the end of the year there will be tons of Xbox 360s in stores. If I'm wrong on this I might actually have a very tiny degree of belief that the launch shortage wasn't faked. But I think I'll be vindicated in this - so much so that I'm writing it down.
Now scarcity is a great marketing tool. There was a news truck outside of Best Buy while I was waiting in line. (Of course there is such a high degree of news bandwidth now that they'll cover almost anything - and nothing is more entertaining than a bunch of geeks standing around in the cold waiting in line for somthing shiny or weird.) But I think it can backfire. I think if more people could have gotten Xbox 360s out of the gate there would have been that many more evangelists out there - especially outside the hard core guys. With this "scarcity", only the diehard fans got Xbox 360s - which is great for Microsoft if the console is spectacular and they love it. But if only the hardcore fans get it, only the hardcore fans will talk about it. And they are the most likely to be the harshest critics. If a broader group of people had gotten them (including slightly more casual gamers [read: unwilling to wait in line for hours]) the reivews and coverage might be more broad and balanced. I think in the current blog coverage on the Xbox 360, some of this is starting to bit Microsoft.
If I see enough lukewarm reviews, I might decide to wait for the Playstation 3. Or I might just stick with PC games (which are better IMO anyway). I'll probably just end up waiting until I show up at some store and they happen to be in stock. I'm certainly not excited enough any more that I'm going to actively look for one. I am curious to see what, if any, impact this play has on the long-term success of the Xbox 360.
Well there is my wandering, random markething thoughts for the day.
Oh, and if you want to talk about the Xbox 360, check out the Shadows group by clicking here. Sorry I can't help it.
What I am most fascinated by is Microsoft's approach to this on a marketing level. Frankly, I'm kind of pissed about the whole thing. I am pretty sure the shortage was fabricated (or at the very least could have easily been avoided with some better planning) and, therefore, people like me that didn't get there early enough wasted a lot of time for no really good reason. (I'll take a little bit of the sucker label for this one too.) But I'm betting that before the end of the year there will be tons of Xbox 360s in stores. If I'm wrong on this I might actually have a very tiny degree of belief that the launch shortage wasn't faked. But I think I'll be vindicated in this - so much so that I'm writing it down.
Now scarcity is a great marketing tool. There was a news truck outside of Best Buy while I was waiting in line. (Of course there is such a high degree of news bandwidth now that they'll cover almost anything - and nothing is more entertaining than a bunch of geeks standing around in the cold waiting in line for somthing shiny or weird.) But I think it can backfire. I think if more people could have gotten Xbox 360s out of the gate there would have been that many more evangelists out there - especially outside the hard core guys. With this "scarcity", only the diehard fans got Xbox 360s - which is great for Microsoft if the console is spectacular and they love it. But if only the hardcore fans get it, only the hardcore fans will talk about it. And they are the most likely to be the harshest critics. If a broader group of people had gotten them (including slightly more casual gamers [read: unwilling to wait in line for hours]) the reivews and coverage might be more broad and balanced. I think in the current blog coverage on the Xbox 360, some of this is starting to bit Microsoft.
If I see enough lukewarm reviews, I might decide to wait for the Playstation 3. Or I might just stick with PC games (which are better IMO anyway). I'll probably just end up waiting until I show up at some store and they happen to be in stock. I'm certainly not excited enough any more that I'm going to actively look for one. I am curious to see what, if any, impact this play has on the long-term success of the Xbox 360.
Well there is my wandering, random markething thoughts for the day.
Oh, and if you want to talk about the Xbox 360, check out the Shadows group by clicking here. Sorry I can't help it.
11.16.2005
Yesterday's Tomorrow is Today (New Features)
This is one of the downsides of chronological posts. What I posted yesterday as "coming soon" is now here. I guess I could change the title and date of that post, but that seems like cheating. So instead I'll just make a new post suggesting you read yesterdays post to find out whats new today. You know I think sentences like that are why no one has figured out time travel.
Anyway, great new features up on Shadows - check them out.
Remember you can import your existing bookmarks from Internet Explorer, Firefox, and/or del.icio.us. As you do the import you can assign tags to folders or individual links. It's easy to get started! And now with the new "My Shadows" functionality you can access all your tagged bookmarks easily.
Anyway, great new features up on Shadows - check them out.
Remember you can import your existing bookmarks from Internet Explorer, Firefox, and/or del.icio.us. As you do the import you can assign tags to folders or individual links. It's easy to get started! And now with the new "My Shadows" functionality you can access all your tagged bookmarks easily.
