Is ‘Better Gmail’ really better?
May 15, 2007
I have been using the Better Gmail Firefox extension for the last month since reading about it on Lifehacker. It is an amalgamation of various Greasemonkey scripts that scratch Gmail itches. I like it, and you are able to turn the different functions on/off as well as customise them.
Is it better than the real thing? I think so – let me know if you agree.
SA Blogger going to Google SoC
April 12, 2007
South African technologist and blogger Charl van Niekerk just posted that his Joomla-related entry to Google Summer of Code has been accepted. Here you can see the project he will be working on. Having South Africans working at the bleeding edge of innovation backed by resources as large as Google’s is fantastic. I am interested to explore how many other Africans are involved.
If you know of others let me know.
Upcoming Web 2.0 event
April 12, 2007
I am cautiously optimistic about the First Tuesday event coming up on 8 May 2007. The First Tuesday site itself does not have much detail, but the announcement on bizcommunity.com says it will cover Web 2.0 marketing and what it means for South Africa. The blurb is ‘Vinny Lingham, founder and chief strategy officer of incuBeta, will provide an insightful view on the offline and online marketing markets and the paradigm shift in spending that is going on around the world’.
First Tuesday also met early April to discuss “Web 2.0″, though I only heard about that event after the fact, via bloggers who had attended. The First Tuesday site itself does not even seem to mention it – the last ‘past event’ mentioned is way back in 2005.
I have never been to a First Tuesday event, but I will give this upcoming one a try. If the ‘business think tank’ is having a comeback, I will welcome it. And maybe volunteer to get their web presence a little more dynamic.
Let me know if any of you have First Tuesday experience. Hope to see you there.
“The best way to predict your future is to create it”
April 9, 2007
Abraham Lincoln originally said this, according to quoteworld.org. I don’t know what triggered my memory of this quote, but I woke up thinking it and how apt it is on so many levels, but particularly when it comes to how we are going to be using software from now on.
For the first time in the history of software users (and I don’t mean corporate software buyers or developers) can input into what and how software will form part of their lives. And it will be a part of their lives, via a mobile phone or television, or through sharing videos and photos, all the way through to paying taxes and writing novels. Users are going to be slammed with choice, methods of feedback, and the simple option of terminating one service and moving to another without downtime or loss of data.
It poses a very special challenge to those who want to deliver these software services.
Update
I discovered the unconscious source of the Abraham Lincoln quote trigger – I read a blog entry the previous day which contained a similar quote.
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