Tag: tomcarroll.org

General

Update: My Feed management services RFP

FeedBurner wins hands down.

It looks like no other feed management service has the stones to take them on. The FeedBurner reply was the only response I received. I saw traffic from multiple companies that offer Feed management services but none replied to my RFP. I will not mention any names of the lurking companies since they didn’t want to reply.

So In the coming weeks I will be migrating my feeds over to FeedBurner. I am happy to be moving my business to a Chicago based company. FeedBurner did meet most of my requirements though I prefer to use Google analytics for my web traffic analysis. Mint looks cool I will have to do an RFP for Analytics.

I will provide a more detailed post on FeedBurner later.

blogging, question, tomcarroll.org

Question: To edit or iterate

I have been writing my blog in some form since about 2003. At first the having a blog was just meant as a trial of the format that I had been enjoying for years. Now that I post a bit more regularly, I have been thinking about how I write/ create content. I don’t claim to be a skilled writer just an eager one. I have struggled with how formal my writing process should be, how much prep, how many drafts ect. So I have come to the point where I am going to treat my writing as an iterative process. each post as an iteration trying to improve generally and possibly re-working previous ideas.

So here is my question:
How do you approach writing your blog, is it more edit or more iterate and why?

tomcarroll.org

RSS feed Fixed

I have received some complaints (Angry Penguin) about my RSS feed only sending article summaries. I just want to clarify that I wasn’t trying to force people to the site, it was just an oversight on my part. It was a simple config change in wordpress. I hope the new config makes your subscription a bit more enjoyable.

Reviews, Technology, tomcarroll.org

Testing Gmail for my Domain

I was granted access to the Gmail for Domains beta. The set up was extremely simple, but I still don’t think that a non geek will know what their MX record is. Adding accounts is a snap and the calendar integration is wonderful. I am now wondering how much it will cost for multiple domains. I have multiple domains and would like to manage all my email account for my whole family via Gmail without setting up forwarding. Google definitely has the email interface down. It works great and I love the way email threads are handled. If Google can provide a few more tools, there will be no reason to buy office. Google will have a completely integrated set of office web applications that are completely portable. I won’t have to worry about backing up anything or getting updates and security patches.

Corporations would be well served by a tool like Gmail for domains. Corporations have to get around and over the control issues, if they do Gmail is a no brainer. For companies with large field operations again it’s a no brainer. It’s only a matter of time.

I give Gmail for Domains 5 out of 5 Stars.

Links:
Gmail for your domain

blogging, tomcarroll.org

A point of order: Linking within posts

I will no longer link within my writing instead I will provide links at the bottom of the post just above the tags. I was listening to the Gillmor Gang[1] and Steve Gillmor talked about linking being dead[2]. From a value perspective linking is challenged due to all the splinks. Companies that sell words within their articles, and spammers really are killing the informational value of linking. So in effort to make my text easier to consume, I am refraining from linking from within the post. Posts will have a links section at the bottom and eventually I will provide an icon that identifies off site links. I will also be offering the RSS feeds for sites I reference in an effort to drive folks away from a page click page model.

Links:
Get the Gillmor Gang RSS here
[1] The Gillmor Gang Podcast

Get Steve Gillmor’s InfoRouter RSS here
[2] Links are dead, Doc: by Steve Gillmor