Links from 2007

"Ning, is participating in this week's launch of a new open web API called Open Social, which is being spearheaded by Google and joined by a wide range of partners including Google's own Orkut, LinkedIn, Hi5, Friendster, Salesforce.com, Oracle, iLike, Fli

Got a webcam, use twitter, install Tweetr and you can have your picture here.

If history repeats itself, we can expect a compelling SDK (software development kit) to emerge providing programmers with a standard user interface for their web applications.

CIA can send an IRC bot to your channel to instantly report the progress made by you and your peers.

"An easy and fun way to talk about and share flickr photos in real time." Liking this very much.

As counterintuitive as it may seem in this age of iPods and digital downloads, vinyl -- the favorite physical format of indie music collectors and audiophiles -- is poised to re-enter the mainstream, or at least become a major tributary.

“As counterintuitive as it may seem in this age of iPods and digital downloads, vinyl – the favorite physical format of indie music collectors and audiophiles – is poised to re-enter the mainstream, or at least become a major tributary.”

— Eliot Van Buskirk, Vinyl May Be Final Nail in CD’s Coffin

"An "Open In TextMate" Finder toolbar icon for Leopard [...] A single TextMate window will open, containing all selected or dropped items in a project."

Over the last year or so at Fog Creek we’ve been developing a system that’s so easy even our grouchiest developers are willing to go along with it. And as far as we can tell, it produces extremely reliable schedules.

It's clear to me that Facebook might be the one thing that saves advertising agencies from an ignominious slide into irrelevance. Because now, finally, there's a mass, popular digital tool out there that senior agency people are using for it's own sake

Click streams have made room for bounce rates, search analytics, and so much more. If we play our cards right, we can reduce and synthesize the raw data and give our clients more meaningful information that foments action.

When building a web app, reporting is the last thing on many feature lists. Clear reporting is vitally important for the long term success of your web app and managing your growth.

"For better or for worse** however, many of us are on one side or the other of an outsourcing arrangement. I discovered in my work that using test driven development as a mechanism for both validation (are we building the right thing?) and verification (i

"We take the MD5 digest of the city’s name, convert it to hex and take the first 6 characters as a CSS RGB value." Smart.

or How to be a POSH SEO!

Version control, build systems, automated test suite, code reviews, refactoring and code style. All the things everyone should be doing.

Server log files are inappropriate for gathering usability data. They are meant to provide server administrators with data about the behavior of the server, not the behavior of the user.

When people ask me for advice on blogging, I always respond with yet another form of the same advice: pick a schedule you can live with, and stick to it.

Some interesting stuff on StumbleUpon.

Some personal observations, reasons I probably would click away, not hire someone, not call back.

"Make an ugly web address much nicer". I think I'm in love.

Don't ask.

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia via Simon Willison.

IMAGES is a free tool that allows you to easily share and mark-up graphic designs, pictures, and photos. Invite team members, managers, clients, and consultants to add and reply to comments, chat and chalk up your images.

For Each Word You Get Right, We Donate 10 Grains of Rice through the United Nations to Help End World Hunger

A free cross browser tool that lets you test selectors with any web page. Selectors, particularly complex ones can be difficult to get exactly right - MRI lets you experiment with them on any web page (local or online, static or dynamic).

Crowdsourcing ideas, business, opinions & more...

Allows you to track and visualize your fitness progress and goals.

A very simple web forum, designed to make it really easy to add a discussion forum to a website.

A hosted Subversion system, making it easy for anyone to setup, browse, track, and manage Subversion repositories [...] has built-in integration with your favorite tools such as Basecamp, FogBugz, and Lighthouse.

Unobtrusive conversion of standard markup into rich media content

3D Mailbox Trailer.

I’m convinced this must be some sort of elaborate practical joke.

Not sure why Level 1 is a “Free download” but Level 2 is a “Risk-free download”. How much risk is attached to Level 1?

PPK has embarked recently on a project to create a professional organization for frontend engineers in his native Holland. The organization is called “Fronteers” (frontend engineers)

Poor article but some potentially useful resources.

This tutorial takes a practical, example-based approach to implementing [Yahoo HPW] rules. It's targeted towards web developers with a small budget, who are most likely using shared hosting.

The All-New Screen Recorder for OS X

In this crazy business environment, marketing is ready to be reinvented. No one is sure to who is taking the lead to drive this change.

The music industry is evolving, and major labels are starting to develop new strategies to help adapt to the current DIY climate.

Government websites may be stripped of their ‘gov.uk’ domain names if they fail to meet tough new standards of accessibility to web users with disabilities, according to confidential draft proposals

Despite waves of consolidation across the ad-agency business, there remains a healthy bunch of independent digital shops doing everything from search optimization to building web interfaces to simply doing damn good creative.

Bob Truby’s Brand Name Pencils

“Let me share with you my vision. As both an art teacher and a pencil collector, I desire this site to be a visual encounter with the incredibly diverse world of brand name pencils. I hope you will be amazed at the sheer number of pencil brands once produced in the USA and abroad. Sadly those days are over and the craftsmanship, skill and pride once put into the ordinary pencil is but a thing of the past.”

An industrial strength elegant easy to use fully featured shopping cart application suitable for selling your products, services, and or fees online.

» Radiohead: 01 and 10 :: Puddlegum ::

Consider that In Rainbows was meant to complement OK Computer, musically, lyrically, and in structure. We found that the two albums can be knit together beautifully. By combining the tracks to form one playlist, 01 and 10, we have a remarkable listening experience.

URL design is arguably one of the most important areas of website developement. Not only do URLs generally have huge visual priority in web browsers but they’re also shown on search result listings and get used for matching search terms.

If you're considering a mixed Mac/PC home or office, here's a primer on how the two systems inter-operate (and the few instances when they don't.)