Google’s track record is not looking good. There seems to be a modus operandi of bait-and-switch: start with open technologies (XMPP, CalDav, RSS) and then once they’ve amassed a big enough user base, ditch the standards.
I gave the opening keynote at the Beyond Tellerand conference a few weeks back. I’m talked about the web from my own perspective, so expect excitement and anger in equal measure.
This was a new talk but it went down well, and I’m quite happy with it.
The web’s walled gardens are threatened by the decentralised power of RSS.
Google is threatened by RSS. Google is closing down Google Reader.
Twitter is threatened by RSS. Twitter has switched off all of its RSS feeds.
Fuck ‘em.
It will dip and diminish, but will RSS ever go away? Nah. One of RSS’s weaknesses in its early days—its chaotic decentralized weirdness—has become, in its dotage, a surprising strength. RSS doesn’t route through a single leviathan’s servers. It lacks a kill switch.
I need to get Matt to an Indie Web Camp.
The litany of open standards that Google has been abandoning: RSS, XMPP, WebDav…
It was twenty years ago today:
On 30 April 1993 CERN published a statement that made World Wide Web technology available on a royalty free basis, allowing the web to flourish.
A good history lesson in rendering engines: KHTML, WebKit, and now, Blink.
Brent Simmons pens a love-letter to RSS, a technology that you use every day, whether you realise it or not.
Tantek steps back and offers some practical approaches to reclaiming a more open web from the increasingly tight clutches of the big dominant roach motels.
Notice that he wrote this on his own domain, not on Branch, Medium, Google+, Facebook, or any other black hole.
Algorithmically-generated combinations of tweets in iambic pentameter. Some of the results are really quite lovely. I’m imagining a poetry reading of this stuff in a hip café …it would be fun.
This is such a brilliant and empowering idea: an open-source object-oriented to electronics, like LEGO bricks for circuit-building.
Now this is what I call science hacking: building an open source fusion reactor.
Science!
Richard starts diving into some the nifty ligatures that are becoming available to us in OpenType fonts with CSS3.
A call-to-arms for web developers combined with a handy list of projects you can get involved in.
Testing James Joyce: this is like the Seven Bridges of Königsberg puzzle but with Guinness.
A nice summation of the open science movement, courtesy of Bobbie.
I love watching an artist at work. Right after watching the accompanying video, I ordered a robot postcard from Anton.
On 18 May 2010, the Planets (Preservation and Long-term Access through Networked Services) Project deposited a time capsule in the vaults of datacenter, Swiss Fort Knox, in Saanen, Switzerland. It contained the decoding information for five digital file formats on media ranging from paper, microfilm and floppy discs to CDs, DVDs and USB sticks.
This consortium of institutions and universities came together “to provide practical solutions and expertise in digital preservation.”
PLANETS stands for Preservation and Long-term Access through Networked Services.
Want.
A site dedicated to the principle of homesteading your data.
An inspiring State Of The Web address by Tim Berners-Lee. He can't resist pitching linked data at the end, but it's mostly a stirring call to arms.
An inspiring presentation by Tom Armitage on the value of open data.
Blaine outlines the vision for Webfinger.
Nifty old-school 8-bit tiles superimposed on OpenStreetMap data.
A free open source planetarium for your computer.
This is wonderful: maps that travel from the internet to the papernet and back to the internet again. Print out from OpenStreetMap, annotate in the real world, and scan the annotated map.
A superb call to arms on the importance of "fat pipe, always on, get out of my way."
The perfect person for the job—George will be working on the Internet Archive's Open Library project: a webpage for every book ever published.
"We're done with the tired old fontstacks of yesteryear. Enough with the limitations of the web, we won't have it. It's time to raise our standards. Here, you'll find only the most well-made, free & open-source, @font-face ready fonts."
Allow your Twitter location to be automatically updated from FireEagle. The process of connecting you, FireEagle, and Twitter is beautiful: 1 x OpenID + 2 x OAuth.
Can the concept of free culture be applied to wine? Ryan O'Connell thinks so.
A paper app—like a web app, but for the papernet—that provides a DIY portable log book for diabetics.
A thoughtful post from Ben on how the flow of OAuth, OpenID and Facebook Connect can be improved.
Chris has written an in-depth critique of the state of OpenID, focusing strongly on usability.
This sounds like Yahoo's answer to Facebook Platform for single web pages or (spit!) widgets. We'll see if the reality matches the hype. "The Yahoo! Application Platform allows you to build and launch open-social applications to the largest daily …
Camille Seaman's stunning pictures of icebergs and clouds make me feel small and insignificant. But in a good way.
Taking innocent tweets and replacing the nouns with the word "penis".
Magnolia's going Open Source. Soon you'll be able to host and run your own instance of the social bookmarking service.
A great explanation of how open technologies like microformats and OpenID enable greater discovery of data.
A good overview of the OpenID panel at OSCON: "Is OpenID a panacea, a placebo, or something in between? Opposing viewpoints took turns on center stage Wednesday afternoon at OSCON 2008. The session entitled "A Critical View of OpenID" started off …
The ORG have released their report into the London mayoral elections. “there is insufficient evidence available to allow independent observers to state reliably whether the results declared in the May 2008 elections for the Mayor of London and the…
The heartening story of a mother who allows her child some independence instead of living in fear of a Black Swan.
David Recordon shares his first impressions of Google App Engine.
Every Google account can now be an OpenID login thanks to this app built with the Google App Engine.
A great narrative by Peter Nixey detailing the ups and downs of launching a web app (Clickpass in this case).
The first of the We Tell Stories series is online. It's a clever piece of storytelling using Google Maps to full effect.
Aleks pointed me to this sort-of ARG involving authors in London. Could be good fun.
A nice summary of the technologies presented at my SXSW panel.
Tantek talks about the importance of open media for the longevity of data.
Looks like Flickr has some interesting plans around OpenID. Our reporter Simon Willison is on the scene.
Chris says that URLs are people too: "You’ve got my URL, now, tell me, what else do you really need?"
The ORG turn a Newsnight interview into hypertext, thereby strengthening the message exponentially.
Brian's article on portable social networks is a clear and concise introduction to the subject with explanations of the technologies involved.
A new site to track the building blocks of portable social networks: OpenID, OAuth, hCard, XFN and more.
Brian Oberkirch's presentation from Webmaster Jam looks excellent.
Six Apart are getting ready to make portable social networks a reality. Watch this space for code.
Another take on social network portability.
If you missed it at XTech in Paris, here's a chance to see Gavin Bell's excellent musings on identity and consolidation from a talk he gave at Google.
From the people who brought you Ficlets comes a nice app for creating personal timelines. Microformats and OpenID support included.
Bobbie draws up a list of UK startups to keep an eye on. Moo is here of course but so is Dopplr.
Kevin Lawver has implemented portable social networks by mashing up OpenID and microformats in Rails. Read the presentation and download the code.
This is the secret I've been keeping ever since I visited Six Apart a few weeks back: Movable Type is going open source.
Pausing for breath is for pussies. Simon's slides illustrate how to pack everything including the OpenID kitchen sink into 45 minutes.
May 31st and June 1st are the dates for this year's Reboot in Copenhagen. Get on the site to suggest speakers and talks for the topic, "Human."
This is just about one of the geekiest things I've ever seen. A crop circle of the Firefox logo. This is not Photoshopped.
An interesting looking lightweight framework for PHP.
Audio from Reboot 7. Ben Hammersley, Cory Doctorow and more.
Slides from Ben Hammersley's talk at Reboot 7 in Copenhagen. I can't wait for the MP3.
This is the plain vanilla look.
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