I started using Delicious again after a one-year hiatus. I am impressed with the new interface. At first, I though they just reskinned the old design – lipstick on a pig, if we are still allowed to use that phrase. After using it for a week, I see that they have made a number of subtle but crucial changes to the user interface.

Today, I am writing about the tagging interface, which is my favorite of these changes. I really like the new interface. I offer some tips on using it effectively, and some recommendations to the design team on further improvements. Continue reading »

When I left Delicious a year ago, I had two simple reasons. First, Delicious was painfully stupidly slow. Second, Delicious had obviously been abandoned by its developers, since it remained stagnant for the previous year despite all the problems. So I moved over to Ma.gnolia which was bright, speedy and engaged with their community. I liked Ma.gnolia, I really did. It had some slick innovative features, like topical user groups. But its tag management was always weak and I’ve got a ton of tags to manage.

Recently Delicious underwent a significant redesign, so I gave them another shot. The UI and visual design have finally been improved. More importantly, Delicious runs quickly again. This improvement made a huge difference in my re-introduction. Importing my bookmarks ran quickly and smoothly. So far, I am pleased. I will write again after I have used it for a while.

To celebrate, I created this lovely tag cloud. Those of you who know me know I think tag clouds are useless. I was wrong: they make great art! Click the image to see the tool I made it with.

One of the unavoidable features of modern professional life is a never-ending stream of email. Over the years I have come up with a few tricks that really help me stay at email nirvana: “inbox zero.” People around here tease me about it, but I have a very tidy inbox. I thought I would share some techniques (tricks) I have found useful. Continue reading »

Okay, new rule! If I select the same preference customization when an application starts ten consecutive times, that application must remember and execute that customization permanently. If not, I get ten dollars from the manufacturer for every subsequent failure. It should remember it on the first try. But ten! Ten is insulting. I think this is a fair rule. You ignore my wishes ten times, you give me ten bucks. It’s more than fair, and it should be part of the ULA. I’m looking at you, Microsoft. Continue reading »

I apparently missed this news back in December. I have been re-watching seasons 1-3 of Battlestar Galactica in anticipation of the fourth and final season. I went to iTunes to sign up for the season pass of downloads… and it’s gone. Apparently NBC wanted $4.99 per episode and Apple said no. In fact, Apple said more than no, cutting NBC off prior to the start of the Fall season rather than waiting for the contract to end in December. Charging $4.99 per episode works out to $100 per season of BSG. Who would pay that? That’s criminal! The six-disc DVD is $45 and the HD-DVD is $100. NBC thinks we will pay inflated HD prices for regular low-fi content? Seriously? Continue reading »