Similarities Between A Blog And Forum

During the month of September, I started a poll that asked the question, “Should I add forums to this site?” 9 of you voted NO while 6 of you voted YES. Which means that I will not be adding forums to this site anytime soon. However, after giving it some thought, I began to realize that perhaps, the differences between a forum and this site are minimal. Let me explain.

Those of you who are familiar with the way forums work, you have Threads or Posts, Replies, Subscriptions, Ongoing discussions across multiple topics,Moderators, ect. Let’s see if I can graphically display how both a forum and my blog are alike.

One thing that really separates forums from a blog is that a blog is somewhat defined by one person’s voice. A forum gives users the ability to create ongoing discussions about various topics. I think I may have found a solution to this problem through a plugin called TDO Mini Forms This plugin creates a SUBMIT A POST page and provides me with a wealth of options such as controlling who sees the form and who doesn’t, it’s own administration area to confirm or deny submissions, Ajax widgets to organize how the form looks, and much more.

This plugin solves the problem of only myself being the one to create new conversations. This is an ongoing experiment and I want to see if any of our readers out their would like to contribute to this site by writing a post that deals with the topics we already cover. Keep in mind though, I’m the one and only administrator for this site and if the post is beyond the subject matter that this site covers, I will have to reject it.

I’d love to hear some feedback regarding this topic and the ability to submit a post to the site to be put on public display. Is it a good idea or is it a bad one? Perhaps I have lost my mind?

Joost Goes Live With Public Beta

Joost.com Logo

Joost has officially launched it’s public beta. This means that you no longer need a special invite in order to use the service. It must be stated however that Joost is still a BETA product, so be weary of whatever bugs or quirky UI stuff you may encounter. This version of Joost does contain a couple of user interface enhancements such as search and better navigation across videos in the site. But what may be the biggest offering is the Joost API, which is now open for developers to create third-party applications. So expect to see numerous Joost based widgets popping up on websites in the near future.

I wonder if LocateTV can tell me when programs will be aired on Joost. I’ll have to look into that. In the meantime, if you want to watch an interview that was conducted with the CEO of Joost, check it out on NewTeeVee

15 Free Pro Horizontal CSS Menus

CSSplay has put together a list of 15 professional looking horizontal based CSS menus. The menus use the sliding door technique so that each menu item will fit the associated text. The menus use professional grade graphics and since they use CSS, it wouldn’t be hard for you to customize these menus for your own needs. Here are a few samples.

Check out the entire list of 15 which are free for download. When your finished, come back and let us know which one was your favorite.

FriendFeed Another LifeStreamer

As reported by TechCrunch today, four ex-googlers have started their own company called FriendFeed. FriendFeed aims to aggregate user data that is usually stored on a wide variety of social networking sites, into one easy to manage stream of data. The presentation of this data looks like it will be displayed in the same way that the Facebook News Feed is shown.

The question I have for all of you is, Hasn’t Jaiku been one of the first to accomplish this feat in the form of RSS feeds and aggregating them to one account? Jaiku even gives you the oppurtunity to pick which feeds of an individual that you want to subscribe to.

Because this company was started by four ex-googlers, do you think this company will take off like a rocket or will it sink like an anchor?

EdTags Targeted Education Information

EdTags looks like it could be a valuable resource for students and educators alike. Edtags is a social bookmarking site where users tag anything having to do with education whether it’s a podcast, essay, or web related news. Here is a video I found highlighting the various aspects of this new service. Their website is http://www.edtags.org but I have had trouble connecting to the site.

Migratr 0.9.3 Released

Migratr.com Logo Migratr 0.9.3 has been released which fixes numerous bugs which were discovered after importing a large photo collection. These fixes include, SmugMug importing, Crashing on the beginning of export, and some other wacky stuff. Alex has also posted a feature poll where users can tell him what features they would like to see added to the program. Download the latest release here.

JiWire Wins Skype Mashup Cup 07

JiWire HotSpot finder has won the U.S. Skype Mashup Cup for 2007. This Skype addon lets users locate WiFi hotspots from anywhere in the world.

JiWire In Action

Through Skype, JiWire searches over 140,000 hotspots spread out amongst 134 countries. Supposedly the largest database of hotspots in the world. JiWire searches for both paid and free hotspots and also gives users the ability to search by location such as a city name, zip code or by using a specific keyword. What will likely become the most used feature is the ‘Find Me‘ button. This will find WiFi hotspots in and around your current location.

To give this Skype addon a try, visit The Skype Extras Page

Homework Collaboration Via Shvoong Homework

If your a student still in school, your going to like this service. Shvoong Homework provides students with the ability to organize and share homework resources.

Shvoong Homework allows students to type-up their schoolwork, keep it organized, and then share it with individuals, classmates, the entire class or no one at all, all within the confines of their online service. Shvoong claims that they have no intention on replacing the real thing whether it be text books, essays, magazines ect, but rather serve as a tool, to help students wade through the vast amount of information that is widely available at their finger tips.

ShvoongHomework In Action

Some of the noticeable features of Shvoong Homework include:

My TimeTable: Let’s students create a Timetable for their personal class schedules using an intuitive wizard. Students can indicate specific lessons, add exam schedules and attach a teacher’s name. Each Timetable is linked to Notebooks and allows Students to easily navigate between their Timetable and any particular Notebook they created. Students can even receive email alerts for upcoming assignments and exams.

My Notebook: Let’s students write-up their class notes, homework, summaries, and exam preparations. Of course the number of Notebooks students can create and the amount of content in each Notebook is unlimited.

Languages: Shvoong Homework supports an amazing 30 languages. These even include such languages as Hebrew, Hindi, Portuguese, Polish, Arabic, and Farsi.

When asked why Shvoong was created, CEO Eyal Rivlin responded with,

“We spoke to teachers who were frustrated with their students’ lack of dedication to homework. We then spoke to the kids and asked them what would make doing homework more fun. We then took all their feedbacks and created Shvoong Homework.”

“With so many distractions it’s no wonder kids don’t do as much homework as they should. We decided to revolutionize homework and make it fun. The result is Shvoong Homework.”

Shvoong Homework is Privately owned and fully funded by Avi Shaked, founder and main shareholder of 888.com.

I’ve sent in an email to Shvoong Homework wanting to know how they plan on preventing students from copying each others work over the net. Whenever I see the words Homework and Sharing in the same sentence, I think COPY. This post will be updated later today once I find out the answer.

Web 2.0 Photography Contest Winner

Jeffro2pt0 Web 2.0 Photography Contest Today is the last day of the month and so it’s time I announce the winner of the Real World Web 2.0 Photography Contest. The winning submission was sent in by vipworld The winning entry features an artistic shot of someone holding an Ipod. The Ipod features a pastel red color as well as rounded corners, two facets which make up most web 2.0 websites.

There were only two entries over a two month period leading me to believe one of two things. Either web 2.0 doesn’t PHYSICALLY exist outside of the internet or, I didn’t promote this contest well enough. Considering how many views this post has as well as the amount of folks finding this page via Google searches, I think it’s safe to say that the majority of concepts and things attributed to Web 2.0 are within the confines of the internet.

Thanks to all who joined the group and spreading the word. Congratulations to Vipworld. Your 1 Year Flickr Pro Membership has already been purchased. Enjoy!

Jeffro2pt0.com Undergoes More Updates

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but I have had an inkling to change some things around here. Some of those things include the commenting system. Not only did it look like an eyesore, but it lacked a few features that I have been wanting to implement for some time now. I have implemented SezWho, a plugin and service which highlights user reputation. Users can rate your comment up or down which after a period of time, can be known as your reputation. Readers of this site can now minimize or maximize individual comments, sort comments based on ratings and rate each other, including me. I’ve also completed some design work which is not entirely finished. I still have a couple more design tweaks I would like to do before I can consider this area of the blog done.

Over the weekend, I decided to try out the idea of having a shoutbox. I realize the word SHOUTBOX is so 1990′s but it’s still one of the easiest ways of leaving feedback without having to go through a series of steps. Check out the chat area on the sidebar on the right hand side of this site and leave a message. This is just one more way of allowing me to have two way communication with the readers of this site.

I finally added a little bit of information to the CONTACT ME page. I’ve added some text before the contact form and I’ve also put up a list of other services/networks that I have an account on in which you can get in contact with me. So far, there are over 20 ways of getting in touch with me. Please don’t use them all at the same time :)

That’s the realm of updates for now. I’ll be finishing up the rest of the changes tomorrow with a follow up post letting you know what’s up.

Thoughts and Insanity From Jeff

The Musings Of Jeff Chandler

Author: Jeffro