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I just created an RSS feed for my blog using Feedburner. It was actually quite interesting to see how my blog was presented in different RSS readers (Thunderbird, Google Reader and Bloglines) where the textual content is the same but may be presented in many different ways and styles.

I once lost quite a long, rambling blog entry due to some finger trouble in the blogger editor so subscribing to the RSS feed will be a quick and easy way to backup the blog.

Another nice feature of Feedburner is that it will automatically ping a number of sources when the blog is updated.

Creating this blog was an experiment and, somewhat to my surprise, I quite like the concept. So I have decided to host my blog on my Web space over at blueyonder. This isnt because I think Telewests hosting service is any more reliable than blogger (never had any issues at all with blogger) but so I can peruse the Web server logs and referrer statistics that Blueyonder kindly gather for me. The transfer of the blog went surprisingly smoothly and I created a placeholder blog to grab the old namespace on blogger.

Google have launched an online RSS Reader. Like most developments from Google, this looks very professional and fits in with their rapidly growing suite of software products. Although I currently use Thunderbird for reading (a very limited number of) RSS sources and blogs, the use of a Web based service to manage all my information sources, accessible from anywhere, is appealing.

I experimented by setting up one source (BBC News) and one thing about the interface immediately struck me like a thunderbolt !

The use of the 'j' and 'k' keys to move the article list up and down. It is just like the good old trusty (and much maligned) Unix editor 'vi'. Now this may appeal to Unix users but I am not sure whether the new generation of IE users will make of the 'oh but for touch typists, it is so much faster' argument.

I used to use Yahoo Bookmarks which maintains a list of Web sites that I could access from any computer. This was a nice idea but I found I didnt use (or maintain) the bookmarks regularly and the links gradually fell into a state of disrepair. For my most frequently accessed Web sites, I would simply type the start of the address into the browser and simply let auto-complete do its work which was quicker.

A couple of weeks ago, Yahoo launched My Web which overhauled the bookmarks functionality and added the ability to save a copy of the Web page so that the referenced content was preserved in the event that the Web site was subsequently moved or deleted. However, My Web still uses a hierarchical system of folders to store the bookmarks. For example, the Manchester United home page would typically be stored in a folder named 'Sport-Football-Manchester United'.

Then I discovered social bookmarking (Furl, del.ico.us, spurl) which also saves the state of the Web page and maintains a personal, searchable archive (just like My Web). However, the key difference with Furl (et al) is that all Web pages for all users are stored on a central server. For any Web page, Furl can then quickly display similar, related, associated pages which have also been stored by different Furl users. This is what those Web 2.0 people call 'social bookmarking'.

Another difference is that Furl'ed pages does not use a hierarchical structure. Instead, stored pages are simply associated with various tags. So, in the earlier example, the Manchester United home page might be tagged as 'Sport', 'Football' and 'Manchester'. Note that, unlike My Web, the bookmarked Furl page can be associated with multiple categories. Tagging is the key to effective searching with Furl.

This feature is really useful. For example, I am currently interested in using Microsoft OneNote as a single repository to store information, emails, jottings, to do lists, articles, and even Outlook notes. OneNote has a couple of disadvantages; it uses a proprietary format and is a commercial product. So I searched SourceForge and Freshmeat for an OpenSource alternative without much success. Then I discovered KeyNote which looked promising but wasn't much different from using outline mode in Emacs.

Then I stumbled across EverNote and, using Furl, immediately got directed towards some more interesting Web based organiser applications like BackPack, JotSpot and possibly even TiddlyWiki all of which immediately get furled.

Another subtle way that Furl affected my usage was that previously I might stumble across a Web site of interest but could not be bothered to file it as (subconsciously) I didn't want to clutter up my nicely organised bookmarks. With Furl, I tended to add the Web site regardless and simply tag the page as 'Of interest'.

Another possible use for Furl is to capture ideas for blogs. When you see a Web site of interest, simply tag it as 'Ideas for Blog' together with a short comment.

I use Telewest Broadband and today I received an email informing me that my broadband service had been upgraded to from 1MB to 4Mb free of charge. As I am currently paying 25 GBP per month for the broadband connection, it is really a case of Telewest trying to keep up with the competition to avoid customers switching provider rather than a spontaneous act of goodwill.

And as if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, I then noticed that 'Teleport' (TV and video on demand) had appeared on my digital TV service as well. This promised me the chance to pause/rewind any of my favourite TV programs I had missed on the first showing. However, when I scanned the list, the choice was quite limited and fairly uninspiring

• BBC News
• Booze Britain
• EastEnders
• Most Haunted.

In fact, the only two TV programs I would want replayed are 'Lost' and 'Early Doors' so I guess I will stick with the old video recorder technology, record those on to tape and still be able to use those pause/rewind facilities.

Teleport Movies just seemed like FrontRow re-branded but with slightly more films available and the fact that you can choose the start time and view the film over an extended time period.

A lot of people make a lot of money out of customer relationship management (CRM) but here is a real-life example of how customer service affects the relationship with the customer.

A few weeks ago I ordered a wireless USB card and a CD (Antics by Interpol) from Amazon. I received the normal 'Your order has been dispatched' email within 24 hours. I waited for 10 days but nothing turned up which was unusual because normally Amazon deliver pretty promptly (even with the SuperSaver option).

I know the package hasn't been left on my doorstep in the pouring rain by the postman and subsequently stolen as I specified the delivery address as my place of work, specifically, to avoid this.

So I send Amazon a polite email informing them of the problem and asking what can be done.

Amazon replied promptly, helpfully confirming when the package was dispatched and that, unfortunately, there was no way of tracking the item.

Please note that we take full responsibility should any item become lost or damaged while being delivered, and we are more than happy to replace these items at a cost to ourselves. If your package does not arrive by September 23, 2005, please contact us to confirm that it has not been received and that your delivery address is correct for your order, so we can investigate and take the appropriate action.

Now what was interesting about this reply was:

• Amazon actually read my email and answered my specific questions. It was not a standard form letter.
• If, after waiting two weeks and checking the delivery address was correct, the package still did not turn up, Amazon were prepared to send me the goods free of charge for a second time.

Anyway, this story had a happy ending as the package was actually sitting in the post room at work and they had simply forgotten to inform me.

Now, after I made the initial order I discovered I could have got the identical wireless USB card off the shelf for the same price, without any delay in Tesco and I could have saved a whole three pounds (33%) on the CD (at CD-WOW!).

However this excellent customer service gives me a increased level of confidence of buying goods from Amazon. Could I be guaranteed the same response if another, more expensive package from another retailer went missing ?

According to Technorati, a new Web log is created every second which is an amazing statistic and about 55% remain active which is even more staggering.

The creation of my blog was actually a little experiment to see what all the fuss was about and, secondly, to see how long it would take for someone to wander along and be motivated enough to add a comment to the blog.

I did not publicise the blog in any way (mainly because I haven't got any friends) apart from adding it to blogger listing and I was curious to see if it would ever generate any traffic or interest.

So today, one month and eleven days after I created this blog, I received the first comment from someone in Germany. My life is complete - almost.

Recently, I was watching my daughter doing some homework on the PC and noticed that she was listening to music from a radio stream over the Internet, talking to her friends in real-time using Instant Messenger, uploading photos of her holiday to her Web page, ripping music from a CD ready to copy on to an MP3 player and integrating an chart from Excel spreadsheet into a Word document.

A couple of things struck me:-

• Females are indeed better at multi-tasking than men.
• Where was the homework ?

There was an interesting program on ITV last night called The Shot That Shook The World about photographs of historic moments.

9/11¶

Mesmeric, tragic, horrific and yet somehow those images are always compelling. I guess this was the JFK moment for my generation where everyone can remember exactly where they were and what they were doing.

I was working for a small Internet company and a colleague was idly surfing and memorably announced 'A plane has just hit the World Trade Centre'. The internet soon ground to a halt and we watched the tragedy unfold on portable TV in disbelief.

I remember early editions of an English newspaper carried photographs of two people holding hands jumping to their deaths that were subsequently pulled when they realised that this was real people in real life with real mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters.

Sport¶

The Brazil goal against Italy in the 1970 World Cup. My favourite goal of all time. The way Pele flicks the ball to Carlos Alberto. Pure art.

Moon Landing (1969)¶

I remember the whole school being assembled in the hall to watch these grainy images on a black and white TV.

Challenger disaster¶

I visited the Kennedy Centre a few years ago and there is a nice, simple, understated black memorial to all the astronauts who have lost their lives during the space program. Ironically, one was killed in a car crash.

Concorde crash¶

Interesting as this footage was shot by a member of the public from a moving car. This is much more prevalent now with the widespread use camera phones which provided almost immediate access to photos of the London bombings in July 2005.

Hillsborough¶

This wasn't actually featured but those photographs on the front page of The Independent newspaper of ordinary people dying, squashed against the railings in the Leppings Lane terrace at a football match in Sheffield had a big effect on me.

Just submitted my tax return online which was pretty painless and quick. On the final page, I entered some additional information with a minor query. When I submitted the form, there was a data validation error. When I read the error message more carefully, I realised that the carriage return character is not allowed in the free form text box so I removed all of them. However, the form was still rejected until I realised that the question mark character '?' is also not permitted.

So, rather like Tom Kyte, the Inland Revenue is not currently accepting questions.