I love you, I hate you

May 17, 2007 at 3:50 PM
3 comments

Edit: I decided to update these with some qualification. Maybe that will make me sound like less of a douche.

Some online services I love and use:
Freshbooks - Great interface. Frequent updates. It does a lot for free but they have a solid business model so I feel like I can depend on them down the road as my business grows.

Netflix - The website takes a rather straightforward task (adding movies to a list) and makes it something I look forward to doing every few days. Its movie recommendations so far have been spot on. It has helped me discover a lot of movies and films that I wouldn't have seen otherwise. ALso, the new Watch Now feature surprised me.

GMail - Tracking email throughout the day used to be a chore. The GMail interface really works with my lifestyle. It handles multiple location scenarios easily. The added bonus of having it hosted @gloryfish.org is icing on the cake.

Skype - Free online voice and video chat. The call quality is fantastic. It has made it easy and convenient to keep in touch with family all over the country.

Some online services that are cool but I don't use much:
Joost - A nice effort. Almost there. The quality and speed of the video delivery is very good. I would like to see more configuration/personalization options in the client. There isn't much on the service right now that keeps me coming back.

Yahoo! Pipes - Oh man. Yahoo! Pipes is awesome. The interface design is a tour de force for Yahoo's designers/developers. The power and flexibility of this tool is only marred by its dependence on many other servers. Combining more than a few feeds can be painfully slow. Debugging a large pipe is nearly impossible. (my Leo Laporte stalker pipe)

GloryFish.org - Great concept. Failing in its execution. The writers are usually interesting but they never write. The podcast started out rough but had potential. It's a shame they never took it any further. How long has the first web comic been on the front page? The site really only survives due to it's active forum goers.

Some online services I hate:
MySpace
Facebook
SecondLife

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[this is good]

Like the downplay of your own website. That was a nice poke. If the forum is what people want, how can you get them involved in the other aspects of the site. Or how can you make the forum, the main concern of the site. Forum is much like blog in a way. It's a conversation. Many times about nothing important but you need to find the nerve or the topic that will really interest your audience and set it free. How can gloryfish change lives? hmm...

Yeah, the main problem with the site was scope. We never focused on one topic because everyone's interests are different. I've been considering rebuilding the site into just a forum. That project has taken a while because I can't charge myself an hourly rate so I don't usually make the time for it. :)

Hey at least your learning things and understanding code and things like that. And somewhat keeping in touch with friends that way. Google and MySpace had to start somewhere! Hang in there and keep making changing it until it fits.

I love you, I hate you

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