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Reactions – What if Twitter died
You can tell when someone joins a social network by what they think the network is for. I joined twitter in 2006. No one knew what the network was best at, eventually everyone decided to use it as a conversation tool. When people understood how dynamic conversations could be the network grew. The author of “What if Twitter Died“wrote this:
“it can’t seem to stretch beyond its celebrity, celebrity follower and tech roots. If you aren’t into celebrities or the tech industry, Twitter just isn’t that appealing, especially given all the other options for online social interactions.”
It is clear from this writer’s post that he has not been with twitter since it’s earliest days. His twitter profile indicated that he arrived in 2010. That’s up to two years after the golden age of twitter ended. My previous posts have explored this topic in depth.
While social media focus on marketers and public relations professionals I will keep blogging. It allows me to express myself without providing content for platforms that have destroyed the social dimension.
New unfollow out
Twitter is a dynamic and social conversation tool which ignores borders, timezones and continents. The more time you give to the website the more you get out of it. As more and more people join the site so following passive people makes less and less sense.
Yesterday I downloaded justunfollow out of curiosity and today they come out with updated iOS and Android apps.
Patent Misuse
A recent blog post is bringing people’s attention to a group who want to sue Facebook for patent infringement. The problem with this patent is that it is so broad in it’s language that it would include almost all social networking websites.
An Information and Application Distribution System (IADS) is disclosed. The IADS operates, in one embodiment, to distribute, initiate and allow interaction and communication within like-minded communities. Application distribution occurs through the transmission and receipt of an “invitation application” which contains both a message component and an executable component to enable multiple users to connect within a specific community. The application object includes functionality which allows the user’s local computer to automatically set up a user interface to connect with a central controller which facilitates interaction and introduction between and among users.
From what I understand as a non patent lawyer is that this patent is so broad in scope that it could include all social networking websites.
I Haven’t Had a Proper Night’s Sleep in 85 Days
Since I left Switzerland after doing some work on the 21st of February I haven’t had a proper night’s sleep for 85 days. That’s a long time.
I wish there was a soundproof chamber into which I could go.
What if I designed and built a soundproof bed? Wouldn’t be that complicated.
Alertthingy
I found yet another toy to play with in the form of alerthingy and one question springs to mind. Will this one be able to cope with my stream of actions. It’s an adobe air interface that allows you to keep track of friendfeed. I’ve only started playing with it but it looks like a useful tool for when i’m at home after a day’s work.
Playing with OpenAudible and Audiobookshelf
Last night I finished converting all my audiobooks to a DRM free format. In the process I learned that the m4b format renders much faster than mp3. I spent weeks trying to convert AAX files to mp3 and then by accident I agreed to convert files to m4b and it took the time it took for me to walk on my daily walk to be done.
Migrated to Audiobookshelf
Now that all the files have been converted to mp3 and m4b I have uploaded them to Audiobookshelf. Some files failed to import. The rest imported with ease. The advantage that I now have is that I can browse through my audiobook collection faster than if I use either Audible’s phone app and their website. The other advantage is that my files are self-hosted locally so unless my hard drives fail I have my own copy, as I would if I had bought physical books.
Fiddly
When you’re listening to Audiobooks on a laptop the website works well. When you’re listening on an iOS device the epxerience is slightly more complicated. You need to navigate to the website in a browser, find the book, and then start listening. If you use it for podcasts then it plays one podcast and then you need to select the next. On a computer podcasts play one after another.
Create Users
Audiobookshelf allows you to create users. You can have one that has admin privilieges that is used just to add podcasts and create libraries etc and a second one to use as a user. By seperating the two there is less chance of making a mistake.
You can create multiple libraries for multiple users, so in theory you can create a library per person, for them to upload their own books. You cannot restrict library A to user A, library B to user B etc. You can control whether people can upload, download and more. You can give people access to listen, via the site, but restrict who can download to keep.
And Finally
OpenAudible and Audiobookshelf give us a way to keep the content that we spent money buying for our own personal use. If Amazon or Audible go bankrupt then we do not end up with nothing, after spending 100+ usd per year for content. I like both OpenAudible and Audiobookshelf