Category: Geek Love

I spotted at megnut that Kinja, “a new blog reading tool,” is live today.

I have several issues with this.

1. Kinja? What kind of name is Kinja? You actually expect me to remember that?

2. What does it do that my RSS news reader of choice doesn’t do for me already? (Mmmm… RSS. RSS is goooood…)

3. What does it do that other services such as BlogLines can’t do for me already? (At least I can remember that URL.)

4. Is it getting press attention from the NY Times today (password required, free) just because Nick Denton is the president of the company?

5. Can you only read excerpts of blogs through it? Because I really hate only getting experts. I have even evangilized in the past to get people to beef up their RSS feeds to full posts if not full posts with comments. Excerpts annoy me.

6. Back to my original point, and the question others seem to have too (even Nick admits it’s not original) – is it all just hype? What can Kinja (ugh, I hate that word) do for me?

I just don’t get it. Can someone please explain why I should want or need this? I’m all about new gadgets, but Kinja just doesn’t seem to have what I need.

I love my TiVo. I really, really love my TiVo. I think everyone should have a TiVo (I have converted at least 10 people that I can think of to being TiVottes so far.) TiVo rocks.

The point of all of this? I am just giddy with glee to see that you can buy a refurbished 40 hour TiVo for $99 after rebate. The 80 hour TiVo is only $199.

TiVo rocks. Now you can have one too.

Just curious – anyone else heading through Houston on their way to Austin for H-Town gathering on Thursday, March 11th in honor of Rannie and Jay’s arrival in Houston the day before – the Pre-pre-kickoff party – and I would love to see you there if you’ll be in town!

If you can’t make it for the gathering but you will be heading through on Friday or later in the week and want to meet up, let me know!

I love having the “on this day” stuff on my sidebar, although I don’t always remember to do it. I actually read the links yesterday, and thanks to that, I discovered that it was the 2 year anniversary of the day that I launched Blogomania! Wow, 2 years. Hard to believe it’s been that long. Best part? There are a ton of clients that I have hosted from the very beginning that are still around. Two years. We should all celebrate!

Need a new host? I can hook you up…

Earlier, thanks to J-Mo Jen, I started browsing through the Well-Designed Weblogs Volume 2. Now don’t get me wrong, there are some really nice sites on that list, and I am sure they have great code integrity. (Something I plan to getting back in to over the next few weeks.) However, I noticed something as I started to scroll down the page.

They all start to look the same.

There are some exceptions on the list, and some are truly unique. I noticed them. Some are prettier then others, and several “new finds” had some cool information – I’ve wandered off in to new lands, and it’s a good feeling. I’m updating my “Cookie Crumbs” over there on the sidebar again in case you have stopped reading them.

But the colors all started to blend together, especially in the middle of the list. The formats were just … the same. Somedays, I just like to see something that stands out. Has some zing. Is different from the rest of the crowd. Content is ultimately king, but having some unique “flavor” to your weblog is important too!