Tumblr vs Blogger: Make Sure You Consider Any Blogger Alternatives

Last month I have decided to create my completely custom Blogger template. I've had a few of different reasons for trying this out, but the main goals were to make it simpler for posting different format posts and also to offer an easier way to consume the content.

Indeed there were many other reasons behind my decision to invest time into creating a custom template: starting with the fact that I wasn't satisfied with the templates and their 'semantic' HTML and probably ending with my curiosity on seeing how complex would it be.

While I'll not walk you through my experience, I'll just tell you that the it was absolutely horrible, main causes being: 1) the documentation is most of the time wrong, 2) the user group is full of completely useless monkeys, 3) most of the time your best bet will be JavaScript (nb while I do like JavaScript I don't think that using it for customizing a template is a decent option).

Anyways, more or less I have finally got what I was looking for. But at that moment I have realized that I was trying to hack a system to make it behave and look like already existing solutions: Tumblr, Posterous and maybe others that I haven't heard of. After observing my own posting habits, but also how my visitors have consumed the blog, I have decided to experiment more seriously with Tumblr.

In just a couple of hours, I've been able to completely setup my new Tumblr: Think differently big. And in case you are wondering why it took me so long, I'll tell you that I've spent a lot of time just deciding which one of the absolutely gorgeous Tumblr themes to use, revamp the chosen theme HTML (nb while I completely suck at almost everything related to design and CSS, I am a maniac in what regards displaying information and HTML), integrating Tumblr bookmarklet with Google Reader and testing MarsEdit support for Tumblr.

At least for the next month, all my posting activity will happen over there, so now I'm inviting you to my Tumblr experiment: Think differently big. Thanks!

The Bell-Shaped Blog Interactions

In a guest post over Louis Gray's blog, Hutch Carpenter presents the 4 blogging phases and the way they are influencing the level of 7 different types of interactions with the readers:

And what are "interactions"?

• Allowing blog comments
• Responding to blog comments
• Commenting on FriendFeed about your blog
• Tweeting links to your blog posts
• Digging your blog
• Stumbling your blog
• Pimping your blog on others' blogs

Judging on the level of interaction I get, I'd like to conclude that my blog falls in the "industry legend" category, but for doing so I'd have to include the tons of spam I've received. Otherwise, I'll remain on the border between a newbie and the one still trying to figure it out :-).

Digg: I Want My PageRank Back!

Update 1: I think there is a possible fix for the Digg new behavior. It involves the usage of a new HTML directive in the form:

  <link rel="canonical" href="ORIGINAL_URL" />

but I don't know how many search engines are using this information. For more details about rel='canonical' see the Resource section.

Update 2: There is already a PHP script for denying access to the page when it is referred from a short Digg link. You can find it here. The idea is simple: look for the Referer request header.

Update 3: Engadget is blocking DiggBar.

Update 4: Some are saying DiggBar is not evil.

You've been blogging for a while and with some blood, sweat and tears you've been able to build some PageRank , so your blog would sometimes really appear on the Google searches.

You've also tried to bring more traffic to your blog, so you've submitted your stories to Digg, Reddit, etc hoping that someday you'll reach the homepage and that will generate thousands of visits.

Anyways, by launching the DiggBar and introducing the new internal URLs for stories posted on Digg, Digg has decided that getting some traffic from Digg is enough reward for your posts and your PageRank is worth nothing. By loading your page in an IFRAME they made sure you'll get no PageRank at all and that all future search engine generated traffic will go to Digg.

I do understand that you need a way to feed your well overstuffed company, but I'd expect something else from a 'web legend' like Kevin Rose. Thanks for understanding the web Digg!

Digg-ing this post entry requires my prior consent.

By the way: I've already removed Digg from the initial bookmarks options for this blog.

Resources:

• About rel=canonical
• PHP script for blocking Digg

Rolinks 2009-03-26

• Social networks are just another form of losing time except for those working on online or marketing: De ce au succes reţelele de socializare online?. You can also read my crazy hypothesis posted as a reply to the post.
• The Romanian blog readers are young, rich and beautiful: Profilul cititorului roman de bloguri, conform studiului STANDOUT (nb the article refers to a survey run in 2009 and not 2008 as it appears in the post)
• Romanian Entrepreneurs are no pitch gurus: Cum îşi susţin noii antreprenori prezentările?. Cristi Manafu is recommending a post on how to get better: 20 tips for better conference speaking
• Microsoft getVIRTUALwow. (nb: Most probably I'll participate at the webinar.) See the resource section for more coverage of getVIRTUALnow.

Resources:

• getVIRTUALnow: ce stiti despre virtualizare?
• Virtualizare: ce este si cu ce se maninca ea?
• Virtualizare: noi dezvaluiri pe YouTube
• getVIRTUALnow: Sa trecem la treaba! (2)
• Specialistii in virtualizare ies la iveala

Java on Google App Engine? Some Speculating, But There May Be Some Truth

Today I was reading two articles on TechCrunch and GigaOm speculating on the upcoming support for Java on Google App Engine.

There are a few reasons (presented below) why I cannot call these 2 articles pure speculations, but I really doubt that GigaOm has any confirmation about it even if they're saying they have one: (TechCrunch doesn't make any such claims):

We are trying to get more details. [...] but we can now confirm that it is going to happen. We have have confirmed the news and expect the announcement later this spring,

Have you heard before of any unofficial confirmations coming from Google about their unreleased projects?

Anyways, let's see why I do think that Java may be in fact the next language on the Google App Engine.

Already on the roadmap

Google has already announced in their App Engine roadmap that they will add support for another language and as we already know, at Google the 3 official languages are: Python, Java and C. Python is already available on the Google App Engine, so Java has at lest a 50% chance of being the next.

Top Requested Language

By looking at the Google App Engine Issue tracker you'll notice that quite a few languages are requested by the community and Java is leading with 2000+ votes:

Language	Votes
Java	2039
PHP	1796
Ruby	1456
Perl	1207

While I don't believe Google will base their decision on a community request, the community is sometimes good at figuring the future.

Virtual Machines vs Native Code

Java is running on the virtual machine and controlling a virtual machine is definitely easier than restricting/limitting native code. Remember that what currently runs on Google App Engine is a reduced Python.

Secondly, Google has experience building a custom Java VM: see Android's Dalvik.

Java is the Most Popular Language

I know this might be debatable, but there are many reports showing Java as being the most popular language.

So, while I think those 2 articles are speculating, things may in fact become true and Java will be available on Google App Engine.

Resources:

• TIOBE Programming Community Index for March 2009
• Android Dalvik VM
• Get Ready For Java On AppEngine
• Java: Coming Soon to Google’s App Engine