tools: July 2004 Archives

Steven Johnson was saying, just a couple of weeks ago:

Because what I need now in my iPod is not more storage space, or Mini-style color designs -- what I need is wi-fi. I want my iPod to double as an audio remote control when I'm sitting in my living room. I want to be able to call up any song on any computer in home network, and direct it to any set of speakers, right from the iPod scrollwheel.

I don't know that it's gotten to that point just yet, but the folks at engadget (a link caught at boingboing) now have a how-to column about turning your iPod into a universal infrared remote control. Pretty speedy service, and damn cool, to boot.

As a couple of others have observed already, Bloglines has been up and running now for a year. In addition to a new site design that adds a few nice touches, they've added a service called clipping or clip blogs:

And we're really excited to introduce our biggest new feature:

Bloglines Clip Blogs

• The easiest way to create a blog
  
• Fully integrated with all your Bloglines news feeds
  
• One-click blogging from any Web page
  
• Subscribe to friends' Clip Blogs and get notified of updates
  
• Simply click on the 'My Blog' tab to set up your Bloglines Clip Blog
  
• Best of all, your Clip Blog is completely free -- just like the rest of Bloglines!

In addition, Saved Items have been renamed to Clippings, and you can easily move private, clipped items to your public blog and back again.

Interesting stuff. As Will implies, Bloglines has taken a pretty big step in the Furl direction with this, and I think it's a smart one. I like also how they're enabling various social features in their service--there was a point where I was thinking about switching over to Shrook, but Bloglines is keeping me loyal...