Look! Labels!

After what seemed like an eternity, my Blogger account was migrated from Old to New Blogger last Friday night (GMT)!

The transition was, almost, seamless, and proved the edict that one should always backup a template (to a text editor such as bbedit)! For some reason, which I haven't had time nor desire to explore, illegal characters were introduced! However, a quick cut n' paste and, presto, time to start exploring all the new features.

For me, tags have always, literally, been the missing link on my blogs!

A tag is a (relevant) keyword or term associated with or assigned to a piece of information (like picture, article, or video clip), thus describing the item and enabling keyword-based classification of information it is applied to.

The notion of manually adding tags, to existing posts, seemed daunting and arduous in the extreme! And there was no guarantee that the addition of tags would increase Technorati and Google traffic and, by extension, readership. Thankfully, New Blogger introduces Labels (AKA tags) and there's no coding required (a panacea for those of us with heavily customised templates). Labels are available out of the box! Thank you Blogger.

The result? All posts should soon contain relevant tags and, hopefully, improve the reading experience in ways my prose, alone, never could!

Designer Labels (Blogger goes beta)

I'm sure you already know that Google has lifted the wraps off of a substantial upgrade to Blogger! This was foreshadowed by the soft launch of RSS 2.0.

While the majority of users (myself included) await confirmation to migrate their existing accounts. You can get a sneak peek of what's in store for both my blogs here. Labels is a long awaited category/tag mashup that will enrich Technorati listings. Of course template trammels could render things "dunzo" as they say on Laguna Beach!

Please note that at time of writing, there's no auto-detect feature for RSS (amongst other technical foibles), at least until I've augmented the html code.

Uninvited

Every Sunday evening I look forward to the ritual of watching Gilmore Girls (any show that uses the word eviscerate gets my vote). Upon accessing the sky+ planner menu screen, I noticed that Agatha Christie's Poirot had been added! Checking Digital Spy's sky+ forum confirmed that I wasn't the only one to have had an univited Poirot around for tea! The sheer impertinence of the man.

The above posits the question is sky 'soft testing' suggestions a la TiVo? This feature would clearly "add value" to the platform, but does raise the ethical issue of privacy. How many consumers want to have their viewing preferences tracked in this way? sky is already data mining every subscriber who has their box connected to a working telephone line (a contractual obligation for the first 12 months).

Should it ever be officially rolled out, I'd be more comfortable if this was a feature that could be turned on or off. However, I have nothing but good things to say about sky customer care. And the 6 months for 1/2 price sky movie subscription deal is sweet.

Read my earlier post on the aborted sky/TiVo joint venture.

For Arts Sake

A friend suggested that I add an image link to my portfolio site! So, today marks its world premiere. The illustration is based on Batman and features Oscar-winning actress Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny and The Guru).

This morning Adobe announced the release of Photoshop Elements 4.0 for Mac (OS X 10.3 and above). New tools include the Magic Selection Brush, Skin Tone Adjustment, Magic Extractor and Auto Red Eye Removal. However, the application isn't a Universal binary, meaning it runs on Intel Macs using Apple's Rosetta emulation layer.

Existing registered users of Photoshop Elements and PLE can order a discounted upgrade directly from Adobe's store. Don't forget to enter the free postage offer code 7EUND (works in the UK store).

Not to be out done by Adobe. Corel has released a substantial free update to Painter IX. IX 9.5. Although this is not yet a Universal application, Painter now offers support for Rosetta running on Intel-based Macs, including support for the Wacom Intuos 3 and the 6D Art Pen. The software also introduces new features, including new Photo Painting Palettes. Corel should be applauded for avoiding Quark's infamous point update charge.

Be del.icio.us

This isn't an advertising spot for Donna Karan New York (DKNY). Those with a discerning eye will have noticed that all posts now support 'add to del.icio.us and Furl It' social bookmarking!

Social bookmarking is gaining mainstream momentum, enabling consumers to keep, share and discover links, and complements RSS.

The last few days I've exhausted my leisure time researching different methods of integrating social bookmarking: manual and automated. Whilst manual editing affords customization, automation was a priority given that there are nearly 400 archived pages, making the former method unrealistic, and it's the superior option going forward! So, undaunted I searched Google and result.

My next quest is to research and implement Technorati tags transparently.