Are You Using BlogLines? You May Need to Read This Post…
Posted on Sep 21, 2010 | Categories: Collaboration, Enterprise2.0, General Interest, In the News, Innovation, Personal KM, Productivity Tools, Social Enterprise | 1 Comment
Now that my blog is up and running again, after the recent debacle I have described in this other blog post, and that regular blogging, once again, has resumed, I thought it would be a good chance as well to remind folks about an important change that will be happening very soon and which may affect some of you as well: BlogLines will shut down its doors on October 1st. Are you ready for the move? You probably should! Specially, if you are one of the 200+ folks who are subscribed to this blog’s feed. After that date you won’t be able to get updates from it anymore. Time to prepare…
That’s right! According to the statistics coming from Feedburner, it looks like there are a couple of hundred folks out there who are subscribed to http://elsua.net through BlogLines and it may be a good time to prepare the transition into other RSS Feed Readers, if you would want to continue syndicating the content from this blog. My good friend, Jack Vinson, has put together a rather helpful and insightful blog post, where he has shared some of the alternatives that folks may want to consider, whether you would be interested in online or offline feed reading. It’s a good read and I highly recommend it.
You may be wondering what my RSS feed reader recommendation may well be, right? Well, I actually use a combination of several RSS aggregators, since I decided, a long while ago, to load balance the amount of feeds I’m subscribed to, so that it wouldn’t be that overwhelming time and time again. So under Windows (I still have a T400) I am using RSS Owl, which is nicely integrated into my flow with Lotus Notes (You see? *So* much more than just email! hehe).
On my Mac, where I spent most of my days nowadays anyway, I use a variety of them: Opera, Cyndicate and Vienna for my offline feed reading and specially for those RSS feeds behind the firewall. I use Opera and Cyndicate for the immediate daily internal reads and Vienna for the good-to-read-at-some-point, but-not-really-in-a-rush-at-the-moment. Also use Vienna for researching articles published by others that I know I may need to reference at some point in time.
For my external RSS feed reading habits I am currently using NetNewsWire (Offline) and Google Reader (For which I use a couple of user interfaces through iPad apps I have described already on several blog posts). I use the latter as well with two accounts: one with the essential newsfeeds I go through every day, and another one with the general feeds I have been following over the course of the years. Both accounts serve the purpose as well of having an online backup of the feeds, which allows me then to bring them with me wherever I may well go, which is when the iPad becomes indispensable as a powerful content aggregator. Not to mention as well how often I search for relevant content within either account, which I then include as part of my blog posts over here.
So, as you can see, perhaps a little bit too complex, but it works for me. It’s the feed reading habit that I have learned to grow and treasure over the last 8 years, when I subscribed to my first blog and the rest is history. It’s a system that works for me, and don’t expect anyone else to take it up for themselves. However, one thing I have learned throughout the years is to let go with that obsession of wanting to read each and everyone of them all and reach “inbox zero“ on my feed readers day in day out. Well, that’s no longer happening. Somehow, by immersing rather heavily inside my social networks I have learned to trust them over time quite a bit and a good chunk of my feed reading habits is already pre-filtered by them. They keep finding the really good stuff I am interested in, and, most importantly, they keep sharing it across! Probably just as much as I do with them (I would hope). So instead of focusing on striking another “inbox zero”, I just focus on the content that matters to me and the rest I just let it go. Yes, once again, that river of news and the continuous flow of the Social Web…
Ok, hope you may find all of that information useful and helpful, but enough with that diversion, don’t you think? hehe … Like I was saying at the beginning, BlogLines is about to shut down in the next few days and you may need to start looking for another strategy to get your RSS feeds elsewhere, if you are still using it. The one for this blog is over here, so if you would want to move it across to your new RSS feed reader that would be the URL address you would need to use…
Hope to see you on the other side, after BlogLines is there no more!, to keep up with the conversations… Oh, and a good bunch of folks out there are also subscribed to the blog via email with the wonderful service of FeedBlitz. That is, indeed, another option; remember email going back to its roots? A messaging and notification system of sorts? Exactly! So here you have got the URL address you can use to subscribe to the blog through email.
Thanks again for sticking around and hope the transition on October 1st, or sooner!, goes smooth for those of you who are still using BlogLines. Good luck!
Technorati Tags: BlogLines, Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, iPad, KM, Knowledge Management, Knowledge Sharing, Mac, Personal Knowledge Management, PKM, Productivity, Productivity Tools, RSS, RSS Feed Readers, RSS Feeds, Social Capital, Social Computing, Social Media, Social Networking, Social Networks, Social Software, Feedburner, Jack Vinson, RSS Owl, Cyndicate, Vienna, NetNewsWire, Google Reader, GReader, Opera, Sunsets, FeedBlitz, Subscription, Aggregators, Productivity Tips, Syndication
Treasuring the Moment That Changed Our Lives for Good
Posted on Aug 13, 2010 | Categories: Fun Stuff and Musings, General Interest, In the News, Metablogging | 4 Comments
Today has been one of those days where my social periscope has been down for most of the day. Meetings galore at work, on the one hand, and an intense heat wave hitting the Canary Islands at the moment, on the other hand, haven’t made things too easy for me so far in the external social networking spaces, so I decided that, for today’s blog post, I’m actually going to do a little bit of light blogging and reflect about something that doesn’t have much to do with the usual topics that I get to talk about over here and, instead, I am just going to spend a few minutes remembering and rejoicing around one of those magical moments in someone’s lifetime that one gets to enjoy from something, an unforgettable event, that took place a month and a day ago, exactly, and which still lingers around in our collective memory. At least, that one from a whole bunch of us. Witnessing the historical moment of Spain winning the World Cup Final for the first time!
Yes, that’s right! Today is exactly one month and one day since Spain beat The Netherlands in the World Cup Final 1-0 and, when one comes to think about it, it sounds like it all happened a few years back already! And yet, it’s just 4 weeks ago since it happened! So, still we have got another 4 years to enjoy, and savour, these moments of a unique experience that I am sure is going to be quite difficult to repeat. But, still, what an experience, don’t you think?
I am not much of a football fan myself (Have always been a basketball guy! hehe), but one cannot deny the tremendous sense of pride, and happiness, that one gets just remembering that evening on July 11th 2010 when my home country decided to surprise the world and become the world champion far far away from their homeland, doing what they do best: play football! I still get the shivers whenever I bump into an online video that shows and describes the tragedy and drama of scoring the winning goal in the last few minutes of the overtime (Thanks again, Iniesta!) when you knew that we were just this close from going into penalties to decide who was going to be the next champion. That surely would have been unbearable and rather difficult to watch!
As if we didn’t have enough suspense already, right? I mean, I have been waiting for nearly 40 years for something like this to happen. And when you just experience it, you just basically can’t believe that it is happening altogether! Do you know what I mean? It all still looks like it was all just a wonderful dream! One that you get to play on the playstation or something! And yet, it’s true. It happened. Spain eventually became the world champions of something that we have been pursuing for decades already! Well, not anymore. That’s it! We are now done! We finally got that wonderfully delightful little star on our camiseta roja (red shirt) showing all of that furia we have been accumulating over the course of the years. Now it’s our turn to remember and treasure the moment and enjoy that sense of pride every so often. Nothing wrong with that, right?
Which is why I would like to ask you folks to bear with me on this blog post I’m putting together today, since I realise that it doesn’t have anything to do with the usual topics I have been blogging about all along. But I guess you would have to excuse for this one time to just go, select one of the many many video clips on this topic, watch it, get immersed on that sense of pride, content and happiness once more and share it across with you folks, so that you can have a taster of the kind of emotions that we went through on that evening and which lasted for a few days more! For some of us, it’s still there; rather intense and profound, specially experiencing how such tremendous outcome can definitely influence and change the way a country comes together as a single voice celebrating what promises to be something that we would be sharing with happy smiley faces with our great-great-grandchildren as one of those littles moments in life where we sit back and ponder: Yes, I saw it. I was there. In spirit. But I was there. From across the globe, realising that such wonderful victory will always remain deep in our hearts with that warm and fuzzy feeling one cannot neglect, but embrace and enjoy!
Yes, we are still world champions! It’s hard to believe, for sure. But yes, we are still remembering as it was just yesterday. And that will be like that for many many moons to come. Whether that team manages to win more matches and the odd championship here and there or lose some altogether, there is nothing that will take away what they have already given us a month and a day ago: Yes, The Spaniards Finally Did It!
La Selección Española, Campeona del Mundo Sudáfrica 2010 (Resumen) from J. R. Ferrero on Vimeo.
Thanks for that! You shall not be forgotten … Ever.
(Don’t worry, folks; I am not going anywhere; regular blogging will resume tomorrow, once again! I just needed this nice and lovely break on a rather intense day 
)
Tags: World Cup, #worldcup, South Africa, Championship, Football, Soccer, Final, Spain, Netherlands, Campeones, History, Celebrations, FIFA, UEFA, Tiki-taka, Europe Cup Final, 2010, 2008, España, Orgullo, Pride, Leadership, Dream, Dream Come True, Special Moments, Things That Matter, The Smallest Things, Life, Remembering, Treasuring the Moments, Remembrance, Stories, My Stories
A Partir de Hoy, Red y Libertad
Posted on Jan 12, 2010 | Categories: General Interest, In the News, Innovation, Social Enterprise | Leave a comment
Consideramos imprescindible la retirada de la disposición final primera de la Ley de Economía Sostenible por los siguientes motivos:
1 -Viola los derechos constitucionales en los que se ha de basar un estado democrático, en especial la presunción de inocencia, libertad de expresión, privacidad, inviolabilidad domiciliaria, tutela judicial efectiva, libertad de mercado, protección de consumidoras y consumidores, entre otros.
2 – Genera para Internet un estado de excepción en el cual la ciudadanía será tratada mediante procedimientos administrativos sumarísimos reservados por la Audiencia Nacional a narcotraficantes y terroristas.
3 – Establece un procedimiento punitivo ‘a la carta’ para casos en los que los tribunales ya han manifestado que no constituían delito, implicando incluso la necesidad de modificar al menos 4 leyes, una de ellas orgánica. Esto conlleva un cambio radical en el sistema jurídico y una fuente de inseguridad para el sector de las TIC (tecnologías de la información y la comunicación). Recordamos, en este sentido, que el intercambio de conocimiento y cultura en la Red es un motor económico importante para salir de la crisis como se ha demostrado ampliamente.
4 – Los mecanismos preventivos urgentes de los que dispone la ley y la judicatura son para proteger a toda la ciudadanía frente a riesgos tan graves como los que afectan a la salud pública. El Gobierno pretende utilizar estos mismos mecanismos de protección global para beneficiar intereses particulares frente a la ciudadanía.
Además la normativa introducirá el concepto de ‘lucro indirecto’, es decir: a mí me pueden cerrrar el blog porque ‘promociono’ a uno que ‘promociona’ a otro que linka a un tercero que hace negocios presuntamente ilícitos.
5 – Recordamos que la propiedad intelectual no es un derecho fundamental contrariamente a las declaraciones del ministro de Justicia, Francisco Caamaño. Lo que es un derecho fundamental es el derecho a la producción literaria y artística.
6 – De acuerdo con las declaraciones de la ministra de Cultura, esta disposición se utilizará exclusivamente para cerrar 200 webs que presuntamente están atentando contra los derechos de autor. Entendemos que si éste es el objetivo de la disposición, no es necesaria, ya que con la legislación actual existen procedimientos que permiten actuar contra webs, incluso con medidas cautelares, cuando presuntamente se esté incumpliendo la legalidad. Por lo que no queda sino recelar de las verdaderas intenciones que la motivan, ya que lo único que añade a la legislación actual es el hecho de dejar a la ciudadanía en una situación de grave indefensión jurídica en el entorno digital.
7 – Finalmente consideramos que la propuesta del Gobierno no sólo es un despilfarro de recursos, sino que será absolutamente ineficaz en sus presuntos propósitos y deja patente la absoluta incapacidad por parte del Ejecutivo de entender los tiempos y motores de la era digital.
La disposición es una concesión más a la vieja industria del entretenimiento en detrimento de los derechos fundamentales de la ciudadanía en la era digital.
La ciudadanía no puede permitir de ninguna manera que sigan los intentos de vulnerar derechos fundamentales de las personas, sin la debida tutela judicial efectiva, para proteger derechos de menor rango como la propiedad intelectual. Dicha circunstancia ya fue aclarada con el dictado de inconstitucionalidad de la ‘ley Corcuera’ (o ‘ley de patada en la puerta’).
El Manifiesto en defensa de los derechos fundamentales en Internet, respaldado por más de 200 000 personas, ya avanzó la reacción y demandas de la ciudadanía antes la perspectiva inaceptable del Gobierno.
Para impulsar un definitivo cambio de rumbo y coordinar una respuesta conjunta, el 9 de enero se ha constituido Red SOStenible, una plataforma representativa de todos los sectores de la sociedad civil afectados. El objetivo es iniciar una ofensiva para garantizar una regulación del entorno digital que permita expresar todo el potencial de la Red y de la creación cultural respetando las libertades fundamentales.
En este sentido, reconocemos como referencia para el desarrollo de la era digital la Carta para la innovación, la creatividad y el acceso al conocimiento, un documento de síntesis elaborado por más de 100 expertos de 20 países que recoge los principios legales fundamentales que deben inspirar este nuevo horizonte.
En particular, consideramos que en estos momentos es especialmente urgente la implementación por parte de gobiernos e instituciones competentes de los siguientes aspectos recogidos en la Carta:
1 – Las/os artistas como todos los trabajadores tienen que poder vivir de su trabajo (referencia punto 2 ‘Demandas legales‘, párrafo B. ‘Estímulo de la creatividad y la innovación’, de la Carta);
2 – La sociedad necesita para su desarrollo de una Red abierta y libre (referencia punto 2 ‘Demandas legales‘, párrafo D ‘Acceso a las infraestructuras tecnológicas’, de la Carta);
3 – El derecho a cita y el derecho a compartir tienen que ser potenciados y no limitados como fundamento de toda posibilidad de información y constitutivo de todo conocimiento (referencia punto 2 ‘Demandas legales‘, párrafo A ‘Derechos en un contexto digital, de la Carta);
4 – La ciudadanía debe poder disfrutar libremente de los derechos exclusivos de los bienes públicos que se pagan con su dinero, con el dinero publico (referencia punto 2 ‘Demandas legales‘, párrafo C ‘Conocimiento común y dominio público’, de la Carta);
5 -Consideramos necesaria una reforma en profundidad del sistema de las entidades de gestión y la abolición del canon digital (referencia punto 2 ‘Demandas legales‘, párrafo B. ‘Estímulo de la creatividad y la innovación’, de la Carta).
Por todo ello, hoy se inicia la campaña INTERNET NO SERA OTRA TELE y se llevarán a cabo diversas acciones ciudadanas durante todo el periodo de la presidencia española de la UE.
Consideramos particularmente importantes en el calendario de la presidencia de turno española el II Congreso de Economía de la Cultura (29 y 30 de marzo en Barcelona), Reunión Informal de ministros de Cultura (30 y 31 de marzo en Barcelona) y la reunión de ministros de Telecomunicaciones (18 a 20 de abril en Granada).
La Red tiene previsto reunirse con representantes nacionales e internacionales de partidos políticos, representantes de la cultura y legaciones diplomáticas.
Firmado
Red SOStenible
La Red Sostenible somos todos. Si quieres adherirte a este texto, cópialo, bloguéalo, difúndelo.
Hashtags: #RedSOS #manifiesto // Tags: #RedSOS, #manifiesto
