Rubenerd

Google Reader may have taken a tremendous step backwards in usability, but it’s not the first time it’s happened!

Change Numero Uno

When my friends moved from Bloglines to Google Reader around 2007 and I begrudgingly made the switch, I thought the interface was clumsier than the simple UI of Bloglines, but I quickly got used to it. Ironically in the current context of Google+ et al, one of the features I loved about this early Google Reader was its familiar interface with its rounded, friendly, colour coded sidebar.

As I blogged about obsessively at the time, in 2008 the service took a turn for the bland. The colours and rounded edges were replaced with bland, generic shades of blue on a white background. I couldn’t see any justification for what they did other than wanting to appear more "professional"; perhaps symptomatic of the transformation at Google from a fun loving to a more serious company.

In any event, I installed a bunch of Greasemonkey scripts to restore some colour and make the UI more interesting again, and forgot about it!

Google+ Reader

Fast forward again to 2011, and the largely stagnent Google Reader got another makeover, this time by imitating the UI of Google+, their fifth (or was it sixth?) attempt at a social network. Whereas before the UI was salvageable with some user styles, this was a complete rewrite, with large swaths of wasted screen real estate, low contrast lines and ugly monochromatic icons that look like they’ve been lifted from Mac OS X Lion or iTunes 10. Why Apple and Google, why!?

Alex also informed me their iframes (presumably to implement some of their AJAX) weren’t even being delivered over HTTPS, which explained why his Chrome browser and my Firefox browser with NoScript and RequestPolicy refused to render the pages at all!

Shared items (the primary reason I went to Google Reader from Bloglines in 2007) were also replaced with tiny Google +1 buttons.

For some reason I put this picture of Yuki reading a book on one of my old Google Reader posts. I guess I thought it was a metaphor for "reading"… pretty enlightened stuff. But I digress.

We saw this coming

Unfortunately, I think we all saw this coming. Google have tended to afford their various different units with the flexibility to create UIs specific to their products, but thesedays they seem to think generic consistency is more important than functionality. Google+’s design language is being implemented everywhere, regardless of its impact on the utility of their services.

As for the Google +1 buttons over sharing, this was also inevitable, though I think they could have made the transition more elegantly. Why not allow our previously shared items to be converted to +1s, rather than grandfathering all our previous shares and comments?

Again, not to sound like a curmudgeonly old hag who waves kids off his lawn, but this is just further proof that free cloud computing services should always be treated as transient. Feel privileged that you get to use them, because you don’t know how long they’ll be there in their current form or otherwise.

At least to their credit, Google is allowing us to export our stuff. When the uni holidays start, I might get cracking at writing my own replacement to host on Rubenerd.com, a simple RSS and Atom aggregator that accepts OPML lists, exports a feed of shared items and presents a page of them shouldn’t be too hard. Sorry Dave, not a river of news!

I simply couldn't believe it when I realised, but it's been exactly one year and three days since our last Rubenerd Fun Fact! Not only that, but we're up to Fun Fact #100, an auspicious milestone if ever there was one.

So here it is, the fun fact you've waited over a year for! Brace yourself!

Ruben has written 100 fun facts, including this one.

Well, that was an anticlimax.

It's official, I've been put in charge of posting Music Monday on my university's anime club blog! And of course, I abused my position almost immediately by publishing a song very close to my heart as the first one. No prizes for guessing what it is.

Read the full post (External, Anime@UTS) →

I avoid Gawker sites like the plague, but Lifehacker Australia (yay!) had a great article about the act of writing in its How To Harness The Mental And Emotional Benefits Of Regular Writing.

Writing regularly also has meditative benefits. The clarity of mind that comes with getting into "the zone" when writing is a wonderful thing, and you only get there by plugging away. The only way to be a better writer is to write as often as possible.

It helped me! *twitch*

I can speak from experience here, I started podcasting and blogging around 2004. Generally though, I had pragmatic reasons for doing so rather than the whole idea that it would provide alleged mental and emotional benefits.

• I’d always found that if I explained concepts, news stories or ideas with people, I tended to understand things better myself, or see things in a new light. It cannot be understated just how valuable this has been.

• Writing is also a great escape, its something entirely different from what I usually do during the day, and it uses a different part of my brain. I can be mentally exhausted in one area, but still be able to write.

• The thrill of having lovely people comment on your entries, and having your posts picked up by other sites ^_^

• Writing procedures helps me to remember how I do/did things. I used to do this on my dry, technical blog, but started adapting these guide posts with pointless anime screenshots and references to Bird is The Word and putting them here. I figure there are enough boring technical blogs out there, and I thought I’d try something different, even if sometimes I have to put up with nit picky trolls who don’t get my sarcasm or sense of humour!

• So-called blogging experts claimed in 2005 that you needed to focus on only one topic, be professional and have a clear direction to successfully blog. I wanted to prove them wrong!

The main reason I started writing here though was for nostalgia, that thing I've always had an pointless affinity for. From my first post in 2004:

I don’t know, but the idea of keeping a record of my life, however dull it is, might be fun to look at in years gone by!

Are you blogging?

Anyway, I think everyone should blog. Those who claim they can't write or don't have anything interesting to say are masters of copping out, little more ;). Rubenerd.com is proof you don't need talent or interesting ideas to have a blog, and I've written thousands of entries!

As with all sweeping medical claims, I'm somewhat skeptical that blogging directly leads to greater emotional and mental well being, though the LifeHacker article does link to several allegedly professional articles discussing the therapeutic benefits of regular writing and blogging. At the very least, if you don't blog you owe it to yourself to give it a try :).

Image of our beloved Senjougahara Hitagi surrounded by stationary (which may or may not have been used for writing) submitted by あきつ on Pixiv.

It's rather poetic in a way. These signals represent and transmit my livelihood. They facilitated a deep and obsessive interest from a young age inside me. I dedicate much of my life to using and learning about increasingly sophisticated devices that are still based on the primal signals and logic of their predecessors. These signals keep me in touch with friends here and around the world. They dutifully store my ideas, plans and dreams. I might think in decimal, breathe oxygen, eat and sleep, but these signals are just as much a part of my being. I can't imagine my life without them.

Happy Binary Day, the first of three this month! I spent mine doing exams, and ironically I have more due for the third Binary Day, go figure! Hah, that's a pun.

I've been studying so much yesterday and today, I had a nightmare about CSMA/CA. I had to shout down all these hallways before I could walk through them. Andrew Cox knows what I'm talking about.

And now for something, completely different. Well okay, that Monty Python joke didn't work, because the image I billed as being "completely different" preceded the original statement, instead of following it. I so desperately need sleep.

Hey, I also just realised this post had a rhyme in the heading. Swish.

The reasons behind the grounding of all Qantas aircraft aren't nearly as interesting or precedent than the flaw in our transport infrastructure this whole farce has exposed.

I've been writing essays and reports all day, so in lieu of a more detailed post I'll merely say: I can haz high speed rail now?! Australia has several of the most crowded air lanes in the world; high speed rail wouldn't replace air travel, but it'd sure relieve some of the strain. Not that it'll ever happen.

In the meantime, Singapore Airlines is infinitely better anyway, as I've always said. Not that I'm biased or anything. Photo by Phillip Capper.

Since unveiling Ruby-Tan to the world early this month as the official new Rubenerd.com mascot, the outpouring of responses has been nothing short of incredible. I've had tweets from people, emails, comments on newsgroups, SMSs from people I haven't talked to in years, and even skywriting (I assume).

This latest tribute though takes the cake; Ruby-Tan now has some real fan art! From
oshibanashiori, which I just saw in The Google Readers:

Inevitably, if you’re going to have a mascot, you’re going to get fanart.

She’s too cute not to draw. >w< I hope I did her justice.

Very much so!

In other news, I wish I could draw and use vector software. The last thing I designed was the logo for the site, which was a modified version of my "corporate" logo I had in primary school. Needless to say… I'm glad I'm a developer XD

I needed a title for a software prototype yesterday. I should have just let a CAPTCHA name it for me.

I once admired HP greatly, and I have a bullet proof solution to their problems!

With the removal of Leo Apotheker and appointment of Meg Whitman as the new CEO of HP, the company continues it's seller soap opera run in the industry. Michael Dell continues to gloat from the sidelines, and the rest of the industry moves on. Nothing new to see here, move on, buy more popcorn!

Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung

First, it's hardly surprising Meg reversed some of Leo's decisions. Leo was the former CEO of SAP, the enterprise automation company based out of Germany, so it was to be expected he'd want to mould HP into such a business. Ew, mold. Commodity computers with low profit margins and consumer tablets were probably seen as a distraction from "pulling an IBM" and turning HP into an IT services company. Problem is, HP is neither SAP or IBM, and there was little evidence to suggest HP could move in that direction, at least from any of the people I know who've worked there.

Meg's decision to reverse the decision to stop selling PCs may have nothing to do with dollars and cents business though, she may just want to differentiate herself from the previous guy, and assuage nervous shareholders that her different management style will get results. Will anyone bite? You've got to think they've spooked some potential customers!

Certainly it's hard to see them having many fans at this point. This is most tragic, given that they seem intent on moving off WebOS to Windows 8 on their tablets. Say what you will about iOS and Android, but at least they don't need loud fans to run cool enough!

Ruben Media Consulting Pte. Ltd. Sdn. Bhd. GmbH

Of course, while we're talking about distractions, I'm thinking HP are missing out on the biggest and most lucrative diversification card they could play at any time if they wanted to: a reality show. Put all the mudslinging, back stabbing and managerial impasses on television for the world to see! It would be like The Apprentice, but real and unscripted! Disagreements and their revolving door CEOs would be an asset instead of a liability! Think of the ratings, and the advertising revenue!

I'll be willing to work with HP on this project if they're willing to fly me out to California, and pay me a salary with benefits. Leo got millions for less than a year's work, all I'd ask for is a high six figure salary… that's reasonable isn't it?

Footnotes

I'm sure HP did this on purpose to make my previous post on the subject look stupid. I mean, I make myself look stupid enough without any external help, but this was just icing on the cake. Mmm, cake.

• Thursday 01st September 2011: Were we all Punk’d by HP?
• Monday 22nd August 2011: Foresight versus hindsight at Dell

I also have no idea why all my HP posts now have to have Xzibit on them. Seemed like a good idea at the time.