346 words — 2 minutes read

Web services

I have successfully avoided a lot of the web based tools, aggregators, services, demonstrations of technology and general doo-ahhs. But I have come across two (and I’m probably the last person in the blogosphere to do so) that really have helped immensly in how I read, digest and store information.

Let me introduce bloglines and del.icio.us. On second thought though, I don’t think they need introductions.

Because I roam from computer to computer, having those resources on a central server, makes it totally easy and practicable to read >160 feeds. And on every computer I have the up-to-date list of subscriptions and read feeds. Just fantastic. Same for del.icio.us - having a handy way of keeping track of bookmarkable stuff is great.

If you are interested in the blogs I’m reading, feel free to look at my public bloglines. If you are interested in my bookmarks, the look at my delicious bookmarks.

43Things is another interesting concept. By writing down what you want to do, you create a frame of mind to actually do things. I want to do 22 things at the moment. And it seems to work. The sheer act of writing something down, changes the way you think about it. I’m well on the process of finishing some of the things, continually doing others and mulling over how to get certain things done. Not indispensable but great fun.

OpenBC is more valuable: It’s similar to LinkedIn but seems more polished, more open and more refined. I found it valuable in connecting to people I have worked with in the past, as well as creating connections to new contacts. You are invited to join my network.

The next step for me I guess is to understand what flickr is going to give me - so far I haven’t seen the light on that one. Also not convinced on Tadalists a small, simple and easy application to manage to-do lists (check out my public to-blog list for one example use). Basecamp is great, but I haven’t convinced my co-workers the value of using it yet.

Jens-Christian Fischer

Maker. Musician