Who's Afraid of a Little Revolution?
Posted by Sam at 5:52 PM

I'm really not surprised at all, but it seems that certain large corporations are blocking blogs from their employees' internet access. Wow... that's some crazy-whack paranoia. Why are blogs on the blacklist? What is it about blogs that cause a such a stir in corporate America? Are they afraid of sambot? Is corporate America afraid of revolution? Are they afraid of sambot leading the revolution? Yes, I think corporate America is absolutely afraid of a sambot lead revolution. Rise up! Blog on! Smash the state! Punk rock!

Oh... right. The article is running over at Wired. Enjoy.

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Usability Shmusability
Posted by Sam at 1:33 PM

Here is an article concerning the "The Top Ten Design Mistakes" that bloggers and blogs commit (interestingly enough, I've already committed two "Mistakes" in this very post... can you spot them?). While I don't agree with everything that the author is advocating, he does bring up some valuable topics to at least consider... and then dismiss as antiquated ideals from a pre-blog web existence.

Slightly off topic, but let's vent for a moment, shall we?

<vent>
Design standards. I loathe design standards and believe them to be a ridiculous thing to promote and enforce. Standards in design (not development) limit innovation and creativity, forcing a designer to stay within predefined boundaries. Granted, there is a time and a place for standards, but enforcing them during the design process is nothing less than an impediment on progress. A successful interface takes many shapes and forms. Imagine if the usability of the classic Mac OS (OS 9) was considered the end-all be-all for interface design... we would never have the slick, intuitive Mac OS X that exists today.

Standards are for those who are done thinking.
</vent>

Phew... That's all. And now, back to your regularly scheduled blog.

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Blogging From Work
Posted by Sam at 4:00 PM

Blogging from work, about work is always a bit dangerous... and more than a little stupid too. I'm completely guilty of it though... so don't feel bad. Sometimes it's just so therapeutic to vent right after an incident.

There's an article running over at The Angel Blog concerning blogging at work, and the damage that it might do to the reputation of the company (among other things). The interesting thing about the companies and individuals surveyed is that many feel that blogging, when done properly, can be a valuable communication tool within the business environment.

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Google Reader... Who Knew?
Posted by Sam at 4:49 PM

Google is really going hog-wild with releases these days. Google Talk, Google Earth, Blog Search... and the list goes on. Today, being no exception to the trend, Google announced Google Reader.

Google Reader is an online RSS based news aggregator. Do we need another? I don't know... I'm a pretty happy Bloglines user. But as with anything Google does, there is a ton of media attention surrounding their every step. And so naturally, being the online technology news whore that I am, I'm Interested. And I'm definitely going to check it out.

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