Library clips

Optimal OPML Browser has now joined the ranks of OPod, and Bitty as being an OPML Reader (not just browsing but also be able to read feed content)…add the KOZOPMLBROWSER to this, even though you can’t submit a URL to view.

To clarify, it is an OPML Browser with the ability to read feeds like an RSS Reader.

Also it will open OPML inclusions without leaving the page, instead it expands OPML inclusions in an outline display.
NOTE: OPML inclusion are items in the OPML URL that are OPML URL’s themselves (OPML items within an OPML).

Check it out in action.

Compare this to OPML Surfer…see how it launches to a new page when you click on an OPML inclusion, instead of just opening as a tree…also notice that it doesn’t read feeds.

Optimal is an improved version of Dan’s earlier tool, OPML Browser (which worked the same as OPML Surfer)…note the URL re-directs to Optimal.

Now if Optimal could be coded to your blog sidebar this would be very interesting, well, it looks like OPML Renderer, which is also created by Dan.

The scene is moving so fast, it was only within the month that we were dreaming up the inevitable OPML Reader. This type of reader will read text, HTML links, feed (and posts), and OPML inclusions, whereas a regular RSS Reader will only list feeds where you can read the content…so an OPML Reader does more.

The difference is that an RSS Reader has a notification system, where you are made visually aware that a feed has new entries, this isn’t so in an OPML Reader. An OPML Reader is just as dynamic, so it will contain the latest posts, but it just won’t tell you which are the new ones.

So, I guess an OPML Reader doesn’t have a subscription mechanism, it’s more a viewer…not sure if it could ever work as an RSS Reader does.

One thing I’d like to see is expanding the title of each feed post, to another level in the tree where you can read the contents of the feed (this way everything is contained in the outline).
In Bitty, when you click on a feed it skips a title index and shows the full-post, whereas in Optimal it only has a title index, so you have to read the post at the native site.

More

Adam Green has fashioned a Reading List for the feeds that have current posts in tech.memeorandum.

So as you can guess the feeds in this Reading List will be changing constantly…this type of Reading List is referred to of late as a Grazing List.

As Adam has illustrated, now with Optimal you can graze the rest of the posts from the feeds that have a winning post at tech.memeorandum.

People shop for feeds by sampling some posts, but how do you know where to go to sample feeds, let them come to you by following the tech.memeorandum grazing list, and also you know they are of some quality as they have featured posts on tech.memeorandum.

Again you don’t have to keep seeking, if you use BlogBridge you can shop for stuff from different shops within your own home every day…or you can just bookmark a URL at Optimal in your browser and click it for your daily graze…totally speaking in metaphor

[via EirePreneur…more]

Alex Barnett is also talking about it.

NewsMeaL is basically a professional newsmastering page.

There is around 50 or so feeds arranged under topic headings on the sidebars.

In the middle is the river of news, there is also another stream where you can see the lastest posts from a particular showcased feed.

You can do this (see posts from one feed only) manually by clicking a label (feed) on the sidebar, where you can see all posts from one feed.

There is also a smaller stream for exclusive news, it seems to be posts re-syndicated via the NewsmeaL house blog…this also has a different view…since this news is being re-syndicated from a blog it has a feed.

There is also another small box that streams BBC news.

If you click on the more link under the river of news box you will find a feed to subscribe to all news.

There is also a search box which generates search feeds for results.

It would be good if you could see a river of news for a topic, but these don’t have hyperlinks.

Anyway a simple but effective newsmastering example. A tool like Blogdigger Group can do the same things, but it just doesn’t look as professional, well it looks generic.

Actually Blogdigger Groups can’t separate feeds into sub-headings, and you can’t give feeds labels. But you can stream a river of news, limit this to one feed, and even generate search feeds.

So with a little more charm newsmastering has the potential to leave behind the generic look…SuprGlu aims to do this, but then this lacks the robust features of Blogdigger Groups.

RSS2PAGE is coming close but then this isn’t free, and again it doesn’t have all the features.

Another great service is MySyndicaat, but the power here is in processing feeds, the next stage is presentation…who’s going to lead newmastering into the next stage.

Reading Lists can be made via RSS Readers, RSS Re-mixers (Newsmastering), Social bookmarks services, OPML editors…that’s all I know of so far.

Create Reading Lists

RSS READERS
BlogBridge…as mentioned you can also use (subscribe) to Reading Lists in BlogBridge.
Bloglines…when you export your subscriptions it is done via an OPML URL (this makes it dynamic…other RSS Readers will export OPML only to a local file, it needs its own unique URL to be a dynamic Reading List)

SOCIAL BOOKMARKS
del.icio.us hack…more.
H2O Playlist…as long as the items are feed URL’s instead of the usual HTML links (same goes with the del.icio.us method).

RSS RE-MIXERS (Newsmastering)
Blogdigger Group (Here’s a KM group created by Jack Vinson)…you’ll notice this generates a unique OPML URL.
MySyndicaat …see more.

I’d like to see Technorati Favourites have an OPML URL (Reading List) by default…maybe soon, as Blog Finder groups have OPML’s.

I’d like to see these tools be able to not just create, but also use Reading Lists, just like BlogBridge.

OPML EDITOR’S
OPML Manager
OPML Workstation

Use Reading Lists

Many services allow the export/import of OPML files/URL’s (batch loading feeds), but not many allow you to subscribe to the OPML URL itself (instead of the feeds), so the changes in that OPML URL automagically reflect in your rendition.

SUBSCRIBE
Two examples are: RSS Readers (only Blogbridge so far…here’s the screencast), and email (only FeedBlitz so far).

VIEW
They can be viewed but the feed contents can’t be read in OPML Browsers (eg. OPML Surfer, OPML Browser), although some browsers can read the feed contents (eg. OPod, Bitty…see more).

They can also be browsed in outlines made by OPML editors (eg. OPML Manager, OPML Workstation)…actually the outline in OPML Workstation also has a link to read the feed contents via OPML search.

[ADDED 28/02/06: OPML Browser is now called Optimal…it reads RSS feed content, and also opens OPML inclusions within the same page as an outline]

continue…

[Update 26/07/06: coComment is crawling to the top]

Three commenting services have been released in the last week, CoComments, MyComments, and co.mments.

CoComments

CAPTURE

Instead of using a del.icio.us tag to save comments I make in the blogosphere I can use CoComments.

When you are on a blog post page hit the bookmarklet to record it in a form…this will also record it in the blog…some issues.

Then you can go to “Your Conversations” and see all the posts you have commented on using CoComments…it will also show other CoCommenters who have made comments in the same post, so this works as a reader so you can keep up with other comments/replies to the post (that have been made using CoComments).
It is easy to just see just your comments on a post as they are expanded automatically, whereas comments made by others on the same post are collapsed…I wonder if you can disable this to see just your comments only.

See a tag cloud for latest blogs commented on using CoComments, and active commenters.

An older service is commentosphere, where you can store all the comments you make in the blogosphere.

SHARE

Instead of re-syndicating the feed of my del.icio.us tag, this is a built in feature in CoComments…it will also show others who have commented on the same post…again I wonder if you can disable this.

ALERT

It works as a reader so you can see the latest comments someone has made on the same posts as you, this way you can keep up with new comments or even replies to your comments on the various posts, and it gives you an RSS feed so you can keep up to date in your RSS Reader.

Otherwise you’d probably forget…or since you might store the comments in a bookmark manager you might re-visit them at a later date…there is always RSS comments, and email notification…but I think the CoComments way is much neater.

I also mentioned Library Stuff had an idea to alleviate this with an OPML for comments.
Commentosphere can also work as an RSS Reader to subscribe to all the comment RSS you have made a comment on, so this saves the clutter by having it in a dedicated RSS Reader.

The only problem is that not everyone uses CoComments, so you won’t be up to date with every single comment made on a blog post, this is where RSS comments for each post is more complete, but then who wants hundreds of RSS comments cluttering your RSS Reader.
The other problem is that not all blog platforms have been enabled to work with CoComments…so even if you use CoComments, it may not work on all blogs.

So, at the moment there is a limitation in exhaustivity, but they are working on this Comment Crawling issue…co.mments is ahead in this respect.

I’d like to see an RSS feed that contains just my comments to a post (not mixed with other comments left by others on the same post)…and to also disable comments made by others on the same post in your sidebar box.

How do I import all the comments I’ve made that I saved in my del.icious, into CoComments?

What about splicing this into your blog feed, if I did this, the RSS of my blog would have: my blog posts, my del.icio.us links, and my CoComments.

To recap, you can see all comments made on a blog, the posts you have made comments on, view other users, and the lastest blog posts commented on.

See Solution Watch for a great explanation.

Check out what’s up next.

Check out the competition mentioned at the start of the post.

[ADDED: Since your comments are shared in a folksonomy, it is a way to discover communities of interest.
There is the more general type of discovery by tags, then there is the more specific type of discovery of a community…you may find that certain people seem to comment on a lot of the posts you comment on, so you may discover you are part of a loose community (you may only be aware of this since comments are now aggregated by CoComments)]