If you haven’t heard of bookmarklets, they are just a bookmark that contains javascript code instead of a link to a website. These bits of code can do trivial tasks to save you time, or add some additional functionality.

I regularly use Google to do advanced search by Day, Week, Month, or Year. This is a very helpful search to make sure you are getting more recent information - instead of something that is years old. This functionality is not on the main google page, so it becomes a pain to go to advanced search, click the hidden section of the advanced features, select the ‘Date, usage rights, numeric range, and more’ then put in my search request.

Instead, I created a couple quick bookmarklets that search Google results in the last Day/Week/Month/Year:

Google Search Day

Google Search Week

Google Search Month

Google Search Year

Feel free to save these, and get back recent results in google.

If you want to create your own quick search bookmarklets for other sites, check out:

http://bookmarklets.com/mk.phtml

An Introduction

Yahoo Pipes allows you to take data from multiple sources on the web (typically from RSS feeds) and manipulate it - you can merge (mash) data together, split data up, get more details, or get less details. You get to pick and choose what is displayed in the end result, a finalized feed.

The possibilities are endless - you can use this for lifestreaming - a combined aggregated feed of all your online activity. You could generate a “master” feed, that has all of your favorite news in one location. Or you can take some of that data - and do something with it.

A little background

If you are not a “Unix geek”, the term pipes might sound odd. From the Unix command line, the idea of “piping” data from one command to another is a common task. It is a powerful way to allow the commands to work together. This term comes from the simple idea that data “flows” from one command to the next, like it would through a pipe. Using this idea, Yahoo has created a tool that can allow a non-programmer to do complex things with data, using a simple graphical interface.

Why is it so great?

You can think of it as programming, without the code. While a little background in programming will certainly speed the learning curve, with a couple tips, you could become quite a little genius at “mashing up” data.

Why do I need to create my own pipes?

There are plenty of premade pipes out there for you to use. They might work well for what you need. But the real power with pipes comes with the ability to customize them the way YOU want them to be - not the way someone else thought was best. Sometimes, you can take a pipe that someone else created, and make a small change, so it does exactly what you wanted.

Let’s Get Started!

If you already have a Yahoo ID, you can go right to the Yahoo Pipes homepage and sign in. If not, go ahead and sign up.

As we begin to create pipes, your main page will show a list of pipes you have already created. Click the Create a pipe button to begin.

We will start with a pretty common use of Pipes - combining multiple RSS feeds. But first, we need to understand the basics of what makes up a pipe.

The Basics

Pipes are made from various modules that tell the pipe exactly what to do.

To create a pipe, each module is connected to the next. Every module will have connectors on them, allowing you to link them together. Depending on the module, it might have an input connector, an output connector, both an input and an output, or multiple inputs or outputs. Data will “flow” through the pipe, outputting from one module, and inputting into the next. If that sounds confusing, don’t worry, it will start to make sense.

Just think of it as a puzzle: some pieces work together, and some don’t, but they all fit together to solve the final puzzle.

Yahoo has provided a bunch of modules for your use, in the following categories:

Source modules - These modules will tell the pipe where to get data from.

User Inputs - These modules allow a user of a finalized pipe to specify certain required information dynamically, such as a url, a userid or search term.

Operators - These modules allow you to manipulate the source data

The URL, String, Date, Location, and Number modules are what I like to call “Helper Modules”, to make working with certain data a little easier.

Getting the Data

The first thing we need to do is get some data. We do this by adding a “Source” - you can see the options that we have here - we can use a few pre-made sources, such as Yahoo Local, Yahoo Search, or Google Base. But we can also pull data from an RSS feed, using the ‘Fetch Feed’ source.

We will use the Fetch Feed source to get some data. Click and drag the Fetch Feed module into the workspace.

Source modules may require you to give it some information, in this case, the URL for the RSS feed. Once you have added the source, type the RSS feed into the text box, telling it where we want to get the data from. I am going to use the CNN Top Stories feed at http://rss.cnn.com/rss/cnn_topstories.rss

You’ll notice that this source module only has a single output connector. Output connectors are on the bottom of the module.

Making the Pipe Connection

Once you have added the source, you should see two boxes available - the Source, and the Pipe Output.

The Source is where we are getting the data from, in this case, a custom RSS feed.

The Pipe Output is where we want to end up, giving us our finalized data output. Notice the Pipe Output only has a single input connector.Input connectors are at the top of the module.

Connect the two modules by clicking and dragging from the Fetch Feed blue output connector, to the Pipe Output blue input connector. The results should look like this:

Congratulations! You have made a Yahoo Pipe! To see our results, we need to click the Pipe Output module, so it is orange, then look in the ‘Debug’ area at the bottom. You should see the results of your rss feed appear.

So far, all this does is give us the same information that a standard RSS feed would. Let’s work on improving that.

Adding Another Feed

What if I want to have multiple feeds combined together to get all my news from one feed? Let’s add another Fetch Feed box to the mix, this time adding MSNBC Top Stories at http://rss.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032091/device/rss/rss.xml

I can now see the data from this feed in the debugger at the bottom. Whichever module you click on (the highlighted orange one) is where the debugger window at the bottom will get its results from. This is a good way to make sure you are getting accurate information. If you were to click back on the CNN Fetch Feed, you will see the CNN results. However, our final results (The Pipe Output) is still only “linked” to show the CNN data. Let’s fix that.

Yahoo pipes provides a number of Operators that will allow you to manipulate data. There are some more advanced Operators, but all we want to do right now is combine (or Union) multiple RSS feeds.

Add a Union module into our Pipe:

Now that the Union is in place, you will notice you can connect up to four input modules to the top, and there is one output at the bottom. Let’s re-connect the feeds so they are combined, before going to the pipe output. To disconnect the current connected pipe, just click on the blue dot on Pipe Output, drag it off, and release. Then reconnect the two Fetch Feed modules to the Union input. Finally, connect the Union output to the Pipe Output.

Final Result

A brief review: This pipe is getting the CNN feed data, getting the MSNBC Feed data, then it combines (unions) them, and that data is then the final output for our pipe. Pretty neat, huh?

To make this useful, we are going to do one modification with the pipe. Right now, the results were combined together, but in no particular order. We are going to add a Sort Operator module, so that all the data comes out in the order we want it to.

Drag a Sort module from the Operators group into our workspace, and connect it in between the Union module and the Pipe module. When you connect the Union to the Sort module, it will populate the sort options with the available item details. In our case, we want to sort by the Published Date, or item.pubDate, in descending order - so our results will show the newest item at the top, regardless of whether the item is coming from CNN or MSNBC.

Saving and Running the Pipe

Once we are finished, we can save the pipe for later use. On the top right, click the Properties button, and fill in the information. You can also Publish this pipe, allowing the pipe to be available to the general public:

Click OK, then click the Save button at the top right corner.  You will see a link at the top that says ‘Pipe Saved .. Run Pipe’ - click the Run Pipe to see our final results:

You can see the final pipe that was created here.

Part Two

In Part Two of the series, we will begin to discuss some other source types, accepting user input, and more ways to modify our data - along with what we could do with the data once it has been generated.

This very thing happened to me just two weeks ago. For me, it was one of my “backup” drives. I have two secondary 120GB internal drives that I store all my non-system data on. One drive is for miscellaneous files (games, some software, random stuff I would need if I reformatted); it would be a moderate headache to get these files back.

The other drive contains my music collection (also recoverable with painstaking work), along with ALL of my IRREPLACEABLE files - including digital photos and videos from the last 7 or so years, software I have written, custom web sites and images that I have created for a number of projects - all unrecoverable data should something go wrong.

Truth is, this isn’t the first time this has happened. The last time, it turned out to be the not-so-important drive. Did I learn my lesson? Not really. Oh sure, I do the occasional copy and paste files to another location. I probably uploaded some photos somewhere, or e-mailed them in the past. But 90% of the UNRECOVERABLE data is not backed up some place safe.

The worse part is, I am not clueless. I have worked with computers since the age of 5 - I know a number of backup programs for Window, I know about rsync and fuse for *nix. I’ve even priced up NAS devices in the past -  but when it comes down to it, it is just pure laziness.

While having your data backed up locally on another drive (internal or external) is a good idea, an even better solution would be a NAS device with raid/mirroring. This would ensure that should a drive go bad, things would move along smoothly, and I could replace a drive. But NAS devices are expensive, not to mention buying multiple hard drives. Even if you do have a NAS device in place, it is always recommended to have a remote backup. Store your data somewhere other than your home or office. So what is the solution?

Remote storage is something that has recently become more available and affordable to the mainstream users. There are plenty of services out there. The most known right now are probably Carbonite and Mozy.

In the past, I couldn’t even think about paying for remote storage to backup my files.

I was shocked to see just how cheap it was - a number of services are offering unlimited backup or large (100GB+) backup, for $4.95 per month - or about $50 for a year. There are even FREE remote backups available for up to about 5GB (See Microsoft Live Mesh). Not only are these backups remote, but with the advent of Amazon S3 and other similar services, I can rest assured that my data is being backed up, mirrored, and whatever else is required to store data safely.

The scary thing is that there are tons of services out there, and many have not adjusted their prices to the current scale. These services continue to use old architecture, and offer packages that range from about 50-200MB backups. They charge the same price or much more then others that offer unlimited storage!

I don’t have a lot of money to spend! We need to find a common ground - somewhere between price, and reliability. The $4.95 per month is a pretty standard price point - and I am quite comfortable with that price. The question is, what will we get for that price?

I have gone on a crusade to find a reliable, yet inexpensive remote data backup service.

What I am Looking For

Obviously the most important thing when looking for a service would be reliability. Reliability is not necessarily based on pricing though, so I started my search looking for the pricing and features that I wanted. I figured I will try a couple of them out, see which I find to be more reliable - and then make my decision.

While my primary concern is backup, I am really interested in a couple of additional features:

• A decent web interface, so I can access my files from anywhere
• Preferably a Win/Mac/Linux client
• Double as a sharing service, to share pictures and files with friends or family
• Hopefully multiple PCs supported in the plan, or a relatively inexpensive addon for additional PCs

I have tried a number of services over the past two weeks, and I will give a quick rundown on each.

CrunchBase Information on Mozy

Mozy is making quite a name for itself as of late,  and it being recommended by a number of people. Pricing is set at $4.95 per month with unlimited storage. Mozy currently supports Windows Vista, XP, 2000, or Mac OS X (10.4 and 10.5).

My first impressions for Mozy were pretty good. I began using ‘MozyHome Free’, which provides you with 2GB of storage for free. If you only need 2GB of storage, then you can use Mozy and have a FREE, remote backup of your files.

The client installation was simple and straightforward. Mozy has pre-configured backup “sets” which will take care of common items to backup such as Email, Browser Favorites, My Documents, Music , Photos and Images, Office files and more. I can easily check off the files I wish to backup, and all files of that type will be backed up. No need to worry about where they are located. Mozy also allows you to setup Rules. Any backup set can contain rules which includes or excludes files by type, size, dates, or names. Of course, you can also just select directories that you want to backup.

Desktop access to Mozy comes through a  additional networked System folder. It is a Restore Only filesystem. You can not read or run files from this folder. It is only to browse through your uploaded files, and restore as necessary. This was a bit disappointing, but somewhat expected.

Backups can be scheduled, and as most services are done incrementally - after the initial upload, only the changes are uploaded to save bandwidth. Any type or file size can be backed up. Files are encrypted on your computer using 448-bit Blowfish encryption, then transferred to the Mozy servers using 128-bit Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption. You have the option of using a Mozy key or your own private key to encrypt your data. Note that if you use your own private key, you must be very careful about not losing it because if you do, it’s impossible for Mozy to decrypt your data.

If you delete the working copy on your machine and then run a backup, Mozy will assume that you no longer need a backup copy, since you got rid of the working copy, and will mark the file to be removed after 30 days. A 30 day remote recycle bin, if you will.

MozyHome supports most types of external drives. According to Mozy, it does not support network drives, but if the network drive is part of a server running Windows, then you can install Mozy onto that server and back up the shared drive locally.

The Verdict

An inexpensive, seemingly reliable backup service. A little short on features, but it does its job.

It does support multiple computers at $4.95 per month, per computer. But the other features I was looking for are non-existent. The only web interface to speak of is for file restores - and it only submits a restore request. You still need to wait to get the files - I can imagine what a pain this would be if I needed access to files remotely. There is no sharing options. I have had some slight annoyances with the software as well. Every time you start the software, or go to configuration options, it hangs for a while, “verifying” backup data sets. Additionally, restoring files from the client can be a pain; Searching backed up data is not well integrated. You can use Windows Search (not Live, just the Search Companion) but you cannot restore from it. You would have to search for the file, then go locate the file in your backup “drive” or the client software to restore. When you do find the file to restore, there is no way to compare the different versions prior to the restore request, although it does allow you to restore to a different location, so you can compare without overwriting.

[View a Slideshow]

CrunchBase Information on Elephantdrive

Searching for services to review, I ran across one called ElephantDrive. ElephantDrive stood out to me after reading a recent blog post on their site. The service uses Amazon S3 in the backend, however, during the recent outtage of S3, their service ran smoothly as they also have their own servers in place.

ElephantDrive offers a $4.95 per month for 1 computer. For $9.95 per month, it will cover up to 4 computers - both plans cover unlimited storage. However, the $4.95 plan will only maintain file version history for 30 days - the $9.95 plan will maintain version histories forever.

ElephantDrive features version tracking and allows you to use your own personal encryption key for additional file security. One option available within the configuration allows you to specify to send files immediately - basically meaning your files will be synced online as changes are made, although I doubt that it was their intent. It is not advertised as a synching service.

The Verdict

I found ElephantDrive has just about all the features I am looking for: Multiple computer plan, File Sharing (through through e-mail links), Windows and Mac support (no Linux client yet), and although not overly pretty, they also offer a web interface to your files. Additionally, ElephantDrive has an optional client install called ‘TrunkDrive’ which which will map your storage to a drive - allowing you to access and change your files directly, a huge plus over other services.

I still found the client interface is lacking a few necessary features, such as showing me the speed of transfer. The web interface could use an overhaul as well. Overall though, ElephantDrive is a decent offering.

I would probably choose ElephantDrive over Mozy - for web access to my files, the drive mapping abilities, and I could backup up to four computers for $10.

[View a Slideshow]

CrunchBase Information on Hp Upline

I only first found out about Hewlett Packard’s service a few days ago. This service also offers a  $4.95 per month, per computer plan for unlimited storage backup. It is also a major company, so you can’t go wrong there.

One thing I noticed right off the bat is it uses .NET - this eliminates the possibility of a Mac/Linux client. Make sense, this is HP - they do Windows PCs.

On the plus side, I was pleasantly surprised when it informed me that it not only did remote backups, but it would do local backups to a network or external drive… double protection, just the way it should be! I skipped the local backup for now, and started ~800MB remote backup. The transfer went smoothly, and a decent speed. At least I think so, because there was no indication of speed during the backup process.

The Verdict

I was sort of disappointed with the interface features. It did contain very basic sharing, allowing you to e-mail a link to your files. However, it is time-limited.

Overall, Upline did what I needed It to do, but after the pretty looks wore off, it seemed a little lackluster. Requiring .NET limits the chances of a Mac or Linux client coming anytime soon. I feel that there are better products out there, including Mozy or ElephantDrive.

[View a Slideshow]

CrunchBase Information on Carbonite

Since I am constantly hearing commercials for Carbonite, I figured I would give them a shot as well. Seems like they are ahead of the pack right now, at least publicity wise, for an online storage option. The idea behind Carbonite is to make backing up and restoring extremely simple. I think it accomplishes this - too well.

The problem I find with Carbonite is once installed, it will start backing up. No prompts, no questions other than logging in. This sounds great at first, until you read the FAQs on their website. It does not backup video files, or any files larger than 4gigs, unless you explicitly tell it to. Not only that, Carbonite does not backup files on Networked and Removable drives.

While that wouldn’t be a huge problem for me now, I may wish to add external storage later, and I would certainly want to be able to backup the data on it.

The Verdict

The service itself seemed great. I loved that it gives you visual confirmation of backup by adding little status icons on each folder/file. At $5 per computer backup for unlimited storage, it makes things quite simple - a little too simple for my tastes.

The Future is Synching

There are a number of services out there that not only backup your content, but actually sync your content between multiple machines or users. A few of these include Dropbox, Syncplicity, and SugarSync.

I played with each one, and although carrying a higher price tag, they do make syncing (and backing up in the process) a much better solution. Once these services can reach the price levels of conventional remote backup, they will take off. Dropbox is in beta form, and while the features do seem intriguing, they do not offer any commercial packages at the moment.  Syncplicity also seemed like a well done product, but I have seen a number of blog posts recently in regards to downtime - something I am not looking for at the moment.

CrunchBase Information on Sugarsync

SugarSync, however, knocked me back. It is the closest feature-wise to be exactly what I need. SugarSync also uses Amazon S3 in its backend.

Everything that is done, is done well. Sugarsync works really well as a multiple computer sync/backup solution. Once installed, I am able to select the folders to sync with the remote server. Once I finished, it began synching immediately. I than began setting up the client on two laptops at the same time. Again, after selecting what to backup, it started syncing instantly.

One of the nicest features of SugarSync is how it deals with multiple computers. SugarSync gives two options for syncing content between computers - “Lite Sync” and “Full Sync”. If you will only need to access the files, you can use lite sync. If you prefer to keep an actual copy of the files on the other computer, choose the full sync option. This is absolutely perfect - I can still access my desktop files from either laptop - without the need to fill up the hard drives. Not only that, but since the files are stored remotely, I can access them even when the other computers are off. Any changes made will be synced to the desktop once it is on.

SugarSync is even offering mobile support for Windows Mobile, Blackberry, and iPhones. You can access photos and files, as well as sync photos from your phone.

It is not without its flaws, however. Many services allow you to use either the companies “key”, or your own personal key for security - SugarSync has not yet implemented this, although it is on their todo list. Additionally, searching for files is non-existent in the manager software. I guess they assume since you selected the sync folders, you would know where the files should have been. “Deleted Files” are maintained on the server, but they are combined with deleted files from all computers. This will make for a messy list if you are trying to find something you deleted. Combining backup folders for multiple computers also makes for a cluttered, unsortable list. Fixing these issues would make this the killer app.

As mentioned, pricing is a bit more steep. Here’s where “you get what you pay for” - $2.50 per month will score you 10GB of storage. I am looking for around 100GB - that would run me $15 per month. However, it does covers as many computers as you need. It appears their highest plan is 250GB, so if you are looking for more than that, you might be out of luck for now.

The Verdict

I am in love with SugarSync. In hopes that they fix the issues I described, I just might put forth the extra cash to ease my syncing pains. Initially, I began this review looking for backup software, but after realizing the power of syncing services, I am glad that I added them to the mix.

Decision Time!

When all is said and done, I am left with a couple options. I absolutely love SugarSync, but the price is a bit high. If I decide not to pony up for the Sync features, I think my overall choice for backup purposes would be ElephantDrive. It has a “sync feel” to it, since it will upload modifications on change, although it is not implemented as nicely as the built for syncing applications. With the addition of direct file access and web access, I would recommend it.

Other Options

There are a number of other services which some might suggest, including Windows Live Mesh and Amazon S3 or JungleDisk.

I tested Live Mesh, but decided against it because there is no actual plans, it is still in beta, and only offers 5GB. If you are using Windows and are looking for a free solution under 5GB, give it a shot. Additionally, support for Macs, Linux computers and mobile phones seem a ways off.

I am against using Amazon for data storage because they charge per GB - both on storage and bandwidth. Pricing reminds me of a cell phone plan (albeit much cheaper). Amazon in itself requires you to setup your own synchronization solution. JungleDisk takes advantage of that by offering you a client, but you are still charged the full rate for the Amazon S3 service.  I believe a number of resellers using the S3 service will pop up soon enough - with lower pricing to you, the end user. They are actually already there (see ElephantDrive and SugarSync).

What to Watch For

When deciding on a service to use, don’t take my word for it. Most services have a free plan, or at least a trial plan to see how you like it. Put them to the full test. Some things I would watch for:

• Support for networked or external drives
• Versioning of Files (a number of services either do not offer file versioning, or put limitations on it)
• Security of Files (what type of encryption does the service offer, and do they allow personal encryption keys)
• Multiple Computer support
• Storage or Bandwidth limitations - some services may say they offer unlimited storage, but what happens if you are storing too much?
• Syncing support - Is it important to you that the updated files be accessible immediately, or are you just backing up for safety measures?

I recently stumbled upon (no, not that way) Diigo, and some of its features caught my eye. I have spent approximately one week using the service, and now I am hooked.

What is Diigo?

Diigo is an online social bookmarking site, similar to del.icio.us or ma.gnolia. It allows you to store all your bookmarks online, tag them, make comments, and share them with other people.

Why not del.icio.us?

The first question that everyone wants to know is, why not del.icio.us? del.icio.us is the de facto standard when it comes to social bookmarking. I wondered why everyone - even myself - was using the  ‘Everyone else is doing it’ argument. I had the need for a social bookmarking site, and I have tried del.icio.us a number of times. It never seemed to work out.

The bookmarking aspect of del.icio.us is just like any other - find a page that interests you, bookmark it, add tags (or keywords) that describe it - then you can refer back to the links at a later point.

The social aspect of del.icio.us comes from ‘Your Network’, ‘Subscriptions’, and ‘Links for you’. Your network is a mashup of all of the bookmarks from your friends or people you find interesting in one place. Subscriptions is a watchlist of sorts, where you pick tags that interest you, and see the bookmarks coming in from users that contain those tags. Links for you are links saved by other people that thought you might find them interesting.

A del.icio.us Problem

I liked the del.icio.us concept, and they have a great browser addon to integrate right into your normal browsing routine. Here’s where I have problems.

Bookmark management in del.icio.us is nothing short of tedious. If you are dealing with a large number of bookmarks - importing, deleting, or re-tagging them, it is a down right pain.

The layout of del.icio.us bothers me - It looks like a mash of text. If you don’t know where to look for say, who shared the item, or where the tags are, it might be confusing. Page layouts are inconsistent. A simple update to the layout of the site, that separates content for each individual bookmark would be an easy and welcome change.

Another extreme concern for myself was private bookmarks. While you can save private bookmarks in del.icio.us, it is a simple share or don’t share label - which happens to be right inbetween edit and delete. There is no way to separate your private links from your public links, and I am worried I may accidentally share content I didn’t intend to.

del.icio.us claims to be a social bookmarking site. While I believe it has the social aspect, I don’t believe it has the social interaction needed to be considered a “social website”. The idea of a two-way effect is essential in the concept of interaction. To me, social Interaction is limited. I share, you share, but is there any interaction between us?

I believe a social bookmarking site would go beyond a set of shared links. It is not only about sharing, but also the community itself - participation and discovery. I should be engaging those that share similar interests, or at least, have the ability to.

Why am I digging Diigo?

Diigo takes all the concepts that make del.icio.us great, and improves upon them.

Multi-Word Tags and Related Tags:

Diigo supports tags that are more than one word. Sometimes one word by itself isn’t enough to classify it. If I use “web” and “design” for keywords, this covers two very broad topics. If I put the two words together as “web design”, it is much more descriptive.

Even if you prefer not to use multi-word tags, del.icio.us only allows you to select A keyword. You can view a single related tag, but you are not conversing a hierarchy, you are jumping from one tag to another. Diigo allows you to dig into related tags, making it easier to find related content on multiple tags. On the right, I am searching for which bookmarks contain both the ‘development’ and ‘api’ tags, and you can see which tags I can dig further into.

Lists:

Is tying tags together not your thing? If you are in the mindset changing from straight bookmarks to keywords/tags, lists will be your savior.

Lists are a group of bookmarks that are tied together, but can be arranged in any order that you prefer. Lists can also be private, or shared if you prefer. Sometimes tags may have multiple meanings, but a list guarantees that all items are associated. You can think of this as a del.icio.us bundle, only better.

Public vs. Private:

Diigo allows you to easily switch from public to private, and vice-versa, just as I could in del.icio.us. However, Diigo also allows you to separate your public content from your private content, among a number of other views. You have a separate list of private/public tags.

Comments:

Think a bookmark is junk? Think it’s the best thing since sliced bread? Comment on it. There is no way to tell what bookmarks users on del.icio.us thought were better, other than to assume that a bookmark with more saves is superior. Of course, you can save public, or private comments. I wish Diigo would also do ratings like magnolia, but there is always room for improvements. (see below)

Friends:

Diigo allows you to pull up a user, see their tags and interests just like del.icio.us - but that is where the similarities end.

The Friends section is done extremely well. It’s a bit much to put in a small screenshot, but it’s well organized and easy on the eyes. Here’s what I can see by visiting my friends profile:

• Recent stuff: Bookmarks and Tags
• Top/Most: Top tags and Most Bookmarked Sites
• In Common: Tags and Bookmarks we have in common
• Groups and Lists the user is a part of
• Messages: Discussions the user is a part of, which I can view or join if its a public or group conversation
• A list of their Friends who I might be interested in as well.

Communities:

While del.icio.us allows you to connect to individual users, and see what they are sharing, Diigo has communities and groups setup for users interested in the same topics - not necessarily the same keywords.

Communities are broken down by Groups, Sites, and Tags.

Users with similar interest can join or create Groups. Groups have their own set of bookmarks, even their own forum for discussion.

Tags communities are people who use similar tags - another way of allowing you to explore content, or people who are interested in the same content as you.

Site Communities (based on the domain name) allow you to find and contribute content which, might not be related, but is related to a particular website. Wikipedia and YouTube are good examples of this. Both sites cover an unbelievable amount of content on different topics, but you can easily find all links associated with that site. Try doing that on del.icio.us.

Sharing:

Sharing on Diigo is not limited to Diigo users. You can keep your own list of E-mail contacts, to easily send a non-Diigo user links. Diigo will  tie into you Blog, Twitter, or Facebook as an added bonus.

Messaging:

Messaging allows you to carry on conversations between users - public, groups, friends, or even just notes to yourself. From what I can tell, messages can be carried on about a particular bookmark, but I haven’t quite figured that out just yet.

The Diigo Sidebar

Readers Of a Web Page:

Anytime I visit a page, regardless of if I have bookmarked it, I can see other users that have bookmarked that page or left comments (annotations). It also shows me the most recent bookmark by that user.

Web Page Annotations and Highlights:

Find a page, or even a section of a page truly interesting? You can add public, or private, annotations to a page, or a section of the page. These annotations will show up in your sidebar, and/or show a little comment bubble on the page itself.

You can do public or private highlights of important parts of a page. You can even have an entire conversation with people about the web page - on the web page.

Nothing is perfect

Diigo can be improved.

• There are times were the speed of the Diigo website isn’t what I would like it to be. I have not seen problems with the sidebar, or saving of bookmarks.
• Multiple bookmark management is better than del.icio.us, but it could still be improved quite a bit. In particular, I would like to see EXCLUDE filters, in addition to the include filters it already has.
• I would like tag management to be improved - right now it’s more difficult than it needs to be to modify or delete tags.
• Ratings would really help out the site - It could be broken into private, public, and group ratings, just as all the other features are.
• The browser addon is nice, but could be improved upon tremendously. However, just about any feature I can do on the web page, I can also do through the browser addon (a personal pet peeve of mine).

Should you switch?

I am not going to tell anyone to stop using a service they have become familiar with. I understand that ‘it just works’ mindset and there is something to be said for that. But I believe that the benefits in Diigo are worth the chance to give it a shot. As of yet, I don’t see any features available on del.icio.us, that are not available on Diigo - with the added benefits.

The One Week Challenge

I challenge each of you that read this, particularly del.icio.us users, to try out Diigo.

Diigo makes it easy to import content from del.icio.us, magnolia, simpy, blinklist, furl, connotea, and rawsugar. Additionally, Diigo allows you to simultaneously share your content (called Bookmark Elsewhere) to del.icio.us, magnolia, and simpy. This way, you can use Diigo for one week, continue to save to these services, and see if you like it. If you prefer to keep them separate and decide you don’t like it, you can always export back to the del.icio.us format -  so you don’t lose any content along the way.

If after the week you aren’t convinced, come back here and tell me why.

Firefox 3 UPDATE: I have been informed of two issues that occur within Firefox 3 Final. Please see this Diigo forum post. It appears there is an issue viewing Digg comments - there will be an update to the Diigo addon to fix this shortly. Also if you use the Download Statusbar plugin - the extension still works, but mouseovers are blank. This is due to a Firefox 3 bug. Keep these two issues in mind if you are using FF3.

Google Line Charts Pipe

Google Pie Charts Pipe

Here they are in action:

The Line Chart support multiple data sets, which you can specify by splitting the data sets with a | character.

For example, suppose you have data for two people, for the last four months:

• Line Labels: Me,You
• Data: 10,25,18,15|14,12,15,22
• Line Step Labels:March,April,May,June
• Side Labels: ,5,10,15,20,25
• Min,Max: 0,25
• Grid Step:10

The 10,25,18,15 would be my data, the 14,12,15,22 would be your data. Then the chart would look something like this:

So, I have created the Google Bar Charts Yahoo Pipe.

Google Bar Charts

This pipe allows you to manually enter data, and specify how you want the chart to look. Anyone can take some number figures, and create a bar chart.

To use this, place your Data Descriptions in the Bar Labels box, and your Data Values in the Data box. Let’s take a look at who has commented the most this week from some of the big names on FriendFeed. We will enter this into the Google Bar Charts Pipe:

• For the Bar Labels: Louis Gray,Robert Scoble,Leo Laporte,Bret Taylor
• For the Data: 171,155,75,103

Here is the entered data into the Google Charts Pipe:

There are some default values to show you what to fill in, but here is what I modified for this chart:

• The Title (The title of the chart)
• The Chart Size (I needed a longer chart to fit everything, so i changed the width)
• The Min/Max Value (My maximum value was 171, so I made the maximum 200)
• The Bar Labels (The names for our data)
• The Data (The data itself)
• The Side Labels (Marking points for the data, I went in increments of 25)
• The Bar Spacing (To fit the longer names for the labels)

You can also optionally adjust the colors, and some other options.

The Results

Here is the resulting Google Bar Chart:

Easy, right? Once the chart has been generated, copy the link for the graph, and you can use this URL as an image source in your blog or HTML code - or just right click and save the image for later. Go try it for yourself: Google Bar Charts Yahoo Pipe

Shortly, I will be releasing additional pipes for other chart types, as well as a pipe that will make it easy for Pipe Creators to pipe their feed data into a chart.

FriendFeed: Who You Comment on the Most

FriendFeed: Who You Like the Most

The original pipes are here:

FriendFeed: Most Comments on Your Content

FriendFeed: Most Likes on Your Content

This is the first version. There may still be some bugs to work out. A README.txt with instructions is included with the files. Both a Windows batch file and a Unix shell script are available. You can get the files here.