VentureBeat has discovered that FriendFeed has quietly rolled out a new feature: support for geotagging and geoRSS.

This means that whenever you update a service that contains location information, FriendFeed will display a map with your location together with the update. Same goes for any geoRSS feed, which is a fairly new standard for RSS feeds that contains geo information. Click on the map, and you’ll go to Google Maps at that location.

The feature is nice, but is it relevant? Louis Gray asks in a recent update: “The map shows I posted from Sunnyvale, but it’s not relevant to the post. Hey FF, how do I pull that map?” In certain situations, these maps are just going to show the same location - work or home - over and over again, so being able to hide the maps might be a good idea.

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:Former Googlers Team Up to Launch FriendFeedMashable Rocks: Connect with us on FriendFeedFriendFeed Launches SearchFriendFeed Recommendations? Who Are You Likely to Like?FriendFeed Gets $5M, Launches to the PublicFriendFeed Brings Twitter BackFriendFeed Launches Rooms. Moving Towards Semantic Web?

Comedy Central’s signature fake news programs, “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report,” are focused firmly on the final stretch of the race for the White House. A glance at Indecision2008, the network’s website devoted to the year in campaign coverage, will reveal as much.

For those who feel that on-demand video clips aren’t satisfying enough to have on Election Day, however, the network has tapped the Web-based IM engine Meebo to power chat rooms on Indecision2008 to enable live discussion among its users.

In addition to the standard set of Meebo rooms provided for visitors, Comedy Central will host a live blogging session featuring Patton Oswalt, a regular of the American standup comedy circuit, and it will also present interviews with correspondents of “The Daily Show.”

Naturally there will be an attempt by various broadcast and cable-based networks on November 4th to seek out the most viewer engagement possible for the final hours of the election. And with Comedy Central’s fairly recent enhancement of its websites to cater to increased demand for video content, it seems to be a sensible course of action to introduce live communications to the Indecision2008 channel.

As Meebo and Comedy Central explain, their partnership for Election Day is intended “to increase user engagement and time spent online.” So long as enough awareness is made about the new features (the network will market the availability of chat rooms through on-air promos on November 4), real-time chat could well be the next best thing to a 24-hour style news video broadcast.

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:Comedy Central Launches InDecision2008, a Political Spoof of the ElectionsCyworld Launches Live ChatMozilla Adds Live Chat Support: Eroding Microsoft’s Stronghold?iVillage Does More Social Stuff - Adds Live ChatWindows Live Messenger Arrives on XBoxDailyComedy Partners with PaltalkWindows Live Messenger Partners with GoPets to Launch Virtual Dog Park

Source:Mashable!

For the last couple of days we’ve been asking people: how do you cope with all the info that bombards you through your RSS feeds, Twitter and similar services? When you’re young and eager to soak in as much info as you can, you’re happy to be flooded with the stuff. But, it can’t go on forever. So, how do you make sense of it, and filter out the junk?

It’s not an easy task, I can tell you that. As a journalist, I’m basically forced to go through everything; but sometimes I wonder whether it’s smarter to accept some collateral damage and heavily filter everything that comes in, because the signal to noise ratio is awful, and it doesn’t show signs of getting better. Just like junk food, some of us keep eating against our better judgment; the junk in our RSS feeds and tweets requires its own slow feed movement. Let’s take a look at what can be done about this and how you guys and girls are coping with the flood.

1. Yahoo Pipes - if you’re crafty and willing to put some time into battling the surplus of information in your feeds, Yahoo Pipes is the tool for you. When you delve a bit deeper into Pipes, the whole thing might start looking like a quite complex logic game, but trust me, there’s little you can’t do with this tool. Filtering feeds for specific keywords, mashing up several feeds into one, extracting chunks of data from feeds and matching those against other feeds…the possibilities are endless.

2. TweetDeck - when we asked our Twitter friends what they use to make sense of Twitter’s relentless noise, they responded almost unanimously: TweetDeck. It’s an Adobe Air desktop application, currently in public beta, that lets you split your main Twitter feed into meaningful chunks of information. Essentially, it’s the group feature everyone has been requesting since the dawn of time. The word on the street is that it’s best used full screen on a separate monitor; does it mean I have to buy another monitor (I already have two and I totally lack screen real estate) and call it TweetMonitor? Yes, it does.

3. Best of FriendFeed - FriendFeed is the information junkie’s favorite tool, and this little option can be a really nice way to quickly glance at what’s really good on a given day. It’s almost hidden in the upper right corner, under the view option; choose “best of” and you’ll get the post most liked (bookmarked, commented on) by your friends in the period of a day, week or a month.

4. xFruits - if slicing and dicing your RSS feeds in every way imaginable is your goal, the most elegant way to do it is xFruits. Instead of offering one tool that does everything, they’ve created several simple tools that can aggregate feeds, turn RSS into PDF, turn e-mails to RSS and a lot more.

5. Postrank - previously called AideRSS, this is one of our favorites. The main premise behind it is audience engagement; the better engagement ranking something gets, the more important it is. Postrank lets you set up RSS feeds based on this and filter them into channels. The best way to understand how all this works is to check out the video tutorials which explain the four main ways of using Postrank.

6. Techmeme - although a purely algorithmic affair, in the sense that you can’t filter feeds yourself or choose what you get in any way, Techmeme works so well it’s probably the best way to completely replace all your tech-related RSS feeds if you’re so inclined. Quick and relevant, Techmeme somehow manages to find the best news out there, with the number of reactions from blogs focusing your attention on what’s really important.

If you’re into technology, Techmeme is definitely an indispensable tool that saves your time. It also has a gossip news counterpart called WeSmirch, political news is handled by memeorandum, and you can find the best of baseball news on BallBug.

7. ReadBurner - similar to Techmeme in appearance, this service gives more weight to news items which are shared more often on Google Reader. This works surprisingly well, and the front page almost always brings you a great selection of current and interesting news. Disclosure is in order, as this project is Mashable’s Chief Editor Adam Ostrow’s baby.

So, have we convinced you to join the Movement? If nothing else, try one of these tools for size and see how you like the world with less feeds and more relevance. Most importantly, don’t forget to list your favorite tools for slowing down feeds in the comments.

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:A Conversation with a Green Girl (video)Blackout At Mashable TowersStalkers Rejoice! Facebook Updates News FeedMashable to Base! Feeds Not Working!Apple Lands Deal with MGMThe Mashable ReshuffleFacebook: So Do We Post to the Mini-Feed or Not?

Company Name

Daily Grommet

20-Word Description

Daily Grommet tells the story of one product discovery a day with video, original content, live comments, blogs and emails.

CEO’s Pitch

Many people are delighted to support independent or innovative companies with stylish, inventive, useful products. But who has the time to find them? That’s what we do.

Daily Grommet discovers one fresh product a day, and tells its true story. One blogger called us the anti-Amazon because “rather than having everything for everyone with the consumer being responsible to find it, Daily Grommet has only one thing for you, as long as you dig what the Grommettes dig.” Even bigger, we’re taking all those conversations that happen among friends about the products they use and like, and we’re organizing them into a powerful, social media-based word of mouth campaign.

Mashable’s Take

Partially an ode to the Home Shopping Network or QVC, albeit styled in new media-esque proportions, and partially a play on the Woot philosophy of “one day, one deal,” Daily Grommet is a showcase of items shown individually, complete with video presentations, and a descriptive storyline of how the site’s reviewers came upon each product. Naturally, visitors are encouraged to post comments.

Looking into Daily Grommet’s history, the venture is certainly very young. Only a handful of items are listed at present in the menu of ‘Past Grommets.’ But the idea put forth by its creators is as quaint and homely as it is enjoyable to observe. For the job undertaken, the site’s dimensions are perfectly crafted, really. Others perhaps try to professionalize too much. This project, meanwhile, seems to connote that time honored phrase of “keeping it real.” Take a look for yourself. You’ll see what I mean.

Of course, there’s only one way Daily Grommet can really succeed in its pursuit. And that is to remain steadfast with its rollout. In the early days of the podcasting boom, the term daily was loosely used, and understandably so. Things were very rough cut and almost entirely unrehearsed and laden with defined schedules and the like. Now, the option to keep things casual doesn’t serve creators’ interests. No reason to jump to conclusions yet, though. All things being said, Daily Grommet is young, so we’ll just have to see where things go.

As far as its basis for existence is concerned, I think Daily Grommet holds considerable promise. While the product lineup to start the week isn’t my cup of tea, it is diverse enough to target a broad audience that doesn’t take to things like clearance priced flash drives and super cheap computer monitors. Today, for instance, the site features a Microplane Zester/Grater. Rejoice, all you kitchen hounds!

We’ll see what comes of Daily Grommet as the days go by. Suffice it to say that initial signs point to interesting times ahead for this one. Nothing’s guaranteed, but more often than not, sheer perseverance is what gets participants in the new media market to higher places with more potent exposure.

Editor’s Note: This post is part of an ongoing series at Mashable - The Startup Review, Sponsored by Sun Microsystems Startup Essentials. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Sponsored By: Sun Startup Essentials

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Source:Mashable!

The Guardian, one of the UK’s biggest newspapers, is breaking ranks with its dead tree counterparts and offering up its content in full-text RSS feeds. As the Google Reader team notes in its blog post about the move, The Guardian in turn becomes the first major newspaper in the world to do so.

To-date, newspapers have only offered partial feeds primarily because there isn’t nearly as much money to be made in RSS advertising as there is in selling more conventional banner, text, and overlay ads on websites. With a partial feed that only offers a headline and brief summary, the thinking is that people will click thru to the website to read the article, and in turn, load those ads.

The problem with this model is that very few people subscribe to partial feeds, because they offer little value. The Guardian is trying to turn this model upside down, and I think it could be successful, both as a user that wants to consume content in an RSS reader, and from a business perspective for the newspaper.

First and foremost, The Guardian instantly gains an advantage on every other newspaper in the world, because their feeds are now way more useful than those of its competitors. And while RSS may still be fairly niche, The Guardian also positions itself to take advantage of the viralness that is now built into many RSS readers. For example, in Google Reader, when you “share” an item, it is broadcast to your Google contacts, on Friendfeed, and on dozens of other Web aggregators.

Most RSS readers also include the more mainstream concept of simply emailing a story to a friend – something one isn’t likely to do from within the reader when there is only a headline and short summary. While all of that sharing might not translate into immediate revenue for The Guardian, it does give their stories and brand greater exposure in a market that is currently being completely dominated by alternative sources like blogs, most of which offer full-text feeds.

There are a couple caveats about The Guardians implementation of full-text feeds. As the company notes in a blog post, images and cartoons won’t always be included, and content where publishing rights are uncertain (such as a story from one of the wire services) will be limited to excerpts in the feed. Fair enough. Nonetheless, The Guardian is taking a very progressive (and long overdue) step for old media. It will be interesting to see who follows suit.

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Google has quietly rolled out feed placements in AdWords, allowing advertisers to purchase ads within specific RSS feeds. To purchase the ads, advertisers need to first choose to advertise on the Google Content Network (as opposed to within the Google search engine).

From there, utilizing Google’s tool for identifying placements, the advertiser can select the specific RSS feeds where they would like to place ads and proceed to place bids either on a cost per click or cost per thousand basis. Ads can be either text, graphical banners, or video.

The move follows the rollout of AdSense for RSS to publishers earlier this year, allowing blogs (including this one) to monetize their feeds. To-date, those ads have either been sold direct by Google’s salesforce or contextually based, meaning that if a story in the RSS feed is about the World Series, you might see ads for tickets. Well, in theory. Some of the ads showing up in RSS feeds were way off – some even to a point of being offensive. Additionally, some bloggers have reported sharp declines in earnings with AdSense for RSS, especially compared to the direct ad sales previously offered by Feedburner before the company was acquired by Google.

With feed placements, AdWords takes a step in addressing both of these concerns. By enabling all advertisers to select the sites on which they would like to place their ads, the matching is likely to be more accurate. Meanwhile, the more precise targeting should also drive up ad rates, since the ads should perform better since they are being targeted at the proper audience. AdWords also of course has the largest base of advertisers on the Web to which it can sell the inventory, and by making feed placements self-service, all of these advertisers can now buy inventory, regardless of budget.

Will all of these factors suddenly make RSS advertising extremely lucrative for publishers? That all depends on users actually clicking the ads. That hasn’t been an easy proposition in the brief history of RSS advertising, but at least Google now seems to offer all of the tools to give the medium its fair shot.

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SezWho has announced a new release for their universal profile and reputation service which aims to enhance performance and provide new interface integration options. They’ve also announced feed incorporation with BlogCatalog, the blog directory service.

Additionally, SezWho has formed a partnership with Instablogs, the social news service. SezWho will now add their reputation management and universal profile system for Instablog readers, connecting personal brands from all over the Web into a centralized portfolio. Instablog readers can now take full advantage of SezWho features such as rating posts and content. This union will also mean readers will be able to find what they’re looking for quicker.

As for new features, SezWho offers new options for WordPress and phpBB users. There are four new universal profile templates including support for popular threaded discussion formats. There’s also support for local CSS and JavaScript, Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down ratings for posts, configurable pop-ups, improved support for filtering, support for multiple WordPress installations in a single database, and simplified upgrades.

The new SezWho release will help distinguish the service, as well as change the misperception that SezWho is a commenting system similar to competitors such as Disqus. In actuality, SezWho is not a commenting system that replaces existing platforms, because it does not manage comments. Instead, it provides a reputation and profile system that enhances user engagement and interaction, which ultimately generates more traffic and activity.

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:SezWho Launches APIs to Challenge DisqusBlogCatalog Gets More Social with SezWho IntegrationInstablogs Community LaunchesSezWho Acquires Semantic Startup TejitSezWho Adds 3 New Partners to Power Comment Tracking Across WebVirgin Radio Turns Up the Volume with coCommentDisqus Challenges CoComment

Source:Mashable!

Web-based productivity applications and services are many. Variations on the idea comprise one of the most saturated markets in the cloudware space. Well, it’s time to make way for another. Called Action Method Online, it proves surprisingly effective at group-based task management.

The objective for Action Method put forth by its designers is to put especial emphasis on execution. Planning is key, yes, but action of course allows the end game to materialize. The role of Action Method, then, is essentially to make the classic A to B to Z procedure a bit easier and accomplished in what is arguably a more sensible fashion. Its creators regard its formula to be a “radical approach to productivity.” I’d call it eminently logical.

Everything within Action Method revolves around projects and so-called “action steps.” Nothing mysterious, really. Action steps are synonymous with tasks. For each project, you specify things that need doing. And since the service sports the title that it does, there might as well be some word play going on, right?

When you first log in, there’s a good chance you’ll be pleased with what you see. The design is nothing short of exceptional. It not only boasts a smart layout. The behaviors of its numerous facets are both intuitive and elegant. Really, the entire package is something to appreciate. Clearly the time spent fine-tuning the service in private beta has done nothing but good for its image. Furthermore, the features it does hold are well chosen and well implemented.

There may be items that you find have no place in your own management process, but it doesn’t seem to elicit any sort of “I wish it had this, that and the other” response. As a business user, you might prefer that it bridge the areas of project management and customer management more thoroughly. But taken strictly for what it is intended to make happen for you and for any fellow team members or project partners or delegates, it’s a great invention.

When you take it from your first task and project entry, and the eventual inclusion of group users, you’ll notice how useful it can be in getting the job done - whatever job that might be. (Mind you, it need not be business-related. Action Method can work just as well as a personal aid in certain scenarios. Party planning is one example the company options to prospective members.)

Speaking of memberships and registrations, Action Method offers any interested persons two options, one free and one paid. The free option, which allows for unlimited projects, caps user activity to a limit of 50 action steps. For some, this may be perfectly suitable. Yet, if you’re not one to enjoy limits like this and you figure your own project and task list will run long, you can hand over $12 per month, or a $99 yearly subscription, for unlimited use.

From the basic elements of action steps to the sections reserved for reference materials (notes, files, etc.), so-called backburner matter (ideas for future perusal), project-based discussions, and event keeping (meetups, dinners and whatnot), Action Method provides nearly the full panoply of things you might demand from such software. And if those components weren’t enough, the makers of Action Method intend to have the service integrated with sibling startup Behance Network, a collection of portfolios, projects, and collaborations built for creative professionals, one which we glanced at last year. An appropriate and convenient match that will be.

Also, if you’d prefer to take the powers borne by Action Method out of the Web browser, an Adobe AIR-based application has been created. An iPhone-compatible application is in the works.

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Source:Mashable!

Ok, it might not actually be the end of the so-called Facebook walled garden, but Friendfeed has added the social network to its list of supported services, allowing you to pull status updates, posted items, and notes into the activity aggregator. This is all done through RSS, since each of these Facebook activities has its own feed. Similar to other items in Friendfeed, other users can “Like” any of these individual activities or leave comments on them.

Considering that Twitter updates make up an estimated 54% of the items on Friendfeed, the addition of Facebook - especially status updates - could open up a big new content hose on the service. Short of Twitter, Facebook is likely the most ubiquitous of the 48 services that Friendfeed now supports, though anecdotally it would seem that most users are probably not quite as prolific with their Status Updates as they are with their Tweets.

In addition to Facebook, Friendfeed has also just added support for activities on Joost, Backtype, Twine, and Wakoopa.

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I just caught the writeup Steve Rubel did on a recent Forrester report on consumer adoption of RSS. Steve (based off the Forrester report) is of the distinct opinion that we’ve entered into the era of peak adoption.  According to the survey, mainstream consumer adoption of RSS is at 11%, only up 2% over the last three years.

Of those that were designated by the survay as not active users of RSS, around 19% said that they were interested, so if you accept the premise of the survey, then RSS usership has a fair amount of growth possible. The problem, as I see it, is that the premise of the survey is completely flawed and there are far more users in the mainstream who utilize RSS on a daily basis than the survey gives credit for.

You can’t ask mainstream users whether or not they use RSS in their daily course of Internet usage any more than you can ask the average couch potato whether or not they use Cathode Ray Tubes or Liquid Crystal Displays.

The truth is that it’s pretty difficult to hit a website these days that doesn’t use RSS in some way, shape or fashion. If you look at the average page here on Mashable, there are about two or three sections which rely on RSS to pull in information relevant to the readers. If you turn your attention to the most popular sites on the web, sites like Facebook, MySpace and Google all have syndicated content strewn all through them.

Let alone sites like FriendFeed, Plaxo and and thousands of blogs and news sites out there that rely on aggregation of content via RSS.

The need for users to actually have an RSS reader has diminished.  Certainly things like Google Reader and NewsGator are designed for those who want to maximize their ability to scan a great deal of news sources in a short amount of time. Most folks don’t live to blog haven’t a need for that sort of efficiency, and tend to head to either an aggregator service like FriendFeed or Facebook or the direct websites themselves.

The way these tools use RSS is the same way the rising class of portable devices use RSS - transparently. The Kindle, the Sony eReader, the iPhone and the gPhone all have ways to consume content in aggregate in ways that the neophyte won’t ever have to ponder. 

So What Actual Lessons Can We Garner from the Report?

So what’s the real take-a-way from this study, other than it’s almost pointless to measure the spread of a technology that’s already ubiquitous? It’s that content producers who push out their work via RSS need to think beyond marketing directly to the user. It’s more important to market to the devices and the networks now.

There’s been a bit of buzz recently when A-List tech blogs have seen success getting their feeds used by mainstream newspapers and TV networks. These are the right moves to make, as are moves like getting your work indexed by Google News.

Marketing to the devices is also important. Making your content readable and accessible on not just the hip device of the moment, but even the second and third string players in the market is key. Take for example the world of podcasting. It’s definitely important to make all your podcast feeds iPod compatible, but those that go the extra step to make their feeds also compatible and accessible in the much maligned Microsoft Zune can see significant increases in their distribution numbers (some times as much as a 40% increase for an average sized podcast).

In essence, think bigger.  If this were the mid to late-90s, this analysis would be akin to the edict for companies to start thinking more B2B online rather than B2C

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Automattic, makers of the WordPress blogging platform, has announced the acquisition of PollDaddy, a company that provides embeddable poll and survey widgets. The deal apparently follows an integration project between the two companies, featuring a PollDaddy’s plugin for WordPress.org blogs as well as an integration with the editor on WordPress.com. Both products are immediately available on the heels of today’s news.

more to follow…

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Source:Mashable!

I have been a long time fan of NewsGator’s FeedDemon RSS client, having used it on and off since its very early days when it was owned by Nick Bradbury and cost money for a registered version. Through the years, Nick has always been right there adding new features that he felt added value to the program or were requested by other faithful users. For me, it is the premier feed reader out there.

So last night when I got an email from him asking if I would like a chance to play with a pre-release of the next version, I didn’t have to think twice. Even though I had been giving Google Reader another longer try, I still found I was missing the service. After downloading my copy and effortlessly upgrading my current version, I started checking out FeedDemon’s new tagging feature.

Yes, I know that GReader has had this option from the start, so for the GReader faithful this won’t mean much. However, this is a great addition for those of us that find FeedDemon to be an indispensable tool as part of our blogging tool chest. Using this new feature is as simple as clicking on the Tag icon in individual RSS posts and either adding a new tag or selecting from one you have already used.

One interesting part of the tag editor as well is that it will recommend tags based on the post that you are adding the tags for. If you add a new tag it is added to the treeview tag list, which you can select later to display with any posts that are associated with it.

I’ve only been using this new version since late last night, but already I find it indispensible in letting me save posts to come back to later. Some other notes on the tagging feature:

- Tags are synchronized with NewsGator

- “Subscriptions Home” includes a tag cloud

- Tags can be dragged from the tree and dropped onto a post in a FeedDemon newspaper

- Tagged items can be excluded by the Cleanup Wizard

- Tagged items can be excluded from purging of older articles (click Options on the “Manage Tags” dialog to enable/disable)

- Tagging is now included in the attention algorithm 

FeedDemon users should definitely be looking forward to these new additions and getting their hands on this excellent program.

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:FeedDemon Releases Version 2.5 UpdateUpdates for FeedDemon 2.6 Beta 3Veotag Gets $750K in Angel FundingPhotobucket’s New Good and Bad Tagging FeaturesNewsGator Shifts To Free Software ModelShyftr Beats Google Reader with OPML ImportsNewsGator Launches iPhone Version

WordPress and RSS go together like ham and cheese, but there are always ways to make the combination that much better and make sure you know exactly how well you are doing.  The following 12 plugins will help you add information to your feeds, manage your subscribers and see statistics on how you are performing.

All of these plugins are supposed to work in version 2.5 and above. Also, as always, don’t install all of these unless you want to decrease your blog’s response time.

Additional Feed Content

Ozh’ Better Feed - Allows you to add just about anything you want to your RSS feed entries such as links, ads, copyright information and more.

RSS Footer - Allows you to insert copyright information and link backs to your original posting in your RSS entries.

RSS Includes Pages - Allows you to include pages and not just posts in your RSS feed.

RSSupplement - Allows you to add a number of different things to your feed including comments link, social bookmarking links and more.

Simple Feed Copyright - Adds a simple copyright notice to the bottom of each entry in your RSS feed with a link back to your blog.

RSS Management

FD FeedBurner Plugin - Redirects your main feed, and your comments feed if you choose, through FeedBurner without any need to modify templates.

Feed Key - Allows you to add keys to restrict feeds to registered users.

Feed Wrangler - Allows you to manage your feed with ads, without, make some feeds bypass FeedBurner and more.

RSSless - Allows you to use short codes to remove certain types of content from your feeds such as videos or images that don’t format correctly.

Stats

Feed Subscriber Stats - Allows you to see how many subscribers you have according to FeedBurner in your dashboard instead of going to their site or having to view your own site.

FeedBurner Widget - Allows you to add the FeedBurner chicklet directly from within your admin area.

FeedStats - Tracks feed usage in your dashboard.  Lets you set the number of days to tracks, IPs to exclude and more.

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