phocks

So yeah, a little while they started implementing changes to Google Reader to make everything just that little bit more social. Seems to be the way things are headed these days.

The people search feature they have currently is next to useless. Figured there had to be a better way to work out if friends were actively sharing.

FriendFeed to the rescue! Imported all my Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail contacts using the automatic friend finder. Then used the service:googlereader search operator coupled with friends:phocks and there we had it, my friends currently sharing. Simply click the “from Google Reader” link underneath and follow happily.

Of course you can mix it up also and find users sharing all kinds of topics like: Firefox, The Beatles, Twitter, iPod, photography, etc.

Happy sharing! Peace.

A quick little list (in no particular order) of some good value twitts from those I’m following in Brisbane dabbling in various artistic endeavours, or other such pursuits that make up the creative life of this sleepy little town.

@mirandaforwood: dancer extraordinaire, kept running into her everywhere around town for a while. I think she thought I was stalking her. Maybe I was, maybe I wasn’t. Maybe she was stalking me.

@ameliadowd: brilliant photographer, took some great shots of The Strange Attractors at Brisbane Twestival. Most recently saw her in That Face at the Bille Brown Theatre in West End.

@definatalie: graphic artist, does nice designs for shirts. You should buy one.

@benexia: guitarist and songwriter, met once at the Alibi Room. Nice chap. You’ll usually find him hanging around with @miranda_jane.

@KateEdwards: beautiful film producer, recent lover of The Mighty Boosh. Lives just up the street in New Farm with the omnipresent @lexiphanic (well, used to at least, until he moved out). High flyer in the #btub Twitterati.

@ccake: artist and tumblr, gave me a gift flickr pro account last year. What a sweetie!

@nicodonnell: creative director & theatre producer, takes brilliant photos too. We met breifly at the Brisbane Twestival.. I think. I’d had a few.

@urchincreature: musician & free spirit, shared (much) more than a few games of chess at The Tree Monkeys cafe in West End over the years.

@heroinepretend: lighting designer & theatre tech, we’ve almost met in real life on many numerous occasions.. almost. I always look out for her when at Chermside Shopping Centre.

@lost_kafei: philosophy student at QUT, dwells on Descartes. Hangs out sometimes at the RG.

Well, that just about wraps it up, a bit more difficult than I imagined, though I may consider doing another one of these later down the track. Leave a comment if you want. Oh and follow me on Twitter, if you want to too.

Woke up thismorning to find a whole lot of cosmetic changes to Twitter, that they’d warned us about last night. Quite an improvement I’d say. Hopefully the Twitter staff are finally waking up to the fact that they’d better start making changes to their system and fixing problems, lest their competitors catch up too much.

Recently I’ve been trying out another similar service called Brightkite, much like Twitter, but with a focus on locations and mobile photography. Good thing I recently got my mobile email workingm to post pictures directly. Currently the service is invite only, but you can check out my profile, and if you want to give it a go, just give me a yell and I’ll send an invite. One thing that Brightkite does have over Twitter, as @lexiphanic pointed out, is its free sms notification service internationally, which Twitter turned off a little while ago.

Eager to see what further changes Twitter decides to make anyway, and still wondering when exactly they’re going to fix their IM service and Tracking.