Kim Joar Bekkelund

From bash.org:

<dsully> please describe web 2.0 to me in 2 sentences or less.
<jwb> you make all the content. they keep all the revenue.

Ruby on Maglev

(I’m bored…)

I love Google Reader. It took me a long time to actually start using a feed reader, and truly it has changed alot for me. Now I subscribe to 123 feeds, and in the last month I have read nearly 6000 posts. The magnificent thing is that I’m now able to keep myself posted in what’s happening in the world without opening all the online newspapers and blogs to read it. This saves me alot of time. With a feed reader it is easier to crank through the headlines and only really read the news (or blog posts) that seems interesting. And it goes alot faster than browsing the actual newspaper or blog.

Even though I now go through alot more news and blog posts than before, it takes alot less time, and it is easier to only read the things I really find interesting. On the actual webpages there is alot of interrupting elements as ads and bad usability.

Earlier this year the Norwegian University of Technology and Science (NTNU) released their new website after using several years and about $1.6 million on the development. First I planned a long rant about my views on the new site, but I think their sitemap says it all. This site is not at all what I expect from the leading technological university in Norway. Personally I know alot of students capable of making a site much better site than that. And I know that alot of them would have done it for free, just to be able to participate in such a big project.

Some of you algorithm-people might find the Puzzles section at Facebook interesting. I think I need to work some more on my knowledge on algorithms and scaling before trying myself.

Facebook has recently released the Facebook Platform, which gives outsiders access to add applications to Facebook. Facebook themselves put it this way: “The Facebook Platform is a standards-based web service with methods for accessing and contributing Facebook data.” Just about every big web development blog out there has written about the release, and it seems that many are eager to participate. Facebook themselves has just released a little note on their blog so far, but hopefully there is more to come within a couple of hours.

I’m really sorry to say that I really don’t have time to go into a deep explanation on what you can actually do with this platform, but I will get back to it as soon as the finals are over. But damn, this looks promising!

First of all; Google has just launched Google Hot Trends, a new feature on the Google Trends report. Hot Trends enables users to see a list of the current top 100 fastest-rising seerch terms in the U.S. And to my amusement number 50 on the list today is: “what part of a graduate’s costume gave the cordon bleu cooking school its name“

Is there an error somewhere in the system, or is just the U.S. crazy beyond belief?

As already mentioned I have registered kimjoar.net, but now I’m wondering a little about what to do. One of the things I am planning for the domain is to have my blog there, but the problem is: Do I develop my own blog from scratch, or do I just use WordPress or some other blog publishing system?

I really want to test the Zend Framework, but is this the right thing to test it on? What are your thoughts on this matter?

Want to learn about security vulnerabilities in web software, Django, performance tuning best practices for MySQL and alot of other web related matters? I just found out that Google’s TechTalks are available online for free at Google Video, go check out! I really liked the talk about The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz.

Finally I have registered kimjoar.net, but it also was/is a strange experience. I have looked at some web hotels lately, and finally found one I liked, Subsys, which is located here in Norway. They had a nice and informative front page, which I find essential, and their prices are fairly reasonable, and of course the most important of all: they have the services I want (PHP5, reasonable amount of storage, servers located in Norway, and a good administration panel).

But the strange thing; how do I pay for it? I have no clue. There was nothing about it in the registration, and in the mail I received after the registration there was not a word about it. Do they actually send me a bill?

This summer I will be working a little bit on my personal website alongside AVRFreaks.net, and hopefully I will have a page ready in August/September.