I use Delicious to put together my show notes. I have the toolbar on my Chrome browser that I select and put in keywords. However, yesterday the toolbar sat on “Loading”. I first thought it was a internet connection problem, but soon found out that the new owners of Delicious have changed the website. But it broke the toolbar in doing so.
It made my show note collection a little harder to do. I ended up putting all my links in Google docs. When I called them up during the show, I didn’t get the pages, but the Google “You are being redirected” message. That meant I had to select each link redirect message.
A little about Delicious
Delicious is a bookmark cloud service. The program was on the chopping block by Yahoo! After public outcry, Yahoo! decided to sell the website. The new owners – Chad Hurley and Steve Chen saved it from extinction. But they also knew that Delicious was on Yahoo!’s list because the service wasn’t making the right amount of revenue. Therefore, it’s time for a change.
I read the GigaOm talking about losing their bookmarks. That was a case where they didn’t update their profile when told Delicious was switching servers. I remember the email on April 27th – it stated that if you didn’t update, your bookmarks will be gone. So no sympathy:
Yahoo! is excited to announce that Delicious has been acquired by the founders of YouTube, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. As creators of the largest online video platform, Hurley and Chen have firsthand expertise enabling millions of consumers to share their experiences with the world.Delicious will become part of their new Internet company, AVOS.
To continue using Delicious, you must agree to let Yahoo! transfer your bookmarks to AVOS. After a transition period and after your bookmarks are transferred, you will be subject to the AVOS terms of service and privacy policy. Reasons to let Yahoo! transfer your bookmarks
Continue uninterrupted use of Delicious.
Keep your Delicious account and all your bookmarks.
Enjoy the same look and feel of Delicious today plus future product innovations.
What happens if you do not transfer your bookmarks
Delicious in its current form will be available until approximately July 2011.
After that, you will no longer be able to use your existing Delicious account and will not have access to your existing bookmarks or account information.
I do agree with one thing the GigaOM article stated – Delicious might not fully know how people use the service. If they don’t fix the problems quickly, they are going to lose users to StumbleUpon and Reddit. But is it about fixing problems, or educating the users with the new features?
What I Really Like about the Redesign – Stacks
new delicious bookmark tool with Stacks
This is actually a really nice addition to Delicious. It lets you have a visual list of your bookmarks, rather than just links. I have options to view in list or grid mode. I can even see in video mode – which my video show can be on the top of the list. If I create a stack for each show, it becomes a new set of show notes with a visual view.
Request – Bring Back the Chrome Extension QUICK
Right now they want you to drag a link to your bookmarks toolbar. Only problem is I don’t have my bookmarks showing (The hotkey to bring up the bookmark bar is “Shift-CTRL B”). I might get used to using it that way, but if there is an easier way for me to catalog my bookmarks, I will.
With a little learning, I think I will really enjoy the new Delicious site. It’s too soon to tell, but it could also become a great reference.
I’ve been using WebnoteHappy for the Mac for a few weeks and love it. I’m always surfing the Internet researching things and have tried various ways of capturing content on web pages that I visit and want to remember. The common way to do that is with your browser’s bookmark feature. I used that for a while but wasn’t happy with the results. In the Windows world I use a program called Azz Cardfile, that allows me to paste the contents of a web page or a link to the page in what looks like an electronic card file. I can then add notes about the site and click on the link within the card file to go back to the site in my browser. The notes are searchable too.
When I moved over to the Mac world, I missed Azz Cardfile, but I finally found something better from HappyApps.com. WebNoteHappy works with your browser to capture (bookmark) a link to a web page you find interesting. You can then add notes and other information and even search your links and notes and launch the web page in your browser. This program also allows you to create folders to help you organize what you find. You can even create Smart Folders where you set up rules to automatically move items into folders. All the links and notes are stored in a common library and only pointers are stored within the folders so items can reside in multiple folders. As an example, I have a Photographer folder with a Wish List subfolder. I also have Wish List folder under Gadgets and the program allows me to store the same item in both places (if it’s photography related).
When you install the program it places a “bookmarklet” in your browser’s toolbar. When you find a web page that you want to remember, just click the “Webnote It” bookmarklet, and it opens up WebNoteHappy and generates an entry. You can then type any notes you want about the site and even add tags.
The program sells for $24.95 USD and you can try it for 30 days before you buy it. There is also a free WebnoteHappy Lite program that works the same way except it doesn’t have folders to organize your bookmarks. The program works with both Firefox and Safari browsers.
I started out with the Lite version and moved up to the paid version because I found the program was a great time-saver for me. When I installed the paid version it found all the items I had saved in the Lite version and I didn’t loose a thing. After I upgraded to the paid version I had a few questions and received very fast response to my questions.
If you use a Mac and want to get a little more organized, give WebnoteHappy or WebnoteHappy Lite a try.
