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the tumblog of Henrik Joreteg
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Henrik Joreteg

Hi, I'm Henrik Joreteg

joreteg.com is where I blog about the web, entrepreneurship, iPhones, tech-news, marketing and whatever else comes spilling out of my brain.

Other stuff:

Archive

Latest From Twitter

    Jun
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    Jun
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    We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back the soonest is the most progressive man.
    — C.S. Lewis

    May
    27th
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    Is Microsoft purposely holding back the web?

    Google keeps saying that they want to “move the web forward” is it possible that Microsoft is actually trying to “hold the web back”? The reason I bring this up is one word: motivation.

    Why would Microsoft want to move the web forward? Microsoft hasn’t really figured out how make money on the web yet. In fact, many people would say that they have repeatedly failed at all things web-related. So one could argue, that it would be in Microsoft’s best interest if people kept using desktop applications and just kept doing what they’re doing. That is, buying a new computer (and the new Windows license that comes with it) every time their Windows installation gets bloated with spy-ware and various other crap-ware. That has worked for Microsoft for years, and they’re struggling to find their role in the new “open web” model where so much is given away for free.

    So what power do they really have? Well, because of the success of Windows they still have the largest share of the browser market. Web developers can build amazing web applications with modern browser technology. However, in order to have wide appeal, they are often forced to build apps that conform to the lowest common browser denominator (which is almost always IE).

    Web developers have been pushing the limits of web-technologies for years; trying to re-create the “feel” and functionality of desktop applications within a browser. There have been some incredible advances in these areas, examples that come to mind are Mozilla’s Bespin, Google Docs, Zoho’s office tools, Adobe’s Photoshop Express, and picnik. Also, if you want to be blown away by what can be done in a browser head over to ChromeExperiements.com

    However, much of the added “zing” needed to make web applications really seem comparable to desktop apps requires use of some of the more progressive web technologies that will be available in the yet-to-be-completely-defined standards of HTML 5. But, all other major browsers such as FireFox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera are already implementing some of the more powerful features of HTML 5 such as the “canvas” tag that enable some of the most impressive web applications, like the aforementioned Bespin (a web based IDE for coders).

    Given the fact that Microsoft has had very limited success on the web, is it really such a stretch to imagine that they would use their position in the browser market to slow down that transition?

    Are they doing it on purpose? Who knows. Are they slowing down the evolution of the web? No doubt.

    What do you think?


    May
    15th
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    Google Search Options

    There’s been a lot of talk recently about how twitter’s search will impact the search industry, mainly because of the “real-time”, “as-it’s-happening” aspect of it that hasn’t been available in Google.

    Well, a couple days ago, Google released some search improvements of their own. Say hello to “search options”:

    screenshot of Google Search Options

    They introduce several new filtering options, most notably (IMO), the ability to filter by “recency”. I gave it a quick try by Googling my name and selecting “Past 24 hours”:

    screen shot of recent search for Henrik Joreteg

    It wasn’t too bad. It included one (of several) Twitter posts from last night, a comment on a Friend Feed post, and my friend Josh Highland’s blog post from yesterday, who has me in his blog roll.

    I’m guessing with time, the accuracy and completeness of these more recent results will improve. So far, though, it wasn’t too bad. Finally, Google added a few other features that are probably more fun than useful like the “Wonder Wheel” option that displays a visuallization of related searches and lets you quickly switch from one to the other:

    screen shot of Google's new Wonder Wheel

    So far, I’m a fan and I plan on leaving this option turned on. Have you tried search options? What are your reactions?


    May
    12th
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    Impressive, eh? I’d love to give somebody credit for this. But I have no idea where it came from. I just got the link from my friend Josh Highland
    Impressive, eh? I’d love to give somebody credit for this. But I have no idea where it came from. I just got the link from my friend Josh Highland

    Apr
    30th
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    Track the swine flu on a map

    You can see a bigger version on Google Maps


    Apr
    29th
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    If you go tumblr and view source on the page, you’ll see yet another example of their attention to detail.

So much style!

    If you go tumblr and view source on the page, you’ll see yet another example of their attention to detail.

    So much style!


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    Apr
    27th
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    If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
    — Henry David Thoreau
    This is one my favorite quotes. I used to have it framed on my desk.

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    Look closely at the icons for “text”, “photo”, etc from this screenshot of the tumblr.com iPhone app. The ripped pieces of paper are all unique and the pattern of the torn edge matches the icons above and below!!!

That’s impressive attention to detail that all designers can learn from. I’ve been really impressed with tumblr since I started using it last week. It’s easy, it’s customizable, and they obviously take pride in their work.

    Look closely at the icons for “text”, “photo”, etc from this screenshot of the tumblr.com iPhone app. The ripped pieces of paper are all unique and the pattern of the torn edge matches the icons above and below!!!

    That’s impressive attention to detail that all designers can learn from. I’ve been really impressed with tumblr since I started using it last week. It’s easy, it’s customizable, and they obviously take pride in their work.