(Hat tip to Chuck.)

Dave Winer just made a post about whoisi.com, singing its praises and awesomeness.

I checked out the site. Cute, another follow this person aggregator. Searched for my “EricaJoy” (if I learned anything at Google, it is branding) and found nothing. Went through the steps to add myself (for uh testing purposes) by adding the site I own (heh, you’re reading it) and waited for the magic.

Nothing happened.

I clicked the “Add another site button” and waited for more magic.

Still none.

I then screamed at my computer (I do that, don’t you?) and closed the site.

What was the cause of my frustration? The fact that here is Yet Another Social Aggregator that wants me to add info into it instead of being smart and finding my info that I’ve already put on the internet eleventyhundred times.

>>>WEB THINGY DEVELOPERS READ ME<<<*

The Social Graph API is your friend. It is my friend. It is smart, charming, sexy, and the life of any party. Other API’s are jealous of it. Here’s what it does:

With the Social Graph API, developers can now utilize public connections their users have already created in other web services. It makes information about public connections between people easily available and useful.

Oh ho, what was that? Did that little block quote just say it can use the public connections I’ve already created on other sites to help figure out  “who is I” (see what I did there)?

Let’s see what the social graph API knows about me:

I’ll be damned, look at that. Based off one URL, 6 of my other identities have been discovered.

Lets make like some hypothetically very well done site has used this API and presented me with these 6 sites saying something to the effect of “Hey thanks for adding ericabaker.com, these look like they might be you too. Are they?” to which I respond “Why yes they are, thank you for asking,” by clicking on every single one of them to add to the data about me. Now the site knows that These Sites Are EricaJoy’s and can do another API query to find even more sites that belong to me.

Oh snap. Look at all my identities out there for some smart web site to associate with me. Where is my Staples easy button when I need to press it?

Executive Summary:

I am lazy. Use the Social Graph API instead of asking me over and over and fricking over again where all my profiles are.

*Sorry, that was obnoxious. But effective, no?

Getting the IT stuff up and going in our Chelsea Market office has been the source of many of my meetings for the past eleventy months so I’m happy to see it finally complete. Congrats to everyone involved in making this space happen!

(Pics after the jump)

More pics of the office from Getty Images: http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Search.aspx?EventId=81670963

More write-ups of the grand opening:
Google Demonstrates Its Health in Shaky Economy
Google Expands Its New York Footprint

Team 1:

Crab and Blueberry Cakes with Chipolte-Berry Aoli*

Chipotle-strawberry Mashed Potatoes (don’t remember what kind of steak that was)

Spicy Roasted Salmon with Mixed berry Sauce

I failed to take a picture of the Chocolate Passion fruit ice cream over Berry Preserves.

Team 2:

Strawberry Consomme

Blueberry Lavender Risotto*

Crab, Brie and Currant Stuffed Puff Pastry, Blueberry Sauce*

Roasted Chicken, Currant Gastrique, Savory Cornbread, Baby Squash, Raspberry Glaze

My favorite in the competition was Team 2. While Team 1 came out swinging with that crab cake situation, Team 2 took the crab-berry combo to a whole different level. The brie mixed with the crab on its own was salty but the sweetness of the berries offset the saltiness perfectly. In fact, Team 2 followed the sweet and savory theme throughout all its dishes and pulled it off fabulously. It’s no wonder Team 2 was headed up by my favorite chef (I found out after we were done). Overall, the best (and only) 8 course meal I’ve ever eaten. Great job to all!

I, for one, am ecstatic about this development. I’ve long wanted to be able to pay for extra Gmail storage and I think a few other folks wanted this option as well.

I guess with the extra space, I really need to make sure my filters are on point.

Happy happy happy!
Joy joy joy!

Am I excited about this? Oh yes, yes I am. =D

No related posts.

No related posts.

No related posts.

Speaking of New York, I may move there pretty soon. I’ve been looking for apartments online and I’m already exhausted. Searching for apartments in New York is like searching for apartments on Mars. It’s truly unlike anything I’ve ever done before and I don’t recommend it to anybody. Thankfully, I’ve been using the updated Google Reader to kind of help with this a little. Currently I’m subscribed to feeds from Craigslist and Google Base (how come more apartment search sites don’t have feeds?!) that are customized to the exact kind of apartment I’m looking for. See, I’m not one for going out somewhere to do my laundry. Call me spoiled but something about being able to toss a load in whenever I so desire works for me.

anyhow, I never used Google Reader before because I didn’t like the interface. The most I did with it was had it power the RSS feeds on my blogs sidebar (Dugg and I Wish…). However with the new interface, it’s actually usable! For the apartment hunt, I have a tag called apartment hunt (shock!). I’ve applied that tag to both the Craigslist and Base feeds and now I can keep an eye on apartments that fit into my criteria. By the way, if you know of more apartment hunting sites that have feeds, I’d appreciate if you left a comment with the link.

Back to Reader, while its got a nice new look and some cool features, there are still things that are missing. For example, it’s not possible to search feeds. For example, if I wanted to find all the items with the word “Brooklyn” in the apartment hunt tag, I’d have to go back to the feed source and modify my search there. Not helpful at all. Also, unless I’m totally missing something, (someone correct me if I am) its not possible to create new tags without first applying them to individual items. The lack of auto-refreshing is annoying. I hate having to click refresh to see new items. However, aside from those 3 things, the new Reader is fab. Congrats to the folks who worked on it.

Okay so this post has gotten much longer than I planned for it to be so I’ll save the rest of what I wanted to say for another day. Have a good weekend folks!

Tags:

• apartment search
• New York
• Google
• Reader