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Reddit's user revolt is the best thing for Reddit... and the internet
One day, internet users will learn "free speech" doesn't give them the right to harass others without any consequences. This is not that day. After Reddit announced yesterday that it would finally start curtailing the worst behavior of its users -- that is, by banning community sites ("subreddits") that harass people -- a vocal contingent of its users began freaking the hell out. There were sexist posts railing against Reddit interim CEO Ellen Pao and plenty of users threatening to abandon the site for alternatives like Voat (which is essentially a Reddit clone). It was all because they thought Reddit was restricting their free speech, something they have no actual right to on the site in the first place. But while it might seem like Reddit is on the brink of falling apart, after seeing the noxious elements of its community metastasize over the years like a cancer, the revolt actually seems like good news for the site. And, in many ways, it's a hopeful sign for the future of the web.
LinkedIn lets you follow social news with updated iPhone app
For those of you not familiar with it, LinkedIn is a social network for your professional contacts. Think of it as Facebook without the keg stand photos. I've been a big fan of LinkedIn for a while now and was excited when it launched its LinkedIn Today social news feature. LinkedIn Today is a social news aggregator for business people. It lets you easily follow news and stories from the industries you and your contacts work in. In conjunction with the premier of LinkedIn Today, LinkedIn also updated its iOS app to feature a brand new news section that shows you the headlines from your LinkedIn Today industry headlines. The addition of the news section to the app makes it infinitely more useful. Previously, I would only open my LinkedIn iPhone app when I needed to download new contacts, but today I've found myself checking it every half hour to see the latest articles and headlines related to my industry and what news links my peers are sharing. LinkedIn is available for free on the App Store.
It's true, iReddit on the iPhone
reddit, an open source social news aggregator which has garnered a loyal following, has come out with a very slick, very handy little iPhone app for their service. Actually, it's the third one -- according to their blog -- but this one's "official." iReddit brings you the news ... you don't even have to join reddit, your iPhone will start spewing stories of all caliber and ilk at you the moment you launch the app (fortunately, a free account will let you start filtering the stream). Don't tell the rest of the TUAW team -- many of whom were clamoring to post about iReddit -- but I'd never used reddit.com in any serious fashion until I got in on the iReddit beta. I'm now a frequent reader ... at least on my iPhone. The app itself is much like the website in layout. It's also elegant, responsive and heart-warmingly cute, the cuteness due in large part to the reddit mascot checking the time and tapping its toes while pages load. I'm quite serious when I say that it's one of the best "loading screens" I've ever had the pleasure of using. Articles open in the built-in browser, where you can read them, send them to Safari, e-mail a link, or save them to your reddit account. The team behind the app is none other than our friends from WWDC, 280 North. You may remember (or be using) their online presentation app, 280Slides. iReddit is another fine accomplishment on the 280 resume. Check it out at the App Store for $1.99US.
POP Takeout lays out social news in MobileSafari
Sometimes you want a list of what's hot on the social news sites at a quick glance-- an easy-to-access look at the Zeitgeist, if you will. And for those times, there's POP Takeout, a site Wade M put together and sent to us that offers up a quick list of social news headlines from Digg, Reddit, Del.icio.us, Tailrank, and Newsvine, all listed in a site that's easy to browse and right on your iPhone (or iPod Touch-- I guess we should just start saying "in MobileSafari").The only complaint I'd have is that each link goes to the social news site's page for the story, and not the actual link for the story itself. I'd use something like POP Takeout because I don't want to visit Digg or Tailrank, and hitting the link and making me click through causes me to do that anyway.On the other hand, if I worked for Digg, I'd have a serious problem with someone listing my articles and not providing a link through to the site-- it's content theft, more or less. But if Wade could work out a way to keep Digg happy and send me to the news stories with just one click, it'd be a better solution all around.
Win a Mac mini and other prizes from Macitt during year of monthly contests
Macitt, a social Mac news site from Apple Matters a lá digg and Netscape, has announced a year of monthly sponsored contests for 2007. For January, they're kicking off strong with a Mac mini. The only thing you need to do to enter the contest is participate in 3's each day: either 3 macitt votes, 3 comments, or 3 story submissions per day. Users are allowed to enter each day, but spamming and gaming the system are of course not allowed: no one-word answers, and no links to your mother's blog about knitting (though it might fly if she knit, say, an afghan with an Apple logo).Check out macitt's contest page for more details, and good luck on that Mac mini.
