It’s a problem of any social network that you will need to have a sizable friend list to feel interesting. To develop your friend list is the number one task you will need to do after entering a new social network. The way to offer it as a game like task is better than to just show you some head shots of certain pretty dude.

Another related problem is that how you would accept friend request you will probably received from these sites. Most of them you don’t actually know. Don’t be fooled by the number of common friends you have. Your friends don’t know them either.

You can either accept them all, which will result in a big friends list that you really know little of them. Or you can strictly research them one by one if they are really the one you want, but that is time consuming. You go to social network to relax, not to receive a burden.

I used to take the former way to accept them all. In this way, you won’t have much burden to deal with those requests. And it’s good to have a bigger influence in social network, which has become another kind of media, aka social media.

But I have realized that there’s third way to deal with them. And it’s better than the former two ways in my mind at this moment. I will just accept those I really know, but leave others untouched. I don’t ignore them. In case, I get to know them in the future, I don’t need to request back. If I have too much time in my hand, I will speak with some of them, since they opt-in to become my friend.

That sounds interesting? Sure, it sounds interesting.

I played with Yahoo Time Capsule for an hour last night. This is a great idea to study humanity and lives on this planet.

Currenly my entry is the only one tagged with cnbloggercon. There’re 4 days left before it closes. Hurry up if you have anything to submit.

[tags]yahoo, timecapsule, cnbloggercon[/tags]

This service has been online for one year. Basically it provides online OPML file viewing and editing. OPML is used widely for sharing RSS reading list. Actually it can be used for sharing any resources, like this OPML presentation.

I learned the importance of OPML when I was playing with Dave Winer’s OPML Editor. But there’s still no killer application for OPML yet. That’s the reason why service like OPML.cn still not widely adopted.

Firefox users expecting their browser to automatically install version 2.0 may have to wait a little longer. Firefox’s automatic update feature does not presently give users the option of declining an update. […] Firefox will first ship a 1.5.0.8 upgrade to the browser that will give them the ability to decline the major upgrade. After that it will push out the 2.0 version via automatic update.

To be honest, I haven’t installed Firefox 2.0 yet. Based on my experience, if I install the latest builds of Firefox today, all my extensions will stop work. I cannot live without some of them, like del.icio.us extension. Compared with an unfunctional new browser, I would rather spend more days with my long used old one.

But I have read all kinds of reviews of the new version before it’s officially launched. I really look forward to the new version. I took a look at the release notes again. Following features are the most wanted, although security improvements are important for sure.

1. Resuming your browsing session.

   If it has been implemented in previous version, it would have saved my life for many times. Just imagine how sad it is when your browser crashed with 10 unread tabs open. I really look forward to this feature, and I hope it works like it’s said in the release notes.

2. Inline spell checking.

   I don’t know if this is a must have feature, but it’s true that sometimes I wrote long paragraph in Word or OneNote first to check my spells. Not sure online or offline dictionary this feature uses. If it’s fast and simple, this is definitely useful.

3. Client-side session and persistent storage

   I haven’t read though the specification yet. This is not related closely to normal users. But I suppose this feature will improve performance of web applications like Gmail.

Read all the new features at the release notes. I bet most of the users don’t read this carefully. And probably they don’t have a clear vision why they should upgrade to the new version.

The upgrading is definitely smooth. I upgrade from 1.5 to 2.0.4 by just following the instructions in the readme file. All my settings are reserved without problem including the theme.

Only one place you need to chance. I have deleted some code in the dashboard which will try to load rss from Technorati, since it is not working in China. Otherwise you dashboard won’t load properly.

Thanks Franz!

让我们假设：有一天，你和几百位素未谋面的人士呆在一个空间，整整24小时被允许充分自由，但没有人建议你该做什么。

你的周围，是混乱的电脑、裸露在睡袋外的陌生脑袋、“红牛”、“可乐”等食物容器，以及一阵高过一阵的喧哗。那些彼此不和谐的声音——英语、德语、法语，还有你的母语——永远不知疲倦地在大声介绍和讨论某个话题……

If you want to comment, go to Lynn’s blog (part1, part2, part3) . Andy also has a nice wrap up of Barcamp shanghai.

As a barcamper, one of your most important objectives is to make a successful session. Besides doing homework on your topic, there’re other things you should know to make a successful barcamp talk.

Barcamp is like digg, traditional conference is like slashdot. In barcamp, you are not guaranteed to have a session by persuading a small group of organizers. Rather you should persuade the audiences.

Following is my suggestions if you would like to prepare for the next barcamp early.

• Think of a short and sound name for your topic. If you want to include your topic and your name on a yellow sticker, you had better summarize your topic in 5 or 6 words.
• Come early to register your topic. People are tired after listening to two sessions. If you missed the scheduling session in the morning, you are not likely to raise enough interests.
• Actively explain your topic to people before they vote. People don’t have to know the topic. They vote for things they have heard of and supposed to be useful.
• Prepare you session in a simple way. Keep in mind, this is a grassroots’ conference. Your session will probably be arranged in a room without projector, Internet access or even tables.
• Repeat your main topic during the talk now and then. In a multi-session conference, people switch between sessions quickly. Help people join in the middle of your talk to be synchronized.
• Look for help from other barcampers. Even you haven’t prepared your topic enough for a whole session, you can still make it a success by inviting other barcampers with professional background to join your session. In fact, it’s very easy to turn an active participant into a co-speaker.

Barcamp Shanghai II is purposed to happen in six months. Wish you to be a more successful barcamper next time.