Marcus Hamaker is The Sleepy Geek

Let’s face it! Google Reader was a pretty slick interface before they went and made any changes this week. I wasn’t expecting it (probably was mentioned on the reader blog RSS feed) but it is a welcome update.

I am a huge fan of clean looking interfaces. I supposed that is why I like OS X and some of the simpler applications out there. They have taken away some of the colouring that they had on the left side and replaced it with white backgrounds. The sections are separated with lines rather than a background colour difference which looks much nicer. My biggest pet peeve of the old version was the green background under the ‘add subscription’ button and now it’s gone.

Before:

After:

I have been using Google Reader for quite some time as my RSS reader. It’s a great way to read RSS feeds and I like the fact I can log in from anywhere with internets access to take a peak if I have time. It’s nice to know that Google is keeping an eye on their existing products and trying to find ways at making them better.

Some of the other cool features include the ability to collapse sections on the left side, the ability to turn off unread counts, updated friend sharing tools and they have added more bundles to their list.

I must say that I am happy with the graphical update and look forward to making use of the new features. If you don’t use Google Reader and are looking for a good web based RSS reader, give it a chance. You won’t be disappointed.

This upgrade looks exciting. Can’t wait to try it out.

Although tentatively scheduled for November, WordPress 2.7 looks to be as big of a release since WordPress 2.5, perhaps even bigger.

First Look At WordPress 2.7 | Weblog Tools Collection.

Seriously, how many spare Xbox 360s does Benjamin Heckendorn have laying around? By our count, this is the third instance where the modder extraordinaire has shoved Microsoft’s latest console into something that’s theoretically playable on one’s lap, and obviously, this one is the best one evar.

Ben Heck outdoes himself with Xbox 360 Portable – Engadget.

Either way, with all of Psystar’s antitrust counterclaims dismissed and Apple adding new DMCA claims to its lawsuit, we’ve got a feeling things are about to go boom in Florida pretty soon — if machines really are still shipping, this is probably your last chance to grab a piece of (semi-functional) history.

Apple amends Psystar complaint, says someone’s behind the curtain – Engadget.

We have some very big news today at Pownce. We will be closing the service and Mike and I, along with the Pownce technology, have joined Six Apart, the company behind such great blogging software as Movable Type, TypePad and Vox. We’re bittersweet about shutting down the service but we believe we’ll come back with something much better in 2009. We love the Pownce community and we will miss you all.

We’re very happy that Six Apart wants to invest in growing the vision that we the founders of Pownce believe so strongly in and we’re very excited to take our vision to all of Six Apart’s products. Mike and I have joined Six Apart as part of their engineering team and we’re looking forward to being a part of the talented group that has created amazing tools for blogging and publishing.

The Pownce Blog.