I just posted a new comment onto the Attensa blog after I reread a blog post reviewing Particls, the coolest desktop news gadget I have seen, “The tool that is supposed to focus your attention ends up being a distraction. Articles flow by and if you snooze you lose.” I responded:
I felt the same way about Particls until I realized that it is okay if something gets away if that information is ephemeral and transient news.
However, Particls is smarter than you think. Particls will escalate the articles it seems to “think” you will really want to see.
So, while it is true that if you leave Particls on all day while you’re off-site, you may indeed miss something, I think the developers and Chris Saad realize the news is more like a pulse check than an EKG… you only need a quick taste of the Zeitgeist than you need a running, documented, history.
Particls is Buddhist: it realizes that we are in a constant series of now. now. now. now.
I told Chris that in a Particls’ river, “You Can’t Step Into the Same River Twice.”
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…as long as the “stuff” is always running downstream, that’s probably a very safe river…
:-)
Chris – you hit the nail on the head.
And also Particls even takes into account when the user is away. When it notices that the user is away, items expire more slowly so chances are you will still see what happened during the day.
Particls will also que up the popup alerts until you come back to your desk.
As you say – the goal of Particls is to display a zen-like stream of news headlines. Stay informed while being productive.
Shhhh, Chris, don’t let it get out that I am smart or anything like that. People *hate* the smart kid. I will start getting wedgies and noogies. Worse, I will never get picked first for Dodgeball during PhysEd.
Oh, also, I was not aware that Particls was that polite. Particls is like having an information valet(tm), a news valet(tm). ;)
Particls is Buddhist? No. Particls is software. Ego only hinders usable software, and in this case, I have to agree with Attensa. A feed reader is about having information when I want it, not when the software wants me to have it. It’s OK to assume a missed article might no longer be relevant, but ultimately it is I who should decide that, not the application.
Well, there are two types of RSS readers: analysts who have the time and the interest to do the RSS news equiv of an EKG; however, most people just need alerts, need updates, and need to take a pulse.
So, it is a constant state of now, now, now.
An, actually, I hate to contradict you, Tony, but it isn’t Particls that is choosing the content and the news, it is you… you as manifest by your APML file.
People who dig Particls were the same people who had a scanner and listened for police alerts and so forth — it is the kind of person who care about the Zeitgeist and not every single thing coming and going.
I am like you, Tony. I save all of my news papers — NYT, WSJ, and the FT, and pore over the ones I couldn’t keep up with at the end of the week; however, to most people, what’s happening now (market, news, business, etc) is what matters.
In the news, and in a 24-hour cycle, there is a 3-4 hour time out towards obsolescence.
I read Google Reader to get EVERYTHING, but I use Particles to keep track of all the news from my staggering 1,000+ feeds that I very well might have forwarded myself.
Is Particls Enterprise 2.0-ready? I don’t know. Are companies ready to lose a little to gain a lot? Probably not.
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