I just saw a tweet from @disqus declaring that you can now pull/post Disqus comments with FriendFeed!  Of course, I have immediately enabled it, and we will see how well it works.

The process to enable the integration is fairly simple (steps blatantly stolen from the Disqus blog post):

1. Visit Account Services
2. Click Enabled
3. Retrieve your FriendFeed Remote Key and fill in the blanks
4. Then, visit The Administration Panel
5. Choose Your Site from the drop-down
6. Click the Settings tab
7. Check FriendFeed comments

If you don’t already have your blog in FriendFeed, add these additional steps:

1. Visit The FriendFeed Services Page
2. Click Blog
3. Add your RSS feed

If you want the full story with illustrated steps, I recommend checking out the Disqus Blog post.

Yesterday, I saw a breaking news blog entry relating to Outbrain and Disqus. It’s a very small update in the Outbrain widget that detects if Disqus is being used and asks if the person rating an article would like to leave a Disqus comment as well.

Although the integration isn’t huge, it did catch my attention and I decided to install Outbrain on my blog. Outbrain is a plug-in content rating system that also provides recommendations automatically at the end of each article where it is installed. There is no special logins needed to rate an article, just click on the number of stars you think the article deserves and your rating is recorded.

The install was very quick and easy, with one odd hiccup. The hiccup came when I was instructed to paste in a unique activation code for my blog in to the plugin’s control panel.  After hitting the button to attempt activation, I eventually got a ‘timeout’ error. I tried the same steps several times with no joy. 

Eventually, however, I noticed that my blog management page on the Outbrain web site apparently decided I was activated, and allowed the plugin to operate normally. It was all very mysterious and I never actually got the confirmation through the control panel as I should.  But knock on wood, I am up and running.

As you can see in my screenshot, I rated my own article to see if the Disqus integration was working. However, it didn’t ask me to leave a comment.  (I subsequently figured out the ‘comment’ link only appears on the single post page, after the Disqus module loads.)

There are a number of great blogs that I follow that are now using the Outbrain plugin, such as Louis Gray, CenterNetworks, WinExtra, The Inquisitr, and VentureBeat.

This will be a short note because I am writing it on my iPhone’s touch keyboard. But, I thought it fitting. Why? Because now I can write updates (however painfully) directly from the iPhone!

Developed by Effigent for Automattic, it seems like a very sweet little app! You can learn more about it at iphone.wordpress.net.

Below, hopefully, will be a gallery of screenshots of the app.

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Caleb has added a new feature to his socialized RSS feed sharing app, Toluu today.  Now, anywhere in Toluu when you see a feed name and you hover your cursor over it, you will get a pop-up dialog with the feed name and the last 5 articles titles.

If you click on the article titles, you will be transported directly to the article in question.

This new feature will reduce the amount of context switching you will need to do as your peruse feeds in your friends list and other places.

If you haven’t registered at Toluu yet, it’s quick and easy to get started.  You can always email me (phil – at – scribkin) for an invite!

Apparently, I (along with anyone who is anyone) should already have known about a gem of a beta product called TinEye by Idée. Apparently, it’s been out for a few months. Apparently, it is freaking awesome.

Apparently, people assume too much and don’t promote enough.

You know what they say: If you assume, you make an a out of Su and me. And believe me, Su doesn’t like being an A. So don’t do it.

If you think a product is great, promote it! Tell people. Write up an article. Whatever. But don’t say, “Gee, yeah, I really loved that last week when I used it for 5 minutes and now you’ve missed the bus.” Because that is what you are saying. To me. And to Su.

Su doesn’t even have a car. Now he has to walk.

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