Hello.

I'm excited to share a bunch of new videos on Channel 9, offering tons of insights into Windows Vista! Check out discussions with Rob Franco's team on IE 7 security, Steve Ball on audio enhancements, and Abolade Gbadegesin's team on networking. Even more videos are available on Channel 9's forum. Read More

I just got my first comment from a stranger, Gaby de Wilde, on my AJAX Tagger! He even used it on his site. I'm grateful for the feedback and plan to incorporate his suggestions in the next version. Check out his blog to see it in action, and please send me any feedback you have! Read More

I previously complained about a click-related bug on Start.com. I'm pleased to report that the Start.com team responded to my email, explaining they're overloaded but plan to fix the issue by replacing the "mouse down" event with a "mouse up" event. I'm happy with their response. Here are links to my previous posts about this issue. Read More

I heard back from the Start.com team at MSN regarding the feedback I sent earlier. I'll share more details tomorrow, along with a couple of other posts I've been working on. Thanks to Venkat and Hadi for their responses. Read More

I'm really interested in ATLAS (AJAX), but I need to prioritize my time. I can't afford to get sidetracked by this project right now, especially since it's not .Net-based and my current work focuses on .Net. Read More

The MSN Search API is now available. I haven't explored it fully yet, but here are some useful links: Why MSN Search?, the MSN Search API download, the SOAP service description, and the developer registration form (requires a .Net Passport). The API appears to be a SOAP service, so I'll likely need to create a proxy for direct calls. The download includes documentation and sample projects. You'll need an application ID, similar to Yahoo's. If you know how to use SOAP with JavaScript, please email me! Read More

I'm trying to be more diligent about documentation, but PDC distractions and the new MSN Search API have me sidetracked. The API's SOAP format and seeming redundancy with existing RSS search options make me question its value. Maybe I'll integrate it into AJAXTagger v2 if I can avoid feature creep. Check out my blog for MSN Search and Start.com developer program resources. Read More

I'm still waiting for a response from Start.com regarding my UI improvement suggestion. Even though Robert Scoble mentioned their quick response to feedback, I haven't heard anything about my suggestion to improve the functionality of the close ("x") button on content panes. I've sent an email and even blogged about it, but no luck so far. Hopefully, they'll address it soon! Read More

Microsoft's Start.com has launched a new developer API, possibly using the ATLAS framework (precursor to ASP.NET AJAX). It seems to focus on creating JavaScript-based "Gadgets," similar to RSS consumers, that need to be hosted on a server. The API also requires enabling cross-domain data sources in Internet Explorer, a topic I've discussed previously. Read More

Yahoo! Publisher Network (YPN) now offers ad category targeting, similar to Google AdSense. This feature allows publishers to specify categories for their ads, resulting in more relevant ads for their audience. I'm excited about the potential of this for my own site and hope Google implements a similar feature in AdSense. I'm even considering incorporating this into future versions of AjaxTagger. Read More

Testing out w.Bloggar and RSS Bandit integration for automated blog post commenting. Excited about the potential! Read More

This post compares the query limits of free search APIs from different providers. It highlights that MSN Search API reportedly allows up to 10,000 queries per day, but whether that limit is per API or in total is still unclear. The post also notes that Google's Search API allows 1,000 queries per day, Yahoo's APIs allow 5,000 queries per API per day, and Amazon's allows a generous 86,400 queries per day (calculated as 1 query per second). More investigation is needed to confirm the exact limit for MSN. Read More

I'm still confused about OPML. I know it's for sharing blog subscriptions, but I don't see the practical benefit for me or my readers. Even after checking resources and looking for OPML enthusiasts like Robert Scoble and Dave Winer, I'm still lost. Technorati's Blog Finder wasn't much help either. Wikipedia had the best explanation, but I still need to figure out how to actually use OPML. Read More

I just noticed that when I went to any of the pages on my site that have been linked from my main blog, then the title wasn't appearing at the top of the page, only the page URL.Thanks to my [AJAX Tagger ](http://www.kinlan.co.uk/AjaxExperiments/AjaxTag)for pointing this out :) Read More

I just learned that getting listed on Technorati's Blog Search requires configuring a claim and adding 20 keywords/tags, even if those tags aren't used on my blog. I question the need for this outdated method, given Technorati already has access to blog tags and cross-referencing data. Read More

I've added a new search feature to my site that uses the Yahoo API to find related articles based on keywords. You can test it out at http://www.kinlan.co.uk/AjaxExperiments/AjaxTag. It's a work in progress, but more features are coming soon! Read More

MSN is launching APIs on Tuesday, September 13th, allowing developers to access their search results. More information will be available on the MSN developer site. I plan to explore these APIs and discuss my findings on this blog and on tagger.kinlan.co.uk. I hope they offer innovative features beyond basic search result access, similar to Yahoo's related searches, contextual searches, and term extraction. Read More

In part 8 of "Failures of my First AJAX Application," I discuss the lack of traffic generated by the application. Initially, I hoped for ad revenue, but I've realized that user engagement is more important. My focus now is on improving the application and planning a marketing campaign to highlight its benefits. Read More

In this final part of "The Failures of my First AJAX Application" series, I reflect on the cross-browser compatibility issues I encountered. Focusing on Internet Explorer during development led to problems in Firefox, particularly with security errors (cross-domain data retrieval) and differences in the XML DOM model. The key takeaway is to consider cross-browser support from the outset, anticipating discrepancies between browsers and coding around missing features, similar to CSS development. The next version will prioritize cross-browser compatibility, potentially including Safari. This series has been invaluable for shaping the requirements of the upcoming version. Read More

This is the fifth installment in my series on the AJAXTagger's failures. A major issue is its lack of intuitiveness. Users couldn't understand its purpose or how to use it without a demo. While it significantly reduced my tagging time, the next version needs improvements. I'm looking for feedback on how to make it more user-friendly, including better visual cues, a clearer UI, and improved documentation. Email me or comment with your suggestions! Read More