Hello.

I am Paul Kinlan.

A Developer Advocate for Chrome and the Open Web at Google.

I love the web. The web should allow anyone to access any experience that they need without the need for native install or content walled garden.

Blogger Introduces RSS 2.0 Without telling anyone it seems

Paul Kinlan

Blogger has quietly rolled out RSS 2.0 support, which I discovered via reports and confirmed by IE7. Time to clean up my feeds!

Read More

I think I might move my blog away from Feedburner

Paul Kinlan

My Feedburner full text feed is currently broken and I'm unable to identify the source of the problem. This has led me to consider moving my blog away from Feedburner.

Read More

Microsoft Feed Management API c# problems

Paul Kinlan

I'm having trouble using the Microsoft Feed Management API in IE7 Beta 2. Specifically, I can't create a FeedFolderWatcher object to track feed item count changes. The error I'm getting suggests the required COM class (CLSID {281001ED-7765-4CB0-84AF-E9B387AF01FF}) isn't registered on my system. I'm looking for help troubleshooting this issue. Is it an installation problem, or is there a broader problem with the API itself? Any insights or code examples (especially a C# screensaver example) would be greatly appreciated.

Read More

Suggestions for finding related blogs

Paul Kinlan

I'm developing Ajax Tagger 2.0 and need ideas for displaying related blogs within the application and its output. I'm also searching for a good search engine (besides Technorati and Google) to find related blogs and feeds. Any suggestions? Please email me or leave a comment.

Read More

Google Adsense

Paul Kinlan

I've just added a Google AdSense referral link to my blog! Google recently updated AdSense, including their terms and conditions. While I spotted mentions of "Feeds" and "Referrals" in the new terms, I haven't yet seen Feed Advertising in action. If you're interested in monetizing your blog, give AdSense a try!

Read More

RE: OPML - Please enlighten me

Paul Kinlan

I'm struggling to understand the practical uses of OPML, especially given the inconsistent use of attributes like 'type', 'url', and 'xmlurl'. While I'm developing a JavaScript OPML object model for my own projects (like a tagging system where OPML stores related links for blog posts), I haven't found a clear standard for defining outlines. It seems like the 'standard' emerges from popular usage rather than formal specification. I'm particularly interested in how to determine the file type of items within an OPML outline, as my current application only uses links for pages and images (feed support is still pending). The lack of clear semantics in OPML makes it difficult to build dynamic applications that can 'mash up' content from different sources based on the OPML structure.

Read More

OPML and BBC Radio 4

Paul Kinlan

I was listening to a BBC Radio 4 program about blogging, and a guest pointed out that US/European bloggers link to others more than UK bloggers. Inspired by this, I'm going to upload an OPML file so people can see the feeds I read. I'm starting to understand OPML's use in RSS feeds and online journals, planning to categorize my feeds. I'm also thinking of adding a section to my site for linking to interesting articles I find in those feeds, with my own comments.

Read More

The Successes of my first AJAX Application: Part 9

Paul Kinlan

In this installment, I reflect on the limitations of Blogger.com as a blogging platform. Despite its user-friendliness, several features fall short of my needs. The "Blogger For Microsoft Word" integration isn't particularly helpful, the WYSIWYG editor is inconsistent, and the available tags seem outdated. I crave more innovation, especially regarding feed customization and ping configuration. While AudioBlogging.com intrigues me, its practicality for someone in the UK is questionable. Ultimately, I desire greater control and configurability, but acknowledge Blogger's value as a free service.

Read More

The Successes of my first AJAX Application: Part 5

Paul Kinlan

In this part of my series on my AJAX application, I'm discussing the impact of external APIs. My use of APIs has made me realize how much more API access I want! I'd love to see broader API availability from feed/blog companies for statistics, retail companies for catalogs, news corporations for news feeds, and search companies for both results and more interesting APIs (like Yahoo's). Essentially, I want a central directory of companies offering these services, recognizing that I'm a consumer of their data. I'm also realizing how many APIs (REST and SOAP) are out there that I could leverage. I envision adding more dynamism to my apps, like analyzing blog post keywords to see their popularity, potential ad revenue, and related keywords. I could then cross-reference this with other sources to give viewers more feedback, such as related blog importance, link counts, and other connections. I could even offer localized product information, best buy deals, or second-hand options based on keywords. This isn't revolutionary, but I need help finding lists of companies that offer web APIs and useful RSS feeds. Readers, please share your knowledge!

Read More

Update about IE7 Feeds not working

Paul Kinlan

I haven't been updating the list of feeds that don't work in IE7 lately. I've been in contact with Sean Lyndersay, a Lead Program Manager on the RSS team at Microsoft, about this. He confirmed that the feeds I listed should work in IE7 Beta 1 and suggested there might be a bug in the RSS rendering code. I've also noticed all feeds seem to be broken for me in IE7, which he thinks could be a configuration issue on my end. Sean said the RSS rendering code has been completely rewritten for Beta 2 and is hoping that fixes the issue. I am also looking forward to IE7 Beta 2. Thanks Sean!

Read More

Important Information for web publishers about IE7 feed detection

Paul Kinlan

IE7 Beta 1 now has a feed auto-discovery feature, but it's a bit picky. It only recognizes RSS feeds (no Atom yet) and requires a specific HTML snippet with the correct rel, type, and title attributes. Direct feed links won't trigger the notification, and using text/xml instead of application/rss+xml won't work either. I've updated my blog to comply, but the feed, converted by 2RSS.com and containing ads, still isn't displaying correctly in IE7.

Read More

RSS Feeds that don't work in IE7

Paul Kinlan

This post lists RSS feeds that aren't displaying correctly in the IE7 feed viewer. Specifically, they don't render in IE7's new format. I'm trying to understand why these feeds aren't working, and I've provided links to a few examples, including the IE7 blog, Channel 9, Scoble's blog, and my own blog. I've since updated this post with more information after speaking with Microsoft's RSS Product Manager (see the link at the top).

Read More

IE7 RSS Feed Update Part 3: The case of the found feed which doesn't display [Is it a Bug]

Paul Kinlan

IE7 finds the RSS feed on channel9.msdn.com but doesn't display it correctly, only showing the raw XML. I'm looking for other examples of feeds that IE7 can't render properly to compile a list and see if there's a pattern or bug. If you know of any, please email me!

Read More

IE7 RSS Feed Update

Paul Kinlan

IE7 introduces the ability to subscribe to any link in your default RSS aggregator. This function allows users to right-click a link and select the "Subscribe in default RSS reader" option. While useful for valid RSS feeds, this feature does not work for other content types. Whether this is specific to Internet Explorer 7, enabled by default, or a result of extensions like RSS Bandit is uncertain.

Read More

IE7 Suggestions For RSS Feeds

Paul Kinlan

I've been exploring the RSS features in IE7 Beta 1 and have a couple of suggestions. First, it would be great if we could add feeds to favorites directly from the feeds toolbar button, rather than having to navigate to the feed itself. It's an extra step when we've already decided we like the content enough to add it. Second, I'm curious about how IE7 discovers feeds on a page. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Is it just looking for a specific link tag in the head section or is there more to it? It seems to struggle with feeds linked via anchor tags. Overall, I'm enjoying IE7 so far, just want to offer some feedback.

Read More