discuss

Google Groups gets a revamp

Google has spruced up Google Groups in a bid to make the service more user friendly.

Google Groups offers a wide variety of discussion forums where users can read and post messages on their favorite topics. But the current interface has been showing its age, so a revamp has been long overdue.

As one enhancement, Google has made it easier to search for and browse both groups and individual postings by entering a topic in a single search bar. Once users find a group they want to follow, they can now add it to a list of favorites easily accessible … Read more

Popular Apple Support Discussions going social, becoming Communities

As a long-time Mac troubleshooting researcher and consultant, one of my favorite and perhaps the most valuable Mac knowledge sites online is Apple's own Support Discussions forums. According to an official post on the site, the forums will be receiving a makeover, becoming more socially inclined by adding feature sets like avatars, homepages, and widgets. … Read more

Apple defensive over Consumer Reports findings, deletes forum threads

The seemingly unending saga of the iPhone 4 antenna issues has grown yet again. After a negative report from Consumer Reports, Apple has apparently deleted all threads about the findings from its popular Support Discussions forums. As Kent German reported earlier today, Consumer Reports has issued its official stance on iPhone 4 and it can't recommend the phone.… Read more

Apple defensive over Consumer Reports findings, deletes forum threads

The seemingly unending saga of the iPhone 4 antenna issues has grown yet again. After a negative report from Consumer Reports, Apple has apparently deleted all threads about the findings from its popular Support Discussions forums. As Kent German reported earlier today, Consumer Reports has issued its official stance on iPhone 4 and it can't recommend the phone.

Moderators for Apple's Support Discussions forums quickly deleted growing threads discussing the Consumer Reports articles. Though these threads are no longer viewable, you can read through cached versions via Bing.

Despite the generally positive reputation that Consumer Reports enjoys, many … Read more

Google Reader gets its own comment system

Google Reader users can now leave comments on shared items. Google has introduced it as a way to have a discussion with friends outside of a site's main commenting system, and specific just to that shared item and their group of contacts.

To help manage this new stream of information, Google Reader now has a filter that shows you the latest conversations in one place. Here you can view all the latest chatter, and continue to add more comments just like a forum.

In addition to reading and adding comments through Google Reader in your computer's browser it … Read more

What to expect at SXSWi, part 2: Panels and keynotes

This is part two of a four-part series. Here's part one.

If you've never been to the South by Southwest Interactive Festival--which runs Friday through Tuesday in Austin, Texas--you might get the impression that it's just a bunch of wild parties where people run around drinking margaritas and then snarfing down barbecue and tacos to temper the effect of the tequila so they can be lucid enough to put up the evening's photos on Flickr and Facebook.

Not quite.

There is, actually, an extensive and packed lineup of panels, keynotes, "salons," and "core … Read more

Twing offers deep search for forums

Searching forums for specific posts can seriously suck. Most have proprietary search tools that can be unfamiliar or downright difficult to use. Some even require you to fill out a captcha to avoid getting attacked by bots or having its forums infested with spam. Twing is a new service that's attempting to solve these problems with a search tool that scours hundreds of user forums and lets you search by individual posts or a topic thread all in one place.

I found it to do a pretty good job giving me some basic results with simple queries. You can … Read more

DIY reputation management

Reputation monitoring and management have become hot topics and will only continue to grow. These are becoming important areas for all businesses, large and small, to focus on as more and more people turn to the Web to communicate through blogs, their own Web sites, as well as the ever-growing opportunities for online consumer reviews and ratings.

Here is a quick Reputation Management 101 rundown of five tips in each of five different areas to get you started:

Pre-emptive measures are best

The old adage of prevention being the best cure carries a lot of weight here.

Always strive to … Read more