not just random

IBM Koala is a tool that allows creation of automated scripts of web activities. I first came across this reading Social Scripting for the Web. Besides obvious advantages for personal productivity, community features (e.g. sharing of scripts with other people, ratings, etc.) are a significant component of the project. Check out the screencast.

The project is still closed in IBM’s research community.

Google maps just became much better today. It is now possible to manually modify parts of a trip to use roads other than those originally suggested.

I also came across MapMyRun, a fitness website that provides a particularly nice google maps mashup:

They offer lots of good features to plan a running route. I wonder how they did the topographic view though.

I am going to have to spend at least a weekend with the google mapping API again!

One growing trend in the connected world appears to be email bankruptcy. Go ahead, google it. Not good. But: There clearly are needs, maybe opportunities.

Rather than solving the problem or contributing anything real useful, I am presenting a brief list of things, I want in email software:

• Indicate the length of new text in an email, excluding quoted text from previous messages in the same thread.
• Indicate, if a message contains one or more questions.
• Prevent retrieval of additional emails, if there are still unprocessed old ones.
• Allow specifying if I am waiting for a response in a given thread.
• Customizable reminders if an expected response has been overdue.
• Various whitelists.
• Syndication feed reader.
• Assigning feed items as well as emails tags/values indicating their importance or probable interestingness.
• Smart templates and auto-responders.

An incomplete wish list, mostly. I really am looking for a good, customizable email client though. Something smart.

As seen on mac or pc: