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Xerpi's Man of Mystery

2009-07-13T23:06:00Z

Last summer Andy Wall became Xerpi's newest employee — but I like to think of him as our man of mystery.

What exactly does Andy do? When I asked him that, he gave me a funny answer.

Q: I don't think I know your title.
A: I don't either.

The problem isn't that he does too little, but that he does too much! "I've come on to do a little bit of everything," Andy told me during one phone conversation. "I've been doing design work on some new features, and I've been thinking about some marketing that we could do."

The new Xerpi email/web hybrid is a part of that effort, but Andy Wall hinted that it's just the first of many design enhancements to come. "We've got to sit down and prioritize them and figure out exactly what to do."

Andy's also checking under Xerpi's hood. (Or as he tells it, "I'm also doing a little bit of work on the core technology.") He's poking around the raw computer code that runs the site, including checking out its Ruby on Rails framework and an SQL database. Er, how many records are in Xerpi's database? Is it more than a thousand?

"More than a million," Andy replies.

And it all started when he'd bumped into an old friend on the street — Con Way Ling (the founder of Xerpi). "Con Way and I were old friends," Andy explained. "We lost contact with each other for a while, and then I randomly moved to New York, and Con Way moved here. And we randomly ran into each other on the street. It turned out we lived just a few blocks away from each other!"

Andy tested the beta version of Xerpi, and gave Con Way some useful feedback. But the first nice surprise was "Con Way actually worked on a lot of the things that I talked about." Soon Xerpi became the center of Andy's web surfing — and he loved the convenience and the ease of managing his bookmarks. "The thing that really captured me was that the bookmarks were laid out so well on the page. I didn't have to go through this process of hunting through folder hierarchies to find my different bookmarks. They're all just sitting there on the page."

The experience ultimately led him to a fateful decision. "I decided I'd really like to apply my work energy to continuing to improve Xerpi — given how much

I've gotten out of it myself." And Andy wants to share the same experience with you. "We've been hearing a lot of really good feedback from our users and we're trying to take that and work it into a development plan," he told me. Now he's encouraging Xerpi's users to send feedback — and to share the same exciting energy he feels when he's helping to build Xerpi.

"Hopefully Xerpi will be a big thing on the internet and make the internet better for a lot of people," Andy says. And Xerpi will be a little bit better because of feedback from people like you, me, and Andy.

"We just get really good ideas from people that way."

The Secret Voices of Xerpi

2009-05-25T01:47:00Z

I love Xerpi. But how does the rest of the web feel?

I'm always thrilled when I come across another Xerpi user describing their feelings on the web. And it's even more interesting when it's not just a single blog post — but an entire conversation.

MIT's Technology Review had posted an article about some technology news from 2007. (Microsoft had released a new application which let users create...lists of their favorite videos, images, web sites — whatever.) Xerpi's founder, Con Way Ling, turned up in the comments to point out that Xerpi has a similar goal — "to make the internet personally relevant." He touts Xerpi's "intuitive drag and drop features," and points out that there's lots of ways to share favorite links, ultimately creating a community of users.

But soon another voice joined the conversation — and it turned out to be a happy Xerpi user! ("I really appreciate it's organic layout," wrote a use named "Mollymeghanmiller.") Molly emphasized everything Con Way was saying — that Xerpi is not only easy to use, but a great way to discover new sites. "Unlike most of the competitors, it isn't in a list...form," she points out, adding that Xerpi is great for "finding new interesting sites through the public views and through my social network — the friend blocks that I have set up on new tabs." And her favorite feature is the "Post to" Xerpi buttons — because they make it so easy to snag cool web sites for your favorites blocks.

It's nice to know there's people out there who love Xerpi just as much as I do. It was a wonderful moment of web zen, with Xerpi's founder randomly meeting a satisfied Xerpi user. But I think my favorite part is it took place in the comments of another article — so the discussion of Xerpi appeared under a magically appropriate title.

"How to Organize the Web."

Xerpi goes to Washington?

2009-05-06T04:57:00Z

Do they ever think about Xerpi in our nation's capitol?

At least one blogger says the answer is yes. I was reading the blog post of someone called "Agent Grey." They complained about the cold in D.C., described the strange people seen on the bus — and then added "Super diggin this web app, Xerpi."

It’s a visual bookmarks organizer, amazing way to see what you have bookmarked over the years, especially if you have 1000+ bookmarks like me...

I hadn't really thought of that. Xerpi is really useful for organization my favorites. But imagine if you had a gazillion links all scattered throughout your browser's bookmark file — and then you imported them into Xerpi all at once!

In fact, "Agent Grey" only has one complaint. Xerpi made it so easy to organize his favorites, he wanted to import the finished product back into his browser's bookmark file. And apparently he knows something I don't know — because his blog quotes an email from Xerpi saying they're already working on this feature!

And in the meantime, he's a happy customer.

So until then, you should really try this thing out if you are at a loss as to what you have bookmarked over the years..."

Xerpi and History

2009-02-19T17:26:00Z

I've been thinking about Barack Obama. America's got a new President — and some new history. And for the last few months, we've been hearing stories about the new administration.

But what do Xerpi's users think?

I like to think of it as a chance for a fresh perspective. Like everything else, Xerpi users have their own personal set of favorites — and Xerpi's tags gives you a chance to peek in on 'em! (Or at least, the ones that they've made public.) It's been said that a newspaper is a first draft of history. But the favorites on Xerpi let you experience events in an entirely new way. It's unpredictible — and sometimes very special.

I typed "Obama" into Xerpi's search engine, and discovered someone had also created tags specifically for his inauguration. Want to watch the ceremony again? MSNBC's got it covered! And one Xerpi user has discovered "Change You Can Wear" — a web page offering some very hip t-shirts that are riffing on the president's new image. Of course, Xerpi's users found Barack Obama's web site — but they also found his Facebook page. And one blogger had even compared news footage of both John McCain and Barack Obama...dancing. Of course, this web page quickly became somebody's Xerpi favorite too!

And then I got an idea — what would happen if you typed "McCain" into Xerpi's search engine? I expected many things, but none of them prepared me for the "John McCain Green Screen Challenge." Video maestros re-edited a McCain campaign speech, splicing the candidate into footage from Star Trek, Pulp Fiction, and The Big Lebowski. A blog called "Caffeine-fueled" (promising "Slightly Jittery Entertainment") had selected the best videos from a contest suggested by Stephen Colbert. And that became somebody's Xerpi favorite too.

In fact, it looks like that blog's been linked to quite a bit. They've also got a funny post called "Words that I Can No Longer Use Thanks to the Current Election." ("Maverick.") I found that when I searched Xerpi for the word "Palin." Ironically, John McCain's running mate came up seven times more often than our current Vice President, Joe Biden.

Some of the links were negative and some were positive, but I guess that's all part of the fun. (They're somebody's else's favorites — not mine!) And they're all part of this moment in time. When the history happened, what were other Xerpi users thinking about?

Now you know! :)

Xerpi Tricks from Nguyen

2009-01-02T21:18:00Z

I hope everyone had a brilliant Christmas or holiday and New Years!!

My friend Nguyen besides being my cookie, food and half-seater twin is a Xerpi expert. In addition to being one of the first people to get Xerpi's benefits he's constantly using Xerpi to make is life easier. He recently sent me a note with some of his little tricks. I thought I'd share them with you.

Nguyen says:
1. I'm re-naming my ToBeFiledLater to AAToBeFiledLater so that it is first in the drop down selection menu whenever I'm saving a new bookmark.

2. I've created a TaxiBlock to help shuttle links from one Display Tab to the next, since you can only drag and drop blocks from one view tab to the next and not able to drag individual links....

I love the Taxi Block idea. It works great. Thank Nguyen.

Everyone -- enjoy! And feel free to send in tips for using Xerpi and we'll post them.

Having an Online Christmas

2008-12-20T11:56:00Z

Web shopping lists are the next step — and I've got proof that they work. My girlfriend's birthday is December 21, so I knew I had to buy her twice as many gifts. I started looking for her presents in October, and began saving links for all the gift ideas I was considering. On December 7 — nice and early — I scanned through the whole list and picked out the best presents — and then placed all the orders online. Now as long as the U.S. Postal Service doesn't let me down, she'll have a merry Christmas and a happy birthday!

And I didn't even have to look for a parking space...

Maybe in the next century, children won't understand this concept of a written Christmas list — and they won't even understand the concept of a crowded shopping mall. The requesting and purchasing of gifts may all happen online. And when that happens, some of those lists will probably be generated on a site like Xerpi.

It's already starting to happen. People really did use the web this year to get gifts under their tree. According to Forbes, this year online purchases of electronics went up an amazing 24% for the week after Thanksgiving.

I'm not the only one thinking about this. My first gift this year was a special Christmas issue of Archie comics digest, and it shows Santa building a web page to accept gift requests for the teenagers of Riverdale. {"Think of what a tremendous time-saver this idea can be" says a female elf.) <center></center>
Jughead thinks it's a hacker playing a trick, but eventually he and Archie agree to give it a try. <center></center>
It's all working splendidly until the female elf replaces all the video games Archie requested with instructions on how to play "spin the bottle."

"But those video games are what the boys want!"
"It's what the boys think they want..."

Jughead is still furious that Santa didn't bring him video games — but Archie is delighted. (And so is Big Ethel, who chases Jughead with the bottle...)

Maybe someday we'll even hear stories about Santa using Xerpi. Wait, wait, hear me out. It seems like tracking the deserving children of the world would require a site like Xerpi. After all, Santa has to...

Make a list
Check it twice
Update "naughty" and "nice" statuses
Keep track of who's awake...

I imagine him creating a series of tabs for each time zone, and then adding a block for each state on those tabs. (Actually, Santa might want a group of blocks for each state, so he could collate good children for each major metropolitan region.) Delivering all those gifts would still be a logistical nightmare, but each child's name could be linked to the gifts Santa's decided to bring them. (Or, for bad kids, what type of coal...)

Okay, Santa would have to have a pretty big Xerpi home page.

But at least then he could remember all of Jughead's video games.

Xerpi vs. Frosty!

2008-12-17T17:04:00Z

I love this time of year. (And I can't believe it's been a whole year since my last Christmas post on Xerpi!) Last year I re-wrote the lyrics of "Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer," so for this year's treat, I decided to give it another try — using the tune of "Frosty, the Snowman."

Only the this time the jolly, happy soul is a web site aggregating all your favorite links into an elegant web-based interface!

Xerpi, my home page
put my favorites in a list
     which I'll move around
     choosing where they're found
so no web site's ever missed!

Xerpi, the web page
gathered all my favorite links.
     And a pretty square
     searching tags can share
what another user thinks.

A thousand unseen users save their favorite links for you.
And you can help them pick them out with community views too!

Xerpi the web page
makes my web browser seem smart.
      Give the site a try
     And you'll see just why
Xerpi's logo has a heart.

Xerpi Secret New Feature!

2008-11-24T06:58:00Z

Xerpi's launching a new feature! It's a hybrid technology that combines web browsing with email! I was so excited that I cornered one of Xerpi's new-hires, and he spilled the beans about the new button that Xerpi's built for web browsers...even though it hasn't been officially announced!

"Xerpi has traditionally been a place to store bookmarks," explained Andy Wall, one of Xerpi's newest developers. "What we've just finished putting together is button you can install in your browser allowing you to share links! Instead of just storing them on Xerpi, it lets you to send an email to a friend -- it pulls up an email interface where it's stored your addresses. So it's a really convenient, one-click way to share a link."

And best of all, they're releasing a sneak preview for readers of this blog! Just click this link. It's a bookmarklet! It's an email! It's really cool, and I love it!

I was curious about the philosophy behind the button, but Andy said he'd been working on building something that's as easy-to-use as Xerpi itself. "You type in the first couple of letters of the person that you want to send it to. You can give it an extra note if you want -- or not. You click 'send'...and it's gone!" He's pretty excited about the concept -- and with easy forwarding, it adds the potential of "exponential" popularity for the links being sent. And the email tells friends about Xerpi, too, since the email indicates how the link was forwarded. "What I was trying to think of is how do we make Xerpi more viral," Andy confided, "and I wanted to have it in a way that was non-intrusive, so people were doing it naturally in the course of using a service that we provided that they were enjoying!"

Andy also told me another secret: that working for Xerpi is like working for a promising startup company. (Though when I asked if that meant everyone runs around in a coffee-induced frenzy, he laughed and said it's a little more chilled out than that.) "In general, we just have fun. It's like a small group of friends." But I had to laugh when Andy told me how he got the idea. Apparently one of the great things about being a developer is that when you've got a pet peeve, you can fix it for everybody!

"One of the things that actually annoys me when I'm online is it's hard to share links. You've got to open your email account, cut and paste the link into an email, address it, and send it. It should be easier than that.

"So I was thinking: why doesn't Xerpi build that...?"

Xerpi vs. iGoogle

2008-10-20T23:28:00Z

There's been some excitement over the weekend -- the kind of mass uproar that can only happen on the internet. 22 million people use a home page service provided by Google. But according to some of them, last Thursday Google decided to screw it all up. One angry user even created the image above as a protest, giving it the title "If you want to leave iGoogle, you have options."

Here's what started the uproar. Users suddenly discovered their home page was being cluttered up with a huge new column that Google had inserted without asking. Within days, I saw over 4,000 angry messages in the support forum for the site. And in the middle of the outcry, I saw one user repeating the same question: Is there any other option for a home page service on the internet?

Why, yes there is! :)

Xerpi lets users organize collections of favorite links -- I still love the colored boxes -- and customize the look of their page until it's just the way they want it. There's more sophisticated features too, but Xerpi's value proposition is really the elegant, clear, simplicity of the Xerpi home page, which makes it easy to maintain your personal collection of favorite web pages. Google's mistake was deciding that Google knew best how their users' home pages should look. Now they're discovering many angry users who disagree. As one blogger put it: "iGoogle has become TheirGoogle.

"It is not a personal home page if I can't control the layout."

But Google's not the only company that's learning lessons the hard way. Sunday Yahoo angered its users by suddenly turning all of their user profiles blank as part of a redesign. An upgrade Thursday to Flickr's "Recent Activity" page has already prompted over 3,700 critical comments. And last month after Facebook unveiled a new design, over 1 million members started begging them to return to their original layout, according to USA Today. One Facebook user has even launched a new group just to protest forced web page designs. (A technology analyst explained it this way to USA Today: "There is backlash to change, simple as that.")

It's been an interesting week. "Microsoft isn't the only software company accused of screwing up a user interface," one blogger wrote. But I think there's a larger problem: the way big web companies take their users for granted. "You can dismiss it," Yahoo's Tapan Bhatt tells the New York Times, "which is stupid. Or you can try to understand what it is that users are telegraphing." I think it's a lesson that Xerpi's learned already. As a new kid on the block, maybe Xerpi just has to listen to its users a little more carefully. After all, it's supposed to be a home page of your favorites -- not ours!

Xerpi's #1 Fan

2008-10-07T21:49:00Z

"Every time I use my computer, I use Xerpi. And I use my computer every day!"

I asked Xerpi's founder who our #1 fan was — and he pointed me to Ali Lopez.

She's been using Xerpi almost since the day it was started (after hearing about it from the site's founder, Con Way Ling.) In fact, Ali was using Xerpi when I called her, even though she was at work! "That's what's great about it," she says. "I use it everywhere!"

Her home page probably looks a lot like yours. She's got 22 different blocks, filled with nearly 100 favorites. But even when she's at a friend's house, Ali still brings up her favorites on her Xerpi page. "Even when I was in Mexico, I always brought up my Xerpi page," Ali remembers — and that's not all. As she travelled through Mexico, she brought up her Xerpi home page in over 20 different internet cafes throughout the country!

What was our #1 fan doing with Xerpi in a foreign country? "Basically, I'd keep in touch with people," she says. "I'd email my friends and family and that sort of thing and talk on Skype." Xerpi was especially useful because Ali has four different email addresses — and the links are all waiting for her on her Xerpi home page. "There's school email, HotMail, Gmail accounts... If I'm going to check my email, it's easier to have all of them there. It's just really efficient for me!" On another trip, Ali even pulled up her Xerpi home page in Spain!

I asked a few more questions, and discovered that there's a reason why some people crave Xerpi over a giant list of bookmarks in their web browser. "The 'bookmark' system is always very messy for me, because I'm a very visual person," Ali says. "I like to see everything organized in sections.

"So I just added all my stuff to Xerpi — and I just thought it was the greatest thing! I'm on my computer a lot, and Xerpi has everything that I use." Now whenever Ali opens her browser, Xerpi is the first thing she sees. "It makes it really efficient for me... I don't understand why more people don't use it!"

Ali's a graduate student getting a masters degree in community organizing, and her link blocks have everything a student could need — financial aid, yoga, art, weather, religion, movies (And she even created a separate page of links to help with her homework.) But what makes Xerpi useful for Ali isn't a complicated philosophy. In fact, if anything, it's a simple value proposition. "I feel like it works for me," Ali says. "It feels familiar. It's like part of the life of my computer."

I asked if there was anything else she liked about Xerpi, and her answer showed her enthusiasm. "I like the way the logo spells Xerpi with a heart."

And as we talked, Ali suddenly thought of more things she wanted to add to her home page. "I always add things... To me the thing that's great about Xerpi is it's very practical and efficient."

As a final question, I asked if she was excited about Xerpi.

"Of course I'm excited. I love it!"

CS students wanted

2008-08-27T13:24:00Z

Seems like there is always new and cool stuff we want to add to Xerpi. But, honestly, I am swamped right now -- I've got a few too many projects going on (more below). So, before I go to my alma mater (UVA SEAS) with "Part-time student help wanted" flyers, I thought it would be best to make the plea to my readers. Of course, the probability that one of the three of you are actually a Computer Science student and/or an HTML/CSS savvy geek type who "gets" things like source code control and development environments is low indeed. I mean, its not like it is even truly random cause I probably already know all three of you and you aren't CS students. :(

Regardless, we are in desperate need of part-time help. However, we do require some rigor and exceptional tech skills for this position. What we can offer is an exciting, edgy set of projects and some moolah. So, maybe this isn't you, but someone you know -- we do think a student is a great fit since we offer flexible hours and work from anywhere and we are sure that the experience and mentoring we offer will be invaluable for those just learning about programming languages, data structures, and algorithms analysis.

So, shoot me an email if you are interested. This is totally fun and exciting work -- it is very rewarding to see your work immediately used as well, we could use some fresh perspective and ideas to add to our queue of enhancements: wray(at)godomedia.com.

What are the many projects? Well, Xerpi's parent company GoDo Media (yes… that's the Global Online Optimization Conglomerate…hahaha) is focusing on our optimization services. Xerpi has been imperative for us to become a real contender in the bookmarks space, but ultimately our expertise is in knowing how to leverage that data in a way to make everyone's surfing experience better and more relevant. Face it, the Internet isn't "for free" anymore. We are faced with a continuous onslaught of ads that help pay for services such as ours -- our mission is to increase the relevance of this experience leveraging anonymous data optimization techniques and ultimately putting the users back in control of their online experience. And that is not intended to be a marketing plug, it is just where we finally are. Come work with us and you can delve into that area too; talking about an ideal real-world application for fourth year and grad school level Systems and Software Engineering folks. So the projects: browser apps, iphone apps, facebook apps, optimization algorithms, systems development (in all the hottest solution-driven languages), web development, etc.

I'm also engaged in other fun projects that are all a part of our desire to test the utility of web-oriented services and figure out the current driving force behind the Web. I mean, the techies are still kind of driving this ship, but there are more and more sites whose simplicity and zero resistance sign-up are catering to the everyday Web users. These folks may not understand much more than simple search anyway. Buttonall (sheesh, here I go again plugging that site on this blog) is a good example. And, I do bring it up, cause you can try it now with a search channel that includes Xerpi search!!

Buttonall with Xerpi Search

And, of course there are all the animals (kids included) that keep things busy and so fun and funny.

2008 Beijing Olympics Closing

2008-08-24T12:01:00Z

I'm so sad the Olympics are over...

I can't remember the last time I followed the Olympics or even a sporting event so closely. It's particularly special for me because I went from planning to boycott the Olympics to being a huge fan. I will continue to find China's approach to human rights and free speech puzzling but have also been reminded an outsider's perspective is always limited. China is developing into a modern country over a period measured in years. Historically this development has spanned decades and centuries for today's developed nations. This rapid evolution is something that's never been done and they are figuring it out -- rightly or wrongly -- on the fly. Anyway clearly another topic.

I ended up going to Beijing at the last minute and it turned out to be one of the most amazingly fun and inspiring times I have had in a long time. I didn't sleep for the first 40 hours after I landed as there were so many amazing things to do. Opening ceremonies, rooftop dancing, opening competitions (badminton, beach volleyball, gymnastics...), etc. I finally fell asleep at a bar and was brought home and put to bed by my friends.

The Chinese people took such amazing pride in putting on an event for the world. Many of the students volunteering were working 12-16 hours a day!. Yet everyone was so happy and excited -- I even enjoyed going through security. They were humbly proud and wanted to share their excitement with the world. It was just awesome.

I flew into Beijing on opening day on a domestic flight. I knew it was going to be a special couple weeks when shortly after takeoff the pilot came on and said, "I want to welcome you to Flight [blah, blah]... This is a big day for my country. Today is the opening of the Olympics and I hope everyone enjoys it." Then the flight attendants opened bottles of champagne spraying them all over the place. Music started playing and everyone was up dancing in the aisles.

One of the songs played was, "Beijing, Beijing, Wo Ai Beijing." The song is so catchy that when I got to Beijing it was stuck in my head but none of my friends had heard it so by the end of the week we were concluding that I must being going mad because we never heard it again.

Well they just played it in the Closing Ceremonies! Yoohooo. I've not gone mad. I've not gone mad. And I've found the song!! What a perfect way to close the games for me.

I saved the song to my profile -- in the block titled 'Random' is a link to Amy Wong's blog where you can hear the song and see the lyrics. Everyone automatically has a public Xerpi profile. You can access it by clicking profile in the top right corner of your Xerpi page. This is also where you can update settings to your email and other information. To do this just click on the pencil in the upper right hand corner of the gray information box.

As for me I am sad these Olympics have come to a close but so thankful and excited by the amazing reminder of the pure joy and inspiration of life, living and dear friends!

"Beijing, Beijing, Wo Ai Beijing." Yoohooooooooooo!!!

Xerpi Renovates

2008-08-22T00:01:00Z

So I'm renovating my apartment. Well it's actually dragging on but that is another, boring, story. What is cool is how Xerpi has made it easier.

I'm renovating both my kitchen and and my bathroom so I need to get new faucets, sinks, fixtures, etc. I have architects and contractors all trying to coordinate different needs as I try to find fixtures and things that I like. For awhile we were sending emails with ideas but it was difficult to keep track. So we created a public Xerpi page Mott Renovation. Now we can all add links to fixtures and things while keeping them all organized in one place. It's been cool. I've even noticed some friends have subscribed to the page. I hope one of them gets the Dornbracht RainSky Shower because I really, really want one but besides being worth a lot of chocolate chip cookies if I put one in my dinky studio my whole apartment will be shower.

Oh and with the new Post to Xerpi Bookmarklet it's going to be even easier to save new faucets to this page. Now if there was only a way to save them to Xerpi AND email them. Now that would be cool...

FF buttons, new bookmarklet

2008-08-21T02:43:00Z

Oh yeah, btw -- finally got the Firefox extension updated to work with FF 3. In fact, the new Firefox "post to" button has been enhanced to match our new "post to" bookmarklet. What is a bookmarklet you say? Or, did I hear you say, yeah, bookmarklet -- where is it? Well, until it makes it into our new help, just copy this link onto your favorites toolbar (in FF and Safari this is just dragging the link up to your browser's favorite toolbar, in IE this is right-clicking and doing the add to favorites thing). Ok, here is the bookmarklet:

Post to Xerpi

New signup -- tell your friends

2008-08-13T21:50:00Z

If you've been meaning to tell your friends about Xerpi, now may be a pretty good time. We've revamped the signup page and process again. This has actually been a work in progress for some time now as we have been juggling some other upcoming enhancements (mostly based on user feedback, thank you):

Updated bookmarklets that include an improved post-to and *surprise* functionality

Updated FF buttons (that will work on FF 3)

Enhanced FF bookmark import (and export)

More streamlining for sign-up to make users immediately productive

Better help so we can show off all our capabilities

I'll try to make it a better habit of at least updating my blog here whenever any new nuggets are added. And while I'm at it, maybe I'll drag out the ol' soapbox to make my posts a little more entertaining and less marketing.