Last week, I was introduced to an application called feedly by one of my fellow Enterprise Irregulars, Anshu Sharma. From the home page, it's described as "…a firefox extension which weaves twitter and Google Reader into a magazine like experience." In Anhsu's blog post, his focus is on the new service called feedly mini; however, I must admit, that I never tried feedly at all. After only week, I am hooked, and here's why:

1. Beauty – Feedly is very pleasing to the eyes. The flow, design, navigation, and page layout just work very well together. It enhances your reading experience and makes browsing feel less like homework and more like a hobby. This is one thing I have missed since subscribing to the many blogs I follow. If I am going to spend multiple hours a day keeping up, it helps when it's comfortable and fun.
2. Full Google Reader integration – I was highly impressed with the Google reader integration and how easy it was to setup. Actually, it was so easy that I didn't have to do anything at all. Once installed, it gathered all my Google reader information and built my page automatically. The picture above was what I got straight out of the box, no configuration necessary. It organizes all your content based on your current feeds and categories. Just in case you are worried that you won't be sold on feedly and you may want to go back to Google reader, do not fret. When you read, share, or save a post in feedly, it automatically does the same action in Google reader. It even synchronizes between the two when you subscribe or unsubscribe to a feed. It also works in reverse, so anything you do in Google reader, is reflected in feedly. Even as a bonus, when I went to email a post to a friend, it was able to do a live lookup from my gmail address book…sweet! Hey, hold on here, do I see a Google acquisition coming on?
3. Keyboard Shortcuts – If you are a shortcut geek like me, that is the first thing you will check when trying a new tool. Well, good news, feedly uses most of the same shortcuts as GReader. So if you are already used to and addicted to these, you will be very pleased. There are many extras available too that aren't available on GReader. The only one I miss that I haven't seen on feedly is the Shift-A shortcut for marking all items in a category as read. They have a button, but no shortcut (yet?).
4. Feedly mini – I have used feedly mini a little too, and it's also a neat add-on. When you visit a page, you can see if others are talking about it on twitter, digg, etc. You can also save, share, or email the current page from the mini feedly toolbar.
5. New Content Discovery – based on your current subscriptions and current friends, feedly builds recommendations to other content. I have already found and subscribed to a couple of blogs using this service. Maybe the crew at feedly should go talk to the guys at pressflip and really get some powerful content suggestion going on.
6. Other cool toys – twitter integration, friendfeed integration, and a neat semantic web feature that uses open calais, which has much potential to change the way we search and organize web content.

Feedly breaks the mold of a traditional RSS reader and makes for a very enjoyable reading experience. I never had complaints about Google reader, but after using feedly and seeing the difference that beautiful visual aesthetics can make, I won't be going back anytime soon. Feedly is a winner and my new RSS reader of choice. I just put in my pre-order for the Kindle 2, so I hope the guys over at feedly are working on a Kindle friendly version; that would just be the icing on the cake.

Disclaimer: Even though it may sound like it, I do not work for feedly as a product evangelist.

• Craig Cmehil
• Dan McWeeney
• Ed Herrmann
• Rich Heilman
• Thomas Jung

This week we have launched the new site where we will be maintaining a blog, podcast, and all kinds of other good stuff. Please check it out, bookmark it, subscribe to it, love on it, and tell all your geek friends about it at http://enterprisegeeks.com

We are proud to be an officially approved Blogger Content Community with the SAP Blogger Relations group ran be Mike Prosceno and Stacey Fish.

Note: Many of us are already affiliated with similar groups like the SAP Mentors and the Enterprise Irregulars. The goal of the new group is not meant to replace our involvement in these, but be complementary instead.

Today, I came across some news about the new, upcoming game from LucasArts, Star Wars: Force Unleashed.

The Star Wars saga will continue in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, a videogame developed by LucasArts, which casts players as Darth Vader's "Secret Apprentice" and promises to unveil new revelations about the Star Wars galaxy.

Yes, like any self respecting geek, I am a Star Wars fan, and the evil thought of being Darth Vader's secret apprentice, is more than a little exciting. However, this isn't what interested me the most.

As its name implies, The Force Unleashed completely re-imagines the scope and scale of the Force by taking full advantage of newly developed technologies that will be seen and experienced for the first time: Digital Molecular Matter (DMM), by Pixelux Entertainment, and euphoria by NaturalMotion Ltd. Paired with the powerful Havok Physics? system, these new technologies create gameplay only possible on the new generation of consoles. DMM incorporates the physical properties of anything in the environment so that everything reacts exactly like it should – wood breaks like wood, glass shatters like glass, plants on the planet Felucia bend like plants on the planet Felucia would, and more. Meanwhile, as a revolutionary behavioral-simulation engine, euphoria enables interactive characters to move, act and even think like actual human beings, adapting their behavior on the fly and resulting in a different payoff every single time.

This stuff is so freakin' cool that I had to search around a little more. After looking around, I stumbled across this baby, which will set your geekiness levels through the roof. No matter if you are a gamer or a Star Wars fan, this is six minutes of video that you have to watch. The trailer shows and explains the three technologies they integrated for the game. This will not only change gaming, but it also opens up whole new worlds in areas that involve real life simulations for both entertainment and business purposes. Geek overload warning ahead.

My favorite quotes from the trailer

• Havok Physics 2 SDK – Continuous Physics engine:
  "allows us to move a great number of objects on the screen at any given time."
• NaturalMotion euphoria – Dynamic Motion Synthesis (DMS): "[the game characters] have a sense of self preservation, a sense of self awareness…"
• DMM by Pixelux – Digital Molecular Matter – Game Asset Synthesis Technology: "is a way of simulating the substance of objects, sort of pretending that their molecules"

Bonus footage #1 – Euphoria Engine Tech Demo

Bonus footage #2 – Digital Molecular Matter Tech Demo

Enter the Science Debate 2008

Given the many urgent scientific and technological challenges facing America and the rest of the world, the increasing need for accurate scientific information in political decision making, and the vital role scientific innovation plays in spurring economic growth and competitiveness, we call for a public debate in which the U.S. presidential candidates share their views on the issues of The Environment, Health and Medicine, and Science and Technology Policy.

Do you like apples?

Despite attempts in recent years to bolster education in fundamental areas, a major international study released today found that youngsters in the U.S. still lag behind their peers in the developed nations when it comes to the technical disciplines. Sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) study found that in standardized tests conducted in 30 industrialized countries American kids performed near the bottom of the ranks.

How do ya like 'em apples? If reports like this concern you, as much as they do me, then hop on over to the Science Debate 2008 site, sign up, and show your support.

Not convinced? Here's a little bonus footage, that will surely have you signing up double time.

Thanks to fellow Enterprise Irregular, Vinnie Mirchandani, for passing this along.

[UPDATE} Denis Browne from SAP Imagineering is down with Science Debate 2008. He sent me this gem as another forewarning about our future…ouch. Thanks D!

Enterprise software is all about helping organizations conduct their basic business in a better, more cost-effective manner. In software jargon, it’s intended to “enable core business processes” with a high degree of reliability, security, scalability, and so on. These aren’t sexy, cool attributes, but are absolutely essential to the smooth running of businesses, organizations, and governments around the world.

Nick Carr then jumped in with his response:

I'm sorry, but I think Krigsman is the one who doesn't understand enterprise software – or at least doesn't understand what it could become. The distinction he draws between business and consumer applications is specious. Are we really to believe that making software engaging is somehow incompatible with making it reliable and secure? That's just baloney.

Besides the fact that I respect Krigsman and believe that he does indeed understand enterprise software very well, I actually agree with Mr. Carr on this one. Too many times people go down the dangerous path of the "Tyranny of the OR", which Jim Collins warns about in his book Built to Last. Just as Steve Jobs did with Apple, he didn't choose between form OR function or even form OVER function, he decided to embrace the "Genius of the AND" and strive to deliver both.

The enterprise question is not whether to choose between either process over people OR people over process. The answer is to be the genius that realizes that it can be both people AND process. Without this realization, you will see a change of heart in SAP's users of tomorrow that Dan talks about. If you leave people out of your priorities and omit them from your equation, they will find better tools to get their jobs done, even at the cost of your money saving, business process integration. If you want proof, go read my recent experiences with our new global procurement application or the pains of working with data in BI. This isn't a fantasy land, it's reality.

I actually believe some at SAP understand this and that's why you have initiatives like the SAP Developer's Network and SAP's Imagineering Group. You can also see this in new products such as Business by Design, where SAP is trying to make enterprise software accessible for small businesses. It's an internal struggle between the old school German engineering mentality vs. the new school Silicon Valley start up attitude. Only time will tell if they will find balance and harmony of both by embracing the "Genius of the AND".