Given two RSS feeds with exactly the same list of title values, I’ve been playing around with Yahoo Pipes to try to figure out how to merge their summary values together with no luck.

     eg.

    feed 1:

        <title type=”html“>foo</title>

        <summary type=”html“>

	<img src=”http://www.blah.blah/some_image.jpg”></summary>

    feed 2:

        <title type=”html“>foo</title>

        <summary type=”html“>

	<p/>This is another value for title foo.</summary>

    desired output:

        <title type=”html“>foo</title>

        <summary type=”html“>

	<img src=”http://www.blah.blah/some_image.jpg”>

	<p/>This is another value for title foo.</summary>

Has anyone figured out how to do this within Pipes? If not, I may write a trivial python script to do this.

This morning I stumbled across an interesting Google Tech Talk titled “Pipes: A Tool For Remixing the Web”.

Since last friday I’ve been playing around with the Google Mashup Editor a bit. Although it’s still in Beta, and it has a few minor issues, it looks very promising. The guys on the Google Mashup Editor team have been extremely helpful (and quick) to respond to my questions. Because I learn the best when I’m doing things hands on, I took the opportunity to rapidly prototype two quick mashups:

1. Great Canadian Hot Deals Mashup (http://canadian-hot-deals.googlemashups.com)

   • This was the first mashup that I ever made. It basically involves using Yahoo Pipes to aggregate and sort RSS feeds from various sources and then output them in the GME. I created this site because it allows anyone to quickly look at the latest deals without having to scan multiple sites or subscribe to multiple RSS feeds.
2. Upcoming Toronto Events (http://torontohappenings.googlemashups.com/)
   • This was my first attempt at using geocoding some data to work with google maps. This is a mashup that involves Yahoo Pipes, RSS feeds, and Google Maps. The idea behind this mashup is to dynamically generate and map events to a zoomed in Toronto map

I’m currently playing around with the Gdata and how to make use of Flickr, Picasa and YouTube in a cool and fun way.

Recently I was notified that I’d been selected to audition for a spot on the CBC television series Test the Nation. The audition process involves meeting the producers and completing a short quiz. I guess the whole point of the audition process is for the producers to get an accurate assessment of who I am and how well I’d fit in on their game show. I’ve never been on a game show before so I can’t say for certain whether I’d fit in or not. If it’s someone like Sean Connery they’re after, I might not fit the bill.

On October 18, I had the opportunity to attend a presentation at the Indoor Playground titled “Brand Yourself” with master resume writer Martin Buckland. His one hour and a half presentation was very inspiring. In the talk, he focused primarily on the fact that we are all experts at something and that we should focus very strongly on branding ourselves as experts to give ourselves a competitive edge in the market.

The most convincing and interesting thing that he shared was his top ways to make yourself stand out:

• Know yourself - you need to know yourself really well first. This is a prerequisite for everything that follows.
• Be prepared to flaunt your quirks and be able to admit that you’re not perfect.
• Maximize your strengths through effective marketing to create a wow factor
• Google yourself. You should google your name to see where you stand. Your rating will improve through SEO, blogging, and a web presence.
• Seek Feedback from your peers
• Engage in public speaking
• Be a connector. Networking is absolutely critical for your career success. If you think big, the vision will come.
• Keep on refining your brand. Brainstorming will help evolve it. Don’t be afraid of getting a business coach, personal coach or a confidante.
• Effectively define your target audience.
• Give back to your network and community by sharing - don’t just take.
• Keep a brag book in which you log everything you do.
• Be a confident communicator