Newley.com

A programing note — and thoughts on web publishing, Twitter, Tumblr, and Posterous

August 6, 2009

A newley.com programing note: As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve been experimenting with some new functionality that allows me to automatically post my daily Twitter activity on this site. The result is the “Recently on Twitter.com/newley” posts you’ve likely been seeing.

The reason I’ve been testing out this kind of daily digest is that I want to be able to share here, on newley.com, the links and various updates I post on Twitter. Non-Twitter users are probably sick of hearing about the service; I can sympathize — I’m a huge fan of Twitter myself, and even I get a sense that the service’s importance is overblown.1

I realize, though, that these compiled tweets, when viewed on this site, lack some context. In addition, I don’t want newley.com readers to be bombarded with my tweets — if you want to follow me on Twitter, you know how to do that. So for now, I’m doing away with these daily digests. (Note that you can still see my recent tweets on the right side of the page, under Twitter Updates.)

I’m also searching for a way that I can automatically post, here on this site, bookmarks from delicious.com or elsewhere. The problem is that, based on my experience, anytime you try to create automatic blog posts, they tend to lack polish. Publishing platforms like Tumblr (which I’ve blogged about before) and the newly popular Posterous2 — services that allow you to aggregate content from elsewhere or at least make creating blog posts extremely easy — often make for blog posts that seem…well, to lack polish. Which is logical, because such posts are created automatically and/or very quickly.

All of this by way of saying: Bear with me. If you see some strange posts here, or if some weird-looking items find their way into the RSS feed, hang in there. And thanks, as ever, for reading. If you have any thoughts on any of this, please leave a comment or email me: newley [@] gmail.com

  1. As it happens, however, I’ve been using Twitter for just over a year, and I have more than 700 followers, which is nearly double the number of RSS readers for newley.com — and I’ve been blogging here for seven years. Naturally, it should be said that this comparison doesn’t account for those who visit newley.com directly, or for those who arrive here via search engines. [↩]
  2. For more on Posterous and blogging, check out Steve Rubel’s thoughts here. [↩]

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Back in Bangkok

July 24, 2009

A and I are back in Bangkok. Our trip to the US was excellent. Congrats to J and A1! We witnessed their nuptials in PA, and it was a grand affair.

I’ll have some posts about our visit in the days to come.

For now, I’m off to eat Thai street food, battle my jet lag, and re-acclimate myself to the humidity here in the tropics.

Stay tuned…

  1. That would be the other A, naturally. [↩]

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Newley.com: Gone Fishin’

July 1, 2009

Newley.com Will BRB

I’m currently traveling in the US, so activity here at newley.com will likely be sporadic for the next few weeks.

I’ll be posting some dispatches on Twitter from time to time, though, so you can look for me over there.

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Back after Songkran

April 10, 2009

I won’t be posting anything here until Monday, April 20. Songkran — the Thai new year — fast approaches.

As ever, for updates on events here in Thailand, you can consult Google News, the Nation newspaper, or the Bangkok Post.

See you soon.

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Newley.com: Gone Fishin’

February 12, 2009

Newley.com: gone fishin'

I won’t be posting anything here until the middle of next week.

See you then.

(Image via.)

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Newley.com traffic stats for 2008

December 24, 2008

A quick look at my Google Analytics traffic stats for 2008 reveals the following:

Visitors and Page Views
– 31,480 people visited Newley.com this year (an average of 2623 per month) for a total of 50,901 page views

– Visitors from 162 different countries came to Newley.com during 2008. The top ten countries were the United States, Thailand, the UK, Canada, Australia, Singapore, India, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. And folks from small countries, like Tuvalu, Palau, Bhutan, and Kiribati also came to the site.

– Traffic spiked1 in late November, as you can see in the graph above. That’s when anti-government protesters shut down Bangkok’s airports, leading to a flurry of folks finding the site via Google searches for news about the situation.

Most Popular Posts
Some of the most viewed pages were:
– Jalapeno Hands: A Cautionary Culinary Tale (10,104 page views). This post, about my friend C‘s cooking accident2, ranks highly in a Google search for jalapeno hands and jalapeno burn. Judging from the 179 comments on the post, this epidemic has been simmering in the cooking world for some time…
– Waffle coated hot dog: Consumed in Kanchanaburi, Thailand (1,321 page views)
– Ecuadorian slang (1,220 page views)
– How to use Skype: A Tutorial: (1,054 page views)
– About me (888 page views)
– Bangkok airport closure: Fri. update (872 views)
– Journalism — my page of clips (560 page views)

Other Posts
Some posts from 2008 (and a few from 2007) that I like — but which haven’t attracted as many eyeballs — include:

– Our Northeast India Trip: Top 10 Images
– How to Learn Thai
– The Asus Eee PC: 10 Things You Need to Know About the World’s Coolest Gadget
– Why I Love My Grandmother
– Best Burger in Bangkok
– Audio Slide Show: State of Emergency in Bangkok
– Newley.com Exclusive Video: November in Bangkok
– StateStats: Analyzing Google search patterns
– My Favorite Podcasts: Updated

RSS, Twitter, and Facebook
– According to Feedburner, which I use to manage my RSS feed, Newley.com has 692 subscribers. But I reckon that a glitch has inflated this number artifically, and that the actual number of subscribers is in the neighborhood of 250. (Not a subscriber? Grab the feed here.)

– I’m happy to report that my recently-launched Newley.com Facebook page has attracted 51 fans in just a couple of weeks.

– And Twitter, which I began using in 2008, has quickly become indispensable for me. I have 183 followers. You can find me on Twitter here.

Thanks to all of you for reading. If you have any suggestions for how I can improve the site, please leave a comment on this post or email me (newley [at] gmail.com).

  1. The dip in October occurred when I changed the site’s design and neglected to include the Google Analytics traffic code, resulting in a lack of data for a time. [↩]
  2. Moral of the story: always wear kitchen gloves when peeling jalapenos! [↩]

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Newley.com: now on Facebook

December 14, 2008

A brief, self-promotional note: You can now become a fan of Newley.com on Facebook.

That is all.

Back to our regularly-scheduled programming.

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Gone Fishin’

October 16, 2008

I won’t be posting anything here until Mon., Oct. 27.

See you then, mis amigos.

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See You in a Couple of Weeks

October 31, 2007

Newley.com Will BRB

I won’t be posting anything here for a couple of weeks. In the meantime, feel free to peruse the newley.com archives or fall in love with my most popular posts all over again.

And hey, amigos — turn those frowns upside down. I’ll be back before you know it.

(Image via ChurchSignGenerator.com)

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A New-Look Newley.com

August 5, 2007

Web Site Reality Check

UPDATE (August 18): I’ve done some additional tweaking and settled upon a design. Finally. I invite RSS subscribers to click through and view the updated newley.com in all of its newfound graphical glory.

UPDATE (August 9): I’ve changed the design. Again. Sadly, not everyone shared my passion for the ultra-minimalist layout I was using a few days ago. And alas, dear readers, I ultimately strive to serve you. So I’ve adopted something a bit more exciting (yet still understated). Hope you like it.

—
As you can see, I’ve tweaked the design of newley.com. It’s not a major overhaul; I’ve just made some minor changes here and there. Usability, clean lines, and white space still reign supreme.

I’m still fixing some bugs, so if anything seems amiss, please let me know. And if you’re viewing this from from an RSS reader, please do click through to the site and give me your thoughts. Comments for this post are turned on.

More soon…

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