Radio Userland

Radio Userland, or Radio, as it’s being called, is . . . huge. It’s more than a blog tool—because of the syndication, or “broadcast” features it offers, and the “news” database, which allows you to quickly, easily see headlines from other sites, and link to them.

There’s a reviewof Radio here on WinPlanet which offers a good description of blogs in general, but also suggests they are a Mac phenomenon. I’m not sure why the author sees blogs as a Mac thing–given the dominance of WIntel, I rather doubt it.

On the other hand, Mac users do tend to go for smart technology, and good design. Radio, while showing signs of being “smart technology,” is pretty low on the “smart design” scale. It violates a number of basic, standard Mac interface conventions, and the documentation is appallingly awful, in terms not only of the English but in terms of the lack of a useful instructions and a coherent structure. It’s far too frustrating for the average user— it looks and behaves like an early Beta version, not professionally released software. I wrote tech support a few short, specific queries and am looking forward to a response. Radio has enormous potential, not just for consumers, but in education.