I’ve been a daily user of Google Reader for the past year, using it to keep track of all the blogs I read. Daily use has meant that I’ve been acutely aware of each new feature that has been gradually added over the last few months. Usually these are welcome, but as Google attempts to add more social features I fear they are reducing the ability of authors and readers to follow conversations spawned from blog posts – which is considered a traditional and necessary feature of the blogosphere. That’s not to say that Google are the only ones doing this, both Facebook and Twitter have elements to them that is contributing to this.

For a long time Google Reader has allowed users to share blog posts of interest to friends  that were also using GR and slowly but surely I am starting to build up a list of friends that I share with and they reciprocate in kind. This is a form of social bookmarking, but unlike sites like Digg the author of the blog post cannot track how many times their work is shared, or by whom. GR also now features the ability to leave comments on blog posts and – at least from a blog author’s perspective – is unwelcome, because these conversations are kept private. Private social bookmarking and private blog commenting has negative implications because trackbacks and blog comments are an integral part of the blogging experience and can reinforce an author’s motivation and drive to continue writing.

Facebook and Twitter also provide you with the ability to social bookmark and comment, but again without  direct trackback links, so a blog author can never tell who is linking to their work, and misses out on many of the conversations spawned.

The lack of trackbacks and private blog comment conversations on Google Reader, Facebook and Twitter is  completely irresponsible but is in no way the fault of the reader. Google and Facebook especially understand the value of user generated content, today the most prolific of which is the simple conversation – as demonstrated by the rise of Twitter. By poaching blog comments and putting them behind private walls they are of course trying to keep their users within their own walled networks, which in the long run, could discourage bloggers from continuing to write.

Yes some of us write for ourselves, but many write for an audience, and it would be tragic for a blogger to stop writing because their audience had started privately, rather than publically, encouraging them.

However, much to my surprise they’ve removed their “walled garden” (see post) from Internet browsing on all 3 handsets. I’ve tested it and come to the conclusion that it’s not perfect, but it is very useful. Some sites redirect you to a PDA or Mobi version of their site, which is wonderful for legibility. The sites that don’t are squashed into your small screen, Bebo is difficult to navigate but is usable, to a degree. Some sites wont open at all, MySpace is completely inaccessible. Some sites are handset specific, YouTube will open but viewing the streaming video isn’t possible without Macromedia Flash Player, which doesn’t come as standard on most handsets. Overall I’m impressed with being able to type in practically any web address and being able to access it, and it’s reasonably priced.

There is an age verification system in place, for 3pay (pay-as-you-go) customers. You do have to be able to prove you are over 18 to access these features, which is understandable, as I did (for research purposes only of course) access pornography online with total ease. The only other downside (is age verification a downside?) is the fact that it’s not quite X-Series speeds, but it’s certainly not so slow that it will irritate.

In the post on X-Series I also mentioned my interest in getting a Nokia N73, but something else caught my eye. Infact, one genius feature completely won me over and I got a Sony Ericsson W850i. It comes bundled with TrackID, an incredible and extremely user-centered piece of software that records audio from the microphone (or built-in radio), takes a musical fingerprint and then connects to the Internet comparing the fingerprint to the Gracenote database. The software then tells you the artist name and song title, and seeing as it’s on a Three handset, you also have the option to download the song from the 3MusicStore – if it’s available, the Gracenote database has 2.5 million songs fingerprinted, 3MusicStore is only just approaching the 1million mark.

This software is something so wonderfully usable by myself and many others, Jen tried it in the Cinema and it picked up 90% of the songs she queried. I used it to find and download a song (that my brother was obsessed with) that featured in a Scrubs episode. TrackID has turned me from a hardcore Nokia user to a Sony Ericsson lover. The w850i is fantastic, I thought I’d be lost without symbian, but I’ve easily adapted and come to love the SE interface. As a music lover this is definitely the perfect phone for me.

X-Series is a sexy name for access to the “Internet” on your phone, or rather 3s version of the Internet. They have partnered with Skype, Yahoo!, Orb, Sling, Google, Ebay and Windows Live Messenger to bring features of these online services to X-Series compatible handsets. You also have FULL, free web access. There will no longer be a “walled garden” – if you connect to the “Internet” from any 3 handset at the moment, you’re only able to access a selection of mobile sites that are compatible with your phone, but the handsets due to launch on X-Series are highly sophisticated devices.

There is a massive interest in the Nokia N73, due to launch on the network sometime in January, I’ve got my eye on one of these bad boys. This will be the first X-Series handset launched, with the Sony Ericsson W950i following later. While most consumers I’ve spoke to are dying to get their hands on a Nokia handset with a 3.2 mega-pixel camera and Carl Zeiss lens, don’t be under any illusion that this is a “camera phone”, this is a truly portable multimedia and communication device.

With an X-Series handset you can check your e-mail, logon to Windows Live Messenger, make voice calls over Skype (currently limited to other Skype users), bid for items on Ebay and even use Google to search. You also can browse online, check your Myspace profile or your Bebo page. Your profile that you labored over for hours will still look a lot better when viewed on a pc screen though, as the Internet browser from 3 modifies webpages to look “better” on the handsets small screen, in order to improve legibility.

For all these features, you’d expect there to be a massive monthly fee, it makes sense right? Granted you’ll need to take out a 12 month mobile phone contract, as the service isn’t available on 3Pay, but the X-Series subscription is cheap and for a flat-rate monthly fee you have “unlimited bandwidth” (although there IS a fair usage policy, stating that 1gb is sufficient for each user).

In the UK the monthly fee for full services is €15 a month, or you can access services for €8 a month which excludes Orb and Sling only. Orb allows you to connect to your home computer, and Sling allows you to connect to your home television subscription (such as Sky Digital) both via your home broadband connection. These two features are probably the most impressive and yet the least accessible to non-geeks as they require a complicated technical setup (they’ll also drain the battery life out of your handset).

Overall X-Series sounds rather impressive, as the service hasn’t launched in Ireland yet I haven’t had the opportunity to test the above features out. As soon as I get my hands on my very own N73, I’ll post a full usability review. For now, there is a fantastic review of the UK version over on Digital-Lifestlyes.info.