Google Reader gets even better

Those of you that already use Google Reader may have noticed that the tool has experienced a serious face lift. The user interface is far more intuitive, and the AJAX technologies even more used. Try for instance the shortcuts g then t and g then u, and see the cool popup selector.

For those of you, who have not used Google Reader before, but are following RSS/Atom feeds, this tool is definately recommended. And yes, one nice thing more; Google Reader works very well in mobile phone browsers as well. Check out the mobile version!

Liberty-enabled Google, Flickr, ...

When I'm logging into my blog, the Blogger Beta redirects me to the Google authentication, which usually just notices that I'm already logged in, and then redirects back to the Blogger Beta. Sounds familiar? I must admit that I don't know the details about how this really works, but it would seem like it could make use of Liberty technologies; Google authentication would act as IdP and all the other (Google) servies, including Blogger Beta, would act in the role of a SP?

Another thing is the integration of Blogger and Flickr. That is, you can post pictures from Flickr to Blogger. Now, if I remember correctly, the "linking" of these accounts required that you will get some sort of authentication token from Google authentication for Flickr. Flickr then uses this token (including credentials for posting to Blogger) when it sends pictures to the Blogger.

In fact, Flickr resembles IdP as well. If you would like to post pictures from other applications/web sites, you have to fetch an authentication token from them, and then inject this token into your posting application, which then presents it to the Flickr every time you post pictures with it. I would love to see Liberty taking care of all this!