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| # Logfile created on Tue Mar 17 16:32:56 -0700 2009 by / | |
| ========================= | |
| RSS import started at Tue Mar 17 16:32:56 -0700 2009 921 | |
| Feed http://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xml is valid | |
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| RSS import ended at Tue Mar 17 16:33:01 -0700 2009 307 | |
| ========================= | |
| RSS import started at Thu Mar 19 15:41:17 -0700 2009 135 | |
| item not found 2: The AppsLab: The Five-Minute Prison Workout | |
| item not found 2: The AppsLab: Ignore Your Competition, Focus on the Stable | |
| >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> | |
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| Data: status200hrefhttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabencodingUTF-8feedlanguageentitleThe AppsLabfeedburner_emailserviceidOracleAppslabsy_updateperiodhourlysubtitle_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueDriving Innovationbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabsubtitleDriving Innovationtitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueThe AppsLabbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabfeedburner_feedburnerhostnamehttp://feedburner.google.comgenerator_detailnamehttp://wordpress.org/?v=2.7linkshrefhttp://theappslab.comrelalternatetypetext/htmlsy_updatefrequency1generatorhttp://wordpress.org/?v=2.7linkhttp://theappslab.comatom10_linkupdatedThu, 19 Mar 2009 20:13:14 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 19 20:13:14 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093192013143780bozofalsemodified_timeThu Mar 19 20:14:35 UTC 2009etagWOKH1VD8CCg8/ufAq8O5uKLXgWUnamespacesversionrss20updated20093192014353780entriesfeedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/19/ignore-your-competition-focus-on-the-stable/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/19/ignore-your-competition-focus-on-the-stable/#commentstitleIgnore Your Competition, Focus on the Stablewfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/19/ignore-your-competition-focus-on-the-stable/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvaluePhoto Credit: FoxTongue | |
| I watched a recent interview with Jeff Bezos on Charlie Rose the other day. In it, he was questioned as to how he, against the odds, “beat” the various etailers of the day pushing books online. His answer was fantastically elegant and straight forward. He is fanatical about aligning his organization to his [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabelauthorPaulidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2617summaryPhoto Credit: FoxTongue | |
| I watched a recent interview with Jeff Bezos on Charlie Rose the other day. In it, he was questioned as to how he, against the odds, “beat” the various etailers of the day pushing books online. His answer was fantastically elegant and straight forward. He is fanatical about aligning his organization to his [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueIgnore Your Competition, Focus on the Stablebasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="2657434642_543c30685f" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-2619" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/2657434642_543c30685f-300x216.jpg" height="216" alt="2657434642_543c30685f" width="300" /></p> | |
| <h5><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxtongue/2657434642/">Photo Credit: FoxTongue</a></h5> | |
| <p>I watched a recent interview with <a href="http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/8784">Jeff Bezos on Charlie Rose</a> the other day. In it, he was questioned as to how he, against the odds, “beat” the various etailers of the day pushing books online. His answer was fantastically elegant and straight forward. He is fanatical about aligning his organization to his customer’s needs. This may mean making short term decisions that do not align with shareholders, and if you are an Amazon customer (and I am for life) you have probably experienced this via their incredible return process. However, he feels that in the long run, there is always alignment between customers and shareholders. Brilliant.</p> | |
| <p>Now you may be thinking, oh I have heard the customer-centric story before. The good news is that Jeff went a bit deeper into their actual approach to a customer driven business. In essence, he focuses his organization on <strong>excelling at the things customers want that do not shift over time</strong>. To Amazon, that means, wide product selection, low price and fast delivery - those will always be important to his customer. In his words, “I can’t imagine a customer saying, I really like Amazon, but I wish their prices were higher”. I should note that this concept applies to software as well, as conveyed recently by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQFPMuZ7hl4">Jason Fried</a> in his talk at the Business of Software Conference, only for him, the unchanging were things like ease of use and performance.</p> | |
| <p>Back to Bezos - The other lesson conveyed subtly was to <strong>ignore the competition</strong>. You may be sitting there saying, oh yeah, that sounds great, but I can’t ignore my competition. I need to know what they are doing so I can contrast the differences to my customers or so I can talk credibly to the analysts. On that point, I would agree, but it is a matter of intent and degree. The problem arises when you use that competitive gaze to consume all your time <em>or to drive your strategy</em>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Porter">Michael Porter</a> may disagree, but strategy, from my perspective, must be driven primarily from your customers needs. Everything else is secondary.</p> | |
| <p>The intersting thing about these notions is that they are in many ways ignored by companies of all shapes and sizes. Far too often I see firms chasing market hype or the latest competitive move in a copycat feature race to oblivion, while customers sit on the sidelines with their popcorn. Competitor A adds AJAX, we need it. Competitor B has a Facebook app, we gotta have it. Competitor C is on demand, let’s get on it. Perhaps it is just easier or more fun to spend time talking to your co-workers about cool new features as opposed to reaching out to customers and potentially hearing about what you can do better. Who wants to hear that right?</p> | |
| <p>As you ponder this you may be tempted to return to your cozy old ways of thinking and acting. The usual line that I hear to counter this approach, is that customers really don’t know what they want anyway, so why ask them. That comment is usually followed up with something pithy like “Would a customer have asked for the ipod?”. To that I say, rubbish. Customers are very bright and if you talked to a few you might have already known that.</p> | |
| <p><span>Let me leave you with three simple reasons why a strategy driven by competition is a fools errand:</span></p> | |
| <p><strong>1. Time Is Limited:</strong> Every moment you spend on our competition is time you could have spent working with a customer.</p> | |
| <p><strong>2. Competitors Could Be Wrong:</strong> The strategy they are implementing, and you are choosing to follow, could be off the mark and a total waste of time and money. Oftentimes we think people at other companies are smarter than us - that could be wrong too.</p> | |
| <p><strong>3. Your Strategy Must Be Yours: </strong>Not all companies are created equal. Each has their own assets, skills, resources, relationships and more, that they can, and should, bring to bear on a strategy. If you copy your competitor you just may be ignoring your best assets and playing a game on their home turf. If you have a great running game, do you play a passing offense because that is what the other team is doing? The answer is obvious and no different for business.</p> | |
| <p>In the end, my favorite part of this is the simplicity. As humans, we love complex things. They make us feel smart and special, but more and more, in life and in business simple wins the day.</p> | |
| <p>Now where is my phone, I need to call a customer…</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/r9-VLtboEjk" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/r9-VLtboEjk/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/r9-VLtboEjk/updatedThu, 19 Mar 2009 17:32:44 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 19 17:32:44 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093191732443780feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/i-might-pay-for-jotnot/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/i-might-pay-for-jotnot/#commentstitleI Might Pay for JotNotwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/i-might-pay-for-jotnot/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueThere are very few times when I read something and think to myself, I must blog this immediately and tell as many people as possible. | |
| This is one of those few times. | |
| JotNot is a web service that converts pictures into documents. Send a picture to them by email or upload one to their website and get [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermappsschemelabeltermimagesschemelabeltermiphoneschemelabeltermjotnotschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2611summaryThere are very few times when I read something and think to myself, I must blog this immediately and tell as many people as possible. | |
| This is one of those few times. | |
| JotNot is a web service that converts pictures into documents. Send a picture to them by email or upload one to their website and get [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueI Might Pay for JotNotbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>There are very few times when I read something and think to myself, I must blog this immediately and tell as many people as possible.</p> | |
| <p>This is one of those few times.</p> | |
| <p><a href="http://www.jotnot.com/" target="_self">JotNot</a> is a web service that converts pictures into documents. Send a picture to them by email or upload one to their website and get back a Word or pdf version. Not a big deal, there are other services that do this.</p> | |
| <p>This service is good for transferring information on a whiteboard into something you can distribute, and believe it or not, this happens quite frequently and is a constant frustration for telecommuters who aren’t “in the room”.</p> | |
| <p>It’s also good for scanning, if you don’t have a scanner.</p> | |
| <p><img title="JotNot's blue box, captured from iTunes app page" class="size-full wp-image-2612 alignleft" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/bluebox.png" height="289" alt="JotNot's blue box, captured from iTunes app page" width="201" /><img title="Enhanced image, captured from iTunes app page" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2613" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/enhanced.png" height="289" alt="Enhanced image, captured from iTunes app page" width="201" /></p> | |
| <p>Now, h/t <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/17/jotnot-turns-your-iphones-camera-into-a-document-scanner/" target="_self">TechCrunch</a>, they have an iPhone <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=307868751&mt=8" target="_self">app</a> (iTunes link).</p> | |
| <p>The app sounds very simple. Take a picture (or import one). Use the blue box presented by the app to indicate the area you want captured. Then wait as the app does its processing magic, correcting for lighting, color, and even perspective. Very cool.</p> | |
| <p>Unfortunately, this app costs $3.99, and I have yet to pay for an iPhone app. I’m still not over the initial sticker shock, my prerogative as an OG iPhone guy who paid full boat back in July 2007. However, this app tempts me to get over my desire for full amortization.</p> | |
| <p>If you read here, you know I prefer iPhone apps that perform <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/12/23/iphone-apps-for-units-of-work/" target="_self">units of work</a>, and usually, I can see value in these apps, even if I don’t have a specific use case or pain point in mind. JotNot hits two, very real pain points for me, and I’m pretty sure one or both apply to you as well.</p> | |
| <p><strong>Pain Point 1</strong><br /> | |
| The JotNot web service doesn’t meet my needs for whiteboard pictures. Why? Because typically, there’s sensitive information on that whiteboard, and it shouldn’t reside on outside servers.</p> | |
| <p>Yeah, it may not seem like a huge deal, but I like my job <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> </p> | |
| <p>The JotNot iPhone app does all its processing on the device. So, no worries about leaking the top secret designs for the next version of Connect.</p> | |
| <p>I could have used this app the last time Paul, Rich, Anthony and I sat in a conference room in Pleasanton, brainstorming Connect’s direction. We ended up with about five picture’s worth of whiteboard content, which I then had to email for posterity. Corrections for my bad photography would have been nice.</p> | |
| <p>There have also been several times when people have told me “I have it all on my whiteboard”, which didn’t really help me, since I’m not even in the same state as your whiteboard. It would have been nice to get a picture of that whiteboard.</p> | |
| <p><strong>Pain Point 2</strong><br /> | |
| We recently switched to scanning expense receipts. This is a bit problematic for home-based people unless there happens to be a scanner or an all-in-one in the house. In some rare cases, the all-in-one may be old enough not have any Mac or Linux drivers, making its scanning functions useless (and yes, I tried with a VM, no luck).</p> | |
| <p>This makes scanning receipts a challenge. I could use the JotNot web service, since receipts aren’t confidential, or the iPhone app, my choice. The one drawback of the iPhone app is that (I assume) the processed image format is jpg, just like all the iPhone camera images are.</p> | |
| <p>We need to submit receipts in pdf form. So, there would be an additional step required to transfer (or mail) it for conversion to pdf.</p> | |
| <p>Even so, as a guy who used to travel five days a week and struggled to keep current with expenses, I see huge value in this app. Consultants and sales people who live on the road can’t always predict when they will be able to scan receipts.</p> | |
| <p>JotNot would definitely help nomadic workers who live on the road and in hotels.</p> | |
| <p>So, color me impressed. Find the comments to add your two cents. Add enough, and I’ll use it buy this app.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/FoWwLTmUXFE" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/FoWwLTmUXFE/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/FoWwLTmUXFE/updatedWed, 18 Mar 2009 21:06:22 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 18 21:06:22 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009318216222770feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/ted-on-play/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/ted-on-play/#commentstitleTED on Playwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/ted-on-play/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueI am spending some cycles these days thinking on the integration of play and work. I happen to believe that there is some real magic to be had here for organizations and for firms looking to supply the next generation of software. Sure making work a game seems a bit out there (I get that), [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabelauthorPaulidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2608summaryI am spending some cycles these days thinking on the integration of play and work. I happen to believe that there is some real magic to be had here for organizations and for firms looking to supply the next generation of software. Sure making work a game seems a bit out there (I get that), [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueTED on Playbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>I am spending some cycles these days thinking on the integration of play and work. I happen to believe that there is some real magic to be had here for organizations and for firms looking to supply the next generation of software. Sure making work a game seems a bit out there (I get that), and I guess I could go back to thinking about RSS and Twitter, but I think that is pretty well covered by a host of others. Knowing my current fascination with this topic, <a href="http://theappslab.com/about/">Jake </a>passed along this TED talk by Stuart Brown:</p> | |
| <p><span></span></p> | |
| <p>Although I agree whole heartily with the message, and his story about the wild polar bear playing with huskies is incredible (watch it just for that), the section on the integration of play into our adulthood was sorely lacking in actionable information. We are told the diagnosis (”Play is important to everyone”), but are abruptly kicked out of the hospital without any treatment and a draft from the back of our robe. To be fair, Stuart did share some work done in his class on play at Stanford that endeavored to connect play with adult work life. The short video showed how his students would “re-invent” the meeting.</p> | |
| <p>As the video rolled, I was hoping for something incredible, and unfortunately was left feeling frustrated. The idea presented by the students was to put on full body white painters overalls and then use dry erase markers to keep notes on each other during the meeting. Sure, set to music and fast motion editing, it seems fun, but I think it hurts our cause more than helping it. No “serious” executive will ever see that as anything but a waste of time. <em>In fact, no one that works anywhere, at any level, would see this as valuable</em>. I am sure it was fun to do, but if we want to make any inroads we simply cannot ignore the firm footing “getting something done” has in the mindset of the modern worker.</p> | |
| <p>To give credit where it is due, they are at least trying. Just because we do not have a great solution today, does not mean that the problem does not exist. The imbalance of play and purpose that most people feel at work cannot be ignored. These are just the crude early efforts. My sense is that we will have to take smaller, bite size approaches of integrating play with work for it to be effective, but that does not mean that more ambitious concepts like the one presented at Stanford will not provide the fodder for more practical initiatives.</p> | |
| <p>In my next post I will give a practical example of how I think play can be integrated with a product management role inside a company. Stay tuned.</p> | |
| <p>——————————</p> | |
| <p>Cross Posted to <a href="http://gamethemachine.com/2009/03/18/ted-on-play/">GameTheMachine</a></p> | |
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| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/DnqRLBT0DuU" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/DnqRLBT0DuU/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/DnqRLBT0DuU/updatedWed, 18 Mar 2009 17:06:20 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 18 17:06:20 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009318176202770feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/17/i-want-vli/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/17/i-want-vli/#commentstitleI Want VLIwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/17/i-want-vli/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueBack in 2006 while on a trip to HQ, I sat in a meeting with some folks from the User Experience (UX) team. I don’t remember exactly what the purpose of the meeting was, but we wandered off topic and were just bouncing ideas off each other. | |
| I threw out the idea of a zero interface, [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermapisschemelabeltermconnectschemelabeltermrestschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabeltermuischemelabeltermvlischemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2599summaryBack in 2006 while on a trip to HQ, I sat in a meeting with some folks from the User Experience (UX) team. I don’t remember exactly what the purpose of the meeting was, but we wandered off topic and were just bouncing ideas off each other. | |
| I threw out the idea of a zero interface, [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueI Want VLIbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Back in 2006 while on a trip to HQ, I sat in a meeting with some folks from the User Experience (UX) team. I don’t remember exactly what the purpose of the meeting was, but we wandered off topic and were just bouncing ideas off each other.</p> | |
| <p>I threw out the idea of a zero interface, erm very little interface (VLI), which understandably did not go over well. Not the best audience in hindsight. Looking at Twitter’s astounding <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/13/whoa-twitter-mania/" target="_self">growth</a>, I wonder how much can be attributed to their laissez faire attitude and very functional API, which has created an ecosystem of apps around them.</p> | |
| <p><img title="I'm always reminded of Joey from Friends "How you doin'?"" class="size-full wp-image-2601 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/vli.png" height="71" alt="I'm always reminded of Joey from Friends "How you doin'?"" width="529" /></p> | |
| <p>Granted, Twitter has a pretty <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/03/10/twitter-free-pr/" target="_self">limited</a> feature set, which makes it much easier for them to implement a VLI, but that combined with their openness has bread success. This is a repeatable formula.</p> | |
| <p>I’m a big believer in simplicity in UI, frequently preferring a command line interface (CLI) to a UI. Obviously, zero interface is an impossibility, which is why I’m using the term VLI. Using Twitter as an analog again, Twitter.com is very simplistic. In fact, they haven’t integrated twitter.search.com (formerly Summize), nor do they track all @ replies.</p> | |
| <p>However, their API is very functional, <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/16/tweetdeck-adds-facebook-whats-next/" target="_self">allowing</a> client apps like <a href="http://tweetdeck.com" target="_self">TweetDeck</a> to replace (and augment) the twitter.com feature set. The only piece they’ve kept closed is account creation and management, and now that <a href="http://oauth.net/" target="_self">OAuth</a> integration is in <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/16/twitters-oauth-support-now-in-public-beta/" target="_self">public beta</a>, who knows if they’ll open pieces of profile management as well.</p> | |
| <p>Twitter.com <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/19/the-top-21-twitter-clients-according-to-twitstat/" target="_self">remains</a> the most popular way to tweet, although its share has <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/19/the-top-21-twitter-clients-according-to-twitstat/" target="_self">fallen</a> from 55% in April 2008 to 32% in February 2009. Granted, it’s difficult to track traffic accurately, so this is an unscientific measure. As an aside, I wonder which client benefited the most from the <a href="http://status.twitter.com/post/53978711/im-not-coming-soon" target="_self">loss</a> of IM as a client?</p> | |
| <p>And all bets are off, if Twitter decides to monetize the pageviews. That would be interesting.</p> | |
| <p>So, what have we learned? VLI isn’t about interface at all. It’s about data.</p> | |
| <p>Data make your app valuable. Interface is a byproduct of data.</p> | |
| <p>If you’ve ever built UI, you know how tough it is to balance usability with functionality. Throw users into the mix, and you have a whole lot of must-have requirements that don’t play nicely with each other.</p> | |
| <p>Enter the second tenant of VLI, open APIs.</p> | |
| <p>You must give your users (specifically, their developers) that ability to remix the data.</p> | |
| <p>This has been our goal for Connect. We haven’t been able to keep the UI as simple as Twitter’s because as a new app, we needed a more functional UI so our new users could get what Connect was.</p> | |
| <p>However, as our user base has grown, we’ve added REST APIs for the user data, which has spawned <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/12/17/two-great-tastes-that-taste-great-together/" target="_self">integrations</a> with a few other apps, e.g. OraTweet. <a href="http://apextoday.blogspot.com/" target="_self">Noel</a> has followed the same principles too, producing APIs for OraTweet that we consume.</p> | |
| <p>As Connect’s user base grows, more people have asked about using the APIs we produce because they have specific uses and don’t expect (or want) us to extend Connect to support them.</p> | |
| <p>We do benefit from the security blanket of being behind the firewall, and if Twitter’s growth is an indication, I expect to see lots more demand for Connect data in the next year-ish.</p> | |
| <p>So, what do you about VLI? Are you a more traditional UI person? If so, call me out in comments.</p> | |
| <p><em>Update: As Andy C points out in <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/17/i-want-vli/comment-page-1/#comment-7304697" target="_self">comments</a>, Twitter isn’t as open when compared to open source projects like <a href="http://laconi.ca/" target="_self">Laconica</a>, although that’s not really the point of the post. My goal is to examine a for-profit (an assumption in Twitter’s case) service and its approach to APIs and interface. The model is interesting to me, similar to one that I’ve proposed in the past and one we’ve tried to model with our work on Connect.</em></p> | |
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| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/uNH1sK_W1JA" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/uNH1sK_W1JA/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/uNH1sK_W1JA/updatedTue, 17 Mar 2009 22:38:48 +0000updated_timeTue Mar 17 22:38:48 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093172238481760feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/16/tweetdeck-adds-facebook-whats-next/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/16/tweetdeck-adds-facebook-whats-next/#commentstitleTweetDeck Adds Facebook, What’s Next?wfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/16/tweetdeck-adds-facebook-whats-next/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueAs is usual during the weeks before and during South by Southwest, there are a lot of product announcements. | |
| I’m not quite sure how/when it happened, but SXSW Interactive has become a nexus of startup activity and geekery, e.g. Twitter’s first bump came when the service won the SXSW Web Awards in 2007. | |
| So, it’s become a [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermapisschemelabeltermfacebookschemelabeltermtweetdeckschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2593summaryAs is usual during the weeks before and during South by Southwest, there are a lot of product announcements. | |
| I’m not quite sure how/when it happened, but SXSW Interactive has become a nexus of startup activity and geekery, e.g. Twitter’s first bump came when the service won the SXSW Web Awards in 2007. | |
| So, it’s become a [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueTweetDeck Adds Facebook, What’s Next?basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="TweetDeck" class="size-full wp-image-2597 alignleft" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/tweetdeck_128.png" height="128" alt="TweetDeck" width="128" />As is usual during the weeks before and during <a href="http://sxsw.com/home" target="_self">South by Southwest</a>, there are a lot of product announcements.</p> | |
| <p>I’m not quite sure how/when it happened, but <a href="http://sxsw.com/interactive" target="_self">SXSW Interactive</a> has become a nexus of startup activity and geekery, e.g. Twitter’s first bump came when the service <a href="http://blog.twitter.com/2007/03/we-won.html" target="_self">won</a> the SXSW Web Awards in 2007.</p> | |
| <p>So, it’s become a yearly rush of new feature and new company announcements. This year, not so many new companies, but plenty of new features. Over the last week plus, going into SXSW, and in its first few days, I’ve collected a bunch of topics for further thought that may turn into blog posts.</p> | |
| <p>But today, one item caught my attention, and I wanted to riff on it before it went cold.</p> | |
| <p><a href="http://www.tweetdeck.com/beta/" target="_self">TweetDeck</a>, the <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/19/the-top-21-twitter-clients-according-to-twitstat/" target="_self">most popular</a> Twitter client and the one I use, released a <a href="http://tweetdeck.posterous.com/tweetdeck-v024-pre-release-facebook-integrati" target="_self">beta version</a> (h/t Frederic Lardinois at <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/twitterization_of_facebook_on_the_desktop.php" target="_self">RWW</a>) that integrates with Facebook Connect, allowing you to view your News Feed in one of its columns. Also, you can now choose to post updates from TweetDeck to Facebook, making TweetDeck a Facebook status client.</p> | |
| <p>Updates can be sent to both Twitter and Facebook, effectively removing the need for the Twitter Facebook application, and ensuring that both your networks will stay updated on your activity. He said with more than a hint of sarcasm <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> </p> | |
| <p>If you’re wondering, TweetDeck does not post updates beginning with @ to Facebook, which makes sense, since they’re out of context. It does not, however, ignore updates that contain @ after the first character though, which should be an enhancement later. Then again, Twitter doesn’t officially track replies @ you unless they begin with @, which is one reason why AIR clients and Summize (now <a href="http://search.twitter.com" target="_self">Twitter Search</a>) are so popular for tracking those @ replies.</p> | |
| <p>This is mildly cool, if you use both services and want to broadcast to Facebook like you do to Twitter. The <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/" target="_self">recent</a> UI changes to Facebook aim to make it more like Twitter and FriendFeed, which is sure to appeal to existing users of those services; the jury is out on whether the masses on Facebook will take to the life-streaming, micro-blogging approach.</p> | |
| <p>I’m guessing they will, eventually, since Facebook has so much momentum right now.</p> | |
| <p>I like the implementation overall. It’s smooth and easy to use, and it fits within TweetDeck easily. My main beef is that it adds yet another column to an already real estate hungry app. I can only show four TweetDeck columns as it is, and now I have another that I might want to see competing for screen time.</p> | |
| <p>I’m not sure how to solve this problem, other than with a <a href="http://store.apple.com/us/product/M9179LL/A" target="_self">cinema display</a>. Christmas might have to come early.</p> | |
| <p>None of this is terribly interesting to me though.</p> | |
| <p>What got me about TweetDeck’s new version its potential to marginalize the networks themselves. Bear with me here.</p> | |
| <p>TweetDeck’s main appeal over any other Twitter AIR client (<a href="http://www.alertthingy.com/" target="_self">AlertThingy</a>, <a href="http://www.twhirl.org/" target="_self">Twhirl</a>, etc.) is its implementation of groups, something that is sorely needed for Twitter. Having groups allows you to control what you follow and to organize the chaos that Twitter can become once you follow a few hundred people (or sooner).</p> | |
| <p>Twitter seems fine with allowing TweetDeck to fill this vacuum, and even though TweetDeck is the top Twitter client, it lags well behind twitter.com for overall traffic to Twitter.</p> | |
| <p>Enter Facebook updates. My logical conclusion is that I should be able to add Facebook friends to my existing groups. This isn’t the case in the beta release, but image how useful that would for a person who uses both services frequently. You could focus your attention on the people who mattered most, regardless of the service they prefer to use.</p> | |
| <p>For example, Paul uses Facebook more than Twitter. I rarely see his updates to Facebook because I prefer Twitter. To communicate, one of us has to use his second choice in networks. If TweetDeck supported groups across services, we could each use our first choice in networks for communicating.</p> | |
| <p>TweetDeck already supports a host of Twitter features, including follows, favorites, directs and even search, which Twitter has yet to integrate into twitter.com. About the only thing you can’t do with TweetDeck is create and manage your account. Otherwise, it’s fully operational.</p> | |
| <p>I seriously doubt that Facebook will expose this much functionality to apps like TweetDeck, but the more they add, the less traffic they serve directly. Less traffic means less clout with advertisers, which is not good for business.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, I’m very curious to see how this Facebook client integration progresses. Logically, it makes sense for Facebook to open up some of their data to clients, since the model has already been proven. After all, of their user population, only a small percentage will choose clients over facebook.com.</p> | |
| <p>At least that’s the way it looks now. Things change quickly though. This time last week, I would have been laughed at the idea of a Facebook client.</p> | |
| <p>Find the comments and share your thoughts.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/IKdlniOCUuA" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/IKdlniOCUuA/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/IKdlniOCUuA/updatedTue, 17 Mar 2009 04:31:12 +0000updated_timeTue Mar 17 04:31:12 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009317431121760feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/14/anatomy-of-a-spam-attack/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/14/anatomy-of-a-spam-attack/#commentstitleAnatomy of a Spam Attackwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/14/anatomy-of-a-spam-attack/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueYesterday, I did some browsing of the web analytics for this blog to get comparison numbers for the browser stats I had for Connect. | |
| Today, I went back to do a little more digging and some navel-gazing | |
| We use Google Analytics, which I prefer to Mint for web metrics. It has loads of metrics beyond [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermanalyticsschemelabeltermdisqusschemelabeltermspamschemelabeltermweb metricsschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2584summaryYesterday, I did some browsing of the web analytics for this blog to get comparison numbers for the browser stats I had for Connect. | |
| Today, I went back to do a little more digging and some navel-gazing | |
| We use Google Analytics, which I prefer to Mint for web metrics. It has loads of metrics beyond [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueAnatomy of a Spam Attackbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Yesterday, I did some browsing of the web analytics for this blog to get comparison numbers for the <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/on-browsers/" target="_self">browser stats</a> I had for Connect.</p> | |
| <p>Today, I went back to do a little more digging and some navel-gazing <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> </p> | |
| <p>We use Google Analytics, which I prefer to Mint for web metrics. It has loads of metrics beyond the standard pageviews and visits. As a side note, now that Feedburner accounts are merging with Google accounts, I’m hoping that Analytics will soon include Feedburner stats too. Seems logical.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, I like to set the date range to the life of this blog (from June 2007) to get the best snapshot view from the graphs.</p> | |
| <p>What jumped out was the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounce_Rate" target="_self">Bounce Rate</a> graph.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Bounce Rate from last week, dropped by 50%?" class="size-full wp-image-2586 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/bouncerate.png" height="110" alt="Bounce Rate from last week, dropped by 50%?" width="478" /></p> | |
| <p>All of a sudden, our normal 75% bounce rate (I know, terrible) inexplicably dropped to less than 40% a week ago and sustained that rate all last week.</p> | |
| <p>Definitely weird. Maybe after the Batman vs. Superman <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/06/batman-vs-superman/" target="_self">post</a>, everyone was extra relieved to get back the normal, hard-hitting content we serve everyday. I laughed all the way through that sentence, obviously untrue.</p> | |
| <p>I relish a data anomaly, as a recovering economist, especially if there are graphs to show the patterns. I am an unabashed data pr0n dork.</p> | |
| <p>Accompanying the drop in bounce rate, there were, not surprisingly, corresponding jumps in pages per visit and pageviews over the same time period. Makes sense, the longer people stay on your site, the more pages they are likely to view.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Average pageviews per visit, also up last week . . ." class="size-full wp-image-2587 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/pagespervisit.png" height="103" alt="Average pageviews per visit, also up last week . . ." width="470" /></p> | |
| <p>Logically, you would also expect to see a rise in time spent on the site, as people read more. Not so much. In fact, Saturday’s average time on site was 19 seconds; that same day, the bounce rate dropped to 36% from 69% and pages per visit jumped to 2.41 from 1.64.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Time Spent on Site *drops*, thank you spammers" class="size-full wp-image-2588 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/timeonsite.png" height="109" alt="Time Spent on Site *drops*, thank you spammers" width="476" /></p> | |
| <p>All this points to comment spammers.</p> | |
| <p>Exhibit A: Looking through the WordPress and Disqus comment logs from the last week, there was definitely a rise in comments on old posts, definitely a sign of spam. And these aren’t old posts that come up on the first page for common keyword searches, like “oracle iphone”.</p> | |
| <p>Exhibit B: The spam comments are borderline, with plausible names and comments, not the usual link spam left by Monster Truck Rally. This tells me spammers are modifying their behavior slightly to get past the measures Disqus has taken.</p> | |
| <p>Exhibit C: The pattern of multiple comments onm different posts from the same account backed up the web metric data.</p> | |
| <p>So, I accuse Colonel Mustard, in the Study, with the lasso.</p> | |
| <p>I know, as a naive kid, I thought that was a lasso. Ah, innocence.</p> | |
| <p>Comment spamming has been on the <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/12/who-benefits-from-blog-comment-spam/" target="_self">rise</a> this year, at least the spam that gets past spam filters. Disqus noted that the recent rash of spam comes from real people, not bots. The assumed goal of comment spam is to bump SEO for the spammers; I firmly believe this is a new cottage industry, operated <a href="https://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome" target="_self">Mechanical Turk</a> style.</p> | |
| <p>A crappy economy opens up a larger pool of people with computers who are motivated to earn easy money, and how much easier does it get than comment spam? Find a blog that allows unverified or anonymous comments and drop three comments on three posts. In and out in a matter of seconds. They probably get paid for the gross number of comments with the spammer’s link.</p> | |
| <p>This might even be that job advertised on the TV. You know the one that says you can make thousands in a week, tens of thousands in a month, working “on the Internet” from home. All those smiling people tell you nothing about what the job entails. There’s always a shady URL that tells you nothing about the company.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, I’m not really bothered by comment spam, but I know people are, e.g. <a href="http://bexhuff.com/" target="_self">Bex</a>, who uses a comment captcha process that makes me want to cry it’s so frustrating.</p> | |
| <p>Does it bother you? What do think of my analysis? Did you enjoy the web analytics primer?</p> | |
| <p>Sound off in the comments with something useful, like “I will give it a try for sure !”.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/RHMDYFl-2jg" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/RHMDYFl-2jg/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/RHMDYFl-2jg/updatedSat, 14 Mar 2009 20:35:46 +0000updated_timeSat Mar 14 20:35:46 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093142035465730feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/on-browsers/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/on-browsers/#commentstitleOn Browserswfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/on-browsers/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueIE6 is like that cold that just won’t go away; you feel well enough to go to work, but it keeps sapping your energy. | |
| To many users, IE6 is the Internet. It came with your computer, and it’s the way you get online. Resisting the urge to put online in quotes. Like many web apps, we’ve [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermchromeschemelabeltermconnectschemelabeltermfirefoxschemelabeltermieschemelabeltermsafarischemelabeltermwebkitschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2579summaryIE6 is like that cold that just won’t go away; you feel well enough to go to work, but it keeps sapping your energy. | |
| To many users, IE6 is the Internet. It came with your computer, and it’s the way you get online. Resisting the urge to put online in quotes. Like many web apps, we’ve [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueOn Browsersbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="Good *old* Internet Explorer 6" class="size-medium wp-image-2581 alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/internet_explorer-284x300.png" height="120" alt="Good *old* Internet Explorer 6" width="113" />IE6 is like that cold that just won’t go away; you feel well enough to go to work, but it keeps sapping your energy.</p> | |
| <p>To many users, IE6 <em>is</em> the Internet. It came with your computer, and it’s the way you get online. Resisting the urge to put online in quotes. Like many web apps, we’ve been fighting against IE6 since Connect was born, but it’s finally time to take a stand.</p> | |
| <p>Connect looks terrible in IE6. I’m sure everyone here knows why, i.e. no support for standards, out-dated rendering, the fact that if it were a kid it would be in second grade, etc. It’s a mess. But from an investment perspective, we can’t spend Rich and Anthony’s time on making Connect look good in IE6 at the expense of fixing bugs and building new features.</p> | |
| <p>As Rich put it nicely over OraTweet, “IE hurts everyone . . . even those who use it.”</p> | |
| <p>Thought that was pretty diplomatic for Rich, considering.</p> | |
| <p>I haven’t conducted a scientific study, but I think IE6 usage has been declining since Connect launched, just as it has been sharply declining on the ‘tubes overall. Today, we toyed with the idea of showing a message to IE6 users to ask them to install and use a modern browser for the best Connect experience.</p> | |
| <p>This will happen for sure; I don’t want people thinking Connect is a turd because IE6 can’t render it correctly. I’d rather let them know that we embrace the modern web and think they should too. Put nicely.</p> | |
| <p>As a giggle, I checked the web analytics to see what percentage of users are still coming to Connect with IE6.</p> | |
| <p>14%</p> | |
| <p>That’s all-time. So, about 14,000 visits from users with IE6 since June 2007. Seems low, considering: a) how bad Connect looks in IE6, which would drive me off, b) that IE6 is still officially supported by IT as part of their base image for employees, which also includes Firefox for the record, and c) that we need to use IE to run the web conferencing tool we use.</p> | |
| <p><img title="User agent stats from Connect" class="size-full wp-image-2582 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/browsers1.png" height="275" alt="User agent stats from Connect" width="370" /></p> | |
| <p>I expected at least 25%.</p> | |
| <p>One thing that floored me was the <1% for IE5. I’d like to know who’s running IE5 out there, seriously.</p> | |
| <p>Another interesting note, Netscape accounts for 1% of the all-time traffic to Connect. The visits were from 7.1 and 7.2, which made me feel better. I was cringing at the thought of how Connect looked in Communicator 4. Don’t laugh, I actually tested that combination last Summer for a user. Ugly mess.</p> | |
| <p>I also noticed that Chrome wasn’t showing up as a browser, which is odd since a couple people have pointed out bugs in Chrome this week. Apparently, Chrome is seen as Safari by <a href="http://www.haveamint.com/" target="_self">Mint</a>; I assume due to their shared <a href="http://webkit.org/" target="_self">WebKit</a> engines.</p> | |
| <p>Friend of the Lab <a href="http://jjmpsj.blogspot.com/" target="_self">Jim Marion</a> kindly pointed me to a <a href="http://www.useragentstring.com/" target="_self">way</a> to see your user agent, which is how I cracked this case.</p> | |
| <p>So, Safari and Chrome account for 6% of our traffic, which is pretty good.</p> | |
| <p>We had a flurry of OraTweets flying around over this IE6 message thing. The best comment was:</p> | |
| <blockquote><p><em>i would just like to not have to run 4 browsers on my machine to check how everything “looks”. if we could eliminate IE and Netscape, that would be excellent.</em></p></blockquote> | |
| <p>Too true. I have two XP VMs to run IE6 and IE7. Since I have them, I can also run Firefox 2 and Firefox 3 in separate VMs. I guess soon, I’ll need another VM for IE8.</p> | |
| <p>All the different flavors of browsers make web development such a pain, but then again, remember when all we had was IE and Netscape?</p> | |
| <p>I guess it’s not so bad.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/jAlpXuuX5iw" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/jAlpXuuX5iw/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/jAlpXuuX5iw/updatedSat, 14 Mar 2009 06:14:52 +0000updated_timeSat Mar 14 06:14:52 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009314614525730feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/trying-pivotal-tracker/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/trying-pivotal-tracker/#commentstitleTrying Pivotal Trackerwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/trying-pivotal-tracker/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueLast week, Rich proposed that we try Pivotal Tracker for Connect. | |
| Our work on Connect can be loosely described as agile. We generally meet, either in person or on the phone, to hash out major feature releases, and then Rich and Anthony build and deploy. And I test. Every six months or so, we rinse and [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermagileschemelabeltermconnectschemelabeltermpivotal trackerschemelabeltermprojectsschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2573summaryLast week, Rich proposed that we try Pivotal Tracker for Connect. | |
| Our work on Connect can be loosely described as agile. We generally meet, either in person or on the phone, to hash out major feature releases, and then Rich and Anthony build and deploy. And I test. Every six months or so, we rinse and [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueTrying Pivotal Trackerbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Last week, Rich proposed that we try<a href="http://www.pivotaltracker.com/learnmore" target="_self"> Pivotal Tracker</a> for Connect.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Pivotal Tracker agile project planning" class="size-full wp-image-2574 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/pivotal_tracker.png" height="31" alt="Pivotal Tracker agile project planning" width="421" /></p> | |
| <p>Our work on Connect can be loosely described as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development" target="_self">agile</a>. We generally meet, either in person or on the phone, to hash out major feature releases, and then Rich and Anthony build and deploy. And I test. Every six months or so, we rinse and repeat.</p> | |
| <p>I say loosely because we’re not very organized. We follow the agile principles, but we’re not that organized, which is weird for me because I’m usually over-organized, if anything. This lack of organization works well, if we are splitting time between projects, but whenever we have a block of time to devote to Connect, Rich starts asking for structure.</p> | |
| <p>In the past, we used spreadsheets and tested a couple project management packages, <a href="http://www.basecamphq.com/" target="_self">Basecamp</a>, <a href="http://www.activecollab.com/" target="_self">activeCollab</a> and <a href="http://studios.thoughtworks.com/mingle-agile-project-management" target="_self">Mingle</a>, with varying amounts of success.</p> | |
| <p>So, last week, Rich got fed up again with a flat list of features and bugs and started a project in Pivotal Tracker.</p> | |
| <p>I have to say I’m impressed so far. I didn’t realize why I liked it so much until I found this <a href="http://venturehacks.com/articles/pivotal-tracker" target="_self">post</a> which provides 11 reasons to like Tracker:</p> | |
| <blockquote> | |
| <ol> | |
| <li><em>It’s free.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s hosted.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s a joy to use. It’s the iPod of project management software. It’s all drag-and-drop and clickity-clack and it just works.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s multi-user. Your co-founder in North Korea can make changes in Tracker and you will see them instantly. No page reloads.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s for lean startups. The building block in Tracker is a <em>story</em>: an increment of customer value that you deliver with minimal waste.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s about completing your next most important task—not maintaining mile-long to-do lists, Gantt charts, and lists of bugs.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s transparent. Everybody on the team knows what everybody else is working on, their priorities, and their accomplishments.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s in sync with reality. It doesn’t take time to keep your requirements and schedule in sync with reality, even if your business priorities change daily.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It doesn’t do much. No, it doesn’t do dependencies and critical paths. It just keeps you focused on delivering value to customers.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s powerful as hell. Tracker hides a lot of technology under a simple interface. It’s a serious Javascript-intensive web application that’s in the same league as Gmail and Google Maps.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Bonus reason: Everything is on one page—there’s no need to navigate around (unlike other project management tools). More Gmail, less Hotmail.</em></li> | |
| </ol> | |
| </blockquote> | |
| <p>It struck me that 11th one is gold for me. Having all the functionality on a singe page is a huge time saver for me.</p> | |
| <p>When I get a bug report or encounter a bug in Connect, I’m generally in the middle of something else. So, I want to report it, prioritize it and get back to other work. Accomplishing this by emailing Rich and Anthony is not ideal, but I did this frequently with the other tools to avoid the longer processes. None of those other tools was terribly time-consuming, but still, it’s a savings I can feel.</p> | |
| <p>The other reasons are pretty solid too, especially 10. Having used “professional” project management apps in the not-so-distant past, I appreciate fewer bells and whistles, e.g. a friend of mine mentioned he had to take a day-long training in Microsoft Project, which pretty much sums up my experience with that monster.</p> | |
| <p>Plus, much of the stuff you need to run a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model" target="_self">waterfall</a> project isn’t needed in an agile one, especially when you only have two developers and one project/product manager.</p> | |
| <p>Just after Rich got us started with Tracker, I found out Twitter <a href="http://blog.twitter.com/2009/03/pivotal-means-of-crucial-importance.html" target="_self">uses</a> it too, actually keeping a couple “Pivots” on site as consultants. Tracker is built and hosted by <a href="http://pivotallabs.com/" target="_self">Pivotal Labs</a>, and did I mention Tracker is a Rails app? But you probably figured that out by now.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/ksiqd-qU_fs" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/ksiqd-qU_fs/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/ksiqd-qU_fs/updatedFri, 13 Mar 2009 22:13:21 +0000updated_timeFri Mar 13 22:13:21 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093132213214720feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/12/apex-in-the-cloud/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/12/apex-in-the-cloud/#commentstitleAPEX in the Cloudwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/12/apex-in-the-cloud/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueThis post about running APEX in the cloud by Jason Straub came across OraNA last week. | |
| I’m surprised Chet didn’t pounce on it, being the APEX devotee that he is. Basically, you can now run APEX on Amazon EC2 for 60 cents. | |
| Oracle has recently been rolling out more offerings with AWS, including database and backup images [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermamazonschemelabeltermapexschemelabeltermec2schemelabeltermoracleschemelabelterms3schemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2565summaryThis post about running APEX in the cloud by Jason Straub came across OraNA last week. | |
| I’m surprised Chet didn’t pounce on it, being the APEX devotee that he is. Basically, you can now run APEX on Amazon EC2 for 60 cents. | |
| Oracle has recently been rolling out more offerings with AWS, including database and backup images [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueAPEX in the Cloudbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="Run APEX on 11g in the cloud using Amazon Web Services" class="size-full wp-image-2566 alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/logo_aws.gif" height="60" alt="Run APEX on 11g in the cloud using Amazon Web Services" width="164" />This <a href="http://jastraub.blogspot.com/2009/03/test-drive-oracle-application-express.html" target="_self">post</a> about running <a href="http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/application_express/index.html" target="_self">APEX</a> in the cloud by Jason Straub came across <a href="http://orana.info" target="_self">OraNA</a> last week.</p> | |
| <p>I’m surprised <a href="http://www.oraclenerd.com" target="_self">Chet</a> didn’t pounce on it, being the APEX <a href="http://www.oraclenerd.com/2008/05/apex-oracle-marketing-wtf.html" target="_self">devotee</a> that he is. Basically, you can now run APEX on <a href="http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/" target="_self">Amazon EC2</a> for 60 cents.</p> | |
| <p>Oracle has recently been rolling out more offerings with AWS, including database and backup images preconfigured for EC2 and S3; you can read more at the <a href="http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/cloud/index.ht" target="_self">Oracle Cloud Computing Center</a> on OTN. This is interesting to me, since about 18 months ago, we were searching for just such a packaged AWS 11g offering on which to run Mix. Instead, we had to find and procure hardware to put into an Oracle datacenter.</p> | |
| <p>EC2 with Oracle pre-installed and configured for backup to S3 is awesome. Total win.</p> | |
| <p>I’d like to see more promotion of this offering because since AWS was launched in 2002, startups (and their customers) have embraced EC2 and S3 for their, ahem, mission-critical apps and operations. Armeded with flexible computing power and backup, startups could easily find pre-configured MySQL installations, which led to web apps built in PHP (e.g. Facebook) and Rails (e.g. Twitter).</p> | |
| <p>Sure, to scale, successful web apps like Facebook and Twitter eventually had to raise venture funding to spend on infrastructure, but they already had users and an established service.</p> | |
| <p>I’ll bet <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/25/bummer-20/" target="_self">Ma.gnolia</a> would still be in business if they’d opted for an AWS image with an Oracle installation and backup preconfigured.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, now you can get APEX too, although I’m not entirely clear on how the cost breaks down, i.e. if it’s 60 cents per something or a flat rate. If you know, please enlighten in comments.</p> | |
| <p>FYI, Jason’s post and the demos on the Cloud Computing Center spend a fair amount of time on configuring PuTTY to connect via SSH and copy files with SCP. These steps are for Windows users; <a href="http://developer.amazonwebservices.com/connect/entry.jspa?entryID=609" target="_self">Elasticfox</a>, the Firefox add-on built by AWS to manage EC2 services, generates a key pair on its own. Windows doesn’t support SSH very well natively, and PuTTY is frequently the tool used to do SSH and SCP on Windows.</p> | |
| <p>OS X and Linux should work better with SSH out-of-the-box, so if you don’t run Windows, the setup has fewer steps.</p> | |
| <p>At any rate, APEX is a neat tool. <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/06/25/we-heart-hackers/" target="_self">OraTweet</a> is built in APEX, and so is Aria, Oracle’s internal employee directory. In another life at Oracle, I kicked the tires on APEX for an internal project. A lot of people swear by it, and now you can test drive it yourself over AWS. No need to provision testing hardware or worry about installing it on an existing machine.</p> | |
| <p>Pretty cool.</p> | |
| <p>Tempted to try it? Already use Oracle and AWS? I’m curious to hear what you think. Find the comments.</p> | |
| <p><em>Update: Jason has more details in a new <a href="http://jastraub.blogspot.com/2009/03/20-cents-hour-whose-got-that-kind-of.html" target="_self">post</a> today, including pricing.</em></p> | |
| <p><em>Another update: Jason breaks his pricing assumptions down in <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/12/apex-in-the-cloud/?disqus_reply=7258457#comment-7256541">comments</a>.<br /> | |
| </em></p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/9YqLUR7F650" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/9YqLUR7F650/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/9YqLUR7F650/updatedThu, 12 Mar 2009 21:14:46 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 12 21:14:46 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093122114463710feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/11/connect-adds-geolocation/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/11/connect-adds-geolocation/#commentstitleConnect Adds Geolocationwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/11/connect-adds-geolocation/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueNow, we know where you are . . . but only if you tell us. | |
| Yesterday, Rich completed the addition of geolocation tracking to Connect. Now, when you OraTweet your location or update your Connect status with the secret phrase “@location” followed by a place (address or city or country), Connect stores your location. | |
| And that’s pretty [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermconnectschemelabeltermdopplrschemelabeltermgeolocationschemelabeltermoratweetschemelabeltermtripitschemelabeltermyelpschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2559summaryNow, we know where you are . . . but only if you tell us. | |
| Yesterday, Rich completed the addition of geolocation tracking to Connect. Now, when you OraTweet your location or update your Connect status with the secret phrase “@location” followed by a place (address or city or country), Connect stores your location. | |
| And that’s pretty [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueConnect Adds Geolocationbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Now, we know where you are . . . but only if you tell us.</p> | |
| <p>Yesterday, Rich completed the addition of geolocation tracking to Connect. Now, when you OraTweet your location or update your Connect status with the secret phrase “@location” followed by a place (address or city or country), Connect stores your location.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Surprise, I'm in Portland" class="size-full wp-image-2563 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/location.png" height="95" alt="Surprise, I'm in Portland" width="472" /></p> | |
| <p>And that’s pretty much it right now.</p> | |
| <p>We didn’t build much else because we’re looking for a really compelling use case. Geolocation is a border-line creepy feature that has struggled to find mainstream acceptance on the ‘tubes, e.g. you don’t see Facebook rushing to add geo-features.</p> | |
| <p>Within the enterprise, you have an implicit layer of trust, safe inside the firewall away from phishing, spamming, malware, and you’re protected by internal organizations like HR and Legal. So, we’re thinking this should take away some of the geo-uneasiness.</p> | |
| <p>Beyond that security blanket, Oracle has a lots of travelers, and even in a downturn, there are scads of sales people and consultants on the road all the time. Plus, many teams collaborate virtually across state and country lines, and for some odd reason, seeing a map humanizes that voice on the phone.</p> | |
| <p>Don’t believe me? I used to manage a project that had people in India, and when news of that catastrophic tsunami in 2004 broke, I worried that people I knew had been affected. Luckily, in this case anyway, my Indian geography is awful, and everyone was safe. The same thing happened when news of a train wreck broke; we didn’t have Twitter then.</p> | |
| <p>It’s a small thing, but seeing where that the person you work with every day sits, even if it’s just on a map, helps you feel more connected.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, we have some ideas already; I’ve polled <a href="http://matttopper.com" target="_self">Matt</a>, <a href="http://apextoday.blogspot.com/" target="_self">Noel</a> and <a href="http://blogs.oracle.com/clayton/" target="_self">Clayton</a> for their input too. I’m sure Matt, our resident geo-geek, has a bunch of stuff in his head waiting to see daylight, like transposing profile tags and location to find “experts” nearby. There are loads of iPhone things Clayton could add to the <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/04/the-oracle-people-iphone-app-is-here/" target="_self">Oracle People</a> app; nice how I make work for him. Noel has thoughts around targeting content by location.</p> | |
| <p>Rich is thinking about city or office pages, a la <a href="http://dopplr.com" target="_self">Dopplr</a> and <a href="http://tripit.com" target="_self">TripIt</a>, that could house information about office locations, etc. I’m a fan of focusing on our offices and the services they offer. Each field office has a packet of information they provide to people who join that office, e.g. gyms, restaurants, bars, etc. Why not publish that and also add reviews, a la <a href="http://yelp.com" target="_self">Yelp</a>?</p> | |
| <p>I spent six weeks in the Dallas office in 1998 and ate at the same three or so places the entire time I was there. Why, aside from being lazy? I didn’t know the area very well and didn’t feel like exploring. Having reviews would help, but also seeing who reviewed would add an easy introduction to people in a strange place.</p> | |
| <p>There’s that socializing work trend again.</p> | |
| <p>So, what do you think? Whether you work at Oracle or not, you work, right? What problems would geo-location solve for you?</p> | |
| <p>If you’re shy and don’t want to comment, let’s have a <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/learning-from-entertainment/" target="_self">game of email</a> (h/t Paul).</p> | |
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| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/0rAu5UiGs04" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/0rAu5UiGs04/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/0rAu5UiGs04/updatedWed, 11 Mar 2009 17:31:50 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 11 17:31:50 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093111731502700feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/howto-enable-system-sound-in-ubuntu-intrepidubuntu-geek/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/howto-enable-system-sound-in-ubuntu-intrepidubuntu-geek/#commentstitleHowto Enable system sound in Ubuntu IntrepidUbuntu Geekwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/howto-enable-system-sound-in-ubuntu-intrepidubuntu-geek/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueaddthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Ftheappslab.com%2F2009%2F03%2F10%2Fhowto-enable-system-sound-in-ubuntu-intrepidubuntu-geek%2F'; | |
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| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/H5J-1FORWyo" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/H5J-1FORWyo/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/H5J-1FORWyo/updatedWed, 11 Mar 2009 00:43:34 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 11 00:43:34 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009311043342700feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/learning-from-entertainment/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/learning-from-entertainment/#commentstitleLearning from Entertainmentwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/learning-from-entertainment/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvaluePhoto Credit: Timothy Hamilton | |
| I recently watched this excellent video of Nick Fortugno at the Meaningful Play conference in 2008. If you are into designing games with a message behind them it is worth a watch. | |
| Among other things, he highlights the basic split in entertainment between “form” and “content”. Form being the mechanics used to convey [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermgtmschemelabelauthorPaulidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2556summaryPhoto Credit: Timothy Hamilton | |
| I recently watched this excellent video of Nick Fortugno at the Meaningful Play conference in 2008. If you are into designing games with a message behind them it is worth a watch. | |
| Among other things, he highlights the basic split in entertainment between “form” and “content”. Form being the mechanics used to convey [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueLearning from Entertainmentbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<h5><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/flickrgrit/811355961/"><img title="167630455_387cde5e59" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-56" src="http://gamethemachine.wordpress.com/files/2009/03/167630455_387cde5e59.jpg?w=300" height="199" alt="167630455_387cde5e59" width="300" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bestrated1/">Photo Credit: Timothy Hamilton</a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/flickrgrit/811355961/"><br /> | |
| </a></h5> | |
| <p>I recently watched this excellent video of <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7614486442195859373&ei=RuG2SfmsO53eqAPn7r3kAw&q=game+design+serious+games&hl=en">Nick Fortugno at the Meaningful Play conference in 2008</a>. If you are into designing games with a message behind them it is worth a watch.</p> | |
| <p>Among other things, he highlights the basic split in entertainment between “form” and “content”. Form being the mechanics used to convey the message. Using examples from the past like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tom%27s_Cabin">Uncle Tom’s Cabin</a>, he shows clearly how known formulas have been used effectively to deliver what some might call, socially responsible messages. In the case of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, she used a fairly common literary model to inject a social discussion of abolitionism into the mainstream social conversation.</p> | |
| <p>If you ponder formulas, you can find them in all types of media and entertainment. From a gaming perspective, you see them as First Person Shooters (FPS), Simulation, Role Playing Games (RPG), Board games, and more. From a film perspective, you might think about Action, Drama, Comedy or Documentary. It is essential to understand that each of these formulas attract a specific audience with clear expectations well trod by their previous experiences. People are attracted to a specific formula because of what it provides. How many nights have you said, “I am in the mood for a comedy”? - It is much more rare to say you are in the mood for a comedy about golf, or an action movie about the African diamond trade.</p> | |
| <p>If you go see a horror movie, you will expect some blood and gore, creepy imagery, and most likely some scantily clad teenagers at a deserted lake. As long as the director provides those key elements, you’ll leave (to a degree) satisfied. You got what you ordered. If the entertainment meets that core need and provides the emotional experience you sought, then you are open to receive the message they are delivering. From a design perspective, you just have to honor the formula and provide the desired experience or it will cease to be enjoyable to the audience. If you deny them the pleasure of a deep belly laugh when they yearned for comedy, no matter how interesting you may find your message, it will be lost.</p> | |
| <p>If you are a web designer you may see a parallel here when you consider <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321344758?ie=UTF8&tag=hypes-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=0321344758">Steve Krug’s</a> views on convention. His opinion is that using expected behavior is good no matter how cool you think that flash widget is! Use a search box that looks the same as everyone else. Have a shopping cart icon that leads to the shopping cart. If you plan to reinvent how the shopping cart, search button, or the hyperlink work - you better have a very, very good reason. So your website formula is standard, the message (ie. content) is up to you.</p> | |
| <p>So let’s connect this with the world of software that people use to get things done - email, task management, payroll, bookkeeping, project management, etc. - collectively “business software”. If entertainment like films, games and books have taught us anything, it is that you must first create something enjoyable. Play is paramount. In the world of entertainment, purpose is largely ignored (on a percentage basis), but you can see it shine through in films like <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00003CXFV?ie=UTF8&tag=hypes-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=B00003CXFV">Erin Brokovich</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00003CWRX?ie=UTF8&tag=hypes-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=B00003CWRX">The Insider</a>, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591840538?ie=UTF8&tag=hypes-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=1591840538">Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room</a>, among many others - documentaries are great at this. In the world of business software, the report card is skewed in the other direction, with purpose being the leader by a wide margin, and fun being largely ignored. The very idea of fun seems at odds with something of value. Both worlds could do with a bit of balance.</p> | |
| <p>My hope is that the future of business software can assimilate the lessons of entertainment by making something people want to play consistently as opposed to a tool to get something done. We are already seeing simplicity as a key design principle, but I believe that the dimension of fun is next. My guess is that we will as an industry need to adopt or invent a new formula for software and apply them to the problems we are trying to solve in a novel way.</p> | |
| <p>Who is up for a game of email?</p> | |
| <p>————</p> | |
| <p><a href="http://gamethemachine.com/2009/03/11/learning-from-entertainment/">Cross posted at Game The Machine.</a></p> | |
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| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/PFQn4q86R1A" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/PFQn4q86R1A/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/PFQn4q86R1A/updatedWed, 11 Mar 2009 00:19:48 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 11 00:19:48 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009311019482700feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/09/leave-a-comment-using-facebook-connect/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/09/leave-a-comment-using-facebook-connect/#commentstitleLeave a Comment using Facebook Connectwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/09/leave-a-comment-using-facebook-connect/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueJust before Christmas, Disqus announced their support for Facebook Connect. At the time I remember being a little disappointed with the decision, due to Facebook’s closed nature and what seemed like a choice for the walled garden of Facebook and against the open web (OpenID, OAuth, OpenSocial). | |
| I like Disqus; they’ve been responsive when we’ve had [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermdisqusschemelabeltermfacebook connectschemelabeltermOAuthschemelabeltermopen webschemelabeltermopenidschemelabeltermopensocialschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2543summaryJust before Christmas, Disqus announced their support for Facebook Connect. At the time I remember being a little disappointed with the decision, due to Facebook’s closed nature and what seemed like a choice for the walled garden of Facebook and against the open web (OpenID, OAuth, OpenSocial). | |
| I like Disqus; they’ve been responsive when we’ve had [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueLeave a Comment using Facebook Connectbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Just before Christmas, <a href="http://disqus.com" target="_self">Disqus</a> <a href="http://blog.disqus.net/2008/12/23/facebook-connect-now-available-on-disqus/" target="_self">announced</a> their support for <a href="http://developers.facebook.com/connect.php" target="_self">Facebook Connect</a>. At the time I remember being a little disappointed with the decision, due to Facebook’s closed nature and what seemed like a choice for the walled garden of Facebook and against the open web (<a href="http://openid.net/" target="_self">OpenID</a>, <a href="http://oauth.net/" target="_self">OAuth</a>, <a href="http://www.opensocial.org/" target="_self">OpenSocial</a>).</p> | |
| <p>I like Disqus; they’ve been responsive when we’ve had questions and issues, and obviously the longer we use it, the harder it becomes to effect a return to WordPress comments or a move to another comment management service like <a href="http://intensedebate.com/" target="_self">Intense Debate</a>, which I’ve not had good experiences using. So, even though I like Disqus, I do feel a little trapped.</p> | |
| <p>Based on all my hippie openness, why, when a commenter <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/06/12/on-disqus/#comment-6942954" target="_self">asked</a> about supporting Facebook Connect for Disqus login, did I cave?</p> | |
| <p><img title="The amazing Facebook Connect explanation window." class="size-full wp-image-2547 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/fbconnect.png" height="347" alt="The amazing Facebook Connect explanation window." width="446" /></p> | |
| <p>As an aside, I’m not even sure that’s a real comment; the comment spam has been very <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/12/who-benefits-from-blog-comment-spam/" target="_self">heavy</a> lately. FYI, if your comment disappeared and you’re a real-live person who had a real comment, sorry if I nuked it. I didn’t know “Pregnancy Symptoms” was a real name.</p> | |
| <p>Why the 180?</p> | |
| <p>For starters, Facebook recently <a href="http://openid.net/2009/02/05/facebook-joins-openid-foundation-board/" target="_self">joined</a> the OpenID board, and I’ve heard from a board member that it’s more than just an attempt at lip-service to the open web. There are increasing <a href="http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/03/facebook-in-2010-no-longer-a-walled-garden.html" target="_self">signs</a> that Facebook wants to be more open. This makes sense; they’re not a in a position to open completely, but staying totally closed doesn’t serve the best interests of their users and the rest of the ‘tubes. Besides, I’m pretty sure someone studied the hall of fail for walled gardens, ahem AOL, CompuServ.</p> | |
| <p>So, why not support Facebook Connect here? I asked myself on Friday.</p> | |
| <p>You can see it in action in the comments. The comment widget has been slightly restyled to include a Facebook icon. Click it, and you’ll get the Facebook Connect login.</p> | |
| <p><img title="New Disqus comment widget! With 100% more Facebook Connect goodness! Act now! Supplies are limited." class="size-full wp-image-2545 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/disqusfb.png" height="33" alt="New Disqus comment widget! With 100% more Facebook Connect goodness! Act now! Supplies are limited." width="176" /></p> | |
| <p>When you choose Facebook Connect you get the Facebook credentials window, show above; I’ve not tested it myself yet, so leave a comment to test it yourself, and I just might reply with my Facebook credentials.</p> | |
| <p>You can choose to cross-post your comments to your News Feed too. I’m not sure how that would appear; I assume they must provide the original post for context. Again, I’ve not tried yet, so if you get there first, please share with the rest of the class how it comes out in the News Feed.</p> | |
| <p>Another reason I caved is that so many people are using Facebook as their primary social network, it’s probably a higher value add than I think. Paul, for example, says it’s his main network over Twitter or LinkedIn, probably over Connect, too <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> It’s the de facto standard now, like it or not.</p> | |
| <p>And I don’t want to be labeled a dirty hippie who only supports the Commie open web. No offense Commie open web, you know I <3 you.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, Disqus makes it very simple to enable Facebook, and there are detailed instructions in the Admin/Settings of your blog setup.</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li>To retrieve your Facebook API Key for use with Disqus, you must <a href="http://www.facebook.com/developers/createapp.php" target="_blank">fill out a new ‘Create App’ form</a> on Facebook</li> | |
| <li>Enter your site’s domain as the Callback URL</li> | |
| <li>You may use your site name as the application name</li> | |
| <li>Below is a screenshot of the AppsLab form on Facebook</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p><a href="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/appslabfbapp.png"><img title="The AppsLab Facebook app!" class="size-full wp-image-2548 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/appslabfbapp.png" height="285" alt="The AppsLab Facebook app!" width="416" /></a>So, test it out and share your thoughts.</p> | |
| <p>Now, if only Disqus would support OpenID on the comments widget. Even though you <a href="http://disqus.disqus.com/openid_support_please/" target="_self">can</a> login to disqus.com with an OpenID provide, supposedly, the widget we show on the blog does not support any providers.</p> | |
| <p>Although I wonder how much incentive they have to build that now that Facebook has committed to OpenID, which would mean they get it for free through Facebook Connect. Grrr.</p> | |
| <p>Another seemingly cool feature of Disqus is the FriendFeed <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/01/27/now-were-on-friendfeed/" target="_self">integration</a>, i.e. comments on blog posts made on FriendFeed are reflected back to the original post. Not so much from what I saw. I set this up and tested it to no avail. I’m hoping it’s user error. Anyone?</p> | |
| <p>Looks like Disqus isn’t standing still. Their blog <a href="http://blog.disqus.net/2009/03/04/preview-our-next-big-features-exclusively-on-mashable/" target="_self">says</a> they are working with <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/03/04/social-media-comments/" target="_self">Mashable</a> on a one ring approach to aggregate all commentary on posts from the many places people can comment.</p> | |
| <p>Stay tuned sounds like a neat feature.</p> | |
| <p>Find the comments and sound off about Facebook Connect, Disqus, hippie open web, whatever you like. Just make it obvious you’re not a comment spammer, which is harder than it seems.</p> | |
| <p><em>Update: <a href="http://surachartopun.com/" target="_self">Surachart</a> was nice enough to leave a test comment, to which I replied using Facebook Connect. After logging in, I got this box, asking to publish the comment to my News Feed.</em></p> | |
| <p><em><img title="Facebook Connect confirmation of cross-posting your comment." class="size-full wp-image-2553 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/fbconnect1.png" height="114" alt="Facebook Connect confirmation of cross-posting your comment." width="422" /></em></p> | |
| <p><em>And here’s how it looks in my Feed. Not too intrusive, but not very informative either. </em></p> | |
| <p><img title="How your comment appears in your Facebook News Feed" class="size-full wp-image-2554 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/newsfeed.png" height="34" alt="How your comment appears in your Facebook News Feed" width="468" /></p> | |
| <p><em>Just as with FriendFeed, having a Comment function on Facebook creates another thread for your posts, which is a bummer.</em></p> | |
| <p><em>One thing, if you have a public profile on Facebook, your name will show in comments, like Surachart’s. The public profile is indexed by search engines. If you don’t have that enables, only your profile ID will show, which looks a little weird, like mine.</em></p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pvtNZcayJao:n7vcdfziG_Y:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pvtNZcayJao:n7vcdfziG_Y:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pvtNZcayJao:n7vcdfziG_Y:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=pvtNZcayJao:n7vcdfziG_Y:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pvtNZcayJao:n7vcdfziG_Y:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pvtNZcayJao:n7vcdfziG_Y:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=pvtNZcayJao:n7vcdfziG_Y:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/pvtNZcayJao" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/pvtNZcayJao/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/pvtNZcayJao/updatedTue, 10 Mar 2009 03:51:16 +0000updated_timeTue Mar 10 03:51:16 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009310351161690feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/06/batman-vs-superman/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/06/batman-vs-superman/#commentstitleBatman vs. Supermanwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/06/batman-vs-superman/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueFrom Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" series | |
| Here comes a topic for a Friday. | |
| I try to torture my wife with this nerdy debate, but she consistently rises above the argument. So, I’m coming to the ‘tubes to get some real discussion. | |
| This class comic book nerd debate is really Batman or Superman, not vs. which suggests [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermbatmanschemelabeltermcomicsschemelabeltermsupermanschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2536summaryFrom Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" series | |
| Here comes a topic for a Friday. | |
| I try to torture my wife with this nerdy debate, but she consistently rises above the argument. So, I’m coming to the ‘tubes to get some real discussion. | |
| This class comic book nerd debate is really Batman or Superman, not vs. which suggests [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueBatman vs. Supermanbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_2538"><img title="Batman vs. Superman" class="size-medium wp-image-2538" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/batman_vs_superman_wallpaper-300x225.jpg" height="225" alt="From Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" series" width="300" /><p class="wp-caption-text">From Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" series</p></div> | |
| <p>Here comes a topic for a Friday.</p> | |
| <p>I try to torture my wife with this nerdy debate, but she consistently rises above the argument. So, I’m coming to the ‘tubes to get some real discussion.</p> | |
| <p>This class comic book nerd debate is really Batman <em>or</em> Superman, not vs. which suggests they’re fighting. It’s styled as vs. because the camps on either side may end up slapping each other in a geek fight as they disagree and tempers flare. Suffice to say that opinions are held as facts in this case, much like they are in Kirk vs. Picard or other similarly impossible, yet fascinating arguments.</p> | |
| <p>I use the term fascinating loosely.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, the debate is simple; make a case for which superhero is better and why. Point and counter-point.</p> | |
| <p>Or shake your head and walk away trying not to laugh.</p> | |
| <p>Here goes.</p> | |
| <p>Batman, and here’s why in easy to consume bullet form:</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li>He’s one of us, not an alien or a genetic anomaly. He’s just a really tough dude, like Chuck Norris in tights and a cowl.</li> | |
| <li>He’s not a Boy Scout. He practices vigilante justice, outside the law or on the fringe, depending on the Batman adaptation.</li> | |
| <li>He has “wonderful” toys. Limitless wealth provides an awesome array of weapons, vehicles and gadgets that may geeks drool.</li> | |
| <li>He fights the best villains. Without a doubt, the Joker is the best comic book villain. No debate there.</li> | |
| <li>He’s a brooding guy with issues, classic anti-hero. He wants to dole out justice, not to do good. Superman does good.</li> | |
| <li>He has the best costume. The cape and cowl black or gray/navy early on makes him menacing.</li> | |
| <li>He’s a smart dude who uses his wits, not his brawn.</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>There are more, but I’m laughing at myself now.</p> | |
| <p>Your turn. Find the comments to agree or disagree with me. Or to pick another superhero.</p> | |
| <p>If you made it to here, you know you want to jump in, which is the beauty of this argument.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/nTeF-p5TsmE" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/nTeF-p5TsmE/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/nTeF-p5TsmE/updatedFri, 06 Mar 2009 19:20:57 +0000updated_timeFri Mar 06 19:20:57 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009361920574650feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/05/freely-available-utilities/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/05/freely-available-utilities/#commentstitleFreely Available Utilitieswfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/05/freely-available-utilities/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueThe title comes from a phrase that stood out for me in this post from RWW. | |
| That post highlights some really sweet data pr0n (TwitterThoughts and World Twitter Map) built by Yvo Schaap that uses the Twitter API for data, Yahoo Pipes for parsing and the Google Visualization API for producing the eye candy. All these [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermdata visualizationschemelabeltermgoogleschemelabeltermpipesschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabeltermyahooschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2529summaryThe title comes from a phrase that stood out for me in this post from RWW. | |
| That post highlights some really sweet data pr0n (TwitterThoughts and World Twitter Map) built by Yvo Schaap that uses the Twitter API for data, Yahoo Pipes for parsing and the Google Visualization API for producing the eye candy. All these [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueFreely Available Utilitiesbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>The title comes from a phrase that stood out for me in this <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/mashup_magic_twitterthoughts.php" target="_self">post</a> from RWW.</p> | |
| <p>That post highlights some really sweet data pr0n (<a href="http://yvoschaap.com/twitterthoughts/" target="_self">TwitterThoughts</a> and <a href="http://yvoschaap.com/twitterthoughts/?map=1" target="_self">World Twitter Map</a>) built by <a href="http://www.yvoschaap.com/" target="_self">Yvo Schaap</a> that uses the <a href="http://apiwiki.twitter.com/" target="_self">Twitter API</a> for data, <a href="http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/" target="_self">Yahoo Pipes</a> for parsing and the <a href="http://code.google.com/apis/visualization/" target="_self">Google Visualization API</a> for producing the eye candy. All these tools are “freely available utilities”, and what Yvo has built with them is pretty compelling.</p> | |
| <p><a href="http://yvoschaap.com/twitterthoughts/?map=1"><img title="World Twitter Map, tweets by volume over the last 24 hours" class="size-medium wp-image-2533 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/twittermap-300x188.png" height="188" alt="World Twitter Map, tweets by volume over the last 24 hours" width="300" /></a></p> | |
| <p>Another freely available utility is <a href="http://code.google.com" target="_self">Google Code</a>, which <a href="http://www.oraclenerd.com/2009/02/google-code.html" target="_self">Chet</a> is using to host his code. I really like this idea; ideally, you can get a bunch of smart people in your extended community to hack with you on a fun project, like an open source incubator. But even if no one ever joins, you’ll still have a code resume that is readily available should you need to interview.</p> | |
| <p>Chet has experience with interviews, natch, but I don’t think this is why he started hosting his code. It’s just a fun project.</p> | |
| <p>He also mentioned the Visualization API, which is really cool. </p> | |
| <p>Friend of the ‘Lab and OpenSocial dude at Google, Chris Shalk gave a very interesting unconference <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/cschalk/integrating-google-apis-into-your-applications-presentation?type=powerpoint" target="_self">session</a> on the Google APIs at OpenWorld last September, embedded below if you’re reading at theappslab.</p> | |
| <div id="__ss_614577"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/cschalk/integrating-google-apis-into-your-applications-presentation?type=powerpoint" title="Integrating Google APIs into Your Applications">Integrating Google APIs into Your Applications</a> | |
| <div>View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/cschalk">Chris Schalk</a>. (tags: <a href="http://slideshare.net/tag/opensocial">opensocial</a> <a href="http://slideshare.net/tag/charts">charts</a>)</div> | |
| </div> | |
| <p>I’ve been trying to find the right data set to use with that for a long time. One day.</p> | |
| <p>I suppose I could use the <a href="http://aws.amazon.com/publicdatasets/" target="_self">Public Data Sets</a> on AWS, another great resource, but not one for this discussion, since they are part of the EC2 offering and not free. On the flipside, if you have the right to distribute a data set or have a public domain/non-proprietary set, you can request that AWS host it for you.</p> | |
| <p>This isn’t that different than the API model that Twitter has taken, i.e. provide open access to your data through an API, stand back and watch what cool things people do with your data. Twitter’s API seems to produce a new service each week, creating an ecosystem of services and applications that depend on it.</p> | |
| <p>We’ve had some success with this inside the firewall too. Connect’s APIs are used by a handful of services, OraTweet chief among them. Likewise for OraTweet’s APIs. People are starting to get how this matters inside the firewall for free-sharing of information, whether it’s a hacking project some developer wants to undertake to scratch a personal itch or it’s a more formal collaborative undertaking with a budget and a mission.</p> | |
| <p>Either way, freely available utilities rule. Finding out about them is half the battle, e.g. Yahoo Pipes is a very useful tool, but I don’t know of many people who use it. I used it to create the feed for the “What We’re Reading” widget, and Dawn Foster has become the Pipes maven. Check out her <a href="http://fastwonderblog.com/yahoo-pipes-and-rss-hacks/" target="_self">tutorials</a> if you want Pipes knowledge.</p> | |
| <p>In the spirit of discovery, what freely available utilities do you think are awesome? Any thoughts about Yvo’s Twitter visualizations or Chet’s project?</p> | |
| <p>Find the comments.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/zV1pm6UbhpA" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/zV1pm6UbhpA/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/zV1pm6UbhpA/updatedThu, 05 Mar 2009 23:52:03 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 05 23:52:03 UTC 2009updated_parsed200935235233640feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/#commentstitleAnother Facebook User Revolt is Comingwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueToday, Facebook previewed changes it plans to make to their site next week. There are quite a few: | |
| A redesigned home page with live updates, filters and a universal publishing model (very much like FriendFeed’s). | |
| One minor change that’s part of the universal publishing box is changing the verbiage “What are you doing right now?” to “What’s [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermfacebookschemelabeltermfriendfeedschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabeltermuischemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2522summaryToday, Facebook previewed changes it plans to make to their site next week. There are quite a few: | |
| A redesigned home page with live updates, filters and a universal publishing model (very much like FriendFeed’s). | |
| One minor change that’s part of the universal publishing box is changing the verbiage “What are you doing right now?” to “What’s [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueAnother Facebook User Revolt is Comingbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img class="alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/s307319_28874.jpg" height="146" alt="" width="195" />Today, Facebook <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/04/facebooks-response-to-twitter/" target="_self">previewed</a> changes it plans to make to their site next week. There are quite a few:</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li>A <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/04/screen-shots-the-new-facebook-home-page/" target="_self">redesigned</a> home page with live updates, filters and a universal publishing model (very much like FriendFeed’s).</li> | |
| <li>One minor change that’s part of the universal publishing box is changing the verbiage “What are you doing right now?” to “What’s on your mind?”.</li> | |
| <li>People will no longer be capped at 5,000 friends.</li> | |
| <li>A Twitter/FriendFeed like follow feature will be added to allow people to keep tabs on others asynchronously.</li> | |
| <li>Pages will converge with profiles, creating a more uniform experience whether person, brand, whatever.</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>These changes point to the convergence of the life-streaming model with the social network and to Facebook’s stated goal of being its own Internet within the ‘tubes. When Facebook first introduced the News Feed in 2006, it became the first social network to show a network’s activity in this way.</p> | |
| <p>Since then, Twitter pioneered status (or micro-blogging) allowing the network to tell everyone explicitly what it’s doing, rather than using activity to infer that. Facebook added status shortly thereafter to capture the same activity.</p> | |
| <p>FriendFeed applied the News Feed concept to the entire ‘tubes, but as Facebook has added the ability to share more objects, beyond simply activity contained within Facebook, the News Feed has become increasingly more life stream focused.</p> | |
| <p>So, no big surprises in the home page redesign.</p> | |
| <p>The follow feature, however, sounds like an area for user revolt. Facebook has a very different feel than Twitter or FriendFeed primarily because following (or subscribing) can be asynchronous. Facebook has always enforced that profiles must be real people, probably dating back to its roots as the anti-MySpace; they have frequently enforced this citing it as a violation of their terms.</p> | |
| <p>Now, profiles and pages are merging, and people can follow each other. Sounds a shade like stalking. Because Twitter and others don’t have the rigorous profile requirements, you may not know who is really following you. You’ll know on Facebook though, and that will lead to a whole mess of issues.</p> | |
| <p>This is going to be interesting. Expect a “revolt”, by which I mean a bunch of whining from people. After all, Facebook has a history of upsetting its users. Here’s a brief score card.</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2005/09/07/85-of-college-students-use-facebook/" target="_self">September 2005</a>: Adds high schools to its previously college-only crowd causing college kids to complain about allowing uncool, high schoolers into their Fortress of Solitude.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/04/26/facebook-goes-beyond-college-high-school-markets/" target="_self">May 2006</a>: Adds work networks of selected companies, causing recently added high schoolers to join “old sk00l” college kids to whine that work people are uncool.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/09/06/facebook-users-revolt-facebook-replies/" target="_self">September 2006</a>: Adds News Feeds, Mini Feeds, irking hordes of users who are up in arms about flooding their pristine Facebook pages with mind-numbing details about their so-called friends.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/05/24/facebook-launches-facebook-platform-they-are-the-anti-myspace/" target="_self">March 2007</a>: Adds f8 platform for application development, which actually is met with user happiness for a change, until sheep throwing, vampire biting and spamming your friends to see your cool-points ranking get annoying.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/the-facebook-ad-backlash-begins/" target="_self">November 2007</a>: Beacon social advertising program face-plants as users are aghast that Facebook would use their data to, um, make money or try to at least.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/16/dont-let-facebook-force-the-new-profile-on-you-heres-how-to-get-the-old-one-back/" target="_self">September 2008</a>: New UI launch is met with widespread hatred, even though apps have polluted the once clean aesthetic that made it the anti-MySpace.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/16/zuckerberg-on-who-owns-user-data-on-facebook-its-complicated/" target="_self">February 2009</a>: Changes to its terms of service cause widespread outrage.</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>It’s actually pretty funny. When I started this list, my viewpoint was that Facebook would (again) run roughshod over its users, as it did in its infancy. However, looking back at the last 18 months, when the most growth has occurred outside the saturated demographics for social networking (talking to you Gen Y), Facebook has actually done a decent job listening to its user base.</p> | |
| <p>Sure, they’ve made mistakes, but they’ve ultimately been responsible for them and have accommodated reasonable requests. Not a bad thing. Although, as a highly visible company (and pop culture punchline), this course of action seems logical.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway. I don’t really think the changes are all that noteworthy, except maybe to early adopters who know Twitter (which is also inching toward mainstream as evidenced by its Daily Show <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/03/the-daily-show-my-stalker-just-grunted-on-my-twitter/" target="_self">cameo</a>) and FriendFeed and think it matter who was doing what first.</p> | |
| <p>Meh.</p> | |
| <p>The user revolt will be fun to observe. Most interesting will be how mainstream users feel about life-streaming and micro-blogging. The changes to Facebook’s UI will shape the future of the ‘tubes, like it or not.</p> | |
| <p>Find the comments and add your two cents.</p> | |
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| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/pUarQEPYiPI" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/pUarQEPYiPI/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/pUarQEPYiPI/updatedThu, 05 Mar 2009 06:57:42 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 05 06:57:42 UTC 2009updated_parsed200935657423640feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/howto-convert-vmware-image-to-virtualbox-image-or-import-vmware-image-into-virtualboxubuntu-geek/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/howto-convert-vmware-image-to-virtualbox-image-or-import-vmware-image-into-virtualboxubuntu-geek/#commentstitleHowto Convert Vmware Image to Virtualbox Image or Import Vmware Image into VirtualboxUbuntu Geekwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/howto-convert-vmware-image-to-virtualbox-image-or-import-vmware-image-into-virtualboxubuntu-geek/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueaddthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Ftheappslab.com%2F2009%2F03%2F04%2Fhowto-convert-vmware-image-to-virtualbox-image-or-import-vmware-image-into-virtualboxubuntu-geek%2F'; | |
| addthis_title = 'Howto+Convert+Vmware+Image+to+Virtualbox+Image+or+Import+Vmware+Image+into+VirtualboxUbuntu+Geek'; | |
| addthis_pub = '';basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermdel.icio.usschemelabeltermreaderschemelabelauthorRich Manalangidtag:google.com,2005:reader/item/8a065670f2e9f076summaryaddthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Ftheappslab.com%2F2009%2F03%2F04%2Fhowto-convert-vmware-image-to-virtualbox-image-or-import-vmware-image-into-virtualboxubuntu-geek%2F'; | |
| addthis_title = 'Howto+Convert+Vmware+Image+to+Virtualbox+Image+or+Import+Vmware+Image+into+VirtualboxUbuntu+Geek'; | |
| addthis_pub = '';guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueHowto Convert Vmware Image to Virtualbox Image or Import Vmware Image into VirtualboxUbuntu Geekbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalueaddthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Ftheappslab.com%2F2009%2F03%2F04%2Fhowto-convert-vmware-image-to-virtualbox-image-or-import-vmware-image-into-virtualboxubuntu-geek%2F'; | |
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| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/my1dXp4eyMw" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/my1dXp4eyMw/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/my1dXp4eyMw/updatedThu, 05 Mar 2009 00:56:20 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 05 00:56:20 UTC 2009updated_parsed200935056203640feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/03/new-imac-still-new-to-me/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/03/new-imac-still-new-to-me/#commentstitleNew iMac, Still New to Mewfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/03/new-imac-still-new-to-me/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueUpdate: Turns out Best Buy, where we bought the iMac, doesn’t have the new models in stock yet, but to make room in their inventory, they’ve lowered the prices on the remaining ones by $400. | |
| They were nice enough to honor the new price and refund the difference. Win-win, since I wasn’t all that excited about [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermappleschemelabeltermhome officeschemelabeltermimacschemelabeltermmacschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2519summaryUpdate: Turns out Best Buy, where we bought the iMac, doesn’t have the new models in stock yet, but to make room in their inventory, they’ve lowered the prices on the remaining ones by $400. | |
| They were nice enough to honor the new price and refund the difference. Win-win, since I wasn’t all that excited about [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueNew iMac, Still New to Mebasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="New iMacs" class="size-medium wp-image-2520 alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/overview_hero2_20090303-300x158.jpg" height="158" alt="New iMacs" width="300" /></p> | |
| <p><em>Update: Turns out Best Buy, where we bought the iMac, doesn’t have the new models in stock yet, but to make room in their inventory, they’ve lowered the prices on the remaining ones by $400.</em></p> | |
| <p><em>They were nice enough to honor the new price and refund the difference. Win-win, since I wasn’t all that excited about a data transfer. W00t!</em></p> | |
| <p>So, you may have heard that Apple dropped a bunch of updates to their product catalog today, along with software updates.</p> | |
| <p>Among the <a href="http://www.tuaw.com/2009/03/03/four-flavors-of-imac/" target="_self">updates</a> were upgrades to the iMac line.</p> | |
| <p>Not that noteworthy, unless you just bought an iMac last week like I did. Funny stuff, right?</p> | |
| <p>I’m actually not that bummed; a little, but not too much, considering. This was a replacement for my wife’s XP machine, which I had been nursing along for nearly ten years, adding disk, RAM and a DVD player to keep it functional. She had lent her Macbook to a friend (I know, gasp) and was forced to use that old beast without any escaping to a faster computer.</p> | |
| <p>Speed is her main requirement (and annoyance); this means the Internet, installed programs, everything. This means keeping a lot of moving parts, moving quickly, which was becoming increasingly tough with the old XP box. So, rather than have me rebuild it overnight, we decided to break down and buy a new machine entirely. For her, instant gratification and instant ability to get work done.</p> | |
| <p>The decision was to go Mac over PC because, well, I don’t feel like supporting it, and we like the unibody design of the iMac over the standard cable mess of disparate pieces. Plus, she already has a Macbook, so it’s not a jump into the deep end.</p> | |
| <p>I should have tipped when Best Buy said they had no 20″ iMacs in stock, in any local stores, but knowing how secretive Apple is, I wonder if even the Apple Store employees knew the new models were less than a week from dropping. We settled on the 24″ model that used to be the third in the lineup; based on the new specs, it’s probably closer to first, slightly more beefy than the low-end 20″ model in the new lineup. Grr.</p> | |
| <p>Still, she loves it to death so far (it’s so fast), and the cinema display is so bright, when I walk away from it, I see spots.</p> | |
| <p>Rather than trying to explain virtualization, I just installed Virtual Box and installed an XP VM. That VM runs about twice as fast as the old native installation of XP did. Sure, not an apples-to-apples comparison, but pretty impressive. The fan is really quiet too; one thing that bugs me about the Macbook is its loud fan. If you’ve held one of those in your lap, you’ll know why. It gets crazy hot after a while, not an ideal thing to keep in your lap.</p> | |
| <p>So, until today, everybody was happy. New computer for the wife, less support agony for me. Win-win.</p> | |
| <p>Of course, now we’ve fallen victim to buying the outgoing model year, which is inevitable, but usually doesn’t happen withing the same week.</p> | |
| <p>I also violated one of my rules by buying the unibody design. I can’t crack it open to do <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/09/weekend-project-macbook-surgery/" target="_self">upgrades</a> to keep from buying new gear every couple years. Maybe I can, but it won’t be easy. Maybe I’m wrong.</p> | |
| <p>Then, there’s the dilemma of what to do with the old dinosaur. I had thought it would make good network-attached storage, but aside from the slow processor, it only has about 80 GB of disk space, which is puny compared to the 250 GB I just put in my Macbook, 300 GB in the iMac or the 1 TB backup drive I bought for Time Machine on the iMac.</p> | |
| <p>Wow did I feel old buying a 1 TB disk about the size of a pocket dictionary for less than $200. I remember when Oracle DB broke the 1 TB barrier for database storage. That doesn’t seem that long ago. Cue the nostalgic music and prepare your grouchy “I remember when” stories for the comments.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, I’ll probably end up reimaging it as an experimental box for Jaunty Jackalop (9.04) or some other O/S, or maybe I’ll give it to the neighbors, keeping the monitor, natch. You can never have too many displays.</p> | |
| <p>So, there’s a lot here, meandering as always. What are your thoughts on any/all of the following:</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li>New iMacs and updates to Apple’s products</li> | |
| <li>Old iMacs, Macs in general</li> | |
| <li>Mac vs. PC, always welcome here <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> </li> | |
| <li>Supporting users who want everything “faster”</li> | |
| <li>Keeping up with current technology and getting out-moded</li> | |
| <li>Repurposing old gear</li> | |
| <li>A 1 TB drive for less than $200</li> | |
| <li>Having an experimental machine for hobby O/S</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>Find the comments and let us know.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=C1J8Pzeytug:RJvVLi3w-34:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=C1J8Pzeytug:RJvVLi3w-34:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=C1J8Pzeytug:RJvVLi3w-34:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=C1J8Pzeytug:RJvVLi3w-34:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=C1J8Pzeytug:RJvVLi3w-34:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=C1J8Pzeytug:RJvVLi3w-34:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=C1J8Pzeytug:RJvVLi3w-34:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/C1J8Pzeytug" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/C1J8Pzeytug/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/C1J8Pzeytug/updatedWed, 04 Mar 2009 00:29:21 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 04 00:29:21 UTC 2009updated_parsed200934029212630feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/02/play-with-purpose/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/02/play-with-purpose/#commentstitlePlay with Purposewfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/02/play-with-purpose/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvaluePlay is our natural state. It is healthy and fun. In that state, we are engrossed and engaged. Time, as they say, “flies”. As we grow up and put aside childish things, we lose this connection to our natural state and a strong division between play and work emerges. In fact it is worse than [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermgame_the_machineschemelabelauthorPaulidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2509summaryPlay is our natural state. It is healthy and fun. In that state, we are engrossed and engaged. Time, as they say, “flies”. As we grow up and put aside childish things, we lose this connection to our natural state and a strong division between play and work emerges. In fact it is worse than [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvaluePlay with Purposebasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p class="me">Play is our natural state. It is healthy and fun. In that state, we are engrossed and engaged. Time, as they say, “flies”. As we grow up and put aside childish things, we lose this connection to our natural state and a strong division between play and work emerges. In fact it is worse than this, because in the adult mind, play itself has not only changed, but in many cases, it has been lost altogether, morphed into some hobbled likeness of itself. Play becomes a scheduled 30 minute block on the treadmill or a set of reps that some trainer mandated be completed before gulping a protein shake of predetermined size. The once energizing activity becomes goal driven and miraculously, it loses it’s magic. Did you ever ask a child why they play? What exactly is the objective of climbing the monkey bars?</p> | |
| <p class="me"><img title="play" class="size-medium wp-image-2511 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/play-300x225.jpg" height="225" alt="play" width="300" /></p> | |
| <h5 class="me"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/strocchi/238573299/">photo credit: Strocchi</a></h5> | |
| <p class="me">In many ways, this subtle mental shift from play to work marks the end of innocence and a firm transition to adulthood. At some point that we can’t quite pinpoint, this new mode of being, becomes the norm, and yet the vast majority of us move along, day in, day out, in some Orwellian food line, without questioning why. We assume that work simply must be this way, for that is how it has always been. After all, that is why it is called “work” after all. Work is about getting something done - there is a purpose, a goal, an outcome - something of value beyond the individual is created by the activity.</p> | |
| <blockquote> | |
| <h2 class="me">work (<a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/work" target="_blank">see definition</a>)</h2> | |
| <p class="me"><em>“exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something”</em></p> | |
| </blockquote> | |
| <p class="me">This is where things get interesting…</p> | |
| <p class="me">Let’s return to our example of kids playing in a playground. If you asked an adult about the value of such an activity, they would list off several: physical fitness, learning group communication skills, imprinting gross motor movements, and the list goes on. So clearly something worthwhile is being produced, but <em>that is an observer’s perspective</em>. That is looking at results and outcomes. That is the objective thinking of management. To the player - there is only one objective - to have fun. The moment the fun slips through their fingers, they drift to another activity meeting that simple criterion.</p> | |
| <p class="me">This distinction is essential since I posit that we can see work as an adult in the same way. <strong>The key is to understand that making an activity fun in itself does not remove, change, or eliminate the benefits of the activity - it just makes the activity inherently enjoyable.</strong></p> | |
| <p class="me">Our historical view seems to be that the world is binary - either you work at something or you play at something and never the two shall meet. I question that assumption. I not only believe that work (and other activities) are capable of being simultaneously fun and valuable beyond the individual. I see nothing inherent in purpose or utility that precludes enjoyment to the point that it ceases to be work in the mind of the doer at all. <strong>The cause of our current conundrum, as I see it, is a lack of creativity</strong>.</p> | |
| <p>It is my goal to bridge these two worlds of play and purpose to highlight the art of creating products, services, and a way of work that embrace a new, higher standard. However, we should be clear there is a method to the madness. There is a reason to embrace this new model, other than it being new. From a human perspective it is the most healthy - people should be living lives of play, but it also works from an economic perspective as well. If we endeavor to make what most people do more than a task to be completed, we can drive loyalty, passion, usability, and use. It could just be the secret weapon to making something people remember.</p> | |
| <p>Designers of products and services today spend a majority of time on fleshing out purpose. What are the features? What does it do? Why would someone buy this? All valuable questions, but my hope is that we can add a bit of balance to the process. It would serve us well as providers and consumers to ponder the role that play could have in our creations. More play not to the detriment of purpose, but to its enrichment.</p> | |
| <p>Your move.</p> | |
| <p>——————————</p> | |
| <p>I started a new blog to track my personal work to come around gaming applied to products, services, and more. For those interested, I’ll keep it at <a href="http://www.gamethemachine.com">http://www.gamethemachine.com</a>, but will cross-post for a bit.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=2ycdwJiK5bU:V6f3Iimc5ps:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=2ycdwJiK5bU:V6f3Iimc5ps:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=2ycdwJiK5bU:V6f3Iimc5ps:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=2ycdwJiK5bU:V6f3Iimc5ps:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=2ycdwJiK5bU:V6f3Iimc5ps:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=2ycdwJiK5bU:V6f3Iimc5ps:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=2ycdwJiK5bU:V6f3Iimc5ps:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/2ycdwJiK5bU" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/2ycdwJiK5bU/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/2ycdwJiK5bU/updatedMon, 02 Mar 2009 22:50:06 +0000updated_timeMon Mar 02 22:50:06 UTC 2009updated_parsed200932225060610feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/02/twitter-break-unexpected-use-cases-search/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/02/twitter-break-unexpected-use-cases-search/#commentstitleTwitter Break: Unexpected Use Cases, Searchwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/02/twitter-break-unexpected-use-cases-search/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueI read a couple Twitter news items today that interested me. | |
| First was an interesting TED talk from Twitter co-founder and CEO, Evan Williams. It’s embedded below, if you’re reading on theappslab. If you’re not, click through and have a look. It’s only eight minutes, so not a major time spend. | |
| The title caught my attention right [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermagileschemelabeltermconnectschemelabeltermgreasemonkeyschemelabeltermsocial searchschemelabeltermtedschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2505summaryI read a couple Twitter news items today that interested me. | |
| First was an interesting TED talk from Twitter co-founder and CEO, Evan Williams. It’s embedded below, if you’re reading on theappslab. If you’re not, click through and have a look. It’s only eight minutes, so not a major time spend. | |
| The title caught my attention right [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueTwitter Break: Unexpected Use Cases, Searchbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>I read a couple Twitter news items today that interested me.</p> | |
| <p>First was an interesting TED talk from Twitter co-founder and CEO, <a href="http://twitter.com/ev" target="_self">Evan Williams</a>. It’s embedded below, if you’re reading on theappslab. If you’re not, click <a href="http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/evan_williams_on_listening_to_twitter_users.html" target="_self">through</a> and have a look. It’s only eight minutes, so not a major time spend.</p> | |
| <p></p> | |
| <p>The title caught my attention right away because: 1) I’ve always found the most value in Twitter outside “micro-blogging” and 2) I find the unintentional uses for a service are often clever and interesting.</p> | |
| <p>As a product manager, it’s fun to see how people use your product. One struggle I’ve always had with waterfall development is racking my brain for all the possible test cases, even the least likely corner cases. It’s impossible to determine how each and every user will use (correctly or not) your product.</p> | |
| <p>This is why I’ve come to prefer agile development because it exposes a product to users earlier, allowing unexpected use cases to emerge. Many times, these use cases evolve into major features and selling points. </p> | |
| <p>Using Connect as an example, we recently reintroduced personal status. It was in the first version, then it fell out of the second one, and we didn’t have time to add it back, what with working on Mix, etc.</p> | |
| <p>The <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/01/25/connects-third-version-launches/" target="_self">third</a> version of Connect integrates with OraTweet, including status. Connect has a lot more users now than it did in its first version, so not surprisingly, new use cases pop up a lot. One of which was using status as an out-of-the-office message.</p> | |
| <p>We had toyed with tying IM presence to a profile to create a personal presence, but in hindsight, this was a much easier way to do it. We were overthinking it, but the idea had merit, which a few people discovered on their own, independently of one another.</p> | |
| <p>And through the beauty of watching the firehose activity log, I found this use case, neither of the people who did this were in my network.</p> | |
| <p>Evan doesn’t mention Twitter as search, which leads me to the second nugget, which came via friend of the ‘Lab from <a href="http://twitter.com/danmccall" target="_self">Dan McCall</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/danmccall/statuses/1270422872" target="_self">fittingly</a> over Twitter.</p> | |
| <p>We had a pretty lively discussion about social search last month, <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/17/more-on-social-search/" target="_self">here</a> (and <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/16/social-search-wins/" target="_self">here</a>) and over to Bex’s <a href="http://bexhuff.com/2009/02/why-google-will-never-be-good-at-enterprise-search" target="_self">place</a>. I use Twitter to answer lots of questions that I used to use Google to answer. So, for me, this Greasemonkey <a href="http://mt-hacks.com/20090302-realtime-twitter-search-results-on-google.html" target="_self">script</a> written by Mark Carey is a welcome feature.</p> | |
| <p>The script adds recent Twitter search results to the top of any Google keyword search, as well as a link to the keyword search on Twitter <a href="http://search.twitter.com" target="_self">search</a>. Pretty sweet.</p> | |
| <p>Here’s an example. The DEMO 09 show is going on right now, and if I search Google for “demo”, I see the following:</p> | |
| <p><a href="http://mt-hacks.com/20090302-realtime-twitter-search-results-on-google.html"><img title="Realtime Twitter Search Results on Google via Greasemonkey script" class="size-full wp-image-2506 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/script.png" height="383" alt="Realtime Twitter Search Results on Google via Greasemonkey script" width="490" /></a></p> | |
| <p>Definitely something I’ll use. I’m not sure what will show if the script doesn’t return any recent results. Looks like the threshold is about a week old or so. The script takes a second to load the Twitter results, which is why I’m sure it only comes back with very recent tweets.</p> | |
| <p>Even if the script reminds me to check Twitter, it’s a win for me to just combine the two searches into a single page.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, very cool stuff. Sound off in the comments on unexpected use cases, Twitter, social search, whatever.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
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| <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< | |
| RSS import ended at Thu Mar 19 15:41:20 -0700 2009 36 | |
| ========================= | |
| RSS import started at Mon Mar 23 16:41:57 -0700 2009 152 | |
| item not found 2: The AppsLab: Facebook Poll: 94% Of Users Don’t Like Redesign | |
| >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> | |
| An exception has occurred for 2:http://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xml: Mysql::Error: Duplicate entry '0' for key 1: INSERT INTO `group_activities` (`updated_at`, `title`, `body`, `action`, `external_id`, `priority`, `url`, `author`, `group_id`, `subject_type`, `subject_id`, `comments_count`, `user_profile_id`, `ratings_average`, `created_at`, `ratings_count`) VALUES('2009-03-20 03:01:04', 'Facebook Poll: 94% Of Users Don’t Like Redesign', 'via techcrunch.com Wow! I can\'t believe Facebook missed the mark by this much. Personally, I like the changes. Permalink | Leave a comment???', 'rss_post', 'http://whybother.posterous.com/facebook-poll-94-of-users-dont-like-redesign', NULL, 'http://whybother.posterous.com/facebook-poll-94-of-users-dont-like-redesign', NULL, 2, 'RssSource', 2, 0, NULL, 0.0, '2009-03-20 03:01:04', 0) | |
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"/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/irb/workspace.rb:52:in `irb_binding'", "/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/irb/workspace.rb:52"] | |
| Data: status200hrefhttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlencodingutf-8feedtitlewhy bother?subtitle_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueenhancing your experience since 2003basehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlsubtitleenhancing your experience since 2003title_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvaluewhy bother?basehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlgenerator_detailnameposterous.comlinkshrefhttp://whybother.posterous.comrelalternatetypetext/htmlgeneratorposterous.comlinkhttp://whybother.posterous.combozofalsemodified_timeetag"b864d73105bf68e45183a602bfaf12bf"namespacesversionrss20updatedentriesposterous_nicknamemanalangtitleFacebook Poll: 94% Of Users Don’t Like Redesignposterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <img src="http://www.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/fbpoll.jpg" height="" width="500" /><div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/19/facebook-polls-users-on-redesign-94-hate-it/">techcrunch.com</a></div> | |
| <p>Wow! I can't believe Facebook missed the mark by this much. Personally, I like the changes.</p></div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/facebook-poll-94-of-users-dont-like-redesign">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/facebook-poll-94-of-users-dont-like-redesign#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>basehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://whybother.posterous.com/facebook-poll-94-of-users-dont-like-redesignposterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <img src="http://www.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/fbpoll.jpg" height="" width="500" /><div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/19/facebook-polls-users-on-redesign-94-hate-it/">techcrunch.com</a></div> | |
| <p>Wow! I can't believe Facebook missed the mark by this much. Personally, I like the changes.</p></div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/facebook-poll-94-of-users-dont-like-redesign">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/facebook-poll-94-of-users-dont-like-redesign#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueFacebook Poll: 94% Of Users Don’t Like Redesignbasehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://whybother.posterous.com/facebook-poll-94-of-users-dont-like-redesignrelalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://whybother.posterous.com/facebook-poll-94-of-users-dont-like-redesignupdatedThu, 19 Mar 2009 20:01:04 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeFri Mar 20 03:01:04 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093203144790posterous_nicknamemanalangtitleThe Five-Minute Prison Workoutposterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5171115/the-five+minute-prison-workout-keeps-you-fit-in-any-space">lifehacker.com</a></div> | |
| <p>I've gotta start doing this. Who needs a gym?</p></div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/the-five-minute-prison-workout">Permalink</a> | |
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| </p>basehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://whybother.posterous.com/the-five-minute-prison-workoutposterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5171115/the-five+minute-prison-workout-keeps-you-fit-in-any-space">lifehacker.com</a></div> | |
| <p>I've gotta start doing this. Who needs a gym?</p></div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/the-five-minute-prison-workout">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/the-five-minute-prison-workout#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueThe Five-Minute Prison Workoutbasehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://whybother.posterous.com/the-five-minute-prison-workoutrelalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://whybother.posterous.com/the-five-minute-prison-workoutupdatedWed, 18 Mar 2009 19:47:47 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeThu Mar 19 02:47:47 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009319247473780posterous_nicknamemanalangtitleBase 36 for shortening URLsposterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <blockquote class="posterous_long_quote"><span>1234567890</span>.<span>to_s</span><span>(</span><span>36</span><span>)</span> <span>#kf12oi</span><br /> <span>"kf12oi"</span>.<span>to_i</span><span>(</span><span>36</span><span>)</span> <span>#1234567890</span></blockquote> | |
| <div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_36">en.wikipedia.org</a></div> | |
| <p>My first ever WikiPedia <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_36#Ruby_Code">contribution</a>! I love the terseness of Ruby. Compare that to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_36#C.23_Conversion_Class">C# example</a> on the same page.</p> | |
| </div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/base-36-for-shortening-urls">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/base-36-for-shortening-urls#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>basehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://whybother.posterous.com/base-36-for-shortening-urlsposterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <blockquote class="posterous_long_quote"><span>1234567890</span>.<span>to_s</span><span>(</span><span>36</span><span>)</span> <span>#kf12oi</span><br /> <span>"kf12oi"</span>.<span>to_i</span><span>(</span><span>36</span><span>)</span> <span>#1234567890</span></blockquote> | |
| <div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_36">en.wikipedia.org</a></div> | |
| <p>My first ever WikiPedia <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_36#Ruby_Code">contribution</a>! I love the terseness of Ruby. Compare that to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_36#C.23_Conversion_Class">C# example</a> on the same page.</p> | |
| </div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/base-36-for-shortening-urls">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/base-36-for-shortening-urls#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueBase 36 for shortening URLsbasehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://whybother.posterous.com/base-36-for-shortening-urlsrelalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://whybother.posterous.com/base-36-for-shortening-urlsupdatedTue, 17 Mar 2009 16:17:00 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeTue Mar 17 23:17:00 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009317231701760posterous_nicknamemanalangtitleJRuby on ABAPposterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| <p>What's next JRuby and COBOL?</p> | |
| <div> | |
| <div>via <a href="http://blog.labnotes.org/">Labnotes</a> by Assaf on 3/17/09</div> | |
| <br /> <strong>Ruby goes ABAP</strong> With the magic of JRuby you should be able to run Ruby on NetWeaver, but SAP is taking Ruby one step further and <a href="https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/wiki?path=/display/Research/BlueRuby">putting Ruby on the ABAP VM</a>. For those who don’t know, the core of the monster is written in ABAP, SAP’s proprietary language. It’s ancient and moldy but if you can get past the smell, very productive. While this won’t make R/3 the next cool platform, it might give a kick for R/3 developers: | |
| <blockquote> | |
| <p>Rather than just running Ruby programs isolated on the ABAP server, Blue Ruby also provides two-way integration with the surrounding ABAP environment - ABAP programs can invoke Ruby code easily and Ruby programs are able to access existing ABAP functionality. However, this integration is strictly controlled by the Blue Ruby VM, turning Blue Ruby into a sandbox inside the ABAP server.</p> | |
| </blockquote> | |
| </div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/jruby-on-abap">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/jruby-on-abap#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>basehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://whybother.posterous.com/jruby-on-abapposterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| <p>What's next JRuby and COBOL?</p> | |
| <div> | |
| <div>via <a href="http://blog.labnotes.org/">Labnotes</a> by Assaf on 3/17/09</div> | |
| <br /> <strong>Ruby goes ABAP</strong> With the magic of JRuby you should be able to run Ruby on NetWeaver, but SAP is taking Ruby one step further and <a href="https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/wiki?path=/display/Research/BlueRuby">putting Ruby on the ABAP VM</a>. For those who don’t know, the core of the monster is written in ABAP, SAP’s proprietary language. It’s ancient and moldy but if you can get past the smell, very productive. While this won’t make R/3 the next cool platform, it might give a kick for R/3 developers: | |
| <blockquote> | |
| <p>Rather than just running Ruby programs isolated on the ABAP server, Blue Ruby also provides two-way integration with the surrounding ABAP environment - ABAP programs can invoke Ruby code easily and Ruby programs are able to access existing ABAP functionality. However, this integration is strictly controlled by the Blue Ruby VM, turning Blue Ruby into a sandbox inside the ABAP server.</p> | |
| </blockquote> | |
| </div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/jruby-on-abap">Permalink</a> | |
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| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueJRuby on ABAPbasehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://whybother.posterous.com/jruby-on-abaprelalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://whybother.posterous.com/jruby-on-abapupdatedTue, 17 Mar 2009 12:33:00 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeTue Mar 17 19:33:00 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009317193301760posterous_nicknamemanalangtitleOracle is at the iPhone 3.0 briefingposterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| <a href="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/03/apple-2009-iphone-3-1263-rm.jpg"><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/03/apple-2009-iphone-3-1263-rm.jpg" height="331" width="500" /></a> | |
| </p> | |
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| </p>basehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://whybother.posterous.com/oracle-is-at-the-iphone-30-briposterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| <a href="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/03/apple-2009-iphone-3-1263-rm.jpg"><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/03/apple-2009-iphone-3-1263-rm.jpg" height="331" width="500" /></a> | |
| </p> | |
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| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueOracle is at the iPhone 3.0 briefingbasehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://whybother.posterous.com/oracle-is-at-the-iphone-30-brirelalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://whybother.posterous.com/oracle-is-at-the-iphone-30-briupdatedTue, 17 Mar 2009 10:51:10 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeTue Mar 17 17:51:10 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093171751101760posterous_nicknamemanalangtitleWelcome manalang.com readers!posterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| You found it. Good. Now bookmark it or <a href="http://www.google.com/ig/add?feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwhybother.posterous.com%2Frss.xml">add it to your Google Reader</a>. Great. | |
| </p> | |
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| </p>basehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://whybother.posterous.com/welcome-manalangcom-readersposterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| You found it. Good. Now bookmark it or <a href="http://www.google.com/ig/add?feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwhybother.posterous.com%2Frss.xml">add it to your Google Reader</a>. Great. | |
| </p> | |
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| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueWelcome manalang.com readers!basehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://whybother.posterous.com/welcome-manalangcom-readersrelalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://whybother.posterous.com/welcome-manalangcom-readersupdatedTue, 17 Mar 2009 09:47:58 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeTue Mar 17 16:47:58 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093171647581760posterous_nicknamemanalangtitleShould I stay or should I go now?posterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| I've been contemplating the move to Posterous from my crappy Dreamhost hosted Wordpress <a href="http://manalang.com">blog</a>. I really like the idea of posting by email. I can't believe no one else has made email the center-point for blogging. Anyway, I think I'm going to experiment with Posterous for the next few days to see if it sticks. | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go-n">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go-n#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>basehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://whybother.posterous.com/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go-nposterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| I've been contemplating the move to Posterous from my crappy Dreamhost hosted Wordpress <a href="http://manalang.com">blog</a>. I really like the idea of posting by email. I can't believe no one else has made email the center-point for blogging. Anyway, I think I'm going to experiment with Posterous for the next few days to see if it sticks. | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go-n">Permalink</a> | |
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| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueShould I stay or should I go now?basehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://whybother.posterous.com/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go-nrelalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://whybother.posterous.com/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go-nupdatedMon, 16 Mar 2009 23:51:04 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeTue Mar 17 06:51:04 UTC 2009updated_parsed200931765141760headersstatus200 OKcache-controlprivate, max-age=0, must-revalidateconnectionkeep-alivedateMon, 23 Mar 2009 23:41:57 GMTcontent-typeapplication/rss+xml; charset=utf-8etag"b864d73105bf68e45183a602bfaf12bf"servernginx/0.6.35x-runtime7mscontent-length11751 | |
| <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< | |
| item not found 2: The AppsLab: Had Enough Twitter Yet? | |
| >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> | |
| An exception has occurred for 1:http://theappslab.com/feed: Mysql::Error: Duplicate entry '0' for key 1: INSERT INTO `group_activities` (`updated_at`, `title`, `body`, `action`, `external_id`, `priority`, `url`, `author`, `group_id`, `subject_type`, `subject_id`, `comments_count`, `user_profile_id`, `ratings_average`, `created_at`, `ratings_count`) VALUES('2009-03-23 17:08:34', 'Had Enough Twitter Yet?', 'Twitter is exploding. You’ve probably seen the numbers. 1,382% comparing February 2009 with February 2008. More than 50% from January 2009 to February 2009. By all measures, that’s an insane growth rate. Mainstream media has taken note, and celebrities (and impostors) are flocking to Twitter in droves. Pun intended. Do you have a favorite celebrity you follow? [...]', 'rss_post', 'http://theappslab.com/?p=2633', NULL, 'http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/_RsrNZryrcU/', 'Jake', 2, 'RssSource', 1, 0, NULL, 0.0, '2009-03-23 17:08:34', 0) | |
| Exception stack trace as follows: ["/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract_adapter.rb:188:in `log'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/mysql_adapter.rb:309:in `execute_without_analyzer'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/gems/josevalim-rails-footnotes-3.4.1/lib/rails-footnotes/notes/queries_note.rb:104:in `execute'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/benchmark.rb:8:in `realtime'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/gems/josevalim-rails-footnotes-3.4.1/lib/rails-footnotes/notes/queries_note.rb:104:in `execute'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/database_statements.rb:171:in `insert_sql'", 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| Data: status200hrefhttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabencodingUTF-8feedlanguageentitleThe AppsLabfeedburner_emailserviceidOracleAppslabsy_updateperiodhourlysubtitle_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueDriving Innovationbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabsubtitleDriving Innovationtitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueThe AppsLabbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabfeedburner_feedburnerhostnamehttp://feedburner.google.comgenerator_detailnamehttp://wordpress.org/?v=2.7linkshrefhttp://theappslab.comrelalternatetypetext/htmlsy_updatefrequency1generatorhttp://wordpress.org/?v=2.7linkhttp://theappslab.comatom10_linkupdatedMon, 23 Mar 2009 17:09:16 +0000updated_timeMon Mar 23 17:09:16 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009323179160820bozofalsemodified_timeMon Mar 23 17:25:10 UTC 2009etaglb/Rbf0di70vrfJzxKhuowadrSknamespacesversionrss20updated20093231725100820entriesfeedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/23/2633/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/23/2633/#commentstitleHad Enough Twitter Yet?wfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/23/2633/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueTwitter is exploding. You’ve probably seen the numbers. | |
| 1,382% comparing February 2009 with February 2008. More than 50% from January 2009 to February 2009. | |
| By all measures, that’s an insane growth rate. Mainstream media has taken note, and celebrities (and impostors) are flocking to Twitter in droves. Pun intended. Do you have a favorite celebrity you follow? [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermenterpriseschemelabeltermoratweetschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2633summaryTwitter is exploding. You’ve probably seen the numbers. | |
| 1,382% comparing February 2009 with February 2008. More than 50% from January 2009 to February 2009. | |
| By all measures, that’s an insane growth rate. Mainstream media has taken note, and celebrities (and impostors) are flocking to Twitter in droves. Pun intended. Do you have a favorite celebrity you follow? [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueHad Enough Twitter Yet?basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Twitter is <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/03/16/twitter-growth-rate-versus-facebook/" target="_self">exploding</a>. You’ve probably seen the numbers.</p> | |
| <p>1,382% comparing February 2009 with February 2008. More than 50% from January 2009 to February 2009.</p> | |
| <p>By all measures, that’s an insane growth rate. Mainstream media has taken note, and celebrities (and impostors) are flocking to Twitter in droves. Pun intended. Do you have a favorite celebrity you follow? I enjoy @<a href="http://twitter.com/the_real_shaq" target="_self">THE_REAL_SHAQ</a>.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Do you follow @god?" class="size-full wp-image-2634 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/god.png" height="30" alt="Do you follow @god?" width="292" /></p> | |
| <p>Even <a href="http://twitter.com/god" target="_self">god</a> has an account now, and yes, the lowercase “g” is on purpose. It’s a statement of fact.</p> | |
| <p>Twitter is so common now, it’s quickly replacing Facebook as the pop culture whipping boy of media types. Facebook’s window was pretty small, and they’ve apparently noticed, recently making their <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/" target="_self">interface</a> more micro-bloggy.</p> | |
| <p>Enterprises have noticed too, giving life to companies like <a href="https://www.yammer.com/" target="_self">Yammer</a> and projects like <a href="http://apextoday.blogspot.com/2008/06/post-updates-to-twitter-from-apex-plsql.html" target="_self">OraTweet</a>. There’s even a new category and analysis around the “enterprise micro-blogging” space.</p> | |
| <p>As people rush into Twitter, I wonder if the ah-ha moments are coming more quickly. Like many people I know, I created an account on Twitter and waited. It took several months and a conscious effort to start seeing value. My guess is early adopters all have the same pattern of tweets over time. Sparse early, an inflection point, then ramping up each months thereafter.</p> | |
| <p>As you tweet, you discover the value’s in the network, which is what has made Twitter so tough to quit, even when it was fail whaling every day for hours at a time.</p> | |
| <p>Ah, the good old days.</p> | |
| <p>So, do you think that new tweeters follow the blog posts of their fore-tweeters to get to their own inflection points sooner? Do you think they’re using Twitter for different things? Are the celebrities and media types drawing them to Twitter and keeping their attention?</p> | |
| <p>I don’t really know.</p> | |
| <p>I’ve been watching the adoption of OraTweet with interest. It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, but it does underline the common uses for so-called micro-blogging. Incidentally, will someone please coin a better term for generic tweeting than “micro-blogging”.</p> | |
| <p>Here are the common cases I’ve observed:</p> | |
| <ol> | |
| <li>Frustration</li> | |
| <li>Communication</li> | |
| <li>Seeking and Sharing Information</li> | |
| <li>Work Streaming</li> | |
| </ol> | |
| <p>With the exception of 4, these are all very common on Twitter as well. 4 represents a unique use case inside the firewall, and I expect to see it grow over time as people discover they can broadcast how busy they are to the whole company, erm anyone listening.</p> | |
| <p>I’m kidding, a little. OraTweet is highly useful for distributed teams to broadcast issues and updates to the entire project team. This was one of its first and best <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/08/26/social-observations-oratweet-edition/" target="_self">uses</a>.</p> | |
| <p>Not surprisingly 2 (Communication) is finding a home inside the firewall. Hutch Carpenter has an interesting <a href="http://bhc3.wordpress.com/2009/03/13/microblogging-will-marginalize-corporate-email/" target="_self">look</a> at how micro-blogging (yuck) is pushing email to the margins inside many companies. I can’t say I’ve noticed this yet here, judging by my inbox, but OraTweet has added another channel for communication.</p> | |
| <p>The new channel fits in between email and IM for communication that isn’t super important (i.e. you can keep it to 140 characters and sloppy writing) or immediate (i.e. you don’t need a pingback right this moment). This actually fits a high percentage of the water cooler/hallway/stop-by-your-cubicle communication that I remember from when I sat in an office, which leads me to wonder if remote workers are adopting more quickly to re-socialize their work time.</p> | |
| <p>Regardless of how we find value in OraTweet, another tool inside the firewall, or Twitter, people are still having trouble getting that it’s public. Hutch had <a href="http://bhc3.wordpress.com/2009/03/17/how-to-tweet-your-way-out-of-a-job/" target="_self">another</a> example of tweeting yourself in the foot last week. Tough to feel bad for someone high-hatting a job offer in this economy.</p> | |
| <p>Remember to <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/01/20/tweet-with-care/" target="_self">tweet with care</a> people.</p> | |
| <p>So, your thoughts on: Twitter’s growth, your own experiences, enterprise adoption, how you find value, how much you dislike Twitter, tweeting yourself in the foot, unfortunate mishaps, and everything else belong in the comments.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=_RsrNZryrcU:NdNHpoH_gos:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=_RsrNZryrcU:NdNHpoH_gos:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=_RsrNZryrcU:NdNHpoH_gos:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/_RsrNZryrcU" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/_RsrNZryrcU/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/_RsrNZryrcU/updatedMon, 23 Mar 2009 17:08:34 +0000updated_timeMon Mar 23 17:08:34 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009323178340820feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/20/web-mission-is-coming/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/20/web-mission-is-coming/#commentstitleWeb Mission is Comingwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/20/web-mission-is-coming/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueAs he did last year, Paul will be speaking during the Oracle portion of this year’s Web Mission, which runs March 28-April 3. | |
| What is Web Mission? Glad you asked, from the about: | |
| Web Mission is organized Bronwyn Kunhardt and James Lawn from the market intelligence company Polecat (www.polecatting.com) and by serial entrepreneur, Oli Barrett. Each [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermoracleschemelabeltermwebmissionschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2624summaryAs he did last year, Paul will be speaking during the Oracle portion of this year’s Web Mission, which runs March 28-April 3. | |
| What is Web Mission? Glad you asked, from the about: | |
| Web Mission is organized Bronwyn Kunhardt and James Lawn from the market intelligence company Polecat (www.polecatting.com) and by serial entrepreneur, Oli Barrett. Each [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueWeb Mission is Comingbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="Web Mission" class="size-full wp-image-2626 alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/webmission.png" height="84" alt="Web Mission" width="218" />As he did last year, Paul will be speaking during the Oracle portion of this year’s <a href="http://webmission.co.uk" target="_self">Web Mission</a>, which runs March 28-April 3.</p> | |
| <p>What is Web Mission? Glad you asked, from the <a href="http://webmission.co.uk/about/" target="_self">about</a>:</p> | |
| <blockquote> | |
| <p class="MsoListParagraph"><em>Web Mission is organized Bronwyn Kunhardt and James Lawn from the market intelligence company Polecat (<a href="http://www.polecatting.com/">www.polecatting.com</a>) and by serial entrepreneur, Oli Barrett. Each year, Web Mission seeks to introduce 20 of the best Web 2.0 companies to the many inspiring people and supportive Web 2.0 networks which exist in Silicon Valley. The aim is to support the companies to:</em></p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li><em>Facilitate meetings with local investors</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Meet and mingle with Silicon Valley movers and shakers relevant to their organization and growth plans</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Discuss their business with leading journalists</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Spend quality time with like-minded people on the web scene</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Explore how to succeed in the US market</em></li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p><em>The successful companies are short-listed by judges such as Doug Richard, Mike Butcher from TechCrunch and with input from the Web Mission sponsors. The sponsors include technology companies, media companies, financial and legal organizations. They are complemented by a host of Partners who provide specialist support to the event.</em></p></blockquote> | |
| <p>Oh yeah, these companies are UK-based, and this is a trade mission of sorts, backed by the UK government to help incubate UK technology startups. Apparently, the event is backed by British politicos, and the companies will enjoy an evening at the British Consulate in San Francisco, among other things.</p> | |
| <p>But wait, there’s more.</p> | |
| <p>The <a href="http://webmission.co.uk/agenda-2009/" target="_self">agenda</a> is packed. The lucky company reps leave the UK on March 28 and return on April 4. In between, they’ll be visiting Oracle on April 1 to hear Paul and a host of other Oracle people chat, and they’ll be at the <a href="http://www.web2expo.com/" target="_self">Web 2.0 Expo</a> on April 2.</p> | |
| <p>Looking at the agenda makes me tired. The days are fully booked, and by the end, these people will be stuffed full of entrepreneurial advice and information. Sounds like a valuable, but potentially exhausting trip. Then again, these are startup people, so they’re used to burning the candle at both ends.</p> | |
| <p>Who are these lucky companies?</p> | |
| <p>Here’s a checklist of the companies who are attending Web Mission 2009.</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.artesiansolutions.com/">www.artesiansolutions.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.businessitonline.com/">www.businessitonline.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.cereproc.com/">www.cereproc.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.coclarity.com/">www.coclarity.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.complianceandrisks.com/">www.complianceandrisks.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.concrete-media.com/">www.concrete-media.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.corebridge.com/">www.corebridge.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.freshnetworks.com/">www.freshnetworks.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.mtivity.com/">www.mtivity.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.proofhq.com/">www.proofhq.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.replify.com/">www.replify.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.sift.com/">www.sift.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.sosius.com/">www.sosius.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.tactilecrm.com/">www.tactilecrm.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.viapost.com/">www.viapost.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.yuuguu.com/">www.yuuguu.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.zemanta.com/">www.zemanta.com</a></li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>Two alumni from Web Mission 2008</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.huddle.net/">www.huddle.net</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.trampolinesystems.com/">www.trampolinesystems.com</a></li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/RWnbYG3Id1E" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/RWnbYG3Id1E/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/RWnbYG3Id1E/updatedFri, 20 Mar 2009 17:23:02 +0000updated_timeFri Mar 20 17:23:02 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009320172324790feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/19/ignore-your-competition-focus-on-the-stable/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/19/ignore-your-competition-focus-on-the-stable/#commentstitleIgnore Your Competition, Focus on the Stablewfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/19/ignore-your-competition-focus-on-the-stable/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvaluePhoto Credit: FoxTongue | |
| I watched a recent interview with Jeff Bezos on Charlie Rose the other day. In it, he was questioned as to how he, against the odds, “beat” the various etailers of the day pushing books online. His answer was fantastically elegant and straight forward. He is fanatical about aligning his organization to his [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabelauthorPaulidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2617summaryPhoto Credit: FoxTongue | |
| I watched a recent interview with Jeff Bezos on Charlie Rose the other day. In it, he was questioned as to how he, against the odds, “beat” the various etailers of the day pushing books online. His answer was fantastically elegant and straight forward. He is fanatical about aligning his organization to his [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueIgnore Your Competition, Focus on the Stablebasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="2657434642_543c30685f" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-2619" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/2657434642_543c30685f-300x216.jpg" height="216" alt="2657434642_543c30685f" width="300" /></p> | |
| <h5><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxtongue/2657434642/">Photo Credit: FoxTongue</a></h5> | |
| <p>I watched a recent interview with <a href="http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/8784">Jeff Bezos on Charlie Rose</a> the other day. In it, he was questioned as to how he, against the odds, “beat” the various etailers of the day pushing books online. His answer was fantastically elegant and straight forward. He is fanatical about aligning his organization to his customer’s needs. This may mean making short term decisions that do not align with shareholders, and if you are an Amazon customer (and I am for life) you have probably experienced this via their incredible return process. However, he feels that in the long run, there is always alignment between customers and shareholders. Brilliant.</p> | |
| <p>Now you may be thinking, oh I have heard the customer-centric story before. The good news is that Jeff went a bit deeper into their actual approach to a customer driven business. In essence, he focuses his organization on <strong>excelling at the things customers want that do not shift over time</strong>. To Amazon, that means, wide product selection, low price and fast delivery - those will always be important to his customer. In his words, “I can’t imagine a customer saying, I really like Amazon, but I wish their prices were higher”. I should note that this concept applies to software as well, as conveyed recently by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQFPMuZ7hl4">Jason Fried</a> in his talk at the Business of Software Conference, only for him, the unchanging were things like ease of use and performance.</p> | |
| <p>Back to Bezos - The other lesson conveyed subtly was to <strong>ignore the competition</strong>. You may be sitting there saying, oh yeah, that sounds great, but I can’t ignore my competition. I need to know what they are doing so I can contrast the differences to my customers or so I can talk credibly to the analysts. On that point, I would agree, but it is a matter of intent and degree. The problem arises when you use that competitive gaze to consume all your time <em>or to drive your strategy</em>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Porter">Michael Porter</a> may disagree, but strategy, from my perspective, must be driven primarily from your customers needs. Everything else is secondary.</p> | |
| <p>The intersting thing about these notions is that they are in many ways ignored by companies of all shapes and sizes. Far too often I see firms chasing market hype or the latest competitive move in a copycat feature race to oblivion, while customers sit on the sidelines with their popcorn. Competitor A adds AJAX, we need it. Competitor B has a Facebook app, we gotta have it. Competitor C is on demand, let’s get on it. Perhaps it is just easier or more fun to spend time talking to your co-workers about cool new features as opposed to reaching out to customers and potentially hearing about what you can do better. Who wants to hear that right?</p> | |
| <p>As you ponder this you may be tempted to return to your cozy old ways of thinking and acting. The usual line that I hear to counter this approach, is that customers really don’t know what they want anyway, so why ask them. That comment is usually followed up with something pithy like “Would a customer have asked for the ipod?”. To that I say, rubbish. Customers are very bright and if you talked to a few you might have already known that.</p> | |
| <p><span>Let me leave you with three simple reasons why a strategy driven by competition is a fools errand:</span></p> | |
| <p><strong>1. Time Is Limited:</strong> Every moment you spend on our competition is time you could have spent working with a customer.</p> | |
| <p><strong>2. Competitors Could Be Wrong:</strong> The strategy they are implementing, and you are choosing to follow, could be off the mark and a total waste of time and money. Oftentimes we think people at other companies are smarter than us - that could be wrong too.</p> | |
| <p><strong>3. Your Strategy Must Be Yours: </strong>Not all companies are created equal. Each has their own assets, skills, resources, relationships and more, that they can, and should, bring to bear on a strategy. If you copy your competitor you just may be ignoring your best assets and playing a game on their home turf. If you have a great running game, do you play a passing offense because that is what the other team is doing? The answer is obvious and no different for business.</p> | |
| <p>In the end, my favorite part of this is the simplicity. As humans, we love complex things. They make us feel smart and special, but more and more, in life and in business simple wins the day.</p> | |
| <p>Now where is my phone, I need to call a customer…</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/r9-VLtboEjk" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/r9-VLtboEjk/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/r9-VLtboEjk/updatedThu, 19 Mar 2009 17:32:44 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 19 17:32:44 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093191732443780feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/i-might-pay-for-jotnot/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/i-might-pay-for-jotnot/#commentstitleI Might Pay for JotNotwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/i-might-pay-for-jotnot/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueThere are very few times when I read something and think to myself, I must blog this immediately and tell as many people as possible. | |
| This is one of those few times. | |
| JotNot is a web service that converts pictures into documents. Send a picture to them by email or upload one to their website and get [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermappsschemelabeltermimagesschemelabeltermiphoneschemelabeltermjotnotschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2611summaryThere are very few times when I read something and think to myself, I must blog this immediately and tell as many people as possible. | |
| This is one of those few times. | |
| JotNot is a web service that converts pictures into documents. Send a picture to them by email or upload one to their website and get [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueI Might Pay for JotNotbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>There are very few times when I read something and think to myself, I must blog this immediately and tell as many people as possible.</p> | |
| <p>This is one of those few times.</p> | |
| <p><a href="http://www.jotnot.com/" target="_self">JotNot</a> is a web service that converts pictures into documents. Send a picture to them by email or upload one to their website and get back a Word or pdf version. Not a big deal, there are other services that do this.</p> | |
| <p>This service is good for transferring information on a whiteboard into something you can distribute, and believe it or not, this happens quite frequently and is a constant frustration for telecommuters who aren’t “in the room”.</p> | |
| <p>It’s also good for scanning, if you don’t have a scanner.</p> | |
| <p><img title="JotNot's blue box, captured from iTunes app page" class="size-full wp-image-2612 alignleft" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/bluebox.png" height="289" alt="JotNot's blue box, captured from iTunes app page" width="201" /><img title="Enhanced image, captured from iTunes app page" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2613" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/enhanced.png" height="289" alt="Enhanced image, captured from iTunes app page" width="201" /></p> | |
| <p>Now, h/t <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/17/jotnot-turns-your-iphones-camera-into-a-document-scanner/" target="_self">TechCrunch</a>, they have an iPhone <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=307868751&mt=8" target="_self">app</a> (iTunes link).</p> | |
| <p>The app sounds very simple. Take a picture (or import one). Use the blue box presented by the app to indicate the area you want captured. Then wait as the app does its processing magic, correcting for lighting, color, and even perspective. Very cool.</p> | |
| <p>Unfortunately, this app costs $3.99, and I have yet to pay for an iPhone app. I’m still not over the initial sticker shock, my prerogative as an OG iPhone guy who paid full boat back in July 2007. However, this app tempts me to get over my desire for full amortization.</p> | |
| <p>If you read here, you know I prefer iPhone apps that perform <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/12/23/iphone-apps-for-units-of-work/" target="_self">units of work</a>, and usually, I can see value in these apps, even if I don’t have a specific use case or pain point in mind. JotNot hits two, very real pain points for me, and I’m pretty sure one or both apply to you as well.</p> | |
| <p><strong>Pain Point 1</strong><br /> | |
| The JotNot web service doesn’t meet my needs for whiteboard pictures. Why? Because typically, there’s sensitive information on that whiteboard, and it shouldn’t reside on outside servers.</p> | |
| <p>Yeah, it may not seem like a huge deal, but I like my job <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> </p> | |
| <p>The JotNot iPhone app does all its processing on the device. So, no worries about leaking the top secret designs for the next version of Connect.</p> | |
| <p>I could have used this app the last time Paul, Rich, Anthony and I sat in a conference room in Pleasanton, brainstorming Connect’s direction. We ended up with about five picture’s worth of whiteboard content, which I then had to email for posterity. Corrections for my bad photography would have been nice.</p> | |
| <p>There have also been several times when people have told me “I have it all on my whiteboard”, which didn’t really help me, since I’m not even in the same state as your whiteboard. It would have been nice to get a picture of that whiteboard.</p> | |
| <p><strong>Pain Point 2</strong><br /> | |
| We recently switched to scanning expense receipts. This is a bit problematic for home-based people unless there happens to be a scanner or an all-in-one in the house. In some rare cases, the all-in-one may be old enough not have any Mac or Linux drivers, making its scanning functions useless (and yes, I tried with a VM, no luck).</p> | |
| <p>This makes scanning receipts a challenge. I could use the JotNot web service, since receipts aren’t confidential, or the iPhone app, my choice. The one drawback of the iPhone app is that (I assume) the processed image format is jpg, just like all the iPhone camera images are.</p> | |
| <p>We need to submit receipts in pdf form. So, there would be an additional step required to transfer (or mail) it for conversion to pdf.</p> | |
| <p>Even so, as a guy who used to travel five days a week and struggled to keep current with expenses, I see huge value in this app. Consultants and sales people who live on the road can’t always predict when they will be able to scan receipts.</p> | |
| <p>JotNot would definitely help nomadic workers who live on the road and in hotels.</p> | |
| <p>So, color me impressed. Find the comments to add your two cents. Add enough, and I’ll use it buy this app.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/FoWwLTmUXFE" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/FoWwLTmUXFE/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/FoWwLTmUXFE/updatedWed, 18 Mar 2009 21:06:22 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 18 21:06:22 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009318216222770feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/ted-on-play/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/ted-on-play/#commentstitleTED on Playwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/ted-on-play/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueI am spending some cycles these days thinking on the integration of play and work. I happen to believe that there is some real magic to be had here for organizations and for firms looking to supply the next generation of software. Sure making work a game seems a bit out there (I get that), [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabelauthorPaulidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2608summaryI am spending some cycles these days thinking on the integration of play and work. I happen to believe that there is some real magic to be had here for organizations and for firms looking to supply the next generation of software. Sure making work a game seems a bit out there (I get that), [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueTED on Playbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>I am spending some cycles these days thinking on the integration of play and work. I happen to believe that there is some real magic to be had here for organizations and for firms looking to supply the next generation of software. Sure making work a game seems a bit out there (I get that), and I guess I could go back to thinking about RSS and Twitter, but I think that is pretty well covered by a host of others. Knowing my current fascination with this topic, <a href="http://theappslab.com/about/">Jake </a>passed along this TED talk by Stuart Brown:</p> | |
| <p><span></span></p> | |
| <p>Although I agree whole heartily with the message, and his story about the wild polar bear playing with huskies is incredible (watch it just for that), the section on the integration of play into our adulthood was sorely lacking in actionable information. We are told the diagnosis (”Play is important to everyone”), but are abruptly kicked out of the hospital without any treatment and a draft from the back of our robe. To be fair, Stuart did share some work done in his class on play at Stanford that endeavored to connect play with adult work life. The short video showed how his students would “re-invent” the meeting.</p> | |
| <p>As the video rolled, I was hoping for something incredible, and unfortunately was left feeling frustrated. The idea presented by the students was to put on full body white painters overalls and then use dry erase markers to keep notes on each other during the meeting. Sure, set to music and fast motion editing, it seems fun, but I think it hurts our cause more than helping it. No “serious” executive will ever see that as anything but a waste of time. <em>In fact, no one that works anywhere, at any level, would see this as valuable</em>. I am sure it was fun to do, but if we want to make any inroads we simply cannot ignore the firm footing “getting something done” has in the mindset of the modern worker.</p> | |
| <p>To give credit where it is due, they are at least trying. Just because we do not have a great solution today, does not mean that the problem does not exist. The imbalance of play and purpose that most people feel at work cannot be ignored. These are just the crude early efforts. My sense is that we will have to take smaller, bite size approaches of integrating play with work for it to be effective, but that does not mean that more ambitious concepts like the one presented at Stanford will not provide the fodder for more practical initiatives.</p> | |
| <p>In my next post I will give a practical example of how I think play can be integrated with a product management role inside a company. Stay tuned.</p> | |
| <p>——————————</p> | |
| <p>Cross Posted to <a href="http://gamethemachine.com/2009/03/18/ted-on-play/">GameTheMachine</a></p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/DnqRLBT0DuU" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/DnqRLBT0DuU/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/DnqRLBT0DuU/updatedWed, 18 Mar 2009 17:06:20 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 18 17:06:20 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009318176202770feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/17/i-want-vli/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/17/i-want-vli/#commentstitleI Want VLIwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/17/i-want-vli/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueBack in 2006 while on a trip to HQ, I sat in a meeting with some folks from the User Experience (UX) team. I don’t remember exactly what the purpose of the meeting was, but we wandered off topic and were just bouncing ideas off each other. | |
| I threw out the idea of a zero interface, [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermapisschemelabeltermconnectschemelabeltermrestschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabeltermuischemelabeltermvlischemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2599summaryBack in 2006 while on a trip to HQ, I sat in a meeting with some folks from the User Experience (UX) team. I don’t remember exactly what the purpose of the meeting was, but we wandered off topic and were just bouncing ideas off each other. | |
| I threw out the idea of a zero interface, [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueI Want VLIbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Back in 2006 while on a trip to HQ, I sat in a meeting with some folks from the User Experience (UX) team. I don’t remember exactly what the purpose of the meeting was, but we wandered off topic and were just bouncing ideas off each other.</p> | |
| <p>I threw out the idea of a zero interface, erm very little interface (VLI), which understandably did not go over well. Not the best audience in hindsight. Looking at Twitter’s astounding <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/13/whoa-twitter-mania/" target="_self">growth</a>, I wonder how much can be attributed to their laissez faire attitude and very functional API, which has created an ecosystem of apps around them.</p> | |
| <p><img title="I'm always reminded of Joey from Friends "How you doin'?"" class="size-full wp-image-2601 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/vli.png" height="71" alt="I'm always reminded of Joey from Friends "How you doin'?"" width="529" /></p> | |
| <p>Granted, Twitter has a pretty <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/03/10/twitter-free-pr/" target="_self">limited</a> feature set, which makes it much easier for them to implement a VLI, but that combined with their openness has bread success. This is a repeatable formula.</p> | |
| <p>I’m a big believer in simplicity in UI, frequently preferring a command line interface (CLI) to a UI. Obviously, zero interface is an impossibility, which is why I’m using the term VLI. Using Twitter as an analog again, Twitter.com is very simplistic. In fact, they haven’t integrated twitter.search.com (formerly Summize), nor do they track all @ replies.</p> | |
| <p>However, their API is very functional, <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/16/tweetdeck-adds-facebook-whats-next/" target="_self">allowing</a> client apps like <a href="http://tweetdeck.com" target="_self">TweetDeck</a> to replace (and augment) the twitter.com feature set. The only piece they’ve kept closed is account creation and management, and now that <a href="http://oauth.net/" target="_self">OAuth</a> integration is in <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/16/twitters-oauth-support-now-in-public-beta/" target="_self">public beta</a>, who knows if they’ll open pieces of profile management as well.</p> | |
| <p>Twitter.com <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/19/the-top-21-twitter-clients-according-to-twitstat/" target="_self">remains</a> the most popular way to tweet, although its share has <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/19/the-top-21-twitter-clients-according-to-twitstat/" target="_self">fallen</a> from 55% in April 2008 to 32% in February 2009. Granted, it’s difficult to track traffic accurately, so this is an unscientific measure. As an aside, I wonder which client benefited the most from the <a href="http://status.twitter.com/post/53978711/im-not-coming-soon" target="_self">loss</a> of IM as a client?</p> | |
| <p>And all bets are off, if Twitter decides to monetize the pageviews. That would be interesting.</p> | |
| <p>So, what have we learned? VLI isn’t about interface at all. It’s about data.</p> | |
| <p>Data make your app valuable. Interface is a byproduct of data.</p> | |
| <p>If you’ve ever built UI, you know how tough it is to balance usability with functionality. Throw users into the mix, and you have a whole lot of must-have requirements that don’t play nicely with each other.</p> | |
| <p>Enter the second tenant of VLI, open APIs.</p> | |
| <p>You must give your users (specifically, their developers) that ability to remix the data.</p> | |
| <p>This has been our goal for Connect. We haven’t been able to keep the UI as simple as Twitter’s because as a new app, we needed a more functional UI so our new users could get what Connect was.</p> | |
| <p>However, as our user base has grown, we’ve added REST APIs for the user data, which has spawned <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/12/17/two-great-tastes-that-taste-great-together/" target="_self">integrations</a> with a few other apps, e.g. OraTweet. <a href="http://apextoday.blogspot.com/" target="_self">Noel</a> has followed the same principles too, producing APIs for OraTweet that we consume.</p> | |
| <p>As Connect’s user base grows, more people have asked about using the APIs we produce because they have specific uses and don’t expect (or want) us to extend Connect to support them.</p> | |
| <p>We do benefit from the security blanket of being behind the firewall, and if Twitter’s growth is an indication, I expect to see lots more demand for Connect data in the next year-ish.</p> | |
| <p>So, what do you about VLI? Are you a more traditional UI person? If so, call me out in comments.</p> | |
| <p><em>Update: As Andy C points out in <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/17/i-want-vli/comment-page-1/#comment-7304697" target="_self">comments</a>, Twitter isn’t as open when compared to open source projects like <a href="http://laconi.ca/" target="_self">Laconica</a>, although that’s not really the point of the post. My goal is to examine a for-profit (an assumption in Twitter’s case) service and its approach to APIs and interface. The model is interesting to me, similar to one that I’ve proposed in the past and one we’ve tried to model with our work on Connect.</em></p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/uNH1sK_W1JA" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/uNH1sK_W1JA/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/uNH1sK_W1JA/updatedTue, 17 Mar 2009 22:38:48 +0000updated_timeTue Mar 17 22:38:48 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093172238481760feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/16/tweetdeck-adds-facebook-whats-next/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/16/tweetdeck-adds-facebook-whats-next/#commentstitleTweetDeck Adds Facebook, What’s Next?wfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/16/tweetdeck-adds-facebook-whats-next/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueAs is usual during the weeks before and during South by Southwest, there are a lot of product announcements. | |
| I’m not quite sure how/when it happened, but SXSW Interactive has become a nexus of startup activity and geekery, e.g. Twitter’s first bump came when the service won the SXSW Web Awards in 2007. | |
| So, it’s become a [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermapisschemelabeltermfacebookschemelabeltermtweetdeckschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2593summaryAs is usual during the weeks before and during South by Southwest, there are a lot of product announcements. | |
| I’m not quite sure how/when it happened, but SXSW Interactive has become a nexus of startup activity and geekery, e.g. Twitter’s first bump came when the service won the SXSW Web Awards in 2007. | |
| So, it’s become a [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueTweetDeck Adds Facebook, What’s Next?basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="TweetDeck" class="size-full wp-image-2597 alignleft" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/tweetdeck_128.png" height="128" alt="TweetDeck" width="128" />As is usual during the weeks before and during <a href="http://sxsw.com/home" target="_self">South by Southwest</a>, there are a lot of product announcements.</p> | |
| <p>I’m not quite sure how/when it happened, but <a href="http://sxsw.com/interactive" target="_self">SXSW Interactive</a> has become a nexus of startup activity and geekery, e.g. Twitter’s first bump came when the service <a href="http://blog.twitter.com/2007/03/we-won.html" target="_self">won</a> the SXSW Web Awards in 2007.</p> | |
| <p>So, it’s become a yearly rush of new feature and new company announcements. This year, not so many new companies, but plenty of new features. Over the last week plus, going into SXSW, and in its first few days, I’ve collected a bunch of topics for further thought that may turn into blog posts.</p> | |
| <p>But today, one item caught my attention, and I wanted to riff on it before it went cold.</p> | |
| <p><a href="http://www.tweetdeck.com/beta/" target="_self">TweetDeck</a>, the <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/19/the-top-21-twitter-clients-according-to-twitstat/" target="_self">most popular</a> Twitter client and the one I use, released a <a href="http://tweetdeck.posterous.com/tweetdeck-v024-pre-release-facebook-integrati" target="_self">beta version</a> (h/t Frederic Lardinois at <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/twitterization_of_facebook_on_the_desktop.php" target="_self">RWW</a>) that integrates with Facebook Connect, allowing you to view your News Feed in one of its columns. Also, you can now choose to post updates from TweetDeck to Facebook, making TweetDeck a Facebook status client.</p> | |
| <p>Updates can be sent to both Twitter and Facebook, effectively removing the need for the Twitter Facebook application, and ensuring that both your networks will stay updated on your activity. He said with more than a hint of sarcasm <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> </p> | |
| <p>If you’re wondering, TweetDeck does not post updates beginning with @ to Facebook, which makes sense, since they’re out of context. It does not, however, ignore updates that contain @ after the first character though, which should be an enhancement later. Then again, Twitter doesn’t officially track replies @ you unless they begin with @, which is one reason why AIR clients and Summize (now <a href="http://search.twitter.com" target="_self">Twitter Search</a>) are so popular for tracking those @ replies.</p> | |
| <p>This is mildly cool, if you use both services and want to broadcast to Facebook like you do to Twitter. The <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/" target="_self">recent</a> UI changes to Facebook aim to make it more like Twitter and FriendFeed, which is sure to appeal to existing users of those services; the jury is out on whether the masses on Facebook will take to the life-streaming, micro-blogging approach.</p> | |
| <p>I’m guessing they will, eventually, since Facebook has so much momentum right now.</p> | |
| <p>I like the implementation overall. It’s smooth and easy to use, and it fits within TweetDeck easily. My main beef is that it adds yet another column to an already real estate hungry app. I can only show four TweetDeck columns as it is, and now I have another that I might want to see competing for screen time.</p> | |
| <p>I’m not sure how to solve this problem, other than with a <a href="http://store.apple.com/us/product/M9179LL/A" target="_self">cinema display</a>. Christmas might have to come early.</p> | |
| <p>None of this is terribly interesting to me though.</p> | |
| <p>What got me about TweetDeck’s new version its potential to marginalize the networks themselves. Bear with me here.</p> | |
| <p>TweetDeck’s main appeal over any other Twitter AIR client (<a href="http://www.alertthingy.com/" target="_self">AlertThingy</a>, <a href="http://www.twhirl.org/" target="_self">Twhirl</a>, etc.) is its implementation of groups, something that is sorely needed for Twitter. Having groups allows you to control what you follow and to organize the chaos that Twitter can become once you follow a few hundred people (or sooner).</p> | |
| <p>Twitter seems fine with allowing TweetDeck to fill this vacuum, and even though TweetDeck is the top Twitter client, it lags well behind twitter.com for overall traffic to Twitter.</p> | |
| <p>Enter Facebook updates. My logical conclusion is that I should be able to add Facebook friends to my existing groups. This isn’t the case in the beta release, but image how useful that would for a person who uses both services frequently. You could focus your attention on the people who mattered most, regardless of the service they prefer to use.</p> | |
| <p>For example, Paul uses Facebook more than Twitter. I rarely see his updates to Facebook because I prefer Twitter. To communicate, one of us has to use his second choice in networks. If TweetDeck supported groups across services, we could each use our first choice in networks for communicating.</p> | |
| <p>TweetDeck already supports a host of Twitter features, including follows, favorites, directs and even search, which Twitter has yet to integrate into twitter.com. About the only thing you can’t do with TweetDeck is create and manage your account. Otherwise, it’s fully operational.</p> | |
| <p>I seriously doubt that Facebook will expose this much functionality to apps like TweetDeck, but the more they add, the less traffic they serve directly. Less traffic means less clout with advertisers, which is not good for business.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, I’m very curious to see how this Facebook client integration progresses. Logically, it makes sense for Facebook to open up some of their data to clients, since the model has already been proven. After all, of their user population, only a small percentage will choose clients over facebook.com.</p> | |
| <p>At least that’s the way it looks now. Things change quickly though. This time last week, I would have been laughed at the idea of a Facebook client.</p> | |
| <p>Find the comments and share your thoughts.</p> | |
| <p><em>Update: A day after TweetDeck’s beta, <a href="http://alertthingy.com/" target="_self">AlertThingy</a>, another AIR app for monitoring Twitter and FriendFeed, added Facebook, Flickr and Digg contacts and custom groups to their offering. Significantly, their groups support contacts from multiple networks (h/t <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/alertthingy_goes_head_to_head_with_tweetdeck.php" target="_self">RWW</a>).</em></p> | |
| <p><em>I may have to go back to AlertThingy, which I tried about a year ago when they produced the first FriendFeed app. I quickly stopped using it because I just can’t keep up with FriendFeed, not anything to do with AlertThingy.</em></p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/IKdlniOCUuA" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/IKdlniOCUuA/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/IKdlniOCUuA/updatedTue, 17 Mar 2009 04:31:12 +0000updated_timeTue Mar 17 04:31:12 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009317431121760feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/14/anatomy-of-a-spam-attack/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/14/anatomy-of-a-spam-attack/#commentstitleAnatomy of a Spam Attackwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/14/anatomy-of-a-spam-attack/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueYesterday, I did some browsing of the web analytics for this blog to get comparison numbers for the browser stats I had for Connect. | |
| Today, I went back to do a little more digging and some navel-gazing | |
| We use Google Analytics, which I prefer to Mint for web metrics. It has loads of metrics beyond [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermanalyticsschemelabeltermdisqusschemelabeltermspamschemelabeltermweb metricsschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2584summaryYesterday, I did some browsing of the web analytics for this blog to get comparison numbers for the browser stats I had for Connect. | |
| Today, I went back to do a little more digging and some navel-gazing | |
| We use Google Analytics, which I prefer to Mint for web metrics. It has loads of metrics beyond [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueAnatomy of a Spam Attackbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Yesterday, I did some browsing of the web analytics for this blog to get comparison numbers for the <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/on-browsers/" target="_self">browser stats</a> I had for Connect.</p> | |
| <p>Today, I went back to do a little more digging and some navel-gazing <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> </p> | |
| <p>We use Google Analytics, which I prefer to Mint for web metrics. It has loads of metrics beyond the standard pageviews and visits. As a side note, now that Feedburner accounts are merging with Google accounts, I’m hoping that Analytics will soon include Feedburner stats too. Seems logical.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, I like to set the date range to the life of this blog (from June 2007) to get the best snapshot view from the graphs.</p> | |
| <p>What jumped out was the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounce_Rate" target="_self">Bounce Rate</a> graph.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Bounce Rate from last week, dropped by 50%?" class="size-full wp-image-2586 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/bouncerate.png" height="110" alt="Bounce Rate from last week, dropped by 50%?" width="478" /></p> | |
| <p>All of a sudden, our normal 75% bounce rate (I know, terrible) inexplicably dropped to less than 40% a week ago and sustained that rate all last week.</p> | |
| <p>Definitely weird. Maybe after the Batman vs. Superman <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/06/batman-vs-superman/" target="_self">post</a>, everyone was extra relieved to get back the normal, hard-hitting content we serve everyday. I laughed all the way through that sentence, obviously untrue.</p> | |
| <p>I relish a data anomaly, as a recovering economist, especially if there are graphs to show the patterns. I am an unabashed data pr0n dork.</p> | |
| <p>Accompanying the drop in bounce rate, there were, not surprisingly, corresponding jumps in pages per visit and pageviews over the same time period. Makes sense, the longer people stay on your site, the more pages they are likely to view.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Average pageviews per visit, also up last week . . ." class="size-full wp-image-2587 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/pagespervisit.png" height="103" alt="Average pageviews per visit, also up last week . . ." width="470" /></p> | |
| <p>Logically, you would also expect to see a rise in time spent on the site, as people read more. Not so much. In fact, Saturday’s average time on site was 19 seconds; that same day, the bounce rate dropped to 36% from 69% and pages per visit jumped to 2.41 from 1.64.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Time Spent on Site *drops*, thank you spammers" class="size-full wp-image-2588 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/timeonsite.png" height="109" alt="Time Spent on Site *drops*, thank you spammers" width="476" /></p> | |
| <p>All this points to comment spammers.</p> | |
| <p>Exhibit A: Looking through the WordPress and Disqus comment logs from the last week, there was definitely a rise in comments on old posts, definitely a sign of spam. And these aren’t old posts that come up on the first page for common keyword searches, like “oracle iphone”.</p> | |
| <p>Exhibit B: The spam comments are borderline, with plausible names and comments, not the usual link spam left by Monster Truck Rally. This tells me spammers are modifying their behavior slightly to get past the measures Disqus has taken.</p> | |
| <p>Exhibit C: The pattern of multiple comments onm different posts from the same account backed up the web metric data.</p> | |
| <p>So, I accuse Colonel Mustard, in the Study, with the lasso.</p> | |
| <p>I know, as a naive kid, I thought that was a lasso. Ah, innocence.</p> | |
| <p>Comment spamming has been on the <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/12/who-benefits-from-blog-comment-spam/" target="_self">rise</a> this year, at least the spam that gets past spam filters. Disqus noted that the recent rash of spam comes from real people, not bots. The assumed goal of comment spam is to bump SEO for the spammers; I firmly believe this is a new cottage industry, operated <a href="https://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome" target="_self">Mechanical Turk</a> style.</p> | |
| <p>A crappy economy opens up a larger pool of people with computers who are motivated to earn easy money, and how much easier does it get than comment spam? Find a blog that allows unverified or anonymous comments and drop three comments on three posts. In and out in a matter of seconds. They probably get paid for the gross number of comments with the spammer’s link.</p> | |
| <p>This might even be that job advertised on the TV. You know the one that says you can make thousands in a week, tens of thousands in a month, working “on the Internet” from home. All those smiling people tell you nothing about what the job entails. There’s always a shady URL that tells you nothing about the company.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, I’m not really bothered by comment spam, but I know people are, e.g. <a href="http://bexhuff.com/" target="_self">Bex</a>, who uses a comment captcha process that makes me want to cry it’s so frustrating.</p> | |
| <p>Does it bother you? What do think of my analysis? Did you enjoy the web analytics primer?</p> | |
| <p>Sound off in the comments with something useful, like “I will give it a try for sure !”.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/RHMDYFl-2jg" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/RHMDYFl-2jg/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/RHMDYFl-2jg/updatedSat, 14 Mar 2009 20:35:46 +0000updated_timeSat Mar 14 20:35:46 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093142035465730feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/on-browsers/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/on-browsers/#commentstitleOn Browserswfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/on-browsers/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueIE6 is like that cold that just won’t go away; you feel well enough to go to work, but it keeps sapping your energy. | |
| To many users, IE6 is the Internet. It came with your computer, and it’s the way you get online. Resisting the urge to put online in quotes. Like many web apps, we’ve [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermchromeschemelabeltermconnectschemelabeltermfirefoxschemelabeltermieschemelabeltermsafarischemelabeltermwebkitschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2579summaryIE6 is like that cold that just won’t go away; you feel well enough to go to work, but it keeps sapping your energy. | |
| To many users, IE6 is the Internet. It came with your computer, and it’s the way you get online. Resisting the urge to put online in quotes. Like many web apps, we’ve [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueOn Browsersbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="Good *old* Internet Explorer 6" class="size-medium wp-image-2581 alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/internet_explorer-284x300.png" height="120" alt="Good *old* Internet Explorer 6" width="113" />IE6 is like that cold that just won’t go away; you feel well enough to go to work, but it keeps sapping your energy.</p> | |
| <p>To many users, IE6 <em>is</em> the Internet. It came with your computer, and it’s the way you get online. Resisting the urge to put online in quotes. Like many web apps, we’ve been fighting against IE6 since Connect was born, but it’s finally time to take a stand.</p> | |
| <p>Connect looks terrible in IE6. I’m sure everyone here knows why, i.e. no support for standards, out-dated rendering, the fact that if it were a kid it would be in second grade, etc. It’s a mess. But from an investment perspective, we can’t spend Rich and Anthony’s time on making Connect look good in IE6 at the expense of fixing bugs and building new features.</p> | |
| <p>As Rich put it nicely over OraTweet, “IE hurts everyone . . . even those who use it.”</p> | |
| <p>Thought that was pretty diplomatic for Rich, considering.</p> | |
| <p>I haven’t conducted a scientific study, but I think IE6 usage has been declining since Connect launched, just as it has been sharply declining on the ‘tubes overall. Today, we toyed with the idea of showing a message to IE6 users to ask them to install and use a modern browser for the best Connect experience.</p> | |
| <p>This will happen for sure; I don’t want people thinking Connect is a turd because IE6 can’t render it correctly. I’d rather let them know that we embrace the modern web and think they should too. Put nicely.</p> | |
| <p>As a giggle, I checked the web analytics to see what percentage of users are still coming to Connect with IE6.</p> | |
| <p>14%</p> | |
| <p>That’s all-time. So, about 14,000 visits from users with IE6 since June 2007. Seems low, considering: a) how bad Connect looks in IE6, which would drive me off, b) that IE6 is still officially supported by IT as part of their base image for employees, which also includes Firefox for the record, and c) that we need to use IE to run the web conferencing tool we use.</p> | |
| <p><img title="User agent stats from Connect" class="size-full wp-image-2582 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/browsers1.png" height="275" alt="User agent stats from Connect" width="370" /></p> | |
| <p>I expected at least 25%.</p> | |
| <p>One thing that floored me was the <1% for IE5. I’d like to know who’s running IE5 out there, seriously.</p> | |
| <p>Another interesting note, Netscape accounts for 1% of the all-time traffic to Connect. The visits were from 7.1 and 7.2, which made me feel better. I was cringing at the thought of how Connect looked in Communicator 4. Don’t laugh, I actually tested that combination last Summer for a user. Ugly mess.</p> | |
| <p>I also noticed that Chrome wasn’t showing up as a browser, which is odd since a couple people have pointed out bugs in Chrome this week. Apparently, Chrome is seen as Safari by <a href="http://www.haveamint.com/" target="_self">Mint</a>; I assume due to their shared <a href="http://webkit.org/" target="_self">WebKit</a> engines.</p> | |
| <p>Friend of the Lab <a href="http://jjmpsj.blogspot.com/" target="_self">Jim Marion</a> kindly pointed me to a <a href="http://www.useragentstring.com/" target="_self">way</a> to see your user agent, which is how I cracked this case.</p> | |
| <p>So, Safari and Chrome account for 6% of our traffic, which is pretty good.</p> | |
| <p>We had a flurry of OraTweets flying around over this IE6 message thing. The best comment was:</p> | |
| <blockquote><p><em>i would just like to not have to run 4 browsers on my machine to check how everything “looks”. if we could eliminate IE and Netscape, that would be excellent.</em></p></blockquote> | |
| <p>Too true. I have two XP VMs to run IE6 and IE7. Since I have them, I can also run Firefox 2 and Firefox 3 in separate VMs. I guess soon, I’ll need another VM for IE8.</p> | |
| <p>All the different flavors of browsers make web development such a pain, but then again, remember when all we had was IE and Netscape?</p> | |
| <p>I guess it’s not so bad.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/jAlpXuuX5iw" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/jAlpXuuX5iw/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/jAlpXuuX5iw/updatedSat, 14 Mar 2009 06:14:52 +0000updated_timeSat Mar 14 06:14:52 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009314614525730feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/trying-pivotal-tracker/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/trying-pivotal-tracker/#commentstitleTrying Pivotal Trackerwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/trying-pivotal-tracker/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueLast week, Rich proposed that we try Pivotal Tracker for Connect. | |
| Our work on Connect can be loosely described as agile. We generally meet, either in person or on the phone, to hash out major feature releases, and then Rich and Anthony build and deploy. And I test. Every six months or so, we rinse and [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermagileschemelabeltermconnectschemelabeltermpivotal trackerschemelabeltermprojectsschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2573summaryLast week, Rich proposed that we try Pivotal Tracker for Connect. | |
| Our work on Connect can be loosely described as agile. We generally meet, either in person or on the phone, to hash out major feature releases, and then Rich and Anthony build and deploy. And I test. Every six months or so, we rinse and [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueTrying Pivotal Trackerbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Last week, Rich proposed that we try<a href="http://www.pivotaltracker.com/learnmore" target="_self"> Pivotal Tracker</a> for Connect.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Pivotal Tracker agile project planning" class="size-full wp-image-2574 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/pivotal_tracker.png" height="31" alt="Pivotal Tracker agile project planning" width="421" /></p> | |
| <p>Our work on Connect can be loosely described as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development" target="_self">agile</a>. We generally meet, either in person or on the phone, to hash out major feature releases, and then Rich and Anthony build and deploy. And I test. Every six months or so, we rinse and repeat.</p> | |
| <p>I say loosely because we’re not very organized. We follow the agile principles, but we’re not that organized, which is weird for me because I’m usually over-organized, if anything. This lack of organization works well, if we are splitting time between projects, but whenever we have a block of time to devote to Connect, Rich starts asking for structure.</p> | |
| <p>In the past, we used spreadsheets and tested a couple project management packages, <a href="http://www.basecamphq.com/" target="_self">Basecamp</a>, <a href="http://www.activecollab.com/" target="_self">activeCollab</a> and <a href="http://studios.thoughtworks.com/mingle-agile-project-management" target="_self">Mingle</a>, with varying amounts of success.</p> | |
| <p>So, last week, Rich got fed up again with a flat list of features and bugs and started a project in Pivotal Tracker.</p> | |
| <p>I have to say I’m impressed so far. I didn’t realize why I liked it so much until I found this <a href="http://venturehacks.com/articles/pivotal-tracker" target="_self">post</a> which provides 11 reasons to like Tracker:</p> | |
| <blockquote> | |
| <ol> | |
| <li><em>It’s free.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s hosted.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s a joy to use. It’s the iPod of project management software. It’s all drag-and-drop and clickity-clack and it just works.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s multi-user. Your co-founder in North Korea can make changes in Tracker and you will see them instantly. No page reloads.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s for lean startups. The building block in Tracker is a <em>story</em>: an increment of customer value that you deliver with minimal waste.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s about completing your next most important task—not maintaining mile-long to-do lists, Gantt charts, and lists of bugs.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s transparent. Everybody on the team knows what everybody else is working on, their priorities, and their accomplishments.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s in sync with reality. It doesn’t take time to keep your requirements and schedule in sync with reality, even if your business priorities change daily.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It doesn’t do much. No, it doesn’t do dependencies and critical paths. It just keeps you focused on delivering value to customers.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s powerful as hell. Tracker hides a lot of technology under a simple interface. It’s a serious Javascript-intensive web application that’s in the same league as Gmail and Google Maps.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Bonus reason: Everything is on one page—there’s no need to navigate around (unlike other project management tools). More Gmail, less Hotmail.</em></li> | |
| </ol> | |
| </blockquote> | |
| <p>It struck me that 11th one is gold for me. Having all the functionality on a singe page is a huge time saver for me.</p> | |
| <p>When I get a bug report or encounter a bug in Connect, I’m generally in the middle of something else. So, I want to report it, prioritize it and get back to other work. Accomplishing this by emailing Rich and Anthony is not ideal, but I did this frequently with the other tools to avoid the longer processes. None of those other tools was terribly time-consuming, but still, it’s a savings I can feel.</p> | |
| <p>The other reasons are pretty solid too, especially 10. Having used “professional” project management apps in the not-so-distant past, I appreciate fewer bells and whistles, e.g. a friend of mine mentioned he had to take a day-long training in Microsoft Project, which pretty much sums up my experience with that monster.</p> | |
| <p>Plus, much of the stuff you need to run a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model" target="_self">waterfall</a> project isn’t needed in an agile one, especially when you only have two developers and one project/product manager.</p> | |
| <p>Just after Rich got us started with Tracker, I found out Twitter <a href="http://blog.twitter.com/2009/03/pivotal-means-of-crucial-importance.html" target="_self">uses</a> it too, actually keeping a couple “Pivots” on site as consultants. Tracker is built and hosted by <a href="http://pivotallabs.com/" target="_self">Pivotal Labs</a>, and did I mention Tracker is a Rails app? But you probably figured that out by now.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/ksiqd-qU_fs" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/ksiqd-qU_fs/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/ksiqd-qU_fs/updatedFri, 13 Mar 2009 22:13:21 +0000updated_timeFri Mar 13 22:13:21 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093132213214720feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/12/apex-in-the-cloud/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/12/apex-in-the-cloud/#commentstitleAPEX in the Cloudwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/12/apex-in-the-cloud/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueThis post about running APEX in the cloud by Jason Straub came across OraNA last week. | |
| I’m surprised Chet didn’t pounce on it, being the APEX devotee that he is. Basically, you can now run APEX on Amazon EC2 for 60 cents. | |
| Oracle has recently been rolling out more offerings with AWS, including database and backup images [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermamazonschemelabeltermapexschemelabeltermec2schemelabeltermoracleschemelabelterms3schemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2565summaryThis post about running APEX in the cloud by Jason Straub came across OraNA last week. | |
| I’m surprised Chet didn’t pounce on it, being the APEX devotee that he is. Basically, you can now run APEX on Amazon EC2 for 60 cents. | |
| Oracle has recently been rolling out more offerings with AWS, including database and backup images [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueAPEX in the Cloudbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="Run APEX on 11g in the cloud using Amazon Web Services" class="size-full wp-image-2566 alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/logo_aws.gif" height="60" alt="Run APEX on 11g in the cloud using Amazon Web Services" width="164" />This <a href="http://jastraub.blogspot.com/2009/03/test-drive-oracle-application-express.html" target="_self">post</a> about running <a href="http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/application_express/index.html" target="_self">APEX</a> in the cloud by Jason Straub came across <a href="http://orana.info" target="_self">OraNA</a> last week.</p> | |
| <p>I’m surprised <a href="http://www.oraclenerd.com" target="_self">Chet</a> didn’t pounce on it, being the APEX <a href="http://www.oraclenerd.com/2008/05/apex-oracle-marketing-wtf.html" target="_self">devotee</a> that he is. Basically, you can now run APEX on <a href="http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/" target="_self">Amazon EC2</a> for 60 cents.</p> | |
| <p>Oracle has recently been rolling out more offerings with AWS, including database and backup images preconfigured for EC2 and S3; you can read more at the <a href="http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/cloud/index.ht" target="_self">Oracle Cloud Computing Center</a> on OTN. This is interesting to me, since about 18 months ago, we were searching for just such a packaged AWS 11g offering on which to run Mix. Instead, we had to find and procure hardware to put into an Oracle datacenter.</p> | |
| <p>EC2 with Oracle pre-installed and configured for backup to S3 is awesome. Total win.</p> | |
| <p>I’d like to see more promotion of this offering because since AWS was launched in 2002, startups (and their customers) have embraced EC2 and S3 for their, ahem, mission-critical apps and operations. Armeded with flexible computing power and backup, startups could easily find pre-configured MySQL installations, which led to web apps built in PHP (e.g. Facebook) and Rails (e.g. Twitter).</p> | |
| <p>Sure, to scale, successful web apps like Facebook and Twitter eventually had to raise venture funding to spend on infrastructure, but they already had users and an established service.</p> | |
| <p>I’ll bet <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/25/bummer-20/" target="_self">Ma.gnolia</a> would still be in business if they’d opted for an AWS image with an Oracle installation and backup preconfigured.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, now you can get APEX too, although I’m not entirely clear on how the cost breaks down, i.e. if it’s 60 cents per something or a flat rate. If you know, please enlighten in comments.</p> | |
| <p>FYI, Jason’s post and the demos on the Cloud Computing Center spend a fair amount of time on configuring PuTTY to connect via SSH and copy files with SCP. These steps are for Windows users; <a href="http://developer.amazonwebservices.com/connect/entry.jspa?entryID=609" target="_self">Elasticfox</a>, the Firefox add-on built by AWS to manage EC2 services, generates a key pair on its own. Windows doesn’t support SSH very well natively, and PuTTY is frequently the tool used to do SSH and SCP on Windows.</p> | |
| <p>OS X and Linux should work better with SSH out-of-the-box, so if you don’t run Windows, the setup has fewer steps.</p> | |
| <p>At any rate, APEX is a neat tool. <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/06/25/we-heart-hackers/" target="_self">OraTweet</a> is built in APEX, and so is Aria, Oracle’s internal employee directory. In another life at Oracle, I kicked the tires on APEX for an internal project. A lot of people swear by it, and now you can test drive it yourself over AWS. No need to provision testing hardware or worry about installing it on an existing machine.</p> | |
| <p>Pretty cool.</p> | |
| <p>Tempted to try it? Already use Oracle and AWS? I’m curious to hear what you think. Find the comments.</p> | |
| <p><em>Update: Jason has more details in a new <a href="http://jastraub.blogspot.com/2009/03/20-cents-hour-whose-got-that-kind-of.html" target="_self">post</a> today, including pricing.</em></p> | |
| <p><em>Another update: Jason breaks his pricing assumptions down in <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/12/apex-in-the-cloud/?disqus_reply=7258457#comment-7256541">comments</a>.<br /> | |
| </em></p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/9YqLUR7F650" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/9YqLUR7F650/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/9YqLUR7F650/updatedThu, 12 Mar 2009 21:14:46 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 12 21:14:46 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093122114463710feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/11/connect-adds-geolocation/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/11/connect-adds-geolocation/#commentstitleConnect Adds Geolocationwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/11/connect-adds-geolocation/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueNow, we know where you are . . . but only if you tell us. | |
| Yesterday, Rich completed the addition of geolocation tracking to Connect. Now, when you OraTweet your location or update your Connect status with the secret phrase “@location” followed by a place (address or city or country), Connect stores your location. | |
| And that’s pretty [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermconnectschemelabeltermdopplrschemelabeltermgeolocationschemelabeltermoratweetschemelabeltermtripitschemelabeltermyelpschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2559summaryNow, we know where you are . . . but only if you tell us. | |
| Yesterday, Rich completed the addition of geolocation tracking to Connect. Now, when you OraTweet your location or update your Connect status with the secret phrase “@location” followed by a place (address or city or country), Connect stores your location. | |
| And that’s pretty [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueConnect Adds Geolocationbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Now, we know where you are . . . but only if you tell us.</p> | |
| <p>Yesterday, Rich completed the addition of geolocation tracking to Connect. Now, when you OraTweet your location or update your Connect status with the secret phrase “@location” followed by a place (address or city or country), Connect stores your location.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Surprise, I'm in Portland" class="size-full wp-image-2563 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/location.png" height="95" alt="Surprise, I'm in Portland" width="472" /></p> | |
| <p>And that’s pretty much it right now.</p> | |
| <p>We didn’t build much else because we’re looking for a really compelling use case. Geolocation is a border-line creepy feature that has struggled to find mainstream acceptance on the ‘tubes, e.g. you don’t see Facebook rushing to add geo-features.</p> | |
| <p>Within the enterprise, you have an implicit layer of trust, safe inside the firewall away from phishing, spamming, malware, and you’re protected by internal organizations like HR and Legal. So, we’re thinking this should take away some of the geo-uneasiness.</p> | |
| <p>Beyond that security blanket, Oracle has a lots of travelers, and even in a downturn, there are scads of sales people and consultants on the road all the time. Plus, many teams collaborate virtually across state and country lines, and for some odd reason, seeing a map humanizes that voice on the phone.</p> | |
| <p>Don’t believe me? I used to manage a project that had people in India, and when news of that catastrophic tsunami in 2004 broke, I worried that people I knew had been affected. Luckily, in this case anyway, my Indian geography is awful, and everyone was safe. The same thing happened when news of a train wreck broke; we didn’t have Twitter then.</p> | |
| <p>It’s a small thing, but seeing where that the person you work with every day sits, even if it’s just on a map, helps you feel more connected.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, we have some ideas already; I’ve polled <a href="http://matttopper.com" target="_self">Matt</a>, <a href="http://apextoday.blogspot.com/" target="_self">Noel</a> and <a href="http://blogs.oracle.com/clayton/" target="_self">Clayton</a> for their input too. I’m sure Matt, our resident geo-geek, has a bunch of stuff in his head waiting to see daylight, like transposing profile tags and location to find “experts” nearby. There are loads of iPhone things Clayton could add to the <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/04/the-oracle-people-iphone-app-is-here/" target="_self">Oracle People</a> app; nice how I make work for him. Noel has thoughts around targeting content by location.</p> | |
| <p>Rich is thinking about city or office pages, a la <a href="http://dopplr.com" target="_self">Dopplr</a> and <a href="http://tripit.com" target="_self">TripIt</a>, that could house information about office locations, etc. I’m a fan of focusing on our offices and the services they offer. Each field office has a packet of information they provide to people who join that office, e.g. gyms, restaurants, bars, etc. Why not publish that and also add reviews, a la <a href="http://yelp.com" target="_self">Yelp</a>?</p> | |
| <p>I spent six weeks in the Dallas office in 1998 and ate at the same three or so places the entire time I was there. Why, aside from being lazy? I didn’t know the area very well and didn’t feel like exploring. Having reviews would help, but also seeing who reviewed would add an easy introduction to people in a strange place.</p> | |
| <p>There’s that socializing work trend again.</p> | |
| <p>So, what do you think? Whether you work at Oracle or not, you work, right? What problems would geo-location solve for you?</p> | |
| <p>If you’re shy and don’t want to comment, let’s have a <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/learning-from-entertainment/" target="_self">game of email</a> (h/t Paul).</p> | |
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| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/0rAu5UiGs04" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/0rAu5UiGs04/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/0rAu5UiGs04/updatedWed, 11 Mar 2009 17:31:50 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 11 17:31:50 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093111731502700feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/howto-enable-system-sound-in-ubuntu-intrepidubuntu-geek/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/howto-enable-system-sound-in-ubuntu-intrepidubuntu-geek/#commentstitleHowto Enable system sound in Ubuntu IntrepidUbuntu Geekwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/howto-enable-system-sound-in-ubuntu-intrepidubuntu-geek/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueaddthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Ftheappslab.com%2F2009%2F03%2F10%2Fhowto-enable-system-sound-in-ubuntu-intrepidubuntu-geek%2F'; | |
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| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/H5J-1FORWyo" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/H5J-1FORWyo/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/H5J-1FORWyo/updatedWed, 11 Mar 2009 00:43:34 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 11 00:43:34 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009311043342700feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/learning-from-entertainment/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/learning-from-entertainment/#commentstitleLearning from Entertainmentwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/learning-from-entertainment/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvaluePhoto Credit: Timothy Hamilton | |
| I recently watched this excellent video of Nick Fortugno at the Meaningful Play conference in 2008. If you are into designing games with a message behind them it is worth a watch. | |
| Among other things, he highlights the basic split in entertainment between “form” and “content”. Form being the mechanics used to convey [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermgtmschemelabelauthorPaulidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2556summaryPhoto Credit: Timothy Hamilton | |
| I recently watched this excellent video of Nick Fortugno at the Meaningful Play conference in 2008. If you are into designing games with a message behind them it is worth a watch. | |
| Among other things, he highlights the basic split in entertainment between “form” and “content”. Form being the mechanics used to convey [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueLearning from Entertainmentbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<h5><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/flickrgrit/811355961/"><img title="167630455_387cde5e59" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-56" src="http://gamethemachine.wordpress.com/files/2009/03/167630455_387cde5e59.jpg?w=300" height="199" alt="167630455_387cde5e59" width="300" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bestrated1/">Photo Credit: Timothy Hamilton</a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/flickrgrit/811355961/"><br /> | |
| </a></h5> | |
| <p>I recently watched this excellent video of <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7614486442195859373&ei=RuG2SfmsO53eqAPn7r3kAw&q=game+design+serious+games&hl=en">Nick Fortugno at the Meaningful Play conference in 2008</a>. If you are into designing games with a message behind them it is worth a watch.</p> | |
| <p>Among other things, he highlights the basic split in entertainment between “form” and “content”. Form being the mechanics used to convey the message. Using examples from the past like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tom%27s_Cabin">Uncle Tom’s Cabin</a>, he shows clearly how known formulas have been used effectively to deliver what some might call, socially responsible messages. In the case of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, she used a fairly common literary model to inject a social discussion of abolitionism into the mainstream social conversation.</p> | |
| <p>If you ponder formulas, you can find them in all types of media and entertainment. From a gaming perspective, you see them as First Person Shooters (FPS), Simulation, Role Playing Games (RPG), Board games, and more. From a film perspective, you might think about Action, Drama, Comedy or Documentary. It is essential to understand that each of these formulas attract a specific audience with clear expectations well trod by their previous experiences. People are attracted to a specific formula because of what it provides. How many nights have you said, “I am in the mood for a comedy”? - It is much more rare to say you are in the mood for a comedy about golf, or an action movie about the African diamond trade.</p> | |
| <p>If you go see a horror movie, you will expect some blood and gore, creepy imagery, and most likely some scantily clad teenagers at a deserted lake. As long as the director provides those key elements, you’ll leave (to a degree) satisfied. You got what you ordered. If the entertainment meets that core need and provides the emotional experience you sought, then you are open to receive the message they are delivering. From a design perspective, you just have to honor the formula and provide the desired experience or it will cease to be enjoyable to the audience. If you deny them the pleasure of a deep belly laugh when they yearned for comedy, no matter how interesting you may find your message, it will be lost.</p> | |
| <p>If you are a web designer you may see a parallel here when you consider <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321344758?ie=UTF8&tag=hypes-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=0321344758">Steve Krug’s</a> views on convention. His opinion is that using expected behavior is good no matter how cool you think that flash widget is! Use a search box that looks the same as everyone else. Have a shopping cart icon that leads to the shopping cart. If you plan to reinvent how the shopping cart, search button, or the hyperlink work - you better have a very, very good reason. So your website formula is standard, the message (ie. content) is up to you.</p> | |
| <p>So let’s connect this with the world of software that people use to get things done - email, task management, payroll, bookkeeping, project management, etc. - collectively “business software”. If entertainment like films, games and books have taught us anything, it is that you must first create something enjoyable. Play is paramount. In the world of entertainment, purpose is largely ignored (on a percentage basis), but you can see it shine through in films like <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00003CXFV?ie=UTF8&tag=hypes-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=B00003CXFV">Erin Brokovich</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00003CWRX?ie=UTF8&tag=hypes-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=B00003CWRX">The Insider</a>, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591840538?ie=UTF8&tag=hypes-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=1591840538">Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room</a>, among many others - documentaries are great at this. In the world of business software, the report card is skewed in the other direction, with purpose being the leader by a wide margin, and fun being largely ignored. The very idea of fun seems at odds with something of value. Both worlds could do with a bit of balance.</p> | |
| <p>My hope is that the future of business software can assimilate the lessons of entertainment by making something people want to play consistently as opposed to a tool to get something done. We are already seeing simplicity as a key design principle, but I believe that the dimension of fun is next. My guess is that we will as an industry need to adopt or invent a new formula for software and apply them to the problems we are trying to solve in a novel way.</p> | |
| <p>Who is up for a game of email?</p> | |
| <p>————</p> | |
| <p><a href="http://gamethemachine.com/2009/03/11/learning-from-entertainment/">Cross posted at Game The Machine.</a></p> | |
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| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/PFQn4q86R1A" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/PFQn4q86R1A/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/PFQn4q86R1A/updatedWed, 11 Mar 2009 00:19:48 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 11 00:19:48 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009311019482700feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/09/leave-a-comment-using-facebook-connect/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/09/leave-a-comment-using-facebook-connect/#commentstitleLeave a Comment using Facebook Connectwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/09/leave-a-comment-using-facebook-connect/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueJust before Christmas, Disqus announced their support for Facebook Connect. At the time I remember being a little disappointed with the decision, due to Facebook’s closed nature and what seemed like a choice for the walled garden of Facebook and against the open web (OpenID, OAuth, OpenSocial). | |
| I like Disqus; they’ve been responsive when we’ve had [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermdisqusschemelabeltermfacebook connectschemelabeltermOAuthschemelabeltermopen webschemelabeltermopenidschemelabeltermopensocialschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2543summaryJust before Christmas, Disqus announced their support for Facebook Connect. At the time I remember being a little disappointed with the decision, due to Facebook’s closed nature and what seemed like a choice for the walled garden of Facebook and against the open web (OpenID, OAuth, OpenSocial). | |
| I like Disqus; they’ve been responsive when we’ve had [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueLeave a Comment using Facebook Connectbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Just before Christmas, <a href="http://disqus.com" target="_self">Disqus</a> <a href="http://blog.disqus.net/2008/12/23/facebook-connect-now-available-on-disqus/" target="_self">announced</a> their support for <a href="http://developers.facebook.com/connect.php" target="_self">Facebook Connect</a>. At the time I remember being a little disappointed with the decision, due to Facebook’s closed nature and what seemed like a choice for the walled garden of Facebook and against the open web (<a href="http://openid.net/" target="_self">OpenID</a>, <a href="http://oauth.net/" target="_self">OAuth</a>, <a href="http://www.opensocial.org/" target="_self">OpenSocial</a>).</p> | |
| <p>I like Disqus; they’ve been responsive when we’ve had questions and issues, and obviously the longer we use it, the harder it becomes to effect a return to WordPress comments or a move to another comment management service like <a href="http://intensedebate.com/" target="_self">Intense Debate</a>, which I’ve not had good experiences using. So, even though I like Disqus, I do feel a little trapped.</p> | |
| <p>Based on all my hippie openness, why, when a commenter <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/06/12/on-disqus/#comment-6942954" target="_self">asked</a> about supporting Facebook Connect for Disqus login, did I cave?</p> | |
| <p><img title="The amazing Facebook Connect explanation window." class="size-full wp-image-2547 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/fbconnect.png" height="347" alt="The amazing Facebook Connect explanation window." width="446" /></p> | |
| <p>As an aside, I’m not even sure that’s a real comment; the comment spam has been very <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/12/who-benefits-from-blog-comment-spam/" target="_self">heavy</a> lately. FYI, if your comment disappeared and you’re a real-live person who had a real comment, sorry if I nuked it. I didn’t know “Pregnancy Symptoms” was a real name.</p> | |
| <p>Why the 180?</p> | |
| <p>For starters, Facebook recently <a href="http://openid.net/2009/02/05/facebook-joins-openid-foundation-board/" target="_self">joined</a> the OpenID board, and I’ve heard from a board member that it’s more than just an attempt at lip-service to the open web. There are increasing <a href="http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/03/facebook-in-2010-no-longer-a-walled-garden.html" target="_self">signs</a> that Facebook wants to be more open. This makes sense; they’re not a in a position to open completely, but staying totally closed doesn’t serve the best interests of their users and the rest of the ‘tubes. Besides, I’m pretty sure someone studied the hall of fail for walled gardens, ahem AOL, CompuServ.</p> | |
| <p>So, why not support Facebook Connect here? I asked myself on Friday.</p> | |
| <p>You can see it in action in the comments. The comment widget has been slightly restyled to include a Facebook icon. Click it, and you’ll get the Facebook Connect login.</p> | |
| <p><img title="New Disqus comment widget! With 100% more Facebook Connect goodness! Act now! Supplies are limited." class="size-full wp-image-2545 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/disqusfb.png" height="33" alt="New Disqus comment widget! With 100% more Facebook Connect goodness! Act now! Supplies are limited." width="176" /></p> | |
| <p>When you choose Facebook Connect you get the Facebook credentials window, show above; I’ve not tested it myself yet, so leave a comment to test it yourself, and I just might reply with my Facebook credentials.</p> | |
| <p>You can choose to cross-post your comments to your News Feed too. I’m not sure how that would appear; I assume they must provide the original post for context. Again, I’ve not tried yet, so if you get there first, please share with the rest of the class how it comes out in the News Feed.</p> | |
| <p>Another reason I caved is that so many people are using Facebook as their primary social network, it’s probably a higher value add than I think. Paul, for example, says it’s his main network over Twitter or LinkedIn, probably over Connect, too <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> It’s the de facto standard now, like it or not.</p> | |
| <p>And I don’t want to be labeled a dirty hippie who only supports the Commie open web. No offense Commie open web, you know I <3 you.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, Disqus makes it very simple to enable Facebook, and there are detailed instructions in the Admin/Settings of your blog setup.</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li>To retrieve your Facebook API Key for use with Disqus, you must <a href="http://www.facebook.com/developers/createapp.php" target="_blank">fill out a new ‘Create App’ form</a> on Facebook</li> | |
| <li>Enter your site’s domain as the Callback URL</li> | |
| <li>You may use your site name as the application name</li> | |
| <li>Below is a screenshot of the AppsLab form on Facebook</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p><a href="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/appslabfbapp.png"><img title="The AppsLab Facebook app!" class="size-full wp-image-2548 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/appslabfbapp.png" height="285" alt="The AppsLab Facebook app!" width="416" /></a>So, test it out and share your thoughts.</p> | |
| <p>Now, if only Disqus would support OpenID on the comments widget. Even though you <a href="http://disqus.disqus.com/openid_support_please/" target="_self">can</a> login to disqus.com with an OpenID provide, supposedly, the widget we show on the blog does not support any providers.</p> | |
| <p>Although I wonder how much incentive they have to build that now that Facebook has committed to OpenID, which would mean they get it for free through Facebook Connect. Grrr.</p> | |
| <p>Another seemingly cool feature of Disqus is the FriendFeed <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/01/27/now-were-on-friendfeed/" target="_self">integration</a>, i.e. comments on blog posts made on FriendFeed are reflected back to the original post. Not so much from what I saw. I set this up and tested it to no avail. I’m hoping it’s user error. Anyone?</p> | |
| <p>Looks like Disqus isn’t standing still. Their blog <a href="http://blog.disqus.net/2009/03/04/preview-our-next-big-features-exclusively-on-mashable/" target="_self">says</a> they are working with <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/03/04/social-media-comments/" target="_self">Mashable</a> on a one ring approach to aggregate all commentary on posts from the many places people can comment.</p> | |
| <p>Stay tuned sounds like a neat feature.</p> | |
| <p>Find the comments and sound off about Facebook Connect, Disqus, hippie open web, whatever you like. Just make it obvious you’re not a comment spammer, which is harder than it seems.</p> | |
| <p><em>Update: <a href="http://surachartopun.com/" target="_self">Surachart</a> was nice enough to leave a test comment, to which I replied using Facebook Connect. After logging in, I got this box, asking to publish the comment to my News Feed.</em></p> | |
| <p><em><img title="Facebook Connect confirmation of cross-posting your comment." class="size-full wp-image-2553 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/fbconnect1.png" height="114" alt="Facebook Connect confirmation of cross-posting your comment." width="422" /></em></p> | |
| <p><em>And here’s how it looks in my Feed. Not too intrusive, but not very informative either. </em></p> | |
| <p><img title="How your comment appears in your Facebook News Feed" class="size-full wp-image-2554 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/newsfeed.png" height="34" alt="How your comment appears in your Facebook News Feed" width="468" /></p> | |
| <p><em>Just as with FriendFeed, having a Comment function on Facebook creates another thread for your posts, which is a bummer.</em></p> | |
| <p><em>One thing, if you have a public profile on Facebook, your name will show in comments, like Surachart’s. The public profile is indexed by search engines. If you don’t have that enables, only your profile ID will show, which looks a little weird, like mine.</em></p> | |
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| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/pvtNZcayJao" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/pvtNZcayJao/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/pvtNZcayJao/updatedTue, 10 Mar 2009 03:51:16 +0000updated_timeTue Mar 10 03:51:16 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009310351161690feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/06/batman-vs-superman/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/06/batman-vs-superman/#commentstitleBatman vs. Supermanwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/06/batman-vs-superman/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueFrom Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" series | |
| Here comes a topic for a Friday. | |
| I try to torture my wife with this nerdy debate, but she consistently rises above the argument. So, I’m coming to the ‘tubes to get some real discussion. | |
| This class comic book nerd debate is really Batman or Superman, not vs. which suggests [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermbatmanschemelabeltermcomicsschemelabeltermsupermanschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2536summaryFrom Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" series | |
| Here comes a topic for a Friday. | |
| I try to torture my wife with this nerdy debate, but she consistently rises above the argument. So, I’m coming to the ‘tubes to get some real discussion. | |
| This class comic book nerd debate is really Batman or Superman, not vs. which suggests [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueBatman vs. Supermanbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_2538"><img title="Batman vs. Superman" class="size-medium wp-image-2538" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/batman_vs_superman_wallpaper-300x225.jpg" height="225" alt="From Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" series" width="300" /><p class="wp-caption-text">From Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" series</p></div> | |
| <p>Here comes a topic for a Friday.</p> | |
| <p>I try to torture my wife with this nerdy debate, but she consistently rises above the argument. So, I’m coming to the ‘tubes to get some real discussion.</p> | |
| <p>This class comic book nerd debate is really Batman <em>or</em> Superman, not vs. which suggests they’re fighting. It’s styled as vs. because the camps on either side may end up slapping each other in a geek fight as they disagree and tempers flare. Suffice to say that opinions are held as facts in this case, much like they are in Kirk vs. Picard or other similarly impossible, yet fascinating arguments.</p> | |
| <p>I use the term fascinating loosely.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, the debate is simple; make a case for which superhero is better and why. Point and counter-point.</p> | |
| <p>Or shake your head and walk away trying not to laugh.</p> | |
| <p>Here goes.</p> | |
| <p>Batman, and here’s why in easy to consume bullet form:</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li>He’s one of us, not an alien or a genetic anomaly. He’s just a really tough dude, like Chuck Norris in tights and a cowl.</li> | |
| <li>He’s not a Boy Scout. He practices vigilante justice, outside the law or on the fringe, depending on the Batman adaptation.</li> | |
| <li>He has “wonderful” toys. Limitless wealth provides an awesome array of weapons, vehicles and gadgets that may geeks drool.</li> | |
| <li>He fights the best villains. Without a doubt, the Joker is the best comic book villain. No debate there.</li> | |
| <li>He’s a brooding guy with issues, classic anti-hero. He wants to dole out justice, not to do good. Superman does good.</li> | |
| <li>He has the best costume. The cape and cowl black or gray/navy early on makes him menacing.</li> | |
| <li>He’s a smart dude who uses his wits, not his brawn.</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>There are more, but I’m laughing at myself now.</p> | |
| <p>Your turn. Find the comments to agree or disagree with me. Or to pick another superhero.</p> | |
| <p>If you made it to here, you know you want to jump in, which is the beauty of this argument.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/nTeF-p5TsmE" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/nTeF-p5TsmE/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/nTeF-p5TsmE/updatedFri, 06 Mar 2009 19:20:57 +0000updated_timeFri Mar 06 19:20:57 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009361920574650feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/05/freely-available-utilities/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/05/freely-available-utilities/#commentstitleFreely Available Utilitieswfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/05/freely-available-utilities/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueThe title comes from a phrase that stood out for me in this post from RWW. | |
| That post highlights some really sweet data pr0n (TwitterThoughts and World Twitter Map) built by Yvo Schaap that uses the Twitter API for data, Yahoo Pipes for parsing and the Google Visualization API for producing the eye candy. All these [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermdata visualizationschemelabeltermgoogleschemelabeltermpipesschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabeltermyahooschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2529summaryThe title comes from a phrase that stood out for me in this post from RWW. | |
| That post highlights some really sweet data pr0n (TwitterThoughts and World Twitter Map) built by Yvo Schaap that uses the Twitter API for data, Yahoo Pipes for parsing and the Google Visualization API for producing the eye candy. All these [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueFreely Available Utilitiesbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>The title comes from a phrase that stood out for me in this <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/mashup_magic_twitterthoughts.php" target="_self">post</a> from RWW.</p> | |
| <p>That post highlights some really sweet data pr0n (<a href="http://yvoschaap.com/twitterthoughts/" target="_self">TwitterThoughts</a> and <a href="http://yvoschaap.com/twitterthoughts/?map=1" target="_self">World Twitter Map</a>) built by <a href="http://www.yvoschaap.com/" target="_self">Yvo Schaap</a> that uses the <a href="http://apiwiki.twitter.com/" target="_self">Twitter API</a> for data, <a href="http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/" target="_self">Yahoo Pipes</a> for parsing and the <a href="http://code.google.com/apis/visualization/" target="_self">Google Visualization API</a> for producing the eye candy. All these tools are “freely available utilities”, and what Yvo has built with them is pretty compelling.</p> | |
| <p><a href="http://yvoschaap.com/twitterthoughts/?map=1"><img title="World Twitter Map, tweets by volume over the last 24 hours" class="size-medium wp-image-2533 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/twittermap-300x188.png" height="188" alt="World Twitter Map, tweets by volume over the last 24 hours" width="300" /></a></p> | |
| <p>Another freely available utility is <a href="http://code.google.com" target="_self">Google Code</a>, which <a href="http://www.oraclenerd.com/2009/02/google-code.html" target="_self">Chet</a> is using to host his code. I really like this idea; ideally, you can get a bunch of smart people in your extended community to hack with you on a fun project, like an open source incubator. But even if no one ever joins, you’ll still have a code resume that is readily available should you need to interview.</p> | |
| <p>Chet has experience with interviews, natch, but I don’t think this is why he started hosting his code. It’s just a fun project.</p> | |
| <p>He also mentioned the Visualization API, which is really cool. </p> | |
| <p>Friend of the ‘Lab and OpenSocial dude at Google, Chris Shalk gave a very interesting unconference <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/cschalk/integrating-google-apis-into-your-applications-presentation?type=powerpoint" target="_self">session</a> on the Google APIs at OpenWorld last September, embedded below if you’re reading at theappslab.</p> | |
| <div id="__ss_614577"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/cschalk/integrating-google-apis-into-your-applications-presentation?type=powerpoint" title="Integrating Google APIs into Your Applications">Integrating Google APIs into Your Applications</a> | |
| <div>View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/cschalk">Chris Schalk</a>. (tags: <a href="http://slideshare.net/tag/opensocial">opensocial</a> <a href="http://slideshare.net/tag/charts">charts</a>)</div> | |
| </div> | |
| <p>I’ve been trying to find the right data set to use with that for a long time. One day.</p> | |
| <p>I suppose I could use the <a href="http://aws.amazon.com/publicdatasets/" target="_self">Public Data Sets</a> on AWS, another great resource, but not one for this discussion, since they are part of the EC2 offering and not free. On the flipside, if you have the right to distribute a data set or have a public domain/non-proprietary set, you can request that AWS host it for you.</p> | |
| <p>This isn’t that different than the API model that Twitter has taken, i.e. provide open access to your data through an API, stand back and watch what cool things people do with your data. Twitter’s API seems to produce a new service each week, creating an ecosystem of services and applications that depend on it.</p> | |
| <p>We’ve had some success with this inside the firewall too. Connect’s APIs are used by a handful of services, OraTweet chief among them. Likewise for OraTweet’s APIs. People are starting to get how this matters inside the firewall for free-sharing of information, whether it’s a hacking project some developer wants to undertake to scratch a personal itch or it’s a more formal collaborative undertaking with a budget and a mission.</p> | |
| <p>Either way, freely available utilities rule. Finding out about them is half the battle, e.g. Yahoo Pipes is a very useful tool, but I don’t know of many people who use it. I used it to create the feed for the “What We’re Reading” widget, and Dawn Foster has become the Pipes maven. Check out her <a href="http://fastwonderblog.com/yahoo-pipes-and-rss-hacks/" target="_self">tutorials</a> if you want Pipes knowledge.</p> | |
| <p>In the spirit of discovery, what freely available utilities do you think are awesome? Any thoughts about Yvo’s Twitter visualizations or Chet’s project?</p> | |
| <p>Find the comments.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/zV1pm6UbhpA" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/zV1pm6UbhpA/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/zV1pm6UbhpA/updatedThu, 05 Mar 2009 23:52:03 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 05 23:52:03 UTC 2009updated_parsed200935235233640feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/#commentstitleAnother Facebook User Revolt is Comingwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueToday, Facebook previewed changes it plans to make to their site next week. There are quite a few: | |
| A redesigned home page with live updates, filters and a universal publishing model (very much like FriendFeed’s). | |
| One minor change that’s part of the universal publishing box is changing the verbiage “What are you doing right now?” to “What’s [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermfacebookschemelabeltermfriendfeedschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabeltermuischemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2522summaryToday, Facebook previewed changes it plans to make to their site next week. There are quite a few: | |
| A redesigned home page with live updates, filters and a universal publishing model (very much like FriendFeed’s). | |
| One minor change that’s part of the universal publishing box is changing the verbiage “What are you doing right now?” to “What’s [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueAnother Facebook User Revolt is Comingbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img class="alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/s307319_28874.jpg" height="146" alt="" width="195" />Today, Facebook <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/04/facebooks-response-to-twitter/" target="_self">previewed</a> changes it plans to make to their site next week. There are quite a few:</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li>A <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/04/screen-shots-the-new-facebook-home-page/" target="_self">redesigned</a> home page with live updates, filters and a universal publishing model (very much like FriendFeed’s).</li> | |
| <li>One minor change that’s part of the universal publishing box is changing the verbiage “What are you doing right now?” to “What’s on your mind?”.</li> | |
| <li>People will no longer be capped at 5,000 friends.</li> | |
| <li>A Twitter/FriendFeed like follow feature will be added to allow people to keep tabs on others asynchronously.</li> | |
| <li>Pages will converge with profiles, creating a more uniform experience whether person, brand, whatever.</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>These changes point to the convergence of the life-streaming model with the social network and to Facebook’s stated goal of being its own Internet within the ‘tubes. When Facebook first introduced the News Feed in 2006, it became the first social network to show a network’s activity in this way.</p> | |
| <p>Since then, Twitter pioneered status (or micro-blogging) allowing the network to tell everyone explicitly what it’s doing, rather than using activity to infer that. Facebook added status shortly thereafter to capture the same activity.</p> | |
| <p>FriendFeed applied the News Feed concept to the entire ‘tubes, but as Facebook has added the ability to share more objects, beyond simply activity contained within Facebook, the News Feed has become increasingly more life stream focused.</p> | |
| <p>So, no big surprises in the home page redesign.</p> | |
| <p>The follow feature, however, sounds like an area for user revolt. Facebook has a very different feel than Twitter or FriendFeed primarily because following (or subscribing) can be asynchronous. Facebook has always enforced that profiles must be real people, probably dating back to its roots as the anti-MySpace; they have frequently enforced this citing it as a violation of their terms.</p> | |
| <p>Now, profiles and pages are merging, and people can follow each other. Sounds a shade like stalking. Because Twitter and others don’t have the rigorous profile requirements, you may not know who is really following you. You’ll know on Facebook though, and that will lead to a whole mess of issues.</p> | |
| <p>This is going to be interesting. Expect a “revolt”, by which I mean a bunch of whining from people. After all, Facebook has a history of upsetting its users. Here’s a brief score card.</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2005/09/07/85-of-college-students-use-facebook/" target="_self">September 2005</a>: Adds high schools to its previously college-only crowd causing college kids to complain about allowing uncool, high schoolers into their Fortress of Solitude.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/04/26/facebook-goes-beyond-college-high-school-markets/" target="_self">May 2006</a>: Adds work networks of selected companies, causing recently added high schoolers to join “old sk00l” college kids to whine that work people are uncool.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/09/06/facebook-users-revolt-facebook-replies/" target="_self">September 2006</a>: Adds News Feeds, Mini Feeds, irking hordes of users who are up in arms about flooding their pristine Facebook pages with mind-numbing details about their so-called friends.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/05/24/facebook-launches-facebook-platform-they-are-the-anti-myspace/" target="_self">March 2007</a>: Adds f8 platform for application development, which actually is met with user happiness for a change, until sheep throwing, vampire biting and spamming your friends to see your cool-points ranking get annoying.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/the-facebook-ad-backlash-begins/" target="_self">November 2007</a>: Beacon social advertising program face-plants as users are aghast that Facebook would use their data to, um, make money or try to at least.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/16/dont-let-facebook-force-the-new-profile-on-you-heres-how-to-get-the-old-one-back/" target="_self">September 2008</a>: New UI launch is met with widespread hatred, even though apps have polluted the once clean aesthetic that made it the anti-MySpace.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/16/zuckerberg-on-who-owns-user-data-on-facebook-its-complicated/" target="_self">February 2009</a>: Changes to its terms of service cause widespread outrage.</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>It’s actually pretty funny. When I started this list, my viewpoint was that Facebook would (again) run roughshod over its users, as it did in its infancy. However, looking back at the last 18 months, when the most growth has occurred outside the saturated demographics for social networking (talking to you Gen Y), Facebook has actually done a decent job listening to its user base.</p> | |
| <p>Sure, they’ve made mistakes, but they’ve ultimately been responsible for them and have accommodated reasonable requests. Not a bad thing. Although, as a highly visible company (and pop culture punchline), this course of action seems logical.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway. I don’t really think the changes are all that noteworthy, except maybe to early adopters who know Twitter (which is also inching toward mainstream as evidenced by its Daily Show <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/03/the-daily-show-my-stalker-just-grunted-on-my-twitter/" target="_self">cameo</a>) and FriendFeed and think it matter who was doing what first.</p> | |
| <p>Meh.</p> | |
| <p>The user revolt will be fun to observe. Most interesting will be how mainstream users feel about life-streaming and micro-blogging. The changes to Facebook’s UI will shape the future of the ‘tubes, like it or not.</p> | |
| <p>Find the comments and add your two cents.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pUarQEPYiPI:kAzbiFpZksQ:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pUarQEPYiPI:kAzbiFpZksQ:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pUarQEPYiPI:kAzbiFpZksQ:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=pUarQEPYiPI:kAzbiFpZksQ:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pUarQEPYiPI:kAzbiFpZksQ:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pUarQEPYiPI:kAzbiFpZksQ:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=pUarQEPYiPI:kAzbiFpZksQ:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/pUarQEPYiPI" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/pUarQEPYiPI/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/pUarQEPYiPI/updatedThu, 05 Mar 2009 06:57:42 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 05 06:57:42 UTC 2009updated_parsed200935657423640feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/howto-convert-vmware-image-to-virtualbox-image-or-import-vmware-image-into-virtualboxubuntu-geek/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/howto-convert-vmware-image-to-virtualbox-image-or-import-vmware-image-into-virtualboxubuntu-geek/#commentstitleHowto Convert Vmware Image to Virtualbox Image or Import Vmware Image into VirtualboxUbuntu Geekwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/howto-convert-vmware-image-to-virtualbox-image-or-import-vmware-image-into-virtualboxubuntu-geek/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueaddthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Ftheappslab.com%2F2009%2F03%2F04%2Fhowto-convert-vmware-image-to-virtualbox-image-or-import-vmware-image-into-virtualboxubuntu-geek%2F'; | |
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| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/my1dXp4eyMw" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/my1dXp4eyMw/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/my1dXp4eyMw/updatedThu, 05 Mar 2009 00:56:20 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 05 00:56:20 UTC 2009updated_parsed200935056203640feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/03/new-imac-still-new-to-me/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/03/new-imac-still-new-to-me/#commentstitleNew iMac, Still New to Mewfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/03/new-imac-still-new-to-me/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueUpdate: Turns out Best Buy, where we bought the iMac, doesn’t have the new models in stock yet, but to make room in their inventory, they’ve lowered the prices on the remaining ones by $400. | |
| They were nice enough to honor the new price and refund the difference. Win-win, since I wasn’t all that excited about [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermappleschemelabeltermhome officeschemelabeltermimacschemelabeltermmacschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2519summaryUpdate: Turns out Best Buy, where we bought the iMac, doesn’t have the new models in stock yet, but to make room in their inventory, they’ve lowered the prices on the remaining ones by $400. | |
| They were nice enough to honor the new price and refund the difference. Win-win, since I wasn’t all that excited about [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueNew iMac, Still New to Mebasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="New iMacs" class="size-medium wp-image-2520 alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/overview_hero2_20090303-300x158.jpg" height="158" alt="New iMacs" width="300" /></p> | |
| <p><em>Update: Turns out Best Buy, where we bought the iMac, doesn’t have the new models in stock yet, but to make room in their inventory, they’ve lowered the prices on the remaining ones by $400.</em></p> | |
| <p><em>They were nice enough to honor the new price and refund the difference. Win-win, since I wasn’t all that excited about a data transfer. W00t!</em></p> | |
| <p>So, you may have heard that Apple dropped a bunch of updates to their product catalog today, along with software updates.</p> | |
| <p>Among the <a href="http://www.tuaw.com/2009/03/03/four-flavors-of-imac/" target="_self">updates</a> were upgrades to the iMac line.</p> | |
| <p>Not that noteworthy, unless you just bought an iMac last week like I did. Funny stuff, right?</p> | |
| <p>I’m actually not that bummed; a little, but not too much, considering. This was a replacement for my wife’s XP machine, which I had been nursing along for nearly ten years, adding disk, RAM and a DVD player to keep it functional. She had lent her Macbook to a friend (I know, gasp) and was forced to use that old beast without any escaping to a faster computer.</p> | |
| <p>Speed is her main requirement (and annoyance); this means the Internet, installed programs, everything. This means keeping a lot of moving parts, moving quickly, which was becoming increasingly tough with the old XP box. So, rather than have me rebuild it overnight, we decided to break down and buy a new machine entirely. For her, instant gratification and instant ability to get work done.</p> | |
| <p>The decision was to go Mac over PC because, well, I don’t feel like supporting it, and we like the unibody design of the iMac over the standard cable mess of disparate pieces. Plus, she already has a Macbook, so it’s not a jump into the deep end.</p> | |
| <p>I should have tipped when Best Buy said they had no 20″ iMacs in stock, in any local stores, but knowing how secretive Apple is, I wonder if even the Apple Store employees knew the new models were less than a week from dropping. We settled on the 24″ model that used to be the third in the lineup; based on the new specs, it’s probably closer to first, slightly more beefy than the low-end 20″ model in the new lineup. Grr.</p> | |
| <p>Still, she loves it to death so far (it’s so fast), and the cinema display is so bright, when I walk away from it, I see spots.</p> | |
| <p>Rather than trying to explain virtualization, I just installed Virtual Box and installed an XP VM. That VM runs about twice as fast as the old native installation of XP did. Sure, not an apples-to-apples comparison, but pretty impressive. The fan is really quiet too; one thing that bugs me about the Macbook is its loud fan. If you’ve held one of those in your lap, you’ll know why. It gets crazy hot after a while, not an ideal thing to keep in your lap.</p> | |
| <p>So, until today, everybody was happy. New computer for the wife, less support agony for me. Win-win.</p> | |
| <p>Of course, now we’ve fallen victim to buying the outgoing model year, which is inevitable, but usually doesn’t happen withing the same week.</p> | |
| <p>I also violated one of my rules by buying the unibody design. I can’t crack it open to do <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/09/weekend-project-macbook-surgery/" target="_self">upgrades</a> to keep from buying new gear every couple years. Maybe I can, but it won’t be easy. Maybe I’m wrong.</p> | |
| <p>Then, there’s the dilemma of what to do with the old dinosaur. I had thought it would make good network-attached storage, but aside from the slow processor, it only has about 80 GB of disk space, which is puny compared to the 250 GB I just put in my Macbook, 300 GB in the iMac or the 1 TB backup drive I bought for Time Machine on the iMac.</p> | |
| <p>Wow did I feel old buying a 1 TB disk about the size of a pocket dictionary for less than $200. I remember when Oracle DB broke the 1 TB barrier for database storage. That doesn’t seem that long ago. Cue the nostalgic music and prepare your grouchy “I remember when” stories for the comments.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, I’ll probably end up reimaging it as an experimental box for Jaunty Jackalop (9.04) or some other O/S, or maybe I’ll give it to the neighbors, keeping the monitor, natch. You can never have too many displays.</p> | |
| <p>So, there’s a lot here, meandering as always. What are your thoughts on any/all of the following:</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li>New iMacs and updates to Apple’s products</li> | |
| <li>Old iMacs, Macs in general</li> | |
| <li>Mac vs. PC, always welcome here <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> </li> | |
| <li>Supporting users who want everything “faster”</li> | |
| <li>Keeping up with current technology and getting out-moded</li> | |
| <li>Repurposing old gear</li> | |
| <li>A 1 TB drive for less than $200</li> | |
| <li>Having an experimental machine for hobby O/S</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>Find the comments and let us know.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
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| <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< | |
| RSS import ended at Mon Mar 23 16:42:00 -0700 2009 237 | |
| ========================= | |
| RSS import started at Mon Mar 23 16:42:39 -0700 2009 855 | |
| item not found 2: The AppsLab: Locavore Lists the In-Season Food Near You | |
| >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> | |
| An exception has occurred for 3:http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xml: Mysql::Error: Duplicate entry '0' for key 1: INSERT INTO `group_activities` (`updated_at`, `title`, `body`, `action`, `external_id`, `priority`, `url`, `author`, `group_id`, `subject_type`, `subject_id`, `comments_count`, `user_profile_id`, `ratings_average`, `created_at`, `ratings_count`) VALUES('2009-03-23 23:04:00', 'Locavore Lists the In-Season Food Near You', 'Locavore is an iPhone app for those who have a hard time remembering what foods are in season, and also tells you where to get them fresh and how to cook it all. via lifehacker.com ? Permalink | Leave a comment???', 'rss_post', 'http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-you', NULL, 'http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-you', NULL, 2, 'RssSource', 3, 0, NULL, 0.0, '2009-03-23 23:04:00', 0) | |
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| Data: status200hrefhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlencodingutf-8feedtitleOakland Farmersubtitle_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueRamblings from a backyard farmer in Oakland, Californiabasehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlsubtitleRamblings from a backyard farmer in Oakland, Californiatitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueOakland Farmerbasehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlgenerator_detailnameposterous.comlinkshrefhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.comrelalternatetypetext/htmlgeneratorposterous.comlinkhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.combozofalsemodified_timeetag"093b16aa7f9eb7c7ae7979ca133be5b7"namespacesversionrss20updatedentriesposterous_nicknamemanalangtitleLocavore Lists the In-Season Food Near Youposterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <blockquote class="posterous_long_quote"> | |
| <p>Locavore is an iPhone app for those who have a hard time remembering what foods are in season, and also tells you where to get them fresh and how to cook it all.</p> | |
| <p><img src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2009/03/photo_01.jpg" height="413" alt="" width="320" /></p> | |
| <p><img src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2009/03/photo_2_.jpg" height="413" alt="" width="320" /></p> | |
| <p><img src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2009/03/photo_3_.jpg" height="413" alt="" width="320" /></p> | |
| </blockquote> | |
| <div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5180335/locavore-lists-the-in+season-food-near-you">lifehacker.com</a></div> | |
| <p> </p> | |
| </div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-you">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-you#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>basehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-youposterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <blockquote class="posterous_long_quote"> | |
| <p>Locavore is an iPhone app for those who have a hard time remembering what foods are in season, and also tells you where to get them fresh and how to cook it all.</p> | |
| <p><img src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2009/03/photo_01.jpg" height="413" alt="" width="320" /></p> | |
| <p><img src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2009/03/photo_2_.jpg" height="413" alt="" width="320" /></p> | |
| <p><img src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2009/03/photo_3_.jpg" height="413" alt="" width="320" /></p> | |
| </blockquote> | |
| <div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5180335/locavore-lists-the-in+season-food-near-you">lifehacker.com</a></div> | |
| <p> </p> | |
| </div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-you">Permalink</a> | |
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| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueLocavore Lists the In-Season Food Near Youbasehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-yourelalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-youupdatedMon, 23 Mar 2009 16:04:00 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeMon Mar 23 23:04:00 UTC 2009updated_parsed200932323400820posterous_nicknamemanalangtitleIs a Food Revolution Now in Season?posterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/03/22/business/22food_600.jpg" height="" width="500" /><div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/business/22food.html?_r=1&ref=business">nytimes.com</a></div> | |
| <p>Great article in Sunday's NYTimes re: the new food revolution.</p></div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/is-a-food-revolution-now-in-season">Permalink</a> | |
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| </p>basehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/is-a-food-revolution-now-in-seasonposterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/03/22/business/22food_600.jpg" height="" width="500" /><div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/business/22food.html?_r=1&ref=business">nytimes.com</a></div> | |
| <p>Great article in Sunday's NYTimes re: the new food revolution.</p></div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/is-a-food-revolution-now-in-season">Permalink</a> | |
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| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueIs a Food Revolution Now in Season?basehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/is-a-food-revolution-now-in-seasonrelalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/is-a-food-revolution-now-in-seasonupdatedMon, 23 Mar 2009 10:39:19 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeMon Mar 23 17:39:19 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093231739190820posterous_nicknamemanalangtitleOur Backyard Farm 3.0posterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| <p>I got into backyard farming about eight years ago. The first house we lived in had a long skinny backyard with a small space for a vegetable garden (v1.0). It didn't get great sun and the soil was rocky clay -- not great conditions. It was a great first garden to learn on, but aside from great tomatoes, we weren't really able to grow that great a crop in that garden.<br /> <br />Our second garden turned out to be smaller. The backyard in our second house consisted of a wood deck and a patch of lawn adjacent to a 7' x 7' rose garden. I would've taken the lawn out, but part of it was covered by shade and so we ended up ripping the rose garden out and put in a <a href="http://www.squarefootgardening.com/">square foot garden</a> in its place (v2.0). I love the idea of <a href="http://www.squarefootgardening.com/">square foot gardens</a>. If you have a small backyard, I highly recommend trying out a square foot garden. The idea behind it is to utilize a square foot of gardening space as best as you possibly can (i.e., grow 16 onions, 4 lettuces, 4 chards, etc. in one square foot of space). It's very efficient and makes you wonder why the concept isn't applied to all gardens. They say that one 4' x 4' square foot garden can supply enough produce to make a salad for one person every day for the growing season.<br /> <br />Our third and current garden is 10' x 16' split into two levels (v3.0). The nice part about this garden is that we didn't have to build it... it was here when we moved in! This year is our first season. We started this season in January with a batch of about 50 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidalia_onion">Vidalia onions</a>. Also new this year is we're attempting to grow directly from seeds. I've got a grow light set up in the garage currently growing Black-Seeded Simpson lettuce, Romaine lettuce, and a few varieties of tomatoes. The lettuce isn't doing too well. I think my soil mix isn't doing the job. I opted for a basic coir mix which sprouted the seeds just fine, but failed to grow them beyond 2-4 leafs. I'm going to attempt to grow it again with a different soil mix.<br /> <br />This season is pretty exciting. Lots of new things to try out. How's your garden going?</p> | |
| <p>Update: sorry... couldn't find a picture of v2.0</p> | |
| <p><p><a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/PolS7djCBZUIRzuqpc696XR1jIhPdHPqPW1GoiHSuxXX4PlgdiP4EUXbdsnV/4-20-2005_9-49-15-2-1.jpg"><img src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/d3vUI7MQIhCCTQxkyDE3nhLQKaf2lMlsm6l0DNSvka5XfswahEGVgNWKveEz/4-20-2005_9-49-15-2-1.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" height="332" width="500" /></a></p> | |
| <p><a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/iilpOzUOskzTHCVP7Y1EcQ815wYBgUCLkm1EWw5B4z454BwMVdOQnJQNCYoN/DSC_6541-1.jpg"><img src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/5WOWeJv9JgnWJ1TocemqzSTex7Sys3t1u6KYOlQQFWn8Vk2XxO3udbBAur3F/DSC_6541-1.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" height="332" width="500" /></a></p> | |
| <a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/our-backyard-farm-30">See the full gallery on posterous</a></p> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/our-backyard-farm-30">Permalink</a> | |
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| </p>basehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlenclosureshrefhttp://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/PolS7djCBZUIRzuqpc696XR1jIhPdHPqPW1GoiHSuxXX4PlgdiP4EUXbdsnV/4-20-2005_9-49-15-2-1.jpgtypeimage/jpegheight526width792hrefhttp://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/d3vUI7MQIhCCTQxkyDE3nhLQKaf2lMlsm6l0DNSvka5XfswahEGVgNWKveEz/4-20-2005_9-49-15-2-1.jpg.scaled.500.jpgheight332width500hrefhttp://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/iilpOzUOskzTHCVP7Y1EcQ815wYBgUCLkm1EWw5B4z454BwMVdOQnJQNCYoN/DSC_6541-1.jpgtypeimage/jpegheight583width878hrefhttp://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/5WOWeJv9JgnWJ1TocemqzSTex7Sys3t1u6KYOlQQFWn8Vk2XxO3udbBAur3F/DSC_6541-1.jpg.scaled.500.jpgheight332width500posterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/our-backyard-farm-30posterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| <p>I got into backyard farming about eight years ago. The first house we lived in had a long skinny backyard with a small space for a vegetable garden (v1.0). It didn't get great sun and the soil was rocky clay -- not great conditions. It was a great first garden to learn on, but aside from great tomatoes, we weren't really able to grow that great a crop in that garden.<br /> <br />Our second garden turned out to be smaller. The backyard in our second house consisted of a wood deck and a patch of lawn adjacent to a 7' x 7' rose garden. I would've taken the lawn out, but part of it was covered by shade and so we ended up ripping the rose garden out and put in a <a href="http://www.squarefootgardening.com/">square foot garden</a> in its place (v2.0). I love the idea of <a href="http://www.squarefootgardening.com/">square foot gardens</a>. If you have a small backyard, I highly recommend trying out a square foot garden. The idea behind it is to utilize a square foot of gardening space as best as you possibly can (i.e., grow 16 onions, 4 lettuces, 4 chards, etc. in one square foot of space). It's very efficient and makes you wonder why the concept isn't applied to all gardens. They say that one 4' x 4' square foot garden can supply enough produce to make a salad for one person every day for the growing season.<br /> <br />Our third and current garden is 10' x 16' split into two levels (v3.0). The nice part about this garden is that we didn't have to build it... it was here when we moved in! This year is our first season. We started this season in January with a batch of about 50 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidalia_onion">Vidalia onions</a>. Also new this year is we're attempting to grow directly from seeds. I've got a grow light set up in the garage currently growing Black-Seeded Simpson lettuce, Romaine lettuce, and a few varieties of tomatoes. The lettuce isn't doing too well. I think my soil mix isn't doing the job. I opted for a basic coir mix which sprouted the seeds just fine, but failed to grow them beyond 2-4 leafs. I'm going to attempt to grow it again with a different soil mix.<br /> <br />This season is pretty exciting. Lots of new things to try out. How's your garden going?</p> | |
| <p>Update: sorry... couldn't find a picture of v2.0</p> | |
| <p><p><a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/PolS7djCBZUIRzuqpc696XR1jIhPdHPqPW1GoiHSuxXX4PlgdiP4EUXbdsnV/4-20-2005_9-49-15-2-1.jpg"><img src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/d3vUI7MQIhCCTQxkyDE3nhLQKaf2lMlsm6l0DNSvka5XfswahEGVgNWKveEz/4-20-2005_9-49-15-2-1.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" height="332" width="500" /></a></p> | |
| <p><a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/iilpOzUOskzTHCVP7Y1EcQ815wYBgUCLkm1EWw5B4z454BwMVdOQnJQNCYoN/DSC_6541-1.jpg"><img src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/5WOWeJv9JgnWJ1TocemqzSTex7Sys3t1u6KYOlQQFWn8Vk2XxO3udbBAur3F/DSC_6541-1.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" height="332" width="500" /></a></p> | |
| <a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/our-backyard-farm-30">See the full gallery on posterous</a></p> | |
| </p> | |
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| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueOur Backyard Farm 3.0basehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/our-backyard-farm-30relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/our-backyard-farm-30updatedSun, 22 Mar 2009 21:42:00 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeMon Mar 23 04:42:00 UTC 2009updated_parsed200932344200820posterous_nicknamemanalangtitleSpring has sprung!posterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| ...and so has this blog. I'm a backyard farmer from Oakland, California. I don't claim to be an expert, just a hobbyist that's looking to grow better fruit and vegetables in the comfort of my own backyard. I guess you can say that I follow <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Waters">Alice Waters'</a> principles of eating what's in season and what's grown locally -- you can't get more local than your own backyard. In this blog, I'm hoping to chronicle my attempt to create an edible organic garden and hopefully share useful tips for other backyard farmers. This should be fun... I hope you follow along! | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/spring-has-sprung-1">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/spring-has-sprung-1#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>basehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/spring-has-sprung-1posterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| ...and so has this blog. I'm a backyard farmer from Oakland, California. I don't claim to be an expert, just a hobbyist that's looking to grow better fruit and vegetables in the comfort of my own backyard. I guess you can say that I follow <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Waters">Alice Waters'</a> principles of eating what's in season and what's grown locally -- you can't get more local than your own backyard. In this blog, I'm hoping to chronicle my attempt to create an edible organic garden and hopefully share useful tips for other backyard farmers. This should be fun... I hope you follow along! | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/spring-has-sprung-1">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/spring-has-sprung-1#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueSpring has sprung!basehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/spring-has-sprung-1relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/spring-has-sprung-1updatedSun, 22 Mar 2009 16:38:42 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeSun Mar 22 23:38:42 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093222338426810headersstatus200 OKcache-controlprivate, max-age=0, must-revalidateconnectionkeep-alivedateMon, 23 Mar 2009 23:42:40 GMTcontent-typeapplication/rss+xml; charset=utf-8etag"093b16aa7f9eb7c7ae7979ca133be5b7"servernginx/0.6.35x-runtime6mscontent-length10863 | |
| <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< | |
| RSS import ended at Mon Mar 23 16:42:40 -0700 2009 274 | |
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| RSS import started at Mon Mar 23 16:46:06 -0700 2009 336 | |
| RSS import ended at Mon Mar 23 16:46:06 -0700 2009 338 | |
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| RSS import started at Mon Mar 23 16:51:28 -0700 2009 234 | |
| item not found 2: The AppsLab: Locavore Lists the In-Season Food Near You | |
| >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> | |
| An exception has occurred for 3:http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xml: Mysql::Error: Duplicate entry '0' for key 1: INSERT INTO `group_activities` (`updated_at`, `title`, `body`, `action`, `external_id`, `priority`, `url`, `author`, `group_id`, `subject_type`, `subject_id`, `comments_count`, `user_profile_id`, `ratings_average`, `created_at`, `ratings_count`) VALUES('2009-03-23 23:04:00', 'Locavore Lists the In-Season Food Near You', 'Locavore is an iPhone app for those who have a hard time remembering what foods are in season, and also tells you where to get them fresh and how to cook it all. via lifehacker.com ? Permalink | Leave a comment???', 'rss_post', 'http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-you', NULL, 'http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-you', NULL, 2, 'RssSource', 3, 0, NULL, 0.0, '2009-03-23 23:04:00', 0) | |
| item not found 2: The AppsLab: Facebook Poll: 94% Of Users Don’t Like Redesign | |
| Exception stack trace as follows: ["/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract_adapter.rb:188:in `log'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/mysql_adapter.rb:309:in `execute_without_analyzer'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/gems/josevalim-rails-footnotes-3.4.1/lib/rails-footnotes/notes/queries_note.rb:104:in `execute'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/benchmark.rb:8:in `realtime'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/gems/josevalim-rails-footnotes-3.4.1/lib/rails-footnotes/notes/queries_note.rb:104:in `execute'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/database_statements.rb:171:in `insert_sql'", 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| Data: status200hrefhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlencodingutf-8feedtitleOakland Farmersubtitle_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueRamblings from a backyard farmer in Oakland, Californiabasehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlsubtitleRamblings from a backyard farmer in Oakland, Californiatitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueOakland Farmerbasehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlgenerator_detailnameposterous.comlinkshrefhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.comrelalternatetypetext/htmlgeneratorposterous.comlinkhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.combozofalsemodified_timeetag"093b16aa7f9eb7c7ae7979ca133be5b7"namespacesversionrss20updatedentriesposterous_nicknamemanalangtitleLocavore Lists the In-Season Food Near Youposterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <blockquote class="posterous_long_quote"> | |
| <p>Locavore is an iPhone app for those who have a hard time remembering what foods are in season, and also tells you where to get them fresh and how to cook it all.</p> | |
| <p><img src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2009/03/photo_01.jpg" height="413" alt="" width="320" /></p> | |
| <p><img src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2009/03/photo_2_.jpg" height="413" alt="" width="320" /></p> | |
| <p><img src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2009/03/photo_3_.jpg" height="413" alt="" width="320" /></p> | |
| </blockquote> | |
| <div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5180335/locavore-lists-the-in+season-food-near-you">lifehacker.com</a></div> | |
| <p> </p> | |
| </div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-you">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-you#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>basehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-youposterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <blockquote class="posterous_long_quote"> | |
| <p>Locavore is an iPhone app for those who have a hard time remembering what foods are in season, and also tells you where to get them fresh and how to cook it all.</p> | |
| <p><img src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2009/03/photo_01.jpg" height="413" alt="" width="320" /></p> | |
| <p><img src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2009/03/photo_2_.jpg" height="413" alt="" width="320" /></p> | |
| <p><img src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2009/03/photo_3_.jpg" height="413" alt="" width="320" /></p> | |
| </blockquote> | |
| <div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5180335/locavore-lists-the-in+season-food-near-you">lifehacker.com</a></div> | |
| <p> </p> | |
| </div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-you">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-you#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueLocavore Lists the In-Season Food Near Youbasehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-yourelalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-youupdatedMon, 23 Mar 2009 16:04:00 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeMon Mar 23 23:04:00 UTC 2009updated_parsed200932323400820posterous_nicknamemanalangtitleIs a Food Revolution Now in Season?posterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/03/22/business/22food_600.jpg" height="" width="500" /><div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/business/22food.html?_r=1&ref=business">nytimes.com</a></div> | |
| <p>Great article in Sunday's NYTimes re: the new food revolution.</p></div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/is-a-food-revolution-now-in-season">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/is-a-food-revolution-now-in-season#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>basehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/is-a-food-revolution-now-in-seasonposterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/03/22/business/22food_600.jpg" height="" width="500" /><div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/business/22food.html?_r=1&ref=business">nytimes.com</a></div> | |
| <p>Great article in Sunday's NYTimes re: the new food revolution.</p></div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/is-a-food-revolution-now-in-season">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/is-a-food-revolution-now-in-season#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueIs a Food Revolution Now in Season?basehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/is-a-food-revolution-now-in-seasonrelalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/is-a-food-revolution-now-in-seasonupdatedMon, 23 Mar 2009 10:39:19 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeMon Mar 23 17:39:19 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093231739190820posterous_nicknamemanalangtitleOur Backyard Farm 3.0posterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| <p>I got into backyard farming about eight years ago. The first house we lived in had a long skinny backyard with a small space for a vegetable garden (v1.0). It didn't get great sun and the soil was rocky clay -- not great conditions. It was a great first garden to learn on, but aside from great tomatoes, we weren't really able to grow that great a crop in that garden.<br /> <br />Our second garden turned out to be smaller. The backyard in our second house consisted of a wood deck and a patch of lawn adjacent to a 7' x 7' rose garden. I would've taken the lawn out, but part of it was covered by shade and so we ended up ripping the rose garden out and put in a <a href="http://www.squarefootgardening.com/">square foot garden</a> in its place (v2.0). I love the idea of <a href="http://www.squarefootgardening.com/">square foot gardens</a>. If you have a small backyard, I highly recommend trying out a square foot garden. The idea behind it is to utilize a square foot of gardening space as best as you possibly can (i.e., grow 16 onions, 4 lettuces, 4 chards, etc. in one square foot of space). It's very efficient and makes you wonder why the concept isn't applied to all gardens. They say that one 4' x 4' square foot garden can supply enough produce to make a salad for one person every day for the growing season.<br /> <br />Our third and current garden is 10' x 16' split into two levels (v3.0). The nice part about this garden is that we didn't have to build it... it was here when we moved in! This year is our first season. We started this season in January with a batch of about 50 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidalia_onion">Vidalia onions</a>. Also new this year is we're attempting to grow directly from seeds. I've got a grow light set up in the garage currently growing Black-Seeded Simpson lettuce, Romaine lettuce, and a few varieties of tomatoes. The lettuce isn't doing too well. I think my soil mix isn't doing the job. I opted for a basic coir mix which sprouted the seeds just fine, but failed to grow them beyond 2-4 leafs. I'm going to attempt to grow it again with a different soil mix.<br /> <br />This season is pretty exciting. Lots of new things to try out. How's your garden going?</p> | |
| <p>Update: sorry... couldn't find a picture of v2.0</p> | |
| <p><p><a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/PolS7djCBZUIRzuqpc696XR1jIhPdHPqPW1GoiHSuxXX4PlgdiP4EUXbdsnV/4-20-2005_9-49-15-2-1.jpg"><img src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/d3vUI7MQIhCCTQxkyDE3nhLQKaf2lMlsm6l0DNSvka5XfswahEGVgNWKveEz/4-20-2005_9-49-15-2-1.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" height="332" width="500" /></a></p> | |
| <p><a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/iilpOzUOskzTHCVP7Y1EcQ815wYBgUCLkm1EWw5B4z454BwMVdOQnJQNCYoN/DSC_6541-1.jpg"><img src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/5WOWeJv9JgnWJ1TocemqzSTex7Sys3t1u6KYOlQQFWn8Vk2XxO3udbBAur3F/DSC_6541-1.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" height="332" width="500" /></a></p> | |
| <a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/our-backyard-farm-30">See the full gallery on posterous</a></p> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/our-backyard-farm-30">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/our-backyard-farm-30#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>basehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlenclosureshrefhttp://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/PolS7djCBZUIRzuqpc696XR1jIhPdHPqPW1GoiHSuxXX4PlgdiP4EUXbdsnV/4-20-2005_9-49-15-2-1.jpgtypeimage/jpegheight526width792hrefhttp://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/d3vUI7MQIhCCTQxkyDE3nhLQKaf2lMlsm6l0DNSvka5XfswahEGVgNWKveEz/4-20-2005_9-49-15-2-1.jpg.scaled.500.jpgheight332width500hrefhttp://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/iilpOzUOskzTHCVP7Y1EcQ815wYBgUCLkm1EWw5B4z454BwMVdOQnJQNCYoN/DSC_6541-1.jpgtypeimage/jpegheight583width878hrefhttp://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/5WOWeJv9JgnWJ1TocemqzSTex7Sys3t1u6KYOlQQFWn8Vk2XxO3udbBAur3F/DSC_6541-1.jpg.scaled.500.jpgheight332width500posterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/our-backyard-farm-30posterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| <p>I got into backyard farming about eight years ago. The first house we lived in had a long skinny backyard with a small space for a vegetable garden (v1.0). It didn't get great sun and the soil was rocky clay -- not great conditions. It was a great first garden to learn on, but aside from great tomatoes, we weren't really able to grow that great a crop in that garden.<br /> <br />Our second garden turned out to be smaller. The backyard in our second house consisted of a wood deck and a patch of lawn adjacent to a 7' x 7' rose garden. I would've taken the lawn out, but part of it was covered by shade and so we ended up ripping the rose garden out and put in a <a href="http://www.squarefootgardening.com/">square foot garden</a> in its place (v2.0). I love the idea of <a href="http://www.squarefootgardening.com/">square foot gardens</a>. If you have a small backyard, I highly recommend trying out a square foot garden. The idea behind it is to utilize a square foot of gardening space as best as you possibly can (i.e., grow 16 onions, 4 lettuces, 4 chards, etc. in one square foot of space). It's very efficient and makes you wonder why the concept isn't applied to all gardens. They say that one 4' x 4' square foot garden can supply enough produce to make a salad for one person every day for the growing season.<br /> <br />Our third and current garden is 10' x 16' split into two levels (v3.0). The nice part about this garden is that we didn't have to build it... it was here when we moved in! This year is our first season. We started this season in January with a batch of about 50 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidalia_onion">Vidalia onions</a>. Also new this year is we're attempting to grow directly from seeds. I've got a grow light set up in the garage currently growing Black-Seeded Simpson lettuce, Romaine lettuce, and a few varieties of tomatoes. The lettuce isn't doing too well. I think my soil mix isn't doing the job. I opted for a basic coir mix which sprouted the seeds just fine, but failed to grow them beyond 2-4 leafs. I'm going to attempt to grow it again with a different soil mix.<br /> <br />This season is pretty exciting. Lots of new things to try out. How's your garden going?</p> | |
| <p>Update: sorry... couldn't find a picture of v2.0</p> | |
| <p><p><a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/PolS7djCBZUIRzuqpc696XR1jIhPdHPqPW1GoiHSuxXX4PlgdiP4EUXbdsnV/4-20-2005_9-49-15-2-1.jpg"><img src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/d3vUI7MQIhCCTQxkyDE3nhLQKaf2lMlsm6l0DNSvka5XfswahEGVgNWKveEz/4-20-2005_9-49-15-2-1.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" height="332" width="500" /></a></p> | |
| <p><a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/iilpOzUOskzTHCVP7Y1EcQ815wYBgUCLkm1EWw5B4z454BwMVdOQnJQNCYoN/DSC_6541-1.jpg"><img src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/5WOWeJv9JgnWJ1TocemqzSTex7Sys3t1u6KYOlQQFWn8Vk2XxO3udbBAur3F/DSC_6541-1.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" height="332" width="500" /></a></p> | |
| <a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/our-backyard-farm-30">See the full gallery on posterous</a></p> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/our-backyard-farm-30">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/our-backyard-farm-30#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueOur Backyard Farm 3.0basehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/our-backyard-farm-30relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/our-backyard-farm-30updatedSun, 22 Mar 2009 21:42:00 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeMon Mar 23 04:42:00 UTC 2009updated_parsed200932344200820posterous_nicknamemanalangtitleSpring has sprung!posterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| ...and so has this blog. I'm a backyard farmer from Oakland, California. I don't claim to be an expert, just a hobbyist that's looking to grow better fruit and vegetables in the comfort of my own backyard. I guess you can say that I follow <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Waters">Alice Waters'</a> principles of eating what's in season and what's grown locally -- you can't get more local than your own backyard. In this blog, I'm hoping to chronicle my attempt to create an edible organic garden and hopefully share useful tips for other backyard farmers. This should be fun... I hope you follow along! | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/spring-has-sprung-1">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/spring-has-sprung-1#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>basehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/spring-has-sprung-1posterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| ...and so has this blog. I'm a backyard farmer from Oakland, California. I don't claim to be an expert, just a hobbyist that's looking to grow better fruit and vegetables in the comfort of my own backyard. I guess you can say that I follow <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Waters">Alice Waters'</a> principles of eating what's in season and what's grown locally -- you can't get more local than your own backyard. In this blog, I'm hoping to chronicle my attempt to create an edible organic garden and hopefully share useful tips for other backyard farmers. This should be fun... I hope you follow along! | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/spring-has-sprung-1">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/spring-has-sprung-1#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueSpring has sprung!basehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/spring-has-sprung-1relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/spring-has-sprung-1updatedSun, 22 Mar 2009 16:38:42 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeSun Mar 22 23:38:42 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093222338426810headersstatus200 OKcache-controlprivate, max-age=0, must-revalidateconnectionkeep-alivedateMon, 23 Mar 2009 23:51:28 GMTcontent-typeapplication/rss+xml; charset=utf-8etag"093b16aa7f9eb7c7ae7979ca133be5b7"servernginx/0.6.35x-runtime8mscontent-length10863 | |
| <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< | |
| >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> | |
| An exception has occurred for 2:http://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xml: Mysql::Error: Duplicate entry '0' for key 1: INSERT INTO `group_activities` (`updated_at`, `title`, `body`, `action`, `external_id`, `priority`, `url`, `author`, `group_id`, `subject_type`, `subject_id`, `comments_count`, `user_profile_id`, `ratings_average`, `created_at`, `ratings_count`) VALUES('2009-03-20 03:01:04', 'Facebook Poll: 94% Of Users Don’t Like Redesign', 'via techcrunch.com Wow! I can\'t believe Facebook missed the mark by this much. Personally, I like the changes. Permalink | Leave a comment???', 'rss_post', 'http://whybother.posterous.com/facebook-poll-94-of-users-dont-like-redesign', NULL, 'http://whybother.posterous.com/facebook-poll-94-of-users-dont-like-redesign', NULL, 2, 'RssSource', 2, 0, NULL, 0.0, '2009-03-20 03:01:04', 0) | |
| Exception stack trace as follows: ["/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract_adapter.rb:188:in `log'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/mysql_adapter.rb:309:in `execute_without_analyzer'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/gems/josevalim-rails-footnotes-3.4.1/lib/rails-footnotes/notes/queries_note.rb:104:in `execute'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/benchmark.rb:8:in `realtime'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/gems/josevalim-rails-footnotes-3.4.1/lib/rails-footnotes/notes/queries_note.rb:104:in `execute'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/database_statements.rb:171:in `insert_sql'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/mysql_adapter.rb:319:in `insert_sql'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/database_statements.rb:44:in `insert_without_query_dirty'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/query_cache.rb:18:in `insert'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/base.rb:2733:in `create_without_callbacks'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/callbacks.rb:237:in `create_without_timestamps'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/timestamp.rb:29:in `create'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/base.rb:2699:in `create_or_update_without_callbacks'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/callbacks.rb:222:in `create_or_update'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/base.rb:2383:in `save_without_validation'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/validations.rb:1009:in `save_without_dirty'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/dirty.rb:79:in `save_without_transactions'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:179:in `send'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:179:in `with_transaction_returning_status'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/database_statements.rb:66:in `transaction'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:129:in `transaction'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:138:in `transaction'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:178:in `with_transaction_returning_status'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:146:in `save'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:158:in `rollback_active_record_state!'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:146:in `save'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/lib/group_activity_feeder.rb:128:in `import_rss_source'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/lib/group_activity_feeder.rb:104:in `each'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/lib/group_activity_feeder.rb:104:in `import_rss_source'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association_collection.rb:359:in `method_missing_without_paginate'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association_proxy.rb:212:in `method_missing'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association_proxy.rb:212:in `each'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association_proxy.rb:212:in `send'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association_proxy.rb:212:in `method_missing'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association_collection.rb:359:in `method_missing_without_paginate'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/plugins/will_paginate/lib/will_paginate/finder.rb:164:in `method_missing'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/lib/group_activity_feeder.rb:99:in `import_rss_source'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/lib/group_activity_feeder.rb:71:in `import_rss_sources_in_batch'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/lib/group_activity_feeder.rb:71:in `each'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/lib/group_activity_feeder.rb:71:in `import_rss_sources_in_batch'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/lib/group_activity_feeder.rb:49:in `import_rss'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/lib/group_activity_feeder.rb:47:in `initialize'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/lib/group_activity_feeder.rb:47:in `new'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/lib/group_activity_feeder.rb:47:in `import_rss'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/lib/group_activity_feeder.rb:46:in `each'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/lib/group_activity_feeder.rb:46:in `import_rss'", "(irb):1:in `irb_binding'", "/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/irb/workspace.rb:52:in `irb_binding'", "/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/irb/workspace.rb:52"] | |
| Data: status200hrefhttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlencodingutf-8feedtitlewhy bother?subtitle_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueenhancing your experience since 2003basehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlsubtitleenhancing your experience since 2003title_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvaluewhy bother?basehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlgenerator_detailnameposterous.comlinkshrefhttp://whybother.posterous.comrelalternatetypetext/htmlgeneratorposterous.comlinkhttp://whybother.posterous.combozofalsemodified_timeetag"b864d73105bf68e45183a602bfaf12bf"namespacesversionrss20updatedentriesposterous_nicknamemanalangtitleFacebook Poll: 94% Of Users Don’t Like Redesignposterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <img src="http://www.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/fbpoll.jpg" height="" width="500" /><div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/19/facebook-polls-users-on-redesign-94-hate-it/">techcrunch.com</a></div> | |
| <p>Wow! I can't believe Facebook missed the mark by this much. Personally, I like the changes.</p></div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/facebook-poll-94-of-users-dont-like-redesign">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/facebook-poll-94-of-users-dont-like-redesign#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>basehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://whybother.posterous.com/facebook-poll-94-of-users-dont-like-redesignposterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <img src="http://www.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/fbpoll.jpg" height="" width="500" /><div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/19/facebook-polls-users-on-redesign-94-hate-it/">techcrunch.com</a></div> | |
| <p>Wow! I can't believe Facebook missed the mark by this much. Personally, I like the changes.</p></div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/facebook-poll-94-of-users-dont-like-redesign">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/facebook-poll-94-of-users-dont-like-redesign#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueFacebook Poll: 94% Of Users Don’t Like Redesignbasehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://whybother.posterous.com/facebook-poll-94-of-users-dont-like-redesignrelalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://whybother.posterous.com/facebook-poll-94-of-users-dont-like-redesignupdatedThu, 19 Mar 2009 20:01:04 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeFri Mar 20 03:01:04 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093203144790posterous_nicknamemanalangtitleThe Five-Minute Prison Workoutposterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5171115/the-five+minute-prison-workout-keeps-you-fit-in-any-space">lifehacker.com</a></div> | |
| <p>I've gotta start doing this. Who needs a gym?</p></div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/the-five-minute-prison-workout">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/the-five-minute-prison-workout#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>basehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://whybother.posterous.com/the-five-minute-prison-workoutposterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5171115/the-five+minute-prison-workout-keeps-you-fit-in-any-space">lifehacker.com</a></div> | |
| <p>I've gotta start doing this. Who needs a gym?</p></div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/the-five-minute-prison-workout">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/the-five-minute-prison-workout#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueThe Five-Minute Prison Workoutbasehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://whybother.posterous.com/the-five-minute-prison-workoutrelalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://whybother.posterous.com/the-five-minute-prison-workoutupdatedWed, 18 Mar 2009 19:47:47 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeThu Mar 19 02:47:47 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009319247473780posterous_nicknamemanalangtitleBase 36 for shortening URLsposterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <blockquote class="posterous_long_quote"><span>1234567890</span>.<span>to_s</span><span>(</span><span>36</span><span>)</span> <span>#kf12oi</span><br /> <span>"kf12oi"</span>.<span>to_i</span><span>(</span><span>36</span><span>)</span> <span>#1234567890</span></blockquote> | |
| <div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_36">en.wikipedia.org</a></div> | |
| <p>My first ever WikiPedia <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_36#Ruby_Code">contribution</a>! I love the terseness of Ruby. Compare that to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_36#C.23_Conversion_Class">C# example</a> on the same page.</p> | |
| </div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/base-36-for-shortening-urls">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/base-36-for-shortening-urls#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>basehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://whybother.posterous.com/base-36-for-shortening-urlsposterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <blockquote class="posterous_long_quote"><span>1234567890</span>.<span>to_s</span><span>(</span><span>36</span><span>)</span> <span>#kf12oi</span><br /> <span>"kf12oi"</span>.<span>to_i</span><span>(</span><span>36</span><span>)</span> <span>#1234567890</span></blockquote> | |
| <div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_36">en.wikipedia.org</a></div> | |
| <p>My first ever WikiPedia <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_36#Ruby_Code">contribution</a>! I love the terseness of Ruby. Compare that to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_36#C.23_Conversion_Class">C# example</a> on the same page.</p> | |
| </div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/base-36-for-shortening-urls">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/base-36-for-shortening-urls#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueBase 36 for shortening URLsbasehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://whybother.posterous.com/base-36-for-shortening-urlsrelalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://whybother.posterous.com/base-36-for-shortening-urlsupdatedTue, 17 Mar 2009 16:17:00 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeTue Mar 17 23:17:00 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009317231701760posterous_nicknamemanalangtitleJRuby on ABAPposterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| <p>What's next JRuby and COBOL?</p> | |
| <div> | |
| <div>via <a href="http://blog.labnotes.org/">Labnotes</a> by Assaf on 3/17/09</div> | |
| <br /> <strong>Ruby goes ABAP</strong> With the magic of JRuby you should be able to run Ruby on NetWeaver, but SAP is taking Ruby one step further and <a href="https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/wiki?path=/display/Research/BlueRuby">putting Ruby on the ABAP VM</a>. For those who don’t know, the core of the monster is written in ABAP, SAP’s proprietary language. It’s ancient and moldy but if you can get past the smell, very productive. While this won’t make R/3 the next cool platform, it might give a kick for R/3 developers: | |
| <blockquote> | |
| <p>Rather than just running Ruby programs isolated on the ABAP server, Blue Ruby also provides two-way integration with the surrounding ABAP environment - ABAP programs can invoke Ruby code easily and Ruby programs are able to access existing ABAP functionality. However, this integration is strictly controlled by the Blue Ruby VM, turning Blue Ruby into a sandbox inside the ABAP server.</p> | |
| </blockquote> | |
| </div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/jruby-on-abap">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/jruby-on-abap#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>basehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://whybother.posterous.com/jruby-on-abapposterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| <p>What's next JRuby and COBOL?</p> | |
| <div> | |
| <div>via <a href="http://blog.labnotes.org/">Labnotes</a> by Assaf on 3/17/09</div> | |
| <br /> <strong>Ruby goes ABAP</strong> With the magic of JRuby you should be able to run Ruby on NetWeaver, but SAP is taking Ruby one step further and <a href="https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/wiki?path=/display/Research/BlueRuby">putting Ruby on the ABAP VM</a>. For those who don’t know, the core of the monster is written in ABAP, SAP’s proprietary language. It’s ancient and moldy but if you can get past the smell, very productive. While this won’t make R/3 the next cool platform, it might give a kick for R/3 developers: | |
| <blockquote> | |
| <p>Rather than just running Ruby programs isolated on the ABAP server, Blue Ruby also provides two-way integration with the surrounding ABAP environment - ABAP programs can invoke Ruby code easily and Ruby programs are able to access existing ABAP functionality. However, this integration is strictly controlled by the Blue Ruby VM, turning Blue Ruby into a sandbox inside the ABAP server.</p> | |
| </blockquote> | |
| </div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/jruby-on-abap">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/jruby-on-abap#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueJRuby on ABAPbasehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://whybother.posterous.com/jruby-on-abaprelalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://whybother.posterous.com/jruby-on-abapupdatedTue, 17 Mar 2009 12:33:00 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeTue Mar 17 19:33:00 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009317193301760posterous_nicknamemanalangtitleOracle is at the iPhone 3.0 briefingposterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| <a href="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/03/apple-2009-iphone-3-1263-rm.jpg"><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/03/apple-2009-iphone-3-1263-rm.jpg" height="331" width="500" /></a> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/oracle-is-at-the-iphone-30-bri">Permalink</a> | |
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| </p>basehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://whybother.posterous.com/oracle-is-at-the-iphone-30-briposterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| <a href="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/03/apple-2009-iphone-3-1263-rm.jpg"><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/03/apple-2009-iphone-3-1263-rm.jpg" height="331" width="500" /></a> | |
| </p> | |
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| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueOracle is at the iPhone 3.0 briefingbasehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://whybother.posterous.com/oracle-is-at-the-iphone-30-brirelalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://whybother.posterous.com/oracle-is-at-the-iphone-30-briupdatedTue, 17 Mar 2009 10:51:10 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeTue Mar 17 17:51:10 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093171751101760posterous_nicknamemanalangtitleWelcome manalang.com readers!posterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| You found it. Good. Now bookmark it or <a href="http://www.google.com/ig/add?feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwhybother.posterous.com%2Frss.xml">add it to your Google Reader</a>. Great. | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/welcome-manalangcom-readers">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/welcome-manalangcom-readers#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>basehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://whybother.posterous.com/welcome-manalangcom-readersposterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| You found it. Good. Now bookmark it or <a href="http://www.google.com/ig/add?feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwhybother.posterous.com%2Frss.xml">add it to your Google Reader</a>. Great. | |
| </p> | |
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| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueWelcome manalang.com readers!basehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://whybother.posterous.com/welcome-manalangcom-readersrelalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://whybother.posterous.com/welcome-manalangcom-readersupdatedTue, 17 Mar 2009 09:47:58 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeTue Mar 17 16:47:58 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093171647581760posterous_nicknamemanalangtitleShould I stay or should I go now?posterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| I've been contemplating the move to Posterous from my crappy Dreamhost hosted Wordpress <a href="http://manalang.com">blog</a>. I really like the idea of posting by email. I can't believe no one else has made email the center-point for blogging. Anyway, I think I'm going to experiment with Posterous for the next few days to see if it sticks. | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://whybother.posterous.com/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go-n">Permalink</a> | |
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| </p>basehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://whybother.posterous.com/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go-nposterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| I've been contemplating the move to Posterous from my crappy Dreamhost hosted Wordpress <a href="http://manalang.com">blog</a>. I really like the idea of posting by email. I can't believe no one else has made email the center-point for blogging. Anyway, I think I'm going to experiment with Posterous for the next few days to see if it sticks. | |
| </p> | |
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| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueShould I stay or should I go now?basehttp://whybother.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://whybother.posterous.com/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go-nrelalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://whybother.posterous.com/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go-nupdatedMon, 16 Mar 2009 23:51:04 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeTue Mar 17 06:51:04 UTC 2009updated_parsed200931765141760headersstatus200 OKcache-controlprivate, max-age=0, must-revalidateconnectionkeep-alivedateMon, 23 Mar 2009 23:51:28 GMTcontent-typeapplication/rss+xml; charset=utf-8etag"b864d73105bf68e45183a602bfaf12bf"servernginx/0.6.35x-runtime8mscontent-length11751 | |
| <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< | |
| item not found 2: The AppsLab: Had Enough Twitter Yet? | |
| >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> | |
| An exception has occurred for 1:http://theappslab.com/feed: Mysql::Error: Duplicate entry '0' for key 1: INSERT INTO `group_activities` (`updated_at`, `title`, `body`, `action`, `external_id`, `priority`, `url`, `author`, `group_id`, `subject_type`, `subject_id`, `comments_count`, `user_profile_id`, `ratings_average`, `created_at`, `ratings_count`) VALUES('2009-03-23 17:08:34', 'Had Enough Twitter Yet?', 'Twitter is exploding. You’ve probably seen the numbers. 1,382% comparing February 2009 with February 2008. More than 50% from January 2009 to February 2009. By all measures, that’s an insane growth rate. Mainstream media has taken note, and celebrities (and impostors) are flocking to Twitter in droves. Pun intended. Do you have a favorite celebrity you follow? [...]', 'rss_post', 'http://theappslab.com/?p=2633', NULL, 'http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/_RsrNZryrcU/', 'Jake', 2, 'RssSource', 1, 0, NULL, 0.0, '2009-03-23 17:08:34', 0) | |
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"/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/irb/workspace.rb:52:in `irb_binding'", "/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/irb/workspace.rb:52"] | |
| Data: status200hrefhttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabencodingUTF-8feedlanguageentitleThe AppsLabfeedburner_emailserviceidOracleAppslabsy_updateperiodhourlysubtitle_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueDriving Innovationbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabsubtitleDriving Innovationtitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueThe AppsLabbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabfeedburner_feedburnerhostnamehttp://feedburner.google.comgenerator_detailnamehttp://wordpress.org/?v=2.7linkshrefhttp://theappslab.comrelalternatetypetext/htmlsy_updatefrequency1generatorhttp://wordpress.org/?v=2.7linkhttp://theappslab.comatom10_linkupdatedMon, 23 Mar 2009 17:09:16 +0000updated_timeMon Mar 23 17:09:16 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009323179160820bozofalsemodified_timeMon Mar 23 17:25:10 UTC 2009etaglb/Rbf0di70vrfJzxKhuowadrSknamespacesversionrss20updated20093231725100820entriesfeedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/23/2633/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/23/2633/#commentstitleHad Enough Twitter Yet?wfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/23/2633/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueTwitter is exploding. You’ve probably seen the numbers. | |
| 1,382% comparing February 2009 with February 2008. More than 50% from January 2009 to February 2009. | |
| By all measures, that’s an insane growth rate. Mainstream media has taken note, and celebrities (and impostors) are flocking to Twitter in droves. Pun intended. Do you have a favorite celebrity you follow? [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermenterpriseschemelabeltermoratweetschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2633summaryTwitter is exploding. You’ve probably seen the numbers. | |
| 1,382% comparing February 2009 with February 2008. More than 50% from January 2009 to February 2009. | |
| By all measures, that’s an insane growth rate. Mainstream media has taken note, and celebrities (and impostors) are flocking to Twitter in droves. Pun intended. Do you have a favorite celebrity you follow? [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueHad Enough Twitter Yet?basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Twitter is <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/03/16/twitter-growth-rate-versus-facebook/" target="_self">exploding</a>. You’ve probably seen the numbers.</p> | |
| <p>1,382% comparing February 2009 with February 2008. More than 50% from January 2009 to February 2009.</p> | |
| <p>By all measures, that’s an insane growth rate. Mainstream media has taken note, and celebrities (and impostors) are flocking to Twitter in droves. Pun intended. Do you have a favorite celebrity you follow? I enjoy @<a href="http://twitter.com/the_real_shaq" target="_self">THE_REAL_SHAQ</a>.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Do you follow @god?" class="size-full wp-image-2634 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/god.png" height="30" alt="Do you follow @god?" width="292" /></p> | |
| <p>Even <a href="http://twitter.com/god" target="_self">god</a> has an account now, and yes, the lowercase “g” is on purpose. It’s a statement of fact.</p> | |
| <p>Twitter is so common now, it’s quickly replacing Facebook as the pop culture whipping boy of media types. Facebook’s window was pretty small, and they’ve apparently noticed, recently making their <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/" target="_self">interface</a> more micro-bloggy.</p> | |
| <p>Enterprises have noticed too, giving life to companies like <a href="https://www.yammer.com/" target="_self">Yammer</a> and projects like <a href="http://apextoday.blogspot.com/2008/06/post-updates-to-twitter-from-apex-plsql.html" target="_self">OraTweet</a>. There’s even a new category and analysis around the “enterprise micro-blogging” space.</p> | |
| <p>As people rush into Twitter, I wonder if the ah-ha moments are coming more quickly. Like many people I know, I created an account on Twitter and waited. It took several months and a conscious effort to start seeing value. My guess is early adopters all have the same pattern of tweets over time. Sparse early, an inflection point, then ramping up each months thereafter.</p> | |
| <p>As you tweet, you discover the value’s in the network, which is what has made Twitter so tough to quit, even when it was fail whaling every day for hours at a time.</p> | |
| <p>Ah, the good old days.</p> | |
| <p>So, do you think that new tweeters follow the blog posts of their fore-tweeters to get to their own inflection points sooner? Do you think they’re using Twitter for different things? Are the celebrities and media types drawing them to Twitter and keeping their attention?</p> | |
| <p>I don’t really know.</p> | |
| <p>I’ve been watching the adoption of OraTweet with interest. It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, but it does underline the common uses for so-called micro-blogging. Incidentally, will someone please coin a better term for generic tweeting than “micro-blogging”.</p> | |
| <p>Here are the common cases I’ve observed:</p> | |
| <ol> | |
| <li>Frustration</li> | |
| <li>Communication</li> | |
| <li>Seeking and Sharing Information</li> | |
| <li>Work Streaming</li> | |
| </ol> | |
| <p>With the exception of 4, these are all very common on Twitter as well. 4 represents a unique use case inside the firewall, and I expect to see it grow over time as people discover they can broadcast how busy they are to the whole company, erm anyone listening.</p> | |
| <p>I’m kidding, a little. OraTweet is highly useful for distributed teams to broadcast issues and updates to the entire project team. This was one of its first and best <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/08/26/social-observations-oratweet-edition/" target="_self">uses</a>.</p> | |
| <p>Not surprisingly 2 (Communication) is finding a home inside the firewall. Hutch Carpenter has an interesting <a href="http://bhc3.wordpress.com/2009/03/13/microblogging-will-marginalize-corporate-email/" target="_self">look</a> at how micro-blogging (yuck) is pushing email to the margins inside many companies. I can’t say I’ve noticed this yet here, judging by my inbox, but OraTweet has added another channel for communication.</p> | |
| <p>The new channel fits in between email and IM for communication that isn’t super important (i.e. you can keep it to 140 characters and sloppy writing) or immediate (i.e. you don’t need a pingback right this moment). This actually fits a high percentage of the water cooler/hallway/stop-by-your-cubicle communication that I remember from when I sat in an office, which leads me to wonder if remote workers are adopting more quickly to re-socialize their work time.</p> | |
| <p>Regardless of how we find value in OraTweet, another tool inside the firewall, or Twitter, people are still having trouble getting that it’s public. Hutch had <a href="http://bhc3.wordpress.com/2009/03/17/how-to-tweet-your-way-out-of-a-job/" target="_self">another</a> example of tweeting yourself in the foot last week. Tough to feel bad for someone high-hatting a job offer in this economy.</p> | |
| <p>Remember to <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/01/20/tweet-with-care/" target="_self">tweet with care</a> people.</p> | |
| <p>So, your thoughts on: Twitter’s growth, your own experiences, enterprise adoption, how you find value, how much you dislike Twitter, tweeting yourself in the foot, unfortunate mishaps, and everything else belong in the comments.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=_RsrNZryrcU:NdNHpoH_gos:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=_RsrNZryrcU:NdNHpoH_gos:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=_RsrNZryrcU:NdNHpoH_gos:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/_RsrNZryrcU" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/_RsrNZryrcU/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/_RsrNZryrcU/updatedMon, 23 Mar 2009 17:08:34 +0000updated_timeMon Mar 23 17:08:34 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009323178340820feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/20/web-mission-is-coming/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/20/web-mission-is-coming/#commentstitleWeb Mission is Comingwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/20/web-mission-is-coming/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueAs he did last year, Paul will be speaking during the Oracle portion of this year’s Web Mission, which runs March 28-April 3. | |
| What is Web Mission? Glad you asked, from the about: | |
| Web Mission is organized Bronwyn Kunhardt and James Lawn from the market intelligence company Polecat (www.polecatting.com) and by serial entrepreneur, Oli Barrett. Each [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermoracleschemelabeltermwebmissionschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2624summaryAs he did last year, Paul will be speaking during the Oracle portion of this year’s Web Mission, which runs March 28-April 3. | |
| What is Web Mission? Glad you asked, from the about: | |
| Web Mission is organized Bronwyn Kunhardt and James Lawn from the market intelligence company Polecat (www.polecatting.com) and by serial entrepreneur, Oli Barrett. Each [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueWeb Mission is Comingbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="Web Mission" class="size-full wp-image-2626 alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/webmission.png" height="84" alt="Web Mission" width="218" />As he did last year, Paul will be speaking during the Oracle portion of this year’s <a href="http://webmission.co.uk" target="_self">Web Mission</a>, which runs March 28-April 3.</p> | |
| <p>What is Web Mission? Glad you asked, from the <a href="http://webmission.co.uk/about/" target="_self">about</a>:</p> | |
| <blockquote> | |
| <p class="MsoListParagraph"><em>Web Mission is organized Bronwyn Kunhardt and James Lawn from the market intelligence company Polecat (<a href="http://www.polecatting.com/">www.polecatting.com</a>) and by serial entrepreneur, Oli Barrett. Each year, Web Mission seeks to introduce 20 of the best Web 2.0 companies to the many inspiring people and supportive Web 2.0 networks which exist in Silicon Valley. The aim is to support the companies to:</em></p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li><em>Facilitate meetings with local investors</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Meet and mingle with Silicon Valley movers and shakers relevant to their organization and growth plans</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Discuss their business with leading journalists</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Spend quality time with like-minded people on the web scene</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Explore how to succeed in the US market</em></li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p><em>The successful companies are short-listed by judges such as Doug Richard, Mike Butcher from TechCrunch and with input from the Web Mission sponsors. The sponsors include technology companies, media companies, financial and legal organizations. They are complemented by a host of Partners who provide specialist support to the event.</em></p></blockquote> | |
| <p>Oh yeah, these companies are UK-based, and this is a trade mission of sorts, backed by the UK government to help incubate UK technology startups. Apparently, the event is backed by British politicos, and the companies will enjoy an evening at the British Consulate in San Francisco, among other things.</p> | |
| <p>But wait, there’s more.</p> | |
| <p>The <a href="http://webmission.co.uk/agenda-2009/" target="_self">agenda</a> is packed. The lucky company reps leave the UK on March 28 and return on April 4. In between, they’ll be visiting Oracle on April 1 to hear Paul and a host of other Oracle people chat, and they’ll be at the <a href="http://www.web2expo.com/" target="_self">Web 2.0 Expo</a> on April 2.</p> | |
| <p>Looking at the agenda makes me tired. The days are fully booked, and by the end, these people will be stuffed full of entrepreneurial advice and information. Sounds like a valuable, but potentially exhausting trip. Then again, these are startup people, so they’re used to burning the candle at both ends.</p> | |
| <p>Who are these lucky companies?</p> | |
| <p>Here’s a checklist of the companies who are attending Web Mission 2009.</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.artesiansolutions.com/">www.artesiansolutions.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.businessitonline.com/">www.businessitonline.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.cereproc.com/">www.cereproc.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.coclarity.com/">www.coclarity.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.complianceandrisks.com/">www.complianceandrisks.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.concrete-media.com/">www.concrete-media.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.corebridge.com/">www.corebridge.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.freshnetworks.com/">www.freshnetworks.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.mtivity.com/">www.mtivity.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.proofhq.com/">www.proofhq.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.replify.com/">www.replify.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.sift.com/">www.sift.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.sosius.com/">www.sosius.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.tactilecrm.com/">www.tactilecrm.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.viapost.com/">www.viapost.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.yuuguu.com/">www.yuuguu.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.zemanta.com/">www.zemanta.com</a></li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>Two alumni from Web Mission 2008</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.huddle.net/">www.huddle.net</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.trampolinesystems.com/">www.trampolinesystems.com</a></li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/RWnbYG3Id1E" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/RWnbYG3Id1E/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/RWnbYG3Id1E/updatedFri, 20 Mar 2009 17:23:02 +0000updated_timeFri Mar 20 17:23:02 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009320172324790feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/19/ignore-your-competition-focus-on-the-stable/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/19/ignore-your-competition-focus-on-the-stable/#commentstitleIgnore Your Competition, Focus on the Stablewfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/19/ignore-your-competition-focus-on-the-stable/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvaluePhoto Credit: FoxTongue | |
| I watched a recent interview with Jeff Bezos on Charlie Rose the other day. In it, he was questioned as to how he, against the odds, “beat” the various etailers of the day pushing books online. His answer was fantastically elegant and straight forward. He is fanatical about aligning his organization to his [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabelauthorPaulidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2617summaryPhoto Credit: FoxTongue | |
| I watched a recent interview with Jeff Bezos on Charlie Rose the other day. In it, he was questioned as to how he, against the odds, “beat” the various etailers of the day pushing books online. His answer was fantastically elegant and straight forward. He is fanatical about aligning his organization to his [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueIgnore Your Competition, Focus on the Stablebasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="2657434642_543c30685f" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-2619" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/2657434642_543c30685f-300x216.jpg" height="216" alt="2657434642_543c30685f" width="300" /></p> | |
| <h5><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxtongue/2657434642/">Photo Credit: FoxTongue</a></h5> | |
| <p>I watched a recent interview with <a href="http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/8784">Jeff Bezos on Charlie Rose</a> the other day. In it, he was questioned as to how he, against the odds, “beat” the various etailers of the day pushing books online. His answer was fantastically elegant and straight forward. He is fanatical about aligning his organization to his customer’s needs. This may mean making short term decisions that do not align with shareholders, and if you are an Amazon customer (and I am for life) you have probably experienced this via their incredible return process. However, he feels that in the long run, there is always alignment between customers and shareholders. Brilliant.</p> | |
| <p>Now you may be thinking, oh I have heard the customer-centric story before. The good news is that Jeff went a bit deeper into their actual approach to a customer driven business. In essence, he focuses his organization on <strong>excelling at the things customers want that do not shift over time</strong>. To Amazon, that means, wide product selection, low price and fast delivery - those will always be important to his customer. In his words, “I can’t imagine a customer saying, I really like Amazon, but I wish their prices were higher”. I should note that this concept applies to software as well, as conveyed recently by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQFPMuZ7hl4">Jason Fried</a> in his talk at the Business of Software Conference, only for him, the unchanging were things like ease of use and performance.</p> | |
| <p>Back to Bezos - The other lesson conveyed subtly was to <strong>ignore the competition</strong>. You may be sitting there saying, oh yeah, that sounds great, but I can’t ignore my competition. I need to know what they are doing so I can contrast the differences to my customers or so I can talk credibly to the analysts. On that point, I would agree, but it is a matter of intent and degree. The problem arises when you use that competitive gaze to consume all your time <em>or to drive your strategy</em>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Porter">Michael Porter</a> may disagree, but strategy, from my perspective, must be driven primarily from your customers needs. Everything else is secondary.</p> | |
| <p>The intersting thing about these notions is that they are in many ways ignored by companies of all shapes and sizes. Far too often I see firms chasing market hype or the latest competitive move in a copycat feature race to oblivion, while customers sit on the sidelines with their popcorn. Competitor A adds AJAX, we need it. Competitor B has a Facebook app, we gotta have it. Competitor C is on demand, let’s get on it. Perhaps it is just easier or more fun to spend time talking to your co-workers about cool new features as opposed to reaching out to customers and potentially hearing about what you can do better. Who wants to hear that right?</p> | |
| <p>As you ponder this you may be tempted to return to your cozy old ways of thinking and acting. The usual line that I hear to counter this approach, is that customers really don’t know what they want anyway, so why ask them. That comment is usually followed up with something pithy like “Would a customer have asked for the ipod?”. To that I say, rubbish. Customers are very bright and if you talked to a few you might have already known that.</p> | |
| <p><span>Let me leave you with three simple reasons why a strategy driven by competition is a fools errand:</span></p> | |
| <p><strong>1. Time Is Limited:</strong> Every moment you spend on our competition is time you could have spent working with a customer.</p> | |
| <p><strong>2. Competitors Could Be Wrong:</strong> The strategy they are implementing, and you are choosing to follow, could be off the mark and a total waste of time and money. Oftentimes we think people at other companies are smarter than us - that could be wrong too.</p> | |
| <p><strong>3. Your Strategy Must Be Yours: </strong>Not all companies are created equal. Each has their own assets, skills, resources, relationships and more, that they can, and should, bring to bear on a strategy. If you copy your competitor you just may be ignoring your best assets and playing a game on their home turf. If you have a great running game, do you play a passing offense because that is what the other team is doing? The answer is obvious and no different for business.</p> | |
| <p>In the end, my favorite part of this is the simplicity. As humans, we love complex things. They make us feel smart and special, but more and more, in life and in business simple wins the day.</p> | |
| <p>Now where is my phone, I need to call a customer…</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/r9-VLtboEjk" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/r9-VLtboEjk/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/r9-VLtboEjk/updatedThu, 19 Mar 2009 17:32:44 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 19 17:32:44 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093191732443780feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/i-might-pay-for-jotnot/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/i-might-pay-for-jotnot/#commentstitleI Might Pay for JotNotwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/i-might-pay-for-jotnot/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueThere are very few times when I read something and think to myself, I must blog this immediately and tell as many people as possible. | |
| This is one of those few times. | |
| JotNot is a web service that converts pictures into documents. Send a picture to them by email or upload one to their website and get [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermappsschemelabeltermimagesschemelabeltermiphoneschemelabeltermjotnotschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2611summaryThere are very few times when I read something and think to myself, I must blog this immediately and tell as many people as possible. | |
| This is one of those few times. | |
| JotNot is a web service that converts pictures into documents. Send a picture to them by email or upload one to their website and get [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueI Might Pay for JotNotbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>There are very few times when I read something and think to myself, I must blog this immediately and tell as many people as possible.</p> | |
| <p>This is one of those few times.</p> | |
| <p><a href="http://www.jotnot.com/" target="_self">JotNot</a> is a web service that converts pictures into documents. Send a picture to them by email or upload one to their website and get back a Word or pdf version. Not a big deal, there are other services that do this.</p> | |
| <p>This service is good for transferring information on a whiteboard into something you can distribute, and believe it or not, this happens quite frequently and is a constant frustration for telecommuters who aren’t “in the room”.</p> | |
| <p>It’s also good for scanning, if you don’t have a scanner.</p> | |
| <p><img title="JotNot's blue box, captured from iTunes app page" class="size-full wp-image-2612 alignleft" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/bluebox.png" height="289" alt="JotNot's blue box, captured from iTunes app page" width="201" /><img title="Enhanced image, captured from iTunes app page" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2613" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/enhanced.png" height="289" alt="Enhanced image, captured from iTunes app page" width="201" /></p> | |
| <p>Now, h/t <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/17/jotnot-turns-your-iphones-camera-into-a-document-scanner/" target="_self">TechCrunch</a>, they have an iPhone <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=307868751&mt=8" target="_self">app</a> (iTunes link).</p> | |
| <p>The app sounds very simple. Take a picture (or import one). Use the blue box presented by the app to indicate the area you want captured. Then wait as the app does its processing magic, correcting for lighting, color, and even perspective. Very cool.</p> | |
| <p>Unfortunately, this app costs $3.99, and I have yet to pay for an iPhone app. I’m still not over the initial sticker shock, my prerogative as an OG iPhone guy who paid full boat back in July 2007. However, this app tempts me to get over my desire for full amortization.</p> | |
| <p>If you read here, you know I prefer iPhone apps that perform <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/12/23/iphone-apps-for-units-of-work/" target="_self">units of work</a>, and usually, I can see value in these apps, even if I don’t have a specific use case or pain point in mind. JotNot hits two, very real pain points for me, and I’m pretty sure one or both apply to you as well.</p> | |
| <p><strong>Pain Point 1</strong><br /> | |
| The JotNot web service doesn’t meet my needs for whiteboard pictures. Why? Because typically, there’s sensitive information on that whiteboard, and it shouldn’t reside on outside servers.</p> | |
| <p>Yeah, it may not seem like a huge deal, but I like my job <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> </p> | |
| <p>The JotNot iPhone app does all its processing on the device. So, no worries about leaking the top secret designs for the next version of Connect.</p> | |
| <p>I could have used this app the last time Paul, Rich, Anthony and I sat in a conference room in Pleasanton, brainstorming Connect’s direction. We ended up with about five picture’s worth of whiteboard content, which I then had to email for posterity. Corrections for my bad photography would have been nice.</p> | |
| <p>There have also been several times when people have told me “I have it all on my whiteboard”, which didn’t really help me, since I’m not even in the same state as your whiteboard. It would have been nice to get a picture of that whiteboard.</p> | |
| <p><strong>Pain Point 2</strong><br /> | |
| We recently switched to scanning expense receipts. This is a bit problematic for home-based people unless there happens to be a scanner or an all-in-one in the house. In some rare cases, the all-in-one may be old enough not have any Mac or Linux drivers, making its scanning functions useless (and yes, I tried with a VM, no luck).</p> | |
| <p>This makes scanning receipts a challenge. I could use the JotNot web service, since receipts aren’t confidential, or the iPhone app, my choice. The one drawback of the iPhone app is that (I assume) the processed image format is jpg, just like all the iPhone camera images are.</p> | |
| <p>We need to submit receipts in pdf form. So, there would be an additional step required to transfer (or mail) it for conversion to pdf.</p> | |
| <p>Even so, as a guy who used to travel five days a week and struggled to keep current with expenses, I see huge value in this app. Consultants and sales people who live on the road can’t always predict when they will be able to scan receipts.</p> | |
| <p>JotNot would definitely help nomadic workers who live on the road and in hotels.</p> | |
| <p>So, color me impressed. Find the comments to add your two cents. Add enough, and I’ll use it buy this app.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/FoWwLTmUXFE" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/FoWwLTmUXFE/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/FoWwLTmUXFE/updatedWed, 18 Mar 2009 21:06:22 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 18 21:06:22 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009318216222770feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/ted-on-play/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/ted-on-play/#commentstitleTED on Playwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/ted-on-play/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueI am spending some cycles these days thinking on the integration of play and work. I happen to believe that there is some real magic to be had here for organizations and for firms looking to supply the next generation of software. Sure making work a game seems a bit out there (I get that), [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabelauthorPaulidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2608summaryI am spending some cycles these days thinking on the integration of play and work. I happen to believe that there is some real magic to be had here for organizations and for firms looking to supply the next generation of software. Sure making work a game seems a bit out there (I get that), [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueTED on Playbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>I am spending some cycles these days thinking on the integration of play and work. I happen to believe that there is some real magic to be had here for organizations and for firms looking to supply the next generation of software. Sure making work a game seems a bit out there (I get that), and I guess I could go back to thinking about RSS and Twitter, but I think that is pretty well covered by a host of others. Knowing my current fascination with this topic, <a href="http://theappslab.com/about/">Jake </a>passed along this TED talk by Stuart Brown:</p> | |
| <p><span></span></p> | |
| <p>Although I agree whole heartily with the message, and his story about the wild polar bear playing with huskies is incredible (watch it just for that), the section on the integration of play into our adulthood was sorely lacking in actionable information. We are told the diagnosis (”Play is important to everyone”), but are abruptly kicked out of the hospital without any treatment and a draft from the back of our robe. To be fair, Stuart did share some work done in his class on play at Stanford that endeavored to connect play with adult work life. The short video showed how his students would “re-invent” the meeting.</p> | |
| <p>As the video rolled, I was hoping for something incredible, and unfortunately was left feeling frustrated. The idea presented by the students was to put on full body white painters overalls and then use dry erase markers to keep notes on each other during the meeting. Sure, set to music and fast motion editing, it seems fun, but I think it hurts our cause more than helping it. No “serious” executive will ever see that as anything but a waste of time. <em>In fact, no one that works anywhere, at any level, would see this as valuable</em>. I am sure it was fun to do, but if we want to make any inroads we simply cannot ignore the firm footing “getting something done” has in the mindset of the modern worker.</p> | |
| <p>To give credit where it is due, they are at least trying. Just because we do not have a great solution today, does not mean that the problem does not exist. The imbalance of play and purpose that most people feel at work cannot be ignored. These are just the crude early efforts. My sense is that we will have to take smaller, bite size approaches of integrating play with work for it to be effective, but that does not mean that more ambitious concepts like the one presented at Stanford will not provide the fodder for more practical initiatives.</p> | |
| <p>In my next post I will give a practical example of how I think play can be integrated with a product management role inside a company. Stay tuned.</p> | |
| <p>——————————</p> | |
| <p>Cross Posted to <a href="http://gamethemachine.com/2009/03/18/ted-on-play/">GameTheMachine</a></p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/DnqRLBT0DuU" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/DnqRLBT0DuU/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/DnqRLBT0DuU/updatedWed, 18 Mar 2009 17:06:20 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 18 17:06:20 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009318176202770feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/17/i-want-vli/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/17/i-want-vli/#commentstitleI Want VLIwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/17/i-want-vli/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueBack in 2006 while on a trip to HQ, I sat in a meeting with some folks from the User Experience (UX) team. I don’t remember exactly what the purpose of the meeting was, but we wandered off topic and were just bouncing ideas off each other. | |
| I threw out the idea of a zero interface, [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermapisschemelabeltermconnectschemelabeltermrestschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabeltermuischemelabeltermvlischemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2599summaryBack in 2006 while on a trip to HQ, I sat in a meeting with some folks from the User Experience (UX) team. I don’t remember exactly what the purpose of the meeting was, but we wandered off topic and were just bouncing ideas off each other. | |
| I threw out the idea of a zero interface, [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueI Want VLIbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Back in 2006 while on a trip to HQ, I sat in a meeting with some folks from the User Experience (UX) team. I don’t remember exactly what the purpose of the meeting was, but we wandered off topic and were just bouncing ideas off each other.</p> | |
| <p>I threw out the idea of a zero interface, erm very little interface (VLI), which understandably did not go over well. Not the best audience in hindsight. Looking at Twitter’s astounding <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/13/whoa-twitter-mania/" target="_self">growth</a>, I wonder how much can be attributed to their laissez faire attitude and very functional API, which has created an ecosystem of apps around them.</p> | |
| <p><img title="I'm always reminded of Joey from Friends "How you doin'?"" class="size-full wp-image-2601 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/vli.png" height="71" alt="I'm always reminded of Joey from Friends "How you doin'?"" width="529" /></p> | |
| <p>Granted, Twitter has a pretty <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/03/10/twitter-free-pr/" target="_self">limited</a> feature set, which makes it much easier for them to implement a VLI, but that combined with their openness has bread success. This is a repeatable formula.</p> | |
| <p>I’m a big believer in simplicity in UI, frequently preferring a command line interface (CLI) to a UI. Obviously, zero interface is an impossibility, which is why I’m using the term VLI. Using Twitter as an analog again, Twitter.com is very simplistic. In fact, they haven’t integrated twitter.search.com (formerly Summize), nor do they track all @ replies.</p> | |
| <p>However, their API is very functional, <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/16/tweetdeck-adds-facebook-whats-next/" target="_self">allowing</a> client apps like <a href="http://tweetdeck.com" target="_self">TweetDeck</a> to replace (and augment) the twitter.com feature set. The only piece they’ve kept closed is account creation and management, and now that <a href="http://oauth.net/" target="_self">OAuth</a> integration is in <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/16/twitters-oauth-support-now-in-public-beta/" target="_self">public beta</a>, who knows if they’ll open pieces of profile management as well.</p> | |
| <p>Twitter.com <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/19/the-top-21-twitter-clients-according-to-twitstat/" target="_self">remains</a> the most popular way to tweet, although its share has <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/19/the-top-21-twitter-clients-according-to-twitstat/" target="_self">fallen</a> from 55% in April 2008 to 32% in February 2009. Granted, it’s difficult to track traffic accurately, so this is an unscientific measure. As an aside, I wonder which client benefited the most from the <a href="http://status.twitter.com/post/53978711/im-not-coming-soon" target="_self">loss</a> of IM as a client?</p> | |
| <p>And all bets are off, if Twitter decides to monetize the pageviews. That would be interesting.</p> | |
| <p>So, what have we learned? VLI isn’t about interface at all. It’s about data.</p> | |
| <p>Data make your app valuable. Interface is a byproduct of data.</p> | |
| <p>If you’ve ever built UI, you know how tough it is to balance usability with functionality. Throw users into the mix, and you have a whole lot of must-have requirements that don’t play nicely with each other.</p> | |
| <p>Enter the second tenant of VLI, open APIs.</p> | |
| <p>You must give your users (specifically, their developers) that ability to remix the data.</p> | |
| <p>This has been our goal for Connect. We haven’t been able to keep the UI as simple as Twitter’s because as a new app, we needed a more functional UI so our new users could get what Connect was.</p> | |
| <p>However, as our user base has grown, we’ve added REST APIs for the user data, which has spawned <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/12/17/two-great-tastes-that-taste-great-together/" target="_self">integrations</a> with a few other apps, e.g. OraTweet. <a href="http://apextoday.blogspot.com/" target="_self">Noel</a> has followed the same principles too, producing APIs for OraTweet that we consume.</p> | |
| <p>As Connect’s user base grows, more people have asked about using the APIs we produce because they have specific uses and don’t expect (or want) us to extend Connect to support them.</p> | |
| <p>We do benefit from the security blanket of being behind the firewall, and if Twitter’s growth is an indication, I expect to see lots more demand for Connect data in the next year-ish.</p> | |
| <p>So, what do you about VLI? Are you a more traditional UI person? If so, call me out in comments.</p> | |
| <p><em>Update: As Andy C points out in <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/17/i-want-vli/comment-page-1/#comment-7304697" target="_self">comments</a>, Twitter isn’t as open when compared to open source projects like <a href="http://laconi.ca/" target="_self">Laconica</a>, although that’s not really the point of the post. My goal is to examine a for-profit (an assumption in Twitter’s case) service and its approach to APIs and interface. The model is interesting to me, similar to one that I’ve proposed in the past and one we’ve tried to model with our work on Connect.</em></p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/uNH1sK_W1JA" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/uNH1sK_W1JA/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/uNH1sK_W1JA/updatedTue, 17 Mar 2009 22:38:48 +0000updated_timeTue Mar 17 22:38:48 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093172238481760feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/16/tweetdeck-adds-facebook-whats-next/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/16/tweetdeck-adds-facebook-whats-next/#commentstitleTweetDeck Adds Facebook, What’s Next?wfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/16/tweetdeck-adds-facebook-whats-next/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueAs is usual during the weeks before and during South by Southwest, there are a lot of product announcements. | |
| I’m not quite sure how/when it happened, but SXSW Interactive has become a nexus of startup activity and geekery, e.g. Twitter’s first bump came when the service won the SXSW Web Awards in 2007. | |
| So, it’s become a [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermapisschemelabeltermfacebookschemelabeltermtweetdeckschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2593summaryAs is usual during the weeks before and during South by Southwest, there are a lot of product announcements. | |
| I’m not quite sure how/when it happened, but SXSW Interactive has become a nexus of startup activity and geekery, e.g. Twitter’s first bump came when the service won the SXSW Web Awards in 2007. | |
| So, it’s become a [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueTweetDeck Adds Facebook, What’s Next?basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="TweetDeck" class="size-full wp-image-2597 alignleft" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/tweetdeck_128.png" height="128" alt="TweetDeck" width="128" />As is usual during the weeks before and during <a href="http://sxsw.com/home" target="_self">South by Southwest</a>, there are a lot of product announcements.</p> | |
| <p>I’m not quite sure how/when it happened, but <a href="http://sxsw.com/interactive" target="_self">SXSW Interactive</a> has become a nexus of startup activity and geekery, e.g. Twitter’s first bump came when the service <a href="http://blog.twitter.com/2007/03/we-won.html" target="_self">won</a> the SXSW Web Awards in 2007.</p> | |
| <p>So, it’s become a yearly rush of new feature and new company announcements. This year, not so many new companies, but plenty of new features. Over the last week plus, going into SXSW, and in its first few days, I’ve collected a bunch of topics for further thought that may turn into blog posts.</p> | |
| <p>But today, one item caught my attention, and I wanted to riff on it before it went cold.</p> | |
| <p><a href="http://www.tweetdeck.com/beta/" target="_self">TweetDeck</a>, the <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/19/the-top-21-twitter-clients-according-to-twitstat/" target="_self">most popular</a> Twitter client and the one I use, released a <a href="http://tweetdeck.posterous.com/tweetdeck-v024-pre-release-facebook-integrati" target="_self">beta version</a> (h/t Frederic Lardinois at <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/twitterization_of_facebook_on_the_desktop.php" target="_self">RWW</a>) that integrates with Facebook Connect, allowing you to view your News Feed in one of its columns. Also, you can now choose to post updates from TweetDeck to Facebook, making TweetDeck a Facebook status client.</p> | |
| <p>Updates can be sent to both Twitter and Facebook, effectively removing the need for the Twitter Facebook application, and ensuring that both your networks will stay updated on your activity. He said with more than a hint of sarcasm <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> </p> | |
| <p>If you’re wondering, TweetDeck does not post updates beginning with @ to Facebook, which makes sense, since they’re out of context. It does not, however, ignore updates that contain @ after the first character though, which should be an enhancement later. Then again, Twitter doesn’t officially track replies @ you unless they begin with @, which is one reason why AIR clients and Summize (now <a href="http://search.twitter.com" target="_self">Twitter Search</a>) are so popular for tracking those @ replies.</p> | |
| <p>This is mildly cool, if you use both services and want to broadcast to Facebook like you do to Twitter. The <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/" target="_self">recent</a> UI changes to Facebook aim to make it more like Twitter and FriendFeed, which is sure to appeal to existing users of those services; the jury is out on whether the masses on Facebook will take to the life-streaming, micro-blogging approach.</p> | |
| <p>I’m guessing they will, eventually, since Facebook has so much momentum right now.</p> | |
| <p>I like the implementation overall. It’s smooth and easy to use, and it fits within TweetDeck easily. My main beef is that it adds yet another column to an already real estate hungry app. I can only show four TweetDeck columns as it is, and now I have another that I might want to see competing for screen time.</p> | |
| <p>I’m not sure how to solve this problem, other than with a <a href="http://store.apple.com/us/product/M9179LL/A" target="_self">cinema display</a>. Christmas might have to come early.</p> | |
| <p>None of this is terribly interesting to me though.</p> | |
| <p>What got me about TweetDeck’s new version its potential to marginalize the networks themselves. Bear with me here.</p> | |
| <p>TweetDeck’s main appeal over any other Twitter AIR client (<a href="http://www.alertthingy.com/" target="_self">AlertThingy</a>, <a href="http://www.twhirl.org/" target="_self">Twhirl</a>, etc.) is its implementation of groups, something that is sorely needed for Twitter. Having groups allows you to control what you follow and to organize the chaos that Twitter can become once you follow a few hundred people (or sooner).</p> | |
| <p>Twitter seems fine with allowing TweetDeck to fill this vacuum, and even though TweetDeck is the top Twitter client, it lags well behind twitter.com for overall traffic to Twitter.</p> | |
| <p>Enter Facebook updates. My logical conclusion is that I should be able to add Facebook friends to my existing groups. This isn’t the case in the beta release, but image how useful that would for a person who uses both services frequently. You could focus your attention on the people who mattered most, regardless of the service they prefer to use.</p> | |
| <p>For example, Paul uses Facebook more than Twitter. I rarely see his updates to Facebook because I prefer Twitter. To communicate, one of us has to use his second choice in networks. If TweetDeck supported groups across services, we could each use our first choice in networks for communicating.</p> | |
| <p>TweetDeck already supports a host of Twitter features, including follows, favorites, directs and even search, which Twitter has yet to integrate into twitter.com. About the only thing you can’t do with TweetDeck is create and manage your account. Otherwise, it’s fully operational.</p> | |
| <p>I seriously doubt that Facebook will expose this much functionality to apps like TweetDeck, but the more they add, the less traffic they serve directly. Less traffic means less clout with advertisers, which is not good for business.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, I’m very curious to see how this Facebook client integration progresses. Logically, it makes sense for Facebook to open up some of their data to clients, since the model has already been proven. After all, of their user population, only a small percentage will choose clients over facebook.com.</p> | |
| <p>At least that’s the way it looks now. Things change quickly though. This time last week, I would have been laughed at the idea of a Facebook client.</p> | |
| <p>Find the comments and share your thoughts.</p> | |
| <p><em>Update: A day after TweetDeck’s beta, <a href="http://alertthingy.com/" target="_self">AlertThingy</a>, another AIR app for monitoring Twitter and FriendFeed, added Facebook, Flickr and Digg contacts and custom groups to their offering. Significantly, their groups support contacts from multiple networks (h/t <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/alertthingy_goes_head_to_head_with_tweetdeck.php" target="_self">RWW</a>).</em></p> | |
| <p><em>I may have to go back to AlertThingy, which I tried about a year ago when they produced the first FriendFeed app. I quickly stopped using it because I just can’t keep up with FriendFeed, not anything to do with AlertThingy.</em></p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/IKdlniOCUuA" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/IKdlniOCUuA/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/IKdlniOCUuA/updatedTue, 17 Mar 2009 04:31:12 +0000updated_timeTue Mar 17 04:31:12 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009317431121760feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/14/anatomy-of-a-spam-attack/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/14/anatomy-of-a-spam-attack/#commentstitleAnatomy of a Spam Attackwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/14/anatomy-of-a-spam-attack/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueYesterday, I did some browsing of the web analytics for this blog to get comparison numbers for the browser stats I had for Connect. | |
| Today, I went back to do a little more digging and some navel-gazing | |
| We use Google Analytics, which I prefer to Mint for web metrics. It has loads of metrics beyond [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermanalyticsschemelabeltermdisqusschemelabeltermspamschemelabeltermweb metricsschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2584summaryYesterday, I did some browsing of the web analytics for this blog to get comparison numbers for the browser stats I had for Connect. | |
| Today, I went back to do a little more digging and some navel-gazing | |
| We use Google Analytics, which I prefer to Mint for web metrics. It has loads of metrics beyond [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueAnatomy of a Spam Attackbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Yesterday, I did some browsing of the web analytics for this blog to get comparison numbers for the <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/on-browsers/" target="_self">browser stats</a> I had for Connect.</p> | |
| <p>Today, I went back to do a little more digging and some navel-gazing <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> </p> | |
| <p>We use Google Analytics, which I prefer to Mint for web metrics. It has loads of metrics beyond the standard pageviews and visits. As a side note, now that Feedburner accounts are merging with Google accounts, I’m hoping that Analytics will soon include Feedburner stats too. Seems logical.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, I like to set the date range to the life of this blog (from June 2007) to get the best snapshot view from the graphs.</p> | |
| <p>What jumped out was the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounce_Rate" target="_self">Bounce Rate</a> graph.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Bounce Rate from last week, dropped by 50%?" class="size-full wp-image-2586 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/bouncerate.png" height="110" alt="Bounce Rate from last week, dropped by 50%?" width="478" /></p> | |
| <p>All of a sudden, our normal 75% bounce rate (I know, terrible) inexplicably dropped to less than 40% a week ago and sustained that rate all last week.</p> | |
| <p>Definitely weird. Maybe after the Batman vs. Superman <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/06/batman-vs-superman/" target="_self">post</a>, everyone was extra relieved to get back the normal, hard-hitting content we serve everyday. I laughed all the way through that sentence, obviously untrue.</p> | |
| <p>I relish a data anomaly, as a recovering economist, especially if there are graphs to show the patterns. I am an unabashed data pr0n dork.</p> | |
| <p>Accompanying the drop in bounce rate, there were, not surprisingly, corresponding jumps in pages per visit and pageviews over the same time period. Makes sense, the longer people stay on your site, the more pages they are likely to view.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Average pageviews per visit, also up last week . . ." class="size-full wp-image-2587 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/pagespervisit.png" height="103" alt="Average pageviews per visit, also up last week . . ." width="470" /></p> | |
| <p>Logically, you would also expect to see a rise in time spent on the site, as people read more. Not so much. In fact, Saturday’s average time on site was 19 seconds; that same day, the bounce rate dropped to 36% from 69% and pages per visit jumped to 2.41 from 1.64.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Time Spent on Site *drops*, thank you spammers" class="size-full wp-image-2588 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/timeonsite.png" height="109" alt="Time Spent on Site *drops*, thank you spammers" width="476" /></p> | |
| <p>All this points to comment spammers.</p> | |
| <p>Exhibit A: Looking through the WordPress and Disqus comment logs from the last week, there was definitely a rise in comments on old posts, definitely a sign of spam. And these aren’t old posts that come up on the first page for common keyword searches, like “oracle iphone”.</p> | |
| <p>Exhibit B: The spam comments are borderline, with plausible names and comments, not the usual link spam left by Monster Truck Rally. This tells me spammers are modifying their behavior slightly to get past the measures Disqus has taken.</p> | |
| <p>Exhibit C: The pattern of multiple comments onm different posts from the same account backed up the web metric data.</p> | |
| <p>So, I accuse Colonel Mustard, in the Study, with the lasso.</p> | |
| <p>I know, as a naive kid, I thought that was a lasso. Ah, innocence.</p> | |
| <p>Comment spamming has been on the <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/12/who-benefits-from-blog-comment-spam/" target="_self">rise</a> this year, at least the spam that gets past spam filters. Disqus noted that the recent rash of spam comes from real people, not bots. The assumed goal of comment spam is to bump SEO for the spammers; I firmly believe this is a new cottage industry, operated <a href="https://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome" target="_self">Mechanical Turk</a> style.</p> | |
| <p>A crappy economy opens up a larger pool of people with computers who are motivated to earn easy money, and how much easier does it get than comment spam? Find a blog that allows unverified or anonymous comments and drop three comments on three posts. In and out in a matter of seconds. They probably get paid for the gross number of comments with the spammer’s link.</p> | |
| <p>This might even be that job advertised on the TV. You know the one that says you can make thousands in a week, tens of thousands in a month, working “on the Internet” from home. All those smiling people tell you nothing about what the job entails. There’s always a shady URL that tells you nothing about the company.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, I’m not really bothered by comment spam, but I know people are, e.g. <a href="http://bexhuff.com/" target="_self">Bex</a>, who uses a comment captcha process that makes me want to cry it’s so frustrating.</p> | |
| <p>Does it bother you? What do think of my analysis? Did you enjoy the web analytics primer?</p> | |
| <p>Sound off in the comments with something useful, like “I will give it a try for sure !”.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/RHMDYFl-2jg" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/RHMDYFl-2jg/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/RHMDYFl-2jg/updatedSat, 14 Mar 2009 20:35:46 +0000updated_timeSat Mar 14 20:35:46 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093142035465730feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/on-browsers/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/on-browsers/#commentstitleOn Browserswfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/on-browsers/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueIE6 is like that cold that just won’t go away; you feel well enough to go to work, but it keeps sapping your energy. | |
| To many users, IE6 is the Internet. It came with your computer, and it’s the way you get online. Resisting the urge to put online in quotes. Like many web apps, we’ve [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermchromeschemelabeltermconnectschemelabeltermfirefoxschemelabeltermieschemelabeltermsafarischemelabeltermwebkitschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2579summaryIE6 is like that cold that just won’t go away; you feel well enough to go to work, but it keeps sapping your energy. | |
| To many users, IE6 is the Internet. It came with your computer, and it’s the way you get online. Resisting the urge to put online in quotes. Like many web apps, we’ve [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueOn Browsersbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="Good *old* Internet Explorer 6" class="size-medium wp-image-2581 alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/internet_explorer-284x300.png" height="120" alt="Good *old* Internet Explorer 6" width="113" />IE6 is like that cold that just won’t go away; you feel well enough to go to work, but it keeps sapping your energy.</p> | |
| <p>To many users, IE6 <em>is</em> the Internet. It came with your computer, and it’s the way you get online. Resisting the urge to put online in quotes. Like many web apps, we’ve been fighting against IE6 since Connect was born, but it’s finally time to take a stand.</p> | |
| <p>Connect looks terrible in IE6. I’m sure everyone here knows why, i.e. no support for standards, out-dated rendering, the fact that if it were a kid it would be in second grade, etc. It’s a mess. But from an investment perspective, we can’t spend Rich and Anthony’s time on making Connect look good in IE6 at the expense of fixing bugs and building new features.</p> | |
| <p>As Rich put it nicely over OraTweet, “IE hurts everyone . . . even those who use it.”</p> | |
| <p>Thought that was pretty diplomatic for Rich, considering.</p> | |
| <p>I haven’t conducted a scientific study, but I think IE6 usage has been declining since Connect launched, just as it has been sharply declining on the ‘tubes overall. Today, we toyed with the idea of showing a message to IE6 users to ask them to install and use a modern browser for the best Connect experience.</p> | |
| <p>This will happen for sure; I don’t want people thinking Connect is a turd because IE6 can’t render it correctly. I’d rather let them know that we embrace the modern web and think they should too. Put nicely.</p> | |
| <p>As a giggle, I checked the web analytics to see what percentage of users are still coming to Connect with IE6.</p> | |
| <p>14%</p> | |
| <p>That’s all-time. So, about 14,000 visits from users with IE6 since June 2007. Seems low, considering: a) how bad Connect looks in IE6, which would drive me off, b) that IE6 is still officially supported by IT as part of their base image for employees, which also includes Firefox for the record, and c) that we need to use IE to run the web conferencing tool we use.</p> | |
| <p><img title="User agent stats from Connect" class="size-full wp-image-2582 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/browsers1.png" height="275" alt="User agent stats from Connect" width="370" /></p> | |
| <p>I expected at least 25%.</p> | |
| <p>One thing that floored me was the <1% for IE5. I’d like to know who’s running IE5 out there, seriously.</p> | |
| <p>Another interesting note, Netscape accounts for 1% of the all-time traffic to Connect. The visits were from 7.1 and 7.2, which made me feel better. I was cringing at the thought of how Connect looked in Communicator 4. Don’t laugh, I actually tested that combination last Summer for a user. Ugly mess.</p> | |
| <p>I also noticed that Chrome wasn’t showing up as a browser, which is odd since a couple people have pointed out bugs in Chrome this week. Apparently, Chrome is seen as Safari by <a href="http://www.haveamint.com/" target="_self">Mint</a>; I assume due to their shared <a href="http://webkit.org/" target="_self">WebKit</a> engines.</p> | |
| <p>Friend of the Lab <a href="http://jjmpsj.blogspot.com/" target="_self">Jim Marion</a> kindly pointed me to a <a href="http://www.useragentstring.com/" target="_self">way</a> to see your user agent, which is how I cracked this case.</p> | |
| <p>So, Safari and Chrome account for 6% of our traffic, which is pretty good.</p> | |
| <p>We had a flurry of OraTweets flying around over this IE6 message thing. The best comment was:</p> | |
| <blockquote><p><em>i would just like to not have to run 4 browsers on my machine to check how everything “looks”. if we could eliminate IE and Netscape, that would be excellent.</em></p></blockquote> | |
| <p>Too true. I have two XP VMs to run IE6 and IE7. Since I have them, I can also run Firefox 2 and Firefox 3 in separate VMs. I guess soon, I’ll need another VM for IE8.</p> | |
| <p>All the different flavors of browsers make web development such a pain, but then again, remember when all we had was IE and Netscape?</p> | |
| <p>I guess it’s not so bad.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/jAlpXuuX5iw" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/jAlpXuuX5iw/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/jAlpXuuX5iw/updatedSat, 14 Mar 2009 06:14:52 +0000updated_timeSat Mar 14 06:14:52 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009314614525730feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/trying-pivotal-tracker/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/trying-pivotal-tracker/#commentstitleTrying Pivotal Trackerwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/trying-pivotal-tracker/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueLast week, Rich proposed that we try Pivotal Tracker for Connect. | |
| Our work on Connect can be loosely described as agile. We generally meet, either in person or on the phone, to hash out major feature releases, and then Rich and Anthony build and deploy. And I test. Every six months or so, we rinse and [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermagileschemelabeltermconnectschemelabeltermpivotal trackerschemelabeltermprojectsschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2573summaryLast week, Rich proposed that we try Pivotal Tracker for Connect. | |
| Our work on Connect can be loosely described as agile. We generally meet, either in person or on the phone, to hash out major feature releases, and then Rich and Anthony build and deploy. And I test. Every six months or so, we rinse and [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueTrying Pivotal Trackerbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Last week, Rich proposed that we try<a href="http://www.pivotaltracker.com/learnmore" target="_self"> Pivotal Tracker</a> for Connect.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Pivotal Tracker agile project planning" class="size-full wp-image-2574 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/pivotal_tracker.png" height="31" alt="Pivotal Tracker agile project planning" width="421" /></p> | |
| <p>Our work on Connect can be loosely described as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development" target="_self">agile</a>. We generally meet, either in person or on the phone, to hash out major feature releases, and then Rich and Anthony build and deploy. And I test. Every six months or so, we rinse and repeat.</p> | |
| <p>I say loosely because we’re not very organized. We follow the agile principles, but we’re not that organized, which is weird for me because I’m usually over-organized, if anything. This lack of organization works well, if we are splitting time between projects, but whenever we have a block of time to devote to Connect, Rich starts asking for structure.</p> | |
| <p>In the past, we used spreadsheets and tested a couple project management packages, <a href="http://www.basecamphq.com/" target="_self">Basecamp</a>, <a href="http://www.activecollab.com/" target="_self">activeCollab</a> and <a href="http://studios.thoughtworks.com/mingle-agile-project-management" target="_self">Mingle</a>, with varying amounts of success.</p> | |
| <p>So, last week, Rich got fed up again with a flat list of features and bugs and started a project in Pivotal Tracker.</p> | |
| <p>I have to say I’m impressed so far. I didn’t realize why I liked it so much until I found this <a href="http://venturehacks.com/articles/pivotal-tracker" target="_self">post</a> which provides 11 reasons to like Tracker:</p> | |
| <blockquote> | |
| <ol> | |
| <li><em>It’s free.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s hosted.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s a joy to use. It’s the iPod of project management software. It’s all drag-and-drop and clickity-clack and it just works.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s multi-user. Your co-founder in North Korea can make changes in Tracker and you will see them instantly. No page reloads.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s for lean startups. The building block in Tracker is a <em>story</em>: an increment of customer value that you deliver with minimal waste.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s about completing your next most important task—not maintaining mile-long to-do lists, Gantt charts, and lists of bugs.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s transparent. Everybody on the team knows what everybody else is working on, their priorities, and their accomplishments.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s in sync with reality. It doesn’t take time to keep your requirements and schedule in sync with reality, even if your business priorities change daily.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It doesn’t do much. No, it doesn’t do dependencies and critical paths. It just keeps you focused on delivering value to customers.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s powerful as hell. Tracker hides a lot of technology under a simple interface. It’s a serious Javascript-intensive web application that’s in the same league as Gmail and Google Maps.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Bonus reason: Everything is on one page—there’s no need to navigate around (unlike other project management tools). More Gmail, less Hotmail.</em></li> | |
| </ol> | |
| </blockquote> | |
| <p>It struck me that 11th one is gold for me. Having all the functionality on a singe page is a huge time saver for me.</p> | |
| <p>When I get a bug report or encounter a bug in Connect, I’m generally in the middle of something else. So, I want to report it, prioritize it and get back to other work. Accomplishing this by emailing Rich and Anthony is not ideal, but I did this frequently with the other tools to avoid the longer processes. None of those other tools was terribly time-consuming, but still, it’s a savings I can feel.</p> | |
| <p>The other reasons are pretty solid too, especially 10. Having used “professional” project management apps in the not-so-distant past, I appreciate fewer bells and whistles, e.g. a friend of mine mentioned he had to take a day-long training in Microsoft Project, which pretty much sums up my experience with that monster.</p> | |
| <p>Plus, much of the stuff you need to run a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model" target="_self">waterfall</a> project isn’t needed in an agile one, especially when you only have two developers and one project/product manager.</p> | |
| <p>Just after Rich got us started with Tracker, I found out Twitter <a href="http://blog.twitter.com/2009/03/pivotal-means-of-crucial-importance.html" target="_self">uses</a> it too, actually keeping a couple “Pivots” on site as consultants. Tracker is built and hosted by <a href="http://pivotallabs.com/" target="_self">Pivotal Labs</a>, and did I mention Tracker is a Rails app? But you probably figured that out by now.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/ksiqd-qU_fs" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/ksiqd-qU_fs/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/ksiqd-qU_fs/updatedFri, 13 Mar 2009 22:13:21 +0000updated_timeFri Mar 13 22:13:21 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093132213214720feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/12/apex-in-the-cloud/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/12/apex-in-the-cloud/#commentstitleAPEX in the Cloudwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/12/apex-in-the-cloud/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueThis post about running APEX in the cloud by Jason Straub came across OraNA last week. | |
| I’m surprised Chet didn’t pounce on it, being the APEX devotee that he is. Basically, you can now run APEX on Amazon EC2 for 60 cents. | |
| Oracle has recently been rolling out more offerings with AWS, including database and backup images [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermamazonschemelabeltermapexschemelabeltermec2schemelabeltermoracleschemelabelterms3schemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2565summaryThis post about running APEX in the cloud by Jason Straub came across OraNA last week. | |
| I’m surprised Chet didn’t pounce on it, being the APEX devotee that he is. Basically, you can now run APEX on Amazon EC2 for 60 cents. | |
| Oracle has recently been rolling out more offerings with AWS, including database and backup images [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueAPEX in the Cloudbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="Run APEX on 11g in the cloud using Amazon Web Services" class="size-full wp-image-2566 alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/logo_aws.gif" height="60" alt="Run APEX on 11g in the cloud using Amazon Web Services" width="164" />This <a href="http://jastraub.blogspot.com/2009/03/test-drive-oracle-application-express.html" target="_self">post</a> about running <a href="http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/application_express/index.html" target="_self">APEX</a> in the cloud by Jason Straub came across <a href="http://orana.info" target="_self">OraNA</a> last week.</p> | |
| <p>I’m surprised <a href="http://www.oraclenerd.com" target="_self">Chet</a> didn’t pounce on it, being the APEX <a href="http://www.oraclenerd.com/2008/05/apex-oracle-marketing-wtf.html" target="_self">devotee</a> that he is. Basically, you can now run APEX on <a href="http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/" target="_self">Amazon EC2</a> for 60 cents.</p> | |
| <p>Oracle has recently been rolling out more offerings with AWS, including database and backup images preconfigured for EC2 and S3; you can read more at the <a href="http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/cloud/index.ht" target="_self">Oracle Cloud Computing Center</a> on OTN. This is interesting to me, since about 18 months ago, we were searching for just such a packaged AWS 11g offering on which to run Mix. Instead, we had to find and procure hardware to put into an Oracle datacenter.</p> | |
| <p>EC2 with Oracle pre-installed and configured for backup to S3 is awesome. Total win.</p> | |
| <p>I’d like to see more promotion of this offering because since AWS was launched in 2002, startups (and their customers) have embraced EC2 and S3 for their, ahem, mission-critical apps and operations. Armeded with flexible computing power and backup, startups could easily find pre-configured MySQL installations, which led to web apps built in PHP (e.g. Facebook) and Rails (e.g. Twitter).</p> | |
| <p>Sure, to scale, successful web apps like Facebook and Twitter eventually had to raise venture funding to spend on infrastructure, but they already had users and an established service.</p> | |
| <p>I’ll bet <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/25/bummer-20/" target="_self">Ma.gnolia</a> would still be in business if they’d opted for an AWS image with an Oracle installation and backup preconfigured.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, now you can get APEX too, although I’m not entirely clear on how the cost breaks down, i.e. if it’s 60 cents per something or a flat rate. If you know, please enlighten in comments.</p> | |
| <p>FYI, Jason’s post and the demos on the Cloud Computing Center spend a fair amount of time on configuring PuTTY to connect via SSH and copy files with SCP. These steps are for Windows users; <a href="http://developer.amazonwebservices.com/connect/entry.jspa?entryID=609" target="_self">Elasticfox</a>, the Firefox add-on built by AWS to manage EC2 services, generates a key pair on its own. Windows doesn’t support SSH very well natively, and PuTTY is frequently the tool used to do SSH and SCP on Windows.</p> | |
| <p>OS X and Linux should work better with SSH out-of-the-box, so if you don’t run Windows, the setup has fewer steps.</p> | |
| <p>At any rate, APEX is a neat tool. <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/06/25/we-heart-hackers/" target="_self">OraTweet</a> is built in APEX, and so is Aria, Oracle’s internal employee directory. In another life at Oracle, I kicked the tires on APEX for an internal project. A lot of people swear by it, and now you can test drive it yourself over AWS. No need to provision testing hardware or worry about installing it on an existing machine.</p> | |
| <p>Pretty cool.</p> | |
| <p>Tempted to try it? Already use Oracle and AWS? I’m curious to hear what you think. Find the comments.</p> | |
| <p><em>Update: Jason has more details in a new <a href="http://jastraub.blogspot.com/2009/03/20-cents-hour-whose-got-that-kind-of.html" target="_self">post</a> today, including pricing.</em></p> | |
| <p><em>Another update: Jason breaks his pricing assumptions down in <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/12/apex-in-the-cloud/?disqus_reply=7258457#comment-7256541">comments</a>.<br /> | |
| </em></p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/9YqLUR7F650" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/9YqLUR7F650/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/9YqLUR7F650/updatedThu, 12 Mar 2009 21:14:46 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 12 21:14:46 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093122114463710feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/11/connect-adds-geolocation/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/11/connect-adds-geolocation/#commentstitleConnect Adds Geolocationwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/11/connect-adds-geolocation/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueNow, we know where you are . . . but only if you tell us. | |
| Yesterday, Rich completed the addition of geolocation tracking to Connect. Now, when you OraTweet your location or update your Connect status with the secret phrase “@location” followed by a place (address or city or country), Connect stores your location. | |
| And that’s pretty [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermconnectschemelabeltermdopplrschemelabeltermgeolocationschemelabeltermoratweetschemelabeltermtripitschemelabeltermyelpschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2559summaryNow, we know where you are . . . but only if you tell us. | |
| Yesterday, Rich completed the addition of geolocation tracking to Connect. Now, when you OraTweet your location or update your Connect status with the secret phrase “@location” followed by a place (address or city or country), Connect stores your location. | |
| And that’s pretty [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueConnect Adds Geolocationbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Now, we know where you are . . . but only if you tell us.</p> | |
| <p>Yesterday, Rich completed the addition of geolocation tracking to Connect. Now, when you OraTweet your location or update your Connect status with the secret phrase “@location” followed by a place (address or city or country), Connect stores your location.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Surprise, I'm in Portland" class="size-full wp-image-2563 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/location.png" height="95" alt="Surprise, I'm in Portland" width="472" /></p> | |
| <p>And that’s pretty much it right now.</p> | |
| <p>We didn’t build much else because we’re looking for a really compelling use case. Geolocation is a border-line creepy feature that has struggled to find mainstream acceptance on the ‘tubes, e.g. you don’t see Facebook rushing to add geo-features.</p> | |
| <p>Within the enterprise, you have an implicit layer of trust, safe inside the firewall away from phishing, spamming, malware, and you’re protected by internal organizations like HR and Legal. So, we’re thinking this should take away some of the geo-uneasiness.</p> | |
| <p>Beyond that security blanket, Oracle has a lots of travelers, and even in a downturn, there are scads of sales people and consultants on the road all the time. Plus, many teams collaborate virtually across state and country lines, and for some odd reason, seeing a map humanizes that voice on the phone.</p> | |
| <p>Don’t believe me? I used to manage a project that had people in India, and when news of that catastrophic tsunami in 2004 broke, I worried that people I knew had been affected. Luckily, in this case anyway, my Indian geography is awful, and everyone was safe. The same thing happened when news of a train wreck broke; we didn’t have Twitter then.</p> | |
| <p>It’s a small thing, but seeing where that the person you work with every day sits, even if it’s just on a map, helps you feel more connected.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, we have some ideas already; I’ve polled <a href="http://matttopper.com" target="_self">Matt</a>, <a href="http://apextoday.blogspot.com/" target="_self">Noel</a> and <a href="http://blogs.oracle.com/clayton/" target="_self">Clayton</a> for their input too. I’m sure Matt, our resident geo-geek, has a bunch of stuff in his head waiting to see daylight, like transposing profile tags and location to find “experts” nearby. There are loads of iPhone things Clayton could add to the <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/04/the-oracle-people-iphone-app-is-here/" target="_self">Oracle People</a> app; nice how I make work for him. Noel has thoughts around targeting content by location.</p> | |
| <p>Rich is thinking about city or office pages, a la <a href="http://dopplr.com" target="_self">Dopplr</a> and <a href="http://tripit.com" target="_self">TripIt</a>, that could house information about office locations, etc. I’m a fan of focusing on our offices and the services they offer. Each field office has a packet of information they provide to people who join that office, e.g. gyms, restaurants, bars, etc. Why not publish that and also add reviews, a la <a href="http://yelp.com" target="_self">Yelp</a>?</p> | |
| <p>I spent six weeks in the Dallas office in 1998 and ate at the same three or so places the entire time I was there. Why, aside from being lazy? I didn’t know the area very well and didn’t feel like exploring. Having reviews would help, but also seeing who reviewed would add an easy introduction to people in a strange place.</p> | |
| <p>There’s that socializing work trend again.</p> | |
| <p>So, what do you think? Whether you work at Oracle or not, you work, right? What problems would geo-location solve for you?</p> | |
| <p>If you’re shy and don’t want to comment, let’s have a <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/learning-from-entertainment/" target="_self">game of email</a> (h/t Paul).</p> | |
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| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/0rAu5UiGs04" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/0rAu5UiGs04/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/0rAu5UiGs04/updatedWed, 11 Mar 2009 17:31:50 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 11 17:31:50 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093111731502700feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/howto-enable-system-sound-in-ubuntu-intrepidubuntu-geek/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/howto-enable-system-sound-in-ubuntu-intrepidubuntu-geek/#commentstitleHowto Enable system sound in Ubuntu IntrepidUbuntu Geekwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/howto-enable-system-sound-in-ubuntu-intrepidubuntu-geek/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueaddthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Ftheappslab.com%2F2009%2F03%2F10%2Fhowto-enable-system-sound-in-ubuntu-intrepidubuntu-geek%2F'; | |
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| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/H5J-1FORWyo" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/H5J-1FORWyo/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/H5J-1FORWyo/updatedWed, 11 Mar 2009 00:43:34 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 11 00:43:34 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009311043342700feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/learning-from-entertainment/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/learning-from-entertainment/#commentstitleLearning from Entertainmentwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/learning-from-entertainment/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvaluePhoto Credit: Timothy Hamilton | |
| I recently watched this excellent video of Nick Fortugno at the Meaningful Play conference in 2008. If you are into designing games with a message behind them it is worth a watch. | |
| Among other things, he highlights the basic split in entertainment between “form” and “content”. Form being the mechanics used to convey [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermgtmschemelabelauthorPaulidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2556summaryPhoto Credit: Timothy Hamilton | |
| I recently watched this excellent video of Nick Fortugno at the Meaningful Play conference in 2008. If you are into designing games with a message behind them it is worth a watch. | |
| Among other things, he highlights the basic split in entertainment between “form” and “content”. Form being the mechanics used to convey [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueLearning from Entertainmentbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<h5><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/flickrgrit/811355961/"><img title="167630455_387cde5e59" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-56" src="http://gamethemachine.wordpress.com/files/2009/03/167630455_387cde5e59.jpg?w=300" height="199" alt="167630455_387cde5e59" width="300" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bestrated1/">Photo Credit: Timothy Hamilton</a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/flickrgrit/811355961/"><br /> | |
| </a></h5> | |
| <p>I recently watched this excellent video of <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7614486442195859373&ei=RuG2SfmsO53eqAPn7r3kAw&q=game+design+serious+games&hl=en">Nick Fortugno at the Meaningful Play conference in 2008</a>. If you are into designing games with a message behind them it is worth a watch.</p> | |
| <p>Among other things, he highlights the basic split in entertainment between “form” and “content”. Form being the mechanics used to convey the message. Using examples from the past like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tom%27s_Cabin">Uncle Tom’s Cabin</a>, he shows clearly how known formulas have been used effectively to deliver what some might call, socially responsible messages. In the case of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, she used a fairly common literary model to inject a social discussion of abolitionism into the mainstream social conversation.</p> | |
| <p>If you ponder formulas, you can find them in all types of media and entertainment. From a gaming perspective, you see them as First Person Shooters (FPS), Simulation, Role Playing Games (RPG), Board games, and more. From a film perspective, you might think about Action, Drama, Comedy or Documentary. It is essential to understand that each of these formulas attract a specific audience with clear expectations well trod by their previous experiences. People are attracted to a specific formula because of what it provides. How many nights have you said, “I am in the mood for a comedy”? - It is much more rare to say you are in the mood for a comedy about golf, or an action movie about the African diamond trade.</p> | |
| <p>If you go see a horror movie, you will expect some blood and gore, creepy imagery, and most likely some scantily clad teenagers at a deserted lake. As long as the director provides those key elements, you’ll leave (to a degree) satisfied. You got what you ordered. If the entertainment meets that core need and provides the emotional experience you sought, then you are open to receive the message they are delivering. From a design perspective, you just have to honor the formula and provide the desired experience or it will cease to be enjoyable to the audience. If you deny them the pleasure of a deep belly laugh when they yearned for comedy, no matter how interesting you may find your message, it will be lost.</p> | |
| <p>If you are a web designer you may see a parallel here when you consider <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321344758?ie=UTF8&tag=hypes-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=0321344758">Steve Krug’s</a> views on convention. His opinion is that using expected behavior is good no matter how cool you think that flash widget is! Use a search box that looks the same as everyone else. Have a shopping cart icon that leads to the shopping cart. If you plan to reinvent how the shopping cart, search button, or the hyperlink work - you better have a very, very good reason. So your website formula is standard, the message (ie. content) is up to you.</p> | |
| <p>So let’s connect this with the world of software that people use to get things done - email, task management, payroll, bookkeeping, project management, etc. - collectively “business software”. If entertainment like films, games and books have taught us anything, it is that you must first create something enjoyable. Play is paramount. In the world of entertainment, purpose is largely ignored (on a percentage basis), but you can see it shine through in films like <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00003CXFV?ie=UTF8&tag=hypes-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=B00003CXFV">Erin Brokovich</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00003CWRX?ie=UTF8&tag=hypes-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=B00003CWRX">The Insider</a>, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591840538?ie=UTF8&tag=hypes-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=1591840538">Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room</a>, among many others - documentaries are great at this. In the world of business software, the report card is skewed in the other direction, with purpose being the leader by a wide margin, and fun being largely ignored. The very idea of fun seems at odds with something of value. Both worlds could do with a bit of balance.</p> | |
| <p>My hope is that the future of business software can assimilate the lessons of entertainment by making something people want to play consistently as opposed to a tool to get something done. We are already seeing simplicity as a key design principle, but I believe that the dimension of fun is next. My guess is that we will as an industry need to adopt or invent a new formula for software and apply them to the problems we are trying to solve in a novel way.</p> | |
| <p>Who is up for a game of email?</p> | |
| <p>————</p> | |
| <p><a href="http://gamethemachine.com/2009/03/11/learning-from-entertainment/">Cross posted at Game The Machine.</a></p> | |
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| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/PFQn4q86R1A" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/PFQn4q86R1A/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/PFQn4q86R1A/updatedWed, 11 Mar 2009 00:19:48 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 11 00:19:48 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009311019482700feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/09/leave-a-comment-using-facebook-connect/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/09/leave-a-comment-using-facebook-connect/#commentstitleLeave a Comment using Facebook Connectwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/09/leave-a-comment-using-facebook-connect/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueJust before Christmas, Disqus announced their support for Facebook Connect. At the time I remember being a little disappointed with the decision, due to Facebook’s closed nature and what seemed like a choice for the walled garden of Facebook and against the open web (OpenID, OAuth, OpenSocial). | |
| I like Disqus; they’ve been responsive when we’ve had [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermdisqusschemelabeltermfacebook connectschemelabeltermOAuthschemelabeltermopen webschemelabeltermopenidschemelabeltermopensocialschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2543summaryJust before Christmas, Disqus announced their support for Facebook Connect. At the time I remember being a little disappointed with the decision, due to Facebook’s closed nature and what seemed like a choice for the walled garden of Facebook and against the open web (OpenID, OAuth, OpenSocial). | |
| I like Disqus; they’ve been responsive when we’ve had [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueLeave a Comment using Facebook Connectbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Just before Christmas, <a href="http://disqus.com" target="_self">Disqus</a> <a href="http://blog.disqus.net/2008/12/23/facebook-connect-now-available-on-disqus/" target="_self">announced</a> their support for <a href="http://developers.facebook.com/connect.php" target="_self">Facebook Connect</a>. At the time I remember being a little disappointed with the decision, due to Facebook’s closed nature and what seemed like a choice for the walled garden of Facebook and against the open web (<a href="http://openid.net/" target="_self">OpenID</a>, <a href="http://oauth.net/" target="_self">OAuth</a>, <a href="http://www.opensocial.org/" target="_self">OpenSocial</a>).</p> | |
| <p>I like Disqus; they’ve been responsive when we’ve had questions and issues, and obviously the longer we use it, the harder it becomes to effect a return to WordPress comments or a move to another comment management service like <a href="http://intensedebate.com/" target="_self">Intense Debate</a>, which I’ve not had good experiences using. So, even though I like Disqus, I do feel a little trapped.</p> | |
| <p>Based on all my hippie openness, why, when a commenter <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/06/12/on-disqus/#comment-6942954" target="_self">asked</a> about supporting Facebook Connect for Disqus login, did I cave?</p> | |
| <p><img title="The amazing Facebook Connect explanation window." class="size-full wp-image-2547 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/fbconnect.png" height="347" alt="The amazing Facebook Connect explanation window." width="446" /></p> | |
| <p>As an aside, I’m not even sure that’s a real comment; the comment spam has been very <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/12/who-benefits-from-blog-comment-spam/" target="_self">heavy</a> lately. FYI, if your comment disappeared and you’re a real-live person who had a real comment, sorry if I nuked it. I didn’t know “Pregnancy Symptoms” was a real name.</p> | |
| <p>Why the 180?</p> | |
| <p>For starters, Facebook recently <a href="http://openid.net/2009/02/05/facebook-joins-openid-foundation-board/" target="_self">joined</a> the OpenID board, and I’ve heard from a board member that it’s more than just an attempt at lip-service to the open web. There are increasing <a href="http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/03/facebook-in-2010-no-longer-a-walled-garden.html" target="_self">signs</a> that Facebook wants to be more open. This makes sense; they’re not a in a position to open completely, but staying totally closed doesn’t serve the best interests of their users and the rest of the ‘tubes. Besides, I’m pretty sure someone studied the hall of fail for walled gardens, ahem AOL, CompuServ.</p> | |
| <p>So, why not support Facebook Connect here? I asked myself on Friday.</p> | |
| <p>You can see it in action in the comments. The comment widget has been slightly restyled to include a Facebook icon. Click it, and you’ll get the Facebook Connect login.</p> | |
| <p><img title="New Disqus comment widget! With 100% more Facebook Connect goodness! Act now! Supplies are limited." class="size-full wp-image-2545 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/disqusfb.png" height="33" alt="New Disqus comment widget! With 100% more Facebook Connect goodness! Act now! Supplies are limited." width="176" /></p> | |
| <p>When you choose Facebook Connect you get the Facebook credentials window, show above; I’ve not tested it myself yet, so leave a comment to test it yourself, and I just might reply with my Facebook credentials.</p> | |
| <p>You can choose to cross-post your comments to your News Feed too. I’m not sure how that would appear; I assume they must provide the original post for context. Again, I’ve not tried yet, so if you get there first, please share with the rest of the class how it comes out in the News Feed.</p> | |
| <p>Another reason I caved is that so many people are using Facebook as their primary social network, it’s probably a higher value add than I think. Paul, for example, says it’s his main network over Twitter or LinkedIn, probably over Connect, too <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> It’s the de facto standard now, like it or not.</p> | |
| <p>And I don’t want to be labeled a dirty hippie who only supports the Commie open web. No offense Commie open web, you know I <3 you.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, Disqus makes it very simple to enable Facebook, and there are detailed instructions in the Admin/Settings of your blog setup.</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li>To retrieve your Facebook API Key for use with Disqus, you must <a href="http://www.facebook.com/developers/createapp.php" target="_blank">fill out a new ‘Create App’ form</a> on Facebook</li> | |
| <li>Enter your site’s domain as the Callback URL</li> | |
| <li>You may use your site name as the application name</li> | |
| <li>Below is a screenshot of the AppsLab form on Facebook</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p><a href="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/appslabfbapp.png"><img title="The AppsLab Facebook app!" class="size-full wp-image-2548 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/appslabfbapp.png" height="285" alt="The AppsLab Facebook app!" width="416" /></a>So, test it out and share your thoughts.</p> | |
| <p>Now, if only Disqus would support OpenID on the comments widget. Even though you <a href="http://disqus.disqus.com/openid_support_please/" target="_self">can</a> login to disqus.com with an OpenID provide, supposedly, the widget we show on the blog does not support any providers.</p> | |
| <p>Although I wonder how much incentive they have to build that now that Facebook has committed to OpenID, which would mean they get it for free through Facebook Connect. Grrr.</p> | |
| <p>Another seemingly cool feature of Disqus is the FriendFeed <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/01/27/now-were-on-friendfeed/" target="_self">integration</a>, i.e. comments on blog posts made on FriendFeed are reflected back to the original post. Not so much from what I saw. I set this up and tested it to no avail. I’m hoping it’s user error. Anyone?</p> | |
| <p>Looks like Disqus isn’t standing still. Their blog <a href="http://blog.disqus.net/2009/03/04/preview-our-next-big-features-exclusively-on-mashable/" target="_self">says</a> they are working with <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/03/04/social-media-comments/" target="_self">Mashable</a> on a one ring approach to aggregate all commentary on posts from the many places people can comment.</p> | |
| <p>Stay tuned sounds like a neat feature.</p> | |
| <p>Find the comments and sound off about Facebook Connect, Disqus, hippie open web, whatever you like. Just make it obvious you’re not a comment spammer, which is harder than it seems.</p> | |
| <p><em>Update: <a href="http://surachartopun.com/" target="_self">Surachart</a> was nice enough to leave a test comment, to which I replied using Facebook Connect. After logging in, I got this box, asking to publish the comment to my News Feed.</em></p> | |
| <p><em><img title="Facebook Connect confirmation of cross-posting your comment." class="size-full wp-image-2553 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/fbconnect1.png" height="114" alt="Facebook Connect confirmation of cross-posting your comment." width="422" /></em></p> | |
| <p><em>And here’s how it looks in my Feed. Not too intrusive, but not very informative either. </em></p> | |
| <p><img title="How your comment appears in your Facebook News Feed" class="size-full wp-image-2554 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/newsfeed.png" height="34" alt="How your comment appears in your Facebook News Feed" width="468" /></p> | |
| <p><em>Just as with FriendFeed, having a Comment function on Facebook creates another thread for your posts, which is a bummer.</em></p> | |
| <p><em>One thing, if you have a public profile on Facebook, your name will show in comments, like Surachart’s. The public profile is indexed by search engines. If you don’t have that enables, only your profile ID will show, which looks a little weird, like mine.</em></p> | |
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| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/pvtNZcayJao" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/pvtNZcayJao/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/pvtNZcayJao/updatedTue, 10 Mar 2009 03:51:16 +0000updated_timeTue Mar 10 03:51:16 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009310351161690feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/06/batman-vs-superman/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/06/batman-vs-superman/#commentstitleBatman vs. Supermanwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/06/batman-vs-superman/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueFrom Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" series | |
| Here comes a topic for a Friday. | |
| I try to torture my wife with this nerdy debate, but she consistently rises above the argument. So, I’m coming to the ‘tubes to get some real discussion. | |
| This class comic book nerd debate is really Batman or Superman, not vs. which suggests [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermbatmanschemelabeltermcomicsschemelabeltermsupermanschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2536summaryFrom Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" series | |
| Here comes a topic for a Friday. | |
| I try to torture my wife with this nerdy debate, but she consistently rises above the argument. So, I’m coming to the ‘tubes to get some real discussion. | |
| This class comic book nerd debate is really Batman or Superman, not vs. which suggests [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueBatman vs. Supermanbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_2538"><img title="Batman vs. Superman" class="size-medium wp-image-2538" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/batman_vs_superman_wallpaper-300x225.jpg" height="225" alt="From Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" series" width="300" /><p class="wp-caption-text">From Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" series</p></div> | |
| <p>Here comes a topic for a Friday.</p> | |
| <p>I try to torture my wife with this nerdy debate, but she consistently rises above the argument. So, I’m coming to the ‘tubes to get some real discussion.</p> | |
| <p>This class comic book nerd debate is really Batman <em>or</em> Superman, not vs. which suggests they’re fighting. It’s styled as vs. because the camps on either side may end up slapping each other in a geek fight as they disagree and tempers flare. Suffice to say that opinions are held as facts in this case, much like they are in Kirk vs. Picard or other similarly impossible, yet fascinating arguments.</p> | |
| <p>I use the term fascinating loosely.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, the debate is simple; make a case for which superhero is better and why. Point and counter-point.</p> | |
| <p>Or shake your head and walk away trying not to laugh.</p> | |
| <p>Here goes.</p> | |
| <p>Batman, and here’s why in easy to consume bullet form:</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li>He’s one of us, not an alien or a genetic anomaly. He’s just a really tough dude, like Chuck Norris in tights and a cowl.</li> | |
| <li>He’s not a Boy Scout. He practices vigilante justice, outside the law or on the fringe, depending on the Batman adaptation.</li> | |
| <li>He has “wonderful” toys. Limitless wealth provides an awesome array of weapons, vehicles and gadgets that may geeks drool.</li> | |
| <li>He fights the best villains. Without a doubt, the Joker is the best comic book villain. No debate there.</li> | |
| <li>He’s a brooding guy with issues, classic anti-hero. He wants to dole out justice, not to do good. Superman does good.</li> | |
| <li>He has the best costume. The cape and cowl black or gray/navy early on makes him menacing.</li> | |
| <li>He’s a smart dude who uses his wits, not his brawn.</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>There are more, but I’m laughing at myself now.</p> | |
| <p>Your turn. Find the comments to agree or disagree with me. Or to pick another superhero.</p> | |
| <p>If you made it to here, you know you want to jump in, which is the beauty of this argument.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/nTeF-p5TsmE" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/nTeF-p5TsmE/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/nTeF-p5TsmE/updatedFri, 06 Mar 2009 19:20:57 +0000updated_timeFri Mar 06 19:20:57 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009361920574650feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/05/freely-available-utilities/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/05/freely-available-utilities/#commentstitleFreely Available Utilitieswfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/05/freely-available-utilities/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueThe title comes from a phrase that stood out for me in this post from RWW. | |
| That post highlights some really sweet data pr0n (TwitterThoughts and World Twitter Map) built by Yvo Schaap that uses the Twitter API for data, Yahoo Pipes for parsing and the Google Visualization API for producing the eye candy. All these [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermdata visualizationschemelabeltermgoogleschemelabeltermpipesschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabeltermyahooschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2529summaryThe title comes from a phrase that stood out for me in this post from RWW. | |
| That post highlights some really sweet data pr0n (TwitterThoughts and World Twitter Map) built by Yvo Schaap that uses the Twitter API for data, Yahoo Pipes for parsing and the Google Visualization API for producing the eye candy. All these [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueFreely Available Utilitiesbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>The title comes from a phrase that stood out for me in this <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/mashup_magic_twitterthoughts.php" target="_self">post</a> from RWW.</p> | |
| <p>That post highlights some really sweet data pr0n (<a href="http://yvoschaap.com/twitterthoughts/" target="_self">TwitterThoughts</a> and <a href="http://yvoschaap.com/twitterthoughts/?map=1" target="_self">World Twitter Map</a>) built by <a href="http://www.yvoschaap.com/" target="_self">Yvo Schaap</a> that uses the <a href="http://apiwiki.twitter.com/" target="_self">Twitter API</a> for data, <a href="http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/" target="_self">Yahoo Pipes</a> for parsing and the <a href="http://code.google.com/apis/visualization/" target="_self">Google Visualization API</a> for producing the eye candy. All these tools are “freely available utilities”, and what Yvo has built with them is pretty compelling.</p> | |
| <p><a href="http://yvoschaap.com/twitterthoughts/?map=1"><img title="World Twitter Map, tweets by volume over the last 24 hours" class="size-medium wp-image-2533 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/twittermap-300x188.png" height="188" alt="World Twitter Map, tweets by volume over the last 24 hours" width="300" /></a></p> | |
| <p>Another freely available utility is <a href="http://code.google.com" target="_self">Google Code</a>, which <a href="http://www.oraclenerd.com/2009/02/google-code.html" target="_self">Chet</a> is using to host his code. I really like this idea; ideally, you can get a bunch of smart people in your extended community to hack with you on a fun project, like an open source incubator. But even if no one ever joins, you’ll still have a code resume that is readily available should you need to interview.</p> | |
| <p>Chet has experience with interviews, natch, but I don’t think this is why he started hosting his code. It’s just a fun project.</p> | |
| <p>He also mentioned the Visualization API, which is really cool. </p> | |
| <p>Friend of the ‘Lab and OpenSocial dude at Google, Chris Shalk gave a very interesting unconference <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/cschalk/integrating-google-apis-into-your-applications-presentation?type=powerpoint" target="_self">session</a> on the Google APIs at OpenWorld last September, embedded below if you’re reading at theappslab.</p> | |
| <div id="__ss_614577"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/cschalk/integrating-google-apis-into-your-applications-presentation?type=powerpoint" title="Integrating Google APIs into Your Applications">Integrating Google APIs into Your Applications</a> | |
| <div>View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/cschalk">Chris Schalk</a>. (tags: <a href="http://slideshare.net/tag/opensocial">opensocial</a> <a href="http://slideshare.net/tag/charts">charts</a>)</div> | |
| </div> | |
| <p>I’ve been trying to find the right data set to use with that for a long time. One day.</p> | |
| <p>I suppose I could use the <a href="http://aws.amazon.com/publicdatasets/" target="_self">Public Data Sets</a> on AWS, another great resource, but not one for this discussion, since they are part of the EC2 offering and not free. On the flipside, if you have the right to distribute a data set or have a public domain/non-proprietary set, you can request that AWS host it for you.</p> | |
| <p>This isn’t that different than the API model that Twitter has taken, i.e. provide open access to your data through an API, stand back and watch what cool things people do with your data. Twitter’s API seems to produce a new service each week, creating an ecosystem of services and applications that depend on it.</p> | |
| <p>We’ve had some success with this inside the firewall too. Connect’s APIs are used by a handful of services, OraTweet chief among them. Likewise for OraTweet’s APIs. People are starting to get how this matters inside the firewall for free-sharing of information, whether it’s a hacking project some developer wants to undertake to scratch a personal itch or it’s a more formal collaborative undertaking with a budget and a mission.</p> | |
| <p>Either way, freely available utilities rule. Finding out about them is half the battle, e.g. Yahoo Pipes is a very useful tool, but I don’t know of many people who use it. I used it to create the feed for the “What We’re Reading” widget, and Dawn Foster has become the Pipes maven. Check out her <a href="http://fastwonderblog.com/yahoo-pipes-and-rss-hacks/" target="_self">tutorials</a> if you want Pipes knowledge.</p> | |
| <p>In the spirit of discovery, what freely available utilities do you think are awesome? Any thoughts about Yvo’s Twitter visualizations or Chet’s project?</p> | |
| <p>Find the comments.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/zV1pm6UbhpA" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/zV1pm6UbhpA/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/zV1pm6UbhpA/updatedThu, 05 Mar 2009 23:52:03 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 05 23:52:03 UTC 2009updated_parsed200935235233640feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/#commentstitleAnother Facebook User Revolt is Comingwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueToday, Facebook previewed changes it plans to make to their site next week. There are quite a few: | |
| A redesigned home page with live updates, filters and a universal publishing model (very much like FriendFeed’s). | |
| One minor change that’s part of the universal publishing box is changing the verbiage “What are you doing right now?” to “What’s [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermfacebookschemelabeltermfriendfeedschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabeltermuischemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2522summaryToday, Facebook previewed changes it plans to make to their site next week. There are quite a few: | |
| A redesigned home page with live updates, filters and a universal publishing model (very much like FriendFeed’s). | |
| One minor change that’s part of the universal publishing box is changing the verbiage “What are you doing right now?” to “What’s [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueAnother Facebook User Revolt is Comingbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img class="alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/s307319_28874.jpg" height="146" alt="" width="195" />Today, Facebook <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/04/facebooks-response-to-twitter/" target="_self">previewed</a> changes it plans to make to their site next week. There are quite a few:</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li>A <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/04/screen-shots-the-new-facebook-home-page/" target="_self">redesigned</a> home page with live updates, filters and a universal publishing model (very much like FriendFeed’s).</li> | |
| <li>One minor change that’s part of the universal publishing box is changing the verbiage “What are you doing right now?” to “What’s on your mind?”.</li> | |
| <li>People will no longer be capped at 5,000 friends.</li> | |
| <li>A Twitter/FriendFeed like follow feature will be added to allow people to keep tabs on others asynchronously.</li> | |
| <li>Pages will converge with profiles, creating a more uniform experience whether person, brand, whatever.</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>These changes point to the convergence of the life-streaming model with the social network and to Facebook’s stated goal of being its own Internet within the ‘tubes. When Facebook first introduced the News Feed in 2006, it became the first social network to show a network’s activity in this way.</p> | |
| <p>Since then, Twitter pioneered status (or micro-blogging) allowing the network to tell everyone explicitly what it’s doing, rather than using activity to infer that. Facebook added status shortly thereafter to capture the same activity.</p> | |
| <p>FriendFeed applied the News Feed concept to the entire ‘tubes, but as Facebook has added the ability to share more objects, beyond simply activity contained within Facebook, the News Feed has become increasingly more life stream focused.</p> | |
| <p>So, no big surprises in the home page redesign.</p> | |
| <p>The follow feature, however, sounds like an area for user revolt. Facebook has a very different feel than Twitter or FriendFeed primarily because following (or subscribing) can be asynchronous. Facebook has always enforced that profiles must be real people, probably dating back to its roots as the anti-MySpace; they have frequently enforced this citing it as a violation of their terms.</p> | |
| <p>Now, profiles and pages are merging, and people can follow each other. Sounds a shade like stalking. Because Twitter and others don’t have the rigorous profile requirements, you may not know who is really following you. You’ll know on Facebook though, and that will lead to a whole mess of issues.</p> | |
| <p>This is going to be interesting. Expect a “revolt”, by which I mean a bunch of whining from people. After all, Facebook has a history of upsetting its users. Here’s a brief score card.</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2005/09/07/85-of-college-students-use-facebook/" target="_self">September 2005</a>: Adds high schools to its previously college-only crowd causing college kids to complain about allowing uncool, high schoolers into their Fortress of Solitude.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/04/26/facebook-goes-beyond-college-high-school-markets/" target="_self">May 2006</a>: Adds work networks of selected companies, causing recently added high schoolers to join “old sk00l” college kids to whine that work people are uncool.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/09/06/facebook-users-revolt-facebook-replies/" target="_self">September 2006</a>: Adds News Feeds, Mini Feeds, irking hordes of users who are up in arms about flooding their pristine Facebook pages with mind-numbing details about their so-called friends.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/05/24/facebook-launches-facebook-platform-they-are-the-anti-myspace/" target="_self">March 2007</a>: Adds f8 platform for application development, which actually is met with user happiness for a change, until sheep throwing, vampire biting and spamming your friends to see your cool-points ranking get annoying.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/the-facebook-ad-backlash-begins/" target="_self">November 2007</a>: Beacon social advertising program face-plants as users are aghast that Facebook would use their data to, um, make money or try to at least.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/16/dont-let-facebook-force-the-new-profile-on-you-heres-how-to-get-the-old-one-back/" target="_self">September 2008</a>: New UI launch is met with widespread hatred, even though apps have polluted the once clean aesthetic that made it the anti-MySpace.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/16/zuckerberg-on-who-owns-user-data-on-facebook-its-complicated/" target="_self">February 2009</a>: Changes to its terms of service cause widespread outrage.</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>It’s actually pretty funny. When I started this list, my viewpoint was that Facebook would (again) run roughshod over its users, as it did in its infancy. However, looking back at the last 18 months, when the most growth has occurred outside the saturated demographics for social networking (talking to you Gen Y), Facebook has actually done a decent job listening to its user base.</p> | |
| <p>Sure, they’ve made mistakes, but they’ve ultimately been responsible for them and have accommodated reasonable requests. Not a bad thing. Although, as a highly visible company (and pop culture punchline), this course of action seems logical.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway. I don’t really think the changes are all that noteworthy, except maybe to early adopters who know Twitter (which is also inching toward mainstream as evidenced by its Daily Show <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/03/the-daily-show-my-stalker-just-grunted-on-my-twitter/" target="_self">cameo</a>) and FriendFeed and think it matter who was doing what first.</p> | |
| <p>Meh.</p> | |
| <p>The user revolt will be fun to observe. Most interesting will be how mainstream users feel about life-streaming and micro-blogging. The changes to Facebook’s UI will shape the future of the ‘tubes, like it or not.</p> | |
| <p>Find the comments and add your two cents.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pUarQEPYiPI:kAzbiFpZksQ:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pUarQEPYiPI:kAzbiFpZksQ:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pUarQEPYiPI:kAzbiFpZksQ:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=pUarQEPYiPI:kAzbiFpZksQ:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pUarQEPYiPI:kAzbiFpZksQ:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pUarQEPYiPI:kAzbiFpZksQ:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=pUarQEPYiPI:kAzbiFpZksQ:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
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| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/my1dXp4eyMw" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/my1dXp4eyMw/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/my1dXp4eyMw/updatedThu, 05 Mar 2009 00:56:20 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 05 00:56:20 UTC 2009updated_parsed200935056203640feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/03/new-imac-still-new-to-me/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/03/new-imac-still-new-to-me/#commentstitleNew iMac, Still New to Mewfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/03/new-imac-still-new-to-me/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueUpdate: Turns out Best Buy, where we bought the iMac, doesn’t have the new models in stock yet, but to make room in their inventory, they’ve lowered the prices on the remaining ones by $400. | |
| They were nice enough to honor the new price and refund the difference. Win-win, since I wasn’t all that excited about [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermappleschemelabeltermhome officeschemelabeltermimacschemelabeltermmacschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2519summaryUpdate: Turns out Best Buy, where we bought the iMac, doesn’t have the new models in stock yet, but to make room in their inventory, they’ve lowered the prices on the remaining ones by $400. | |
| They were nice enough to honor the new price and refund the difference. Win-win, since I wasn’t all that excited about [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueNew iMac, Still New to Mebasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="New iMacs" class="size-medium wp-image-2520 alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/overview_hero2_20090303-300x158.jpg" height="158" alt="New iMacs" width="300" /></p> | |
| <p><em>Update: Turns out Best Buy, where we bought the iMac, doesn’t have the new models in stock yet, but to make room in their inventory, they’ve lowered the prices on the remaining ones by $400.</em></p> | |
| <p><em>They were nice enough to honor the new price and refund the difference. Win-win, since I wasn’t all that excited about a data transfer. W00t!</em></p> | |
| <p>So, you may have heard that Apple dropped a bunch of updates to their product catalog today, along with software updates.</p> | |
| <p>Among the <a href="http://www.tuaw.com/2009/03/03/four-flavors-of-imac/" target="_self">updates</a> were upgrades to the iMac line.</p> | |
| <p>Not that noteworthy, unless you just bought an iMac last week like I did. Funny stuff, right?</p> | |
| <p>I’m actually not that bummed; a little, but not too much, considering. This was a replacement for my wife’s XP machine, which I had been nursing along for nearly ten years, adding disk, RAM and a DVD player to keep it functional. She had lent her Macbook to a friend (I know, gasp) and was forced to use that old beast without any escaping to a faster computer.</p> | |
| <p>Speed is her main requirement (and annoyance); this means the Internet, installed programs, everything. This means keeping a lot of moving parts, moving quickly, which was becoming increasingly tough with the old XP box. So, rather than have me rebuild it overnight, we decided to break down and buy a new machine entirely. For her, instant gratification and instant ability to get work done.</p> | |
| <p>The decision was to go Mac over PC because, well, I don’t feel like supporting it, and we like the unibody design of the iMac over the standard cable mess of disparate pieces. Plus, she already has a Macbook, so it’s not a jump into the deep end.</p> | |
| <p>I should have tipped when Best Buy said they had no 20″ iMacs in stock, in any local stores, but knowing how secretive Apple is, I wonder if even the Apple Store employees knew the new models were less than a week from dropping. We settled on the 24″ model that used to be the third in the lineup; based on the new specs, it’s probably closer to first, slightly more beefy than the low-end 20″ model in the new lineup. Grr.</p> | |
| <p>Still, she loves it to death so far (it’s so fast), and the cinema display is so bright, when I walk away from it, I see spots.</p> | |
| <p>Rather than trying to explain virtualization, I just installed Virtual Box and installed an XP VM. That VM runs about twice as fast as the old native installation of XP did. Sure, not an apples-to-apples comparison, but pretty impressive. The fan is really quiet too; one thing that bugs me about the Macbook is its loud fan. If you’ve held one of those in your lap, you’ll know why. It gets crazy hot after a while, not an ideal thing to keep in your lap.</p> | |
| <p>So, until today, everybody was happy. New computer for the wife, less support agony for me. Win-win.</p> | |
| <p>Of course, now we’ve fallen victim to buying the outgoing model year, which is inevitable, but usually doesn’t happen withing the same week.</p> | |
| <p>I also violated one of my rules by buying the unibody design. I can’t crack it open to do <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/09/weekend-project-macbook-surgery/" target="_self">upgrades</a> to keep from buying new gear every couple years. Maybe I can, but it won’t be easy. Maybe I’m wrong.</p> | |
| <p>Then, there’s the dilemma of what to do with the old dinosaur. I had thought it would make good network-attached storage, but aside from the slow processor, it only has about 80 GB of disk space, which is puny compared to the 250 GB I just put in my Macbook, 300 GB in the iMac or the 1 TB backup drive I bought for Time Machine on the iMac.</p> | |
| <p>Wow did I feel old buying a 1 TB disk about the size of a pocket dictionary for less than $200. I remember when Oracle DB broke the 1 TB barrier for database storage. That doesn’t seem that long ago. Cue the nostalgic music and prepare your grouchy “I remember when” stories for the comments.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, I’ll probably end up reimaging it as an experimental box for Jaunty Jackalop (9.04) or some other O/S, or maybe I’ll give it to the neighbors, keeping the monitor, natch. You can never have too many displays.</p> | |
| <p>So, there’s a lot here, meandering as always. What are your thoughts on any/all of the following:</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li>New iMacs and updates to Apple’s products</li> | |
| <li>Old iMacs, Macs in general</li> | |
| <li>Mac vs. PC, always welcome here <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> </li> | |
| <li>Supporting users who want everything “faster”</li> | |
| <li>Keeping up with current technology and getting out-moded</li> | |
| <li>Repurposing old gear</li> | |
| <li>A 1 TB drive for less than $200</li> | |
| <li>Having an experimental machine for hobby O/S</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>Find the comments and let us know.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
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| <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< | |
| RSS import ended at Mon Mar 23 16:51:31 -0700 2009 370 | |
| ========================= | |
| RSS import started at Mon Mar 23 16:52:13 -0700 2009 308 | |
| item not found 2: The AppsLab: Locavore Lists the In-Season Food Near You | |
| >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> | |
| An exception has occurred for 3:http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xml: Mysql::Error: Duplicate entry '0' for key 1: INSERT INTO `group_activities` (`updated_at`, `title`, `body`, `action`, `external_id`, `priority`, `url`, `author`, `group_id`, `subject_type`, `subject_id`, `comments_count`, `user_profile_id`, `ratings_average`, `created_at`, `ratings_count`) VALUES('2009-03-23 23:04:00', 'Locavore Lists the In-Season Food Near You', 'Locavore is an iPhone app for those who have a hard time remembering what foods are in season, and also tells you where to get them fresh and how to cook it all. via lifehacker.com ? Permalink | Leave a comment???', 'rss_post', 'http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-you', NULL, 'http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-you', NULL, 2, 'RssSource', 3, 0, NULL, 0.0, '2009-03-23 23:04:00', 0) | |
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| Data: status200hrefhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlencodingutf-8feedtitleOakland Farmersubtitle_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueRamblings from a backyard farmer in Oakland, Californiabasehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlsubtitleRamblings from a backyard farmer in Oakland, Californiatitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueOakland Farmerbasehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlgenerator_detailnameposterous.comlinkshrefhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.comrelalternatetypetext/htmlgeneratorposterous.comlinkhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.combozofalsemodified_timeetag"093b16aa7f9eb7c7ae7979ca133be5b7"namespacesversionrss20updatedentriesposterous_nicknamemanalangtitleLocavore Lists the In-Season Food Near Youposterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <blockquote class="posterous_long_quote"> | |
| <p>Locavore is an iPhone app for those who have a hard time remembering what foods are in season, and also tells you where to get them fresh and how to cook it all.</p> | |
| <p><img src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2009/03/photo_01.jpg" height="413" alt="" width="320" /></p> | |
| <p><img src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2009/03/photo_2_.jpg" height="413" alt="" width="320" /></p> | |
| <p><img src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2009/03/photo_3_.jpg" height="413" alt="" width="320" /></p> | |
| </blockquote> | |
| <div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5180335/locavore-lists-the-in+season-food-near-you">lifehacker.com</a></div> | |
| <p> </p> | |
| </div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-you">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-you#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>basehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-youposterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <blockquote class="posterous_long_quote"> | |
| <p>Locavore is an iPhone app for those who have a hard time remembering what foods are in season, and also tells you where to get them fresh and how to cook it all.</p> | |
| <p><img src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2009/03/photo_01.jpg" height="413" alt="" width="320" /></p> | |
| <p><img src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2009/03/photo_2_.jpg" height="413" alt="" width="320" /></p> | |
| <p><img src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2009/03/photo_3_.jpg" height="413" alt="" width="320" /></p> | |
| </blockquote> | |
| <div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5180335/locavore-lists-the-in+season-food-near-you">lifehacker.com</a></div> | |
| <p> </p> | |
| </div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-you">Permalink</a> | |
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| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueLocavore Lists the In-Season Food Near Youbasehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-yourelalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/locavore-lists-the-in-season-food-near-youupdatedMon, 23 Mar 2009 16:04:00 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeMon Mar 23 23:04:00 UTC 2009updated_parsed200932323400820posterous_nicknamemanalangtitleIs a Food Revolution Now in Season?posterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/03/22/business/22food_600.jpg" height="" width="500" /><div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/business/22food.html?_r=1&ref=business">nytimes.com</a></div> | |
| <p>Great article in Sunday's NYTimes re: the new food revolution.</p></div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/is-a-food-revolution-now-in-season">Permalink</a> | |
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| </p>basehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/is-a-food-revolution-now-in-seasonposterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| <div> | |
| <img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/03/22/business/22food_600.jpg" height="" width="500" /><div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/business/22food.html?_r=1&ref=business">nytimes.com</a></div> | |
| <p>Great article in Sunday's NYTimes re: the new food revolution.</p></div> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/is-a-food-revolution-now-in-season">Permalink</a> | |
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| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueIs a Food Revolution Now in Season?basehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/is-a-food-revolution-now-in-seasonrelalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/is-a-food-revolution-now-in-seasonupdatedMon, 23 Mar 2009 10:39:19 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeMon Mar 23 17:39:19 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093231739190820posterous_nicknamemanalangtitleOur Backyard Farm 3.0posterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| <p>I got into backyard farming about eight years ago. The first house we lived in had a long skinny backyard with a small space for a vegetable garden (v1.0). It didn't get great sun and the soil was rocky clay -- not great conditions. It was a great first garden to learn on, but aside from great tomatoes, we weren't really able to grow that great a crop in that garden.<br /> <br />Our second garden turned out to be smaller. The backyard in our second house consisted of a wood deck and a patch of lawn adjacent to a 7' x 7' rose garden. I would've taken the lawn out, but part of it was covered by shade and so we ended up ripping the rose garden out and put in a <a href="http://www.squarefootgardening.com/">square foot garden</a> in its place (v2.0). I love the idea of <a href="http://www.squarefootgardening.com/">square foot gardens</a>. If you have a small backyard, I highly recommend trying out a square foot garden. The idea behind it is to utilize a square foot of gardening space as best as you possibly can (i.e., grow 16 onions, 4 lettuces, 4 chards, etc. in one square foot of space). It's very efficient and makes you wonder why the concept isn't applied to all gardens. They say that one 4' x 4' square foot garden can supply enough produce to make a salad for one person every day for the growing season.<br /> <br />Our third and current garden is 10' x 16' split into two levels (v3.0). The nice part about this garden is that we didn't have to build it... it was here when we moved in! This year is our first season. We started this season in January with a batch of about 50 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidalia_onion">Vidalia onions</a>. Also new this year is we're attempting to grow directly from seeds. I've got a grow light set up in the garage currently growing Black-Seeded Simpson lettuce, Romaine lettuce, and a few varieties of tomatoes. The lettuce isn't doing too well. I think my soil mix isn't doing the job. I opted for a basic coir mix which sprouted the seeds just fine, but failed to grow them beyond 2-4 leafs. I'm going to attempt to grow it again with a different soil mix.<br /> <br />This season is pretty exciting. Lots of new things to try out. How's your garden going?</p> | |
| <p>Update: sorry... couldn't find a picture of v2.0</p> | |
| <p><p><a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/PolS7djCBZUIRzuqpc696XR1jIhPdHPqPW1GoiHSuxXX4PlgdiP4EUXbdsnV/4-20-2005_9-49-15-2-1.jpg"><img src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/d3vUI7MQIhCCTQxkyDE3nhLQKaf2lMlsm6l0DNSvka5XfswahEGVgNWKveEz/4-20-2005_9-49-15-2-1.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" height="332" width="500" /></a></p> | |
| <p><a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/iilpOzUOskzTHCVP7Y1EcQ815wYBgUCLkm1EWw5B4z454BwMVdOQnJQNCYoN/DSC_6541-1.jpg"><img src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/5WOWeJv9JgnWJ1TocemqzSTex7Sys3t1u6KYOlQQFWn8Vk2XxO3udbBAur3F/DSC_6541-1.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" height="332" width="500" /></a></p> | |
| <a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/our-backyard-farm-30">See the full gallery on posterous</a></p> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/our-backyard-farm-30">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/our-backyard-farm-30#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>basehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlenclosureshrefhttp://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/PolS7djCBZUIRzuqpc696XR1jIhPdHPqPW1GoiHSuxXX4PlgdiP4EUXbdsnV/4-20-2005_9-49-15-2-1.jpgtypeimage/jpegheight526width792hrefhttp://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/d3vUI7MQIhCCTQxkyDE3nhLQKaf2lMlsm6l0DNSvka5XfswahEGVgNWKveEz/4-20-2005_9-49-15-2-1.jpg.scaled.500.jpgheight332width500hrefhttp://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/iilpOzUOskzTHCVP7Y1EcQ815wYBgUCLkm1EWw5B4z454BwMVdOQnJQNCYoN/DSC_6541-1.jpgtypeimage/jpegheight583width878hrefhttp://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/5WOWeJv9JgnWJ1TocemqzSTex7Sys3t1u6KYOlQQFWn8Vk2XxO3udbBAur3F/DSC_6541-1.jpg.scaled.500.jpgheight332width500posterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/our-backyard-farm-30posterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| <p>I got into backyard farming about eight years ago. The first house we lived in had a long skinny backyard with a small space for a vegetable garden (v1.0). It didn't get great sun and the soil was rocky clay -- not great conditions. It was a great first garden to learn on, but aside from great tomatoes, we weren't really able to grow that great a crop in that garden.<br /> <br />Our second garden turned out to be smaller. The backyard in our second house consisted of a wood deck and a patch of lawn adjacent to a 7' x 7' rose garden. I would've taken the lawn out, but part of it was covered by shade and so we ended up ripping the rose garden out and put in a <a href="http://www.squarefootgardening.com/">square foot garden</a> in its place (v2.0). I love the idea of <a href="http://www.squarefootgardening.com/">square foot gardens</a>. If you have a small backyard, I highly recommend trying out a square foot garden. The idea behind it is to utilize a square foot of gardening space as best as you possibly can (i.e., grow 16 onions, 4 lettuces, 4 chards, etc. in one square foot of space). It's very efficient and makes you wonder why the concept isn't applied to all gardens. They say that one 4' x 4' square foot garden can supply enough produce to make a salad for one person every day for the growing season.<br /> <br />Our third and current garden is 10' x 16' split into two levels (v3.0). The nice part about this garden is that we didn't have to build it... it was here when we moved in! This year is our first season. We started this season in January with a batch of about 50 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidalia_onion">Vidalia onions</a>. Also new this year is we're attempting to grow directly from seeds. I've got a grow light set up in the garage currently growing Black-Seeded Simpson lettuce, Romaine lettuce, and a few varieties of tomatoes. The lettuce isn't doing too well. I think my soil mix isn't doing the job. I opted for a basic coir mix which sprouted the seeds just fine, but failed to grow them beyond 2-4 leafs. I'm going to attempt to grow it again with a different soil mix.<br /> <br />This season is pretty exciting. Lots of new things to try out. How's your garden going?</p> | |
| <p>Update: sorry... couldn't find a picture of v2.0</p> | |
| <p><p><a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/PolS7djCBZUIRzuqpc696XR1jIhPdHPqPW1GoiHSuxXX4PlgdiP4EUXbdsnV/4-20-2005_9-49-15-2-1.jpg"><img src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/d3vUI7MQIhCCTQxkyDE3nhLQKaf2lMlsm6l0DNSvka5XfswahEGVgNWKveEz/4-20-2005_9-49-15-2-1.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" height="332" width="500" /></a></p> | |
| <p><a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/iilpOzUOskzTHCVP7Y1EcQ815wYBgUCLkm1EWw5B4z454BwMVdOQnJQNCYoN/DSC_6541-1.jpg"><img src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/oaklandfarmer/5WOWeJv9JgnWJ1TocemqzSTex7Sys3t1u6KYOlQQFWn8Vk2XxO3udbBAur3F/DSC_6541-1.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" height="332" width="500" /></a></p> | |
| <a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/our-backyard-farm-30">See the full gallery on posterous</a></p> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/our-backyard-farm-30">Permalink</a> | |
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| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueOur Backyard Farm 3.0basehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/our-backyard-farm-30relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/our-backyard-farm-30updatedSun, 22 Mar 2009 21:42:00 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeMon Mar 23 04:42:00 UTC 2009updated_parsed200932344200820posterous_nicknamemanalangtitleSpring has sprung!posterous_authorsummary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p> | |
| ...and so has this blog. I'm a backyard farmer from Oakland, California. I don't claim to be an expert, just a hobbyist that's looking to grow better fruit and vegetables in the comfort of my own backyard. I guess you can say that I follow <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Waters">Alice Waters'</a> principles of eating what's in season and what's grown locally -- you can't get more local than your own backyard. In this blog, I'm hoping to chronicle my attempt to create an edible organic garden and hopefully share useful tips for other backyard farmers. This should be fun... I hope you follow along! | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/spring-has-sprung-1">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/spring-has-sprung-1#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>basehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_profileurlhttp://posterous.com/people/Qav9nqMJABidhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/spring-has-sprung-1posterous_lastnnmeManalangposterous_userimagehttp://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/44395/Photo_57.jpgsummary<p> | |
| ...and so has this blog. I'm a backyard farmer from Oakland, California. I don't claim to be an expert, just a hobbyist that's looking to grow better fruit and vegetables in the comfort of my own backyard. I guess you can say that I follow <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Waters">Alice Waters'</a> principles of eating what's in season and what's grown locally -- you can't get more local than your own backyard. In this blog, I'm hoping to chronicle my attempt to create an edible organic garden and hopefully share useful tips for other backyard farmers. This should be fun... I hope you follow along! | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/spring-has-sprung-1">Permalink</a> | |
| | <a href="http://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/spring-has-sprung-1#comment">Leave a comment »</a> | |
| </p>guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueSpring has sprung!basehttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/rss.xmlposterous_displaynameRich Manalanglinkshrefhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/spring-has-sprung-1relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://oaklandfarmer.posterous.com/spring-has-sprung-1updatedSun, 22 Mar 2009 16:38:42 -0700posterous_firstnameRichupdated_timeSun Mar 22 23:38:42 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093222338426810headersstatus200 OKcache-controlprivate, max-age=0, must-revalidateconnectionkeep-alivedateMon, 23 Mar 2009 23:52:13 GMTcontent-typeapplication/rss+xml; charset=utf-8etag"093b16aa7f9eb7c7ae7979ca133be5b7"servernginx/0.6.35x-runtime16mscontent-length10863 | |
| <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< | |
| item not found 2: The AppsLab: Had Enough Twitter Yet? | |
| >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> | |
| An exception has occurred for 1:http://theappslab.com/feed: Mysql::Error: Duplicate entry '0' for key 1: INSERT INTO `group_activities` (`updated_at`, `title`, `body`, `action`, `external_id`, `priority`, `url`, `author`, `group_id`, `subject_type`, `subject_id`, `comments_count`, `user_profile_id`, `ratings_average`, `created_at`, `ratings_count`) VALUES('2009-03-23 17:08:34', 'Had Enough Twitter Yet?', 'Twitter is exploding. You’ve probably seen the numbers. 1,382% comparing February 2009 with February 2008. More than 50% from January 2009 to February 2009. By all measures, that’s an insane growth rate. Mainstream media has taken note, and celebrities (and impostors) are flocking to Twitter in droves. Pun intended. Do you have a favorite celebrity you follow? [...]', 'rss_post', 'http://theappslab.com/?p=2633', NULL, 'http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/_RsrNZryrcU/', 'Jake', 2, 'RssSource', 1, 0, NULL, 0.0, '2009-03-23 17:08:34', 0) | |
| Exception stack trace as follows: ["/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract_adapter.rb:188:in `log'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/mysql_adapter.rb:309:in `execute_without_analyzer'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/gems/josevalim-rails-footnotes-3.4.1/lib/rails-footnotes/notes/queries_note.rb:104:in `execute'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/benchmark.rb:8:in `realtime'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/gems/josevalim-rails-footnotes-3.4.1/lib/rails-footnotes/notes/queries_note.rb:104:in `execute'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/database_statements.rb:171:in `insert_sql'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/mysql_adapter.rb:319:in `insert_sql'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/database_statements.rb:44:in `insert_without_query_dirty'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/query_cache.rb:18:in `insert'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/base.rb:2733:in `create_without_callbacks'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/callbacks.rb:237:in `create_without_timestamps'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/timestamp.rb:29:in `create'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/base.rb:2699:in `create_or_update_without_callbacks'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/callbacks.rb:222:in `create_or_update'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/base.rb:2383:in `save_without_validation'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/validations.rb:1009:in `save_without_dirty'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/dirty.rb:79:in `save_without_transactions'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:179:in `send'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:179:in `with_transaction_returning_status'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/database_statements.rb:66:in `transaction'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:129:in `transaction'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:138:in `transaction'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:178:in `with_transaction_returning_status'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:146:in `save'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:158:in `rollback_active_record_state!'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:146:in `save'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/lib/group_activity_feeder.rb:128:in `import_rss_source'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/lib/group_activity_feeder.rb:104:in `each'", "/Users/richmanalang/dev/connect.git/lib/group_activity_feeder.rb:104:in 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"/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/irb/workspace.rb:52:in `irb_binding'", "/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/irb/workspace.rb:52"] | |
| Data: status200hrefhttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabencodingUTF-8feedlanguageentitleThe AppsLabfeedburner_emailserviceidOracleAppslabsy_updateperiodhourlysubtitle_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueDriving Innovationbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabsubtitleDriving Innovationtitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueThe AppsLabbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabfeedburner_feedburnerhostnamehttp://feedburner.google.comgenerator_detailnamehttp://wordpress.org/?v=2.7linkshrefhttp://theappslab.comrelalternatetypetext/htmlsy_updatefrequency1generatorhttp://wordpress.org/?v=2.7linkhttp://theappslab.comatom10_linkupdatedMon, 23 Mar 2009 17:09:16 +0000updated_timeMon Mar 23 17:09:16 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009323179160820bozofalsemodified_timeMon Mar 23 17:25:10 UTC 2009etaglb/Rbf0di70vrfJzxKhuowadrSknamespacesversionrss20updated20093231725100820entriesfeedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/23/2633/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/23/2633/#commentstitleHad Enough Twitter Yet?wfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/23/2633/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueTwitter is exploding. You’ve probably seen the numbers. | |
| 1,382% comparing February 2009 with February 2008. More than 50% from January 2009 to February 2009. | |
| By all measures, that’s an insane growth rate. Mainstream media has taken note, and celebrities (and impostors) are flocking to Twitter in droves. Pun intended. Do you have a favorite celebrity you follow? [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermenterpriseschemelabeltermoratweetschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2633summaryTwitter is exploding. You’ve probably seen the numbers. | |
| 1,382% comparing February 2009 with February 2008. More than 50% from January 2009 to February 2009. | |
| By all measures, that’s an insane growth rate. Mainstream media has taken note, and celebrities (and impostors) are flocking to Twitter in droves. Pun intended. Do you have a favorite celebrity you follow? [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueHad Enough Twitter Yet?basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Twitter is <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/03/16/twitter-growth-rate-versus-facebook/" target="_self">exploding</a>. You’ve probably seen the numbers.</p> | |
| <p>1,382% comparing February 2009 with February 2008. More than 50% from January 2009 to February 2009.</p> | |
| <p>By all measures, that’s an insane growth rate. Mainstream media has taken note, and celebrities (and impostors) are flocking to Twitter in droves. Pun intended. Do you have a favorite celebrity you follow? I enjoy @<a href="http://twitter.com/the_real_shaq" target="_self">THE_REAL_SHAQ</a>.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Do you follow @god?" class="size-full wp-image-2634 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/god.png" height="30" alt="Do you follow @god?" width="292" /></p> | |
| <p>Even <a href="http://twitter.com/god" target="_self">god</a> has an account now, and yes, the lowercase “g” is on purpose. It’s a statement of fact.</p> | |
| <p>Twitter is so common now, it’s quickly replacing Facebook as the pop culture whipping boy of media types. Facebook’s window was pretty small, and they’ve apparently noticed, recently making their <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/" target="_self">interface</a> more micro-bloggy.</p> | |
| <p>Enterprises have noticed too, giving life to companies like <a href="https://www.yammer.com/" target="_self">Yammer</a> and projects like <a href="http://apextoday.blogspot.com/2008/06/post-updates-to-twitter-from-apex-plsql.html" target="_self">OraTweet</a>. There’s even a new category and analysis around the “enterprise micro-blogging” space.</p> | |
| <p>As people rush into Twitter, I wonder if the ah-ha moments are coming more quickly. Like many people I know, I created an account on Twitter and waited. It took several months and a conscious effort to start seeing value. My guess is early adopters all have the same pattern of tweets over time. Sparse early, an inflection point, then ramping up each months thereafter.</p> | |
| <p>As you tweet, you discover the value’s in the network, which is what has made Twitter so tough to quit, even when it was fail whaling every day for hours at a time.</p> | |
| <p>Ah, the good old days.</p> | |
| <p>So, do you think that new tweeters follow the blog posts of their fore-tweeters to get to their own inflection points sooner? Do you think they’re using Twitter for different things? Are the celebrities and media types drawing them to Twitter and keeping their attention?</p> | |
| <p>I don’t really know.</p> | |
| <p>I’ve been watching the adoption of OraTweet with interest. It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, but it does underline the common uses for so-called micro-blogging. Incidentally, will someone please coin a better term for generic tweeting than “micro-blogging”.</p> | |
| <p>Here are the common cases I’ve observed:</p> | |
| <ol> | |
| <li>Frustration</li> | |
| <li>Communication</li> | |
| <li>Seeking and Sharing Information</li> | |
| <li>Work Streaming</li> | |
| </ol> | |
| <p>With the exception of 4, these are all very common on Twitter as well. 4 represents a unique use case inside the firewall, and I expect to see it grow over time as people discover they can broadcast how busy they are to the whole company, erm anyone listening.</p> | |
| <p>I’m kidding, a little. OraTweet is highly useful for distributed teams to broadcast issues and updates to the entire project team. This was one of its first and best <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/08/26/social-observations-oratweet-edition/" target="_self">uses</a>.</p> | |
| <p>Not surprisingly 2 (Communication) is finding a home inside the firewall. Hutch Carpenter has an interesting <a href="http://bhc3.wordpress.com/2009/03/13/microblogging-will-marginalize-corporate-email/" target="_self">look</a> at how micro-blogging (yuck) is pushing email to the margins inside many companies. I can’t say I’ve noticed this yet here, judging by my inbox, but OraTweet has added another channel for communication.</p> | |
| <p>The new channel fits in between email and IM for communication that isn’t super important (i.e. you can keep it to 140 characters and sloppy writing) or immediate (i.e. you don’t need a pingback right this moment). This actually fits a high percentage of the water cooler/hallway/stop-by-your-cubicle communication that I remember from when I sat in an office, which leads me to wonder if remote workers are adopting more quickly to re-socialize their work time.</p> | |
| <p>Regardless of how we find value in OraTweet, another tool inside the firewall, or Twitter, people are still having trouble getting that it’s public. Hutch had <a href="http://bhc3.wordpress.com/2009/03/17/how-to-tweet-your-way-out-of-a-job/" target="_self">another</a> example of tweeting yourself in the foot last week. Tough to feel bad for someone high-hatting a job offer in this economy.</p> | |
| <p>Remember to <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/01/20/tweet-with-care/" target="_self">tweet with care</a> people.</p> | |
| <p>So, your thoughts on: Twitter’s growth, your own experiences, enterprise adoption, how you find value, how much you dislike Twitter, tweeting yourself in the foot, unfortunate mishaps, and everything else belong in the comments.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=_RsrNZryrcU:NdNHpoH_gos:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=_RsrNZryrcU:NdNHpoH_gos:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=_RsrNZryrcU:NdNHpoH_gos:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/_RsrNZryrcU" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/_RsrNZryrcU/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/_RsrNZryrcU/updatedMon, 23 Mar 2009 17:08:34 +0000updated_timeMon Mar 23 17:08:34 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009323178340820feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/20/web-mission-is-coming/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/20/web-mission-is-coming/#commentstitleWeb Mission is Comingwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/20/web-mission-is-coming/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueAs he did last year, Paul will be speaking during the Oracle portion of this year’s Web Mission, which runs March 28-April 3. | |
| What is Web Mission? Glad you asked, from the about: | |
| Web Mission is organized Bronwyn Kunhardt and James Lawn from the market intelligence company Polecat (www.polecatting.com) and by serial entrepreneur, Oli Barrett. Each [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermoracleschemelabeltermwebmissionschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2624summaryAs he did last year, Paul will be speaking during the Oracle portion of this year’s Web Mission, which runs March 28-April 3. | |
| What is Web Mission? Glad you asked, from the about: | |
| Web Mission is organized Bronwyn Kunhardt and James Lawn from the market intelligence company Polecat (www.polecatting.com) and by serial entrepreneur, Oli Barrett. Each [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueWeb Mission is Comingbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="Web Mission" class="size-full wp-image-2626 alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/webmission.png" height="84" alt="Web Mission" width="218" />As he did last year, Paul will be speaking during the Oracle portion of this year’s <a href="http://webmission.co.uk" target="_self">Web Mission</a>, which runs March 28-April 3.</p> | |
| <p>What is Web Mission? Glad you asked, from the <a href="http://webmission.co.uk/about/" target="_self">about</a>:</p> | |
| <blockquote> | |
| <p class="MsoListParagraph"><em>Web Mission is organized Bronwyn Kunhardt and James Lawn from the market intelligence company Polecat (<a href="http://www.polecatting.com/">www.polecatting.com</a>) and by serial entrepreneur, Oli Barrett. Each year, Web Mission seeks to introduce 20 of the best Web 2.0 companies to the many inspiring people and supportive Web 2.0 networks which exist in Silicon Valley. The aim is to support the companies to:</em></p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li><em>Facilitate meetings with local investors</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Meet and mingle with Silicon Valley movers and shakers relevant to their organization and growth plans</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Discuss their business with leading journalists</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Spend quality time with like-minded people on the web scene</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Explore how to succeed in the US market</em></li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p><em>The successful companies are short-listed by judges such as Doug Richard, Mike Butcher from TechCrunch and with input from the Web Mission sponsors. The sponsors include technology companies, media companies, financial and legal organizations. They are complemented by a host of Partners who provide specialist support to the event.</em></p></blockquote> | |
| <p>Oh yeah, these companies are UK-based, and this is a trade mission of sorts, backed by the UK government to help incubate UK technology startups. Apparently, the event is backed by British politicos, and the companies will enjoy an evening at the British Consulate in San Francisco, among other things.</p> | |
| <p>But wait, there’s more.</p> | |
| <p>The <a href="http://webmission.co.uk/agenda-2009/" target="_self">agenda</a> is packed. The lucky company reps leave the UK on March 28 and return on April 4. In between, they’ll be visiting Oracle on April 1 to hear Paul and a host of other Oracle people chat, and they’ll be at the <a href="http://www.web2expo.com/" target="_self">Web 2.0 Expo</a> on April 2.</p> | |
| <p>Looking at the agenda makes me tired. The days are fully booked, and by the end, these people will be stuffed full of entrepreneurial advice and information. Sounds like a valuable, but potentially exhausting trip. Then again, these are startup people, so they’re used to burning the candle at both ends.</p> | |
| <p>Who are these lucky companies?</p> | |
| <p>Here’s a checklist of the companies who are attending Web Mission 2009.</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.artesiansolutions.com/">www.artesiansolutions.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.businessitonline.com/">www.businessitonline.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.cereproc.com/">www.cereproc.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.coclarity.com/">www.coclarity.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.complianceandrisks.com/">www.complianceandrisks.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.concrete-media.com/">www.concrete-media.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.corebridge.com/">www.corebridge.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.freshnetworks.com/">www.freshnetworks.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.mtivity.com/">www.mtivity.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.proofhq.com/">www.proofhq.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.replify.com/">www.replify.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.sift.com/">www.sift.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.sosius.com/">www.sosius.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.tactilecrm.com/">www.tactilecrm.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.viapost.com/">www.viapost.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.yuuguu.com/">www.yuuguu.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.zemanta.com/">www.zemanta.com</a></li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>Two alumni from Web Mission 2008</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.huddle.net/">www.huddle.net</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.trampolinesystems.com/">www.trampolinesystems.com</a></li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/RWnbYG3Id1E" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/RWnbYG3Id1E/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/RWnbYG3Id1E/updatedFri, 20 Mar 2009 17:23:02 +0000updated_timeFri Mar 20 17:23:02 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009320172324790feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/19/ignore-your-competition-focus-on-the-stable/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/19/ignore-your-competition-focus-on-the-stable/#commentstitleIgnore Your Competition, Focus on the Stablewfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/19/ignore-your-competition-focus-on-the-stable/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvaluePhoto Credit: FoxTongue | |
| I watched a recent interview with Jeff Bezos on Charlie Rose the other day. In it, he was questioned as to how he, against the odds, “beat” the various etailers of the day pushing books online. His answer was fantastically elegant and straight forward. He is fanatical about aligning his organization to his [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabelauthorPaulidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2617summaryPhoto Credit: FoxTongue | |
| I watched a recent interview with Jeff Bezos on Charlie Rose the other day. In it, he was questioned as to how he, against the odds, “beat” the various etailers of the day pushing books online. His answer was fantastically elegant and straight forward. He is fanatical about aligning his organization to his [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueIgnore Your Competition, Focus on the Stablebasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="2657434642_543c30685f" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-2619" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/2657434642_543c30685f-300x216.jpg" height="216" alt="2657434642_543c30685f" width="300" /></p> | |
| <h5><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxtongue/2657434642/">Photo Credit: FoxTongue</a></h5> | |
| <p>I watched a recent interview with <a href="http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/8784">Jeff Bezos on Charlie Rose</a> the other day. In it, he was questioned as to how he, against the odds, “beat” the various etailers of the day pushing books online. His answer was fantastically elegant and straight forward. He is fanatical about aligning his organization to his customer’s needs. This may mean making short term decisions that do not align with shareholders, and if you are an Amazon customer (and I am for life) you have probably experienced this via their incredible return process. However, he feels that in the long run, there is always alignment between customers and shareholders. Brilliant.</p> | |
| <p>Now you may be thinking, oh I have heard the customer-centric story before. The good news is that Jeff went a bit deeper into their actual approach to a customer driven business. In essence, he focuses his organization on <strong>excelling at the things customers want that do not shift over time</strong>. To Amazon, that means, wide product selection, low price and fast delivery - those will always be important to his customer. In his words, “I can’t imagine a customer saying, I really like Amazon, but I wish their prices were higher”. I should note that this concept applies to software as well, as conveyed recently by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQFPMuZ7hl4">Jason Fried</a> in his talk at the Business of Software Conference, only for him, the unchanging were things like ease of use and performance.</p> | |
| <p>Back to Bezos - The other lesson conveyed subtly was to <strong>ignore the competition</strong>. You may be sitting there saying, oh yeah, that sounds great, but I can’t ignore my competition. I need to know what they are doing so I can contrast the differences to my customers or so I can talk credibly to the analysts. On that point, I would agree, but it is a matter of intent and degree. The problem arises when you use that competitive gaze to consume all your time <em>or to drive your strategy</em>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Porter">Michael Porter</a> may disagree, but strategy, from my perspective, must be driven primarily from your customers needs. Everything else is secondary.</p> | |
| <p>The intersting thing about these notions is that they are in many ways ignored by companies of all shapes and sizes. Far too often I see firms chasing market hype or the latest competitive move in a copycat feature race to oblivion, while customers sit on the sidelines with their popcorn. Competitor A adds AJAX, we need it. Competitor B has a Facebook app, we gotta have it. Competitor C is on demand, let’s get on it. Perhaps it is just easier or more fun to spend time talking to your co-workers about cool new features as opposed to reaching out to customers and potentially hearing about what you can do better. Who wants to hear that right?</p> | |
| <p>As you ponder this you may be tempted to return to your cozy old ways of thinking and acting. The usual line that I hear to counter this approach, is that customers really don’t know what they want anyway, so why ask them. That comment is usually followed up with something pithy like “Would a customer have asked for the ipod?”. To that I say, rubbish. Customers are very bright and if you talked to a few you might have already known that.</p> | |
| <p><span>Let me leave you with three simple reasons why a strategy driven by competition is a fools errand:</span></p> | |
| <p><strong>1. Time Is Limited:</strong> Every moment you spend on our competition is time you could have spent working with a customer.</p> | |
| <p><strong>2. Competitors Could Be Wrong:</strong> The strategy they are implementing, and you are choosing to follow, could be off the mark and a total waste of time and money. Oftentimes we think people at other companies are smarter than us - that could be wrong too.</p> | |
| <p><strong>3. Your Strategy Must Be Yours: </strong>Not all companies are created equal. Each has their own assets, skills, resources, relationships and more, that they can, and should, bring to bear on a strategy. If you copy your competitor you just may be ignoring your best assets and playing a game on their home turf. If you have a great running game, do you play a passing offense because that is what the other team is doing? The answer is obvious and no different for business.</p> | |
| <p>In the end, my favorite part of this is the simplicity. As humans, we love complex things. They make us feel smart and special, but more and more, in life and in business simple wins the day.</p> | |
| <p>Now where is my phone, I need to call a customer…</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/r9-VLtboEjk" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/r9-VLtboEjk/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/r9-VLtboEjk/updatedThu, 19 Mar 2009 17:32:44 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 19 17:32:44 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093191732443780feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/i-might-pay-for-jotnot/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/i-might-pay-for-jotnot/#commentstitleI Might Pay for JotNotwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/i-might-pay-for-jotnot/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueThere are very few times when I read something and think to myself, I must blog this immediately and tell as many people as possible. | |
| This is one of those few times. | |
| JotNot is a web service that converts pictures into documents. Send a picture to them by email or upload one to their website and get [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermappsschemelabeltermimagesschemelabeltermiphoneschemelabeltermjotnotschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2611summaryThere are very few times when I read something and think to myself, I must blog this immediately and tell as many people as possible. | |
| This is one of those few times. | |
| JotNot is a web service that converts pictures into documents. Send a picture to them by email or upload one to their website and get [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueI Might Pay for JotNotbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>There are very few times when I read something and think to myself, I must blog this immediately and tell as many people as possible.</p> | |
| <p>This is one of those few times.</p> | |
| <p><a href="http://www.jotnot.com/" target="_self">JotNot</a> is a web service that converts pictures into documents. Send a picture to them by email or upload one to their website and get back a Word or pdf version. Not a big deal, there are other services that do this.</p> | |
| <p>This service is good for transferring information on a whiteboard into something you can distribute, and believe it or not, this happens quite frequently and is a constant frustration for telecommuters who aren’t “in the room”.</p> | |
| <p>It’s also good for scanning, if you don’t have a scanner.</p> | |
| <p><img title="JotNot's blue box, captured from iTunes app page" class="size-full wp-image-2612 alignleft" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/bluebox.png" height="289" alt="JotNot's blue box, captured from iTunes app page" width="201" /><img title="Enhanced image, captured from iTunes app page" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2613" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/enhanced.png" height="289" alt="Enhanced image, captured from iTunes app page" width="201" /></p> | |
| <p>Now, h/t <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/17/jotnot-turns-your-iphones-camera-into-a-document-scanner/" target="_self">TechCrunch</a>, they have an iPhone <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=307868751&mt=8" target="_self">app</a> (iTunes link).</p> | |
| <p>The app sounds very simple. Take a picture (or import one). Use the blue box presented by the app to indicate the area you want captured. Then wait as the app does its processing magic, correcting for lighting, color, and even perspective. Very cool.</p> | |
| <p>Unfortunately, this app costs $3.99, and I have yet to pay for an iPhone app. I’m still not over the initial sticker shock, my prerogative as an OG iPhone guy who paid full boat back in July 2007. However, this app tempts me to get over my desire for full amortization.</p> | |
| <p>If you read here, you know I prefer iPhone apps that perform <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/12/23/iphone-apps-for-units-of-work/" target="_self">units of work</a>, and usually, I can see value in these apps, even if I don’t have a specific use case or pain point in mind. JotNot hits two, very real pain points for me, and I’m pretty sure one or both apply to you as well.</p> | |
| <p><strong>Pain Point 1</strong><br /> | |
| The JotNot web service doesn’t meet my needs for whiteboard pictures. Why? Because typically, there’s sensitive information on that whiteboard, and it shouldn’t reside on outside servers.</p> | |
| <p>Yeah, it may not seem like a huge deal, but I like my job <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> </p> | |
| <p>The JotNot iPhone app does all its processing on the device. So, no worries about leaking the top secret designs for the next version of Connect.</p> | |
| <p>I could have used this app the last time Paul, Rich, Anthony and I sat in a conference room in Pleasanton, brainstorming Connect’s direction. We ended up with about five picture’s worth of whiteboard content, which I then had to email for posterity. Corrections for my bad photography would have been nice.</p> | |
| <p>There have also been several times when people have told me “I have it all on my whiteboard”, which didn’t really help me, since I’m not even in the same state as your whiteboard. It would have been nice to get a picture of that whiteboard.</p> | |
| <p><strong>Pain Point 2</strong><br /> | |
| We recently switched to scanning expense receipts. This is a bit problematic for home-based people unless there happens to be a scanner or an all-in-one in the house. In some rare cases, the all-in-one may be old enough not have any Mac or Linux drivers, making its scanning functions useless (and yes, I tried with a VM, no luck).</p> | |
| <p>This makes scanning receipts a challenge. I could use the JotNot web service, since receipts aren’t confidential, or the iPhone app, my choice. The one drawback of the iPhone app is that (I assume) the processed image format is jpg, just like all the iPhone camera images are.</p> | |
| <p>We need to submit receipts in pdf form. So, there would be an additional step required to transfer (or mail) it for conversion to pdf.</p> | |
| <p>Even so, as a guy who used to travel five days a week and struggled to keep current with expenses, I see huge value in this app. Consultants and sales people who live on the road can’t always predict when they will be able to scan receipts.</p> | |
| <p>JotNot would definitely help nomadic workers who live on the road and in hotels.</p> | |
| <p>So, color me impressed. Find the comments to add your two cents. Add enough, and I’ll use it buy this app.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/FoWwLTmUXFE" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/FoWwLTmUXFE/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/FoWwLTmUXFE/updatedWed, 18 Mar 2009 21:06:22 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 18 21:06:22 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009318216222770feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/ted-on-play/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/ted-on-play/#commentstitleTED on Playwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/ted-on-play/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueI am spending some cycles these days thinking on the integration of play and work. I happen to believe that there is some real magic to be had here for organizations and for firms looking to supply the next generation of software. Sure making work a game seems a bit out there (I get that), [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabelauthorPaulidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2608summaryI am spending some cycles these days thinking on the integration of play and work. I happen to believe that there is some real magic to be had here for organizations and for firms looking to supply the next generation of software. Sure making work a game seems a bit out there (I get that), [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueTED on Playbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>I am spending some cycles these days thinking on the integration of play and work. I happen to believe that there is some real magic to be had here for organizations and for firms looking to supply the next generation of software. Sure making work a game seems a bit out there (I get that), and I guess I could go back to thinking about RSS and Twitter, but I think that is pretty well covered by a host of others. Knowing my current fascination with this topic, <a href="http://theappslab.com/about/">Jake </a>passed along this TED talk by Stuart Brown:</p> | |
| <p><span></span></p> | |
| <p>Although I agree whole heartily with the message, and his story about the wild polar bear playing with huskies is incredible (watch it just for that), the section on the integration of play into our adulthood was sorely lacking in actionable information. We are told the diagnosis (”Play is important to everyone”), but are abruptly kicked out of the hospital without any treatment and a draft from the back of our robe. To be fair, Stuart did share some work done in his class on play at Stanford that endeavored to connect play with adult work life. The short video showed how his students would “re-invent” the meeting.</p> | |
| <p>As the video rolled, I was hoping for something incredible, and unfortunately was left feeling frustrated. The idea presented by the students was to put on full body white painters overalls and then use dry erase markers to keep notes on each other during the meeting. Sure, set to music and fast motion editing, it seems fun, but I think it hurts our cause more than helping it. No “serious” executive will ever see that as anything but a waste of time. <em>In fact, no one that works anywhere, at any level, would see this as valuable</em>. I am sure it was fun to do, but if we want to make any inroads we simply cannot ignore the firm footing “getting something done” has in the mindset of the modern worker.</p> | |
| <p>To give credit where it is due, they are at least trying. Just because we do not have a great solution today, does not mean that the problem does not exist. The imbalance of play and purpose that most people feel at work cannot be ignored. These are just the crude early efforts. My sense is that we will have to take smaller, bite size approaches of integrating play with work for it to be effective, but that does not mean that more ambitious concepts like the one presented at Stanford will not provide the fodder for more practical initiatives.</p> | |
| <p>In my next post I will give a practical example of how I think play can be integrated with a product management role inside a company. Stay tuned.</p> | |
| <p>——————————</p> | |
| <p>Cross Posted to <a href="http://gamethemachine.com/2009/03/18/ted-on-play/">GameTheMachine</a></p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/DnqRLBT0DuU" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/DnqRLBT0DuU/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/DnqRLBT0DuU/updatedWed, 18 Mar 2009 17:06:20 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 18 17:06:20 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009318176202770feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/17/i-want-vli/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/17/i-want-vli/#commentstitleI Want VLIwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/17/i-want-vli/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueBack in 2006 while on a trip to HQ, I sat in a meeting with some folks from the User Experience (UX) team. I don’t remember exactly what the purpose of the meeting was, but we wandered off topic and were just bouncing ideas off each other. | |
| I threw out the idea of a zero interface, [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermapisschemelabeltermconnectschemelabeltermrestschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabeltermuischemelabeltermvlischemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2599summaryBack in 2006 while on a trip to HQ, I sat in a meeting with some folks from the User Experience (UX) team. I don’t remember exactly what the purpose of the meeting was, but we wandered off topic and were just bouncing ideas off each other. | |
| I threw out the idea of a zero interface, [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueI Want VLIbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Back in 2006 while on a trip to HQ, I sat in a meeting with some folks from the User Experience (UX) team. I don’t remember exactly what the purpose of the meeting was, but we wandered off topic and were just bouncing ideas off each other.</p> | |
| <p>I threw out the idea of a zero interface, erm very little interface (VLI), which understandably did not go over well. Not the best audience in hindsight. Looking at Twitter’s astounding <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/13/whoa-twitter-mania/" target="_self">growth</a>, I wonder how much can be attributed to their laissez faire attitude and very functional API, which has created an ecosystem of apps around them.</p> | |
| <p><img title="I'm always reminded of Joey from Friends "How you doin'?"" class="size-full wp-image-2601 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/vli.png" height="71" alt="I'm always reminded of Joey from Friends "How you doin'?"" width="529" /></p> | |
| <p>Granted, Twitter has a pretty <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/03/10/twitter-free-pr/" target="_self">limited</a> feature set, which makes it much easier for them to implement a VLI, but that combined with their openness has bread success. This is a repeatable formula.</p> | |
| <p>I’m a big believer in simplicity in UI, frequently preferring a command line interface (CLI) to a UI. Obviously, zero interface is an impossibility, which is why I’m using the term VLI. Using Twitter as an analog again, Twitter.com is very simplistic. In fact, they haven’t integrated twitter.search.com (formerly Summize), nor do they track all @ replies.</p> | |
| <p>However, their API is very functional, <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/16/tweetdeck-adds-facebook-whats-next/" target="_self">allowing</a> client apps like <a href="http://tweetdeck.com" target="_self">TweetDeck</a> to replace (and augment) the twitter.com feature set. The only piece they’ve kept closed is account creation and management, and now that <a href="http://oauth.net/" target="_self">OAuth</a> integration is in <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/16/twitters-oauth-support-now-in-public-beta/" target="_self">public beta</a>, who knows if they’ll open pieces of profile management as well.</p> | |
| <p>Twitter.com <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/19/the-top-21-twitter-clients-according-to-twitstat/" target="_self">remains</a> the most popular way to tweet, although its share has <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/19/the-top-21-twitter-clients-according-to-twitstat/" target="_self">fallen</a> from 55% in April 2008 to 32% in February 2009. Granted, it’s difficult to track traffic accurately, so this is an unscientific measure. As an aside, I wonder which client benefited the most from the <a href="http://status.twitter.com/post/53978711/im-not-coming-soon" target="_self">loss</a> of IM as a client?</p> | |
| <p>And all bets are off, if Twitter decides to monetize the pageviews. That would be interesting.</p> | |
| <p>So, what have we learned? VLI isn’t about interface at all. It’s about data.</p> | |
| <p>Data make your app valuable. Interface is a byproduct of data.</p> | |
| <p>If you’ve ever built UI, you know how tough it is to balance usability with functionality. Throw users into the mix, and you have a whole lot of must-have requirements that don’t play nicely with each other.</p> | |
| <p>Enter the second tenant of VLI, open APIs.</p> | |
| <p>You must give your users (specifically, their developers) that ability to remix the data.</p> | |
| <p>This has been our goal for Connect. We haven’t been able to keep the UI as simple as Twitter’s because as a new app, we needed a more functional UI so our new users could get what Connect was.</p> | |
| <p>However, as our user base has grown, we’ve added REST APIs for the user data, which has spawned <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/12/17/two-great-tastes-that-taste-great-together/" target="_self">integrations</a> with a few other apps, e.g. OraTweet. <a href="http://apextoday.blogspot.com/" target="_self">Noel</a> has followed the same principles too, producing APIs for OraTweet that we consume.</p> | |
| <p>As Connect’s user base grows, more people have asked about using the APIs we produce because they have specific uses and don’t expect (or want) us to extend Connect to support them.</p> | |
| <p>We do benefit from the security blanket of being behind the firewall, and if Twitter’s growth is an indication, I expect to see lots more demand for Connect data in the next year-ish.</p> | |
| <p>So, what do you about VLI? Are you a more traditional UI person? If so, call me out in comments.</p> | |
| <p><em>Update: As Andy C points out in <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/17/i-want-vli/comment-page-1/#comment-7304697" target="_self">comments</a>, Twitter isn’t as open when compared to open source projects like <a href="http://laconi.ca/" target="_self">Laconica</a>, although that’s not really the point of the post. My goal is to examine a for-profit (an assumption in Twitter’s case) service and its approach to APIs and interface. The model is interesting to me, similar to one that I’ve proposed in the past and one we’ve tried to model with our work on Connect.</em></p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/uNH1sK_W1JA" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/uNH1sK_W1JA/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/uNH1sK_W1JA/updatedTue, 17 Mar 2009 22:38:48 +0000updated_timeTue Mar 17 22:38:48 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093172238481760feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/16/tweetdeck-adds-facebook-whats-next/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/16/tweetdeck-adds-facebook-whats-next/#commentstitleTweetDeck Adds Facebook, What’s Next?wfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/16/tweetdeck-adds-facebook-whats-next/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueAs is usual during the weeks before and during South by Southwest, there are a lot of product announcements. | |
| I’m not quite sure how/when it happened, but SXSW Interactive has become a nexus of startup activity and geekery, e.g. Twitter’s first bump came when the service won the SXSW Web Awards in 2007. | |
| So, it’s become a [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermapisschemelabeltermfacebookschemelabeltermtweetdeckschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2593summaryAs is usual during the weeks before and during South by Southwest, there are a lot of product announcements. | |
| I’m not quite sure how/when it happened, but SXSW Interactive has become a nexus of startup activity and geekery, e.g. Twitter’s first bump came when the service won the SXSW Web Awards in 2007. | |
| So, it’s become a [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueTweetDeck Adds Facebook, What’s Next?basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="TweetDeck" class="size-full wp-image-2597 alignleft" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/tweetdeck_128.png" height="128" alt="TweetDeck" width="128" />As is usual during the weeks before and during <a href="http://sxsw.com/home" target="_self">South by Southwest</a>, there are a lot of product announcements.</p> | |
| <p>I’m not quite sure how/when it happened, but <a href="http://sxsw.com/interactive" target="_self">SXSW Interactive</a> has become a nexus of startup activity and geekery, e.g. Twitter’s first bump came when the service <a href="http://blog.twitter.com/2007/03/we-won.html" target="_self">won</a> the SXSW Web Awards in 2007.</p> | |
| <p>So, it’s become a yearly rush of new feature and new company announcements. This year, not so many new companies, but plenty of new features. Over the last week plus, going into SXSW, and in its first few days, I’ve collected a bunch of topics for further thought that may turn into blog posts.</p> | |
| <p>But today, one item caught my attention, and I wanted to riff on it before it went cold.</p> | |
| <p><a href="http://www.tweetdeck.com/beta/" target="_self">TweetDeck</a>, the <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/19/the-top-21-twitter-clients-according-to-twitstat/" target="_self">most popular</a> Twitter client and the one I use, released a <a href="http://tweetdeck.posterous.com/tweetdeck-v024-pre-release-facebook-integrati" target="_self">beta version</a> (h/t Frederic Lardinois at <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/twitterization_of_facebook_on_the_desktop.php" target="_self">RWW</a>) that integrates with Facebook Connect, allowing you to view your News Feed in one of its columns. Also, you can now choose to post updates from TweetDeck to Facebook, making TweetDeck a Facebook status client.</p> | |
| <p>Updates can be sent to both Twitter and Facebook, effectively removing the need for the Twitter Facebook application, and ensuring that both your networks will stay updated on your activity. He said with more than a hint of sarcasm <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> </p> | |
| <p>If you’re wondering, TweetDeck does not post updates beginning with @ to Facebook, which makes sense, since they’re out of context. It does not, however, ignore updates that contain @ after the first character though, which should be an enhancement later. Then again, Twitter doesn’t officially track replies @ you unless they begin with @, which is one reason why AIR clients and Summize (now <a href="http://search.twitter.com" target="_self">Twitter Search</a>) are so popular for tracking those @ replies.</p> | |
| <p>This is mildly cool, if you use both services and want to broadcast to Facebook like you do to Twitter. The <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/" target="_self">recent</a> UI changes to Facebook aim to make it more like Twitter and FriendFeed, which is sure to appeal to existing users of those services; the jury is out on whether the masses on Facebook will take to the life-streaming, micro-blogging approach.</p> | |
| <p>I’m guessing they will, eventually, since Facebook has so much momentum right now.</p> | |
| <p>I like the implementation overall. It’s smooth and easy to use, and it fits within TweetDeck easily. My main beef is that it adds yet another column to an already real estate hungry app. I can only show four TweetDeck columns as it is, and now I have another that I might want to see competing for screen time.</p> | |
| <p>I’m not sure how to solve this problem, other than with a <a href="http://store.apple.com/us/product/M9179LL/A" target="_self">cinema display</a>. Christmas might have to come early.</p> | |
| <p>None of this is terribly interesting to me though.</p> | |
| <p>What got me about TweetDeck’s new version its potential to marginalize the networks themselves. Bear with me here.</p> | |
| <p>TweetDeck’s main appeal over any other Twitter AIR client (<a href="http://www.alertthingy.com/" target="_self">AlertThingy</a>, <a href="http://www.twhirl.org/" target="_self">Twhirl</a>, etc.) is its implementation of groups, something that is sorely needed for Twitter. Having groups allows you to control what you follow and to organize the chaos that Twitter can become once you follow a few hundred people (or sooner).</p> | |
| <p>Twitter seems fine with allowing TweetDeck to fill this vacuum, and even though TweetDeck is the top Twitter client, it lags well behind twitter.com for overall traffic to Twitter.</p> | |
| <p>Enter Facebook updates. My logical conclusion is that I should be able to add Facebook friends to my existing groups. This isn’t the case in the beta release, but image how useful that would for a person who uses both services frequently. You could focus your attention on the people who mattered most, regardless of the service they prefer to use.</p> | |
| <p>For example, Paul uses Facebook more than Twitter. I rarely see his updates to Facebook because I prefer Twitter. To communicate, one of us has to use his second choice in networks. If TweetDeck supported groups across services, we could each use our first choice in networks for communicating.</p> | |
| <p>TweetDeck already supports a host of Twitter features, including follows, favorites, directs and even search, which Twitter has yet to integrate into twitter.com. About the only thing you can’t do with TweetDeck is create and manage your account. Otherwise, it’s fully operational.</p> | |
| <p>I seriously doubt that Facebook will expose this much functionality to apps like TweetDeck, but the more they add, the less traffic they serve directly. Less traffic means less clout with advertisers, which is not good for business.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, I’m very curious to see how this Facebook client integration progresses. Logically, it makes sense for Facebook to open up some of their data to clients, since the model has already been proven. After all, of their user population, only a small percentage will choose clients over facebook.com.</p> | |
| <p>At least that’s the way it looks now. Things change quickly though. This time last week, I would have been laughed at the idea of a Facebook client.</p> | |
| <p>Find the comments and share your thoughts.</p> | |
| <p><em>Update: A day after TweetDeck’s beta, <a href="http://alertthingy.com/" target="_self">AlertThingy</a>, another AIR app for monitoring Twitter and FriendFeed, added Facebook, Flickr and Digg contacts and custom groups to their offering. Significantly, their groups support contacts from multiple networks (h/t <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/alertthingy_goes_head_to_head_with_tweetdeck.php" target="_self">RWW</a>).</em></p> | |
| <p><em>I may have to go back to AlertThingy, which I tried about a year ago when they produced the first FriendFeed app. I quickly stopped using it because I just can’t keep up with FriendFeed, not anything to do with AlertThingy.</em></p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/IKdlniOCUuA" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/IKdlniOCUuA/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/IKdlniOCUuA/updatedTue, 17 Mar 2009 04:31:12 +0000updated_timeTue Mar 17 04:31:12 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009317431121760feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/14/anatomy-of-a-spam-attack/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/14/anatomy-of-a-spam-attack/#commentstitleAnatomy of a Spam Attackwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/14/anatomy-of-a-spam-attack/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueYesterday, I did some browsing of the web analytics for this blog to get comparison numbers for the browser stats I had for Connect. | |
| Today, I went back to do a little more digging and some navel-gazing | |
| We use Google Analytics, which I prefer to Mint for web metrics. It has loads of metrics beyond [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermanalyticsschemelabeltermdisqusschemelabeltermspamschemelabeltermweb metricsschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2584summaryYesterday, I did some browsing of the web analytics for this blog to get comparison numbers for the browser stats I had for Connect. | |
| Today, I went back to do a little more digging and some navel-gazing | |
| We use Google Analytics, which I prefer to Mint for web metrics. It has loads of metrics beyond [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueAnatomy of a Spam Attackbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Yesterday, I did some browsing of the web analytics for this blog to get comparison numbers for the <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/on-browsers/" target="_self">browser stats</a> I had for Connect.</p> | |
| <p>Today, I went back to do a little more digging and some navel-gazing <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> </p> | |
| <p>We use Google Analytics, which I prefer to Mint for web metrics. It has loads of metrics beyond the standard pageviews and visits. As a side note, now that Feedburner accounts are merging with Google accounts, I’m hoping that Analytics will soon include Feedburner stats too. Seems logical.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, I like to set the date range to the life of this blog (from June 2007) to get the best snapshot view from the graphs.</p> | |
| <p>What jumped out was the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounce_Rate" target="_self">Bounce Rate</a> graph.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Bounce Rate from last week, dropped by 50%?" class="size-full wp-image-2586 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/bouncerate.png" height="110" alt="Bounce Rate from last week, dropped by 50%?" width="478" /></p> | |
| <p>All of a sudden, our normal 75% bounce rate (I know, terrible) inexplicably dropped to less than 40% a week ago and sustained that rate all last week.</p> | |
| <p>Definitely weird. Maybe after the Batman vs. Superman <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/06/batman-vs-superman/" target="_self">post</a>, everyone was extra relieved to get back the normal, hard-hitting content we serve everyday. I laughed all the way through that sentence, obviously untrue.</p> | |
| <p>I relish a data anomaly, as a recovering economist, especially if there are graphs to show the patterns. I am an unabashed data pr0n dork.</p> | |
| <p>Accompanying the drop in bounce rate, there were, not surprisingly, corresponding jumps in pages per visit and pageviews over the same time period. Makes sense, the longer people stay on your site, the more pages they are likely to view.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Average pageviews per visit, also up last week . . ." class="size-full wp-image-2587 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/pagespervisit.png" height="103" alt="Average pageviews per visit, also up last week . . ." width="470" /></p> | |
| <p>Logically, you would also expect to see a rise in time spent on the site, as people read more. Not so much. In fact, Saturday’s average time on site was 19 seconds; that same day, the bounce rate dropped to 36% from 69% and pages per visit jumped to 2.41 from 1.64.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Time Spent on Site *drops*, thank you spammers" class="size-full wp-image-2588 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/timeonsite.png" height="109" alt="Time Spent on Site *drops*, thank you spammers" width="476" /></p> | |
| <p>All this points to comment spammers.</p> | |
| <p>Exhibit A: Looking through the WordPress and Disqus comment logs from the last week, there was definitely a rise in comments on old posts, definitely a sign of spam. And these aren’t old posts that come up on the first page for common keyword searches, like “oracle iphone”.</p> | |
| <p>Exhibit B: The spam comments are borderline, with plausible names and comments, not the usual link spam left by Monster Truck Rally. This tells me spammers are modifying their behavior slightly to get past the measures Disqus has taken.</p> | |
| <p>Exhibit C: The pattern of multiple comments onm different posts from the same account backed up the web metric data.</p> | |
| <p>So, I accuse Colonel Mustard, in the Study, with the lasso.</p> | |
| <p>I know, as a naive kid, I thought that was a lasso. Ah, innocence.</p> | |
| <p>Comment spamming has been on the <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/12/who-benefits-from-blog-comment-spam/" target="_self">rise</a> this year, at least the spam that gets past spam filters. Disqus noted that the recent rash of spam comes from real people, not bots. The assumed goal of comment spam is to bump SEO for the spammers; I firmly believe this is a new cottage industry, operated <a href="https://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome" target="_self">Mechanical Turk</a> style.</p> | |
| <p>A crappy economy opens up a larger pool of people with computers who are motivated to earn easy money, and how much easier does it get than comment spam? Find a blog that allows unverified or anonymous comments and drop three comments on three posts. In and out in a matter of seconds. They probably get paid for the gross number of comments with the spammer’s link.</p> | |
| <p>This might even be that job advertised on the TV. You know the one that says you can make thousands in a week, tens of thousands in a month, working “on the Internet” from home. All those smiling people tell you nothing about what the job entails. There’s always a shady URL that tells you nothing about the company.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, I’m not really bothered by comment spam, but I know people are, e.g. <a href="http://bexhuff.com/" target="_self">Bex</a>, who uses a comment captcha process that makes me want to cry it’s so frustrating.</p> | |
| <p>Does it bother you? What do think of my analysis? Did you enjoy the web analytics primer?</p> | |
| <p>Sound off in the comments with something useful, like “I will give it a try for sure !”.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/RHMDYFl-2jg" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/RHMDYFl-2jg/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/RHMDYFl-2jg/updatedSat, 14 Mar 2009 20:35:46 +0000updated_timeSat Mar 14 20:35:46 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093142035465730feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/on-browsers/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/on-browsers/#commentstitleOn Browserswfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/on-browsers/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueIE6 is like that cold that just won’t go away; you feel well enough to go to work, but it keeps sapping your energy. | |
| To many users, IE6 is the Internet. It came with your computer, and it’s the way you get online. Resisting the urge to put online in quotes. Like many web apps, we’ve [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermchromeschemelabeltermconnectschemelabeltermfirefoxschemelabeltermieschemelabeltermsafarischemelabeltermwebkitschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2579summaryIE6 is like that cold that just won’t go away; you feel well enough to go to work, but it keeps sapping your energy. | |
| To many users, IE6 is the Internet. It came with your computer, and it’s the way you get online. Resisting the urge to put online in quotes. Like many web apps, we’ve [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueOn Browsersbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="Good *old* Internet Explorer 6" class="size-medium wp-image-2581 alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/internet_explorer-284x300.png" height="120" alt="Good *old* Internet Explorer 6" width="113" />IE6 is like that cold that just won’t go away; you feel well enough to go to work, but it keeps sapping your energy.</p> | |
| <p>To many users, IE6 <em>is</em> the Internet. It came with your computer, and it’s the way you get online. Resisting the urge to put online in quotes. Like many web apps, we’ve been fighting against IE6 since Connect was born, but it’s finally time to take a stand.</p> | |
| <p>Connect looks terrible in IE6. I’m sure everyone here knows why, i.e. no support for standards, out-dated rendering, the fact that if it were a kid it would be in second grade, etc. It’s a mess. But from an investment perspective, we can’t spend Rich and Anthony’s time on making Connect look good in IE6 at the expense of fixing bugs and building new features.</p> | |
| <p>As Rich put it nicely over OraTweet, “IE hurts everyone . . . even those who use it.”</p> | |
| <p>Thought that was pretty diplomatic for Rich, considering.</p> | |
| <p>I haven’t conducted a scientific study, but I think IE6 usage has been declining since Connect launched, just as it has been sharply declining on the ‘tubes overall. Today, we toyed with the idea of showing a message to IE6 users to ask them to install and use a modern browser for the best Connect experience.</p> | |
| <p>This will happen for sure; I don’t want people thinking Connect is a turd because IE6 can’t render it correctly. I’d rather let them know that we embrace the modern web and think they should too. Put nicely.</p> | |
| <p>As a giggle, I checked the web analytics to see what percentage of users are still coming to Connect with IE6.</p> | |
| <p>14%</p> | |
| <p>That’s all-time. So, about 14,000 visits from users with IE6 since June 2007. Seems low, considering: a) how bad Connect looks in IE6, which would drive me off, b) that IE6 is still officially supported by IT as part of their base image for employees, which also includes Firefox for the record, and c) that we need to use IE to run the web conferencing tool we use.</p> | |
| <p><img title="User agent stats from Connect" class="size-full wp-image-2582 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/browsers1.png" height="275" alt="User agent stats from Connect" width="370" /></p> | |
| <p>I expected at least 25%.</p> | |
| <p>One thing that floored me was the <1% for IE5. I’d like to know who’s running IE5 out there, seriously.</p> | |
| <p>Another interesting note, Netscape accounts for 1% of the all-time traffic to Connect. The visits were from 7.1 and 7.2, which made me feel better. I was cringing at the thought of how Connect looked in Communicator 4. Don’t laugh, I actually tested that combination last Summer for a user. Ugly mess.</p> | |
| <p>I also noticed that Chrome wasn’t showing up as a browser, which is odd since a couple people have pointed out bugs in Chrome this week. Apparently, Chrome is seen as Safari by <a href="http://www.haveamint.com/" target="_self">Mint</a>; I assume due to their shared <a href="http://webkit.org/" target="_self">WebKit</a> engines.</p> | |
| <p>Friend of the Lab <a href="http://jjmpsj.blogspot.com/" target="_self">Jim Marion</a> kindly pointed me to a <a href="http://www.useragentstring.com/" target="_self">way</a> to see your user agent, which is how I cracked this case.</p> | |
| <p>So, Safari and Chrome account for 6% of our traffic, which is pretty good.</p> | |
| <p>We had a flurry of OraTweets flying around over this IE6 message thing. The best comment was:</p> | |
| <blockquote><p><em>i would just like to not have to run 4 browsers on my machine to check how everything “looks”. if we could eliminate IE and Netscape, that would be excellent.</em></p></blockquote> | |
| <p>Too true. I have two XP VMs to run IE6 and IE7. Since I have them, I can also run Firefox 2 and Firefox 3 in separate VMs. I guess soon, I’ll need another VM for IE8.</p> | |
| <p>All the different flavors of browsers make web development such a pain, but then again, remember when all we had was IE and Netscape?</p> | |
| <p>I guess it’s not so bad.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/jAlpXuuX5iw" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/jAlpXuuX5iw/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/jAlpXuuX5iw/updatedSat, 14 Mar 2009 06:14:52 +0000updated_timeSat Mar 14 06:14:52 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009314614525730feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/trying-pivotal-tracker/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/trying-pivotal-tracker/#commentstitleTrying Pivotal Trackerwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/trying-pivotal-tracker/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueLast week, Rich proposed that we try Pivotal Tracker for Connect. | |
| Our work on Connect can be loosely described as agile. We generally meet, either in person or on the phone, to hash out major feature releases, and then Rich and Anthony build and deploy. And I test. Every six months or so, we rinse and [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermagileschemelabeltermconnectschemelabeltermpivotal trackerschemelabeltermprojectsschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2573summaryLast week, Rich proposed that we try Pivotal Tracker for Connect. | |
| Our work on Connect can be loosely described as agile. We generally meet, either in person or on the phone, to hash out major feature releases, and then Rich and Anthony build and deploy. And I test. Every six months or so, we rinse and [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueTrying Pivotal Trackerbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Last week, Rich proposed that we try<a href="http://www.pivotaltracker.com/learnmore" target="_self"> Pivotal Tracker</a> for Connect.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Pivotal Tracker agile project planning" class="size-full wp-image-2574 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/pivotal_tracker.png" height="31" alt="Pivotal Tracker agile project planning" width="421" /></p> | |
| <p>Our work on Connect can be loosely described as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development" target="_self">agile</a>. We generally meet, either in person or on the phone, to hash out major feature releases, and then Rich and Anthony build and deploy. And I test. Every six months or so, we rinse and repeat.</p> | |
| <p>I say loosely because we’re not very organized. We follow the agile principles, but we’re not that organized, which is weird for me because I’m usually over-organized, if anything. This lack of organization works well, if we are splitting time between projects, but whenever we have a block of time to devote to Connect, Rich starts asking for structure.</p> | |
| <p>In the past, we used spreadsheets and tested a couple project management packages, <a href="http://www.basecamphq.com/" target="_self">Basecamp</a>, <a href="http://www.activecollab.com/" target="_self">activeCollab</a> and <a href="http://studios.thoughtworks.com/mingle-agile-project-management" target="_self">Mingle</a>, with varying amounts of success.</p> | |
| <p>So, last week, Rich got fed up again with a flat list of features and bugs and started a project in Pivotal Tracker.</p> | |
| <p>I have to say I’m impressed so far. I didn’t realize why I liked it so much until I found this <a href="http://venturehacks.com/articles/pivotal-tracker" target="_self">post</a> which provides 11 reasons to like Tracker:</p> | |
| <blockquote> | |
| <ol> | |
| <li><em>It’s free.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s hosted.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s a joy to use. It’s the iPod of project management software. It’s all drag-and-drop and clickity-clack and it just works.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s multi-user. Your co-founder in North Korea can make changes in Tracker and you will see them instantly. No page reloads.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s for lean startups. The building block in Tracker is a <em>story</em>: an increment of customer value that you deliver with minimal waste.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s about completing your next most important task—not maintaining mile-long to-do lists, Gantt charts, and lists of bugs.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s transparent. Everybody on the team knows what everybody else is working on, their priorities, and their accomplishments.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s in sync with reality. It doesn’t take time to keep your requirements and schedule in sync with reality, even if your business priorities change daily.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It doesn’t do much. No, it doesn’t do dependencies and critical paths. It just keeps you focused on delivering value to customers.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s powerful as hell. Tracker hides a lot of technology under a simple interface. It’s a serious Javascript-intensive web application that’s in the same league as Gmail and Google Maps.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Bonus reason: Everything is on one page—there’s no need to navigate around (unlike other project management tools). More Gmail, less Hotmail.</em></li> | |
| </ol> | |
| </blockquote> | |
| <p>It struck me that 11th one is gold for me. Having all the functionality on a singe page is a huge time saver for me.</p> | |
| <p>When I get a bug report or encounter a bug in Connect, I’m generally in the middle of something else. So, I want to report it, prioritize it and get back to other work. Accomplishing this by emailing Rich and Anthony is not ideal, but I did this frequently with the other tools to avoid the longer processes. None of those other tools was terribly time-consuming, but still, it’s a savings I can feel.</p> | |
| <p>The other reasons are pretty solid too, especially 10. Having used “professional” project management apps in the not-so-distant past, I appreciate fewer bells and whistles, e.g. a friend of mine mentioned he had to take a day-long training in Microsoft Project, which pretty much sums up my experience with that monster.</p> | |
| <p>Plus, much of the stuff you need to run a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model" target="_self">waterfall</a> project isn’t needed in an agile one, especially when you only have two developers and one project/product manager.</p> | |
| <p>Just after Rich got us started with Tracker, I found out Twitter <a href="http://blog.twitter.com/2009/03/pivotal-means-of-crucial-importance.html" target="_self">uses</a> it too, actually keeping a couple “Pivots” on site as consultants. Tracker is built and hosted by <a href="http://pivotallabs.com/" target="_self">Pivotal Labs</a>, and did I mention Tracker is a Rails app? But you probably figured that out by now.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/ksiqd-qU_fs" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/ksiqd-qU_fs/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/ksiqd-qU_fs/updatedFri, 13 Mar 2009 22:13:21 +0000updated_timeFri Mar 13 22:13:21 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093132213214720feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/12/apex-in-the-cloud/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/12/apex-in-the-cloud/#commentstitleAPEX in the Cloudwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/12/apex-in-the-cloud/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueThis post about running APEX in the cloud by Jason Straub came across OraNA last week. | |
| I’m surprised Chet didn’t pounce on it, being the APEX devotee that he is. Basically, you can now run APEX on Amazon EC2 for 60 cents. | |
| Oracle has recently been rolling out more offerings with AWS, including database and backup images [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermamazonschemelabeltermapexschemelabeltermec2schemelabeltermoracleschemelabelterms3schemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2565summaryThis post about running APEX in the cloud by Jason Straub came across OraNA last week. | |
| I’m surprised Chet didn’t pounce on it, being the APEX devotee that he is. Basically, you can now run APEX on Amazon EC2 for 60 cents. | |
| Oracle has recently been rolling out more offerings with AWS, including database and backup images [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueAPEX in the Cloudbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="Run APEX on 11g in the cloud using Amazon Web Services" class="size-full wp-image-2566 alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/logo_aws.gif" height="60" alt="Run APEX on 11g in the cloud using Amazon Web Services" width="164" />This <a href="http://jastraub.blogspot.com/2009/03/test-drive-oracle-application-express.html" target="_self">post</a> about running <a href="http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/application_express/index.html" target="_self">APEX</a> in the cloud by Jason Straub came across <a href="http://orana.info" target="_self">OraNA</a> last week.</p> | |
| <p>I’m surprised <a href="http://www.oraclenerd.com" target="_self">Chet</a> didn’t pounce on it, being the APEX <a href="http://www.oraclenerd.com/2008/05/apex-oracle-marketing-wtf.html" target="_self">devotee</a> that he is. Basically, you can now run APEX on <a href="http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/" target="_self">Amazon EC2</a> for 60 cents.</p> | |
| <p>Oracle has recently been rolling out more offerings with AWS, including database and backup images preconfigured for EC2 and S3; you can read more at the <a href="http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/cloud/index.ht" target="_self">Oracle Cloud Computing Center</a> on OTN. This is interesting to me, since about 18 months ago, we were searching for just such a packaged AWS 11g offering on which to run Mix. Instead, we had to find and procure hardware to put into an Oracle datacenter.</p> | |
| <p>EC2 with Oracle pre-installed and configured for backup to S3 is awesome. Total win.</p> | |
| <p>I’d like to see more promotion of this offering because since AWS was launched in 2002, startups (and their customers) have embraced EC2 and S3 for their, ahem, mission-critical apps and operations. Armeded with flexible computing power and backup, startups could easily find pre-configured MySQL installations, which led to web apps built in PHP (e.g. Facebook) and Rails (e.g. Twitter).</p> | |
| <p>Sure, to scale, successful web apps like Facebook and Twitter eventually had to raise venture funding to spend on infrastructure, but they already had users and an established service.</p> | |
| <p>I’ll bet <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/25/bummer-20/" target="_self">Ma.gnolia</a> would still be in business if they’d opted for an AWS image with an Oracle installation and backup preconfigured.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, now you can get APEX too, although I’m not entirely clear on how the cost breaks down, i.e. if it’s 60 cents per something or a flat rate. If you know, please enlighten in comments.</p> | |
| <p>FYI, Jason’s post and the demos on the Cloud Computing Center spend a fair amount of time on configuring PuTTY to connect via SSH and copy files with SCP. These steps are for Windows users; <a href="http://developer.amazonwebservices.com/connect/entry.jspa?entryID=609" target="_self">Elasticfox</a>, the Firefox add-on built by AWS to manage EC2 services, generates a key pair on its own. Windows doesn’t support SSH very well natively, and PuTTY is frequently the tool used to do SSH and SCP on Windows.</p> | |
| <p>OS X and Linux should work better with SSH out-of-the-box, so if you don’t run Windows, the setup has fewer steps.</p> | |
| <p>At any rate, APEX is a neat tool. <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/06/25/we-heart-hackers/" target="_self">OraTweet</a> is built in APEX, and so is Aria, Oracle’s internal employee directory. In another life at Oracle, I kicked the tires on APEX for an internal project. A lot of people swear by it, and now you can test drive it yourself over AWS. No need to provision testing hardware or worry about installing it on an existing machine.</p> | |
| <p>Pretty cool.</p> | |
| <p>Tempted to try it? Already use Oracle and AWS? I’m curious to hear what you think. Find the comments.</p> | |
| <p><em>Update: Jason has more details in a new <a href="http://jastraub.blogspot.com/2009/03/20-cents-hour-whose-got-that-kind-of.html" target="_self">post</a> today, including pricing.</em></p> | |
| <p><em>Another update: Jason breaks his pricing assumptions down in <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/12/apex-in-the-cloud/?disqus_reply=7258457#comment-7256541">comments</a>.<br /> | |
| </em></p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/9YqLUR7F650" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/9YqLUR7F650/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/9YqLUR7F650/updatedThu, 12 Mar 2009 21:14:46 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 12 21:14:46 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093122114463710feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/11/connect-adds-geolocation/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/11/connect-adds-geolocation/#commentstitleConnect Adds Geolocationwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/11/connect-adds-geolocation/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueNow, we know where you are . . . but only if you tell us. | |
| Yesterday, Rich completed the addition of geolocation tracking to Connect. Now, when you OraTweet your location or update your Connect status with the secret phrase “@location” followed by a place (address or city or country), Connect stores your location. | |
| And that’s pretty [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermconnectschemelabeltermdopplrschemelabeltermgeolocationschemelabeltermoratweetschemelabeltermtripitschemelabeltermyelpschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2559summaryNow, we know where you are . . . but only if you tell us. | |
| Yesterday, Rich completed the addition of geolocation tracking to Connect. Now, when you OraTweet your location or update your Connect status with the secret phrase “@location” followed by a place (address or city or country), Connect stores your location. | |
| And that’s pretty [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueConnect Adds Geolocationbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Now, we know where you are . . . but only if you tell us.</p> | |
| <p>Yesterday, Rich completed the addition of geolocation tracking to Connect. Now, when you OraTweet your location or update your Connect status with the secret phrase “@location” followed by a place (address or city or country), Connect stores your location.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Surprise, I'm in Portland" class="size-full wp-image-2563 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/location.png" height="95" alt="Surprise, I'm in Portland" width="472" /></p> | |
| <p>And that’s pretty much it right now.</p> | |
| <p>We didn’t build much else because we’re looking for a really compelling use case. Geolocation is a border-line creepy feature that has struggled to find mainstream acceptance on the ‘tubes, e.g. you don’t see Facebook rushing to add geo-features.</p> | |
| <p>Within the enterprise, you have an implicit layer of trust, safe inside the firewall away from phishing, spamming, malware, and you’re protected by internal organizations like HR and Legal. So, we’re thinking this should take away some of the geo-uneasiness.</p> | |
| <p>Beyond that security blanket, Oracle has a lots of travelers, and even in a downturn, there are scads of sales people and consultants on the road all the time. Plus, many teams collaborate virtually across state and country lines, and for some odd reason, seeing a map humanizes that voice on the phone.</p> | |
| <p>Don’t believe me? I used to manage a project that had people in India, and when news of that catastrophic tsunami in 2004 broke, I worried that people I knew had been affected. Luckily, in this case anyway, my Indian geography is awful, and everyone was safe. The same thing happened when news of a train wreck broke; we didn’t have Twitter then.</p> | |
| <p>It’s a small thing, but seeing where that the person you work with every day sits, even if it’s just on a map, helps you feel more connected.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, we have some ideas already; I’ve polled <a href="http://matttopper.com" target="_self">Matt</a>, <a href="http://apextoday.blogspot.com/" target="_self">Noel</a> and <a href="http://blogs.oracle.com/clayton/" target="_self">Clayton</a> for their input too. I’m sure Matt, our resident geo-geek, has a bunch of stuff in his head waiting to see daylight, like transposing profile tags and location to find “experts” nearby. There are loads of iPhone things Clayton could add to the <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/04/the-oracle-people-iphone-app-is-here/" target="_self">Oracle People</a> app; nice how I make work for him. Noel has thoughts around targeting content by location.</p> | |
| <p>Rich is thinking about city or office pages, a la <a href="http://dopplr.com" target="_self">Dopplr</a> and <a href="http://tripit.com" target="_self">TripIt</a>, that could house information about office locations, etc. I’m a fan of focusing on our offices and the services they offer. Each field office has a packet of information they provide to people who join that office, e.g. gyms, restaurants, bars, etc. Why not publish that and also add reviews, a la <a href="http://yelp.com" target="_self">Yelp</a>?</p> | |
| <p>I spent six weeks in the Dallas office in 1998 and ate at the same three or so places the entire time I was there. Why, aside from being lazy? I didn’t know the area very well and didn’t feel like exploring. Having reviews would help, but also seeing who reviewed would add an easy introduction to people in a strange place.</p> | |
| <p>There’s that socializing work trend again.</p> | |
| <p>So, what do you think? Whether you work at Oracle or not, you work, right? What problems would geo-location solve for you?</p> | |
| <p>If you’re shy and don’t want to comment, let’s have a <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/learning-from-entertainment/" target="_self">game of email</a> (h/t Paul).</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=0rAu5UiGs04:TNksF-JKqJk:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=0rAu5UiGs04:TNksF-JKqJk:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=0rAu5UiGs04:TNksF-JKqJk:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=0rAu5UiGs04:TNksF-JKqJk:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=0rAu5UiGs04:TNksF-JKqJk:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=0rAu5UiGs04:TNksF-JKqJk:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=0rAu5UiGs04:TNksF-JKqJk:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/0rAu5UiGs04" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/0rAu5UiGs04/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/0rAu5UiGs04/updatedWed, 11 Mar 2009 17:31:50 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 11 17:31:50 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093111731502700feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/howto-enable-system-sound-in-ubuntu-intrepidubuntu-geek/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/howto-enable-system-sound-in-ubuntu-intrepidubuntu-geek/#commentstitleHowto Enable system sound in Ubuntu IntrepidUbuntu Geekwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/howto-enable-system-sound-in-ubuntu-intrepidubuntu-geek/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueaddthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Ftheappslab.com%2F2009%2F03%2F10%2Fhowto-enable-system-sound-in-ubuntu-intrepidubuntu-geek%2F'; | |
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| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/H5J-1FORWyo" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/H5J-1FORWyo/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/H5J-1FORWyo/updatedWed, 11 Mar 2009 00:43:34 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 11 00:43:34 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009311043342700feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/learning-from-entertainment/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/learning-from-entertainment/#commentstitleLearning from Entertainmentwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/learning-from-entertainment/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvaluePhoto Credit: Timothy Hamilton | |
| I recently watched this excellent video of Nick Fortugno at the Meaningful Play conference in 2008. If you are into designing games with a message behind them it is worth a watch. | |
| Among other things, he highlights the basic split in entertainment between “form” and “content”. Form being the mechanics used to convey [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermgtmschemelabelauthorPaulidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2556summaryPhoto Credit: Timothy Hamilton | |
| I recently watched this excellent video of Nick Fortugno at the Meaningful Play conference in 2008. If you are into designing games with a message behind them it is worth a watch. | |
| Among other things, he highlights the basic split in entertainment between “form” and “content”. Form being the mechanics used to convey [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueLearning from Entertainmentbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<h5><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/flickrgrit/811355961/"><img title="167630455_387cde5e59" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-56" src="http://gamethemachine.wordpress.com/files/2009/03/167630455_387cde5e59.jpg?w=300" height="199" alt="167630455_387cde5e59" width="300" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bestrated1/">Photo Credit: Timothy Hamilton</a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/flickrgrit/811355961/"><br /> | |
| </a></h5> | |
| <p>I recently watched this excellent video of <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7614486442195859373&ei=RuG2SfmsO53eqAPn7r3kAw&q=game+design+serious+games&hl=en">Nick Fortugno at the Meaningful Play conference in 2008</a>. If you are into designing games with a message behind them it is worth a watch.</p> | |
| <p>Among other things, he highlights the basic split in entertainment between “form” and “content”. Form being the mechanics used to convey the message. Using examples from the past like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tom%27s_Cabin">Uncle Tom’s Cabin</a>, he shows clearly how known formulas have been used effectively to deliver what some might call, socially responsible messages. In the case of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, she used a fairly common literary model to inject a social discussion of abolitionism into the mainstream social conversation.</p> | |
| <p>If you ponder formulas, you can find them in all types of media and entertainment. From a gaming perspective, you see them as First Person Shooters (FPS), Simulation, Role Playing Games (RPG), Board games, and more. From a film perspective, you might think about Action, Drama, Comedy or Documentary. It is essential to understand that each of these formulas attract a specific audience with clear expectations well trod by their previous experiences. People are attracted to a specific formula because of what it provides. How many nights have you said, “I am in the mood for a comedy”? - It is much more rare to say you are in the mood for a comedy about golf, or an action movie about the African diamond trade.</p> | |
| <p>If you go see a horror movie, you will expect some blood and gore, creepy imagery, and most likely some scantily clad teenagers at a deserted lake. As long as the director provides those key elements, you’ll leave (to a degree) satisfied. You got what you ordered. If the entertainment meets that core need and provides the emotional experience you sought, then you are open to receive the message they are delivering. From a design perspective, you just have to honor the formula and provide the desired experience or it will cease to be enjoyable to the audience. If you deny them the pleasure of a deep belly laugh when they yearned for comedy, no matter how interesting you may find your message, it will be lost.</p> | |
| <p>If you are a web designer you may see a parallel here when you consider <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321344758?ie=UTF8&tag=hypes-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=0321344758">Steve Krug’s</a> views on convention. His opinion is that using expected behavior is good no matter how cool you think that flash widget is! Use a search box that looks the same as everyone else. Have a shopping cart icon that leads to the shopping cart. If you plan to reinvent how the shopping cart, search button, or the hyperlink work - you better have a very, very good reason. So your website formula is standard, the message (ie. content) is up to you.</p> | |
| <p>So let’s connect this with the world of software that people use to get things done - email, task management, payroll, bookkeeping, project management, etc. - collectively “business software”. If entertainment like films, games and books have taught us anything, it is that you must first create something enjoyable. Play is paramount. In the world of entertainment, purpose is largely ignored (on a percentage basis), but you can see it shine through in films like <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00003CXFV?ie=UTF8&tag=hypes-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=B00003CXFV">Erin Brokovich</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00003CWRX?ie=UTF8&tag=hypes-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=B00003CWRX">The Insider</a>, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591840538?ie=UTF8&tag=hypes-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=1591840538">Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room</a>, among many others - documentaries are great at this. In the world of business software, the report card is skewed in the other direction, with purpose being the leader by a wide margin, and fun being largely ignored. The very idea of fun seems at odds with something of value. Both worlds could do with a bit of balance.</p> | |
| <p>My hope is that the future of business software can assimilate the lessons of entertainment by making something people want to play consistently as opposed to a tool to get something done. We are already seeing simplicity as a key design principle, but I believe that the dimension of fun is next. My guess is that we will as an industry need to adopt or invent a new formula for software and apply them to the problems we are trying to solve in a novel way.</p> | |
| <p>Who is up for a game of email?</p> | |
| <p>————</p> | |
| <p><a href="http://gamethemachine.com/2009/03/11/learning-from-entertainment/">Cross posted at Game The Machine.</a></p> | |
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| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/PFQn4q86R1A" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/PFQn4q86R1A/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/PFQn4q86R1A/updatedWed, 11 Mar 2009 00:19:48 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 11 00:19:48 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009311019482700feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/09/leave-a-comment-using-facebook-connect/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/09/leave-a-comment-using-facebook-connect/#commentstitleLeave a Comment using Facebook Connectwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/09/leave-a-comment-using-facebook-connect/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueJust before Christmas, Disqus announced their support for Facebook Connect. At the time I remember being a little disappointed with the decision, due to Facebook’s closed nature and what seemed like a choice for the walled garden of Facebook and against the open web (OpenID, OAuth, OpenSocial). | |
| I like Disqus; they’ve been responsive when we’ve had [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermdisqusschemelabeltermfacebook connectschemelabeltermOAuthschemelabeltermopen webschemelabeltermopenidschemelabeltermopensocialschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2543summaryJust before Christmas, Disqus announced their support for Facebook Connect. At the time I remember being a little disappointed with the decision, due to Facebook’s closed nature and what seemed like a choice for the walled garden of Facebook and against the open web (OpenID, OAuth, OpenSocial). | |
| I like Disqus; they’ve been responsive when we’ve had [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueLeave a Comment using Facebook Connectbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Just before Christmas, <a href="http://disqus.com" target="_self">Disqus</a> <a href="http://blog.disqus.net/2008/12/23/facebook-connect-now-available-on-disqus/" target="_self">announced</a> their support for <a href="http://developers.facebook.com/connect.php" target="_self">Facebook Connect</a>. At the time I remember being a little disappointed with the decision, due to Facebook’s closed nature and what seemed like a choice for the walled garden of Facebook and against the open web (<a href="http://openid.net/" target="_self">OpenID</a>, <a href="http://oauth.net/" target="_self">OAuth</a>, <a href="http://www.opensocial.org/" target="_self">OpenSocial</a>).</p> | |
| <p>I like Disqus; they’ve been responsive when we’ve had questions and issues, and obviously the longer we use it, the harder it becomes to effect a return to WordPress comments or a move to another comment management service like <a href="http://intensedebate.com/" target="_self">Intense Debate</a>, which I’ve not had good experiences using. So, even though I like Disqus, I do feel a little trapped.</p> | |
| <p>Based on all my hippie openness, why, when a commenter <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/06/12/on-disqus/#comment-6942954" target="_self">asked</a> about supporting Facebook Connect for Disqus login, did I cave?</p> | |
| <p><img title="The amazing Facebook Connect explanation window." class="size-full wp-image-2547 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/fbconnect.png" height="347" alt="The amazing Facebook Connect explanation window." width="446" /></p> | |
| <p>As an aside, I’m not even sure that’s a real comment; the comment spam has been very <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/12/who-benefits-from-blog-comment-spam/" target="_self">heavy</a> lately. FYI, if your comment disappeared and you’re a real-live person who had a real comment, sorry if I nuked it. I didn’t know “Pregnancy Symptoms” was a real name.</p> | |
| <p>Why the 180?</p> | |
| <p>For starters, Facebook recently <a href="http://openid.net/2009/02/05/facebook-joins-openid-foundation-board/" target="_self">joined</a> the OpenID board, and I’ve heard from a board member that it’s more than just an attempt at lip-service to the open web. There are increasing <a href="http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/03/facebook-in-2010-no-longer-a-walled-garden.html" target="_self">signs</a> that Facebook wants to be more open. This makes sense; they’re not a in a position to open completely, but staying totally closed doesn’t serve the best interests of their users and the rest of the ‘tubes. Besides, I’m pretty sure someone studied the hall of fail for walled gardens, ahem AOL, CompuServ.</p> | |
| <p>So, why not support Facebook Connect here? I asked myself on Friday.</p> | |
| <p>You can see it in action in the comments. The comment widget has been slightly restyled to include a Facebook icon. Click it, and you’ll get the Facebook Connect login.</p> | |
| <p><img title="New Disqus comment widget! With 100% more Facebook Connect goodness! Act now! Supplies are limited." class="size-full wp-image-2545 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/disqusfb.png" height="33" alt="New Disqus comment widget! With 100% more Facebook Connect goodness! Act now! Supplies are limited." width="176" /></p> | |
| <p>When you choose Facebook Connect you get the Facebook credentials window, show above; I’ve not tested it myself yet, so leave a comment to test it yourself, and I just might reply with my Facebook credentials.</p> | |
| <p>You can choose to cross-post your comments to your News Feed too. I’m not sure how that would appear; I assume they must provide the original post for context. Again, I’ve not tried yet, so if you get there first, please share with the rest of the class how it comes out in the News Feed.</p> | |
| <p>Another reason I caved is that so many people are using Facebook as their primary social network, it’s probably a higher value add than I think. Paul, for example, says it’s his main network over Twitter or LinkedIn, probably over Connect, too <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> It’s the de facto standard now, like it or not.</p> | |
| <p>And I don’t want to be labeled a dirty hippie who only supports the Commie open web. No offense Commie open web, you know I <3 you.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, Disqus makes it very simple to enable Facebook, and there are detailed instructions in the Admin/Settings of your blog setup.</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li>To retrieve your Facebook API Key for use with Disqus, you must <a href="http://www.facebook.com/developers/createapp.php" target="_blank">fill out a new ‘Create App’ form</a> on Facebook</li> | |
| <li>Enter your site’s domain as the Callback URL</li> | |
| <li>You may use your site name as the application name</li> | |
| <li>Below is a screenshot of the AppsLab form on Facebook</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p><a href="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/appslabfbapp.png"><img title="The AppsLab Facebook app!" class="size-full wp-image-2548 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/appslabfbapp.png" height="285" alt="The AppsLab Facebook app!" width="416" /></a>So, test it out and share your thoughts.</p> | |
| <p>Now, if only Disqus would support OpenID on the comments widget. Even though you <a href="http://disqus.disqus.com/openid_support_please/" target="_self">can</a> login to disqus.com with an OpenID provide, supposedly, the widget we show on the blog does not support any providers.</p> | |
| <p>Although I wonder how much incentive they have to build that now that Facebook has committed to OpenID, which would mean they get it for free through Facebook Connect. Grrr.</p> | |
| <p>Another seemingly cool feature of Disqus is the FriendFeed <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/01/27/now-were-on-friendfeed/" target="_self">integration</a>, i.e. comments on blog posts made on FriendFeed are reflected back to the original post. Not so much from what I saw. I set this up and tested it to no avail. I’m hoping it’s user error. Anyone?</p> | |
| <p>Looks like Disqus isn’t standing still. Their blog <a href="http://blog.disqus.net/2009/03/04/preview-our-next-big-features-exclusively-on-mashable/" target="_self">says</a> they are working with <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/03/04/social-media-comments/" target="_self">Mashable</a> on a one ring approach to aggregate all commentary on posts from the many places people can comment.</p> | |
| <p>Stay tuned sounds like a neat feature.</p> | |
| <p>Find the comments and sound off about Facebook Connect, Disqus, hippie open web, whatever you like. Just make it obvious you’re not a comment spammer, which is harder than it seems.</p> | |
| <p><em>Update: <a href="http://surachartopun.com/" target="_self">Surachart</a> was nice enough to leave a test comment, to which I replied using Facebook Connect. After logging in, I got this box, asking to publish the comment to my News Feed.</em></p> | |
| <p><em><img title="Facebook Connect confirmation of cross-posting your comment." class="size-full wp-image-2553 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/fbconnect1.png" height="114" alt="Facebook Connect confirmation of cross-posting your comment." width="422" /></em></p> | |
| <p><em>And here’s how it looks in my Feed. Not too intrusive, but not very informative either. </em></p> | |
| <p><img title="How your comment appears in your Facebook News Feed" class="size-full wp-image-2554 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/newsfeed.png" height="34" alt="How your comment appears in your Facebook News Feed" width="468" /></p> | |
| <p><em>Just as with FriendFeed, having a Comment function on Facebook creates another thread for your posts, which is a bummer.</em></p> | |
| <p><em>One thing, if you have a public profile on Facebook, your name will show in comments, like Surachart’s. The public profile is indexed by search engines. If you don’t have that enables, only your profile ID will show, which looks a little weird, like mine.</em></p> | |
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| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pvtNZcayJao:n7vcdfziG_Y:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pvtNZcayJao:n7vcdfziG_Y:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pvtNZcayJao:n7vcdfziG_Y:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=pvtNZcayJao:n7vcdfziG_Y:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pvtNZcayJao:n7vcdfziG_Y:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pvtNZcayJao:n7vcdfziG_Y:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=pvtNZcayJao:n7vcdfziG_Y:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/pvtNZcayJao" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/pvtNZcayJao/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/pvtNZcayJao/updatedTue, 10 Mar 2009 03:51:16 +0000updated_timeTue Mar 10 03:51:16 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009310351161690feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/06/batman-vs-superman/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/06/batman-vs-superman/#commentstitleBatman vs. Supermanwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/06/batman-vs-superman/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueFrom Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" series | |
| Here comes a topic for a Friday. | |
| I try to torture my wife with this nerdy debate, but she consistently rises above the argument. So, I’m coming to the ‘tubes to get some real discussion. | |
| This class comic book nerd debate is really Batman or Superman, not vs. which suggests [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermbatmanschemelabeltermcomicsschemelabeltermsupermanschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2536summaryFrom Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" series | |
| Here comes a topic for a Friday. | |
| I try to torture my wife with this nerdy debate, but she consistently rises above the argument. So, I’m coming to the ‘tubes to get some real discussion. | |
| This class comic book nerd debate is really Batman or Superman, not vs. which suggests [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueBatman vs. Supermanbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_2538"><img title="Batman vs. Superman" class="size-medium wp-image-2538" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/batman_vs_superman_wallpaper-300x225.jpg" height="225" alt="From Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" series" width="300" /><p class="wp-caption-text">From Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" series</p></div> | |
| <p>Here comes a topic for a Friday.</p> | |
| <p>I try to torture my wife with this nerdy debate, but she consistently rises above the argument. So, I’m coming to the ‘tubes to get some real discussion.</p> | |
| <p>This class comic book nerd debate is really Batman <em>or</em> Superman, not vs. which suggests they’re fighting. It’s styled as vs. because the camps on either side may end up slapping each other in a geek fight as they disagree and tempers flare. Suffice to say that opinions are held as facts in this case, much like they are in Kirk vs. Picard or other similarly impossible, yet fascinating arguments.</p> | |
| <p>I use the term fascinating loosely.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, the debate is simple; make a case for which superhero is better and why. Point and counter-point.</p> | |
| <p>Or shake your head and walk away trying not to laugh.</p> | |
| <p>Here goes.</p> | |
| <p>Batman, and here’s why in easy to consume bullet form:</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li>He’s one of us, not an alien or a genetic anomaly. He’s just a really tough dude, like Chuck Norris in tights and a cowl.</li> | |
| <li>He’s not a Boy Scout. He practices vigilante justice, outside the law or on the fringe, depending on the Batman adaptation.</li> | |
| <li>He has “wonderful” toys. Limitless wealth provides an awesome array of weapons, vehicles and gadgets that may geeks drool.</li> | |
| <li>He fights the best villains. Without a doubt, the Joker is the best comic book villain. No debate there.</li> | |
| <li>He’s a brooding guy with issues, classic anti-hero. He wants to dole out justice, not to do good. Superman does good.</li> | |
| <li>He has the best costume. The cape and cowl black or gray/navy early on makes him menacing.</li> | |
| <li>He’s a smart dude who uses his wits, not his brawn.</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>There are more, but I’m laughing at myself now.</p> | |
| <p>Your turn. Find the comments to agree or disagree with me. Or to pick another superhero.</p> | |
| <p>If you made it to here, you know you want to jump in, which is the beauty of this argument.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/nTeF-p5TsmE" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/nTeF-p5TsmE/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/nTeF-p5TsmE/updatedFri, 06 Mar 2009 19:20:57 +0000updated_timeFri Mar 06 19:20:57 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009361920574650feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/05/freely-available-utilities/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/05/freely-available-utilities/#commentstitleFreely Available Utilitieswfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/05/freely-available-utilities/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueThe title comes from a phrase that stood out for me in this post from RWW. | |
| That post highlights some really sweet data pr0n (TwitterThoughts and World Twitter Map) built by Yvo Schaap that uses the Twitter API for data, Yahoo Pipes for parsing and the Google Visualization API for producing the eye candy. All these [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermdata visualizationschemelabeltermgoogleschemelabeltermpipesschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabeltermyahooschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2529summaryThe title comes from a phrase that stood out for me in this post from RWW. | |
| That post highlights some really sweet data pr0n (TwitterThoughts and World Twitter Map) built by Yvo Schaap that uses the Twitter API for data, Yahoo Pipes for parsing and the Google Visualization API for producing the eye candy. All these [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueFreely Available Utilitiesbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>The title comes from a phrase that stood out for me in this <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/mashup_magic_twitterthoughts.php" target="_self">post</a> from RWW.</p> | |
| <p>That post highlights some really sweet data pr0n (<a href="http://yvoschaap.com/twitterthoughts/" target="_self">TwitterThoughts</a> and <a href="http://yvoschaap.com/twitterthoughts/?map=1" target="_self">World Twitter Map</a>) built by <a href="http://www.yvoschaap.com/" target="_self">Yvo Schaap</a> that uses the <a href="http://apiwiki.twitter.com/" target="_self">Twitter API</a> for data, <a href="http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/" target="_self">Yahoo Pipes</a> for parsing and the <a href="http://code.google.com/apis/visualization/" target="_self">Google Visualization API</a> for producing the eye candy. All these tools are “freely available utilities”, and what Yvo has built with them is pretty compelling.</p> | |
| <p><a href="http://yvoschaap.com/twitterthoughts/?map=1"><img title="World Twitter Map, tweets by volume over the last 24 hours" class="size-medium wp-image-2533 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/twittermap-300x188.png" height="188" alt="World Twitter Map, tweets by volume over the last 24 hours" width="300" /></a></p> | |
| <p>Another freely available utility is <a href="http://code.google.com" target="_self">Google Code</a>, which <a href="http://www.oraclenerd.com/2009/02/google-code.html" target="_self">Chet</a> is using to host his code. I really like this idea; ideally, you can get a bunch of smart people in your extended community to hack with you on a fun project, like an open source incubator. But even if no one ever joins, you’ll still have a code resume that is readily available should you need to interview.</p> | |
| <p>Chet has experience with interviews, natch, but I don’t think this is why he started hosting his code. It’s just a fun project.</p> | |
| <p>He also mentioned the Visualization API, which is really cool. </p> | |
| <p>Friend of the ‘Lab and OpenSocial dude at Google, Chris Shalk gave a very interesting unconference <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/cschalk/integrating-google-apis-into-your-applications-presentation?type=powerpoint" target="_self">session</a> on the Google APIs at OpenWorld last September, embedded below if you’re reading at theappslab.</p> | |
| <div id="__ss_614577"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/cschalk/integrating-google-apis-into-your-applications-presentation?type=powerpoint" title="Integrating Google APIs into Your Applications">Integrating Google APIs into Your Applications</a> | |
| <div>View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/cschalk">Chris Schalk</a>. (tags: <a href="http://slideshare.net/tag/opensocial">opensocial</a> <a href="http://slideshare.net/tag/charts">charts</a>)</div> | |
| </div> | |
| <p>I’ve been trying to find the right data set to use with that for a long time. One day.</p> | |
| <p>I suppose I could use the <a href="http://aws.amazon.com/publicdatasets/" target="_self">Public Data Sets</a> on AWS, another great resource, but not one for this discussion, since they are part of the EC2 offering and not free. On the flipside, if you have the right to distribute a data set or have a public domain/non-proprietary set, you can request that AWS host it for you.</p> | |
| <p>This isn’t that different than the API model that Twitter has taken, i.e. provide open access to your data through an API, stand back and watch what cool things people do with your data. Twitter’s API seems to produce a new service each week, creating an ecosystem of services and applications that depend on it.</p> | |
| <p>We’ve had some success with this inside the firewall too. Connect’s APIs are used by a handful of services, OraTweet chief among them. Likewise for OraTweet’s APIs. People are starting to get how this matters inside the firewall for free-sharing of information, whether it’s a hacking project some developer wants to undertake to scratch a personal itch or it’s a more formal collaborative undertaking with a budget and a mission.</p> | |
| <p>Either way, freely available utilities rule. Finding out about them is half the battle, e.g. Yahoo Pipes is a very useful tool, but I don’t know of many people who use it. I used it to create the feed for the “What We’re Reading” widget, and Dawn Foster has become the Pipes maven. Check out her <a href="http://fastwonderblog.com/yahoo-pipes-and-rss-hacks/" target="_self">tutorials</a> if you want Pipes knowledge.</p> | |
| <p>In the spirit of discovery, what freely available utilities do you think are awesome? Any thoughts about Yvo’s Twitter visualizations or Chet’s project?</p> | |
| <p>Find the comments.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/zV1pm6UbhpA" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/zV1pm6UbhpA/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/zV1pm6UbhpA/updatedThu, 05 Mar 2009 23:52:03 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 05 23:52:03 UTC 2009updated_parsed200935235233640feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/#commentstitleAnother Facebook User Revolt is Comingwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueToday, Facebook previewed changes it plans to make to their site next week. There are quite a few: | |
| A redesigned home page with live updates, filters and a universal publishing model (very much like FriendFeed’s). | |
| One minor change that’s part of the universal publishing box is changing the verbiage “What are you doing right now?” to “What’s [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermfacebookschemelabeltermfriendfeedschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabeltermuischemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2522summaryToday, Facebook previewed changes it plans to make to their site next week. There are quite a few: | |
| A redesigned home page with live updates, filters and a universal publishing model (very much like FriendFeed’s). | |
| One minor change that’s part of the universal publishing box is changing the verbiage “What are you doing right now?” to “What’s [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueAnother Facebook User Revolt is Comingbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img class="alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/s307319_28874.jpg" height="146" alt="" width="195" />Today, Facebook <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/04/facebooks-response-to-twitter/" target="_self">previewed</a> changes it plans to make to their site next week. There are quite a few:</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li>A <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/04/screen-shots-the-new-facebook-home-page/" target="_self">redesigned</a> home page with live updates, filters and a universal publishing model (very much like FriendFeed’s).</li> | |
| <li>One minor change that’s part of the universal publishing box is changing the verbiage “What are you doing right now?” to “What’s on your mind?”.</li> | |
| <li>People will no longer be capped at 5,000 friends.</li> | |
| <li>A Twitter/FriendFeed like follow feature will be added to allow people to keep tabs on others asynchronously.</li> | |
| <li>Pages will converge with profiles, creating a more uniform experience whether person, brand, whatever.</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>These changes point to the convergence of the life-streaming model with the social network and to Facebook’s stated goal of being its own Internet within the ‘tubes. When Facebook first introduced the News Feed in 2006, it became the first social network to show a network’s activity in this way.</p> | |
| <p>Since then, Twitter pioneered status (or micro-blogging) allowing the network to tell everyone explicitly what it’s doing, rather than using activity to infer that. Facebook added status shortly thereafter to capture the same activity.</p> | |
| <p>FriendFeed applied the News Feed concept to the entire ‘tubes, but as Facebook has added the ability to share more objects, beyond simply activity contained within Facebook, the News Feed has become increasingly more life stream focused.</p> | |
| <p>So, no big surprises in the home page redesign.</p> | |
| <p>The follow feature, however, sounds like an area for user revolt. Facebook has a very different feel than Twitter or FriendFeed primarily because following (or subscribing) can be asynchronous. Facebook has always enforced that profiles must be real people, probably dating back to its roots as the anti-MySpace; they have frequently enforced this citing it as a violation of their terms.</p> | |
| <p>Now, profiles and pages are merging, and people can follow each other. Sounds a shade like stalking. Because Twitter and others don’t have the rigorous profile requirements, you may not know who is really following you. You’ll know on Facebook though, and that will lead to a whole mess of issues.</p> | |
| <p>This is going to be interesting. Expect a “revolt”, by which I mean a bunch of whining from people. After all, Facebook has a history of upsetting its users. Here’s a brief score card.</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2005/09/07/85-of-college-students-use-facebook/" target="_self">September 2005</a>: Adds high schools to its previously college-only crowd causing college kids to complain about allowing uncool, high schoolers into their Fortress of Solitude.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/04/26/facebook-goes-beyond-college-high-school-markets/" target="_self">May 2006</a>: Adds work networks of selected companies, causing recently added high schoolers to join “old sk00l” college kids to whine that work people are uncool.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/09/06/facebook-users-revolt-facebook-replies/" target="_self">September 2006</a>: Adds News Feeds, Mini Feeds, irking hordes of users who are up in arms about flooding their pristine Facebook pages with mind-numbing details about their so-called friends.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/05/24/facebook-launches-facebook-platform-they-are-the-anti-myspace/" target="_self">March 2007</a>: Adds f8 platform for application development, which actually is met with user happiness for a change, until sheep throwing, vampire biting and spamming your friends to see your cool-points ranking get annoying.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/the-facebook-ad-backlash-begins/" target="_self">November 2007</a>: Beacon social advertising program face-plants as users are aghast that Facebook would use their data to, um, make money or try to at least.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/16/dont-let-facebook-force-the-new-profile-on-you-heres-how-to-get-the-old-one-back/" target="_self">September 2008</a>: New UI launch is met with widespread hatred, even though apps have polluted the once clean aesthetic that made it the anti-MySpace.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/16/zuckerberg-on-who-owns-user-data-on-facebook-its-complicated/" target="_self">February 2009</a>: Changes to its terms of service cause widespread outrage.</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>It’s actually pretty funny. When I started this list, my viewpoint was that Facebook would (again) run roughshod over its users, as it did in its infancy. However, looking back at the last 18 months, when the most growth has occurred outside the saturated demographics for social networking (talking to you Gen Y), Facebook has actually done a decent job listening to its user base.</p> | |
| <p>Sure, they’ve made mistakes, but they’ve ultimately been responsible for them and have accommodated reasonable requests. Not a bad thing. Although, as a highly visible company (and pop culture punchline), this course of action seems logical.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway. I don’t really think the changes are all that noteworthy, except maybe to early adopters who know Twitter (which is also inching toward mainstream as evidenced by its Daily Show <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/03/the-daily-show-my-stalker-just-grunted-on-my-twitter/" target="_self">cameo</a>) and FriendFeed and think it matter who was doing what first.</p> | |
| <p>Meh.</p> | |
| <p>The user revolt will be fun to observe. Most interesting will be how mainstream users feel about life-streaming and micro-blogging. The changes to Facebook’s UI will shape the future of the ‘tubes, like it or not.</p> | |
| <p>Find the comments and add your two cents.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pUarQEPYiPI:kAzbiFpZksQ:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pUarQEPYiPI:kAzbiFpZksQ:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pUarQEPYiPI:kAzbiFpZksQ:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=pUarQEPYiPI:kAzbiFpZksQ:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pUarQEPYiPI:kAzbiFpZksQ:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pUarQEPYiPI:kAzbiFpZksQ:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=pUarQEPYiPI:kAzbiFpZksQ:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/pUarQEPYiPI" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/pUarQEPYiPI/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/pUarQEPYiPI/updatedThu, 05 Mar 2009 06:57:42 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 05 06:57:42 UTC 2009updated_parsed200935657423640feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/howto-convert-vmware-image-to-virtualbox-image-or-import-vmware-image-into-virtualboxubuntu-geek/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/howto-convert-vmware-image-to-virtualbox-image-or-import-vmware-image-into-virtualboxubuntu-geek/#commentstitleHowto Convert Vmware Image to Virtualbox Image or Import Vmware Image into VirtualboxUbuntu Geekwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/howto-convert-vmware-image-to-virtualbox-image-or-import-vmware-image-into-virtualboxubuntu-geek/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueaddthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Ftheappslab.com%2F2009%2F03%2F04%2Fhowto-convert-vmware-image-to-virtualbox-image-or-import-vmware-image-into-virtualboxubuntu-geek%2F'; | |
| addthis_title = 'Howto+Convert+Vmware+Image+to+Virtualbox+Image+or+Import+Vmware+Image+into+VirtualboxUbuntu+Geek'; | |
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| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=my1dXp4eyMw:WxxZJ729gII:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=my1dXp4eyMw:WxxZJ729gII:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=my1dXp4eyMw:WxxZJ729gII:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=my1dXp4eyMw:WxxZJ729gII:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=my1dXp4eyMw:WxxZJ729gII:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=my1dXp4eyMw:WxxZJ729gII:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=my1dXp4eyMw:WxxZJ729gII:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/my1dXp4eyMw" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/my1dXp4eyMw/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/my1dXp4eyMw/updatedThu, 05 Mar 2009 00:56:20 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 05 00:56:20 UTC 2009updated_parsed200935056203640feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/03/new-imac-still-new-to-me/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/03/new-imac-still-new-to-me/#commentstitleNew iMac, Still New to Mewfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/03/new-imac-still-new-to-me/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueUpdate: Turns out Best Buy, where we bought the iMac, doesn’t have the new models in stock yet, but to make room in their inventory, they’ve lowered the prices on the remaining ones by $400. | |
| They were nice enough to honor the new price and refund the difference. Win-win, since I wasn’t all that excited about [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermappleschemelabeltermhome officeschemelabeltermimacschemelabeltermmacschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2519summaryUpdate: Turns out Best Buy, where we bought the iMac, doesn’t have the new models in stock yet, but to make room in their inventory, they’ve lowered the prices on the remaining ones by $400. | |
| They were nice enough to honor the new price and refund the difference. Win-win, since I wasn’t all that excited about [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueNew iMac, Still New to Mebasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="New iMacs" class="size-medium wp-image-2520 alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/overview_hero2_20090303-300x158.jpg" height="158" alt="New iMacs" width="300" /></p> | |
| <p><em>Update: Turns out Best Buy, where we bought the iMac, doesn’t have the new models in stock yet, but to make room in their inventory, they’ve lowered the prices on the remaining ones by $400.</em></p> | |
| <p><em>They were nice enough to honor the new price and refund the difference. Win-win, since I wasn’t all that excited about a data transfer. W00t!</em></p> | |
| <p>So, you may have heard that Apple dropped a bunch of updates to their product catalog today, along with software updates.</p> | |
| <p>Among the <a href="http://www.tuaw.com/2009/03/03/four-flavors-of-imac/" target="_self">updates</a> were upgrades to the iMac line.</p> | |
| <p>Not that noteworthy, unless you just bought an iMac last week like I did. Funny stuff, right?</p> | |
| <p>I’m actually not that bummed; a little, but not too much, considering. This was a replacement for my wife’s XP machine, which I had been nursing along for nearly ten years, adding disk, RAM and a DVD player to keep it functional. She had lent her Macbook to a friend (I know, gasp) and was forced to use that old beast without any escaping to a faster computer.</p> | |
| <p>Speed is her main requirement (and annoyance); this means the Internet, installed programs, everything. This means keeping a lot of moving parts, moving quickly, which was becoming increasingly tough with the old XP box. So, rather than have me rebuild it overnight, we decided to break down and buy a new machine entirely. For her, instant gratification and instant ability to get work done.</p> | |
| <p>The decision was to go Mac over PC because, well, I don’t feel like supporting it, and we like the unibody design of the iMac over the standard cable mess of disparate pieces. Plus, she already has a Macbook, so it’s not a jump into the deep end.</p> | |
| <p>I should have tipped when Best Buy said they had no 20″ iMacs in stock, in any local stores, but knowing how secretive Apple is, I wonder if even the Apple Store employees knew the new models were less than a week from dropping. We settled on the 24″ model that used to be the third in the lineup; based on the new specs, it’s probably closer to first, slightly more beefy than the low-end 20″ model in the new lineup. Grr.</p> | |
| <p>Still, she loves it to death so far (it’s so fast), and the cinema display is so bright, when I walk away from it, I see spots.</p> | |
| <p>Rather than trying to explain virtualization, I just installed Virtual Box and installed an XP VM. That VM runs about twice as fast as the old native installation of XP did. Sure, not an apples-to-apples comparison, but pretty impressive. The fan is really quiet too; one thing that bugs me about the Macbook is its loud fan. If you’ve held one of those in your lap, you’ll know why. It gets crazy hot after a while, not an ideal thing to keep in your lap.</p> | |
| <p>So, until today, everybody was happy. New computer for the wife, less support agony for me. Win-win.</p> | |
| <p>Of course, now we’ve fallen victim to buying the outgoing model year, which is inevitable, but usually doesn’t happen withing the same week.</p> | |
| <p>I also violated one of my rules by buying the unibody design. I can’t crack it open to do <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/09/weekend-project-macbook-surgery/" target="_self">upgrades</a> to keep from buying new gear every couple years. Maybe I can, but it won’t be easy. Maybe I’m wrong.</p> | |
| <p>Then, there’s the dilemma of what to do with the old dinosaur. I had thought it would make good network-attached storage, but aside from the slow processor, it only has about 80 GB of disk space, which is puny compared to the 250 GB I just put in my Macbook, 300 GB in the iMac or the 1 TB backup drive I bought for Time Machine on the iMac.</p> | |
| <p>Wow did I feel old buying a 1 TB disk about the size of a pocket dictionary for less than $200. I remember when Oracle DB broke the 1 TB barrier for database storage. That doesn’t seem that long ago. Cue the nostalgic music and prepare your grouchy “I remember when” stories for the comments.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, I’ll probably end up reimaging it as an experimental box for Jaunty Jackalop (9.04) or some other O/S, or maybe I’ll give it to the neighbors, keeping the monitor, natch. You can never have too many displays.</p> | |
| <p>So, there’s a lot here, meandering as always. What are your thoughts on any/all of the following:</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li>New iMacs and updates to Apple’s products</li> | |
| <li>Old iMacs, Macs in general</li> | |
| <li>Mac vs. PC, always welcome here <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> </li> | |
| <li>Supporting users who want everything “faster”</li> | |
| <li>Keeping up with current technology and getting out-moded</li> | |
| <li>Repurposing old gear</li> | |
| <li>A 1 TB drive for less than $200</li> | |
| <li>Having an experimental machine for hobby O/S</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>Find the comments and let us know.</p> | |
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| RSS import ended at Mon Mar 23 16:52:20 -0700 2009 943 | |
| ========================= | |
| RSS import started at Mon Mar 23 16:53:12 -0700 2009 790 | |
| item not found 2: The AppsLab: Had Enough Twitter Yet? | |
| >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> | |
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| Data: status200hrefhttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabencodingUTF-8feedlanguageentitleThe AppsLabfeedburner_emailserviceidOracleAppslabsy_updateperiodhourlysubtitle_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueDriving Innovationbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabsubtitleDriving Innovationtitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueThe AppsLabbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabfeedburner_feedburnerhostnamehttp://feedburner.google.comgenerator_detailnamehttp://wordpress.org/?v=2.7linkshrefhttp://theappslab.comrelalternatetypetext/htmlsy_updatefrequency1generatorhttp://wordpress.org/?v=2.7linkhttp://theappslab.comatom10_linkupdatedMon, 23 Mar 2009 17:09:16 +0000updated_timeMon Mar 23 17:09:16 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009323179160820bozofalsemodified_timeMon Mar 23 17:25:10 UTC 2009etaglb/Rbf0di70vrfJzxKhuowadrSknamespacesversionrss20updated20093231725100820entriesfeedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/23/2633/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/23/2633/#commentstitleHad Enough Twitter Yet?wfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/23/2633/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueTwitter is exploding. You’ve probably seen the numbers. | |
| 1,382% comparing February 2009 with February 2008. More than 50% from January 2009 to February 2009. | |
| By all measures, that’s an insane growth rate. Mainstream media has taken note, and celebrities (and impostors) are flocking to Twitter in droves. Pun intended. Do you have a favorite celebrity you follow? [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermenterpriseschemelabeltermoratweetschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2633summaryTwitter is exploding. You’ve probably seen the numbers. | |
| 1,382% comparing February 2009 with February 2008. More than 50% from January 2009 to February 2009. | |
| By all measures, that’s an insane growth rate. Mainstream media has taken note, and celebrities (and impostors) are flocking to Twitter in droves. Pun intended. Do you have a favorite celebrity you follow? [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueHad Enough Twitter Yet?basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Twitter is <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/03/16/twitter-growth-rate-versus-facebook/" target="_self">exploding</a>. You’ve probably seen the numbers.</p> | |
| <p>1,382% comparing February 2009 with February 2008. More than 50% from January 2009 to February 2009.</p> | |
| <p>By all measures, that’s an insane growth rate. Mainstream media has taken note, and celebrities (and impostors) are flocking to Twitter in droves. Pun intended. Do you have a favorite celebrity you follow? I enjoy @<a href="http://twitter.com/the_real_shaq" target="_self">THE_REAL_SHAQ</a>.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Do you follow @god?" class="size-full wp-image-2634 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/god.png" height="30" alt="Do you follow @god?" width="292" /></p> | |
| <p>Even <a href="http://twitter.com/god" target="_self">god</a> has an account now, and yes, the lowercase “g” is on purpose. It’s a statement of fact.</p> | |
| <p>Twitter is so common now, it’s quickly replacing Facebook as the pop culture whipping boy of media types. Facebook’s window was pretty small, and they’ve apparently noticed, recently making their <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/" target="_self">interface</a> more micro-bloggy.</p> | |
| <p>Enterprises have noticed too, giving life to companies like <a href="https://www.yammer.com/" target="_self">Yammer</a> and projects like <a href="http://apextoday.blogspot.com/2008/06/post-updates-to-twitter-from-apex-plsql.html" target="_self">OraTweet</a>. There’s even a new category and analysis around the “enterprise micro-blogging” space.</p> | |
| <p>As people rush into Twitter, I wonder if the ah-ha moments are coming more quickly. Like many people I know, I created an account on Twitter and waited. It took several months and a conscious effort to start seeing value. My guess is early adopters all have the same pattern of tweets over time. Sparse early, an inflection point, then ramping up each months thereafter.</p> | |
| <p>As you tweet, you discover the value’s in the network, which is what has made Twitter so tough to quit, even when it was fail whaling every day for hours at a time.</p> | |
| <p>Ah, the good old days.</p> | |
| <p>So, do you think that new tweeters follow the blog posts of their fore-tweeters to get to their own inflection points sooner? Do you think they’re using Twitter for different things? Are the celebrities and media types drawing them to Twitter and keeping their attention?</p> | |
| <p>I don’t really know.</p> | |
| <p>I’ve been watching the adoption of OraTweet with interest. It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, but it does underline the common uses for so-called micro-blogging. Incidentally, will someone please coin a better term for generic tweeting than “micro-blogging”.</p> | |
| <p>Here are the common cases I’ve observed:</p> | |
| <ol> | |
| <li>Frustration</li> | |
| <li>Communication</li> | |
| <li>Seeking and Sharing Information</li> | |
| <li>Work Streaming</li> | |
| </ol> | |
| <p>With the exception of 4, these are all very common on Twitter as well. 4 represents a unique use case inside the firewall, and I expect to see it grow over time as people discover they can broadcast how busy they are to the whole company, erm anyone listening.</p> | |
| <p>I’m kidding, a little. OraTweet is highly useful for distributed teams to broadcast issues and updates to the entire project team. This was one of its first and best <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/08/26/social-observations-oratweet-edition/" target="_self">uses</a>.</p> | |
| <p>Not surprisingly 2 (Communication) is finding a home inside the firewall. Hutch Carpenter has an interesting <a href="http://bhc3.wordpress.com/2009/03/13/microblogging-will-marginalize-corporate-email/" target="_self">look</a> at how micro-blogging (yuck) is pushing email to the margins inside many companies. I can’t say I’ve noticed this yet here, judging by my inbox, but OraTweet has added another channel for communication.</p> | |
| <p>The new channel fits in between email and IM for communication that isn’t super important (i.e. you can keep it to 140 characters and sloppy writing) or immediate (i.e. you don’t need a pingback right this moment). This actually fits a high percentage of the water cooler/hallway/stop-by-your-cubicle communication that I remember from when I sat in an office, which leads me to wonder if remote workers are adopting more quickly to re-socialize their work time.</p> | |
| <p>Regardless of how we find value in OraTweet, another tool inside the firewall, or Twitter, people are still having trouble getting that it’s public. Hutch had <a href="http://bhc3.wordpress.com/2009/03/17/how-to-tweet-your-way-out-of-a-job/" target="_self">another</a> example of tweeting yourself in the foot last week. Tough to feel bad for someone high-hatting a job offer in this economy.</p> | |
| <p>Remember to <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/01/20/tweet-with-care/" target="_self">tweet with care</a> people.</p> | |
| <p>So, your thoughts on: Twitter’s growth, your own experiences, enterprise adoption, how you find value, how much you dislike Twitter, tweeting yourself in the foot, unfortunate mishaps, and everything else belong in the comments.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=_RsrNZryrcU:NdNHpoH_gos:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=_RsrNZryrcU:NdNHpoH_gos:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=_RsrNZryrcU:NdNHpoH_gos:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/_RsrNZryrcU" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/_RsrNZryrcU/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/_RsrNZryrcU/updatedMon, 23 Mar 2009 17:08:34 +0000updated_timeMon Mar 23 17:08:34 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009323178340820feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/20/web-mission-is-coming/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/20/web-mission-is-coming/#commentstitleWeb Mission is Comingwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/20/web-mission-is-coming/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueAs he did last year, Paul will be speaking during the Oracle portion of this year’s Web Mission, which runs March 28-April 3. | |
| What is Web Mission? Glad you asked, from the about: | |
| Web Mission is organized Bronwyn Kunhardt and James Lawn from the market intelligence company Polecat (www.polecatting.com) and by serial entrepreneur, Oli Barrett. Each [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermoracleschemelabeltermwebmissionschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2624summaryAs he did last year, Paul will be speaking during the Oracle portion of this year’s Web Mission, which runs March 28-April 3. | |
| What is Web Mission? Glad you asked, from the about: | |
| Web Mission is organized Bronwyn Kunhardt and James Lawn from the market intelligence company Polecat (www.polecatting.com) and by serial entrepreneur, Oli Barrett. Each [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueWeb Mission is Comingbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="Web Mission" class="size-full wp-image-2626 alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/webmission.png" height="84" alt="Web Mission" width="218" />As he did last year, Paul will be speaking during the Oracle portion of this year’s <a href="http://webmission.co.uk" target="_self">Web Mission</a>, which runs March 28-April 3.</p> | |
| <p>What is Web Mission? Glad you asked, from the <a href="http://webmission.co.uk/about/" target="_self">about</a>:</p> | |
| <blockquote> | |
| <p class="MsoListParagraph"><em>Web Mission is organized Bronwyn Kunhardt and James Lawn from the market intelligence company Polecat (<a href="http://www.polecatting.com/">www.polecatting.com</a>) and by serial entrepreneur, Oli Barrett. Each year, Web Mission seeks to introduce 20 of the best Web 2.0 companies to the many inspiring people and supportive Web 2.0 networks which exist in Silicon Valley. The aim is to support the companies to:</em></p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li><em>Facilitate meetings with local investors</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Meet and mingle with Silicon Valley movers and shakers relevant to their organization and growth plans</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Discuss their business with leading journalists</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Spend quality time with like-minded people on the web scene</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Explore how to succeed in the US market</em></li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p><em>The successful companies are short-listed by judges such as Doug Richard, Mike Butcher from TechCrunch and with input from the Web Mission sponsors. The sponsors include technology companies, media companies, financial and legal organizations. They are complemented by a host of Partners who provide specialist support to the event.</em></p></blockquote> | |
| <p>Oh yeah, these companies are UK-based, and this is a trade mission of sorts, backed by the UK government to help incubate UK technology startups. Apparently, the event is backed by British politicos, and the companies will enjoy an evening at the British Consulate in San Francisco, among other things.</p> | |
| <p>But wait, there’s more.</p> | |
| <p>The <a href="http://webmission.co.uk/agenda-2009/" target="_self">agenda</a> is packed. The lucky company reps leave the UK on March 28 and return on April 4. In between, they’ll be visiting Oracle on April 1 to hear Paul and a host of other Oracle people chat, and they’ll be at the <a href="http://www.web2expo.com/" target="_self">Web 2.0 Expo</a> on April 2.</p> | |
| <p>Looking at the agenda makes me tired. The days are fully booked, and by the end, these people will be stuffed full of entrepreneurial advice and information. Sounds like a valuable, but potentially exhausting trip. Then again, these are startup people, so they’re used to burning the candle at both ends.</p> | |
| <p>Who are these lucky companies?</p> | |
| <p>Here’s a checklist of the companies who are attending Web Mission 2009.</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.artesiansolutions.com/">www.artesiansolutions.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.businessitonline.com/">www.businessitonline.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.cereproc.com/">www.cereproc.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.coclarity.com/">www.coclarity.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.complianceandrisks.com/">www.complianceandrisks.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.concrete-media.com/">www.concrete-media.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.corebridge.com/">www.corebridge.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.freshnetworks.com/">www.freshnetworks.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.mtivity.com/">www.mtivity.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.proofhq.com/">www.proofhq.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.replify.com/">www.replify.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.sift.com/">www.sift.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.sosius.com/">www.sosius.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.tactilecrm.com/">www.tactilecrm.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.viapost.com/">www.viapost.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.yuuguu.com/">www.yuuguu.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.zemanta.com/">www.zemanta.com</a></li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>Two alumni from Web Mission 2008</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.huddle.net/">www.huddle.net</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.trampolinesystems.com/">www.trampolinesystems.com</a></li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/RWnbYG3Id1E" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/RWnbYG3Id1E/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/RWnbYG3Id1E/updatedFri, 20 Mar 2009 17:23:02 +0000updated_timeFri Mar 20 17:23:02 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009320172324790feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/19/ignore-your-competition-focus-on-the-stable/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/19/ignore-your-competition-focus-on-the-stable/#commentstitleIgnore Your Competition, Focus on the Stablewfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/19/ignore-your-competition-focus-on-the-stable/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvaluePhoto Credit: FoxTongue | |
| I watched a recent interview with Jeff Bezos on Charlie Rose the other day. In it, he was questioned as to how he, against the odds, “beat” the various etailers of the day pushing books online. His answer was fantastically elegant and straight forward. He is fanatical about aligning his organization to his [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabelauthorPaulidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2617summaryPhoto Credit: FoxTongue | |
| I watched a recent interview with Jeff Bezos on Charlie Rose the other day. In it, he was questioned as to how he, against the odds, “beat” the various etailers of the day pushing books online. His answer was fantastically elegant and straight forward. He is fanatical about aligning his organization to his [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueIgnore Your Competition, Focus on the Stablebasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="2657434642_543c30685f" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-2619" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/2657434642_543c30685f-300x216.jpg" height="216" alt="2657434642_543c30685f" width="300" /></p> | |
| <h5><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxtongue/2657434642/">Photo Credit: FoxTongue</a></h5> | |
| <p>I watched a recent interview with <a href="http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/8784">Jeff Bezos on Charlie Rose</a> the other day. In it, he was questioned as to how he, against the odds, “beat” the various etailers of the day pushing books online. His answer was fantastically elegant and straight forward. He is fanatical about aligning his organization to his customer’s needs. This may mean making short term decisions that do not align with shareholders, and if you are an Amazon customer (and I am for life) you have probably experienced this via their incredible return process. However, he feels that in the long run, there is always alignment between customers and shareholders. Brilliant.</p> | |
| <p>Now you may be thinking, oh I have heard the customer-centric story before. The good news is that Jeff went a bit deeper into their actual approach to a customer driven business. In essence, he focuses his organization on <strong>excelling at the things customers want that do not shift over time</strong>. To Amazon, that means, wide product selection, low price and fast delivery - those will always be important to his customer. In his words, “I can’t imagine a customer saying, I really like Amazon, but I wish their prices were higher”. I should note that this concept applies to software as well, as conveyed recently by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQFPMuZ7hl4">Jason Fried</a> in his talk at the Business of Software Conference, only for him, the unchanging were things like ease of use and performance.</p> | |
| <p>Back to Bezos - The other lesson conveyed subtly was to <strong>ignore the competition</strong>. You may be sitting there saying, oh yeah, that sounds great, but I can’t ignore my competition. I need to know what they are doing so I can contrast the differences to my customers or so I can talk credibly to the analysts. On that point, I would agree, but it is a matter of intent and degree. The problem arises when you use that competitive gaze to consume all your time <em>or to drive your strategy</em>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Porter">Michael Porter</a> may disagree, but strategy, from my perspective, must be driven primarily from your customers needs. Everything else is secondary.</p> | |
| <p>The intersting thing about these notions is that they are in many ways ignored by companies of all shapes and sizes. Far too often I see firms chasing market hype or the latest competitive move in a copycat feature race to oblivion, while customers sit on the sidelines with their popcorn. Competitor A adds AJAX, we need it. Competitor B has a Facebook app, we gotta have it. Competitor C is on demand, let’s get on it. Perhaps it is just easier or more fun to spend time talking to your co-workers about cool new features as opposed to reaching out to customers and potentially hearing about what you can do better. Who wants to hear that right?</p> | |
| <p>As you ponder this you may be tempted to return to your cozy old ways of thinking and acting. The usual line that I hear to counter this approach, is that customers really don’t know what they want anyway, so why ask them. That comment is usually followed up with something pithy like “Would a customer have asked for the ipod?”. To that I say, rubbish. Customers are very bright and if you talked to a few you might have already known that.</p> | |
| <p><span>Let me leave you with three simple reasons why a strategy driven by competition is a fools errand:</span></p> | |
| <p><strong>1. Time Is Limited:</strong> Every moment you spend on our competition is time you could have spent working with a customer.</p> | |
| <p><strong>2. Competitors Could Be Wrong:</strong> The strategy they are implementing, and you are choosing to follow, could be off the mark and a total waste of time and money. Oftentimes we think people at other companies are smarter than us - that could be wrong too.</p> | |
| <p><strong>3. Your Strategy Must Be Yours: </strong>Not all companies are created equal. Each has their own assets, skills, resources, relationships and more, that they can, and should, bring to bear on a strategy. If you copy your competitor you just may be ignoring your best assets and playing a game on their home turf. If you have a great running game, do you play a passing offense because that is what the other team is doing? The answer is obvious and no different for business.</p> | |
| <p>In the end, my favorite part of this is the simplicity. As humans, we love complex things. They make us feel smart and special, but more and more, in life and in business simple wins the day.</p> | |
| <p>Now where is my phone, I need to call a customer…</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/r9-VLtboEjk" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/r9-VLtboEjk/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/r9-VLtboEjk/updatedThu, 19 Mar 2009 17:32:44 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 19 17:32:44 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093191732443780feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/i-might-pay-for-jotnot/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/i-might-pay-for-jotnot/#commentstitleI Might Pay for JotNotwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/i-might-pay-for-jotnot/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueThere are very few times when I read something and think to myself, I must blog this immediately and tell as many people as possible. | |
| This is one of those few times. | |
| JotNot is a web service that converts pictures into documents. Send a picture to them by email or upload one to their website and get [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermappsschemelabeltermimagesschemelabeltermiphoneschemelabeltermjotnotschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2611summaryThere are very few times when I read something and think to myself, I must blog this immediately and tell as many people as possible. | |
| This is one of those few times. | |
| JotNot is a web service that converts pictures into documents. Send a picture to them by email or upload one to their website and get [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueI Might Pay for JotNotbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>There are very few times when I read something and think to myself, I must blog this immediately and tell as many people as possible.</p> | |
| <p>This is one of those few times.</p> | |
| <p><a href="http://www.jotnot.com/" target="_self">JotNot</a> is a web service that converts pictures into documents. Send a picture to them by email or upload one to their website and get back a Word or pdf version. Not a big deal, there are other services that do this.</p> | |
| <p>This service is good for transferring information on a whiteboard into something you can distribute, and believe it or not, this happens quite frequently and is a constant frustration for telecommuters who aren’t “in the room”.</p> | |
| <p>It’s also good for scanning, if you don’t have a scanner.</p> | |
| <p><img title="JotNot's blue box, captured from iTunes app page" class="size-full wp-image-2612 alignleft" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/bluebox.png" height="289" alt="JotNot's blue box, captured from iTunes app page" width="201" /><img title="Enhanced image, captured from iTunes app page" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2613" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/enhanced.png" height="289" alt="Enhanced image, captured from iTunes app page" width="201" /></p> | |
| <p>Now, h/t <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/17/jotnot-turns-your-iphones-camera-into-a-document-scanner/" target="_self">TechCrunch</a>, they have an iPhone <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=307868751&mt=8" target="_self">app</a> (iTunes link).</p> | |
| <p>The app sounds very simple. Take a picture (or import one). Use the blue box presented by the app to indicate the area you want captured. Then wait as the app does its processing magic, correcting for lighting, color, and even perspective. Very cool.</p> | |
| <p>Unfortunately, this app costs $3.99, and I have yet to pay for an iPhone app. I’m still not over the initial sticker shock, my prerogative as an OG iPhone guy who paid full boat back in July 2007. However, this app tempts me to get over my desire for full amortization.</p> | |
| <p>If you read here, you know I prefer iPhone apps that perform <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/12/23/iphone-apps-for-units-of-work/" target="_self">units of work</a>, and usually, I can see value in these apps, even if I don’t have a specific use case or pain point in mind. JotNot hits two, very real pain points for me, and I’m pretty sure one or both apply to you as well.</p> | |
| <p><strong>Pain Point 1</strong><br /> | |
| The JotNot web service doesn’t meet my needs for whiteboard pictures. Why? Because typically, there’s sensitive information on that whiteboard, and it shouldn’t reside on outside servers.</p> | |
| <p>Yeah, it may not seem like a huge deal, but I like my job <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> </p> | |
| <p>The JotNot iPhone app does all its processing on the device. So, no worries about leaking the top secret designs for the next version of Connect.</p> | |
| <p>I could have used this app the last time Paul, Rich, Anthony and I sat in a conference room in Pleasanton, brainstorming Connect’s direction. We ended up with about five picture’s worth of whiteboard content, which I then had to email for posterity. Corrections for my bad photography would have been nice.</p> | |
| <p>There have also been several times when people have told me “I have it all on my whiteboard”, which didn’t really help me, since I’m not even in the same state as your whiteboard. It would have been nice to get a picture of that whiteboard.</p> | |
| <p><strong>Pain Point 2</strong><br /> | |
| We recently switched to scanning expense receipts. This is a bit problematic for home-based people unless there happens to be a scanner or an all-in-one in the house. In some rare cases, the all-in-one may be old enough not have any Mac or Linux drivers, making its scanning functions useless (and yes, I tried with a VM, no luck).</p> | |
| <p>This makes scanning receipts a challenge. I could use the JotNot web service, since receipts aren’t confidential, or the iPhone app, my choice. The one drawback of the iPhone app is that (I assume) the processed image format is jpg, just like all the iPhone camera images are.</p> | |
| <p>We need to submit receipts in pdf form. So, there would be an additional step required to transfer (or mail) it for conversion to pdf.</p> | |
| <p>Even so, as a guy who used to travel five days a week and struggled to keep current with expenses, I see huge value in this app. Consultants and sales people who live on the road can’t always predict when they will be able to scan receipts.</p> | |
| <p>JotNot would definitely help nomadic workers who live on the road and in hotels.</p> | |
| <p>So, color me impressed. Find the comments to add your two cents. Add enough, and I’ll use it buy this app.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=FoWwLTmUXFE:lqxAFDdapME:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/FoWwLTmUXFE" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/FoWwLTmUXFE/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/FoWwLTmUXFE/updatedWed, 18 Mar 2009 21:06:22 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 18 21:06:22 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009318216222770feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/ted-on-play/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/ted-on-play/#commentstitleTED on Playwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/ted-on-play/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueI am spending some cycles these days thinking on the integration of play and work. I happen to believe that there is some real magic to be had here for organizations and for firms looking to supply the next generation of software. Sure making work a game seems a bit out there (I get that), [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabelauthorPaulidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2608summaryI am spending some cycles these days thinking on the integration of play and work. I happen to believe that there is some real magic to be had here for organizations and for firms looking to supply the next generation of software. Sure making work a game seems a bit out there (I get that), [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueTED on Playbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>I am spending some cycles these days thinking on the integration of play and work. I happen to believe that there is some real magic to be had here for organizations and for firms looking to supply the next generation of software. Sure making work a game seems a bit out there (I get that), and I guess I could go back to thinking about RSS and Twitter, but I think that is pretty well covered by a host of others. Knowing my current fascination with this topic, <a href="http://theappslab.com/about/">Jake </a>passed along this TED talk by Stuart Brown:</p> | |
| <p><span></span></p> | |
| <p>Although I agree whole heartily with the message, and his story about the wild polar bear playing with huskies is incredible (watch it just for that), the section on the integration of play into our adulthood was sorely lacking in actionable information. We are told the diagnosis (”Play is important to everyone”), but are abruptly kicked out of the hospital without any treatment and a draft from the back of our robe. To be fair, Stuart did share some work done in his class on play at Stanford that endeavored to connect play with adult work life. The short video showed how his students would “re-invent” the meeting.</p> | |
| <p>As the video rolled, I was hoping for something incredible, and unfortunately was left feeling frustrated. The idea presented by the students was to put on full body white painters overalls and then use dry erase markers to keep notes on each other during the meeting. Sure, set to music and fast motion editing, it seems fun, but I think it hurts our cause more than helping it. No “serious” executive will ever see that as anything but a waste of time. <em>In fact, no one that works anywhere, at any level, would see this as valuable</em>. I am sure it was fun to do, but if we want to make any inroads we simply cannot ignore the firm footing “getting something done” has in the mindset of the modern worker.</p> | |
| <p>To give credit where it is due, they are at least trying. Just because we do not have a great solution today, does not mean that the problem does not exist. The imbalance of play and purpose that most people feel at work cannot be ignored. These are just the crude early efforts. My sense is that we will have to take smaller, bite size approaches of integrating play with work for it to be effective, but that does not mean that more ambitious concepts like the one presented at Stanford will not provide the fodder for more practical initiatives.</p> | |
| <p>In my next post I will give a practical example of how I think play can be integrated with a product management role inside a company. Stay tuned.</p> | |
| <p>——————————</p> | |
| <p>Cross Posted to <a href="http://gamethemachine.com/2009/03/18/ted-on-play/">GameTheMachine</a></p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=DnqRLBT0DuU:KVvpQREesCs:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/DnqRLBT0DuU" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/DnqRLBT0DuU/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/DnqRLBT0DuU/updatedWed, 18 Mar 2009 17:06:20 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 18 17:06:20 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009318176202770feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/17/i-want-vli/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/17/i-want-vli/#commentstitleI Want VLIwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/17/i-want-vli/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueBack in 2006 while on a trip to HQ, I sat in a meeting with some folks from the User Experience (UX) team. I don’t remember exactly what the purpose of the meeting was, but we wandered off topic and were just bouncing ideas off each other. | |
| I threw out the idea of a zero interface, [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermapisschemelabeltermconnectschemelabeltermrestschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabeltermuischemelabeltermvlischemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2599summaryBack in 2006 while on a trip to HQ, I sat in a meeting with some folks from the User Experience (UX) team. I don’t remember exactly what the purpose of the meeting was, but we wandered off topic and were just bouncing ideas off each other. | |
| I threw out the idea of a zero interface, [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueI Want VLIbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Back in 2006 while on a trip to HQ, I sat in a meeting with some folks from the User Experience (UX) team. I don’t remember exactly what the purpose of the meeting was, but we wandered off topic and were just bouncing ideas off each other.</p> | |
| <p>I threw out the idea of a zero interface, erm very little interface (VLI), which understandably did not go over well. Not the best audience in hindsight. Looking at Twitter’s astounding <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/13/whoa-twitter-mania/" target="_self">growth</a>, I wonder how much can be attributed to their laissez faire attitude and very functional API, which has created an ecosystem of apps around them.</p> | |
| <p><img title="I'm always reminded of Joey from Friends "How you doin'?"" class="size-full wp-image-2601 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/vli.png" height="71" alt="I'm always reminded of Joey from Friends "How you doin'?"" width="529" /></p> | |
| <p>Granted, Twitter has a pretty <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/03/10/twitter-free-pr/" target="_self">limited</a> feature set, which makes it much easier for them to implement a VLI, but that combined with their openness has bread success. This is a repeatable formula.</p> | |
| <p>I’m a big believer in simplicity in UI, frequently preferring a command line interface (CLI) to a UI. Obviously, zero interface is an impossibility, which is why I’m using the term VLI. Using Twitter as an analog again, Twitter.com is very simplistic. In fact, they haven’t integrated twitter.search.com (formerly Summize), nor do they track all @ replies.</p> | |
| <p>However, their API is very functional, <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/16/tweetdeck-adds-facebook-whats-next/" target="_self">allowing</a> client apps like <a href="http://tweetdeck.com" target="_self">TweetDeck</a> to replace (and augment) the twitter.com feature set. The only piece they’ve kept closed is account creation and management, and now that <a href="http://oauth.net/" target="_self">OAuth</a> integration is in <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/16/twitters-oauth-support-now-in-public-beta/" target="_self">public beta</a>, who knows if they’ll open pieces of profile management as well.</p> | |
| <p>Twitter.com <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/19/the-top-21-twitter-clients-according-to-twitstat/" target="_self">remains</a> the most popular way to tweet, although its share has <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/19/the-top-21-twitter-clients-according-to-twitstat/" target="_self">fallen</a> from 55% in April 2008 to 32% in February 2009. Granted, it’s difficult to track traffic accurately, so this is an unscientific measure. As an aside, I wonder which client benefited the most from the <a href="http://status.twitter.com/post/53978711/im-not-coming-soon" target="_self">loss</a> of IM as a client?</p> | |
| <p>And all bets are off, if Twitter decides to monetize the pageviews. That would be interesting.</p> | |
| <p>So, what have we learned? VLI isn’t about interface at all. It’s about data.</p> | |
| <p>Data make your app valuable. Interface is a byproduct of data.</p> | |
| <p>If you’ve ever built UI, you know how tough it is to balance usability with functionality. Throw users into the mix, and you have a whole lot of must-have requirements that don’t play nicely with each other.</p> | |
| <p>Enter the second tenant of VLI, open APIs.</p> | |
| <p>You must give your users (specifically, their developers) that ability to remix the data.</p> | |
| <p>This has been our goal for Connect. We haven’t been able to keep the UI as simple as Twitter’s because as a new app, we needed a more functional UI so our new users could get what Connect was.</p> | |
| <p>However, as our user base has grown, we’ve added REST APIs for the user data, which has spawned <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/12/17/two-great-tastes-that-taste-great-together/" target="_self">integrations</a> with a few other apps, e.g. OraTweet. <a href="http://apextoday.blogspot.com/" target="_self">Noel</a> has followed the same principles too, producing APIs for OraTweet that we consume.</p> | |
| <p>As Connect’s user base grows, more people have asked about using the APIs we produce because they have specific uses and don’t expect (or want) us to extend Connect to support them.</p> | |
| <p>We do benefit from the security blanket of being behind the firewall, and if Twitter’s growth is an indication, I expect to see lots more demand for Connect data in the next year-ish.</p> | |
| <p>So, what do you about VLI? Are you a more traditional UI person? If so, call me out in comments.</p> | |
| <p><em>Update: As Andy C points out in <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/17/i-want-vli/comment-page-1/#comment-7304697" target="_self">comments</a>, Twitter isn’t as open when compared to open source projects like <a href="http://laconi.ca/" target="_self">Laconica</a>, although that’s not really the point of the post. My goal is to examine a for-profit (an assumption in Twitter’s case) service and its approach to APIs and interface. The model is interesting to me, similar to one that I’ve proposed in the past and one we’ve tried to model with our work on Connect.</em></p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=uNH1sK_W1JA:C4oF0ENeHFI:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/uNH1sK_W1JA" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/uNH1sK_W1JA/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/uNH1sK_W1JA/updatedTue, 17 Mar 2009 22:38:48 +0000updated_timeTue Mar 17 22:38:48 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093172238481760feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/16/tweetdeck-adds-facebook-whats-next/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/16/tweetdeck-adds-facebook-whats-next/#commentstitleTweetDeck Adds Facebook, What’s Next?wfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/16/tweetdeck-adds-facebook-whats-next/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueAs is usual during the weeks before and during South by Southwest, there are a lot of product announcements. | |
| I’m not quite sure how/when it happened, but SXSW Interactive has become a nexus of startup activity and geekery, e.g. Twitter’s first bump came when the service won the SXSW Web Awards in 2007. | |
| So, it’s become a [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermapisschemelabeltermfacebookschemelabeltermtweetdeckschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2593summaryAs is usual during the weeks before and during South by Southwest, there are a lot of product announcements. | |
| I’m not quite sure how/when it happened, but SXSW Interactive has become a nexus of startup activity and geekery, e.g. Twitter’s first bump came when the service won the SXSW Web Awards in 2007. | |
| So, it’s become a [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueTweetDeck Adds Facebook, What’s Next?basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="TweetDeck" class="size-full wp-image-2597 alignleft" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/tweetdeck_128.png" height="128" alt="TweetDeck" width="128" />As is usual during the weeks before and during <a href="http://sxsw.com/home" target="_self">South by Southwest</a>, there are a lot of product announcements.</p> | |
| <p>I’m not quite sure how/when it happened, but <a href="http://sxsw.com/interactive" target="_self">SXSW Interactive</a> has become a nexus of startup activity and geekery, e.g. Twitter’s first bump came when the service <a href="http://blog.twitter.com/2007/03/we-won.html" target="_self">won</a> the SXSW Web Awards in 2007.</p> | |
| <p>So, it’s become a yearly rush of new feature and new company announcements. This year, not so many new companies, but plenty of new features. Over the last week plus, going into SXSW, and in its first few days, I’ve collected a bunch of topics for further thought that may turn into blog posts.</p> | |
| <p>But today, one item caught my attention, and I wanted to riff on it before it went cold.</p> | |
| <p><a href="http://www.tweetdeck.com/beta/" target="_self">TweetDeck</a>, the <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/19/the-top-21-twitter-clients-according-to-twitstat/" target="_self">most popular</a> Twitter client and the one I use, released a <a href="http://tweetdeck.posterous.com/tweetdeck-v024-pre-release-facebook-integrati" target="_self">beta version</a> (h/t Frederic Lardinois at <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/twitterization_of_facebook_on_the_desktop.php" target="_self">RWW</a>) that integrates with Facebook Connect, allowing you to view your News Feed in one of its columns. Also, you can now choose to post updates from TweetDeck to Facebook, making TweetDeck a Facebook status client.</p> | |
| <p>Updates can be sent to both Twitter and Facebook, effectively removing the need for the Twitter Facebook application, and ensuring that both your networks will stay updated on your activity. He said with more than a hint of sarcasm <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> </p> | |
| <p>If you’re wondering, TweetDeck does not post updates beginning with @ to Facebook, which makes sense, since they’re out of context. It does not, however, ignore updates that contain @ after the first character though, which should be an enhancement later. Then again, Twitter doesn’t officially track replies @ you unless they begin with @, which is one reason why AIR clients and Summize (now <a href="http://search.twitter.com" target="_self">Twitter Search</a>) are so popular for tracking those @ replies.</p> | |
| <p>This is mildly cool, if you use both services and want to broadcast to Facebook like you do to Twitter. The <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/" target="_self">recent</a> UI changes to Facebook aim to make it more like Twitter and FriendFeed, which is sure to appeal to existing users of those services; the jury is out on whether the masses on Facebook will take to the life-streaming, micro-blogging approach.</p> | |
| <p>I’m guessing they will, eventually, since Facebook has so much momentum right now.</p> | |
| <p>I like the implementation overall. It’s smooth and easy to use, and it fits within TweetDeck easily. My main beef is that it adds yet another column to an already real estate hungry app. I can only show four TweetDeck columns as it is, and now I have another that I might want to see competing for screen time.</p> | |
| <p>I’m not sure how to solve this problem, other than with a <a href="http://store.apple.com/us/product/M9179LL/A" target="_self">cinema display</a>. Christmas might have to come early.</p> | |
| <p>None of this is terribly interesting to me though.</p> | |
| <p>What got me about TweetDeck’s new version its potential to marginalize the networks themselves. Bear with me here.</p> | |
| <p>TweetDeck’s main appeal over any other Twitter AIR client (<a href="http://www.alertthingy.com/" target="_self">AlertThingy</a>, <a href="http://www.twhirl.org/" target="_self">Twhirl</a>, etc.) is its implementation of groups, something that is sorely needed for Twitter. Having groups allows you to control what you follow and to organize the chaos that Twitter can become once you follow a few hundred people (or sooner).</p> | |
| <p>Twitter seems fine with allowing TweetDeck to fill this vacuum, and even though TweetDeck is the top Twitter client, it lags well behind twitter.com for overall traffic to Twitter.</p> | |
| <p>Enter Facebook updates. My logical conclusion is that I should be able to add Facebook friends to my existing groups. This isn’t the case in the beta release, but image how useful that would for a person who uses both services frequently. You could focus your attention on the people who mattered most, regardless of the service they prefer to use.</p> | |
| <p>For example, Paul uses Facebook more than Twitter. I rarely see his updates to Facebook because I prefer Twitter. To communicate, one of us has to use his second choice in networks. If TweetDeck supported groups across services, we could each use our first choice in networks for communicating.</p> | |
| <p>TweetDeck already supports a host of Twitter features, including follows, favorites, directs and even search, which Twitter has yet to integrate into twitter.com. About the only thing you can’t do with TweetDeck is create and manage your account. Otherwise, it’s fully operational.</p> | |
| <p>I seriously doubt that Facebook will expose this much functionality to apps like TweetDeck, but the more they add, the less traffic they serve directly. Less traffic means less clout with advertisers, which is not good for business.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, I’m very curious to see how this Facebook client integration progresses. Logically, it makes sense for Facebook to open up some of their data to clients, since the model has already been proven. After all, of their user population, only a small percentage will choose clients over facebook.com.</p> | |
| <p>At least that’s the way it looks now. Things change quickly though. This time last week, I would have been laughed at the idea of a Facebook client.</p> | |
| <p>Find the comments and share your thoughts.</p> | |
| <p><em>Update: A day after TweetDeck’s beta, <a href="http://alertthingy.com/" target="_self">AlertThingy</a>, another AIR app for monitoring Twitter and FriendFeed, added Facebook, Flickr and Digg contacts and custom groups to their offering. Significantly, their groups support contacts from multiple networks (h/t <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/alertthingy_goes_head_to_head_with_tweetdeck.php" target="_self">RWW</a>).</em></p> | |
| <p><em>I may have to go back to AlertThingy, which I tried about a year ago when they produced the first FriendFeed app. I quickly stopped using it because I just can’t keep up with FriendFeed, not anything to do with AlertThingy.</em></p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=IKdlniOCUuA:lX8Cnu4h9QI:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/IKdlniOCUuA" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/IKdlniOCUuA/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/IKdlniOCUuA/updatedTue, 17 Mar 2009 04:31:12 +0000updated_timeTue Mar 17 04:31:12 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009317431121760feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/14/anatomy-of-a-spam-attack/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/14/anatomy-of-a-spam-attack/#commentstitleAnatomy of a Spam Attackwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/14/anatomy-of-a-spam-attack/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueYesterday, I did some browsing of the web analytics for this blog to get comparison numbers for the browser stats I had for Connect. | |
| Today, I went back to do a little more digging and some navel-gazing | |
| We use Google Analytics, which I prefer to Mint for web metrics. It has loads of metrics beyond [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermanalyticsschemelabeltermdisqusschemelabeltermspamschemelabeltermweb metricsschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2584summaryYesterday, I did some browsing of the web analytics for this blog to get comparison numbers for the browser stats I had for Connect. | |
| Today, I went back to do a little more digging and some navel-gazing | |
| We use Google Analytics, which I prefer to Mint for web metrics. It has loads of metrics beyond [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueAnatomy of a Spam Attackbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Yesterday, I did some browsing of the web analytics for this blog to get comparison numbers for the <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/on-browsers/" target="_self">browser stats</a> I had for Connect.</p> | |
| <p>Today, I went back to do a little more digging and some navel-gazing <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> </p> | |
| <p>We use Google Analytics, which I prefer to Mint for web metrics. It has loads of metrics beyond the standard pageviews and visits. As a side note, now that Feedburner accounts are merging with Google accounts, I’m hoping that Analytics will soon include Feedburner stats too. Seems logical.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, I like to set the date range to the life of this blog (from June 2007) to get the best snapshot view from the graphs.</p> | |
| <p>What jumped out was the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounce_Rate" target="_self">Bounce Rate</a> graph.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Bounce Rate from last week, dropped by 50%?" class="size-full wp-image-2586 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/bouncerate.png" height="110" alt="Bounce Rate from last week, dropped by 50%?" width="478" /></p> | |
| <p>All of a sudden, our normal 75% bounce rate (I know, terrible) inexplicably dropped to less than 40% a week ago and sustained that rate all last week.</p> | |
| <p>Definitely weird. Maybe after the Batman vs. Superman <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/06/batman-vs-superman/" target="_self">post</a>, everyone was extra relieved to get back the normal, hard-hitting content we serve everyday. I laughed all the way through that sentence, obviously untrue.</p> | |
| <p>I relish a data anomaly, as a recovering economist, especially if there are graphs to show the patterns. I am an unabashed data pr0n dork.</p> | |
| <p>Accompanying the drop in bounce rate, there were, not surprisingly, corresponding jumps in pages per visit and pageviews over the same time period. Makes sense, the longer people stay on your site, the more pages they are likely to view.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Average pageviews per visit, also up last week . . ." class="size-full wp-image-2587 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/pagespervisit.png" height="103" alt="Average pageviews per visit, also up last week . . ." width="470" /></p> | |
| <p>Logically, you would also expect to see a rise in time spent on the site, as people read more. Not so much. In fact, Saturday’s average time on site was 19 seconds; that same day, the bounce rate dropped to 36% from 69% and pages per visit jumped to 2.41 from 1.64.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Time Spent on Site *drops*, thank you spammers" class="size-full wp-image-2588 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/timeonsite.png" height="109" alt="Time Spent on Site *drops*, thank you spammers" width="476" /></p> | |
| <p>All this points to comment spammers.</p> | |
| <p>Exhibit A: Looking through the WordPress and Disqus comment logs from the last week, there was definitely a rise in comments on old posts, definitely a sign of spam. And these aren’t old posts that come up on the first page for common keyword searches, like “oracle iphone”.</p> | |
| <p>Exhibit B: The spam comments are borderline, with plausible names and comments, not the usual link spam left by Monster Truck Rally. This tells me spammers are modifying their behavior slightly to get past the measures Disqus has taken.</p> | |
| <p>Exhibit C: The pattern of multiple comments onm different posts from the same account backed up the web metric data.</p> | |
| <p>So, I accuse Colonel Mustard, in the Study, with the lasso.</p> | |
| <p>I know, as a naive kid, I thought that was a lasso. Ah, innocence.</p> | |
| <p>Comment spamming has been on the <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/12/who-benefits-from-blog-comment-spam/" target="_self">rise</a> this year, at least the spam that gets past spam filters. Disqus noted that the recent rash of spam comes from real people, not bots. The assumed goal of comment spam is to bump SEO for the spammers; I firmly believe this is a new cottage industry, operated <a href="https://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome" target="_self">Mechanical Turk</a> style.</p> | |
| <p>A crappy economy opens up a larger pool of people with computers who are motivated to earn easy money, and how much easier does it get than comment spam? Find a blog that allows unverified or anonymous comments and drop three comments on three posts. In and out in a matter of seconds. They probably get paid for the gross number of comments with the spammer’s link.</p> | |
| <p>This might even be that job advertised on the TV. You know the one that says you can make thousands in a week, tens of thousands in a month, working “on the Internet” from home. All those smiling people tell you nothing about what the job entails. There’s always a shady URL that tells you nothing about the company.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, I’m not really bothered by comment spam, but I know people are, e.g. <a href="http://bexhuff.com/" target="_self">Bex</a>, who uses a comment captcha process that makes me want to cry it’s so frustrating.</p> | |
| <p>Does it bother you? What do think of my analysis? Did you enjoy the web analytics primer?</p> | |
| <p>Sound off in the comments with something useful, like “I will give it a try for sure !”.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=RHMDYFl-2jg:XPHct16DES0:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/RHMDYFl-2jg" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/RHMDYFl-2jg/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/RHMDYFl-2jg/updatedSat, 14 Mar 2009 20:35:46 +0000updated_timeSat Mar 14 20:35:46 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093142035465730feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/on-browsers/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/on-browsers/#commentstitleOn Browserswfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/on-browsers/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueIE6 is like that cold that just won’t go away; you feel well enough to go to work, but it keeps sapping your energy. | |
| To many users, IE6 is the Internet. It came with your computer, and it’s the way you get online. Resisting the urge to put online in quotes. Like many web apps, we’ve [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermchromeschemelabeltermconnectschemelabeltermfirefoxschemelabeltermieschemelabeltermsafarischemelabeltermwebkitschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2579summaryIE6 is like that cold that just won’t go away; you feel well enough to go to work, but it keeps sapping your energy. | |
| To many users, IE6 is the Internet. It came with your computer, and it’s the way you get online. Resisting the urge to put online in quotes. Like many web apps, we’ve [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueOn Browsersbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="Good *old* Internet Explorer 6" class="size-medium wp-image-2581 alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/internet_explorer-284x300.png" height="120" alt="Good *old* Internet Explorer 6" width="113" />IE6 is like that cold that just won’t go away; you feel well enough to go to work, but it keeps sapping your energy.</p> | |
| <p>To many users, IE6 <em>is</em> the Internet. It came with your computer, and it’s the way you get online. Resisting the urge to put online in quotes. Like many web apps, we’ve been fighting against IE6 since Connect was born, but it’s finally time to take a stand.</p> | |
| <p>Connect looks terrible in IE6. I’m sure everyone here knows why, i.e. no support for standards, out-dated rendering, the fact that if it were a kid it would be in second grade, etc. It’s a mess. But from an investment perspective, we can’t spend Rich and Anthony’s time on making Connect look good in IE6 at the expense of fixing bugs and building new features.</p> | |
| <p>As Rich put it nicely over OraTweet, “IE hurts everyone . . . even those who use it.”</p> | |
| <p>Thought that was pretty diplomatic for Rich, considering.</p> | |
| <p>I haven’t conducted a scientific study, but I think IE6 usage has been declining since Connect launched, just as it has been sharply declining on the ‘tubes overall. Today, we toyed with the idea of showing a message to IE6 users to ask them to install and use a modern browser for the best Connect experience.</p> | |
| <p>This will happen for sure; I don’t want people thinking Connect is a turd because IE6 can’t render it correctly. I’d rather let them know that we embrace the modern web and think they should too. Put nicely.</p> | |
| <p>As a giggle, I checked the web analytics to see what percentage of users are still coming to Connect with IE6.</p> | |
| <p>14%</p> | |
| <p>That’s all-time. So, about 14,000 visits from users with IE6 since June 2007. Seems low, considering: a) how bad Connect looks in IE6, which would drive me off, b) that IE6 is still officially supported by IT as part of their base image for employees, which also includes Firefox for the record, and c) that we need to use IE to run the web conferencing tool we use.</p> | |
| <p><img title="User agent stats from Connect" class="size-full wp-image-2582 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/browsers1.png" height="275" alt="User agent stats from Connect" width="370" /></p> | |
| <p>I expected at least 25%.</p> | |
| <p>One thing that floored me was the <1% for IE5. I’d like to know who’s running IE5 out there, seriously.</p> | |
| <p>Another interesting note, Netscape accounts for 1% of the all-time traffic to Connect. The visits were from 7.1 and 7.2, which made me feel better. I was cringing at the thought of how Connect looked in Communicator 4. Don’t laugh, I actually tested that combination last Summer for a user. Ugly mess.</p> | |
| <p>I also noticed that Chrome wasn’t showing up as a browser, which is odd since a couple people have pointed out bugs in Chrome this week. Apparently, Chrome is seen as Safari by <a href="http://www.haveamint.com/" target="_self">Mint</a>; I assume due to their shared <a href="http://webkit.org/" target="_self">WebKit</a> engines.</p> | |
| <p>Friend of the Lab <a href="http://jjmpsj.blogspot.com/" target="_self">Jim Marion</a> kindly pointed me to a <a href="http://www.useragentstring.com/" target="_self">way</a> to see your user agent, which is how I cracked this case.</p> | |
| <p>So, Safari and Chrome account for 6% of our traffic, which is pretty good.</p> | |
| <p>We had a flurry of OraTweets flying around over this IE6 message thing. The best comment was:</p> | |
| <blockquote><p><em>i would just like to not have to run 4 browsers on my machine to check how everything “looks”. if we could eliminate IE and Netscape, that would be excellent.</em></p></blockquote> | |
| <p>Too true. I have two XP VMs to run IE6 and IE7. Since I have them, I can also run Firefox 2 and Firefox 3 in separate VMs. I guess soon, I’ll need another VM for IE8.</p> | |
| <p>All the different flavors of browsers make web development such a pain, but then again, remember when all we had was IE and Netscape?</p> | |
| <p>I guess it’s not so bad.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=jAlpXuuX5iw:dPsnHikC8MA:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/jAlpXuuX5iw" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/jAlpXuuX5iw/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/jAlpXuuX5iw/updatedSat, 14 Mar 2009 06:14:52 +0000updated_timeSat Mar 14 06:14:52 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009314614525730feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/trying-pivotal-tracker/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/trying-pivotal-tracker/#commentstitleTrying Pivotal Trackerwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/13/trying-pivotal-tracker/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueLast week, Rich proposed that we try Pivotal Tracker for Connect. | |
| Our work on Connect can be loosely described as agile. We generally meet, either in person or on the phone, to hash out major feature releases, and then Rich and Anthony build and deploy. And I test. Every six months or so, we rinse and [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermagileschemelabeltermconnectschemelabeltermpivotal trackerschemelabeltermprojectsschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2573summaryLast week, Rich proposed that we try Pivotal Tracker for Connect. | |
| Our work on Connect can be loosely described as agile. We generally meet, either in person or on the phone, to hash out major feature releases, and then Rich and Anthony build and deploy. And I test. Every six months or so, we rinse and [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueTrying Pivotal Trackerbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Last week, Rich proposed that we try<a href="http://www.pivotaltracker.com/learnmore" target="_self"> Pivotal Tracker</a> for Connect.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Pivotal Tracker agile project planning" class="size-full wp-image-2574 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/pivotal_tracker.png" height="31" alt="Pivotal Tracker agile project planning" width="421" /></p> | |
| <p>Our work on Connect can be loosely described as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development" target="_self">agile</a>. We generally meet, either in person or on the phone, to hash out major feature releases, and then Rich and Anthony build and deploy. And I test. Every six months or so, we rinse and repeat.</p> | |
| <p>I say loosely because we’re not very organized. We follow the agile principles, but we’re not that organized, which is weird for me because I’m usually over-organized, if anything. This lack of organization works well, if we are splitting time between projects, but whenever we have a block of time to devote to Connect, Rich starts asking for structure.</p> | |
| <p>In the past, we used spreadsheets and tested a couple project management packages, <a href="http://www.basecamphq.com/" target="_self">Basecamp</a>, <a href="http://www.activecollab.com/" target="_self">activeCollab</a> and <a href="http://studios.thoughtworks.com/mingle-agile-project-management" target="_self">Mingle</a>, with varying amounts of success.</p> | |
| <p>So, last week, Rich got fed up again with a flat list of features and bugs and started a project in Pivotal Tracker.</p> | |
| <p>I have to say I’m impressed so far. I didn’t realize why I liked it so much until I found this <a href="http://venturehacks.com/articles/pivotal-tracker" target="_self">post</a> which provides 11 reasons to like Tracker:</p> | |
| <blockquote> | |
| <ol> | |
| <li><em>It’s free.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s hosted.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s a joy to use. It’s the iPod of project management software. It’s all drag-and-drop and clickity-clack and it just works.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s multi-user. Your co-founder in North Korea can make changes in Tracker and you will see them instantly. No page reloads.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s for lean startups. The building block in Tracker is a <em>story</em>: an increment of customer value that you deliver with minimal waste.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s about completing your next most important task—not maintaining mile-long to-do lists, Gantt charts, and lists of bugs.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s transparent. Everybody on the team knows what everybody else is working on, their priorities, and their accomplishments.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s in sync with reality. It doesn’t take time to keep your requirements and schedule in sync with reality, even if your business priorities change daily.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It doesn’t do much. No, it doesn’t do dependencies and critical paths. It just keeps you focused on delivering value to customers.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>It’s powerful as hell. Tracker hides a lot of technology under a simple interface. It’s a serious Javascript-intensive web application that’s in the same league as Gmail and Google Maps.</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Bonus reason: Everything is on one page—there’s no need to navigate around (unlike other project management tools). More Gmail, less Hotmail.</em></li> | |
| </ol> | |
| </blockquote> | |
| <p>It struck me that 11th one is gold for me. Having all the functionality on a singe page is a huge time saver for me.</p> | |
| <p>When I get a bug report or encounter a bug in Connect, I’m generally in the middle of something else. So, I want to report it, prioritize it and get back to other work. Accomplishing this by emailing Rich and Anthony is not ideal, but I did this frequently with the other tools to avoid the longer processes. None of those other tools was terribly time-consuming, but still, it’s a savings I can feel.</p> | |
| <p>The other reasons are pretty solid too, especially 10. Having used “professional” project management apps in the not-so-distant past, I appreciate fewer bells and whistles, e.g. a friend of mine mentioned he had to take a day-long training in Microsoft Project, which pretty much sums up my experience with that monster.</p> | |
| <p>Plus, much of the stuff you need to run a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model" target="_self">waterfall</a> project isn’t needed in an agile one, especially when you only have two developers and one project/product manager.</p> | |
| <p>Just after Rich got us started with Tracker, I found out Twitter <a href="http://blog.twitter.com/2009/03/pivotal-means-of-crucial-importance.html" target="_self">uses</a> it too, actually keeping a couple “Pivots” on site as consultants. Tracker is built and hosted by <a href="http://pivotallabs.com/" target="_self">Pivotal Labs</a>, and did I mention Tracker is a Rails app? But you probably figured that out by now.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=ksiqd-qU_fs:vu1ngnnr0Wk:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/ksiqd-qU_fs" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/ksiqd-qU_fs/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/ksiqd-qU_fs/updatedFri, 13 Mar 2009 22:13:21 +0000updated_timeFri Mar 13 22:13:21 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093132213214720feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/12/apex-in-the-cloud/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/12/apex-in-the-cloud/#commentstitleAPEX in the Cloudwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/12/apex-in-the-cloud/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueThis post about running APEX in the cloud by Jason Straub came across OraNA last week. | |
| I’m surprised Chet didn’t pounce on it, being the APEX devotee that he is. Basically, you can now run APEX on Amazon EC2 for 60 cents. | |
| Oracle has recently been rolling out more offerings with AWS, including database and backup images [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermamazonschemelabeltermapexschemelabeltermec2schemelabeltermoracleschemelabelterms3schemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2565summaryThis post about running APEX in the cloud by Jason Straub came across OraNA last week. | |
| I’m surprised Chet didn’t pounce on it, being the APEX devotee that he is. Basically, you can now run APEX on Amazon EC2 for 60 cents. | |
| Oracle has recently been rolling out more offerings with AWS, including database and backup images [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueAPEX in the Cloudbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="Run APEX on 11g in the cloud using Amazon Web Services" class="size-full wp-image-2566 alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/logo_aws.gif" height="60" alt="Run APEX on 11g in the cloud using Amazon Web Services" width="164" />This <a href="http://jastraub.blogspot.com/2009/03/test-drive-oracle-application-express.html" target="_self">post</a> about running <a href="http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/application_express/index.html" target="_self">APEX</a> in the cloud by Jason Straub came across <a href="http://orana.info" target="_self">OraNA</a> last week.</p> | |
| <p>I’m surprised <a href="http://www.oraclenerd.com" target="_self">Chet</a> didn’t pounce on it, being the APEX <a href="http://www.oraclenerd.com/2008/05/apex-oracle-marketing-wtf.html" target="_self">devotee</a> that he is. Basically, you can now run APEX on <a href="http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/" target="_self">Amazon EC2</a> for 60 cents.</p> | |
| <p>Oracle has recently been rolling out more offerings with AWS, including database and backup images preconfigured for EC2 and S3; you can read more at the <a href="http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/cloud/index.ht" target="_self">Oracle Cloud Computing Center</a> on OTN. This is interesting to me, since about 18 months ago, we were searching for just such a packaged AWS 11g offering on which to run Mix. Instead, we had to find and procure hardware to put into an Oracle datacenter.</p> | |
| <p>EC2 with Oracle pre-installed and configured for backup to S3 is awesome. Total win.</p> | |
| <p>I’d like to see more promotion of this offering because since AWS was launched in 2002, startups (and their customers) have embraced EC2 and S3 for their, ahem, mission-critical apps and operations. Armeded with flexible computing power and backup, startups could easily find pre-configured MySQL installations, which led to web apps built in PHP (e.g. Facebook) and Rails (e.g. Twitter).</p> | |
| <p>Sure, to scale, successful web apps like Facebook and Twitter eventually had to raise venture funding to spend on infrastructure, but they already had users and an established service.</p> | |
| <p>I’ll bet <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/25/bummer-20/" target="_self">Ma.gnolia</a> would still be in business if they’d opted for an AWS image with an Oracle installation and backup preconfigured.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, now you can get APEX too, although I’m not entirely clear on how the cost breaks down, i.e. if it’s 60 cents per something or a flat rate. If you know, please enlighten in comments.</p> | |
| <p>FYI, Jason’s post and the demos on the Cloud Computing Center spend a fair amount of time on configuring PuTTY to connect via SSH and copy files with SCP. These steps are for Windows users; <a href="http://developer.amazonwebservices.com/connect/entry.jspa?entryID=609" target="_self">Elasticfox</a>, the Firefox add-on built by AWS to manage EC2 services, generates a key pair on its own. Windows doesn’t support SSH very well natively, and PuTTY is frequently the tool used to do SSH and SCP on Windows.</p> | |
| <p>OS X and Linux should work better with SSH out-of-the-box, so if you don’t run Windows, the setup has fewer steps.</p> | |
| <p>At any rate, APEX is a neat tool. <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/06/25/we-heart-hackers/" target="_self">OraTweet</a> is built in APEX, and so is Aria, Oracle’s internal employee directory. In another life at Oracle, I kicked the tires on APEX for an internal project. A lot of people swear by it, and now you can test drive it yourself over AWS. No need to provision testing hardware or worry about installing it on an existing machine.</p> | |
| <p>Pretty cool.</p> | |
| <p>Tempted to try it? Already use Oracle and AWS? I’m curious to hear what you think. Find the comments.</p> | |
| <p><em>Update: Jason has more details in a new <a href="http://jastraub.blogspot.com/2009/03/20-cents-hour-whose-got-that-kind-of.html" target="_self">post</a> today, including pricing.</em></p> | |
| <p><em>Another update: Jason breaks his pricing assumptions down in <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/12/apex-in-the-cloud/?disqus_reply=7258457#comment-7256541">comments</a>.<br /> | |
| </em></p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=9YqLUR7F650:4Pm76wwfjGU:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/9YqLUR7F650" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/9YqLUR7F650/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/9YqLUR7F650/updatedThu, 12 Mar 2009 21:14:46 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 12 21:14:46 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093122114463710feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/11/connect-adds-geolocation/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/11/connect-adds-geolocation/#commentstitleConnect Adds Geolocationwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/11/connect-adds-geolocation/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueNow, we know where you are . . . but only if you tell us. | |
| Yesterday, Rich completed the addition of geolocation tracking to Connect. Now, when you OraTweet your location or update your Connect status with the secret phrase “@location” followed by a place (address or city or country), Connect stores your location. | |
| And that’s pretty [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermconnectschemelabeltermdopplrschemelabeltermgeolocationschemelabeltermoratweetschemelabeltermtripitschemelabeltermyelpschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2559summaryNow, we know where you are . . . but only if you tell us. | |
| Yesterday, Rich completed the addition of geolocation tracking to Connect. Now, when you OraTweet your location or update your Connect status with the secret phrase “@location” followed by a place (address or city or country), Connect stores your location. | |
| And that’s pretty [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueConnect Adds Geolocationbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Now, we know where you are . . . but only if you tell us.</p> | |
| <p>Yesterday, Rich completed the addition of geolocation tracking to Connect. Now, when you OraTweet your location or update your Connect status with the secret phrase “@location” followed by a place (address or city or country), Connect stores your location.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Surprise, I'm in Portland" class="size-full wp-image-2563 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/location.png" height="95" alt="Surprise, I'm in Portland" width="472" /></p> | |
| <p>And that’s pretty much it right now.</p> | |
| <p>We didn’t build much else because we’re looking for a really compelling use case. Geolocation is a border-line creepy feature that has struggled to find mainstream acceptance on the ‘tubes, e.g. you don’t see Facebook rushing to add geo-features.</p> | |
| <p>Within the enterprise, you have an implicit layer of trust, safe inside the firewall away from phishing, spamming, malware, and you’re protected by internal organizations like HR and Legal. So, we’re thinking this should take away some of the geo-uneasiness.</p> | |
| <p>Beyond that security blanket, Oracle has a lots of travelers, and even in a downturn, there are scads of sales people and consultants on the road all the time. Plus, many teams collaborate virtually across state and country lines, and for some odd reason, seeing a map humanizes that voice on the phone.</p> | |
| <p>Don’t believe me? I used to manage a project that had people in India, and when news of that catastrophic tsunami in 2004 broke, I worried that people I knew had been affected. Luckily, in this case anyway, my Indian geography is awful, and everyone was safe. The same thing happened when news of a train wreck broke; we didn’t have Twitter then.</p> | |
| <p>It’s a small thing, but seeing where that the person you work with every day sits, even if it’s just on a map, helps you feel more connected.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, we have some ideas already; I’ve polled <a href="http://matttopper.com" target="_self">Matt</a>, <a href="http://apextoday.blogspot.com/" target="_self">Noel</a> and <a href="http://blogs.oracle.com/clayton/" target="_self">Clayton</a> for their input too. I’m sure Matt, our resident geo-geek, has a bunch of stuff in his head waiting to see daylight, like transposing profile tags and location to find “experts” nearby. There are loads of iPhone things Clayton could add to the <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/04/the-oracle-people-iphone-app-is-here/" target="_self">Oracle People</a> app; nice how I make work for him. Noel has thoughts around targeting content by location.</p> | |
| <p>Rich is thinking about city or office pages, a la <a href="http://dopplr.com" target="_self">Dopplr</a> and <a href="http://tripit.com" target="_self">TripIt</a>, that could house information about office locations, etc. I’m a fan of focusing on our offices and the services they offer. Each field office has a packet of information they provide to people who join that office, e.g. gyms, restaurants, bars, etc. Why not publish that and also add reviews, a la <a href="http://yelp.com" target="_self">Yelp</a>?</p> | |
| <p>I spent six weeks in the Dallas office in 1998 and ate at the same three or so places the entire time I was there. Why, aside from being lazy? I didn’t know the area very well and didn’t feel like exploring. Having reviews would help, but also seeing who reviewed would add an easy introduction to people in a strange place.</p> | |
| <p>There’s that socializing work trend again.</p> | |
| <p>So, what do you think? Whether you work at Oracle or not, you work, right? What problems would geo-location solve for you?</p> | |
| <p>If you’re shy and don’t want to comment, let’s have a <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/learning-from-entertainment/" target="_self">game of email</a> (h/t Paul).</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
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| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/0rAu5UiGs04" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/0rAu5UiGs04/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/0rAu5UiGs04/updatedWed, 11 Mar 2009 17:31:50 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 11 17:31:50 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093111731502700feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/howto-enable-system-sound-in-ubuntu-intrepidubuntu-geek/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/howto-enable-system-sound-in-ubuntu-intrepidubuntu-geek/#commentstitleHowto Enable system sound in Ubuntu IntrepidUbuntu Geekwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/howto-enable-system-sound-in-ubuntu-intrepidubuntu-geek/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueaddthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Ftheappslab.com%2F2009%2F03%2F10%2Fhowto-enable-system-sound-in-ubuntu-intrepidubuntu-geek%2F'; | |
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| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=H5J-1FORWyo:4RYQC5tPZFs:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/H5J-1FORWyo" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/H5J-1FORWyo/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/H5J-1FORWyo/updatedWed, 11 Mar 2009 00:43:34 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 11 00:43:34 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009311043342700feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/learning-from-entertainment/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/learning-from-entertainment/#commentstitleLearning from Entertainmentwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/10/learning-from-entertainment/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvaluePhoto Credit: Timothy Hamilton | |
| I recently watched this excellent video of Nick Fortugno at the Meaningful Play conference in 2008. If you are into designing games with a message behind them it is worth a watch. | |
| Among other things, he highlights the basic split in entertainment between “form” and “content”. Form being the mechanics used to convey [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermgtmschemelabelauthorPaulidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2556summaryPhoto Credit: Timothy Hamilton | |
| I recently watched this excellent video of Nick Fortugno at the Meaningful Play conference in 2008. If you are into designing games with a message behind them it is worth a watch. | |
| Among other things, he highlights the basic split in entertainment between “form” and “content”. Form being the mechanics used to convey [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueLearning from Entertainmentbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<h5><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/flickrgrit/811355961/"><img title="167630455_387cde5e59" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-56" src="http://gamethemachine.wordpress.com/files/2009/03/167630455_387cde5e59.jpg?w=300" height="199" alt="167630455_387cde5e59" width="300" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bestrated1/">Photo Credit: Timothy Hamilton</a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/flickrgrit/811355961/"><br /> | |
| </a></h5> | |
| <p>I recently watched this excellent video of <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7614486442195859373&ei=RuG2SfmsO53eqAPn7r3kAw&q=game+design+serious+games&hl=en">Nick Fortugno at the Meaningful Play conference in 2008</a>. If you are into designing games with a message behind them it is worth a watch.</p> | |
| <p>Among other things, he highlights the basic split in entertainment between “form” and “content”. Form being the mechanics used to convey the message. Using examples from the past like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tom%27s_Cabin">Uncle Tom’s Cabin</a>, he shows clearly how known formulas have been used effectively to deliver what some might call, socially responsible messages. In the case of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, she used a fairly common literary model to inject a social discussion of abolitionism into the mainstream social conversation.</p> | |
| <p>If you ponder formulas, you can find them in all types of media and entertainment. From a gaming perspective, you see them as First Person Shooters (FPS), Simulation, Role Playing Games (RPG), Board games, and more. From a film perspective, you might think about Action, Drama, Comedy or Documentary. It is essential to understand that each of these formulas attract a specific audience with clear expectations well trod by their previous experiences. People are attracted to a specific formula because of what it provides. How many nights have you said, “I am in the mood for a comedy”? - It is much more rare to say you are in the mood for a comedy about golf, or an action movie about the African diamond trade.</p> | |
| <p>If you go see a horror movie, you will expect some blood and gore, creepy imagery, and most likely some scantily clad teenagers at a deserted lake. As long as the director provides those key elements, you’ll leave (to a degree) satisfied. You got what you ordered. If the entertainment meets that core need and provides the emotional experience you sought, then you are open to receive the message they are delivering. From a design perspective, you just have to honor the formula and provide the desired experience or it will cease to be enjoyable to the audience. If you deny them the pleasure of a deep belly laugh when they yearned for comedy, no matter how interesting you may find your message, it will be lost.</p> | |
| <p>If you are a web designer you may see a parallel here when you consider <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321344758?ie=UTF8&tag=hypes-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=0321344758">Steve Krug’s</a> views on convention. His opinion is that using expected behavior is good no matter how cool you think that flash widget is! Use a search box that looks the same as everyone else. Have a shopping cart icon that leads to the shopping cart. If you plan to reinvent how the shopping cart, search button, or the hyperlink work - you better have a very, very good reason. So your website formula is standard, the message (ie. content) is up to you.</p> | |
| <p>So let’s connect this with the world of software that people use to get things done - email, task management, payroll, bookkeeping, project management, etc. - collectively “business software”. If entertainment like films, games and books have taught us anything, it is that you must first create something enjoyable. Play is paramount. In the world of entertainment, purpose is largely ignored (on a percentage basis), but you can see it shine through in films like <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00003CXFV?ie=UTF8&tag=hypes-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=B00003CXFV">Erin Brokovich</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00003CWRX?ie=UTF8&tag=hypes-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=B00003CWRX">The Insider</a>, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591840538?ie=UTF8&tag=hypes-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=1591840538">Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room</a>, among many others - documentaries are great at this. In the world of business software, the report card is skewed in the other direction, with purpose being the leader by a wide margin, and fun being largely ignored. The very idea of fun seems at odds with something of value. Both worlds could do with a bit of balance.</p> | |
| <p>My hope is that the future of business software can assimilate the lessons of entertainment by making something people want to play consistently as opposed to a tool to get something done. We are already seeing simplicity as a key design principle, but I believe that the dimension of fun is next. My guess is that we will as an industry need to adopt or invent a new formula for software and apply them to the problems we are trying to solve in a novel way.</p> | |
| <p>Who is up for a game of email?</p> | |
| <p>————</p> | |
| <p><a href="http://gamethemachine.com/2009/03/11/learning-from-entertainment/">Cross posted at Game The Machine.</a></p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=PFQn4q86R1A:YyPkum-xvLs:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/PFQn4q86R1A" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/PFQn4q86R1A/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/PFQn4q86R1A/updatedWed, 11 Mar 2009 00:19:48 +0000updated_timeWed Mar 11 00:19:48 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009311019482700feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/09/leave-a-comment-using-facebook-connect/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/09/leave-a-comment-using-facebook-connect/#commentstitleLeave a Comment using Facebook Connectwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/09/leave-a-comment-using-facebook-connect/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueJust before Christmas, Disqus announced their support for Facebook Connect. At the time I remember being a little disappointed with the decision, due to Facebook’s closed nature and what seemed like a choice for the walled garden of Facebook and against the open web (OpenID, OAuth, OpenSocial). | |
| I like Disqus; they’ve been responsive when we’ve had [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermdisqusschemelabeltermfacebook connectschemelabeltermOAuthschemelabeltermopen webschemelabeltermopenidschemelabeltermopensocialschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2543summaryJust before Christmas, Disqus announced their support for Facebook Connect. At the time I remember being a little disappointed with the decision, due to Facebook’s closed nature and what seemed like a choice for the walled garden of Facebook and against the open web (OpenID, OAuth, OpenSocial). | |
| I like Disqus; they’ve been responsive when we’ve had [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueLeave a Comment using Facebook Connectbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Just before Christmas, <a href="http://disqus.com" target="_self">Disqus</a> <a href="http://blog.disqus.net/2008/12/23/facebook-connect-now-available-on-disqus/" target="_self">announced</a> their support for <a href="http://developers.facebook.com/connect.php" target="_self">Facebook Connect</a>. At the time I remember being a little disappointed with the decision, due to Facebook’s closed nature and what seemed like a choice for the walled garden of Facebook and against the open web (<a href="http://openid.net/" target="_self">OpenID</a>, <a href="http://oauth.net/" target="_self">OAuth</a>, <a href="http://www.opensocial.org/" target="_self">OpenSocial</a>).</p> | |
| <p>I like Disqus; they’ve been responsive when we’ve had questions and issues, and obviously the longer we use it, the harder it becomes to effect a return to WordPress comments or a move to another comment management service like <a href="http://intensedebate.com/" target="_self">Intense Debate</a>, which I’ve not had good experiences using. So, even though I like Disqus, I do feel a little trapped.</p> | |
| <p>Based on all my hippie openness, why, when a commenter <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/06/12/on-disqus/#comment-6942954" target="_self">asked</a> about supporting Facebook Connect for Disqus login, did I cave?</p> | |
| <p><img title="The amazing Facebook Connect explanation window." class="size-full wp-image-2547 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/fbconnect.png" height="347" alt="The amazing Facebook Connect explanation window." width="446" /></p> | |
| <p>As an aside, I’m not even sure that’s a real comment; the comment spam has been very <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/12/who-benefits-from-blog-comment-spam/" target="_self">heavy</a> lately. FYI, if your comment disappeared and you’re a real-live person who had a real comment, sorry if I nuked it. I didn’t know “Pregnancy Symptoms” was a real name.</p> | |
| <p>Why the 180?</p> | |
| <p>For starters, Facebook recently <a href="http://openid.net/2009/02/05/facebook-joins-openid-foundation-board/" target="_self">joined</a> the OpenID board, and I’ve heard from a board member that it’s more than just an attempt at lip-service to the open web. There are increasing <a href="http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/03/facebook-in-2010-no-longer-a-walled-garden.html" target="_self">signs</a> that Facebook wants to be more open. This makes sense; they’re not a in a position to open completely, but staying totally closed doesn’t serve the best interests of their users and the rest of the ‘tubes. Besides, I’m pretty sure someone studied the hall of fail for walled gardens, ahem AOL, CompuServ.</p> | |
| <p>So, why not support Facebook Connect here? I asked myself on Friday.</p> | |
| <p>You can see it in action in the comments. The comment widget has been slightly restyled to include a Facebook icon. Click it, and you’ll get the Facebook Connect login.</p> | |
| <p><img title="New Disqus comment widget! With 100% more Facebook Connect goodness! Act now! Supplies are limited." class="size-full wp-image-2545 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/disqusfb.png" height="33" alt="New Disqus comment widget! With 100% more Facebook Connect goodness! Act now! Supplies are limited." width="176" /></p> | |
| <p>When you choose Facebook Connect you get the Facebook credentials window, show above; I’ve not tested it myself yet, so leave a comment to test it yourself, and I just might reply with my Facebook credentials.</p> | |
| <p>You can choose to cross-post your comments to your News Feed too. I’m not sure how that would appear; I assume they must provide the original post for context. Again, I’ve not tried yet, so if you get there first, please share with the rest of the class how it comes out in the News Feed.</p> | |
| <p>Another reason I caved is that so many people are using Facebook as their primary social network, it’s probably a higher value add than I think. Paul, for example, says it’s his main network over Twitter or LinkedIn, probably over Connect, too <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> It’s the de facto standard now, like it or not.</p> | |
| <p>And I don’t want to be labeled a dirty hippie who only supports the Commie open web. No offense Commie open web, you know I <3 you.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, Disqus makes it very simple to enable Facebook, and there are detailed instructions in the Admin/Settings of your blog setup.</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li>To retrieve your Facebook API Key for use with Disqus, you must <a href="http://www.facebook.com/developers/createapp.php" target="_blank">fill out a new ‘Create App’ form</a> on Facebook</li> | |
| <li>Enter your site’s domain as the Callback URL</li> | |
| <li>You may use your site name as the application name</li> | |
| <li>Below is a screenshot of the AppsLab form on Facebook</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p><a href="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/appslabfbapp.png"><img title="The AppsLab Facebook app!" class="size-full wp-image-2548 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/appslabfbapp.png" height="285" alt="The AppsLab Facebook app!" width="416" /></a>So, test it out and share your thoughts.</p> | |
| <p>Now, if only Disqus would support OpenID on the comments widget. Even though you <a href="http://disqus.disqus.com/openid_support_please/" target="_self">can</a> login to disqus.com with an OpenID provide, supposedly, the widget we show on the blog does not support any providers.</p> | |
| <p>Although I wonder how much incentive they have to build that now that Facebook has committed to OpenID, which would mean they get it for free through Facebook Connect. Grrr.</p> | |
| <p>Another seemingly cool feature of Disqus is the FriendFeed <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/01/27/now-were-on-friendfeed/" target="_self">integration</a>, i.e. comments on blog posts made on FriendFeed are reflected back to the original post. Not so much from what I saw. I set this up and tested it to no avail. I’m hoping it’s user error. Anyone?</p> | |
| <p>Looks like Disqus isn’t standing still. Their blog <a href="http://blog.disqus.net/2009/03/04/preview-our-next-big-features-exclusively-on-mashable/" target="_self">says</a> they are working with <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/03/04/social-media-comments/" target="_self">Mashable</a> on a one ring approach to aggregate all commentary on posts from the many places people can comment.</p> | |
| <p>Stay tuned sounds like a neat feature.</p> | |
| <p>Find the comments and sound off about Facebook Connect, Disqus, hippie open web, whatever you like. Just make it obvious you’re not a comment spammer, which is harder than it seems.</p> | |
| <p><em>Update: <a href="http://surachartopun.com/" target="_self">Surachart</a> was nice enough to leave a test comment, to which I replied using Facebook Connect. After logging in, I got this box, asking to publish the comment to my News Feed.</em></p> | |
| <p><em><img title="Facebook Connect confirmation of cross-posting your comment." class="size-full wp-image-2553 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/fbconnect1.png" height="114" alt="Facebook Connect confirmation of cross-posting your comment." width="422" /></em></p> | |
| <p><em>And here’s how it looks in my Feed. Not too intrusive, but not very informative either. </em></p> | |
| <p><img title="How your comment appears in your Facebook News Feed" class="size-full wp-image-2554 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/newsfeed.png" height="34" alt="How your comment appears in your Facebook News Feed" width="468" /></p> | |
| <p><em>Just as with FriendFeed, having a Comment function on Facebook creates another thread for your posts, which is a bummer.</em></p> | |
| <p><em>One thing, if you have a public profile on Facebook, your name will show in comments, like Surachart’s. The public profile is indexed by search engines. If you don’t have that enables, only your profile ID will show, which looks a little weird, like mine.</em></p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pvtNZcayJao:n7vcdfziG_Y:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pvtNZcayJao:n7vcdfziG_Y:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pvtNZcayJao:n7vcdfziG_Y:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=pvtNZcayJao:n7vcdfziG_Y:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pvtNZcayJao:n7vcdfziG_Y:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=pvtNZcayJao:n7vcdfziG_Y:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=pvtNZcayJao:n7vcdfziG_Y:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/pvtNZcayJao" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/pvtNZcayJao/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/pvtNZcayJao/updatedTue, 10 Mar 2009 03:51:16 +0000updated_timeTue Mar 10 03:51:16 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009310351161690feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/06/batman-vs-superman/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/06/batman-vs-superman/#commentstitleBatman vs. Supermanwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/06/batman-vs-superman/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueFrom Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" series | |
| Here comes a topic for a Friday. | |
| I try to torture my wife with this nerdy debate, but she consistently rises above the argument. So, I’m coming to the ‘tubes to get some real discussion. | |
| This class comic book nerd debate is really Batman or Superman, not vs. which suggests [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermbatmanschemelabeltermcomicsschemelabeltermsupermanschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2536summaryFrom Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" series | |
| Here comes a topic for a Friday. | |
| I try to torture my wife with this nerdy debate, but she consistently rises above the argument. So, I’m coming to the ‘tubes to get some real discussion. | |
| This class comic book nerd debate is really Batman or Superman, not vs. which suggests [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueBatman vs. Supermanbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_2538"><img title="Batman vs. Superman" class="size-medium wp-image-2538" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/batman_vs_superman_wallpaper-300x225.jpg" height="225" alt="From Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" series" width="300" /><p class="wp-caption-text">From Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" series</p></div> | |
| <p>Here comes a topic for a Friday.</p> | |
| <p>I try to torture my wife with this nerdy debate, but she consistently rises above the argument. So, I’m coming to the ‘tubes to get some real discussion.</p> | |
| <p>This class comic book nerd debate is really Batman <em>or</em> Superman, not vs. which suggests they’re fighting. It’s styled as vs. because the camps on either side may end up slapping each other in a geek fight as they disagree and tempers flare. Suffice to say that opinions are held as facts in this case, much like they are in Kirk vs. Picard or other similarly impossible, yet fascinating arguments.</p> | |
| <p>I use the term fascinating loosely.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, the debate is simple; make a case for which superhero is better and why. Point and counter-point.</p> | |
| <p>Or shake your head and walk away trying not to laugh.</p> | |
| <p>Here goes.</p> | |
| <p>Batman, and here’s why in easy to consume bullet form:</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li>He’s one of us, not an alien or a genetic anomaly. He’s just a really tough dude, like Chuck Norris in tights and a cowl.</li> | |
| <li>He’s not a Boy Scout. He practices vigilante justice, outside the law or on the fringe, depending on the Batman adaptation.</li> | |
| <li>He has “wonderful” toys. Limitless wealth provides an awesome array of weapons, vehicles and gadgets that may geeks drool.</li> | |
| <li>He fights the best villains. Without a doubt, the Joker is the best comic book villain. No debate there.</li> | |
| <li>He’s a brooding guy with issues, classic anti-hero. He wants to dole out justice, not to do good. Superman does good.</li> | |
| <li>He has the best costume. The cape and cowl black or gray/navy early on makes him menacing.</li> | |
| <li>He’s a smart dude who uses his wits, not his brawn.</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>There are more, but I’m laughing at myself now.</p> | |
| <p>Your turn. Find the comments to agree or disagree with me. Or to pick another superhero.</p> | |
| <p>If you made it to here, you know you want to jump in, which is the beauty of this argument.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=nTeF-p5TsmE:8IifCjLvMiw:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/nTeF-p5TsmE" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/nTeF-p5TsmE/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/nTeF-p5TsmE/updatedFri, 06 Mar 2009 19:20:57 +0000updated_timeFri Mar 06 19:20:57 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009361920574650feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/05/freely-available-utilities/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/05/freely-available-utilities/#commentstitleFreely Available Utilitieswfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/05/freely-available-utilities/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueThe title comes from a phrase that stood out for me in this post from RWW. | |
| That post highlights some really sweet data pr0n (TwitterThoughts and World Twitter Map) built by Yvo Schaap that uses the Twitter API for data, Yahoo Pipes for parsing and the Google Visualization API for producing the eye candy. All these [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermdata visualizationschemelabeltermgoogleschemelabeltermpipesschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabeltermyahooschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2529summaryThe title comes from a phrase that stood out for me in this post from RWW. | |
| That post highlights some really sweet data pr0n (TwitterThoughts and World Twitter Map) built by Yvo Schaap that uses the Twitter API for data, Yahoo Pipes for parsing and the Google Visualization API for producing the eye candy. All these [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueFreely Available Utilitiesbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>The title comes from a phrase that stood out for me in this <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/mashup_magic_twitterthoughts.php" target="_self">post</a> from RWW.</p> | |
| <p>That post highlights some really sweet data pr0n (<a href="http://yvoschaap.com/twitterthoughts/" target="_self">TwitterThoughts</a> and <a href="http://yvoschaap.com/twitterthoughts/?map=1" target="_self">World Twitter Map</a>) built by <a href="http://www.yvoschaap.com/" target="_self">Yvo Schaap</a> that uses the <a href="http://apiwiki.twitter.com/" target="_self">Twitter API</a> for data, <a href="http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/" target="_self">Yahoo Pipes</a> for parsing and the <a href="http://code.google.com/apis/visualization/" target="_self">Google Visualization API</a> for producing the eye candy. All these tools are “freely available utilities”, and what Yvo has built with them is pretty compelling.</p> | |
| <p><a href="http://yvoschaap.com/twitterthoughts/?map=1"><img title="World Twitter Map, tweets by volume over the last 24 hours" class="size-medium wp-image-2533 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/twittermap-300x188.png" height="188" alt="World Twitter Map, tweets by volume over the last 24 hours" width="300" /></a></p> | |
| <p>Another freely available utility is <a href="http://code.google.com" target="_self">Google Code</a>, which <a href="http://www.oraclenerd.com/2009/02/google-code.html" target="_self">Chet</a> is using to host his code. I really like this idea; ideally, you can get a bunch of smart people in your extended community to hack with you on a fun project, like an open source incubator. But even if no one ever joins, you’ll still have a code resume that is readily available should you need to interview.</p> | |
| <p>Chet has experience with interviews, natch, but I don’t think this is why he started hosting his code. It’s just a fun project.</p> | |
| <p>He also mentioned the Visualization API, which is really cool. </p> | |
| <p>Friend of the ‘Lab and OpenSocial dude at Google, Chris Shalk gave a very interesting unconference <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/cschalk/integrating-google-apis-into-your-applications-presentation?type=powerpoint" target="_self">session</a> on the Google APIs at OpenWorld last September, embedded below if you’re reading at theappslab.</p> | |
| <div id="__ss_614577"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/cschalk/integrating-google-apis-into-your-applications-presentation?type=powerpoint" title="Integrating Google APIs into Your Applications">Integrating Google APIs into Your Applications</a> | |
| <div>View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/cschalk">Chris Schalk</a>. (tags: <a href="http://slideshare.net/tag/opensocial">opensocial</a> <a href="http://slideshare.net/tag/charts">charts</a>)</div> | |
| </div> | |
| <p>I’ve been trying to find the right data set to use with that for a long time. One day.</p> | |
| <p>I suppose I could use the <a href="http://aws.amazon.com/publicdatasets/" target="_self">Public Data Sets</a> on AWS, another great resource, but not one for this discussion, since they are part of the EC2 offering and not free. On the flipside, if you have the right to distribute a data set or have a public domain/non-proprietary set, you can request that AWS host it for you.</p> | |
| <p>This isn’t that different than the API model that Twitter has taken, i.e. provide open access to your data through an API, stand back and watch what cool things people do with your data. Twitter’s API seems to produce a new service each week, creating an ecosystem of services and applications that depend on it.</p> | |
| <p>We’ve had some success with this inside the firewall too. Connect’s APIs are used by a handful of services, OraTweet chief among them. Likewise for OraTweet’s APIs. People are starting to get how this matters inside the firewall for free-sharing of information, whether it’s a hacking project some developer wants to undertake to scratch a personal itch or it’s a more formal collaborative undertaking with a budget and a mission.</p> | |
| <p>Either way, freely available utilities rule. Finding out about them is half the battle, e.g. Yahoo Pipes is a very useful tool, but I don’t know of many people who use it. I used it to create the feed for the “What We’re Reading” widget, and Dawn Foster has become the Pipes maven. Check out her <a href="http://fastwonderblog.com/yahoo-pipes-and-rss-hacks/" target="_self">tutorials</a> if you want Pipes knowledge.</p> | |
| <p>In the spirit of discovery, what freely available utilities do you think are awesome? Any thoughts about Yvo’s Twitter visualizations or Chet’s project?</p> | |
| <p>Find the comments.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=zV1pm6UbhpA:YJ0HXeU75Vc:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/zV1pm6UbhpA" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/zV1pm6UbhpA/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/zV1pm6UbhpA/updatedThu, 05 Mar 2009 23:52:03 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 05 23:52:03 UTC 2009updated_parsed200935235233640feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/#commentstitleAnother Facebook User Revolt is Comingwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueToday, Facebook previewed changes it plans to make to their site next week. There are quite a few: | |
| A redesigned home page with live updates, filters and a universal publishing model (very much like FriendFeed’s). | |
| One minor change that’s part of the universal publishing box is changing the verbiage “What are you doing right now?” to “What’s [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermfacebookschemelabeltermfriendfeedschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabeltermuischemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2522summaryToday, Facebook previewed changes it plans to make to their site next week. There are quite a few: | |
| A redesigned home page with live updates, filters and a universal publishing model (very much like FriendFeed’s). | |
| One minor change that’s part of the universal publishing box is changing the verbiage “What are you doing right now?” to “What’s [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueAnother Facebook User Revolt is Comingbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img class="alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/s307319_28874.jpg" height="146" alt="" width="195" />Today, Facebook <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/04/facebooks-response-to-twitter/" target="_self">previewed</a> changes it plans to make to their site next week. There are quite a few:</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li>A <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/04/screen-shots-the-new-facebook-home-page/" target="_self">redesigned</a> home page with live updates, filters and a universal publishing model (very much like FriendFeed’s).</li> | |
| <li>One minor change that’s part of the universal publishing box is changing the verbiage “What are you doing right now?” to “What’s on your mind?”.</li> | |
| <li>People will no longer be capped at 5,000 friends.</li> | |
| <li>A Twitter/FriendFeed like follow feature will be added to allow people to keep tabs on others asynchronously.</li> | |
| <li>Pages will converge with profiles, creating a more uniform experience whether person, brand, whatever.</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>These changes point to the convergence of the life-streaming model with the social network and to Facebook’s stated goal of being its own Internet within the ‘tubes. When Facebook first introduced the News Feed in 2006, it became the first social network to show a network’s activity in this way.</p> | |
| <p>Since then, Twitter pioneered status (or micro-blogging) allowing the network to tell everyone explicitly what it’s doing, rather than using activity to infer that. Facebook added status shortly thereafter to capture the same activity.</p> | |
| <p>FriendFeed applied the News Feed concept to the entire ‘tubes, but as Facebook has added the ability to share more objects, beyond simply activity contained within Facebook, the News Feed has become increasingly more life stream focused.</p> | |
| <p>So, no big surprises in the home page redesign.</p> | |
| <p>The follow feature, however, sounds like an area for user revolt. Facebook has a very different feel than Twitter or FriendFeed primarily because following (or subscribing) can be asynchronous. Facebook has always enforced that profiles must be real people, probably dating back to its roots as the anti-MySpace; they have frequently enforced this citing it as a violation of their terms.</p> | |
| <p>Now, profiles and pages are merging, and people can follow each other. Sounds a shade like stalking. Because Twitter and others don’t have the rigorous profile requirements, you may not know who is really following you. You’ll know on Facebook though, and that will lead to a whole mess of issues.</p> | |
| <p>This is going to be interesting. Expect a “revolt”, by which I mean a bunch of whining from people. After all, Facebook has a history of upsetting its users. Here’s a brief score card.</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2005/09/07/85-of-college-students-use-facebook/" target="_self">September 2005</a>: Adds high schools to its previously college-only crowd causing college kids to complain about allowing uncool, high schoolers into their Fortress of Solitude.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/04/26/facebook-goes-beyond-college-high-school-markets/" target="_self">May 2006</a>: Adds work networks of selected companies, causing recently added high schoolers to join “old sk00l” college kids to whine that work people are uncool.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/09/06/facebook-users-revolt-facebook-replies/" target="_self">September 2006</a>: Adds News Feeds, Mini Feeds, irking hordes of users who are up in arms about flooding their pristine Facebook pages with mind-numbing details about their so-called friends.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/05/24/facebook-launches-facebook-platform-they-are-the-anti-myspace/" target="_self">March 2007</a>: Adds f8 platform for application development, which actually is met with user happiness for a change, until sheep throwing, vampire biting and spamming your friends to see your cool-points ranking get annoying.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/the-facebook-ad-backlash-begins/" target="_self">November 2007</a>: Beacon social advertising program face-plants as users are aghast that Facebook would use their data to, um, make money or try to at least.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/16/dont-let-facebook-force-the-new-profile-on-you-heres-how-to-get-the-old-one-back/" target="_self">September 2008</a>: New UI launch is met with widespread hatred, even though apps have polluted the once clean aesthetic that made it the anti-MySpace.</li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/16/zuckerberg-on-who-owns-user-data-on-facebook-its-complicated/" target="_self">February 2009</a>: Changes to its terms of service cause widespread outrage.</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>It’s actually pretty funny. When I started this list, my viewpoint was that Facebook would (again) run roughshod over its users, as it did in its infancy. However, looking back at the last 18 months, when the most growth has occurred outside the saturated demographics for social networking (talking to you Gen Y), Facebook has actually done a decent job listening to its user base.</p> | |
| <p>Sure, they’ve made mistakes, but they’ve ultimately been responsible for them and have accommodated reasonable requests. Not a bad thing. Although, as a highly visible company (and pop culture punchline), this course of action seems logical.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway. I don’t really think the changes are all that noteworthy, except maybe to early adopters who know Twitter (which is also inching toward mainstream as evidenced by its Daily Show <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/03/the-daily-show-my-stalker-just-grunted-on-my-twitter/" target="_self">cameo</a>) and FriendFeed and think it matter who was doing what first.</p> | |
| <p>Meh.</p> | |
| <p>The user revolt will be fun to observe. Most interesting will be how mainstream users feel about life-streaming and micro-blogging. The changes to Facebook’s UI will shape the future of the ‘tubes, like it or not.</p> | |
| <p>Find the comments and add your two cents.</p> | |
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| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/my1dXp4eyMw" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/my1dXp4eyMw/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/my1dXp4eyMw/updatedThu, 05 Mar 2009 00:56:20 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 05 00:56:20 UTC 2009updated_parsed200935056203640feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/03/new-imac-still-new-to-me/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/03/new-imac-still-new-to-me/#commentstitleNew iMac, Still New to Mewfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/03/new-imac-still-new-to-me/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueUpdate: Turns out Best Buy, where we bought the iMac, doesn’t have the new models in stock yet, but to make room in their inventory, they’ve lowered the prices on the remaining ones by $400. | |
| They were nice enough to honor the new price and refund the difference. Win-win, since I wasn’t all that excited about [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermappleschemelabeltermhome officeschemelabeltermimacschemelabeltermmacschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2519summaryUpdate: Turns out Best Buy, where we bought the iMac, doesn’t have the new models in stock yet, but to make room in their inventory, they’ve lowered the prices on the remaining ones by $400. | |
| They were nice enough to honor the new price and refund the difference. Win-win, since I wasn’t all that excited about [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueNew iMac, Still New to Mebasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="New iMacs" class="size-medium wp-image-2520 alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/overview_hero2_20090303-300x158.jpg" height="158" alt="New iMacs" width="300" /></p> | |
| <p><em>Update: Turns out Best Buy, where we bought the iMac, doesn’t have the new models in stock yet, but to make room in their inventory, they’ve lowered the prices on the remaining ones by $400.</em></p> | |
| <p><em>They were nice enough to honor the new price and refund the difference. Win-win, since I wasn’t all that excited about a data transfer. W00t!</em></p> | |
| <p>So, you may have heard that Apple dropped a bunch of updates to their product catalog today, along with software updates.</p> | |
| <p>Among the <a href="http://www.tuaw.com/2009/03/03/four-flavors-of-imac/" target="_self">updates</a> were upgrades to the iMac line.</p> | |
| <p>Not that noteworthy, unless you just bought an iMac last week like I did. Funny stuff, right?</p> | |
| <p>I’m actually not that bummed; a little, but not too much, considering. This was a replacement for my wife’s XP machine, which I had been nursing along for nearly ten years, adding disk, RAM and a DVD player to keep it functional. She had lent her Macbook to a friend (I know, gasp) and was forced to use that old beast without any escaping to a faster computer.</p> | |
| <p>Speed is her main requirement (and annoyance); this means the Internet, installed programs, everything. This means keeping a lot of moving parts, moving quickly, which was becoming increasingly tough with the old XP box. So, rather than have me rebuild it overnight, we decided to break down and buy a new machine entirely. For her, instant gratification and instant ability to get work done.</p> | |
| <p>The decision was to go Mac over PC because, well, I don’t feel like supporting it, and we like the unibody design of the iMac over the standard cable mess of disparate pieces. Plus, she already has a Macbook, so it’s not a jump into the deep end.</p> | |
| <p>I should have tipped when Best Buy said they had no 20″ iMacs in stock, in any local stores, but knowing how secretive Apple is, I wonder if even the Apple Store employees knew the new models were less than a week from dropping. We settled on the 24″ model that used to be the third in the lineup; based on the new specs, it’s probably closer to first, slightly more beefy than the low-end 20″ model in the new lineup. Grr.</p> | |
| <p>Still, she loves it to death so far (it’s so fast), and the cinema display is so bright, when I walk away from it, I see spots.</p> | |
| <p>Rather than trying to explain virtualization, I just installed Virtual Box and installed an XP VM. That VM runs about twice as fast as the old native installation of XP did. Sure, not an apples-to-apples comparison, but pretty impressive. The fan is really quiet too; one thing that bugs me about the Macbook is its loud fan. If you’ve held one of those in your lap, you’ll know why. It gets crazy hot after a while, not an ideal thing to keep in your lap.</p> | |
| <p>So, until today, everybody was happy. New computer for the wife, less support agony for me. Win-win.</p> | |
| <p>Of course, now we’ve fallen victim to buying the outgoing model year, which is inevitable, but usually doesn’t happen withing the same week.</p> | |
| <p>I also violated one of my rules by buying the unibody design. I can’t crack it open to do <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/02/09/weekend-project-macbook-surgery/" target="_self">upgrades</a> to keep from buying new gear every couple years. Maybe I can, but it won’t be easy. Maybe I’m wrong.</p> | |
| <p>Then, there’s the dilemma of what to do with the old dinosaur. I had thought it would make good network-attached storage, but aside from the slow processor, it only has about 80 GB of disk space, which is puny compared to the 250 GB I just put in my Macbook, 300 GB in the iMac or the 1 TB backup drive I bought for Time Machine on the iMac.</p> | |
| <p>Wow did I feel old buying a 1 TB disk about the size of a pocket dictionary for less than $200. I remember when Oracle DB broke the 1 TB barrier for database storage. That doesn’t seem that long ago. Cue the nostalgic music and prepare your grouchy “I remember when” stories for the comments.</p> | |
| <p>Anyway, I’ll probably end up reimaging it as an experimental box for Jaunty Jackalop (9.04) or some other O/S, or maybe I’ll give it to the neighbors, keeping the monitor, natch. You can never have too many displays.</p> | |
| <p>So, there’s a lot here, meandering as always. What are your thoughts on any/all of the following:</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li>New iMacs and updates to Apple’s products</li> | |
| <li>Old iMacs, Macs in general</li> | |
| <li>Mac vs. PC, always welcome here <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /> </li> | |
| <li>Supporting users who want everything “faster”</li> | |
| <li>Keeping up with current technology and getting out-moded</li> | |
| <li>Repurposing old gear</li> | |
| <li>A 1 TB drive for less than $200</li> | |
| <li>Having an experimental machine for hobby O/S</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>Find the comments and let us know.</p> | |
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| <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< | |
| RSS import ended at Mon Mar 23 16:53:20 -0700 2009 525 | |
| ========================= | |
| RSS import started at Mon Mar 23 16:54:34 -0700 2009 871 | |
| item not found 2: The AppsLab: Had Enough Twitter Yet? | |
| item not found 2: The AppsLab: Web Mission is Coming | |
| >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> | |
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| Data: status200hrefhttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabencodingUTF-8feedlanguageentitleThe AppsLabfeedburner_emailserviceidOracleAppslabsy_updateperiodhourlysubtitle_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueDriving Innovationbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabsubtitleDriving Innovationtitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueThe AppsLabbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabfeedburner_feedburnerhostnamehttp://feedburner.google.comgenerator_detailnamehttp://wordpress.org/?v=2.7linkshrefhttp://theappslab.comrelalternatetypetext/htmlsy_updatefrequency1generatorhttp://wordpress.org/?v=2.7linkhttp://theappslab.comatom10_linkupdatedMon, 23 Mar 2009 17:09:16 +0000updated_timeMon Mar 23 17:09:16 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009323179160820bozofalsemodified_timeMon Mar 23 17:25:10 UTC 2009etaglb/Rbf0di70vrfJzxKhuowadrSknamespacesversionrss20updated20093231725100820entriesfeedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/23/2633/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/23/2633/#commentstitleHad Enough Twitter Yet?wfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/23/2633/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueTwitter is exploding. You’ve probably seen the numbers. | |
| 1,382% comparing February 2009 with February 2008. More than 50% from January 2009 to February 2009. | |
| By all measures, that’s an insane growth rate. Mainstream media has taken note, and celebrities (and impostors) are flocking to Twitter in droves. Pun intended. Do you have a favorite celebrity you follow? [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermenterpriseschemelabeltermoratweetschemelabeltermtwitterschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2633summaryTwitter is exploding. You’ve probably seen the numbers. | |
| 1,382% comparing February 2009 with February 2008. More than 50% from January 2009 to February 2009. | |
| By all measures, that’s an insane growth rate. Mainstream media has taken note, and celebrities (and impostors) are flocking to Twitter in droves. Pun intended. Do you have a favorite celebrity you follow? [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueHad Enough Twitter Yet?basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>Twitter is <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/03/16/twitter-growth-rate-versus-facebook/" target="_self">exploding</a>. You’ve probably seen the numbers.</p> | |
| <p>1,382% comparing February 2009 with February 2008. More than 50% from January 2009 to February 2009.</p> | |
| <p>By all measures, that’s an insane growth rate. Mainstream media has taken note, and celebrities (and impostors) are flocking to Twitter in droves. Pun intended. Do you have a favorite celebrity you follow? I enjoy @<a href="http://twitter.com/the_real_shaq" target="_self">THE_REAL_SHAQ</a>.</p> | |
| <p><img title="Do you follow @god?" class="size-full wp-image-2634 aligncenter" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/god.png" height="30" alt="Do you follow @god?" width="292" /></p> | |
| <p>Even <a href="http://twitter.com/god" target="_self">god</a> has an account now, and yes, the lowercase “g” is on purpose. It’s a statement of fact.</p> | |
| <p>Twitter is so common now, it’s quickly replacing Facebook as the pop culture whipping boy of media types. Facebook’s window was pretty small, and they’ve apparently noticed, recently making their <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/03/04/another-facebook-user-revolt-is-coming/" target="_self">interface</a> more micro-bloggy.</p> | |
| <p>Enterprises have noticed too, giving life to companies like <a href="https://www.yammer.com/" target="_self">Yammer</a> and projects like <a href="http://apextoday.blogspot.com/2008/06/post-updates-to-twitter-from-apex-plsql.html" target="_self">OraTweet</a>. There’s even a new category and analysis around the “enterprise micro-blogging” space.</p> | |
| <p>As people rush into Twitter, I wonder if the ah-ha moments are coming more quickly. Like many people I know, I created an account on Twitter and waited. It took several months and a conscious effort to start seeing value. My guess is early adopters all have the same pattern of tweets over time. Sparse early, an inflection point, then ramping up each months thereafter.</p> | |
| <p>As you tweet, you discover the value’s in the network, which is what has made Twitter so tough to quit, even when it was fail whaling every day for hours at a time.</p> | |
| <p>Ah, the good old days.</p> | |
| <p>So, do you think that new tweeters follow the blog posts of their fore-tweeters to get to their own inflection points sooner? Do you think they’re using Twitter for different things? Are the celebrities and media types drawing them to Twitter and keeping their attention?</p> | |
| <p>I don’t really know.</p> | |
| <p>I’ve been watching the adoption of OraTweet with interest. It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, but it does underline the common uses for so-called micro-blogging. Incidentally, will someone please coin a better term for generic tweeting than “micro-blogging”.</p> | |
| <p>Here are the common cases I’ve observed:</p> | |
| <ol> | |
| <li>Frustration</li> | |
| <li>Communication</li> | |
| <li>Seeking and Sharing Information</li> | |
| <li>Work Streaming</li> | |
| </ol> | |
| <p>With the exception of 4, these are all very common on Twitter as well. 4 represents a unique use case inside the firewall, and I expect to see it grow over time as people discover they can broadcast how busy they are to the whole company, erm anyone listening.</p> | |
| <p>I’m kidding, a little. OraTweet is highly useful for distributed teams to broadcast issues and updates to the entire project team. This was one of its first and best <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/08/26/social-observations-oratweet-edition/" target="_self">uses</a>.</p> | |
| <p>Not surprisingly 2 (Communication) is finding a home inside the firewall. Hutch Carpenter has an interesting <a href="http://bhc3.wordpress.com/2009/03/13/microblogging-will-marginalize-corporate-email/" target="_self">look</a> at how micro-blogging (yuck) is pushing email to the margins inside many companies. I can’t say I’ve noticed this yet here, judging by my inbox, but OraTweet has added another channel for communication.</p> | |
| <p>The new channel fits in between email and IM for communication that isn’t super important (i.e. you can keep it to 140 characters and sloppy writing) or immediate (i.e. you don’t need a pingback right this moment). This actually fits a high percentage of the water cooler/hallway/stop-by-your-cubicle communication that I remember from when I sat in an office, which leads me to wonder if remote workers are adopting more quickly to re-socialize their work time.</p> | |
| <p>Regardless of how we find value in OraTweet, another tool inside the firewall, or Twitter, people are still having trouble getting that it’s public. Hutch had <a href="http://bhc3.wordpress.com/2009/03/17/how-to-tweet-your-way-out-of-a-job/" target="_self">another</a> example of tweeting yourself in the foot last week. Tough to feel bad for someone high-hatting a job offer in this economy.</p> | |
| <p>Remember to <a href="http://theappslab.com/2009/01/20/tweet-with-care/" target="_self">tweet with care</a> people.</p> | |
| <p>So, your thoughts on: Twitter’s growth, your own experiences, enterprise adoption, how you find value, how much you dislike Twitter, tweeting yourself in the foot, unfortunate mishaps, and everything else belong in the comments.</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=_RsrNZryrcU:NdNHpoH_gos:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=_RsrNZryrcU:NdNHpoH_gos:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=_RsrNZryrcU:NdNHpoH_gos:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/_RsrNZryrcU" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/_RsrNZryrcU/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/_RsrNZryrcU/updatedMon, 23 Mar 2009 17:08:34 +0000updated_timeMon Mar 23 17:08:34 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009323178340820feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/20/web-mission-is-coming/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/20/web-mission-is-coming/#commentstitleWeb Mission is Comingwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/20/web-mission-is-coming/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueAs he did last year, Paul will be speaking during the Oracle portion of this year’s Web Mission, which runs March 28-April 3. | |
| What is Web Mission? Glad you asked, from the about: | |
| Web Mission is organized Bronwyn Kunhardt and James Lawn from the market intelligence company Polecat (www.polecatting.com) and by serial entrepreneur, Oli Barrett. Each [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermoracleschemelabeltermwebmissionschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2624summaryAs he did last year, Paul will be speaking during the Oracle portion of this year’s Web Mission, which runs March 28-April 3. | |
| What is Web Mission? Glad you asked, from the about: | |
| Web Mission is organized Bronwyn Kunhardt and James Lawn from the market intelligence company Polecat (www.polecatting.com) and by serial entrepreneur, Oli Barrett. Each [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueWeb Mission is Comingbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="Web Mission" class="size-full wp-image-2626 alignright" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/webmission.png" height="84" alt="Web Mission" width="218" />As he did last year, Paul will be speaking during the Oracle portion of this year’s <a href="http://webmission.co.uk" target="_self">Web Mission</a>, which runs March 28-April 3.</p> | |
| <p>What is Web Mission? Glad you asked, from the <a href="http://webmission.co.uk/about/" target="_self">about</a>:</p> | |
| <blockquote> | |
| <p class="MsoListParagraph"><em>Web Mission is organized Bronwyn Kunhardt and James Lawn from the market intelligence company Polecat (<a href="http://www.polecatting.com/">www.polecatting.com</a>) and by serial entrepreneur, Oli Barrett. Each year, Web Mission seeks to introduce 20 of the best Web 2.0 companies to the many inspiring people and supportive Web 2.0 networks which exist in Silicon Valley. The aim is to support the companies to:</em></p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li><em>Facilitate meetings with local investors</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Meet and mingle with Silicon Valley movers and shakers relevant to their organization and growth plans</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Discuss their business with leading journalists</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Spend quality time with like-minded people on the web scene</em></li> | |
| <li><em>Explore how to succeed in the US market</em></li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p><em>The successful companies are short-listed by judges such as Doug Richard, Mike Butcher from TechCrunch and with input from the Web Mission sponsors. The sponsors include technology companies, media companies, financial and legal organizations. They are complemented by a host of Partners who provide specialist support to the event.</em></p></blockquote> | |
| <p>Oh yeah, these companies are UK-based, and this is a trade mission of sorts, backed by the UK government to help incubate UK technology startups. Apparently, the event is backed by British politicos, and the companies will enjoy an evening at the British Consulate in San Francisco, among other things.</p> | |
| <p>But wait, there’s more.</p> | |
| <p>The <a href="http://webmission.co.uk/agenda-2009/" target="_self">agenda</a> is packed. The lucky company reps leave the UK on March 28 and return on April 4. In between, they’ll be visiting Oracle on April 1 to hear Paul and a host of other Oracle people chat, and they’ll be at the <a href="http://www.web2expo.com/" target="_self">Web 2.0 Expo</a> on April 2.</p> | |
| <p>Looking at the agenda makes me tired. The days are fully booked, and by the end, these people will be stuffed full of entrepreneurial advice and information. Sounds like a valuable, but potentially exhausting trip. Then again, these are startup people, so they’re used to burning the candle at both ends.</p> | |
| <p>Who are these lucky companies?</p> | |
| <p>Here’s a checklist of the companies who are attending Web Mission 2009.</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.artesiansolutions.com/">www.artesiansolutions.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.businessitonline.com/">www.businessitonline.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.cereproc.com/">www.cereproc.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.coclarity.com/">www.coclarity.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.complianceandrisks.com/">www.complianceandrisks.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.concrete-media.com/">www.concrete-media.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.corebridge.com/">www.corebridge.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.freshnetworks.com/">www.freshnetworks.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.mtivity.com/">www.mtivity.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.proofhq.com/">www.proofhq.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.replify.com/">www.replify.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.sift.com/">www.sift.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.sosius.com/">www.sosius.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.tactilecrm.com/">www.tactilecrm.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.viapost.com/">www.viapost.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.yuuguu.com/">www.yuuguu.com</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.zemanta.com/">www.zemanta.com</a></li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>Two alumni from Web Mission 2008</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.huddle.net/">www.huddle.net</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="http://www.trampolinesystems.com/">www.trampolinesystems.com</a></li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=RWnbYG3Id1E:rTZuLE-AXns:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/RWnbYG3Id1E" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/RWnbYG3Id1E/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/RWnbYG3Id1E/updatedFri, 20 Mar 2009 17:23:02 +0000updated_timeFri Mar 20 17:23:02 UTC 2009updated_parsed2009320172324790feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/19/ignore-your-competition-focus-on-the-stable/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/19/ignore-your-competition-focus-on-the-stable/#commentstitleIgnore Your Competition, Focus on the Stablewfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/19/ignore-your-competition-focus-on-the-stable/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvaluePhoto Credit: FoxTongue | |
| I watched a recent interview with Jeff Bezos on Charlie Rose the other day. In it, he was questioned as to how he, against the odds, “beat” the various etailers of the day pushing books online. His answer was fantastically elegant and straight forward. He is fanatical about aligning his organization to his [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabelauthorPaulidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2617summaryPhoto Credit: FoxTongue | |
| I watched a recent interview with Jeff Bezos on Charlie Rose the other day. In it, he was questioned as to how he, against the odds, “beat” the various etailers of the day pushing books online. His answer was fantastically elegant and straight forward. He is fanatical about aligning his organization to his [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueIgnore Your Competition, Focus on the Stablebasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p><img title="2657434642_543c30685f" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-2619" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/2657434642_543c30685f-300x216.jpg" height="216" alt="2657434642_543c30685f" width="300" /></p> | |
| <h5><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxtongue/2657434642/">Photo Credit: FoxTongue</a></h5> | |
| <p>I watched a recent interview with <a href="http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/8784">Jeff Bezos on Charlie Rose</a> the other day. In it, he was questioned as to how he, against the odds, “beat” the various etailers of the day pushing books online. His answer was fantastically elegant and straight forward. He is fanatical about aligning his organization to his customer’s needs. This may mean making short term decisions that do not align with shareholders, and if you are an Amazon customer (and I am for life) you have probably experienced this via their incredible return process. However, he feels that in the long run, there is always alignment between customers and shareholders. Brilliant.</p> | |
| <p>Now you may be thinking, oh I have heard the customer-centric story before. The good news is that Jeff went a bit deeper into their actual approach to a customer driven business. In essence, he focuses his organization on <strong>excelling at the things customers want that do not shift over time</strong>. To Amazon, that means, wide product selection, low price and fast delivery - those will always be important to his customer. In his words, “I can’t imagine a customer saying, I really like Amazon, but I wish their prices were higher”. I should note that this concept applies to software as well, as conveyed recently by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQFPMuZ7hl4">Jason Fried</a> in his talk at the Business of Software Conference, only for him, the unchanging were things like ease of use and performance.</p> | |
| <p>Back to Bezos - The other lesson conveyed subtly was to <strong>ignore the competition</strong>. You may be sitting there saying, oh yeah, that sounds great, but I can’t ignore my competition. I need to know what they are doing so I can contrast the differences to my customers or so I can talk credibly to the analysts. On that point, I would agree, but it is a matter of intent and degree. The problem arises when you use that competitive gaze to consume all your time <em>or to drive your strategy</em>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Porter">Michael Porter</a> may disagree, but strategy, from my perspective, must be driven primarily from your customers needs. Everything else is secondary.</p> | |
| <p>The intersting thing about these notions is that they are in many ways ignored by companies of all shapes and sizes. Far too often I see firms chasing market hype or the latest competitive move in a copycat feature race to oblivion, while customers sit on the sidelines with their popcorn. Competitor A adds AJAX, we need it. Competitor B has a Facebook app, we gotta have it. Competitor C is on demand, let’s get on it. Perhaps it is just easier or more fun to spend time talking to your co-workers about cool new features as opposed to reaching out to customers and potentially hearing about what you can do better. Who wants to hear that right?</p> | |
| <p>As you ponder this you may be tempted to return to your cozy old ways of thinking and acting. The usual line that I hear to counter this approach, is that customers really don’t know what they want anyway, so why ask them. That comment is usually followed up with something pithy like “Would a customer have asked for the ipod?”. To that I say, rubbish. Customers are very bright and if you talked to a few you might have already known that.</p> | |
| <p><span>Let me leave you with three simple reasons why a strategy driven by competition is a fools errand:</span></p> | |
| <p><strong>1. Time Is Limited:</strong> Every moment you spend on our competition is time you could have spent working with a customer.</p> | |
| <p><strong>2. Competitors Could Be Wrong:</strong> The strategy they are implementing, and you are choosing to follow, could be off the mark and a total waste of time and money. Oftentimes we think people at other companies are smarter than us - that could be wrong too.</p> | |
| <p><strong>3. Your Strategy Must Be Yours: </strong>Not all companies are created equal. Each has their own assets, skills, resources, relationships and more, that they can, and should, bring to bear on a strategy. If you copy your competitor you just may be ignoring your best assets and playing a game on their home turf. If you have a great running game, do you play a passing offense because that is what the other team is doing? The answer is obvious and no different for business.</p> | |
| <p>In the end, my favorite part of this is the simplicity. As humans, we love complex things. They make us feel smart and special, but more and more, in life and in business simple wins the day.</p> | |
| <p>Now where is my phone, I need to call a customer…</p> | |
| <div class="feedflare"> | |
| <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?a=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/OracleAppslab?i=r9-VLtboEjk:rT-SF8lNys4:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> | |
| </div><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~4/r9-VLtboEjk" height="1" width="1" />basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslablinkshrefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/r9-VLtboEjk/relalternatetypetext/htmllinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OracleAppslab/~3/r9-VLtboEjk/updatedThu, 19 Mar 2009 17:32:44 +0000updated_timeThu Mar 19 17:32:44 UTC 2009updated_parsed20093191732443780feedburner_origlinkhttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/i-might-pay-for-jotnot/commentshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/i-might-pay-for-jotnot/#commentstitleI Might Pay for JotNotwfw_commentrsshttp://theappslab.com/2009/03/18/i-might-pay-for-jotnot/feed/summary_detaillanguagetypetext/htmlvalueThere are very few times when I read something and think to myself, I must blog this immediately and tell as many people as possible. | |
| This is one of those few times. | |
| JotNot is a web service that converts pictures into documents. Send a picture to them by email or upload one to their website and get [...]basehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabtagstermgeneralschemelabeltermappsschemelabeltermimagesschemelabeltermiphoneschemelabeltermjotnotschemelabelauthorJakeidhttp://theappslab.com/?p=2611summaryThere are very few times when I read something and think to myself, I must blog this immediately and tell as many people as possible. | |
| This is one of those few times. | |
| JotNot is a web service that converts pictures into documents. Send a picture to them by email or upload one to their website and get [...]guidislinkfalsetitle_detaillanguagetypetext/plainvalueI Might Pay for JotNotbasehttp://feeds2.feedburner.com/OracleAppslabcontentlanguagetypetext/htmlvalue<p>There are very few times when I read something and think to myself, I must blog this immediately and tell as many people as possible.</p> | |
| <p>This is one of those few times.</p> | |
| <p><a href="http://www.jotnot.com/" target="_self">JotNot</a> is a web service that converts pictures into documents. Send a picture to them by email or upload one to their website and get back a Word or pdf version. Not a big deal, there are other services that do this.</p> | |
| <p>This service is good for transferring information on a whiteboard into something you can distribute, and believe it or not, this happens quite frequently and is a constant frustration for telecommuters who aren’t “in the room”.</p> | |
| <p>It’s also good for scanning, if you don’t have a scanner.</p> | |
| <p><img title="JotNot's blue box, captured from iTunes app page" class="size-full wp-image-2612 alignleft" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/bluebox.png" height="289" alt="JotNot's blue box, captured from iTunes app page" width="201" /><img title="Enhanced image, captured from iTunes app page" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2613" src="http://theappslab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/enhanced.png" height="289" alt="Enhanced image, captured from iTunes app page" width="201" /></p> | |
| <p>Now, h/t <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/17/jotnot-turns-your-iphones-camera-into-a-document-scanner/" target="_self">TechCrunch</a>, they have an iPhone <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=307868751&mt=8" target="_self">app</a> (iTunes link).</p> | |
| <p>The app sounds very simple. Take a picture (or import one). Use the blue box presented by the app to indicate the area you want captured. Then wait as the app does its processing magic, correcting for lighting, color, and even perspective. Very cool.</p> | |
| <p>Unfortunately, this app costs $3.99, and I have yet to pay for an iPhone app. I’m still not over the initial sticker shock, my prerogative as an OG iPhone guy who paid full boat back in July 2007. However, this app tempts me to get over my desire for full amortization.</p> | |
| <p>If you read here, you know I prefer iPhone apps that perform <a href="http://theappslab.com/2008/12/23/iphone-apps-for-units-of-work/" target="_self">units of work</a>, and usually, I can see value in these apps, even if I don’t have a specific use case or pain point in mind. JotNot hits two, very real pain points for me, and I’m pretty sure one or both apply to you as well.</p> | |
| <p><strong>Pain Point 1</strong><br /> | |
| The JotNot web service doesn’t meet my needs for whiteboard pictures. Why? Because typically, there’s sensitive information on that whiteboard, and it |
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