Web 2.0 - Articles - Zimbio

FriendFeed and Enjit: Open Up the Firehose to the Entire Social Web

Tue, 5 Nov 2008 08:18:11 GMT

posted by louismg
By Jesse Stay of Stay N' Alive (Twitter/FriendFeed)

FriendFeed just hit a huge milestone recently as developers have finally tapped into its real-time feed of updates, and provided a Google Chat or Jabber interface on top of it all, enabling both users and developers to gain real-time data about the entire Social Web. Two Developers very prominent in the Laconi.ca world, Dustin Sallings and Ken Sheppardson, have headed up the effort and provided an easy way for you and I to receive your FriendFeed updates, real-time, over simple instant messaging. The service is called Enjit.

One of my favorite parts of Twitter when I started seriously using it about a year ago was that I could send and receive my Tweets, real-time, via Google Chat or other Jabber-supported services. I simply needed to add the Twitter user to my client, and all my friends' Tweets would come through as they were sent to my IM client. This meant I could open it up on my desktop, my phone, or wherever else I had a Jabber-supported IM client. I remember Scoble sharing with us in awe via Qik and elsewhere about how he was getting Tweets every second or more, and how amazing it was to see communication around the world, as it happened.

Now, because of FriendFeed, not only do we have access to the world of Twitter, but we now have access to Identi.ca, Pownce, Facebook, blogs, Flickr, Delicious, and almost the entire Social Web, real time, and you can now get that as it happens in your IM client. The premise is simple:

The First Step: Add Enjit (FriendFeed) to Your IM Client.
Set Up

To get set up with FriendFeed IM, all you need to do is open up Google Chat, or any other Jabber-supported service or client, and add feed@enjit.com to your Buddy List. You can name it "FriendFeed" if you like, or just leave it as is. Then, send: username to that user in your IM client. You can get your remote key from FriendFeed here.

Using Enjit FriendFeed IM

As soon as you are authenticated, you'll start getting updates from FriendFeed immediately. Your updates will come in the form of [xx][source] entry_author: entry text | comment_author: comment text - "xx" is just a unique id for each comment or post on FriendFeed. "Source" is the service the update or comment came from. "entry_author" is the author of the post or comment. Following that is the text of the comment or post.

Send and Receive Updates to FriendFeed Using IM.
Sending Updates to FriendFeed

Sending updates is easy! To send a new post or status update to FriendFeed, send post your message, where "your message" is the message you want to send to FriendFeed. To respond as a comment to any post, send xx your comment where "xx" is the "xx" above uniquely identifying the posted item you want to comment on, and "your comment" is the comment you want to append to that post.

Enjit and FriendFeed have essentially just given us all a Command-Line into the Social Web. Now, in one place, you can receive and send updates to all your updates through a simple command-line chat interface. With FriendFeed's recent integration with Twitter and the ability to send your posts to FriendFeed back to Twitter, you could even use it as a Twitter chat client! Now, the clencher - Dustin Sallings is well known in the Laconi.ca crowd for creating chat-based Track on Identi.ca and Twitter. Will we see real-time track come to FriendFeed soon? Thanks to FriendFeed, we now have chat and real-time updates back on Twitter.

Read more by Jesse Stay at Stay N' Alive.More: louisgray.com | RSS | FriendFeed | E-mail | Cell: 408 646.2759

Twitter Planning to Open Up the Firehose "by Thanksgiving"

Thu, 7 Nov 2008 16:24:34 GMT

posted by louismg
By Jesse Stay of Stay N' Alive (Twitter/FriendFeed)

In an assuring statement in the Twitter API Developers Group, Alex Payne, the API lead at Twitter, shared that they have plans to have their Fire-hose of Data available to developers and users by "Thanksgiving at the Latest". The Firehose, or Twitter's continuous XMPP stream (the protocol that powers services like Jabber and Google Talk), has been at the center of controversy for Twitter, where they opened it up briefly to developers, and had to take it down again when they realized the traffic was simply too much for their servers.
The shut-off of the firehose has set off a slew of critiques, including my own, even sending Steve Gillmor to Identi.ca briefly, and ending up in a get-together of like-minded Twitter and other developers to "bearhug" Twitter. Twitter responded saying at times there would never be a Fire-hose again, and at others, that they were now sending users to services such as Gnip to access the data. With Gnip closing its doors on its own XMPP stream recently though, it would appear even more frustration is brewing amongst developers.
All that controversy may just come to an end however, as Payne stated in the developers group:

For what it's worth, we've actually been cranking on the "firehose"
solution all week. We've evaluated several queueing systems, and I've just finished work on a proof-of-concept backup plan if those don't pan out. We'd really like to have a solution in place by Thanksgiving at the latest.

There's no doubt with FriendFeed opening up their Firehose of Social Media data, and Gnip cutting off it's XMPP stream that Twitter is feeling the pressure lately to open up real-time data to developers and users. With Gnip out of the picture, Twitter now has no more resources to send people to in order to hold people off until they get their API in order.
Proof is in the pudding however, and it will definitely be interesting to watch as Twitter attempts to tackle this problem. Maybe we'll all be getting a little early Christmas gift from Twitter after all?

Read more by Jesse Stay at Stay N' Alive.More: louisgray.com | RSS | FriendFeed | E-mail | Cell: 408 646.2759

FriendFeed Offers Twitter A Chance to Play Lifestream

Thu, 31 Oct 2008 05:42:58 GMT

posted by louismg
When FriendFeed first gained significant traction early this spring, coming at the same time as Twitter was struggling with uptime issues and a reduced feature set, bloggers were abuzz with the idea that FriendFeed could replace Twitter outright. The excitement around the social aggregation site at times was so white hot, it was thought the team would soon render popular tools like Facebook, Twitter and Google Reader unnecessary. Rather than eliminate other services in the ecosystem, FriendFeed has instead, over the last several months, added support for many more services, and introduced upgrades that have made it even further integrated with those same sites, Facebook and Twitter.

Today, FriendFeed introduced a set of features that lets users update Twitter with all their FriendFeed activity, based on their own preferences - be it with native FriendFeed entries, or shares from popular sites, be they Disqus, Last.fm, YouTube, Flickr and many more.

The result essentially turns the lifestreaming functionality on its head. Rather than just have Twitter play a major role in inputting entries in user's feeds, FriendFeed now gives Twitter the chance to do more than operate as a microblogging tool, taking your personal FriendFeed, and mirroring it back Twitter's direction.

I've set up a number of services on FriendFeed to reflect back to Twitter.
Despite having served as one of the more vocal proponents of FriendFeed, I don't see that everything I do on the site needs to fill my Twitter stream. I won't be adding my FriendFeed comments to Twitter, nor will I be adding the vast majority of my social activity around the Web, including Google Reader shares, Delicious bookmarks, or comments, be they on FriendFeed, Disqus or BackType. After a certain point, the ensuing waterfall of updates would be certain to leave my in box full of Qwitter notifications.

A native post I made to FriendFeed was bounced to Twitter as well.
What I will be doing is notifying Twitter on native FriendFeed shared items, including all the iPhone pictures I take of the twins and send in via e-mail, as well as new blog posts, SmugMug shares and YouTube postings. This will effectively eliminate my need to use TinyURL for new blog posts, and probably will erode my use of Posty, TweetDeck or other Twitter applications. But as the integration is with Twitter only, Identi.ca and other microblogging services don't get any of the love.

Will Twitter's new role as a mainstream erode FriendFeed's differentiation? I don't believe so. The site is still all about following friends' feeds, and not just aggregating your updates. It's also become a strong platform for discussion and engagement. As links back to FriendFeed begin to increasingly populate Twitter, it should drive even more traffic their way, as both services aid one another, padding their lead in their respective markets.More: louisgray.com | RSS | FriendFeed | E-mail | Cell: 408 646.2759

Learning Flex 3 Perfect for Newbie Flex Developers

Tue, 12 Nov 2008 11:16:04 GMT

posted by onyxtic

Though I haven't had much time for reading lately, I recently finished Learning Flex 3 by Alaric Cole. It's a solid introduction to Flex, and while it doesn't get too heavy on the intimate details of the Flex framework, I can definitely recommend it for people who are looking at Flex for the first time. The flow throughout the book is unique, and if you combine that with the stylish design, it's an excellent read for a new Flex developer.

Cole's writing style is clear and friendly, and he carefully introduces new features as they're needed in his example applications. It's a bit different from the progression I've seen in other programming books, but I found it refreshing and interesting in a way that I think will keep most readers interested. As with any programming book, I'm happy when I learn something new, and Alaric had some interesting tips for features in Flex Builder's Design View that I'd never used (like highlighting container bounds). I tend to stick to the Code View as much as possible myself, but it's still good to know.

My absolute favorite part about the book is the full-color content on every single page. Like Learning ActionScript 3.0, another Adobe Developer Library book by O'Reilly which I reviewed previously, the addition of color makes the book stand out from the pack. Every Flash or Flex book I've read in the past has included black and white screenshots. With RIA content being very much about visual appeal and design-heavy details, it makes sense to ensure that all visual references in the book are in color. I remember a couple books that I read previously where screenshots were useless because they didn't make the greyscale transition very well. Learning Flex 3 continues to set a new standard for Flash and Flex books.

One thing Cole doesn't focus on much is the language syntax for ActionScript 3.0. This is a book specifically about getting started with Flex, and you're expected to know a bit about programming already. I personally enjoy this aspect because I'm tired of seeing yet another "This is a variable. This is a loop. This is a class." introductory chapter. However, for true newbies, the lack of an AS3 introduction could make getting started a challenge.

I already mentioned Learning ActionScript 3.0, and I assure you that it covers all the missing details. If you're new to software development and programming, consider picking up both books since they offer a more comprehensive introduction for someone completely new to programming with either AS3 or Flex.

Social Media Workflow on the iPhone

Wed, 23 Oct 2008 22:15:46 GMT

posted by louismg

By Phil Glockner of Scribkin (FriendFeed/Twitter)

I wanted to write a slightly different type of iPhone app review today. Instead of focusing specifically on one or two apps, I wanted to bring you with me as I walk through the tools I rely on daily as I check out the social media ‘scene.' Also, I'd like to prefix by stating that the iPhone has been an amazingly capable and flexible platform for web-based activities such as this. Not only does it work better for me than any mobile smartphone I've used in the past, but has completely replaced my trusty Nokia 770 internet tablet.

E-mail

When I pick up my iPhone in the morning, the first thing I check is new e-mail. Not very exotic, but this is something that needs to be done well on any smartphone. I'll disclose here that I've never used a Blackberry for any length of time, so I won't argue that it's the best mobile e-mail platform. However, the iPhone has a very strong, capable e-mail client. In fact, it has really come a long way from the 1.0 release on the original iPhone. Good attachment handling including PDF and Office documents, support for multiple POP/IMAP accounts, and good integration with other iPhone apps and even many 3rd party apps. Plus, Apple has their own tightly-integrated service called MobileMe.

One small issue I have with the e-mail client is the steps involved with switching between e-mail accounts. In essence, if you are looking at a particular e-mail, you have to hit the ‘back' button 3 times to get out to the account list. Why isn't there a shortcut to straight to the account list, or better, switch directly to a different account? Every other mobile e-mail client I have used has this simple feature.

FriendFeed

Personally, I check FriendFeed all the time to get a feel for the topics of the day, and to see if any ongoing discussions are happening that I can contribute to. FriendFeed has an excellent iPhone web client that is more than adequate for this job. I usually keep a browser session open specifically for FriendFeed so I can check it at different points in the day.

Twitter

There are so many resources for accessing Twitter on the iPhone that I can't cover them all here. Twitter itself has a nice, clean mobile site if you point your mobile browser to m.twitter.com. However, I use an iPhone-optimized free service called Hahlo, it is really leagues better than any other web site in the same class, and even better than most Twitter iPhone apps! It supports everything you can do on the main Twitter site, plus integrates Twitter Search (formerly Summize).

If for some reason you don't love Hahlo, here are just a few of the other apps and sites you can check out: Twitteriffic, Twinkle, Twittelator, TwitterFon, Twittervision, Twitfire, and LaTwit. Also, Summizer is a mobile version of Twitter Search and Fring is just all-around amazing.

Google Reader and RSS

I am a huge fan of the Google Reader feed reader utility. It has social features as well as an intuitive keyboard-accelerated, web-based interface. In fact, I would argue that most of my real absorption of the social media space comes from the feed subscriptions I follow in Google Reader. Their team has also provided an excellent iPhone-optimized web site. As long as I have some network connectivity via wireless or cellular, this is my preferred way to catch up on my feed reading.

However, there are times when I know that I'll be out of all network access and I may still want to read some articles. Up until recently, there wasn't a good way to do this. However, a great iPhone app called Byline that was created specifically to sync with Google Reader and allow perusal of articles at leasure. Any annotations that are made, like ‘share with note' or ‘starred,' are synced back up when reconnected to the internet. Plus, Byline just got a big 2.0 interface makeover and is a pleasure to use. I recommend it if you prefer to use an app over a web site.

If you aren't a fan on Google Reader, there are a lot of other RSS readers for the iPhone (this is by far not a complete list, and App Store links all): NetNewsWire, SyncRSS, Web Feeds, Free RSS Reader, The Black RSS Reader, Daisy Feed, and NewsStand.

LinkedIn and Facebook

I tend to check both of these sites regularly to see if there are updates from my friends or colleagues. Both of Facebook and LinkedIn have superb iPhone apps developed by the respective companies running those sites. However, both companies also have really nice iPhone-enabled web sites! So you have a choice if you want to go for the ‘heavy' app interface (LinkedIn, Facebook) or the lighter web interface (LinkedIn, Facebook).

Other Sites

I am signed up for a lot of ‘microblogging' and other social sites, but I don't check them nearly as often as FriendFeed and Twitter. Luckily, they all have some sort of footprint on the iPhone, either via app, optimized web site, or mobile site. See the list below:

BrightKite: Just go to the primary BrightKite site to get an iPhone optimized version, or get the brand-new free app.
Flickr: Flickr has a fantastic mobile site. There are quite a few Flickr iPhone apps too, for example Mobile Fotos which I review here
Pownce: Both an iPhone app and an iPhone-optimized site
Last.FM: An awesome app and bare-bones mobile site
Pandora: A bar-none high quality application for the iPhone
Yelp: A great app and functional mobile site
Tumblr: All tumblelogs have mobile support by appending ‘/mobile' to the end of the URL. I also recommend iview for photo tumblelogs.

Video?

Although there are many applications and web sites (like seesmic) that will let you watch video on the iPhone, there is no direct support for video recording.. yet. There is hope though. Recently, Qik has been working on their iPhone client intensely and it should be in the iTunes App Store any time now! According to Kevin Rose and Chris Pirillo, it's looking like a winner.

Wrap-Up

So as you can see, there is a huge amount of support for the iPhone when it comes to social media. And I haven't even touched (no pun intended) on the plethora of iPhone-specific social networking applications out there that are GPS-enabled. There are so many, in fact, that they have their own iTunes App Store category.

If you are looking for a way to take your online presence on the road, this device is a one-stop shop. Due to the lack of video recording capability and not-quite-business-class e-mail support, you may end up going for a different phone. But no other phone gives you the breadth and diversity of activities that are available with the iPhone.

As a final note, I just wanted to include a link to a fantastic free WordPress plugin that gives you an instant, gorgeous iPhone optimized theme for your site. It's called WPtouch and it I recommend it highly.

Read more by Phil Glockner at Scribkin.com.More: louisgray.com | RSS | FriendFeed | E-mail | Cell: 408 646.2759