Quit playing in the kiddie pool

Time to learn to swim

Only one week remains between you and Portland’s premier community-focused open source developer conference. If I lost you there, then this post isn’t really aimed at you. If you’re already clued in, plugged in, and ready to turn it out next week, keep reading if you like, but this is stuff you already know. Users will still benefit tremendously from the amazing creations and dazzling innovations brewed up at Open Source Bridge 2010, but this post is more focused at my peeps who’ve been playing in the kiddie pool.

You’ve been using open source products for as long as you can remember. You’ve submitted bug reports. You’ve built a few “Hello, world!” console apps; perhaps you’ve even created something truly special but the code wasn’t open for the whole world to see, warts and all for whatever reason. It is YOU who I am talking to now. It’s time to take a walk over to the other side of the pool.

Just Build It

A long time ago while learning PASCAL at Grant High School (yes, PASCAL…just keeping it real – Go GENERALS) the T.A. explained a key to learning to code that I’ve held onto since: “You’ll never learn by reading alone.
You need to just sit down and build something.” So true. Many of us spend so much time thinking, planning to plan and living in our own heads that we never realize that there are communities upon communities of passionate coders, designers, business heads, hackers, artists, makers and thinkers that are all looking for the next great idea to throw their efforts and behind. Open Source Bridge was created to bring together this diverse collection of people, along with others like yourself, (who want to get involved in open source, but don’t know where to begin) to share ideas, build amazing technologies, and highlight the need for a more diverse, accountable and thriving open source community.

They want YOU

If you get excited by next-level thinking, they want you. If you passionately make things, they want you. If you believe in free software, distributed responsibility, accountability and the vital need for openness and sharing, they want you. It’s time to quit testing the waters and dive into the deep end. Don’t worry; there’s a whole community ready to teach you how to swim.

Open Source Bridge is:

• The conference for open source citizens, June 1-4th at the Portland Art Museum.

Features:

• 24-hour hacker lounge
• Technology-agnostic, community-focused; don’t just come to listen, come to share!
• Volunteer-run, for developers, by developers
• Five tracks spanning Business, Chemistry, Cooking, Culture, and Hacks
• Sessions from some of the brightest minds in the community

Already drinking the Kool-Aid? Register for Open Source Bridge 2010 now!

Official information sources:

• Official Open Source Bridge Website
• Open Source Bridge (OSBridge) on Twitter
• OSBridge Facebook Group
• OSBridge 20010 Upcoming Event listing
• Open Source Bridge Blog

More information from around the web:

• Silicon Florist OSBridge article
• ReadWriteWeb Recap of Open Source Bridge 2009

Goodbye, LaLa.

LaLa.com is closing it’s doors. But not in the sense you might think. They were purchased by Apple in December of 2009 for an “officially undisclosed” amount (17M is the latest figure I could find). Thanks, TechCrunch!

There’s a great post byEd Bott going over some of the initial steps Lala was taking in mid-April to start to disable some of the bigger features of the service (uploading your music library to be able to stream it from anywhere to name one).

Currently visitors are greeted with a page stating:

The Lala service will be shut down on May 31st, 2010. Unfortunately we are no longer accepting new users. Members, you can still use Lala through May 31st 2010. Log in for details.

Once logged in, users are shown a page detailing what the shutdown means for their users, and offers iTunes gift cards for “web songs” (web-play only), unused “wallet” balance or unredeemed gift cards. Lala is asking users to send in requests for check refunds of unused wallet balance by May 31st (be nice and submit early though, ya dope).

There’s also a link to the “Credits” page which goes over the refunds and credits rules in more detail.

What does this mean for paying users?

If you have purchased web songs on Lala or have an outstanding wallet balance as of May 31st, 2010, an iTunes Store credit code will automatically be sent to you after the service is shut down. Click here for more information on iTunes Store credit including the terms and conditions”

We’re still waiting to hear from Apple or any clued-in bloggers about what will happen with Lala’s intellectual property, and when.

Apple? Care to comment?

Joel

Foursquare Day Post

Foursquare is an app that lets people find out who and what are around their current location. http://foursquare.com (it’s best on iPhone if you have one).

The app has an avid following due to the compelling game mechanics involved. Checking in at certain locations unlock “badges” that users rack up and can show off to their friends. The app also uses points to allow friends to compete for leaderboard position among other things. Business are now using the app as a way to market to customers directly when they check in and when they check in nearby (for example, checking in at McDonalds and getting a blip about a Burger King foursquare-only special on your phone.

A group in Tampa, FL (http://4sqday.com) decided that since 4 squared = 16, April 16th should be Foursquare day to celebrate how social media can bring people together and help people find new hotspots and places around them. They started a website to catalog all the participating venues and have been very active on Twitter (http://twitter.com/4sqday) and Facebook (http://twitter.com/4sqday) promoting the event.

All day long vendors and merchants all over Portland and other major cities will be offering discounts to Foursquare users when they check in to their locations. The deal specifics are on the event website, http://4sqday.com and the regular foursquare deals (not limited to 4sqday) are at http://foursquare.com/businesses .

Portland has been getting the ball rolling by starting a facebook page (http://facebook.com/foursquaredayPDX) and Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/4sqdayPDX) to coordinate efforts and share news regarding the event.

THE BIG PITCH: Whiffies fried pies on SE 12th and Hawthorne is hosting a Foursquare Day “SuperSwarm” party from 10PM to 1AM. A Foursquare “Swarm” is when 50 users check in to one location. A superswarm is when 250 users all check in to the same location. Among the basic foursquare deal (when 10 users are checked in, everyone gets $1 off their first pie), Whiffies is going to be giving away Free Pie for a Year to one lucky Foursquare user to commemorate the event if the SuperSwarm badge is achieved. There will also be a swarm event at Lion’s Eye Tavern from 8PM to 10PM with Buy One Get One Free beer on your first check in and many more deals at http://4sqday.com/city/portland).

YouTube unveils new UX(User Experience) redesign

Very subtle, YouTube. I almost didn’t even notice. While I was clicking around, watching videos today on my YouTubes, I was oblivious to the fact that the site had undergone a total UI makeover. To start things off, the design is clean(er). In comparison to earlier designs, the new design feels sparse (in a good way). New features and other changes abound. YouTube is even kind enough to include a tour of the new layout, which highlights some really cool new features. I’ve boiled down the tour to the items I found intriguing.

User/Subscribe buttons

YouTube has grouped the name of the uploader together with a drop-down select box. Clicking the uploader’s name reveals a nice sliding panel of their other uploaded videos with thumbnails (similar to a lightweight coverflow-style widge). This technology was previously available elsewhere (the uploader’s channel page, if I remember correctly), but now feels more integrated and is more easily accesible. The subscribe button has also been moved right next to the user’s name and upload count.

Improved, more accessible analytics

I am not a YouTube publisher, and I had not really noticed an analytics section for viewers showing stats about videos being watched, but I couldn’t miss them this time. The View Count statistic, when clicked, will expose a full run-down of viewing activity for the video including geographic breakdown among other stats. It seems that some data are not available for every video (the @Scobleizer video in the screenshots had full stats, but a random Jimmy Kimmel video only had “honors” like Most Viewed this Week, Most Favorited, Most X…). Interesting stuff.

Big Changes to Ratings

In a change to a long-standing practice of using 5-star reviews, YouTube has decided to move forward with a like/dislike model already popularized by services like Facebook. In an earlier blog post, YouTube stated that 5-star ratings were becoming less and less useful for effectively recommending content. The post goes on to explain that users often will simply give everything 5 stars or nothing most of the time. Like/Dislike buttons will engage more users via its simplicity and help drive relevancy when combined other social criteria.

Share via Twitter, Facebook

Finally (and I’ve only covered the new features that interest me — there are probably many more gems to uncover), YouTube has enabled Twitter and Facebook sharing. Not a new feature, but it is simpler and feels a little smoother. Sharing was mostly painless. I had to type my credentials into Facebook Connect and a Twitter Authorization page but made it through unscathed. They don’t yet feel tightly integrated, but I’m sure with feedback and help they’ll be ready when the moment comes. Social glue is not yet a commodity.

Almost missed it

When combined with each other, these are big changes that will improve the user experience for YouTube users. The addition of analytics might help people decide whether a video might be valuable to them before they watch it, and cleaning things up makes it much easer to find and use new features. I expect we’ll hear about this from other sources as well, but remember you heard it here first.

Joel

Twitter.com Adds location to tweets – implications for realtime

Twitter today released new location features to the http://twitter.com website, enabling users  to share their current location when posting new tweets. I have not confirmed whether this feature has been enabled for all users, but I have gathered some screenshots to share:

This new feature set will finally enable other location-based services to rely on Twitter as an authoritative location source. Most Twitter clients already natively support location-enabled tweets, with Twitter.com the last one to the party. I can almost hear the collective “Huzzah!” of API users around the world, and the collective “Now what?!?” of third-party Twitter client app developers. Don’t worry guys, Twitter.com has it’s place, and so do client apps.

The addition of location also opens up a new set of problems as far as privacy, safety, and legality are concerned. Twitter has provided some About information on their Support Forums that offers to answer some of the more asked questions such as:

• Safe Tweeting with your Location
• Tweet with your location FAQ
• What location information is displayed? (exact location or place)
• Why do I see a pin-pointed exact location for some Tweets but only general vicinity (neighborhood or city) for others? (Twitter can display place, coords or both)
• What location does Twitter store? (as long as the Tweet exists, or until location history is cleared)
• Which browsers support Tweeting with location (Firefox 3.5 and Chrome, older FF and IE require Gears)

The new feature also highlights limitations in older browser technology such as IE7, which does not support location sharing by default. In fact, most Firefox users may not even be aware that the latest versions of FF (3.5 and up?) support location services. By using built-in browser features, Twitter has effectively voted for which browsers are preferred Twitter platforms. Expect to see some fallout from IE proponents over this.

Until the tweets start coming in, we can’t know for sure how the developer community, users themselves or the tech journalists will respond to this development. It’s going to be an exciting night on Twitter for sure, as the prospects of a definitive location provider emerge as new product ideas, mashups and new features for existing third-party services. Keep your eyes open people, it’s all happening (I promise that will be the last time I use that tired phrase, unless there’s some Twitter campaign to bring it back!).

If you like the story, show the RT love, or send it to your favorite tech blog as a tip or submission. Right now I’m just writing for myself and the RealTime community (no, that’s not a journal, just social media) but am looking for ways to increase my engagement in the larger community via other channels. If you have questions or want to know more about me, follow me on twitter (http://twitter.com/joelgibby) and send a mention my way. I’m pretty good about getting back in a hurry. (BTW: this article was posted 43 minutes after I realized the feature was enabled. Screenshots etc. were all taken within that time period. I also took 2 phone calls during writing, so you’ll have to forgive the lag!)

JoelGibby

Twitter.com might begin using Bit.ly to shorten URLs – Twitter journalism

Evan Williams, Twitter Founder and CEO

Strange coincidences are not irony. So don’t say that this is ironic. It’s just a strange coincidence: @ev (Twitter Co-Founder and CEO Evan Willams) posts a tweet that he is proud of his vast team of genius candidates:

“@ev Super happy about the collection of people we’ve managed to assemble at Twitter.”

and I try to link him to my blog post praising Twitter’s growing focus on scalability:

“@JoelGibby You might enjoy this then:http://joelgibby.net/2010/03/02/twitter-developer-announces-advanced-people-search-upgrades-ahead-of-sxsw2010/”

Only, my tweet does not show up on Twitter.com as I typed. No. Instead I see:

“@joelgibby @ev You might enjoy this then:http://bit.ly/djfBoi“

I will preface the rest of this post thusly:

When I posted the link to @ev, I *did* see the link change to a bit.ly link. I won’t speculate on what Twitter is releasing, but the rest of the post is written from my perspective as a user seeing a new feature for the first time. Twitter made no announcement of any integration with bit.ly NOR have any Twitter employees openly or otherwise blogged (at least with me or as far as I know) about such features. The commentary is invaluable however and I feel it needs to be shared rather than be relegated to the “unpublished” bin. Just imagine that “has” is changed to “may” etc.

It’s great coming across new features before anyone else. It gives us (well, not me really, you) writers a chance to hustle up some copy and get it out on the realtime before anyone else has a chance to think about what just happened. It takes folks by surprise, but in a way that makes them grin (maybe even smirk a little) and say, “Twitter, you sly dogs!”

Twitter has been releasing news in unconventional ways lately, from allowing their dev team to hint at future enhancements, to making announcements via Twitter in favor of drafting “traditional” press releases. Maybe they are being modest about the iterational changes their crack team of developers are implementing, and feel it’s not front-page material. Maybe they are right.

The change in communication mode is the real story. Why put out a press release that will simply be syndicated by the big names in online and print media, but never be read or analyzed? The realtime web is afroth with budding journalists (ahem.) who would love to know EXACTLY what is going on in their favorite companies. Traditional media (and even larger blogs in some cases) don’t have time or resources to devote to every feature enhancement that Twitter makes, let alone that brand new startup that not many have heard of but has a base of rabid fans tweeting their name to the rooftops. The realtime web does however, and it’s got talent in spades.

Back to the (possible) news item: Twitter has not responded to requests for comment on the possible change. All I know right now is what I saw. And may I say: I like.

Expect to see much more of this style of journalism (quickly written, hardly edited, factual and with commentary) in the very near future. Micro-news is a new area ripe for talent. Let’s see what you got.

Joel

LucyPhone.com: Never wait on hold again.

A new tool to save time

LucyPhone knows your pain. Waiting on hold sucks. You are spending precious time listening to some of the world’s worst. Music. Ever. Seconds seem like minutes, and minutes seem like an eternity. You can never get that time back. Ever. You don’t have to wait any more though.

Some real smooth cats

LucyPhone is a new web telephony service launched by brothers Mike and Tom Oristan at Decogram. Both are Stanford grads with very impressive bios over at the Decogram site. Sharpening their business and software development skills at private companies for the last 15 years has given them the chops to succeed.

How they do that

LucyPhone wants change the way we make contact with businesses by waiting on hold for you. Here’s how the system works: Go to LucyPhone.com, search for a company by name or phone number (a stylish and smooth dynamic interface makes the task a pleasure). Enter the phone number you wish to make the call from and click “Start.” LucyPhone will call you, wait for you to answer, then explain how to use the service

Here’s what a call would sound like:

It’s Lucy. I’ll see if we can get thses guys on the line. Press one to be connected
BEEP
Now Connecting. Go ahead and make whatever selections you want; as you know, you can drop off the call by pressing star star at any time. Then I’ll reconnect you when someone comes on the line.

You make any menu selections required to get to the phone queue desired; for example: “Press one for sales or two for customer service.” Once you hear the hold music, press star, star and LucyPhone will disconnect your end of the call. The call status is displayed on their beautiful website, and is updated in realtime with call duration and hold duration counters. A “Start Over” and “Redial” button obviously let you go back to the beginning and select a new business or redial the last dialed number.

How was it

I tested the service with the notorious Dell Customer Service hotline and the product worked exactly as advertised. I was impressed with the speed and fluidness of the web interface and the phone experience. Call quality was great and there was no noticeable lag when speaking with the agent. By keeping it simple, LucyPhone is garaunteed to become a go-to for connected folks wanting to save some time in their day. For more information, check them out:

http://www.lucyphone.com/how_it_works
http://www.twitter.com/lucyphone