On the Web with Kim Vallee » APPLICATIONS

Need for More User Control with Mashups

Kim Vallee — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:32:37 +0000

One of the main reasons why I migrated my blogs to Wordpress is to be more independent technically. I wish to be able to add features using plugins without needing the help of a programmer. For the most part, it works fine.

But as many other bloggers, I often wish to mix and match plugins in a different way. This is where I hit a wall. I hit a few walls so far. Some are due to the fact that I run a design blog where the visual aspect is quite important. At other times, I wish to bring a feature to the next level.

Mashup Sites

Today’s blogs are mashups. Wordpress blogs are the king of mashups. Plugins are developed by a bunch of programmers of different skill levels. The ideal plugin gives control to the user with parameters. One size fits all does not work to bring the ultimate experience to your community.

To understand my point, let’s look at the mashup of P2 theme with Twitter Tools. Two teams developed the 2 projects. I decided to put them together to create my Live blog. I used these 2 tools as an example but the same hold true for most Web 2.0 tools that you put together.

The Situation

Like I mentioned yesterday on my At Home blog, I created Kim Vallee Live to publish quick posts, without photos and to live blog when I go to conferences. The P2 theme interface provides a Twitter-style interface without limiting my comment to 140 characters, which provides the right framework for what I want.

One feature of the Twitter Tools plugin is to automatically publish a tweet by shortening the message I entered in Kim Vallee Live. But the way it is done right now does not add value to my readers. See for yourself, why I do not like the current result:

Twitter Tools automatically adds “New blog post:” in front of the tweet. Even if technically, each entry I published in P2 is a post, there are not from a user viewpoint. My programmer changed the plugin to put #kvlive instead. If the maker of Twitter Tools had better thought about usability, they could have add one more parameter to their long list of options so I can fill the text of the prefix. If I do not wish to add a prefix, I would leave blank the text box.

The other problem is that the tweet message is too short to be meaningful for my followers. What happened is that the Twitter Tools plugin used the post title as the content for the tweet. The P2 theme stored the first 40 characters as the post title. The maker of the P2 theme did not anticipated that it could be a problem since this Wordpress theme was designed to show Twitter-style posts.

One lesson I learned from years of experience in software development is that users will always find new ways to use your applications. As more and more non-technical people are embracing social media and running different types of blogs, it puts more pressure on developers of mashup tools to give more control to the users.

Custom-Made Solution

I defined with Jerome of Paradivision (we own Paradivision) the ultimate automatic tweet generator for Kim Vallee Live. We still have to implement it. Until then, I disabled the automatic tweet feature. When it is done, Jerome and I will share with you what we did.

Tungle Simplifies Booking Appointments

Kim Vallee — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:25:01 +0000

You know the drill. Every time, you need to book a meeting with someone we go to this back and forth dance to find a suitable timeslot. The Meet with Me feature of Tungle simplifies everything since it eliminates the need to constantly open your calendar as you are answering emails.

Here is how it works

Instead of giving possible dates and time or listing when you are not available in an email, simply send a link that automatically keeps up to date of your availability. Tungle works in sync with your preferred calendar: Google Calendar, MS Outlook, Entourage for Mac and Apple iCal. I tried it with iCal and it works fine.

You can send and receive requests to book a meeting with you.

People can propose you several timeslots without registering. If they do not registered, they will need to confirm their email before you received their email with the proposed timeslots.

From the email you get a link that enables you to:

pick a time that suits you from the calendar, then click to book the email and notice the other party
send other proposed dates and times
tell them that you will not attend the meeting.

As a bonus, Tungle will prevent the risk of double-booking a timeslot. But this is only true if you do not make typing errors, like I did last week. I entered A.M. instead of P.M. while recording an appointment with my iPhone. The appointment is for next week. I will send that person my personal Meet with Me link now. I suggest you get your own.

MORE:
+ Tungle
+ Via a tweet by afrognthevalley

Envisioning the Future Technologically

Kim Vallee — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 18:37:57 +0000

I watched a cool 5-minute long video by Microsoft that explores how easy it could be to communicate, share ideas and documents, make plans, get informed and play in the future.

New devices and natural user interfaces will be invented to make our life easier. Just things of all the progress we did over the last 40 years where we passed from a typewriter to digital cameras, MacBook Air and the iPhone. Using everyday objects like our key chains to carry and update information will simplify our life.

The biggest advantage will be than we will enjoy true mobile technology. By truly mobile technology, I mean equipments that are small, weightless and are powerful to have everything we need at our fingertips. No more needs for laptops to carry around.

iPhone users already have a taste of it. So imagine if that freedom extent to our entire computer needs both at home and at the office. I cannot wait for the next 10 years. We live in exciting time.

Take for example, the interactive electronic newspaper. Imagine all the carbon emission we will save in distribution, not counting the trees. For comfort, we need bigger screen than the iPhone and more mobility than the laptop. Electronic paper will become a reality at some point. Many attempts of inventing the electronic paper have already been tried.

Watch a short version here. You can watch the 5-minute video (the second one) at I started something by Long Zheng, a 21 years old Chinese-born who now lives in Australia. The 5 -minute video put things into context. A Powerpoint presentation by Stephen Elop, President of Microsoft Business Division, covers the technology showcased in the video.

It is not just the devices but mostly the ease of use that is impressive. From an interior design viewpoint, we will recover at some point the sleek look of our house as the devices will be less intrusive and will serve multi-purpose. The flat screen TV will be our computer screen and computer.

User interface based on natural movements will revolution the use of computer. The best application today is the iPhone (I know I love my iPhone). From a transparent wall screen between two classrooms miles away to animated drawings, surface displays a la Minority Report, digital wallets, electronic flight boarding cards, way way smarter phones, and mini projectors to guide you in the airport.

The future looks bright.

+ Via I started something

Having fun catching bugs with Crazy Frog for the iPhone

Kim Vallee — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 06:25:01 +0000

Igor Pusenjak, one of the co-founders of Lima Sky said in an interview that they make games for kids. Let me tell you that Crazy Frog is as fun for adults. I saw my husband playing it before dinner. My first reaction was “It is so cute!”. Then, I said “I want it!”

The game play is simple. You make points by catching any insects except the bees. The bees will kill you. You jump to catch and eat the bug. You cannot catch more than one insect per jump.

The interface is easy to maneuver. Gently hit the screen to trigger a jump. Move your iPhone horizontally in the desired directions to direct your frog in the air and on the ground.

A lovable element of the game are the frog expressions. If it failed to catch an insect, it looks disappointed. The frog smiles after eating an insect. The frog shouts in pain when it gets stunned by a bee. I often shout with it.

Lima Sky has already created 26 iPhone applications. Crazy Frog is a fun and addictive game. At 99 cents, it is money well spent.

On the Web with Kim Vallee » APPLICATIONS

Need for More User Control with Mashups

Mashup Sites

The Situation

Custom-Made Solution

You might also like these posts

Tungle Simplifies Booking Appointments

Here is how it works

You might also like these posts

Envisioning the Future Technologically

You might also like these posts

Having fun catching bugs with Crazy Frog for the iPhone

You might also like these posts