I was discussing with a client today about this, and realized I still had not blogged about this yet. Facebook has launched Developer Accounts. Now, no longer do developers have an excuse for errors on their pages, or sites going down because they are working on their production Facebook app, which is their only development environment to work in. Also, no longer do developers have to risk all their work deleted because they opened up a mock Facebook account and Facebook decided to kill it because it wasn’t a real person. I strongly suggest you start using this if you are a Facebook developer.
Category: Business
Could Google Launch the gPhone November 5?
Scoble and Mike Arrington have both talked about Google launching “the Social Network of all Social Networks” on November 5. Recently, Google bought the Twitter-like status service Jaiku, which has mobile capabilities of sending updates of what you are doing via cell phone and finding out what your friends are doing. Rumors have also been flying of a gPhone to be released some time soon, perhaps end of this year of beginning of next year.
I’m going to go out on a limb here. Google needs to compete with Facebook – Facebook is definitely a threat. Now here’s the idea – what if Google’s killer social network wasn’t just a web network, but instead centralized on their gPhone, and that was what they were debuting on November 5? Add to that the rumors that they will be opening that platform, that would confirm the idea that their “new” platform would be completely open. I have heard rumors that Google developed Google Maps back in the day, just to be on the cell phone eventually. What if the incorporation of Google Maps, GPS, knowing where you are, and what your friends are doing and where they are, based on cell phone usage Jaiku provides all will be part of Google’s social network of all social networks – the gPhone? Regardless of whether they actually launch the gPhone on November 5 or not, Google’s got a nice piece of competition on their hands as soon as the gPhone is released.
Twitter Launches Facebook Status Updates
I noticed yesterday that Twitter has officially launched the ability to update Facebook through your updates on Twitter. You just click on the Twitter app within Facebook, and you’ll see a link that says, “Want Twitter to update your Facebook status? Click here.” Click on that, the message will still be there (they say they’re working on that), but all your Twitter updates will now go to your Facebook status as well. Any Twitter replies (with @username in them) stay on Twitter and do not go to Facebook, resolving my previous concern.
UPDATE: Twitter doesn’t ignore just any post with an @username in it. The post has to start with @username for Twitter to ignore the post. I’d love to see it just ignore anything with @username, since Facebook friends won’t know who @username is anyway.
How Apple Can Beat the Hackers and Please Their Customers at the Same Time
Apple – are you listening? I’ve got a tip for you that I’m pretty sure could very well be a solution to all your woes. Ars Technica today released new information about Apple’s new SDK and how they will continue to be web based. The article mentions the updates will be “released soon”. I actually like this idea – I see the future of operating systems as web-based, and Apple IMO is on the right track, making the AJAX SDK much more similar to what you could do with a normal SDK.
Apple – you’re on to something here with this update to be released soon after the last update – stay agile! Steve Jobs mentioned fighting the iPhone hackers was a “cat and mouse game.” He then followed it with, “I don’t know if we’re the cat or the mouse”. Apple – the object is to stay the mouse, constantly having to be chased by the cat. So long as you’re the mouse, the hackers will never keep up.
How do you become the mouse? Constantly release updates, faster than the hackers can keep up! Release new feature after new feature. Keep giving your customers more – they’re hungry for it! I guarantee you Apple, if you can keep your customers satisfied with lots and lots of new, cool stuff, they’ll ignore that their phones can’t be hacked until that stupid relationship you have with AT&T expires and you can truly allow your phone on multiple networks.
New Wave of Citizen Journalism on Twitter
Are you in Utah? Do you like getting the latest news, as it happens? Do you like giving back to society?
Well I may have something for you. I’d like to announce the new Twitter Bot, “SLCNews”. The way it works is if you see news happening in your area, you generally can report the news much faster than a News reporter who has to get to the scene. Citizens are usually the first reporters on the scene of a major event, yet the reporters always get the credit. With this Twitter bot, if you see news happening in your area, report it by direct messaging the Twitter user slc news, followed by a short amount of text describing the event happening. All people following the user slcnews will then get Twitter updates (usually on their cell phones) that share with them the news happening. The idea is if enough people pitch in, your news will be much more on time, much more accurate, and very on the scene. I can see this meshing with Twittergrams, links to Flickr photos, etc. all from your cell phone (on your cell phone, all you have to do to send a message to slcnews is to send a text message to 40404 that says “d slcnews accident on I-80” or whatever the news that is happening).
So if you’re on Twitter and live in Utah, please do your part to the community and follow SLCNews! If you’re not on Twitter yet, please click on the link above and join! If there were ever a reason to join Twitter, this is that reason! If you like this and don’t live in Utah, let me know and maybe I’ll add your city next.
Facebook to Release a Passport-like Common Logon?
With yesterday’s announcement of the statusUpdate API call in Facebook, my thoughts have been going wild on what this means. This was clearly done for Twitter and other status update sites out there. I can also see some cool uses for it in other applications too.
One thing this does hint at, whether Facebook is thinking about it or not, is the possibility of a common logon system similar to Microsoft’s Passport or OpenID. The next step Facebook should take is open their authentication system up in the API. Currently, you can get a user logged into Facebook via the API. Facebook now needs to package this and market it as a complete solution to sites like Twitter to get them to base their user profiles off of Facebook profiles. I would prefer this method personally, as I only need to update my profile in one place (Facebook), and then I can use Twitter for all my other status needs.
Jesse Stay is a Utah Facebook Developer and Consultant
Well, I’ve officially made the plunge! As of today I have announced my resignation at UnitedHealth Group and will very soon be completely self-employed, working on your business’s projects full time under my consulting business, Stay N’ Alive Productions. If you have a project of any caliber, I am giving short-term (that could become long-term) contracts first priority, but will consider anything.
I mentioned previously about my friend Thom Allen being a Facebook developer. Well, I’ve let him have the limelight for long enough and now it’s my turn! I am a Utah Facebook Developer. I currently have 4 applications written, one with near 10,000 users and growing. I also have been doing Facebook consulting since almost the launch of the Facebook platform. I have taught classes on Facebook and am definitely your man if you need some consulting or projects based on the Facebook platform.
So if you need any work, give me a ring via the GrandCentral “Call Me” button down on the right of this page and we can work on a bid or estimate for consulting work. You can also read through this blog to understand what I know and how I can help you. Feel free to blog or Twitter about me as well! I need all the help I can get to get this off the ground!
How to Fix Your Personell Issues on the Sales Floor
I was in the Apple Store today, and was having a really hard time finding help just getting a copy of iWork I wanted for my laptop. I usually don’t ask questions at these stores and generally know what I want – I’m an easy sale. The thought came to me as I was standing in a really long line of customers that Apple could solve this with a simple solution.
Most of the customers taking up associates’ time were just asking simple questions about their Macs, or what type of Mac they should get, etc. What if Apple were to offer a commission to their customers for every sale brought to the Cashier resulting in a customer helping another customer? I would be happy to stick around longer personally just for a little bit to help other fellow customers if I was given an incentive to do so.
Using this method would ensure the easy sales like me were taken care of, and those with just questions can get their questions answered by those actually using the product. We had a whole group of fellow geeks standing around in the store today talking about our iPod hacking experiences – I’m sure we could have been put to good use. This solution could apply to almost any electronics store, and I’m sure could save thousands to millions of dollars in employment fees and customer satisfaction.
Apple – I Get It!
Many of my loyal readers recognize the strife I have with the iPhone. Its elegant, sexy interface is alluring, yet as it draws you in it immediately pushes you away like a magnet, turned the opposite direction in reverse polarity. My goal in buying an iPhone originally was to figure out how to write apps for it. With its AJAX browser interface it seemed not too complex an interface to actually use as a development platform. However, as I mentioned earlier, I bought it, and immediately returned it because I realized that first, I had no way of using my wonderful T-Mobile plan rather than being locked into a 2-year contract with AT&T, and second, the iPhone DOES NOT support 64-bit operating systems at the moment, and I’m not about to downgrade my OS for a simple phone.
So I just recently had the opportunity to buy a MacBook for my daily business efforts and Facebook development. I have owned Macs in the past, and find them ideal development desktop environments because I get the best of almost 3 worlds, the Mac, Unix, and Windows through Parallels. It’s an ideal testing environment for a web developer.
The same day I bought it (yesterday), it was announced that finally a free unlock solution was available to free yourself from AT&T. Finally, I was in an ideal situation to buy an iPhone, try it out, review it, hack it to my T-Mobile, without having to switch carriers or downgrade my OS to an inferior architecture. I know, I’m a hypocrite, but all along I’ve really just been trying to make this work and Apple just wouldn’t let me!
I’ve realized my belief in that is completely wrong. I now totally understand why Apple is locking people into AT&T (why no 64-bit support, I have no idea)! You see, Apple knew people would unlock their phone. They know us developers way too well. Yes, we would complain and gripe, but Apple knows we all secretly love their products.
The issue is, Apple needed carriers to embrace and support their phone to make it big and “cool” in the market. Scoble says all you need to be cool is a small group to promote the heck out of your product. Verizon actually turned them down in initial deals. GSM I belive is a better network worldwide, so I believe they started seeking out partners in the GSM market. AT&T was the biggest US partner so they worked out a deal with them, which was a huge bonus for Apple, as they had exclusive marketing rights at AT&T stores all across America.
You see, Apple knew people would complain about being locked into one provider. The thing most people are neglecting (including myself) is that Apple knows their customers. They knew developers would soon hack the OS – it is a UNIX OS after all, and while they would have to protect their agreement with AT&T and try to patch the hacks, developers would always get around that until AT&T caved and let them just leave it open to the hacks. The iPhone would expand into other markets, and voila, Apple has T-Mobile and other GSM providers without even trying!
I hacked my iPhone last night. I now run my iPhone on T-Mobile, no contract, and excellent customer service! I have a shell prompt into my iPhone. I can ssh and SFTP into my iPhone. It was actually unbelievably (with a few quirks) easy to set up! Will Apple update it in the future? Probably, but you can also bet hackers will quickly have a new hack to keep it unlocked – there is no way around it, and Apple knows this. They built the software to make working around the hackers hard! I find it very hard to believe this wasn’t part of their underlying business strategy.
My New iPhone…My…Precious…
I blogged in fury yesterday about my experience of buying an iPhone and not being able to even use it. That iPhone is now sitting on my desk, calling to me, “use me!…use me!”. I can’t turn away from it. So…pretty. So…alluring. Must…resist…temptation. I’m very tempted now to hold it until the unlocking software comes available for purchase. I’m also very tempted to downgrade my Vista to 32-bit so I can just use it. Apple – see what you’re doing to me! I’m entrapped in the throws of your merciless marketing schemes! What do you think? Is it worth my sacrifice just to use an iPhone? Or should I return it to the store on Monday?
