the.HackerConundrum

Social App Workshop Minimalism Backchannel

2010-07-24T10:02:00.000-07:00

Backchannel dashboard for the Minimalism in Feature Implementation presentation at Social App Workshop. Oh ya. This is pretty much just a test to see how it works.

Please leave the #hashtag, URL, and @abraham for the most immersive experience possible. :)

#Minimalism in Feature Implementation Backchannel - Twitter conversation

Hosted idea organizer

2010-06-26T17:22:00.000-07:00

I am looking for a hosted web application to use as a mind dump for ideas. I've tried a number of Google tools that almost work but each one misses a feature or two. Google Search was not much help either.

Required features:

Title field
Freeform tags
Per item comments
Per item private vs public toggle
Share by email for private items
File attachements
Domain alias
Search
Hide/view by tag

Like to have features:

Description field
Implemented toggle
Social media share buttons
Random metadata attachments such as links, ratings
Specific metadata attachments such as Flickr, YouTube, Google Maps, Tweets. Maybe with http://www.oembed.com/

Do you know of such a tool? Please please please let me know.

Must have OSX applications

2010-06-20T22:44:00.000-07:00

Having my MacBook Pro slowly grinding to a halt sucks. What sucks even more is having it happen every 6 months. So this past weekend I took the opportunity to wipe and start afresh the cyclical tradition of computer power users. The install itself was far from smooth due to a number of unfortunate issues but that is a store for another time.

Now that I have an untarnished Snow Leopard install I must sully it with my carefully tagged list of must haves. Most are developer and social media oriented and the list may seem few but not listed are the plethora of web based services I employ. Quality applications they are all though.

Interested to see other epically OSX applications I inquired on Twitter.

what are your must have OSX applications?1:12 PM Jun 20th via webAbraham Williams
abraham

I've got some hardcore OSX users so the answers are useful and diverse. You can see the full list below and reply with your own must have OSX applications.

What are your must have OSX applications? - Twitter conversation

Twitter Annotations Hackfest highlights #tanhf

2010-05-31T00:51:00.000-07:00

The @Twitter Annotations Hackfest happened this weekend at the Twitter office. I missed it being in Seattle but awesomely Twitter streamed it all on @JustinTV. Below are the highlights of the introduction and final demos. You know. So you don't have to watch all 24+ hours of recorded video.

Introduction to Annotations by @noradio

Watch live video from abrahamwilliams on Justin.tv

Hackfest demos

Watch live video from abrahamwilliams on Justin.tv

You can find a list of demoed apps on the hackfest wiki.

HTC Evo 4G hotspot speedtests = Awesome

2010-05-30T11:41:00.000-07:00

I decided to test the speed of my new Google I/O HTC Evo 4G's hotspot. It is running Sprint's new 4G service which has pretty good reception from my apartment. As you can see the download speed drop significantly after the first test but after that stayed pretty consistently around 1 Mb/s. Apparently 4G is supposed to average between 3-6 Mb/s but I have yet to see it.

I actually wrote this blog post and uploaded this images while still using the hotspot. :) I even watched a full episode of Eureka from Hulu without a stutter or buffering. And on 480p no less! Echofon, Gmail, Google Reader, and Dropbox were all running the entire time.

I'm not yet ready to hang up my wired connection. But wireless is getting pretty awesome.

Communication manifesto

2010-05-27T18:15:00.000-07:00

Draft! Not yet implemented.

Please leave comments with your feedback.

Historically my responses to inquiries has ebbed and flowed. Sometimes my inbox would pileup for a month before many people would get responses. This manifesto is my contract to the world to improve my communication response time. Before contacting me I suggest you read this manifesto and a couple of essays about email.

Here is my commitment to response time going forward:

Short form:
- @Twitter*, SMS, @GitHub, IM, etc.
- Response within 24 hours.
- Must be less then 250 characters.
- Preferred method of contact.

Long form:
- Email, @Facebook, snail mail etc.
- Response within 48 hours.
- Generally longer then 250 characters.
- Keep it short and to the point.

Voice:
- Phone calls, voicemail, @skype voice, etc
- Callback within 24 hours.
- You must leave a voicemail.
- I don't like phones so you should consider the above options first.

What if I miss my deadline? If it is important ping me immediately after the time lapses else restart the clock and wait one more cycle before pinging me. Maintain the same method of contact so important information stays organized and does not get misplaced. Feel free to also remind me of this communication commitment to you.

And finally ... my contact information page. :)

*Twitter is my preferred form of communication because of it's brevity and easy access.

Trying out @publitweet on @abraham/google

2010-05-12T09:38:00.000-07:00

I decided to give @publitweet's new list widget beta a try on my @google list.

Accepted followers

2010-05-10T18:39:00.000-07:00

@Twitter recently had an interesting bug dealing with their mobile commands. Tweeting "accept abraham" would result in me following the tweeter. Awesomely though the bug was not limited to just me, any screen_name would work. Shortly after the bug widely known Twitter disabled viewing of relationships leaving everybody following zero people for a couple of hours. Twitter has since locked down the command and appears to be cleaning up the resulting mess.

Follow bug discovered, remedied. Read our status blog for details. http://bit.ly/dhQ3fFless than a minute ago via webTwitter
twitter

@TwitterAPI was following me for a little while.

@StarCraft 2 beta key from @TwitterSearch

2010-05-10T12:30:00.000-07:00

@StarCraft 2 beta keys are hard to come by but I managed to snag one from an unlikely source: @Twitter. I happened to do a search for #sc2 and found a key a few hours old.

Of course the key didn't work but I repeated my search the next day and snagged a working key from a status that was just a few minutes old.

#sc2 JZNHJT-WWBT-DKDY64-6BBD-7E4VRJless than a minute ago via webAlf Jonsson
_Unstable

Or you can just drop $20 on @Ebay.

Hacker News 10 RSS Feed

2010-05-01T15:50:00.000-07:00

I set up a Yahoo! Pipe that filters any stories with fewer then 10 votes from the Hacker News RSS feed.

I love HN content but I don't have time to read everything. The HN web interface is often slow and checking the homepage frequently shows me top stories over and over again. So I fixed it myself. :)

You can see an example of the feed below or subscribe yourself.

Jamie Oliver

2010-04-24T15:31:00.000-07:00

Troubleshooting Twitter @Anywhere's write permissions

2010-04-20T09:23:00.000-07:00

With the recent launch of @Twitter's @Anywhere API there have been a number of developers having issues with the follow button and the Tweet Box not working. This stems mostly from a bug where new applications created on dev.twitter.com would default to read only access.

If are having problems using @Anywhere try this simple step by step guide.

Check that your application has "Read and Write" as the "Default access type". If not edit your application settings so it does. You can do that on https://twitter.com/apps.
Check that your @Twitter account's access token for said application has "read and write access". If not revoke access and re-authorized from the website you are testing @Anywhere from. You can find out the access type on https://twitter.com/settings/connections.
Delete your cookies. Specifically the "twttr_anywhere" cookie for the domain hosting the @Anywhere code. You can read more about clearing your cookies https://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=32050

Have you had any other issues with @Anywhere? What solutions have you had?

Little known @Twitter and @TwitterAPI tips and tricks

2010-04-18T15:48:00.000-07:00

Be sure to comeback as new tips and tricks get added. If you know of anything I missed be sure to let me know.

Static URL for profile images based on screen_name:

https://api.twitter.com/1/users/profile_image/abraham

* This performs a http redirect to the actual profile image URL. Currently https redirects to http. You can also add "?size={mini | bigger | normal}" to get specific sizes.

Redirect to profile based on user_id:

https://twitter.com/account/redirect_by_id?id=9436992

In_reply_to_status_id mentions:

https://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/update.json?status=reply+to+@abraham&in_reply_to_status_id=12410413197

* In the web interface new mentions are only replies if they start with @screen_name. By pushing @screen_name further along in the string your followers who do not follow @screen_name will still see the status.

Profile image sizes:

http://a3.twimg.com/profile_images/54160223/chart-black-small.png

* By default you get the original image size you can add _mini, _normal, and _bigger just before the image extension to change the size returned.

Block account link:

https://twitter.com/blocks/confirm/twitterapi

Follow account link:

~~https://twitter.com/friendships/add/abraham~~

*This URL stopped working sometime in 2009.

Logged out profile view:

https://twitter.com/loggedout/profile/abraham

Whitelisted IP:

Whitelisted IPs provide 20,000 GET request per authenticated user per hour, not a cumulative limit of 20,000 GET requests per hour.

SMS commands work through the API:

http://help.twitter.com/forums/59008/entries/14020-the-official-twitter-text-commands

Link to Twitter pages using the @screen_name syntax:

https://twitter.com/abraham/status/12413206301

View geotagged statuses on Google Maps:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://api.twitter.com/1/twitter/lists/team/statuses.atom

Consistant @screen_name, #hashtag, and @screen_name/list linking and extraction:

http://github.com/mzsanford/twitter-text-rb

*Currently there are Ruby, Java, and PHP libraries.

Consistant character counting for statuses:

http://apiwiki.twitter.com/Counting-Characters

Twitter string translations:

http://apiwiki.twitter.com/Twitter-String-Translations

Security@twitter.com's PGP key

http://apiwiki.twitter.com/SecurityPublicKey

Map of a Twitter status object:

http://mehack.com/map-of-a-twitter-status-object

Search by app sources with spaces:

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=the+source%3Atwitterforandroid

Mobile friendly page to enable Geo:

https://twitter.com/account/geo

Check if your current visitor is authenticated with Twitter:

https://twitter.com/sessions/present

Twitter Creation Date

2010-03-12T00:34:00.000-08:00

Action shot!

Twitter Creation Date is a new Google Chrome extension that displays the creation date of accounts on Twitter profiles. Jump over to the Chrome extension gallery and give it a try. Be sure to let me know what you think.

CloudCamp Seattle wrap up

2010-02-23T15:22:00.002-08:00

CloudCamp Seattle happened last month but I recently ran across the video of the closing discussion.

Another video:

Sneak peek at Twitter's browserless OAuth credentials exchange method

2010-02-03T17:33:00.002-08:00

Over the past couple of months the Twitter API Google Group has been overflowing with more and more disgruntled developers complaining about lack of bug fixes, slow rollout of promised features, no mobile interface for OAuth, etc. (The list goes on and on) Well I'm happy to say Twitter appears to be almost done with one much requested feature: browserless OAuth credentials exchange. It was hinted that Seesmic Look was using said exchange so today I took a peek at how Look worked behind the scenes.

To start off Look is using the standard oauth/access_token endpoint on the new https://api.twitter.com subdomain.

In addition to the standard POST headers, Look adds several values that include a username and password for the specific user.

The return value is an access_token as expected plus x_auth_expires whose meaning I can only guess at.

I didn't bother to try the exchange with my own consumer key but I would assume access is limited to specific partners for now.

As excited as I am for using browserless OAuth I'm afraid developers with be lazy and implement the credential exchange instead of the full OAuth flow even in environments well suited to jumping from application to browser.

What do you think of the credentials exchange method?

UPDATE: TweetDeck is also using the new OAuth method.
UPDATE2: The xAuth documentation is live.

Three Months of TextMate

2010-01-31T10:26:00.001-08:00

After more then Three Months of Vim I've decided to try three months of TextMate. I had fun working with Vim and learned some nice tricks and it is time to try something new. Vim does have some deficiencies and I'm excited to compare the workflows. The biggest change will be going from a hosted style development process of SSHing into my dev box to developing everything localhost. Not only will I get rid of some lag but I'll be perfecting my deploy processes.

What are your most invaluable TextMate features or tricks?

Graphic.ly UI Icons

2010-01-25T18:12:00.002-08:00

Graphic.ly UI Icons, originally uploaded by jakemix.

A nice looking set of icons.

Amazon Kindle support oddness

2010-01-22T12:07:00.000-08:00

Amazon sent me an odd email regarding the cover for my Kindle.

Dear Kindle User,

We’re sending this note to remind you about proper attachment and use of your Kindle cover and about Amazon’s Kindle warranty. You can view instructions and illustrations here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200390460

ATTACHING THE COVER
To install the Kindle, open the cover and lay it on a flat surface. Then insert the bottom attachment hook on the cover into the bottom slot on the left edge of the Kindle. Rotate the Kindle to insert the top attachment hook. Then slide the switch down slightly to lock the cover attachment hooks in place.

Be sure to place the Kindle flat on the cover during installation. Do not tip the Kindle at an angle during installation, as that may cause the cover attachment hooks to bend.

USING THE KINDLE COVER
When using your Kindle with the cover, be careful to open the front cover only. If you open the back cover and pull the cover away from the Kindle, that may cause the attachment hooks to bend and could result in cracking or other damage to the Kindle.

THE AMAZON KINDLE WARRANTY
Your Kindle is covered by a One-Year Limited Warranty you can view here: http://www.amazon.com/kindlewarranty

If the attachment hooks on your cover have become bent, or your Kindle has developed cracking or other damage near the location where the hooks connect to the Kindle, please contact Kindle Support by phone or email regarding warranty replacement.

You can reach us via phone or e-mail through our website by clicking the Contact Us button on our help pages at http://www.amazon.com/kindlesupport or directly by calling one of these numbers:
Inside the United States: 1-866-321-8851, Outside the United States: 1-206-266-0927.

For more information, please see the Warranty Service section of the Kindle Return Policies Help page:
http://www.amazon.com/kindlereturnpolicy

Sincerely,
The Kindle Team

Installing Storytlr the lifestreaming platform

2010-01-18T19:56:00.004-08:00

"Storytlr is an open source lifestreaming and micro blogging platform. You can use it for a single user or it can act as a host for many people all from the same installation."

I've been looking for something like Storytlr for a few months now or at least trying to do it with Drupal. While I love Drupal and FeedAPI I did not want to spend all that time building a lifestream website. So I've been playing around with Storytlr instead and found it very easy. Here is how I got it up and running on a Ubuntu EC2 server. You can also check out the official Storytlr install instructions.

Assumptions:

LAMP stack installed and running.
Domain setup for a directory.
MySQL database and user ready to go.

Lets get started!

Get the code:

wget http://storytlr.googlecode.com/files/storytlr-0.9.2.tgz
tar -xvzf storytlr-0.9.2.tgz

You can find out the latest stable release on Storytlr's downloads page.

Import the database:
Within protected/install is database.sql. Import this into your empty database.

mysql -u username -p -D databasename < database.sql

Make sure you replace username, and databasename with your specific choices, and enter the password when prompted.

Configure Storytlr:
in protected/config copy config.ini.sample to config.ini.

A few settings I've modified:

db.username
db.password
db.dbname
security.cookie
web.host
web.timezone - list of timezones.
app.from_email
app.admin_email
flickr.api_key - Only if you intend on importing Flickr photos. Get one here.

Folder permissions:

You have to make protected/logs, and protected/upload writeable.

chmod a+w protected/logs protected/upload

PHP Tidy:

I had to install the PHP Tidy package for several of the imports to work including RSS feeds.

sudo apt-get install php5-tidy

Login:

You can now login to your site using the default username:password of admin:storytlr. Make sure you change these.

Finishing:
Now you can pick your theme and start importing your social identity.

Update - Cron:
To get Cron running you have to execute the protected/tools/update.php script directly while specifying a username. This is what mine looks like to update every five minutes.

*/5 * * * * /usr/bin/php5 /home/www/storytlr/protected/tools/update.php admin

Since I'm a coder I also installed the GitHub plugin.

You can check out my lifestream here: http://stream.abrah.am. Link to your lifestream site in the comments.

UPDATE: Changed to a cleaner Cron command.

Seattle or Bust Episode 1: Kitten Kapades

2010-01-12T03:01:00.004-08:00

Over halfway to Seattle so I thought I would share some statistics.

View Larger Map

So far:

Miles: 1,100
Start time: 7AM
Naps: 3 x 45 minutes
Kitten photos: 2
Box escapes by kitten: 5
Tires with air topped off: 4
Red Bulls: 5
Time driving: 19 hours
Hours of religious talk radio: 1
Hours of gardening talk radio: 1

Kitten in box

Kitten not in box

Seattle bound

2010-01-04T23:36:00.001-08:00

I'm moving to Seattle, WA. While I am saddened to be leaving the awesome communities I've been apart of (Especially Web608 and Lothlorien). I'm excited about the new prospects in Seattle. If you are or know of someone in Seattle I should meet up with let me know.

This Saturday there is a farewell pizza party everyone is invited to.

See you on the West Coast!

My 2010 #doit list

2010-01-01T00:38:00.004-08:00

My #doit list for 2010. Some big, some fun, some awesome.

Make a real site for http://abrah.am.
Land a high profile job in San Francisco, CA.
Get a Huskey.
Do a six mile run in 60 minutes and start lifting weights regularly.
Get an approximation of my ideal home office computer setup.
Write a book or at least a chapter in a book.
Become proficient in two more languages.
Have a startup funded.
Kick some bad habits.
Get a Nexus One.
Be Awesome.
Enjoy life.
Clean my stuff out of mom's attic in Maine.
Compile a database of all public Tweets.
Write 365 blog posts. (One down :)
Be minimalist.
Get a California King size bed.

#doit is now my browser homepage as a reminder to work on my #doit list.

Node.js presentation from JSConf Berlin

2009-12-30T02:04:00.001-08:00

Find out more about Node.js.

Eggnog review: Organic Valley Eggnog

2009-12-29T20:31:00.000-08:00

Good amount of nutmeg. Flavor is a little weak.

Better then average. Recommendation: Buy.

Eggnog review: Organic Valley Eggnog, originally uploaded by 4braham.