- Posted by Ian Suttle on January 30, 2008
- Filed under Social Networking
Over the weekend I received an invitation to attend the MySpace OpenSocial Hack-a-thon where some top peeps would present where MySpace was with OpenSocial adoption. A couple of IGN coworkers and I decided to check it out and took the drive to FIM HQ in Beverly Hills. After some typical LA traffic, an accident on the freeway, loads of traffic on Santa Monica Blvd. and a couple wrong turns, we arrived 15 minutes late into a room of 50 people built for 20... on with the hack-a-thon.
Hack-a-thon is misleading as there was no "hacking" or thon..ing going on at all. This turned out to be purely a presentation of how-tos and Q&A. And although we were pleased to see how far along MySpace had come with implementation the lack of any hands on time was a bummer. Nothing the free pizza didn't make up for though.
Expect to see a lot more from MySpace on the OpenSocial topic over the next month or two.
- Posted by Ian Suttle on January 30, 2008
- Filed under General | Startups | Social Networking
A friend of mine, Chris Anderson, is taking the leap of faith and has started an Internet company called Capzles.com. The idea is you tell a story using linear, time-based, layouts of media including photos, video, audio, blog entries, etc. This could be your life, your vacations, a product history, biography, marketing promotion, whatever. I love this idea. In fact, I love it so much I had considered the same idea myself before I ever knew Chris was working on this project and we were literally 100 yards away from eachother in an office suite. The initial force inside me was to capture a variety of details about my kids' lives which you can't capture in a photo album, photos site, blog, or any other form of album-like archiving I've seen.
Capzles explains their site with the following:
Capzles uniquely blends social networking and storytelling, allowing
users to express themselves through combined videos, photos/images,
blogs and music/audio along horizontal timelines (capzles) to share
stories. From vacations to new product launches, Capzles lets anyone
tell their stories in a fast, easy-to-use, high-style Flash interface
that more accurately reflects personality and style. Capzles is where
its audience is - everywhere on the Web - with its destination site,
widget for personal Web space, or licensed software.
Today he presented his creation at Demo 08. If you're not familiar with Demo and like new tech and startups, check it out.
If Capzles sounds interesting to you check out this video.
- Posted by Ian Suttle on November 26, 2007
- Filed under Open Source | Social Networking
I'm having a dilemma... an OpenSocial host should conform to a standard set of data (title, id, updated), but there's nothing saying they won't add additional data (site specific, biz card) through added namespaces. From a wrapper point of view I don't know if there will be custom data or not, yet certainly an implementation of the wrapper may want some of this custom data. Do I only concern my efforts with the minimum, standard data, or would it be better to have custom types containing the custom data? If custom types is the right answer (or preferred answer) do we simply support the big names (MySpace, Orkut, Ecademy, etc)?
At the moment I'm only worrying about basic data. I'm probably getting ahead of myself as OpenSocial data APIs aren't even released yet. If you have any feedback on this idea please let me know!
- Posted by Ian Suttle on November 24, 2007
- Filed under Open Source | Social Networking
I created a release of the OpenSocial.Net C# wrapper available here https://www.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ProjectName=OpenSocial&ReleaseId=8591. For non-release specific wrapper info check out http://www.codeplex.com/opensocial.
This release includes a basic People data API. I've added the sample web project to the release and have it available for preview at http://www.iansuttle.com/opensocial. If you have a chance to check it out feel free to discuss or report issues at htt://www.codeplex.com/opensocial.
If you're interested in helping out with this project let me know!
- Posted by Ian Suttle on November 7, 2007
- Filed under Social Networking
I've been giving a fair amount of attention to Google's OpenSocial platform over the past week. Here are some notes on what I've learned so far:
You have to apply to a host before anyone let's you participate. Orkut let me in, but Plaxo didn’t let me participate. They suggested I build my app first, then get back to them. I haven't tried Ning.
The OpenSocial libraries and data are very buggy right now. Google is quick to remind us we're part of a closed beta. I've also read reports of people in different parts of the world having different experience with uptime. For me, I was able to add my test Gadget to Orkut's sandbox environment and have it work, but it wouldn't work as an iGoogle gadget.
I'm also working on an OpenSocial C# wrapper for server side communications which I'll be hosting with CodePlex at http://www.codeplex.com/OpenSocial. It's tough to write against OpenSocial when it's not stable, but I'm a glutton for punishment.
If you'd like, feel free to keep track of my OpenSocial bookmarks.
- Posted by Ian Suttle on October 30, 2007
- Filed under Open Source | Social Networking
Update: MySpace has announced themselves as a host for OpenSocial. That means you'll have access to their profile, friend, and activity info in addition to the impressive list of other hosts!
On Thursday Google will reveal OpenSocial (link live Thursday), their latest developments for the wild world of online social networking. They decided not to be just another kid on the block although they already were with Orkut I guess. This time around they've created an open API which other existing social networks will adopt. Google doesn't mess around though... we're talking about integration with sites like Orkut, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Ning, Hi5, Plaxo, Friendster, and Viadeo. The APIs will cover the following topics:
- Profile Information (user data)
- Friends Information (social graph)
- Activities (things that happen, News Feed type stuff)
The sites themselves will dictate how you can and cannot integrate with their systems.
Personally I can't wait. I've been interested in Facebook apps (Facebook has not adopted OpenSocial, yet), social networking platforms, the upcoming MySpace platform (I work for IGN/FIM so I'm bias), and I absolutely adore LinkedIn.
If you're interested in reading more check out these other posts on the topic:
Details Revealed: Google OpenSocial To Launch Thursday
Google-Led gang to take on Facebook
Google launches open APIs for social networks