November 2007 Archives

So, the previous post's Cocomo Shared Whiteboard test went pretty well, albeit with a couple of issues.

I think I've got everything on the server (it's a very, very mini version of the service we're going to be hosting for everyone) sorted out now - I had a bunch of comments left in the previous post telling me there was nothing but gray for the app.

Others, like William Overington in England, took some cool snapshots - I liked the chaos here :

For all you debug-player enabled folks out there, if you spot RTEs, please copy paste them into the comments. You help is much appreciated.

Now, Go Draw!

I decided to have a little fun this Friday afternoon, and throw out a little Cocomo App for public use. Thought it might be cool to get something out there to show that this is for realz...

Yeah, it's crazy-buggy, and it's not the prettiest it could be, but I didn't have time to make a decent stylesheet. Also of note is the fact that everyone on this alpha box is Swedish. No, I don't know why either, ask Peldi. Sorry about the screwed up blog formatting - hit permalink to see the full thing properly.

... In case you were curious, here's a snapshot of THE CODE FOR THE ENTIRE APP ....

It looks like we're starting to see the first real apps that take advantage of the Share API. The other day, one of my colleagues told me about Handout, a new AIR app developed by Steven Gemmen of initApp(). It's like the sample app that I posted, times 100. Take a look at some of the features:

1. Drag and Drop upload multiple files to Share
2. Public share any of your Share Files.
3. Send Share file links directly to Pownce or Twitter. (With message)
4. Create a tinyurl for a Share public link.
5. Quickly get embed code for a shared file.
6. Share links and direct file links.

Handout definitely takes advantage of the AIR APIs to provide an experience that can't be created solely by the browser. Queuing up multiple files for upload is very convenient. Just fire and forget... but don't worry because you'll be notified when all your files are complete through a neat desktop popup.

What is really cool is the way Handout mashes up Share with Pownce and Twitter. It adds a real-time, social networking aspect that currently does not exist in the official Share web application. This is what it's all about: bringing together different services to create something new, useful, even unexpected. This is where the innovation happens, when data and functionality can be accessed outside of the browser and outside of each individual web application. It's still early, but we're entering a new world of possibilities with web services.

So give Handout a try. And for you developers out there, let us know about the awesome new apps you come up with!