Jeremy Brown, Mobile & Web development

Making a simple html file a Facebook canvas iFrame hosted for free(ish) on Google App engine

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 15:20:47 -0800

Want to build a custom page in Facebook but you are lost with the new layout, removal of tabs and depreciation of FBML, read the following.

1. Create a Facebook page, or update your existing page to the new layout. Its simple. Go here http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php?campaign_id=372931622610&placement=pghm&extra_1=0

2. Create an HTML file. I’d advise centre aligned, 520 wide and 900 tall for best results. Link any images using a relative path like

3. Register your Google App Engine (or hosting account ;p) http://code.google.com/appengine/

The name you register becomes your domain, write it down as you will need it.

“http://my-new-page-on-facebook.appspot.com”

4. Download the Google app launcher. This is like an FTP program for your website. http://code.google.com/appengine/downloads.html

5. Open App Engine Launcher enter the details of your new Google App. Click Deploy to test your app. This will create a folder that with some .py and .yaml extentions. Just leave them as they are configuration files.

6. Browse to your appengine folder on your local machine and then your “my-new-page-on-facebook” folder, create a folder called files and put your website html, css and images into this folder. This files folder will become the root path of your App Engine.

7. Rename the html file you wish to see in Facebook page is index.htm, we will create a rule later to force this if you wish to call the file something different ensure you update the next step to reflect this.

8. Click Edit in the Launcher and update the handlers to enable static web content. This will deploy into a folder called “files” is the location of your website and any images. There is a rule that will handle the correct handling for your index.htm. Filenotfound.htm is the file you will create and upload with an error message to help you if you chose to have multiple pages on your app engine.

handlers:

- url: /files/

static_dir: files

- url: /

static_files: files/index.htm

upload: files/index.htm

- url: /(.*)

static_files: files/\1

upload: files/(.*)

- url: .*

script: files/filenotfound.htm

9. Click deploy and test by browsing to your site “http://my-new-page-on-facebook.appspot.com”

10. Create a Facebook application. Don’t stress, you don’t need to know anything beyond HTML for this example. To create an application you will need to register at http://developers.facebook.com/ then click My apps from the top menu and Set Up a New App.

11. Click to app settings, under facebook integration give the app a url name and under website tab add our new site http://my-new-page-on-facebook.appspot.com

12. Give the application a Page Tab Name and Tab Url, this will then allow the page to be added to the navigation for your fan page.

13. Your app has been created! Now we need to link it up. Go to my apps, click Application Profile Page and just under the logo you will see Add app. You can now add your app to your Facebook page

14.

My Iframe is scrolling. Load the SDK before the

And load this before the tag

http://developers.facebook.com/docs/guides/canvas/

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Whiskas Earster iPhone app launched

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 17:40:00 -0700

Woo!! Easter in Australia = 5 day weekend!

We launched a free Whiskas iPhone app this Easter.
Its a bit of fun, putting bunny ears on your photos, shake for different ears and a swipe gallery of pics people are sharing.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/whiskas-earster-cats/id431829440?mt=8

Please tell me what you think of it! We put it together by the team at http://www.creativelicencedigital.com/

Permalink | Leave a comment »

WebGL, IntelliFax 2800 App Store, BUMP, HTML5, Moki, Steel Panther, Gameboy iPhone case

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 14:16:00 -0700

Heard of this new fantastic iPhone app yet?

http://www.quickerfeet.com/

Color is a fantastic app, we should all install and play with it today in the office

If I explained it in buzzwords it would be "Location aware crowd sourced photo blogging tool"

http://color.com/

The Brother IntelliFax 2800 App Store

I laughed all night at this, my wife didn't get it.

http://bit.ly/ex13b2

Three.js and WebGL are giving amazing results in 3D

Check out this F1 car simulation.

http://helloracer.com/webgl/

For more examples of Mr Doobs Three.js

http://mrdoob.com/blog/post/698

BUMP™! number plates

Awful idea. Just register your number plates and start getting hate posts over your favrourite social networks as to how bad your driving is.

http://www.bump.com/

jQuery Mobile gallery

Some nice examples here of jQuery mobile

http://www.jqmgallery.com/

HTML5 resources

I think this site is better than most books I've looked through

http://diveintohtml5.org/

This HTML5 site is "getting old" but still has some great ideas.

http://html5demos.com/

Google created this page for last years I/O I believe, the presentation is fantastic

http://www.html5rocks.com/

Amazing site uses Raphael.js (HTML5 Canvas)

http://thirteen23.com/

83% of PayPal Merchants Say Sales Have Increased Since Offering Popular Payment Method

http://www.ipsos-na.com/download/pr.aspx?id=10468

I can also see paypal mobile checkout improving this number as it reduces the number of form fields a customer is required to fill.

http://mobiforge.com/running/story/how-monetize-your-mobile-site-paypal-mobil...

Google Nexus S available in Australia

Local Nexus website available to find retailers

http://google.com.au/nexus

An Incubator From Down Under: Meet StartMate’s First Batch of Aussie Startups

http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/28/an-incubator-from-down-under-meet-startmates...

Gameboy iPhone case

http://www.ipwncase.com/

Blackberry Playbook US$499

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/252069,rim-to-sell-playbook-tablet-from-us499.aspx

Moki.TV is a tvguide for video streaming on the web

http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/17/moki-tv-is-the-ultimate-personalized-guide-t...

STEEL PANTHER - DEATH TO ALL BUT METAL

I want this to be real and not a joke sooo bad.

Proving the right to bear arms isn't such a good idea.

http://consumerist.com/2011/03/swat-called-to-taco-bell-gunman-pissed-over-pr...

Japanese tsunami destroys a town in four minutes

http://bit.ly/et9sWh

Japan is explaining the Fukushima situation to its children with the aid of a very, very poo heavy animation

Did file-sharing cause recording industry collapse?

Economists say no

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/03/is-file-sharing-the-global-fu...

Permalink | Leave a comment »

WebGL, IntelliFax 2800 App Store, BUMP, HTML5, Moki, Steel Panther, Gameboy iPhone case

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 14:16:00 -0700

Heard of this new fantastic iPhone app yet?

http://www.quickerfeet.com/

Color is a fantastic app, we should all install and play with it today in the office

If I explained it in buzzwords it would be "Location aware crowd sourced photo blogging tool"

http://color.com/

The Brother IntelliFax 2800 App Store

I laughed all night at this, my wife didn't get it.

http://bit.ly/ex13b2

Three.js and WebGL are giving amazing results in 3D

Check out this F1 car simulation.

http://helloracer.com/webgl/

For more examples of Mr Doobs Three.js

http://mrdoob.com/blog/post/698

BUMP™! number plates

Awful idea. Just register your number plates and start getting hate posts over your favrourite social networks as to how bad your driving is.

http://www.bump.com/

jQuery Mobile gallery

Some nice examples here of jQuery mobile

http://www.jqmgallery.com/

HTML5 resources

I think this site is better than most books I've looked through

http://diveintohtml5.org/

This HTML5 site is "getting old" but still has some great ideas.

http://html5demos.com/

Google created this page for last years I/O I believe, the presentation is fantastic

http://www.html5rocks.com/

Amazing site uses Raphael.js (HTML5 Canvas)

http://thirteen23.com/

83% of PayPal Merchants Say Sales Have Increased Since Offering Popular Payment Method

http://www.ipsos-na.com/download/pr.aspx?id=10468

I can also see paypal mobile checkout improving this number as it reduces the number of form fields a customer is required to fill.

http://mobiforge.com/running/story/how-monetize-your-mobile-site-paypal-mobil...

Google Nexus S available in Australia

Local Nexus website available to find retailers

http://google.com.au/nexus

An Incubator From Down Under: Meet StartMate’s First Batch of Aussie Startups

http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/28/an-incubator-from-down-under-meet-startmates...

Gameboy iPhone case

http://www.ipwncase.com/

Blackberry Playbook US$499

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/252069,rim-to-sell-playbook-tablet-from-us499.aspx

Moki.TV is a tvguide for video streaming on the web

http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/17/moki-tv-is-the-ultimate-personalized-guide-t...

STEEL PANTHER - DEATH TO ALL BUT METAL

I want this to be real and not a joke sooo bad.

Proving the right to bear arms isn't such a good idea.

http://consumerist.com/2011/03/swat-called-to-taco-bell-gunman-pissed-over-pr...

Japanese tsunami destroys a town in four minutes

http://bit.ly/et9sWh

Japan is explaining the Fukushima situation to its children with the aid of a very, very poo heavy animation

Did file-sharing cause recording industry collapse?

Economists say no

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/03/is-file-sharing-the-global-fu...

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Why is Node.js so popular, StackOverflow becoming StackExchange, Hacking a modern car, zero energy TV and cool offices

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 12:28:00 -0800

Fantastic article on Node.js
Why its so popular, who would consider using it and just what is it? If you are a dev and don't know about Node.js I strongly advise you read about it.
http://mashable.com/2011/03/10/node-js/

3,000 Web APIs: Trends From a Quickly Growing Directory
@programmableweb as their directory hits 3,000 APIs (was 105 in 2005)
http://goo.gl/bcOxt

18 resources for the best social media stats of 2011

http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/7458.aspx

mashable: Stack Overflow Secures $12M In Funding, Changes Name to Stack Exchange
http://on.mash.to/hA8gNe

NYT: Research Shows How Car's Electronics Can Be Taken Over Remotely
Cars in America often have cell phones in the core computer to allow remote unlocking and starting, not as common in Australia.
http://j.mp/hgDVBm

Samsung unveils Solar-Powered zero energy transparent TV
Its kinda cool, but who would watch tv backwards?
http://t.co/gLgNCER

The next 15 coolest offices in the world (after Creative Licence obviously)
Blog of Francesco MugnaiJamesDeAngelis: Office/Architecture
http://t.co/8CgyEbJ

If you haven't fallen for this already
"Oh dear, this exclusive picture of Mr Sheen on coke taken minutes ago!! #winning #charliesheen http://t.co/7s8EF3M"

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Free RIM Playbooks for Devs, PS# on iPhone, designing for mobile, Facebook updates like button, domain squatters were rich bastards, placekitten and Charlie Sheen

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 12:44:00 -0800

In news you already know
iPad2 lands in Australia March 25

Yesterday at Adobe Refresh

We were shown digital publishing and building apps in Adobe Air across all mobile devices. And heard lots of exploding noises controlled by the mouse and the presenters face....

We were also demoed the Blackberry Playbook its pretty impressive. I can see enterprise wanting to use it.

Currently all the apps for Playbook are written in Adobe Air.

RIM are giving away Playbooks

If you write an HTML5 or Air app and get it published in Playbooks market this month they will send you a free Playbook.

AT&T is giving away $10K

For the best HTML5 app - entries close March 8

http://bit.ly/e0hpdV

Need inspiration? See what people would like as an app

A collection of ideas for apps and websites people are wishing for

http://theinternetwishlist.com/

Mobile UI Patterns

Lessons learned from UI designer

http://mobile-patterns.com/

Everyair, play PS3 games on your phone

Remote Desktop App Will Allow Users To Play PS3 Games On The iPhone, iPad And iPod Touch

http://bit.ly/hilTlM

Facebook are overhauling the Like button

It's getting hard to keep up on all these updates.

http://www.insidefacebook.com/2011/02/27/like-button-full-story/

http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-overhauls-like-butto-2011-02

This is ontop of all the FBML to iframe changes

http://mashable.com/2011/02/24/facebook-pages-iframes/

Flashback to 1997: 'The Man who owns the internet'

Kevin Ham of Vancouver runs a $300mm domain names business

I hope he is in jail now I hate domain squatters.

http://goo.gl/Nne9f

Live the Sheen Dream

Bwahahahahaha! Quotes from Charlie Sheen in the past drug crazed weeks.

http://www.livethesheendream.com/

{placekitten}

For those special projects, when standard placeholder images just aren't good enough

http://placekitten.com/

YouTube - In the air tonight

I hav no idea what this guy is thinking...

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Find lost iPhones, Palestinian ruler looks to Facebook, Increase your laptop volume and laser cat bowling

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 17:10:00 -0800

CocoaHeads meetup next Thursday - March 3rd - Australian Cocoaheads
http://groups.google.com/group/cocoaheadsau/msg/ca74ccd5d82b4f6d

Find my iPhone
If you ever lose your phone, you can use this app to find it again. Register an account today!
http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/find-my-iphone/id376101648?mt=8

How 5 Companies Are Using the iPad to Increase Productivity
http://mashable.com/2011/02/24/ipad-productivity/

The tiny JSON rendering engine by TwigKit
http://bit.ly/h95y72

This guy built an app using AppEngine+Django that notifies you when friends break up... Awesome. via @pamelafox
http://bit.ly/fRyEl9

Hopes everyone talks to their loved ones about organ & tissue donation this week.
http://www.donatelife.gov.au

In the face of Libya and Egypt, Palestinian Ruler Asks Facebook Followers For Change
http://www.allfacebook.com/palestinian-ruler-asks-facebook-followers-for-chan...

Some Facebook Page Creation Tools
http://www.allfacebook.com/10-facebook-page-creation-tools-2011-02

76% of the marketers plan to invest in Facebook & 69% in Twitter
http://pollenmarketing.com.au/2011/02/80-marketers-to-increase-digital-social...

Boom, increase your laptop speakers up to 400%
http://thenextweb.com/apps/2011/02/22/boom-a-mac-app-to-pump-up-the-volume-by...

Collaborates all the daily deal sites into one email
http://dealpinch.com

YouTube - Cat Laser Bowling

Permalink | Leave a comment »

FMBL replaced by iFrames, Twitter vs Facebook infographic, Melbourne newspapers, SQL injection number plate and Emo dad

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 18:28:00 -0800

Facebook Drops FBML in Favor of iFrames – Advantages & Challenges
Another, technical look into this change in Facebook fan pages. Personally I think it just means the brands are going to stalk and copy our personal data more.
http://blog.involver.com/2011/02/facebook-drops-fbml-in-favor-of-iframes-adva...

How Twitter Compares To Facebook: Infographic
http://blog.tweetsmarter.com/twitter-stats/how-twitter-compares-to-facebook-i...

This is just inspiring but can't be real. Can it?
Urban SQL injection

Flashboard Wars: The Age vs The Herald-Sun
http://theagevsheraldsun.tumblr.com/

Replicating childhood photos
This is just excellent and funny
http://irinawerning.com/back-to-the-fut/back-to-the-future/

Know your Memes, Emo Dad
http://ow.ly/3XY12

Permalink | Leave a comment »

2010 Comscore mobile review, Is ie9 a modern browser, Google "We tried to get Nokia on Android", Groupon in Oz and fun stuff

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 14:18:00 -0800

Comscore 2010 Mobile Year in Review
Facebook usage on mobile grew by more than 120% in U.S. and EU5 in past year
http://www.comscore.com/content/download/7487/128871/version/2/file/comScore+...

Just for Peng
Is IE9 a modern browser? In summary, no.
http://j.mp/gdVwbW

Eric Schmidt keynote Android has 150k apps, 350k daily activations
http://androinica.com/2011/02/15/android-has-150k-apps-350k-daily-activations...
And "We tried to get Nokia to go to Android"
http://mashable.com/2011/02/15/eric-schmidt-honeycomb-video-editing/

Groupon Australia launched
Game on! Interesting space to monitor with many strong competitors.
Its called http://stardeals.com.au/

Text messaging still Far More popular than social networks
http://t.co/VMNm9vO via @techcrunch

OpenSignalMaps Crowd-sources mobile cell tower strength
80,000 downloads And counting
http://t.co/sFMPX9F via @techcrunch

Android Leads iOS For Mobile Ad Impression Share
Apple iOS ad requests increased 47% month-over-month
http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/14/millennial-for-the-second-month-android-lead...

Hands on Playstation phone
Doesn't look to have
http://mashable.com/2011/02/15/hands-on-sony-ericsson-playstation-phone/

USB powerpoints
Best invention ever
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/08/sockitz-gives-your-powerpoints-added-usb-ch...

Band wins best album at the Grammy's
A million people ask "Who Is Arcade Fire??!!?"
http://whoisarcadefire.tumblr.com/

Do YOU Have Bondi Chai yet?
Great simple facebook pages
http://on.fb.me/fi5F6s

Little Old Lady Calls To Have Google Pac-Man Disabled
http://techland.time.com/2010/06/08/little-old-lady-calls-to-have-google-pac-...

Steve Martin tour rider
He is playing the banjo doing a bluegrass music tour.
http://stevemartin.com/stevemartin/2010/06/steve-martins-tour-rider-leaked.html

Almost as good as Iggy pops rider [classic]
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/backstage/arena-rock/iggy-pop

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Github joke, newspapers look to Android, Karl Pilkington at a deaf KFC and lets all laugh at hipsters

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 14:00:00 -0800

Geek posts his genome to github. A smartass makes changes and issues a pull request.

http://j.mp/fpH8Rr

iseusa wanted no#1 in Google for "student exchange program"

And probably got it with 4.5 million pages of comment spam!

"Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic." - Google Search

http://bit.ly/i5wikI

Anger with Apple pushes firms to Android

The hardline approach taken by Apple towards media companies selling apps through its iTunes Store could push crucial content partners into the hands of competitors such as Google's Android.

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/smartphone-apps/anger-with-apple-pushes-firms-to-android-20110210-1aonm.html

Look at this fucking hipster

Another great tumblr site, hillarious.

http://www.latfh.com/

Karl Pilkington at a KFC for deaf employees

6 years on, I still can't tell if this guy is for real or just a character.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

RIP Guitar Hero, MeeGo dropped by Nokia, Facebook Phone, SydPHP & Facebook pages update today

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 13:09:00 -0800

There are 10 kinds of robots. Robots that understand binary code & robots that do not understand jokes about binary code.

RIP Guitar Hero
Most popular game a few years ago is now gone, Activision has closed it down.
http://mashable.com/2011/02/09/guitar-hero-dead/

Twitter is apparently worth $11 billion?
Seems high I mean I love Twitter but Yahoo bought Geocities for over $3 billion. Look what happened to that. With bandwidth so cheap is 140 characters all we want? Tumblr make more sense to me

Track Sydney buses live with GPS
I found this last night after my second 431 bus was cancelled. I hope this data merges into TripView app.
http://www.flinklabs.com/projects/buses/

Nokia drops first MeeGo phone before launch
http://j.mp/i56K9Q

INQ Gives First Demonstration Of Facebook Phone
http://www.allfacebook.com/inq-gives-first-demonstration-of-facebook-phone-20...

Sydney Events

SydPHP February 2011
24 Feb 2011 - 19:00 to 21:00
Sydney Mechanics School of Arts
280 Pitt Street, Sydney, Australia
http://sydphp.org/events/?event_id=9

Game Developers Syd Beer & Pixels
17 February · 19:00 - 22:00
Thai Garden - Downstairs @ The Bank Hotel
324 King Street Newtown, Australia

Surftourist launched today
http://www.surftourist.com/

Australian social media stats
http://matthewgain.com/2011/02/australian-social-media-stats-video-by-box-hil...

How they are charging their mobiles during the Egypt protests
http://zootool.com/watch/xvaab/

Changes to Facebook Pages about to Roll Out Today
Basically they want you to build iframed 510 wide content, host it on your server and use Graph to interact with their site.
http://post.ly/1bRrI

A trainwreck you can't stop watching.
This is a bad Flashmob which I'm guessing was designed to be viral internet sensation or a tv ad?
http://bit.ly/gOKFMs

Permalink | Leave a comment »

WebOS, $1,400 in Smurfs Village, Nokia health check, HTML5 discussion and the McBain movie

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 12:47:00 -0800

Some really like WebOS....
New HP TouchPad does look impressive. I don't think they will sell many.
http://www.palm.com/us/products/pads/touchpad/index.html

Someone's getting grounded!
8-Year-Old Girl Racks Up $1,400 Bill Playing "Smurfs Village" iPad Game (via @consumerist)
http://bit.ly/dK16k0

BBC News - Nokia at crisis point, warns new boss Stephen Elop
Nokia CEO says their platform is on fire, the bad kind of on fire. We find out this week what their plan is from the new CEO.
http://cot.ag/fz0H5T

Another take on HTML5 Vs Native apps
Personally, I don't think this guy knows whats fully possible with HTML5 his argument being "well I haven't seen it yet". But if Facebook are pushing as their mobile platform it will be interesting to see what Facebook and the big guys come up with.
http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/09/html5-versus-native-apps/

Meeennndooooossssaaaaaa!! "Simpsons" McBain movie
Ridiculously awesome, The McBain movie, put together from clips from all his appearance's.
http://bit.ly/gKBqXJ (via @ericphu)

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Load Android apps on iPhone, Nokia's future, Charlie Sheen story and Autotuning Obama

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 12:26:00 -0800

Reminder: Sydney JavaScript is 16 Feb
Micheil Smith: Deploying Node.js & Staying Sane
Mikkel Bergmann: BLAM ... Beautify, Lint And Minify your JavaScript
Jarrad Hope: A crash course in WebGL-fu
http://tixi.com.au/sydjs

Alien dalvik brings Android apps to non Android Phones
Now iPhones can get Angry Birds for free
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2011/02/08/myriads-alien-dalvik-brings-android-ap...

Nokia is set to make a big announcement this week
Could they be going Android? Or buy WebOS?
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/247470,opinion-mobile-industry-sweats-on-nokia-choice.aspx

British Airwaves iPhone app
Looks pretty sophisticated including ticketing with QR Codes
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/iphone-app/public/en_gb

Charlie Sheen is a bit of a douche
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-02-06/charlie-sheen-confe...

Best use of Autotune
TPain and Obama

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Stupid iPhone apps, Google i/O sold out in 1 hour, Using QR Codes, Stationery iPhone case and funny stuff

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 13:15:00 -0800

Developer stuff

William Wilkinson & My Stupid iPhone Gun App
No app is stupid enough, 17 year old made $16k one month
http://bit.ly/fB2LYh

Google I/O Tickets sold out In 59 Minutes
http://tcrn.ch/gP86rI

How QR Codes Can Grow Your Business
I liked this article just to see the applications of QR codes
http://bit.ly/fICsjp

Creative People

Seven Sparrows - Design and Letterpress
My friend is a designer with a 500kilo letterpress in her garage, she makes things.
http://sevensparrows.com.au

Simplest iPhone Case
I could make this with office stationery.
http://bit.ly/hTGixG

Isotope - jQuery plugin for magical layouts
http://bit.ly/hCJyn0

The Funny

The Seven Types of iPhone Users
Thanks to Me for this link
http://gizmodo.com/5752793/the-seven-types-of-iphone-owners

The 11 Funniest Signs on Telephone Poles
via @funnyordie I laughed a lot.
http://ow.ly/3RV4r

@PaulVerhoeven Nerd's #WebsiteOfTheWeek
http://www.awkwardboners.com/ NSFW, technically.

I can honestly say I have never been this drunk in my life
Classic YouTube video

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Sydney Google dev meetup, noteslate, mobile stats, Facebook fan pages and the Superbowl

Sun, 06 Feb 2011 13:24:00 -0800

iOS dev tip from @sadatrahman
If your app has any server side integration, wrap your server calls with background task completion enablement.

Next Sydney GTUG - Tue 22 Feb 2011 - Android, Maps, Fusion Tables
Welcome to 2011 ! We are off and running with a February meeting.
WHEN : Tue 22 Feb 2011 at 6pm (for 6:30pm start)
WHERE : Google Sydney, Level 5, 48 Pirrama Street, Pyrmont, Sydney
SPEAKERS (So far…): 1. MAPS API for JavaScript (with Fusion Tables)
Speaker : Chris Broadfoot (Google) 2. Android Tips & Tricks for Developers.
Speaker : John Scott
RSVP : Please fill in the form so we can cater for seats and snacks.http://goo.gl/tOTyJ

http://www.sydney-gtug.org/
http://twitter.com/sydgtug
http://groups.google.com/group/sydney-gtug/

Google I/O registrations have started
If you are looking to head to the US in May already, I'd suggest you check their official developer event. Cool HTML5 website also.
http://www.google.com/events/io/2011/

Some iOS developers are having their games ripped off and resold
http://www.gamefront.com/app-store-ripoffs-still-available-despite-complaints/

$99 note taking tablet
I like just how simple this is
http://noteslate.com/

Amazing stats on mobile, 200 trillion SMS messages each day in the US alone.
http://jponmedia.posterous.com/mobile-phone-usage-stats-200-trillion-daily-s

Chris Brogan's master list of compelling Facebook fan pages
http://is.gd/0Qyy9w

One great Facebook page I liked
Using images storytelling/timeline to explain Gary Vaynerchuk (WineTV)
http://www.facebook.com/gary?v=app_10531514314#!/gary?v=app_10531514314

Funny chart on whether you should comment on a Facebook status update.
http://j.mp/hCLy9S

The best part of the Superbowl is the ads...

30 superbowl ads you can watch online already
http://mashable.com/2011/02/05/super-bowl-ads-on-youtube/

The force, Volkswagen commercial

Doritos Pug

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Tibber launch, Android honeycomb, Bump update, HTML5 mobile opinion, Flikr in hot water and a new Mega Shark movie

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 15:44:00 -0800

The 2011 Yellow Pages are here! now we have a door stop to let in the breeze in this heat.

Events

Mobile Monday Sydney is on 7th Feb @ City Hotel
Lasso www.lasoo.com.au/ are presenting & more details to come!
Lasoo are publishing catalogues for their brands on the iPad
http://tinyurl.com/4tn4og4

Review of Tibbr social enterprise platform
Keynote at Sydney launch on February 8
http://bit.ly/ihIbnv

Developer stuff

Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) unveiled today
http://mashable.com/2011/02/02/google-unveils-android-honeycomb-live/

Bump 2.4 Shares Your App Recommendations With Fellow iPhone Users
http://bit.ly/ewV4lp

Mobile adoption rates
Three major players are pretty close to even share. I have a feeling this is US only data.
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/mobile_os_adoption_a_tale_of_two_graphs.php

iOS development highlights: January 2011
Great blog post on the highlights working in iOS recently.
http://oleb.net/blog/2011/01/ios-development-highlights-january-2011/

There are many business benefits to building HTML5 mobile apps, but few, if any, user experience benefits.
Statement recently from @cvilly Craig Villamorhttp://twitter.com/#!/cvilly/status/32569049208590336

@lukew has expanded on this, its kind of interesting but a little dry.
Are there ANY user experience benefits to mobile Web apps VS native mobile apps?
http://bit.ly/fs2VI

My rule: Never delete ANYTHING!
Flickr Accidentally Deletes the Wrong Account, Vaporizing 4,000 Photos
Why in 2011 where 500Gb costs $40 would you delete anything?
http://t.co/zyRC0Xh

Other stuff

Travelling to the US soon?
Lonely Planet has made 13 of its US & Canada iPhone City Guides free for a limited time.
http://bit.ly/gdz2OX

Tumblr- Little Big Details
Great design blog detailing making great UI
http://littlebigdetails.com/

Thought you might get a kick out of this latte art printer
http://t.co/KXMCwNi

Mega Shark Vs. Crocosaurus Trailer
Stars Jaleel White (Steve Urkel). This is real and its awesome.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Groupon in Australia, Apple on ebook apps, Blackberry Playbook, how to get hired by Facebook and Shazzam for TV shows

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 12:43:00 -0800

Wednesday! Time for a celebratory Shoryuken! → ↓ ↘ + P

iOS developer and apps

Another dev's take on explaining memory management
http://prematuredeallocation.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/concept-tutorial-memory...

Shazzam type iPhone App Identifies 2.6 Million TV Shows by “Listening”
http://mashable.com/2011/01/31/intonow/

ReadWriteMobile: 26% of Mobile Apps Used Just Once
Or is it 26% of apps experienced memory leaks and crashed the first time opened.
http://rww.to/guq81

New York Times, all in-app book purchases to go through Apple
With Kindle's success and Sony writing ebook apps for ipad it's no wonder Apple are putting their foot down on in app purchases that don't go through itunes
http://nyti.ms/f5staj

Quora: How did Chris Putnam get hired at Facebook?
Answer he hacked them breaking Facebook to look like MySpace.
http://www.quora.com/How-did-Chris-Putnam-get-hired-at-Facebook

BlackBerry PlayBook for business video

Big conference on this week for Playbook
http://bit.ly/e48tfo

Social Media

How to Create a Facebook Engagement Policy
http://mashable.com/2011/01/31/facebook-engagement-policy/

You Can Now Buy Up to 16 Terabytes of Storage from Google
$4k per year
http://rww.to/ebDkae

Todays daily deal Groupon clone is...
http://www.ouffer.com

Groupon is now landing in Australia
Looking at old MySpace office
http://ow.ly/1b7BNq

Other Stuff

Netgear CEO isn't a big fan of Steve Jobs.
From his talk in SMH on Monday. Patrick Lo discusses android, Jobs' ego, death of Microsoft and why iTunes needs top open up. I think this reporter has a major bias. His views became a big deal overnight and he has since apologised.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2378953,00.asp

What is the internet?
TV presenters had no idea in 1994

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Facebook looks to HTML5 as alternative to 7 mobile apps, Taco Bells 35% beef & recycled ipad covers

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 12:42:00 -0800

Applitude
An Objective C runtime framework and a domain-specific language for iPhone application development.
http://redd.it/fbwy4

Facebook focusing on HTML for mobile
Due to the overhead of managing 7 native apps with a dynamic product
http://t.co/EtyJHbw

Recycled material iPad, Mac book covers from an Australian company
Created using left over Vinyl billboard signs and print blankets
http://www.haul.com.au/

Sydney Python Users Group
When: This Thursday 3rd Feb, 6:15pm
Where: Google Sydney, Pyrmont

This month's meet features a Python IDE smackdown. If you want to defend your favourite IDE, let Dylan know on the sypy mailing list.
Info and RSVP: http://sypy2011feb.eventbrite.com/

Taco Bell Beef Taco's contain 35% beef and Stephen Colbert is fine with that.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/28/stephen-colbert-defends-taco-bell_n_...

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Indias terminator, iPad for cats, Facebook top 30 pages, Objective-C Memory for Lazy people and mobile predictions

Sun, 30 Jan 2011 13:08:00 -0800

iPhone apps

Another iPad market cornered...
http://ipadgameforcats.com

LEGOPhoto Convert Photos Into Lego Portraits (iPhone app)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lego-photo/id347363502?mt=8

PinchZooms 2011 predictions for mobile
Some interesting commentary, wouldn't call it fact.
http://blog.wapreview.com/8914/

Development

Objective-C Memory Management For Lazy People
Very clear and simple article breaking down how to manage memory in Obj-C, but remember its a blog post not the law, the comments you could find useful.
http://j.mp/hMuCwa

Facebook

How to successfully implement Facebook's Open Graph
Perhaps a little basic and more for web but the implementation is the same for any Graph use. Sharing links this way should be implemented for any link for example the obvious use would be to share the itunes link to an app to encourage friends to download it..
http://blog.datalicious.com/how-to-successfully-implement-facebooks-open

But is this using too many plug-in apps?
The new Deloitte Australia Facebook page integrates with Get Satisfaction, livestream video, Yammer, but does relying on these services make sense in reduced costs and constant feature development?
http://on.fb.me/gSw0Da

Top 30 Facebook fan pages
This list is kind of depressing do we really care that much about Vin Diesel?
http://www.nickburcher.com/2010/10/top-30-facebook-fan-pages-by-number-of.html

Today's Quora: What's the future of the social media strategist role?
Lots of great answers http://qr.ae/sKOP

Sydney Events

Ignite Sydney
Looks to be some page pretty interesting speeches.
When: Thursday, 10th Feb 2011 6:00 pm
Where: Oxford Art Factory, 42 Oxford St, Sydney

Silicon Beach Drinks
When: Friday, February 4, 2011 6:00 PM
Where: Bar 77, Grace Hotel 77 York Street Sydney

Memes

"What is Internet?"
In 1994, Katie Couric and her NBC news colleagues had no idea.
http://arseh.at/3sn

Robot, perhaps the greatest movie ever created in India.
Think an Indian Terminator except a little tubby with a skunk haircut and Matrix style skills, who can turn into a giant snake.

What is the most obvious red flag this guy is unstable.

Answer, he still uses Yahoo AND Internet Explorer.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Growing up being truly outrageous

Sat, 29 Jan 2011 18:52:00 -0800

Jem was my nickname all the way through primary school until "Jem" this Barbie for poor kids came out. I remember feeling humiliated being called Jem from that day on. "That was a dolls name", I mean why did Hasbro name a doll after me?

I was probably about 9 at the time, but to this day I'm still cautious about people who grow up with names for both sexes, like Lindsay. They must feel conflicted with their parents naming decision at some point after the thirtieth call center sales pitch mixing up Mr and Mrs Lindsay.

My wife and I are having a baby soon and I see the appeal, its a name you could both decide on, perhaps regardless of the sex.

Still, I'd never call any kid "Jem" its an awful nickname I can't ever remember liked having even before the lame 80's cartoon :)

Permalink | Leave a comment »