Weblog Archive >  2007 >  June >  24 Previous / Next


Scripting News, the weblog started in 1997 that bootstrapped the blogging revolution.
 

I give up Permanent link to this item in the archive.

I don't identify as a consumer. Why not get it over with and refer to me as a parasite.

Will Linked-in open up? Permanent link to this item in the archive.

Apparently Linked-in is considering its options as a platform with an API. The reason: Facebook, newly open to developers, is stealing its thunder. It would be cool if they just implemented an identity service that managed relationships between users, and allowed developers to define the relationships. Rather than incrementally one-upping each other by being slightly more open, why not go all the way, and operate an indentity service for your own application and for everyone else. This would put Linked-in (or whoever) at the center of Internet 3.0.

A few days ago, I wrote about explosive deconstruction of social networks, and said I didn't know how it was going to happen but it was definitely going to happen. I posited that perhaps Twitter was enough of an identity system to serve as the core, and since then I have been able to latch a compelling app onto Twitter, one that captured a lot of people's imaginations in less than 48 hours. So that tells me that Twitter is probably sufficient (I have to finish the implementation).

Twitter meets podcasting, day 2 Permanent link to this item in the archive.

Continuing yesterday's thread.

I'm now working on a web service that takes four parameters:

1. username (a string)

2. password (a string)

3. MP3 bits (base64-encoded binary)

4. metadata (a struct)

The username and password are for the user's Twitter account. This data passes through the web service, it is not retained. You have my word of honor on that.

The bits are the "gram" -- the official limit is 200K, but there's a little bit of grace. (We'll accept slightly more than 200K.)

The metadata is a struct that can contain fields that have the same names as an RSS 2.0 item, such as title, link, description, category, source, etc. Very much like the Metaweblog API. Not all the elements are acceptable, but ones that aren't are ignored. (For example, enclosure.) All are optional, as is the struct itself. The title, if present, is used in forming the Twitter post. The remaining elements are retained, and used to form feed(s).

The twits are also posted to a global Twitter account -- twitogram. (They don't allow accounts whose name begin with "twitter.")

The username and password must be valid for the MP3 to be retained.

The service returns a string, if successful, the URL where the gram is stored. (I'm using Amazon S3 for the storage, so it should be fairly reliable.)

There's a limit to the number of grams you can post over time. Not sure exactly what the limit will be. Maybe no more than one every ten minutes? Interested in people's opinion.

The ideal client for this service, it seems, is Flash, because it can do the MP3 recording and has XML-RPC support. I will also implement a RESTful interface.

Disclaimer #1: Who does he think he is? Just some guy. ;->

Disclaimer #2: My mother loves me. (I think.)

More dislcaimers will follow.

Postscript #1: 29 hits today for TwitterGram.

Sign of the time Permanent link to this item in the archive.

Rafe Needleman: "Go to friend's wedding or blog Federated fracas?"

Berkeley hills Permanent link to this item in the archive.

Berkeley hills

This is the neighborhood I take my walks in.

What you can't tell from the picture is how perfect the climate is for exercise.

I think it's the nicest weather in the whole United States.

     

Last update: Sunday, June 24, 2007 at 10:56 PM Pacific.

Dave Winer, 52, pioneered the development of weblogs, syndication (RSS), podcasting, outlining, and web content management software; former contributing editor at Wired Magazine, research fellow at Harvard Law School, entrepreneur, and investor in web media companies. A native New Yorker, he received a Master's in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin, a Bachelor's in Mathematics from Tulane University and currently lives in Berkeley, California.

"The protoblogger." - NY Times.

"The father of modern-day content distribution." - PC World.

"Helped popularize blogging, podcasting and RSS." - Time.

"The father of blogging and RSS." - BBC.

"RSS was born in 1997 out of the confluence of Dave Winer's 'Really Simple Syndication' technology, used to push out blog updates, and Netscape's 'Rich Site Summary', which allowed users to create custom Netscape home pages with regularly updated data flows." - Tim O'Reilly.

Dave Winer Mailto icon

My most recent trivia on Twitter.

Comment on today's
Scripting News

On This Day In: 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997.

June 2007
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
 
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
May   Jul


Things to revisit:

1.Microsoft patent acid test.
2.What is a weblog?
3.Advertising R.I.P.
4.How to embrace & extend.
5.Bubble Burst 2.0.
6.This I Believe.
7.Most RSS readers are wrong.
8.Who is Phil Jones?
9.Send them away.
10.Negotiate with users.
11.Preserving ideas.
12.Empire of the Air.
13.NPR speech.
14.Russo & Hale.
15.Trouble at the Chronicle.
15.RSS 2.0.
16.Checkbox News.
17.Spreadsheet calls over the Internet.
18.Twitter as coral reef.
19.Mobs of the blogosphere.
20.Advice for Campaigns.
21.Social Cameras.
22.The Next Big Thing.
23.It's time to open up networking, again.
24.Am I competing?

Teller: "To discover is not merely to encounter, but to comprehend and reveal, to apprehend something new and true and deliver it to the world."

Click here to see a list of recently updated OPML weblogs.

Click here to read blogs commenting on today's Scripting News.

Morning Coffee Notes, an occasional podcast by Scripting News Editor, Dave Winer.

KitchenCam 1.0



Click here to see an XML representation of the content of this weblog.

Click here to view the OPML version of Scripting News.



© Copyright 1997-2007 Dave Winer.


Previous / Next