iPodia for Wikipedia

Simon Schoeters <p>This weekend I was discussing what <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_Mercier" title="Cardinal Mercier on Wikipedia" class="ext">Cardinal Mercier</a> did during his life that he has a <a href="http://maps.google.be/maps?q=Mercierlaan,+Leuven" title="Find Kardinaal Mercierlaan in Leuven in Google Maps" class="ext">street in Leuven</a> named after him. As with most of these discussions these questions tend to bother me for the rest of the day. At home I would do a quick Google search but not everyone has a computer in their living room let alone on the train to Brussels as in this case. Wouldn't it be nice to have Google in your pocket?</p> <p>Enter <a href="http://keishi.net/ipodia/" title="iPodia, an iPhone interface for Wikipedia" class="ext">iPodia</a>, an iPhone interface for Wikipedia with an optimized layout and a find function to look for text in a longer article. The auto-completion search field makes it easy to look for a keyword. iPodia is available in 10 different languages.</p> <p>The Dutch language option in the drop-down box forwards to the Portuguese version of iPodia at the moment but I suppose this will soon be fixed (for now you can change the code in the URL if you have to).</p> <h3>Updates</h3> <ul> <li>The Dutch language bug is fixed now as <span class="vcard"><a class="url fn ext" href="http://keishi.net/">Keishi</a></span> points out in the comments. Thanks!</li> <li><a href="http://www.powerset.com/" title="Search and read Wikipedia articles with Powerset" class="ext">Powerset</a> released an iPhone optimized Wikipedia search engine <abbr title="20080619">today (June 2008)</abbr>. I love the design and usability! Make sure to try out the outline views or in-article search features, it feels very Mac OS X like. It doesn't have the multiple language support like iPodia but I changed my bookmark to Powerset right away.</li> </ul>

2008-01-14T17:22:57+01:00

ipodia iPodia for Wikipedia

2008-06-19T14:41:55+02:00

Simon Schoeters <p>I use Remember The Milk, an online to do list and task management application, to keep track of the things I need to do as I tend to forget, well... almost everything. Thanks the <abbr title="Remember The Milk">RTM</abbr>'s <abbr title="Application Programming Interface ">API</abbr> the list of integrations with other systems is impressive: an <a href="http://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/igoogle/" title="iGoogle Gadget" class="ext">iGoogle gadget</a>, <a href="http://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/gmail/" title="Remember The Milk for Gmail" class="ext">Gmail</a> integration and <a href="http://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/milksync/" title="MilkSync" class="ext">Windows Mobile</a> syncing, just to name a few.</p> <p>There is an <a href="http://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/iphone/" title="Remember The Milk for iPhone and iPod Touch" class="ext" />iPhone interface</a> as well, which looks great by the way. Only one small problem though, you need a pro account if you want to use it after the 30 days trail period. Well, as of yesterday there is a solution for that: my flatmate <span class="vcard"><a class="url fn ext" href="http://www.fousa.be/" rel="friend met colleague co-resident">Jelle Vandebeeck</a></span> wrote a great - free - iPhone interface for Remember The Milk.</p> <h3>iFousa</h3> <p>Let's give the stage to Jelle for a moment, shall we?</p> <p><img src="/images/ifousa.gif" alt="iFousa screenshot" title="iFousa on iPhone" /><br /><small>Used with permission from <a href="http://www.fousa.be/" rel="friend met colleague co-resident" title="Jelle's website">the Fousa</a>.</small></p> <blockquote cite="http://www.apple.com/webapps/productivity/ifousa.html"> <p>Find it hard to remember your daily tasks? Wonder if it's possible to keep track of them where ever you are? Well now you can! With this application you're able to check your tasks everywhere your go. Well at least every where you have an EDGE connection...</p> <p>You can add and delete tasks on the fly. Hey, you can even complete or postpone them... Every action is handled by a framework that connects to the ‘Remember The Milk’ server. So nothing is stored by the app, but goes directly to the framework.</p> </blockquote> <p>I have been bèta testing his application over the last few days and it's great! The official RTM iPhone interface has more features but iFousa is a great alternative for anyone who needs quick access to his tasks on the road, did I already mention it's completely free? So, give it a try and give Jelle some feedback, I'm sure he would appreciate it. The webapp is written in Ruby On Rails but I suppose that's no surprise if you know Jelle a little.</p> <p>At work I use the RTM <a href="http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/tips/2951/" title="Viewing your RTM lists in the Firefox Sidebar" class="ext">iGoogle gadget in my Firefox sidebar</a> or the full website but iFousa is the preferred interface when I'm not behind a computer screen. Thanks to RTM and iFousa I can manage (and remember) my to do list wherever I want.</p> <h3>Resources</h3> <ul> <li>Try the <a href="http://i.fousa.be/rtm" title="iFousa for iPhone" class="ext">iFousa for Remember The Milk</a> on your iPhone.</li> <li>Check the official <a href="http://www.rememberthemilk.com" title="Official Remember The Milk website" class="ext">Remember The Milk</a> website.</li> </ul>

2008-01-30T11:24:21+01:00

rtm-for-iphone Remember The Milk interface for iPhone

2008-06-23T17:56:48+02:00

Simon Schoeters <p><span class="vcard"><a class="url fn ext" href="http://www.fousa.be/" rel="friend met colleague co-resident">Jelle</a></span> did it again! He wrote Funes as an Objective-C learning app: a one-purpose application to rate your iTunes songs form the menu bar. It's Mac OS X Leopard only at the moment but he is working on a Tiger compatible version as well.</p> <p><img src="/images/funes.png" alt="Funes screenshot" title="Funes"><br /><small>Used with permission from <a href="http://www.fousa.be/" rel="friend met colleague co-resident" title="Jelle's website">the Fousa</a>.</small></p> <p>I was quite skeptical when he submitted his application on the Apple website, the surely must be a few 100 applications like this out there... no? Well, it seems there isn't and Funes was an Apple staff pick right away. The next day <a href="http://lifehacker.com/378617/rate-songs-from-the-status-menu-with-funes/" class="ext" title="Rate Songs from the Status Menu with Funes">Lifehacker</a> and <a href="http://www.simplehelp.net/2008/04/10/how-to-quickly-rate-songs-in-itunes-os-x/" class="ext" title="How to quickly rate songs in iTunes">Simple Help</a> featured his application, impressive.</p> <p>Lifhacker reader <span class="vcard"><a class="url fn ext" href="http://lifehacker.com/commenter/dpseal/">dpseal</a></span> notes that you can rate songs with a right click on the iTunes icon in the dock as well. This tip is even easier as the little Funes application. Other ways are ratings with <a href="http://www.simplehelp.net/2008/04/10/how-to-quickly-rate-songs-in-itunes-os-x/#comment-120631" class="ext">Quicksilver</a> or <a href="http://growl.info/documentation/growltunes.php" class="ext">GrowlTunes</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://www.fousa.be/appz/" class="ext" title="Funes product page">Grab a copy</a> to see it yourself...</p>

2008-04-11T17:56:33+02:00

funes iTunes song ratings with Funes

2008-04-11T19:13:08+02:00

Simon Schoeters <h3>The Urban Web</h3> <p><span class="vcard"><a class="url fn ext" href="http://www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/">Steven Johnson</a></span> opened <a href="http://2008.dconstruct.org/" class="ext" title="dConstruct 2008: Designing the social web">dConstruct 2008</a> with the interesting story of Dr. <span class="vcard"><span class="fn">John Snow</span></span>. Snow created a map showing the clusters of cholera cases in the <abbr class="geo" title="51.514035;-0.134634">London</abbr> epidemic of <abbr title="1854">1854</abbr>. By doing so he proved that cholera wasn't spread by smell like people thought but the water from a contaminated pump on Broad Street. Snow showed how data visualization can suddenly reveal useful information that wasn't visible before. Johnson called Snow's map the ‘first mashup’ which sounded like a nice tribute to what Snow's discovery meant to the world.</p> <p>Johnson explained how is trying to map local news from different sources with his <a href="http://outside.in/" title="Tracking news, views, and conversations in towns and neighborhoods">outside.in</a> project. While the idea sounds great and the screenshots looked good I'm not really convinced yet. Sure, this may work fine in <abbr class="geo" title="40.728333;-73.994167">Manhattan</abbr> or <abbr class="geo" title="37.429167;-122.138056">Palo Alto</abbr> but not everyone writes in English. Even when they do you'll still need that ‘critical mass’ in order to collect something useful. They also did some research to find the ‘blogiest’ neighborhoods in the <abbr class="geo" title="38.883333;-77.016667">United States</abbr>, a great idea which I would like to try in <abbr class="geo" title="50.9;4.533333">Belgium</abbr> as well.</p> <h3>Playing the Web</h3> <p><span class="vcard"><a class="url fn ext" href="http://www.toastkid.com/">Aleks Krotoski</a></span> tried to bring the game industry and webdesign world closer together. Aleks has an incredible enthusiasm but for me the topic wasn't that interesting and I felt it missed a story line.</p> <h3>Leveraging Cognitive Bias in Social Design</h3> <p><span class="vcard"><a class="url fn ext" href="http://bokardo.com/">Joshua Porter</a></span> went on with social biases and heuristics: how a language can influence decisions or advanced psychology for webdesigners. For example: people tend to be more afraid of loosing something than winning, known as the ‘loss aversion’ or how people often do and believe things because many other people do, the ‘bandwagon effect’. Porter referred to a paper which I'm planning to read at some point: “<a href="http://books.google.be/books?id=_0H8gwj4a1MC" class="ext" title="Preview this book in Google Book Search">Judgement under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases</a>”. An interesting topic but it could use some of the enthusiasm Aleks had in her presentation.</p> <h3>Designing for Interaction</h3> <p><span class="vcard"><a class="url fn ext" href="http://www.deltatangobravo.com/">Daniel Burka</a></span>, the creative director at Digg and on of the founders of Pownce, spoke about the ‘cohesive user experience’ or how Digg tried to allow users to participate on the site without requiring them to follow a lengthy signup process. Nice to have a little insight in the development process behind a huge site like Digg.</p> <h3>Social Network Portability</h3> <p><span class="vcard"><a class="url fn ext" href="http://www.tantek.com/">Tantek Çelik</a></span> followed with his <a href="http://microformats.org/" title="The official microformats wiki" class="ext">microformats</a> presentation. I expected a great deal from his presentation, maybe a little too much. It was a little too advanced for those who have never heard of microformats before and not advanced enough for the others. Maybe I shouldn't have bought that <a href="http://suffix.be/blog/microformats-book" title="My review for Allsopp's microformats book">microformats book</a> on last year's edition. ;)</p> <h3>Designing for the Coral Reef</h3> <p>Next up: <span class="vcard"><a class="url fn ext" href="http://www.blackbeltjones.com/">Matt Jones</a></span> and <span class="vcard"><a class="url fn ext" href="http://www.hackdiary.com/">Matt Biddulph</a></span>. My opinion? Splendid! Those two <a href="http://www.dopplr.com/" title="Dopplr, an online tool for frequent business travellers" class="ext">Dopplr</a> guys gave the most hectic presentation of the day and I loved it. They talked about how Dopplr could be as little intrusive as possible, a connector between different social networks and passing on the data to the next (web)app. They explained how they preferred to grow slowly, trying to build up trust first as they seem to understand where you are at a given point is sensitive data for most people. My Dopplr ‘friends’ (a word they specifically refuse to use) tripled in a single day which shows how everyone gave Dopplr a second look after their presentation, nicely done Matt & Matt.</p> <h3>The System of the World</h3> <p><span class="vcard"><a class="url fn ext" href="http://www.adactio.com/">Jeremy Keith</a></span> closed with a science fiction story which I didn't really understand in the beginning. He tried to prove that the success of social webapps are unpredictable, even though we are likely to think we can. It was an unusual presentation that felt confusing at the start but became better and better towards the end. His point on the strength of weak ties was something completely new to me. Another <a href="http://www.si.umich.edu/~rfrost/courses/SI110/readings/In_Out_and_Beyond/Granovetter.pdf" title="The strength of weak ties: a network theory revisited by Mark Granovetter (PDF)" class="ext">book</a> to read.</p> <h3>More resources</h3> <ul> <li>My dConstruct <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/schoeters/sets/72157607274925615/" title="dConstruct photo set on Flickr" class="ext">Flickr</a> photos.</li> <li>Burka's presentation “<a href="http://www.slideshare.net/dburka/designing-for-interaction-presentation/" title="Designing for Interaction on slideshare" class="ext">Designing for Interaction</a>” on slideshare.</li> <li>Çelik's presentation “<a href="http://tantek.com/presentations/2008/09/social-network-portability/" title="Social Network Portability" class="ext">Social Network Portability</a>”.</li> <li>Keith's presentation “<a href="http://www.slideshare.net/adactio/the-system-of-the-world-presentation/" title="The System of the World on slideshare" class="ext">The System of the World</a>” on slideshare.</li> </ul>

2008-09-12T18:37:57+02:00

dconstruct2008 dConstruct 2008 roundup

2008-09-19T11:51:39+02:00

Simon Schoeters <p><span class="vcard"><a class="url fn org" href="http://entp.com/">entp</a></span>, the company behind <a href="http://lighthouseapp.com/" class="ext" title="Lighthouse is a webbased application to collaborate and manage projects of all sizes">Lighthouse</a> (our <a href="http://www.milkcarton.be/" title="Some small open source apps we make" rel="me" class="ext">milkcarton</a> project management tool), open sourced <a href="http://www.warehouseapp.com/" title="A beautifull webbased Subversion browser" class="ext">Warehouse</a> as you can read in their <a href="http://hoth.entp.com/2008/9/30/warehouse-is-now-open-source/" title="Warehouse is now open source" class="ext">announcement</a>. This is great news by itself but I wouldn't write about that. What's more interesting is why they did it.</p> <p>It seems normal: <a href="http://git.or.cz/" title="Fast Version Control System" class="ext">Git</a> is gaining market share and other companies are creating webbased Git browsers like <a href="http://github.com/" title="Webbased Git browser" class="ext">github</a> so entp's <abbr title="Subversion">SVN</abbr> client Warehouse is loosing terrain. Most companies would highlight why their product is still better as the competition but not so for entp:</p> <blockquote cite="http://hoth.entp.com/2008/9/30/warehouse-is-now-open-source/">The fact is, we (and most of our target audience) moved from subversion to git or mercurial. Also, the Logical Awesome guys scare us. First, there's their kick ass git commit browser out there that embodies the spirit of git exceptionally well. Then, they prove that they can do Subversion hosting better than us. Yikes.</blockquote> <p>“Scare us”, what company uses such words to describe the competition? Wait, this is only the first part. They don't only admit that there is something better out there... They don't only give away the source code for free... They also refund customers who recently joined:</p> <blockquote cite="http://hoth.entp.com/2008/9/30/warehouse-is-now-open-source/">What happens to the current customers? We'll be issuing refunds out for anyone that's purchased in the last two months (that's as far as Paypal will go back). Anyone else that feels they should get a refund can contact me and we'll work something out.</blockquote> <p>This is the kind of company I can appreciate. In the long run I think this makes them more trustworthy and transparent. A good move if you ask me.</p>

2008-10-02T18:12:18+02:00

warehouse-open-source Warehouse is now open source

2008-10-02T18:14:06+02:00

Simon Schoeters <p>Today <a href="http://labs.mozilla.com/" title="Mozilla Labs" class="ext">Mozilla Labs</a> announced <a href="http://labs.mozilla.com/2008/10/introducing-geode/" title="Introducing Geode @ Mozilla Labs" class="ext">Geode</a>. Mozilla plans to add it in a future version of Firefox but today it's already available as an add-on. It adds the ability for a website to request your location. You can than optionally choose to send your exact location, neighborhood or city to that site.</p> <img src="/images/geode.png" alt="Geode screenshot" /> <p>I have been waiting for this to come out, especially after <span class="vcard"><span class="fn">Aza Raskin</span></span>'s <a href="http://www.azarask.in/blog/post/firefox-geolocation-js-library/" title="Geolocation Redux and a JS Library @ Aza's Thoughts" class="ext">conceptual post</a>. The interface is intuitive (although I preferred Aza's somewhat more graphical version).</p> <p>I tried the plugin on the Geode <a href="http://labs.mozilla.com/geode_welcome/" title="Geode sample page" class="ext">sample page</a> and it does what it should do. Well - that's to say - it showed my location exactly as promised, the same way my iPhone does. Geode probably uses the <a href="http://www.skyhookwireless.com/" class="ext">Skyhook</a> database (like the iPhone) to determine the location based on the <abbr title="Wireless Fidelity">Wi-Fi</abbr> access points it can ‘see’. This is a bit of a problem as the Skyhook coverage in Europe is bad and as such not very useful (yet). Skyhook is extending its coverage in Europe and Mozilla is looking for other providers as well so it may get better over time.</p> <blockquote cite="http://labs.mozilla.com/2008/10/introducing-geode/">We're still working out the specifics, but we're hoping that location will be provided by one or more user selectable service providers and methods, e.g. GPS-based, WiFi-based, manual entry, etc.</blockquote> <p>Why would you need this? Mozilla gives the same old example of finding a restaurant near your location by ‘pulling out you laptop’. I don't think people ‘pull‘ out their laptops that easily (that's up the the iPhones and BlackBerrys) but I can see the movie theatre showing the schedule for the nearest complex at the top of the list or Google giving a higher score to search results nearby. I suppose we'll even see location aware ads with the promotions of the closest supermarket.</p>

2008-10-08T00:23:59+02:00

welcome-geode Welcome Geode

2008-10-08T00:25:53+02:00

Simon Schoeters <p>Yesterday we went to <a href="http://www.mobilemonday.be/" title="The Mobile Monday Brussels wiki" class="ext">Mobile Monday Brussels</a>. Mobile Mondays are community events for:</p> <blockquote cite="http://www.mobilemonday.be/">[...] mobile industry visionaries, developers and influential individuals. The Mobile Monday spirit is one of open innovation and is seen as a catalyst for mobile innovations.</blockquote> <p>All around a central theme: “When marketing meets mobile”. The organizers in Belgium would like to keep it small and informal for now to let it grow organically. In September this year around 20 participants showed up, this time 46 people subscribed. It's growing already.</p> <h3>Presentations</h3> <ul> <li> <p><a href="http://flickr.com/photos/schoeters/3038845989/in/set-72157609292347956/" rel="me" title="See a larger version on Flickr" style="float: right; margin: 5px 0 5px 10px"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3054/3038845989_a2f35d14c6_s.jpg" height="75" width="75" alt="" /></a></p> <p><span class="vcard"><span class="fn">Fabian Tilmant</span> from <a href="http://www.cleverwood.be/" class="url org ext">Cleverwoods</a></span> spoke about “<a href="http://www.slideshare.net/fabiantilmant/mobile-monday-key-role-of-platforms-presentation" title="Check out Fabian's presentation on SlideShare" class="ext">Mobile Advertising: what can we expect in Belgium</a>”. He explained why mobile internet needs more ‘mobile platforms’ to see its breakthrough. Platforms are needed as a basic layer for advertising and he explained that a mobile model can't succeed without advertising.</p> <p>Although I do agree that advertising is an important factor, I don't think you always need advertisements. The <a href="http://m.standaard.be/" title="Mobile version of De Standaard, a Belgian newspaper (Dutch)" class="ext">mobile</a> De Standaard site (a Belgian newspaper) doesn't inlcude adds and still everyone keeps mentioning them (or is this free advertising I'm promoting here?).</p> <p>Especially with the limited screen real estate and a low user attention level we'll need a different kind of advertising, banners just won't do it. I think you'll need to give the user something back for the time he invests in your ad: sponsored content maybe or a sponsored mobile game? The free version of Twitterific includes non-obstructive ads, is this the way to go?</p> </li> <li><span class="vcard"><span class="fn n"><span class="given-name">Jean-Paul</span> <span class="family-name">de Ville</span></span> was supposed to demo <a href="http://www.pumbby.com/" class="url org ext">Pumbby</a></span>, a service that pays you to receive ads on your mobile phone. I was looking forward to this one but Jean-Paul was ill. Now I still don't know why this happy sounding name needs two B's. Oh well...</li> </ul> <h3>Networking</h3> <p>After the presentations everyone introduced himself briefly. This wouldn't have been possible in a larger event but here it worked out perfectly. In my opinion it lowered the barrier for the networking later on and showed what companies are interested in mobile platforms today. It seems most participants have a media/advertisement background but it was nice to see De Lijn (public bus and tram service in Flanders) was there as well as I like to complain about the lack of mobile support on their site.</p> <p>The <abbr title="Nationale Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen">NMBS</abbr> (Belgian national railway operator) and De Lijn are really important companies to promote mobile internet in Belgium. If they could provide their mobile platform (with an <abbr title="Application Programming Interface ">API</abbr> if possible) with the bus and train schedules it could be a huge boost for mobile internet if you ask me. I'm pretty sure the developer community could take over from than on and create mobile widgets or mashups that find the next bus home (delays included) when your train arrives.</p> <p>I had a great discussion with the guys from Microsoft as well, about the need for a company to embrace mobile platforms or not. Even though our views differ I liked to exchange thoughts.</p> <p>Still interested? Have a look at the <a href="/blog/momo8-amsterdam" title="My blog post on Mobile Monday Amsterdam a few weeks earlier">Mobile Monday Amsterdam</a> post I wrote earlier this month.</p>

2008-11-18T13:04:44+01:00

momo2-brussels Mobile Monday Brussels

2008-11-19T14:24:21+01:00

Simon Schoeters <div class="hreview"> <p class="item"><span class="fn">Sharecard</span> is a €1.59 app from <a href="http://www.doseido.com/products/sharecard" title="Sharecard product page @ Doseido" class="url ext">Doseido</a> that sends an iPhone contact in vCard format by mail. I browsed around on the App Store for a way to easily share my contact information when I meet someone. My requirements: fast, efficient, easy to use and a polished <abbr title="User Interface">UI</abbr> is a plus.</p> <div class="description"> <p>I couldn't find a free app to send vCards and choose Sharecard for it's good looking UI. Yes, I know, the iPhone <abbr title="Operating System">OS</abbr> 3.0 should do this out-of-the-box, fingers crossed. With Sharecard you can choose to include your name, organization, e-mail, phone, address and/or chat information in the vCard. I played with the application and sent some feedback to the author. The next release fixed some – not all – of my remarks. Here are a few things I'm still missing:</p> <ul> <li>The mail will be send from a Doseido mail address. To me this feels like sleek advertising from the developer. It would be acceptable for a free app but for a paid app I expect it to use my own e-mail address (idem for the subject field, or the ad link at the bottom). It also makes the mail more obscure for the guy receiving my vCard, not to mention spam filters.</li> <li>Notes are not included in the card. This is a pity as I use this field to add all the missing data (eg. my Skype or bank account).</li> <li>The company name is replaced by <samp>(null)</samp> when no company name is given, this should be an empty field.</li> <li>The contact photo is not included, now, I know from my own experience that this is hard to do so I shouldn't be too picky about this one.</li> <li>The type of both the phone number and e-mail address is wrong, the vCard source shows <samp>type=TERNET</samp> and <samp>type=bile</samp>.</li> <li>All my phone numbers are prefixed with the country code (eg. +32 for Belgium) but Sharecard removes the plus sign, making the phone number unusable.</li> </ul> <p>Let's wait for the next iPhone OS update. It'll include contact sharing out-of-the-box, making applications like Sharecard <abbr class="rating" title="1">superfluous</abbr>.</p> </div> <h3>Related</h3> <ul> <li>“<a href="/blog/future-of-business-cards" title="My business card concept blog post">The future of business cards</a>”, my view on business cards with <abbr title="Radio-Frequency IDentification">RFID</abbr>.</li> </ul> <div class="hidden"> <span class="summary">Sharcard, vCard mailer for iPhone</span> <abbr title="2004-03-31T20:00" class="dtreviewed">Mar 31, 2004</abbr> <span class="reviewer vcard"><span class="fn">Simon Schoeters</span></span> <span class="type">product</span> <span class="version">0.3</span> </div> </div>

2009-03-31T17:57:21+02:00

sharecard-review Sharecard for iPhone

2009-03-31T17:57:21+02:00