Category Archives: Websites

Mashup University – Mashery, it’s more than just a logo

Posted on by
2

Mashery will support developer networks. Six weeks old. They are just getting off the ground but will try to facilitate the use of all those APIs out there. “Creating a series of services to provide to API vendors”.

I’m not sure that logo is going to be understood by the whippersnapper generation who a) don’t cook much and b) don’t use a potato masher when they do. But I like it for the symbolism!

Clay, cofounder of Mashery and former feedster (programmer?), is showing us a mashed up blog demo “core” that can be skinned to other applications. However… “We are not a Wiki Company, we are here to enable …. cool web services”.

Here’s a brief on Mashery’s funding

This is a cool concept I think, but ..dudes… you need a better demo pitch for the main mashup camp!

Mashup University – Jeff Barr from Amazon

Posted on by
Reply

After the break it’s Jeff Barr from Amazon.com. (I missed the beginning where he may have coverdd some other stuff)…. Now he’s talking S3, Amazon’s super robust storage solution. Jeff’s presentations are always great because he’s a very good communicator as well as experienced technical guy. Jeremy Zawodny, Tim O’Reilly , and Matt Cutts are super impressive this way as well.
This short talk just focused on S3, but Jeff’s MIX06 talk was one of the best presentations I’ve attended in some time. He also has an interesting take on challenges facing Microsoft, where he used to work, but I’d ask him before I share those interesting nuggets of wisdom.

Mashup University – Intel Mashup Demo. Making Mashups Mobile.

Posted on by
5

After a tasty lunch it’s back to the mental grindstone. Intel introduces the creators of a mashup they built over the past few weeks. I’m not getting everybody here but he intros: Jeff Barr (Amazon), Mike Fisher and Ben (founders of Elephant Drive, an online backup and storage company). Sean Casey and — (Intel).

Elephant Drive outlines the demo task:

Identify a real business problem
Identify mashup enabler APIs
Show the code and demo

Problems – lost power and connectivity and ?

Intel’s Mobility SDK helps solve these and was easy to integrate. Ben introduces the code, which I’m pretending to grok right now using the classic developer conference intense-stare-and-nod-at-presenter-even-though-you-have-no-idea-what-
they-are-talking-about. I shall coin this as the WTF-DEV mode.

OK, they are now showing the very nice user interface which allows you to set threshold. When reached the application will pause things so you don’t lose data.

Mashup University – Apollo Project from Abobe

Posted on by
Reply

A cross-OS runtime that allows devs to leverage existing skills with Flash, Flex, HTML, Ajax.

This really looks promising, as it has the potential to combine a lot of disparate elements?  But yikes – not out until 2007?  That’s forever in Internet dog mashup years.    Can’t wait to ask Adam from Google what he thinks about these developer tools.

Apollo Article

HTML +/or FLASH +/or other stuff = Apollo applications?

Dev builds application which *works everywhere*. Kind of a Flash model BUT won’t they have to get everybody to install runtime stuff? Again, I worry about indexing. Flash remains a pesky and risky addition to any site – will Apollo aps index properly? I’d guess nobody can tell yet though it’s a great question for some of the Googlers that will be here at Mashup Camp.

Mashup University – Adobe KIWI project, ActionScript Libraries

Posted on by
3

Adobe Kiwi Project. Kiwi Project Blog

How can we pull protocols and standards into FLEX? How to build a different kind of mashup.
Note taking application demo…..<< demo connection down >> This always makes me feel better because I used to spend so many hours setting up travel internet demos and even after all the work you’d still have some problems. Even here in the heart of Silicon Valley the internet … still has shortcomings.

Hey, good job with a composed resurrection of his connection and presentation…

but…I’m lost.

As a non-developer it’s often hard to know if I’m lost due to stupidity or just being unfamiliar with the particular application background and/or code to understand.

I think usually the case is that the presenters are SO familiar with the background and their own tools and acronyms that most presentations to developers are accessed by only a few who have experience with the tools.

ActionScript 3 APIs libraries – he’s not got much time to describe … go here to find them.

After comments by search engines about the difficulties indexing FLASH elements I’m concerned that Adobe is not thinking broadly enough about how the FLEX development will index properly. Ultimately search indexing is the key to the success of most web based projects so I’d like to see a LOT more concern about how hard it still is to get FLASH properly indexed. Could FLEX projects wind up stranded due to heavy reliance on intergrating the presentation with FLASHesque items?

UPDATE: They think FLEX will solve some of the Flash indexing problems, since FLEX output is in HTML form.

Mashup University

Posted on by
Reply

I’m at the Adobe FLEX presentation at Mashup U here in Mountain View. He’s talking alot about Flash, I think to make the case that FLEX adoption will be rapid and deep, which I assume is what most developers want to see to justify the learning time.

Thanks to Microsoft sponsoring a free espresso cart I’m already…. awake and alert.

The intro referenced John Musser’s excellent resource Programmable Web which is the best Mashup information site online.

I count only about 50 people here at the university, though they expect about 350 at the main event Wednesday and Thursday.

Dave from Toronto told me that they’ve got an active “Demo Camp” going up there that meets monthly, with about 100 people.    They showcase projects and network.    I’m beginning to think that these “camp” events are the future of how computer people stay informed and connected.

Mountain View – Mashup Camp Two

Posted on by
Reply

Seems like a double life these days. At 1pm today I was home in Oregon painting our house, and now I’m in Mountain View, CA where the 2 day first of all time “Mashup University” begins tomorrow at the Computer Science Museum. Mashup U is followed on Wednesday and Thursday by Mashup Camp 2, the sequel to Mashup Camp back in February. Doug Gold, David Berlind, and supporters did a fantastic job in February and I’m sure this one will also be a great event.

Hats off *again* to Hotwire.com. I just booked the Homestead Mountain View, a great little studio suite with kitchen, for $47 per night, about half the rack rate. An extra 4.99 got me broadband wireless – for my entire 4 day stay! Sure beats the 10.00+ per day often charged by the fancy hotels.

Hertz – Hertz via Hotwire = $206

Posted on by
1

Hats off to Hotwire.com where I just booked my BWI rental car for more than half off the rate quoted moments later at Hertz.   8 days for $200 vs $406 at Hertz.com.   Note that at Hotwire I did not get to choose my car company – I just specified my dates and car type.   But who cares about the company?  I’ve rented from most of them and had similar and mostly positive experiences.

The 200 is a fantastic rate.  I’ve been looking for a few weeks, mostly using Kayak, and have seen mostly prices in the $300 range.   I think the lowest I found at Kayak was 276 and today it’s about 300, so Hotwire really came through for me.

The moral of this story was  “if at first you don’t get cheap, try, try again”

Top Online Advertisers for May 2006

Posted on by
Reply

Vonage, Dollar, and Phoenix Online University top the list of the top 100 May online advertisers who spent a whopping $245 Million for online advertising. I’m not clear how this compares to the online ad spend total as this leaves out the mom and pops who buy a lot of adwords on Google, Yahoo, and MSN.

You don’t need a degree from Phoenix Online U to say “Wow, that’s real money dudes!”.