Tuesday, June 16, 2009

http://twitter-trends-only.appspot.com (for mobile phones only)

Built an app for tweeters. Nothing great to look at, and it doesn't tweet to be specific. In fact I just built it for viewing it from my phone web browser.

You've two options when tweeting. Do it from the main web page (i.e. the standard version) you have a list or trends in the sidebar. You can catch the current vibe on twitter (real-time!). On the light-weight mobile web version you can only view tweets that would appear on your profile, no trends!


So even though my phone can browse to the standard page, it is heavy, and you'd have to scroll a lot to get to the trending topics part. I've designed a page that just returns the trending topics only. (Notice the url in the title of this post)

Now when you are with your phone, and you feel like tweeting, and you don't have something to tweet about, you know where to find what is the most tweeted on twitter.

Happy tweeting.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

My Phone & Twitter

For those who didn't catch the news...I got a nokia 5800 phone somewhere in April. And, embarrassingly enough, I thought I blew the set on the 1st day itself!

You'd truly appreciate this product if there are certain services available in your area. Like for e.g. I have a Maps application on the phone. It has a 90 day trial period, after which you need to acquire license to use it; and this license is only valid for certain places, mostly metropolitan cities. (Or so I guess).

Initially I couldn't use the maps and all since my GPRS settings were screwed. I couldn't use a lot of apps. My boss had installed Google Maps on my phone with the hope of locating me, but he was turned off. No matter what he did that application would not work. He bluffed about being able to track me and all through that app. I don't know yet if this is possible, but I still sort of believe it. I was relieved when he concluded that Google Maps doesn't work! I mean, the last thing I'd want is to walk into a resturant and find my boss sitting next to me!

Nowadays if you happen to spot a lonely guy holding out a black-colored device that looks like a mobile phone high up and facing the sky it would most probably be me!

Yesterday at around 12am, I was standing outside Allsec's gate trying to get the GPS co-ordinates of Allsec. And then after I got them, on my way back into the office, some of my co-workers saw me, stopped me, interviewed, and started to get curious if I had an affair with someone outside the office.

I explored more about this gps stuff today. Its not only locations you can get; it can help you with navigation. Yes, I went to a mess near suterland, and "navigated" my way back to Allsec. For someone who has never witnessed this feature, it rocks! It even shows the speed at which you are travelling.

Well, theres more to come I guess. Currently I am researching on ways to share the co-ordinates I have. If I can upload it online ppl can download it onto their phones and "navigate" to my place if they'd like.

Lately I've just downloaded a twitter client app for my phone. Now my phone is officially a twitter client. You'd see more frequent updates on the sidebar. I was longing for this app for a long time. And now I have it. How I found it was even more interesting. I just searched twitter. Just keyed in nokia5800 in the search box; it listed posts related to the query, and I happned to see a tweet about an application called Tweets60. When I browsed to the link mentioned there...Eureka!

Plus there were a lot of new cool things I found about Twitter trends. If you really want to dig into the twitter vibe try tweeting trendy topics which appear on page. Here are some popular ones as of this moment:
A tip: if you want to see your tweets appear on those searches remeber to include that topic in your tweet with a '#' as prefix like i've shown above

Well I'm just too proud of my phone today, and feeling hyped about digging into the twitter vibe.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Just taking a break...

Researching ways to take break amidst a busy schedule...

I am not doing it for my self, so to speak. We are supposed to put up slides or articles on the subject for the weekend's jam session. If I go ahead and explain what that is all over again, I think it would be the most boring-est thing ever to be doing on a saturday. But what other interesting things do I do on a saturday anyway...

Moving on...Sometimes you know when you are in front of the keyboard doing something really serious, and you know you are done with a part of the entire job, being elated and all, you just can't help your poking your finger into your neighbour. You know, just stir up the other person. I don't reckon its a man/boy-thing. Even girls do it. Its actually part of a bigger thing called bonding at work. Here is aim is to make the work group cohesive. It is actually a stress reliever but however not an acclaimed one.

Why?

Because if your neighbour, without your knowledge, happens to be a good looking female from a conservative family who has four elder brothers, one of which happens to be your boss, you are literally in for taking a break amidst hectic schedules...