Twitter and Summize

I found this update on the Twitter Status blog this morning interesting:

“The replies tab remains disabled today as we rework some of the queries that were causing problems yesterday. This has also been reflected in the sidebar of the status blog for the web features.
One way you can see replies directed to you is to search on Summize. You can search for “to:username” to see all updates directed at you.”

Twitter now encourages us to use third-party services, for functionalities they cannot deliver themselves anymore.

I know they have partnered with Summize before, for instance during Steve Job’s recent keynote (you can read about it here), to reduce their database load.

But this time they are outsourcing a basic functionality of their own system, which makes me wonder what is left of what Twitter once was?

Just a thought I cannot stop thinking about

It amazes me how busy I am wishing Twitter was back to normal again these days.
It just feels so awkward after so many months of using third party apps, that I had to revert to my browser to tweet again. I even had to go back to m.twitter.com on my iPhone.

By now, realizing that IM and Track will still be offline a while, all I wish for is an API that allows 70 req/hour again. I feel like half-a-person without the tweets trickling into Twitterrific/Growl.

Twitter have one of the most open APIs around, and I also think this was part of their recent headaches. (getting crushed by API calls)
We all gave our Twitter credentials to any third-party app that came along and looked interesting. We had a zillion different Twitter clients, Twitter search, Twitter karma services and we wanted to try it all out.

A while ago I listened to the Gillmor Gang discussing Twitter once again.
We all know Steve’s “obsession” with Track, so part of the conversation somehow got lost, and I haven’t been able to stop reflecting about this part ever since.

Chris Messina brought this up while discussing OAuth:

” So, you don’t actually have specific control to say, “I want to turn off access from Twitterific.”… You know, it’s like Flickr provides a great model of how you can turn on and off access from different services. This is just an example of one of the things that if we had it, I think Twitter would not only be providing greater value, but it would be demonstrating a level of user control over the use of this system that would actually be, I think, leading to greater resilience.”

I don’t know why this model haven’t been discussed.
I can only speak for myself, but in light of the recent problems, I would happily turn off Twitter access to at all the different services and clients I have tried out in the last months. I don’t even know myself anymore how many apps and services receive my tweets.

Implementing a flickr-like model, where you can see which third-party applications you are using and remove the permission for these if necessary, would be fantastic.
As a user it is a great way to control where your credentials go and it wouldn’t hurt Twitter’s API either.

Watch Google I/O videos online

Google hosted a two day developer event, Google I/O, in May this year.
It was Google’s largest developer event so far, and was filled with sessions on how to build the next generation of web applications with Google and other open technologies.

It is now possible to watch the technical sessions online here.

There are 77 videos all together, and they cover a wide range of subjects.
AJAX and JavaScript, Maps and Geo, Social applications, APIs and Tools and, finally, Mobile are all represented. What I found most interesting were the videos about Android, this introduction for instance or Inside the Android Application Framework.

AT&T mentions 3G and iPhone in the same sentence

…does this mean that the 3G iPhone will hit the shops soon?..or is it just wishful thinking?..

Under the headline ‘Data Access’ AT&T informs:

“In order to use data such as email, Google Maps, YouTube videos and web browsing, AT&T recommends using iPhone in a 3G or EDGE Network (coverage viewer), or from a local Wi-Fi connection.”

Spam on Facebook .. Now It Happened To Me As Well

Slowly Facebook IS turning into the new Myspace.
I have been reading several blogposts about people being spammed on Facebook lately, and then today it came around knocking on my door as well.

I received a friends request from a guy calling himself Ryan Attwell .. never heard of him.
I went to check out his profile and noticed that his pictures was part of his public profile. Strange, I thought.

Then I took a closer look at the pictures and found that he had 13 albums of “designer” handbags. Strange again, I thought. This guy does not look like someone who would put his all his designer handbags on display.

But then when I took a closer look at the pictures I noticed that they had an URL written all over them .. which, surprise surprise!, would take me to a site selling fake designer stuff.

I assume that Zuckerberg’s world reign will never happen by the way things are going.
Spam is no longer just a part of the oh-so-lovely 3rd party applications like Funwall and Superwall, but is now also part of the Facebook platform itself.
The fun ended before it really begun..

Thom York in Conversation with David Byrne

This is great!

Wired brought David Byrne (Talking Heads) and Thom Yorke (Radiohead) together, to talk about the real value of music and about Radiohead’s In Rainbows distribution strategy.
Hearing this from one innovative musician to the other, i.e. without too much business stuff, made me understand the deal a little bit better.

Yorke: “The only reason we could even get away with this, the only reason anyone even gives a shit, is the fact that we’ve gone through the whole mill of the business in the first place. It’s not supposed to be a model for anything else. It was simply a response to a situation.”

You can read the whole interview over at Wired Magazine here

Putin Is The Time’s Person of the Year 2007

Time has chosen Vladimir Putin as Person of the Year 2007.

If you wonder why, a quote from the article might help you:
“TIME’s Person of the Year is not and never has been an honor. It is not an endorsement. It is not a popularity contest. At its best, it is a clear-eyed recognition of the world as it is and of the most powerful individuals and forces shaping that world—for better or for worse.”

Seen in that light, Putin is rightfully the person of the year. When I look back at how Russia was when I first visited in 1994, it seems like a totally different country today. And the changes, for better or for worse, catapulted after Putin came to powers in 2000.

You can read the whole article here (Time Magazine).

Evan Williams Talks About Twitter And Ambient Intimacy

Evan Williams talks about Twitter and Ambient Intimacy.

Link