I am amazed by Twitter. A simple question asking “What are you doing?” and it has become wildly popular. What I think is even more interesting are the great web apps that have showed up around the web utilizing it’s API. Some of these are really cool (foamee, strawpoll, twistori, fuelfrog). I am inspired and think aggregating certain twitter data could be very useful.
Twitter, let’s build something. I have an idea for a twitter-based web app and I plan to build it over the coming weeks in my spare time. Check back here or follow me on twitter to see how it goes.
Usability is beautiful. I think it shines when the interface is simple. Simple to the point that users get it when they see it (an Ah-Ha moment), and the flow comes naturally. That simplicity comes with a focus on understanding your user and the problems they want to solve. Your solution orients them in a way to solve their problem more effectively and moves complication out of the picture.
It’s been about 6 months now since our development team picked up the Wicket framework. So far, so good! It’s been enjoyable to code using this framework, and it has certainly been a productivity booster. It’s really helped to streamline our processes for our applications and helps to keep our look and feel consistent.
Some of the things I love about wicket are as follows:
- Component Based
- Separation of code and markup
- Minimal XML, Java handles the configuration
- The community is active and helpful
- The core framework focuses on needs, and extensions fulfill specific cases
Some of the things I dislike:
- There are many extensions, too many it seems. It would be great if wicket could filter this down, possibly to a more focused extensions package.
- The separation of code and markup takes some getting used to in terms of using dynamic javascript (I am used to managing these within a page, or with includes [ie: php and ruby])
Overall, if you are a Java shop looking to build web applications at a faster pace, keeping things organized and having fun writing Java, this is an excellent framework to adopt.
More to come on this framework.
I ran across this site today and I am glad I did. Refresh the Triangle seems right up my alley in terms of development and design, and it’s local. It’s also sponsored by companies from around the Triangle. This is great and something I always love finding out about. Hopefully I can make it over to this from time to time. It looks like it is hosted on the last Thursday of every month. This is something that looks to be growing, and certainly worth checking out
The latest Startup Weekend was held in Atlanta. They ended up creating http://www.skribit.com. It’s simple, to the point, and may actually have some value to bloggers with a large readership. Add this as a plugin to a few of the major RSS readers and filter spam-like suggestions and it could be great. My prediction is that this one will get bought. Someone with a little cash in their pocket will see this, and grab it up. Good job to the Atlanta team and to the guy with the original idea, Paul Stamatiou.
Startup Weekend sounds like a great experience to me. Simply put, gather together with a group of people with an entrepreneurial spirit and mindset, pool together all of your skills, and build something with purpose in a single weekend. I think Andrew Hyde is on to something here, essentially a startup crash course where everyone walks away a winner. I think the Triangle has a wealth of talent, and this is an opportunity to meet some great people. Of course, my view could change after participating in one. We will see if that is possible in a couple of weeks here…
Paul Graham recently wrote an excellent article on the Future of Web Startups. Two points I want to highlight is the “Straight Pipe” where people will change the way we build businesses and companies and the execution of great ideas. I love the idea of an organization and community where entrepreneurs could gain the tools and resources they need to get up and running. Not that those communities aren’t already out there, you just have to sift through the information carefully. I will be curious to see where people like Paul Graham take this idea, considering he is already helping to head up Y Combinator. As for ideas, you can be sure many people get the same idea over and over. It’s just a matter of execution and usefulness. Does your product fill a need and does it fill that need well?
I have been using backpack for about 6 months now, and I love it. I typically write quick notes throughout my day, whether at work or at home, and track daily, weekly and monthly to-do lists. Since I am a web app developer, I often have a browser open, and one of those tabs is usually set aside for backpack. It helps me stay organized with what I have to do between home and work, and keeps me on track with my day-to-day work tasks. It also helps that the interface is intuitive and to the point. I recommend you take it for a test drive today.
Some sites I enjoy reading through from time to time:
More to come, but that should be a good primer.