Dan's Blog (2.0) » Misc

Building Mobile Web-Apps at OSCON

Daniel Appelquist — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:55:38 +0000

Just sitting in the “Building Mobile Apps Using HTML / JavaScript / CSS” talk by @jonathanstark here at OSCON. This room is packed out. There was an Android talk in here previously from some Google guys and the room was only abut 2/3 full. There are 350+ developers in here (and more outside who can’t get in) all eager to hear about Mobile Webapp development. What great evidence that developers are excited about this platform.

FOWA Badges Then and Now

Daniel Appelquist — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:26:33 +0000

Two years ago, I opined that Carsonified knew how to put on events like nobody else in the business. Two years later, it’s still true. I just attended a day of Future of Webapps London and I have to say – it was a great, inspiring event. I’m very impressed at how Ryan and team are able to put together a program of such good speakers, drawn from a range of backgrounds, and presenting across a range of topics (both technical, such as Twitter’s front-end coder Britt SelvitelleDustin Diaz waxing on about JavaScript’s relationship to Corn, and cocaine and “big idea” like the Guardian’s Chris Thorpe talking about the future of online news media) and somehow it all fits together and works brilliantly!

Another highlight was Bruce Lawson’s talk on HTML5 which got a vigorous round of applause from the (800+!) attendees.

Anyway, Carsonified’s badges, which I gushed over in 2007, have also evolved as the company has evolved. See a picture of my badge in-line. Attendees wrote in their own badges this time, which no-doubt saved them some money but also enabled everyone to customize. I took advantage of some “brain” handy stickers to write in tags for topics I’m currently thinking about.

Apps are like Songs

Daniel Appelquist — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:06:53 +0000

One really interesting conversation that emerged at the Mobile 2.0 Europe conference last week was about the emerging Apps culture. Clearly, mobile apps (applications, widgets, webapps whatever you want to call them – I’m talking about data-driven experiences on the phone here, irrespective of platform and technology) are in the midst of a renaissance. However, I have also been hearing a lot of critical voices recently talking about “useless” apps and questioning “how many apps do people really use on their phones?” So I made a point at the Developer Day portion of the event that Apps are like Songs which I didn’t actually think was terribly original but people there seemed to jibe with it. Why are apps like songs? Someone else commented that you can “use them once and throw them away” but I’m not sure that captures it – because you don’t throw songs away really. They might stay in your music library unplayed for months or even years only to resurface at the right time. I was reminded of this today when someone challenged me to find an app that made effective use of the “shake” feature. I immediacy called up the “shotgun” app on the iPhone, which is kind of a “one joke app” like the Zippo lighter or the Carling beer. It doesn’t mean they’re any less worthy – and in the case of the Zippo or the Carling (ugh – I hate Carling — but I love the app!) you can see the marketing potential of apps as songs. But it’s not all about new avenues for selling you terrible beer. Apps can be art as well. One of the first apps I ever downloaded for my (then) jailbroken iPhone allowed you to take a picture and share it, as part of an ever-changing collage, with a community of other users who were also using the app that that given moment. No purpose. No monetization angle. But very compelling. Are these apps any less purposeful because a user might only run them a few times? I don’t think so. I think this apps-as-songs approach changes the way we need to think about software development in this context, and also reinforces my belief that software development is a creative discipline.

I’m Qiking from SXSW!

Daniel Appelquist — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:57:39 +0000

I’m here at SXSW in Austin this week-end working on getting the word out on mobile widgets and mobile Web and talking about mobile web in the developing world on a panel on Tuesday. Meanwhile I’m using Qik to cover the conference and have some conversations with people here about mobile and other topics. Follow me on Qik or on Twitter to get updates and if you’re here in Austin, come by the Driskill hotel tonight at 5 for Betavine Beers West.

Early Stage Startups at Mobile 2.0 Europe

Daniel Appelquist — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:27:05 +0000

We didn’t announce the startups on the agenda for Mobile 2.0 Europe – we had to keep something back to make for a little suspense. As I write this, the startups are now on stage presenting:

Aka Aki: an exciting mobile social network platform that uses location and proximity (through Bluetooth) to encourage unanticipated interactions – such as looking up the profile of someone you happened to bump into on the street. It does this by tracking the unique Bluetooth addresses of everyone around you and checking these against registered profiles. Creepy? Possibly, but very cool.

Dial2Do: a voice-based platform for access Web 2.0 services (with a special emphasis on hands-free usage, such as from the car).

Shout’Em: A mobile social network out of Croatia that enables micro-blogging, media sharing, the whole shebang.

ViaMobility: A mobile widget play – taking PC widgets from a varierty of platforms onto the mobile. From the mockup of the experience they presented, it looks pretty compelling.

YouLynx: Converging the mobile / Internet / PC experience, focusing on messaging, blogging, media share and incorporating Geolocation.

Zipiko: Another social utiloty focusing on organizing adhoc social activities, meetups, and enabling “spending time with friends.” Making it easy to communicate your intentions (like: “I’m going to go get a coffee now”) among a circle of friends. I think they’ve got something – the user experience and design is spot-on. Plus it “improves your sex life.”

There you have it. Time for a coffee break!

Web 2.0 Expo Presentation Online

Daniel Appelquist — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:59:47 +0000

Just made a presentation at Web 2.0 Expo here in San Francisco. This presentation was a bit of an experiment – combining some “vision thing” stuff about the Mobile Web with some specific recommendations for building Mobile Ajax applications (and thanks to Óscar Gutiérrez Isiégas, Scott Hughes and Jonathan Jeon for their contributions). I got a lot of requests for the slides – so here they are for anyone interested!

| View | Upload your own

Yahoo! not “Mine” on Mobile

Daniel Appelquist — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 23:35:29 +0000

My Yahoo not working on iPhone

Originally uploaded by appelquist

Just thought I’d note this. My Yahoo! doesn’t appear to be working on the iPhone. Same result on the S60 browser. To be fair, though, the kind of user experience that My Yahoo! provides isn’t particularly suited to the mobile browser. What would be much better would be to provide a mobile-specific experience of the same content (for example, tabs instead of columns, a-la the fantastic iPhone Facebook app).

SXSW Closing Speech: Bruce Sterling

Daniel Appelquist — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 22:38:44 +0000

Bruce’s thoughts on the death of television as we know it as we transition to the Internet: “Broadcast TV [has turned into a medium that] debases even the poverty-stricken people who watch it.” This guy is really nuts. But in a good way.

World Changing at SXSW

Daniel Appelquist — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 21:01:11 +0000

Just now listening to a great talk by Alex Steffen at an organization called World Changing. Lots of good ideas on living in a more sustainable way. One interesting thread is the idea that products should have an “ecological nutrition” label on them that inform consumers of the pedigree of products and services before they make purchase decisions. I think there is a burgeoning trend towards this approach that you can already see with Fairtrade coffee or organic produce at the grocer’s.

Who is “Torgo?”

Daniel Appelquist — Wed, 05 Jan 2005 16:30:40 +0000

I suppose as the owner of Torgo.com, I ought to have a brief explanation of who Torgo is. But honestly, I couldn’t possibly do it better than this guy who appears to know everything there is to know about Torgo, from the movie Manos, Hands of Fate. In fact, he may know a little bit too much. Creep-factor 10, captain?

Photo: Caffé Mobi

Dan Appelquist — Fri, 29 Oct 2004 23:19:50 +0000

This is a little coffee “Hut” on wheels thing that sits outside the Tube station here in East Finchley. They make a surprisingly good latte.

Eye – Key – Ahhh….

Dan Appelquist — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 18:50:27 +0000

So a friend of mine from the States was surprised to hear that they have Ikea here in London.

My sister is in St. Petersburg (Russia) this year getting her Master’s –
and she reports that there is an Ikea there too.

Ikea is like a state unto itself. I think they own whole south-pacific
islands where they grow forests of particle-board-trees under huge yellow
domes.

The Ikea in London is like every other Ikea I’ve ever been to. Keep in mind
as well that the last time I was in an Ikea was about 6 years go. They are
a constant throughout space and time.

Cup of Joe

Dan Appelquist — Mon, 25 Oct 2004 15:57:14 +0000

There is nothing like a good hot cup of Joe. And this freeze-dried stuff I’m drinking is nothing like a good hot cup of Joe. What I wouldn’t give for a good old cup of American-style drip coffee.