Double U Blog

Ubiquity and Ping.fm

August 29th, 2008 · Code

Like this Ubiquity to Ping.fm command? You might also like my currency converter for Ubiquity – check it out!

UPDATE: See below for updates and changelog.

I often use Ping.fm to update my status across Twitter and Facebook at the same time instead of logging in to each of them and doing it one after the other — it’s the simple things in life that make it better!

And with the Mozilla Labs Ubiquity project (which I will write more about later), a combination of the two was bound to happen! Presenting, Ping Ubiquity which allows you to post to Ping.fm with just a few keystrokes using the Ubiquity add-on (for Firefox) by Aza Raskin.

Installation

To use it you need to have Ubiquity installed (get it here). To install the Ping.fm commands, go to this page, and Ubiquity should recognize that there are some commands for it on there. You will see a bar across the top that will allow you to ‘subscribe’ to the commands by clicking the “Subscribe…” button that appears. Ubiquity will then present you with a confirmation page with a warning that this is an untrusted source. I give you my word that these commands do nothing to violate your privacy, and only work to allow you to post to Ping.fm via Ubiquity. You can look at the source code, too!

You will have to set-up your Ping.fm API key in order to be able to use this application with your account. See the command examples below for how to do this.

Commands

To setup your API key, you can either select the key in the browser and type (in Ubiquity) the following:

pingfm-key this

OR — Copy your key and use the command:

pingfm-key <paste your key here>

You can also clear your saved API key by using the following command and hitting Enter:

pingfm-key-clear

To post to your Ping.fm account, use the following command

pingfm (trigger) <your post here>

For example, to post to Twitter, you would use

pingfm @tt This is an update via Ubiquity and Ping.fm!

Or, to post to Facebook, use

pingfm @fb is amazed at how easy things are now!

Log & Updates

July 11, 2009
- Support for Ubiquity version 0.5 (and its Parser 2).
September 2, 2008
- You might get an error when setting your Ping.fm app key with this command. That’s means my API key has not yet been approved for userbase access by the guys over at Ping.fm, so please bear with me. If you can set you app key, then all is well and you can post all you want!
- Planned feature: Ability to get list of last 5 (or 10?) posted updates from Ping.fm. Would love to get some input on this.
August 29, 2008
- Release. No planned features exist currently. If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear about them!

If you’re not sure what Ubiquity is, check out the video below for some examples of what it can do.

Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

Leave a comment below if you have any questions or thoughts about it!

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Honesty

August 21st, 2008 · Thought

People complain honesty doesn’t exist anymore, but what would the World be like if we all really did speak our minds? “Honesty” is a series of shorts by Brit McAdams & Dave Steck depicting a World where everyone says exactly what they’re thinking.

Here’s one from an auto mechanic shop. The script, I think, is great — it’s one of those situations where people are very likely to be thinking one thing and saying something else.

These might not necessarily be funny – but then the cold hard truth seldom is. The thing that struck me is that it feels people really are like this sometimes. We rarely think of people other than ourselves, and many conversations–especially with people we don’t know very well–are so phony, everyone can feel it. The problem, I think, is that people are too caught up in their own World (and problems) to be much interested in what the person opposite is all about.

But I guess it’s human nature to feel “attached” to other people, and making a show of caring about others as much as we do satisfies that. Maybe I’m just cynical. But don’t you think the people around us deserve more attention than we really give them? I think so.

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Thank You

August 18th, 2008 · Thought

A sad day for the country. But thank you, Mr Musharraf, for all that you have done — we are forever grateful. Shame on us for not appreciating you.

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The Hacked Effect

August 17th, 2008 · Articles, The Web

The following series aims to cover some basics on how to improve the security of your email address. Inside, I will try to cover some good ways with which to protect the most important part of your online presence, ie. your email address; following that will be some good password suggestions, advice on how to prepare for a disaster beforehand, and dealing with it after it has happened.

Please do leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Introduction

Having an email address hacked can elicit different responses from different people. Some just think it’s a terrible inconvenience to not have their name as their email anymore, while some may worry about who hacked in the first place. The fact of the matter is that not many people realize the significance of their personal email address and the implications of it getting hacked, for any and all intents, whether criminal or just amusement.

An email address – especially if it’s the only one you have – can potentially contain a timeline of what you do online. Website registration emails, personal and even business dealings, newsletters and subscriptions can all be pieced together to develop a sufficiently accurate description of who you are.

While that is in itself adequate motive to be careful with your email address, it’s not the only reason to be cautious. If stolen, your personal information can be misused heavily, with you bearing the price. For many people, the email address is the chink in the online armor, and once a hacker has access to that, he or she can potentially access other online resources which you keep information with. The “forgotten password” feature can be used maliciously to gain access to another databank once the hacker has your email address.

Your email address is one of the most important things to protect online. If the thought of a pimply script-kiddy in a far away land snooping through your email sends a chill up your spine, following are some tips and advice to help you secure your email address and keep it private.

Rescue Your Time

August 17th, 2008 · Articles

RescueTime logo Time management is a pain – simple as that. I speak from experience! Whether you’re a freelancer working by the hour or just a geek trying to analyse your computer usage trends, RescueTime is a great software+service that can help you manage your time without any data entry.

I’ve been using the program for quite a while now, and I recently wrote a review of the service for Geekish.

The developers have done a great job of making a simple, easy to use app that does its job well. RescueTime runs in the background and only notifies you if an update is available, and with its 2MB memory footprint, it is basically an install-and-forget program. It’s a great app that can help you and your business become more productive with time management, and I recommend you at least give a try to see what it can do and how it can help in day to day use.

Read: Rescue Your Time With RescueTime

Head over to the full article and leave a comment there on what you think!

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Copyrights on free software

August 15th, 2008 · Blah

I just always assumed this to be the case, but apparently there was some confusion as to whether software developers who release their code under a free software license can file a copyright infringement claim.

SAN FRANCISCO – In a crucial win for the free software movement, a federal appeals court has ruled that even software developers who give away the programming code for their works can sue for copyright infringement if someone misappropriates that material.

Source: Court says copyrights apply even for free software [AP]

Depending on the license covering the code, misuse could range from redistribution without attribution, reselling or reuse of the code in other works.

The thing people trip over most is understanding what the “free” in free software means. The Free Software Foundation say “Free software is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of free as in free speech, not as in free beer.” That means it is not necessary that the freedoms set by the OSI and FSF apply to all the software you can download for zero price.

The ruling, as I understand it, applies to the developers who release their software and its code under a license that allows other people to look at, modify, and/or redistribute the original authors work without having to obtain permission or paying royalties.

As a side note, here’s a great article on the FreeSoftware/Open Source debate if you’re interested in reading about it.

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Happy Independence Day!

August 14th, 2008 · Thought

It’s that time of year again — 14th August! A time for celebration, reflection and a lot of that awesome green shade from our flag!

While the creation of Pakistan is certainly enough cause for celebration, I think this independence day also brings with it a warning — a note of caution, if you will. We as a nation need to rethink some things, and quickly.

Our country is under threat from many different angles, internal and external. There is no doubt that we would be nothing without our country, and as cliche as it sounds, we are part of Pakistan, and Pakistan is part of us. Each and every Pakistani owes sincere gratitude to the Quaid-e-Azam and all other people who worked with him to gain independence.

But let’s forget the red jhandis and the Mickey Mouse flags for a second. Where is the country headed? Where are we, as a nation, headed? Do we really — I mean, really — realize the importance of Pakistan?

The slogan Pakistan zindabad, (translation: long live Pakistan) has been transformed into Pakistan se zinda bhaag (translation: get out of Pakistan alive). I’ve got nothing to say to that mainly because, I think, that this sentiment has its roots in lost hope. There is no national sense anymore; if you ask someone for help, the first thought is (generally) “What can I get out of this?” We’ve lost hope – we don’t believe in anything anymore. That needs to be fixed, and in my opinion, the best place to start is with yourself, don’t you think?

So please; Sing the national anthem at school, stand up when it’s played at the movies. Respect the flag; respect the people who made independence possible – and for God’s sake, please don’t make dirty jokes about the founding fathers of our country. Listen to the stories of people who migrated from India; think about the people who helped them. Don’t be ashamed of our culture or our language. Urdu is our language (our mother tongue) and there is absolutely no reason to be ashamed of using it.

I’ll leave you with a quote that can perhaps sum up what I’m trying to say.

Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.
– John F. Kennedy (1917 – 1963)

Happy independence day, everyone! Long live Pakistan!

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Aurora: Future Concept Browser

August 10th, 2008 · The Web

I just finished watching some presentations of the Aurora concept browser by Adaptive Path and I’ve been blown away. The project is part of the Mozilla Labs concept browser series, which hosts some more brilliant concept videos you should take a look at.

While some of the ideas in the Aurora series sound a bit far-fetched and implementation might be a lot harder than one might imagine, kudos to Adaptive Path for some brilliant creative thinking. I believe this is the sort of thing that will encourage people to think of more ways get more out of the Web.

This could be the future of the web — a future many people think is coming fast. Whether its too complicated or not depends on how well we’re used to the current model of a mouse and ‘static’ pages with links we copy and paste if we want to share them with a friend. I think the idea here is to really get the Internet integrated with our lives and physical World in even better ways than it is today.

Lifehacker.com has a compilation of all the videos, and you can read more about Aurora at Adaptive Path’s website.

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ALA Survey

August 8th, 2008 · The Web

The Survey (2008) by A List Apart has begun, and they’re calling for all people who make websites to participate in order to get a picture of how the industry works these days. 33,000 people took the survey last year, and that number will only be higher this time I imagine.

I’m looking forward to the report they publish at the end, but play your part! Take the survey!

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Launch

August 8th, 2008 · Blah

Hello everyone and welcome to the Double U Blog! It is, of course, part of my Double U “network” but its different too because this blog is meant to be more focused on my portfolio rather than my Web design portfolio.

In other words here you’ll find (most of) everything else I do online. So take a look around, subscribe to the feed for updates and leave a comment or two here and there!

And yes, you can call me a hypocrite for not creating my own WordPress them for this blog. I’m planning on doing it, but not immediately.

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