Web Tech Insight

Google continues it's drive towards Data Portability...

2011-09-06T14:22:00.005-04:00

Larry Dignan over at ZDNET wrote a post today entitled “Google ramps up its data portability as a weapon push” which discusses the further roll-out of Google’s Data Portability initiatives. Good stuff to be sure, and I hope it doesn’t end there.

My comment:

“Nobody seems to care about Data Portability until they need it and are denied access. Companies support Data Portability when it is good for them and it doesn’t conflict with their larger agendas, otherwise it is mostly ignored. And, of course, all of this changes on a moment’s notice and subject to the prevailing wind.

The real power of true Data Portability lies in its ability to extend and enhance not only existing services like Google and Facebook, but to facilitate entire ecosystems that reward innovation, value-add, and usefulness while chastising the walled gardens and private silos – or at the very least keeping them in their place.”

--Steve Repetti
Chairman, DataPortability.org
www.radwebtech.com

Data Portability Wars : Google and Facebook vs. YOU

2011-07-05T11:23:00.002-04:00

Well, here we go again.

The big companies love to embrace data portability and the freedom it provides its users, not to mention the press and good will that comes with it, as long as it doesn’t conflict with their corporate agenda.

Let’s call it what it is: Facebook and Google both support “convenient” data portability --- at all times convenient for them, *sometimes* convenient for you.

Google and Facebook have both flirted with data portability and it was generally taken as a good sign when both hired leading open source/data portability advocates (Chris Messina and David Recordon respectively). Facebook’s APIs and social graph integration, as well as Google’s Takeout initiative, have been shining examples of the net result of this effort.

Still, despite these advances, both companies continue to “play” with your data – to your detriment. Back in February, Google removed an existing feature from its Android mobile phone operating system specifically to make it more difficult for users to integrate their Facebook contacts (Nexus S losing Facebook contacts sync as Google tightens data policy).

The latest salvo in this escalating war occurred while the US celebrated its Independence day holiday weekend: Facebook disabled a critical feature used to export your friends data (Facebook blocks Google Chrome extension for exporting friends). This appears to be a direct response to Google’s recent moves further into social networking: Google+ (Facebook blocks friend export tool in Google+ snub ).

The reality is that we gave both companies the right to monkey with our data. We accepted their terms of service when we joined their services and we continually agree when they make changes – for better or worse. And, while a few have left in protest, it is not practical to expect much more.

Let’s call it what it is: Facebook and Google both support “convenient” data portability --- at all times convenient for them, *sometimes* convenient for you. And maybe that’s ok. After all, they are commercial enterprises answerable to boards and shareholders and subject to their leadership within.

I get it. Information is an asset, and why would anyone fiscally responsible intentionally dilute or give away an asset?

And therein is the conflict. Us versus them, my data versus their monetization of it.

I hereby challenge Google, Facebook, and all other interested parties to sit down at a DATA PORTABILITY SUMMIT and figure it out together.

This is complicated stuff. If Google and Facebook truly want to be the global purveyors of information that they purport to be, they’ll figure it out – or leave opportunity for the next company to come along and get it right. But the first thing they need to understand is that they cannot do it alone. When crafting global policy regarding user’s data they must include the user, otherwise they are simply more walled-gardens of varying heights.

So, before this thing spirals any further, let’s talk about it.

As Chairman of the International non-profit Data Portability organization, I hereby challenge Google, Facebook, and all other interested parties to sit down at a DATA PORTABILITY SUMMIT and figure it out together. Name the place, name the time – or your users will. Now is your chance to truly show leadership on a global scale. But know this: that coveted asset of information you possess exists solely because of your users. It’s ok to be capitalistic, and its good not to be evil, but it’s time to make data portability convenient for us all.

Interested in the DATA PORTABILITY SUMMIT? Let me know: steve@radwebtech.com

Steve Repetti
Chairman, DataPortability.org

READ THIS ON THE DATA PORTABILITY BLOG: http://blog.dataportability.org

Google Unleashes New Data Portability Initiative: Google Takeout

2011-06-28T16:51:00.001-04:00

Google today unveiled a new service that provides advanced Data Portability across its diverse platform. Google Takeout (http://www.google.com/takeout) makes it easy to extract your data from a variety of Google Services including: Buzz, Contact and Circles, Picasa Web Albums, and Profile. The information is provided in a variety of formats, including vCard and JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), and can be quickly downloaded onto your local computer.

In many ways this is not unlike the Data Portability initiatives over at Facebook, and it is certainly a welcome addition to the Google universe. And now that Google is moving more into the social networking space with its just announced Google+ project (http://plus.google.com), the value of Google’s Data Portability efforts to its end-users will likely substantially increase.

Data Portability Applauds US CIO, Mourns Departure

2011-06-16T17:10:00.003-04:00

Today, friends of Data Portability lost an ally in their cause when the Federal CIO, Vivek Kundra, announced he will be leaving his post in August. Mr. Kundra was the first-ever Chief Information Officer of the United States. During his tenure, Mr. Kundra championed the use of open standards, cloud computing, accessibility, and data portability through a variety of initiatives but lately saw his budgets slashed almost to the point of ineffectiveness. The irony of this is that his cost-saving initiatives netted the Government billions in savings, yet he was unable to save his own projects.

We are at a time when information is instantaneous and permeates every aspect of our lives. Data portability, privacy, and accessibility are the heart of the matter and leadership in this area is game changing on a global scale. If we screw this up we become second fiddle to those that do get it. Mr. Kundra was on the right path, and we at the Data Portability organization applaud his efforts as he re-enters the private sector. We wish him well at his new post at Harvard and hope his voice and passion never lose their strength.

Through this all, our Federal Government and politicians would do well to reassess the importance of the initiatives brought forth by real-world need and championed by Mr. Kundra, for failure to do so will be the real loss felt by the people and businesses of this country.

--Steve Repetti, Chairman, DataPortability.org

STARTUPS: INVESTMENT POTENTIAL & READINESS

2011-06-12T08:07:00.005-04:00

Last Friday I was invited to speak along with the Hatchery at the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Adams Center for Entrepreneurship. FAU’s previously held business plan competition was such a success that they wanted to capitalize on the momentum that was generated and provide additional value to the talent that had emerged. As a result, the one-day workshop was created targeting Startups to help them “Increase Business Readiness for Investment and Growth.”

Topics included: Market Need, Revenue/Business Models, Investment Potential and Readiness, Proof of Concept, Hurdles – Ideas & Strategies, Digital Marketing, Crowd Funding, and Legal considerations. My presentation was about Investment Potential and Readiness.

The allotted time was 45 minutes, however my speech ran over by 55% --- no one left and no one stopped me. I guess that was good, either that or the door was looked. Anyway, my friend Marc Kaplan was good enough to video the presentation – although he missed the first 5 minutes and it took him another couple of minutes to stop shaking the camera! Here’s the full presentation minus the first few minutes: (Watch the large-screen version directly on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lca6GvPDZwY)

Miami Startupbus Rolls in to Baton Rouge!

2011-03-17T00:09:00.004-04:00

[This is a copy of a comment I posted to a great article regarding the Baton Rouge team on the Miami startupbus - photo credit John Berjarano]

As a tech executive, technology investor, and the person who ran the Miami Startupbus, I was blown away by the talent of the team from Baton Rouge. Great things will come from these individuals and I am both proud to have met them and look forward to doing business with each of them in the future. More so, it felt like the entire city of Baton Rouge turned out to welcome us and embrace this crazy startup phenomenon --- this microcosm of real-life condensed to the confines of a bus and executed in less than “internet time”.

This was a challenge, a competition, a search for talent and spirit and passion. What we found in Baton Rouge was all of this and more and cannot be explained simply in words. It truly is an experience, an entrepreneurial culture thriving and expanding beyond the limits of the city. I am honored to have been part of all of this and humbled at the opportunity to meet and share and enjoy the experience with the businesses, educational institutes, and governmental communities of Baton Rouge.

It is true that this year we had six buses from all over the country filled with entrepreneurs – a group representing the future of startups in this country. It is not by accident that the only place in the country that two of the buses came together during this journey was Baton Rouge.

Having recently invested in a startup from the LSU incubator, I know about the entrepreneurial spirit in Baton Rouge – and now the whole world does too! Thank you to all that helped make this happen, thank you to my friend Terry Jones, and thank you to everyone lucky enough to call Baton Rouge their home!

Warmest regards,

Steve Repetti
Miami Startupbus “Conductor”
CEO/www.radwebtech.com

Here's the original article thaat inspired my post: http://digbatonrouge.com/article/birthing-a-business-on-a-bus-483/

Data Portability 2011 - Call to Action++

2011-01-07T22:32:00.007-05:00

If you’ve read my blog before, you know that I have been advocating the principals behind data portability for some time. More so, I am quite active in the organized effort surrounding data portability – first as a general participant in the International non-profit, then as a board member, officer, and most recently vice-chair.

Now, I am honored and humbled to have been elected as the 2011 Chairman of the Silicon Valley-based non-profit DataPortability organization (http://www.dataportability.org). I have big shoes to fill as the result of all of the good that has come from the efforts of my predecessors, but I am excited, energized, and surrounded by terrific folks who share the passion and vision of data portability.

2011 is poised to be a banner year in the world of data portability. Increasingly the subject commands leading headlines as the Facebooks and Googles of the world run head-on into the will of their users. And, prior DP efforts, including the DPP-initiative “Portability Policy”, are on the verge of hitting mainstream. Exciting times. Truly. And I for one consider myself fortunate to be on the front line of all of this. But so too can you. Join us in this effort. Effect a change. Influence a direction. Solidify a policy. Join the data portability movement today!

Regards,

Steve Repetti
DataPortability Chairman

RockMelt Builds on Facebook’s Data Portability

2010-11-08T22:11:00.001-05:00

An innovative new product has entered the scene that will likely test the resolve of Facebook and others as it relates to data portability. RockMelt (www.rockmelt.com) is a customized implementation of the open source (Google) Chrome browser that tightly integrates social media while maintaining the comfort (and speed) of the Chrome browsing environment. It is so tight in fact that Facebook is likely trying to figure out what to do with this revolutionary – and potentially dangerous (to them) – new thing. You see, RockMelt gives you much of the experience of being inside of Facebook without actually being there – including no Facebook ads — all thanks to Facebook’s data portability capabilities. In many cases the RockMelt browser does Facebook BETTER than Facebook.

Of course if Facebook looks at all of this with an open mind, they will realize that RockMelt has “officially” made Facebook the center of the social communications universe – and FB’s data portability initiatives are powering an increasingly expanding wave (sorry Google, no pun intended) that solidifies that position. The question remains whether Facebook will embrace this direction and take it even further or feel threatened and seek to crush that which it does not control. I for one wouldn’t be surprised if the RockMelt browser became the Facebook browser…

Regardless of the result, it is the innovative use of data portability that sparked this particular seed of innovation.

Facebook Data Portability Takes First Step into the Light

2010-10-06T17:37:00.004-04:00

Today’s announcement from Facebook represents the most important statement from them to-date regarding Data Portability. But to be clear, it is by no means the ultimate solution we all seek. Still, it represents major movement in the right direction.

First, you literally can draw a line on the calendar and say “prior to this date it was virtually impossible to get meaningful information out of Facebook without being a programmer” – that has now changed. Is it everything we could want? No, but it’s a pretty good start. It’s not so much what you can do with the information today, rather that it is available and will absolutely fuel innovation tomorrow. Sure, other services will use this information, but Facebook is showing leadership as well as responding to the will of its user base – to the benefit of us all.

Secondly, and more importantly in my mind, this announcement shows the elevation in importance of openness and standardization. More than a few of us scratched our heads when open-source guru David Recordon joined the walled-garden giant not so long ago. So it is with great excitement we learned today that David’s efforts (along with all of his cohorts and team members) have succeeded from the inside where so many others have failed from the outside.

From a pure data portability perspective, there is still much more that Facebook can do, but I applaud their direction and effort. This is way more than PR, this is policy that has grown from within and is now escaping into the light. Today’s announcement is the beginning; the Sleeper is waking; and openness lives on with more on the way.

Kudos.

–Steve Repetti
Vice-chair, DataPortability.org

How I Came to Uninstall IE9 BETA in 5 Minutes

2010-09-16T09:12:00.003-04:00

First, let me say that I am a long-time Microsoft fan. I’ve met Bill Gates a few times and have had dinner with Steve Balmar (back in the original “Year of the LAN” days). That’s not to say that they don’t frustrate or disappoint me from time to time – they do, like everyone else (myself included now and then). Which leads me to the recent BETA release of IE9. I am excited to see HTML 5 support finally make it to the IE platform and was looking forward to testing it on my computer. I am a frequent tester of early release software, so I have no problem with Alpha or Beta releases – however, when the BETA stamp is on it I do have a reasonable expectation that general functionality will work.

My experience with IE9 BETA started well enough --- the system downloaded and installed easily and had no problem that I had other browsers open at the time (IE8, Chrome, and Firefox – yes, I use ALL of them for testing). Once installed I was politely asked to reboot the system, which I did, and (eventually) up came my computer. Everything appeared normal and in its place. There was no obvious magical IE9 button and all of my IE icons on my desktop were intact. So, I clicked on the first one and PRESTO, up popped IE9.

I’ve already been following the progress of IE9 so I wasn’t surprised at the new toolbar design and top screen real-estate efficiencies. It is certainly different and will take some time to get used to it, but my initial reaction was positive. The new IE9 opening page is very nice and really shows off some of the cool things we can all expect to see as HTML 5 starts making its way across the web. The first “normal” page I navigated to was a simple static HTML page and everything looked great; after that, not so much.

After all the hubabaloo regarding flash, I was really surprised that the first page I went to with a simple embedded flash object did not work; that’s not to say it didn’t display --- it did – sort of. IE9 made Flash flash – literally. As I scrolled down the page, the flash object alternatingly was there, then disappeared, then flashed in a strange strobe-like manner! Ok, I thought, not ready for prime time, but I’ll just resume my development projects back on IE8 and “play” with IE9 when I get a chance. Not so fast – ALL of my IE icons now link to IE9! So, IE9 has got to go.

Trying to uninstall IE9 was itself an adventure. It does not show up on the installed programs list and took some time to figure out how to get it off without causing damage. But for now, it is gone. In hind sight, it would have been much better if it had left all of my existing links and applications alone, and simply installed a new icon to use for testing. In any case, I’ll try again at some point and hope that they continue to evolve the product. IE9 is REALLY important to Microsoft --- its success means the difference of carrying on a dynasty, or handing the reigns over to Google Chrome; IMHO.

Facebook Embraces Data Portability – Again

2010-05-26T15:59:00.015-04:00

Today, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, made his strongest endorsements of Data Portability to date. Speaking from the company’s Palo Alto offices earlier today he stated:

“There is this concept of data portability that we’re trying to enable. We believe that people own their information and not only should they have control over it, but they should be able to take it to other services.”

This is a bold pronouncement from a company that has all too often been perceived as being more closed than open when it comes to data policies.

Of course the devil is in the details, particularly in understanding better what he means when he says “this concept of data portability that we’re trying to enable” – hopefully the “concept” is the same one most other folks understand to be regarding data portability.

As for the rest of his statement, it is a significant milestone for him to say “people own their information” and that they “should be able to take it to other services. If this holds true, then Facebook may be on the verge of becoming the largest and most influential supporter of data portability – to the significant benefit of all.

Still, Facebook has been here before – having initially joined the non-profit Data Portability organization and then largely remaining on the sidelines.

Hopefully, this all comes to pass and Facebook becomes the shining example of how a large company can balance direction and profitability with open data policies. If not, Mark’s words will likely become a rallying point that will surely stick in his side.

But, for now we’ll take him at his word, literally, and hope that the corner has turned. If this is in fact the case, then one of the best things that Mark and Facebook could do is to enact an official Portability Policy – just like those suggested by the recently released PortabilityPolicy.org from the Data Portability organization.

Read more: http://social.venturebeat.com/2010/05/26/zuckerberg-motivations/

iPad -- the New Computing Form Factor! (xWinLib announces support of the iPad!)

2010-04-13T22:15:00.004-04:00

Today I released support for the iPad in my xWinLib cross-browser library. But first:

Hello, I’m a Windows dude and I LOVE THE iPad.

That’s not a sacrilegious statement or my introduction at Apple Anonymous, it’s a statement based on anticipation, excitement, and realization. Yes, I had to have it the day it came out. Yes, I am a geek, but I also consider myself more of a Window’s guy than an Apple dude. Still, I do own a Mac Air, a bunch of iTouchs, and of course a Macbook Pro (all [mostly] for testing purposes[;-)]) --- but the iPad is truly different.

I like to think that I obsessed on owning the iPad because it represents a new “form factor” – a new paradigm in the computing world – and as a software developer it opens all kinds of new avenues. And while all of this is true – and I do think that the iPad creates an entirely new market that previously did not exist (and we didn’t even know we needed…but we do need it) – there’s more to it… the iPad is COOL!

The day of the iPad release, lines went around the block. I called my local Apple store in the Galleria mall and they told me the line went outside into the parking lot. Best Buy at Pembroke Pines had a line that exceeded their inventory. Double bummer. Fortunately I didn’t have to wait in line to get my iPad. My local Best Buy in Sunrise somehow didn’t get their UPS-delivered shipment of iPads the day before --- and boy were they stressing! I went there the day before and talked to the dude responsible for the iPad rollout at that store – he was totally stressing. The morning of the launch, the guys answering the phone were even more stressed, and they probably went something like this: “Hi, this is Best Buy, no we haven’t gotten our iPad shipment in yet but we are hopeful that it will happen today. Please call back and we’ll be happy to tell you this again.”

After lunch I went in anyway and the “iPad dude” gave me a number for “when (if) they did come in” --- I got number 18, “just make sure you come in to pick it up before 5pm” – no problem! And it wasn’t – I rolled in at 4:30 --- the shipment arrived – no line – they swiped my credit card – and I left with the goodies. S-u-w-e-e-t.

So, what’s all the fuss for what many are calling an oversized iPhone?

Would you leave your personal computer or laptop on your coffee table for others to play with? No friggin’ way. Would you pass your laptop around the room in a magnanimous gesture of sharing? Seriously? Not a chance. Yet the coffee table is exactly where my iPad sits. And that’s just one of the things that makes the iPad so radically different.

The iPad is a household computing device. A media interface. A computer DESIGNED FOR SHARING. And, as a gaming device it adds a layer of SOCIAL INTEGRATION that transcends virtual to, dare I say it, reality!

How many remotes do you have? In my house I’ve got the cable box, blue-ray dvd, TV, surround sound, and an HDMI splitter – and that’s just the family room. Yeah, I’ve tried the “smart remote” -- my son bought me the Logitech model 10billion -- and my wife still shops for wicker baskets to hold all of the remotes.

More so, are we really approaching “the year of home automation”? OK, I already mentioned that I’m a geek – and, yes, I was playing around with creating APIs for X10 device 2 ½ DECADES ago – but TRUE automation is way cooler than turning on and off your Christmas lights with a key fob.

The iPAD IS PERFECT FOR ALL OF THIS. My laptop… not so much. My desktop… definitely not. My server farm… get real…. Hence my belief that the iPad is a completely new form factor for computing – and THAT is why I had to have one… NOW. For all these reasons and more, I made damn sure that my xWinlib library (www.xwinlib.com) provides support and recognition for the iPad platform – TODAY.

And now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got to excuse myself so I can test my credit limit in the APP STORE… and I’ve got a few planes to land as I play “drag and drop” air-traffic controller…

--Steve

DataPortability 2010

2010-02-10T18:33:00.005-05:00

As many of you know, I am a big-time proponent of Data Portability. That simple concept that enables the free-flow of information in intuitive, secure, and informed ways has been a pet project of mine for some time. In fact, many of the products I have developed over the years, including Zude, Scrapplet, FGL, and xWinLib just to name a few, posses significant components of (and hopefully important contributions to) data portability.

I have been fortunate to be associated with the Data Portability Project (http://www.dataportability.org), the International non-profit spearheading the charge of Data Portability. My involvement has grown from “just a member” to a corporate officer and member of the Board of Directors. I am humbled by the caliber of folks that I get to work with in this group and others that share a mutual passion and vision for data portability. Today, the Data Portability organization counts among its members and participants many of the thought-leaders in the technology world and related organizations including: Facebook, MySpace, Google, Plaxo, Microsoft, Adobe, and more.

It is with this in mind that I am honored to have been elected as 2010 Vice-Chairman of the DataPortability organization and again member of the board. This is especially meaningful knowing all of the good things ahead for data portability and the consumers and producers of information. I look forward to the year ahead and am excited at the prospect of positive change that data portability will bring to us all!

--Steve Repetti
www.radwebtech.com

Open Web Advocate Chris Messina to join Google

2010-01-07T13:03:00.002-05:00

TechCrunch is reporting today that Open Web rockstar Chris Messina is joing Google!

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Chris through the Open Web Foundation (www.openwebfoundation.org) and Data Portability initiative (www.dataportability.org) and can unequivocally state that he is truly one of the thought leaders in technology today. I know he will do well at Google and all of which will mean bigger and better things for us all. My advice to Google: listen to Chris, give him whatever resources he wants, and sit back and take credit for your brilliance to bring him into the fold. (oh yeah, and don’t forget DISO http://diso-project.org/ !)

And... Happy Birthday Chris! What a great birthday present!!!

SuperTweet MetaData

2009-11-22T16:43:00.011-05:00

Uber-blogger Robert Scoble started a lively conversation regarding his concept of the SuperTweet as a mechanism of monitization for Twitter on his blog.

I had to put in my two cents because I really think he's on to something -- but WAY beyond just advertising. Here's my response:

First, the meta-data association is BIG --- way beyond just advertising. Tagging, geo-location, and parent/child info (providing the ability to piece together entire conversations and trends – REAL-TIME), just to name a few, would be enormously useful to Twitter and 3rd-party developers. It would create a mechanism that does not mess with the magical 140 characters, while providing an extension that embraces really useful things today and things that haven’t even been thought of yet.

Addressing the monetization issue, clearly the integration of (multi-tiered) SuperTweet MetaData would benefit any advertising strategy Twitter pursues, and offer an affiliate opportunity for Twitter clients and developers. Twitter has every right to place whatever ads they want within any context they chose, just as the user has every right to ignore them or abandon the service. Twitter’s responsibility for long-term happiness (for all) is to find a balance.

It wasn’t so long ago that nobody would conceive of paying a subscription for the right to push out messages 140 characters at a time. But that was before the phenomenal growth and success of the Twitter ecosystem. There is absolutely a class of Twitter users today that would pay $2.95 per month for additional value add – whether that be no ads, higher control over ads, or premium service/content.

For everyone else, SuperTweet MetaData could help target ads in ways not otherwise available. The problem with web-based ads (a la Google), is that there is too much anonymity for them to be really useful (this is separate from privacy). If I visit a website, the context for ad delivery is the website I am visiting. Twitter, on the other hand, knows the context of the message, the conversation in which the message occurs, the originating sender, distributed recipients, relational association at each step (including location of all), plus any meta data that I may have inserted via preferences, priorities, filters, patterns, and trends – all of which occurs in real-time.

I do not believe the case for SuperTweet MetaData is about advertising, though it certainly has relevance. No, I think the real case for SuperTweet MetaData is that it reinforces Twitter’s position as the center of its universe, extends 3rd-party opportunity by an order of magnitude, and provides Twitter with numerous monetization options – including advertising and subscription revenue.

Read the full article and discussion over at Scobleizer.com

Picture credit: TechCrunch.com

-- Steve

The "Personal" Server in My Everyday life...

2009-11-15T12:56:00.012-05:00

[Dave Winer started a great conversation about "Personal Servers" over at his scripting.com site. My comments:]

(Personal Servers have) become part of my environment – part of my “operating system”. It’s an extension whose always-on real-time availability lets me host services, communications, aggregators, consolidators, syndicators, and so much more.

I have been living daily with “personal” servers since the mid 90’s. There is one running in the background on my laptop (and most of my other machines) as I write this comment (actually, it is running multiple server instances – port 80, 7070, 9090, and 443 [ssl]. This is ALWAYS present for me. The power of dynamic content generation and JIT compiling/execution is infinitely more useful when it exists real-time in your actual environment. I can modify a file, and simply by saving it the change is instantly available on the web. Likewise, via localhost, I can develop without the burden of FTP. Code, refresh, code, refresh. When I’m ready, and need more (such as the business/commercial aspect) then after I’ve locally fine-tuned, I upload to an offsite hosting rack.

But it’s not just for development. It has become part of my environment – part of my “operating system”. It’s an extension whose always-on real-time availability lets me host services, communications, aggregators, consolidators, syndicators, and so much more. I, for one, cannot imagine my environment without this power and flexibility.

+1 for Personal Servers

Is the Droid Love Affair Over? Absolutely not, but…

2009-11-07T19:38:00.011-05:00

I love my Droid. Simple as that. But a serious flaw has revealed itself that has the potential for catastrophic consequences for my new little buddy. It’s a problem so obvious that at first I couldn’t believe it and hoped it just went away – but it is a critical problem that could cripple the Droid, and therefore needs to be addressed.

First, let me say that I have never owned an iPhone, Blackberry, or any other Smart Phone – ever. I have been a loyal Motorola phone user for years (my phone previous to the Droid was a Razor) and I WANT the Droid to be successful for so many reasons.

The problem is with the physical keys of the keyboard. This is not an issue of whether you like the keyboard or not, or think the keys could have been laid out better (for the record, I like the keyboard, but also believe it will be refined as the Droid evolves). The problem is the keys themselves -- under a very specific circumstance.

So, when I was at the Verizon store when they opened yesterday (the first day of availability of the Droid), I got my Droid, all the accessories, and a big smile on my face. Of course I got the car charger, the car mount (for GPS mode), and the Verizon-recommended rubber protective “Bra” – this latter accessory consisting of two-piece rubber that attaches to the top and bottom of the Droid. And it is this “protective” accessory that has the potential for catastrophic interaction with the phone. The problem is that is seems the “face” of the keys on the keyboard are glued on to the keys – no big deal, except when you slide the keyboard open and the rubber bra catches on the keys – in my case the edge of the DEL key caught and started to peel up. At first I didn’t realize why the slide was “sticking” but then quickly determined that if I opened the keyboard all the way up, it would rip the face of the DEL key right off. CRAP!

If you look closely at the picture above, you can see the corner of the DEL key pulled up. For now, I have used my fingernail to push it back down and I removed the top piece of the rubber protective “bra” and everything is working fine. But I can no longer use the top piece because it will rip the key face right off. I’ll be visiting the Verizon store tomorrow to seek a remedy, but in the mean time, I would caution everyone not to use the rubber bra thingee on top.

Has this experience soured my excitement for the Droid? Hell no. I told you, I love the little guy. I struggled with even raising this issue, but it was clear to me that this is a problem that will continue, and maybe the next guy who writes about it will use this flaw to slam an otherwise fantastic device. For me, I’m sticking with the Droid… quirks, flaws, and all -- but my Droid will go topless without the rubber bra.

[UPDATE: It runs out that the BRA has a small tab on three of its four sides. It must be installed so that no tab is on the bottom side where the keyboard slides open. Regrettably, neither Motorola or Verizon provide any instructions in this matter.]

My New Droid...

2009-11-06T12:38:00.003-05:00

So I bought my DROID today...

No line for me, but the Verizon store was crowded at 7am. I was out of there within 30 minutes with my new Droid. First observations: (1) the only ladies in the store were sales personnel, (2) Verizon did not have the software to convert my existing contacts, (3) even with 2 days of training, the staff was still on the learning curve. But, everyone was smiling, everyone was nice, and after swiping my credit card I ran home to play. 2 hours later --- I still love it! It’s HEAVY, but it is soooo cool. One note, I bought all the accessories and when the Droid is outfit with the rubber protector sleeve it does not fit in the GPS car mount.

Still, I connected it to all my email accounts, enabled universal inbox, moved a ton of pictures and music onto the SD card (via simple USB drag and drop) – and barely put a dent in the 16GB memory. I synced all my contacts from Outlook (via gmail import) and then enabled the Facebook connection. Contacts started automatically populating with their profile pictures and now I’m off and running. Call quality is awesome, the speaker phone rocks, and music sounds great (plus there’s a headphone jack). Certainly it’s not perfect, but the triad of Google + Motorola + Verizon is highly incentivized to keep things fresh. And, did I mention it’s heavy (could be used as a self-defense weapon in a pinch)? In any case – no buyers remorse here!

I Love the Founder's Fund -- even when they put their foot in their mouth....

2009-10-22T19:47:00.004-04:00

So, I was happily minding my own business --- coding away on the next greatest thing – when I was rudely interrupted by the most ridiculous statement I have seen in a while. Kudos to TechCrunch for running it, and Google Alerts for instantly bringing it to my attention – distraction and all.

I for one believe that everyone is entitled to their opinion, and if Sean Parker over at the Founder’s Fund wants to use words like “red-herring” when describing data portability – well, he is entitled to that comment, just as I am entitled to vehemently disagree! Here’s the full article that raised my ire, and here’s my response:

“To be clear, he thinks Google will stay huge and relevant, but it’s dominance will go down because collecting data is less valuable than connecting people, he said.”

Uh… that’s assuming we can FIND the connecting people – and it is for that very reason that Google has a phenomenal opportunity to encroach on the Facebook’s of the world. Google is trying to be the 411 of ALL information – and they are aggressively moving into the world of real-time integration — how long is it before searching Google for your friends yields status updates with links in and beyond Facebook and Twitter?

As for Data Portability being a “red-herring” – WOW! Data Portability is not just about technology, but about process, rights, and mindset. Without that so-called red-herring, the investment you make in creating, refining, updating, and enhancing all of your data would be “owned” by someone else.

@sean: grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

-- Steve.

OpenAjax Hub 2.0 Released, xWinLib and Scrapplet provide advanced integration

2009-08-31T08:17:00.010-04:00

Today, the OpenAjax Alliance (www.openajax.org) formally announced the new version 2.0 of the OpenAjax Hub. Their press release even included a quote by me:

"The new OpenAjax Hub 2.0 provides a comprehensive enterprise-grade solution for secure widget interoperability," said Steve Repetti, CEO/CTO, RadWeb Technologies. "OpenAjax Hub 2.0 is the glue that binds distributed objects and applications together in a trusted environment."

For those of you not familiar with the OpenAjax Hub, it is a powerful collection of technologies that enables secure interaction and communications between widgets, applications, and mashups. It's a great way for web objects to co-exist in this increasingly dynamic and real-time web. Both xWinLib and Scrapplet have OpenAjax Hub integration.

xWinLib (www.xwinlib.com), the cross browser windowing and web application library, includes enhanced support of the OpenAjax Hub by adding direct integration with all xWinLib-created browser windows and objects. This lets web elements automatically discover each other and communicate using the Hub. For example, RSS feeds can automatically update reader panes, even though neither has direct knowledge of the other; likewise text links can automatically render map and database information in separate widgets, panels, and web pages with their only association being interaction via the Hub.

An added level of advanced support is also provided. xWinLib uses the standard OpenAjax Hub communications engine as a delivery mechanism for extended messaging within the windowing environment. This includes the automatic delivery of enhanced messaging information thereby making real-time distributed communications even easier.

Scrapplet, the social aggregation website (www.scrapplet.com), includes OpenAjax Hub support and goes a significant level further by adding a powerful yet simple interface to the standard and extended implementation. Web objects can easily “publish” and “subscribe” to each other and automatically share events and other information over the integrated Hub. Check-box simplicity is combined with automated code generation and a host of other tools, pre-defined objects, and other resources.

For more details and to play in the OpenAjax Playground on Scrapplet:

- Main OpenAjax page
- OpenAjax Playground
- Documented Examples

Here’s the press release that just came out:

- OpenAjax Alliance Delivers Software for More Secure Enterprise Mashups

--Steve Repetti

Here's to those mean and despised open source nut-case curmudgeons!

2009-07-24T22:10:00.006-04:00

Open Software advocate Chris Messina pondered the other day if he was getting too harsh in his old age (yeah right!) in a post entitled “When all I seem to do is bitch, bitch, bitch”
He was caught up in an interesting debate regarding, what else, open source, and said:

"It would seem as though I’ve become one of those mean and despised open source nut-case curmudgeons with nothing nice to say. How soon we forget the lessons our mothers taught us."

The post is awesome, heartfelt, and insightful; and the comments themselves are quite revealing. Here was my response:

"Bitch, bitch, bitchin is our God-given right! But it doesn’t always get us the results we intended. Sure, we may feel better about it at the moment, but all too often it invokes regret and two aspirin in the morning.

"Yet sometimes that is exactly what the world needs — smack-down, called to the mat, black ‘n blue upside the face, called-me-out-cause-I-deserve-it bitchin’!!!!
Still, that crazy balance of life often let’s us accomplish even more with tact and being polite; or better yet: tactful politeness.

"Balance. I suspect as time goes on that you, Chris, will increasingly weild that balance like a sword — to all of our benefit!!!! Bitchin’ included!

"Keep on rockin’ dude!"

Bottom line: don’t stop what your doing just because you stir up the muck. All too often it needs to be stirred, and we always need people willing to step knee deep in the mire for the benefit of the masses!

POWER.COM Serves FACEBOOK a PR HEADACHE, Thrusts DATA PORTABILITY into LEGAL Spotlight

2009-07-10T08:59:00.006-04:00

Yesterday, social aggregator POWER.COM filed a countersuit against Facebook that raises some thorny issues for Facebook and adds some interesting defenses for the case of data portability and personal data ownership. It is not yet clear from reading the pleadings whether either party will win in this escalating case (there are some key issues and concepts on both sides that a Court will have to wade through), but it is clear the issue of Data Portability comes center stage.

Jason Kincaid over at TechCrunch released an interesting article on the subject, “Power.com Countersues Facebook over Data Portability,” along with a copy of the counter-suite.

In their opening salvo, Power steps up to the soap box and discusses “a borderless Internet where users have the right to own and control their own data” and goes on to present their recently adopted “Internet User Bill of Rights:”

This is great stuff for users and data portability, and in many ways mirrors much of our work over at the Data Portability Project (http://www.dataportability.org), however it has little to do with what Facebook is doing in the context of their site or their lawsuit. It does, however, place Facebook in a position of having to answer why it does not agree with these principals.

Thus far, Facebook has tread cautiously as it relates to user data and rights therein. They do not wish to give away the store or proprietary and competitive advantage, nor do they wish to (further) incur the wrath of its users by inflicting too many restrictions. Many of us hoped that a number of Facebook’s recent initiatives signaled their willingness to explore a leadership role in this highly important area. Unfortunately, the pleadings conflict with this hoped for direction.

From Facebook’s perspective, Power.com violated Facebook’s stated terms and conditions; the contract that establishes the relationship between the parties for the use of the site. Every Facebook user has agreed to this (or they wouldn’t be using the site), but, like virtually every other “terms and conditions” document, it is overly broad, highly protective, filled with legalese, and generally ignored by most actual users. It is merely the lack of enforcement by the provider (in this case Facebook) that keeps these things out of court more often. (The standardization and simplification of this topic is also the subject of much work over at Data Portability and other advocacy organizations).

Power.com counters by saying they are doing nothing that Facebook isn’t already doing themselves, and, besides, theirs (they believe) is the right way anyway. It is clear that Facebook does not agree with this position but now is in the difficult position of explaining why many of the good points that Power.com raises are not valid within Facebook.

Still, Facebook is a privately held company and they get to decide what is allowed or not. No court, other than the one of public opinion, can force them to do what they do not want to do – unless the legal line is crossed.

And while I do not believe that Power.com has a leg to stand on when trying to win based on how much “screen scraping” of data is allowed (Facebook’s terms and conditions say none), they have raised some interesting issues that could inspire both the court of opinion and the hollowed halls of justice.

At the very least, Facebook is highly conflicted. It does not own the copyrights associated with all of the information available on its site; it does use some of the very techniques with 3rd-party sites that it accuses Power.com of using against Facebook; it has moved in the direction of providing greater access to its data; and it is party to litigation that potentially represents a PR quagmire.

More significantly for Facebook, Power.com raises the issues of “Restraint of Trade” and “Restraint on Competition” regarding data portability which both lead to the dreaded “M” word: MONOPOLY. Specifically:

“Facebook’s conduct restricting users’ ability to access their own data constitutes an unlawful restraint of trade under Section I of the Sherman Act.”

“Facebook’s conduct constitutes monopolization (or attempted monopolization, ed.) of the market for social networking website services in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act.”

With all of the issues at hand, I predict that there will be chest banging and posturing by both sides, some “interesting” press conferences, followed by a negotiated settlement that washes the issue aside and lets both parties (partially) save face. Regardless, Facebook will likely take a PR “black eye” over this.

But I submit there is another, better, solution: Facebook should not only continue its current efforts of data portability and accessibility, but become the leading player on how to do it right! Users would benefit, Facebook would be crowned a friend to all proponents of Data Portability, and the lawyers would find something else to do! In absence of such, Facebook risks becoming the view in the rear view mirror for the company that actually does get it right.

IMHO.

The Google OS: “For Developers, the Web is the Platform” (Yeah Baby!)

2009-07-08T09:24:00.007-04:00

Last night Google announced what many have been suspecting for some time, the creation of a Google Operating System (OS) based on (what else?) the Google Chrome Browser! This is not something that (initially) directly competes with Windows, however the Google OS could easily take a lead position in the NetBooks category, an area defined by simplicity and specificity of task. More so, this “OS” has the chance to provide the single most requested feature sought in an operating: instant on!

Image attributed to Daryl Caggle at MSNBC

The title quote to this post, most recently by Mike Arrington over at TechCrunch, reinforces what we’ve been saying for some time: “the browser is the delivery platform for modern application; it is OS agnostic, ever present, and increasingly robust.”

The problem, of course, is that browsers are not necessarily compatible with one-another, even from one version to the next. What’s needed is a browser-based abstraction layer that “normalizes” this exciting platform and allows web apps and web sites to act, interact, and display the same across all of the browsers. Our solution to this is called xWinLib; a JavaScript library (with server-side interaction via Ajax, OpenAjax, and other web services) that provides a powerful platform for the creation, delivery, and operation of complex web applications. From the xWinLib site:

"The xWinLib library is a JavaScript framework optimized for the creation and execution of sophisticated browser-based applications and advanced web pages. xWinLib provides a self-contained client-side platform that integrates windowing, events, ajax, user interface, drag and drop, web 2.0, data portability, and more within a single cross-browser platform."

It will be interesting to see how all of this shakes out. Google will innovate their way into new spaces and force Microsoft to compete, evolve, or give way. Along the way, the web as a platform will be good for all! What a great time to be a web developer!

Scrapplet’s Variation on the Square World

2009-06-12T09:41:00.001-04:00

HTML is square; everything fits in tight little boxes that butt up against each other. Now, Scrapplet introduces the ability to add images to your pages and then rotate them 360 degrees in any direction. Add as many images as you want and rotate them to your hearts content!

Simply drag or use the wizard to add an image to your page, then access PROPERTIES -> ROTATION and specify the number of degrees to rotate the image!

Kwicks Concept Extended and Enhanced in xWinLib, Support for Floating Menus Added

2009-06-08T18:40:00.006-04:00

I really like the Kwicks menuing system that is available for MooTools and JQuery, but I wanted even more flexibility and the ability to integrate it into the xWinLib windowing library. So, an exercise in 176 lines of code got me the following:

Support for horizontal and vertical menus
Sliding menus can be absolutely or relatively positioned
Support for floating sliding menus
Multiple menus can co-exist within a single page
Menu "tabs" can be different sizes
Auto-scale within specific width or height
Customizable animation settings
Auto-open to any tab
Tabs open by rollovers or clicks
Override custom class and style attributes
Works with Firefox, IE, Safari, Opera, Chrome
Requires Javascript
Less than 1.5k gzip payload

Here’s the link to the demo page with full source code provided: http://www.xwinlib.com/demos/slidingmenu

Microsoft's BING Receives Enhanced Drag and Drop Support from Scrapplet and xWinLib

2009-06-08T06:43:00.001-04:00

BING from Microsoft is the latest product to challenge Google’s control of the search market. Initial reviews were mixed but it does introduce a number of interesting features and it seems to be gaining some traction (not the least of which as the result of its automated integration with existing Microsoft searches!).

In any case, Scrapplet/xWinLib has added enhanced drag and drop support for images found using the BING search engine. Just search for an image and then drag it onto a Scrapplet or xWinLib-enabled page!

Google Web Elements Come to Scrapplet

2009-06-02T16:22:00.007-04:00

Last week, Google announced the release of a new collection of gadgets, Web Elements. Quoting from the official Google website: "Google Web Elements allow you to easily add your favorite Google products onto your own website."

These include: calendar, conversation, custom search, maps, news, presentations, spreadhsheets, and YouTube News.

With this release I couldn't resist implementing them in a "friendlier" format within Scrapplet. It took me all of a couple of hours to create drag and droppable objects with customization wizards. Here's an example:

And now anyone can embed them with drag and drop ease via Scrapplet and the underlying xWinLib technology. Access your Scrapplet account and go to OBJECTS -> OBJECT REPOSITORY -> WIDGETS to try them out for yourself!

Don't Fear Data Portability...fear the LACK of it!

2009-05-01T14:33:00.006-04:00

[This was in response to an article over at Internet Evolution by Nicole Ferraro]

Data Portability, Privacy, and Ownership are three completely separate things that are nevertheless intimately related. Regarding data portability, if you are away from home and suddenly the local doctor needs to access your medical records, wouldn’t you want them to be able to do that quickly and securely? Unfortunately, without data portability, he may very well be able to get the data – but not be able to use it because it is in a format his systems are unfamiliar with.

The concept of single sign-on (OpenID, Facebook Connect, etc.) is a great example of Data Portability, though it only scratches the surface in terms of overall usefulness. Nevertheless, single sign-on allows information to “talk” to other systems in ways that are defined by concepts rooted in data portability.

People should be scared of unbridled access to information without constraints, accountability, and security. But, data portability is not something to be afraid of. It is an empowerment that operates transparently and provides options without limiting choices. And, with any luck it will be a core component of data solutions that puts a smile on everyone’s face.

Steve Repetti
www.radwebtech.com
www.dataportability.org
www.twitter.com/SteveRepetti

Twitter takes a bullet and we should all say thanks to them and others!

2009-04-26T21:49:00.008-04:00

This weekend, Marshall Kirkpatrick over at ReadWriteWeb wrote an awesome article entitled: “How the OAuth Security Battle Was Won, Open Web Style” wherein he described a critical real-world issue that was confronted and resolved by real people working together in extraordinary ways. The story is timely, frankly amazing, and demonstrates the power that a few dedicated individuals can have over things that are important to us all.

One of the principals of this story, Chris Messina, said to me:

“@Steve: would love concrete proposals on how to improve the process. As this was the first time many of us had to respond to something like this, we're looking for solid ideas on how to make improvements. I'll look forward to your real-world advice!”

My response to this was:

“@fatoryjoe, aka Chris M. : for “making this up as you go” everyone did awesome! Identify the problem, contain the damage, embrace assistance, hunker down, envision a solution, execute the plan, communicate strategically, implement, follow-up, and then cross your fingers! (and be prepared to do it all again!) DAMN IMPRESSIVE!”

“The trick going forward will be how to timely include those that can help without jeopardizing the confidentiality and time-sensitive nature of the (next) issue at hand. In this most recent incidence it is hard to imagine how things could have been handled better, but there are also lots of folks that would help on a moments notice…and that provides a powerful resource not often found in the commercial world.”

“Open platforms continue to blaze new trails and I look forward to the continued conversations that reinforce the leadership position that these technologies and supporting communities deserve.”

If you take a few minutes to read Marshall’s story about all of this, you will quickly realize how much so few contributed to the well being of so many -- and how important Twitter's role in all of this was. This is a trend this world can and should embrace, and I for one look forward to lending my hands to these good folks and worthy causes in any way possible.

Oh, and, by the way, if you ever felt/feel frustrated about Twitter – just remember, they took a bullet for all of us this past week and that earns their respect in my book!

Steve Repetti
www.radwebtech.com
www.dataportability.org

Don't miss the most human story on the net...

2009-04-21T21:54:00.006-04:00

I almost missed the most human story on the net today, possibly ever – and it’s still going on. Sitting on the couch next to my beautiful wife Angie, coding away with the world a blur, I would every now and then look up and see her entranced by a blog – alternately smiling and welling up with tears. And thus I was introduced to the world of MckMama and Stellan.

Stellan is a six-month old baby, and he’s sick – really sick. MckMama, Jennifer McKinney, is Stellan’s mother from Minnesota, and she has somehow found the strength to blog about all of this in real-time, and in the process the world has become captivated by this heartfelt story. Her blog’s site counter is currently approaching 10 million visitors – I know my wife is there every day.

Tonight, the world holds its collective breath. Six-month-old Stellan had heart surgery in Boston earlier today, and we do not yet know the results. In a world of distance and disassociation, where technology is all too often accused of anonymity, the story of Stellan has brought together the thoughts and prayers of the world.

If you believe in prayer, then Stellan is deserving of your messages to a higher power. If not, then Stellan is that compassionate deserving individual that makes you hope that the concept of prayer could make a difference. In any case, Stellan, MckMama, and the whole family are not alone in this ordeal. The world watches, and prays, and hopes. And none of us will be the same for the ordeal.

Visit MckMama’s blog at: http://mycharmingkids.net

Response to: Plaxo Bids for Relevance in Portability Era

2009-04-21T19:30:00.003-04:00

Nicole Ferraro over at Internet Revolution just released an interesting article on Plaxo and Data Portability. Here's my response:

Data Portability, as a topic independent from all of the other issues, has the potential to be extraordinarily useful to both the user and companies (including the Plaxo’s of the world). It’s not a loss to the companies if they provide value beyond simply hosting yet another digital persona.

In a world of data portability, information seamlessly and securely moves between services subject to the wishes of the user and the negotiated relationship entered into by the user and companies, usually defined by the terms of service (EULA/TOS: another important topic!). Innovative companies thrive in this environment because of the substantial value-add they provide to the user – and, as a result, have the opportunity for exponential growth due to the seamless integration of their services with the larger world.

Users benefit because they get to focus on what they want to achieve with the information, rather than having to create yet another set of activity streams, friends lists, groups, security settings, etc., and having to worry about integration, access control, and synchronization. Or more worrisome is the danger of the provider “deadpooling” with your data locked in their vault.

Overall, data portability is good for everyone. It does not seek to reduce options or competition, rather it provide options and secure, comfortable means to a highly sought end.

Interested more on data portability? Visit http://www.dataportability.org and join in the conversation

Steve Repetti
www.radwebtech.com
Board member: www.dataportability.org

Oracle, Sun, and IBM dancing the dance...

2009-04-20T08:11:00.001-04:00

While IBM danced around Sun doing the “maybe we’ll acquire you mambo”, Oracle cut in and announced this morning they are acquiring Sun in an all cash deal valued at $7.4B and that Sun’s board has already approved the deal. Who says deals are dead in the valley!

Response to: Facebook and the Future of User Generated Governance

2009-02-26T21:43:00.005-05:00

It’s been a big day for news related to Facebook and its user base. I already blogged about a great article by Marshall Kirkpatrick over at ReadWriteWeb, and now I’m adding to the comments of Brian Solis who addresses this issue from a completely different perspective:

“I for one am excited about bringing the user directly into the governance process. In Facebook’s instance, I believe this has been happening reactively in increasing measure over the last 12 months. Facebook acts, the user reacts, and the process refines and moves on – probably not in the way Facebook originally thought, certainly subject to loud vocalization, but definitely in a direction that is ultimately good for the user base.

A more involved user base can change the reactive nature of this beast to a proactive partnership – good for all. However, this same principal applied to technological leadership and innovation can have an adverse effect. Any good developer will tell you that it is foolish to ignore the target audience, but every great developer will also espouse the benefit of solitary brilliance. Ultimately, the best solutions from the technological perspective find that balance between good and great, between audience participation and singular inspiration.

Hopefully, Facebook will find the balance in all of these areas. I for one am hopeful.”

Steve Repetti
www.dataportability.org
www.radwebtech.com
www.scrapplet.com

Response to: Facebook Management Has Lost Its Grip on Reality

2009-02-26T18:26:00.003-05:00

Marshall Kirkpatrick over at ReadWriteWeb just published a significant article about Facebook and its increasingly evolving policies. Here was my response:

“Great article, Marshall!

The big message that all Facebook users should take away from all of this is that they can make a difference. Facebook made an announcement, lots of folks registered their opinions loudly, and Facebook’s position moved. Where it moved to, I think the jury is still out on that one – and it’s still moving.

Regarding Data Portability, remember it wasn’t so long ago that it was inconceivable that Facebook would make as much progress as they have, and, as trail blazers, they’re still trying to figure it out. And, that’s were all of us, the users, still get to make a difference. Now is the time for advocacy, for everyone to speak their minds about the issues and register their two cents.

Steve Repetti
www.DataPortability.org
www.radwebtech.com”

Scrapplet and xWinLib Announce Support for Apple’s New Safari Release

2009-02-24T09:50:00.004-05:00

Apple computer today released a beta of their terrific browser, Safari, for both Windows and the Mac. Jason Biggs over at TechCrunch talks about it in his article “Safari 4: finally a reason to come back” and references the significant feature list and press release from Apple.

In my opinion, this is a really big deal and hopefully a sign of things to come. This is more than an incremental release and brings to Windows users a powerful and sexy alternative to IE, Firefox, and the other browsers. My initial reaction to the new Safari is: WOW! And. I say this for a couple of reasons: first, it really is sexy and follows the Apple mantra of easy to use. But, more importantly to me and the users of Scrapplet and xWinLib technologies, it works great and is fast!

As many of you know Scrapplet and xWinLib are extremely advanced browser-based applications/technologies that seek to normalize the complexities of the different browsers available today across a variety of platforms. As such, I am always interested in new developments in browser products and technologies and in particular I want to know if compatibility is seamlessly tied to innovation. I am delighted to say that the engineers at Apple have done a terrific job in both areas as Safari 4 works flawlessly with both Scrapplet and xWinlib-based applications. It installed easily, fired up, and in seconds I was dragging and dropping content, mashing up everything from all over the web.

Now, if Apple could just implement a world-class plugin infrastructure and object repository…

Scrapplet integrates Facebook's new Comment Widget

2009-02-21T22:34:00.006-05:00

Scrapplet releases support for Facebook’s new comments object. Just select it from the Scrapplet object gallery (objects -> object gallery -> Comment- Facebook) and click or drag it onto your page. Seamlessly integrate with Facebook’s messaging system via Scrapplet integration with Facebook connect.

Now that Facebook’s comment widget is an integrated object within Scrapplet, it automatically inherits all of Scrapplet’s object properties, including appearance options, extended event handling, and even OpenAjax hub interaction.

Data Portability User Bill of Rights

2009-02-11T12:32:00.003-05:00

The following is provided in response to a request from the Data Portability EULA/TOS task force. The intent is to provide the basis for conversation related to identifying and quantifying the specific elements that might make up a user’s DP “Bill of Rights.”

[There is a great related discussion entitled “A Bill of Rights for Users of the Social Web” originated by Joseph Smarr, Robert Scoble, and Michael Arrington; and signed by more than two dozen leading individuals]

More specifically, to me, when I go to a web site I should have a reasonable expectation as to what I can and cannot do with the data that I bring, create, or reference within the site. And, I should also have reasonable understanding as to what the site owners can and cannot due with this collection of data related to me.

On the on hand, it doesn’t really matter what those boundaries are – provided they are disclosed up front and upheld throughout my relationship with the site. In this manner, I can make an informed decision as to whether or not I choose to continue. On the other hand, there must be disclosure, transparency, and accountability for this to work.

Ideally, I would go to a web site and there would prominently sit a Data Portability badge that identified the points of compliance in these areas that I am most concerned about. Display of the badge would provide the disclosure and transparency that I seek allowing me to make an informed decision. Likewise, display of the badge would also demonstrate accountability since the TOS identifying allowable usage of the badge would require compliance.

Further, the badge would not likely simply state compliance or non-compliance, rather “degrees” of participation. In a well structured user bill of rights, it is not likely that every site I choose to participate in will fully support every core tenant of Data Portability. I should be able to quickly identify which of the core elements that most interest me relevant to the site are in fact supported by the site.

Some of the key elements in this matter are directly related to privacy, usage, and control. From this we can then extrapolate a series of compliance statements that hopefully begin to take the shape of a user’s “bill of rights.” Specifically:

Key concepts:
- Data I bring, I have the right to take away
- Data I create, I have the right to share
- I have the right to choose who can and cannot access my data
- I have the right to access my data internally and externally

Specific questions:
- User personal data is private (y/n)
- Private data is secured (y/n)
- Personal data is fully removed upon request (y/n)
- Personal data is not sold or reused without permission (y/n)
- User data is accessible outside of the website (y/n)
- User data is available using industry standard formats (which ones)

Fringe thoughts:
- Public posts can be retracted (y/n)
- Public posts can be anonymous (y/n)

There is certainly more thought required in this area, both from me and others. Love to get everyone else’s opinions on the matter.

Facebook does about-face, shows true colors – and we like the aura!?

2009-02-09T23:27:00.004-05:00

Having previously put its foot down regarding the proprietary nature of its instant messaging (see: Facebook bullies IM-provider Meebo), Facebook has demonstrated its desire to open its world to the masses by now embracing Meebo and their support of instant messaging via Facebook Connect.

Jason Kincaid of TechCrunch points out that this has been a contentious relationship with anyone’s bet as to the outcome. Yet here we are barely 30 days after a public smack down and Facebook is touting the very company they were previously dissing. So, what’s really going one here?

Meebo tried to provide a valued service that real-world customers craved. Facebook pointed out that such effort violated its terms of service and wielded the big hand of the giant (meaning, if we don’t provide it – you can’t). Meebo said, “yes --- but can’t we all just get along?” And then…clarity set in. Facebook affirmed that they were in fact the giant, but realized that the giant is not necessarily the enemy of the populous; and that life shared was life to be enjoyed – by ALL.

More importantly, the giant has revealed that it can dance to popular music and stay in step with the desire of the masses. This is an important precedent (one that Microsoft and Yahoo should pay more attention too), and one that we can only hope is an indication of things to come. Data portability is the enabler that allows these things to happen, and acceptance of such need is the vehicle that drives evolution, revolution, and enlightenment of the giant.

To me, Facebook has always been that elusive idea that always avoided the mainstream, that was happy living in the fringes of my vision, and that survived by not intruding on my day to day. But, particularly recently, Facebook has elevated itself to a position of leadership – of showing the way that, while not perfect, nevertheless demonstrates movement in the right direction. To quote Herbert, “The Sleeper has Awoken” -- and we all do really wish that it is everything we hope it can be!

But is this really enough, or is it just baby-steps in disguise of innovation? Opening up to another service is one thing, but embracing open standards and providing integration leadership is another thing altogether. This announcement lacks the embracement of existing and open methodologies in favor of proprietary solutions provided at the direction and discretion of the giant.

Even so, is this a step in the right direction? Absolutely. Is it enough? Not a chance. On the one hand users should smack Facebook for ignoring the entrenched standards that form the pillars of openness, on the other, they should applaud them (and encourage them) for finally moving in the right direction. But we should ALL remind Facebook that this is a work in progress and to not stray from the path. We encourage the effort and look forward to the next steps on the path to enlightenment – and ready the whip for deviation.

Facebook’s Move to “Openness” Setting de facto Standard?

2009-02-07T13:40:00.008-05:00

Yesterday, Facebook took a further step in opening its network by introducing enhancements and new features to its developer APIs. Facebook’s new APIs make it easier for applications to update user statuses, links, and upload videos from outside of Facebook. This effort will likely generate a flurry of activity in the developer community as new applications are created and existing ones enhanced to take advantage of these new capabilities.

[Add to this the earlier announcement of Facebook’s support of OpenID and things are definitely starting to get interesting]

But beyond the power and convenience of integration and data portability from external sources, the real story lies just below the surface. Facebook is striving to become the ultimate repository for all of your social-media information and this is another step along that path. Their platform is becoming a global data-store and their APIs are empowering developers and users with standardized methods of interaction.

On the one hand there is very little about this that is open. Facebook controls the data, its access, and its availability. Facebook defines the integration, they determine the protocols, and the APIs, and even who can and cannot use any of this. This “openness” is all under the oversight, control, direction, and whim of the giant.

Yet, when you think about it, Facebook has made huge strides in extending its world beyond the looming walls of their garden. And, while I don’t think this was their original intent, they have nevertheless listened to their user base and observed the opportunity the market presents.

Some may call it baby steps, others an attempt at world domination. But the winner today is the user (and yes, it’s pretty good for Facebook too!); and the benefits continue to evolve. Along the way, these initiatives will provide new and innovative methods for interaction with users and data that may lead to de facto standards for data portability. Will that actually happen? That depends on Facebook’s “real” position on openness, the user’s tolerance and acceptance of that position, and the response from the other great giant seeking dominance in the global data-store market – Google.

2009-02-02T20:09:00.004-05:00

Chris Messina just pointed out an awesome blog post regarding microformats in 2009 (thanks Chris!) -- this has EVERYTHING to do with Data Portability, your rights, and the web. Check out the post from Ben Ward in the UK and see for yourself!

xWinLib and Scrapplet announce enhanced drag and drop for Safari users

2009-01-08T22:31:00.001-05:00

RadWebTech today released advanced drag and drop functionality for Safari users on the xWinLib and Scrapplet platforms -- no plug-ins required. Safari users now join IE, Firefox, and Mozilla users with the easiest and most powerful drag and drop capabilties on the web. Drag images, text, widgets, gadgets, music, video, websites, and more.

Twitter Hacked, Reactively Eyes Solutions, Tweets on the Edge of Data Portability

2009-01-06T13:27:00.006-05:00

The recent meltdown of Twitter security raises important issues related to Data Portability, most notably issues of security, integrity, and responsibility, that are relevant to all users. It also serves to demonstrate the need for prioritization by data stores.

Had Twitter simply said, “we will take your data and do whatever we want with it – including giving your login credentials to whomever we want” then no one would have had a problem. Of course they would probably have a lot less users.

But that is not what they said – and that is not the expectation that users had. In fact, in addition to the specific “terms of service” agreement that everyone accepts when they become Twitter users, there is an implied relationship that is created that defines the expectations of both sides. One of those is the reasonable expectation that your login information (including password) would be private and protected.

Now, obviously this is a dynamic world and there are lots of bad guys out there. And it will never be perfect. But there are straight forward solutions to many of these issues – especially in this day and age -- provided their implementations rate the necessary priority in the eyes of the Twitters (and other data stores) of the world.

To Twitters credit, their response has been quick -- and still in process. But more folks need to be proactive, not simply reactive.

Elias Bizannes, a fellow DataPortability board member, talked about this at length over at the official Data Portability blog, as did DP board member Christian Scholz here.

OAuth by itself is not the answer – but it is an important part of the solution. Ultimately the solution involves technologies such as OAuth and OpenID, but it also requires a mindset, commitment, and acceptance of responsibility in proactively keeping the rights of users always in the forefront. This is a main tenant of Data Portability and is an issue likely to dominate the headlines for some time to come – one way or the other. Companies will increasing be called out – or praised --- on this issue depending on their policies and priorities.

Most likely to change the world: DataPortability!

2008-12-06T07:22:00.002-05:00

It's in the news everywhere: Facebook Connect-this and Google Friends-that...and all the implications for users and their data that it means. Data Portability IS changing the world. So, please take a second and register your vote for Data Portability at the Crunchies:

Biggest Battle Yet For Social Networks...Data...

2008-11-30T23:57:00.001-05:00

I recently responded to a great article by Mike Arrington over at TechCrunch: Biggest Battle Yet For Social Networks: You, Your Identity And Your Data On The Open Web (the full article is here).

My response:

This continues a trend of distributed consolidation. After all, just how many different networks can one possibly join that actually have meaning and engagement? And of them, how many times must one reenter their social graph?

This distributed world is changing in a big way and the standard bearer is data portability. Many of the big guys would rather not have it, but the momentum is forcing them to play. If they can’t beat them – then at least they’d like to be in the center of it all. A serious lands-grab is going on right now and the players include all the big guys and more than a few up-and-comers. Time will tell how it all shakes out, but it all potentially spells good news for users.

In any case, now is not the time to sit on the sidelines. Register your opinion. Be an activist. Let your service providers know what is ok and what is not. Infuence your world!

[Mr. Repetti is the CEO/CTO of RadWebTech.com and a member of the board of the International DataPortability organization (www.dataportability.org). Expressions made herein are made individually]

New Drag and Drop Plug-in Released for Firefox

2008-11-23T22:10:00.004-05:00

Today, RadWebTech released the xWinLib_dnd browser plug-in for Windows and Mac-based Firefox (and Mozilla-compatible) browsers. It works in conjunction with the company’s xWinLib JavaScript library.

Once installed, the plug-in provides advanced drag and drop functionality for supporting web pages, including cross-domain drag and drop. Additionally, it adds a small icon to the bottom status bar of the browser with single-click access to a popup menu with a number of features.

The first site to fully support the enhanced functionality is Scrapplet (www.scrapplet.com). The enhanced functionality makes it easy to mashup pages and web content with drag and drop ease.

The plug-in also includes a feature where users can recommend advanced drag and drop adoption by sites that have not currently implemented the ease of use provided by the enhancement.

Webmasters may contact the company directly (bizdev@scrapplet.com) for information about adding the RadWebTech drag and drop functionality to their own sites.

To get the plug-in, goto http://www.scrapplet.com using Firefox. The site’s home page will detect if the plug-in has not been installed and provide an installation link to install it.

MashupCamp: DAY THREE

2008-11-22T14:38:00.002-05:00

The final day of MashupCamp started as before with introductory remarks by Dave Berlind. This morphed into the second discussion panel of the conference: “Making Money with Mashups.”

The panelists included mashup entrepreneurs Yobie Benjamin, Andres Ferrate, and Taylor McKnight combined with local valley VC, Jeff Clavier. Insightful and timely, the conversation confirmed the value of the new camp format which now includes this type of panel discussion.

The rest of the day was dominated by the “Best Mashup” competitions. Many of the sponsors, including my company, RadWebTech, offered prizes for the best mashup showing off the sponsors products or technology. And, the conference itself offered a Mac Book Pro for the best overall Mashup.

One sponsor, the Elfenworks Foundation, wasn’t a solutions provider at all, rather they sought to encourage their cause through the sponsoring of a mashup contest. It was an inspired and compelling way to increase the visibility of an important issue: social justice and domestic poverty.

Contestants were split into two groups to present their works in one of two reverse speed-geeking sessions. In this format, the entrants displayed the fruit of their labors on high-top tables while the other 300+ participants went from table to table in 8-minute spurts with Dave the whistle guy blowing his woo-woo machine in between.

Lunch and the keynote speech from legendary Tim O’Reilly separated the two sessions. Tim fired up the crowd with his data-centric view of the world – a concept well received by the mashup community – and ended on the theme of data portability – a timely topic uniquely tied to my own efforts in the DataPortability organization.

Through the contribution of TechWeb and the sponsors of MashupCamp, my company RadWebTech included, the entire event is provided to all attendees free of charge. Entrance into the mashup contests likewise only requires the desire to participate.

Entries ranged from story-board presentations, to commercial-grade applications, as well as mashup creations birthed from all-night programming sessions. Several were actually (or wannabe) commercial products taking advantage of the free venue to display their wares. Geeks are often socially challenged but they’re not dumb, and needless to say none of these conference trespassers won.

The real stars shined in the bleary eyes of exhausted mashup developers that somehow found the energy to speed-geek their creations with enthusiasm. The top entries that caught my attention included a variant on tag clouds, a compelling way to search and view videos, a plug-in that brought mashup capabilities to any web page, and several mobile-based solutions.

Many of the mashups demonstrated integration with wikis and other social elements, back-end data sources, and even the semantic web – all brought together through the use of tools provided by several of the solutions providers/sponsors, including: Mozenda, WetPaint, and Calais.

My company’s product, DistroMash, was used by contestants as a mashup container that was then rendered on the Scrapplet presentation platform (another of RadWebTech’s products).

After all the presentations were completed, and the final woo-woo from Dave’s horn was heard, conference participants were asked to “vote” for their favorite mashup and best solutions provider. The voting was accomplished by ignoring your mother’s warnings not to take wooden nickels. Each participant was provided an actual wooden nickel for best mashup and another for best solutions provider – and they were a highly sought currency by both contestants and providers.

After tallying the vote (counting of the nickels), the great hall hosted the final get together award ceremony and cocktail party. Dave held the stage as he went through the recognitions. The tables of beer and wine were just out of reach and teased the crowd as they were wholly off limits until the last award was presented.

Best overall mashup went to Dean Mao for his Firefox plug-in that mashed up the world. Each sponsor selected their winner and presented prizes ranging from hard drives and other equipment to cold hard cash.

The winner of RadWebTech’s best Mashup using DistroMash was a team of interns from SAP, Martin Czuchra and Jennifer Baldwin:

“We aimed to create awareness of poverty issues in a user's neighborhood by showing such elements on a map. We aggregated RSS feeds with Yahoo Pipes and also added geotagging with Yahoo Pipes. We then plotted this information on Google Maps. Finally we created the web application with DistroMash adding a feed reader, the map and a visualization from gapminder.”

Before I presented them with their brand new Playstation 3 and deluxe SOCOM (with blue-tooth headset!), I got to thank everyone for their participation and point out that the new generation, represented by these two young interns, wasn’t replacing our generation – they were expanding the world of mashups that included all generations.

After the obligatory pictures, I asked how they were going to share their award and suggested alternating Tuesdays, Thursdays, and every other weekend joint custody.

Finally, the recognitions and congratulations were finished and the drinking began – but not without one last twist to the Mashup theme. The good folks from Calais introduced balsa wood airplane kits to the crowd and challenged them to mash them up for a flying contest (no cash prizes this time).

Beer, geeks, and gliders. ‘nough said.

Congrats to all who attended this spectacular event, thanks to TechWeb, David Berlind, Greg, Angela, and Elizabeth, and to all of the sponsors who contributed. I can’t wait until the next one. I’ve already mashed it up on my calendar.

Click here to see all of my pics from the conference.

[this was the last in a three part series about MashupCamp, fall 2008]

MashupCamp: DAY TWO

2008-11-22T13:19:00.004-05:00

The second day of MashupCamp picked up where the previous day left off. Dave brought everyone up-to-date with the plans for the day and then the general assembly morphed into the first panel discussion: “Making the Case for Mashups in Business.”

Discussion panels are new to the MashupCamp agenda and are a welcome addition. They balance the “un-conference” nature of the program and provide a good transition between the various parts.

John Musser of Programmable Web, author and technologist Dan Woods, and security guru Hart Rossman brought their considerable experience together for the mashups in business discussion.

Following the always informative sometimes intense conversation, the conference moved into the un-conference portion of the agenda: scheduling for the unscheduled discussions. A huge grid was placed on the wall of the auditorium with meeting rooms listed across the top and time slots down the side. Anyone that wanted to could suggest a discussion topic, announce it, write it out landscape-style on a piece of paper, and tape it to an available slot.

The un-conference concept is dynamically generated crowd-conferencing where every individual voice has the opportunity to be heard. And if you find yourself sitting in a discussion that fails to hold your interest, you are encouraged to vote with your two feet – right out the door and into another, hopefully more engaging, conversation.

The session I hosted was entitled “Designing for DataPortability.” As you may know, I sit on the board of the International DataPortability organization. I was fortunate that three other members of the twelve person world-wide board also joined me, including the chairwoman of the organization.

There are lots of great things happening in the world of data portability and in particular with the DataPortability organization. The conversation was brisk, intense, and spanned many aspects of the current and envisioned state of data portability.

Following five hours of un-conference discussions, Dave held a wrap up followed by a mandatory meeting for “Best Mashup” competitors. The latter prepared the contestants for the day to follow where they and their creations would be the stars of the show, and one would be crowned king (or queen).

The second day of the conference officially ended around 6pm, however many eager (and harried) contest entrants were huddled in corners, strewn around the various tables of the main hall, or hunkered down in the conference-provided “hacker’s den.” This went on for some time into the evening as they all endeavored to create the next great award-winning mashup for fame, glory, bragging rights -- and cool prizes!

[This is the second party of a three part article]

Report from the trenches: MashupCamp, fall 2008: DAY ONE

2008-11-21T12:06:00.006-05:00

Just back from MashupCamp in Mountain View CA where I was surrounded by three days of geek nirvana.

MashupCamp is an “un-conference” that this year introduced elements of measured structure into a program that continues to grow and mature into the coolest event surrounding the mashup phenomenon.

Sponsored by media giant TechWeb, and led by the uber-media guru David Berlind, this year’s event was by far the biggest and best so far (and that’s saying a lot considering the success of the prior conferences!). There were a number of subtle tweaks to the program that cumulatively added to the experience.

The three day geek-fest started with the traditional opening by Dave followed by an introduction to the sponsors and service providers via the much vaunted speed-geeking sessions.

As Dave describes it, speed-geeking is the technology equivalent of speed dating: in this case, thirteen high-top tables featuring a like number of presentations with audience participants assigned to one of the tables to start. After an initial blast of the horn (more like a woo-woo sound), presenters have eight minutes to blow the socks off the crowd gathered around their area. Another woo-woo later, and, like musical chairs, the crowd rotates to the next station until all stations have been visited.

Speed-geeking is an assault on the senses brought forth by presenters and cherished by participants. It is a terrific high-speed fast-talking screen-flickering introduction to (mostly) killer products and technologies. Like falling down the techno-rabbit hole with a bungee cord attached – and an 8-minute return trajectory.

Some of the highlights of the solutions provider speed-geeking included:

Calais, http://www.opencalais.com
In a world of interconnections, Open Calais provides a cool way to generate relations, links, and other meta-tag information automatically from text, feeds, and other web content. This is a very ambitious undertaking and works wonderfully, though my observation is larger conversions are better handled as pre-processed components rather than real-time conversions (due to the time required to execute the conversion). Nevertheless, VERY COOL.

Mozenda, http://www.mozenda.com
These guys provide back-end functionality accessible via web services that allow users to “easily extract, repurpose, and publish web data.” A number of entrants in the mashup contest (held on day three of Mashup camp) used Mozenda for back-end interaction. Again, VERY COOL.

WetPaint, http://www.wetpaintinjected.com
Adding embedded wikis with off-site storage is trivially easy with WetPaint Injected. Many of the mashup contestants used this functionality in their contest entries, and it made traditionally static content dynamic and interactive.

Zembly, http://www.zembly.com
Helping you create apps that work in Facebook, Meebo, OpenSocial and more is these guys’ forte. They even provide application hosting options.

There were lots of other cool products and technologies demonstrated by the sponsors and solutions providers, including: IBM, AOL Developer Network, Elfenworks Foundation (they weren’t really a provider, but as a sponsor they represented a great cause and inspired a bunch of awesome mashup contest entries), Google, JackBe, OpenAjax, RadWebTech (editor disclosure: this is my company and publisher/creator of DistroMash, Scrapplet, xWinLib, and more), The Web Service, and even Yahoo.

One of the coolest things I saw at MashupCamp was from IBM, yup the big blue one! IBM is part of the OpenAjax alliance and co-hosted the first-day cocktail party. There they demonstrated an awesome variation on using the web collaboratively with independent synchronization across multiple browsers including hi-res video, audio, and event sharing (keyboard, mouse, and programmatic integration). This goes way beyond screen or whiteboard sharing and truly makes the web collaborative.

Since RadWebTech was also one of the co-sponsors of the MashupCamp event, I too was a speed-geeking presenter showing off our latest products and technology, including DistroMash, xWinLib, and Scrapplet. It was a GREAT conference for us (more on that later), and I can say with some authority that the best thing for a strained voice (inflicted from and hour and a half of frantic speed-geeking) is Sam Adams!

[This is part one of a three part series. Stay tuned for more]

MashupCamp 2008

2008-11-18T11:27:00.005-05:00

Yesterday, we introduced DistroMash to the mashup community here in Mountain View, CA at the MashupCamp 2008 conference put on by David Berlind & company. It's a great feeling to get the kind of positive response that we did from developers and other industry insiders.

DistroMash uses RadWebTech's browser-based windowing and container technology (xWinLib and WebCapsulate) and combines them using Scrapplet as the presentation layer and administration console.

After 5 speed-geeking sessions, multiple chalk talks, and conversations with hundreds of techies, my voice has almost recovered -- just in time for a presentation today about DataPortability and more cool RadWebTech technology!

Kudos to Dave, Greg, Angela, and Elizabeth (along with parent company TechWeb) for a job well done...and, two more days still to go! Stay tuned!!!

See all the goings on at the MashupCamp website.

(The only thing missing from all of this is my wife, who was unable to attend this time [bummer, miss you!])

JS-Kit, DataPortability, and Commenting

2008-11-11T19:26:00.003-05:00

I recently responded to an excellent post by Chris Saad (a fellow board member of the DataPortability Organization). He basically layed out scenarious for hosting, posting, and monitoring comments posted to websites.

His full post is at: Rich , Interactive Features for your siteFinding balance in the force

My response:

The rights conveyed depend on the context. If I agree to post to a public forum, then I should be aware that my comments may be copied and propagated all over the place – and there’s not much anyone can do about it. I’m ok with this because I knew going in that is was a public forum. You, the site owner, do not have the right to modify my content unless I say you can. You do have the right to delete it in its entirety (revoking the invitation to post in the first place).

On the other hand, if I post something when you tell me that the venue is non-public or limited in scope, then I have every expectation that you will honor that representation. But you still can’t change my stuff unless I specifically grant you permission (BTW, you may get that permission as part of the TOS provided before I post).

An important variant on this theme is related to mature and potentially objectionable content – again dictated by context. There is no world-wide sensor (thankfully) and there is no clear standard for mature or objectionable content. Once again, relationship must be dictated by conveyance, that is: you get to post on my site provided you agree to a, b, and c. And, you can be comfortable in posting on my site because I represent back to to you x, y, and z.

From a technology implementation standpoint (and I am quite familiar with JS-Kit’s awesome products, having dealt with them previously through Zude), the real challenge/opportunity is all about the flexibility of dealing with all of these scenarios without encumbering the product or confusing the user.

Steve Repetti
RadWebTech.com

Embedded Cool

2008-10-09T09:42:00.004-04:00

The following demonstrates "LIVE CONTENT" inside a blog. It is based on the xWinLib technology as implemented by the Scrapplet platform and the concept was originally suggested by Dave Berlind over at CMP. To see this in operation, drag the image and text box around, resize any of the objects, and drop a url into the live content area (currently, the drag and drop component is restricted to IE users UPDATE: drag and drop works with all browsers, only FF requires a 3k plugin available at scrapplet.com). LIVE CONTENT is expected to be available as a general release product shortly. Tell us what you think!

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