Feature Suggestion - If more than N people block a user in any T hour/day period, that user's account is temporarily locked until FriendFeed staff can review the situation.
It wouldn't surprise me if it does, but if so it'd be nice to let people know that "Block" not only removes the person from your stream, but acts as a way to signal FF staff and regulate the community(/"mob")
- Ken Sheppardson
@Ken: True, it would be good to communicate that so crowdblocking would become more commonplace.
- AJ Kohn
So you reckon FF needs its own Online Behavior Tsar/ette to "review the situation(s)" and unlock/not unlock affected accounts? While those engaging in mob mentality go free? (or maybe I "misunderestimated" your suggestion).
- ianf ⌘
No, I think the same people who review spam reports and decide whether or not to permanently lock out spammers could certainly handle it.
- Ken Sheppardson
@Ian: It's really more about spam. If X number of people block a user in a defined period (e.g. - accelerated blocking of a user) then the account is put on hold. So, instead of a whole bunch of people submitting something to FF that says 'hey this guy is a spammer' the mechanism simply catches the user behavior and acts accordingly.
- AJ Kohn
Seems like a pretty simple decision gate. Entertain me, NO BLOCK Bore Me BLOCK EOL
- EARL (Born in the USA)
via fftogo
I get it, but the algorithm to trigger this anti-spam action would have to be much more precise than "N people in any T moment." Because, if it is possible to Google-bomb a phrase, it'd be even easier to Unfriendfeed-gangbang an account.
- ianf ⌘
Perhaps something as simple as a spam button on comments and user pages would fix this. If one particular user gets a high amount of spam hits then FF will see this and act accordingly. A dropdown menu from the comment icon could have this 'spam' option (along with 'track' and 'reply'). :-)
- Kol Tregaskes
They're showing little ground to stand on when it comes to Trademark. Especially when they're saying things like "the majority of our users access Twitter outside of Twitter.com" - that removes their right to say they have a trademarked look and feel as well. If Tweetdeck is serving more users under the name "Tweet" under Twitter's look and feel than Twitter is then I would venture to say that Tweetdeck would have more right to that Trademark claim.
- Jesse Stay
also remember these search results only go back how far? a month? not even right?
- Chris Heath
and half of the twitterverse doesn't even use the word tweets as the noun... they use twits for some reason
- Chris Heath
Hey Ken, Do you know the Pre's user-agent? Could you navigate to: http://www.useragent.org/ on your Pre and let us know. Sorry, don't have a pre around here to test on. Thanks in advance for your help. We'll try to make the fix as soon as possible.
- Ross Miller
"Mozilla/5.0 (webOS/1.0; U; en-US) AppleWebKit/525.27.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/1.0 Safari/525.27.1 Pre/1.0" Thanks, Ross!
- Ken Sheppardson
"Although I was able to live on the web for 60 days, it’s highly unlikely I’ll be able to park myself on the couch for a month straight. Not even our cats can do that, although I personally think they’ve given it a go in the past. So what’s a TdF junkie to do when away from the television? Here are five options:"
- Ken Sheppardson
via Bookmarklet
Versus FTW! Live coverage every morning baby!
- AJ Kohn
I'm going to have to do a couple weeks worth via Versus+Slingbox ... should be interesting
- Ken Sheppardson
I'm gonna go couch potato for three weeks. I just love the tour, been watching since I was itty bitty and it was Laurent Fignon and Greg Lemond battling it out. Last year I used the official site and danish TV2s websites to follow when I was at work. That's when I didn't sneak through the bar to sneak a peak at the screen there.
- Rasmus Lauridsen
This is funny, because for me online services are the bests tools I've found to communicate with "everyone I care" who "exists in real life". I don't see why you should restrain yourself from using something.
- Brome
oh shoot. this reminds me that I never did finish the cross-stitch I started of this scene. I'm so close too. Will need to work on that once I get unpacked. :)
- pea ♥ fierce as a woozle
Is there a WordPress plug-in to automatically push new posts to FriendFeed via the API?
Instead of just having a new post show up as a title and a link when the system gets around to checking your feed, you could push an excerpt and an image to FriendFeed the instant the post goes up.
- Ken Sheppardson
There is a WordPress plugin to support SUP, which would accomplish the "instant" part of your goal: http://wordpress.org/extend.... To get images you just need to support MediaRSS (I believe there is also a WordPress plugin for that).
- Benjamin Golub
Benjamin: I knew somebody'd mention SUP :-) I'd rather not add some intermediate service/protocol, I just want the ability push directly via a single plug-in, preferably with a UI component that gives you control over what image or images are added, select the excerpt, select what groups the post goes to, etc.
- Ken Sheppardson
What I want is probably similar to what Ken you want - something to push the title & link& image as a post, and an excerpt as a comment to FriendFeed, which would then go to Twitter. The group selecter would be ultra cool on top of that
- guruvan (Rob Nelson)
Yeah, I'm using PUB-Sup, but what would be even more interesting is something that pushes, and tracks comments of the pushed post at the same time. I'd like to have real-time comments on each blog post.
- Jesse Stay
You're too cool to just grab your own RSS feed?
- Matthew DeVries
Just sent him a tweet. Hopefully he'l join us :) Looks to be in india
- guruvan (Rob Nelson)
The SUP plugin doesn't add an intermediate protocol. It does exactly what FriendFeed wants from your site. It adds a line of code to your header and pings their API everytime you publish. Works perfectly to publish posts realtime to FriendFeed (and then on to Twitter, etc.) In fact, I've still not got used to publishing a post and seeing a notification on my desktop from FriendFeed from my post a half second later.
- Joss Winn
OK, I get it, guys. I know how SUP works and I know you can use SUP and MediaRSS to accomplish what I want. But I don't want to ping some API to tell it to go pull something from a feed... I want to make a single call to the FriendFeed API designed for creating entries http://code.google.com/p...
- Ken Sheppardson
Shouldn't be that hard to build. You can do it Ken :)
- Bwana
Bwana: I think Sudar has already. :-) I'm going to put his implementation through its paces over the weekend.
- Ken Sheppardson
Oh ok cool... Hmmm.. I'd try it, but I'm not sure how it'll affect Backtype Connect on my blog. I want to be sure the FF comments get pulled in correctly.
- Bwana
Bwana: not sure exactly what you want to try - but in general any entry that links to your posts will be connected by BT Connect -- we do of course try our best to cut out things like auto snippets of text that appear as comments when using the FF bookmarklet.
- Mike Montano
Mike - I just wanted to be sure if I remove my RSS feed from FriendFeed and use this solution, will my comments get pulled back into my blog. I gather the plugin would have to only link to my blog from FriendFeed, and Backtype does the rest
- Bwana
Yeah, it seems like once the plugin creates the entry on FriendFeed with a link to your blog post, you're home free, no matter how that entry is created.
- Ken Sheppardson
Hi Guys, nice to know that the Plugin (Post2FF) which I created around 9 months back is of use to someone :) I am take the code dust it off and will add the new features that you requested. Stay tuned :)
- Sudar
Of note, Sudar: it would be most handy if we could select the link that is published on the entry - either the linkt ot the blog entry or the ff.im link. (wasn't clear to me if the API actually supports this?) On most of my blog posts, I'd like to direct people straight to the post, but someone or some entries might prefer linking to the FriendFeed post/discussion
- guruvan (Rob Nelson)
I am done with the modifications to my Plugin to add new features like choosing the room to which the link to be posted, selecting images etc. Will release it after completing the testing. If anyone is willing to do beta testing, just ping me.
- Sudar
@Ken, Please DM your email address and I will send the Plugin for beta testing. If everything goes well, I will be able to release the Plugin tomorrow by this time.
- Sudar
So guys, finally I have updated my Post to FriendFeed Plugin with support for rooms. You can get the new version at http://sudarmuthu.com/blog...
- Sudar
"Palm Inc. posted a wider loss for its fiscal fourth-quarter as revenue dropped again in the latest full quarter before the release of the Pre smart phone, yet results topped analysts' expectations. In after-hours trading, shares were up 8.1% to $15.15."
- Ken Sheppardson
via Bookmarklet
Note that this was 2009 Q4, ending May 29 and the Pre didn't go on sale until June 6, so while there were launch/rollout expense in Q4, there's no revenue from the Pre in Q4.
- Ken Sheppardson
People who've passed away this week: Farrah Fawcett, Neda Soltani, Timothy J. Nicholas, Michael Jackson, Melissa Rosales Dennis, Ed McMahon...
"Whenever we mention desktop note-taking applications, two apps always stand out among the competition: Microsoft OneNote and Evernote. One is a commercial Windows app; the other is a free application for Windows, OS X, and many mobile phones. So which is better?"
- Ken Sheppardson
via Bookmarklet
no comparison - Evernote is multi-platform, character recognition in photos is the win for me. I photograph whiteboards all the time at work. Very flexible, easy to use.
- Don Bonaddio
I moved from OneNote to Evernote and I'm happy about the web access, Pre client, etc... I just wish I could rip out the individual note editing functionality from Evernote and drop in OneNote's
- Ken Sheppardson
"In this challenging report, social activist Rifkin (Biosphere Politics) contends that worldwide unemployment will increase as new computer-based and communications technologies eliminate tens of millions of jobs in the manufacturing, agricultural and service sectors."
- Ken Sheppardson
via Bookmarklet
It's the end of the work as we know it, and I feel fine...
- Ladybug Heather
Whoah... anybody else just see this show up in their stream? One question... where did you get these contacts, and how do I sever the connection to that service? I'd like to authorize this sort of access on a case-by-case basis.
Yeah, I saw that and freaked out! I don't recall giving access to my address book like that. (Might have missed it somewhere.) Mine looked like my Gmail contacts. Anybody have something different?
- Curtis Jackson
It popped up in mine, too. I unchecked the boxes and let it slide away. They seemed to be my Gmail contacts from an account that I had previously checked for FFers.
- John
Not seen this myself but looks a little worrying! :-(
- Kol Tregaskes
I don't have much of a problem with this, privacywise (I've given FF access to my Gmail account previously). But I do understand how this could be perceived as creepy... for two reasons. 1) We were asked to provide FF with ONE-TIME access to our Gmail account, so I can see how having our private information shown back to us at a later time could be surprising and disconcerting. 2)...
more...
- Adam Lasnik
I have not seen this. The Find/Invite Friends link allows single click to facebook if you've got your facebook on file. The Gmail requires a Grant Access click, Yahoo requires a password. Twitter just confirms the account you want. (I don't use hotmail). So the real question here is Which account (for sure) did these recommendations come from for you all? If it's the Facebook, I'm not so concerned, because that doesn't go against the normal practice -but any others it does.
- guruvan (Rob Nelson)
I haven't seen this yet but it's more than a bit disconcerting. I'm anticipating an official FriendFeed response on this.
- chrisofspades
Thanks for your thoughts and feedback on this promo. To clarify any confusion, these addresses come from whichever address book you imported into FriendFeed. But for all of these, we only have access to your *contacts*, and nothing else, such as your password, etc. It's completely secure, and it's only limited access--Google is one-time access, Yahoo is 2 weeks, Windows is 1 week (but...
more...
- Benjamin Golub
Thanks Benjamin. I, for one, appreciate the clarification on this. Furthermore, I'd like to point out, that while I'm not sure about this particular promotion (digging through the contacts) I wholeheartedly approve of FriendFeed posting notices (and potentially promotions) in this method. I would personally like to see more announcements from FriendFeed take this form (bug fixes, outage announcements, etc)
- guruvan (Rob Nelson)
I don't remember letting FriendFeed remember my contacts from Gmail; I thought that was a one-time thing for the purpose of importing my friends. I certainly hope you don't store my password ever, but that's not the point.
- Doug
(let me clarify - I don't really approve of going through my contacts without explicit permission - I do approve of the manner of posting by FriendFeed)
- guruvan (Rob Nelson)
Like Doug, I thought the Gmail contact access was "import and forget". Those who want to revoke access for your Google account: https://www.google.com/account.... Like Rob, I do like the way those message (either self-promotion or ads) appears in the stream, with the possibility to hide them. Finally, I'd like to be able to like and comment those message: it's the best...
more...
- Jérôme Flipo
Was there any resolution on this? Is FriendFeed going to continue to store Gmail contacts after users grant one-time access?
- Doug
Thanks Petr, that was helpful for me personally, but I don't feel like the larger issue is resolved. FriendFeed is not clear about how they use the contacts you give them in the "Find/Invite Friends" feature. Indeed, the flow really leaves you thinking that it's "import and forget".
- Doug
I wish FriendFeed had some way to tell me how many items from all the people I follow--minus the services and items I've hidden--have flowed past in the the cumulative stream over that same 30 day period. That'd be the blue bars. Then they could show how many they've rendered on a web page over the time I was actively viewing the site. That'd be the orange. I'm guessing the graph wouldn't look quite the same.
- Ken Sheppardson
"First, unwrap your Creedocide decoy rat. Next, release the decoy into your wall. The impostor rat will locate the rat nest and disguise himself as the son of a monotheistic supreme being..."
- Ken Sheppardson
Tip for Developers: When someone asks you "Do you have or know of a library to do X?" and you don't, it's better to say "No, but I could hack something together in 2 hours if you'd like" than to spend two hours hacking something together and then say "No, but hacked this together. Here."
I've always wanted to carry a higher quality compact camera in my pocket so I always have it with me, but my old Canon SD450 and Treo 755p were just a bit too bulky. With a Pre and an SD780, I'm all set... particularly since the slip case that comes with the Pre is *exactly* the right size for the SD780 and keeps them separated and scratch free.
- Ken Sheppardson
Its a pain to constantly slip the phone in and out of a case, but it's not a big deal with the camera. The case is a nice heavy duty terry cloth designed to be kind to the Pre's glossy surface, which makes a really nice SD780 slip case as well.
- Ken Sheppardson
I use one of those BYO cases I picked up at Best Buy for about $6. Not the greatest but it works.
- jcunwired
I caved and got the nice leather one for office wear and will use the slip case for hitting the town. Yesterday, was an expensive day.
- Mathew A. Koeneker
"We are excited to announce the availability of Palm’s open source portal at http://opensource.palm.com. We’re using Linux and various other open source software in webOS to allow us to accelerate innovation through collaboration with the global community of open source developers."
- Ken Sheppardson
via Bookmarklet
"At long last! Someone has managed to actually get a photograph of the elusive Golden Gate Bridge! No longer must we make do with artists' renderings!"
- Ken Sheppardson
via Bookmarklet
"We already have a laptop, and when you consider the fact that this thing is about the size and weight of a Dell X1 (ok, maybe a little larger), the user just doesn't have a whole lot of reason to take one of these home."
- Ken Sheppardson
via Bookmarklet
Yeah, who the heck would want a low-end 10" underpowered laptop?
- Ken Sheppardson
"Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat." -- Steve Jobs, 2/6/2007
- Ken Sheppardson
via Bookmarklet
It seems a little silly that I can be having a converation with someone via comments on an entry, click on their name to see what other conversations they've participated in to decide whether or not I'd like to follow them, and I see no information whatsoever other than a button "Request a Subcription"
- Ken Sheppardson
If you are not subscribed to someone, you can see their comments in posts that are visible to you, but not in other posts. And via a quick search test, I don't believe you get any of their comments in the results from a search. So when someone with a private feed comments on a public feed, they (presumably) know that the particular comment is widely disseminated, but the rest of their activity, and particularly the aggregation of their activity, is still private. That's as it should be.
- Logical Extremes
In theory, FriendFeed could make it so that when you search or view a private profile to which you are not subscribed, you see a list of Comments and Likes that are attached to posts that are public to you. But perhaps that complexity is not worth the effort by FF, or the risk to private feed if something is not implemented correctly.
- Logical Extremes
or they're erring on the side of privacy
- Chris Heath
"Well, that was fast. Just a couples hours after we noted Palm warning against hacking webOS to allow data tethering on the Pre, the first set of instructions has popped up. It's not the cleanest hack we've ever seen -- you need to root your phone, enable SSH, and then configure your browser to run through a SOCKS proxy -- but it'll certainly get the job done in a pinch. Just don't go crazy, alright? We've got a feeling Sprint's watching Pre accounts with an eagle eye."
- Ken Sheppardson
via Bookmarklet
Seems like we've pretty quickly gotten into a situation with Sprint and Palm where it's sorta like two parents, one who says "kids will be kids" and the other who's ready to ground you on a moments notice: "... just don't let your mother find out..."
- Ken Sheppardson
On of the advanced tech guys even told me about PDA Net. I, of course played dumb. Still using mine as modem right now. True it is an old Treo but no PAM plan and using their old mobile band software. Just get the right tech guy to add your modem profile and then change the plan back within 30 days via reg c/s. No that I would do that or anything.
- Mathew A. Koeneker
Plus, Sprint's fine print says that they allow bw throttling.
- Mathew A. Koeneker
"Bear with me here. We’re not entirely sure what TechCrunch’s problem with Palm is... Arrington attempts to spin the supposed ‘delay’ of the unannounced handset as reaction to the Pre’s “low sales rate,” even though the darned thing is practically sold-out nationwide. Give me a break, by all practical measures, this launch went as well as Palm and Sprint could have hoped, especially with the new iPhone launch right around the corner."
- Ken Sheppardson
via Bookmarklet
I'm convinced TechCrunch & Co. get a stipend from Apple to sling crap about anything that's not Apple. MG is the only writer I trust there, don't think he's had enough Kool-aid yet. Arrington, pfftt, he gets 80% of the Apple kickback :/
- jcunwired
Has Twitter always presented the mobile interface to Chrome users, or is this new and/or a glitch?