Vivek live and kickin'

The thing I am working on today is more like killing 5 birds with one stone. Like I wrote last week I started with Python , but due to the work load over the last two weeks I could not do much. This Friday I got an invitation to Google App Engine and the only language they support as of now is Python. This in a way pushed me into learning python. Last month I had written about a bridge for Facebook and Open Social applications. With many new things I devised a clever plan I have started off with a facebook application for the open social platform in python using the google app engine. That is 5 technologies covered in one single shot. I started with PyFacebook but, soon realized that the library urlib2 uses sockets and PyFacebook won't work for me. I could start with a new library or hack PyFacebook and since I am an expert in Python (with less than 2 days of experience) I resorted to hacking the PyFacebook library. I have never really programed in Python and the fact that the li...

Its the last day of my easter vacations and five days of good work. I had initially planned to go out somewhere for these holidays but as nothing really worked out I ended up staying at home. So instead of wasting my time sleeping and watching TV (which I still ended up doing) I thought of finishing my ever growing list of personal projects. But instead of starting work on one of the pending projects I ended up starting yet another project. I searched around for an open social container and I found one but it was in Java and since I don't have any server which would allow me to host the project I ended up working on my own open social container. Well I worked on it for two days and it at least works with most of my samples I created for open social and also a few other gadgets. As of now its completely in JavaScript so in terms of security there is none to speak of, but by the end of it I did make a container and learned quite a lot. The code still looks way to hacked up to put on...

A huge list of Orkut/opensocial applications http://opensocialdirectory.org/wiki/Main_Page I saw a couple of other pages where you can get a list of applications. I will be updating this list when I get more urls. If you want to know how you can add the applications to your orkut profile check out this post These are some of the applications which I like. 1) .. will update later Now for some ideas I have. A cool looking wall where friends can draw on the canvas. Add pictures and other things. It could turn out to be a complicated widget but it would work. A widget to use the awesome new service drop.io . If you visit my drop [ http://drop.io/vivekjishtu ] you can drop files, links and notes on my page. And all of it without filling up a single sign up form. A twitter widget where a user can post and keep in touch with other friends. I was making it but still not done with it. Anyhow the next application to be completed would be drop.io

After trashing the open social platform last night I thought of developing a hello world application for the platform. Here are a few screenshots of the sample applications that I built tonight. Facebook application on Orkut Digg on Orkut Reddit application on Orkut If you want any of these open social applications on orkut, you need an account on http://sandbox.orkut.com . You can apply for the sandox here http://code.google.com/support/opensocialsignup/ . Once you have access to the sandbox goto http://sandbox.orkut.com/MyApps.aspx and use the following urls to access the applications. Facebook Application - http://vivekjishtu.com/opensocial/facebook.xml Digg Application - http://vivekjishtu.com/opensocial/digg.xml Reddit Application - http://vivekjishtu.com/opensocial/reddit.xml They are nothing more than simple iframes but it defiantly seems cool the first time you see it. Technorati Tags: facebook , orkut , reddit , open social

Probably I just don't get the whole social networking idea, or at least the idea of having applications inside a social networking websites. So far the coolest facebook app I've seen is the one which lets you view messages from orkut. And that too 'cause you don't have to log into two separate accounts. Other than that I would have to be a teenager to like the kind of applications on facebook. I was going through this video. I've tried really hard to see the interesting bits in the new platform but it seems like such a drag. The whole presentation seemed boring. But like I've said before I just don't get social networking. I have been a little too much on Orkut lately. Not that I think its productive, but it seems like a good place when I am really bored. But if they also add applications like facebook and I have 10+ invitations to try out the latest application I might also end up leaving orkut for good. Right now I am half asleep so am not sure what exact...