nathan jara

A while ago, I posted about adding my latest read articles from Google Reader. Well, since then, Google changed some things, adding a little thing called Google+, thus leaving my reader feed unfed. Rather than reworking the Google feed, I’ve decided to replace it with my Twitter feed. So now, just to the right, you’ll find my latest twotes (hey, it’s a word according to Urban Dictionary).

Yep, I joined Twitter. I held out for a while, not sure I wanted to join in all the 140 character fun. But after just observing others’ posts for a few weeks, I found I understood why tweeters are tweeting everywhere everyday. Number one, it’s a great digest for information. Following some of my favorite magazines and news sources, you get links to the latest and greatest without having to search. The information just comes to you. And it’s fun! Following your family and friends lets you connect without the clutter and distraction.

A few weekends ago, Facebook held its annual developers conference in San Francisco, California. The conference, called F8, is a gathering of web developers from companies and countries abroad who are looking to hear what Zuckerberg’s social media network has in store next. Two of the most powerful new features Facebook will be releasing are Timeline (launching this week) and additions to the Open Graph language used for Likes and FBConnect.

As a Facebook developer, you are granted access to the beta version of Timeline, which I’ve been able to try out over the last week or so. Timeline essentially adds a new area to your Facebook profile that enables you to easily view your entire Facebook history. And when I say entire, I mean, literally, everything. Every past post, picture, or comment that you’ve ever entered on Facebook since you originally joined is visible just by scrolling down the profile. Your Facebook history makes up your Facebook Timeline. The timeline even begins with your birthday and allows you to upload a baby photo, if you wish.

Now, if you’ve read my previous posts on Facebook, you’ll know that my faith in the social site has waned rather than grown for the most part. When I initially heard of Timeline, I had my doubts as usual and wasn’t too sure if I liked the idea of all my old posts being so visible. But, as I thought about it more and began to use the Timeline, my opinion’s changed. Honestly, it’s pretty cool. Scrolling back through “Facebook time” and seeing things that were happening throughout the past handful of years is fun. The way Facebook has organized the info is well done too, which makes it easy to use and view. (They actually hired Nicholas Felton, a professional designer of infographics to help with the Facebook Timeline changes.)

It’s no surprise that Facebook has big ideas for what Timeline will do, besides make the company a boat load of money. Facebook hopes for users to fill out their Timeline by going back and posting events and pictures in the past. Timeline gives you the ability to date posts. So, you can go back and change a picture that was posted about that crazy concert the following week to the Saturday night it actually happened. Or create a new Timeline wedding event and put up your wedding photos. Or upload pics of when you learned to ride a bike. Or bought a house. Or a car. Or, yes, even when you got the chicken pox. Well, maybe you don’t want pictures of that, but you could if you want. Yeah, crazy, I know. Facebook has given the world the ability to create a personalized visual timeline of your life.

The other new feature, which may have a bigger impact, at lease for businesses who use social media, is the Open Graph update. Users will now not just be able to say that they “Like this website,” but be able to say that he or she is “Wearing AE Jeans,” or “Bought a new Ford Mustang.” With the addition of custom action verbs, Facebook is giving developers and sites the ability to create applications to very specifically describe a person’s activity online.

I’m sure marketing execs everywhere are dancing in their cubicles. The possibilities seem almost endless. As do the privacy concerns. I don’t “Like” too much now, especially on websites other than Facebook. And I’d be cautious as to what you’re “wearing,” “buying,” or “listening” to in the future as the new applications begin popping up all over the place.

The impacts of Facebook’s new changes have the potential to be massive from many perspectives. This All Things Digital article provides one perspective that describes how the Open Graph updates are in effect allowing Facebook to take in very dynamic data from the entire internet … and own it.

I’m more excited for the Timeline changes, but it will be interesting to see over the next few months how Open Graph allows online activity to get even more personal. Geez, we thought people were on Facebook all the time already.

Watching a recent episode of The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert weighed in on the cloud computing craze during his popular The Word segment. It’s worth a watch : )

I recently added a new feature to my website. The “My Reads” section to the right contains the latest articles that I found interesting on Google Reader. The articles I most recently shared will show up here. This feature is something I’ve been wanting to add for a while now and I started looking at plugin’s to do the work for me, but then I remembered, “Hey! I’m a developer. I should just do it myself.” A little PHP research let to the quick snippet below explaining a built-in WordPress function that made things super easy. Just plug in my Google Reader sharing feed URL and away we go.
<?php
include_once(ABSPATH . WPINC . '/feed.php');
$feed = fetch_feed('http://www.google.com/reader/shared/nate.jara');
$feed_items = $feed->get_items( 0, $feed->get_item_quantity(5) );
if ( $feed_items ) {
echo "<li><h2>My Reads</h2><ul>";
foreach ( $feed_items as $item ) {
echo "<li><a href='" . $item->get_permalink() . "' title='" . $item->get_title() . "' target='_blank'>" . $item->get_title() . "</a></li>";
}
echo "</ul></li>";
}
?>

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you know that the Caped Crusader set up shop in Pittsburgh over the last few weeks for his newest big screen adventure. Thanks to the gentle cajoling of a friend, I made my way downtown this past week to see if I could catch a scene or two. After a delicious Italian eggplant sandwich with marinara and a side of risotto, we walked around Cherry Way, which was closed off for filming. Walking through the downtown area was interesting in that it really did feel like I was on set. Fake snow lined many of the streets and a fenced in area hid Batmobiles and Bat bikes. A shortcut through the downtown Macy’s to the opposite side of the building gave a good view to the afternoon action where, SPOILER ALERT, the Tumbler tumbled into a giant hole in the middle of the street. Geez, I hope Batman called the Gecko, Flo, or that guy with the blue telephone ahead of time.