Participating in the Federated Social Web Summit today
Looking forward to meeting a lot of new people!
Looking for car insurance with no deposit: see www.netfinity3.com/paymonthlycarinsurance.html
Mentions on Wired.com and ReadWriteWeb.com and Scripting.com
OpenMicroBlogger earns a 4-star review at Xmarks
OpenMicroBlogger passed the 5000 download mark today
New simple installation routine
OpenMicroBlogger has a new config.php file which anyone can use to do a very quick and easy installation.
[[ that is it! ]]
More bug fixes and new features
Numerous bug fixes in today's #followfriday release
Twitteronia and OpenMicroBlogger now live, real time push, even to iPhone
We've been testing a real time technology called "Comet", which pushes microblog notices into your browser as they arrive on your microblog server.
You can get a feel for how it works by hanging around at OpenMicroBlogger or Twitteronia.
List of fixes in this morning's updated release
Introducing Twitteronia
Twitteronia is a new site where anyone can get their own copy of OpenMicroBlogger with just 2 clicks of the Twitter OAuth dance. Pretty sweet!
The official Twitteronia microblog is here http://twitteronia.com/twitter/twitteronia/
You can think of OpenMicroBlogger as "Laconica MU" because like WordPress MU, you can create any number of sub-microblogs with totally separate database tables.
Private microblogs! Each microblog supports highly granular privacy settings.
Check out Jesse Stay's article this morning for OMB's latest effort: Twitteronia vs. Status.net: The Battle for Hosted Microblogging Begins
(if you think this is a cool project, please post a comment on Jesse's article and let the world know! thanks)
POST a status from RealBasic in 3 lines (ok 4)
http.SetRequestHeader("Authorization","Basic " +
EncodeBase64("username:password"))
formdata.Value( "status" ) = "it's a test"
http.SetFormData formdata
result = http.post(
"http://twitter.com/statuses/update.json", 10 )
Before you can update via the API, you must set a password. Click Profile and then click Password. If you don't see it in the menu on your OMB, your site administrator will need to install the password app.
Same as Twitter, but with this URL:
http://openmicroblogger.com/api/statuses/update.json
3000 downloads at Open Source PHP
Thanks for trying OpenMicroBlogger, we just passed another download milestone at Open Source PHP. That's about 100 downloads/week since January, just on that site. Not including downloads from GitHub, SourceForge, and our own Web server.
Implementing the public_timeline.json Twitter API method
Now that we can post statuses via Twitter API (see previous post), here is a quick how to on the next item in our Twitter API to-do-list:
// get some variables in scope
extract( $vars );
$tweets = array();
$callback = $_GET['callback'];
// get the data model for the "posts" table
$Post = $db->model( 'Post' );
// search for the most recent 10 records
$Post->find();
// loop over each record
while ( $p = $Post->MoveNext() ) {
$profile = owner_of( $p );
$tweet = array();
$user = array(
'screen_name' => $profile->nickname
);
$tweet['text'] = $p->title;
$tweet['truncated'] = 'false';
$tweet['created_at'] = date( "D M d G:i:s O Y", strtotime( $p->created ));
$tweet['in_reply_to_status_id'] = null;
$tweet['source'] = null;
$tweet['id'] = intval( $p->id );
$tweet['favorited'] ='false';
$tweet['user'] = $user;
$tweets[] = $tweet;
}
echo $callback."(";
// load the JSON class
$json = new Services_JSON();
// create the JSON data
echo $json->encode( $tweets );
echo ");";
Design your own Twitter API method for OpenMicroBlogger
OpenMicroBlogger now has a programmable API that you can configure, this short how-to will explain how to use the Site Admin to set up a new API method and expose it with Twitter style Basic Authentication.
In Site Admin you will find a new link:
Click New Method
Use these settings:
And finally, paste this code:
// get the named variables extract( $vars ); // set the form post data $request->set_param( array( 'post', 'title' ), $request->status ); // insert the status into the database $resource->insert_from_post( $request ); // OK header( 'Status: 200 OK' );
That's it! You have now exposed a new API method that posts a new Status, any user who is a registered member of the site can set their password and then use the method to post remotely.
If you're updating an older OMB, you will need to edit your config.yml to add the Password application for your users
Once that's done, click on Profile and you will see a "Password" App
The entire application's API is exposed as restful resources, that is how the Web app interacts with the back-end. You can now control through the new Rest API Group Permissions feature.
How to Generate New API Keys for your SMS-enabled microblog
After you create an account at Zeep Mobile's Web site (see previous post), click here to generate new API keys. Here is an example of how you fill out the form:
How to enable 2-way SMS on your microblog
First you need to visit Zeep Mobile's Web site, where you can sign up for a free API key.
When you are at Zeep's web site, you must choose a "keyword" for your site, ours is tweet (for http://openmicroblogger.com)
Then, edit your site's config file, and change the zeepKeyWord, zeepAccessKey and zeepSecretKey to match the information you got from Zeep's Web site
Now when you look at your profile you should see a new Mobile button. Use that to register your phone number.
And finally, to post a status from your phone, just send a text to 88147 like this "tweet I ate a mango"
Instructions for [updating] your OpenMicroBlogger installation
Now you can do an FTP upload and overwrite your old OpenMicroBlogger files, but your settings will be saved.
The final step is to update your database schema by migrating the database. It's easy to do, just point your Web browser to http://yoursite.com/?migrate to perform the update.
Is OpenMicroBlogger Twitter's wordpress?
I think it is, but I'm biased because I made it. I started with the Prologue wordpress theme and wired that to a Restful MVC back-end I was working on. It's imperfect but I based the back-end on how Ruby on Rails works, mostly because I wanted to create an environment where app-creation could be super fast like it is for Ruby on Rails developers.
For some reason, people are downloading this software like crazy today, about 50 downloads so far, I'm not sure what's going on but I just wanted to say "hello" and remind people trying it out that it's still pretty new. You can post your questions on the FORUM tab, or find your way from the Github Wiki over to the LightHouse bugtracker.
Abandoned dbscript/structal namechange
New beta posted, better theme swapping
New version 0.3b12 posted, with Swappable WordPress themes
Just posted a new build of OpenMicroBlogger with dynamic theme-swapping. The next step is to make it so each user can choose their own WordPress theme. There are two ways to try out this feature:
Also, big long-overdue news with regard to user accounts. Previous builds of this software were OpenID-only which made it impossible to use on your intranet. Now you can edit your config.yml and change the password mode from "email" to "password" to try out local-account-creation. The next step with this feature is to disable all external connections (AppStore) when running in intranet mode.
Closing in on 2000 downloads at open.srcphp.com
Feel free to help us get on the "Top Bookmarked" list, too! Thanks.
OpenMicroblogger on the Web
A few places where OpenMicroblogger was mentioned lately:
There will be a new 0.3 release at the end of the month, stay tuned :-)
Big German company running OpenMicroBlogger!
It's very exciting to see big companies taking advantage of our Microblogging technology! wow http://hallo.sfiv.de/
Theme changes in OMB
We're getting pretty close to full wordpress-theme compatibility and swapping, and I had to make some minor changes to the included prologue-theme.
If you grab the latest OMB you will need to have an updated prologue-theme, here is a list of the changes if you need to apply them to your (customized theme)
index.php sidebar.php header.php have all changed, you can see the diffs (red=delete,green=add)
OpenMicroBlogger version 0.2 released today!
Special thanks to Joss and Scott for your bug-testing and also for using the LightHouse bug reporting system. Here's the download links:
Follow your Tweeple from OpenMicroBlogger
The latest beta release has a big new feature: the "Twitter" App has been improved so that you can see your Twitter friends in your Personal tab! Very cool.
To access this feature, click on Apps and install the Twitter App. Add your name/password, and click the Personal tab. There will be a delay while OMB talks to the Twitter API, and then you should see some tweets!
Here's the download link for OpenMicroBlogger 0.2b15
What is OpenMicroBlogger and what does it have to offer me?
OpenMicroBlogger is a multi-user messaging application that works like Twitter, and it's exciting (2000 downloads and counting) because it's one of the available implementations of the new Openmicroblogging protocol. It's a flexible communications tool that supports community by giving people control over their message stream, and it allows them to stay in touch from their mobile phone, laptop or desktop computer. The social-networking-style "I friend you and you friend me" feature makes it spam-resistant, and it is easy to install on any standard Web server.
First of all: Microblogging. How is that going to help you?
OpenMicroBlogger features:
Twitter to implement Openmicroblogging protocol!
Wow, I can't believe my ears but here's the story:
New tutorial: build a Photo Wall App for OpenMicroBlogger
It's a little bit long, but also not too complicated, and we would love to hear your feedback about our new Tutorial. Here's the link:
new release of OpenMicroBlogger offers open source, installable Apps for microbloggers
The latest 0.2 beta (download) features the first App for OpenMicroBlogger.
Apps are neatly organized into RESTful MVC code structures. They use jQuery and OpenID-driven model security.
The first app, Twitter, is a wrapper for Alex King's Twitter Tools WordPress plug-in. Your tweets can be saved in your personal OpenMicroBlogger database, and then forwarded on to your Twitter and Identi.ca accounts.
You can help, just sign in at [[ http://openmicroblogger.com ]], it's very easy! Your password is always encrypted, too.
Click Profile >> Applications and you'll find Twitter there.
Type your username and password and you can post to Twitter, attach files, and anyone on army.twit.tv or identi.ca can Follow you. NICE
Having a problem? Send an e-mail to info@openmicroblogger.com
1002 downloads! first donation! 0.2 still pending...
That's right, we cracked 1000 downloads in about 5 weeks, amazing!
Another great thing happened today, Randy at http://randulo.com made a donation to support OpenMicroBlogger. My wife really thought I was crazy to work so hard all summer in my free time, and this one event seemed to make it all ok. Thanks!
Work on 0.2 continues, the openmicroblogging space is moving fast and with all of the support we've received we are excited about the prospects for the new version. We'll keep you updated here as 0.2 nears completion, hopefully this week.
Zeep Mobile SMS coming in Version 0.2 this week
We just finished implementing the first PHP client for Zeep Mobile's SMS platform. This will allow any site running OpenMicroBlogger to put an API key and secret into config.yml to enable 2-way SMS texting. Pretty sweet!
I am waiting to hear back from Zeep about submitting the OMB/Zeep client code to their Google Code project. OpenMicroBlogger version 0.2 should be ready mid-week.
0.2 changeset
First release! version 0.1 is in the wild
Special thanks to Sebastian and Scot for helping get this out the door.
And all of you downloaders have made it the #1 app at open.srcphp.com. Thanks!
Media Coverage
Jesse Stay kicked off coverage of OpenMicroBlogger with his 8/15 article:
On 8/19 the P2P Foundation featured a story by Michael Bauwens:
And Aldon Hynes followed up with a favorable first-glance on 8/21:
Leo Laporte interviewed Evan Prodromou and Evan being the (really) big man that he is, mentioned OpenMicroBlogger 8/23:
How to download and install OpenMicroBlogger
Thanks for checking out OpenMicroBlogger, we have made a lot of progress in the past 2 weeks and we now have a complete implementation of the official http://openmicroblogging.org protocol.
Known issues:
Requirements:
DOWNLOAD LINKS:
Installation steps:
notes
introducing OpenMicroBlogger
http://openmicroblogger.com and http://openmicroblogger.org are the new Web sites where you can find out about OpenMicroBlogger, a new implementation of the OpenMicroBlogging.org specification for site-to-site Microblogging.
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