http://www.ziki.com/fr/uverse+1742 jeu, 24 Juil 2008 08:52:00 +0200 120 Mon contenu chez Ziki.com http://meta.verse.org/weblog/entry/?1216882320 You may have been wondering why it's been a while since I've done anything on the PictureSync or MediaSock front, or if you're a client why my availability has been next to non-existent (sorry!). Although this was not the intention, I can now reveal that in December I was invited to join a [then] stealth startup Pixelpipe. Technically I joined part-time so that I could continue with other projects, but it hasn't quite worked out like that! It's a cool project, in fact one that I'd already considered (but rejected) doing myself, however with the incentive of someone else funding it and the idea of a regular paycheque, it seemed unreasonable to pass up!

Thus I've been busy designing the core logic and managing its development of what could be described as a PictureSync as a web-service. I'd floated this as an idea myself after developing the MediaSock Client Framework (our .NET photosharing service abstraction library), having seen that so efficiently deployed by Scrapblog. However at the end of the day I'm still a believer in the power of the desktop—but I'll do a follow-up post about this, and the impact on PictureSync/MSCF at a later date.

It's early days and I'm not going to (heck, can't really) go into any detail about what to expect as Pixelpipe grows, other than that we've got a lot of connecting to do between apps and providers. As part of this we will be working towards providing SDKs and APIs that enable developers to employ our platform as simply as possible. Now we're a closed platform with our own business-case, but these will be built as much as possible around standards, and with interoperability in mind so that developers are not reliant on a system that could one day disappear. Whether for an hour, or forever—replacability (or the ability to have an alternative) is of course one of the issues of network-based computing/services.

I'll add that scalability is also a critical issue for such a platform and this is partly what put me off doing something similar myself. Whilst we've been busy with Java here in Delhi, the guys in SF have been imaging, starting, stopping and re-imaging EC2 instances with frightening frequency, and that has ultimately given us what we expect to round out into an elegantly scalable computing layer. This would have been quite a hurdle to both development and adoption without EC2 it has to be said!

I'll post more soon, but also see this post on the PictureSync blog, ping me, or just signup on the Pixelpipe site if you'd like an invite. ]]> jeu, 24 Juil 2008 08:52:00 +0200 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/7412783 http://holocore.com/weblog/entry/?1216822140 Want to check out and help test what is best described as PictureSync-in-a-cloud? Got an iPhone or Nokia N-series? Want to upload to services PictureSync doesn't support yet like Blogger, Picasa, Pikeo, Phanfare, Tumblr, TypePad, Wordpress or YouTube?

Click this link and signup for Pixelpipe. Note that this link is restricted to a small number of signups, but if you have a licenced copy of PictureSync, you may also send feedback from the Help menu and I'll send you your own invite.

What is Pixelpipe? It's a web-service that takes your uploads from disparate applications (such as our own iPhone application, or any third-party Flickr API compatible application) and sends them to your preferred photosharing and blog providers. We connect it all together.

You can use it with PictureSync or any other suitable upload plugin/application. If you're wondering how this impacts PictureSync I'll post about that soon, or for more background see my blog post on metaverse.

It's early days yet and we're working towards adding a lot more supported applications and services, plus functionality akin to what you can currently find in PictureSync itself. ]]> mer, 23 Juil 2008 16:09:00 +0200 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/7412649 http://del.icio.us/verseguru#2008-07-11

• The Rex Cinema + Bar
  An exclusive 1930's/art-nouveau influenced members bar/lounge and private 70-seat cinema in Soho.

]]> sam, 12 Juil 2008 07:00:00 +0200 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/7321150 http://del.icio.us/verseguru#2008-07-08

• UnchainedGuide
  "where you’ll find the best independent shops in the city, owned and run by real people with a passion for what they sell."
• Leon Restaurants
  Healthy friendly small chain of restaurant-cafés in London with a quirky Mediterranean-family feel to them. Porridge in the morning and mezes in the evenings. You can see their locally-sourced food behind a glass pantry window.
• Jones Dairy
  Just off Columbia road, in addition to cheese and breads, there's an extremely cool little café around the side of the building. Barely standing room, one coffee brew, plus bagels and other small munchies.

]]> mer, 09 Juil 2008 07:00:00 +0200 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/7296326 http://del.icio.us/verseguru#2008-07-06

• Sunday (Up)Market (and Backyard Market)
  All the cool stalls shifted here to these two location on Brick Lane when the Old Spitalfields Market went Upmarket and mainstream.
• Nelly Duff
  An awesome little gallery on Columbia Road selling unusual and limited edition illustrations and works from street artists (including Banksy and Shepard Fairey).

]]> lun, 07 Juil 2008 07:00:00 +0200 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/7280226 http://del.icio.us/verseguru#2008-07-04

• SHOWCASE - Pont Alexandre III
  From the looks of things a totally awesome lounge club and music venue in previously disused arch space below the Pont Alexandre III.

]]> sam, 05 Juil 2008 07:00:00 +0200 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/7266815 http://del.icio.us/verseguru#2008-07-03

• S60 Internet Radio
  A rather rudimentary (dodgy UI, no volume control) S60 application that will stream MP3 and AAC+ radio on your Nokia. Must be setup with a playlist (default one includes Groove Salad!). Battery hog.
• Stoicism
  The philosophy of Stoicism is popularly misconstrued through the term 'Stoic'. "Man is disturbed not by things, but by the views he takes of them."

]]> ven, 04 Juil 2008 07:00:00 +0200 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/7259128 http://del.icio.us/verseguru#2008-07-02

• Gnip - ReadWriteWeb
  "Grand Central Station for the Social Web"
• Gnip
  "Today, 3rd party data consumption means... API throttling & high latency, Competing protocols, One-off data integrations, Identity discovery challenges, More grunt work than any of us like to do. Gnip is here to help."
• The Rolex Awards: a cheap technique for food preservation, M. B. Abba
  "An innovative earthenware cooling system to preserve perishable foods in developing countries with arid climates."

]]> jeu, 03 Juil 2008 07:00:00 +0200 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/7250357 http://del.icio.us/verseguru#2008-07-01

• London is Free
  "Your guide to free events in our expensive capital."

]]> mer, 02 Juil 2008 07:00:00 +0200 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/7241370 http://del.icio.us/verseguru#2008-06-29

• bernabeifreeman

]]> lun, 30 Juin 2008 07:00:00 +0200 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/7225021 http://del.icio.us/verseguru#2008-06-25

• Green-Inn on the river
  Lovely well-appointed teepees, replete with WiFi, and sauna facilities in the lodge.

]]> jeu, 26 Juin 2008 07:00:00 +0200 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/7195753 http://del.icio.us/verseguru#2008-06-11

• Moodstream™ by Getty Images
  Mix and match various mood sliders for serendipitous stock media discovery. Seems not much content classified yet.

]]> jeu, 12 Juin 2008 07:00:00 +0200 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/7085842 http://del.icio.us/verseguru#2008-06-09

• The Lecture List
  "a searchable list of public talks taking place in the UK."

]]> mar, 10 Juin 2008 07:00:00 +0200 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/7067516 http://del.icio.us/verseguru#2008-06-08

• Nordic Bakery
  Dark rye breads, Cinnamon buns, Coffee. Golden Square, London W1.

]]> lun, 09 Juin 2008 07:00:00 +0200 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/7058839 http://del.icio.us/verseguru#2008-06-07

• The Designers Accord
  "A coalition of designers, educators, researchers, engineers, business consultants, and corporations, who are working together to create positive environmental and social impact."

]]> dim, 08 Juin 2008 07:00:00 +0200 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/7053937 http://del.icio.us/verseguru#2008-06-06

• Aranyawas
  "Set in a wild, mountain valley, hidden away from the outside world. Visit us to rejuvenate your mind, body and soul." An eco-style retreat near Rankpur in Rajasthan with their own organic restaurant.

]]> sam, 07 Juin 2008 07:00:00 +0200 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/7048057 http://del.icio.us/verseguru#2008-06-04

• Panormaio's Look Around!
  Nifty flash view overlaying multiple photos of the same location that you can explore interactively. Perhaps inspired by Microsoft's Photosynth project, albeit not half as immersive.

]]> jeu, 05 Juin 2008 07:00:00 +0200 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/7031710 http://del.icio.us/verseguru#2008-05-29

• Vote! How to Detect the Social Sites Your Visitors Use
  I can see this being used for some clever phishing attacks.
• Botanist by Orange 22
  A range of coffee/side tables/benches made from a simple sheet of aluminium with custom-designed artwork cut by water-jet. Pricing $1-2k.

]]> ven, 30 Mai 2008 07:00:00 +0200 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/6986637 http://del.icio.us/verseguru#2008-05-26

• 7 eyes
  A smart and insightful tri-lingual (English, Spanish, Portuguese) blog reviewing mainly off-track art films that its author has seen.
• Studio/Louise Campbell

]]> mar, 27 Mai 2008 07:00:00 +0200 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/6961939 http://del.icio.us/verseguru#2008-05-23

• Moblf
  SMS integration with sites such as FriendFeed, Twitter, Google, Get satisfaction, Yelp, LinkedIn. Based in Bangalore and SF.

]]> sam, 24 Mai 2008 07:00:00 +0200 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/6944249 http://del.icio.us/verseguru#2008-05-20

• garance doré
  A French streetstyle blog in the same vein as The Sartorialist.

]]> mer, 21 Mai 2008 07:00:00 +0200 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/6917672 http://holocore.com/weblog/entry/?1205164800 Now that Zooomr's made it out with a fully fledged API in their latest release, I've restored the Zooomr plugin to the services list in PictureSync for Mac [Download]. Just click Window>Accounts>+ and it'll appear (or choose Help>Check for updates if you already have a Zooomr account in your list).

The Zooomr plug-in supports location, updating, and links (that's the last icon in the information drawer). Kudos go to Kris to instantaneously fixing some bugs in the API methods!

Not to be left out, a new build of PictureSync for Windows Alpha [Download] has been released also with support for Zooomr, plus Facebook and Fotki. (No further services are likely to be added until the next milestone—sorry!) ]]> lun, 10 Mar 2008 17:00:00 +0100 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/6393118 http://holocore.com/weblog/entry/?1203941820
Regrettably this has been sitting partially on the backburner for the past few months, but I'm pleased to make a public alpha of PictureSync for Windows available.

I must stress the alpha. This release can be used to annotate and upload JPEGs. Nothing else. It reads IPTC/XMP annotated files, works with Expression Media/MediaPro, and Lightroom. You can upload to Flickr, other services such as 23 and ipernity that support the Flickr API), Webshots, Photobucket and any FTP server.

We've still got a way to go, but we hope your feedback will encourage us to forge ahead with its development and our plans.

It's worth noting that this is effectively a completely new application and workflow compared to the existing Mac version, and indeed if received well is likely to be the model for the next Mac version. The key change is that uploading is currently made via drag and drop only, thus there is no 'upload' button.

The current interface is fairly pedestrian but notice that the left hand panel is context aware. This means it changes depending on what you are doing, which may take a little getting used to. When you select an image it will show the metadata inspector, when you start dragging or have nothing selected, it will show your folders and accounts.

Further updates to come! ]]> lun, 25 Fev 2008 13:17:00 +0100 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/6300074 http://holocore.com/weblog/entry/?1203570900 Just a quick note to those of you using or considering upgrading to Aperture 2. PictureSync support for grabbing your selection is broken, I will investigate and fix but this may be a good few weeks away I'm afraid.

In the mean time you can use drag and drop. It's worth noting that you can actually use the drag and drop method without requiring a licence for PictureSync however this method does not allow syncing or enable uploads to be remembered.

1. Select your images in Aperture and ensure your images have up-to-date previews. If you've made image adjustments they are probably current, however if you've made annotation changes they may not be and you will need to force regeneration (hold down the Alt/Option key and choose Images>Generate Previews).
2. Drag and drop your selected images to PictureSync (it's icon, the file list or the open button).

]]> jeu, 21 Fev 2008 06:15:00 +0100 tag:ziki.com,2008:/article/6268625 http://holocore.com/weblog/entry/?1193516040
[Update] Additional issues with r13 have been fixed, the latest version is r14. See below.

I've just released an update (v1.8r13) that fixes the Can't get item 1 of "" bug on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard which was launched yesterday. All plug-ins have also been updated, with the exception of SmugMug. To update, if you're still on 10.4, choose 'Check for Updates' from the Help menu in PictureSync; otherwise download the new version and then choose Check for Updates to get the latest plug-ins.

For the techies; the only compatibility issue (unearthed thus far) was that 10.5 changes the location of temporary files (yet again). In fact this change is for the better as the path is now apparently randomised which increases security. The SmugMug plug-in didn't require an update as we're using AppleScript's XML-RPC client (ironically SmugMug were considering dropping support for XML-RPC, but it does have the advantage of portable and reliable client support, if not a flexible lexicon). For all the other plug-ins we use our own HTTP and parsing methods to support the various services REST, SOAP and variant web service APIs.

If you're wondering what I think of Leopard, well I'm rather blasé:

• 10.5 Leopard is not such a notable upgrade as 10.4 Tiger unless you're a developer, the knock-on of this to you as a user is that you're like to see more applications with 10.5 specific functionality. It will herald a whole new era of enriched user-interfaces, but these apps may still be a little while coming. If you're on 10.3 Panther, go buy yourself a copy. If you're on 10.4, you'll have to weigh up the pros and cons.
• The UI tweaks really aren't too bad, I'll live with the new folder icons—they do go with the increased use of the powder-dusted aluminium look. Some are welcome, such as white menus (albeit semi-opaque), and glossy icon previews for videos.
• I'm not noticing too much performance improvement (and I installed extra RAM), but the new Finder is a welcome relief, although it's crashed twice…hopefully it'll become more stable with future updates.
• There are some nice little functionality tweaks, such as shared computers automatically appearing the sidebar, and secured network icons in the Airport menu (hold down alt for signal details). Hardly life changing though.
• An Archive & Install took about 1h30 (I skipped the disc check), took ages to calculate the time remaining which started at 8h and then remained at 1 minute for ages. My recommendation; if you currently have 10.4 or 10.3 and no prior version, and have experienced no issues, use the regular upgrade. If you've already upgraded your system e.g. from 10.3 to 10.4 and now 10.5 I'd recommend an Archive & Install.
• I was unable to delete and recreate some secondary partitions on my drive from the installer disc, but once booted I did without problem (a very welcome feature).
• I'm not likely to use TimeMachine myself, at least until I have more storage. I use SuperDuper because my backups are then bootable. (Tip: SuperDuper also preserves the upload state for items uploaded with PictureSync, which few other programs do. I'm sure, but have not tested, that TimeMachine will too.)
• Warning from Apple: do not use TimeMachine whilst running Aperture.

[Update 28th Oct. 2pm EST] Apparently this update is broken because it asks for Expression Media/Aperture, which is a terrible failure either of Xcode 3 or OS X 10.5. I'll get an update out in an hour or so if a rebuild on 10.4 goes as planned. You can still grab the prior version and prior plug-ins (unzip and drop into Home/Application Support/PictureSync/Services/).

[Update 28th Oct. 4pm EST] I've now rebuilt PictureSync using xcode 2.2 on 10.4 and released it as v1.8r14 to address the issues reported in the comments. It appears Xcode 3.0 on 10.5 is ignoring AppleScript "using terms from" commands that allow referencing applications that might not be installed—without prompting the user to locate a missing/unknown application. I'll have to investigate further but for now it certainly looks like I won't be using 10.5 to do further compiling.

As to why this slipped passed testing, in order to have caught it I would have needed to uninstall one of the supported applications, which is not something I test with minor updates as this was/should have been. As a small company (PictureSync for Mac is essentially maintained by myself only, at present) we're agile and rely mainly on your feedback to help isolate issues amongst the multitude of various combinations that PictureSync supports. As such we then aim to fix problems ASAP, as in this case. Arguably we wouldn't have to fix such issues if we had longer more thorough testing phases but in that scenario it would be impossible for us to offer PictureSync at it's current cost, indeed no charge has been made for upgrades since licences were originally introduced. Updates such as this are pushed out to only a small number of users so that issues are resolved by the time the majority download.

As ever thanks for reporting your issues, and I hope I've been able to address them suitably speedily. ]]> sam, 27 Oct 2007 22:14:00 +0200 tag:ziki.com,2007:/article/4952728