Disqus - Latest Comments for thomallen

Re: This New Trend in Facebook Apps Looks Ugly

thomallen — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:50:26 -0000

I've noticed more and more of these non-apps making the rounds. Some are interesting, others are just marketing. For example, I would not want to watch Hulu shows on Facebook. You lose the user experience by watching in Facebook. I agree they should be using Facebook to drive viewers to their own website.

Re: Now You Can Access Google Tasks In Mail, Calendar and Mobile Applications

thomallen — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:28:09 -0000

as is suggested in the project notes for taskalone, I created the Chrome tear away option for tasks. But, this project seems pretty cool too.

Re: Today I Learned About WordPress Category Templates

thomallen — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:58:30 -0000

Yeah, it's a feature I over looked. But now I know. Will this make that feature for your site work better?

As I was thinking further, you could just add the different sidebar index, like sidebar 1 and 2 for cat 1, sidebar 3 and 4 for cat 2, and so on.

Re: Kindle Is Convenient But Not Always The Best Choice

thomallen — Wed, 20 May 2009 23:58:13 -0000

Hey Kirk,

Yeah, I'm one of those that have several books and mags in their bag at any one time. But it's so heavy. Like to offload them to a digital device.

Re: Kindle Is Convenient But Not Always The Best Choice

thomallen — Wed, 20 May 2009 23:56:17 -0000

Agreed. I think the authors should get more because the expense of production is considerably less for the publisher. I'm glad Orson Scott Card see it that way too. I'd love to have more of his books in digital format.

Re: Kindle Is Convenient But Not Always The Best Choice

thomallen — Wed, 20 May 2009 23:56:00 -0000

John, I never thought about College books, but you are correct. I'm an advocate of using digital text in the classroom. It's cheaper and no student would go without. It's crazy that in 2009, my student has to share a text book. Publishers are way over pricing their books. As for college students, being able to sell back used books to partially finanance the next semesters lot is hindered with a digital copy.

However, if a student only had to pay $1 for a digital copy of a text that expired at the end of the semester, now that's a model. I think there is a lot of room for improvements. The old establishment of book publishers and printers will have to face the music like newspapers are doing.

Re: Kindle App Now Has iPhone Optimized Pages For Browsing & Buying Books

thomallen — Mon, 11 May 2009 18:13:33 -0000

its still lame that I have to use the web page to buy the book. I can't believe this isn't a built in feature of the app.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/03/facebook-drops-walled-garden-opens-up.html

thomallen — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 17:54:39 -0000

Yeah I would love to see more on the server side. Or at least a dev server that will allow us to move a lot of the work off the client.

Re: TV.Com (and Star Trek) Come To iPhone

thomallen — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:11:15 -0000

Sure, if that's what you're actually defending, is the actual application installed on my phone, the app works as advertised. And my bitch is with CBS, and other stations like it, for giving the public a sense they can watch television shows on their iPhone by just downloading this app or that app, when its not the case.

See, when someone reads "you can now watch CSI on your iPhone", they really think they can watch ALL of CSI on their iPhone. That is the mental picture they get. That's crap. You can watch one, maybe two old episodes.

So if companies want to keep propagating the lie that you can actually watch TV on your iPhone, go ahead I guess.

Re: TV.Com (and Star Trek) Come To iPhone

thomallen — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:53:50 -0000

I agree this is a huge win over Joost. Requiring wifi is crazy when 3G work just fine. I can never watch shows on the Joost app anyway because it always tells me my connection speed isn't fast enough, which is again crazy.

Re: TV.Com (and Star Trek) Come To iPhone

thomallen — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:48:39 -0000

Yes, I spent quite a bit of time looking at this app before I posted. have you taken the time to look at it?

I'm not saying there aren't ANY full shows, I'm saying they don't provide all episodes for all seasons. Why not? Look under Dexter. I would expect to see episodes of Dexter. But no, I see interviews. Look at Rules of Engagement. I expected to see episodes. I see one 30 second clip. That's what I'm talking about. Nothing to do with 3G.

Re: TV.Com (and Star Trek) Come To iPhone

thomallen — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:37:30 -0000

The problem with this app, like i.tv's app, they fail to actually provide complete versions of their shows. Who gives a crap about a 2 minute clip with an actor. It's a waste of space and doesn't add any value to the application. Start Trek really can't be the draw. That original series has been available online for some time, and most people don't really care about it. It's just a ploy. Sad CBS uses it as bait.

If CBS really wants to rock the world with streaming TV, release all the series episodes. If they are worried about DVD sales, charge a fee for premium access to current series. I'd pay for that.

At least CBS is making an attempt. What about ABC, NBC, Fox, FX, HBO and hundreds of others? I was hoping that with a name like tv.com they had actually produced something with mass appeal. FAIL.

Re: Is An RSS Feed Important Anymore?

thomallen — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:39:50 -0000

I can see that Mike. You consume what is interesting to you. Thanks for your thoughts.

Re: Private: Twitter Apps Can Only Grow so Far

thomallen — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 20:09:06 -0000

Yeah, it probably wasn't a good idea to pull the carpet that fast, and like I said, Twitter should have engaged the development community first, that would have made the transition easier. Could have been handled a little better.

But what do you think about external services causing issues with the overall service that affects the average person who just uses Twitter. Should they suffer because companies want complete and unfettered use of the API and it's resources? Doesn't sound too fair too me. I understand you position on timing, they have more to worry about than external services.

Re: Private: Twitter Apps Can Only Grow so Far

thomallen — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 19:44:52 -0000

I agree with abrudtkuhl first post. A premium service is needed. You can't expect a business to provide a free service that lets YOU build a business for FREE, and get upset when they lookout for themselves. Jesse I know you would make some changes if you were in their shoes. Maybe not the same choice, but you would protect you business first.

I mean come on, Twitter was never meant to be an API for someone to build a business on. I like a lot of the services that use the Twitter API, but I certainly can't blame them. Maybe a discussion with the development community should have taken place first, just to gage the acceptance level, but you really don't know where they sit.

Mostly I think we should work with them instead of building a negative campaign against them.

Re: While Qik Is A Leap Forward, Mass Adoption Will Be Slow

thomallen — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:52:21 -0000

Oh I understand you were speculating, and my post is an answer to your question. I don't think Sundance will have as big an impact on Qik as SXSW had on Twitter. But I guess we'll see. If it does, I'm glad for it. Pushing this technology is the only way to create competitors and improve the overall infrastructure. That I agree with.

Re: While Qik Is A Leap Forward, Mass Adoption Will Be Slow

thomallen — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:29:37 -0000

Oh, and I'm glad to be back in the fray. Kinda of fun eh?

Re: While Qik Is A Leap Forward, Mass Adoption Will Be Slow

thomallen — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:26:27 -0000

I agree Qik won't be Twitter. Not really apples to apples, right? But even your numbers above validate my point, out of the 3 billion handsets worldwide, a very very small majority have the capability to use Qik, let alone consume the Qik video. It's not about the iPhone, it's about the 2.5 billion phones that don't have the capability to stream video.

I'm not sure how you can say only a small amount of phones don't support the service? I really think its the other way around, only a small percentage of phones can support Qik.

I also agree trying to stream video over Edge is nothing compared to 3G, at least its watchable. But the fact is, not everyone has 3G. For instance, in salt Lake City, I don't think T-Mobile offers 3G, and probably won't for a while. I had a T-Mobile phone for the past 8 years, and I was pretty disappointed in its capabilities. All of my family are on T-Mobile, mostly because of cost.

when you say signed up for Qik, they signed up for an account, doesn't mean they can actually stream video from their phone. I don't want to always be a consumer, I want to be a player, I want the social aspect of the tool.

It's possible that events like Sundance will increase the visibility of a Qik type of service, but it won't be this year. Maybe next, maybe later.

Re: While Qik Is A Leap Forward, Mass Adoption Will Be Slow

thomallen — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:19:21 -0000

Thanks Russ. Been working on it for a while.

Re: Well The Sabatical Didn’t Last Too Long

thomallen — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:47:26 -0000

Seesmic video reply from Thom Allen

Re: Organize Your Crap

thomallen — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:24:50 -0000

You're welcome. I've always had a bare minimum desktop. For what ever reason I could never get myself to look on the desktop for stuff.

Re: Metallica At The Delta Center

thomallen — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 11:57:05 -0000

Oh yeah, it was awesome. One of the best concerts I've been too in a long time.

Re: Happy Birthday To My Fellow Marines

thomallen — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:44:06 -0000

Thanks Ann, I appreciate it, we all appreciate it.

Re: Happy Birthday To My Fellow Marines

thomallen — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:43:43 -0000

You too devil dog.

Re: Controlling Your Life With Nothing But Brain Power

thomallen — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:55:14 -0000

I think there are a lot of applications. If the right nerve or sensory location in the brain can be connected, you would think any number of issues could be resolved.

I guess there is always the risk of building super humans with technology like this.