funkatron.com

A few of you may know of a small app I did in AIR a while back called Searchatron. It’s mostly a proof of concept, but does have some usefulness in making it a bit easier to track multiple Twitter search queries. Searchatron uses an MVC-style pattern similar to how the next version of Spaz will be built, and much of Searchatron’s code provided the basis for the SpazCore component library.

As more of you may know, I’m very interested in the new Titanium platform. It’s similar to AIR, but fully open-source, and much more extensible. In order to learn more about Titanium, I tasked myself last week with converting Searchatron from AIR to Titanium. The whole process only took a couple hours. You can download the result from http://get.titaniumapp.com/app/12GKqr3.

What’s interesting is that Appcelerator, the creators of the Titanium platform, are running a contest right now. Two $500 prizes will be awarded for the most downloaded app, and the highest-rated app, respectively. If Searchatron wins either of these prizes, I’m pledging now to use the prize money to support further development of Spaz and the SpazCore project, in the form of cash gifts to our most giving volunteers. It might not be a lot, but it does mean real money is going to people working on open-source development. I hope to continue doing so when feasible and prudent.

If you’re interested in helping, this one is pretty easy: download Searchatron, and if you like it, suggest others do the same. Feel free to point them here if you like. By doing so, you’ll be doing a lot to encourage the continued development Spaz and its related projects.

• Download Searchatron
• Searchatron Source
• Titanium App contest

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m currently working on a new project that’s been taking my time away from Spaz. While most details are still under wraps, I can say now that the new project is a version of Spaz for mobile devices. Rather than a port, this is a whole new codebase that takes advantage of all the stuff I’ve learned writing Spaz for AIR.

While I will still be working hard on the mobile app for at least another month, I have been thinking a lot about where the desktop app should be going. Here’s the plan:

• Version 0.8 will be the last version of Spaz using the current codebase. We are currently being held back by the design decisions I made, and they need to be tossed. Versions 0.9 and later will be based on a complete rewrite of the codebase. It will use an MVC-style pattern, and will be powered by the SpazCore component library. SpazCore being worked on now, and is hosted on GitHub at http://github.com/funkatron/spazcore/.

• I may switch from the AIR platform to Titanium for the new Spaz codebase. I am still weighing this decision, but I’m very interested in TI, especially after having the opportunity to meet the development team last week. They have a very strong platform, and their approach is very much in line with the “Spaz philosophy.” http://titaniumapp.com.

• Feature-wise, I’m targeting all¹ existing features, plus:

  • multiple instances of the “main” windows (basically the current Spaz window, multiple times for multiple accounts)
  • multiple search windows with auto-updating results
  • less reliance on the web site for user and message details

Spaz should still be very suitable for average Twitter users (under 100 friends), but will also offer powerful search features for folks who need them. And of course, Spaz will still be completely open-source under a New BSD-style license.

Questions? Comments? Post them in the Google Groups thread

It’s been many months since I’ve posted about Spaz here, but I’ve actually still been working on it quite a bit. Spaz recently had its 1 year anniversary, which is a pretty good milestone for one of my projects – I usually lose interest well before this. Not only is Spaz one of the oldest Twitter desktop clients still under development, but it’s also one of the few FOSS clients. I also believe Spaz is one of the most sophisticated AIR HTML apps out there, and is a good example of what can be done with HTML and JavaScript on the desktop.

The newest release of Spaz, which came out a couple days ago, adds some significant new features:

• Image uploading via Twitpic.com
• Crossposting support via Ping.fm. Try beta code “vivalaping”
• Support for microblogging services with Twitter-compatible APIs, including Identi.ca
• A Dock icon badge with the unread message count. This is probably less significant if you are not running OS X.

You can read the whole fat list of what’s new. Also, if you want to talk to other users or help with development, here are some resources:

• Spaziki – The Spaz Wiki and FAQ
• Spaz-users Google Group
• Spaz-SVN Google Group
• IRC: #spaz on irc.freenode.net

Just a quick note that I wrote an article for the new C7Y PHP community site on Inspekt:

• Step Away From the SuperGlobals! An Introduction to Inspekt

If you’re interested in Inspekt and have questions or would like to contribute, please check out the Inspekt user group.

I use a service called 103bees to track what search terms and questions are directing people to Funkatron.com. Here’s this week’s selections:

Search terms

• lil wyte photo

  I have no idea.

• download hardly wait juliette lewis

  I really like that version of the PJ Harvey song, as sung by Juliette Lewis in the film Strange Days

• free .mac account mail only

  Not here!

• funkatron twitter air

  Presumably someone who heard Spaz mentioned on MacBreak Weekly

• visualize kcachegrind os x

  I think I posted about how much of a gigantic pain in the ass this was to get running on OS X.

• ghetto fackin

  mmmmm no.

• spry click tab reload data

  I have talked about Spry a fair bit here, so I guess that makes sense.

• matt sink

  No idea

• debian parallels tools

  Ah, I did make a post about getting Debian running on Parallels. Or more accurately, the fact that I got it running

• spaz app

  I’ve heard of this

Questions

• how to use monospace fonts in illustrator cs2

  I’ve posted a tip about rounded rect corners in Illustrator, and monospaced fonts for programming

• what are the things on my penis

  Can’t help you, bro. I did write once that I’m scared to put things in my penis, tho.

• php 6 when is coming out

  I don’t know when, but I know why I’m looking forward to it!

• what are the chances of getting tax audited

  I reposted something about this.

• there was an error: typeerror: undefined value flickr mac os x

  Pretty much every app I’ve ever written has tons of errors in it, so this could be anything.