A note

The posts below are gathered from a few other sites which I have been posting on. I started this new blog as a way to bring the content which I feel is most relevant to my interests together in one place. Enjoy.

-Bob

HP Tabblo Print Toolkit

The Following is a post I did for RIT's Open Publishing Lab:

If you’ve been paying attention, you have probably noted a very quiet whisper around the web lately which is slowly growing in volume. In fact, if you dig around enough, you might find the words, but for the most part the idea seems to be just on the tip of everyone’s tongue. Maybe it’s because no one is quite sure as to the viability of such an endeavor, if you look at the way significant movements throughout the web have developed over the past five-plus years, it’s contrary to what the hype has led us to believe. I’m talking about web-to-print, something that the folks here at the OPL have had their hearts and minds invested in for some time now (see Wiki Print Extension for an obvious example), and it’s something that we hope you’re paying attention to as well.

With the advent of web-based publishing, there has been a growing interest in getting information into the hands of users in a much more literal way, but with content designed specifically for the web the question on everyone’s mind has been how to do it, and make it look good?

HP’s Tabblo Print Toolkit offers one such solution, with relative ease. It shouldn’t be surprising that HP, one of the world’s largest producers of in home printers would have an interest in expanding the web-to-print market, that’s just smart business. As some move to get it all onto the web, others see the opportunity in getting it back off the web. Not to push any agenda, but it’s about time the web got wise to content-to-go.

What’s Tabblo?

Tabblo was it’s own company once. Founded in 2005 by Antonio Rodriguez, now head of R&D for HP’s internet media-to-print operations, it was acquired by HP in March, 2007. Rodriquez began his company with the observation: There is no good online application for putting together photos and words with styled templates that can be customized by the author for the purpose of telling a story.

The company began as a way for people to convert their online media into websites (tabblos), and share them through social networking via Tabblo’s forum, blogs, and other social networking sites. They do this by offering a series of pre-designed templates which users then use an application to place their media into. Media is imported using browser-based file upload, java/flash-based upload clients, or picasa-plugin. They created a server-to-server import interface that allows users to import their entire Flickr to Tabblo via access to Flickr’s Commercial API. Flickr has denied access to their API to competitors other than Tabblo, stating they don’t want to allow direct competitors access to their site, but have made an exception for Tabblo, which offers different technologies and uses for Flickr, and the deal offers both companies the possibility for growing their user base. This sets a precedent however, which some bloggers appear to be wary of, as Flickr has effectively sent the message that they will decide where you can and cannot use the media hosted on their servers, even along with their claims that the media and meta-tags are the property of the users.

The Tabblo Print Toolkit:

Utilizing the same basic principles, the HP Tabblo Print Toolkit (TPT) works to allow website creators and bloggers to make their content more fit for print via templates.

TPT for websites works like a CSS style sheet, and it can be set up with a bit of ease:

1. Pick a template from the template directory.
2. Create a ‘recipe’ – JavaScript which identifies the content which should be printed.
3. Include the recipe in the header of the page.
4. Create a print link that invokes the TPT harvesting code using an HP print button.

The Recipe works by defining content, by assigning content names for each type of content on a page. If you know CSS already, it’s very easy to use and understand.

Essentially, HP has just created a mark-up language that works with their server-side layout engine, to generate a neat-looking PDF file to save, share, or print.

One assumes that this whole ordeal is still in its beta phase, as the number of templates is fairly limited in scope, and while HP has already partnered with various companies for examples, there are virtually no websites using it exclusively yet. TPT also offers blog plug-ins which work great and are really simple to install, though they have yet to appear on almost any blogs. One complaint is that there seems to be no good way to track advertisements going to print. Advertising is tracked per click, and being a staple of the blogging “industry” (if you will) many are not convinced that taking users away from their pages is a good idea. Another complaint is that Tabblo essentially moves your data through its servers, but doesn’t allow access to its API. The web appears to be wary.

There is a movement building in the web consciousness toward technologies which will streamline the to-print process. As social networking and web-based publishing begin to grow out of their awkward teenage years we are seeing a rise in the number of third party applications and widgets moving to address the needs of a world wide community trying to manage the mess we have all created (continue to create). HP’s Tabblo Print Toolkit is a decent start to organizing one aspect of life on the net, but the web community has learned its lessons hard, and come out with “street-smarts” (net-smarts?) that are unmatchable. It’s going to take some impressive offerings on the part of HP in the months to come in order to convince people that their technology will be more beneficial than something based on an open source community, but you have to admit, it’s pretty cool! It might be time to stock up on toner.

Neat Web 2.0: Web Canvas

Web Canvas:

The name really says it all, WebCanvas is a canvas on the web. Basically anyone can direct their browser to the site, and draw, upload pictures, erase, or just search around their unending canvas.

“WebCanvas is a world-wide collaborative painting project. In this site anyone with a modern web-browser can move around an ‘infinite’ canvas. Using available painting tools is its also possible to draw and upload images. Furthermore it is possible to view other users painting if they happen to be painting within the same viewing area.”

Think of it like Web-Graffiti. You’ve got MSpaint-esque tools, an image uploader, and a wall that never ends. It’s a lot like spray painting and wheat pasting.

“This site is the evolution from our proof-of-concept, GraffyWall - This was the first WebSite to allow users to draw directly onto a boundless WebCanvas simply by using a web-browser. This introduced a new Web concept where users can instantaneously and directly create WebSites using the intuitive drawing paradigm just like pen and paper!”

Pretty neat concept, and it’s fun to browse around and see things developing in real time, right before they get rasterized and stuck on the wall. Also interesting is the whole obvious social aspect of the canvas, with peoples drawings, etc. all interacting. My only fear is the impending spam inherent in allowing image uploads.

Neat Web 2.0: Ask500People

Today’s App is still in it’s beta phase (surprise), but has some interesting social networking implications (suprise), and a clean enough looking site that it’s next up for part 2 of our infinity part series: Neat Web 2.0 Stuff!

Ask500People.com is pretty simple, you sign up/log-in and well, you ask 500 people. Sounds lame? I thought so too- but the website had a look and usability that seemed smarter than the “lets make a buck” Web 2.0 model, so I decided to look into it.

Wondermill

Ask500People.com is brought to you by a company called Wondermill. The company is the product of one, Mr. Aaron Dragushan. Aaron (way easier to type than Dragusahsgabn), a net nerd from way back, started the company in 1998 on credit cards- which obviously put him in a considerable amount of debt. After getting pretty screwed by the trickle down from the Great Burst of 2000 (never forget), they kept trucking, reinvented their business model, and stayed nerdy. After years of ups ad downs, struggling with reinventing and solidifying their business model, keeping up with the pace of the net, and the money of their giant competitors, the company seems to be doing well, and the attitudes of those involved don’t seem to have changed much. Their website is actually overly personal. In other words- these seem like good people, and at the very least, they are people.

Ask500People.com

5 reasons I like this app:

1) Ease of use: way up there.

2) Registration is actually easy. Like, not that fake- give me all your information and I’ll spam you easy, but easy.

3) Questions are posted, then put into a community digg style board, where users can award points and watch certain questions climb up to the top of the list of questions to be asked next. (genius)

4) An interactive google-map style world map which pins where users voted from, with a color designating their vote.

5) The variety of polls has a good range, which covers pictures to 5 star ratings.

The website is intuitive, and clean looking, which is something really lacking from a lot of Web 2.0 out there today. There is also a social networking aspect involved in profiles, and “my polls” etc. which is pretty smart. You have the option to run your own poll outside of the general public polls, which is hosted on their site. They have a widget option which allows you to run a poll from your own site, which is less cool, and just looks like your boring everyday poll widget. It would be nice if they could figure out a way to cross some of their functionality between options.

The only serious downside to the site right now, and the thing that is going to determine its future viability unfortunately (and one thing that so many many Web 2.0 model forget) is the quality of its content. Another flaw here is its possible use by non-independents for all sorts of spamming related evils which many users are all to savvy to.

Overall this is a pretty cool site, which I recommend telling everyone about. If they can attract a good user base, and maybe cross over into a facebook app (and wordpress embedding!), I’d say they have the rare potential to stay a part of the Neat Web 2.0 model for years to come.

Neat Web 2.0: Youlicit

Youlicit

Google, watch your back. Ok, that is not true (yet)… but anyway, there is a possible alternative to stumbling. Today’s neat web app, Youlicit (not even to beta phase), isn’t really a search engine, per say- as much as a new web discovery tool.

“Youlicit is a new recommendation engine that analyzes your interests through your bookmarks, tags, RSS Feeds, APML files and the such and delivers highly relevant and compelling sites recommended by people like you. In addition, Youlicit connects you to people who share similar interests as you and allows you to find more information through them.”

So, it sounds like Stubmle etc., but it works a bit differently.

When you stumble on a site, you can recommend it or find others like it. Doing searches via the site, Youlicit’s results are similar to the URL you provided, and allow you the option of doing a search on any of these. Also, you see a list of users that are interested in the site you’re searching. You can view their profile for a tag cloud (or a list view) of terms they’ve found interesting.

When searching or stumbling you can add your own recommendations to a site.

Smart Stuff:

Youlicit has Firefox broswer add-ons, they also have a Google search add-on. Which I would say is smart. Very smart. There is also a facebook app on the way- which just might be the clincher if these guys can pull it off.

Over-all, most have called this a very ambitious project, but definitely viable… though one does wonder what a former tech guy for a “petroleum trade facilitation start-up” is doing as the CEO of this kind of company… and what a “petroleum trade facilitation start-up” is to begin with…