davidbliss

A powerful location-based API for application development – Geoloqi Developers.
The Geoloqi platform is addressing some very interesting use cases for geolocation and geofencing. I particularly like the idea of sharing a real-time map with someone for a specific period of time.

myFry – an application for Mr Stephen Fry – YouTube.

This digital book includes an index of sections that color coded based on tags applied to the sections. Tags can be used to filter the sections and once filtered you can move through just those sections. A nice idea and elegant execution.

I’m a fan of Django and recently Odopod had the opportunity to pitch a site redesign for which Django is extremely well suited. It was not the only appropriate choice, but for several reasons we thought it was the best.

We had some concern that the name recognition of Django is not as strong as the other options that we were presenting as well as those that our competition might present. It would be a shame for a decision like this to be compromised by a popularity contest, so we wanted a list of well known sites and companies that have had success developing projects with Django.

I went through this exercise about 18 months ago and found a fairly long list of news sites, a handful of startups, and few recognizable brands. 

After searching again, I was pleasantly surprised with what I came up with. The list is still weighted toward news publishers, but there is more diversity than before. There more types of organizations represented and the news sites are using Django for much more than publishing stories.

In the end, the client was much more interested in the capabilities of Django and how they would serve him well (a great sign for the project), but the list is a good one and I wanted to share it for others to see and add to.

Sites and Companies using Django

• DonQ Rum (http://donq.com). This is a recent Odopod project built using Django.
• Globo (http://www.globo.com/). This Brazilian television network’s site is heavily trafficked; it is ranked 103 currently at Alexa.com.
• The Guardian UK ( http://mps-expenses.guardian.co.uk/)  The Guardian uses Django for special projects (http://www.niemanlab.org/2009/06/four-crowdsourcing-lessons-from-the-guardians-spectacular-expenses-scandal-experiment/).
• The Los Angeles Times (http://projects.latimes.com/index/tag/django/ ) The LA Times has used Django for many special projects. 
• National Geographic (http://events.nationalgeographic.com/, http://glimpse.org/). These two special projects were developed for National Geographic by Lincoln Loop and Siteworx .
• The New York Times – (http://projects.nytimes.com/represent/). NYTmes uses Django for special projects (http://open.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/represent/)
• The Onion and The Onion’s AV Club (http://www.theonion.com/, http://www.avclub.com/) – After successful development of the AV Club using Django, The Onion’s main site was rebuilt using Django. http://www.reddit.com/r/django/comments/bhvhz/the_onion_uses_django_and_why_it_matters_to_us/
• PBS – Many sites in the PBS family utilize Django. www.slideshare.net/nowells/djangocon-09-presentation-pluggable-applications
• The Washington Post (http://projects.washingtonpost.com/fallen/ and http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/). The Washington Post uses Django for special projects. 
• The Washington Times (http://www.washingtontimes.com). Not only do they use Django, the development team at the Washington Times is quite involved in the Django community (http://opensource.washingtontimes.com/).

I also found mention of these groups using Django, but could not find details regarding the extent of use. If you know more, please point me in the right direction in the comments below.

• Discovery Channel
• Nasa

Django on the Rise

It seems to me that use of Django is on the rise. I see it in the growing list of projects to point to and in the increase of Django related conversations among my online and offline friends.

For many of the projects we work on at Odopod, the Django framework provides the right balance of core publishing features and robust extensibility. I’m not surprised that others are finding the same.

What do you think, is Django on the rise? Let me know in the comments below.  

 

 

Skin is completely transparent and works on surfaces that are also transparent; you can place Skin on a glass surface and interact with content displayed under the glass.

This unique hardware operates via a grid of nanowires embedded Skin’s polymer film. Each time a user makes contact with the surface, either by blowing on it or directly touching it, “a small electrical disturbance is detected allowing the micro-processor controller to pinpoint the movement or direction of the air flow,” according to Displax.

via Miracle Film Turns Any Surface into a Touchscreen.

Dan and Jeffrey talk with special guest Jared Spool about usability testing in the real world, with practical advice for designers, UI engineers, and developers alike.

5by5 | The Big Web Show #7: Usability Testing.

I’ve been ignoring a growing list of unheard popcasts due to just how nice it is to read feeds on the iPad (Reeder and Flipboard). However, this episode of the Big Web Show is packed with great information and well worth the listen.

Kindle and iPad Displays: Up close and personal. | BIT-101.

Fascinating image of Kindle’s screen as seen under 400x magnification.

The new Space Fantasy attraction at Universal Studios Japan is the first big play to bring immersive 3D tracking and multi-touch technology to theme park rides. Powered by technology created by GestureTek, Space Fantasy promises to be the ultimate ride experience. In a nutshell, imagine Microsoft Natal fused with 3D.

via Roller Coasters Get the Multi-touch 3D Treatment [VIDEO].

We announced plans last October to remove application boxes and application info sections as well as reduce the width of application tabs to optimize for the new profile and Facebook Pages format. We will be moving forward with these changes the week of August 23, and want to help you understand what to expect.

Based on feedback from developers, we have committed to the following plans to ensure a smooth transition:

• Boxes. We will notify users via messaging in profile boxes and in the Help Center that the “Boxes” tab, boxes on profiles and Pages, and application info sections will be going away.
• Application Tabs. Next week, we will give Page admins the ability to preview their custom tabs in the new 520 pixel width so they can modify their layouts as needed. All profile and Page tabs will be resized automatically beginning the week of August 23.

These updates are designed to simplify navigation for users, reduce complexity for developers, and enable us to build the next generation of tools for growing your business with Facebook. We’ll share more of our plans for the roadmap in the coming weeks.

Fran, a Platform product marketing manager, is busy updating the roadmap.

via developers.facebook.com

A walkthrough of the American Museum of Natural History’s iOS app.

via RRW.