Xanga Weblogs

Xanga is another blogging website that is community based. It is a social-networking blogging website that has a really nice interface and very easy to use. It is not very different from any other blogging networks, but it is just as good as some of the greatest blogging websites. The biggest difference is the credits that users can earn and even purchase for money. Having credits allows you to give "mini" to others users blogs. These are little images. If someone gets a mini, they earn credits and give it to other users. This is a nifty feature that users could use to get traffic.

The prices as of now:

# $5 = 5000 credits
# $10 = 10000 credits
# $20 = 20000 credits
# $50 = 50000 credits
# $100 = 100000 credits

Users can easily give minis to other users blogs and get a link back to their blog. A mini is easier to give than a comment sometimes and they don't have to be relevant. This is the only feature that really differentiates this from any other blogging website.

View my Software Blog created on Xanga.

Importing Google Maps to Blogger

Google Maps are amazing and it is so easy to integrate maps into websites or blogs. It can be done just by going to the Google Maps and finding the location you want exported. Click the "Link Here" box and the code to link to that map and the code to integrate the map into a web page pops up in a box. There is a Google Maps API for developers that allows for much more complex integration into external websites.

Here is a simpler version of exporting a map. This is Boston, MA on the satellite view:


View Larger Map

Join Random Thoughts Social Network - Badge

Excellent little exportable badge from the Ning website to create social networks:



Visit Random Thoughts

OpenSocial Apps on Ning

The Random Thoughts web application was ported to Ning. This was a simple procedure and it only involved submitting the Gadget to the Ning gadget directory. This Random Thought Social Network profile page shows the integration of this OpenSocial gadget with Ning.

NING Social Networks

Ning is a website where people can create their own social networks. It is a web page builder that is focused on building social networks. Some of the tools include forums, comments, HTML boxes, etc... A user can create their own social network with a chosen prefix for the domain (http://mysocialnetwork.ning.com/) and people can join the network. Here are some sample social networks:

Random Thoughts Social Network

Binding Designs, LLC Social Network

PHP Developer - Boston MA Social Network

Software Engineer - Boston, MA Social Network

Blogger

Blogger

Blogger is a great blogging tool. I enjoy all of the control the user gets with such ease. I am a developer and I used to prefer building web pages from scrap, but this blog is a useful tool for quickly publishing content. The user interface is great in the management section. It is really simple to add fully functional JavaScript and XHTML. The templates are easy to change. It is really great and easy to use.

Single-Tasking vs. Multi-Tasking

Single-Tasking vs. Multi-Tasking

This concept reminds me of a great book called "The Mythical Man-Month". That book was a book about software engineering and computer science. It is a must read for any software engineer. It is a very old book, but is still true. The Mythical Man-Month states that bringing more people on a project, will not always speed it up. If there is a 1000 hour project, 1000 engineers each working on it for 1 hour is not the same as 2 engineers working on it for 500 hours each. The math works, but it does not map to the world of software engineering. This brings me to the point of this post. Working on 10 - 10 hour projects simultaneously is not the same as working on 2 50 hour projects one after the other. Context switching has to be taken into consideration. Switching from one project to the next every couple of hours will take up a lot more time. Working on 10 - 10 hour project with 2 hour time-frames and then switching to the next could indeed turn into 150 hours of project work. If working on each one after the other, it may be equivalent to 120 hours of project work. Working on 2 - 50 hour projects, would probably be more like 100 hours because the time for switching between projects (context switch) takes up a lot of time. The reason I use the term "context switch" is because in computer science, operating systems make a context switch when switching from one process to the next. It takes more time for the processor to make a context switch. The reason to make a context switch is if two processes must be continuously processed or one process is waiting for an event. It is the same in the real world.

Random Thoughts Google Gadget

Porting Applications on Web 2.0 can happen so seamlessly. It is easy and quick. If you are a developer, it is free. If not, you will probably have to hire a developer. This is Binding Designs, LLC's Random Thoughts Google Gadget:



Learn more about the Random Thoughts Web Application.

Contact a Web Developer in Boston, MA to discuss social networking applications.

hi5 Social Network Applications

hi5 is a social network like Bebo, MySpace, and Facebook. It utilizes the OpenSocial platform. It is a large social network with many users and it is competing with the two social networking monsters, MySpace and Facebook. The Random Thoughts Web Application has been ported to hi5. Random Thoughts hi5 App is doing quite well for the little effort it took to set up this App on hi5. Through my company, Binding Designs, LLC, I have built several social networking applications that work across social networking platforms such as Bebo, Facebook, hi5, MySpace, iGoogle, etc... These were all built utilizing PHP in the LAMP Stack. Contact Adam.Cox9@gmail.com for more information.

hi5 Social Network Applications

hi5 is a social network like Bebo

Bebo Social Network

Bebo is a social networking site open to the public. Facebook licensed off the Facebook Developer to Bebo so that developers can also build applications for Bebo. There are slight differences between the two, but it is not difficult to port an existing Facebook application to Bebo. Any social network can utilize the OpenSocial platform. Facebook may follow that path and open up the Facebook Developer Platform.

View Adam Cox's Bebo Profile.

View the Random Thoughts Bebo Application.

Facebook Pages

It used to be that Facebook was for Harvard students. Then it was for College students. Then for High School students and for all people. Now they have Facebook Pages for organizations. A company, band, or any type of organizations can make a Facebook Page. It is more than a user's profile. It is an organization's profile. It is different from the standard user's profile, but serves the same purpose.

View my EZ App Builder Facebook Page.

Twitter - Social Networking

Twitter is a social networking site with an interesting little twist. The whole purpose is to answer a simple question: "What are you doing right now?". People can follow others and see what they enter. This is a really simple concept, yet, it has all the essentials of social networking. It is easy to find others by keywords such as "software". I did a search for "boston software", looking for people interested in software in my location, Boston, MA and I got about 40 results. I clicked follow on them and now I can see their stories that they post. This is a somewhat focused social network. It is not as general as, say, MySpace or Facebook. I like that concept. Social Networks should be broken down to classify people. Why should everyone join the giants, when they could find a specific social network for people like themselves. For example, there should be a social network targeted towards "car fanatics", "basketball enthusiasts", "outdoors activities", etc...

View Adam Cox's Twitter Profile

Social Networking Profile Badge Widget

I thought this Social Networking Profile Badge Widget.

Here are some links to my profiles on these networks:

Digg Profile and Widget

Digg is a popular website that allows people to "dig" web pages. This brings web pages to the top of the popular category for others to find. It is a fine example of the democratic nature of the web. It is great because it allows people to filter out the "good" websites from the "bad" websites.

You can view my Digg Profile.

Here is the Digg widget that shows the most popular stories with the software tag:

Random Thoughts Widget Promo Badge

WidgetBox Random Thoughts Widget

Random Thoughts

Random Thoughts

Join My Blog Log Communities!

Random Thoughts From Around The World!



Binding Designs, LLC

My Blog Log

Google Owns Blogger and Yahoo! Owns My Blog Log. Here is My Blog Log profile:

Adding Random Thoughts Feed to Blogger

There is a great tutorial to add an RSS feed to your Blogger Blog (open in new window). There is an excellent Random Thoughts RSS feed with peoples random thoughts. It is constantly updated and lists the most recently added random thoughts. I added it here to my blog and it is really interesting.

FeedBurner Feed for Random Thoughts

FeedBurner is an RSS reader web site. I have added my RSS feed for my Random Thoughts website. The Random Thoughts FeedBurner displays the latest 100 Random Thoughts

Web 2.0 Video

I found this Web 2.0 video that if very interesting and rather educational:

Open Source Platforms

I have experimented with setting up open-source platforms and would like to help others get started with the same platforms. Get a Drupal Site, Joomla! Site, MediaWiki Site, phpBB Site, or WordPress Site with a domain name and hosting. I have a dedicated server and can create virtual servers to host web sites.

hi5 Social Network

hi5 is a social network that is doing fairly well. It was not known to the average person as much as Facebook and MySpace, but it is growing. It is now utilizing the OpenSocial Platform to allow developer to build OpenSocial Applications for its' users.