A genuine Silicon Valley Web Flyer | One line of code at a time...

Foursquare WordPress Plugin

November 17, 2009 – 10:00 am | View Comments

Update (March 23, 2010): I updated the version to 0.3 officially, and fixed some links. I need to really make this better. Hopefully I will have some time soon!

This is my first plugin, so let’s see how it goes!

Usage (version 0.3)

Download the zip file and extract the contents to your wp-content/plugins directory. In your blog’s admin tool, activate the plugin.

Next, login to Foursquare and goto the feeds page. Find your RSS feed.

Copy it to the clipboard, and paste it into the Foursquare settings panel.

Finally, paste the following code in your sidebar.php file in WordPress:

<?php echo foursquare_get_checkins(); ?>

Here is the working version of the plugin in action:

Pretty basic now, but there will be further revisions, I promise :)

Downloads and version history

  • Version 0.1 – Simple widget showing the latest 5 checkins with links back to venue pages – [download]
  • 0.2 – Added the ability to control the number of checkins you post. Also cleaned up the code a little bit. Still want to figure out how to eliminate duplicate checkins via strcmp() or array_unitque() functions in PHP. I want to add a Google map with the kml file and show checkins on a map – [download]
  • 0.3 – Fixes broken URL. I need to really make this a better plugin, and integrate the map – [download]

In further versions, I want to explore the WordPress widget API. Instead of this being a plugin where you have to actually paste PHP code into your sidebar, I want to bring all the interaction into the admin panel.

I welcome further requests please! Email me or leave some comments below.

Here is the git repository for my WordPress plugins.

Note: this blog post is still a work in progress, check back periodically for updates

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Wanted: Senior UX Designer at Ning

November 5, 2009 – 11:46 am | View Comments

I have been working on the design team at Ning for the past few months, and I love it. Working at a startup is more fun than you can even imagine. The best part is that the team is small enough and focused on the product that all of your ideas will be heard and probably executed upon.

Ning office at 285 Hamilton

We have a pretty sweet opening for Senior User Experience Designer right now, and I want to tell ya about it:

The Team

  • Our Design team is responsible for the visual, interaction and web design of Ning Networks. We give people the freedom to customize their Ning Networks at every turn, making our design challenges unique, interesting and complex.
  • As a Sr. User Experience Designer at Ning, you will play a critical role on a small, but highly productive team in evolving a product used by millions of people in their daily lives.
  • Your mission will be to deliver powerful and immensely creative social experiences to our Network Creators and their members. This involves participating in the key stages of the product design definition through to the final user experience and post-launch iteration.

Ning schwag

The Opportunity

  • We are looking for someone with a high degree of creativity, interaction design experience and problem solving ability. You enjoy working in a fast-paced, fun and highly collaborative environment. You have a strong work ethic, are organized to meet tight deadlines and very detail oriented.
  • You have the same passion for great design as you do for creating great code. You are an active user of social networks and be highly curious. Finally, you are someone who is relentlessly focused on making great, creative ideas and experiences a reality.
  • At Ning, you will have an opportunity to define innovative user interfaces and interaction styles which result in improved user productivity, discoverability and simplicity. You will work to document, simplify and streamline a highly flexible set of options Ning offers their Network Creators and their members.
  • You will build your own designs in production-level, standards-based XHTML and CSS. You’ll also work with our team of Product Managers, Web Developer and Application Developers to conceive innovative user interface solutions.
  • You will develop and maintain design wireframes, mockups, specification and navigation maps. You will also promote usability and consistency standards throughout your work.

Ning office at 285 Hamilton

The Qualifications

  • A formal education in Computer Science, Industrial Design, Computer Interface Design, Human Computer Interaction or Graphic Design.
  • 5+ year experience in web/interaction/interface design.
  • Proven track record and a passion for designing compelling, user experiences.
  • Proven experience in creating production quality XHTML and CSS. Basic JavaScript skills a plus.
  • Demonstrated comprehension (portfolio) of design theory, web design, typography and color.
  • Excellent presentation skills and attention to detail.
  • Experience in working with various departments within a product, design and development team.
  • Experience in creating various prototype methods and knowledge of best practices.
  • Strong verbal and visual communication skills.
  • Working knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite 3 applications including Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Fireworks.
  • Curiosity. You’ve created a Ning Network before you interview. You have ideas on how to make the service better and faster. You have strong, thoughtful product, experience and technical questions for us.

Ping me directly if you are interested in this job: andrew@ning.com

There are a lot of reasons why you should consider this job if you are a good designer. Everyone at the company is on the cutting edge of the social web. The job is located in a very nice part of California where it never rains.

Ning office at 285 Hamilton

And we have a pretty nice kitchen, which is stocked with Popchips, Fresca, Tejava, and peanut M&Ms.

And we like cake with CSS3 rules:

There are more openings on the job website. Let me know if any sound appealing to you.

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Michael Jackson tribute

October 23, 2009 – 6:13 pm | View Comments

Hahaha, classic….

This movie requires Adobe Flash for playback.
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Writing a book about the Twitter API

September 26, 2009 – 8:20 pm | View Comments

Learning how to program is fun, powerful, and engaging. A lot of people say that the Twitter API is a great place to start learning how to code if you’ve never done any programming before. I agree.

Twitter has great documentation, a vibrant developer community, and a ton of users saying interesting and uninteresting things.

So when Chris Peri and Jon Wu asked me to co-author a book with them, I couldn’t say no.

We are working with Pearson Publishing, more specifically the SAMS Teach Yourself book series. The book will be titled Twitter API in 24 Hours. We have a blog that will dissect the process, show code examples and tutorials, and live on past publish date. We are using Fast Pencil to write the book.

If you want to learn something specifically about the API, please let me know, I want to cover it in the book.

I will update this blog with updates as the book gets closer to publishing.

I am very excited to be writing a book!

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Eliot Kalmbach (1985-2009)

September 23, 2009 – 10:24 am | View Comments

I was horrified when I got a text message this morning from a friend telling me Eliot Kalmbach had passed away in a hiking accident. The Jackson Hole News & Guide reports that Eliot and a friend were hiking an off beat trail at Grand Teton National Park.

Eliot Kalmbach

I remember Eliot as a genius, an explorer, a jokester, and an all around good guy. We took AP Calculus together at Downingtown High School. We also played trumpet together in the marching band, and traveled to Pasadena to perform in the Rose Parade in 2001. When I found out he was going to Princeton after high school, I knew he would make it big.

Most of my contact with Eliot had been through Facebook, where I would frequently check out his amazing pictures. I feel like he climbed every mountain known to man:

I felt a little worse when I heard about his passing because I was supposed to meet up with him a few weeks ago when he was visiting northern California for some business. Our timing was off, and we couldn’t meet up. I really really really wish I got to see him. He was up to some big things too:

“As for what I am up to, a couple of friends and I put together a business plan that won an incubator contest with Lightspeed Associates here in palo alto, so our programming team has been out here all summer testing things out and getting ready to launch our product (which is basically a service that delivers test preparation material for standarized tests, such as the SAT/ACTs, through sms platforms). Most of the time I have been working on this stuff remotely, because I had some business on the east coast, but felt that I should come out during the push towards launching the beta…”

Eliot was such a great friend, even though we hadn’t seen each other since high school. When tragedy struck at my university two years ago, Eliot reached out to me:

I will remember Eliot as an adventurer, advancer of technology, musician, and general enthusiast of life. He is survived by his parents, and two sisters Hilary and Whitney.

Please join the Flickr group, and add photos of Eliot if you have any.

Here is a message from the family:

Relatives and friends are invited to Eliot’s Funeral Service, 10:00 am, Monday, September 28, 2009 at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 7 St. Andrew’s Lane, Glenmoore, PA. Interment is private.
Visitation will be held from 9:00 am – 10:00 am, Monday, September 28, 2009 at the church.

In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to The Franklin Institute Science Museum, Development Office, 222 N. 20th St., Philadelphia, PA 19103; and/or Philmont Scout Ranch, 17 Deer Run Rd., Cimarron, NM 87714.

We would like any friends of Eliot who are coming in from a distance and staying overnight on Sunday in the area to **get in touch with us**. (Facebook (John Kalmbach), john.kalmbach@gmail.com, or 610 873 1449).

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