Writing a plugin for Statusnet : Part 1

My work is getting into microblogging – both internally and to the outside world. We had previously considered using Twitter and even tried using Yammer for purely internal posting but there were concerns about privacy – the data is stored ‘out there’ on somebody else’s server and we were at the mercy of any future changes in service terms and conditions.

In the end we opted for the StatusNet engine which also powers the Identi.ca microblogging service. Its Open Source, can be installed locally and has a Twitter-like API which meant that we could integrate it with our internal systems like our CruiseControl.NET build server.

But that’s not the end of it – StatusNet is extendible as well. With a little knowledge of PHP and knowing which ‘hooks’ to use (or how to find them) it is possible to intercept most (if not all) of the important events in the world of statusnet, like posting a notice, and injecting your own logic.

Well it has come to pass that the company decided not only to implement an internal microblogging platform but to create a presence ‘out there’ as well. But the question is “how to do it in the most effective way?”, I mean there are loads of social networks out there and we don’t want to have to repost manually on multiple sites. Well the good thing is we don’t need to!

Using a service called PingFm it is possible to post to a vast number of services including microbloggers like Twitter and Identica as well as LinkedIn and even blogs like WordPress, all from a single application.

Now the crunch, getting users to post when they are up to is one thing, asking them to do it through two services (StatusNet and PingFm) is another thing altogether. But hope is at hand, StatusNet has a plugin architecture which allows new functionality to be added quite easily. Read the rest of this entry »

Installing Eclipse and the Android SDK on Ubuntu 10.04

As previously posted I have recently bought myself a nice new Android phone – a HTC Hero to be precise. One of the main reasons for buying it was so that I could look into developing applications for this new platform, thus expanding my skill set.

I had been playing around with installing the Eclipse IDE (arguably the best Java IDE around) and the Android SDK on my previous Ubuntu installation and basically made a hash of it a few times. Having refined my process I’ve decided to write it down so that I don’t forget Read the rest of this entry »

Installing AtMailOpen Webmail Client on Hosted Server

I have a reseller account with my hosting provider which allows me to manage multiple domains (this being one of them) and also provides email services for each of them. The thing is that the two webmail clients it provides, Horde and SquirrelMail are [frankly] clunky and long winded to access – the latter being an issue with the implementation rather than the applications themselves.

To login I need to provide a full email address as the username (any you can see how long this domain name is) and a password. Then I’m presented with the option of loading Horde or SquirrelMail as well as enabling Auto Load the selected application. If I select SquirrelMail then I’m taken directly to my Inbox but if I select Horde then I’m presented with a ‘language selection’ screen which also contains a Login button. While SquirrelMail is a basic email client Horde also has a Calendar, Notes, Tasks and a News Reader – but they both look a little dated.

Now while I can handle the login process and live with dated interface it’s not something I would like to provide to other users – I’m just worried that I will get phone call after phone call about how to use the applications and complaints about the user experience.

I have a domain which will soon be hosting a WordPress blog that my girlfriends daughter will be using to keep in touch while she is working abroad for six months before starting her college studies. I didn’t feel comfortable giving her the standard email client offerings so decided to configure AtMailOpen instead. Read the rest of this entry »

Making an Audio version of the Ubuntu Podcast

I listen to a number of podcasts on a regular basis, mainly programming related, during my 45 minute commute to and from work every day. Now almost all of them are downloaded in audio format but recently the Ubuntu Podcast as stopped posting these formats. In a recent episode (#32) Joel and Nick explained they reasoning behind this and I fully support them in their decision – I mean, it’s an overhead for them in terms of time and storage/bandwidth. Add to that the fact that I can still subscribe via iTunes and some would wonder why I’m making a fuss (which I’m not btw!)

Well the fact of the matter is that it both illegal and dangerous to watch a video podcast on an iPod Nano while driving at 70mph down the motorway. Add to that the fact that each of the main episodes is 500MB and my Nano has ‘only’ 8GB to play with and i have a few reasons for wanting an less-heavyweight version. Read the rest of this entry »

Reading an RSS Feed with C# and Python

When I started this site I had a project in mind that would download Podcasts as they were posted and maintain the content of my MP3 player so that I didn’t have to do it myself. Well since then I have lost my iTunes virginity and while it doesn’t do everything that I wanted (like telling me that a new episode has been downloaded) it does automatically download and delete them once I’ve watched/listened to them.

But just because I don’t need to develop a complete application there is still an itch to scratch here – a few of them in fact.

• How do I download an RSS stream – it’s not just podcasts that uses them
• How do I parse the resulting XML
• How do I download a file and store it locally
• and how do I do this in C# and Python

Well this post will answer the first two questions using C# and LINQ and Python and it’s XML library.
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Problems with the WAMP Stack

Had an interesting problem at work today trying to configure the WAMP Stack on a Vista PC.

I needed this configuration to evaluate the Joomla CMS application for an internal project. I had some minor experience with Joomla and the LAMP stack on a Ubuntu Linux system but as it didn’t fit my needs I never got very far into it. Now I had a change to continue my climb the learning curve and get paid for it – neat huh!

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