Dipity – twitter with a new look and source

I have been using Twitter for quite some time, and I find it pretty useful.  Twitter is simple to use, has lot of clients, my favourite being Twhirl . I feel that if the mashup interface could have been made more friendly, it would help us a lot more. There are more mashup comparisons in my earlier blog.

A couple of weeks back , I chanced to get upon Plurk , it is similar to Twitter, but has a nice UI , the responses are threaded, but it has improved . But the UI is not that effective, so I use it seldom.

I was using FireEagle today , and came across Dipity. I created a account, and at first look it had a nice UI for the time line, and one could also add events. The better part was that one can Add Sources , like Twitter, FriendFeed, WordPress, Last.fm and all of them would show up in the UI . Thats a neat work, and the user does not need to get log into each service and get the updates.

The features provided are cool, but Twitter shall still rule, as Twitter has a large fan base, and has lots of clients . Another application Twistori shall probably combine both the features of Plurk and Dipity, lets see what they have to offer.

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Enterprise Architecture + Web 2.0 – New Kid On The Block

As cloud computing hovers over Web 2.0 ushering a new computing architecture, and people getting crazy over Amazon’s EC2 and S3 architecture – so is it all Web 2.0 all the way.

Being from a enterprise apps background, Web 2.0 was not that interesting to me. But lately after playing with some Web 2.0 apps, I find them incredible. It really brings fresh air – something which was really needed .

For those who have worked with Web 2.0 , AJAX is a very familiar term. Now AJAX with JSON support makes the stuff even more richer …. and the web is directed towards that .

So what shall happen to enterprise architecture (EA) … is it dead . Does that mean there shall be no more EA ; well if you thought yes, let me give you mint fresh news – enterprise architecture is coming back in a collaborative environment with Web 2.0 .

Architects from all over the world have put the integration of EA + Web 2.0 in their top priority list. Collaboration has been there for some time, but real time collaboration is still missing in the present online workspace.

Enterprise mashups are one way of integrating Web 2.0 mashups with enterprise architecture.

I would like some comments on this .

Mashups – A Quick Comparsion

Mashups are really great stuff, specially for those who have little knowledge about HTML/ Javascript .

Summing up the preliminary comparions on three mashups .

1) Microsoft Popfly

Excellent UI , Drag and Drop, Easy integration, Result in minutes ….. and all things that remind one of Microsoft.
I created mashups to get my freind list in Facebook and news from Digg in less than 5 minutes .
Popfly also allows you to create games and web pages .

You need to put the code in an iframe tag to make the stuff work on your page .

2) Yahoo Pipe

Another great mashup . Very good UI , drag / drop features , easy to use, excellent result in minutes. Have not checked out whether the use can customize the mashup further .

One good thing I liked in YP is that it provides an URL ; where the mashup resides . So I guess one needs to provide a link to the URL in the web page – have not tested on this yet .

I created a RSS reader filter on Yahoo Pipes , and it was great .

3) Google Mashups

This is still in beta, accounts are available only on request . If one needs to create a Google mashup he/she should know coding. Presently there is no drag and drop facility available.

Have not explored the coding yet ; but there are cool samples to guide one with. You can create the Google Docs interface in a matter of minutes .

Hopefully they shall come up with drag and drop in the final release.

I shall post some snap shots of the mashups later .

Mashups – Express Yourself

Mashups – is catching up fast . While Popfly allows users to generate mashups by drag/drop ; Google Mashups has exposed the AJAX coding to the end user .

To a non IT, Popfly is an excellent tool as it allows user to transform their creative thoughts through mashups.

On the contrary , Google Mashups ( which is available on request ) throws up the entire stuff to the end user with AJAX coding .

If either MS or Google adds the flexibility of mashups by drag and drop ; which can further be extended by AJAX coding, it would be awesome .

Related articles

• Why You Should Be Building Mashup Scripts
• Serena heralds ‘rich interface mashups’
• Web Publishing: Build Your Own Mashups with Microsoft’s Popfly