« December 2006 | Main | February 2007 »
January 29, 2007
Alerts/Spaces - Live!
While I don't usually blog about my day job as the Dev Manager for Windows Live RSS/Alerts, this has to be mentioned.
Last Thursday, the Windows Live Spaces team propped a release to production that enable seamless integration with Windows Live Alerts. The rollout is limited to English language Spaces first, with more to follow. From the post:
Be instantly notified of changes to your favorite Spaces!
It’s now even easier to find out who updated what on their Space and when…and you can be one of the first to find out! You can now sign-up to receive updates in real time for blogs, photos, lists and comments in your favorite Spaces. Simply click on the “Sign up for alerts” link in the Visitor tools module of your favorite Spaces and start receiving your updates right away. We want you to try it out and tell us what you think of alert, so we’ve limited this new functionality to English Spaces first.
We wrote quite a bit of the code when we were MessageCast - it is great for it to finally see the light of day!
As you might imagine there are a number of technical challenges working with a service as large as Spaces. Kudos to a lot of people for making it happen.
If you are interested in integrating with Windows Live Alerts, check out the SDK.
Tags: MessageCast, Windows Live Spaces, Windows Live Alerts
Posted by davehod at 01:12 PM | Comments (0)
January 24, 2007
Media Metrics: Wallstrip Stockpikr.com Episode
Wallstrip.com recently posted an interview they did with Stockpickr.com’s James Altucher.
The number of times the episode was viewed on YouTube since 1/18/2007 looks like this:
The number of times the episode was viewed on Revver since 1/18/2007 looks like this:
The data shows that Wallstrip has a larger audience on Revver, which has a much smaller user base than YouTube.
There are a number of other interesting metrics to compare (number of ratings for example), however Revver is not currently populating this info in their API results.
Tags: metrics, Revver, Stockpikr, video, Wallstrip, YouTube
Posted by davehod at 01:47 PM | Comments (2)
January 18, 2007
Media Metrics: Chart Feed GUID/Title Fix
I just pushed a fix for Chart feeds - the GUIDs were missing the U part (unique) so several aggregators decided to only show the items one time. Additionally, the title of each item was constant so aggregators that create a hash from the title also were only showing the feed once.
Both issues have been fixed so Chart feeds should work properly.
Posted by davehod at 09:06 PM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2007
Media Metrics - RSS Feeds Now Available
A new build is up and running - it features quite a few changes (thanks for the feedback). The biggest feature enhancement is the addition of RSS feeds for both comments and charts. Why create a YouTube comment feed you ask? YouTube and Grouper don't offer one themselves (Revver doesn't support comments at the moment). Adding both the Chart and Comment feeds to your aggregator makes tracking your media posts easy and straightforward. (In case you missed the previous entries on media metrics: Part One and Part Two)
Feeds
1. Chart feed - provides all five charts in a single feed. To add the feed to your aggregator, use the following URL:
http://www.davehodson.com/cm/chartfeed?URL=[URL]
where [URL] is the full URL of the media. For example, the RSS Chart feed for "Home" would look like this:
http://www.davehodson.com/cm/chartfeed/?URL=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nZQOKGXhlk
This will redirect to the actual feed - simply add this feed to your aggregator (One click for me with Bloglines and Firefox)
2. Comment feed - provides a true comment feed. To add the feed to your aggregator, point to the following URL:
http://www.davehodson.com/cm/commentfeed?URL=[URL]
For example, the RSS Comment feed for "Home" would look like this:
http://www.davehodson.com/cm/commentfeed/?URL=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nZQOKGXhlk
This will redirect to the actual feed - add it to your aggregator.
Here's a quick rundown of what is available for each service.
|
Number of
Views |
Number of
Comments |
Number Favorited |
Number of
Ratings |
Average Rating |
Comment Feed |
Chart
Feed |
|
| YouTube | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| Revver | • | • | |||||
| Grouper | • | • | • | • | • |
Suggestions and/or feedback? Feel free to email or comment below.
Tags: API, Grouper, metrics, Revver, RSS, video, You Tube
Posted by davehod at 10:25 PM | Comments (1)
Hoodoo Gurus: US Tour Dates
A few US tour dates for the Hoodoo Gurus are starting to leak out:
- BB Kings in NY, NY on 3/20
- The Belly Up in Solona Beach on 3/27
The Gurus called it quits a few years back, put out some Persian Rugs CDs, played on some Monarchs discs and eventually un-retired. The big push to reform came when they recorded the Australian National Rugby League Theme, a modified version of "What's My Scene" entitled "That's My Team". The tune was recorded as a fundraiser and cracked the Top 40 chart. They never hit it big on MTV (chronicled in Blue Cave's "Down on Me") but have a dedicated following in Australia, the US and Brazil. The Gurus began playing select dates in Australia and have finally decided to take another shot at America.
If you haven't seen the documentary section of "Tunnel Vision", I highly recommend it. I last saw the Gurus in 1987 in San Francisco - did they deliver. A great set played with a ton of energy.
Looking forward to more dates being added!
Update
SxSW on 3/17
Update #2
March- SXSW - Aussie Bar B Q show (3pm) / Pop Culture Press party (6pm) - 3/16
- NY - show BB Kings - 3/20
- Phil. - show World Cafe - 3/21
- Toronto - show Horseshoe Tavern - 3/23
- Chicago - show Abbey - 3/25
- Aspen - show Belly Up - 3/26
- San Diego - show Belly Up - 3/27
- Los Angeles - show El Rey Theatre - 3/29
- Los Angeles (Anaheim) - show House Of Blues - 3/30
- San Francisco - show Cafe de Nord - 3/31
Tags: Hoodoo Gurus, Persian Rugs, MTV
Posted by davehod at 08:35 AM | Comments (2)
January 10, 2007
Gremlins and fstab
A little blond haired gremlin struck yesterday (repeatedly power-cycling the machine) , wiping out /etc/fstab on my Fedora Core box.
When attempting to boot the machine, a cryptic error message appeared, along the lines of "your /etc/fstab file is hosed". I entered the root pw and went to the #repair prompt and did indeed find /etc/fstab to be corrupt. Additionally, it was not writable as I somehow didn't have perms.
After bit of Googling, I started digging around for the installation CDs to try "rescue mode". The gremlin apparently hid them, so I decided to burn a new one. I grabbed the ISO image and inserted a fresh disc in my r/w drive. Unfortunately, Google Earth and CD Creator no longer play nice - CD Creator (and other apps I subsequently tried) refused to burn an ISO image.
After firing off a few desperate emails in search of help, I decided to try to remount the device (instead of the logical directory). Voila! It worked - I then had to hack at /etc/fstab to try to get it to mount. After a few attempts, I got a bootable system again, with no data loss. Phew.
The steps I took were as follows:
- Boot machine
- Enter root pw and go to #repair prompt
- Remount with "mount -o rw,remount /dev/sda /"
- Edit fstab, using this as a model. Note there is a bug with "LABEL=", so I had to use this workaround
- Reboot
- Repeat steps 1-5 until drives mount properly
Next step - get something equivalent to JungleDisk on my Linux box and send it all to S3.
Technorati Tags: Fedora, fstab, linux, Redhat, S3, Jungle Disk
Posted by davehod at 12:21 PM | Comments (0)
January 05, 2007
MMJ in PHX!
I caught My Morning Jacket in Phoenix (Tempe, actually) Wednesday night on their Okonokos tour.
They played at the Marquee club, which holds approximately 800 people. Just about the right size to see a band.
Having never seen MMJ, I wasn't sure what to expect. The reviews have been overwhelmingly postiive, and the boots I've listened to have been great. Knowing this however, I was not prepared for the show.
MMJ took the stage around 8:30, opening with One Big Holiday. They played 18 tunes all together, throwing in several obscure (to my ears anyway) covers. The tunes from Z translated very well - in fact I think they were better live than on the released disc. My favorite was the brooding Dondante, which started slowly and swelled to a gargantuan crescendo. I was blown away by Jim James' voice - he created powerful harmonies and had a great range. Both Golden and Bermuda Highway were fantastic acoustic showcases of his voice.
The entire set was backlit, no front-lighting whatsoever. It reminded me of No Quarter from TSRTS ... the smoke and dry-ice made it kind of eerie actually. I didn't see Jim James' face until almost the end of the show, and even then, it was just for a second. It reminded me of another Jim, Jim Morrison. In No One Here Get Out Alive, Danny Sugerman talked quite a bit about how Morrison was pretty shy (when sober) and would sing with his back to the audience. If Morrison faced the audience, he would sing with his eyes closed. Jim James was in the same mold - having a blast with his bandmates, but seemed a bit reluctant to face the audience.
Overall, the show was a definite 'A" - see 'em if they head your way.
Tags: Jim Morrison, Led Zeppelin, MMJ, My Morning Jacket
Posted by davehod at 01:05 PM | Comments (0)
January 03, 2007
Media Metrics - Part Two
Part Two on capturing media metrics (Part one and some examples)
Taking advantage of the APIs is easy; they are all HTTP-based.
1. Adding a new item to track - after you have uploaded a new media file (e.g. video) to either YouTube, Revver and/or Grouper, simply point your browser to the following URL:
http://www.davehodson.com/cm/chart/l/?URL=[URL]
where [URL] is the full URL of the video. For example, adding a YouTube's "Happy New Year" video would look like this:
http://www.davehodson.com/cm/chart/l/?URL=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPsfbV9t8Vw
Once the item has been added, the system will begin tracking the available metrics.
2. Number of views - produces a chart showing the number of times the media was viewed. To view the chart, use the following URL:
http://www.davehodson.com/cm/chartviews/[size]/?URL=[URL]
where [size] is the size of the image (see "Size" below). For example, the page views for "Home" would look like this
http://www.davehodson.com/cm/chartviews/l/?URL=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nZQOKGXhlk
3. Number of comments - produces a chart showing the number of comments posted about the media. To view, use the following URL:
http://www.davehodson.com/cm/chartcomments/[size]/?URL=[URL]
For example, the page comments with a size of medium for "Home" would look like this
http://www.davehodson.com/cm/chartcomments/m/?URL=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nZQOKGXhlk
4. Number of times favorited - shows the number of times the media was marked as a "favorite" (currently only supported by YouTube). To view, use the following URL:
http://www.davehodson.com/cm/chartfavorited/[size]/?URL=[URL]
For example, the number of times the media was marked as favorite with a size of small for "Home" would look like this
http://www.davehodson.com/cm/chartfavorited/s/?URL=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nZQOKGXhlk
5. Number of ratings - details the number of times the media was rated by viewers. To view, use the following URL:
http://www.davehodson.com/cm/chartratings/[size]/?URL=[URL]
For example, the number of times the media was rated with a size of small for "Home" would look like this
http://www.davehodson.com/cm/chartratings/s/?URL=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nZQOKGXhlk
6. Average Rating - shows the average rating for the media. To view, use the following URL:
http://www.davehodson.com/cm/chartavgrating/[size]/?URL=[URL]
For example, the average rating for the media was rated with a size of large for "Tornado Chasers Get Chased" would look like this
7. Combination - if you want to produce a chart that combines different metrics (#2-6 above), use the following URL:
http://www.davehodson.com/cm/chart/[size]/?URL=[URL][&numviews=1][&numcomments=1][&numratings=1][&avgrating=1][&numfavorited=1]
For example, a combination of ratings and comments with a size of large for "Home" would look like this
Notes:
Size - You can create 3 different sized charts:
Large: 300 x 600, includes a legend detailing each metric
Medium: 150 x 300, includes a legend
Small: 100 x 200
Duration - currently, all charts will show the last 30 days of data, if it is available. For example, if you added media to track on 12/1/2006, the chart produced for 1/3/2007 would include data from 12/2/2006 to 1/2/2007.
Tags: Grouper, metrics, Revver, video, YouTube
Posted by davehod at 09:39 AM | Comments (0)
January 02, 2007
Metric APIs - Part One
More than a few people have emailed regarding my recent metrics post, asking how they can make use of the platform and track their own stats.
Currently, I track usage on the following services:
- YouTube
- Revver
- Grouper
The current APIs allow you to track the following attributes:
- Number of views
- Number of comments
- Number of times favorited
- Number of ratings
- Average rating value
As shown in the table below, some services (e.g. Revver) only provide a subset of the above attributes
|
Number of
Views |
Number of
Comments |
Number Favorited |
Number of
Ratings |
Average Rating |
|
| YouTube | • | • | • | • | • |
| Revver | • | ||||
| Grouper | • | • | • |
The plan is to add additional services (MetaCafe, Google Video) - if you have a favorite, let me know.
Part Two of this post will detail the APIs and how to use them. Also, I'll probably do a future post looking at the APIs (or lack thereof) for each service that is incorporated. What I've seen so far is wide-ranging, from great to not-so-great.
Tags: API, Grouper, metrics, Revver, video, YouTube
Posted by davehod at 03:03 PM | Comments (0)
January 01, 2007
Media Metrics - A Few Examples
I've spent my free time over the last 4 months on various projects - some will never see the light of day and others might be interesting to a broader population. Each of the issues I've dug into came from personal need - I wanted to be able to do something but couldn't find an available service/website.
One of the areas I dug into was media - I've been interested in podcasts for quite a while and after having way too many YouTube links sent my way, I've become very interested in the video space. Based on a personal wish to be able to track certain media across properties, I created a platform to aggregate metrics for media. The platform has a solid set of APIs and currently collects data from YouTube, Grouper and Revver (more on the way). A few sample charts are shown below:
1. A chart comparing the number of views of "Home" on YouTube and Revver, from 12/21 to 1/1, in large format.
2. A chart for "Home", in large format, showing the number of comments and the number of times the video was rated on YouTube over the same period.
3. "Tornado Chasers Get Chased", in medium and small formats, from Grouper
Technorati Tags: metrics, podcast, API, video
Posted by davehod at 09:34 PM | Comments (0)