iPhone + Webkit + Digg = Mobile Digging Done Right

Webkit browsers, which the iphone uses will now be able to digg while mobile.

Delta Tang Bravo has more details on their blog:

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We just launched a special version of Digg today intended to be browsed on an iPhone. It’s available at digg.com/iphone but you’ve got to either be on an iPhone, in Webkit, or possibly on a Webkit-enabled device like some of the fancy Nokia phones.

It’s really fun to be developing for the iPhone. First off, it’s a welcome change to be developing for a single rendering engine… and a decent one at that. Plus, you’ve got the run of all of Webkit’s features, including advanced pseudo-selectors, text-overflow ellipsis, and simple rounded corners in CSS. While I do enjoy making bulletproof designs in my normal web design, there’s also some freedom in not having to consider text-resizing, extreme page resizing (you need to support 2 dimensions), and other hurdles when you’re developing for the iPhone. Of course, we’re still following standards pretty strictly, but not having to cope with the lowest common denominator (or even any rendering discrepancy) certainly makes things interesting — and fun!

Even more fun is developing specifically for the user input quirks of the iPhone. When your primary input device is a honkin’ fat finger, it changes the way you think about links and buttons. Everything’s got to be bigger… way bigger. The yellow digg box and Digg It button are about twice as large on the iPhone as on the normal website. I also made the clickable area of the Digg It button even larger than the button itself so if you click on the edge of it, you’ll still get a press. You also have to make sure buttons aren’t too close together so that you don’t mash one when you intend to hit the other.

Joe (the Digg dev who coded the project) and I started from Joe Hewitt’s excellent proof of concept and then adapted the javascript and the rest of the code. We’re using jQuery (thanks to the jQuery team for their assistance) to render the sliding effects to mimic a ‘real’ iPhone application’s functionality.

Joe and I threw this together over the weekend with Kevin’s help storyboarding it. Good times were had. I’m really looking forward to messing around more with developing specifically for the iPhone. Fun fun fun. Can you tell I think it’s fun?

UPDATE: One thing I forgot to mention is that page loading takes a long time on an iPhone. Actually sending and receiving a request over At&T’s slow network (when you’re not on wifi) is especially slow. So, we’re actually doing one larger load to bring in both the story list and the contents of the stories. Then you’ve only got one request (and we made sure it wasn’t huge) and you can browse the 10 stories on the page without loading again.

Update 2: Also see Joe’s write-up on some of the technical aspects of the Digg iPhone version
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Iminent Brings Video-add-ons to Instant Messaging

Iminent, startup based in France provides video-add-on applications for instant messaging systems. Do you remember the old days of IRC or ICQ? Well, imagine those on steroids! Iminent has secured nearly $4 million from French-Italian investment group 360 Partners, AC reports. Iminent’s video system, which is currently in beta test mode, allows users to make short videos and attach them to IM when chatting. IMer’s can use “emovids,” which is a short animation that is intended to serve the same function as an emoticon. The company’s website says that the application is free, though it offer any other details about how it is to be marketed.

Is Neil Patel Proving the 10% / 90% rule?

Neil Patel challenged Jason Calacanis have had a little bet going on lately to see if SEO is really a useful strategy or if it’s just a bunch of Bull.

Whitehat is the name of this game, and Neil showed Calacanis that by making a few changes he was able to increase his traffic by 21%. Oh and by the way, only 10% of the changes that Neil recommended have been implemented. Is this the 10%/90% rule in action? If you make 10% of recommended changes and they are the changes that are big enough to make an impact, will you see 90% of the value right off the bat?

This really makes me think about time management for an SEO – Do you have to spend numerous hours collecting links and digging through content or even building content for that matter to receive the full, or almost full benefit? — Or can you implement just a few Key SEO techniques and receive a huge amount of value by focusing on what you do well, and outsourcing the time consuming aspects?

Take a look at the results, What do you think?

I am Watching Justin.TV Right Now

Ok, so I’ll admit it, Im addicted now. I spent probably 1.5 hours of my life today watching what Justin is watching on Justin.TV

Justin.tv is the creation of, well… Justin. Justin wears the camera 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Even in the bathroom. Even on a date. Today I had the pleasure of Watching Justin Watch a seminar at the Kresge Auditorium in Stanford University by Mitch Kapor, the founder of Lotus.

Among other things that you can watch Justin do, include…

Justin Cleaning up after a party
Justin Meeting a Raper
Justin’s House getting raided by police (yes, seriously!)

You can also text message justin and watch him read your text here: 415-948-3219

Is this web 3.0 at the early stages or am I “just crazy”, as my Fiance would say!?

UPDATE: I’m up late tonight doing some work for a client and just decided to log on to see this Justin.TV kid bar-hopping. Then the craziest thing happend, I think he fell over and broke some of his camera equipment. So I guess Justin.TV is “To be continued”.