Dimmented is Live!

My latest app, Dimmented is live. It's still in beta, but all of the functions work, I hope. Only the UI stuff needs to be fine-tuned. It's my first Flex app, haven't got around to reading about transitions and effects yet, so there are no fancy animations yet in Dimmented.

Dimmented is an app that shows your Digg comments or any other Digg user's comments. I used to keep track of my Digg comments by using their API and reading the raw xml. But the problem with that is it doesn't show the replies to my comments. With Dimmented, I made it show replies, and not just the first level of replies, but all the replies, plus, it can also show the first level of "reply to".
I also included the "remember me" function so that I don't have to type in my username each time. At first, I tried to do this using cookies and php, but for some reason, it didn't work. Then I found out about Flex's shared objects, and it was so much easier, and boom, it was like the feature made itself available.

It is a good learning experience for me. At first I thought Flex was very different to what I already know about scripting/programming, but it turns out it's very similar to the xml-script structure that I'm used to making Konfabulator/Yahoo widgets. So, it wasn't that difficult. And the next version of Flex will have better support for making AIR apps, I don't know whether I'll ever go back to Konfabulator. I already have plans for my next Flex app.

Introducing RIGGLATIONS

I've finally finished my Digg widget. It's called Rigglations. It's a widget that shows the relationships between Digg members. It's quite useful if you're trying to figure out who's been rigging Digg. Get it? Rigging, .. Rigglations. This is only an early release. It's half done. I'll be adding more cool features soon. I hope the widget gets frontpaged on Digg. That would awesome. If I do get frontpaged, I don't know whether my hosting service provider can handle it.

So now I have 2 widgets floating around on the internets. Wickr is doing okay. The usage data I get from Flickr shows light but steady traffic. I've been wanting to make a To Do List widget that incorporates Remember The Milk for a long time now. Maybe I'll get around to making it soon.

Digg Widget Delay

Well I won't be able to finish my Digg widget on time. Some core design flaws forced me to rewrite a lot of code, and not to mention the all important laziness factor. The widget has 2 main parts. I'm undecided on whether to finish both parts before releasing it, which will take longer, or to release it after finishing the first part. Since it's being delayed, I might as well finish up the whole thing, but if I did that, it may take too much time that I'll miss the "buzz" period where Digg users will be looking at new Digg apps due to the Digg API contest. But if I release it not fully featured during the buzz period, the widget won't be as useful and won't attract many users. So, the ideal situation is for me to finish up the whole thing in time for the said period. Good luck with THAT.

Working on a Digg widget

I've been working on a new Digg widget for the past few weeks. I plan to release on the 16/17th of this month. I'm not eligible for the Digg API Contest, but I hope to release it as soon as the contest reaches its closing date so that I don't get accused of ripping another person's idea. Even though I won't be surprised if someone else came up with a similar concept for an app, as it is not mind-blowing idea. However, I think the implementation and its usability is the app's strength. I can't say too much about what it does, but I think it'll one kick-ass widget. Hey, I can't help it, I'm Mr. Vain.

I may not have the time to include all the features that I want to within this week, so I'll release a version with only the core functionality at version 1.0. A few weeks after that, I'll probably update it to include the remaining features.