Good morning, universe. This morning I had the pleasure of reading dozens of support emails on my Pre. This, of course, was the result of another unannounced change to the Digg API (which powers Digloo). With my wedding in less than 2 days, I can’t imagine the damage this would have caused my reputation if the error had occurred while I was on my honeymoon. I really, really hope Digg realizes that there are people who use the JSON responses of their API and when they make these seemingly small changes it can affect hundreds of users.
The good news is that you all get Digloo 1.4 earlier than planned. I have had version 1.4 finished for a few weeks, actually. I was only waiting to release the update after my honeymoon to make sure nothing went terribly wrong with the release while I was out. Well, something has already gone TERRIBLY wrong, so now’s the only time. I did not have a separate copy of 1.3.3 to add this bugfix to, so I had to put it into 1.4 and release it. I bet you’re wondering what Digloo 1.4 contains. Well first of all, it works. The “short_url” bug (which crippled the app) has been fixed. Jeff Hodsdon at Digg was quick enough to reply this morning with the information I needed. So we can give them that much.
New features in Digloo 1.4:
User profiles
Recently Dugg Stories
Comment History
Favorites
Submission History
Friends
Twitter Sharing
Uses the Twitter API and OAuth to post.
Compose a blank tweet via the App Menu on the main “Stories” scene
Facebook sharing
Requires the latest version of the Facebook app
Opens the Facebook app and seeds the status to it.
Direct API posting coming in the future
Visual changes
New splash screen
New icons throughout the app
Restyled the Post Comment, Preferences, and About Pages
New menu on the main “Stories” scene
Image links (png, jpg, gif) now open in the ImageView widget.
Fullscreen
Landscape support
Multi-touch zoom
New gesture area functionality
Double-tap the gesture area from anywhere within the app to return to the home scene
Topics button now includes all sub topics
Bugfixes
Fixed the paralyzing “short_url” bug that came up last night as a result of an unannounced change to Digg’s API (thanks to everyone who emailed me and posted on Twitter about the bug. I probably wouldn’t have noticed for a while)
Fixed rounded corners bug on main user avatar
Changing landscape mode no longer requires application restart
Fixed some errors in the built-in browser
Improved OAuth support
To-do (Digloo 1.4.1)
Add “More” button to user profile page (to load more than 10 or 20 items)
Replace Palm spinner with a custom one
Update checking
Metrix installation
I’ve submitted the update to Palm and emailed @adora so hopefully they will be nice enough to rush this out because no one’s app is working right now (and I have a wedding to prepare for).
Hey fellow Zipsquare users. I just finished a set of cool updates for Zipsquare and they will be available to download tomorrow from the Palm beta feeds. Here’s a list of the changes:
Completely new navigation concept
While it may look the same in the screenshots, the whole visual structure of the application has changed. The venues scene is now a long horizontal scroller that currently slides between Venues and Friends. Doesn’t make sense? Just drag your finger from right to left (like you do in the webOS App Launcher) and you’ll see what I mean.
This will give me some really fun ways to add new features to Zipsquare in the future, like user profiles, venue info, leaderboards, nearby specials, etc.
Friends Activity
If you slide your finger across the screen, Zipsquare will load all of your friends’ recent checkins and shouts.
New Search Behavior/Design
Type to search, like the official app
The search dialog has been replaced by a cool text field hidden in a Drawer. Open the drawer by typing on the Places panel.
Dynamic background changes according to your location
Just a really cool and fun idea I had
Does not slow down the loading of venues or check ins
Rearranged the checkin window items a little bit – this still needs some work
GPS *should* be more accurate
New transparent splash screen (won’t take effect until after a phone reboot or app uninstall/reinstall for those who already have zipsquare installed)
Zipsquare remains the speediest way to check in on Foursquare on webOS
There you are. A huge list of updates to hold you over while I get married and go on my honeymoon. Once I return I have a nice huge update to Digloo to release and some more goodies.
Update: 0.7.2 was submitted to the beta catalog and will be available to download from this link within a few hours. Thanks!
Zipsquare is a new app I made last weekend to allow me to check into Foursquare venues very quickly. The official Foursquare app by @zhephree is really nice and robust but it simply takes too long to check in sometimes. With zipsquare, it only takes a single tap on a venue to begin checking in. If a venue does not exist, all you have to do is enter the name and Zipsquare will find the address info on Google for you!
The new update also includes toggles for Public/Private checkins and posting to Facebook and Twitter (and bugfixes).
Digg was awesome today and made an unannounced API change that broke the interactive portions of Digloo (Digging/Burying items, posting comments). I updated the code and I’m hoping Palm will get the update posted ASAP.
I’ll keep everyone posted! Thanks for the support emails giving me the heads up.
Update: version 1.3.2 is now available to download. Big thanks to @adora for rushing the application approval through!
Update #2: @JerseyJesus noticed that the error still happens when you try Digging a story from within the in-app browser. This is an oversight on my part and I’ll submit version 1.3.3 right away. Thanks, Jesus!
Greetings fellow Diglooites! (Might have to come up with a new name for fans of this app). This morning, Digloo 1.3 was submitted to Palm! Here’s what you can expect in this release:
Ability to post comments and replies to articles
Fixed the bug where embedded YouTube videos would not play in the YouTube player if in-app browsing was enabled.
Made some small visual tweaks – media (news, images, videos) sections are now better labeled and should be less confusing
I don’t normally do this, but here’s whats currently in development for 1.4 and beyond:
Direct sharing to Twitter and Facebook
User profile / history viewing
Friends lists
Better image support
Related stories
Look forward to a fun and Diggtastic summer! Thanks all! 1.3 should be available by the end of the week!
