I want to write about Flash. Many of our cubes rely on Flash and the technology has recently been taking a beating. Personal opinions that iv'e recently been saving to disqus comments aside; the truth is, Flash technology is simply unparralled as there are many unique capabilities of Flash that no other technology on the internet can currently match in reach. We want to support all kinds of technology with Ucubd. When Apple comes out with their Flash competitor Giandiua we'll take a look at the details. If an application or a technology platform is built with connectivity, openness and portability in mind it will absolutely be supported by Ucubd. Flash as a portable object with scalable graphics, connectivity to web services and its capability to make interface calls makes for a technology that is exactly what it should be - connectible, adaptable and portable. Mash-apps can currently produce cubes with combinations of Flash and Javascript objects, for example take a look at "TubeTweets", a combination of Youtube and Twitter. Whenever any application is built with portability, adaptability, and connectivity it will be supported. (PortabilityAdapatbilityConnectvitity)
NEW FEATURES / AMAZON MATCHMAKER - BY ARUN
Creating YouTube + Amazon combinations is easy and fun with our new template page! The new template page has the same functionality as our old version but with some added bells and whistles!
You can start by just adding a YouTube embed code into the big embed box in the middle of the template:
The template will then automatically create a sample of what your cube will look like based on the YouTube video:
The Iron Man 2 YouTube video automatically generates products for a movie called "alice
Changing the keyword phrase from “IRON MAN 2 TRAILER” to “IRON MAN 2” quickly improves relevant product options from Amazon. The first Amazon product is now the Iron Man 2 PS3 video game. Clicking on the “Update” button will apply option changes to your cube:
Other options on the template include adding your Amazon Affiliate ID, one-click share & embed options, webpage preview, and the option to import a custom image to represent your YouTube + Amazon combination.
After making changes, and when you’re satisfied with your cube, you're done! Now go ahead and embed the cube into your website/blog or share the cube URL with friends!
Mashapp to Mashup: " I am your father.. " - BY ILYA
In my previous article, I posed the question. What exactly is a mashup? It's true defenition has been elusive and I evidently concluded that there is a definition out there somewhere between entertainment and technology. Today I want to take a stand on one definition and direct it over towards a new direction and terminology which I believe is more appropriate and fitting.
Why is there such a disconnect and polarity between technologists and the rest of the world when it comes to this subject? It's almost like a case of where left brain meets right.
Accessibility has notoriously been at best a kooky neighbor at a dinner party to software API's. Its getting better, but we're far from making Larry a member of the family. In order to make API's and the creation of software mashups accessible to people and if we want people to have fun and adopt the creation of software mashups, they need to meet some basic demands of "Unless I have to, I dont want to do anything, I dont want to think about anything, I just want to experience".
I think the question can be answered in the following way..
Take on this. If you search Twitter at any given time for "mashup". You are likely to experience a deluge of tweets linking you to the latest and greatest piece of mashed up entertainment in that moment for you to sit back and enjoy. Now, if you switch over to a website like programmable web and do the same thing, you are likley to experience a deluge of software mashups linking you to the latest and greatest, and more often then not, utilitarian applications that you can actively engage with.
On one end you have music, entertainment and accessibility and on the other you have enterprise, utility, and specialty but both are talking mashups.
Why is there such a disconnect and polarity between technologists and the rest of the world when it comes to this subject? It's almost like a case of where left brain meets right.
I think the problem really lies in accessibility. The most accessible definition is the one that is adopted by the masses. Accessibility to most everybody means "I dont want to do anything, I dont want to think about anything, I just want to experience". Accessibility means using your creative, entertainment loving right brain hemisphere.
Accessibility has notoriously been at best a kooky neighbor at a dinner party to software API's. Its getting better, but we're far from making Larry a member of the family. In order to make API's and the creation of software mashups accessible to people and if we want people to have fun and adopt the creation of software mashups, they need to meet some basic demands of "Unless I have to, I dont want to do anything, I dont want to think about anything, I just want to experience".
When it comes to technologies that implore people to adopt something new and novel, I think this mantra makes a lot of sense. The creation of software mashups needs to be more automated, more intillegent of a users intention, and simply let the user experience what they came to experience and on their own predicted terms. If this can be accomplished, we will begin to see the trend shift of what a mashup really means. I perdict that soon we will begin to see more specialized and personalized mashups that require no configuration. The applications will start off simple but as a users intention graph begins to shape, more advanced functionality can be automated and built just for them. Already you have API's like the Facebook Open Graph. The open graph can enable internet experiences to become more automated and personalized. Utilizing methods of the open graph well let users experience mashups on their own terms and this is one the things that will help re-define what a mashup means in the software world. Things are about to become more accessible and we are going to see another sort of software mashup.
So what will this new mashup look like? Will mashup development tools continue to alienate developers? Will the process continue to dumb things down at the expense of empowering the developer? And most importantly will developers lose interest and stick to their more powerful development enviorment alternatives?, think Popfly.
I think the question can be answered in the following way..
The traditional software mashup will itself split into two categories. You will have the developers creating enabling technologies to accommodate a subset of less skillful users to create their own mashups. Software developers will ultimately be the platform creators and the audience will fill the functionality and data gaps in an easy and predictable and personalized manner.
There will still be software mashups, but these will be far more accessible. Developers will enable users to create their own personalized mashups by facilitating them through the MASHAPP.
Can this Mashapp take the traditional software mashups place? I believe so.
This new mashapp will ultimately be used to allow anyone to create the software mashup. I believe re-comtemplating the definition will help us re-asses how we move forward with the semantic web.
This new mashapp will ultimately be used to allow anyone to create the software mashup. I believe re-comtemplating the definition will help us re-asses how we move forward with the semantic web.
THE MIXED UP "MASHUP"
It's my first post on the Ucubd blog and fittingly I'm writing about the MASHup. I think I have my own unique take on the concept because afterall, the word is in the tag phrase of a product I helped launch, "Make Mashups". But what the heck is a mashup? I'm going to go hit up GOOgle in about an hour and search the word to see the most recent trending definitions. In the meantime, I'm going to sit here and think about what I’m probably going to see. Funny as it is, I never really thought about the word itself even though it’s fitting to my everyday.
What first comes to mind is Viral Video, Radiohead, and DJ sets. Generally, what comes to my mind is the thought of something slightly eccentric and mixed up and a bit of snappy fun. If that doesn’t make much sense, know that I’m finding it actually pretty hard to describe, so what does the rest of the internet have to say?
All researched out, and after my reflective break, thankfully I'm finding out that Google is not shy about giving its 15 cents and neither is Wikipedia on the topic.
“In web development, a mashup is a web page or application that uses or combines data or functionality from two or many more external sources to create a new service.”
Hmm… this is true, and even though I make mashups in this context everyday integrating the latest API’s from other products and services across the internet into Ucubd templates. I never really thought that I was making mashups in this sense. A mashup to me is something artistic and visual, auditory and as I mentioned it’s kind of a “I’ll know it when I see it” thing and I just don’t see how web services relate to this entirely.
The next link down in Google refered to another software development based article and the third link was “mashup town” a music based website. This trend is actually really mixed up. Even brilliantly written computerized algorithms cant make sense of what a mashup means. All of the google ads on the right side were links to development like business and enterprise tools, so even in this quintessential aspect I didn’t understand how this related to a music mashup, and the creative flow of mashup town.
In my immaculate research, I found that the Google links happened to be equally split between software development and music , and essentially you can say - in a broader sense, between technology and entertainment.
Isn't it strange to see this equal mishmash of seemingly disconnected terms? Perhaps the word mashup is becoming main stream and not only because of web services and technology and enterprise alone. Lets look at this way.. can the mashup be a kind of entertainment piece and the end result of “making mashups”, using and building upon other work as a whole and not just plugging in Flight track data on top of Google maps?
I think to the greater world what a mashup means is very different.
Hard as it is to believe to us techno-geeks, there are many many many people out there that have no idea what a mashup means in the context of software development but I guarantee you they know about mashups and more so they also think that mashups are somehow innately cool. Many also wish they could produce them at the snap of their fingers and they appreciate what mashups are all about even if they dont fully understand them. What most people do understand about the mashup is that it's something highly personal and highly viral at the same time, its something to sit back and enjoy and its also something to engage with and actively create. The mashup has an inherient dual personality and its potential is both fanciful and practical at the same time.
And really, the fanciful is the reason why mashups are being talked about in the greater mass media and why the word gets flung into the mainstream cultural moment every once in a while too. For example, CNN’s Campbell Brown show contains a prominent “The Mashup” moment in the show. And if you really get down to it and think about what a mashup is essentially is, it is actually an inherent part of creativity, entertainment and ultimately being human. The mashup is certainly at least meant to be fun, and it’s meant to be shared. On Twitter where 8 out of 10 posts about “mashups” are entertainment related, the word is used to promote links to video mashups and interesting music beats. Essentially the mashup is migrated into a visual and auditory language we can all understand.
Now don’t get me wrong, web services are cool, but downright dope as Jay-Z. Perhaps not.
Is this what we can ultimately come to expect from the mashup? Is a mashup this enigmatic internet thing part art and media and part technology and software? Perhaps. It is quite obvious now that we are in this internet mass media convergence era where Hardware is music, music is software, and software is music. Just as there are hundreds of cataloged google map mashups, there are also hundreds of mashed up renditions of keyboard Cat. Everything just seems to be getting mashed up. Maybe truly, the mashup is somewhere in this cross section between the internet, software, and technology and mass media, entertainment and culture.
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