Killer API

Oracle Responsys PushIO is the WORST Push SDK

2017-07-27T20:41:00.002-07:00

I have covered many SDKs on Push, and none is as bad as Oracle's.

I'm sure PushIO was a pretty good product, run by a few entrepreneurs, until they were acquired by Oracle.

Oracle turned PushIO into an enterprise product, and it became the worst thing ever.

How bad?

No sample code
Confusing UI/UX
Enterprise level support, meaning clueless support (they know nuts about a developer tool)
Enterprise level documentation, meaning very poor

If you are reading this post, learn these 2 things:

1. Don't use Oracle's Responsys's PushIO
2. Don't turn your product into "enterprise product"

Polljoy - customer feedback sdk

2014-10-17T20:55:00.000-07:00

Polljoy is another customer feedback for mobile.

I have covered others such as Helpshift, Neemware and Apptentive.

They look pretty simple to use.

You can try it out for free with 1000 responses/month.

The Dirty Secret Behind Salesforce $1M Hackathon

2014-07-12T20:40:00.001-07:00

Read The Dirty Secret Behind Salesforce $1M Hackathon by Alicia Liu.

I am not surprised if an enterprise player like Salesforce resort to such.

Parse New Pricing (2014) is so much cheaper

2014-05-01T03:54:00.000-07:00

OMG. Parse is already my favourite BaaS, now it is even more.

Parse announced a new pricing - cheaper and simpler.

They used to have 1 million free push messages in a month. Now, it is 1 million unique devices!

That means if you send lots of push, but have less than 1 million active users a month, then you don't have to pay a dime!

Integrate Google Authenticator for your own website

2014-02-25T00:27:00.003-08:00

If you have not activated Google Authenticator, you very well should.

Not only can the 2FA be used for Google services, it can also be used for third party websites.

You might have seen it being used in Wordpress or Evernote.

It is actually pretty simple. Try out a demo of how it works from dendory.net. The demo site uses ga4php. Better code using Python. Or use Node lib.

Read about the API on the URI key.

Ultimate Guide to Understanding SMS API

2014-01-23T19:33:00.000-08:00

There are many SMS API available, and they all seems to do the same thing.

Tell me the number and message to send, and I will send to the phone.

A simple I/O operation it seems, but the truth is not.

Nexmo provided a guide to SMS deliverability. An excellent guide for new API users.

I also learnt a few new things.

If you know the MCC/MNC your recipient is on (you can if you have a mobile app), then you can use Nexmo API with "network-code". This will avoid number portability problem.
REST can scale as well as SMPP
Refer to their country specific guide

AWS now has mobile push notifications API

2013-09-11T19:18:00.001-07:00

You can now send push notifications (Apple APNS or Google GCM) via AWS!

This feature comes under SNS (Simple Notification Service), which includes sending to email and SMS too.

The pricing is amazingly cheap too. Mobile push notifications will cost $1 or less for 1 million pushes! As a comparison, Parse charges $70 per 1 million pushes.

After 4 years, iOS developers can now interact with WhatsApp via URL Schema

2013-07-17T00:47:00.001-07:00

In their latest release, WhatsApp has introduced their app URL schema.

For example, the following URL will open WhatsApp from your app, with the message and user prefilled.

whatsapp://send?text=Hello%2C%20World!&abid=1234

At the same time, the app has changed from fixed paid app to auto-renewable subscription. So they earn $0.99 every year!

Interestingly, didn't Apple say auto-renewable subscription is only for apps that has new content?

Live Chat for mobile - from Apptentive

2013-07-04T20:56:00.001-07:00

Apptentive started with providing in-app feedbacks and surveys.

Today, they have a "revolution".

They have announced Message Center, kind of like live chat, but for mobile.

Apigee Push Notifications

2013-07-01T20:13:00.002-07:00

Push is one of the hottest API around and we have covered a few.

Now, even Apigee is into the game.

They are providing 10M free push per month, which is 10 times of what competitors such as Parse offer!

They also running a contest now, and will provide you additional 10M free push for next 12 months, if you integrate and send out 1 test push.

Google Analytics now has A/B Testing!

2013-06-05T00:06:00.003-07:00

Yesterday we posted about Google introducing BaaS for mobile developers.

Today, there is another new stuff from their labs: A/B Testing, and integrated into Google Analytics!

This feature is known as "Experiments". You can refer to the developer documentation.

It looks awfully for developers only. If you are not a developer, perhaps Optimizely is better for you.

Google also jumped onto the BaaS bandwagon

2013-06-04T01:43:00.000-07:00

Google has launched their own Backend-as-a-Service, like Parse (now belongs to Facebook) and Helios (Heroku).

They called it the Mobile Backend Starter.

As the creator of Android, it is no surprise they created a much needed service for mobile developers.

The question now: Would Apple be jumping onto the bandwagon?

We will find out in WWDC 2013.

Ninja Blocks - Build apps that talk to your hardwares

2013-05-27T05:59:00.002-07:00

Ninja Blocks started off as a kickstarter project.

It's now shipping, and looks cool!

If you are a geek who wants to build something for home automation, this would be really helpful.

In their own words:

The free Ninja Blocks platform makes it trivial to build web & mobile apps that talk to hardware. Get up and running in minutes, and begin talking to hardware & connected devices with the web languages you already know. Focus 100% on your app, and never have to worry about embedded programming, electronics, & networking protocols again.

Who Goes To Hackathon? [Infographic]

2013-05-16T07:52:00.001-07:00

Who Goes to Hackathons? infographic

Kii - another BaaS - with a App Challenge with $49,800 worth of prizes

2013-05-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

Kii is another Backend-as-a-Service for mobile developers, like Parse.

I find no pricing for the service from the Japanese company, yet.

Their coming Apps Challenge could be attractive for developers, with 4 prizes, worth total $49,800!

The Farking JavaScript for your website

2013-05-09T22:05:00.000-07:00

The Onion created this awesome fartscroll.js.

It's best to take a look at a demo from HuffingtonPost, making celebrities fart.

You will be glad to read the farking source code on github.

It's a killer API.

Wistia - Add Video to your Website

2013-05-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

We all know the best way to explain a product is to use a video.

You won't go wrong shooting a video and putting it up on your homepage.

Traditionally, you would embed a YouTube video. However, Youtube is not the best option. It has advertisement, and it don't embed nicely (no customization). The only good thing is that it is free.

Meet Wistia.

It boasted features such as support for both HTML5 and flash, customization, call to actions with email marketing, and video heatmaps!

It is a paid product, but has a free plan with 5 GB bandwidth per month.

PushBots - Another Push Notification Service

2013-05-01T19:29:00.001-07:00

I have covered similar services such as Parse (my favorite), and Urban Airship.

There is now yet another Push Notification Service, from PushBots.

They are still in beta.

Twilio is in Japan

2013-04-17T00:41:00.002-07:00

Twilio is entering the Japan market, with KDDI partnership!

The TechCrunch article rightfully pointed out why this is a huge win for Twilio.

Quoting how other carriers embarking on API failed:

WAC — a “unified open platform” that was being built as a joint effort between AT&T, Verizon, China Mobile, Sprint, and others — imploded before it even left the gate. Orange quietly killed off all of their API efforts last month, and mentions of things like Telefonica’s BlueVia seem to come up once every never.

Developers, it would seem, just don’t care to work with carriers when they can avoid it.

Google Glass/Mirror API

2013-04-15T21:31:00.000-07:00

You can find the documentation here: https://developers.google.com/glass/

One day, we will be building glasswares, not apps.

Helios - Mobile Backend as a Service - by Heroku

2013-04-03T02:18:00.002-07:00

Newly out of Heroku's owen. Meet Helios.io

Like Parse, Helios helps iOS developers build server-client app easily, without needing to write server side code, design API etc.

What makes helios stands out is that it is free, opensource, and can run on Heroku easily.

Get started now! It's definitely amazing gift for iOS developers.

The 5 laws of API dates and times

2013-03-22T09:30:00.000-07:00

Repost from APIUX.com: http://apiux.com/2013/03/20/5-laws-api-dates-and-times/

In short:

Law #1: Use ISO-8601 for your dates
Law #2: Accept any timezone
Law #3: Store it in UTC
Law #4: Return it in UTC
Law #5: Don’t use time if you don’t need it

NoSQL Style (Gangnam Style Parody for Geeks)

2013-03-22T06:52:00.003-07:00

lol

Should developers pay to join a hackathon?

2013-03-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

I recently pondered this question..

There have been many times where I have seen hackathons that require developers to pay to join. As much as $50.

I understood that organizing a hackathon is not easy. It requires a lot of logistics, and not to forget the very important element - FOOD.

But many of the hackathons are sponsored by big companies such as Google/Amazon/Blackberry. So the costs are covered.

Then why still ask for $$?

PS: I understood some community hackathons have no sponsors, and it is perfectly fine that developers chip in money to buy a couple of pizzas.

Apptentive - In-app survey for mobile

2013-03-21T01:01:00.002-07:00

In a previous post, I mentioned Neemware as a mobile SDK for customer feedbacks.

I tried Neemware and it is useful, especially for conducting surveys.

There is another similar service - Apptentive.

Apptentive looks equally good. I have not tried, and would be happy to hear your comments!