Being at a conference always makes you want to design or code. Its just something about the environment and WordCamp was no different. Out of a need to want to code something came wcdfwFeed. Basically we did a small site that aggregated all the tweets and flickr images with the #wcdfw09 hashtag. Within an hour Blaine Bowers knocked out the design, I bought the domain and along with John Hoover coded the wcdfw09 twitter stream and had it online. Later I was able to add the flickr feed as well. So much more could have been done with the site to be a better aggregator but it was a fun little project that took very little time while at WordCamp. This should be the first of many projects to come from us, if we ever get around to it.

As I’m attempting to attend more conferences this year, I plan to attend the CodeWorks 2009 Conference in Dallas, Texas on September 27.

I’m working on v1.5 right now which includes adding profile pictures, the advanced search options and formating the date. I’m not sure if this release will have support for multiple widgets/template tags or not but its on my list next as its been requested a few times. Feel free to leave a comment with suggestions or if you’ve found a bug.

Drive To Work from James Fleeting on Vimeo.

Dropping my son off at school and heading to work.

The Now

I released the first version over the weekend and an update shortly after. It currently works as a widget or a template code to allow you to use it anywhere. The options page lets you set what keywords to search twitter for as well as how many tweets are shown. You are also able to specify a username to limit the search to. I’m not sure how handy the username is right now but its there for a future feature (read below). The plugin displays an unordered list of the tweets returned leaving you to style however you wish. This plugin came about from a project that I needed it for so it may not be what your looking for.

The Future

The first feature I would like to add is the ability to tie it into your posts via The Loop. Basically you would add the template tag to your post loop and it would do a search for tweets you have made that include the tags you set for that post automatically. So, for example if you have a blog post about SXSW with the tags ‘austin sxsw’, it would do a twitter search with your username for those two tags and return any tweets you’ve made that match those. Kinda like a ‘tweets related to this post’ feature.

Another item on my to do list is to let you exclude tweets. For example being able to exclude @replies or ReTweets or tweets that were automatically posted (for example via twitterfeed, facebook, etc). I would also like to add the ability to let you include several search feeds in your template (if that would be useful to anybody). You would specify the options in the template tag or in the widget itself instead of an options page in that case.

Problems?

If your having problems with WP-TwitterSearch or would like to suggest a feature then you can either leave a comment here, email me on the contact page or post on the WordPress.org forums as I’m always hanging around there. You can also comment just to let me know how useless this plugin is or in the rare case that its what you were looking for.

This design was one of about six layouts I did and although I like this one enough to put it up, it isn’t complete. I figured if I waited until I thought it was perfect I would never get it launched. Instead this will be a ‘phases’ project. I already have some changes in mind for the home page and designs page.

Not all posts have images attached yet (and I’m only going to go back so far) so don’t mind a few broken images here and there, I’m still uploading them. Things to look forward to? I just released my first wordpress plugin and next up is a wordpress theme. Will actually be using one of the designs I did for here but never used. Perfect chance to finally get one released. Expect more posts and more videos as well.

Let the blogging and videos resume.

I have been so amazed by it. It really is a beauty. I’ve spent the weekend playing with it and getting it setup. I couldn’t have made a better choice with my first laptop then this one. I have a few things to get used to with using a laptop but I’m looking forward to it. Flickr Set

The one downside to the iPhone for me was the keyboard. I really wanted a keyboard and not just an on-screen one. For me personally it is a better choice. I also love thinking about what the future holds for the Android Market and the OS itself with future updates in 2009. I only wish Google would be a little more open with its road map.

A key selling point for me was how tied in it is to Google Apps. Google is everything to me. I use Gmail for my personal emails along with Google For Your Domain for several domains. I use Google Calendar, Reader, Contacts, Docs, etc. Since this phone is made to sync perfectly with Google Apps it has been nice. The battery life hasn’t been great on it but it isn’t the worse. Of course I’ve been playing with it non-stop so that plays a lot in the battery right now.

Overall I am really happy with my purchase of the T-Mobile G1 and look forward to using it for awhile. Of course my iPhone friends (of which there are many) won’t let me forget that I didn’t get an iPhone.

Life has been real busy and will only get worse as the holidays get closer. We will be traveling to Kansas for 5 or 6 days next week to spend Thanksgiving with some of Melissa’s family. We haven’t been up there in awhile so figured this was the perfect chance.

As the title suggests, I plan to move this blog to a new domain within the next week or so. Mostly will depend on getting a redesign finished. I will be keeping this domain but it will be a ‘playground’ or portfolio of my work and apps. The new domain will be for blogging, of which I hope to do more of. I am going to try to focus more on development/design related blog posts. I have lots of things coming up so it should be easy. A few of us from DigiMedia have started a North Texas Ruby Users Group and plan to meet the first Thursday of each month with our first meeting next month. I plan to attend more of the Dallas and Oklahoma City Ruby meetings as well. I just figured it was time for a change and a new domain will help (I hope).

A quick video of around my home office at the new house. Gives me a nice view (even better when it is raining or really cloudy, looks nice). Will get pics of it after I finish getting the room setup.

On a side note; how about them new MacBook Pros? Loving the new look. As you know I’m planning to get a 15″ (not sure if I want the 17″) before SXSW next year (sometime in January actually) and the new look is sweet. I want one now. But who knows what minor things will come at MacWorld either.