The Inquisitr » laconi.ca

Seesmic Update: Nokia client, Twhirl update with Laconi.ca support

Duncan Riley — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 06:04:12 +0000

Two news stories on the Seesmic front this week that we’re late in covering: Seesmic on Nokia phones, and a Twhirl update.

Seesmic is now available on Nokia N95 phones, the first time Seesmic has offered a cell phone client. With the client, Seesmic users are able to record and watch videos directly on their phones. Users can also use the client to reply to their friend’s videos and build a threaded conversation. To download, visit m.seesmic.com. Details also in the video above.

In a positive response to a challenge I laid down in July, Twhirl now supports any install of Laconi.ca, the open source client behind Identi.ca. The first user was Leo Laporte for his TWiT Army. It’s a logical an easy add on for Twhirl that will help encourage development on the Laconi.ca code base, and a big thumbs up to Loic and Seesmic team for doing it.

Seesmic

Laconi.ca list of installs plus desktop developer challenge

Duncan Riley — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 06:50:47 +0000

Indenti.ca continues to grow from strength to strength, as we’ve reported a number of times this week. A lot of this early success, 21 days post launch, is due to the community effort around the open source Laconi.ca code base that powers Indenti.ca. It allows others to run their own, compatible version of Identi.ca, and although the usability behind switching from one install to the next isn’t fully there yet (well, at least easily), you can sign up today to any install and follow people on any other installation.

Here’s the one thing though: all the desktop apps that are now supporting Identi.ca (with the exception on Spaz),are supporting Identi.ca alone, and not the other Laconi.ca installs. Before it’s even suggested, I get the ease of use argument. However, considering the only difference between one install of Laconi.ca and another is the url to the API (and presuming the API is on the installs), it shouldn’t be that hard to allow users to add the URL of their preferred Laconi.ca install as an option in the client. It’s important that the openness that has helped drive Identi.ca/ Laconi.ca to date be embraced by app developers as well, so that we encourage multiple installs, and by association further community development of the code base.

If you have an application that is offering Identi.ca support, please consider offering support to other installations of Laconi.ca, and know that by doing so, you’re helping encourage the development of the first true, open source, distributed Twitter client.

On the Laconi.ca installation front, here’s the latest list of sites currently running Laconi.ca. I vouch for the reliability of none of them, but if you’re interested in trying a different Laconi.ca driven site, this is a great starting point.

Identi.ca/ Laconi.ca moving at the speed of light

Duncan Riley — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:05:37 +0000

Proving the advantages of offering a microblogging platform open source, Laconi.ca, the script behind Identi.ca is now offering a Twitter compatible API, days after offering its first API, and exactly 15 days after launching.

Dave Winer writes:

Being compatible with Twitter is the developer-friendly thing to do, it means we will only have one code base to maintain. It’s good for users, because they have choice, they can use either Twitter or identi.ca, and not have to make a choice on tools. It’s good for identi.ca because they instantly get a base of apps that work with their service.

I’ve done a scan for Identi.ca apps and I can’t find any yet, but if you are aware of any, leave a comment. Expect new Identi.ca apps, ranging from web tools through to desktop clients, in the coming days, as Identi.ca development moves nearly at the speed of light.

Identi.ca

Identi.ca/ Laconi.ca gets its first API

Duncan Riley — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:47:05 +0000

The team behind the open source Twitter alternative Laconi.ca, the code behind the Identi.ca microblogging service, has released the codes first API.

The new API is described by the Laconi.ca dev team as Version 0 and not a “real API”, but a way to read and write to Identi.ca programmatically. The API 0 also has a time limit, where they only promise it will be available until “atleast September 30, 2008.”

By their own account, the new API appears to be a stop gap measure until a fully blown API becomes available, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.

Full details on the API here, and there already appears to be some basic tools built using it.

See our previous Identi.ca/ Laconi.ca coverage here and here.

Identi.ca

Identi.ca gets replies tab, clones already appearing

Duncan Riley — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:04:14 +0000

Open source microblogging platform Identi.ca, which launched 5 days ago to a big splash, is already evolving with the addition of a replies tab.

The basic feature allows users to see who has responded to them on Identi.ca, bring the service one step closer to Twitter…well, while Twitter has replies working today anyway. Some reports have Identi.ca passing the 10,000 user mark over the weekend, a decent start for a brand new service.

On the Laconi.ca front, the code behind Identi.ca that also supports the OpenMicroBlogging platform, a number of Identi.ca compatible clones have already popped up. There doesn’t seem to be any serious competitors yet with most sites appearing experimental (and in my practice, not always working perfectly), but 5 days in, it’s a start. Some sites to check out

The procedure to subscribe from one service to another seems to be working, although the process is rather cumbersome and we are still a long while off being able to swap services at easily. To subscribe to a user on another install, visit their page, click subscribe, then in the secondary box add your personal URL from the service you use (for example: http://identi.ca/duncanriley). Then the rest should follow.

(in part via Dave Winer on FF, also hat tip to Michael C Harris on the Laconi.ca cross posting here)