Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 10:06 am Central
GameTrailers.com RSS and the RSS Feed: Part 2 [Boxee]
Previously, I discussed how the GameTrailers.com RSS feeds can are manipulated to output just about any kind of media from the GameTrailers.com web site for use in your Boxee application. Pulling in the feed into your Boxee app is just one thing as the feed itself is also just as powerful with gobs of juicy information just waiting to be displayed in your app.
Monday, July 26, 2010 at 11:19 am Central
GameTrailers.com RSS and the RSS Feed: Part 1 [Boxee]
The heart and soul of GameTrailers.com RSS is its RSS Feed (hence the "RSS" in the app's title). And that RSS Feed is much easier to manipulate than one may think.
GameTrailers.com allows for the creation of custom RSS Feeds using their Custom RSS Form. Here, you can look for a specific game or show, select specific platforms, video formats, video quality, and more.
After selecting all the options, you have a feed address that looks like this:
Let's break this feed down to what's going on exactly.
Sunday, July 25, 2010 at 8:01 pm Central
Discontinued: ABC News and GameTrailers.com RSS [Boxee]
Update: The source for current and future versions of ABC News and GameTrailers.com RSS are now available on the Boxee section of this web site.
Due to some personal issues, I regret to say that the two Boxee applications I have created, ABC News and GameTrailers.com RSS, will be discontinued in the near future.
Although I am discontinuing these applications, I will be posting information about these projects on this web site to help others get started on either continuing the project or creating a new application of their own. If anyone has any questions about the projects, feel free to contact me and ask away. I'm more than happy to provide any information what little bit I learned making a Boxee application. Trust me. It's not much. ;)
I still love Boxee and can't wait to see where it goes in the future. And thanks to everyone in the past that has complimented and gave suggestions to the apps. I really appreciate it.
Monday, July 12, 2010 at 9:22 am Central
Mockup: Idea for a Posterous for Android app [Android]
The first one that I'd let out into the world is one related to this blog: Posterous for Android.
I don't hide it. I love Posterous. It is by far the simplest blogging platform on the Internet today. All you do is send an email to Posterous and *boom*: blog post. It's really that simple. As I tell people, if you know how to send email, then you know how to use Posterous.
When we're out and about, one thing people like to do is share either video or photos with their friends right then and there. Unfortunately, on a mobile platform, sending email to share this media can be quite cumbersome. This is just one reason specific apps are made for specific tasks. I believe Posterous can do the same.
And the best part? It can be made just as simple as Posterous is on the desktop.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 12:25 pm Central
Status: GameTrailers.com RSS 0.2 Still In The Works [Boxee]
Oops.That pretty much sums up the status of the next version of GameTrailers.com RSS.
When testing new versions of Boxee apps, I make it a point to do so locally and not save anything to live servers. So, I enable the <test-app> tag in my Boxee apps and store them directly in the apps folder of Boxee's Application Support folder. It's quick and easy and does what I need.
While installing the latest version of the Boxee Beta, I felt I needed to do a clean install since it's been a while since I've done so. This meant removing any and all Boxee files, folders, and support files. You might see where this is going.
Needless to say, I lost all my work on the previous next release of GameTrailers.com RSS. But don't worry. I was able to quickly whip up a basic layout again for the next version of the app.
Unfortunately, the hardest parts are still to come. As always, I welcome any suggestions, comments, and ideas to help make this a better app. I'll do what I can with my limited programming skills.
Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 2:00 am Central
ABC News - Local, National, and World News from ABC News and ABC O&O Stations (formally ABC News Local) [Boxee]
Project Type: Boxee Application
Version: 0.2
Release: February 2010
Updated: March 2010
An application for media center software Boxee for viewing news video on demand from ABC News and ABC Owned and Operated stations.
Planned Features
- Display Time and Current Weather Condition (like Boxee home screen)
- Focus on Locals
- Live Video
- Auto-detect Location
Change Log
0.2 - 2010 Mar 10 - Added national news from ABC News, renamed app to ABC News, redesigned layout
0.1 - 2010 Feb 03 - Initial Release
Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 1:50 am Central
Release: ABC News 0.2 - Local, National, and World News from ABC News and ABC O&O Stations (formerly ABC News Local) [Boxee]
ABC News Local is beginning its transition to ABC News with the major/minor 0.2 release of the Boxee application.
ABC News provides the top stories from local ABC Owned and Operated stations, just like before, but now also offers top stories from ABC News. This release also provides a new design and layout. This new design will allow for the planned feature of being able to narrow down news to specific categories.
If you are currently using the ABC News Local application, you should be upgraded automatically. It is HIGHLY recommend you stop using that app and switch to the new ABC News app instead (located in the InternalServer.net repository).
As always, I welcome any comments, thoughts, or suggestions that you feel will make this app better.
Video Preview
Friday, March 5, 2010 at 9:22 pm Central
Development: ABC News Local is now ABC News [Boxee]
As I mentioned in a previous post, a new version of ABC News Local was in the works. So much work has occurred, I feel the app will qualify for a major version number upgrade. But that's not the only upgrade happening.
ABC News Local is now ABC News (Mockup Design)
ABC News Local is becoming ABC News. Not only will you still be able to get the top stories from ABC owned and operated stations, but you will also be able to get national news directly from ABC News. Also, as noted in the previous post, you will also be able to narrow down local (and now national) news to specific sections.
The only thing that will not be available still is the streaming of live video. I really want to get to that, but for the time being, it will have to wait. All of this is a major change in itself.
I am still trying to get the hang of a lot of the new programming items I'm having to do as this project has become pretty massive now, so please bare with me. I already have the city navigation work (thanks to the grouplist control), but still a lot to do as each individual feed has to be manually added since Group Lists don't quite work with feeding RSS feeds to it.
I'm very proud of this work so far and really look forward to releasing this in the future. As always, if anyone has any ideas, suggestions, advice, or programming tips, feel free to send that info this way!
Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 6:21 pm Central
Commenting Open to All
For some reason, commenting on the site was only allowed if you were logged into Posterous. I guess I forgot to make the necessary setting change, but you can no comment on posts without logging into Posterous.Of course, if you DO have a Posterous account or a Twitter account, you can still log into those services to share your comment to the world. Facebook commenting is in the works.
Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 5:21 pm Central
Development: New Version of ABC News Local in the works [Boxee]
Just wanted to let the Boxee community know I've finally got a little more inspiration as to how the next version of ABC News Local will work. The picture above is the latest mockup design of what it will look like.
As you can see in the picture above, ABC News Local is going to take a bigger focus on the locals, breaking down each available city into additional sections (which vary from city to city).
I am still fighting with myself how to layout the video: one long list like the current version, a video carousel like Windows Media Center, or another layout not even considered yet. (This is why there is a lot of whitespace in the video list at the bottom.)
Also, I would like to incorporate Live Video, but this requires using the Mozilla Browser in Boxee to access the Flash video and full screen it. I have not learned how to use this technique yet and am still combing the forums and developers guide for answers. If anyone has information on this, I would appreciate hearing from ya!
Anything else you want to see ABC News Local? Just let me know here on the forum so I can add it to the list!
This release is still a little bit away as I need to focus (still) on getting a job. Boxee development doesn't pay. (Maybe I COULD put a PayPal donate link on the repository site.)
