Nick Bradbury

Tell Us How You're Using Glassboard

This strikes me as strangely funny: we want to talk about how people are using Glassboard, but we made it so private that we don't know how people are using it unless they tell us.

That's right, we're so committed to privacy that even we can't see how Glassboard is being used.

So if you've got a story to share about how you're using Glassboard, please drop us a line at stories@glassboard.com. We'd love to feature your story in our blog and elsewhere to let others know the benefits of private group sharing.

What the Upcoming Google Reader Changes Mean for FeedDemon

Yesterday Google announced some big changes to Google Reader which will impact FeedDemon (and every other application that uses the unofficial Google Reader API).

In an effort to better integrate with Google+, Reader is retiring friending, following and shared link blogs. That means the social features in FeedDemon that rely on Google Reader will eventually stop working.

They won't stop working right away, though. Google will continue to support those features in its API even after they disappear from Reader's UI. But at some point (I don't know when yet) they will cease to function, and you'll be unable to share articles in FeedDemon or follow the shared articles of other users.

Before that happens, I'll release a new version of FeedDemon that removes those features. But I won't do that until the new Reader goes live and I have a chance to test against it, which will likely take a few weeks.

I am, of course, disappointed to see those features disappear. I know a lot of FeedDemon customers will miss them, and I'll personally mourn the loss of shared articles since that's something I use every day.

Glassboard for Android: What Else is New?

Yesterday's post showed off the new invitation code feature in the latest beta of Glassboard for Android, but that's not the only thing that's new.

For one thing, the obsession with performance that FeedDemon customers have come to expect from me has finally surfaced in Glassboard - this app is fast, even on low-end Android phones.

And it's fast even when the network connection is lousy. The entire Glassboard team banned themselves from using Wi-Fi during development to make sure our apps worked well regardless of the reliability of the network, and we're very pleased with the results. Quite frankly, we're surprised that more app developers don't do this - we tested a number of high profile apps that became almost unusable in the absence of a fast Wi-Fi connection.

I've also put a lot of effort into improving the experience when viewing a board containing a lot of photos. Pictures load much faster, and you can now fling your way through all the photos shared in the board.

If the new invitation code feature isn't your cup of tea and you prefer to stick with inviting by email, then you'll be pleased to hear that you can now select multiple people when inviting from your contacts. The contact list combines people from your Android contacts with those who belong to boards you're a member of, and it's filterable so you can quickly find the people you're looking for.

Those are the most obvious changes, but there are a ton of tweaks and UI improvements throughout the app. If you're already using Glassboard, I think you'll like this pre-release. And if you're not using Glassboard, please give it a try - I think you'll find the focus on private group sharing a refreshing change from the over-sharing found in so many other social apps.

If you're an Android user who has the ability to install non-market apps, you can try the beta yourself by clicking this link from your phone.

Glassboard for Android: Help Us Test the New Invitation Process

Since the release of Glassboard earlier this year, we've been thrilled to see the many ways people are using it. We've seen teachers use it to privately share notes with their students, families use it to share vacation photos with their extended families, co-workers use it to talk about a project they want to keep secret, and on and on.

It has been very gratifying.

But we've also heard from people who find it too hard to get started. They love the idea of having private boards where they can share with only the people they choose to share with, but it's just too cumbersome to invite people to their boards.

We hear you, and we agree. The current process of inviting people by entering their email address requires far too much typing, and given the unreliability of email it's just too error-prone. So we've added a much easier way to invite people.

Instead of inviting people by email, you can now share an invitation code - on Twitter, Facebook, or anywhere you choose - and anyone who knows the code can request to join your board.

Here's an example: I have a private board for those helping me test Glassboard for Android, and I chose to create an invitation code for this board so that others can ask to join it.

I receive a notification when someone uses this code to request to join my board, and I can approve or deny their request - so I'm still in complete control of who gets to join my board.

If you're an Android user who has the ability to install non-market apps, you can try this yourself by clicking this link from your phone to download and install a beta version of Glassboard for Android. After you've installed it, click "Enter Invitation Code" at the bottom of the board list and use the invitation code ckanq to request to join my "Android Testers" board.

Once you're in, feel free to share your feedback about the Android app - I'd love to hear it.

Note: Glassboard for iPhone with invitation code support is in limited testing, so for now you'll want to only share invitation codes with other Android users. Both apps will be in their respective app stores at the same time once the beta is over, so this is a short-term limitation.

Tiny Apps are Hard

When I started writing mobile apps, I figured, how hard can it be? Apps look dinky on the small screen, so it must be easy to create them.

But holy shit is it hard.

It's hard on Android, on iOS, on WP7. And from what I hear, it's even harder on Blackberry.

It's almost like the MS-DOS days when you had to figure out how to squeeze every last ounce out of the machine to get your stuff to work. Except now you also have to make your app look good.

But you know what? I'm loving the challenge. I've been developing desktop apps for so long that I just assumed I could keep adding feature after feature and option after option without worrying that I'd tax the system.

Now that I'm a mobile developer, I'm finding it strangely wonderful to have to consider things like battery life, reduced screen real estate and limited storage space. I'm forced to make sure that anything I add to my app is important, because if it's not important then it's not worth the trade-offs.

Regardless of whether I stick with mobile development, the lessons I've learned from it are ones I'll apply to everything I create in the future. Keep it simple, keep it uncluttered, and keep it focused. That's how you create great apps for any platform.