Signappnow -- yummy online sign up sheets

I'm no web designer, and I'm not really particular with looks, but there are things online/apps I come across that are just delicious to look at. And, one of these is Signapp.now by Milobjects.

I came across this before, but it never crossed my mind that a Filipino made it (I'm not implying anything, owkei.). Until, I found friends in twitter using it to sign up for tweet-ups.

I cannot help but get awed at how neat the design is. If you have tried web designing, you know that it's not easy on how to come up with what to put, what not to put, what to add, what to remove -- as they would put it, how to not make the viewers click the 'back/exit' button.

Honestly, I don't find (yet) a use of it in my life. I guess the thing that strikes me most with this application is how the developer, Milo Felipe, 'control' the details on the home page, and the rest of the app. See, even the sign-up page looks so well-put.

I'm hoping he can soon answer some of my questions so we can get to know more about how create yummy things. For now, go, get a taste of it here.

A Quick Look at Shopinas -- online store in Philippines

According to Shopinas site, it is created by the Lina Group of Companies, sister company of Air21 and Mail & more. By the look it, it is not a start-up company.

Anyway, this is interesting. For once, it is a nice change from ebay with few ads, and sulit.com.ph with overpopulated ads that you would no longer can distinguish the real item from ads. I love multiply so I can't say bad about it.

I tried it, but I'm kind of turned off with their Registration page. There are too many fields, I'm quite overwhelmed. And, somehow there is no way I can register as just a 'shopper.' So maybe shoppers don't need to register?

But I believe all the requirements are for the protection of the buyers.

It's nice that the buyers are protected. But I'm wondering how a buyer can create an account without having to go through all the fields required for a seller/merchant. Also, with Shopinas, buyers are sort of limited to only use iBayad as a way to pay.

For a short period of time, I was hooked to local 'online' shopping -- getting my fill from ebay.ph but mostly from multiply. I ditch ebay because I did not have a pleasant experience with them -- disappointed with the items, and sellers took days to reply to your winning bid. So I used multiply more but I stopped it because:
* money issues - I'm losing my losing money.
* But it's more of my short attention span. Buying from a local online shop can take a long route, especially on the payment system -- have to go to Globe Center to refill my GCash (I don't like to pre-load it with lots of money because what if my phone gets lost) or go to a bank to deposit or Bayad Center. In between the time I click order and going out to make the payment, the impulsive-buying spirit is lost. While going to a bank to deposit, I might find other more interesting stuff to buy which might result to cancelling the order.

So what I wish for Shopinas is to provide a solution for my short attention span, how to not lost my impulsive-buying spirit. Maybe I just need to tinker more. =)

Aloo.ph -- what breadcrumbs can they be cooking?

When I knew about aloo.ph, I thought, "Wow, they are quite brave to get into a location-based social site." Because I think it will be a challenge to entice people to use location-based social sites. Not because of confidentiality issues, but how to make it very easy for the users to 'check-in.' 

With the '1st version' of aloo.ph, I can only 'check-in' via web. As I said I'm a mobile fan, it kind of a pain that I need to have a computer or laptop with me just to check-in, right? Anyway, I was waiting for their mobile version before I could really use them. So from time to time, I check on it.

When I checked on it recently, I was kind of sad when I saw that they have a "We'll be back shorty..." sign. So I checked with Brian Dimarucot, and happy to know they will be relaunching in September. 

I wonder what to expect from them in their relaunching. This is their latest facebook status:

alooph Breadcrumbs? Breadcrumbs are tips/suggestions left by people in places all around you. A breadcrumb can be a tip that a mall in Ortigas is having a sale or it can be a suggestion that a newly opened resto in Makati is serving the best Chicken Seekh Kebab. Breadcrumbs are location-based, so wherever you are there arealways new things to discover either by simply logging into alooph or through SMS.

I also love that feature of them, it's like tips in foursquare. But I'm really hoping for a way to check-in via mobile, a mobile-version website will be fine with me.

Let's watch out for Aloo.ph. Aloo.ph, surprise us! Tasty breadcrumbs.

Piclyf -- understanding 'the picture community'

I got to know piclyf when it was still twidl.it. I'm not really sure why they changed it to piclyf -- anyhoo, I'll find out about if I could get hold of its busy team behind it. (Here is actually a short explanation.)

You know it took time for me to 'enjoy' this application. It's because I don't know how to fit it in my life. Yes, I build relationship with whatever applications that came into my life. I'm a 'mobile' fan, I took pictures from my phone then share it to either twitpic, posterous, flickr, or send a gallery of pictures to my multiply or picasaweb. (But I beleive they are cooking for mobile apps and also posting via email/mms). So it was a problem for me on how to use piclyf. I mean using it in a way that is like more natural for me.

Then, after some time, I realize that it fits for people who are always on their laptop, or desktop with webcams (but then who does not have one now?). I do am always facing computer but the thing is I don't know how to use webcams. Except for that one time, when a friend of mine asked me to have that video-call. That's my first awareness of webcam fun.

Anyway, I cannot help but associate piclyf to the mac fans. You know how mac users have that photobooth app (photobooth is the name of that picture-thingy apps of mac right?). So I'm thinking the team behind this app are Mac fans?

Of course, piclyf is more than sharing pictures from your webcam. You can share pictures uploaded from your computer, from a website link, and your doodle.

So finally, after some time of tinkering on it, I finally found a place for it in my life -- making the most out of my webcam. 

I'm running a show there called show-off, please friend me there. =) 

Please join the picture community at PICLYF.COM, and enjoy a new way of sharing pictures. or simply find a use of your webcam.

txtexpense (Alpha) - track expenses through SMS

I'm a klutz in budgeting. Well, I'm not really a big fun of budgeting -- I don't want any heart attack please.

But I give txtexpense a try because the person who created it is a friend. And, I'm kind of amazed how he did it singlehandedly while he is a University faculty at the same time, of course with his beautiful girlfriend on the side. =)

After some time, I get the hang of using it. One is it's easy because it's just a text away. So instant and eeny weeny purchases are always tracked. But what I most love about it is that I don't need to see a spreadsheet of my expenses just to list down my expenses. A programmer friend once shared to me his created excel file for tracking expenses but I stopped using it because every time I put down my expenses, all the figures are splashed across my face. It's scary when you see you're already way out of your budget.

With txtexpense, I just keep texting to the application my expenses, then just view them at the end of month or when I am ready to face my bankruptcy.

For those budget OC, this will be a bestfriend to keep. =) Simply sign up for it via web, then keep the gateway number in your phonebook so you can easily text your expenses into your account.

JJ Lumagbas keeps making an emphasis that the application is still in alpha stage so you might experience some bumps and rough patches. But it also means, a lot of features are also coming up. In one of our random conversations, he talked about:

* being able to set a budget, then you will get a text if you are nearing your budget limit -- This I'm really looking forward to.

* being able to inquire about your expense status to help you decide before making a purchase

* making saving/budgeting a social experience -- you can enlist friends/family that can get reminder if you are about to get bankrupt, this way they can nudge you to fix your spending habit. Or, they can praise/like/poke if you are doing well in managing your expenses.

* and others.

For now, you can text or input your expenses via the web.

As the home page says, you can find out where your money goes.

Then, monitor your spending changes. Isn't it cute? It's like our VECO bill.

I'm hoping to catch up with JJ soon, and hear more stories from him about his 'creation.' Pictures below from his Crazy Friday presentation, this was way before its Alpha Launch.

Please do check out TXTPENSE at http://txtpense.codrschool.com. And, also like its facebook page here.

Coder at Work: Frederick Louie Ba-a

(This post was also originally posted from the Wakulu blog, when I was still part of the team.)
Frederick Louie Ba-a

Programmer, Caresharing

(Wakulu.com)

Drixx

Fred started with Caresharing as part of the CodrSchool internship program. After the internship, he continued to work on Wakulu while finishing his bachelor's degree in computer science.

Fred is one of Wakulu's pioneer coders, and the so-called poster boy. He works on the front end of Wakulu (such as Profile page, membership, events/reminders, and goals features, and more to come).

Fred is a Java/ C/ Ruby programmer, a rookie DOTA player, and an aspiring photographer.

Q: First things first, how did you end up being a programmer?
Fred: I never actually planned this ever in my life. I was stuck from choosing what course to take during college, and my only options were Accountancy, Nursing, or Computer Science. The former 2 choices were so mainstream to me, especially that most of my highschool classmates were taking those courses, so I chose to be unique and took CompSci.  That's how it started.
Q: How did you juggle university and your programming work -- not to mention your social life?
Fred: It was difficult but okay. Honestly, I never really thought that programming would be this hard and challenging. Not to mention, I also had to pass minor subjects. I was a dean's lister so I also needed to maintain good grades. It was tiring, but I never complained. I still managed to socialize, hangout with friends and watched movies, and have a girlfriend. That's the essence of being a student, and I embraced it. :)

Q: Being a newbie, do you see yourself programming for a long time?

Fred: Yeah, I guess. I mean I love programming. The cool part of it is I get to learn something new everyday. I'm like a juggernaut when coding. hahaha! I think it's one of those things that keeps me alive everyday. So I guess I can see myself still programming even until 10-20 years from now. :)
Q. What programming language(s) you would choose to master, and why?
Fred: C, Java and Ruby. C because I think it's the most basic and it's the foundation of all programming languages (structured or object-oriented), and the language is still really powerful. Java because it's the only object oriented language that has been used in most desktop and mobile applications (the future of programming). And of course, Ruby (on Rails) because of its consistent approach of building web applications in an out-of-the-box architecture, and its pragmatic convention-over-configuration philosophy that makes coding a lot easier.

Q: Let's now talk about Wakulu. From a developer's point of view, can you please tell us the original idea, and how it evolved to Wakulu?

Fred: It was first named "TwitterForHealth", dedicated to medical coaches (usually retired doctors/psychiatrist/psychologist/etc.) who want to provide coaching online. It was more like Twitter, only that the communication was between a coach and his members, and that the coach can share resources (books, and videos) to his/her members for better interaction. After that, we realized that we can also cater to users not only limited to the medical field, but also to other coaches who want to share their knowledge on other fields (cooking, photography, music, sports, etc.). We then considered a bigger scope for our application, made some revisions and added some features to cater to more coaching program categories. We renamed the app to "Wakulu" which an African term for "group dance", and now an application dedicated to provide tools for on-line coaching.
Q: Can you describe to us how were the early days of Wakulu?
Fred: Wakulu was really simple during its early days. The main group page has a timeline for coach and members messages where they can ask the coach and the coach answers them and a resources feature where the coach can add files or share a Youtube video for his/her members. Since it was only made by newbies of Ruby on Rails (4 of us interns), we focused on these areas because these are also the most important features for coach-to-coachee iteraction. After seeing the potential of the application, it was taken to a higher level, we have then a senior programmer (Mr. Norlan) who joined us and led us in the development and refactoring of the app (he was also my mentor in RoR). At that time then Wakulu was buffed with more features to provide better interaction between users.
Q: What were your struggles back then? And, how did you and the rest of the team cope up?
Fred: Basically the struggle we experienced in the development of the app was when we took for granted the workflow of the app. It was okay to have features added but it made the workflow kind of fuzzy in the long run. And we didn't see that because we didn't have real users back then to comment on our work. When we finally have testers to try out our app, their first comment is the workflow, and basically we missed to emphasize that, when we were busy adding new features and not thinking what it might do to the workflow. So what we did is we halted on adding new features and redefined the workflow to make it very clear to users. I think the app will be totally useless if the users cannot even grasp how to use it.
Q: On the positive side, what are the fun surprises that you get out from developing Wakulu?
Fred: I LEARNED A LOT! I learned many things about Ruby on Rails (RoR), jQuery, Ajax, javascript, css, Twitter and Facebook. I learn something new almost everyday coding this app. I'm still a newbie at RoR but it didn't stop me to be hopeful in developing this app. I am so thankful that I was able to continue doing Wakulu. And now Wakulu still gives me a lot of surprises.
Q: Having Wakulu as somewhat the first software application product you 'seriously' worked on, what is your dream application that you want to develop?
Fred: A mobile application since it's the in thing today (android apps specifically). And I also want to venture into developing more web applications but I'm still brainstorming on what to work on. :)

To know more about the other side of a programmer's life (if there is/are), you can check his Information Overflow blog site.

The other side of a programmer -- drixx

Coder at Work: Norlan Mumar

(Note: This was originally posted in Wakulu blog. I made this post when I was still part of the team.) 
NORLAN MUMAR

Programmer, Caresharing

(Wakulu.com)

Norlan just came back from Singapore when he joined Caresharing. He is one of Caresharing's Programming League Heroes by being the 4th developer in the team. Wakulu's lead programmer who has been in different computing eras -- from the floppy disk to the all-in-the-cloud technology, from Cobol to OOP programming, but when it comes to operating systems, he has always had MAC OS X in the heart.

With his university stint and diverse programming experience, it is natural for him to get Wakulu Coaching application to the next level. He is the all-in-1 guy in the team -- from the user interface to the information architecture to the system design.
On his free time (if there is free), he slays dragon and monsters in DOTA, and builds beautiful mobile applications for iPhone.

Q: Can you take us back to that point in your life when you decided to be a programmer?

Norlan: I never dreamed of becoming a programmer. Back then I always wanted to become a computer engineer (more on hardware), but a relative of mine told me that getting a computer engineering course is a bit expensive. So I opted enrolling in computer science since it's the only course that's affordable and at the same time more or less related with computer engineering.

Q: What about programming do you enjoy?

Norlan: Problem solving and the satisfaction you get when you manage to solve a problem simply.

Q: Now on Wakulu, you came in at the later part of the product development. Did it make your job easier, or not any better?

Norlan: I already had a good idea of what the interns were developing around that time, and they were using Rails for the app which I already have a lot of experience with, so joining in the product development was a bit easier for me.

Q: What exactly is your role in Wakulu?  Are there unexpected roles you need to do in Wakulu (designing, business model/plan, etc)?

Norlan: Code janitor :-). Yep, leading a team.

Q: Which part of the role was a struggle for you at the start?

Norlan: Managing a team, until now I'm still struggling.

Q: What's your typical day working on Wakulu?

Norlan:

50% Designing

30% Coding

19% Planning

1%   Dota (and answering this question ;-))

Q: What was the hardest decision you made for Wakulu?
Norlan: Rewriting Wakulu from scratch -- it wouldn't be hard if I'm  the only one writing the code but if other people are involved you might hurt somebody's feelings in the process :).

Q: Having been a long time programmer, was coming up with the system design for the product easier? What are the new things you have to implement in Wakulu?

Norlan: I think experience really helps when you design new product, but I can't say it's easier because each product has it's own set of requirements and it's own challenges. There might be some areas that they tend to be similar with an existing product that you are working but most of the time they are different. There's nothing new with what I implement in Wakulu, and the part wherein a coach can collaborate with a member to achieve a goal, is similar to what we did in Hotchalk (I was a freelancer before I joined Caresharing), if you substitute coach -> teacher and member -> student the idea is quite similar.

Q: Can you point to a particular past programming or non-programming experience that helps you in creating Wakulu?

Norlan: I think the experience I gained working in Rameses helped a lot. Back then our head programmer always reminded us that if we ever create an app, make sure that it is beautiful in the inside (code) as it is on the outside (UI). This is one of the reasons why I opted to stop working with the existing Wakulu code and rethought the app. It did not pass the "Rameses" way of creating apps. I do hope the next version will.

Q: If writers have writer's block, do programmers also have coder's block? How do you deal with coder's block?

Norlan: Yep, programmers do have coder's block, it will start to happen when you are working on a project for months without shipping it. What I normally do is relax and look for inspiration. It might come from a very good UI design or a clever algo implementation. I always admire the guys at madebysofa, culturedcode and panic. Just by visiting their site actually motivates me to start coding inorder to reach their "level". So far, it's very effective.

Q: In developing a product -- from scratch to shipping, what is the easiest part? the hardest part?

Norlan: Easiest - starting the project. Hardest - actually shipping it.

Q: How do you decide that it is the right or not the right time to ship out the product?

Norlan: When my wife can actually use it without asking me for help.

Q: Any surprising moments, at the top of your head, that you had with Wakulu?

Norlan: That there are people actually interested in the product :-)

Q: Given your experience with Wakulu, if you are to advise people who want to develop their own product from scratch, what would your advices be?

Norlan:

• A solid idea that you and your team believe in. It's important to be on the same page.
• Everything is temporary until you actually ship the product and people started using your app.
• Don't be afraid to throw away your code if you are not happy with the outcome. It's not a waste of effort, the experience you gain from it is valuable on your next design.
• Build the bare minimum of the app. You still don't know if your app is worth using so why implement all the features?
• Test early.
• Have fun.

For more non-programming tidbits of a programmer, you can check Norlan's blog site. What makes him smile...

Techboba's Mission/Vision/BS-ion

I'm really a big fan of Jessica Livingston's book, Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days. Ever since I read that, I've been wanting to put a blog or something that features Philippine tech start-ups but I never came to start on it.

So hopefully this post is the start.

Why? I want us to be more of not only 'nation' of consumers, but also of creators. There are a few great local tech blogs but most of the time, they talk about what latest gadgets to buy. It's rare you can get stories from the few local tech people who are really creating applications/services, developing products. The more we can hear about them, hopefully, it will encourage us to be also 'creators.'

Patriotic as it may sound, but it's my way of showing support to Philippines. We need start-ups to succeed because they can provide jobs and such. But I believe they need our support, just like Pacquiao. So I hope we can support them like how we rally for Pacquiao.

Also, having an alive start-up environment, it provides us, my kids and yours, another option on how to make a living. So actually, it is self-serving. I want that when my kids grow-up, they can build their own or work for one. =)

To support them, we really do not need to be techy. We just need to be us, the typical 'dumb' users who are most of the time clueless as to how use applications, be it web/mobile or whatnot. As much as they need beautiful feedback, they also need hate feedbacks. It's one way for them to know how to improve their product. Or, a way to inform them that maybe their product is just not what people really need so they better take it down, and start another thing, wight?

Here are some local tech stuff I wanted to start on:

* txtpense.codrschool.com -- he's a friend
* weedly.com -- another friend
* piclyf.com -- twitter friend =)
* aloo.ph -- found it randomly on the net
* signappnow.com -- found about it from twitter people using it
* istorya.net -- a Cebu-based social network
* kuyimobile.com -- because mati likes the jumpbot
* CHITS -- I want to make this work, one day soon.

and many more. So I hope I can stick to this, and will not be just another ploy to feed the ADD-ness in me.

And, hopefully, I can also add some humor to the seriousness in tech.