texburgher's dashboard

texburgher replied on May 24, 2008 12:38 to the problem "Verizon support?" in Brightkite:

Great first step for Verizon. So many to go though.

If there's a Verizon rep reading this, you ought to figure out how to get some metrics on how many erstwhile loyal VZW customers will have switched to AT&T within 2 years of the June '07 release date of the iPhone. And realize it's not specifically about iPhone. It's about VZW's 1999 walled-garden stance in the market.

texburgher marked one of Lesley's replies in Brightkite as useful. Lesley replied to the problem "Verizon support?".

texburgher replied on May 20, 2008 19:32 to the problem "Verizon support?" in Brightkite:

I'd like to suggest - and I'm doing it myself - that Verizon users call Verizon Wireless Customer Service and give them some real pushback on their pervasive impediments to their customers using otherwise open services. If they only hear from Martin and company, they're only hearing one side of the coin. I've had Verizon problems with twitter and @messages, with Flickr and video as well. It's time for them to be called onto the mat.

texburgher replied on May 16, 2008 00:49 to the problem "Brightkite checking in develops AI, goes rogue." in Brightkite:

Finally, page 5 lists the first strange checkin at work. If I manually go to page 6, all checkins appear normal again from that point back.

texburgher replied on May 16, 2008 00:48 to the problem "Brightkite checking in develops AI, goes rogue." in Brightkite:

Interesting addition:
In my "Me & My Friends" stream, I can only navigate to page 4, at which point it appears my stream has reached an end. If I change the page variable in the get (to 5), I get a page 5, but there's very little info there. It's an oddball. If I change it to 6, I get a regular page again - complete with the functioning pagination controls and an accurate page count.

texburgher reported a problem in Brightkite on May 16, 2008 00:36:

Brightkite checking in develops AI, goes rogue.

This evening at around 6:15 PM EDT (or slightly earlier), I started getting repeated email-to-my-phone confirmation messages that I had checked in at work. This, despite the fact that I hadn't done any such thing. In fact, I LEFT work at 5:00 and checked in elsewhere at 5:30 PM. As of about 8:00 PM EDT, it APPEARS to have let up, and finally checked me in at the most recent location at which I actually did check in.

This was really annoying, the first experience I've had with Brightkite that made me second guess its viability. Each of those 15-20 messages BK sent me cost me money to receive, and all were errant.

I'd really like to know what caused this and if its recurrence is preventable.

A comment on the idea "Can I comment on peoples pictures and posts?" in Brightkite:

Looking forward to it. Thanks for reply. :) – texburgher, on May 09, 2008 18:43

texburgher replied on May 02, 2008 20:56 to the problem "Verizon support?" in Brightkite:

Yep!
Though it's not documented, it works.

texburgher replied on May 02, 2008 20:24 to the question "You Are here iPhone check in?" in Brightkite:

Yes. Good. So important.

texburgher replied on May 02, 2008 20:18 to the idea "Automatic Check-ins == You Win" in Brightkite:

This is - of course - the ultimate idea. Enough defeatism about how hard it is to do, how many problems there will be along the way, all the concerns, etc. Of course there will be issues, obstacles, concerns. User opt-in, automatic/simple location-updating is quite simply inevitable. Too many of us are working on it. The question is: Who MOST WANTS IT to happen? That list may not be as long as the nay-sayers list, but it's the one I'm signed up for. I can't imagine that's not where the folks at Brightkite don't want to be as well.

Great Idea, Josh Lewis.

A comment on the idea "Automatic Check-ins == You Win" in Brightkite:

Nothing's perfectly accurate. I'm CONSTANTLY having to delete and re-enter my checkins. Not a good reason not to implement. Forget about the coolness of a perfection you cannot attain, and go for the best you can get. "Perfect is the enemy of good." – texburgher, on May 02, 2008 20:11

texburgher shared an idea in Brightkite on May 02, 2008 20:04:

Can I comment on peoples pictures and posts?

So, to an extent Brightkite = pownce+location. The fun part about Pownce (though it is NOT perfectly implemented) is posting and commenting - pics, videos, links, etc.

Without suggesting that ya'll ought to go whole hog in that direction, I do think it is key to allow commenting/conversing to some extent.

In a general sense, user-to-user messaging is clunky on the site. Enabling easy commenting and replying to posts and photos would go a long way towards mitigating this issue.

texburgher replied on May 02, 2008 19:52 to the problem "Verizon support?" in Brightkite:

Check in via SMS to email address instead of to their shortcode. It's in settings>mobile on your account. It's not in the right place to be easily found, but it is there and verizon users do have full functionality through that means. I'm one, and I use it ALL THE TIME. //texburgher

texburgher replied on May 02, 2008 19:48 to the idea "Check-in via Twitter" in Brightkite:

I love this idea. Suggested it a couple of weeks ago. They didn't seem interested, said it was a good idea for a third party to do through forthcoming API. Phoooooey! This should totally be done, and it's easy to do. We did something VERY similar on http://www.pittsburgh2050.com and it works like a charm.

A comment on the idea "Post notes and checkins to Dopplr as well as twitter?" in Brightkite:

How can a challenge like that not be one of the best points ever??? – texburgher, on April 29, 2008 22:39

texburgher marked one of Matt Jones' replies in Brightkite as useful. Matt Jones replied to the idea "Post notes and checkins to Dopplr as well as twitter?".

A comment on the question "Howsabout you let me email my photo updates from my phone (or anywhere)?" in Brightkite:

So I assume I can send an SMS from my phone to that email address and be just as happy as if I'd used the shortcode. Is that so? If yes, you should publicize the living shit out of that. It's a golden workaround to the Verizon-hates-your-shortcode issue. – texburgher, on April 29, 2008 21:00

texburgher replied on April 29, 2008 17:08 to the question "Howsabout you let me email my photo updates from my phone (or anywhere)?" in Brightkite:

D'oh!
The answer is in the Mobile tab in Account Settings on the site. There's a little line of text there, telling me what I can do to email a photo update. Cool.

Might be a better place for that, since it's not specifically mobile-related, but I'm glad to have found it and am now unmiffed (except at myself).

But still, what if I could email my checkin to the same address? Is that possible?unmiffed

texburgher asked a question in Brightkite on April 29, 2008 14:54:

Howsabout you let me email my photo updates from my phone (or anywhere)?

Can I please just email photo posts from my phone to my BK account? Flickr lets me do that, and it's so convenient. If you force me to use your uploadr, I can barely ever post photos. I'm already stuck being unable to do even jack shit from my verizon cell phone... There are all kinds of solutions to these problems, from twitter integration to using email - can we Verizon users have some solutions?

A comment on the question "Finding friends?" in Brightkite:

Agreed. :) – texburgher, on April 25, 2008 17:20