Ben Werdmuller

Category: Software development

  • Write real-time web applications with XMPP, PHP, and JavaScript

    I’ve written a tutorial for writing XMPP-based web applications over at IBM DeveloperWorks: Real-time web applications are networked applications, with web-based user interfaces, that display Internet information as soon as it’s published. Examples include social news aggregators and monitoring tools that continually update themselves with data from an external source. In this tutorial, you will […]

  • An introduction to Activity Streams

    I’ve written an introduction to the Activity Streams standard for IBM DeveloperWorks: Enter Activity Streams, an evolving standard that extends Atom for expressing social objects. Although it is a young standard, Activity Streams is fast becoming the de facto method for syndicating activity between web applications. For example, MySpace, Facebook, and TypePad all now produce […]

  • Building a distributed social network? You’re doing it wrong.

    Here are some distributed social networking platforms and technologies designed to facilitate distributed social networking: Status.net DiSo 6D Kopal DSNP Noserub Appleseed OneSocialWeb Diaspora (included for completeness, but there isn’t any code yet) Wow, that’s a lot! And following Diaspora’s flurry of both coverage and cash, you can bet there’ll be plenty more to come. […]

  • Devices and desires: why the portable device wars are a red herring

    A little pre-history When I was a kid, I had an Atari 130XE. You’ve probably never heard of it. It was an 8-bit, all-in-one box that booted straight into BASIC; a flexible, well-built, sturdy computer. There was just one problem: it wasn’t a ZX Spectrum or a Commodore Amiga. At the time, Britain was undergoing […]