Release: WPhone 1.4.2: “Thanks!” Edition

Release early, release often being the FOSS motto, here we are again with a new version of our WPhone mobile WordPress Admin plugin.

Version 1.4.2 is all about thanking our community, because the main changes are the inclusion of new language packs, which were all gracefully provided by our very much vibrant community of WPhone users all over the World. This now brings us to a total of six languages (English, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Russian), with a few more on the way. Not bad for a software that was only released a month and a half ago. :-)

So in the spirit of my teammates’ current holiday: Thanks a million to all of you out there who continually help us making this project better and better. Hoping we’ll keep living up to your expectations!

And on another note, watch for the upcoming 1.5 version. I’m thinking it’ll be a big one on the feature front, especially once we’ll have received our prizes and can develop natively.

Predicting Technology Innovation through 2025

From the source article, via Slashdot:

What will likely be the most important scientific and technological breakthroughs with significant commercial value and impacts on the lives of consumers out to 2025?

To begin to answer that question, S)T’s Technology Foresight program conducted a virtual, global focus group of experts in technology, innovation, and business strategy. The group included experts from the Association of Professional Futurists, Tekes, Duke University, Hasbro, Worldwatch, General Motors, Shell, Johnson Controls, and Oxford University, among others.

I wonder if the Paleo-Future blog will still be around by then, so we can look back on this around 2026.

PopSci's Best of What's New 2007

From this year’s Best of What’s New:

Innovation begets innovation. Efficient thin-film solar technology leads to panels so inexpensive, they could blanket city skylines. GM atones for killing the all electric EV1 with the plug-in Chevy Volt Hybrid. The iPod begets the iPhone. Click around to see these and 97 more of PosSci’s picks of the latest revolutionary technologies that will drive the next 20 years of innovation.

I agree with PopSci‘s 1st place choice, but I also really like the Infinitely Geared Bike.

Release: WPhone 1.4.1: Winner Edition

I can hardly contain myself: we won the challenge that got us started with WPhone! :-)

Well, the true starting point was a question/challenge sent by one of my teammates, Doug, to the wp-hackers mailing list and the animated thread that ensued. A true ode to OSS, in many ways.

So to celebrate, we decided to release version 1.4.1 tonight, which brings the first bundled translations into the mix (Russian and French), and addresses issues discovered through our truly helpful user base.

Now, what am I gonna do with an iPhone in Canada, uh Apple/Rogers? *nudge nudge, wink wink* Well, who knows, maybe I can get Android running on it. :-p

FaceBookCampMontreal

One more! Tonight was FaceBookCampMontreal, an unconference for everyone with an interest in building on the Facebook Platform. Once again, great event, great crowd, very interesting subject.

I’d venture to say that the event was actually a bit late for the developer crowd, since we’ve all drunk the Facebook API Kool-Aid months ago, and most of us have been playing with it publicly or in private sandboxes. On the other hand, the PR crowd was there in full force and was visibly excited by the torrent of opportunities the FB ecosystem truly is.

So if you need a Facebook application and don’t know where to start, a good first step is to call Plank. :o) We’ll hook you up with a strategy that makes sense for both you and your users/audience.

I also have my own pipe dreams, but I’m just too busy to take on yet another project right now. Maybe in December…