In 2007, I made a custom FLV with an external dynamic load:

Now, I’ve made an AJAX loader which can pull in any reference html file. For now I’m using it to post some of my poems but the code structure can easily be adapted to load external content from other websites, including images and videos. 

This is a preview of the dynamic AJAX news feed and user commenting page that will be released on @T (Always the Twain) in the New Year 2009. Content is dynamically loaded from multiple rss feeds which users have control over. In the top corner there’s a dialogue box into which the reader’s choice of feeds can be input. This then generates a feed box.

Most importantly each of these boxes is fully…………DRAG+DROP like iGoogle’s UI so users can prioritize their viewing panel. 

Additionally, once the feed box has been generated it’s possible to edit the feed — for example if instead of choosing the Technology pages from BusinessWeek users can change it to the Business page feeds. Over time images will also be automatically pulled in. The image below shows that some adjustment on the DIV css needs to be made first — LOL!

Once the RSS-all-in-one feature has been tidied up the next stage will be to incorporate the DIV which houses the Media Sensors rating tool into the xhtml. 

MEDIA SENSORS

This is completely my original idea. There are several variations on the 5-star rating system coded in Ajax / PHP / CSS as well as the “thumbs-up-thumbs-down” alternatives but there is absolutely no other system like Media Sensors with its proprietary calibration system, ratings pH, 360-2020 perception wheel and savable to a database — initially SQL.

It is arguably the best innovation I’ve originated to-date and something I’m really looking forward to developing further in 2009 because it is………..DISRUPTIVE………..UNIQUE………A GAME CHANGER!

I’m developing my central news hub for the @T (Always the Twain) site, so allocated time today to working out:

(1.) how to leverage Google Docs to generate dynamic RSS into a spreadsheet format — it really works!

(2.) how to build an RSS display scroller with some Ajax, Javascript and CSS — that will also use the Google Ajax RSS API; this works too!

(3.) how to refine grid-based drag+drop in AS3; a few glitches but it works now.

(4.) how to build a 5-star rating system in Ajax and PHP from scratch with a query file to the server-side database. I am NOT building a 5-star rating since my Media Perception Matrix is a lot smarter (but will require quite a bit of code work).

(5.) how to synch bits and bobs with a forum like PHPBB.

These may seem like discrete and disparate strands of technology but they’re actually the constituents of how the likes of iGoogle and netvibes are built. 

The difference with netvibes was its strategic move towards creating a social network where friends can share their content links (blogs, news feeds, flickr photos, YouTube videos etc.). In certain ways it was a predecessor to the likes of Friendfeed. What I like about iGoogle and netvibes are their customizability so users can re-arrange the layout according to their own tastes and priorities.

FUN + GAMES

Naturally, I decided to take a break from the brainwork and to refine this drag+drop game (you can click on the image and go to the site to test your mathematical logic if you’d like):

For @T, I do plan to have a games + puzzle area where readers can do jigsaws, play online chess, hangman and crosswords etc.:

This is to provide different forms of user interactivity to what the Papervision3D film wall does as well as the script sample flipbook.

It may seem frivolous but actually some of the design and coding involved in games can also be applied to creating dockable RSS feeds that localize to pre-defined (X,Y) positions in a Flash swf without any need for divs or DOMs.

Developing games also stimulate the creative and problem-solving neurons which can then be transposed to more serious and professional endeavors………

As a child I used to either do an hour of sports or games (chess, cards, bridge, crosswords, Nim’s gate, etc.) before N hours of solid concentration on homework. I did get straight As in school so this process seems to work and I’ve kept it with me in the way I approach adult to-do’s.