A couple nights ago, I attended a @twitterapi meetup at the Twitter HQ in downtown San Francisco. It was pretty cool just being there, and great to get updated on the Twitter API while also doing a little networking. It was pretty informal as expected which was good. The Twitter guys basically opened up the floor for questions and comments on the Twitter API. They said “in order for us to succeed, you [the 3rd party developers] need to succeed”. Beer and pizza was served which was cool, and not surprising since there were about 3 women scattered in a sea of 25- to 40 year-old men! There was approximately 150 people in attendance.

Here are some takeaways from the discussion:

• Basic Authentication to be deprecated as soon as June 2010, just a few months away! In favor of Open Auth.
• For non-web clients, xauth is suggested for authentication. You may email “api AT twitter DOT com” to request access.
• A few asked, but they didn’t respond to questions about advertising.
• An address book API is coming soon.
• They plan on using the HTML5 Geolocation feature.
• Enhancing functionality for Favorites in the API is on the list, but not a priority.
• The word “Tweet” is OK to use in an application name as long as the app is solely a Twitter app (does not include other social networking functionality).
• Follow the Twitter API at @twitterapi

Last Saturday (Sept 26), I attended the OpenWebCamp at Stanford University. Much thanks goes to John Foliot for organizing the event and to Opera which was the main sponsor. It was a really nice time (except the hot weather). Learned a few things and met some great people, and the food and drink was great, too! Guy Kawasaki and Molly Holzschlag were the featured speakers. I spoke on Accessible Twitter which went pretty well. There was some excellent discussion on HTML5, open source software, usability, and the browser wars.

For more information, you may:

• View the presentation on slideshare: Accessible Twitter at Open Web Camp presentation.
• Learn more about the event with the Twitter hash tag: #openWebCamp.

After-party gathering outside on Stanford campus during OpenWebCamp.

Photo from OpenWebCamp album on Flickr from Barbara Haven.

So it’s the dog days of summer, and that means vacation time for a lot of people. I was fortunate enough to be able to take almost two weeks off work and had some good times.

King Tut, Hearst Castle, and Sea Lions

First, I took the family to the special King Tut exhibit at the De Young art museum in San Francisco. That was neat, but the kids and I were very disappointed because there were no mummies!

Next, we drove down the central coast of California. We stopped in Monterey for a bit, then took a bunch of pictures thru Big Sur; it was the first time we had driven the whole way. We spent the night near Cambria and went to Hearst Castle the next day. It was a 5-mile bus ride to the castle on top of the mountain, which was neat in itself. I thought the best part of the castle was the outdoor pool. We then drove further south to Morro Bay. Cool little town with seafood restaurants, boat tours, sea lions, big beach, and one ginormous rock.

Carson and me on beach in Morro Bay

Art, Rock Stars, BBQ, Tigers, and Golf

Then I went on a trip to Michigan (just me) to celebrate my brother’s birthday. Connected in Dallas and met a few interesting people on my flights (including a army guy who just ended a 1-year tour in Afghanistan!)  I went to the Ann Arbor art fairs with my parents on the first day, then met my Web Axe co-host Ross and a few other guys at the Arbor Brewing Company. I golfed 9 holes with my brother and dad. Then took a cruise in my dad’s ’68 Mustang convertible and ate at a neat ’50s style drive-in called Tom’s Root Beer Stand. Then I went to Henry Ford Museum, where there was an awesome special exhibit “Rock Stars Cars and Guitars”. We then went to dinner at an awesome new barbecue restaurant/bar in Detroit called Slows. The last night there, we went to the Detroit Tigers Major League baseball game, and there were at least 8 home runs, and a Tigers grand slam in the first inning!

Front of Comerica Park

Garlic Festival is Last Stop

I worked this past Friday, then today I took the family to the Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California. We ate very garlicy pizza, bread, and stuffed mushrooms–all very good! It was very crowded and very hot, but a lot of fun.

Phew, OK, I think I covered most of the last couple weeks. Now back to work.