blog.eliotsykes.com

Chatroulette circa 1910

The programmer in me has been wondering what technology Chatroulette is running on and this is what I’ve found out – those who know better please forgive mistakes and correct me in the comments:

• Connections between users are P2P (i.e. my computer connects directly to yours)
• These P2P connections are established using Adobe’s free experimental Stratus service
• Using P2P connections massively reduces the bandwidth costs to Chatroulette as the majority of the traffic is between the chatter’s computers
• The application is written in Flex/Flash (I’m not sure of the distinction)

The Adobe forum has this post about recent performance problems with their hosted Stratus service, it hints that they may be hosting Chatroulette.

Update 20th April 2010 Well this post has been getting swamped with comments listing more clones than I ever expected so I’ve turned commenting off, the list below is not comprehensive but well, all you need to know is that there is a lot of Chatroulette-like sites out there.

Partly as a result of the Chatroulette Missed Connections site, and partly because it is fascinating to see an Internet phenomenon like Chatroulette unfold, I’m taking an interest in all things related to it.  I love how Andrey, the man responsible for Chatroulette, has created this just by doing something he loves.

So a couple weeks ago I saw ads on freelancer sites looking for developers to clone Chatroulette.  Looks like these ads found some willing developers as these clones are starting to crop up every day.

Here’s the Chatroulette clone list so far, in no particular order:

• Omegle (hard to say it is a clone, it was first just text before Chatroulette arrived then added video after Chatroulette)
• CamStumble
• ShufflePeople owned by WooMe
• Zupyo
• SpinTheCam
• Facebuzz
• HeyPeople
• FaceRoulette
• HeyReddit for Redditors
• TinyChat Next
• Stickam Shuffle
• StirChat

If you hear of more let me know and I’ll add them to the list. Remember though, if you’re thinking of visiting one of these sites, Chatroulette will always be the original success story for this type of web site, and if you think cloning it is a good idea, may I politely suggest that building an idea that is original and needed might be more rewarding – copy Andrey’s passion, not his idea.

Disabling Google Buzz is easy:

1. Log in to Google Mail
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page
3. Click the “turn off buzz” link as highlighted in the picture above, its nested between the “turn on chat” and “older version” links

Bonus! 10 geek points if you can tell from the screen grab above which Google Mail theme I’m using.

I was trying to figure out how to get PrototypeJS to load the Facebook JavaScript API on demand.

For Missed Connections I’m writing a modal box that can optionally display a Facebook connect button, but I didn’t want to load the Facebook API unless the Fb connect button is shown.

In the end I wrote FacebookApiLoader to do this, you can find the source and details here:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2117691/using-prototype-to-load-a-javascript-file-from-another-domain/2123219

Many thanks to Thomas’s answer which pointed me in the right direction.

Early last Summer I used SnaffleUp to freecycle some dvd cases and jiffy bags, but then I couldn’t remember its name when I wanted to get rid of an old artificial Xmas tree last month.

Next I tried Gumtree’s London free section but that didn’t work out so well (I’m guessing its normally better), so in the end the tree went to the Salvation Army.

Anyway, I guess in December I had a problem with my brain and couldn’t figure out the simple task of searching through my old e-mails to remind me of SnaffleUp’s name. So what I’m doing here as a memory aid and to help others is listing the alternatives to Freecycle for the UK that I’ve found, comment below if you’ve found any others or have some feedback on the services:

Tried (rating)

Not tried

• Freegle – set up by massive breakaway group of UK Freecycle users who weren’t impressed with how Freecyle was being run. Nice looking web site but still uses Yahoo Groups and mailing lists by the looks of things.
• Recycle

Here’s an alternative and easier way to Flickr Advanced Search for finding free images for your blog:

http://www.sprixi.com/

Thanks to The Next Web for the article that made me aware of Sprixi

Its a few days before Christmas and I feel like making an alcohol free Christmas pudding, here are links to 3 recipes, none of which I’ve tried:

• Cat Can Cook’s Traditional Christmas Pudding Recipe
• Bookworm’s Cook Book’s Christmas Pudding Recipe
• Pauline’s Traditional Christmas Pudding Recipe (recipe contains alcohol but there is advice to use milk instead if you want it alcohol free)

Hopefully collecting these recipes in one place will help someone else out.  If you find any other recipes add a comment and I’ll add the links above.

I’m planning on using the first recipe as the quantities seem to be small enough for making a single good-sized pudding – the second and third recipes are for making a few puddings.

Funny thing happened this week.  Thanks to my tight-fisted goal of pledging a dollar a day to a different Kickstarter project, I ended up having a Q&A with Kickstarter’s wonderful Cassie Marketos (check out Cassie’s mail-order snackfood project) and the results of which you can read on the Kickstarter blog: Why I Pledge: Eliot Sykes. There’s a few ideas in there that I hope will help get even more Kickstarter projects funded.

SendSocial is a new service (available in just the UK initially, other countries to follow) that lets you post anything to anyone when all you have is their twitter username or their e-mail address.  You don’t need to know their home or work address.

This is one of those ideas that made me think wow, that’s a cool idea.  I’m a tad amazed this hasn’t been done yet (if it has been, let me know in the comments, sounds like the sort of thing that someone would have tried back in the original dotcom bubble).

The idea has legs and the track record of one of the guys behind it, Ben Way, makes you think it has got a great chance of doing well.  I hope so, I love to hear UK startups making it worldwide.

A few ways that come to mind on what to use SendSocial for apart from sending gifts to virtual friends:

1. Say thanks to a blogger or twittering friend
Is there someone who’s given you help through their tweets or blog? You could send them a note or even a gift – much more personal than an e-mail. I was thinking of sending some food to one or two people I follow virtually who’s advice has helped me out but that’s probably a bit of a bad idea, would you feel 100% safe eating something that a near stranger sent you? A gift voucher or a handwritten note is probably a safer bet.

2. Let influencers know about your new product/book
Launching a new product that lends itself to physical samples or a book? Send samples in the post to blogger and twitter influencers related to your industry.

3. Get the attention of a journalist/blogger/celebrity
Send something in the post to get the attention of a blogger who gets way too much e-mail from strangers for you to stand a chance of being heard over the crowd.

7 things to send:

1. A handwritten note
2. A Xmas/Birthday/Holiday/Thank you card
3. Home made treats (if you know the recipient)
4. Chocolates, but not (I think people won’t be keen to eat food sent by strangers).  Send a small gift card instead for somewhere they can buy chocolates of their choice (I’m having a hard time coming up with ideas for this – Thorntons? WHSmith do chocolate now too right? Any other ideas?)
5. Cup of Coffee – send a Costa/Nero/Starbucks/Pret/etc. gift card is what I mean
6. A Book or DVD you think they’d like
7. Gift card for Amazon or any other shop you think they’d like

3 things not to send:

• Ticking alarm clock
• Lock of your hair
• Anything written using blood

What do you recommend sending, or not?

I can’t remember how I found them, but when I did I signed up for Blank Label‘s launch e-mail a few weeks back just ‘cos I love the idea.

In a world of design your own t-shirt startups, Blank Label is a breath of fresh air that lets you design your own (proper collared) shirts (like the one in the photo above I guess, taken from their home page). Are there other sites that give you this option? I don’t know, anyway I liked the tone of Danny Wong’s launch e-mail:

For being our beloved friend when we had a sh*t website and signed up early for the launch, here’s your special promocode for 20% off your first order.

(I’m guessing the Blank Label guys won’t mind me sharing the promo code here: “20peroff”). Here’s their home page