The following snippet of code will do the follow:

1. Go to an XML/RSS page, retrieve the code
2. Turn all XML elements arrays

I use this a bunch:

  $ch = curl_init();

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, ‘YOU_URL_HERE’);

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);

$data = curl_exec($ch); 

curl_close($ch);

$p = xml_parser_create();

xml_parse_into_struct($p, $data, $vals, $index);

xml_parser_free($p);

Print $vals to the page.  You can access any element you wish from there.

uncomfortablemomentswithputin:

The two leaders laughed awkwardly at Putin’s suggestion of a blog called ‘Uncomfortable Moments with Putin Looking at Kim Jong-Il Looking at Putin’

thrillhouse!

a new running series entitled “Screw You, Facebook”.

To display a Facebook page’s fans, you have to use this link: http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like-box.  See those options?  Yea, they don’t work at all.  Screw you facebook

So I was spacing out on someone’s Facebook pictures when I noticed something interesting at the end of the URL: ”&viewas=4501515”.  

My Facebook user id is 4501515.  Using this, Facebook is definitely storing who’s photos and profiles I am looking at.  A fair warning to those who recklessly use the ‘book

Today was my brother’s last day in Boston for good.  We are calling it his ‘Summer in Boston’, a memoir soon-to-be-released.  He had never seen Fenway.  I decided to reorganize my schedule and take him to the stadium for a day game with the M’s.

No, this is not a post about anonymous bloggers.

This is a post about a user segment here at Pinyadda:  people who sign up for the site and follow 0 people, 0 sites and 0 topics.

I can only assume what these types of people are thinking after filling out the necessary fields of Registration and land on Pinyadda’s NewsStand:

1. “Alright, I’ve made the effort” - probably said most likely by those close to Pinyadda who sleep easier knowing they had least made an effort and signed up
2. “Woah, this is waayy too confusing for right now”.  I definitely find myself in this demographic at times.  For example, you’re in the midst of a work day and decide to take 2 minutes out of your day to try out a new product.  When you assess that trying out this new product will probably end up taking closer to 8 minutes, you bail.  Why does someone like this bail?  Time constraints, or massive attention deficient disorder.  How can we as a service provider reduce those 8 minutes to the busy or the distracted?  Put one site or one topic right in front of their face with a giant “Follow” button.  Thereafter, demonstrate how the product works with just this one site or one topic.  This way, they can clearly at least a slice of the product’s value very quickly.
3. “Woah this is waayy too confusing for me period.”  I’ve had a bunch of baby-boomers say this to me.  Pinyadda’s product is pretty robust and encompasses A LOT, which is why I can see how it could be intimidating to the novice internet user.  Reducing the anxiety of these users is pretty important.  Perhaps a banner that reads ‘Breathe’ or ‘You’re getting very sleepy….”  Once more relaxed, clear and concise directions on how to add a site or a topic would probably transition more of these users from Zeroes to heros.
4. “This is not what I expected given what I previously knew about Pinyadda”- this is where word-of-mouth can bite you in the ass.  If a user evangelizes your product incorrectly, you might have a ton of users expecting something you don’t do.  The best remedy is homogenous language of your product all over your site.  This way, your current user base is armed with the best descriptions possible for your product.

Quote 2 proved to be the most interesting for me.  I think it is also the most common phrase uttered by Zeroes.

How can we make things easier for Zeroes?  Well, the more we know about them the easier we can make things.  Does curtailing the first page they see based on their location increase the time they’d spend on first signup?  For example, if Pinyadda recognized that userX was from Boston and the first message they saw was “How ‘bout them Pats?”, would userX be more likely to follow a site? 

Or what about their referring link to signup?  If they came from Twitter and the first page they saw was more info on how to share to Twitter, would that increase their duration of first login?

Even zanier, what if we knew how long it took for the user to complete the registration form?  The busy/ADD group probably finishes the form in less than 30 seconds.  The baby-boomers could take up to 1.5 minutes.  Based on this, could we simply redirect users to more appropriate pages?

You can tell this was taken pre 2007 because it’s missing a distinctive pitchers mound

Networking happens.  When done at the right event and, more importantly, with the right motivation, networking is actually quite awesome.

First, the events:  a lot of the events out there are carbon copies of one another.  The events are the same format, you see the same serial networkers and you have the same conversations (which always start with “How’s that thing you’re working on?”)  However, once in a while, there will be some event that is awesome.  Last night’s Hacks/Hackers in Boston was one such event (media + tech?  sign me up).  For you home bodies, do a TON of research on the events in your area and I’m sure you’ll find something that draws you.

Second, your motivation.  I imagine a lot of people say ‘well, I have to show my face here’ before attending an event.  I think this is terrible motivation.  A) You obviously don’t want to be there B) Since you don’t want to be there, it affects others at the event and lessens their experience.  If you’ve got this motivation, stay home and watch Gilmore Girls.  The events you want to go to are the ones that get you excited -> you’ll be much happier and get a LOT more out of the event if you go in with this mentality.

Final note: there is a relationship between the amount of networking events you go to and the amount of stuff you can actually get done.  It’s not inversely proportional, but I don’t think it’s too far off.

What will happen investigative journalism in the future?  

Austin and I were having a discussion on a full-on report done by the Washington Post called “Top Secret America”, where a collaboration of journalists worked together to investigate the CIA and other national agencies.

We both agreed that this type of journalism is necessary to keep individuals or groups of individuals in check.  Without investigative journalism, certain individuals or groups would take advantage of their anonymity.

But, with big media publications like the WP or the NYT losing money, who will fund investigative journalism (IJ)?  While we both agreed that there is a market for IJ and that some private organization will meet the demand, Austin fretted that the way IJ is done could be ineffective in the future: mainstays like the WP have many, many connections which makes doing a piece like Top Secret America moderately easy and Austin believed that these connections would be hard to replicate.

Yes, Austin is correct.  But does this kill IJ?  Absolutely not.  Whomever fills the market for IJ when and if big media publications tank could very well grow their own rolodex and eventually match the network size as the WP (for example).

But this got me thinking -> is there a strict market place for network connections?  Are their private organizations that a media company could pay to gain access to the CIA?  This I am not sure of and I am open to any and all ideas.