T3h Blox0r

T3h Blox0r For Sale!

2006-08-29T16:23:00.000-04:00

After a year of great success showing the world how web aggregators should be, t3h blox0r is for sale.

Auction starts at $1 and will sell to the luckiest geek.

Includes bloxor.com and blox0r.com domains, all the source code and all the info gathered thru its existence.

Go to eBay.com and start bidding, you can be the lucky one!

Link to Blox0r for sale! auction

Thanks for your support Blox0r fans around the world!

Mail questions to admin@bloxor.com

Blox0r Goes Open Source!

2005-10-11T13:40:00.000-04:00

The best web aggregator ever goes open source!

Now you all can download the source code and make improvements to it to suit your personal needs.

Go to http://www.bloxor.com/source/

And have fun!

Soon to be in SourceForge at

http://sourceforge.net/projects/blox0r

Collaborators wanted!

XUL, PHP, MySQL and Javascript

Notes:
- Will be ported to Python, Ruby and ASP.NET
- Future data servers PostgreSQL and SQLITE

PS. Go to the forum to share ideas

Bookmarklets and Discovery

2005-09-14T20:57:00.000-04:00

Bookmarklet is a convenient button in your toolbar that allows you to subscribe to a blog or bookmark a favorite site with one click.

Combined with the powerful Feed Auto-discovery feature recently added, it is a walk in the park to surf the web and subscribe/bookmark as many blogs and sites as you want.

You don't need to deal with the RSS/ATOM stuff anymore.
We do the dirty work for you.

Just point your browser to Slashdot.org (or any other site of your choice) and we will discover the feed and add it to t3h Blox0r.

All the information you need is clearly explained here:
http://www.bloxor.com/bookmarklet.php

Enjoy!

Temporary Fix

2005-08-25T12:53:00.000-04:00

We switched back to one-by-one feed refreshing.
It is slower than the 'multipart' version since we have to request one refresh per feed, and the server has to authenticate and open data connections on a per request basis.

I know, it sucks, but it is better than an unresponsive UI, so, stick with us til we know what the cause of the 'multipart' bug is.

Output_buffering maybe the culprit, hmm.

Refreshing ain't working

2005-08-19T22:52:00.000-04:00

I have noticed lately that refreshing all feeds doesn't update the list as it used to.
It waits until the last feed is refreshed to update any blog status.
We haven't updated any code in the last weeks.
Could it be a change on the server side by our hosting company that we are unaware of?
Hmm, absolutely no idea.

WTF?

ATOM 1.0

2005-07-21T12:45:00.000-04:00

After a well deserved vacation, we're back trying to catch up with everything that happened in the geekdom in our absence, like ATOM 1.0

As we all know, Atom is already in version 1.0, so all aggregators should be able to parse it and consume it.

So does Blox0r, well, partially. The beta implementation looks functional enough. We tested some feeds from the Atom 1.0 publishers list and looking good.

So, spread the word, Blox0r supports ATOM 1.0 !

Clear Blogroll and Bookmarks

2005-06-29T19:19:00.000-04:00

We just finished the tools that will help you keep your feeds and favs clean.

If you want to wipe out all your blogroll at once, or just remove a couple of feeds, then click on 'options' then 'Clear Blogroll'.
There you will see a list of all your feeds where you can tag/untag those you want to delete.

When you are ready, and only then, please, please think it twice before hitting that button for those selected will be gone forever.
There is also a version for bookmarks, well, in the bookmarks pane. Check it out.

Handy for when you get sick of us and want to leave no trace behind.

Wait, that didn't sound like good marketing.

Please, use with caution.
With power comes great responsability.

Feed Summary

2005-06-25T22:07:00.000-04:00

Now we can preview an HTML version of all posts in the browsing frame.

All you have to do is click on the "evil shades" icon to get special powers.
Then navigate your blogs as usual and enjoy your feed summary.

Styles and skins in the near future.

w00t!

PS1. It may not be necessary, but hit SHIFT-F5 to refresh the application.
PS2. Then refresh all feeds once in order to generate the summaries.
PS3. We screwed things in the process but rest assured that we will fix them all.

XList: feed of lists

2005-06-24T09:33:00.000-04:00

We at t3h Blox0r are always supporting open standards, and today we decided to embrace Xlist as the format to share and consume lists of data.

Being involved in the development of an aggregator we can feel the urging need for a way to standardize different kinds of content like blogs, bookmarks, music, photos, video and more in order to share and consume that data.

Get the iTunes feed and you only see the title of the song.
Get flickr's feed and nothing to describe the photo as well.

Unfortunately RSS and Atom were not designed to handle data other than feeds.

Enter XList, the new way to represent data in an aggregated world.
If it can be listed, it can be XListed!

Feel free to share your insights.
We will be actively involved in the development of this format for the benefit of all.
Your contribution to the standardization of this format is greatly appreciated.

Say NO to patents!

http://xlist.org

Music and Photos!

2005-06-20T23:43:00.000-04:00

Did you know that you can share your photos and play music online with t3h Blox0r?

Just create a feed with your music playlist and publish it, then click any item and if you have your music player set to play embeded in your browser it will play right away, if not it will download the song to your temporary cache and then play it. Next time you want to listen to that song, it will be already cached so it will start playing immediately.

Same with your photos, organize them in albums and publish the feeds, then all your friends and family can access them from everywhere, no need to clutter their email inboxes. Best of all, as soon as you add new photos to the album, they will be notified right away.

Check out these sample feeds for music playlist and photo album.

You can even subscribe to them or see them in action in our Blox0r demo.

Amazingly cool huh?

;-)

Blox0r Badges

2005-06-18T22:21:00.000-04:00

We now have subscription badges!

w00t! w00t!

If you have a cool blog and want to give your visitors an easy way to subscribe to your blog, then, wait no more and go to http://www.bloxor.com/badge.php for instructions on how to add a kewl Blox0r badge to your site.

Show t3h Blox0r some love with one of these two kewl Blox0r badges:

and

Playing with Panels

2005-06-15T23:21:00.000-04:00

Now you can organize the panels any way you want.
The default horizontal way or all three panels in a vertical way.
Also, you can expand or collapse the view-panel for a more comfortable browsing experience.

There are some new icons to the very right of the head bar, play with them and choose the best layout for your taste.

PS. We are working on providing a complete html preview of posts, for those who like to scroll through all posts of a feed at once.

PS2. Oh, forgot to tell you, if you don't see the icons to the right, just hit refresh, sometimes the cache doesn't want to play nice ;-)

Blox0r forum

2005-06-14T20:15:00.000-04:00

We just set up a forum for t3h Blox0r where you all can collaborate and share your experiences with other members of our community.

We installed the well-known open source bulletin board from phpBB for its universally proven reliability and ease of use.

We hope the forum will enrich our knowledge about t3h Blox0r, how you use it and how you would like it to be in the future.

Join us at:

http://www.bloxor.com/forum

Blox0r inner workings

2005-06-12T15:49:00.000-04:00

If you are curious about how t3h Blox0r runs so smoothly, this is for you:

- Hosted on Yahoo servers (100% uptime)
- Runs on FreeBSD
- Database by MySql
- Server scripting in PHP
- Client scripting in Javascript
- Visual interface in XUL

Developer tools used:
- OS: zero maintenance, Yahoo does a great job
- Database manager: phpMyAdmin
- Code editor: XUL Notepad
- Server debugger: Server logs
- Client debugger: Firefox Javascript Console

As you can see kids, you too can make this world a better place with just a few resources and a great idea.

For as long as I have $20 in my pocket, t3h Blox0r will host one million happy members and their blogrolls.

Refreshing 100 feeds

2005-06-11T22:09:00.000-04:00

It is no easy task, specially if you want to provide the best user experience without interrupting the flow of the application.

Here are the options we have:
#1. One server call to refresh them all. One response to notify them.
#2. Multiple server calls, one per feed. 100 asynchronous responses.
#3. One server call with 100 multipart responses.

Pros and cons:
#1. Placing one call to the server and marking all feeds as being refreshed, uses only one http channel, allowing full navigation of the application. The server loops and updates the feeds leaving the client unaware. No visual reference of the progress of the feeds. All feeds are reset when the final response arrives.

#2. Client loops the feeds, placing one asynchronous call per feed, it will be visually marked as soon as we get the response back. Intensive use of resources since it has to open 100 channels and deal with 100 asynchronous responses. The best visual response, but sends any additional user http request to the end of the queue, almost locking the application.

#3. One server call, multipart responses using the same channel. The server loop the feeds and return the response for that feed which is updated on the client. Sequential/asynchronous visual update. Full navigation and free resources to read while refreshing.

A month ago I started with #1 since I was not indicating updated feeds. Then I went with #2 and the first thing I noticed is that I couldnt read my blogs while refreshing the feeds.

Today I decided to try #3, XMLHttpRequest with multiparts and it is working nice. It allows navigation while providing visual references of the feeds being refreshed.

Let's put it to the test for some days.

FeedSniffer and FeedParser optimized

2005-06-10T21:42:00.000-04:00

Both the feedSniffer and feedParser have been optimized 100%.
Not perfect yet, I believe there are some problems with php4 and the xml dom parser.

If you still notice that some feeds don't show properly, please post the urls here and I will take care of them.

Forgot your password?

2005-06-09T14:31:00.000-04:00

What would be the best way to recover or reassign a forgotten password?
We have no intentions at all in asking for your email address, we know how annoying spam is.

Ideas on how to reset a password and let the user know would be highly appreciated.

Bugzilla

2005-06-09T13:55:00.000-04:00

Yep, whether we like it or not, even the most beautiful piece of software (ahem) has bugs.
Let's write them down here so we don't forget to fix them.

First priority: the feed parser needs refinement, all formats, unicode, and so.

Roadmap

2005-06-07T22:25:00.000-04:00

Here are the milestones:

M1 - Functional design and conceptualization.
M2 - Feed refresh optimization (conditional GET).
M3 - Finish import/export bookmarks.
M4 - Feed autodiscovery.
M5 - Blogroll suggestions for n00bs, most subscribed list.
M6 - Threaded comments.
M7 - Drag and drop to organize subscriptions.
V1 - Final release.

For version 2: Blogs !
Keep your blogroll on the web and your own blog too!

This is gonna be fun ;-)

Discussion board

2005-06-07T20:48:00.000-04:00

Hi there fellas,

From now on, this is the place to discuss everything related to t3h blox0r.
How much it rox0rz or how much it may sux0rz too.

If you have any suggestion, recommendation, tip, bug, malfunction, anything, just post it here.
Currently we are busy working on a million things to keep t3h blox0r the best web aggregator ever.

We want to thank all members of the g4ng for supporting t3h blox0r and we will make sure it will always be the best online blogging experience.

For the love of XUL...

Welcome to t3h Blox0r !!1!

2005-06-07T20:29:00.000-04:00

The best web aggregator ever!
Keep your blogroll on the web.
Enjoy your favorite blogs everywhere.

Thanks for joining t3h Blox0r g4ng !!1!

http://www.bloxor.com