I’d like to try and integrate some more aspects in the near future, such as my profile picture, and some better semantic implementation of the Open Graph Protocol.

Now, I just need to figure out how to align my like buttons on my blog with the same URLs that get aggregated to my Facebook page…

String url = (request.getRequestURL()).toString();
  if (request.getQueryString() != null) {
   url += '?' + request.getQueryString();
  }

By the way, here’s mine:

http://www.facebook.com/stinogle

There are some kick ass signs in Pittsburgh…

… signs that define our city, both socially as well as economically. Many of them tell stories of our past, and some even point to events yet to pass. Many also can serve the starving artist, as iconic images of reference. Luckily, you don’t have to go out and chronicle them all yourself. They’ve all been painstakingly laid out for you already by a group called The Pittsburgh Signs Project.

The Pittsburgh Signs Project has also just put out a book, Pittsburgh Signs Project: 250 Signs of Western Pennsylvania. The book is filled with some amazing full color photos taken from area artists, and is definitely a coffee table gem if there ever was one. The book is listed at $29.99, but you can find it on amazon here for just over 20 bucks.

On top of that, they have a facebook group, and here are a few links to some sweet flickr feeds on signage of the Burgh:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47211597@N00/sets/72157614779435468/
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=pittsburgh%20signs&w=47211597%40N00

All in all, I was very taken aback and impressed with such an undertaking. I now have new respect for the signage of the Burgh.

_Rob

Salam, stinogle!

Yes, that multilingual greeting is back. The creators of the original Scrabulous have brought this facebook classic back in all its glory as Lexulous, and I for one am eternally grateful.

Some quick history:

Back in July of 2008, Hasbro filed suit against the owners of Scrabulous, Rajat Agarwalla and Jayant Agarwalla. The same day, EA launched its officially-sanctioned Scrabble game on Facebook, a (still today) buggy and unnecessary animation laden flash app that couldn’t really hold Scrabulous’s jock strap. By September of that year, the court ruled that Rajat and Jayant could keep developing their game, but were forbidden to use Scrabulous, Scrabble or any other “similar sounding” name.

Long story short, Lexulous was created. The game is very similar to Scrabulous, but for some distinct differences, which may hinder its fan base. The points for each letter differ from the original scrabble, and the user is given 8 letters, which is insanely odd to play with. Many of the multipliers have been moved, but thankfully they have removed the 4x multiplier, which was in the original release.

Anyway, its good to see that the corporate giant didn’t completely win this time. Now, we’ll see if Lexulous can truly make Facebook Scrabble an awesome experience again.

PS. Let me know if anyone wants to play. I’m always up for a game.