TweepsMap Widgets

One of the most useful features (At least, I find :)) at TweepsMap is the ability to create widgets. You simply click on the Widget button at the top, select the type and you get your Html code for the widget.
Here is a chart version of the widget

View tweepsmap's profile on TweepsMap

And a map version

View tweepsmap's profile on TweepsMap

Have fun experimenting with the widgets.

2012 Republican Primary the Twitter way

The current republican primary is generating significant buzz in social media, but what if Twitter users voted for their candidate similar to how they followed them?The answer is certainly intriguing, but requires analyzing millions of followers of the 4 leading candidates in the race:

Mitt Romney	338 thousand followers
Rick Santorum	127 thousand followers
Ron Paul	238 thousand followers
Newt Gingrich	1.4 million followers

Plotting this data gives us this chart:

At first glance, Newt Gingrich wins the race without any contest, but considering the nomination is won based on state delegates, we need to see how the breakdown comes out state by state. We generated a TweepsMap for each of the candidates:
NewtGingrich's TweepsMap
RonPaul's TweepsMap
Mitt Romney's TweepsMap
Rick Santorum's TweepsMap

Then we used TweepsMap analytic engine to perform our analysis and compare the candidate profiles to each other.

The first interesting result we see here is that Newt Gingrich's advantage drops significantly on per state basis. Further analysis reveals that a big majority of Gingrich's followers did not fill their user profile. In fact 64% of his followers did not enter a valid location in their profile, this number is higher than a typical profile which normally falls between 10-30%. Of those who filled their profile, Gingrich has a smaller percentage (51%) of followers from the US compared to the other candidates who average around 75%, meaning that only 18% of Gingrich's followers have actually entered a valid US location. Mashable has reported last year that only 8% of Gingrich's Twitter followers are human, while our number is a little higher we are going to leave Gingrich's results in our analysis for the user to judge if it should be counted or not.

Santorum on the other hand appears to be far behind the other candidates in most states. This of course could be attributed to the lack of momentum Santorum had in the initial phase of the campaign, in addition to the fact that both Paul and Romney have been around on main stage politics for much longer including previous presidential runs. In addition, both candidates have much better organized campaigns with more energetic volunteers.

Looking at the state by state data few numbers stand out: Ron Paul gains 56% of the followers in Utah! Utah also seems to be the lowest percentage Santorum than any other state, certainly a state to watch.

Massachusetts gives Romney 49% of the vote which makes sense considering he was a previous governor of that state. Iowa on the other hand gives Santorum his highest number (at 16%) interesting considering he actually won the caucus there, and Pennsylvania gives him 15% which makes sense considering his residency in that state.

Overall we find the results interesting, and may correlate well with the actual results at the primaries themselves.

TweepsMap on BBC

A few weeks ago friend of mine told me that TweepsMap was shown on BBC click. The funny part is that he did not know that TweepsMap was mine, he was just watching the show and thought the app was interesting so he googled it only to find my name all over the place. Who said "Google Plus your world" is not cool?
Anyway here is the show covering for TweepsMap it is in the first segment (after the ads)

More media coverage

Few weeks after the mashable article, TweepsMap got significantly more media coverage. CNet wrote a how to section on how to map where your Twitter followers The Next Web also wrote about TweepsMap. AllTwitter's Lauren also wrote about tweepsMap under "cool stuff" (Thanks Lauren!) and Maximum PC also thought that TweepsMap was the cool site of the week - thanks guys!
It is great to have so many people try out your apps, but even greater to find so many blogs write about it.
Thanks everyone for the great coverage!

TweepsMap featured on Mashable

Having worked hard to build the TweepsMap project, launching it was a little tricky. It was like starting up a new fire, it catches on then it dies on very quickly. There is a certain formula on how to attract others to check out your service, without being too intrusive.
Anyway, throughout the process, few blogs featured TweepsMap on their sites, including Google Maps Mania coverage TweepsMap, few other spanish blogs, but I did not expect how large the effect of Mashable on the number of visitors, as soon as the TweepsMap article was published our servers were overwhelmed, that we had to beef them up, and the wave continued for days. It also had a ripple effect that many other major blogs would write about the service.

Thanks Mashable!

Shake event not always cool :)

Some users complained that if they were driving in a bumpy car ride, the shake event would trigger and the app does something it wasn't supposed to do.Well, I did not think of bumpy rides:) so I am now creating a specific checkbox to disable shake event in bumpy rides.
Enjoy the new fixes, and don't shake your phone too much!

Updating the Finder framework

Just released a new version of the TimHortons Finder Android app that is based on the new Finder framework. This time the framework introduces new concepts like:
* Shaking the phone to bring you to the nearest location
* Share with friends a location that can work on Android, iPhone or even desktop browsers.
* Opening a share link send you directly to the details page within the app
* Accuracy range for current location

The framework has also been enhanced to include fixes.
Enjoy these updates everyone, and find your the nearest TimHortons Locations right on your Android

Google Analytics opt out firefox 4

For some reason, Google is not releasing an Analytics opt out plug in for firefox 4. Unfortunately I was not able to make the xpi file work on firefox, it is probably signed.

So until Google releases an updated version, here is my simple version of opt out on Windows. No coding experience required:
Go to \Windows\System32\drivers\etc
open the hosts file hosts in any text editor
Add this line to the end:
127.0.0.1 www.google-analytics.com

viola! You have blocked Google Analytics.
Use this method at your own risk though, some websites might have integrated with Analytics and if they are not coded properly the javascript on these sites will crash.

In any case, I hope this helps people out there.

Toronto Parking

Say you were driving around looking for parking in Toronto, you looked around and around and found nothing but super expensive lots, you parked your car somewhere and right after you walked out of the expensive lot you find a GreenP around the corner!! ahhh that happened to me once.
So I took it upon myself to find a parking app on my Android (My friend built an app for the iPhone) but I could not find one on Android! c'mon! So I decided to spend a couple of hours to to build an app based on the finder framework for Android I have been working on. And it worked!
No I don't have to pay those hefty $20 fees anymore, nor should any other smart Android user.
Download the Toronto Parking app for Android, or iPhone and enjoy saving on parking.
Cheers.

LCBO and Beer Stores in Ontario

Finding the nearest liquor can be difficult at times especially if you are not in your neighborhood. Quite often you will need to use your computer to find the nearest store, and then it might not be open at the time.
Here is why the Ontario Booze finder comes in play. You can use your Android to find the nearest location with the phones GPS to see what's around, or even search a different neighborhood or city. It will give you directions to the store, operating hours and even the stores phone number.

And if you don't have a data connection it will still work, though with limited functionality (no maps integration or directions) but still does the job!
Give it a try, it's a free app.

Tim Hortons Finder

Finding the nearest TimHortons location has got a lot simpler, with Android TimHortons finder app, you can  avoid driving around to find that Timmy around the corner, especially in those frigid winters. Make use of this free app and save time!
With the help of your Android's GPS locate Tim Hortons stores nearest to your position. You can get directions to the selected location using Google maps directions.
The app can work in offline mode (Though offline mode does not support driving directions and google maps). Sharing with friends on Facebook, Twitter, email is also available.

More details on Tim Hortons Finder

CIBC Locations

A new app has been released to find CIBC locations right from within Android.
The app uses the User's GPS position to locate the nearest ATM or branch then lays them out on a Google map or list view, with distance and the ability to find driving directions to each location.

The app is free on the Android market. For more information check out CIBC Locations.

RBC Locations

RBC locations has been released for the Google Android. RBC customers can now search for RBC branch and ATM locations and avoid paying ATM fees with using a non-RBC machine, when there is an RBC one just right around the corner.
 The app uses Android's GPS to locate the nearest branch/machine then display them on a map, or list sorted by distance.
The app does not require data connection, so the nearest location can be found without requiring data connection.
 For more details check out RBC location Android app.

The rise and fall of Netbooks

Netbooks fast rise has now faded and the number of units shipped has dropped drastically. This is highly attributed the the iPad stealing netbook's thunder. According to Gartner, between October and December last year, PC makers shipped 10.5 million netbooks. That may well be a market peak. Fast forward to this year's first quarter: only 9.7 million units. The second quarter had 8.4 million units. And most likely the numbers will drop even further

First post

This blog will report on technology matters and the different products and releases of future software by RentCompass.