Archive for February, 2010

Working closely with our first beta users we’ve identified a number of possible improvements in the interface and existing work-flow. This lead the redesign efforts in refreshed user interface that we’re introducing today. First thing that you’ll notice is simplified home screen with less buttons that will help you focus on the primary task – sharing of items and status updates.

Other notable changes include:

• unread messages counter next to flows
• tools page for easy access to bookmarklet and mobile apps
• when joining a group, group flow in the sidebar is not automatically created anymore
• improved events interface
• online colleagues indicator in the sidebar

As always, use the Feedback button in your Flowr interface to let us know if we you discover a bug or realization that there is something that you miss in the interface.

As Real-Time evolved as the next evolutionary step for the Web, it’s time to start looking into the future. What will the next steps look like, what technologies are emerging and available today and what do we still need to build in order to enable next generation of Web Applications.

Matjaž Lipuš, our CTO,  covered these questions in his technical talk at RealTime WebCamp this past weekend. There are lots of useful tips and bits of experience hidden inside:

Simple status updates as we know them now are with us because Twitter limits us to 140 characters of text-only message. We can embed links or use micro-syntax (# – hashtags, @ – at replies, etc.) to make it richer but it stops there. While this might make sense if you’re trying to keep 100% compatibility with SMS, it doesn’t make sense in today’s IT enabled Enterprise. Laptops and smart devices (iPhone, BlackBerry) are now part of our basic work tools, so there is no need to limit communication to 140 characters of text.

That is why Flowr goes beyond simple status updates and allows you to post rich status updates that are easy to read and interact with. This allows you to post a link to SlideShare and Flowr will automatically generate embed and allow others to view it directly from inside the application.

There are also other types of messages like polls, TODO’s, events, ideas and questions that each has its own specific interaction type, making it easier to quickly scan and filter the stream of messages. We also make sure to embed extra meta-data to the status updates when we can, like automatically tagging links that you share to make it even easier for later retrieval.

While a most of the messages posted to our internal Flowr are still simple text, we’re loving the liberating feeling that allows you to post more extensive and information rich content when you need to, without having to use external services like url shorteners or image hosting sites.

We’re happy to announce that Flowr was selected as one of the 20 finalists for the mini-Seedcamp Zagreb. We’ve heard so many good things about it, from previous Seedcamp participants and mentors, that we can’t wait to pitch our idea to a room full of smart entrepreneurs and investors.

To go together with our gradual opening of the service, we’ve also prepared a short screencast that presents basics of Flowr and how it can help your team