You are viewing [info]brower's journal

 

kris brower

About Recent Entries

DealFan update Apr. 25th, 2010 @ 08:42 am
I just updated Deal Fan, the deal aggregator that I built. Based on the initial feedback I got from asking on reddit, I added automatic categorization and a search feature.

Let me know what you think

Posted via email from kbrower's posterous


Vegetarian and Vegan Search Engines + Restaurant Discounts Apr. 21st, 2010 @ 11:52 am
I have had quite a few requests to make veg versions of Recipe Puppy, which lets you search recipes by ingredients. In response I have created two new search engines, Vegetarian Recipe Search and Vegan Recipe Search.

I am also excited about recipe coupons and restaurant gift certificates, two very very similar new sites that make it easier to find restaurant coupons near you.

All these sites are works in progress, so let me know if anything is not working as expected.

Posted via email from kbrower's posterous


Google Webmaster Tools Search Data Apr. 17th, 2010 @ 07:37 am
With a recent update to google webmaster tools you can see how many impressions your site gets for keywords and the resulting click through rate at each position.

This data is awesome. I thought it was interesting that for queries where my website ranks number one, the click through rate is 75-80%.

Posted via email from kbrower's posterous


Amazon Kindle in Linux Apr. 16th, 2010 @ 03:34 pm
I have started reading a lot of books on my iphone, and was hoping to install it under Ubuntu 9.10.

Unfortunately, there is is no linux version yet and the Lifehacker instructions did not work for me.

Luckily I have virtualbox installed an the Windows kindle reader installed perfectly under XP. Unfortunately you can't search within the book, which makes my copy of The Flavor Bible<img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=krisssoccersi-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0316118400" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> a lot less useful.

Posted via email from kbrower's posterous


Browse Restaurant.com More Easily Apr. 2nd, 2010 @ 01:01 pm
I updated the app I made to make browsing restaurants on restaurant.com more pleasant. Let me know what you think: http://www.recipepuppy.com/restaurant/

Posted via email from kbrower's posterous

Other entries
» Play Haley Off Keyboard Cat

Posted via email from kbrower's posterous


» Untitled
Recipe Puppy is the #1 bookmark on http://delicious.com

Posted via email from kbrower's posterous


» Untitled
Recipe Puppy is the #1 bookmark on http://delicious.com/

Posted via email from kbrower's posterous


» Amazon Filler Item Finder on TV a few more times

Originally published at krisbrower.com. You can comment here or there.

I have had a web site be on TV before, but never in the USA. My site was recently on MyFox Philly briefly in a segment about Cyber Monday and saving money online. Here is a link to the page that has the article and the video clip!

Update: It was on TV again! Also Terri’s consumer blog mentioned that my website was in Consumer Report’s Shop smart magazine.


» Facebook Apps: PHP Invite Code

Originally published at krisbrower.com. You can comment here or there.

One thing I needed when making my second facebook application is a simple way for users to invite your friends. I found a few examples, but none of them were really what I was looking for. This code uses the ajax multiple friend select box(<fb:multi-friend-input>) for inviting friends instead of a long list or a random list of all your friends. You will need facebook.php and facebookapi_php5_restlib.php from facebook_client.tar.gz. If you want to see this invite code in action add the need numbers application. Here is the code:

<?php

/////////////////////////////////////////////
// These are the variables you need to change
/////////////////////////////////////////////

// your app api key
$appapikey = ‘changeme’;
// your app secret
$appsecret = ‘changeme’;
// your callback url
$appcallbackurl = ‘http://website.tld/’;
// your facebook url of this page
$inviteurl = ‘http://app.facebook.com/app/invite.php’;

/////////////////////////////////////////////
// This is the beginning of the section which includes and set up the php5 rest lib
/////////////////////////////////////////////

require_once ‘facebook.php’;

$facebook = new Facebook($appapikey, $appsecret);
$user = $facebook->require_login();

//catch the exception that gets thrown if the cookie has an invalid session_key in it
try {
if (!$facebook->api_client->users_isAppAdded()) {
$facebook->redirect($facebook->get_add_url());
}
} catch (Exception $ex) {
//this will clear cookies for your application and redirect them to a login prompt
$facebook->set_user(null, null);
$facebook->redirect($appcallbackurl);
}

/////////////////////////////////////////////
// These are the variables may want to change
/////////////////////////////////////////////
// The title of your Invite message
$title = ‘You have been invited’;
// The body of your Invite message
$text = ‘<fb:name uid=”‘.$user.’” firstnameonly=”true” /> invited you to join this app. <fb:pronoun uid=”‘.$user.’” /> wants you to join.<fb:req-choice url=”‘.$facebook->get_add_url().’” label=”Add it” />’;
// The logo associated with your invite message
$logo = ‘http://website.com/logo.gif’;
// Success message for when invites succeeded
$iworked = ‘<fb:success><fb:message>Your invitations have been sent</fb:message></fb:success>’;
// Error message for when all invites have been used
$ierror = ‘<fb:error><fb:message>You are out of invites, try again tomorrow</fb:message></fb:error>’;

/////////////////////////////////////////////
// This is the beginning of the section that processes the invites
/////////////////////////////////////////////
if ($_POST[’ids’]) {
// Invite the friends that were selected.
$friends = array();
foreach ($_POST[’ids’] as $value) {
if (count($friends) < 10) {
$friends[count($friends)] = $value;
}
}
$tail = ‘&canvas’;
$url = $facebook->api_client->notifications_sendRequest($friends, $title, $text, $logo, true);

if(!$url){
// If the maximum number of invites has been reached
$facebook->redirect($inviteurl.”?i=1″);
exit;
}else{
$facebook->redirect($url.$tail);
exit;
}
}

if ($_GET[’sent’] == 1) {
// Display a message letting the user know invitations have been successfully sent.
echo $iworked;
}

if($i==”1″){
// Error message for when all invites have been used
echo $ierror;
}

/////////////////////////////////////////////
// This is the beginning of the actual invite form
/////////////////////////////////////////////
echo ‘<div style=”margin:20px”>
<h2>Invite some Friends</h2>
<form action=”‘.$inviteurl.’” method=”post”><fb:multi-friend-input width=”350px” border_color=”#8496ba” /><input type=”submit” value=”Invite” /></form>
</div>’;

?>


Top of Page Powered by LiveJournal.com