December 4, 2008
The amount of e-mail exchanges I’ve had with Matt Brooke-Smith, Memiary’s outstanding iPhone app developer, in the last 7 days to ensure Memiary for iPhone turns out to be the best app ever. Matt has been a ridiculous gem to work with and I can only imagine all the crazy perfectionist demands he’s had to endure, but it’s all worked out for the best. As soon as Apple approves, all iPhone and iPod Touch users alike will be given the opportunity to make their memories memorable forever. From their pocket. Even while they’re visiting Alaska. Check out Matt’s other apps here, and if you need one made, be sure to get in touch with him.

The amount of e-mail exchanges I’ve had with Matt Brooke-Smith, Memiary’s outstanding iPhone app developer, in the last 7 days to ensure Memiary for iPhone turns out to be the best app ever.

Matt has been a ridiculous gem to work with and I can only imagine all the crazy perfectionist demands he’s had to endure, but it’s all worked out for the best. As soon as Apple approves, all iPhone and iPod Touch users alike will be given the opportunity to make their memories memorable forever. From their pocket. Even while they’re visiting Alaska.

Check out Matt’s other apps here, and if you need one made, be sure to get in touch with him.

Coming soon.

Coming soon.

November 21, 2008

Settings: Twitter Integration, Change Password, Reminders, and More!

A lot of wishes have been fulfilled with the addition of a few settings.

Reminders
There is now an “e-mail” tab under Settings which asks you to officially associate your account with an e-mail address — used for ‘forgot your password’ recovery (coming soon) — and more importantly, gives you the option to set a “daily” reminder. A reminder is essentially a once-a-day e-mail if you haven’t recorded anything for that day yet — useful for forgetters, like me!

Change Password
I’ve been bombarded with e-mails by people asking to change passwords, and I was embarrassed at one point that you couldn’t already do so. So, better late than never, here it is.

Twitter Integration
I am really excited about this. Here’s how you can set it up:

  1. Go the Twitter tab under Settings.
  2. Enter your username, and if you’d like to have reminders (they work just like e-mail reminders, but send you a direct message instead). Press “Setup”.
  3. Make sure you’re following @memiary and it’s following you back (can take a minute or two).
  4. Dm the activation code given (remember to tweet it like it is.) Example: d memiary #activate fjanj28dj.
  5. Wait for the validation response.
  6. You should be all setup!

You can now add or edit entries to Memiary via Twitter using the following convention: d memiary #[List Item #1 - 5] [Your Memory]. For example: d memiary #4 Went swimming for 40 mins. If the list item # already exists for today, it is replaced, and if it doesn’t, it is added. On a typical day, your tweets will look like this:

  1. d memiary #1 Woke up @ 6, went jogging.
  2. d memiary #2 Went to work, ate breakfast with team, talked financials.
  3. d memiary #3 Went to see ‘Twiilight’ after work w/ Kathy.
  4. d memiary #4 Had dinner at Junnoon.
  5. d memiary #5 Read some ‘Hot, Flat, and Crowded’ before going to bed.

There are a couple bottom-lines to this. First, this means that Memiary will work wherever Twitter works. Twhirl, TweetDeck, Twitterific, iPhone, SMS, you name it. Second, for those who are bad with everyday scheduled tasks, this eliminates your need to have to visit memiary.com every day. Set a daily Twitter reminder, send a few dm’s, visit Memiary weekly or bi-weekly to see what you’ve been doing lately, and you’re set to have your memories catalogued for life!

Export
A lot of users reported not being able to find the RSS/iCal links placed on the past week/month/year archive pages. So, there is now an “export” tab in Settings which lays it out for you.

November 17, 2008
“ Features tell you what you can do, constraints tell you what to do.

After a debate I had with a Memiary user this morning, I’ve been thinking about this all day, and I think that phrase sums up my belief. In the end, none of them is better than the other, but just more suited to the type of product you are creating and the type of user you are serving.

Memiary is supposed to be simple, minimal, focused, and something even my grandmother can use, so embodying constraints into its soul is what’s best for the type of the product that it is — this way, the user is told what to do, and most of them are not left in the dust with things they can, but never will do, creating a mist around what they should be doing with it. Its potential and purpose are best served with its constraints.

On the other hand, some products are supposed to be rich, open, and serve the ‘hacker’ type of user and usage, in which case, constraints are just going to make its users mad, get in their way, and limit the product to its potential — what it could be, but what it isn’t.

The iPhone is a perfect example of a product trapped in the middle of the two types of products and the two types of uses. Steve Jobs’ vision is to serve me and my grandmother at the same time. My grandmother would be amazed at what it can do, and would never want to go beyond it. On the other hand, I want to hack it to the level that it can make calls to the moon while displaying a video wallpaper and tethering to my laptop.

The Delimma:

  • If Steve doesn’t tell my grandmother what to do with it, she won’t use it.
  • If Steve limits what I can do with it, I won’t use it.

The Solution:

  • An App Store which lets us make applications, enabling us to use the iPhone to do what we want with it, and go far far beyond its original use and potential, BUT with Apple’s approval.
  • All the product’s settings hidden under the “Settings” section, never to be seen by anyone who won’t use it and modified like crazy by those who want to use it in their own way, BUT only limited to what Apple wants us to modify, not what we want to.
  • A computer-based syncing software with a focused experience to enable us to transfer music, videos, podcasts, and what not to the device easily, BUT not any other type of file, and only those files which can be read and seen by iTunes, preferably purchased from their store.

In one word: compromise.

(via sidyadav)

November 16, 2008

Memiary was mentioned on this week’s episode of my favorite podcast of all time, commandN. When I say it’s been one of my few milestones to achieve for Memiary, I’m not kidding. Thanks, Amber and crew!

iCal Export

Beside the RSS icon in the Past archives pages, you can now find an iCal icon which links to the .ics file corresponding to the particular view (week, month, year, etc.) Click, save, import into Outlook, iCal, or Google Calendar, and have your memories preserved in your trusty calendar, forever.

…but that’s not all!

The coolest thing about exporting in the iCal format is that you can subscribe to it (or share the URL for others to subscribe to) with your calendar tool. If you use Outlook 2007, iCal, or Google Calendar, copy the URL (instead of clicking on it, right click + copy link location) and look for the ‘Subscribe’ option in your tool. Once subscribed, the new entries should automatically ‘pop-in’ every day!

November 13, 2008

Update - 13/11/08

  • The iPhone app is well under way, and we hope to have it out really soon. Matt, who is collaborating with me on it, has a great idea of what it should be, and I have no doubt he’ll pull of something better than I can imagine.
  • I got started on the Settings page but couldn’t settle on a “layout” suitable to the aesthetics of Memiary. I hope I can see the light soon, because oh believe me I do know how simple and necessary a “change password” addition is.
  • I had the chance to look into the iCal format over the weekend. It sure has a weird structure, but looks easy enough. Hoping to deploy it soon.
  • A lot of people have been asking for a reminder service, and I’m puzzled as to how I should go about it. E-mail seems to be the most convenient option, but most backward. (Do you really want an inbox full of Memiary alerts? I have a feeling it will add some “guilt” to the experience of the service.) IM would be best if I knew how to do it. Twitter seems a middle ground, but not everybody has an account and uses it regularly. Ugh.
Questions? Feedback? Suggestions? Problems? I’m an e-mail away.

Indie Startups

a really great blog about bootstrapped-startups, gives Memiary a nice mention. Without sounding biased, I think Memiary is the most accurate example of a “bootstapped-startup.” Built over a weekend, with literally $0 and some Coke Zero.

Bitelia

has some really great things to say about Memiary in Spanish. Oh how I <3 international publicity.

Awesomeology

calls Memiary awesome and describes it as a “web based diary for anyone who is not a 12 year old girl.” I love that analogy.