Tag Archives: API

PayPal Developer Day

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I went to the PayPay Developer Day at The Grace Hotel yesterday, which was described as the launch of  a community for PayPal developers in Australia, the first country outside the US (and Canada?) to participate.  I’ve since noticed the UK in there as well. Since they rightly recognised that developers are their front line and are often the people who scope and recommend a payment processing option, they want to both support and influence their decisions.

Unfortunately it was more of a marketing than developer event, with not enough real world examples and more of a lecture-based set of presentations. As one dev put it, he could have happily followed a few links to play with new features in the API in his own time, as he gained nothing extra from the half-day session away from his computer(s). Devs don’t “look” at code as much as some people think; they look at code as much as cooks “read” recipes. They want to bite into code and try the new ingredients in their own kitchens and with their own pots, pans and spices, and their ideas for flavour combinations. They are very much hands-on people.

But for those with their planning or implementation hats on it was a great day. If you need your payment process channel to do more, and you like the types of tools and features PayPal offers, then selling it as the solution has become much easier. The devs are well supported, both with a local developer centre for all the devs who pass the PayPal Certified Developer exam, as well as a sandbox to test out your installed APIs and mods.

I was a bit worried that it ended earlier than scheduled, so maybe they trimmed out too much from what they thought would fill the day, but I had a great talk with a few of their reps. Seems like The Australian office is pushing the US office for more agility and improvement on the User interface, which looks like it was designed by coders from the 90’s and has no design considerations at all. And it looks like the locals here will get to influence what happens in code much more, by being vocally involved in the dev centre. And to top it off, they were giving out free exams to the first 150 through the event, a saving of $300 (three exams, $100 each).

If you use paypay on your site(s) or are a developer or Project Manager considering a payment gateway or agent, the new tools available, and the certification process presented by paypal will definitely get you closer to a better pay experience.

The world doesn’t need another Facebook App

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OK so it’s been written about by voices more dextrous than mine but I felt I had to have a go. I just wrote my paltry list of “friends” that I would prefer it if they did not send me any more invites to bite their Zombie’s Friends character, or tend their Lil’ Green Patch of Who’s Sexier than who’s friends’ Zombie, or invite me to the Zombie bloody Karma Astrology Chart!

*WHEW!*

I love the SuperWall, very much enjoy getting pictures of recent exploits and journeys they’ve taken, and the new chat feature is great! They never got twitter to work properly, that’s a different story, but really, c’mon, do we really need these little apps that add nothing to our online relationships? If the point of Facebook is to keep in touch, however tenuously, with people we love, like or know, then why put barriers between our communications rather than lubricants? (I’m sure someone has created a “My Favourite Sexual Lubricant” FB App, but that’s another story!). It’s not their fault, open up an API (that’s Application Programming Interface to you humans out there) to the general public and every geek with two digits to spare will start to get interested, and want to write something mere mortals will like. Worse, som people will write something rather similar to what others have created, in order to nab some of their kudos.

But I started to find some real annoyances with these FB Apps. They sucked time out of my life for little gain. I found myself one day spending 20 minutes of my life raking my Lil’ Green Patch (allegedly to plant a real tree somewhere – yeah, right!), and buying a hose and rake, and trowel, and sending other friends cutesy anthropomorphic plants for their gardens…, when what I was truly interested in was how were these people feeling today, what do they think about the upcoming elections or latest political gaffe or recommending music or films…..

So my FB friends have now been notified! No more pictures of drinks or spanks with virtual leather gloved mistresses or invitations to vote on who looks most like XXX from the TV show YYY (haven’t got a telly anyway!!). But pictures from your real life trip or a message that you are feeling the pinch of the banking debacle or read a great book, saw a great film or ate a great meal and want us all to know about it, brill!

More of that please!