Incoming!

Recent Activity, Social Network Browsing, Token API

So, you might have noticed a few small changes around here over the past few days... The biggest are the recent activity, social network browsing, and the new token-based API authentication.

Recent Activity

The most obvious change is on every Upcoming.org page, over there on the right. We're now listing the last five recent changes, specifically related to you, your friends, and your events. If someone's added you as a friend, joined or commented on one of your events, or invited you to an event, you'll get a little note. Or, if you like, see all of your recent activity at once.

Social Network Browsing

The other day, Simon asked us why he couldn't browse his Upcoming.org second-degree friends (i.e. "friends of friends") on Upcoming. We didn't have a good reason, so Gordon got to work.

After adding it to the site, I immediately found over 30 friends that were actively using Upcoming.org but never noticed. Here's my new friends list, for example.

Try clicking through your own friends list, and look for their list of friends and friends' events at the bottom of each user profile page. If you see anyone you know, click the little blue icon to add them as a friend.

Token-Based Authentication

Want to write an application that securely allows you to access user data, without prompting them for the username and password? Try our new token-based authentication. Similar to Flickr's excellent API, this new API opens the doors for any developer who wants to let their users syndicate events to Upcoming, or get personalized Upcoming.org user events or social networks from desktop or mobile applications.

If you have questions about the API, or just want to talk with other developers about hacking on events data, join the new yws-events group.