Is there MetaWeblog API support in the OPML Editor blogs?

Has anyone out there had any luck in using the metaWeblog API to post to their OPML.org blog?

I can do it with a WordPress blog, and I assumed Dave’s system would support it. There are references to it in the .root files.

I tried to send an xmlrpc message (metaWeblog.newPost) to:

rpc.opml.org with a path of /RPC2 to port 5337 - with the appropriate parameters (I hope)

The server replied that metaWeblog was not defined. I’m quite suprised by this. I must be doing something wrong. Anyone got any ideas?

Also, does anyone know where I might find a list of blogging system which support the metaWeblog API? I notice that blogger.com is moving over to the ATOM API, which makes life slightly more complicated.

Evan’s Podcasting site roundup feedback

Evan Williams, founder of Pyra - which became Blogger.com and head honcho of Odeo has got some Alexa results of podcasting sites out there and provides some feedback.

Good job. Nice to see Libsyn pumping away at the top. I really like those guys.

So, I’m not surprised to see the results for podcast.com

We opened up the doors of the site back at the end of May, as an ‘alpha’, based on some of the early foundation technology we’re building, simply because we couldn’t bare to look at the old horrible greenish page that used to be there any more The feedback we’ve had has been positive.

Since then, we been going like the clappers, not sleeping much, slowly but surely bringing together a whole load of features you haven’t seen yet. The list of subscriptions in the directory there are basically *mine*. As in my user account. There’s two actually - a user called kosso curates the canada.podcast.com directory and the secondlife.podcast.com directory (they’re actually folders within koz.podcast.com). Soon you’ll be able to create your own version of the site and have access to a load of tools and info to get you going in podcasting, whether it’s as a listener or a podcaster. We have publishing tools too - and some pretty nifty urls and data for you to play with. Some original content too! (I can’t wait to let you in on all that )

I often use the analogy of the book industry to describe what we’re up to:

To start, we want to help people find books they want to read and let the author know what they think. Moving along, we want to help people build bookshelves to put all these books on. Then give people the tools to build whole libraries - and connect them together.

Back the other way, we naturally want to help people publish books. And help promote their hard work. Then back, we want to help teach people how to write a book and provide nice and easy tools to do so. Even further back to the core, we also want to help people make paper and ink and even research new types of paper and ink, which might make a book easier to read or understand and hopefully more popular!.

As the people running the generic domain, we intend to DO THE RIGHT THING. What else would you do with the generic domain? I left the BBC to work on this, as I’m incredibly passionate about podcasting having fiddled with building tools and systems since it started. Becoming a podcaster (but not as frequently as I would like - that’s why I’m builfing tools ). Meeting the likes of Dave Winer and Adam Curry last year was a real motivator. Still is. Respec’.
I really didn’t want the site to end up squatted or parked or simply wasted. I’m on a mission (from pod). ‘With great domains comes great responsibility’. We have some interesting things coming up soon which might perk up your ears

I’ve just got back from Boston after a great time with the rest of the boys - making sure we’re all on the same playlist and getting the new hands on deck up to speed with the system, ethos and roadmap for the whole place. It’s been very reassuring.

We still have alot to do to get the site open as a public beta, where people will be able to join up and have a go at using the tools we’re putting together. It won’t all come at once. We intend to listen to what you think and iterate. We think it’s going to be an exciting resource for anyone interested in podcasting.

It’s going to be a few more weeks, but now we can all see the next checkpoint. There is no finish line

I tried to post to my OPML.org blog

I tried sending an xmlrpc post to my opml.org blog.

Connecting to rpc.opml.org port 5337 at endpoint /RPC2

The reply I got back was that metaWeblog was not defined? Hmmmm.. ??Yes it must be. I must be doing something kooky.
I’ll have a deeper look into this when I get back to London.

I have been meaning to learn how to do this for use in the blogHUD for a while I’d like to support as many blogging systems as possible. Hurrah for XML-RPC!

IT BLINKIN’ WORKED!!!

Excellent news for blogHUDers!!!

This means I will be
able to set up the abilty to post from Second Life directly to your blog, if it supports the metaWebLog API!!! w00000Tt!!! This is
a truly momentous moment for me. I have never tried this before! Happy ! happy Joy! Joy!!!! Stay tuned!! I’ll give you the HUDsUP,
just as soon as I have it ready!!!

Yeee haaawwww!!!!

Post via the Metaweblog api!!

Some content posted using MetaWeblog API

Pajamas Don’t Podcast

I noticed Dave mentioned he was interviewed by Andrew Keen, who I have met through podcast.com activities. I’m glad to see he called it an interview and not a podcast. Why? No RSS feed at all containing the ability for me to subscribe to a series.

To quote Andrew in the interview “RSS is so simple - so elegant”

Andrew’s ‘AfterTV’ did have someone doing a feed for him a while back, but now it looks like Andrew is creating content now for some set up called Pajamas Media. They call themselves the best in global blogging, podcasts and opinion. Blogs? Check. Podcasts. Nope. MP3s to download from the site? Yes. Opinion? No doubt.

They say there are podcasts there - and in their Politics Central section - but I cannot find any at all. Sure, there are some MP3 which have had alot of time and effort put into the them to produce them, but no podcasts.

No feed = Not a podcast (IMHO)

To quote Dave in the interview : “Podcasting is another thing I invented”

I really wish people would do that final last leg of the production effort properly. I also wonder if the hosts etc realise their content is now stuck on a website many people will not have heard of - and not out there being freely aggregated all over the world, while telling anyone who sees it about that website and production team.

This happened few weeks back from Andrew, where he had interviewed Philip Rosedale from Linden Lab (which I now can’t find - no search results for Linden on PM or PC) . I like Andrew’s style and interviews, but he should get someone to sort out his feeds.

He’ll be glad to know the publishing system over at podcast.com is just about ready to roll.

OPML.org snagged

I’m not alone in not being able to post to my (free) opml.org blog for the past couple of days since the hardware changes Dave mentioned the other day.

Radio silence from support.opml.org (ie: no reply - server down too)

Hope it gets fixed soon. It’s frustrating when things go down - probably to Dave the most, mind. But he’s able to blog to SN ok though and go to parties.

Turn on - Tune in - POD OFF!

Well, the world is still going completely mad. Not only are Apple trying to own anything that starts with a ‘i’, they are now taking steps to stop products and brands with the lettters POD in it.

“… As set forth below, Apple is concerned that the application for and use of the PROFIT POD mark infringes its trademark rights and dilutes Apple’s famous IPOD brand…

…We believe there is confusing similarity between Apple’s IPOD mark and the PROFIT POD mark. PROFIT POD is a POD-formative mark and incorporates a substantial portion of Apple’s IPOD mark. The products are likewise related. Both devices receive and transmit data and are used with computers, both are used in connection with video games, and both have other similar components. Moreover, it has not gone unnoticed that, like Apple’s IPOD device, the PROFIT POD product is a small, flat, round corned rectangular device with a display screen. In addition to the likelihood of confusion between the products, because Apple’s mark is famous, it is entitled to protection from dilution attributable to the PROFIT POD mark.”

For f*cks sake - what’s the bloody point? It’s idiocy if you ask me. No bloody wonder people have to make up such stupid names without vowels etc to create a new brand! I had to say it - “piss off Apple!”

It reminds me of whem Sun decided to stop all things j-a-v-a, which annoyed me years ago when I owned vajava.com

How will this nonsense fare for the likes of PODcast.com, PODshow, PODnet, PODtech etc, etc, etc.

Expect more swearing.

I’m the proud owner of an Apple MacBookPro and a MacMini (along with 8 Windows 8 PCs), but now I just remembered why I hate Apple so much. They LOCK YOU IN - they take away your FREEDOM. Sure, they have cute design, but can you build your own Mac? NO! Never. Arse!

Are Apple rewriting your podcast MP3 ID3 tags??

On today’s Daily Source Code, Adam Curry mentions that when a podcast gets downloaded and synced through iTunes, Apple are rewriting the ID3 tags in the MP3 file - editing it and replacing some fields with info from the RSS feed.

WTF?? - Was my initial reaction. But I do wonder what people think about this, if it;s true. It’s clearly just as bad as the feed manipulation Podshow were seen to be doing.

At least poshow fixed it. I doubt Apple will.

What do YOU think?

Apple still make it impossible to copy and paste a podcast RSS feed (hidden behind the ‘i’ icon, AFTER you susbscribe using iTunes) so you can subscribe using a different reader. I suppose the only thing to do is use another podcast feed reader (podcatcher).
The KoolAid effect around the iPod is staggering. No one who owns one has any idea how the rest of the world without an iPod or iTunes is doing things. It’s like AOL’s early walled garden kidding users that there was not a world wide web out there. So many people think that to get podcasts, they need an iPod. So many people are forced into using iTunes, which is one of the worst bits of software I have ever been forced to use. I mean it.

I got an iPod to just see for myself what all the fuss is about. Sure, I too can get swept off my feet my a lovely, well-built gadget but the user experience with iTunes and the iPod has been awful. I wonder if it would be different if I didn’t know as much as I do about the alternatives and freedom available.

I’m amazed Steve Jobs didn’t announce an iPadlock at yesterday’s WWDC. Foolproof lockin for the masses.

I do love my MacBookPro though. Can’t wait for the winter. Mmmm, toasty.