Jacob
Jay
Jacob Jay

Peripatetic British developer, designer and social-entrepreneur.
Specialising in the intersection of software, systems and spaces.

6 HTTP projects

Moonstalk for The Moon Mill

Open-source web development framework and hosting stack using Lua.

Features

  • Automated filesystem to URL mapping for sites and applications, with no configuration necessary before use (including web server)
  • Includes a bespoke low-latency NoSQL database which shares the web application environment and functions, whilst also supporting a task queue with seperate processes
  • Internationalisation and localisation including handling for plurals and GeoIP
  • Best-practice handling of script-loading, CDN assets, canonical tags, addressing, salted passwords, microcaching, deployment (via dCVS), etc.
  • Many supplementary applications providing functionality ranging from calendaring to geospatial search

Links

2010 — Conception, Server, APISummary ↙︎
Details, 2 images

MediaSock Client Framework for Verse

Abstraction framework for media-sharing web-services, utilising loadable modules, and a flexible properties architecture.
Function
Photo Framework API

Innovations

  • First library to enable use of common code and functionality with disparate service providers.
  • Simultaneous classed data and string handling (suitable for AJAX-type web server deployment scenarios as well as desktop).

Features

  • Standardised functionality: list/make albums, list/download/upload media.
  • Initially available with modules for Webshots, Flickr, and Yahoo! Photos.
  • Session saving (service dependant).

Links

2006 — Conception, Server, PhotoSummary ↙︎
Details, 0 images

Mac Uploader Application for Gekko Images

Develop an uploader for a stock-photo service to replace an existing partially automated system of AppleScripts and a multi-step web interface, with a fully automated single-step solution.
Function
Photo

Features

  • Transfers images and metadata from iView MediaPro catalogs to website, transparently through serveral verification and data transfer steps.
2006 — Development, Desktop, PhotoSummary ↙︎
Details, 2 images

MediaSock Protocol for Verse

Lightweight service discovery protocol and web-service API to facilitate handling a user's media assets.
Function
API Photo

Innovations

  • clients can utilise service discovery not only check with a low cost (i.e. via HTTP HEAD) if a provider supports the protcol, but also what methods and characteristics are supported by that provider (interoperability between clients and servers is notably not guaranteed by the protocol)
  • designed from the outset for easy implementation by service providers; could be implemented simply atop existing page forms, using existing cookies for authentication and utilising other common API methods instead of requiring new implementations

Features

  • choice of implementation models for service providers
  • fixed-string XML and values allow parsing of responses without requiring a heavyweight XML parser

Links

2005 — Conception, Server, APISummary ↙︎
Details, 0 images

PictureSync Mac Application for Verse

Batch upload annotated images to web services
Function
Photo API

Innovations

  • Optimised service addition and sign-in UI, including transparent post web authentication token retrieval (e.g. OAuth) using a simple 'becomes frontmost' check
  • First application to upload both image data and annotations
  • First application to interface between both multiple applications and multiple web services
  • Comprehensive abstractions for web service behaviours with modular service plugin architecture including per-plugin version checking
  • Co-branded builds with default sign-in prompts for service providers using an automated build system, and with provider-specific statistics (via a private website login)
  • Only application to be able to upload images and then later sync the annotations (e.g. via Flick API)
  • Only application to employ database-free metadata via file system extended attributes (i.e. for service upload IDs)
  • Transparent licence activation after purchase on website

Features

  • Integral image and metadata manipulation functions
  • Support for multiple disparate web-service APIs for uploads with an aggregate progress UI
  • Interfaces with the file system and external applications to collect data, including support for standards-based emebedded IPTC/XMP and XMP sidecar files for annotations
  • Fullscreen view

Links

2004 — Conception, Desktop, PhotoSummary ↙︎
Details, 19 images

OnDeck Mac Application for Verse

View iTunes track artwork and upload to a website
Function
Photo

Innovations

  • First and only application to avoid polling iTunes every second or so, and instead more efficiently poll by simply calculating when the track ends, thus avoiding undue CPU load
  • Use of variables for configuring metadata preferences
  • Creation of JPEG artwork from iTunes PICT wrapper
  • First application to provide artwork upload

Features

  • Locates artwork from disk, or extracts from iTunes
  • Integrated Last.fm scrobbling

Links

2003 — Conception, Desktop, PhotoSummary ↙︎
Details, 2 images