Playster Gets a Facelift, Opens to Community Participation
Gets fully redesigned, 'hyper-jazz-ified', Adds Last.fm to list of events providers, Opens new 'add' feature, giving other events sites access, An API is being built for developers, Built on Google's App Engine.
Bangkok, Thailand, August 08, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Playster (www.playster.org), the events search engine, has had a major facelift and key features added, opening the door for other events sites to add events directly to the search index.
Playster has been redesigned to give it a more engaging look and feel. Early feedback has suggested this is a major improvement and for the most part the 'yawn-factor' has been drastically reduced. "The nerd factor is high around here and for us design was something of an afterthought. About the time we were making design a priority, we were approached by someone offering to provide his design services. It worked out and we're very happy with the end result. Even my mother, who is in her mid-70s, remarked 'jazzy'," said Matthew Smith, Playster's development lead.
An 'add' feature has been introduced to Playster to allow publishers, promoters, and venue owners to add events directly to the search results. The system itself is based on passing encrypted keys (in hyperlinks) to contributors via email. This eliminates the need for account registration and sign-on, simplifying the process.
"I personally hate being asked to sign up for yet another website, so I don't expect people to do the same for Playster. We did look at shared login systems, but since we're not storing sensitive personal information, we didn't think the overhead and complexity was worth it. We also have no intention of creating a wall around crowdsourced data, which is an unfortunate reality on the web today," said Matthew.
Playster expects to release an API in the near future which will allow contributors to submit events via a RESTful interface. API keys will be granted via a similar email identification process. Playster also plans to develop an outgoing API for users' events sometime in the future as well.
Expanding reach
Last.fm was added recently as a source for event information. "Last.fm is focused on music, of course, which we are not limited to, but their reach is truly incredible. Most events databases are biased towards North America and Europe, but Last.fm goes just about everywhere. That allows us to kick start in communities where we couldn't have without them," said Matthew.
Moving forward
Playster's primary mid-term strategy is to promote itself to web-savvy venue owners, promoters and niche events sites. "There are a wealth of sites out there maintained by publishers that target a specific venue, region or city. While they often do contribute to existing events databases, we meet them halfway by feeding traffic directly to them. That's one of our unique selling points for promoters. They can not only get the word out about their activities, they can increase the number of eyes on their own sites," said Matthew.
Technology
Playster is built on Google's App Engine, written in Python, Django and jQuery. Geocoding for searches is done via two third-party databases. The search and geocoding algorithms were written specifically for Playster.
Links:
http://www.playster.org
http://blog.playster.org
http://www.playster.org/media
###
Playster has been redesigned to give it a more engaging look and feel. Early feedback has suggested this is a major improvement and for the most part the 'yawn-factor' has been drastically reduced. "The nerd factor is high around here and for us design was something of an afterthought. About the time we were making design a priority, we were approached by someone offering to provide his design services. It worked out and we're very happy with the end result. Even my mother, who is in her mid-70s, remarked 'jazzy'," said Matthew Smith, Playster's development lead.
An 'add' feature has been introduced to Playster to allow publishers, promoters, and venue owners to add events directly to the search results. The system itself is based on passing encrypted keys (in hyperlinks) to contributors via email. This eliminates the need for account registration and sign-on, simplifying the process.
"I personally hate being asked to sign up for yet another website, so I don't expect people to do the same for Playster. We did look at shared login systems, but since we're not storing sensitive personal information, we didn't think the overhead and complexity was worth it. We also have no intention of creating a wall around crowdsourced data, which is an unfortunate reality on the web today," said Matthew.
Playster expects to release an API in the near future which will allow contributors to submit events via a RESTful interface. API keys will be granted via a similar email identification process. Playster also plans to develop an outgoing API for users' events sometime in the future as well.
Expanding reach
Last.fm was added recently as a source for event information. "Last.fm is focused on music, of course, which we are not limited to, but their reach is truly incredible. Most events databases are biased towards North America and Europe, but Last.fm goes just about everywhere. That allows us to kick start in communities where we couldn't have without them," said Matthew.
Moving forward
Playster's primary mid-term strategy is to promote itself to web-savvy venue owners, promoters and niche events sites. "There are a wealth of sites out there maintained by publishers that target a specific venue, region or city. While they often do contribute to existing events databases, we meet them halfway by feeding traffic directly to them. That's one of our unique selling points for promoters. They can not only get the word out about their activities, they can increase the number of eyes on their own sites," said Matthew.
Technology
Playster is built on Google's App Engine, written in Python, Django and jQuery. Geocoding for searches is done via two third-party databases. The search and geocoding algorithms were written specifically for Playster.
Links:
http://www.playster.org
http://blog.playster.org
http://www.playster.org/media
###
Contact
Playster Inc.
Matthew Smith
66851239642
www.playster.org
Matthew Smith
66851239642
www.playster.org
Contact
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