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New Goo.gl URL shortener API lets third party developers in on the outrageous fun that is Google URL shortening
Just a quick note, because we know how much you love APIs: Google has opened its URL shortening service to third party developers. That's right -- not only can you use Goo.gl to generate QR codes, but now you can build it into your own software. As well as support for URL shortening and expanding, the API will also let you track your history and analytics. Says Ben D'Angelo of the URL shortening team: "You could use these features for a wide variety of applications, enabling behaviors ranging from auto-shortening within Twitter or Google Buzz clients to running regular jobs that monitor your usage statistics and traffic patterns." The team is also working to improve spam and malicious site detection for the service. Since the government of Greenland seems to be a bit more stable than that of a certain Muammar al-Gaddafi, we're sure that Google won't run into the same problems that vb.ly did (although we wonder if things would change if Kuupik Kleist got his own voluptuous Ukrainian nurse). Hit the source link to get coding.
Ask Massively: New Mega Man games edition
I'm really happy to see that we're getting two new Mega Man games at long last. Mega Man Universe looks like it's going to be pretty awesome, even if it should really be taking cues from later installments, and Mega Man Legends 3 is a game that I've been waiting to see for... yeah, just about 10 years. Unfortunately, that does mean that I'm going to have to purchase another platform for the game, but that's all right by me. I already have a few dozen systems in my house; one more isn't going to hurt. But we're not here to talk about my pet causes -- we're here for the latest edition of Ask Massively. This week's questions were all about Chronicles of Spellborn and administrative details, so click on past the cut for our answers, and send your questions in to ask@massively.com! Or just leave them right here in the comments, makes no nevermind to us.
Goo.gl URL shortener can also spit out QR codes, if you ask it nicely
Once again, Google fails at being ordinary. Although the claim with its Goo.gl URL shortener is that it's more about quality than features, the search giant couldn't help itself and has inserted a QR code easter egg into the mix. Should you be so daring as to append a .qr at the end of your contracted hyperlink -- such as turning http://goo.gl/JCKW into http://goo.gl/JCKW.qr (both point to this post) -- you'll be treated with a QR code, built especially for you by the company's imaging smurfs. So, in case you still don't have Android 2.2 and its awesome Chrome to Phone functionality, here's an alternative method for transitioning the webpage you're reading onto your phone. Heavens forbid we'd ever have to actually type anything out ourselves.
Prevent iTunes web previews from opening iTunes automatically
Ever since Apple rolled out web previews for iTunes links several months ago, I've been meaning to find a way to disable those pages from automatically opening iTunes, which I don't usually have running. <del>These pages have a "View in iTunes" link already, so if I want to open iTunes, it's easy enough to do manually.</del> (Update: A commenter correctly notes that these links do not seem to work after making this change. You will have to open/search iTunes manually.) The Apple Blog posted some instructions for doing this, but that method didn't seem to always work for me. Some links still opened iTunes. My best guess is that Apple uses a variety of methods of opening these links, but The Apple Blog's instructions were only addressing one. Then I remembered RCDefaultApp from Rubicode, a freeware application which allows you to easily set which application will open files based on filename extension (such as the ".doc" in "review.doc") or by the protocol in a URL, such as http:// or itms://. I went into the URLs section of RCDefaultApp (which is a preference pane), and disabled the following protocols: itms:// (this seems to be the most prevalent in my limited testing) itunes:// itmss:// Then I went to the "Extensions" tab and disabled the "itms" extension, based on The Apple Blog's advice. I tested several iTunes web preview links and did not find any which still automatically opened iTunes. The other advantage to using RCDefaultApp is that the settings should work for all browsers. Speaking of iTunes links, the folks over at Bjango have posted an article dissecting iTunes links and how to craft them. Great reading.
App Store devsugar: Browser-based previews and URL tricks
TUAW reader Gabby tipped us off this morning that Apple has expanded its new browser-based iTunes previews to include App Store offerings. Sure enough, I pasted a standard App Store URL for Apple's Remote application into Safari and was treated to the preview shown just above. This new preview option is just one of many App Store URL tricks you may want to take advantage of. You can find some of the most useful tricks right after the break on this post. Got another URL trick for App Store? Let us know in the comments.
WoW, Casually: Tidbits for the playtime-challenged
Robin Torres writes WoW, Casually for the player with limited playtime. Of course, you people with lots of playtime can read this too, but you may get annoyed by the fact that we are unashamed, even proud, of the fact that beating WoW isn't our highest priority. Take solace in the fact that your gear is better than ours, but if that doesn't work, remember that we outnumber you. Not that that's a threat, after all, we don't have time to do anything about it. But if WoW were a democracy, we'd win. This week, dear Reader with Limited WoW Playtime, I am going to let you in on my thought process. This is partially to create a kind of casual WoW.com reading list, partially to tackle topics too small to fill up a whole column and partially to show that normality is not my strong suit. But who wants to be normal? Normal is boring. So here are a few excerpts from what goes on in my mind when thinking about this column, starring Me, Myself and I (not in order of appearance):
The Daily Quest: "Looking for Waldo"
We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. The Pink Pigtail Inn is collecting nominations for a "list of the year," picking the best in a few different categories from the World of Warcraft in 2009. Go leave a nom for their awards, and then come back here -- we'll have our own year-end list of top stories as well. Kinless Chronicles has not had such a great experience with the Dungeon Finder so far. Low level DPS might be out of luck on finding groups fast. Tank Like a Girl examines some good tanking gear in the new Frozen Halls 5-mans. And while Alliance pride is hard to find, Kimberly D knows exactly why she's Horde. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
The Daily Quest: How to fail the Trial
We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Fel Fire is a new warlock blog that just started up recently, and they've already got a good overview of the Auction House up. Larisa at the Pink Pigtail Inn is definitely one of those who doesn't think that Mr. T represents her game. Pwnwear examines the issue of tank numbers and balance in game design. Too successful in Trial of the Grand Crusader? Let Caer Morrighan help you out with a few surefire ways to fail the instance. PC Games Hardware nabbed a shiny new Radeon HD 5970 video card, and they ran benchmarks with World of Warcraft, among other games. 76 FPS? Yes please. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
How to get your blog crashed by WoW.com
Every day, our tip line gets a number of requests for link exchanges, publicity, and feedback on whether a post would be good for inclusion in the Daily Quest. We're really happy to be able to direct traffic to bloggers with good information, but sometimes we get requests that leave us baffled, uncomfortable, or both. While it's pretty easy to deal with some of these (gold-selling sites wishing to advertise here are a quick, "No thanks"), some of them come from otherwise well-meaning bloggers who want a link, but who may not get the desired results from one. Naturally this leaves us with a bit of a dilemma, and these are the things I think about while nosing around incoming links and my own list of favorite blogs:Please don't ask us to link your blog. Ask us to link a post.Even if we love your site and we read it all the time, we still need a reason to link you that's relevant to a subject we're writing about. Readers dislike getting recommendations like "It's a great blog!" or "You're going to love it!" Uh, why is it a great blog? Why should they love it? Nothing speaks so loudly or effectively as a great post on a good topic. Moreover, if we're linking a post of yours, your blog's main page should be linked as well. Even if we got dumb and forgot, it should be a simple matter for readers to find your central page (and you've got a design problem on your hands if they can't).
TagWoW shrinks your WoW URLs [Updated: NSFW]
There are already quite a few "shrink your URL" sites out there, from the famous TinyURL to my favorite, is.gd. But former Wowhead honcho Tim Sullivan has seen fit to add one more to the mix, and who knows, maybe the tiny bit of functionality it adds will be worth it. TagWoW will shrink your Warcraft-related URLs (well, it'll shrink anything, but it's meant for Warcraft stuff) into whatever tiny URL you want, and then it'll track the most popular pages on the homepage.Sure, it's just another URL-shrinking site, but there is some usefulness to be found here -- Blizzard forum URLs, many guild websites, and talent builds on Wowhead and elsewhere all have gigantic URLs, and shrinking them down to a memorable phrase could be helpful. Not to mention that Tim tells us that they want to "heavily moderate" the service -- gold farmers, keystroke loggers, and phishing sites are supposed to be kicked right out of the system, so if you see a TagWoW link on the forums, you will hopefully always be able follow it without worrying about compromising your security.Like I said, there's just enough functionality added here that it could end up being something big. Currently, there's apparently only a few URLs saved in the system (the site only went live last week), but you can probably expect things to pick up with our post here -- and hopefully we won't burn the site down. With the right URL submissions and, as Tim promises, some serious moderation to make everything trustworthy, TagWoW could be a nice service.EDIT: Be advised that as of this writing one of the links on the front page of TagWoW leads to an adult site though it doesn't say so in the link description. Click the links on TagWoW at your own risk.
App Store loses "All Free Apps" link
Apple's made some strange changes to the App Store lately. While the reviews change was a good one, this latest update is just confusing: they removed all of the "See all" links from the sidebar of the main App Store page, including the much-visited "All Free Apps" that many of our readers used to browse the new free stuff in there. Now, all that's there is a bunch of category links. You can still search for apps, obviously, and you can click on the Top Paid and Free apps to see those, and you can even click on the "See all" near "New," "What's Hot" and "Staff Favorites." But if you want to browse all the new Free apps in the store completely unfiltered, you're out of luck.Why would this be? Depends on who's guessing -- if you're angry at Apple (perhaps one of many developers who haven't seen their apps in the store yet), you might claim that it's because Apple wants to keep a firm grip on just what new free apps get seen on the homepage. If you're so-so on the issue, it might be because you think Apple wanted to streamline the process and keep you from the hassle of browsing all the free trash yourself. And if you're what our kind commenters call a "fanboy," you might claim that Apple is just having problems with their store, or that they're actually trying to help developers by raising app prices.Personally, I'm going for option D: someone working on the iTunes page didn't realize how popular the link was, and after a little outcry, it'll be back soon. In the meantime, there are still a few RSS feeds around that will help you keep tabs on what's showing up in the store.Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Terminal Tips: Modify iTunes arrow links
Do you know those little arrows that appear in iTunes when you have a song selected? You know, the ones that appear just after the title of the song, artist, and album and link to the iTunes Store when clicked? Yeah, those! Well, if you want the arrows to link to your iTunes library instead of Apple's induced store (and another impulse purchase), then just type the following command into Terminal (found in Applications > Utilities): defaults write com.apple.iTunes invertStoreLinks -bool YESTo change things back to normal, just replace the YES in the above command with NO. As some commenters have pointed out, you can temporarily reverse this hack by pressing option and clicking on the arrow. Want to see more tips like this? Visit TUAW's Terminal Tips and TUAW Tips sections.
I Play WoW on Facebook
A little while back, we checked out a Facebook app to show your WoW characters in your profiles, and just this week, reader Orangelick asked for an update to the other app we linked to, called I Play WoW. Previously, I couldn't get it working, but I gave it another try, and as you can see above, it works just fine. In fact, it's pretty customizable, even moreso than what I implemented above -- you can upload a picture for your character, and even give status and description updates for every character on the roster.If you're looking for some WoW representation on Facebook, it'll do you right. The only real complaint I have is that it doesn't by default show off any armor or stats that you have (the other app, WoW Armory, does, and here's another app that's even flashier if you want to go that way), but then again, how many of your Facebook friends really want to follow your characters that closely? And there's a quick link to the Armory page for those who do. All in all, nice app, and the perfect way to show a little WoW pride on Facebook.
WoW Insider Weekly
We post a lot of stuff here at WoW Insider, and chances are that you missed some of our weekly features. But don't fret it -- here are our top weekly features from the last seven days, so if you missed them the first time around, we're here to make sure that doesn't happen again. Raid Rx: Analyzing your healers, part 3Marcie Knox continues her series on how to get the most of your healers during a raid. Officers' Quarters: Cracking the whipHow to keep your guild rolling all the way up through the expansion. Ask WoW Insider: When to gem and enchantOur readers sound off on the best time to take advantage of getting your gear min-maxed with gems and enchants. Spiritual Guidance: Seven tips to prepare your Priest for WrathMatt "Matticus" Low gives you a nice checklist for getting your Priest ready to head up to Northrend. More of our great weekly content after the break.
Stumbi: StumbleUpon for Safari
Being a Firefox user (I know, I know, and it crashes on me all the time, but still I run back to it ashamedly), I had no idea that there was a gap in the functionality of StumbleUpon (a handy little link-finding and sharing browser plugin) for Safari users -- it only works with IE and Firefox. But Eli K tipped us off that he's trying to bridge that gap with Stumbi, a StumbleUpon plugin for Safari.It's the very definition of no-frills: it just creates a menu option for StumbleUpon that will let you access the most basic of functions from the Safari browser. And unfortunately, it's not exactly completely easy to get working -- you've got to make sure to install SIMBL (which, helpfully, comes with the binary download), and then the binary also requires a reasonable $2 purchase after 100 stumbles (or, for the more technically inclined, you can download the source and do it all by yourself for free).But if you just can't live without StumbleUpon, and can't bring yourself to use Firefox to do it, this might be just what you're looking for.Thanks, Eli!
Wowhead power updated
You've probably noticed that we use Wowhead to embed item, spell, talent, and quest tooltips in articles here, and some of you use the same functionality on your own blogs. Wowhead's codeslinger Skosiris has made a change in the way this is handled, and that change necessitates a small update in the code needed to produce those tooltips. All you have to do is change the line "<script src="http://www.wowhead.com/widgets/power.js"></script>" to "<script src="http://www.wowhead.com/widgets/power.js?lol"></script>" wherever you have it in your code; this will force the users to reload the JavaScript so they're not running an out-of-date version.If your own site is not powered by Wowhead, but would like it to be, it's as easy as adding "<script src="http://www.wowhead.com/widgets/power.js?lol"></script>" anywhere in your page code. If you do that, all relevant links pointing to Wowhead will get tooltips. Nifty, eh?
The best of WoW Insider: March 26-31, 2008
Seeing as patch 2.4 is out and complete, and there are no new content patches in sight for World of Warcraft (we don't even know a release date for Wrath of the Lich King yet), WoW Insider has been asked by our corporate overlords to change over to HKO Insider, exclusively covering news and views about another très populaire MMO, Hello Kitty Online. Our writers aren't real thrilled about it, but it's true -- we'll now be covering Pochacco instead of Paladins.Here's a look back at the past (and last) week of WoW Insider. WoW was fun while it lasted, now onward to to Flower Kingdom! News Patch 2.4: The unofficial patch notesCovering all the changes that we didn't know about before the patch dropped. Sunwell Phase 2 daily quest walkthroughsEverything you need to know about working through the second phase of the latest world event. Exclusive Interview: Nihilum, the Sunwell, and the future of high-end raidingOne of the game's biggest guilds speaks to WoW Insider about what's next for raiders. Magister's Terrace and the meatshield: Drops to look forWhat's good for tanks in the Terrace. Size matters: Tauren shrinkageEvery patch comes with bugs, and patch 2.4 is no exception at all. Features Your addons vs. Patch 2.4How to wrangle your WTF folder after the patch's release. Guildwatch: She fulfilled my everyone fantasyOur weekly look at guild drama and guild news from around the realms has a tale of sordid debauchery. Insider Trader: Guide to farming clothNeed some textiles fast? Our professions column has you covered. Get it? "Covered"? Forum Post of the Day: The death of PvP guilds"Fair and balanced gameplay? The horror..." He said, She said: Does Blizzard support homosexual stereotyping?Our new column about gender in game chats about whether the Blood Elves are supposed to be effeminate, and if so, why.
Yes, it is Tuesday, whatever shall you do?
Well, it is maintenance day again. Tuesday is the Hump Day (i.e. Wednesday) of WoW players everywhere. The realms are down, and the children are home from school on March Break (at least in Canada). Fortunately, this past week has been a busy one, and there is plenty of material for you to catch up on while you're bemoaning the maintenance, scheduled from 5:00 a.m. PST to 11:00 a.m. PST.First of all, you won't want to miss any of our coverage from Sunday's stress test of the TTRs. The GMs were out in full force, pulling all sorts of nonsense. My coverage of the event, signed in as <Vehn>. Alex's coverage, signed in as <Insideralex>. The team's private photoshoot with <Englewood>! Our live blogging coverage, hosted by Adam, signed in as <Insideradam>. Now that I have dutifully promoted WoW Insider the arena team, I'll point you to other fabulous articles of note. First and foremost, I'll direct you to everyone's favorite controversy of the week. It all began as part 2 of Alex's latest Hybrid Theory column, and the frenzy that followed resulted in a follow-up post that somehow has not eased the debate. For other articles of note, make the jump!
Ask MeFi on balancing MMO economies
Just like WoW Insider's Adam Holisky, I too am a big Mythbusters fan, and it's pretty common knowledge that 'buster Adam Savage is a big Ask Metafilter fan and user. So I am also a big Metafilter fan, and when they do a thread about MMO economies, it just intrigues me in all the right ways. (See what I did with that intro? That's why I get paid the big blogging bucks, which, trust me, aren't that big in the first place).But my interests aside, the Ask MeFi thread is a great read for anyone who's thought about balancing an MMO economy. Not only are there a lot of great links (see that? True MeFi style equals big blogging bucks!) to other resources on the subject, but there's some good commentary in there, too: What specific things can you do to balance out the huge earnings of hardcore players and keep casual players competitive? And how exactly do you organize your items -- if items are too rare, they'll never be useful enough to be sold, but items that are too common won't get their prices off the ground.Fascinating stuff, touched on by a fascinating community.
The Patch 2.4 info consolidation page has arrived
We've been reporting furiously on the details of the Sunwell Patch 2.4 since it the notes hit Friday and the PTR came up over the weekend. Overwhelmed yet? We were, too. So we've taken all of our coverage to date, over 35 posts so far and counting, and we put their links all in one place, our Patch 2.4 Sunwell info page.It's broken down by category, so if you're just looking for info on the changes to PvP or Professions or Daily Quests, the stories will be easier for you to find. Check back throughout the week as we will be updating the page daily with new content as we dig deeper into the patch.
