Editing the notification settings on a few big Web services doesn't sound like a big deal, and in reality it's not. But in all the digital, real-time chaos of life online, it's easy to put off. You might zap one when you think of it, but what about the rest of them? Are you really going to sit there, hunt them all down and annihilate them?

Yes, that's it. It may seem almost ridiculous that anybody would need such a tool, and it doesn't pull off any great programmatic feat. But truth be told, simply providing all of those links in one central, command-and-control interface is all many people will need to actually go through and tweak their notification settings in a way that's more conducive to reducing clutter and preserving sanity.

Notification Control is the brainchild of Ben Lang and Tim Kendall, both of whom are in their late teens. It lists popular services like Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Pinterest and others and provides a direct link to each one's notification settings. Naturally, you still need to sign in to each service to access the preferences; There's no special cross-site authentication magic going on here. Kendall and Lang are just reaching out and helping you do something you swear you were going to get around to doing yourself, eventually. Maybe.

All the time on the Web, things are happening. Comments are being left, blogs updated, messages sent, tweets tweeted, and so on. If you're an information junkie, then you don't want to know later, you want to know now.

One way of knowing now is setting up a mobile notification app, like Boxcar, to let you know the moment everything happens when you're out and about. But what about if you're sitting at your desk? For that, the company has just released a desktop version of Boxcar for the Mac and the app is soon on its way to a number of other devices and platforms.

The company announced that Boxcar for Mac, a desktop version of the popular mobile iOS app that brings push notifications for a variety of services to your desktop, is available. (Think Twitter, Google Buzz, email, Twitter lists, Reddit, GitHub and several more.) But why would you want a desktop version? Boxcar CEO Jonathan George had a simple explanation.

"We built it because we were tired of picking up our phones all the time to see what messages we'd gotten," said George.

George admitted that, for now, users running both aps will get notifications on both their mobile phone as well as their Mac.

"We'll  get smarter about where we deliver messages as we build out the product," said George. "Since we have a native app on the desktop, we can detect presence. With the users permission, we can discover whether the screensaver is running, how long ago the user last typed, whether or not the mouse has moved. All can be used to create a presence detection system that will allow us to discover where to send the messages to at the right time."

The Mac desktop app is available to download from the Boxcar website and will be available at a later point in the Mac App Store.

Even more exciting, for you non-Apple types, is that Boxcar is spreading its wings and moving on to other lands - Windows, Android and even Honeycomb, to be precise. George says that a Windows version, as well as an Android version, is coming in the next couple of weeks. For you TV fiends, a Google TV just might be in production a little bit on down the line too.

Freak out, Android information addicts - Boxcar will soon come for you too. See?

But he needn't bother. We came across another application called the "Android-Notifier-Desktop" which offers a multi-platform desktop client for the above mobile app to the overlooked Linux and Windows users.

Below is the complete installation guide to using both of these apps on your computer. 

The mobile app sends notifications to the computer it's connected to, including things like new text messages (both SMS and MMS), the phone number of the incoming call, battery status notifications, new voicemails and more.

The desktop app connects to the phone over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or, in the future, USB. The Bluetooth method is only supported on Android 2.0, however, due to restrictions in older Android versions. (To determine what version of Android you use now, go to Settings -> About Phone -> Firmware version.)

How to Install and Use the Notifier App

To get started with this app, do the following:

Bluetooth Method

1. Install and run the Android app from the Android Market. (You can scan this barcode to find it).
2. Install and run the Desktop app for your OS from the Downloads section.
3. Ensure your Android device is paired with your desktop (Settings > Wifi and networks > Bluetooth settings on Android)
4. Enable the Bluetooth notification method on the Android app's settings (enabled by default)
5. Open Bluetooth options in the Android app's settings:
• Device pairing - select this to open Android's system bluetooth options, where you can pair your target device
• Target device - once your device is paired, select this option to send notifications to a specific device. If this is set to "Any device" (the default), the notifications will be sent to the first computer device found
• Auto-enable bluetooth - if enabled, notifications can be sent over bluetooth even if you keep it disabled - every time the app needs to send a notification, it enables it, sends the notification, then disables it again. The downside of this option is that it can take multiple seconds for the notification to actually be sent.
6. Enable the Bluetooth notification method on the desktop app's settings (enabled by default)
7. The desktop app will listen to and start displaying events from the Android app. 
8. You can now exit the Android app - the notifications service will be running in the background by default.

Wi-Fi Method

1. Install and run the Android app from the Android Market. (You can scan this barcode to find it).
2. Install and run the Desktop app for your OS from the Downloads section.
3. Ensure both the desktop and the device are on the same network.
4. If you have a firewall on your desktop, ensure it will allow incoming UDP packets on port 10600
5. Enable the Wi-Fi notification method on the Android app's settings (enabled by default)
6. Open the Wi-Fi options in the Android app's settings
• Target IP address - this is the IP address notifications will be sent to. While the default (global broadcast) is sufficient for most cases, you may want one of the following options instead:
  • Global broadcast - sends notifications to 255.255.255.255 (should work on most networks);
  • DHCP broadcast - detects the DHCP configuration of your current Wi-Fi network and uses its broadcast address for sending notifications. If no DHCP information is set (e.g. you're using a static IP), the notifications won't be sent;
  • Custom address - allows you to type in a specific IP address to send notifications to (doesn't need to be a broadcast address). This is useful if your network doesn't allow broadcast packets, or you want to prevent others in the network from receiving your notifications.
• Wi-Fi sleep policy - this is a system setting from Android which controls when the Wi-Fi will be turned off. By default, it's turned off whenever the screen is turned off - if you want to get notifications when the screen is off, you probably want to change this default to either "never when plugged" or "never" - these options will consume a little more battery, but will ensure notifications are always delivered
• Auto-enable Wi-Fi - if you do not wish to keep your Wi-Fi on all the time with the above option, and can tolerate notifications being delayed by a few seconds, then this option will make Wi-Fi be turned on whenever a notification needs to be sent, and then turned off again after it's been sent. The extra delay introduced is the time it takes for your phone to join a network.
7. Enable the Wi-Fi notification method on the desktop app's settings (enabled by default)
8. The desktop app will listen to and start displaying events from the Android app.
9. You can now exit the Android app - the notifications service will be running in the background by default.

Windows, Linux Users: Get This App Too

Because of the popularity of the original application, many users wanted Linux or Windows support. Unfortunately, the original project was not offering these options - it was Mac-only. Another developer released a second program that enables multi-platform support for not only Mac, but also Linux and Windows users (XP and up). It even has 32 and 64-bit options available for each of the supported operating systems.

To install this desktop app instead, head over to the downloads section and choose the appropriate version for your OS. Java 6 is also required.

Another Option for Windows Users

Another option for Windows users is a bit of hack. A third developer created a simple Windows application here that uses the Microsoft Winsock component. You just place this MSWINSCK.OCX file in your C:\Widnows\System 32 folder in order to use it. On your Android phone, you'll need to connect to your wireless network, choose a custom IP and key in the IP of the machine using the program. The program supports PING (testing connection packets), SMS and RING (calls) only.

Do you know of any other programs that do the same? Let us know in the comments.

Some users will surely complain that OSX and Linux already have perfectly good system-wide notifications systems. This new notifications API, however, allows developers to create their extensions without having to think about the desktop platform and Google's own developers won't have to interface with multiple third-party desktop notifications platforms either. Chances are that we will see a variation of these desktop notifications in Google's Chrome OS as well.

It's a good move that puts the interests of users ahead of short-term benefits for app developers and monetization.

Developers were recently given permission to ask app users for their email addresses, which they can use to email app notifications directly. (Granted, that could get annoying too, but at least it's opt-in.) The creation of a special Applications and Games Dashboard offers another place for app notifications to be delivered.

Some developers may complain that they are being further pushed out of users' line of sight with this decision. Facebook is most likely to respond like this: build a good app that people will use and share by choice and you'll be just fine.

It's unclear whether this will affect the Facebook Newsfeed, but the algorithmic method behind selection of which notifications to publish to the newsfeed and in what order is so central to the Facebook experience that the company was issued a controversial patent for it yesterday. As the newsfeed paradigm takes over the whole web, though, figuring out how to balance human with automated signals, and communication with marketing in the stream, is no trivial matter. These are the decisions upon which the future of the social web is being built.

At first blush, this looks like a good UX design decision that will improve the way everyone using Facebook feels about the site. Look for the change to go into effect on Monday.

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One neat aspect about the RSS alerts from Notifications is that the service uses Superfeedr as its backend to power this feature. Superfeedr, which supports the PubSubHubbub standard, guarantees developers that it will send out notifications about a new blog post within 15 minutes. That's not exactly 'real time,' but close enough for most purposes and during our tests, alerts generally arrived within a few minutes. The Superfeedr blog also features a short step-by-step guide that explains how to add new feeds to your Notifications setup.

If you own a blog, you can also easily add a Notifications badge to your blog that allows your readers to add your blog to their notifications within seconds.

Email

The developers are currently focused on supporting Gmail in the app and your mileage with other email services may vary. To make this work, all you have to do is forward the messages you want to get notifications about (Twitter DMs, Facebook messages, Google Voice SMS etc.) to a personal appnotifications.com email address the service will provide you with when you sign up. Facebook notifications, by the way, will automatically start the Facebook app and Google Voice text messages will open up in the Google Voice web interface in Safari.

Twitter

Twitter notifications are keyword-based. In order to see mentions of your own name, for example, you just have to add your Twitter handle to the search terms on the service's website. In order to receive notifications of direct messages, you will have to use Notifications mail notifications feature and set up a filter that forwards all DMs to your personal appnotifications.com email address.

Verdict

Of course, all these notifications could easily overwhelm even the most dedicated information junkie, so some restraint is definitely in order. Thankfully, the app also includes the ability to set a quiet time, so that you won't be disturbed by new notifications in the middle of the night.

Typically, we experienced a delay of less than 3 seconds before we received a notification, which is better than most push notification apps we've seen lately.

Overall, the combination of Twitter, RSS, and email notifications allows you to receive push notifications from a very wide range of services and allows for a great deal of flexibility. It does take some time to set the service up, though, as you have to set up filters in your email, for example. Most of the setup happens on the service's website, though, which makes things pretty easy. If you need to get push notifications fast and from a wide variety of services, Notifications is the way to go right now and the hassle of setting it up is more than worth the effort.

Pull: RSS

Traditionally, RSS readers pull feeds at a regular interval (usually somewhere between 15 and 60 minutes). In a real-time world, that, of course, is far too slow. Services like FeedBurner introduce even more lag into this system, so that it can often take half an hour or longer before a new post appears in Google Reader. Notifixious itself polls every feed about twice an hour.

Pull Smarter

Thanks to FriendFeed's new Simple Update Protocol (SUP), some of the heavy lifting of regularly polling thousands of RSS feeds can be reduced, but as of now, only a small number of services actually support this new protocol. Notifixous also monitors the public activity of ping servers, similar to what PubSub is doing with its new (though still unreleased) product.

Push: XMPP

Currently, Notifixious can only get 'real' real-time updates through XMPP from Identica, Seesmic, LiveJournal, and Sixapart's TypePad and Vox blogging communities.  Genestoux notes that he would like to see every content provider use XMPP in the future.

Giving Back: Can Notifixious Replace Gnip's Abandoned XMPP Project?

Maybe the most exciting idea here, however, is that Notifixious plans to share an XMPP and SUP feed with the rest of the community. Gnip, of course, at one point promised to do something very similar, but, in the end, pulled the plug on this project.

Other companies like ZapTXT or Pingie offer a similar service - though we have also seen far too many promising services like Rasasa or Immidi.at close before they could ever live up to their promises. Our experience with these services has been quite mixed, however. We will have to wait and see if Notifixious can deliver on its promise.

Notifixious' Service Right Now

As for the Notifixious service itself, the company will send its updates to your cell phone, IM account, or email address. You can sign up for feeds individually, or import an OPML file.

If you want to send your own real-time updates from your blog to Notifixious, you can use the company's plugins and widgets for TypePad, Vox, Blogger, MovableType, and self-hosted Wordpress sites.

The white-label service LetMeKnow allows any web publisher to easily integrate the company's alerts technology into their web site by using just a small bit of copy-and-paste code. According to branchnext, that means the LetMeKnow platform can be implemented, tested, and released in days without placing the burden of software development on the web publishers themselves.

They call their technology "alerts-as-a-service" or "AaaS," but we think perhaps they haven't read that acronym out loud yet...it's not good. There's no need to use clever abbreviations to sell this product, though; the idea makes sense and can stand on its own without trying to join the "as-a-Service" bandwagon. Put simply, LetMeKnow allows anyone to integrate alerting technology into their site with little effort, adding additional value for their site's visitors, be them blog readers or shoppers.

Using LetMeKnow

After publishers implement LetMeKnow, visitors can use the service to stay informed about new posts, content updates, price changes, new comments, new reviews, saved searches, and more. The alerts they sign up for can arrive via email, mobile (SMS), instant messaging, RSS, or even via a downloadable Adobe AIR desktop software program.

Also included in the LetMeKnow service is the ability to add in extensible widgets that allow broadcasting of the alert notifications across the web, including to sites like Facebook, MySpace, and iGoogle. Users wishing to share their alert notifications can do so using email, Twitter, Delicious, Digg, and StumbleUpon, which are also integrated with the service.

Like Yotify, LetMeKnow also includes the social recommendation technology "AskFriends." With this, users can solicit input from their friends by sharing their scouts on sites like Facebook and FriendFeed and then gathering the responses.

For the Publishers

Besides the ease of implementation, LetMeKnow provides publishers extensive reporting tools which enable them to see how their site's visitors are using the service. There are 50 different metrics tracked that indicate how, when, and where the content is being viewed, shared, and published. Businesses using LetMeKnow also have the option to completely brand the service to their liking, so it appears to be a part of their web site and not some outside tool. Additionally, brandnext promises to deliver 99.9% uptime and support.

How much this will all cost or how well it will work isn't known as of yet. There isn't word on pricing for the service - only a sign-up form for those interested. However, if Yotify is any indication, LetMeKnow may be worth a look.

Yotify lets you track any number of things from hotel room rates to sports scores or even the latest videos on YouTube. The list of things you can track is practically endless. To help you find the scout you need, the different types are organized into broad categories which include shopping, fun, travel, classifieds, and news and blogs.

Saving Money

When it comes to product searches, Yotify is very smart. It doesn't just look at keywords, but also lets you know what the current best price is and then lets you select a checkbox to have the service alert you if the price drops below a certain point. You can also optionally check to be alerted when there are new product reviews available. The shopping section features scouts for common searches like digital cameras and laptops, but the shortcuts section lets you create more specific searches for a keyword, like a product ID or model number.

Staying Informed

The News and Blogs section lets you search a handful of sites, including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and The Huffington Post among others, but most people won't be satisfied with the small selection provided and will need to turn to the shortcuts section instead. From here, you can track any site's RSS feed, or for sites without RSS, you can search the blog itself just by entering its URL. You can also track changes to search results as well as track vanity search results for your name.

The shortcuts section includes a few other useful scouts, too, including one which lets you track a profile on LinkedIn, another to track local events (provided by Eventful), one for eBay auctions, and even one that tracks your FriendFeed.

Asking For Help

The social aspect of Yotify comes into play under the "Ask Friends" section. Here, you can share your scouts on Facebook and FriendFeed and get responses. Using either option will post your query directly to those social networks and when people reply you'll be informed via email. If you want to share a scout with select friends only, that can be done under the "Edit Scout" section where you can enter in individual email addresses instead. You can also share the scout with your friends on Yotify.

How It Compares

In a lot of ways, Yotify is reminiscent of the newly launched Alerts.com, a service which differentiates itself by letting you receive updates via SMS, email, voice, or IM. In a lot of ways, those various contact options from Alerts.com makes that service the more useful of the two, especially since a lot of our information overload today begins with email, which is currently the only way to receive Yotify updates. However, Yotify's options for sharing your scouts with friends give it a unique twist as do the various options for fine-tuning your searches.

Still, we definitely like the new direction Yotify is going with their service. Instead of adding to our social media burden by creating yet another place to "hang out" online, they're using the network of connections we've already built to make their service more useful to us. Our lives are busy enough, so we hope this is the start of a new trend of smart social apps.

After signing up for the Alerts.com service, you can choose from all sorts of pre-configured alerts. For example, the site offers alerts for things like news, weather, gas prices, flight info, price watches, CraigsList, sports scores, press releases, birthday reminders, horoscopes, Amber Alerts, and so much more.

However, what really appealed to me was that you had the option to configure your own personalized alerts which could be anything you need to remember to do. I'm also excited to see an RSS Feed Alert option, as well. With this alert, you can monitor feeds for keywords and receive messages immediately or on a scheduled basis via email or SMS.

Types of Alerts

Configuring Alerts

You can see an overview of the different alerts you subscribe to on your personalized homepage, a page which somewhat resembles iGoogle and its gadgets. There's also a handy "list view" which presents the alerts in a list so you can easily sort through them and turn them on or off as desired. This page also displays how many alerts have been sent out so far.

Editing an Alert

Business Model

Alerts.com is an ad-supported service. Specific advertising is inserted into the emails, texts, and voice messages sent out. The ads will be relevant to the type of alert requested by the user. This doesn't seem like a bad deal to get this sort of useful tool for free.

The platform is open and an API is currently available so that developers can create unique reminders, alerts, and notifications of their own.

The company is currently working with other third parties to expand their reach. Through their partnerships with iSAFE.org and AI Life, they will be able to reach out to 16,000 schools and eight million students in the next year.

You can sign up to start receiving your own alerts today, too. Just click here.]]> Discuss]]> http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/have_the_news_come_to_you_with_alerts.php http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/have_the_news_come_to_you_with_alerts.php Product Reviews Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:00:00 -0800 Sarah Perez