Grapheety "Tag Your World"

New Release!

2007-10-18T12:18:00.001-07:00

Well, the Grapheety team has been having a wild last few months. We all do this part time and for the first 6 months spent at least 20-30 hours per week on it (we all work full time as software developers, designers, and consultants). So we were going pretty crazy for a while.

Things changed. Nick got a new job first, congrats! But he is the primary developer, and IT guy (though he denies it). So that slowed things down. Then Brett moved to Argentina, which sounds like fun, but they don't exactly have the same internet access that we have in Minneapolis. Next, I got a new job, where I commute back and forth to Chicago, which is delayed about 90% of the time. And then finally, to round things out, Jon moved to Denver and get a new job as well!

With all these changes it's been hard to keep up our todo list.

Finally we're all getting back into a rhythm though and have been getting closer to a new release. We're getting back to simplicity first. We thought we didn't have many bugs, but any bugs we found were from us abusing HTML a little bit. So we're going away from some bubbly graphics and going to a more pure HTML elegant design.

We're also removing some of the layers. Stories will just be the story with comments in the bottom. Rating will be easier as well. We realized not a lot of people rate. I wonder why? Because it is on another page? Or is there really just no motivation for people to do it. But we're going to streamline it, so if people want to rate other's stories and help with the quality of the overall content, it will be pretty quick.

Other than that, we're introducing some light profiles. Some of our posters are so awesome that people want to know details about them! So we're going to let people share a little about themselves.

Other ideas we're tossing around - Facebook application, Videos, Photo editing, groups of stories, direct messaging, and new contests!

Enjoy!

Gavin Quinn - Grapheety Artist

April's Top Grapheety Awarded!

2007-05-01T07:19:00.000-07:00

April is the first month we have tried the Top Grapheety award. It probably could have used more explanation, but the person with the most stars (each vote can have up to 5 stars) wins. Pretty easy I think. It went kind of so/so. The #1 vote getter had only 32 stars, which is significantly less than I expected. Someone could have gone and asked 8 of there friends to vote for them in about 5 minutes and won $100.

We may try to make this a little more clear in the future. Let me know your feedback.

-Gavin

#1 - sarahbett22 32 *'s $100.00 Mosi-oa-Tunya

#2 - efff 30 *'s $50.00 London Skyline

#2 - efff 28 *'s $25.00 Wroclaw's 'Rynek' Square

Yes, Efff has 2nd and 3rd place so he wins $75.00. He has some great posts though, and it is well deserved.

Grapheety Reviewed on BusinessHacker.com

2007-05-01T07:11:00.000-07:00

BusinessHacker.com, a Web 2.0 Review site has given a favorable review of Grapheety.com. They did some great research, and provided very objective article.

http://www.businesshackers.com/2007/04/25/grapheetycom-use-a-map-to-allow-people-to-tell-stories-about-locations/

Grapheety featured on local news.

2007-04-12T05:09:00.000-07:00

Our webapp was featured on KSTP this morning. KSTP is the local affiliate of ABC here in the Twin Cities metro area. They will post a written story to their website later today and I will update with a link here at that time. Ok here it is — Story at KSTP.com

Things are "officially" starting to pick up so if anyone is interested in direct advertising click here.

Grapheety on iPhone (Could the world be any easier to explore).

2007-04-05T13:22:00.000-07:00

In the next few months Apple is set to release what will surely be a revolution in the Cell Phone industry. Revolutionary because it will combine into one sleek easy to use interface all the functionality other manufacturers have been trying to cram into a small plastic case for years, and then some.

We here at Grapheety have very serious plans for letting our users take the site mobile via iPhone. Just imagine being stuck in midtown Manhattan and not having a clue where to eat. Are you going to trust the words of some stuffy food critic—No! And you won't have to. With the advanced capabilities of Grapheety and iPhone working seamlessly together you will be able to page through the locations of restaurants in your immediate vicinity, see pictures, and read reviews from people just like yourself (real people) all while on the go.

And the magic doesn't stop there. Other concepts still in development include a kind of on the go geo-blogging the likes of which this world has not yet seen. This is the basic scenario. Take a picture with your iPhone, using the built in GPS system grapheety auto-tags that picture onto the grapheety map, just add a story and you are blogging on the go.

We have even considered developing a kind of blue-tooth exchange that will allow you to identify other grapheety users in the immediate area that have been to the same places as yourself.

NEW VERSION!!!

2007-03-24T16:56:00.000-07:00

Well first off a big congrats to the whole team. You guys have put in a lot of hard work. Even you down there in Argentina, you and everyone should give themselves a big pat on the back and order that Dom the next time your out.

Ok, so this new release is on fire. Its almost like the first two versions were negative beta or alpha 1 and 2 (if that makes any sense).

Things for new and returning users to try.

Share—once you post a story it is now simple as a few clicks of the mouse to send a link of your newly posted stories and pictures to friends and families (powered by Plaxo).

Search—not the same as locate and it makes sense if you stop and think about it for a second. Locate still lets you pinpoint locales anywhere on the globe by typing in, for example, your home address. But with the new search function under the legends tab you can filter through titles, so for instance let us say your positioned over the Midwest and you want to see every title that contains “Pabst Sold Here”, now you can.

Some other hot new features—easily update your preferences, get messages/emails when a friend adds a story or makes a comment …

…and more.

So now start tagging your world and invite and all friends to tag their world too.

New Version is almost here.

2007-02-18T08:04:00.000-08:00

Holy b-zuckets we are coming up on another release quick. The team is really working hard to get this new version out and I think you all are going to be impressed with how far we've come. The recipe for team Grapheety being able to pull off such a massive upgrade in such little time.

1 part sheer genius
A few 6-ers of Red Hook ESB
2 parts unspeakable coding/programming skills
A dash of Sonic the Hedgehog on Wii
1 horribly indecisive conversation about where to get take out
1 team member uncontrollably laughing over the word "drizzler"
1 bushel of creative ingenuity
and a few billion fathoms of unfathomable dedication

But we have a favor to ask of all our faithful users. And thats a little thing called viral advertising. When we release the next version there is going to be a whole spattering of new features that will allow you to share your Tags with your friends family and the rest of the internet. We ask that you make some good posts and explore these features; hopefully word will spread, more peeps will join, and eventually the whole world will be tagged.

Check back in the next week and we will have a link here to a YouTube video previewing the new site. Just a little eye-candy for those of you grinding your teeth in anticipation.

Presenting the official Grapheety blog.

2007-01-11T18:39:00.000-08:00

The official Grapheety.com blog is open and ready for business.

Where else would we host it but on blogger—Google, those guys rock.

Now to get you out there up to speed.

Version 2 is swinging in full release. Tell your friends and watch for more treasure hunts (our crazy asses have already given away like 3 iPods, I think, anyway keep your eyes peeled for another one probably coming up for the 3rd release. Which by the way we are hoping to get sponsored; so if any of you business owners out their want to provide a product/service as an official Grapheety.com Treasure Hunt sponsor just hit us up at team@grapheety.com.

And while we are on the topic of the third release let me give you a preview, a taste—if you will, of whats to come. Increased functionalities, yeah that's right I said functionalities, I'm not quite sure if its a word but let's roll with it. Video posts (although I realize some clever folks out there have already figured this one out), directions (when you see something cool on the map you will be able to figure out how to get to and from there, duh—right? I can't believe its gonna take 'til third release to get that feature rockin', but hey our asses have been hard at work getting the rest of the functionalities in order so give us a break), inboxes, maybe, if your lucky. What else—oh yeah—thats right I almost forgot, there is gonna be so much other cool new stuff I can't even begin to list it all here, so you'll just have to check in to see.

As far as the look goes well that's gonna a get a makeover as well. It's gonna be sick and out soon so hold your breath.

What else...

Thanks to all the users, beta-testers, friends, family, thanks for all the feedback it has been really positive and while you may think you're being harsh it just makes us want to make the site better so keep it coming.

Well that's it for now. Early next we we'll introduce you all to the Grapheety.com team.

Gavin, Nick, Brett, and myself Jonathon.

Until then stay sane and remember, grafitti is illegal—but Grapheety is a social responsibility.

P.S. Tag Your World