Hello.

I'm heartbroken about the situation at Twitter. So many of my friends have been impacted by the changes, and I feel helpless beyond offering support and sharing job opportunities. Twitter played a huge role in my career journey, offering a place to connect with others and find my voice. It's how I made many friends and career connections, and I'm grateful for the community it fostered. I dislike the rapid changes happening now, and like many, I'm concerned about its future and how it will survive. While I haven't paid for the service, I feel a sense of debt to the platform and community for all it's given me.

I've rejoined Mastodon! Driven by the potential Twitter costs and wanting more control, I'm now self-hosting my instance for about the same price as a Twitter Blue subscription. I'll keep using Twitter for learning, but I'm excited about Mastodon's open, interoperable nature and its excellent PWA. Come find me on Mastodon!

I accidentally discovered that Twitter has implemented PWA shortcuts, a feature that allows websites and web apps to provide users with quick access to common actions. This is a great step towards bridging the gap between web and native applications, allowing websites to provide a more app-like experience.

I recently noticed Twitter has adopted the Well-Known URL for Changing Passwords, which is a simple yet effective way to improve user experience. This spec allows browsers to offer a UI for quick password resets without navigating complex site structures, simply by checking a well-known URL. This sparked an idea: could we expand this concept to other common user actions? Imagine well-known locations for managing GDPR consent, browser permissions, account details, or mailing list subscriptions. It's a powerful concept that could simplify many online interactions, and I've even raised an issue with Chrome to explore implementation.

The Web Share Target API is now available as an origin trial in Chrome, bridging the gap between web and native apps. Previously, only native apps could register as share targets, limiting the web's ability to seamlessly integrate with system-level sharing functionalities. This new API empowers installed web apps to receive shared content, opening up exciting possibilities for web developers. The API's potential is highlighted by Twitter's early adoption and my own experimentation with a custom manifest.json file. While file support is still pending, the future looks bright for effortless content sharing between web and native environments.

I explored building a progressively enhanced sharing web component using Shadow DOM. My focus was on URL visibility and manipulation within web apps, even when they behave like native applications. The component is designed to be customizable and work across browsers, with or without JavaScript, by leveraging existing elements like anchor tags. It uses a Twitter intent as a fallback sharing mechanism when Web Components aren't supported. I'm excited about the potential of web components, even without widespread custom element support.

I'm looking for a few web services that don't seem to exist yet. First, a way to save my Twitter favorites to Instapaper (or similar services). Second, a webhook that sends content to Instapaper, as I dislike relying on third-party app integrations. Finally, a service that sends full RSS feed content directly to my email inbox in near real-time using pubsubhubbub. Existing services only send partial archives. If I can't find these, I might build them as open-source projects.

Back in February, I presented at TwitterDevNest about getting data in and out of Buzz. The slides are now available on SlideShare. I covered WebFinger, OpenID, Buzz feeds, Pubsubhubbub, and Salmon. I also promised to open-source the demo code, which I'll be pushing to Github later today (covering most of the topics except Salmon).

I've launched Twollo, a Google App Engine project that helps you find and automatically follow Twitter users who share your interests. Unlike MrTweet, which suggests popular accounts, Twollo focuses on connecting you with people based on shared interests. Just enter your interests, like "Google App Engine," and Twollo will automatically find and follow relevant users every hour. Recent updates include viewing and unfollowing Twollo-followed users, preventing re-follows, tracking reciprocal follows, setting follow limits per interest, language filtering, UserVoice feedback integration, and one-click profile removal. More details about Twollo and Google App Engine coming next week!

I've joined Twitter! Follow me @PaulKinlan - http://www.twitter.com/PaulKinlan