Schmoozing at the House of Blues

Disclaimer: Because of constantly fluctuating market requirements, and the need to stay competitive, not all of the features or forward-looking plans mentioned in this blog will occur in the stated time line or in the form described.

The Intel-sponsored kick-off party at the House of Blues was a networking fest! There was something about the centralized buffet and open bar that encouraged people to cluster for conversation in darkened booths and then re-cluster into different arrangements for more chit-chat. Here are some of the people I spoke to:

afterthemac.com
Didn't catch the name, but they specialize in parts for Macs. So if you want to upgrade a piece of your current Mac, or just replace something that's broken, they can hook you up.

Didn't get a chance to ask how they use the API, but they asked about My Messages and I suggested they use the My Messages notifications as a way to filter out more Marketing-oriented messages and focus only on alerts and member to member messages. Check out the docs at http://developer.ebay.com/DevZone/XML/docs/WebHelp/MyMessages-.html. And guys, I'd love to chat with you further to fill in the blanks.

Jim Butcher - UnwiredBuyer
When I heard that UnwiredBuyer was here, my ears perked up. Someone at eBay mentioned them months ago, and I immediately signed up for their service!

UnwiredBuyer tracks the items that you are bidding on and calls you 5 min before that item is scheduled to end. If you've been outbid, you can increase your bid using your cell phone. And this doesn't just apply to items you're bidding on. Add an item to your watchlist, and the same thing applies.

UnwiredBuyer is one of the few Buyer-centered apps out there, and it pays for itself with eBay Affiliate dollars. The service is free to buyers.

Jim Butcher was kind enough to let me interview on video, and I'll post it for your enjoyment tomorrow.

To learn more about how you can increase your profit margins by becoming and eBay affiliate, see the eBay API Affiliates page at http://developer.ebay.com/programs/affiliates. And if you want to create a buying app of your own, check out Madhu Gupta giving 205: Building a Killer Buyer App with eBay Web Services Saturday at 2:45 p.m., and Alex Schultz and Jarrod Schwarz giving 107: Affiliates & Buying Applications Saturday at 4:00 p.m.

John Tennant - Intel
Intel is a Platinum Sponsor of the Dev Conference this year, and sponsored the House of Blues event, so I was glad to get a moment with John Tennant of Intel to thank him. Remember, Intel's sponsorship helps us provide all these great sessions, so if you see someone from Intel walking around, give them a high five! Let them feel the love!

I'd heard about these special computers we have for the conference, and I believe that the "specialness" is because they contain a preview of the new Intel vPro chip. The vPro architecture is particularly useful for people who want to push Skype to the limit. Skype is fairly CPU intensive because of the amount of data crunching needed to provide high-quality audio and video, and vPro handles the load more gracefully. Learn more about vPro at http://www.intel.com/vpro/, and try it for yourself in the email lounge.

John was also kind enough to let me tape his interview, and I'll try to post that tomorrow too.

Robert Levin - TransClick
Robert Levin's TransClick app was a runner-up in the Skype Developer Contest, and I was thrilled to hear more about it. It's an app that plugs into Skype Chat and provides real time translation between a dozen different languages. There's also a glossary function that lets you look up less common technical terms--useful for getting into deep discussions about your eBay category, or your specific area of technology. A Skype Voice plug-in is not available yet, but the patents are in place, and it's only a matter of time.

As if that wasn't cool enough, they have their own API that would allow developers to build that real time translation feature into their own apps. Imagine providing a selling template to your users with tabs for English, French, Italian, and German. If a buyer clicks the Italian tab, it does a real time translation of the item description into Italian, complete with the FAQ answers that were added that morning. It removes a major barrier to cross-border trade.

I believe that their Dev Program is free to join, with some fees for certifying your app. Talk to Robert during the conference for more information, or check out the developer Web site at http://developer.transclick.com/.

I'd love to tell YOUR story in the blog. Talk to me during the conference, and I'll write you up!

Thanks!

Laurel
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