Seven days after releasing the beta version of MySnowBuddy, we cracked the 200 user milestone!!
The team met earlier this evening and we’re just thrilled with how the soft launch has turned out. We’ve taken some of the great feedback everyone provided and already started planning phase 2, and phase 3. We’ve also been plugging away at a lovely website that should _hopefully_ be up and running by Thursday.
The team has worked really hard, and we all deserve a snow day - who wants to join us?
More coverage on MySnowBuddy on Page 3 of 24 hours Newspaper - Feb 16, 2009
“A local team of developers launched a Facebook application allowing skiers to coordinate rides to local mountains and other services such as a buy-and-sell zone for used gear and updated weather conditions. The developers say the online tool makes the most out of the remaining ski season.”
We are really excited to see the press coverage but it looks like they forgot to include a url or name of the ride share program
I contacted the news team, hopefully they will run our story later down the line or write about us on their blog.
side note, after 72 hours we are thrilled to report we are just shy of 150 users. Go MSB!!
BC’s local technology news/blog site, www.techvibes.com, has given us some positive publicity!
Lets keep the ball rolling everyone! Our biggest hurdle right now is encouraging everyone to get out and start ride sharing. If you’re wanting to head up to the mountain and you realize “Hey, none of my friends have time to head up!”, go ahead and start a ride share and make some new friends
I’ve been keeping an eye out for any bugs I can come across, but if any of you readers or visitors come across anything unusual, please feel free to let us know. In fact, we’re offering to enter you into a draw for each bug you may come across! Just click the “About” tab in the app and you’ll see a section where you can report a bug.
john
The official launch is on Sunday, but we opened the gates a little early. In just a few hours we went from 0 users to 40! I can’t wait to see the next few days as we get increased exposure from blogs, newspapers, and advertisements.
Test drive the application now, become a fan, and invite your friends
http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=56905223352
Tons of events and parties going off later today, it’s exactly one year until the 2010 olympics. Super Short post, its 3am and i’ve worked all day. Just finished 80% of the help section within the fb app. More ecological footprint digging tomorrow morning, and scrambling to finish the website with app launch. Super curious how both the city and our app will evolve over the next 12 months. 72 hours to go!
First update in a week, we’ve really really really really really cranked it up. We’ve hammered off a lot of stuff, but still quite a fair bit to go. We added some images into the app and you can feel the app coming to life, it’s pretty exciting. Dying to add some more screenshots and show the world our fancy logo, but I think we’ll wait for the Feb 15th launch.
Going through the motions and determining what features we can fit within this launch and what ones will carry over to phase 2, and phase 3. I wish we had a little more man power to add all the cool features we have planned, but these will come in good time.
If my eyes could talk, they would ask me to remove myself from the computer screen.
With 2 weeks until official launch, things are definitely picking up. Working with Mike we finished off the marketplace where users can buy/sell ski and snowboard gear. The facebook api is pretty tricky and there are some limitations but we managed to make it work and keeping it inline with the facebook look and feel.
Here’s a screen shot:
Meeting with ICBC later this afternoon, hopefully use their information to build a somewhat accurate C02 formula to integrate with our application and users.
Quick meeting this evening to plan this weeks goals and keep everyone on pace, especially with Johns departure this Wednesday. John has been working extra hard and the rideshare section is coming together nicely, good job ol bean. We’re looking to add a counting methodology to the app/site so we can keep track of all the people we’re helping out, to encourage more rideshares, and to view the awesome ecological footprint we’re reducing.
I’m still trying to figure out the best way to gather this information and to keep it as accurate as possible (and in-line with our users, people that frequent the mountain driving from the lower mainland). Obviously there’s quite a few factors that could easily swing the running calculation out of wack, but we’ll make some basic guidelines and go from there. Hopefully I can make an equation that is somewhat accurate and not too heavy or complex for John to integrate.
final thought - Snow is on the way, time is flying by.. going to need some all nighters to get this thing out..
my last estimate was wrong! ride share is actually about 60% done. the following are still things needed to be implemented:
-if someone adds themselves to a ride share, the creator must “approve” this
-button for person to reserve seat
-feed creation after ride share activities (create, join, wall post?)
-invite-a-friend for ride share (only if you belong to the ride share, or are the host)
-ensure seatsTaken value increases
-cancel ride
-view permissions (ride share participant vs. random)
Snow is finally back in the forecast after receiving a few weeks of unseasonable warm weather. With the fresh snow, i look forward checking out Hemlock Mountain for the first time in over 7 years. I wonder if we should add this mountain to our local radar? They have 15$ night boarding, what a great price.
I had a tough time with the classified section and surely drove John mad, but really excited to see the rideshare section coming along. John has decided to escape the cold weather and head for the summer skies of Cuba. Christine and I are going to keep the ball rolling and get as much finished as possible. Maybe we can talk John into bringing a laptop with him :p Just teasing, have a great time buddy!
