Wow, do we jump on problems quickly as a community around here or what? On Thursday, forums user aexellent reported an API change from the folks behind Foursquare. Foursquare is a popular location based social networking service (if you’ve been living under a rock). The update to the API effectively broke Foursquare for webOS but not for long!
Similarly to how YouTube functionality was restored within 48 hours, Foursquare was gone and then restored in only 24 hours. Who should we thank? Forums user and meta-doctor expert, Herrie, came to the rescue. But this wasn’t the typical patch solution. Oh no no no! The great news is that Foursquare for webOS creator, Zhephree, open-sourced the app and uploaded it onto github. This made the fix that much “easier” to come by. Not only is the app back to life and available for download on the forum thread but Herrie also added the solutions to github which should generate the request to update it for the HP App Catalog as well.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…I’m consistently blown away by the amazing webOS community. Thanks Herrie!
#webosforever
Image: zhephree.com
Not a Foursquare user (yet?), but this is a great story!
On a somewhat related note…
I know its a small thing, but my (native app) ability to purchase Amazon mp3s on my Pre3 went away a few months ago. Its the same problem as discussed here:
http://webosnation.com/psa-relationship-between-amazon-mp3-and-webos-goes-dysfunctional
…except (I don’t think) my credit card gets charged. I’m assuming that Amazon “updated” their API & now no webOS users’ native app can finalize a purchase. It sure would be great to have restored.
Yeah I noticed that a while back. Several of us contacted Amazon and got nowhere. http://forums.webosnation.com/webos-patches/326850-patch-request-amazon-mp3-authentication-fix.html
@ Alan
I was one of them. When I called their customer service line, they said Amazon said that they’d look in to it. I got a nice little email from them the same night regarding the “trouble call” and I’ve heard nothing since.
I can’t imagine that it would take too much to correct the “issue” on their side. But then again, I’m sure it’s not like there is a big demand from the ever dwindling population of current webOS device mp3 consumers.
Ce la vie, I guess.
Now why can’t someone do this for the LinkedIn app??? I’m thankful we’ve been getting fixes for alot of things, but why not LinkedIn???
I concur.
Yeah it’s broken for good it seems. The API isn’t public. http://forums.webosnation.com/webos-apps-games/320632-linkedin-app-not-working-anymore.html
It’s pretty dam sad. Even the LinkedIn app on my SYMBIAN phone still works fine (Nokia C7…. yeah, I got one), and I thought Symbian was just as “dead” as webOS. Oh well, I guess being a Symbian, webOS, and Windows Phone 7 user I should be used to rejection, lol.