Rotzy on CNET's Apple Byte

Rotzy was recently featured on CNET's Apple Byte as an iPhone App of the Week. Very cool!



This CNET TV show is great for keeping up to date in the world of Apple stuff... subscribe to the podcast.

Connect with Facebook (beta)

With our basic Facebook App, we've allowed users to update their Facebook status message whenever they post a public photo on Rotzy. I've used this a lot, and it's been helpful in sharing my photos with friends who might not have an iPhone, or who might not be on Rotzy (I pity them in either case!).

But a status message is just text, and words can only go so far... Starting today, we're rolling out our beta implementation of Facebook Connect. By going to your account settings and stepping through the instructions, you can now post stories to your wall and your friends' news feeds! These stories will include your caption and a thumbnail sized image, as well as a link straight to the Rotzy photo page.



The steps on the account page are brief, so here's a full walk-through of what you need to do:

1) Head to your account page, and click on the 'Connect' button. If you're already signed onto Facebook, just click Connect again. Otherwise, enter your username and password to get started.



2) Next, since we need to post these stories even when you aren't logged into Facebook (when you're uploading from your iPhone), we need offline access. Click 'Grant Offline Access', and then confirm again when the Facebook prompt pops up.



you should then see:



3) Lastly, to make sure your stories make it to the feed, we need explicit permissions to post full sized stories without prompting. To allow this, head to your Facebook Application Settings, and under Rotzy.com, click on 'Edit Settings'. When the pop-up appears, select the radio button titled "Allow Rotzy.com to publish specific story sizes automatically without prompting.", and also select "Full". Click 'Okay' and you're all set!



4) It definitely takes a lot of steps to get it started working, but so far this is as smooth as we can get it given the way Facebook Connect works. If you've made it thus far, and you've set your Rotzy settings on your iPhone to "Post to Facebook", then the next public photo you post should produce a news story like the first image above. As a side note, if you've got both news stories (via Connect) and status messages (via the original app) set up, the news stories will take precedence, so don't worry about double posting!

Please give it a try and let us know how it works!

Thanks,
The Rotzy Team

Rotzy Version 1.4

It's been a while since our last update, but version 1.4 of Rotzy is now available on the App Store! Here's a rundown of what's new:

1. More, more, more! You can now view "more" at the bottom of all the the views (home feed, public photos, popular photos, and individual users' photos).
2. Scrolling performance has increased. Much quicker and smoother.
3. Turn off auto-rotation. Turns out some users like using Rotzy while lying down! :)
4. New user view lets you see the user's avatar, and also more easily follow or friend them.
5. More informative help messages for first time users.
6. Other UI and performance enhancements.

We hope to roll out another version relatively soon, so stay tuned!

Thanks,
The Rotzy Team

Rotzy Version 1.3

Version 1.3 of Rotzy is out! It's been a while since our last update, but we've been working hard on implementing some of the features that our users have requested. Here's a quick run through of what's new (where available, links will take you to more detailed posts about each addition):

1. Commenting with photos. Reply to a photo with one of your own! [link]
2. Landscape mode. See more text on feeds, view full-sized landscape photos, and type out comments with the larger keyboard. [link]
3. Auto status update on Facebook. With our Facebook app, you can auto update your status when you post Rotzy photos. [link]
4. Auto-post to your Tumblr! Just add your account information in the settings page.
5. On your feed, you can now see an additional page of results by clicking the 'More' button at the end of the feed.
6. Clicking 'options' from a photo allows you to 'Open in Safari' for advanced options and editing.
7. When clicking on the 'People' tab, you now appear at the top of your contact list.
8. 'Logout' from the settings page to clear your login information.

Update Rotzy today to make use of these new features!

Thanks,
The Rotzy Team

Facebook App!

After allowing automatic Twitter updates in our last release, we thought that adding Facebook to the mix would further help our users share their photos with their friends. We've written up a very simple Facebook app that mirrors some of the functionality of Rotzy on the web, and also gives you the ability to auto update your status when you post a photo.

There are a few steps to get this going:

1. Add our Facebook app and enter your Rotzy login info.

2. Give the application permission to auto update your status.

3. Enable/disable status updates from your iPhone. Enabling only takes effect if you've added and authorized the Facebook app.

4. Upload your photo as usual.

5. Your Facebook status has been automatically updated!

The rest of the application is quite basic at this point, but we definitely hope to build upon it in the coming months.

Thanks!
The Rotzy Team

Landscape View

A chief complaint about the iPhone is the inability for e-mail to be composed and read in landscape mode. Not surprisingly, our users have also mentioned this as a concern to us. We've heard you!

As part of version 1.3, many of the views are now available in landscape mode. Enjoy more of the text in feeds and photos with a wider view, compose comments with a much larger keyboard, and view landscape photos as they were intended... all with the latest version of Rotzy on the iPhone!

Thanks!
The Rotzy Team

Comment With A Photo!

Along with the release of version 1.3 comes the ability to respond to a photo with one of your own! Here's a quick run through about how to get started (click the images to step through):

1. When commenting on a photo, a camera icon now appears to the right of the usual text field. Click it!

2. Upload a photo as you normally would, either from your camera or your photo albums.

3. Your photo now appears as a comment to the original photo!

4. A link back to the original photo will be provided on your photo's page.

A couple of things to note when photo-commenting:

- Instead of adding a comment, the photo's caption now serves as the comment text.

- Photo comments must remain public, and this cannot be changed.

That's pretty much all there is to it. We hope everyone puts this to good use!

Thanks,
The Rotzy Team

Routine Maintenance on 11/15 at 2PM PST

Hi everyone!

Rotzy (both the iPhone app and the web site) will be inaccessible for a short time starting at approximately 2PM PST on Novemeber 15th, 2008. The downtime should be brief and full access will be restored shortly after. We are sorry for any inconvenience this will cause!

Thanks for understanding... we try hard to avoid any downtime but sometimes it just has to be done to keep Rotzy running smoothly :-)