View Gamer Details

Earlier this week, we deployed a major update to the 1337pwn XBOX Live Friends list application for the iPhone and iPod Touch. You can now view gamer details by simply tapping on their gamerpic.


Thank you for the great feedback on this new feature.

Gamer Spotlight on Borocouncilman

XBox Live's Trixie did an interview with me for their Gamer Spotlight. You can check it out here.

It was an interesting experience. Thank you Trixie!

iHaloStats.com down? [UPDATED]

It looks like iHaloStats.com is down. I've got an email into iHaloStats' MasterChief to see if they're down for the short-term or long-term. If they're still down through the weekend, we'll likely change the links for the Halo 3 game icons. Hopefully, their outage is only temporary.

How does everyone like our new gamer details page in the iPhone/iPod Touch 1337pwn XBOX Live Friends List application? Send your feedback and/or comments to borocouncilman via XBOX Live.

UPDATE:
I just got an email from MasterChief. While there were some technical difficulties, he's back online. Thank you, MasterChief.

1337pwn XBOX Live Friends Update

The iPhone/iPod Touch version of the 1337pwn XBOX Live Friends list application has been enhanced to include recent games, last played date/time, total achievements, gamerscore, and even bio/profile. You can access this detailed view by simply tapping on the gamer picture or last played game.


In the detailed view, touching recent game icons will allow you to compare achievements at XBOX.com. You can also send a message to a gamer using the convenient link at the bottom of the screen.

We hope that you enjoy the update. At 1337pwn, we work to constantly improve our applications.

Thank you all for your feedback and support.

Update for iPhone/iPod Touch

We're currently testing a major new feature for the iPhone/iPod Touch version of the 1337pwn XBOX Live Friends List. Once we've worked out the kinks, it will be kicked out to the server.

Thank you all for your feedback and support.

1337pwn Service Restored

Our Database Server hardware crashed about 2 hours ago. Using a different server, we have successfully created a new instance of our gamertag server database. For XBOX Live Friends List users, you may see the message "Status Pending Update" as our cache got blown away in the process. Within about 8-12 hours, the cache should be caught up and you'll see the message disappear.



Total system downtime was less than 2 hours! A big thanks to our hosting provider and the crack 1337pwn team for getting us back in action.

Thank you all for your patience and support!

Database Server is Down

We're currently working through an issue at our hosting provider. It appears to be a hardware/OS problem -- we can't even get into the machine. We will let you know when it's back in action.


If you're seeing "Unable to select Database", the system is still down.

Thank you for your patience.

UPDATE:
We have a new server and should be back up by the time you read this.

15,000 New Users this past Friday

When we first launched our MacOS dashboard XBOX Live Friends Widget in November 2007, we underestimated demand and quickly found our servers unable to deal with the surge in data requests. The site was saturated. Thousands of downloaded widgets were effectively creating a denial-of-service (DoS) attack against our own server. In short, we had to rewrite the widget and re-architect our server back-end. You can read a posting of the account here with all of the gory details.

Thanksgiving 2007 was a valuable experience that served us well with the wide-scale deployment of our iPhone/iPod Touch XBOX Live Friends List application.

With coverage on TUAW.com and Apple.com, we picked up over 15,000 new users on Friday alone. Between the MacOS dashboard widget and the iPhone/iPod Touch application, we're now serving up about 200,000 gamertags per day.

Thus far, the servers and code have held up with the increased demand. The community response has been great. I would like to thank everyone for the feedback and support. If you like our applications, please spread the word.

Thanks again!

1337pwn XBOX Live Friends for Mobile Devices

We now support Blackberry, Treo, Centro, Palm PDAs, Windows Smartphone, Windows Mobile, and cellphones with limited web browsers. The new 1337pwn Mobile application is a lightweight browser version of our very popular MacOS Dashboard widget and Apple iPhone/iPod Touch application. With 1337pwn Mobile, you can check up on your XBOX Live friends from almost anywhere.

Here is a photo of the application in action on my Blackberry Pearl. Finally, there is an easy way to check on my XBOX friends and gamertags from a Blackberry.


You can access the 1337pwn Mobile XBOX Friends List at the following URL:

http://1337pwn.com/mobile.php

It uses no AJAX calls, no Javascript, no CSS, and should be usable on a web browser of any vintage. We've been testing the application with Blackberry devices. Let us know how it works for you - send a message via XBOX Live to "borocouncilman" with information about your device.

Thank you all for your feedback and support.

TUAW

The Unofficial Apple Weblog has a nice post about our iPhone/iPod Touch XBOX Live Friends List application. You can check it out here.

Thank you!

Apple Web Application Gallery

The 1337pwn iPhone/iPod Touch XBOX Live Friends List widget is now listed in Apple's Web Application gallery. You can check it out here.



Of course, you can access the application directly at: http://1337pwn.com/iphone.php.

If you'd like to see what it looks like with a few tags configured, you can follow this link. The application is optimized for the mobile Safari browser.

Thank you all for your feedback and support.

Removal of Google Ads

We have removed the ads from the iPhone and iPod Touch XBOX Live Friends application. I wasn't happy with the mix of ads that Google was serving up to our users. "Win a Free XBOX" and "Credit Cards" are a little below the sophistication of our community. It also didn't help that the ads slowed down the application and took up bandwidth.

Thank you for your patience with our "Google Ad" experiment with the iPhone/iPod Touch application. If you're happy that they're gone, send a message to borocouncilman via XBOX Live.

iPhone/iPod Touch XBOX Live Friends Update

We just deployed a major update for the Apple iPhone/iPod Touch XBOX Live Friends List. With this update, we've eliminated the need to enter all of your friends into one big text field. The new "Preferences" interface allows you to manage the gamertags as a list. You can now update, delete, and even re-order your friends. With this new version, you can even update your existing friends list by clicking on "EDIT LIST".



If you already use the 1337pwn application, you'll get this functionality automatically. For new users, simply follow the link below.

http://1337pwn.com/iphone.php

Thank you for the great feedback and support.

1337pwn XBOX Live Friends Application Update

1337pwn.com is putting together a series of improvements for the iPhone and iPod Touch XBOX Live friends list widget. In particular, we're incorporating more robust functionality to handle the management of your friend gamertags. With testing and fixes, we hope to have the update out this weekend. You'll get the update automatically as soon as it is deployed.

Thank you all for the great feedback and support.

XBOX Live Widget for iPhone/iPod Touch FAQ

We've created a quick little FAQ for the 1337pwn XBOX Live Friends application on the Apple iPhone/iPod Touch.

Q: Where do I get it?
Visit http://1337pwn.com/iphone.php. Don't forget to bookmark the page after adding your friends.

Q: Do I need to unlock my iPhone or iPod Touch to use this application?
A: Unlike some of the XBOX Live applications out there, ours can be used on your iPhone or iPod Touch as-is without any hacks or firmware trickery. Our iPhone/iPod Touch solution is browser-based and leverages the 1337pwn.com servers. You don't have to violate your warranty to use our application.

Q: Do I have to enter my friends by hand?
A: Microsoft does not permit third-parties direct access to your friends list yet. Fortunately, it's a one-time setup and you can edit your list at any time. Our application doesn't "screen scrape" or otherwise violate your XBOX Live security -- that also means the application will still work a month from now.

Q: How do I change my list of friends?
A: Press on EDIT LIST in the upper-righthand corner of the application. This will display the preferences for the application. There, you can add gamers, delete gamers, and even re-order the list of friends using the up and down arrows.

Q: Can I see details about achievements and games played?
A: Yes, just tap on their gamerpic and you'll see the Gamer Details screen that includes games played and achievements. If available, you will also see real name, location, and bio information. If you tap the gamer card, you'll be presented with their XBOX Live profile. Touching any of the games will allow you to see details about the game including friends that have played it.

Q: How do I compare achievements?
A: Tapping on any game score hyperlink under the Gamer Details or Game Detail screen will allow you to compare achievements via XBOX.com.

Q: Can I send a message to a friend?
A: After tapping on the gamerpic, you'll be presented with the Gamer Details screen. At the bottom of the screen, there is a link that will allow you to send a message via XBOX Live.

Q; Neat, what else can the application do?
A: If Halo 3 is in the recent games list, you can tap on the 'Halo 3' hyperlink to see their Bungie.net information via iHaloStats (http://ihalostats.com).

Q: Are you going to offer a native version?
A: There currently is no way to run native applications on the iPhone or iPod Touch without hacking/unlocking the device -- violating your warranty. When Apple releases their SDK, we might implement a native version after investigating the API offering and application installation model.

Thank you all for your support and feedback!

Supported by Advertising? Maybe

We're now incorporating advertising at the bottom of the iPhone/iPod Touch XBOX Live Friends widget application. At the moment, it's somewhat experimental and I certainly welcome your feedback. Advertising will follow on the browser-based widget as well.

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

By placing the ad at the bottom of the widget, I hope that you'll find them unobtrusive and on occasion, maybe even helpful. Send a message to "borocouncilman" on XBOX Live and let me know your thoughts.

For those wondering, the Apple MacOS X Dashboard version of the widget will remain "ad-free" for the foreseeable future.

Thank you for your feedback and support!

iPhone/iPod Touch XBOX Live Friends Update

We recently updated the iPhone/iPod Touch version of our XBOX Live Friends Widget. The update improves usability and cosmetics. If you've already bookmarked it, you'll see the updated look automatically. When you add the application to your home screen, it will now appear with the same icon as our Apple Dashboard widget.


Do you want to add your XBOX 360 friends to your iPhone/iPod Touch home screen?

Visit http://1337pwn.com/iphone.php using your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Thank you all for your great feedback and support!

Hosting Upgrade

With all of the traffic on the 1337pwn.com web site, we've upgraded our hosting plan. We transitioned to the new servers earlier today and it went off without a hitch. If you are an XBOX Live Friends Widget user, you probably didn't even notice the cut-over. If you have any questions/comments, be sure to drop a note to "borocouncilman" via XBOX Live.

Thank you for all of your great feedback and support.