If you’re seeing this it means that your DNS settings have updated, and you’re now using billshare off of our new hosting.  I’ve noticed that the site has run a TON faster since switching from our old host.  As always please let me know if you find any problems. Edit: We ended up going with RailsPlayground ( http://railsplayground.com/ )
I think I owe you guys an explanation about todays advertising bungle. Â For some time now I’ve been unhappy with the ads that have been appearing on Billshare as they really have nothing to do with the what the user base of this site is interested in. Â So I decided to switch to a different network. Â This morning I made the changes and we started using a different network. Â Â Unfortunately, I was forced to leave before I could do adequite testing of the new advertising server.
Unfortunately, switching networks had some bad side effects. Â For many users the new ads either didn’t show up or were inhibiting the usage of billshare, especially the mouseover links that created an annoying popup window (which I never intended to enable). Â I’ve switched back to the old network for now. Â I just wanted to make it clear that I have no intention of putting such intrusive ads on the site, and I’ll be using the old ad network until I’m sure the new ads are working properly. Thanks for your patience.
Billshare was featured on the populare video podcast Diggnation this week. Diggnation is hosted by Kevin Rose ( Founder of digg.com, revision3.com, and pownce.com) and Alex Albrecht who talk about the weekly top stories on digg.com. The guys have some kind things to say about it. Here it is.
I thought I’d give a list of some of the press billshare has received since it’s launch:
Digg.com - Great feedback 1900+diggs
KillerStartups - Nice article
Rev2 - Billshare Not in beta - great title
FrostFireBuzz - Another positive review
Chatsquatch - Nice Article
Before I get into the details I’d like to address the problem with getting the 502 Bad Proxy errors. This is a problem with my hosting, and I’ve been working on getting mediatemple to fix the issue. If it doesn’t get done in the next few days I’ll be switching hosts. So if anyone knows of a good rails host let me know.
I would like to thank each and everyone of you who sent me feedback. I’ve spent my morning reading all of them. I’ve sent responses to as many of you as I could, but there has been way too many for me to reply to every one. Here are some the main requests:
Facebook Plugin - High Priority
This is a fantastic idea, I’ve begun working on implementing a facebook app for billshare. Look for it in the next couple of weeks
Paypal Feature - Low Priority
While I feel like this is a good idea, I am somewhat reluctant to add paypal to the site. While it would be convenient to some of you who use paypal on a regular basis, I don’t think the majority of users have paypal set up.
Tour, Walkthrough, and FAQ - Super High Priority
I’ve been working on these things today and hopefully should get them in place by the end of the day. So look for that really soon.
Dates For Receipts - High Priority
This seems like a natural thing to select when creating a receipt. Look for this very soon.
Recurring Receipts - Low Priority
While this would be handy for some, I feel like this would create more problems for most.
Group Wall Post Deletion - High Priority
Also something that probably should have been in the initial draft. Look for it soon.
Alert Options - High priority
Being able to choose what notifications you want emailed to you is important and will be added very soon.
So look for these new features as soon as I can get them completed.
-Trevor
It’s alive! That’s right, today is the day I’ve decided to release billshare to the masses. Billshare is an online app designed for roommates to help make keeping track of shared bills easier. It allows you to keep track of all receipts, payments, provides detailed stats, and has all sorts of other cool features. The idea was based on an earlier version I wrote and used when I was living with three other roommates. They seemed to like it a lot so I decided to expand the idea.
I’m really excited to to get some real users in there using the site, and to read the feedback they have. Anyways, go check it out, and why you’re there give it a digg if you like it.
Tick, tock… tick, tock… That’s the clock ticking down until the August 1st and billshare’s official launch. Things are actually ahead of schedule right now, and I’m running out of things to work on for the launch.
As for the launch process, I’ll be opening the site on billshare.org, submittting the site to digg, reddit etc… and sit back and hope that people like the app and decide to use it. Here’s to hoping that the Media Temple’s grid servers work as well as they advertise.
I’ve just finished migrating our hosting from dreamhost ( cheap and good for development but too slow for production ) to a grid server from mediatemple. I had quite a few problems getting everything up and working, but things seem to be working all right now. Things seem to be running a LOT faster now. Let me know if you have any problems with the new hosting and I’ll do what I can to get it fixed.
That being said, I’ve been working on doing some last minute optimizations as I prepare for the official billshare launch on August 1st ( 12 days ). Things are coming together well and I’m looking forward to the launch.
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!
