Week 194

It’s me again, writing from London this time but in the hazy fugue state that jetlag brings. I’m also really not enjoying this weather. It was 30°C and sunny in Austin!

So what’s been happening this week? Well, predictably it’s been more of GOV.UK and more Harmonia. I’m not sure I have very much interesting to say about either at the moment – you can blame a combination of a chunk of my week having been lost of travelling, and my jetlag-addled brain – except that on Monday we’re taking a whole week away from client work to really throw some momentum behind our own projects, and hopefully get a point where other people can start using it in the near future.

If you’d like to find out more, sign up for early access and follow Harmonia on twitter for updates.

Hashblue

As you may recall, once of our previous projects was Hashblue (also known as ‘#blue’), a SMS web appliation and API that we built with O2. Unfortunately, Hashblue’s time in the sun has come to an end, and as it’s outlined on the homepage, the service will be closing towards the end of this year.

The project was always described as a ‘beta’, but developed a small user base who really appreciated the server. We received quite a lot of positive feedback from it’s users. Here’s a small sample of some recent comments:

“Thank you for Blue. I used this service everyday and it made a positive difference.”

“Your service was outstanding, it was exemplary. Basically, you nailed it – the best integration of internet and texting I’ve ever seen, and I have seen many.”

“This service was great. It made messaging so easy for me. Will miss viewing message history which was so useful when responding to a series of messages with a contact.”

“Hashblue is the best SMS storage there is. PLEASE DON’T GO!!!”

Some even asked if they could pay to keep the service running, but sadly it’s not that simple. We (GFR) even spent a bit of time thinking about whether or not there was some way we could get involved that might keep the service alive, but ultimately it’s O2’s product and their priorities will dictate its future.

We’re glad that we could be involved in building something that many people cared about and got a lot of value from; hopefully it’s an experience we’ll get to repeat sooner rather than later.

Right, that’s all that jetlag will allow me to write. I can feel myself losing grip on the cliff-face of comprehensibility. Unconsciousness swaddles me in a blanket of numb oblivion…

– James A.