You can review mapping interfaces for as long as you want, but only when you actually need them do you get a feel for how great (or how crappy) they are. Today, Yahoo! Maps got my attention with their new mapping interface (which, I’ll admit, I hadn’t paid much attention to before).

First off, it is obvious that they get “flow”. Yahoo! Maps looks and acts like a RIA. It doesn’t take your input, show you results and look “static”. It allows you to interact with your routes, add nodes or traffic information dynamically and once you’ve got the perfect route or map, it gives you immediate print access.

The reason it stands out from both their old interface and the current offerings from Google and Microsoft is because it looks and acts both simple and effective. It doesn’t get in your way, it doesn’t make you “guess” what to do. When you try it out, you know what you’ll get. It feels like a desktop application.

This feeling isn’t easy to obtain with web-apps. You are operating in a clunky piece of software (the browser), using technologies that browsers often interpret in different ways. But these days, there’s a lot you can do to improve the feel of your application. Technologies like Ajax, Flex or Apollo let you get desktop-like experiences. That, and meticulously planned interaction with the page. Personally, I want to see more applications like the new Yahoo! Maps interface.

Working with people you don’t see everyday isn’t an easy task. You may be a great manager but still be left wondering about whether work is being done or deadlines are going to be met. Around here we are on the other end of the spectrum more often than not, so based on our experience here are a few pieces of advice on working with remote people and teams:

• Be ready to trust: Whether you want to or not, communication is never just as good as it is when you share office space - meaning trust comes into play, heavy. Hiring for remote work is never the same as hiring for the cubicle next door. Make sure you have, or are ready to build, trust in the other party and his/her/their abilities or you’ll never be comfortable.
• Always tell, never hide: More than managing people, you’ll be managing their expectations and a relationship. It may sound corny, but it’s like love: unspoken things will eat away at you and the other party (whether that’s an individual or a whole team). If you don’t want anyone to be disappointed or bitter, be straightforward at all times.
• Help, don’t bother: Communication is key, but over-communication is a sin. If you trust whoever you’re working with guide them as to what you need but don’t be on top of them every 30 minutes - or they won’t have time to deal with you and the work. Micromanaging may work, but only until someone gets pissed.
• Be flexible: Working remotely requires adaptation to how the other party is comfortable doing what they do. Setting comfortable values for when to communicate is of utmost importance, because you may end up being either be too lax or too hands-on on keeping control.

Have you been working with people remotely? Any tips to share with other readers? Make sure you leave a comment.

I believe it was two years ago when I first saw Dick Hardt’s Identity 2.0 presentation at OSCON 2005. Back then, Dick hinted at how the world needed a unified identity system to relieve people from having to keep all these bits and pieces of information related to themselves around (think usernames and passwords).

Two years later, OpenID is quickly emerging as the de facto standard for an open, decentralized and free identity framework. Just in the course of three weeks, several companies and projects announced their support of the platform: Microsoft, VeriSign, Symantec, AOL, Digg. These join a growing number of sites and services (like Wikipedia, Livejournal) that use OpenID to identify users.

See Simon Willison’s screencast to get a brief introduction on what OpenID is and does.

What can you do?

If you’re working on a web-based product, you’ll most likely need to build a solution to manage and store the identity of your users. Usually you do this by setting up a system that allows them to register a new username and password to access your service. But what if you could simplify that and use OpenID to log people in?

One of the problems with services (those Web 2.0 applications you keep hearing about) these days is that by forcing you to remember credentials, they’re putting your coming back in jeopardy - because you’ll be frustrated anyway. OpenID solves that problem by allowing everyone to have one identity - a unique URL that identifies them everywhere.

When you build your next application, think about the possibility of implementing OpenID and joining the ranks of companies that want to make managing identity as simple as it should be. It’s a big step towards interoperability everywhere.

Relevant links

OpenID Enabled - a site for those of you who want to know how to integrate OpenID into your products or services. Has some really good developer information.

Simon Willison’s Weblog - Simon’s blog is a great resource when it comes to the latest news on OpenID.

I’ll be in San Francisco (and going up and down the bay) from the 25th of February to the 3rd of March, catching up with some people and companies. I’ve been missing the bay area and a lot of people since I came back over a year ago so I’ll try to make up for that by paying everyone a visit.

If you’re around the SF bay and want to meet up for drinks or a quick chat, drop me an email (fred at webreakstuff dot com) and lets set it up. And even if we never met but you want to pick my brain and exchange ideas, do get in touch - I want to make the most of this week even though I’ll be going over more often in the future.