One of the goals in developing Giftag was to learn a bleeding edge technology (Google App Engine) and to provide any useful code/design patterns we created back to the community.  Gaegene, licensed under the Apache License 2.0, is the result of that goal.

This first release of the library (Download v0.1: ZIP, GZ or BZ2) contains two modular applications to assist with sharded counters and slugs.  Future releases will add support/utilities for images, pagination, and tags.  The repository and documentation are hosted on bitbucket.org.

If you’re a GAE developer (or even if you’re just contemplating a GAE webapp), give the Gaegene Wiki a look.  It contains usage examples and detailed public APIs.  There is also a testing App Engine webapp that serves both as an example of Gaegene uses and a set of functional tests (with nearly 100% code coverage).  It utilizes the Django web framework and the App Engine Patch project.

As always, we welcome and encourage any and all feedback, patches, and enhancements.  We’re all in this together, so let’s keep giving.

At long last the Giftag Firefox add-on is no longer under ‘experimental’ status. Firefox approved the add-on today so you can download it direct from addons.mozilla.org. But wait - now we need to update it on Mozilla - the latest version, 2.4, is still only available here. Doh. We’ll get that fixed right away.

Anyway, here’s what the people are saying:

• LOVE it!

  Giftag is the best and continues to get better with each release. I can’t wait to send all my wishes to my family for Christmas time, then a month later for my birthday!

  by KCB48 on October 7, 2008

• greatest thing ever

  I freakin love this app. This is going to make gift shopping (and giving hints) SO MUCH EASIER. No more trying to make 20 different registries for all the different stores. This keeps it all in one place! The ony thing is it can be a little confusing at first but after a few minutes I was shopping all over the internet.

  by Rebecca Kay on October 7, 2008

• Giftag

  Super slick. I like picking something and having it show up in my gift bar. Makes me greedy! It’s cool that I can pick things from any store, plus post things like a listing for a house I want (see the greedy part, previously mentioned).

  by Jackie Osking on October 7, 2008

Giftag browser plugins (v0.2.4) now use http://remix.bestbuy.com/ to pull in product information when hProduct isn’t available on BestBuy.com.

Want to find out how your site can implement the hProduct microformat spec? Let us know, we’ll help you.

Albert Maruggi interviewed me about Giftag and some other stuff for the Marketing Edge Podcast.

…Giftag is the new gift-registry builder and community platform from Best Buy’s social media team. The best part about it is — get this — it is based on the fundamental principle that the social web is, well, social. That’s why it allows users to build lists from anywhere on the web – not just Best Buy. In my Xmas 2008 list I have warm and toasty long johns (I live in Minnesota, give me a break) from REI, and at Best Buy, an excellent Samsung 46” 1080p flat panel HDTV for an unbelievable price…

Marketing Edge Podcast

Gary, Steve, and Curtis showed off Giftag at DEMO Fall 08 this week. Check out their full presentation here, and check out the application at giftag.com.