Augur: iPhone App That Uses Twitter to Predict the Future
June 25, 2014 8:34 PM   Subscribe

Augur: iPhone App That Uses Twitter to Predict the Future
Augur is an iPhone app that displays random Twitter posts, and attempts to provide both advice and prophesy. Pulling from a growing list of keywords, the app ignores any Twitter posts containing links, images, #hashtags, or @mentions. It also parses out any first person mention (I, Me, Myself) and tries to present Twitter posts containing second personal conditionals (You will, You shall, etc).

In Roman times, an augur was someone who predicted the future by studying the flight path of birds. I lucked into the name, and it seemed incredibly appropriate as the iPhone app attempts to do the same thing. But instead of looking to the sky, it looks to the Internet (and Twitter in particular).

This is my first ever iPhone app, and I built it using PhoneGap. I was working on it for an embarrassingly long time, and finally just pared things down and got the thing submitted. I'm still in awe that it went through the App Store approval process successfully, and just generally tickled to see the app up and available.

It may go without saying, but... the app requires a Twitter account to function.
Role: programmer and designer
posted by avoision (6 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
This project was posted to MetaFilter by Going To Maine on July 6, 2014: Think of mistakes as proof that you're trying your hardest.

On that homepage are those live examples or just a bunch of examples you've put together? Some funny stuff in there either way!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:03 AM on June 26, 2014


Those are not live examples, but screenshots from the app. I'm still working on fine-tuning the signal-to-noise ratio, but every once in a while some zingers shine through. Thanks!
posted by avoision at 5:53 AM on June 26, 2014


Interesting idea! I find the landscape-only orientation jarring though. Would you consider adding a portrait mode?
posted by dyslexictraveler at 6:36 AM on June 27, 2014


It's very nice. I found the first couple that came up really intriguing, and the third one was quite funny. Like dyslexictraveler, it would be nice to have portrait mode as well, although it does look good in langdscape.
posted by OrangeDisk at 12:54 PM on July 1, 2014


Ok, after authorizing it just bounces me to a google search page. If I hit 'done' it goes back to the splash page. Does this mean I have no future?
posted by sevenyearlurk at 10:44 AM on July 6, 2014


sevenyearlurk - Sorry you're having login issues. I had a friend describe a similar scenario, which I've been trying to repro (unsuccessfully so far). Though it didn't work for him, my only suggestion now is to try to uninstall/reinstall and see if that helps with the login. I'll continue to dig - sorry again for the hassle and inconvenience.

Going To Maine - thanks for sharing on the blue. Very kind of you.
posted by avoision at 4:26 AM on July 7, 2014


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