This feature release marks a pretty major milestone for StageBloc and embodies advances to our platform, API, and soon-to-be-released open-source Front-end Framework (woah dashes!).  Basic Fansite and Commenting will launch for all accounts with our upcoming hosted StageBloc Site re-launch in the next few months.

So what does this mean?  In short it means that StageBloc will be growing both in size and exposure, and expanding our Topspin integrations.  And that is a good thing for everyone.  While our "soon-to-be-announced" StageBloc Special Services will benefit the most directly from this partnership (designing and developing custom offer pages and sites for Topspin Pro Services), it also means good things for our industry-focused platform, hosted StageBloc Sites (which will be receiving a much needed overhaul and upgrade in the coming month), and open-source Front-end Framework (which is nearing an official release).

1. We Are Busy Bodies: a great record label out of Canada run by a really stand up guy.  This site demonstrates the use of Super User and Super Account capabilities to help run a record label website and make managing multiple accounts/sites a breeze.

2. The Glitch Mob: an amazing band that puts on a mind-blowing live show.  We couldn't be prouder to be working on a website for these guys and can't wait to launch Fansite, Commenting, Photos, and Audio capabilities for them!

3. How To Destroy Angels: this project was an absolute honor to work on.  We couldn't be happier with the end result and entire process.  And it doesn't hurt that we're all massive Trent Reznor, NiN, and Mariqueen fans!  HTDA's new EP has been in constant rotation on our office playlist.

4. Eminem: as with HTDA and much of the work we've recently done, Eminem's new store page highlights our integration and working relationship with Topspin Media.  Topspin provides a great service, which we absolutely love.  We have some exciting plans for our platform and services that involve Topspin!

5. The Postelles: we've been working with these guys for some time now and recently helped them revamp their site as they begin gearing up towards their new album release.  Stand-up guys with great management... and even better tunes.  If you haven't already checked them out we highly suggest doing so!

In addition to the above, here are some projects that will be launching soon...

1. Green Day: "Basket Case" was the very first album I ever bought.  And when I was in fifth grade I chose to write to the band for my "Write a Letter to a Celebrity" assignment... they wrote back and sent me autographs.  Was it destiny we're working on a store page for them?  Who knows... but my vote is spelled Y-E-S.

2. Wingless Angels: two words... Keith Richards.

3. Saivu: this new band of rockers, including Richard Fortus from Guns N Roses, is priming to unleash their debut album and we're going along for the ride working with them on a new website, logo, shirt design, and video work.

To handle the added growth we have expanded our team and are in the process of expanding it even further.  We've also begun the process of infusing our blood with a continual caffeine-drip and sprinkling espresso beans on everything we eat.

In short, we've been busy because StageBloc is growing... fast.  And as a result there are a lot of exciting things going on behind the scenes, many of which will begin finding their way to our live servers and free services later this summer.  Until then, don't hesitate to contact us directly if you have any questions, need help, are interested in upgrading your account or developing a completely custom website, or just want to say "Hi" and talk about the World Cup or the most awesome TV show ever: Dexter.

With these new updates, you'll be up and running within minutes of registration with your own entertainment industry focused website containing sections and pages for Blog, Events, Video, Photos, Audio, and About.  In addition, your fans will now be able to register for your Fansite and post comments throughout your site.

All that said, I'm pleased to announce a much-anticipated feature: the control bar! What's that, you ask? It's the start of a new set of tools and functionality that will make managing your content even easier! Right now, it's purpose is to provide a way for users who manage multiple accounts (e.g., record labels, managers, ambitious musicians) to be able to quickly jump between their different accounts.

Over time, we'll be adding a ton of features and shortcuts to it to enhance your overall StageBloc experience - with plenty of stuff you can benefit from even if you don't manage multiple accounts. We have some exciting plans for this, and hope you like it as much as we do! As always, we'd love to hear your feedback. Why don't you give it a try and tell us what you think?

• Moved your admin section to http://stagebloc.com/[stageblocurl]/admin/ so it's easier to remember and access (replace [stageblocurl] with the one you use to access your account).
• Now you can save your status updates and have them show up on your hosted profile!
• Completely rewrote our social integration from the ground-up, starting with Twitter. This opens the door to more easily add additional social networks in the future, such as Facebook and MySpace.
• Added the ability to reset your social network if you're experiencing issues or want to map it to a different social profile.
• Added JSON support to our API!
• Renamed "Journal" to "Blog" due to popular request. This should clear up the confusion users had about Journals.
• Streamlined how we handle user accounts to make rolling out our exciting fansite features even easier over the coming weeks.
• Fixed a sign up bug that was incorrectly giving an 'invalid e-mail address' error.
• ...and many other bug fixes!

We hope you're just as excited about these changes as we are! Over the coming weeks stay tuned for even more awesome updates, such as:

• Multimedia! The ability to upload songs and photos, and link to videos on the web.
• Create playlists of your multimedia with simple, easy to use drag and drop controls, and embed your content other sites with your own RSS feeds!
• Commenting! Fansites! That's right, we're in the home stretch of finishing up our fansite features that will allow users to register with your fansite, leave comments, interact with others, and promote your music and posts by sharing content across social networks!

All this and more coming soon!

1. Hosted website at http://stagebloc.com/account_name

2. Journal and Show management

3. Direct integration with Twitter for your account and all individual admins, which allows for simultaneous updates across all your Twitter profiles

4. Flash player integration with MySpace for Journal posts and Shows. For the time being, please contact us for help getting this setup

While we recognize that our current available features are limited, we have a lot of stuff in development that we can't wait to start rolling out.  First up, however, there is some cleanup that we will be addressing within the next week or so.  This will include fixing Facebook integration and working out a lot of other kinks and tweaks that should help improve workflow and overall experience.

Some of the upcoming features that you can look forward to include:

1. Video, Audio, and Photo management

2. Expanded Facebook integration

3. Fan registration and management

4. Commenting and the ability for fans to share posts

5. Topspin integration

6. Custom Themes and URLs

http://myspace.com/attackoftheprecociouspajamapeople

Contact us if you have questions or need help getting this set up!

While OAuth is a pretty new technique, it is an integral part to the future of the web. A future that is focused on site to site integration. In addition to Twitter, OAuth (or similar forms of it) are being used as the preferred method of integration by such sites as Facebook, MySpace, and Google. So why use OAuth? What really makes it better than simply storing a user's login information like some other systems use? In addition to the obvious, that it reduces the risk of identity theft from stolen login information, OAuth introduces extra checks between systems to ensure security and it gives users the freedom to change their login information without breaking their integration settings. This is because after authentication, the information used with OAuth is independent of a user's login information.

But what are the steps behind OAuth? How does it really work? The best way to understand this is to walk through an example usage. For example, to authenticate in StageBloc using OAuth, a user clicks to add integration with Twitter. This directs them to a page on Twitter.com asking them to login to their account using their login information. Upon authentication, the user is redirected back to their StageBloc account. This login information only interacts with Twitter.com, which checks to make sure the user's information is accurate and then ships back an integration code to StageBloc. Because the user was directed to Twitter.com from StageBloc, Twitter has also connected the user and StageBloc using a StageBloc specific code. This means that the integration code that was provided to StageBloc will only work with StageBloc, adding another measure of security to the process. So now StageBloc has the information to integrate with the user's Twitter account, and Twitter has the information that confirms StageBloc has permission to do this. From here on out, the user can change his/her Twitter login information or profile name without breaking StageBloc's integration.

So there you have it: OAuth is a simple, secure way for protected websites and other applications to interact with one another. At StageBloc, we use it in place of storing a user's login information because of the increased security and flexibility it provides. More specifically, we use it to integrate our system with our users' Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace profiles. As more sites and applications open their platforms up and expand on their integration options, we will continue to use OAuth or similar integration methods. Doing so will help us continue to grow StageBloc's reach and provide more features for our users.

In the meantime, we've been hard at work on some exciting things and not so exciting things. One of the more exciting things is progress on The StageBloc System's social integration. We're doing some really sweet things with this! (Pssst... http://twitter.com/StageBloc/status/3822798452) Oh, and can you say iPhone app? I've already said too much...

At StageBloc, Inc., we have a vision and future plans that will take us well into 2012 and beyond. We definitely have come a long way since the summer of 2007 when the raw ideas that would later become StageBloc first began to form. After 2+ years, it has been our dedication and hard work that have gotten us to where we now stand: at the metaphorical cliff to our successful entry into the world of music, business, and the internet. As most new companies do, we started with a good idea that, in our case, evolved seemingly on its own. This led to a complete system rewrite to accommodate our new plans. While we have yet to officially launch, we are about to complete work for our first client. And what a first client it is.

In the time that we have spent designing and developing the new Smartpunk.com, a lot has gone on behind the scenes at StageBloc. Our plans have continued to grow, numerous new features for our system have been developed, and we've begun work on projects for some exciting clients (and talked with even more exciting clients!). After remaining in the dark for so long, this is an exciting time for us at StageBloc. It feels like forever since the first ideas blossomed, and we can't wait to share what we have been working on with you all! Look for lots of new developments in the near future as we gear up for our official launch.

We're also making a number of fundamental changes to some of the core piece of the StageBloc system that we feel will only make the experience of using it that much more awesome (and easier!) for you. Following that, we'll get a new video walkthrough put together and the demo account setup for those of you who are curious about StageBloc but are on the fence about coming on board.

Stay tuned!