FAQ

These FAQs are also available from within the help window, once you have installed Hubbub.

What is Hubbub?

Hubbub is a desktop application based around FriendFeed. You can think of it as an alternative skin for the FriendFeed website, one that does not require you to use a web browser.

What does it look like?

You can see what Hubbub looks like by watching the videos.

What platforms does Hubbub run on?

We plan to make Hubbub available on many different platforms, but the current beta is Windows only.

How do I get Hubbub?

You'll need to sign-up for the private beta. But before you do, please read the post Hubbub private beta launched to see if the beta is for you.

Why do I need to enter my FriendFeed password?

You don't. FriendFeed provides its users with a remote API key that can be used to grant third party applications limited access to your FriendFeed account. This is much safer than entering your FriendFeed password directly into these third party applications and it is this remote API key that you must enter in to Hubbub.

Where can I find out what my FriendFeed remote API key is?

Here.

Why do I need to enter my Twitter password?

You don't. Although Hubbub does ask for your Twitter password, you may just press Cancel if you wish to skip this step. You will still be able to use the majority of Hubbub unaffected by this, it is only the Twitter update gadget that will be disabled. Of course, if you do want to update your Twitter status from Hubbub, then you will need to enter your password.

What is a hub?

In Hubbub, a hub is what we call the thin black strip that you can add your friends to. It is the fundamental point of interaction in the Hubbub user interface; think of it like the main menu in a conventional software application.

What is a bub?

A bub is what we call each of the items in a hub. When you click on a bub, it invokes a radial menu that allows you to interact with the available services for that person.

How do I create a new hub?

Click on the 'New Hub...' button in the main Hubbub application window, then type in a name for your hub and the horizontal offset in pixels that you would like it to be positioned at on your display. Then click on 'OK' and your new hub should appear.

How do I create bubs on a hub?

Click on the dark blue configuration icon to switch your hub into configuration mode. This should also display your FriendFeed palette, containing all of your friends and lists from FriendFeed. You can then drag and drop any of these on to the white '+' symbol that has appeared on your hub. This step can be repeated for as many items as you like. When you've finished, just press the dark blue finish icon on your hub to leave configuration mode.

What can I do with hubs and bubs?

We're adding new features all of the time and we aim to make everything as intuitive as possible. The best way to answer this question is for you to experiment a bit, click on a few things, then see what happens.

Why is everyone's location set to London?

Hubbub currently fetches location data automatically for those users that have added the brightkite service to their FriendFeed. For any users that haven't done that, it currently defaults to London, which is where Hubbub was developed.

Why don't I see any clocks?

Hubbub has an extensible framework for displaying information, and so can make use of a variety of technologies, such as Flash, Silverlight and XForms. You will need to install Silverlight 2 if you want to get the best experience.

Something else is not working -- what do I do?

Subscribe to the Hubbub Users group and then post a message there. To get the best answer, please try to include as much information as possible: what version of Hubbub you have installed, what is not working, what steps we can take to reproduce the problem and so on.

There's a bunch of features missing, how can I tell you about them?

Subscribe to the Hubbub Users group and then post a message there.

Is Hubbub free?

Yep.

Is Hubbub open source?

Yep. The source code is hosted on Google Code.

How is Hubbub licensed?

Hubbub is licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 3.

I have a question that is not answered here, what do I do?

Subscribe to the Hubbub Users group and then post a message there.