This is the Netidee release of Metaspots.

Metaspots is a software made for building media/geoblogs. It comes with a basic configuration.
It is build with Ruby on Rails (2.0.2) and Hobo (0.7.5). It is not an easy-to-use blog tool!
To modify the basic configuration you will have to aquire some knowledge about RoR and Hobo.
You will also need a hosting environment that supports RoR hosting.

You might want to take a look at ‘They Shoot Music - Don’t They’. It is powered by Metaspots.

Metaspot uses the following Components
*) RoR 2.0.2
*) Hobo (0.7.5)
*) ym4r / Google Maps (0.6.1)
*) RedCloth (3.0.4)
*) SlideShowPro (1.8+)
*) DivX Web Player
*) sIFR

Actually there are more dependecies (for example Prototype) but they should be covered when installing the named packages above.
Before deciding to use SlideShowPro as a ‘must-have’ component I tested a few free alternatives. None of them worked without problems. In previous versions I used ‘dfGallery‘ and FlowPlayer. It should be possible to include them quite easily. You have to understand some Rails, Hobo & XML, though. You will need copy of Flash to configure SSP and sIFR.

Metaspots supports

*) Flash- & DivX Videos
*) A simple user management
*) Slideshows
*) Google Maps (ym4r, Yahoo Maps support can be added easily)
*) Internal and external video/slideshowhosting (can be configured via SSP)
*) Textile as markup language
*) MySQL (Postgresql should also work)
*) sIFR (enables using fonts that aren’t available at the user client)
*) Skins

Installation notes (This takes time. Don’t expect to do this within an hour):
1) Install Ruby on Rails 2.0.2
2) Use gem to install Hobo 0.7.5
3) Get a copy of SlideShowPro for Flash. It comes with a very detailed configuration guide. You will need that later. You should own Adobe Flash CS3 to configure SSP (AS3 Version)!
4) Get a Google Maps Api Key for your domain.
5) Download and install MySql 5.0
6) Download and uncompress the Metaspots Netidee Release Package
7) Change the database information in ./config/database.yml
8) Change the google api key in ./config/gmaps_api_key.yml
9) Use the included sql dump to generate the base database structure
10) Download and learn the basics of sIFR
11) Use Flash and sIFR to configure a font of your choice. Apply changes to ./app/views/taglibs/application.dryml (tag sifrfooter)
12) Use Flash and SSP to configure the slideshow and movie player. Save the movie player file to ./public/flash/moviep.swf. Save the slideshow player file to ./public/flash/galleryp.swf
13) Start the mongrel service. ./script/server
14) Visit the site.
15) Happy Blogging

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Example Screenshots

“Spot Detail View” and “Post Detail View":

“Post Admin View” and “Post Admin CloseUp”

–Endbericht–

Theyshootmusic is finally out of the beta.

Take a look: http://theyshootmusic.at

Beta of Theyshootmusic starts soon

The work of launching the beta site of theyshootmusic.com is nearly complete.
This site will be hosted by a development snapshot of Metaspots.

A 0.1 release of the code-base can be expected around 04/08.

Stay tuned

More good news,

a project team with intentions to build up a publishing site will probably use the first metaspots release.
I really hope growing together will be as interesting as I imagine.

Good news

The Hobo development team released a new version. Still without docs but there is hope for a self-explaining prototype.

Metaspots project page

Beta of Theyshootmusic starts soon