Thursday, October 15, 2009

What's New


Posted Oct 15, 2009 by Josh

With tonight’s release we made several tweaks that affect job posts on oDesk:
Minimum Rates on Job Posts:
Starting today, we will no longer accept fixed price job posts with a budget less than $5. For hourly jobs, the maximum rate preference must now be at least $3 per hour. These changes only affect the job posting, so that candidacies and assignments may still occur at whatever rates and amounts are agreed upon by the buyer and providers.
We’ve noticed that job posts with budgets or rate preferences below these thresholds tend not to fill and when they do fill, it is often at greater amounts. By introducing these limits we are hoping to dissuade non-serious buyers and set more accurate expectations from the start.
Candidate List:
Users have been telling us that the candidate list in the Job Facts page is disconcerting and very few people found true value in it — we are therefore removing the candidate list from job opening pages. We will continue displaying the total number of candidates and interviewees at the top of the page in the Job Facts so that providers can gain an idea of the competition for a job before applying. The name of the provider who was hired will also continue to be displayed.
We’re committed to providing a high quality experience for all of our users. If you have ideas (or would like to vote on ideas) that you think will contribute to a quality experience, please share them with us at http://feedback.odesk.com.

Posted Oct 08, 2009 by duncan

oDesk is adding to its API Center two new APIs:
oTasks API
Buyers can now integrate oDesk with their in house or third party project management systems by leveraging the oTasks API to:
  • Assign tasks from from an external system to providers and teams on oDesk
  • Access oDesk tasks that were synced between the systems, monitor them and generate reports
  • Enjoy accurate time tracking and cost control through oDesk though task managment
Read more about the oTasks API here .
Job Search API The Job Search API enables website and application owners to build custom oDesk job searches into their products or dashboards. Display up to date oDesk job postings tailored for your audience, or only show jobs posted by your company.
Learn more about the Job Search API here.

Posted Oct 08, 2009 by Anand

oDesk has retired the WorkAnalyze report in favor of the newly upgraded TimeAnalyze report.
We’ve combined the best of both reports and added some of the top-requested new features. Users can now:
  • Easily get a snapshot of cost and productivity of their workteams
  • Drill deep into line items per individual providers, timeframes, and tasks
  • Enjoy a better than ever reporting on offline time:
    • Determine which tasks were done online or offline
    • Display percentage of charges for offline time

You may notice that TimeAnalyze is still in beta testing. This is because we’re still working on improvements, so please share your feedback and let us know what other features you’d like to see in the TimeAnalyze report. We expect to complete all improvements to this report in the next few months.

Posted Oct 01, 2009 by Larry

We’ve redesigned our assignment detail page and think it will be useful for all users — buyers and providers alike.
To access the new page, visit My Jobs > Assignments and click on any assignment, active or ended.
For buyers:
The assignment detail page is your central screen for each provider. It shows key information, statistics, and actions all on one screen. Everything you need will be one-click away…
  • see the provider’s local time
  • link to the provider’s work diary
  • see how much time (and money) was spent last week, this week, and for the entire assignment
  • send a message to the provider or staffing manager
  • change rate or weekly limit
  • make bonus or fixed-price payments
  • end an assignment
  • manage feedback for ended assignments
For providers:
The assignment detail page is your central screen for each of your assignments…
  • view your own work diary for that assignment
  • see how much was earned last week, this week, and for the entire assignment
  • send a message to the buyer
  • end an assignment
  • give refunds
Let us know what you think!

Posted Sep 30, 2009 by Erica

“Work is no longer tied to a single location -
it happens anywhere on the Web, anywhere in the world.” – Gary Swart, oDesk CEO

The oDesk iPhone App announced today was built by leveraging oDesk APIs, which are now publicly available in the oDesk API Center. In releasing access to our APIs, we’d like to encourage developers and managers to create custom workspaces that shape existing oDesk tools to fit their own specific needs.
oDesk_APICenter_logoThe APIs currently available:
* Authentication – Allows for login/logout functionality to be implemented from outside the oDesk site.
* Provider Search – Facilitates the searching of oDesk provider data.
* Provider Profile – Returns detailed profile information about a provider or list of providers.
* Team – Provides multi-directional interaction capabilities with the oDesk Team and its members.
* Work Diary – This method retrieves all screenshots captured from a user account within a single day.
* Get Snapshot – Retrieves one or more snapshots of activity from a user account in a company’s team at defined points in time.
Visit the oDesk API Center at: http://developers.odesk.com/

Posted Sep 30, 2009 by Orie

oDesk's iPhone App
Last week, we listed out some of the most useful iPhone apps for business use. We intentionally left one off that list, so we could share it with you in more detail today:
Your oDesk team room is a great place for staying abreast of all the things your teammates are working on, but sometimes you’re not in front of your computer and you’d like to keep up to date with what’s going on back in the virtual office.  With the new oDesk iPhone app, now there’s an app for that.
The oDesk iPhone app gives you literal visibility of your online workteam no matter where you are:
  • See all providers in your team room grouped by current work status – Working Now, Worked in the Last 24 Hours, Other
  • View each team member’s latest work memo, local time, 24-hour work sparkline, and latest snapshot
  • Check complete work diaries including memos, full-size snapshots, activity indicator, billing status, timestamp, and active window for any date
The app is designed for both buyers and providers.
Watch Brain Goler, oDesk’s VP of Marketing, give a quick demo of the app in action:

Ready to download? If you have an iPhone (or iPod Touch), follow this link to install the app.  Or, search the App Store for “oDesk” to find it.
If you have any suggestions, we’d love to hear them at iphone-app@odesk.com, or in the comments section below.  And, if you like what you see, please rate the oDesk iPhone Application it in the App Store!
____
If you’re a blogger or member of the press looking for more information, please contact press@odesk.com.

Posted Sep 25, 2009 by Michael

The Message Center is one of the most heavily used screens in all of oDesk. It is used primarily to interview candidates and potential employers, and to communicate with your team.
We’ve gotten a lot of requests for the ability to attach files to oDesk messages. Now you can! Anywhere you send a message to another user, whether from the candidate list, the team room, or replying to a message in your Inbox, you can attach a file. You can attach files to tickets, too. Keep that feedback coming! Occasionally, we listen…

Posted Sep 16, 2009 by Michael

We have launched our first integration with Twitter.
In addition to sharing on Facebook, Buyers can share their job openings on Twitter to get more candidates from their network. Providers can share test results and promote their profile, letting the world know they are ready to work on oDesk.
With the oDesk ‘Share on Twitter’ you’re in full control – you decide what you want to showcase on Twitter, and we will not share your oDesk information without your approval.

Activate Twitter now!
Got feedback? Please let us know what you think in this thread.

Posted Aug 11, 2009 by duncan

Ruby on Rails has grown rapidly in last few years. Our buyers are constantly looking for providers who have the most current knowledge. So, we have partnered with Engine Yard – a Ruby on Rails company to develop a new test for RoR version 2.3. The syllabus covers:
  1. Core Ruby
  2. Ruby Conventions
  3. Application Design
  4. Rails Architecture
Make sure you brush up your Ruby skills before you take this test. Enjoy!

Posted Jul 08, 2009 by Michael

Profile widgets are finally here! Providers can now embed oDesk widgets to promote their profile and showcase their success on any website.

So what’s in your profile widget?

  • The total hours worked
  • Photo
  • Feedback
  • Geographic location
You earned bragging rights. Show off what makes you stand out as a great provider and advertise yourself. Post a widget on your personal website, blog, or your MySpace page.
Get your personalized widgets here.

What exactly is a widget?

A widget is web code that displays up-to-date information from another site (in this case oDesk.)
Our widgets are a quick and easy way for you to embed your provider profile on any other website. Just go to the promote page, choose the style you like, then cut and past the javascript code into the web page. The widget will display a “Hire Me” button for visitors to click on, and will take them directly to your oDesk profile.
Find out more about widgets here and let us know what you think in our forums.

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Hossain Monsur
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