Showing posts with label Technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Technology. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Microsoft Comes To Utah City Creek

On my way to the office this morning I noticed the covers have finally been pulled off what I suspected to be the Microsoft retail store in City Creek.

Microsoft Retail Store At City Creek Salt Lake City Utah

Makes sense Microsoft would put themselves on what I call the Average Joe side of City Creek. What I mean by that is stores on the east side of the mall are places normal folks shop, like Disney, Solomon, Forever 21 and Claire's. On the west side of the mall, are places the 1% shop, like Tiffany & Co., Porche Design, Brooks Brothers, and of course, Apple.

Map of City Creek Center mall in Salt Lake City

read more...

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

WordPress Plug-ins For 2013

Presenting tonight at the SLC WordPress user group tonight. Topic is "I'm Using WordPress, Now What? Plug-in Edition".

You can download the presentation here, and view it on Speaker Deck.

Please add your list of must have Plug-ins for 2013.
read more...

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Nexus 7 Here To Stay

I was pretty excited about winning a Nexus 7 at a recent Google Chrome Developer challenge. I wanted a Nexus 7, and it was on my "buy" list. As it stand right now, there's only one thing I can do (aside from rooting the device) on my iPad 3 that I can't do on the Nexus and that is watch Amazon Prime Instant Movies. That issue makes no sense to me, and is extremely frustrating. If there were an Amazon viewing app like the one on an iPad, I don't know that I would use my iPad as much.

I'm learning how Android works. It's much different than iOS. I'm also learning that the majority of apps aren't nearly as "good looking" as an iOS app. But generally, I can do nearly the same things on my Nexus 7 as I have done on my iPad. Here are some highlights so far.

Codeaway
I am a premium subscriber to Codeaway, the development IDE in the cloud. There is a great Android app (or I can also access via the web).

Twitter
There are a number of Twitter clients for Android (but I really wish Twitterbot was one of them), and they all work fairly nice. Most are not tablet ready, meaning it's really the phone version stretched to the 7" screen.

That seems to be the problem with most Android apps. Not all, but most.

Google
I am a Google user; Google+, GMail, Drive, Calendar, Picasa, and any other app they have out there. Google apps seem to work really well on the Nexus, I wonder why.

WordPress
There is even a fairly decent WordPress client available for Android.

One feature that I really dig is the ability to customize the look of my Nexus. I can change screen, icons, background, and widgets. All of things give me a very customized view of my Nexus.

What are pain points so far?

  • Trying to do any amount of typing on the small screen is really difficult. It's not that you can't type, but you are limited to the amount of screen real estate you can view.

  • Navigation is funky at best. I'm trying to get used to using the back arrow versus the back button.

  • There is no back camera. Very difficult to take photos.

  • The speaker is in an akward place when. When you are holding the device in landscape mode, your fingers tend to cover the speaker.

  • Not a deal breaker, but it would be nice to have an external SD card slot.

read more...

Monday, December 3, 2012

One Billion Smart Devices

According to Gartner, in 2013, the number of smart devices in use world wide will eclipse one billion. That is a huge number. That represent something like 15% of the earths population. But actually, the number of devices sold isn't a one to one relation. For instance, I have several devices, and I would assume many others have several devices.





There is one fact that companies just cant escape, if they have a major online presence, it needs to be optimized for a mobile experience, or you will lose business. It's not a matter of maybe any more, it's a fact.

read more...

Saturday, November 10, 2012

54 Hour Startup Weekend Ogden


I attended Startup Weekend in Ogden Utah November 1st-3rd, 2012. Check out the website, it's a very cool global meet-up.

I've read for years about small groups building products over a weekend, getting some recognition, and some even getting funding to push the product further. I had a hard time believing they had a product worth investing. And that was my naive view, and lack of understanding. What I experienced at my first Startup Weekend was the complete opposite.

Overview



Startup Weekend is like a tech conference with a rocket ship attached. From idea to product, your team build the framework of a business, including product, marketing and sales in 54 hours. What a rush.

There were so many great ideas, it was hard to pick just one. Several didn't make it past the first few hours. Other projects started from the dust of the fallen. Some didn't stay after the first day. Others changed projects (it happened to my project). Everyone wants to succeed.

Getting There Early



Those getting to the event early are smart, they get to do a little interviewing, get a feeling for those who will ultimately become team mates. I didn't understand that, and made a few mistakes when it came to introductions.

My recommendation is to arrive early and network. You won't have any time to do it once the event starts. Get to know who is there to pitch ideas; who are the developers, creatives, marketer and business guys.

I also recommend staying at the hotel of the event if possible. This will give you more time to work.

Takes notes during the pitches



I'm sure this part of the event will vary at each location, but the one I attended, everyone who wanted to pitch an idea was lined up and given sixty seconds to convince us they were the project to be part of. This was another mistake I made. With 50-60 pitches, I quickly lost track.

Once the pitched are finished, everyone gets 3 votes. After 20 minutes of voting (hearing more details of projects), votes are tallied, and the project pool is announced.

Now the fun begins. Project leaders are asked to create a project team, and get started. There was a lot of recruiting, a lot of explaining, and interviewing. This is a serious process which I wasn't expecting to be so quick. Within 30 minutes pretty much every project had a team of 5 or more developers, designers, and business folks.

Why are you there?



My original thought was to show up, learn a little, see how the process worked, watch from the fringe. But that isn't how it works. Everyone there fell into one of three different buckets; developer, designer, everyone else. So of course I fell into the developer bucket.

I recommend showing up with an agenda. Look for a project that you can relate with, and decide before hand what you want to get out of the event. Do you want to act as a developer/designer, and contribute to a project. Do you want to pitch an idea and put together a project team. Or can you help a project team with sales and marketing? Great opportunity for sales and marketing gurus to become part of a startup. We really needed more of this skill for sure.

Pace yourself



I'm not 20 any more and find it difficult to work at a high level for 24-36-48 hours straight. But some can do that. I need some sleep, water, food, and simply getting up and walking around.

Pacing your self will not only give you the ability to go the distance, but give your team better work. I promise that after 50 hours, you will be burnt out. You will want to walk away.

Just participate



You're there. Do it all. get excited. Help. Encourage. Build relationships. Network when possible. Alex Lawrence, the guy who put together the Ogden Startup Weekend did it right. He had prizes (I didn't win a thing, I never do at these things), contents, guests, mentors, and entrepreneur judges.

It's definitely a culture.

Wrapping it up



We were fed well. Hydrated well. And created some great technology. I was so amazed at what was accomplished by everyone in 54 hours. Most of the work was early stage, minimal viable product, far enough along that we could see results. But nearly every project has miles to go.

If you ever have a chance to attend a Startup Weekend, I highly encourage it. The experience alone will get your creative juices flowing. And you get to meet some incredible people.

Have you attended a Startup Weekend? What was your experience?
read more...

54 Hour Startup Weekend Ogden

I attended Startup Weekend in Ogden Utah November 1st-3rd, 2012. Check out the website, it's a very cool global meet-up.

I've read for years about small groups building products over a weekend, getting some recognition, and some even getting funding to push the product further. I had a hard time believing they had a product worth investing. And that was my naive view, and lack of understanding. What I experienced at my first Startup Weekend was the complete opposite.

Overview



Startup Weekend is like a tech conference with a rocket ship attached. From idea to product, your team build the framework of a business, including product, marketing and sales in 54 hours. What a rush.

There were so many great ideas, it was hard to pick just one. Several didn't make it past the first few hours. Other projects started from the dust of the fallen. Some didn't stay after the first day. Others changed projects (it happened to my project). Everyone wants to succeed.

Getting There Early



Those getting to the event early are smart, they get to do a little interviewing, get a feeling for those who will ultimately become team mates. I didn't understand that, and made a few mistakes when it came to introductions.

My recommendation is to arrive early and network. You won't have any time to do it once the event starts. Get to know who is there to pitch ideas; who are the developers, creatives, marketer and business guys.

I also recommend staying at the hotel of the event if possible. This will give you more time to work.

Takes notes during the pitches



I'm sure this part of the event will vary at each location, but the one I attended, everyone who wanted to pitch an idea was lined up and given sixty seconds to convince us they were the project to be part of. This was another mistake I made. With 50-60 pitches, I quickly lost track.

Once the pitched are finished, everyone gets 3 votes. After 20 minutes of voting (hearing more details of projects), votes are tallied, and the project pool is announced.

Now the fun begins. Project leaders are asked to create a project team, and get started. There was a lot of recruiting, a lot of explaining, and interviewing. This is a serious process which I wasn't expecting to be so quick. Within 30 minutes pretty much every project had a team of 5 or more developers, designers, and business folks.

Why are you there?



My original thought was to show up, learn a little, see how the process worked, watch from the fringe. But that isn't how it works. Everyone there fell into one of three different buckets; developer, designer, everyone else. So of course I fell into the developer bucket.

I recommend showing up with an agenda. Look for a project that you can relate with, and decide before hand what you want to get out of the event. Do you want to act as a developer/designer, and contribute to a project. Do you want to pitch an idea and put together a project team. Or can you help a project team with sales and marketing? Great opportunity for sales and marketing gurus to become part of a startup. We really needed more of this skill for sure.

Pace yourself



I'm not 20 any more and find it difficult to work at a high level for 24-36-48 hours straight. But some can do that. I need some sleep, water, food, and simply getting up and walking around.

Pacing your self will not only give you the ability to go the distance, but give your team better work. I promise that after 50 hours, you will be burnt out. You will want to walk away.

Just participate



You're there. Do it all. get excited. Help. Encourage. Build relationships. Network when possible. Alex Lawrence, the guy who put together the Ogden Startup Weekend did it right. He had prizes (I didn't win a thing, I never do at these things), contents, guests, mentors, and entrepreneur judges.

It's definitely a culture.

Wrapping it up



We were fed well. Hydrated well. And created some great technology. I was so amazed at what was accomplished by everyone in 54 hours. Most of the work was early stage, minimal viable product, far enough along that we could see results. But nearly every project has miles to go.

If you ever have a chance to attend a Startup Weekend, I highly encourage it. The experience alone will get your creative juices flowing. And you get to meet some incredible people.

Have you attended a Startup Weekend? What was your experience?
read more...

Monday, September 17, 2012

WordPress App For Android Sports Snazzy Stats


WordPress for Android (and iOS) has a pretty snazzy stats module. The UI is simpe but has great graphs. You must log into your Wordpress.com account, and it's possible you will also need JetPack. My stats suck so thanks for helping a brother out.
read more...

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

At The Mercy Of Cloud Storage


I'm a big cloud services user. I have cloud storage accounts with a net of nearly 100GB of free space. I use a lot of the space for archives, but lately I've been using Google Drive to keep my school documents available no matter I am. And today that system failed.

Early this morning, apparently before a major Google services outage, I had saved a document I needed to print for a class later in the evening. When I got the school, and opened up my browser with the intention of printing the document, I discovered I couldn't get to Google Drive. So no homework. It was frustrating. Class started in a few minutes and I would have to turn in a late assignment because of this failure, and the failure wasn't all Google.

Luckily I had the original still in a Word document, and I was able to print it out and failure averted. But what if I didn't have a second copy? So now, I need to back up my cloud storage in multiple places in case one is off line. That seems redundant and painful.

It's also a lesson in why local applications can be important. About a month ago I removed all the cloud storage apps I had on my main machine. Dropbox, Box, SkyDrive, Google Drive, and a few more. Each of these has a cached version of my file on the local hard drive. But my thought was why do I need a local copy. The whole reason for cloud storage is so I can get it off my local storage and free up space for things, like movies.

The dilemma then is are you willing to keep cached versions of files on your local system or totally trust that the files will be available 24-7.

You could write a recipe on If This Then That (IFTTT) that copies from one service to another. But that seems so backwards and broken.
read more...

You Can Blame Or Act On Education Failure




I'm in no way criticizing Laura for her statement. But it got me thinking about what the statement really means. I hope to start writing more on Educational issues, and especially education and technology. But let's start here.

Earlier, Laura says that when she was in school she excelled, and felt frustrated that she had to listen to teachers dumb down the class. I can see that happening, I saw it happen. But wouldn't a better solution be to get rid of "grade levels" and start an education system based on ability, not disability.

There will be many who claim that system won't work. I ask if you have tried it? Why wouldn't it work? If I'm an exceptional student I should be able to move at my pace and not be held back because of the "group". Or, if I'm a student who needs extra help, I should be in a class setting that gives me more attention.

Imagine a school, or schools, where one teacher could handle 20-30 kids all at the same level, and 2-3 teachers helping those who need more attention. Imagine the level of education our children would graduate with.

Grade levels, no student left behind, remediation; these are all things from an archaic education system that is dysfunctional and not producing results. It's not good enough anymore to graduate everyone for the sake of psychology.

The question is why haven't we done this? What is holding us back? Where are the road blocks? I can't be the only one who has thought of this. And if it's being done, it's not visible enough.

 
Photo by Serge Melki
read more...

Thursday, June 21, 2012

LogMeIn For iPad Has Nasty Security Flaw

I've been a LogMeIn user since the Hamachi days. Several months ago I installed the iPad version of LogMeIn. I was really excited, and have used the application numerous times with success. I remotely connect to an iMac which is my main computer.

A few weeks ago I was poking around the settings and noticed the blank screen mode was set, but the computer I was logged into was till wide open. I'm sitting in front of the host PC, logged in through the iPad version of LogMeIn. I turn the feature on and off, and also turn the remote keyboard off too. I see a message that says it's disabled, but guess what, it's not!


This whole time I'm thinking the screen was blanking every time I connected to my remote computer the screen remains fully open for any one to see what I'm doing. I know, I should have taken the time check and make sure the screen really went blank. Surprise, it doesn't.

This is a serious security hole if you ask me. If I am trying to connect to an office computer, or a personal computer, I would expect the host (remote) computer to blank the screen during my session, if the setting is turned on.

There are many complaints on LogMeIn forums and disgruntled blog posts, none of which have a solution. I see many cases where LogMeIn says they will fix this problem that has persisted for what looks like years. There also appears to be a problem with people getting their money back when they discover this problem. Purchased through iTunes, of course it now becomes Apple's problem. LogMeIn feels their owe you nothing.

My Windows friends apparently don't have this problem. I'm so glad they are getting what they paid for.

LogMeIn for crying out loud, please fix your broken software. We paid you for it, and it's an advertised feature. 3, 4, 5 years is long enough to come up with a solution.
read more...

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Google Drive And Cloud Storage

I couldn't resist writing my own something about Google Drive today. Cloud storage is hot this week, and the foreseeable future. Google didn't get it right out of the gate, most don't. But I can tell you that Google Drive will become common cloud storage for a lot of people.

Dropbox is the 800 pound gorilla in cloud storage for consumers, and doesn't have a lot to worry about at the moment. But the one thing that keeps cloud storage services like Dropbox, SugarSync and Google Drive from really getting all my content is file size. Limit me to a couple hundred MB or less and I just can't fully integrate your service. I'd even pay for the large storage service if you would up the file size.

* I know some services will allow for larger files with premium accounts. *

Several of the services allow for any size file uploads using the desktop, and that's fine, but I don't use a desktop all the time. In fact I'm using one less and less. There is still a lot of room for improvement, and I know it's coming. I hope. Security and privacy still remains an issue with most services, mainly because the terms of service or use state the service has access to your data and can do what ever they want with it. You may not like this, but don't let that deter you.

Photo courtesy of sebastiankippe

read more...

Monday, April 23, 2012

Microsoft SkyDrive Cloud Storage Gunning For Dropbox

Microsoft released an update to their SkyDrive product, and they did its in a big way. This is a serious challenge to Dropbox, with the addition of Mac and Windows native app, and mobile apps for iOS and Windows Phone. But not Android mobile, which is a shame, because it would have been just as easy to write an Android client at the same time.

This is a big win for those who already have a SkyDrive account, you can be grandfathered into a 25GB plan, everyone else will be offered a 7GB plan. I've had my SkyDrive account for years but there hasn't been any integration with the desktop (not Mac anyway), and no mobile use until just recently.

SkyDrive is available everywhere I travel; laptop and mobile.


There are a few quirky things about the interface. The layout isn't like Windows Explorer, or Mac Finder. Files and folders are represented by big blocky icons, no detail list. And even weirder was they stuck the mechanism to change from large icons to small icons in the Pull Down process to refresh the screen.




Why do I think this is a serious player? Because aside from Android, which I'm sure is on the way, SkyDrive now integrates with all your systems, and you get more space. Microsoft says a study they did indicates most user have less than 7GB of data stored in the cloud, and that may be true, but the the big reason I don't have as much as I want in the cloud, is the file size limitation. I would push video files to the the cloud drives if most didn't limit to 100MB or less. That's a service imposed limit, not a user issue.

Limitations aside, 25GB is a lot of space, and I intend on using it, all of it. Get a SkyDrive and software here.
read more...

Friday, April 13, 2012

Running Ubuntu 11 On The iPad 2

The last OS I'm running on the iPad 2 is Ubuntu 11 using the Parallels app. Everything went well, and loaded fast. Might use it often.


read more...

Running Windows 8 On The iPad 2

Next experiment was running Windows 8 Community Edition on the iPad with the Parallels app. This wasn't nearly as easy as i thout it would be. All the problems had to do with Windows new Metro feature. I tried several times to figure how to turn it off (none of the examples found through Google worked.)

I can't say I'm a big fan of Windows 8, at least until I spend more time learning the new features.





read more...

Running Windows 7 On The iPad 2

More of a novelty than really functional, I managed to get Windows 7 running in the Parallels iPad app. As you can see in this image I am running Visual Studio 2010. Very cool.



read more...

Friday, October 7, 2011

Evernote Adds Checkboxes To iOS

Evernote finally added the one feature I've been waiting for, checkboxes on the iOS. You the ability to add tasks/to-dos. It's about time and I'm so grateful I'll upgrade to the pro version. Thank you Evernote.

View on iPhone


View on iPad



read more...

Thursday, September 15, 2011

5 Tech Stories Worth Reading

Netflix Headed For A Brick Wall?
It was bound to happen, subscriber backlash over pricing, and recent news that major content providers are cutting ties with Netflix. Read more of the story here: http://thom.ws/mUNE5C

Is Steve Balmer Actually Surprised At The Crappy Windows Phone 7 Sales?
Steve, you have to actually build a brand, a community, and a solid app store before you can start to capture market share. Oh, and if you have to battle the retail sales folks for pushing people away from your product, you will have an even harder time selling your product. You have some serious holes in your plan. Read more here: http://thom.ws/qgZ7yI

MOG Launches Free Version Of Music Service
MOG announced today that they are offering an ad-supported free version of their music service. The interesting thing here is they are trying to gamify the service, giving users free music,  based on the amount of sharing, playlist creation, and the number of referrals to the service. This could be interesting. According to their press release "Tastemakers and influencers can easily get a lifetime of free on-demand music." Read more here: http://thom.ws/o4P0CC

Chegg Buys Zinch In A Move Towards A Social Education Platform
You may not have heard of either of these companies, but they are leaders in their own industries. Chegg is an online book rental service for college students, and Zinch is an online service that connects high school students with college recruiters. On the surface, this is an odd acquisition, but more and more companies are buying complimentary services and products to increase their over all sales. Read more here: http://thom.ws/nvLUNG

Samsung Wants To Own Your First, Second, And Third Screen
Samsung is making a push to build technology that directly competes with Apple and it's AirPlay technology. The company has had some success in the past, but this push could be fueled by the back and forth patent infringement claims made by both Apple and Samsung. Read more here: http://thom.ws/qZK9T4
read more...

2011 Women Tech Award Recipients

Announcing the Women Tech Awards 2011 sponsored by the Women Tech Council. This years recipients are:

Courtney Doyle, Ph. D student, Robotics, College of Engineering - Student Award

Kate Maloney, CEO, CostumeCraze - Rising Star Award

Sarah B. Hiza, Senior Manager, Energetic Materials & Mechanical Testing, ATK - Technology Innovator Award

Jennifer Hwu, CEO, InnoSys - Technology Entrepreneur Award

Patricia Hall, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs and Co. - Technology Excellence Award

Shawn Adamson, Regional Vice President, Xo Communications - Technology Trailblazer Award

Susan Johnson, President and CEO, Futura Industries - Leadership Excellence Award

Congratulations to everyone.
read more...

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Can We Build Something Besides Social Software?

OK, I have to ask, have we, as a technology industry, boiled ourselves down to who can develop the most unique social network software? I mean, it's about all I see in the news anymore.

Even Salesforce, according to Robert Scoble, could go after a large part of the social sphere. Why would a company like Salesforce do that? Will that help me as a sales professional do a better job? As a business owner I would question that.

With quick wins, and superficial products, is anyone, any company, developing technology with substance?

Who's building killer educational software and getting recognized for it?

Who's building medical software to help us find cures and eliminate disease?

Who's building technology that helps us better design and implement green communities?

Who's building technology that helps us discover and tap into cheaper forms of energy?

Who's developing technology that will help us find more water sources and build better distribution systems?

With all the worlds resources, we are doing something more than building platforms to show ourselves off, right?
read more...

Thursday, June 30, 2011

New Amazon S3 Data Transfer Pricing

This is incredible. The price for transferring data into your S3 account is now FREE! Starting July 1, 2011. And now they have pricing for data storage in the Petabyte range. That just blows my mind.


New inbound data transfer price for all regions (effective July 1, 2011)



  • $0.000 - all data transfer in


New data transfer price for US-Standard, US-West and Europe regions (effective July 1, 2011)



  • $0.000 - first 1 GB / month data transfer out

  • $0.120 per GB - up to 10 TB / month data transfer out (10 TB total)

  • $0.090 per GB - next 40 TB / month data transfer out (50TB total)

  • $0.070 per GB - next 100 TB / month data transfer out (150 TB total)

  • $0.050 per GB - next 350 TB / month data transfer out (500 TB total)

  • Contact us - next 524 TB / month data transfer out (1PB total)

  • Contact us - next 4 PB / month data transfer out (5PB total)

  • Contact us - data transfer out / month over 5 PB

read more...
 
Copyright © 2003 - 2014 Thom Allen Weblog • All Rights Reserved.