Yo! Design Advice
Finally some design tips with some rhythm.
If only we could keep this attitude with our developers and designers all the way to production...
:-)
E.T.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
FireFox 3 Beta
I was looking forward to use Mozilla Firefox 3.
(beta version: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html)
The installation is easy and it 'remembered' all my settings and such.
However, when I tried to use it, I found that most of the add-ons and goodies I got so used to, are not supported yet.
So I tried to enjoy a 'naked/clean' FireFox. Not the same.
I hope that the developers of firebug, Google Gear and others are working on the next version.
FireFox is a great example of platform-based- ecosystem, driven by the developer community.
E.T.
Technorati Tags: FireFox, software
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Under The Radar: The Business of Web Apps : Graduate Circle (3/...)
Additional notes from the Under the Radar event - Graduate Circle track.
(not so much in my domain - so raw comments as is)
http://www.3tera.com/
Key messages:
- "The Next Google Won't Own a Server"
- "Scalability"
- "Everyone should have access to scalable infrastructure - and should pay only for what they use"
Utility Computing : 3Tera's AppLogic grid operating system eliminates the binding of software to hardware through virtualization.
http://www.nirvanix.com/
"...(comment: I worked hard in the past making SDN mean something else).
Nirvanix is the premier “Cloud Storage” platform provider. Nirvanix has built a global cluster of storage nodes collectively referred to as the Storage Delivery Network (SDN), powered by the Nirvanix Internet Media File System (IMFS). The SDN intelligently stores, delivers and processes storage requests in the best network location, providing the best user experience in the marketplace. With the ability to store multiple file copies in multiple geographic nodes, the SDN enables unparalleled data availability for developers, businesses and enterprises.
..."
They claim they manage to show 3x improvement in performance VS Amazon S3.
http://www.q-layer.com/
Q-layer introduces the Virtual Private Data-Center
"...Q-layer provides software for datacenters to enable the Virtual Private DataCenter (VPDC). With Q-layer, datacenter managers can provide their customers with a simple, self-service portal for datacenter provisioning. This allows customers to visually configure their datacenter with a simple drag-and-drop interface, including servers, networks, and SAN and NAS devices for storage. Datacenter managers can also integrate any other virtual appliances into the Q-layer Datacenter Abstraction Layer (DAL), to enable simple end-user provisioning of any service provided in their datacenter
..."
http://www.transerainc.com/
They provide virtual call centers solutions.
Pay for what you use based on a subscription model.
E.T.
Technorati Tags: Event, undertheradar, software,
Under The Radar: The Business of Web Apps : Aggregation (2/...)
Additional notes from the Under the Radar event - Aggregation track.
https://www.docsyncer.com/
Want to be in the center in a all document management of the organization and people.
They offer:
- Migrating to online document editor - as GoogleDocs
- Collaboration and remote access to users
- Enterprise search - find your documents in the organization
They claim for an automatic upload and sync process as well as easy to adopt from a user experience perspective.
In the future they would like to work with additional online editor (Zoho and such).
Offline capabilities are on the roadmap.
The panel tried to ask some hard questions about collaboration, versions, security and offline capabilities.
I do not think they are trying to solve these issues, which could be consider as a 'platform' for this domain.
I liked their visual design (did not use the service yet).
http://www.kwiry.com
A service that allow you to 'text'/SMS/voice/eMail yourself for reminders.
They focus on SMS as it the most use and simple scenario.
The eMail you receive - with you note + marketing/ads information.
Collaborations, sharing and other srvices are available as well.
Comments from the panel:
- A simple scenario such as trying SMS yourself during driving - so you could read and learn more while you are in the hospital... Well - this is why they have the voice interface as well.
- Does text messaging used by non-teenagers? They claim there is a growth in SMS usage across all generations.
- The business model and the capability/potential of driving people to go to websites of advertisers. Kwiry call it "Call for Action".
http://www.orgoo.com
Would like us to us argoo as our "communication cockpit".
different IM/eMail/Chat accounts managed in one screen.
Video chat and other advanced features (presence, profiles and such) are available as well.
A demo of 4 people doing a video chat at once.
Video chat was a nice feature as well. As well as the easy embedding in facebook/MySpace.
Conversations using different medium (IM, SMS, eMail) are being aggregated and shown as one eMail stream on the screen.
Cool mashup.
Do I want one service have all my username/password information?
http://www.pageonce.com/
One personal page that has access to all your data (as far as they think it is relevant).
Fast setup for common web portals and services.
Again, do I want one service have all my username/password information?
The panel was focusing on security topic.
Pageonce said they are using bank level security. In addition, most people as using a small set of user/password set and they can now be aware of all the activities done by their 'identity'. So, it may help you to find if someone is abusing your account.
The idea of having all your info on one server was not well received by the panel.
Well - you could start with aggregating eMail, airline, newspaper, amazon and such first and later on decide if you would like to go and put your bank info.
Private beta available on http://www.pageonce.com/utr.htm
Overall - all the services are trying to make all our information more available.
Will it create more noise or will it allow us to focus on the more important things... ?
To be continue.
E.T.
Technorati Tags: Event, undertheradar, software, microsoft, orgoo, docsyncer, kwiry, pageonce
Under The Radar: The Business of Web Apps (1/...)
Today I am at the Under the Radar event.
Some comments from the first session.
http://www.splashtop.com
Interesting virtualization software that tries to make the experience of starting working on the PC as simple as open your mobile phone/PDA. They showed a demo of booting a PC and have some apps running with in 12 seconds. (cool if you like Linux apps). The Windows XP was booting in the background...
It seems that 'hibernate / sleep-mode' is doing some of this things al ready - as long as you have no problem with Power. Is it greener or safer to have the PC off.
http://www.elastra.com/
Sorry - Did not understand what, how and why they are doing what they are doing.
I tried.
So - here is an image that may help you.
http://www.jumpbox.com/
Presented a solution for the consumer / small business solution for virtual computer that could run on top of the current OS and virtualization apps.
The demo included 'easy' configuration process.
There is a nice collection of open source apps and tools as part of the 'box'.
This make 'playing' with new and open source application easy and less risky.
However, it is not free.
Support is optional and on top of the package (~$200 per instance per year).
The support is for the jumpbox and not for the applications on top of it.
I think it could be a great 'sandbox' for POC and demos, before running the applications on your hardware.
http://www.universant.com
They (re)worked the main business processes and application functions and offer them as a open source platform.
From my experience in enterprises it is hard to offer 'one size fits all' and have most of your customers happy - especially in the SMB market.
Overall - the potential is clear.
It was interesting to see the focus on the consumer and SMB markets. Especially the consumer one. Running virtual OS / computer for non-business reasons is interesting.
Time to juice the laptop...
To be continue (if I find a power source...)
E.T.
Technorati Tags: Event,undertheradar,software, microsoft
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Back2Blog
I did not Blogged for a while.
I know.
Sorry.
I have some great excuses if you are interesting in.
For example:
I was surprised to get comments from friends (and mom) that it was not unnoticed.
So, I am back blogging and I hope you will enjoy it.
E.T.
Veodia
One of my long time interests is multimedia. During past and current role, as well as private life, I keep monitoring this topic.
During this week, it was hard to miss the vibe around Veodia.
I first saw their offering during the office2.0 event last year. Veodia provided the video recording of the event. See:
This week Veodia announced their Flash Widget.
From Veodia press release:
“…Latest buzz:
Veodia is a browser-based video service leveraging the new capabilities of Adobe Flash Player 9, allowing its users to create and stream their own crystal clear videos to millions of Adobe Flash players. With just a video camera, Internet connection and a Veodia account, users can easily broadcast live and record MPEG-4 / h.264 video from their browser. Veodia eliminates the need for expensive investments in encoding, streaming and distribution technology. All content created with or imported to the Veodia broadcasting service can be played back in native h.264 format with the latest version of Adobe Flash Player 9.
"Veodia decided over two years ago to build its core technology around the h.264 standard because of its superior quality and multi-device compatibility. When Adobe announced support for h.264 in the Adobe Flash Player it confirmed that we had made the right decision for our customers. Now in addition to viewing content in Quicktime, on 3G phones, iPhones, televisions and hundreds of other MPEG-4/h.264 compatible devices, our users can playback their Veodia content using Flash Player," said Guillaume Cohen, CEO, Veodia.
In addition, the new Veodia channel widget offers a more interactive navigation interface based on Adobe Flash technology, allowing viewers to browse through all videos published on a channel. See the new flash widget in action with a video message from Veodia's CEO at: http://www.veodia.com/flashdemo.
…”)
- Veodia Now Supports Flash
- Veodia ditching Quicktime for Flash, HD to come in 2009
- Veodia ups the video ante
- Veodia Now Supports Flash
- Exploiting Flash
- Veodia - the live TV studio in your browser
- High-def video service Veodia gets Flash compatibility » VentureBeat
- Broadcast your live Video now...
Like many, I believe in "simple is better". But most of the "simple" solutions are usually have a "price". In addition, you can choose two out of these three: Good/Cheap/Fast.
The video recording quality using Veodia is amazing ( just make sure you are not filming in the dark using your 4 years old 0.5MP web cam and a mic you stolen from your kids - see my demo bellow ). The encoding is fast. And as I still using the free account, it is cheap (but I am sure their pricing model will be very good as well).
These capabilities show great potential.
From Corporate communications and education, through security, entertainment and v/blogs - Cost effective, high quality video and scalable platform providing great foundations to all new type of applications.
So - check Veodia's capabilities and no not forget to have fun as well.
E.T.
Technorati Tags: HD,multimedia,video, Veodia
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
