Web Apps vs Native Apps

August 11, 2011

So, I thought I would write a little post on my views of a few apps I use a good bit. For starters, I feel I should say I use an iPhone 4 and DO NOT plan to switch to an Android device, even though I use several Google services. If I ever get an Android device, it will be a Nexus device and also a 2nd phone.

Google Reader – This is my main web surfing and article aggregating tool. I follow more than 50 blogs and this app is great for that. After trying several native apps, I have found that the easiest way to keep your read flags in sync with your Google Reader account, is to use the Google Reader webpage in a browser. I find the mobile version of the webpage very easy to use on a mobile device browser, and the site is even easy to use on a desktop browser. My main issue with the native apps is the polling they would have to do each time you synced the app. It would have to upload your read flags and started articles and then download any new articles. After several uses throughout the day, I would have my read flags reset, which was a huge pain.

Google+ – I have only been using the Google+ service for 2 weeks or so, and the few times I have used the new iPhone native app was frustrating. It takes longer to refresh than the Google+ webpage. Enough so, it is very noticeable. I think the update from the last few days, but the webpage does from what I can tell everything the native app does.

GMail – Well, the iPhone mail client is really good. I have recently figured out how to do GMail labels in it, as the app just treats GMail labels like IMAP folders. Once I get this down, I will likely be a lot happier. But, I have to say, managing your inbox, archiving and labeling are much easier to handle in the GMail mobile webpage than on the iPhone mail client.

Those are a few takes on a few apps I use on my mobile device.


Blackberry services being suspended in UAE and Saudi Arabia

August 1, 2010

Until an acceptable solution is reached, the UAE is suspending Blackberry services on October 11th. It also appears that Saudi Arabia has already suspended Blackberry Services.

http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/08/01/blackberry-services-to-be-suspended-in-the-uae-starting-october-11th/

Thanks for checking out my article, and feel free to stop by and check out my mobile device applications http://www.pruetsoftware.com/.


Nexus One vs iPhone4 Benchmarks

July 26, 2010

I gathered these numbers from the following links.

Android link:
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/reviews/2010/07/android-22-froyo.ars/5

iPhone link:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2010/06/iphone-4.ars/9

Sunspider – measured in secs (lower is better)
Google V8 (higher is better)

Nexus One – Android 2.1
Sunspider – 14,256
Google V8 – 65

Nexus One – Android 2.2
Sunspider – 5,795
Google V8 – 287

iPad
Sunspider – 10,100 (was listed as 10.1 millisecs)
Google V8 – 101 / 86.3

iPhone4
Sunspider – 10,900 (was listed as 10.9 millisecs)
Google V8 – 83.4 / 66.6

iPhone 3GS
Sunspider – 14,200 (was listed as 14.2 millisecs)
Google V8 – fail / 49.3

iPhone 3G
Sunspider – 41,400 (was listed as 41.4 millisecs)
Google V8 – fail / 23.0

Thanks for checking out my article, and feel free to stop by and check out my mobile device applications http://www.pruetsoftware.com/.


Monster Motorized Lego Chess Set

June 13, 2010

If you love Legos and Chess, you have to check out this huge motorized Lego chess set. Includes a 8:49 long YouTube clip of the set in action.

http://gizmodo.com/5561977/100000-lego-bricks-make-for-one-hell-of-a-robotic-chess-set

Thanks for checking out my article, and feel free to stop by and check out my iPhone and iPad applications http://www.pruetsoftware.com/.


So, how sharp is the screen on the iPhone4

June 13, 2010

I bought a 4GB iPhone 2G a month after they first came out at the discounted price. Then a few months after the 3G model came out, I picked up a 8GB model and have been using it since. I am planning to pre-order a iPhone4 16GB model next week. I have wanting to see some high res photos of the new and old screens side by side, so you can get a goo idea of the true screen resolution, not all the blog crops that keep coming up.

Well, Robert Scoble has a very high resolution image of the new iPhone4 screen and it is pretty impressive.

Article:
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/06/13/iphone-4-display-all-high-resd-up/

Link to the image:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scobleizer/4695267529/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Thanks for checking out my article, and feel free to stop by and check out my iPhone and iPad applications http://www.pruetsoftware.com/.


What is SaaS?

June 6, 2010

I just a read a little about SaaS and I thought I would share some of what I learned.

You may be using SaaS and not even know it. Some examples are:
- Web based access to applications you use at your office, like a web mail version of your companies Outlook email.
- Running a network based application, where you run a link that points to a network located application, and it installs locally. When updates or patches are applied to this network application, the next time you run the link, you get the updates and patches.

This also allows for simplified management of a centralized location of an application, meaning the application only has to be maintained in one location, even if it is used across the web or a large corporate network.

Another benefit, is companies can offer there applications using a SaaS model across the web and offer access to it using a monthly subscription service instead of a large upfront cost.

More information here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_as_a_service

Thanks for checking out my article, and feel free to stop by and check out my iPhone and iPad applications http://www.pruetsoftware.com/.


What is Hadoop?

June 1, 2010

I have been to several software code camps and conference where Hadoop was mentioned and demoed. I am still not 100% of all the uses of Hadoop, but with all the buzz words about computing moving to the Cloud, this is worth reading about. Hadoop is based on Java and is owned by the Apache Software Foundation.

Hadoop uses 2 main concepts:
- HDFS or Hadoop Distributed File System
- Map Reduce engine

The first, HDFS allows for rack aware distributed files across a large cluster of networked computers, or nodes. In some cases these files are replicated on 2 or more computers, which eliminates the need for a RAID setup. This file system is also ideal for very large files.

The second, MapReduce allows for distributing and/or sharing the processor workload across this large cluster of networked computers, or nodes. Since HDFS is rack aware, MapReduce can put the workload on the same rack or box the data is on.

There are several large companies using Hadoop in one aspect; like Yahoo, Amazon, IBM, Google, Sun and many others.

If you want to learn more, and I feel it is worth a read if you are interested in Cloud computing.

http://hadoop.apache.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadoop


Google to no longer allow employees use Windows??

May 31, 2010

Not sure if this is true or not, but Tuaw.com is reporting that Google has told their employees they can no longer install Windows on company computers, and they must choose Mac or Linux.

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/05/31/google-to-employees-mac-or-linux-but-no-more-windows


Bloom Energy – 1000kW from 64 therms

February 25, 2010

So, I read about the Bloom Energy Fuel Cell technology today and calculated some interesting numbers based on the data sheet on their website (link below).

The unit produces 100kW using 0.661MMBtu/hr of Natural Gas. Based on a conversion I got from Google, 10 therms is equal to 1.034MMBtu/hr, so 0.661MMBtu/hr is equal to 6.39 therms.

So to generate the following, you would need the corresponding amount of gas:
1kW – 0.0639 therms
1000kW – 63.9 therms
2500kW – 159.75 therms

If you can get Natural Gas at $1 a therm, that puts power from the Bloom Energy Server at 6.39 cents per kW not including the cost of the unit, which is 1.5 to 3x that of Nuclear, depending on where you get your numbers from.

Bloom Energy – http://www.bloomenergy.com/products/data-sheet/


Columbia Code Camp 2010

January 31, 2010

Even with the bad weather, and the freezing temperatures, we had our first code camp in Columbia SC.  It was held at the Swearingen Engineering Building at USC.  We had over 200 people register, and over 140 showed up.  All in all, it was a big success, and we plan to have another one next year.  We are also thinking of organizing a SQL Saturday event later this year.

Some other code camp like events coming up in Columbia SC of this year are ConvergeSC and POSSCON.

Columbia Code Camp – http://www.columbiacodecamp.com/
Converge SC – http://convergesc.org/
POSSCON – http://posscon.org/


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