Linode plus iPad plus Wireless Keyboard

April 25, 2012

So, I am primarily a Mac user, my main phone is an iPhone 4S, I use an iPodtouch for my music & podcasts and I watch Hulu and Netflix on my iPad. So, to write a short blog post about Linux may seem odd to me.

I actually have an Ubuntu VM I use on occasion on my MacBook Pro, and it does do some things very well. I have had the chance to meet the gang from Linode at POSSCON in 2011 and 2012. They offer a great Linux distro hosting service, and I recommend checking it out if you are in the market or are interested in a web hosted Linux distro. I also came across this nice article on Linux Journal about a guy that switched to Linode hosted Linux VM and connects to it with his iPad.

http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/swap-your-laptop-ipad-linode

If you live in the eastern part of the US, I highly recommend attending POSSCON in 2013.

http://www.posscon.org/


Kendo UI

August 11, 2011

I just learned about some new Web Controls from Telerik tonight, that are HTML5, CSS3 and JavaSript supported. They have a new suite of web controls in Beta that are not specifically .Net controls. Which is nice, as Telerik is known for having a really good, if not the best suite of .Net controls you can get. These new web controls scale from desktop to mobile, and support the 4 main mobile platforms; iOS, Android, Blackberry and WebOS. They also support the top 5 browsers; Mozilla, Safari, Chrome, IE and Opera.

You can check out these new controls at Kendo UI – http://www.kendoui.com/


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.


Registered as an INETA Community Speaker

May 14, 2011

If you are a member of a user group in the tri-state area around South Carolina USA and would like to request a speaker, check out my INETA profile for requesting me as a speaker.

INETA Community Speakers Program


Rock Paper Azure Challenge

May 14, 2011

Microsoft has a Rock Paper Azure Challenge setup. There is a bot .Net solution you can download to get started in the challenge. This solution has 3 different projects, which are VB, one C# and F#. So, you can code in your language of choice, and it is good to see F# get some love.

http://www.rockpaperazure.com/getstarted.aspx


Does Xcode 4 have a future in HTML 5 content creation

July 27, 2010

I found this article in my RSS reader today. Could Xcode 4 have a future creating HTML 5 content?

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/07/26/apples_new_xcode_4_could_portend_new_html5_development_tools.html

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


My thoughts on Xcode 4 and Safari 5 rumors

June 6, 2010

I have come across several articles with small mentions of Xcode4 and Safari5 features being announced at WWDC during the keynote tomorrow, or later in the week. I think this may be a little bigger than everyone is thinking. As, I have a theory that Xcode4 if announced, will include a whole suite of web development tools.

I feel with all the exposure Apple is putting on HTML5 and CSS3 on their site, and also their beta projects of desktop like website like iWork.com and Me.com. Apple is about to announce some new web based frameworks and APIs, where developers can write COCOA and/or UIKit based applications in the browser. They even have one you can use on the iPhone, it is the “iPhone User Guide” that comes in the bookmarks on every new iPhone you buy.

It is just my opinion, but I think something big will be announced related to this….

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


Yahoo’s YQL Web Sevices

January 31, 2010

At ConvergeSC 2009 Jonathan LeBlanc from Yahoo’s Developer Network came and gave a presentation on YQL. This language allows developers to access a web service to gather data and then use syntax similar to SQL and query the XML data they get back from the YQL service. From what I remember of the demo presentation last year, they have a web console that allow you to build a YQL query URL, and then you can use this URL in your applications. Using this YQL service console, many if not all the URLs you can build are of a REST nature. To find more info, check the YQL site below.

Yahoo’s YQL – http://developer.yahoo.com/yql/
ConvergeSC – http://convergesc.org/