Blog
Tags
303 Software Android apple Apple boulder browsers business Camp CMS code coding Community Server Conference cool database deals Denver design drink specials droid Droid eco-friendly Elgg expressionengine.com Expression Engine Development Firefox font funny gaming government hardware IA Internet Explore iPad iphone iphone application iphone applications learning MacBook marketing Mighty Karma MVC framework online community open source os 4 pattern project management schema SEO seo Skype social social networking sustainability tools Travel UI Web Browser
Archive
303 Presenting at Expression Engine Camp in Denver
Today Stefan, Damon, Chase and Jon are attending the Expression Engine Camp in Downtown Denver. Expression Engine is a fantastic PHP-based Content Management system that we've been using regularly for our site development. Check out our projects page for some recents sites we've completed. We're actively working on updating our internal site using Expression Engine as well. Stay tuned!
Our very own Damon Delgado is giving a quick presentation today on integrating YouTube into Expression Engine using jQuery. If you are interested in seeing what he did or you were at today's conference, and would like to review the slides, you can download the full presentation in PDF, Keynote for Mac or PowerPoint formats.
iPad as a laptop replacement: Fail
Another toy has arrived at 303 Software: the iPad. Purchased for the purpose of testing applications this little beauty has been used for another purpose: working remotely. As a technology company 303 employees often choose to work from home or whatever other location suits their current needs. Working from home is fine, but when working remotely dragging around a laptop can be somewhat cumbersome especially when long flights are part of the equation. As such, we decided to experiment with using the iPad as a primary work device. Managing Director Stefan Ramsbott took the iPad international on his trip to Germany and I took it a little closer to home on a trip to Salt Lake City.
The conclusion? Although the iPad is a beautiful piece of technology it does not replace a laptop and lacks in several key business needs. That being said, the iPad is an amazing piece of hardware for entertainment and basic use. Here are a few conclusions from my weekend away:
Pros:
1. Users enjoy the feeling of awesomeness associated with having a new apple product. Please see this informative article from The Oatmeal for more information.
2. Portability: It is compact and light yet still has a big enough screen to be useful.
3. Battery life: It can be used for a full day of work, play, and movie watching without dying or requiring a recharge. When battery life is low, the iPad recharges fairly quickly.
4. Netflix App: We all need to catch up on Dexter sometimes. In general, there are several useful apps on the iPad, but the majority of them appear to revolve around entertainment or basic information needs rather than core productivity (and those apps that seem to be directed towards productivity don't work that well).
5. Display: As per usual, this apple product has a beautiful sharp display and intuitive navigation. In addition, the speaker on the iPad was surprisingly loud and clear.
Cons:
1. Outdated software: The iPad isn't slated for OS 4 until this fall which means that the iPad can not run multiple applications at once. Like many workers I need to be able to run Skype to communicate with my team while accessing other programs to take notes, send emails, and make updates. I found not being able to run multiple apps at the same time to be crippling.
2. Sub-Par Apps: Some applications just don't work anywhere near as well as the real thing on the iPad. For example, skype would not allow me to conference in multiple parties, open links within conversations in the iPad browser, or have skype take up the entire screen. When skype did expand to spawn the entire screen it became pixelated and difficult to read.
3. This is obvious, but there is no way to plug in USB devices to access data on an external hard drive etc.
Overall, the iPad is great for what is it meant for and should not be pushed into a work device. Next time I fly I'll be forced to drag my MacBook through security. I won't be buying an iPad for myself anytime soon...but I may be asking for a Droid based tablet for Christmas.
iPhone 4: The arrival
We have a few new arrivals at 303 this week, including the ultra slick new iPhone 4. Initial impression? Elegant updated design paired with long requested upgrades (including the ability to multi task and video chat) make apple's latest product a much sought after upgrade. Does it leave all other options in the dust? Well, I'm currently staring at my Droid wondering if it's time to let go of my long standing obsession with Verizon's superior service and concede to the power that is Apple.
What are the implications of this new phone (and new OS) for 303? All existing iPhone applications need to be retested front to back to ensure proper functionality and new versions of the applications may need to be released. Darn, guess I have to spend more time playing, I mean, working on the new iPhone. Let's hope I don't get sucked in by any of the great deals on Duck Duck Deal's iPhone application or I may have to abandon Denver for Boulder tonight!
Duck Duck Deal
Looking for a good deal in Boulder? Check out 303's newest IPhone application, Duck Duck Deal! The application was rolled out at the last Denver Boulder New Tech Meetup and is currently active the in Boulder area. The geniuses behind the application, Chris and Andrea, plan on rolling the application out to more metro areas in the near future.
How does it work? Local merchants create and send out offers using Duck Duck Deal's easy to use web interface (e.g. $3 draft beers from 4 to 7 pm). These offers are immediately broadcast out to the DuckDuck website and iPhone app. Each special offer has a countdown clock showing how much time is left to take advantage of the discount.
Discounted drinks from a free IPhone app? FTW!
Breach in Security: The newest iPhone
A breach in security at Apple? Not a chance, impossible, could never happen...oh wait...it DID happen! It seems to be confirmed that the next generation iPhone was accidentally lost and subsequently acquired and disassembled to reveal it's secrets.
What upgrades can users expect? We already know about the planned software upgrades to be released this summer with the iPhone os 4 (multitasking!) but it looks like there will be several upgrades to the hardware as well including a front facing camera, a flash, and an upgraded higher resolution screen.
What implications does the release of the iPhone os 4 (and next generation iPhone) have on 303 Software? Well, a lot. We're into building (ok, and using) iPhone apps and we're proud of our most recent application for Duck Duck Deal. We can't wait to get our hands on the next generation iPhone and start cranking out the ideas!
Kate and the community
First and foremost, hello. I'm Kate, the new project manager for 303 software. I've been working in the custom development field as a project manager (not sure what that is? Think Sam from Grandma's Boy, except minus the party scenes) and am very happy to now have joined the team at 303. I'm looking forward to working here to produce innovative and high quality custom websites and applications. I'll be maintaining the blog with updates on what we're working on at 303, new coding practices, and general commentary on the technology industry.
Back before the various internets (ok, I'll stop using that term...even if it makes me laugh) when your child had a cough you would call your mother, doctor, or friends. Now, it's straight to the crutch of our times, google. Search results on google can produce anything from a wikipedia entry to a hospital's website or even an individual's blog. In addition to the basic information contained on many of these sites, users may submit their own thoughts, opinions, and experiences through various community portals.
The internet has revolutionized the availability of information and the integration of a community aspect to this information can theoretically make what before would be unknown or untrusted information an interesting source. Personal input from real users now may a heavy influence on decisions a person makes without that person ever having met any of the other users. Community input on the internet can be represented in several ways.
Some sites are completely based on community feedback (such as the venting blog Would You Be Mad If...?) while other sites combine blog like articles with user feedback (like my favorite Gizmodo...who doesn't like gadgets?). To go to the extreme, sites such as Facebook are completely based on a community, and theoretically don't need to be a source of any information, but simply serve as an area for entertainment and keeping in touch with friends and family.
Overall, community involvement can enhances a site, entice users to return to the site, and allow users to gain valuable information to which they would otherwise not have access. There are obvious drawbacks to this, such as misinformation or abuse, but overall the community aspect of websites is a trend that is here to stay.
I think I've said enough to hopefully spark your interest. Go forth and google (and comment, and post, and geek out).
The slow death of IE6
Many of us web designers and developers have been waiting for this moment for years. Not only does Internet Explorer 6 cause issues for many, many web users across a multitude of web sites, it causes excruciating pain for web designers and developers who have to modify well-developed code to force images and text to render properly in IE6. We've officially discontinued automatic support of IE6 for our forthcoming development projects. We're constantly astounded by the number of corporate and ordinary users who are still using this antiquated browser. We'll be following this browser stats site closely to watch as IE6 use plummets over the coming months.
Can a Game Teach Programming?
Definitely sorta. A while back I stumbled upon a cool flash game called Light-Bot in which you must control a robot to advance it to a goal. You do so by assembling a set of simple commands (move forward, turn left/right, jump) which are then followed by the robot. You'll need to organize you commands into reusable functions, as you're limited to the number of commands you can give. Maybe a good way to get kids (or managers) an introduction to programming.
This week I discovered a new and more challenging spin on the robot programming game. RoboZZle improves on the concept by adding recursion, stacks, and memory to the toolset. So well done is this game, I actually installed Microsoft Silverstripe to run it, and that's saying a lot for a Mac-centric Flash developer. The puzzles get very challenging, and I'm still not 100% sure on how the stack and memory work in the game, but I'm sure I'll be playing more this weekend. I think RoboZZle has the opportunity to teach more advanced techniques to even experienced programmers.
So, if you're coming in for an interview here, you may want to brush-up on your gaming skills.
Light-Bot http://armorgames.com/play/2205/light-bot
RoboZZle http://robozzle.com/
Social network platforms
We've just wrapped up Mindful Mama, a social network built on a customized install of Telligent's .NET Community Server. Tomorrow we begin development on another custom social network site, this time based on the open source Elgg platform. Side by side comparison of Community Server and Elgg to come!
New tech meetup
We'll be at The Boulder Denver New Technology Meetup on May 5. See you there!