Archive for June, 2009

Twitter and social responsibility

There probably isn’t a single person who actively uses Twitter who hasn’t had the “so what’s the big deal about Twitter” anyway conversation. It’s one of those things that’s hard to explain, either you get it or you don’t.

I always ask locals (since I mostly have this conversation with people who live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area) if they remember when the 35W bridge collapsed. It’s one of those things that Minnesotans instantly remember where they were when it happened, plus they remember the worry and fear in those hours after the collapse wondering where their loved ones were. Then I tell them how with one simple tweet, I let a whole lot of people know I was okay. At the same time I learned a lot of my friends were okay in the same manner.

Now history has given us a bigger, better, more important example of why Twitter is important and a big deal. Violent protests have broken out in Iran in the wake of their disputed election. And as Andrew Sullivan has so succinctly reported, the revolution is being live-tweeted.

It seems Twitter is the only way to get news out of Iran as the government tries to limit Internet access and communications out of the country and threatens foreign media correspondents with arrest.

What’s so great, and where the social responsibility comes in, is that Twitter and their network partners had scheduled a critical network upgrade yesterday but they postponed it because they realize what a vital tool Twitter is for Iranians and reporters right now.

And that’s just another reason to point to when someone asks “what’s the big deal about Twitter?”

Where is my mind/smartphone?

Minnov8’s Steve Borsch buried the lead nicely in his article on the forthcoming iPhone 3GS – let’s skip on down to the last four paragraphs of his story,  “Smartphones — computers in your pocket — extend your mind and your reach”:

“I’ve been in conversations with educators about technology and social media — and about the current paradigm of cramming kids’ brains with facts — and my asking why we need to teach rote facts about the countries that surround, say, the Baltic Sea when it can be instantly looked up? Are there ways to focus on how to search, ways to seek and verify authentic material, and move toward an educational model that would assume an always-on, always-connected student population?

In our working world, enlightened companies are realizing that providing a solid and good experience to employees with access to information and work processes (and email, of course) allows the employee to access and deal with a task, communication or even an idea when they have a moment or when inspiration strikes, rather than hope that all that can be stored up and dealt with when they’re in the office.

Tapping into the streams of consciousness of people one follows on Twitter, reading blog posts and staying abreast of news and other information mean that all of us are more aware of the meaningful inputs of others in whom we find value.

Then there is just the simple utility of having movie showtimes, a dictionary, time zones, airfare lookups, stock tickers, and even games. This means that smartphones extend our minds, so that we’re no longer tethered to a desk for computer and Internet use in the same way that the mobile phone for voice made us free from a phone line.”

Read Borsch’s entire Minnov8 article reposted on MinnPost. 

Looking Sharp, C#

Pizza and programming language overviews: a balanced meal at The Nerdery.

Our resident .NET guru, Jeff introduced C# and the .NET framework to a dozen of us over pizza today at The Nerdery. The presentation isn’t for the technologically challenged among you, but it’s a great intro to Microsoft’s primary development platforms.

Six Months on AIR: A Look at Skimmer

If you weren’t able to attend Minh and Chris’s Flashbelt presentation, we have the next best thing — the slide deck! Take a look to learn why they chose AIR to develop Skimmer, working with SQLite, and tips and tricks for developing applications using these technologies. When you’re done, make sure to check out Andrew’s Flashbelt recaps.

Flashbelt Days 2 & 3: The Take Away

Flashbelt has come and gone, and I’m really glad to have been a part of it. Even being at Flashbelt this year was something of a dream come true for me.

Unfortunately at the end of the second day of Flashbelt, I felt a bit…let down. I think I felt like I didn’t have much to bring with me from the sessions I had attended. I felt like maybe they could have gone deeper. In some cases, I felt like they were covering things I’ve had the ability to learn myself. Now, I don’t think that my experience is indicative of Flashbelt as a whole. But I honestly didn’t feel like I had much to write about after that day, so I waited to see what would happen.

Moreover, I realized that I had been missing out on something else Flashbelt offers: the ability to meet other people. Up through the second day I hadn’t really talked to too many people at the conference, and realized that I was probably missing out on meeting some cool people and hearing about cool projects.

I’m happy to report that day 3 was better for me on both fronts. I went to a couple of sessions that had good connections to the type of work we do at The Nerdery. Veronique Brossier’s session discussed some of the ins and outs of developing Flash-based multiplayer games. We’ve worked on such games at The Nerdery, and she provided some good insights that we’ll be able to use as we work on such games in the future. Flash is a capable multiplayer game platform, it just requires a special kind of care.

Ralph Hauwert presented what on the surface might have seemed like a session that only appeals to the most hardcore of graphics programming nerds. But his session was showing very impressive 3D performance within Flash player, using the programming tools that Flash 10 provides. 3D has relevance to almost any application that can be developed for Flash, so his stuff is something we’ll be keeping an eye on.

The sessions were good, but I think the best thing about day 3 was the interactions with other attendees. I was asked to help man the Sierra Bravo/Nerdery Interactive Labs info table, and that provided me with the opportunity to talk with some people and give out some schwag. The coolest time, though, was over lunch. A group of people were talking with Veronique Brossier after her session. We all started walking out of the hall together, as it was lunch time. We all ended up going to lunch together, about eight attendees and Veronique, too. It was an honor to be able to have lunch with a Flashbelt presenter, but it was also fun and interesting to talk to the other people.

In the end I didn’t come away from Flashbelt with any new code to use in my projects. What I did come away with, however, is a bunch of new ideas to think about. Flashbelt is full of people who are testing boundaries, seeing what they can create with digital tools, figuring out new ways of interacting with all of the digital data that’s now out there in the world. It’s this testing, tinkering, and playing that can yield some pretty amazing results; often times things totally different than what was expected.

Moreover, I came way from Flashbelt with some new contacts; maybe even new friends. These are people who are doing similar things as myself and my company. Who knows what sort of partnerships might be created and solutions created?

So what did I come away from Flashbelt with? An overall enjoyable conference experience, but perhaps more importantly, possibilities for very cool stuff in the future. Thanks, Flashbelt! And now, back to The Nerdery.

The waiting for iPhone 3GS is the hardest part

Like kids waiting for a new candy store to open, The Nerdery watched and listened to what’s next for the iPhone during Monday’s Apple Worldwide Developers Conference keynote spiel. Now, while we pace in the waiting room like expectant fathers for the birth of the iPhone 3GS, we take this moment to page through a story in Ad Age by Rita Chang on what this baby has in store for marketers.

But before we get to what’s next, just dropping the existing 3G iPhone to $99 (everything must go) will likely attract younger buyers – and greater market share alone spurs greater interest from marketers.

Then, on June 19, “speed” puts the “S” in 3GS.  Speedier downloads, greater memory and processing speed, and AT&T’s pledged 3G network upgrade make for a capital “S.”

Writes Chang, “Krish Arvapally, chief technology officer of mobile ad platform provider Mojiva, said since Apple announced its new iPhone software in March, it has seen a 20% increase in the number of advertisers who say they want to target iPhone users.” 

“Bring them on,” says the Nerdery.

Another marketable upgrade with 3GS is its ability to record and edit video, upload clips to YouTube, and share video via e-mail or multimedia messaging. “Michael Chang of Greystripe notes that the ‘better camera plus the faster network bandwidth could be the start of mobile video renaissance,’” writes Chang. 

Location, location, location, you say?

“Until now, marketers had to count on users to enter their ZIP codes in a browser to geo-target offers via the mobile web,” writes Chang. “Now, with the Safari web browser pulling the users’ location data into the browser experience, marketers could serve geo-targeted ads to any iPhone user with an open browser – assuming the user has allowed the website operator to track his location.”

Also, writes Chang, “The iPhone 3GS will also sport a digital compass that tells users which direction they’re facing, with integrated mapping applications to automatically orient the map in the corresponding direction. Jamie Wells, director of mobile at OMD’s Ignition Factory, said he could see advertisers using the compass feature to make their creative more engaging – for example, a vendor selling merchandise at a sporting event could serve ads that instruct users to point their iPhone at the nearest concession stand to get a coupon.” 

The new iPhone also lets users glow in the dark, experience weightlessness and even travel through time. Not really, but wait ‘til next year.

Lastly, if you’re Tom Petty, I’m truly sorry about that headline – but thanks for reading. 

Wolf Shirt Friday

As nerds we, of course, live on the cutting edge of not just technology, but also fashion. Friday some of our more fashion forward residents held an impromptu fashion show here at the office. Fresh off the runways of Paris and Milan, I give you Wolf Shirt Friday.

The discerning eye will spot some kittens, a dragon covered with a Post-it, a bear driving a pickup, but you should know, those guys are wearing a wolf shirt on the inside.

In honor of the auspicious event, our traditional Friday bottlecap talk was enhanced with Wolf vodka and Blue Moon ale.

Act now and with expedited shipping you can join us this Friday…

Flashbelt Day 1: Quite the Canvas

I’ve just finished up day one of the Flashbelt conference here in Minneapolis. Flashbelt is one of the premier conferences in the country oriented around Adobe’s Flash player. The conference is aimed at animators, designers, developers, project managers, ad agencies and so on; pretty much anyone who is involved with creating content for the ubiquitous Flash player.

Flashbelt attracts a lot of well known speakers, many of the “heavy hitters” in the Flash scene – guys like Seb Lee-Delisle, Dr. Woohoo, Minneapolis’ own Danny Patterson, and so on. These names probably don’t mean much to the uninitiated, but if you’re into the geekiness like us, these people can almost be rock stars. I’m one of the Flash developers at the Nerdery, so myself and a few others from the Nerdery are at the conference checking things out.

The day started with a keynote by Richard Galvin and Paul Burnett from Adobe. These guys have intimate knowledge about Flash; they mange the Flash product lines. They talked about where the Flash platform is at currently and where it’s going.

Perhaps the most interesting point was how Adobe really wants to move the current Flash player to more devices than just computers, like TVs and mobile phones (Flash for iPhone anyone? We Flash devs can dream). Getting Flash onto these devices is the logical next step, and would be a boon for getting interactive content to more people.

The rest of my day was spent in sessions dealing with the more nerdy development side of the Flash world. I’ve gotta make sure to give mad props to our own Chris Black and Minh Vu, who gave a presentation about their experiences developing Skimmer, Fallon’s “lifestreaming” application. Chris and Minh did a great job presenting, and demonstrated that they really know their stuff.

The day ended with a session by Joel Gethin Lewis, who I’m not even sure does Flash development. Instead, Joel works for a firm in the UK that puts together real-world “interactive experiences,” things like using laser pointers to “paint” projected artwork onto buildings or making interactive stage lighting for the band Massive Attack.

It may seem odd to have a session that isn’t directly connected to the Flash platform, but apparently this is what they always do at Flashbelt. It shows that Flashbelt is about more than just coding or content production. It’s about being inspired and seeing what’s possible.

And I think if I had to sum up this first day of Flashbelt, it would be just that: be inspired. There was plenty of technical mumbo-jumbo to go around at Flashbelt, but the fact is that Flash transcends its technical backing (which has come a long way, I might add). For many years now, Flash has been arguably the most ubiquitous platform for serving up interactive experiences.

Think of this: Flash is the technology enabling YouTube and all other video sharing websites, which is changing the way we consume long entrenched forms of mass-media. Or imagine you’re an artist with an interest in the interactive-type things. You can make something for Flash, and suddenly your art can potentially be seen by millions of people who have the container waiting to show your art. The install base for Flash player is in billions of machines – that’s quite a canvas!

So it’s a good thing for all developers to remember as we come up with solutions for our clients: be inspired, think big, think of unique things, think of what people are going to want to use. Flash is one of the technologies we can use to bring the content and experiences that people are looking for.

Oh, and the worst part of Flashbelt so far? Having to endure the hokey smooth jazz that is always playing over the restroom speakers.

Bravo nerds!

Yeah, we’re not going to lie we’re pretty pumped about The Pioneer Press’ story about us in yesterday’s paper. Have you read it yet? You should. Sure you’ll see all the usual Nerdery subjects (Luke, Mike, and Mike) but you’ll also see what our partners at Zeus Jones and Balcom Agency have to say about us.

P.S. (that’s Jon rocking the headphones in the big picture)

Nerdery Rockstars On Tour

Attention AIR developers: Are you interested in learning about caching images in binary format, SQLite database migration, re-using existing view components, memory fragmentation and general tips / tricks about developing your application using Adobe AIR? If you answered YES than you should attend Minh Vu and Chris Black’s session at Flashbelt on June 8th at 1:30PM. We’re going to have a killer presentation for everyone interested in developing Adobe AIR desktop applications.

Can’t attend Flashbelt?
I would highly recommend attending Flashbelt. Networking opportunities, great presentations and lots of fun! OK, if you absolutely can go than keep an eye out for our presentation which I will be posting to this blog on Monday. And check out all of our Flashbelt coverage as the event happens.

Who should attend?
Developers that are currently developing AIR applications or are interested in doing AIR development in the future. Project managers would also benefit from knowing the decisions that go into creating large scale applications. How about designers? This presentation is geared towards the development side of AIR but designers are welcome.

About the presenters:
Chris Black is a Senior Developer at Sierra Bravo who focuses on ActionScript development with Adobe Flex and AIR, and is interested in integrating social networking APIs into Rich Internet Applications. He covers these topics as well as sharing solutions to the problems he encounters when working with Flex and AIR on his blog, blackcj.com. Chris has a degree in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, and when he’s away from the computer he enjoys rock climbing, backpacking, and tennis.

Minh Vu is a Developer at Sierra Bravo who works on interactive development with ActionScript and JavaScript. He has a strong interest in applying Model Driven Development to Flash or AIR applications. Minh studied at the University of Minnesota Duluth where he got his degree is in Information System & Technology. In his spare time he enjoys disc golfing, snowboarding, ultimate frisbee, and learning how to program for the iPhone.