Archive by Author

Date
31
JAN
12
Author

Chicago Nerdery moves/grooves to 300 N Elizabeth St. #500C

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Chicago branch manager Dave Kam – the first employee hired by The Nerdery’s three founding programmers back in 2004 – has helped bootstrap our Chicago office since it opened in August 2010. We caught up with the Pentathanerd gold medalist as he reflected on moving his team into new digs.

Anything you’ll miss about the old place?
Probably the only thing is the quiet. We’re in a loft style office building now, so we can hear everything and everybody can hear us. So we’ve actually gotten complaints about the dogs.

Comparing our new space to the old, what are the biggest wins/coolest features?
We have an actual full kitchen. With a dishwasher, dining area, and even a stove!  We also have a theater that has a DJ area.

Did you rock-star the old place before moving out? Will we get our damage deposit back?
No, not really. And yes, we should totally get our damage deposit back. I actually patched up the holes left by the mounting screws. So really, the place is probably better than when we took it over. Also, Tommy O put in a classy sink in the bathroom so really, the landlord probably owes us money.

Any plans to spruce-up and/or nerd-out the place?
We’ve already started on this. We’re doing a MTV Cribs style video at BottleCap next week so you can see what we’ve been up to.  

How many nerds will the new space hold?
With the current layout, 26. If we re-arrange, about 32.

Are you actively seeking nerds now? What positions?
Yes we are: account directors, front-end developers, PHP developers,and iOS developers.  We’re probably going to be adding .NET/C# developers and an office manager to that list soon.

Moving can suck. Did it?
Honestly, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  But I think it’s because of all the pre-planning that Perry and Eric did.  Without them and their teams coming down to help with the setup before the actual move, there’s no way we would have been able to finish the move as quickly as we did.

In the Twin Cities, we’ve expanded our office space eight times in as many years. How long before we outgrow our new Chicago space, and what then?
Well, we’ve got six spots left open, so it’ll be pretty soon. We do have the option of expanding into our original space next door anytime we want. But ideally, we’re trying to hold out until May when we can move into the space right below us.  

Any ongoing need for a tweeting bathroom (* full explanation below)? Plans to get it going again?
I think we’ve seen the last of the tweeting bathroom whose hardware was re-purposed for another side project. Maybe as we grow and the need arises, we will bring back a version 2.0.

* Tweeting Biffy: A case study
The business problem: We had a dozen nerds – men and women – sharing one bathroom and the only way they could know if it was occupied or vacant was to turn the doorknob – ugh. The business solution: Finally, a bathroom worth following on Twitter – one that tweets its vacancy. Said Nerdery software engineer Dan S: “We discussed things like having some light somewhere, or other indicator saying what state the bathroom is in and then at some point Thomas said ‘we could have a bathroom that tweets and we all sorta laughed. Overnight I thought about how it wouldn’t be such a bad idea.’”

Not-so-bad ideas like this are taken seriously at The Nerdery, where we partner with big thinkers and creative minds to engineer and execute fancy web, mobile and social media projects. But beyond all that, Dan has considerably more to say about embedded systems in bathrooms (fair warning: fairly nerdy):

For development, mbed has a nice and easy to use online compiler. What this means is that you write your code in a browser and that code exists ‘on the cloud’ and when it’s compiled using their compilers, you get a nice .bin file that can be placed onto the mbed unit. The mbed development board is a micro-controller that has a set of API’s to interface with very low level hardware interfaces, IE, stuff that chips inside things like the iPhone, PS3, the computer you’re using, use to communicate with each other. There isn’t ethernet running between your computer’s processor and its RAM/Hard drive/sound card, etc. There are buses with defined interfaces into the processor. This mbed is the same way with just ‘lower’ level interfaces to communicate with things like sensors, or other integrated circuit chips (such as GPS, bluetooth, RFID, NFC, ZigBee, etc.). The mbed can be connected to a regular TCP/IP network, which is where the fun really happens. It allows you to build something that not only connects to a standard network, but can run code that you write to do nearly anything. Think of it as a mini computer with really good battery life at a huge performance disadvantage. The mbed runs at about 100MHz, which is ‘slow’ compared to today’s Core i7 processors, but 100MHz is more than enough to talk to a network and ‘read’ what sensors are sensing, or log read information to something like an SD card. There are hardware limitations, but there are also creative boundaries that have to be overcome to see ‘how can i achieve X?’. Other microprocessors use JTAG to be programmed. The convenience in the mbed is that the mbed gets mounted as a flash drive. This lets you drag the downloaded .bin file to the ‘flash memory’ of the mbed and press the reset button on the mbed to ‘reflash’ it, effectively putting your software onto the small board. This process is MUCH more streamlined than other solutions, which makes mbed a first choice in any smaller ‘quick, even possibly dirty’ way of getting things done™. Before (of after/during) software development, you will put the mbed onto a breadboard that lets you interface and communicate with the world outside of the chip. This is done through GPIO (general purpose input/output) or through peripherals (SPI, Ethernet, I2C, etc. RE: Comms between chips/digital world). For this particular project, ethernet was used to connect to the internet and a GPIO pin (input) was used to ‘read’ the door sensor’s value. The resistor is used as a means to force the GPIO pin to ‘ground’ (or logic of 0) whenever the sensor is not strong enough to move the input to 1. This pull-down resistor ensures that we should ALWAYS get a 0 in the input except in the case where something STRONGLY (not very strong, but you’re pretty damn sure) is a 1 (higher voltage).

(breathe)

How the software works: The code initializes the chip and then basically sits and waits. What’s it waiting for? A transition on the GPIO pin, which is a fancy way of saying when it for sure goes from 0 to 1 or 1 to 0. This effectively interrupts the microprocessor from whatever it was doing, and immediately starts a function that will read the logic level of the GPIO pin and then call to a server with the status (as well as the Oauth stuff for twitter. The post is made and then the mbed continues to sit and wait for the next interrupt. What it implies is fairly interesting as well, imagine any bit of information (literally, on/off, open/close, available/not available) could easily be streamed to twitter or some other service/individual. This includes conference rooms being available/not available, test hardware being checked in/out, tweeting pop machines – the sky’s the limit (and your imagination).

Indeed.

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Filed under Great Moments in Nerdery
Date
24
JAN
12
Author

Apply yourself: Overnight Website Challenge returns March 24-25

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Fellow Nerds and eager nonprofits have been asking, “When will registration be open for the Twin Cities’ 2012 Nerdery Overnight Overnight Website Challenge?” How about right now? Here.

As Luke Bucklin said in 2008 when we announced the second comingof our nonprofit nerdathon, “We are committed to this event as long as there are good nonprofits whose websites could be better, powered by nerds.”

That blanket-statement of commitment crossed state lines last summer at Chicago’s inaugural Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge, and March 24-25 will mark our fifth Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge in the Twin Cities. In the first five years of these nerdy deeds done dirt cheap, volunteers from The Nerdery and the interactive community at-large have donated about $2 million worth of professional services to 66 nonprofits. We’ll continue to consider this just a good start. Get started at http://tc2012.overnightwebsitechallenge.com.

For more the nitty-gritty lowdown and more information about this year’s event. Head on over to our News section.

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Filed under Events, Nerdery Culture, Overnight Website Challenge
Date
11
JAN
12
Author

Agile webinar goes behind the buzz

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What is agile software development, and why should you care? There’s been a lot of talk – maybe too much talk – about agile software development without The Nerdery weighing in on why it’s a fine methodology for certain interactive projects and clients. Nerdery software project manager Michael G will get beyond the buzzword in discussing agile at our next webinars: Tuesday, January 17 at 10:15 AM Central and Thursday, January 19 at 3:15 PM.

With agile development, clients gain greater understanding for their project – and our development process – because they’re directly involved. For hands-on clients who play a project-ownership role in development, agile has these upsides:

  • Transparency and Communication: Clients call the shots and have a consistent dialogue with us as we deliver the goods. Transparency fosters communication and allows clients to be as actively engaged as they wish. Clients can see exactly where we are in the development process, with their priorities always in focus.
  • Iterative Development: Agile development is broken down into sprints that allow clients to pick and choose  features and functionality for the development team to focus on. Agile makes adding and removing features a quick logical process – sprints are easily adjusted to match technology needs and timeline. Knowing when sprints will end helps clients accurately game-plan for what’s next.
  • Prioritization: Constant communication with clients allows projects to quickly change focus if necessary; meeting a “demo date” is significantly easier if a client is directly involved in prioritizing the development focus. Developers set the velocity of sprints, based on current priorities set by clients. Features beyond the reach of one sprint are backlogged for future consideration.

Buzz-word wrecker: While the term “agile” is often bandied about, it’s not THE silver bullet, one-size fits all methodology. Agile is best suited for projects with at least three sprint cycles, and less suited for smaller projects. Agile isn’t a great fit for heavy-back-end projects, while the waterfall approach can work better for some UX engagements. All that said, we have a pretty good idea of when (and when not to) go with agile (we’re, like, agile about agile).

Agile software development is especially good for adapting to client needs, so if you have said needs – along with a vested interest in the success of your interactive projects, you should care about agile development – and RSVP for Nerdery webinars Tuesday, January 17 at 10:15 AM Central and Thursday, January 19 at 3:15 PM.

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Filed under Events
Date
30
NOV
11
Author

Give Toys for Tots, remember Bucklin boys

There are only good ways to honor the memory of Nick, Nate, Noah and Luke Bucklin. Here’s another: Buy something cool for a kid you’ll probably never know, and know that your gift will make their holiday season better (yours, too). We’re collecting presents geared toward kids ages 12-14 in remembrance of Nick (14), Nate (14), Noah (12) and Luke (forever 40, going on about 14). Toys for Tots historically has fulfilled unmet needs for gifts for boys and girls in their early teens.

Donated gifts must be brand-new (no hand-me-downs, please), unopened (don’t break the seal), and definitely not gift-wrapped (so they can be re-gifted to an age/gender-appropriate recipient). Mitch and Sue Buckland, coordinators of our Toys for Tots campaign, have asked that donations be dropped off by end-of-day on Friday, December 16 – so, plenty of shopping days left.

You need not work at The Nerdery to donate – anyone’s welcome to give: friends of the Bucklin family, friends of The Nerdery, and do-gooders throughout our community who want to help kids have happier holidays just by leaving a little something under our tree.

Note: We’ve expanded our office space (again) and our lobby is literally moving later this week toward the middle of The Nerdery, still at 9555 James Avenue S., Suite 245, Bloomington, MN 55431. Look for the Toys for Tots sign in the window and the Christmas tree lights (blue for Bucklin).

Filed under Nerdery Culture
Date
22
NOV
11
Author

Nerdery webinar: Facebook breaking change; sky falling?

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Many companies who’ve invested in Facebook apps have no idea their code may fail next year, and while this isn’t quite Mayan-prophesy-2012 scary, affected businesses should know that Facebook apps written in FBML will no longer be supported starting in January – and these same apps will no longer exist in June. 

Facebook doesn’t, as policy, tell everyone about such breaking code changes. As nerds who watch their dev blog, we get such scoops – and we’ll share the news if you RSVP for our next webinars, Tuesday, November 29 at 10:15 a.m (Central) and Thursday, December 1 at 3:15 p.m.

We’ll cover how nerds can help businesses protect their social media investments by converting FBML to HTML, and how to tell if your Facebook app is written in code that limits its shelf life. Can’t wait for the webinar to find out how to spot an endangered Facebook app? Check this out:
http://blog.nerdery.com/2011/11/dont-go-breaking-my-app/

Plenty of companies don’t know they have expiring FBML apps – and since Facebook won’t tap them on the shoulder, we’re spreading word to those who wouldn’t otherwise see this breaking-code change coming.  It almost feels like we’re doing a PSA – but yeah, public awareness means business for nerds. The more you know…
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Filed under Events, Technology
Date
21
NOV
11
Author

ExpressionEngine Reactor team includes Nerdery’s Brian Litzinger

EllisLab, creators of the CMS platform ExpressionEngine, last week announced the founding members of its ExpressionEngine Reactor team, which includes Nerdery senior developer Brian Litzinger – who also chairs The Nerdery’s ExpressionEngine (EE) development committee. We caught up with Brian to get his thoughts on his new leadership role in the EE development community.
Congratulations on being chosen as a founding member of the ExpessionEngine Reactor team. Why are you psyched? 

I get to help make a product I love even better. We do a ton of different types of projects at The Nerdery, and ExpressionEngine is just small fraction of those, but we’ve done just over 40 EE sites in the last two years, and will probably do 30 or more in 2012. With those kind of numbers, I know what our clients need and I hear a lot of ideas from my fellow developers, and now, I can take all of this back to the Reactor team and bring it fruition.

EllisLab has their own development team and road map, and the EE Reactor team is an extension to that. We are not tied to timelines or release cycles. We can present ideas and discuss them with the EllisLab development team before diving into code for larger ideas, or, just submit a pull request for something small whenever we have it ready. Everything we do will be scrutinized before it’s accepted, which is exactly how it should be. EllisLab has a vision for the product and I don’t want to infringe on that. I just want to tag along and help out when I can.

How did you get picked? If it was competitive, what do you suppose was your edge?

I think the team was assembled quietly. There were some tweets, as mentioned in the EllisLab blog post, but for the most part only a small number of people knew what was going on until it was unveiled at the EE/CI conference in October. I got an email one day from Leslie Camacho out of the blue asking if I would be interested in such a thing, and of course I was. We scheduled a call and he described what he had in mind, and I mentioned a few things that I would like to add to EE if given the chance. While in Brooklyn at the conference, I joined most of the EllisLab team for dinner one evening. Wes Baker, one of their developers, mentioned that he liked getting bug reports from Erik Reagan and me because we almost always included the code necessary to fix the bug in the report. I think this helped out Wes and the EllisLab team, so it may have been a contributing factor with getting asked to join the team.

How long will you serve? When will it be time to go?

Indefinitely. It sounds like a long-term initiative if everything goes well.

How will your involvement with EE Reactor benefit Nerdery clients?

Part of being on the team is that I’m also on the EllisLab jabber (chat) network, so it’s easy for me to bug their team if I have a question! But in all seriousness, I think it’s huge for our clients. We’ve had projects where someone at The Nerdery has encountered a bug in EE, but until now it’s been risky for us to change the core code because if we were to update the site later, that core change may not be in the official release – thus, we’d have more to maintain and could introduce points of failure. Now, if I or anyone at The Nerdery finds a bug, I can fix it and submit it as a pull request to the GitHub repo, and it’ll most likely get into the next official release. On the proactive side, if we have a project that needs an enhancement to EE, and I make a strong case for why it should be in EE’s core, then it may get into the official release.

What’s the advantage to having full access to EE’s Git repo?

Aside from getting to contribute to it? I get to see what’s in the pipeline before everyone else. I am under NDA though, so I can’t send out a company-wide memo about it. This will, however, help me make more informed decisions about our EE projects.

What sort relationships will you cultivate with developers in the EE community at-large, and how does Reactor allow you to be a resource to them?

I’m already deeply involved in the community with my add-on development, and I think being on the Reactor team will just add to that. Developers throughout the EE community are welcome to tweet me their feature requests or bug fixes.

Should enterprise-level companies care about ExpressionEngine?

Of course they should. Many enterprise-level companies already use EE, and I’ve seen many very expensive ($20,000+) content management systems that don’t have half the feature set that EE does. Just because something has an expensive license doesn’t mean it’s better.

You’re a busy Nerdery programmer, doing this EE Reactor thing totally pro-bono on your own time. So, what’s in this for you?

Well, it’s a combination of things. I develop add-ons for EE in my spare time, so it can benefit me in that regard, but honestly I was drawn to the whole idea so I can help make EE better as a whole for everyone involved with it, and for our clients. I’ve been building websites for nearly 12 years and I’ve never been this drawn to a community. ExpressionEngine is an outstanding CMS with a strong developer community. I think my contributions will be split between my free time and my time at The Nerdery.

Filed under Technology
Date
14
NOV
11
Author

The Facebooks they are a-changin’ – F8 need-to-knows

At The Nerdery’s next webinar, senior developer Dan K and front-end developer Thomas M will give a nerd’s eye view of Facebook enhancements announced at the F8 conference, including changes in how users can display their info and new avenues for finding content.

We’ll cover the still-unreleased Timeline, billed as the “story of your life on a single page,” and the coming of  Open Graph, a sort of map that reveals everything users connect to. Also new, Ticker will allow users to communicate “lightweight” musings and actions whenever, and News Feed – which sounds simple enough – has a new more-complicated algorithm. We’ll also touch on new social plug-in features, as well as Heroku, Facebook’s cloud-hosting partner.

RSVP for free webinars on Tuesday, November 15 at 10:15 a.m. CST or on Thursday, November 17 at 3:15 p.m. CST.

Program alert: On Nov. 29 and Dec. 1 (two weeks after this F8 recap webinar), we’ll stay on the subject of Facebook by addressing even more significant changes coming that will affect the code of existing Facebook applications (and therefore, they’ll affect, say, about a billion of you). Read our initial take here and stay tuned for all-new webinars that’ll cover some fairly dramatic game-changers coming soon to a Facebook near you.

The Nerdery’s monthly webinars are freebies all about sharing what we see in emerging technologies. Please join us and consider our nerd cred as an extension of your own.

Filed under Advertising & Marketing, Technology
Date
11
NOV
11
Author

Don’t go breaking my app

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Facebook forewarns that FBML, or Facebook mark-up language, is a dying language. This will force companies with existing Facebook apps to move it or lose it. On January 1, 2012, Facebook will no longer support apps coded in FBML – so, no bug fixes, ever again. More ominously, on June 1 all existing FBML apps – whether bug-riddled or still fully-functional – will vanish, along with user data that, until then, lived in them. Facebook giveth and taketh. But, if you proactively convert your FBML to HTML on an iFrame, all’s well. Not sure if your Facebook app’s days are numbered? Dan will tell you how to tell:

Endangered Facebook Apps in 2012 from The Nerdery on Vimeo.

Call it spring cleaning, as Facebook is purging old tech in favor of something newer and, for them, much more nimble: HTML and iFrames. Whereas FBML hogs HD space on Facebook’s content delivery network, iFrames are hosted on each user’s server.

Sure, FBML apps won’t necessarily break right then on New Years Day, but if they do, there’ll be no easy fix. To be clear, FBML apps will soon no longer exist – let alone work – on Facebook Platform; all FBML endpoints are history, come June.

Now, the good news: There’s time to be proactive, and I’m surrounded by nerds who assure me they can make everything alright. At The Nerdery we’re collectively versed in virtually all programming languages (and can practically write Haiku in them), so converting FBML to HTML is right up our alley – whether we were the original developer of your Facebook app or not. Let me hook you up.

Learn more on Facebook changes in our  previous posts and our upcoming webinars.

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Filed under Technology, Uncategorized
Date
31
OCT
11
Author

Bizarre Halloween coincidence: Zombies seize Nerdery

 

Where do zombies come from? They seem to be coming from The Murdery (formerly The Nerdery) – but no one can explain why wayward, zombified nerds are nibbling some of our tastiest brains. Was it nuclear spillage? Some nerd scientist gone mad? A rancid keg? If it was a virus, please say it wasn’t a software virus. Time for some zombie payback – darn it – no firearms in the workplace, clearly posted … shshsh, let’s get a bit closer … scream without raising your voice becauggghhhhaaaggg gaaaggggk….On a personal note, I’ve recently passed away. Braaainnns…

 

 

Filed under Nerdery Culture
Date
25
OCT
11
Author

Follow your bliss – honoring Luke’s memory

A few days ago, Nerdery CEO and co-founder Mike Derheim wrote this in an all-staff email:

As many of you probably already know, next Tuesday October 25th is the 1-year anniversary of the plane crash that killed our friend and former President, Luke Bucklin and his sons. I’ve been thinking for quite a while about how we could best recognize the anniversary at The Nerdery. Many of you have offered a bunch of great ideas, like having a moment of silence, making it a company holiday, or holding some type of memorial event. On a personal level, I want to extend my gratitude to all of you that are thinking about our friend, and offering suggestions on how to honor his memory. He was a lucky guy to have so many people who cared about him. Although I think that all of those ideas are touching and completely appropriate – my difficulty in figuring out what to do stems from the fact that I don’t think that Luke would want us to remember him in such a somber way, nor do I think he’d want some type of grand gesture or memorial happening in his honor each year. Those that knew him probably know that wasn’t really his style.

If there’s one part of Luke’s legacy that you should know about, it’s that he cared about people and their happiness much more than anyone else I know. A famous quote of his (which I’m sure he’d be the first to admit he stole from someone else), was “follow your bliss.” He believed that people needed to chase the things that made them happy in life. Our company’s vision – to be the best place on earth for nerds to work – was the vehicle he used to make that a reality for many of us. The more that I reflect on the things that he did and the decisions he made, the more I realize how important that was to him.

Instead of doing something grand to memorialize the day, I’d like to do something a little bit more low-key, un-produced, un-organized, and focused on the part of The Nerdery that really mattered to Luke – you guys and your being part of the team – Co-Presidents if you will. What I would like to do on Tuesday is ask that you take the opportunity to spend a little bit more time than normal to hang out and get to know each other a little better. The company is going to bring in lunch around 12:00 and set it up in the Nerditorium (in the kitchen area for you Chicago folks I guess). Please come in and spend at least part of your lunch with us. There won’t be a program. Nobody’s going to talk. Instead, please take the time to talk to someone you’ve not talked to before, get the name of someone you’ve only seen in the hall, or maybe just understand “bliss” for someone that you already know really well. If you do any or all of those things, you’ll be honoring Luke’s memory in a way that, I assure you, he would appreciate.

Another thing that we’re finally ready to announce is something that many of you have been asking about for a long time. We’ve created a repository of all of Luke’s famous 2AM emails in the Mainframe. If you didn’t have a chance to meet Luke or haven’t heard – he had a strange habit of waiting until the middle of the night to finally find the inspiration to send out an all-staff email.  Interestingly, I think that his cloudy thinking from lack of sleep actually make the message clearer for all of us, and helped him hone in on the important parts of what we do. His humor and ability to inspire people to achieve in these messages is a big part of our history, and definitely worth reading when you have some time.

 

Filed under Nerdery Culture
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