New Workload

So it has been a major summer for us. We've undergone an office move (still not finished) and in the past week, reviewed our sites and updated [where appropriate] and put in place plans to redevelop two of them.

We've also been involved in a business and IT review in Europe, providing direct support to an international consultant. Unfortunately, due to confidentiality we cannot disclose who or in which country they are working. But it gives us great pleasure being able to support other professionals in the field!

After the Summer

Well it has been a busy August and September…with going away to take part in one leg of the charity event warm-up, visiting Ireland to get Aibhlinn christened and continuing to renovate the new house…it has been all go! Work and updating the various websites has taken a back seat. But now I am getting back to work plans to get a few ideas up and running before the end of the year.

First, I need to dig out one of the specific development laptops and update the development environment on it before getting down to work!

Working Weekend

Out working at the weekend…taking pictures at a Taekwondo event that involved grading and sparring. First time at one of these events and learning the hard way on how to get the appropriate pictures.

I think it went reasonably well.

Second Event

Finished the second event with the new studio set-up and learned a little more of what I need to do when shooting images. The overriding issue I need to resolve is colour balancing the work-flow and making sure that as much of the correctly exposed image is captured in-camera. There is no time to make adjustments during an event and although this wasn't the main emphasis on Saturday night - it will be for future events.

So some research to be done and solutions applied.

Event Photography

First event photography gig yesterday with new event printer. Went well but learned a lot of what to do and what not to do. A couple of things to sort with regards to settings and a camera timeout issue.

Clients seemed very happy. 28 photos sold but this time at charity prices. But this was a learning experience first and foremost.

Back to Work

So the house move and new baby have meant I've had to devote a lot of time to other things rather than work. I've managed to get sat down at a laptop and do a few bits, but not nearly enough!

Time to plan for the next month and schedule more hours in front of the computer.

First Issues Found

 

Really pleased with the Phone and started working on a native app for the OS.

Having played with the phone and the OS, I've noticed a couple of things that need working on: -

• Having put a pay as you go SIM in and having requested a balance; each time I go into settings now, I get the PAYG SIM menu displayed as a default no matter if I exit it or not when quitting settings.
• Power saving mode on the phone doesn't seem to leave the phone in a very responsive mood.
• The phone has lags every now and then, but generally is pretty good for a preview version. Each new build will probably get better.
• The keyboard needs some work to make it more responsive and accurate.
• Text conversations can get out of order easily. A very minor issue.
• Camera app doesn't seem to like taking pictures in landscape and then displaying in portrait.
• Maps and GPS don't seem to like one another at all. GPS seems flaky.

 

On the positive side, the battery life on the phone/OS is fantastic and the low weight of the phone is really impressive. I really like the form-factor of this preview device.

I'll post more findings as and when I get a chance. Now for some more coding...

Geeksphone Peak Has Arrived

 

Well the phone has arrived and unpacked. Looking forward to getting some development time with it and working on Firefox OS.

Fantastic!

Geeksphone Peak

Received notification that the Geeksphone Peak Firefox OS Developers device is on its way via UPS…will hopefully have it in the next couple of days.

Ubuntu 13.04

One of the development machines is currently being upgraded from 12.10 to 13.04…I always enjoy running upgrades using non-development versions of new operating systems. If there are any issues, I'll provide details.

Development Direction

We've had our confirmation of the order for the new Geeksphone Peak device come through and we are eagerly awaiting it to drop through the letterbox…so we can get our hands on a real Firefox OS device. We've got a couple of projects underway that we will look to market through the App Store, but there's a lot of work to undertake and midnight oil to be burnt before they are ready!

Easter Hoidays

Easter holidays are nearly over…been catching up on reading and some research while being away from the keyboard. But will need to get back to work next week and catch up on a number of outstanding tasks.

Javascript API

Want to start reviewing the current state of Javascript APIs and get up to date with what is the latest and greatest…Will aim to do this over the next week, I think.

What's Next?

I've been working on a host of small projects to try and clear the decks and I think I am coming to the end of those. So I think I need to look at the larger projects that will take 6 months or so to develop…but I also want to look at some training. I think the Easter Holidays will give me time to consider what I need to do work-wise and how I want to move forward.

The end result? I'm hoping to have a revamped line of company products for the start of 2014.

Web App

Dusting off one of the Flash Builder applications tomorrow to get a holiday logging application spruced up and ready for demo. I've got a few bits of functionality to code into the system before showing it though...

Slow Week

The first week back after the short break has been rather slow…I've got a lot to do, but not really got into it fully. It also didn't help that one of the main development laptops refused to boot and I had to spend a day rebuilding the OS and ensure that it all the applications were working correctly.

I've got to plan the work schedule for the next couple of weeks and meet the various deadlines!

New run4charity.net Site

We're pleased to announce the new run4charity.net site is now live!

Windows 8 Observation

I went into an electronics store a couple of days ago (I won't name which one) and browsed the selection of laptops on display to get an idea of the sort of prices I would pay for various levels of specifications. Most (if not all) of the laptops were running Windows 8…and I was immediately shocked at the number of them that were displaying 'Windows has encountered a problem…' style messages. It was just after opening time and I assume that the laptops were being booted or rebooted.

I've experienced these messages on my Lenovo T61 regularly, but I assumed that it was due to the slightly older makeup of the hardware…one quick reboot and the error would go away…but to see it on so many new laptops in the shop was a real eye opener!

Is this showing a weakness in the Windows 8 booting and error checking…or is it due to the myriad of hardware options available and driver issues? I would be surprised to see so many new laptops with actual hardware issues in one place at the same time. I think I will investigate this a little more.

Site Testing

Working on testing of new site…and requested more content from the client. First tests to do with functionality and later on the week will be for UX - usability. 

SQL Report

Just finished working on a PHP/MySQL report…writing code for a contract I left three months ago [yes - unpaid work, but I like the guys there]. It was surprisingly easy to remember the database structure and how the data links together after all this time…a good sign that I am not becoming senile!

So complex-ish SQL written, PHP code put together, lots of comments in the code, tested and emailed. Good job!

The downside of using open source for that project is no SSRS!

Development

Took advantage of the an offer to purchase Lucid from the escapers.com - this tool puts together code graphically to provide webpages. This particular company seems to put together really interesting applications that are actually beautiful to look at. If you have a Mac, it is worth downloading the trials of Flux and Lucid…just to see innovative development environments!

Prototyping

Received a shipment of electronic parts today, which will enable us to put together some of the small projects that we have been designing. Going to use the two Raspberry Pi computers to control the prototypes and code using existing libraries and Python…before moving on to firming up the designs and re-writing in something like C.

Laser Printer

Installed a new laser printer today on the network. Had a few problems initially with the driver and one of the laptops…but a quick reboot and things started to work. Generally impressed by the Brother HL-2250DN network laser printer…once it gets up and running, it churns out 26 pages per minute. The printer can also print duplex, which for a printer costing £70 is nice.

Overall - recommended.

Indev Mail Act-on

When I updated my MacBook Pro to OS X 10.8, a few of the extensions that I had installed to improve Apple's Mail application were disabled. I've not taken the time to find updates for them - being honest, I was working out if I could get away with not purchasing them. Over the three months I've been on OS X 10.8, I haven't been clearing down my inbox, leaving the existing mail rules to shift the messages with identified keywords or senders to the appropriate folders. This meant that the actual inbox has become filled with messages…over 6000 of them!

In my defence, I have some smart folders set up [unread messages, today's emails, yesterday's emails and flagged messages] and primarily interact with my mail using them. I rarely look in the actual inbox.

I decided this evening to spend some time cleaning the inbox and create additional rules to move important messages into set folders and then move the remainder of the messages to junk or spam folders. I quickly realised that it was going to take a long time without some of the extensions I have used. I went hunting and found the latest version of Mail Act-on…I purchased it and the associated extensions (Mailtags and Mail Perspectives). I cannot stress enough how good these apps are for speeding up interaction with Apple's Mail application!

If you have an Apple computer, use Mail as your primary email application…then I would suggest you buy a copy of these applications and take some time to learn how to use them…you won't regret it! Highly recommended.

New Year…new site

I've got to get a new website completed this week and up and running for sometime next week. Getting right back into the swing of things early in 2013!