I was reading a post on Feld Thoughts about an new programming language developed at MIT called Scratch. It sounded good, so I thought I better download it and have a look at it to see if it was suitable for my eight year old daughter - she's very bright and I've been trying to find a way to introduce her to programming for a while but couldn't find the right tool.
Barry has implemented a really cool little mashup over on his site. He bascially mashups a search of some popular sites RSS feeds based on the tags in a blog entry.
Check it out. I think he plans to build a specific search and also might work on a framework to allow you to configure which sites to search. And he plans to tidy it up some more. Very clever!
Update: It's been noted that this does not work of the permalink page linked to above. However I had to use the parmalink because the home page will change. So it works off the home page. Barry will fix the site so it works off of the permalink page.
Today Steve Vinoski announced he is moving on from IONA to a start up and "opportunity of a lifetime". He will be missed at IONA for his engineering excellence, his willingness to teach others, and his great humor .... oh an his shorts and crazy shirts.
IP's world domination is growing at a great pace. I just talked to my friend Tom Van Horn on Skype while he was travelling back from India via Europe on a Lufthansa flight. I'm sure this type of thing has been done already but it was a first for me.
There should be a rule:
If you're building an application that is going to use a browser as it's UI and it's going to be on the WWW then it MUST support all standard browser features only!
OR
If you are using proprietary extensions then you must be in control of the client platform. I.e. you can do this internally at your business where you are supplying all the computers to your employees and can therefore control the platform. However, in my opinion even this is unnecessary.
Why in the world would you put something on the WWW (or internal web) that has proprietary features built in? Limiting your customer base to only those using Internet Explorer on a Windows box is just plain silly!
And example. About a year and a half ago I was given a refund from Arsenal.com (my favorite sporting team's web site) because they switched to using Sky as their web site host provider and with that came the Windows only lock in. Can you imagine telling an existing customer and one of your sports fans that they can't be a premier member of your site simply because you've switched to proprietary features? Did they have to? Not at all this is the 21st Century! It worked fine the week before but then they just locked out anyone not using Internet Explorer on Windows. They may have changed this by now but they haven't informed me.
Browsers are now the universal UI delivery platform. Don't lock customers, partners, clients, fans out! Today there is really little excuse for doing this - with all the technology available to web developers today.
Can we end the browser madness?
I've been discussing internet radio with a friend of mine Barry. We think it's the next big thing or at least one of them. It's big now but it's only going to get bigger. I read today in the WSJ today and interesting article by Walter Mossberg (The Mossberg Solution) about internet radio. Unfortunately I only have a print subscription and not an on-line subscription. So I can't provide the link.
[Later: found the story here]
In the article Mossberg describes a new device by Roku LLC called SoundBridge Radio. This device is a WiFi enabled radio with built in speakers etc. So you don't have to plug it into a receiver or speakers like other devices in this market.
Why will this deal a blow to satellite radio? Well I don't think this device will do it but I think it's a sign of things to come. Again I get back to WiMAX. When WiMAX becomes more ubiquitous then for most people devices like the SoundBridge Radio will become more appealing, because of cost. Basically it will be free. Like AM and FM today. And those satellite subscriptions will need to come down or go away to compete.
Of course a WiMAX version of this device won't work when you're driving most of I-70 through Kansas but for commuting in a metro area and bringing into your office and home it will work just great.
And of course developing and delivering content will become a lot more interesting too. (Consider the recent rise in popularity of PodCasts). It won't be just the current radio providers that will have on-line radio channels. Who knows maybe an IPBabble broadcast would be a fun experiment.
I was talking to some friends over the Christmas explaining that once WiMax becomes more popular there is no reason to believe that we won't have Skype or Vonage mobile phones for use in cities.
Well the first step is coming with news that Netgear and eBay's Skype are developing a WiFi phone.
Consider the scope of the applications and appliances that are coming as IP becomes ubiquitous. And combine RFID into that equation. Lots and lots of fun stuff coming.
Of course it won't stop the heart attacks or stress. But in between the stress we'll have lots of cool stuff to play and work with and show our friends.
So often when we talk about software security we discuss things like encryption, authentication, authorization, etc. But there is another level of security that is equally harmful, especially in mission critical systems.
Unfortunately this software security concern is much more difficult to identify, analyze and mitigate. It has to do with badly architected and/or designed and/or written software that can cause network degradation and then denial of service.
Consider some examples:
All of these problems with the way the software was either architected or designed or written could cause serious security problems.
Obviously detecting these potential security problems takes more than the traditional security policies that we spend so many dollars on each year. As the internet becomes more pervasive and integration of services across departments and agencies and companies becomes more pervasive then the integrity of your “business” partners code and of course your own code becomes a major risk concern.
And that is basically what we’re taking about here – software integrity as it relates to security risk in a distributed system.
So what approaches can you take? Well first off you could define best practices for use of technology and architectural approaches and design and coding standards. But also you must be able to enforce these policies and best practices. That involves examining code. And that’s not so easy. Tools could be developed to analyze code in a more automated way to identify specific patterns. But in the end a highly experienced QA department with engineers and architects is also required. However often these are the folks you need actually building the system.
One thing is for sure - this is going to become an increasingly big issue - consider the off-shoring practice.
Suggestions and/or comments welcome.
Found this article today about how border guards used Google to keep an Iranian-Canadian out of the U.S. It seems it is a first.
What I find remarkable about this is how it seems like the spin is how border guards used Google in some sort of "Big Brother" conspiracy: "It was obvious the guy was trying to find an excuse not to let me in, and he found something". It seems to me that the blogger was just trying to be a bit too cool by claiming a New York based address. And the border guards, who are under what seems like immense pressure and scrutiny lately, especially this week, were just trying to do their job. To them it looked like he was returning to reside illegally in the U.S.
Interesting use of Google though.
This wasn't meant to sound like a conservative blog. Perhaps O'Reilly et al (Fox News) will demand Google at every border.
Several years ago, while at a theme park in Florida, I came up with an idea about using WiFi to make the park photography service more efficient. You know how they take pictures and then you have to view and purchase them at a desk elsewhere in the park? When you get there they often would tell you that your picture hasn't come in yet. Because the photographer had to physically bring the camera or flash-card in from where they were taking the picture.
Well I mentioned to my wife that they should equip the cameras with WiFi cards so that each picture could be transmitted to the photo center (desk) after it is taken. That way the photos are there when you get there. This is not only convenient for the customer it also raises the chances that a sale will be made. (What is the percentage of people that come back twice?)
Of course I have no way of proving to you that I though of this a few years ago. I mentioned it to some friends and colleagues but I can't point you to a link. You'll just have to take my word. ;-)
Anyway it seems that Disney has figured this out and has started wirelessly transmitting photos. Pretty cool. I'm sure the other theme parks will follow or are already doing it.
Well I guess that I'll have to make another prediction or give out another idea. Okay so cell phones are expensive enough a technology for keeping track of your teenagers - and the kids can get up to a lot of mischief with a cell phone. When WiMAX goes mainstream I bet that there will be much more efficient and cost effective devices for keeping in contact and tracking your kids. Families will have their own "switch" that they can take on vacations and make calls to each other on. The kids "phones" can have "external" calling disabled until they show responsibility. All sorts of cool apps including games can be in these devices.
BTW, as you've guessed, I've been on vacation. That's why I haven't been posting.
Interesting article basically asking the same question I was asking a few blog entries back about Microsoft's long term strategy and challenges.
In his article Ephraim Schwartz talks about the challenges that Microsoft faces with it's software-as-a-service (SaaS) strategy.
The new IP Babble banner is made up of the following:
It ought to be obvious but the cloud is the IP network and, of course, it is babbling.
In the background I've included a picture I took while in Tokyo recently. It was taken from the top of the Hotel New Otani. Actually the building in which IONA has its office is just right and below of center behind the "sizeof(" code. The orignial (though resized) picture is found here.
The code layered over the photo includes some Web Services Description Language (WSDL) taken, but modified, from a sample WSDL in the open source ESB Celtix. It also includes some IP code from the ip.c file of the open source Unix project OpenBSD.
Big thanks to Barry O'Mahony for all the help with the website and the new banner. Barry's own blog can be found here.
Well it seems if the blogsphere is to be believed Google is about to launch it's attack on eBay.
What this article didn't speculate about is how this will also compete with blog hosting and other hosting services.
In a world where Google is buying up everything, taking over your desktop and partnering with the likes of Sun; where Apple has the most relevant hip consumer product on the market and the attention of the masses. Is Microsoft just fading into the sunset?
Apple’s winner iPod is not only helping the top and bottom line but is also a serious marketing tool for it’s other products. More and more people are looking at Apple for their desktops again.
And about the only thing that’s hot on a Windows PC is Google. Google maps, Google News, Google just-about-everything, including your desktop.
Heck, even eBay is showing more signs of innovation with their purchase of Skype.
About the only relevant news from Redmond is that they are releasing an OS that few people really care about as far as I can tell. For one reason, because they've waited so long for long finger .. I mean Longhorn. For another they know deep in their hearts that it’s really going to be nothing new - just a "new" and “improved” Windows. Perhaps I’m wrong. But is we’ve fixed the security bugs in our product but want you to buy it as a new product really something to get excited about? – Provided, of course, that they do fix the problems.
In the coming world of increased IP Babble and innovation I just don’t see anything exciting about Microsoft. And what’s really scary is that they don’t seem to care or are at least not showing any signs that they do. It’s like watching a hurricane slowly heading towards New Orleans.
Perhaps I'm out of touch with the Microsoft world of innovation. Please enlighten me.
Great article in Wired last week describing some of the 4G initiatives coming.
The article discusses some of the challenges we face with 3G technology, some of the promises of 4G but also some of the 4G challenges. What's very interesting is the competing technologies. You'd think that we'd have learned the value of open architectures and technologies by now and we would expect some convergence in this area but it seems there will be lots of competing technologies based on different standards and proprietary technologies.
At the same time you'd also expect that we'd have learned at this point that open standards are not always in the best interest of large platform players and that they want to try and lock people in. So we should expect the divergence in technologies.
So the consumer will end up with lots of choices but also with lots of headaches based on those choices. (Just look at the amount of hassle competing 3G technologies cause us).
And so we look forward to the 4G promise but are also weary of the all the competing technologies.
Many of us in the IT industry consider IP relatively old. We've been working with IP and various IP technologies for over a decade. I believe that we're only seen the tip of the iceberg.
Portable devices are getting more and more powerful. Household appliances are beginning to use IP. We're going to see IP moving out to our cars. RFID will change how we do business and how consumers shop.
This blog is intended to discuss IP trends, technology advances, pitfalls, etc.
My own area of expertise is in enterprise computing, specifically in distributed computing and integration. You'll see posts regarding this subject under the SOA category and perhaps others in the future. SOA is a specific area of expertise.
However, I believe enterprise computing is going to extend to home. This is because of the trends we're already seeing as mentioned above. It will be interesting to see if we reinvent everything again or whether the main players in the entertainment and consumer products take the lessons and some of the technologies developed in the enterprise and move it out there too.
I'll be watching.