johnwilker.com

The Cloud isn’t all that

Something struck me as interesting this morning. I’ve written two articles for the new Flex Authority Quarterly Update, and we used Buzzword to hand the articles. The Author writes, shares with editor, who shares with tech and copy editors. Then we do the dance of copy/technical editing and review.

The other day, Editor in Cheif Jeff posed a question. “Move to word, from Buzzword?” There were a few reasons, easier approval/dismissal of tracked changes and comments, etc.

as of this morning there are 13 messages in that thread, all saying “Yeah, Word is fine.”

Many of the authors cited being able to work offline as a major plus for Word.

I gotta say I agree. I love Google Docs,  I use buzzword for 360|Flex and The Flex Show, but there’s something to be said for being able to work when there’s no WiFi. Like aboard planes, trains and automobiles, in the backwoods, at the ski resort, etc. There’s still a lot of the country, let alone world that are offline, so sometimes it’s nice to not have all your tools rely on the cloud. I use MobileMe to keep my macs in sync, I also make use of my iDisk a lot! I sync the entire thing locally, because I’ve wanted to work and guess what, not online, no iDisk. Thankfully iDisk syncing doesn’t completely suck, so it’s a pretty good experience.

As an example, when I was in Japan earlier this year, WiFi was non existant. I never saw an access point once. The hotel didn’t offer it, they had a ethernet cord in the wall for $15 a day. The Starbucks (yes, really) had none, the local coffee shops, had none. I suspect because everyone’s phone had internet, and they text and IM through that. While being offline isn’t the worst thing in the world, especially on vacation, it’s nice to have the option. I didn’t.

I think we’re in an interesting time; on the one side we have Adobe, Microsoft, Google, et al. pushing for Photoshop online, Buzzword, Office online, google docs, google reader, etc. They’re pushing really hard to make us want to be online all the time. To only edit docs in the cloud, to store our docs, our emails, our RSS feeds, etc all in the cloud. However on the other side of that “go online” agenda is the reality that wifi isn’t everywhere. Laptops don’t ship with built in cellular modems (OK some small few do), and tethering plans range from free to really expensive, if you have a phone that can even do it. The truth is, we’re offline a lot. More than I think Adobe, Google and Microsoft would like to think.

In my opinion we’re still quite a ways from a place were “being online” is a ubiquitous condition. I think the real technology winners will be the companies that can make their offerings work in both worlds. Buzzword as an AIR app. Google docs syncing locally through Google Gears. I actually saw a gDocs offline gears app, but haven’t seen it in a while, and the 1 time I tried to use it, it wasn’t remotely in sync, not sure if I needed to open it once in a while to sync or what. I assumed since it was gears it’d be in sync from the last time I was online? Guess not.

What do you think? Are you using only cloud based tools? Still using Word or Pages, etc to keep things locally where you always have access?

Tags: Cloud Computing, RIA

From 360|Flex Atlanta to Startup, check out NoteFlight

Tom and I really enjoy talking to and hanging out with Joe Berkovitz. Tom met him online while working on a tough Flex problem, and we both met him in person at 360|Flex Seattle. Joe is an awesome guy, easy to talk to, scary smart, and creative.

For those that don’t know, we usually dedicate some time during our Wednesday Keynote to community projects; things people are working on and want to share, open up to beta, etc. In Atlanta Joe got up and showed (what was at the time) a little project he was working on for composing music, in Flex. essentially writing out the sheet music online.

Since then, a lot has happened, the app looks much more polished (well duh, it was a “project” then), and it’s its own start up. NoteFlight! Sign up now for the beta.

I’m really excited for Joe and hope NoteFlight is a huge success! I’m no musician, but I’m guessing this will be a huge help for those still write their own music in the first place.

Congrats and good luck Joe!

Tags: 360Flex, Noteflight

Taking my presenting to a whole new (nerdy) level

I was bummed I couldn’t try this out in San Jose, but turns out the MacBook Air has a bunk audio port, and Frank’s Workday preso needed audio, so we had to move our keynote deck to his box. Not to mention Ebay blocks the port for Bonjour so my iPhone and MBA couldn’t see each other.

But next time, damnit, I’m gonna be a keynote/iPhone enabled presentation making foo!

I picked up Stage Hand/Stage Manager on the App Store, and I gotta say, it’s damn cool!

You gotta install a helper app on your mac, but once that’s done, bam! You’re controlling your slide deck from the iPhone, reading your presenter notes on the iPhone screen.

Once you pair the two apps, you an pick a starting slide, turn a timer on and off (good for my upcoming Ignite).

Supposedly you can use a cool highlighter to interact with the preso, but I haven’t figured that part out yet, so not sure.

The UI is a bit rough on the phone, if you have additional effects/transitions, they show up in the slide counter as x/y, but you can’t really tell what’s there or what they are. It’s still young though, so I’m sure it’s gonna get better.

I definitely give it a thumbs up. If you’re a frequent presenter, I think it beats the Apple remote, and certainly the space bar.

Tags: 360Flex, iPhone

My next new adventure begins

This week, at 360|Flex I accepted a job. Not just any job, what I believe will be THE job. No Tom and I aren’t quitting our day jobs to do 360|Flex, in all likely hood, that ain’t gonna happen for a long while, if ever, who knows.

Rather, I’ve accept a job at as Community Evangelist.

I’m really stoked! It’s something I’ve been looking at for a while now, as possibly my next step in my career evolution. I love writing code and don’t see that stopping really, though it will no doubt lessen, and be more along the lines of demos and POCs, etc. I’m really excited about this opportunity! I came up with what I felt was a good job description, and EUI, agreed, and we all shook hands, then Andy hugged me, then the rest lined up and hugged me.. kinda weird but hey, you know I might get used to it ;)

I’ll be helping take some of the pressure off the team to be at events, blogging, etc (thought they’ll certainly continue to blog and speak, etc, since they’re more interesting than me.) and to help be a public figure for EUI, in the twittersphere, blogosphere, real life-o-sphere, etc :)

I’ll be making sure the cool things that EUI is working on, are out there and being seen, since they (we, I guess now, LOL) are doing some really cool stuff that the rest of the world and Flex-dev-o-sphere should know about.

Wish me luck! See you at 360|MAX

I’ll also be offering my community building expertise (that sounds showy, I don’t think it’s the right word) to clients as they role out applications, and such.

Wait, what about 360|Flex?

If you’re wondering how this might impact 360|Flex, it doesn’t. EUI made it clear when we were talking, that they didn’t want anything special on that front, they’d earn and pay for sponsorships like any other company. Speakers will still be picked on the merits of their topic, same as always. Which is good since I had no intention of providing special treatment, or preference for speakers. I’m really proud and happy that they brought it up first, that says a lot to me, and certainly eliminates one potentially awkward employer/employee moment, LOL.

360|Conferences, inc. is a separate entity, run by Tom and myself and short of being purchased outright, it’ll remain independent and objective regarding sponsors and speakers. So for anyone worrying about that, don’t 360|Flex ain’t changing, well it actually is, all the time, but not in that bad, schilly kind of way. :)

I will say it’s great to have an employer that is actually even remotely interested in 360|Flex. I’m thrilled to work for someone that appreciates the efforts and supports them!

I’ll be starting with EUI on 9/2

Tags: 360Flex, EffectiveUI

w00t! 360|Flex San Jose officially SOLD OUT.

I wanted to blog about this Friday night, but had plans and we had 2 tickets in the pending pool.

But now I an scream it from the rooftops. We’ve completely sold out every seats at 360|Flex San Jose.

There is no room at the inn as it were.

We don’t do waiting lists, we don’t open up more spots for walk-ins. that’s it, we’re full and the party is gonna rock the hiz-ouse! 410 people will be partying like rock stars, getting the best Flex/ActionScript/AIR content on the planet, from the best minds in the field!

If you’re not among them, better luck next time :)

We’ve got some cool things planned for attendees, and the parties are (as usual) gonna be off the hook. The presetnations, as always are top notch. Not to mention our 25% more speakers/content.

GONNA ROCK! See ya’ll in a week!

Tags: 360Flex

360|Flex San Jose, close to sold out!

YOu read right! We’re getting damn close to sold out!!

If you’re still on the fence, better get your butt in gear. We’re selling team blocks at an alarming rate, and we don’t do wait lists. So don’t come emailing us the week of “I’m nearby just let me know and I’ll be there.” it ain’t gonna happen I’m afraid.

What’re you waiting for?

Tags: 360Flex

Been a little quiet

What with 360|Flex San Jose in under 30 days, planning Ignite Denver getting officially started, working on a really cool project for UM, keeping busy on The Flex Show, oh and trying to have a life, man oh man.

360|Flex: We’re in the home stretch, which means spending money, mainly. Ordering shirts, books, signage, plenty of cool things I’m not telling you about so I don’t spoil the surprise, etc.

It’s about this time we start wrangling the speakers for their presentations, which is a lot like herding cats. Really creative and brainy cats, but still, LOL.

Ignite: I’ve got some assets from O’Reilly (right), they’re working on a cool Rockies specific logo, which I can’t wait to see. I’m sending sponsor invite emails out today and this is the official “call for papers” as well. I’m hoping we can bring together the kick ass thinkers that make Denver/Boulder the ‘Silicon Mountain’ that we are. Whether speaker or sponsor, please email me (ignitedenver@gmail.com) and we can get this thing started!

UM: I’ve been on a pretty cool project with Universal Mind since June sometime, it’s been very fun, I’ve learned a lot and worked with a ton of cool folks. It’s due to run through the week of 360|Flex (How’s that for timing). I’m really hoping to we on more projects with them, I’ve really enjoyed my time these past two months.

Flex Show: Jeff and I have been busy trying to get a bit of an episode buffer built up so that we’re not as rushed with interviews, that’s been going rather well, so I’m pleased with that. We’ve had some incredible interviewees, that frankly blow my mind. It’s a privilege to speak to them, what’s more, most are speakers at 360|Flex, so that kinda doubly rocks. I’m really excite to be a part of the show and can’t wait to help Jeff with our video series (which is in episode 2 now, great work Jeff!)

Life: The ever illusive ‘life’. Between one of our dogs, essentially falling apart before our eyes in the span of 4 weeks, to traveling to Indianapolis scouting locations (mmmm for what I wonder), to being fully engaged in work, it’s been a busy time family-wise. Nicole and I have managed to get in a few hikes, which are always welcome. We went and saw a movie for the first time in a dogs age it seems, we’re getting the house a little more in order, 8 months after moving in, sheesh the stuff piles are never ending. I’ve had the unfortunate luck of having two clients turn dead beat, which blows, so that’s added some truly whack stress, since it’s hits us in the pocket book. But what ya gonna do, other than sic the lawyers on ‘em.

So that’s sort of a catch up on what’s been keeping me from blogging as frequently as I’d like. I’m hoping to really turn up the ignite posts as we get speaker submissions and add sponsors.

Tags: 360Flex, Flex Show, Ignite Denver

Long time no post

The other day my wife IM’ed me, “Your blog is broken or something.” turns out, when you don’t post in like 2 months, it has nothing to show.

It’s been a busy few months; Tom and I wrapped up 360|Flex Europe, and immediately dove into 360|Flex San Jose 2008. After Milan, my wife and I spent an extra week in Italy, hitting Venice, Florence and Rome.

I got home, started a project with Esria, attended Software 2008, and now am finally enjoying being home.

My project is one challenge after another, but I’m learning a great deal, so it’s almost worth it :)

Software 2008 was an experiment to see how I worked with a potential client (free trip to Vegas, can’t complain) so that might bear fruit.

I was also in San Jose for a day last week, get this. Denver -> Vegas, vegas -> San Jose in the AM,  San Jose ->Vegas in the afternoon, Vegas -> Denver in the evening. That’s some seriously frakked up travel. On top of that, i worked all night the night before on my project, so I didn’t go to bed at all. w00t!

Aside of a trip to Japan, followed by another trip to San Jose (friend’s wedding) my traveling is mostly done for a bit, I love to travel, but these past few months have been killer!

Tom and I have some interesting things on the horizon too, interesting enough for me to want to accelerate time a smidge to see what happens. I’m not jynxing anything by saying what’s up, but I’ll say this, we’ll be at MAX in a bigger way than “attendee” or even “speaker” Should be really cool.

The other thing, well I don’t even know how to make a hint about so you’ll just have to wait, the same as me to find out. To quote that not very good Jim Carry movie, “How will it end?”

Tags: 360Conferences, 360Flex, Software 2008

More proof my wife is great!

Without even knowing it, prior to our meeting, she bought a widescreen, HD capable TV.

Tom and I bought a PS3 for 360|Flex Atlanta, since he’s already equipped for gaming, and Blue Ray, I got this one. Not counting when it’s doing a tour  of duty as the official Rock Band/Guitar Hero station for 360|Flex, it’s now our Blue Ray player. I doubt I’ll ever own or play a PS3 game, since my gaming days ended when the Original NES died… Good times, good times.

I was pleasantly surprised (I was fully thinking that we’d be buying a new TV sooner than planned to handle HD content) when I upgraded the PS3’s OS to support the BD/BlueTooth remote control, and it comes up with “HDMI Device Detected. Use it?”

“Oh hellz yeah!”

I watched a few minutes of Spider-Man 3 (came with the system), and then Transformers, and WOWZA! While I don’t think the world changed, or that I’ll never watch non 1080 content again, I will say that DAMN it does look great!

Tags: 360Flex, Wife

So I have a MacBook AIR now.

I still wouldn’t buy one with my own money. It’s just too specialized.

Tom and I ordered them for using at the conferences. We typically use our personal machines, which is great, but mine is a MBP, and his is some kind of 12 ton windoze thing, neither are light by any means.

So this way we can carry a little less weight for checking people in, looking things up, doing keynotes, etc.

The other upside, for me is travel. My wife and I are staying in Italy a week beyond 360|Flex Europe and blogging and surfing the web will be much nicer without a 3 or 4 lb MBP. I’ll be in Japan in May, again, a lighter machine will rock.

Plus, my MBP is my dev machine, it’s much more important and when I travel I sometimes worry about it, losing it or being damaged, would really impact my work.

So my thoughts…

it’s nice. it’s too small to work on all day, but as a second machine, it’s pretty nice. I won’t say how light it is, because I knew it was light, and those reviewers who repeat the obvious are kinda lame. Battery run time, easy to argue, weight, kinda hard, I figured Steve wasn’t fudging.

Combined with .mac I think it really comes into it’s own as a second machine. I moved all my conference stuff to .mac and created aliases in my regular docs folders. I have my iDisk available offline so the files are always there. So far it’s pretty smooth. I like it.

I definitely doesn’t feel powerful enough to do development, and the Hard drive (we opted for SSD) is WAY too small for that. My MBP has my code, CF and Flex, my iTunes library, my iPhoto library (not really that big), and gb’s and gb’s of other data, no way 64gb, or even 80, could handle it.

The battery seems ok, I’ve yet to run it down. The power adapter is pretty whack. It’s yet another brick to carry (should I take both machines) and it seems like the plug could easily have been a flat spot in the body to accommodate a standard mag safe plug, but this way consumers have to buy additional plugs, more $.

The fancy multi-touch trackpad…. haven’t used it. Firefox doesn’t recognize it (obviously) and I can’t fit my photos on it, and using it in the Finder, just makes my icons all the wrong size. So I’m not too bummed my MBP doesn’t have that feature.

It does boot fast, i’ll give it that.

My final verdict (for now at least) it’s a good second laptop for travel (we should all be so lucky to have that kind of coin) and presentations, it’s no way a primary developer laptop. It may very well work ok for someone who doesn’t compile code, or run photoshop often. We’re leasing these two, so we can have some write offs for 360Conferences, plus if they suck, we’ll buy them for the 1$ fee (cuz we’re paying so bloody much) and use them as conference terminals for whatever.

Tags: Apple, Macbook