Real Dimensions

So I received my invitation to Google’s App Engine last night, actually I got three of them, but their not invite codes or anything like that, the invites are tied to your email address so don’t bother asking me to give you one.

One major problem though, when I click on the link in the emails, up pops a webpage telling me space is limited and asking me if I would like to be notified when more space becomes available.

Umm, I thought thats what the email was all about, the subject even says “Invitation to try Google App Engine”.

Something not working quite right in Google land today……

I guess it’s back to the waiting game. I supposed I can use this time to brush up on my Python sills.

Anyone else have this problem?

The Social graph trumps features…..

Thats all for now.

It’s official, I’m an apple fan boy. It started out when I switched to a MacBook Pro laptop at my previous employer, and I loved it. I just works fantastic, not to mention how much easier it is to develop Ruby on Rails applications on it over a Windows box. Then I got a new MacBook Pro for my current job and Freelance work. I’ve since stopped all use of windows, with the exception of parallels for testing. And now, the closer on the fan boy claim…..

I bought an iPhone!!

Yes, I love it, it works fantastic. There are to many good point to list, but I will say one thing, it is extremely easy to use. I had a Blackberry from my old company and I really had to look around to figure out how to do things or search on Google for info. With the iPhone, I have been able to use almost all it’s features with out reading the manual or searching on-line.

Before anyone goes commenting about how ridiculous it is to spend $600 on a phone (yes I got the 8 gig) , let me explain why I got it (besides the fact that it is amazing). With my new job I commute into NY City several days a week, this requires me spending two plus hours on a train each time I go into the office (round trip total). My old iPod Mini died a few weeks ago so I’ve been looking to get a new iPod, plus, with my freelance work I really wanted to get a new phone that I could check my e-mail on. So, I could spend $250 to $350 on a new iPod and another $200 to $300 on a good smart-phone that does email and Wifi or spend that money on one device that does it all. I opted for the one device, the iPhone, believe me, I am not disappointed.

I’m not going to do any kind of review since there are tons of them out there done by better writers than myself, but if you have any specific questions, feel free to ask and I will try my best to answer.

GrandCentral is a service that allows you to have one number to control several other phone numbers (cell, home, office). You put all your contacts into groups, and then choose which number you want each group to ring to. You can also use different voice mail recordings for each group and choose a different ring for each group. When someone calls you on your GrandCentral number you have the option to screen your calls, you can actually listen to them as they are leaving a voice mail on your computer. If it’s someone you want to talk to you can answer the phone. If it’s someone you never want to talk to you can send their number to a spam group, like the spam you get in your email. Now thats a really useful feature!!!

Since being acquired by Google Inc. (fantastic job and congrats to all the GrandCentral Team) they’re not currently accepting new users but you can sign up on the list to get one, hopefully sooner rather than later. I’ve put my name on the list, once I get an invite I will be sure you share so leave a comment in you would like one after I get some. Or if you have invites please send me one and I will be sure you pass along the favor.

EDIT: I got an invite (thanks TJL) so if you’re interested in one as well, I have 10 to give away!! Also, I will have a new review of GrandCentral coming soon.

This plugin adds a visual confirmation that the secure wensite your viewing is actually secure. It was written by Verisign, a known and reputable internet Security company.

This is what Barry Ferg, the developer has to say about it;

“Enables Firefox to recognize SSL servers that have implemented the Extended Validation Certificate as currently supported by Microsoft in IE7. Installing this extension brings identical functionality to Firefox.”

If the website your viewing is secure and they are using the Extended Validation Certificate then your address bar will turn green.

You can test it by going to https://www.paypal.com/, your address bar should be green if you have installed this plug in. And if the SSL certificate is a fake, then the address bar should turn red or just do nothing.

Get the plugin here;

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4828

I’ve added a new category, Firefox Plugins. I often getasked what tools I use when developing websites or what Firefox plugins I use to make development easier. So I’m starting a new category to list Pugins I use, and I will start it out with one I use almost every day, the Web Developer Plugin.
The Web Developer extension adds a menu and a toolbar to the browser with various web developer tools like disabling elements, cookies handling, forms, viewing and editing CSS style sheets, managing images, displaying and outlining page elements, resizing your window and more. One I use very often is View Generated Source (under View Source). This lets you see what the source code looks like after it has been manipulated by JavaScript, like for instance by an AJAX call or a DOM manipulation. If your a web developer this is a must have.

Get it here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60

Google has announced a new toolkit and set of browser extensions that allow web applications to run on your desktop (but still in the browser) without an internet connection. Google Reader is already running Google Gears.

You can get the browser extensions here. They have them for both IE and Firefox on Mac, Linux and Windows.

I’ve read how others are wondering why Google made this when Adobe already has Apollo and Joyent had Slingshot. Well for starters Joyent’s Slingshot is for Ruby on Rails apps only and Adobe’s Apollo, while do you don’t “need” to use Flash it really is directed more towards the Flash and Flex developers. On top of this Google Gears is the only one out (in bete, but they are all in bete) that works in Both Major Browsers , Firefox and IE, and also works on all three major platforms.

Initially, the tools will enable Google Reader to work off line, but the more obvious candidates for off line use are the documents and spread sheeting applications. I expect this in the not too distant future. As well as anything that any one else wants to develop.
And one of the really cool things is that Google Gears is open source software, licensed under the New BSD license. This license is very permissive.

If your looking got he plug-in you can get info here.

If your a developer you can get more info here.

Hopefully I will have some time to build something with and, if I do I will post it for anyone interested in taking a look. If anyone has any ideas for a great Web application that needs to be taken off line as well, let me know.

Today was a longer day, being the first day of the Conference (yesterday was the Tutorials Day) we had the opening Keynote from David Heinemeier Hanson (DHH). He had some really interesting things to say about the future of Rails in 2.0 and some Milestones.

Milestones:

• Over One Million Downloads, with 700,000 in the last year.
• Hundreds of plugins made for Rails (conservative number)
• Over 1600 attendees this year with over half getting paid to develop with Rails.
• Commercial Grade IDE’s from some big players.
• A rash of new books.

Rails 2.0:

• It’s real and it’s coming soon. DHH actually said “It’s not a Unicorn”
• Using Highrise as an example, 24 controllers with 22 of them being restful showing that the new stuff works and works great.
• Shopify and Fluxiom are both using Active Resource.
• Action Web Service will no longer be part of Rails 2.0, but it will be available as a plugin. It will be replaced by Active Resource.
• Friends and Allies:

• Ajax
• REST
• OpenID

• <%= javascript_include_tag :all, :cache => true %>
• <%= stylesheet_include_tag :all, :cache => true %>

• script/generate plugin defaults to MIT

Well I’m here, I got in late last night (about 3AM EST / 12AM local time here in Portland, OR). I’m staying at a hotel that goes by the name of “The Jupiter Hotel”. It’s a nice place, nothing that amazing but it does have a nice atmosphere and it’s within walking distance to the Conference Center.

The first day consists of two tutorials, there are about 8 but you can choose two to attend. I chose “Intro to Test Driven Development for Rails” and “When V is for Vexing: Patterns to DRY up your Views” The Test Driven tutorial was really good, I got a lot from it that I think will help my development. The V is for Vexing is a different story. The first half of this one was a bit slow, I didn’t get very much from it, I’m hoping the second half will be better. Were on break right now so after the second half I
I’ll update this after the second half is over.

UPDATE !!!

Sorry this comes a day late, the WiFi here is anything but reliable, and in my hotel it’s just non existent. I suppose I should also mention the local Brew Pubs here are quite nice as well, so you can blame them in part for this delay as well……

So, the second half of V is for Vexing was not all that much better than the first half. Now ow this could be just me since I just couldn’t hear the speaker that well. Now, that being said, there was some really good advice and some valuable examples so it was not at all a total waist of time.

Recently I was lucky enough to get an invite to try out the new IPTV service Joost. So far it’s pretty nice. I’m still waiting for the really good content to come though. I read an article on downloadsquad that Joost will be showing NHL games, so I’m waiting patiently to be able to see some good hockey games on my TV screen, umm, I mean my computer screen.

As it turns out I have lots of invitations to give out as well, so if your interested, post a comment with your name and email.