kate's infrastructure

If the Australian filter goes ahead, this isn’t a bad option:

http://www.kinfrastructure.com/doughboyisland/

Setup a proxy on a US server as described on lifehacker, also a useful workaround for unproductive corporate proxies.

• Kate's Inf Reading: Optus Blocking Paid Android Apps: Shared by kaydo I keep meaning to writ.. http://bit.ly/5f9qRu #

• Kate's Inf Reading: Close All Windows From The Windows 7 Taskbar: Close All Windows is a sim.. http://bit.ly/1gSAYK #
• Kate's Inf Reading: Re-blog: Microsoft Site Recovery Solution Launch: Shared by kaydo Intere.. http://bit.ly/10scFw #

• RT @Biz_Dell_AU 3-Day Sale – up to 20% off on selected Vostro, Optiplex and Latitude systems. Hurry, 3 days only. http://www.dell.com.au/biz_offers #

• Couldnt say it better RT @cloudpimps: Live demo of PCoIP with 180ms has wowed the crowd at #vForumAust… #PCoIP rocks! #
• Great tools, bit who are the vCloud providers?Is the end user flexibility going to be dictated by them rather than the platform? #vforumaust #
• VMWare talking the springsource acquisition – what are the developer considerations for PaaS? #vforumaust #
• Compelling keynote from @herrod to kick off day 2 of #vforumaust – worth arriving on time for #
• Kate's Inf Reading: Why Is NetApp's New Data Center So Efficient? Big Fans and Hot Air: .. http://bit.ly/VYSg9 #
• Left the cloud-centric discussions for a speil on Vmware performance best practices from @drummonds at #vforumaust – crowdsourcing topics #
• Crowd seems interested in VMWare performance for SQL and different array config. And we're go… Starting with good arch diagram #vforumaust #
• #vforumaust @drummonds saying vSphere achieves 90% of native performance on 4 way VM + new HW. Examples given are SQL and Exchange. #
• #vforumaust "force hardware assist on newer processors" – where new is last 18mths; perf improve up to 17% @drummonds #
• #vforumaust set large pages on tier one OLTP apps like SQL, SAP. Improve perf on a VM. Challenge: is there really a workload not for VM? #
• #vforumaust we were there but good summary: RT @iTnews_au: VMware demos RDP killer: Smarter than the average protocol. http://bit.ly/1EHfqC #
• Disappointed I can't stick around for the end of @hartmant 's preso on vCloud. Looks worth a download later, even a venn diagram #vforumaust #

I’m at the Sydney version of the google developer day thanks to the folks at SoulSolutions and GeekGirlBlogs.  It’s been years since I was really hands on developer, and its kind of reassuring to see how stuff has moved on.

Learn more, and see the presentations at code.google.com

Topics that have interested me most so far: Google Android and Google Apps / Scalable web apps

Stuff I need to read more about:

• ‘BigTable’ and gQL!
• Python & Perl (seriously, how did I miss thaat boat)
• Getting a developent environment up and running to properly use the tools discussed.

Now the question is whether I’ve managed to leap over the thick client and so called rich internet apps of the past couple of years and found myself back in a rapid development environment, now with a hint of AJAX.

I hope so.  More updates to come.

It’s a little less work or productivity related, but there’s been a tad too much work recently so it’s time for a change. My current goal is to do everything possible online. Mainly, I’m trying to stick to minor changes such as shopping and procuring basic services. It’s not an experiment as such, I’m just doing what I can. I should point out that if there’s an old geocities style presence or a hotmail address, then it doesn’t really count as web presence. In fact, that’s almost worse. You know that the net exists, but you ignore what it can do. End of rant.
There’s a fair number of great online retailers in Australia, and a few less great ones. I’ll look at those a little later. For now I want to address the Daily Dealers and the Clearance Kids. I see Daily Dealers as an Australian rip-off of Woot, and as Woot don’t ship internationally, I don’t see much wrong with that. The premise is a time limit and generally stock that might sell out in a day. The other big features of Woot are great copywriting, and a community aspect.

Here’s my views so far on sites I’ve used…

Daily:

Outlets:

• DealsDirect – The premier overstock retailer. They stock good stuff, deliver quickly and have 24×7 customer service. They have this caper sorted, and its simple.
• DailyDeals – Associated with Catch Of The Day, so I don’t really like it. You cant pretty well guarantee that most stock will come up as a ‘catch’ someday. Not compelling.
• Overstock Outlet – Despite appearances, I wont purchase from OO again. I bought one item, I was in a hurry. I had to make half a dozen calls to their Accounts department to even confirm my purchase. Not cool.

In the end, this is a great way to aquire stuff you don’t need. But it’s easy.

If you’ve been bouncing around the interwebs of late, you may have heard the hype surrounding the Asus* eee pc.  I see no reason to simply become a news aggregator, so here’s a link for the lazy.  For the lazier, here’s a summary:

• It’s a mobile computing device, not a laptop.  It has internet-centric and productivity (think OpenOffice) apps;
• Ultraportable: <1kg, 7″ screen (that’s about the size of an A5 piece of paper);
• Runs a build of Xandros (Linux based), however it’s more like a phone operating system;
• Inbuilt wireless, webcam, speakers;
• No CD drive;
• Solid state harddrives only, just like the iPod nano;
• White;
• Cheap! (AUD$499)**;
• Competing devices include the One Laptop per Child Project, the Nokia n800 mobile internet device, and the iPod touch.

I think the primary market is probably students and folks that aren’t that computer aware.  As the marketing says, it really is easy to use.  I’m not interested because I need my technology dumbed down, but that I want an ultraportable device that can actually do something.  I have a smartphone that runs Windows Mobile 6 and Pocket Word, and has inbuilt wireless.  I could conceivably do most of the same stuff as the eeepc, however I’d look like a tool and the process on a tiny system would be annoying.   It’s probably not a good idea to jump on tech like this so early, but it is awesome.

I’m ordering one tomorrow from Myer.  More updates to come. 

* Apparently pronounced “A-su-ess”, not “A-sis” as I’d previously assumed.  This is a tad annoying.

** It’s cheaper outside Australia, apparently either the exchange rate is to be ignored when pricing locally or shipping this distance costs HEAPS.

The above screen shows what I saw when I accessed the Windows Vista Support community site earlier today.  Noting that my screen is 1024×768, and I use Vista. Surely this site is meant for me.  Let’s look at how the screen real estate is used:

1. Enormous title bar with Microsoft branding;
2. The most useful part, the body of the post themselves.  Ridiculously difficult to use with constant scrolling;
3. Index of posts / forum topics;
4. General menu for support site;

I realise this isn’t much more that a pretty way to show me a newsgroup, but it’s also noticably slow.  Whatever you might think about Microsoft products, this support site is appalling.  I got nothing from it at all, and I’m unlikely to be back regardless of the value of the information it contains.  The final straw was when I tried to flag a post that was not contributing anything, it tried to make me signin to my Windows liveID.  I’ve got no issue with this if I was posting anything, but this really means that the casual browser is unlikely to assist.

 And now on to Apple.  I should preface this by saying that while I appreciate the apple design aesthetic, the resurgance of white electronics, and the I’m a Mac ads, the fanboys make me loathe it just a little.  Still, I was confident support was something they’d be good at, it’s user-centric after all.

Let’s look at how apple tackles the simplest of tasks:

1. Reasonably sized title bar with simple branding and site menu combined;
2. Context!  Something Microsoft overlooked;
3. Index of posts / forum topics;
4. Yes, it took me to a second page, but that’s cool.  Hey look, branding is maintained across the site;
5. Forum text is EASY to access

Yes, apple’s approach looks a little circa 1997 web forum, but it works.  Can’t argue with that.

NB: I should point out that I was searching for help with Vista’s tendancy to bluescreen when running iTunes.  Neither site actually helped.

Formerly being an aspiring (and sometimes practicing) web designer, I should probably be disappointed by the existence of seemingly souless online services which will generate a logo and brand for you online for less that $100 and less than 24hrs.  I remember reading about it in disbelief a few years ago in WIRED and I’ve only just tracked down the article again.  Seems most of the services are still running, and as much as I hate to admit it, they look ok.  They certainly look better than anyone with a few IT skills trying to hack together a professional image without the requisite skills.

I know this ground has been well and truly covered, so a few links worth reading:

• Mike Davidson has a great summary on logo design, which covers the principles, and more importantly addresses the difference between simply having a logo and having a brand.
• A great blog BRAND NEW, which assesses new corporate identities.  It’s reassuring that sometimes the big kids don’t make all the right decisions.  More importantly, this blog identifies where they go right and wrong, so it can provide an interesting perspective.  Anything that can avoid the amateur looking Fosters’ group logo of a few years back is gold.

I’m not all tech all the time, but I do think the above is relevant to tech folks.  Know what you do well, if you’re not a designer, don’t dabble.  Your customer may be happy, but they may not realise you’re doing them a disservice.