New Media Development

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Well it has been a couple of months now since I have switched from using a PC Notebook to a 17″ Mac Book Pro and things are still going well. As I mentioned before I used to be a die hard Mac fanatic about 10 years ago but switched to PCs due to the lack of decent software on the Macs at the time. My recent switch back had to do with my desire to pick the right tool for the new media and technology development I currently do. As promised, here are my top of the head observations over the past two months.

• When I bought the Mac I knew I was going to be running certain PC software and games. I started to go down the path of using Parallels but found that transferring my XP license off my existing notebook would basically make it impossible for me to sell it as a low end PC. After a month I broke down and bought CrossOver instead. CrossOver is the OSX port of WINE which does not require that you have a full version of XP/Vista to run your software. You will need a Mac with an Intel chip to run the software properly. All of my PC games run flawlessly under it and most of my PC software runs as well. Unless you absolutely need XP on your machine for some obscure reason like your network doesn’t play well with Macs, I would opt for CrossOver first for any windows software emulation.
• I am just amazed by how much free software is out there to help make a transition between PC and Mac easy. I did break down and buy some tools I use all the time like the Adobe Suites. However, things like NeoOffice, FireFox, AppFresh, QuickSilver, and TweetDeck have become invaluable tools. Even the free Apple software like Safari, Mail, and GarageBand have revolutionized how I use the notebook.
• One thing I forgot about Macs and missed was that things just work. I plug a microphone in, it recognizes it and records from it. I plug a camera in, it finds it and lets me control it from the software. I want to record a video, iSight comes on with the mic and just records without a loss. On the PC side you can make things work but it takes time and is never 100%.
• My co-workers often complained about how they HAD to be PC based for all of the development they do. After a bit of searching I found that the Mac could do all of the things my PC could do for development and more. It was just a matter of taking the time to seek out a solution for a specific problem. For example, I thought I would be totally at a loss for remote desktop connections to PCs until I found that Microsoft wrote a RDC client for OSX. It’s not widely publicized but if you look for it, you can find it. Major problem solved.
• Web development is like night and day. On the PC I got into the habit of developing code and pushing it to a testing server. On the Mac, everything was not only included but pre-installed. Apache, PHP, Virtual Hosting. All on my box and ready to roll. The only thing I needed to add was MySQL and that was very easy. Granted I will need to break some old development habits but given the fact I can now test and code anywhere without having to be dependant on a connection is just amazing.
• Slowly over this time I have noticed something very significant for me. I haven’t turned on my notebook in the past 2 months at all except to transfer a file or two. I am significantly using my desktop PC less and less. The Mac has actually help me do things like rebuild my 9000 song music collection, clean out software I don’t use, and make it easier for me to backup my work and life.

Do I regret the purchase? Absolutely not! Apple has come a long way to address software, hardware, and just confidence concerns. Under Steve Jobs this company has finally moved forward enough to really be the company they always should have been. I understand why so many people are converting now. This is one seriously sexy and powerful piece of kit. Apple also puts so much information online and makes it so easy to just find things like software and solutions that I can’t imagine going back to the “pay for everything” world of PCs. And it looks like things are only going to get better with the Apple announcements tomorrow.

I do need to break some old habits like calling it a Mac when I am talking about OSX. I also know I am grossly underusing the machine’s true power. But that will come with more time. I am just incredibly happy with this rather expensive purchase and can see getting a lot of use out of this machine for a very long time.

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One thing I have struggled with throughout my life is a definition of whom I am. Job Titles and awards have rarely helped in this matter. You see, I am the voice of the large majority of mediocre. I love video games but don’t excel at them to be on leader boards. I have tried my hand at a variety of sports but never seem to get above a novice level of accomplishment. I can program complex systems but am nowhere near the level of true system programmers. I can develop full web applications but they pale in comparison to the Diggs of the world. I can make flowers grow but can never seem to tend full gardens. I can fix most issues in my house but I don’t have the patience to finish my office or add that addition it badly needs.

I have figured out one thing I am rather good at and this will make marketers very happy. I can consume media. I don’t mean read a paper here, look at a website there, search for someone here. Oh no. I can consume vast amounts of media in a relatively short amount of time from a variety of sources. This really shouldn’t come as a shock to most people. In January 2008 Deloitte LLP’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications reported that there is a large shift in the way and types of media are consumed. Also the rise of the “personal publisher” would have a profound effect on traditional media outlets like TV, radio, and film. Follow that with a report in 2007 where Deloitte discovered that general media consumption has gone up but traditional media outlets have either stayed stead in readers/viewers or has gone down. We as a society consume more and more media which is probably why we are driving to information overload capacities.

My media consumption leads to what I think is not a unique problem. Too many choices and too little expertise in any one of them to focus. Do I fall into the trap of programming and watch TV? Is a film a constructive use of an hour and a half of my life. Do I lack enough distractions to produce that podcast or do work? Should I relax and read a novel? Is that even relaxing? I have a world of knowledge in from of me with the internet but I am not sure where to start. The options are dizzying for me and can often lead to overload and decision paralysis.

If you suffer from this as well, think about the following things.

1. Not all media HAS to be consumed. Figure out what works for you and how to use it. I personally hate terrestrial radio so I have swapped it for online shows and podcasts.
2. Treat media as either data or information. Data is any piece of knowledge that is out there in any format. Information is the right piece of knowledge or media in the right place at the right time. Going to the Drive-in for me is Information because it is a constructive use of 4 hours time which forces me to shut my brain down and relax. If I feel I should be working, I can bring out my laptop and abuse the WiFi there.
3. Choose to either be the expert or a jack-of-all-trades. Experts usually focus on one or two thinsg and try to achieve “perfection”. Jack-of-all-trades have general knowledge of a lot of things with some expertise in some thing. Neither one is better than the other. Michael Phelps may be an expert at swimming but we all found out on SNL he is not so great at comedy.
4. Pruning or ignoring media sources is ok. Not all media sources will work for you. Ones you used to rely on may suddenly grow tired or your needs change. In order to grow you need to prune away things that don’t work or may be driving you in the wrong direction. Don’t be afraid to do that.

I am going to try to reduce some of my consumption and get a bit more focused on what I want to do. I won’t be getting a high score on Rock Band 2 anytime soon or writing the next killer web application. But hopefully I will be driving towards new accomplishments that will make me personally proud to have done them.

I have worked in dynamic and creative teams most of my life. I firmly believe they are the best way to get new ideas, challenge your skills, and just have fun at work. I have played the part of worker, programmer, manager, developer, designer, and many more. The one thing I have discovered over the years is a very simple concept to keep people motivated.

Believe in your employees.

When I was the Technology Manager at Digital City - Hampton Roads I was lucky enough to be hired by a man who always believed in the people he worked with. His open door policy was very open and concerns were listened to and addressed. But beyond that, he believed in the people he worked with and let you know that. That support was something that I appreciate to this day twelve years later. The problems we were faced with on a day to day basis could be incredibly difficult and complex but he always made me feel like i could achieve anything with a little perseverance and an honest attempt to solve the problem. As a result,  we all felt as a team we could reach new personal and professional heights because at least one person felt that we could attain it.

Managing in this new tech era is difficult especially when you work with diverse groups of people sometimes spread across the globe. But having a basic belief that someone you manage can achieve a task is more valuable than any motivating speech you can give. You may not personally believe that the employee is up to the task being handed to them but that doesn’t matter. As long as you let them know they can do it and support them, you will be amazed at what can be accomplished while helping someone discover something about themselves.

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We all know that the moment you log into Facebook, you can kiss a good chunk of time away. Facebook has suggested at several advertising conferences that the average user will spend between 20 and 40 minutes logged in per day. Some people take that to extremes as Tech Crunch reported. But it does raise an interesting question on how we spend our time online.

With new and specialized social media sites showing up on almost a daily basis, how do you find the time to use the ones you have and the ones you want to use? If you are not working in the social media industry, use of these sites during work is usually frowned upon due to it’s nature of taking away productive work hours. Does that mean when the 5pm bell rings we all rush home to update our blogs, status, and journals?

Absolutely not. Instead we find other ways to keep our social media in check and our listeners informed. iPhone users can now update their Word Press blogs from their phone with a variety of clients. Live journal offers an audio to blog service so you can call in updates. Mini clients for Twitter exist so we can run them in the background and update as needed. However, all of these input devices require time no matter how small it is to update.

The experiment here is this. Take one day of your life and track how much time you spend on social media sites. Better yet, track how much time you spend consuming any media type (social media sites, TV, radio, film, gaming, etc.) and compare them. You will probably find that Social Media are gaining ground on your total consumption time to the detriment of something else. This could be a good thing in that you are unplugging yourself from programming media (tv, film) and doing something more interactive (games, social events).

Personally, I have to limit my daily social media consumption otherwise I can go down roads of information I may never come back from. Not that it is a bad thing, but when it hampers you from remembering to take out the recyclables, then there is a problem.

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While I should be writing a review of Podcamp Boston 3 I think that other people have covered it well enough that I really don’t need to re-hash their comments. If you missed it, you missed a good time and good information.

What I do want to write about is something that occurred to me during C.C. Chapman’s talk about Building Your Brand Through Passion and Community. He was discussing a common topic where Podcamp Boston is really a venue for sharing ideas and connecting like-minded people. This is something we take for granted at conferences but then I started to think about social media in general.

The point of Social Media usually is to connect like minded people for the sharing of information through a technology portal. However, we still find the need to physically connect through the social media device of a conference. No mater how advanced a social media site can become, the human factor still can not be overcome. Being able to stand up and ask C.C. an immediate question, have him query the audience for an answer, then connect two people together for the answer could be accomplished solely on the digital realm. But we like sharing these experiences in person. Matching the face to the idea is exciting, new, and fun. Something about being able to exchange ideas and have the completely unusual and random things happen drives us as people to be more creative.

Maybe conferences just need a sexier word for them in this Web 2.0 era? Live Social Media Events could start to take the world by storm. But you know that in the end all we are doing is just fulfilling a need that gets lost through the translation mechanism of technology. People are social creatures and we still need to sit down and break bread with someone from time to time just to remember what the social part is all about.

(NOTE: I did want to provide a link to the video of C.C.’s talk and of the impromptu jam session on Sunday but I could not quickly find links. If you know where they are, comment and I will add them in)

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I had a hard time trying to figure out where I should write this article because it is a short wrap up of my recent trip to Podcamp Boston and describing an experiment I was conducting there. The experiment part is a very green idea which could fit well on the Green Buy Guide but is more techie focused with a green side effect.

Before attending Podcamp Boston 3 I made the specific choice to do two things. One, do not bring a laptop with me for a slide presentation. The main reason is that I have not mastered the fine art of balancing graphics with my speaking points so my slides are WAY too wordy. I wanted to gear my session as more of a discussion and less of a presentation. All in all that worked well but I am hesitant to find the audio of it because I feel I may sound, well, odd.

My second choice was to not bring any business cards. As it turned out I had a couple in my wallet for the company and the podcast but they quickly left me soon after arriving at the conference. It’s not that I hate business cards or recognize their place in the world. Rather, I feel that there has to be a better way to convey the information on a business card to a person besides handing them a slip of paper they may or may not read.

This goes back to a talk Mitch Joel gave a year ago at Podcamp Boston 2 where he clearly stated not to give him a business card because 99% of the time he doesn’t follow up due to time constraints. I am still looking at business cards I have from the PME in 2005 that I should do something with but won’t. This is all good information on people that should be captured and tags in a way so that if I ever need a guitarist for a show I can quickly find them.

My proposal, find a way to create an open Business Card standard that works with the web, media devices AND phones. This would go way beyond the vCard idea. Basically it would be some sort of XML standard that can be quickly used with SMS/TXT messages to send business card data from a mobile phone/device to another device which would automatically recognize it and do something with it.

The idea would play out like this. I meet someone at Podcamp and instead of giving them my business card, I SMS them my XML based business card which is already pre-stored on my phone. Their iPhone gets the message, recognizes the standard, and based on the person’s preferences the device places my information into their contact list, categorizes them as “business contact”, downloads the image from my card and connects it with the new contact. The unique play would be that since it is an XML standard any phone or device can read it and use the info how they see fit. Also, it would allow application developers to create software to manipulate the data in ways the user needs. The green sideline is that less business cards would be passed around and fewer trees would need to be used to create business cards in the first place. It also would allow for the traditions of passing business cards in the Far East to be maintained. Instead of passing a card between parties they are hitting send on their mobile device to the recipient across from them.

Mobile phones and devices have been completely absorbed into all aspects of business and social gatherings. So we should be using them more to make lasting connections with people we meet and not let by a piece of paper and time to input information be a barrier to social contacts.

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I have been mulling this question over in my head the last couple of days because of a very annoying conversation with a colleague. Their opinion is that if you work in languages like PERL or PHP you are a ’scripter’ and not a true ‘programmer’. They feel that scripting is more hack and slash programming to solve an issue and not true development. I am obviously in the other camp for many reasons.

First, I have never been the type of developer who lets a language define my application development. I have moved from C, to PERL, to PHP, to Java, to ASP, to C# .Net with relative ease but varying results. You see, I don’t really care what the language or the structure of a programming language is to complete a task. What I am more concerned with is the results and the speed at which I reach them.

Most self proclaimed programmers I have run into tout the structure and organization of their programs as far superior to anything a scripter could create. However, these same people refuse to document their code in a way that makes it understandable. They trust that their programming skills will speak for themselves and code documentation just won’t be needed. In the real world, however, it always helps to have a map to see what is going on. Documentation is that map that ‘programmers’ skip. Scripters can fall into this same trap but since most linear programming is done this way at least it is somewhat easier to follow.

Second, programmers are under the belief that only complex code can solve complex tasks. This is not true. Efficiently written code can solve any task. If code is overtly complex for the sake of complexity or standardized structure, you are either trying to dupe someone into thinking you work harder than you do or you are so embedded in the belief of absolute adherence to code structure is needed that you are missing the point of effcient programming. When a Zen Archer shoots an arrow, they only expend as much energy as is needed to accomplish the task. No more, no less. If the arrow is traveling 100 yards or 1 inch, it does not matter. The energy is the same. Programmers and Scripters need to adopt this philosophy. Code should be written to do what it’s intended task is. If it is written otherwise, it either lacks power to sustain itself or has unneeded levels of code or structure.

Finally, look at the major web sites out there and you will find a curious thing. Google: running on Linux with open source custom code written mostly in Java. Amazon: running on Linux using SOAP interfaces to their back end. Digg: running on Linux with a completely PHP back end. CNet: Linux servers with PHP and MySQL back ends. Yahoo: Linux based systems using a mixture of Java, Javascript, PHP, AJAX, and MySQL to drive their network of sites.

Now I ask you this, if you couldn’t write complex solutions with a “scripting” language like PHP, why would so many dynamic and technology driven sites be using it? Could it be that “programmers” need to stop worrying about their programming and should focus on their solutions no matter what language they use?

One of the great things I have mentioned before about working out of the home is the commute. However, this creates some interesting travel issues which is not limited to the home worker.

For example, when I moved to Boston from Virginia I took advantage of the extensive public transit system for my commute to work. I would leave my house, walk to the end of the block and get on a commuter train which linked to the subway which I took to my job. This was easy, convenient, less of a headache than driving, took about the same amount of time for traveling, and cheaper than parking in a major city. The down side was when I went to start my car for the first time I needed it after commuting this way. The battery had died because of non use for about 3 weeks. I hadn’t even realized I was not using my car at all during the time because it was so easy to slip into this alternate way to get to work, grab groceries on the way home, and generally not needing to go long distances.

Home commuters have this same issue. Lack of car use means you sometimes need to remind yourself to drive the car a little bit just so can be driven. Also, if you are planning to drive to the office once a month or more, you need to be sure you car is set up for the much longer than normal commute it may need to take. Or try to find alternate means by which to get to the office which may save on car use all together.

Touching on that, I just want to remind people that there really is 3 ways to travel in the US. Auto, Plane, and Train. Auto and plane are by far the cheapest or fastest depending on where you are going or when you need to get there. Train tends to be more expensive but it has certain advantages for the telecommuter. Every seat on an Amtrak train has a 120V outlet and most trains are now offering WiFi service. So if the trip is 4 hours compared to a 2 hour car ride, you may find the 4 hour train ride more productive because you can work the whole time you are traveling.

In Burlington, we are blessed/cursed by an extensive bike path which links the northern and southern parts of the extended city with downtown. It get highly used in the Spring through Fall months. This provides another alternate means to commute which is more common outside of the United States. The curse comes when people don’t use it. Bike lanes are no substitute for private roads so it boggles my mind when I see someone who is clearly going to work on the road when they have a private road with less traffic.

The commute is changing in this country which is a welcomed event. What it changes into will hopefully reduce car use, greenhouse gasses, and provide a better world we can all share.

Everything in life has a cycle. You are born, you live, then you die. It is the only true truth we know that everything will one day end. So why wouldn’t the same be true of software? The idea is formed, plans are made to create it, programming begins, testing commences, and finally it is launched. Then, for most programs, it is left to it’s own devices. Over the life span of piece of code 90% of the energy involved is used for planning, development and launch. 9% is devoted to ongoing maintenance. 1% or less is spent on sunsetting.

Why is one of the most important parts of code life-cycle given so little attention? Usually this is because most programmers can get excited about starting something new and do not get excited about letting something go. The other reason is many developers associate sunsetting with tedious tasks like documentation. However, planning for the full life cycle of a piece of code can actually make the code function better and more stably over the use of the code.

Sunsetting can actually refer to two things. First, a scheduled checking of components or content in a system for pruning. This type of review should be standard after the launch of any piece of large code. Content placed into a system will eventually get old and be inapplicable. By looking at it now and setting a date to remove it from a system you are doing two things. One, you are creating an area where content is viable and fresh. Two, you are not bogging down your system with extra information people may not access. This pruning is like when you prune a plant. Keeping the important parts will make it more useful and prevent it from slowing down.

This also applies to objects in system. You may program a system to support online banking as an example. But after 4 months you find that no one uses the online banking components and you intend to turn them off. Instead of just masking them in system, consider removing them. This will reduce confusion by developers down the road as to which part of the system and active and which are not. It will also speed the functionality of the overall code set by removing needless tasks.

Second, the retirement of a piece of code for the replacement of a new piece of code is the other way the term ’sunsetting’ is used. Programs have a life span. Usually this is due to advances in code, hardware, software, or business lessons learned along the way while using this code. Every year you should make a short evaluation of the code to see if it still lives up to expectations and can deliver properly. If not, start to consider retiring the code and replacing it with something else. Retiring the code is a good thing because you want to bring current quality to your users and not keep them stuck in something that may no longer fit their needs. Your consumers change so your code should match with it. You can usually plan the sunsetting steps soon after launch to make this process easier.

In any case, do not expect your code to live forever. It has a time and a place and will eventually move on. Think of programming as art and life. What you create is an expression of your style to solve a problem. That expression will grow, live, and eventually sunset. Hopefully, it will be reborn anew to start the cycle again.

A common question I get asked is ‘Which is better, Windows or Mac?’. The programming version of this question is ‘Which is better .Net or Open Source?’. Both of these questions are just hard to answer because it really is determined by what you know and what you want to do with them.

I started out as a PERL based programmer but not by design. It just happened to be the right language for the task at hand. Programming as a task actually is rather tedious to me but something I enjoy once over the hump of getting started. As time has progressed, my jobs have transferred me into more of an ASP mindset of programming as I hang on to my PERL roots. All linear scripting languages pull on the same roots in just different ways. As they transition to Object Orientated Programing structures they start to differ greatly.

Some programmers swear by .Net for it’s rapid implementation and large set of pre-programmed classed. PHP programmers are quick to point out the huge cost of getting .Net running and the similar class and object structures in PHP5. But something is getting lost along the way.

As we all look at the holy wars of code, some programmers are forgetting the task at hand. Their blind devotion to .Net may lead them to not consider the advantages that PHP may offer. PHP zealots are quick to dismiss .Net but sometimes don’t realize the large set of objects might speed their production along.

My view on either language is that they are just that; languages. Stop looking at them as solutions. Look at the problem at hand to fit the best language solution to them. As much as I can say ‘I Love You’, ‘J’amie vous’ just sounds better and works as more of an all encompassing concept for me when I use it. It’s solves my problem of what I want to express. Apply that thought to your programming skills and you will find that new and varied ways of programming will open up to you.