Iarfhlaith Kelly – Code agus Craic

We used to think that device convergence meant that a single device would replace all of our other current digital media devices. With the concept of ‘The Cloud‘ this idea has been turned on it’s head.

I use multiple devices every day to access my email, browse the Internet, manage my schedule and read my blog feeds etc. Keeping each of them synchronised used to be tricky. But with the notion of keeping your data in ‘the cloud’, there’s no need to keep your data sync’d up. It’s all online and can be accessed by any connected device.

Multiple Devices, One Cloud

Recently, the cloud has become the latest in a line of buzz words on the Internet. It’s cropped up it’s head a few times in the past but it’s back in vogue again because there’s been an adoption of various standards that allow different systems to talk to each other more easily. iCal is one, RSS is another. Providing an open API as part of an application release also helps developers to build new ways to interact with it.

Here’s what I use to maximise the benefits the data cloud:

Email

I use Google Apps plus Gmail (I use my own domain too) and take advantage of IMAP support so I can keep using my favourite mail client whilst leaving my email somewhere accessible when I’m out and about.

Calendar

My phone has a calendar, so does my laptop. I also want to be able to access it online when I’m away. The solution for this is a combination of gCal, Lightning and my Nokia N95. Using a service GooSync I can keep my Google Calendar and my N95 sync’d up, and using a great Thunderbird plugin called Provider for Google Calendar I can keep Lightning up to date with everything as well.

Task Lists

I’ve struggled to find the perfect to-do list software. I need to be able to keep the list updated from any device and it needs to be really quick to use. If I can scribble it on a notebook faster then I can enter it, then nine times out of ten that’s what I’ll do.

Here’s what I’ve come up with so far: Start off with an account on Remember the Milk. Then add their Firefox plugin that adds the task column to the Gmail interface. Then add the iCal stream to Lightening. This is an almost perfect solution but at the moment, the iCal stream is read-only. For ultimate happiness it’s got to be a two way connection. Hopefully this will happen soon.

What’s Next?

Online file storage still hasn’t taken off for the masses. Amazon’s S3 service has helped a lot of developers to outsource their storage needs, but it’s not a realistic option for general consumers. Services like Box.net offer online storage but, it’s still a little pricey. Where’s the Google Gdrive that we’ve heard so many rumours about?

I’ve got this almost all figured out. But if anyone’s got a better combination of blurring the divide between online services and offline apps, then lets hear them.

Summary

Point 1: The Cloud is becoming a reality

Point 2: It’s not there yet.

Point 3: It’s happening because of adopted standards

Point 4: I use online services with my desktop software using iCal, RSS, Firefox plugins and open API’s.

Point 5: Online Storage still needs to be solved. Gdrive perhaps?

Ok, so I’ve just upgraded to WordPress 2.5, and so far I’m pretty impressed with the new admin interface. The upgrade itself went pretty smoothly and also prompted me to create a scheduled database backup, which is something I should have done straight from the start.

A New Interface

There’s plenty of useful new features, mostly for the admin end of things. The two I like the most are the new multi-upload capability and the widigitized dashboard. And as any modern web-based software should, it sports a host of Ajax style features including new editing tools, and an updated plugin section.

Heating Up the Competition

Earlier in the month, whilst setting up this blog I considered a number of other blogging tools, including B2Evolution – a branch off from the original WordPress, Movable Type, and Textpattern. After some testing and poking around I decided to go with WordPress because of three key reasons:

• The flexible open source GPL licence
• The simple intuitive interface
• A straightforward templating system

I don’t think any of the other blogging software out at the moment can match WordPress for it’s ease of use and customisation, yet there are still some who are moaning about it’s lack of features for multi-user blogs.

Bending it Your Way

WordPress is an open source project and much if it’s development is contributed by the dedicated members of it’s community. If the new release of WordPress doesn’t provide you with what you need then I say it’s your own fault for not getting involved and encouraging it’s development in a direction that suits you.

I for one am, so far, delighted with the new release and encourage the continued development of a great tool that is largely responsible for the explosive growth of bloggers on the Internet. To the nay sayers, all I can say is “get involved!”.

Great Web 2.0 Services

Using online web services is part and parcel of my daily routine as a web developer. For time-keeping and invoicing I use the excellent FreshBooks by 2ndSite, for To Do lists I’ve been using Remember The Milk, for document collaboration Google Docs is the best option at the moment, and I use Google Calender and Google Reader for scheduling and RSS feeds respectively.

As more and more services, which traditionally were only available as desktop software are adopted for the web, they become more flexible, accessible and are far easier to use. For developers, hosted software is easier to update, maintain, and monetise. And with complete control over who has access to the software, the idea of software piracy is now as old as the notion of a downloadable trial version.

Taking Advantage

Software as a Service (SaaS) has really gotten my attention of late and I think I’ll be spending more of my time in this area over the next while. I believe there is a great opportunity to provide tailored software for specific industries and communities. The days of large software houses dominating the market is coming to an end. Tools that try to be all things to all people often fall short of the mark and end up bloated and difficult to use. In contrast, providing software that is highly tailored to market niches is a more focused approach that is growing in popularity.

Collaboration is King

Hosted software can be accessed by any computer with an Internet connection, it all runs directly within the browser. This simple shift in the software paradigm highlights a major advantage that SaaS has over traditional desktop software. It facilitates a truly collaborative and multi-user environment, which will encourage a whole new wave of software applications to be created. So far, this opportunity has mainly been manifested in social networking websites, but they have struggled to convert their huge visitor numbers into huge piles of cash.

A business collaboration tool built on the SaaS model that also harnesses the inherent social networking capabilities of the web is the type of project that really interests me.

The semantic web is the buzz of the industry right now, so in keeping with current trends, I’ll be using xfn formatted links in this blog wherever possible. I know that Yahoo have started to spider this new information but apart from them, are there any other really useful applications harnessing this new wealth of information on the web?

Here’s my micro-formatted hCard, built using the very easy-to-use hCard Creator.