Tech Stuffs n' More

Hello!

2013-06-23T19:32:00.001+02:00

Hello? Somebody There?

JQuery development and Chrome local files access

2012-02-04T14:50:00.001+01:00

If you have been developing a web page using JQuery and trying access some local json file.

$.getJSON("your path to the local file",
        function(data){
          //some code
        });

You might have found out that trying to run your code con Chrome it fails and with little detail on why it isn't working. You may have thought that there is a problem with your code or even with the validation of the json data which is an option also. But before going all crazy reviewing all of the code. Check this:

Chrome for security reasons doesn't allow local files to access other local files by default. So if you want your code to work there is a simple fix. Start your Chrome browser using the following parameter:

--allow-file-access-from-files

and thats it your code should be working now and you should be able to work on your json data.

If you are using firefox then you should take a look at this link:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Links_to_local_pages_do_not_work

On Internet Explorer I didn't find any problems trying to run the code so I assume it is enabled by default (is this a security risk?)

MongoDB GUI Tool: Rock Mongo

2011-12-21T18:57:00.001+01:00

Since we have been working lately with mongo I started looking for tools for administration and management of mongo additional to the CLI client.

Looking around I've found this nice GUI tool for managing MongoDB called RockMongo.

If you don't have php installed you may need to install it and add the mongo plugin for php:

#Install PHP
yum install php php-devel php-pear

#Install the CPP compiler
yum install gcc

#Install the mongo extension on PHP
pecl install mongo

Then you need to enable php on your apache server. Edit the httpd.conf file

Below the following lines:

AddType application/x-compress .Z
AddType application/x-gzip .gz .tgz

Add:

AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps

Then enable the mongo extension. Edit the php.ini file

On section Dynamic Extensions add the following line:

extension=mongo.so

Now enable the Apache server to user network connections to the database:

setsebool httpd_can_network_connect 1
setsebool httpd_can_network_connect_db 1

And to finalize restart your servers:

#restart Apache
httpd restart

#restart MongoDB
mongod restart

And voilà!
You should have your Rock Mongo Rockin'

Update:
Ejem! I think I forgot something. Deploying the application on your apache! For this I will quote them directly:

Quick Install

download the package
unzip the files to your disk, under root of your site
open the config.php (index.php before v1.0.5) with your convenient editor, change host, port, admins and so on to yours
visit the index.php in your browser, for example: http://localhost/rockmongo/index.php
Login with admin username and password, which is set "admin" and "admin" as default
play with your MongoDBs!

Note: this configuration was done on a CentOS 6 machine

A thousand

2011-12-12T22:39:00.002+01:00

Thanks!

por Anna Cervova

RabbitMQ first reactions

2011-12-12T20:30:00.000+01:00

As promised this is the first note about stuff we are working on our current project. Based on the nature of our system an asynchronous type of solution is needed. Having worked previously with some JMS solutions for example SonicMQ the words Messages and Queues was stuck on my mind right away when the project began.

OK, then if you remember my previous post I mentioned this is a "start-up" like project so we have to keep it cheap and OSS is the way to go. As consequence my first impression was hey! HornetQ its SUPER fast! 8.2Million messages per second. Lets try that!

So my colleague starts doing the first tests and after a while we begin realizing that its maybe too big of a rocket to shoot a fly and not so friendly to start with. Meanwhile I immerse myself in pages blogs and forums and the term Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) pokes on my eyes together with RabbitMQ which looks like the cool new kid on the messaging industry. So I do a few tests and with a very little configuration and coding I have a Hello World app publishing and reading messages. So again I say hey lets try that! I know my colleague hates me for changing my mind but I hope he forgave me after seeing how easy it was to set up and how it solved some problems we had.

So yes it RabbitMQ looks like a very capable and very flexible messaging solution at the moment where you can publish and subscribe to queues on the go. Create exchanges, topics, routing and many integration patterns without adding too much complication.

Eventually we found the first problem. Priority Levels. Despite being part of the AMQP specification and being defined on the Java API the current version doesn't support it. On the official page they have this table with their compatibility mapping to the AMQP specification and sadly I find that indeed they don't have it YET implemented.

This is the compatibility for priorities on RabbitMQ for AMQP 0-9-1:

planned MUST basic / 06
The server MUST implement at least 2 priority levels for basic messages, where priorities 0-4 and 5-9 are treated as two distinct levels.

doesn't MAY basic / 07
The server MAY implement up to 10 priority levels.

So hopefully soon enough a new release will come out with at least the 2 priority levels management implemented. Hurry up guys!

Meanwhile you can use this post by Doug Barth as a reference on how they developed a workaround to this lack of functionality by RabbitMQ. We will try to develop a variant of this method of prioritizing messages and I'll let you know our results. It basically consists on two queues a top priority queue and a regular queue from which we will be polling the messages. Its not an actual priority implementation but its an approximate. that in our case could solve initial problem.

Would be nice to have some feedback on how would you work this around feel free to comment.

P.S: This is an obligatory book if you are building asynchronous messaging systems.

Tip of the day: Clearing the print queue on Win7

2011-11-26T16:39:00.001+01:00

On this link you can find these instructions to clean your hanged up printer queue on Windows 7 and Vista:

1. Click Start.
2. Type Command.
3. Right-click Command Promptand select Run as administrator.
4. Type net stop spooler then press Enter.
5. Type del %systemroot%\System32\spool\printers\* /Q then press Enter.
6. Type net start spooler then press Enter.

Thanks man! you solved a really annoying problem that has been with us for a few years already

Start-up

2011-11-15T09:54:00.001+01:00

After quite a few busy weeks I'm finally back to the blog. The reason for such absence was the change to a new job. And meant a more profound change than just switching jobs and let me explain what I mean with this by listing what has changed:

From following to leading
From guidelines to freeform
From legacy to state-of-the-art
From the consultancy world to the entrepreneur world

And the last one pretty much sums it up...

I recently left the consultancy world to join a "backed-up" start-up company on a moment where many may think it was a very risky moment to do so. Leaving from a established consultancy company to recently created one doesn't seem like something most people would do on times of financial crisis but to me it was worth the risk by believing that crisis times are those times where opportunities open to those few people who take it. It gives you the opportunity to reinvent yourself and to do something new or something better and to fill that missing spot.

Hopefully I will be having the opportunity to play around with modern technologies to implement our product.
So, yes that means I will be more excited to post new and interesting posts about technology and innovative stuff we will be working on.

P.S: If you are a developer an engineer or a web designer with creative ideas and a will to do something new contact me. We might be interested in offering you a job.

One step closer

2011-09-30T13:51:00.000+02:00

If you have been following my blog you might have noticed my interest in the technology surrounding today's Web. I would suggest you to read this then this and finally this so you can have an idea of what my point of view is and how it have evolved on this subject. I would like to quote myself on the first one posted around 2005:

In my vision of what future may be the OS and the Internet will be fused together so everything we will have to care about its what browser to use, because every tool, program, game will be hosted in the Internet. So all we will need its a great broadband connection and a good browser/OS to link us to all that.

Some call it Web 2.0 but to me its going an step further. Specially after recent announcement of Amazon's Kindle Fire and even more with its companion Amazon Silk browser which in few words is a split-architecture part device part cloud powered browser. Sounds familiar right?

You might want to take a look at this video posted on the official Amazon's Silk official blog:

I always believed Google was the one to bring it to us first but their attempts (Android, Chrome, Chrome OS) didn't get as close to what I have dreamed about as what Amazon is achieving. And that is good news! It means competition and it means a really interesting race coming up.

But...

There is still something that is worrying me. And its about the networks and their ability to adapt and to race at the same speed the devices and software companies are going. Carriers need to find a way to bring high speed connections to the masses ASAP. Of course it is much more easy to say it than to actually do it. The amount of investment necessary to deploy a network capable of taking the load of millions of devices accessing the Web and relying on the Web to operate is gigantic but the benefits they will get once it is deployed will be gigantic too. If you think we live today on a connected world I say it is just the beginning.

Update:
After my first excitement while writing this post I encountered something thanks to a colleague. "This is not new!". So I had to recheck. Its true that there are solutions already available that do "proxy/cache/compress" as Opera product lines do. But are they the same? And just like me this guy doesn't think so. On my opinion is going a little bit further. Its not only about how fast the web loads by receiving a compressed version of the actual content. I believe it is about trying to obtain the same full web experience by relying work on the cloud that otherwise the device and the browser would have to do with the known implications of energy consumption and performance. It means trying to obtain a balance between what the devices can do efficiently and what should be left to the cloud to do.

Solr vs Elasticsearch

2011-09-19T12:56:00.000+02:00

Having participated in projects where Solr is the component chosen as a search engine I've found myself most of the times annoyed about the lack of realtime indexing and performance degradation as indexes grow. Solr works great on environments where indexes aren't generated with much frequency but as the web evolves and new contents are generated on a continuous way the demand of indexing+querying simultaneously grows. The following article shows elasticsearch as one alternative to this scenario: Realtime Search: Solr vs Elasticsearch

CEP, BPM and SOA working together

2011-09-16T14:47:00.001+02:00

If you want to know how combining the virtues of complex event processing, business process management and the service oriented architecture could work together you should take a look on this entry "How does CEP fit into BPM and SOA environments?" of the TIBCO Complex Event Processing blog.

Daytrader

2011-09-12T11:34:00.001+02:00

During the past few months I have developed an interest on the stock market and the possibilities around it.

As a tech oriented person I couldn't help myself to believe that it's possible to make use of available technologies or ones to be developed to improve the performance on an ecosystem where changes occur in matter of seconds and where sometimes simple human reaction is not fast enough.

Together with a small group of trusted people I joined an initiative to look for a way to just do that. The chosen tool for it was to develop AI algorithms as a way to obtain predictions for possible transactions.

It has been a rough year that has led me to a roller-coaster of impressions about whether it is possible to achieve our goal. Starting with the natural first reaction of skepticism and the following growth of believing it is actually possible to predict some sort of market behavior. Eventually some disillusionment happened and it was time to step back for a second and think about it. Was it human error? Was the system overseeing variables? Or was it involving too much noise? So it was time to revise everything that was done until now.

I believe the problem was caused by a little bit of everything.

The main reflection I have made about it is that the stocks market is not as simple as an offer/demand system. And you probably already knew that. It is way more than that. It is the reflection of human behavior as a society. On it you can perceive joy, excitement, fear, cautiousness, impulse etc.

Events like 9/11 are a sample of how the real world affects the market. During this Black Swan event a lot of people was caught by surprise and was unable to react on it and caused great deal of losses to them. Some others were able to think with their heads cold and obtained significant gains on trading on those moments. Why?

Ironically (I think I'm using the word correctly here) to be a successful daytrader you have to suppress yourself of all emotions when you are trading manually and that's something computers do better than us. But also for computers to be good traders it is necessary that they understand human emotions and how they translate into the markets, and that is certainly something human still "sometimes" do better.

I can thereby conclude that the technological solution should be able to react fast enough by understanding human emotions and behavior but also remaining unaffected by these emotions.

Update:
On a related note to my this post the following article notes how everyday the automation of stock trading is increasingly replacing human intervention on the market decision making. I believe it wont take long until governments start creating regulations to prevent high risk circumstances where the markets could collapse due to systems that might not be well controlled.

Algorithmic stock trading rapidly replacing humans, warns government paper
Algorithmic trading, including high frequency trading (HFT), is rapidly replacing human decision making, according to a government panel which warned that the right regulations need to be introduced to protect stock markets.
Around one third of share trading in the UK is conducted by computers fulfilling commands based on complex algorithms, said the Foresight panel in a working paper published yesterday.

Pizza Time

2011-09-06T15:05:00.001+02:00

Since I haven't come up with something to post on the blog. I'll share a comic strip done with stripgenerator. Looks like a really cool tool for creating comic strips and testing your creativity.

Pizza time by rob_ansuini

This is harder than sudoku!

Uhm probably someone with a lot more creativity than me will make a better use of it. Looks fun though.

Google Plus Follow Button

2011-08-12T15:31:00.002+02:00

This post is meant to thank Tony Gines for sharing to the world his design of a Follow Me button for Google+ Great Job!

Having myself following and articles from people like Guy Kawasaki or Kevin Rose I notice how Google+ is not only growing as yet another social network but also as content source of all kinds.

It is interesting also to notice how some bloggers are realizing how much more easy it is to deliver their rants using Google+. Sometimes it gets a little bit noisy on my stream specially from power users like Bradley Horowitz itself which its not entirely a bad thing.

So far I'm just playing around with all this tools available today and see what they can offer and the possibilities around them.

In the mean time you are welcome to click on the button on the right panel and start following. With the promise of not getting too noisy!

Update 2011-11-28: Since I've noticed that quite few people are arriving here to my blog when looking for this button. I recommend you to go to the creators page where you can download the original image or the PSD file: http://www.tonygines.com/149/google-plus-follow-me-button/

Thanks again Tony!

Train your Mind

2011-08-09T12:21:00.004+02:00

Going away on vacations is a good opportunity to relax and reset your brain from work. But you have to take into account that it implies an additional effort once you are back to regain the momentum and get your work rhythm once again.

I believe that the brain works just like the body on the matter of how it gets trained and worked out. On the beginning it requires strong and continuous workout on a prolonged time in order to build up. On the other hand maintenance training helps to not only to keep the desired state but to master the learned skills until they become instinctive and natural.

Inevitably if the training is halted you will notice how your body/brain starts to degrade on a much higher pace than what it took to build it all up. Gladly the come back its not difficult and all it requires is an integral warm up to remove the dust although getting back in shape is not achieved as fast as the degradation process it is significantly faster than the original effort.

This is where the maintenance training gains its importance because its the one that gives you the ability of assimilate those skills and make them part of you. Instinctive and natural. And those are the ones that let your body and brain assimilate and recover faster after the inactive periods.

Then by this analogy I try to express the idea that learning is not something you do once and then forget about it thinking that you will be able to use that knowledge long after. Learning just like working out your body is something that needs to be reinforced, maintained, tested. You need to keep the momentum! Never let it stop!

Train your Mind...

Also would like to share this photo from my last vacations
Sardinia '11

...so you can enjoy your vacations without worrying about the return.

A Product Architect?

2011-05-06T13:20:00.004+02:00

On a search for an identity on what I do for living I've found myself performing a role that they call "Product Architect."

So, what does this person do? This is what I've found:

Product Architect (n) --
1. a cross between a Product Manager and a Software Architect.
Pays close attention to user needs, emphasizing practical solutions that enhance individual job satisfaction and increase company productivity. Applies broad and deep technical experience to select an appropriate mix of proven and cutting-edge technology.
2. for in-house projects, a hybrid of a Business Analyst and a System Architect. Bridges the gap between users and IT with previous success in both worlds.

Source: productarchitect.com

Sounds right on an ideal environment. The challenge comes when finances and bureaucracy get in the way. Trying to convince managers to adopt new technologies requires also some diplomacy.
Many are the times where you have to stand in the middle between the developers saying "we need the X version of software Y to be able to do this" and managers saying "X-1 Is the accepted version on the company" or "there is no budget to upgrade". And here is where the architect needs to gain the credibility and the trust from managers and developers that his decisions are the right ones. Providing arguments that are business oriented to the managers for an upgrade or giving effective alternative solutions to developers on a technical level.

It is a really interesting job where you have the opportunity to experiment with cutting-edge technology and real life problems and scenarios. Creating the link between the business and the technology that supports it.

6 Years from now...

2011-04-27T18:41:00.003+02:00

Following the path of my previous posts maybe its time to talk about how things might change for the next 6 years. And it looks like we have a clear tendency on where things are going. Mobility and online services!

Devices are getting faster lighter and smarter -Heck my current smartphone is faster than the laptop I had at the university over 6 years ago- and this is happening really fast. On 2007 we had the first iPhone and on 2008 the first commercially available Android phone. These devices were barely capable of multitasking but today we have dual-cores on the way. So we already have a path set on the device arena. Multi-core, massive storage, front facing cameras, 3D cameras/screens, HD recording.. etc. etc. etc. And the most challenging ...energy efficient!

What about the networks?
On some countries ISP providers are speeding up on deploying their LTE and WIMAX networks. Sadly Spain is not one of them. We still have to wait for the frequency spectrum to be auctioned and distributed among the ISPs. Hopefully on 6 years from now we will have a decent infrastructure and coverage with a performance capable of providing service to the internet hungry devices at least on those countries were the migration has already started. Think about millions of devices that surpass the current use of internet of home computers.

And the services?
This is where the growth is more noticeable. Everyday new services come out solving simple and complex things. And most of them are services that rely on the cloud. On providing a service were the user can access it from anywhere. Notebooks, photo editing tools, social networks, personal assistants, geographic location services and a large etc.

As you can see there is nothing prophetic here on how things can be after 6 years from now. I'm just pointing out where these wave that just started a few years ago is taking us today. And like a tsunami is doing it really fast.

Sightseeing the future...
- Imagine yourself next time you go on vacations receiving notifications in your phone when you approach to a landmark. "You are now at..."
- Imagine finding a parking space showed on your map instead of riding all over the same streets looking for one
- Imagine traveling the world without worrying about excessively expensive roaming fees but just a decent flat plan to use the services from anywhere.

Quoting Lennon:
...
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You might say that I'm a dreamer!

Mobility

2011-04-18T13:56:00.004+02:00

The mobile technology is becoming more and more part of our everyday activities. This weekend I had the chance to flight (from Madrid to Paris) for the first time without printing a single page. Not even having to get a boarding pass on a desk. All thanks to today's technology.
All I had to do to check in was to log into the Iberia site. Sign in with my frequent flyer number. Choose a seat and get a QR code on my email.
The rest was just as easy as open the image sent on my email and scan it on the airport to pass security and board the plane.
I have to say that I've felt the geek side of me rejoice with it. Sadly this method is still not yet adopted by most of the passengers. In fact I don't recall anyone else using it nearby me.
Hopefully the use of smartphones will keep on growing and more services like this would be showing up.
And to make more geekier this entry on my blog I decided to write it from the Blogger application of my Android :)

6 Years later

2011-04-04T12:19:00.004+02:00

So yes, it’s been a while again.

It's nice to see this blog and my previous post as a time-back machine. 6 years ago before the whole mobility and cloud explosion I began wondering what the future of the online world would be. Back then I had the idea that sooner or later end user Operating Systems would be committed to an intensive diet. And on my opinion looks like I was looking on the right direction.

Maybe the already fat ones haven't slimmed down much. But we have a new breed of systems where the main action occurs backstage. On the cloud... yes the buzz word of the moment. The best example of it is the Chrome OS. A system born on a minimalistic approach where the Internet and the online services are the main providers of the potential of the world I imagined 6 years ago.

These internet based systems are trying to take our gadgets outside our desks and homes. We have gone already a long way with Androids and iOS's but I believe we haven't yet seen everything. There are some barriers we still have to surpass and one is the availability of a data network with enough coverage and that is capable of handling the load. To get to this not-so-far-away-future it is necessary that the service providers realize the existence of this whole world of opportunities. But also it is necessary visionaries that see a business providing and expanding the offer of content, tools and services.

There are some that have seen it…

I think I did.

So...its been a while

2005-02-01T14:03:00.001+01:00

Its been a while since my last post. But considering I have almost none readers it doesnt concern me that much.

Im not a terrific writer, specialy in english, but at least i try. The reason for this post? who knows!

Well the semester at the university its almost done, this week its the most stressing, time and nervs consumer of the semester, but when its over it worth it.

Im really going to try to post more often, even for me to practice my english or to recreate myself or anyone who (can't find a reason) reaches this blog. About what I will write? we'll see. For now what steps my mind after some /.ting is: "Google To World Domination". In my vision of what future may be the OS and the internet will be fused together so everything we will have to care about its what browser to use, because every tool, program, game will be hosted in the internet. So all we will need its a great broadband connection and a good browser/OS to link us to all that.

but who knows !!
Not much to do, but wait or make it happend.

till later.

En Blanco!

2004-11-30T19:53:00.000+01:00

ok no he actualizado este blog porq no tengo la mas remota idea de que escribir aqui
hmm cuando le consiga una utilidad a esto la acutalizaré...

mean while....

Brand New Blog :)

2004-11-23T15:34:00.000+01:00

Well this is the begining of... hmm i dont know really but well see ;)

planned	MUST		basic / 06	The server MUST implement at least 2 priority levels for basic messages, where priorities 0-4 and 5-9 are treated as two distinct levels.
doesn't	MAY		basic / 07	The server MAY implement up to 10 priority levels.