J's Blog

iOS 7 Arrives September 18th, Is Your Enterprise Ready?

2013-09-12T10:27:00.001-05:00

Photo Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

This week, Apple announced that iOS 7 will be available as a free update on Sept. 18. We’ve been anxiously anticipating this release because we’re excited about all of the enterprise opportunities that the update will enable. For once, Apple is targeting enterprises with its devices – and for good reason, since the BYOD trend has been in full force for some time now.

As Sept. 18 quickly approaches, enterprises need to be prepared for how the changes will impact day-to-day operations, based on the apps they have deployed and the apps their employees use. When determining if you’re prepared for the update, it will be critical to consider these three stages of enterprise iOS 7 readiness:

Compatibility. With each new iOS release there are some levels of changes to API, where features become deprecated or change in the way they function. With iOS 7, we’ve seen that there are customer apps with certain functionality that should be addressed, or code that needs to be updated so the app will runs as expected. A core readiness aspect for iOS 7, and for any application update is making sure there is compatibility from a run and maintain perspective.
Design. This is far deeper than aesthetic changes to the presentation layer. Apple’s reimagining of how some of the native UI widgets are presented could have significant impact on how an app is rendered. This design shift creates the opportunity for businesses to rethink the user interface and move from a skeuomorphic model, which is when the design paradigm is modeled after real-world experiences, to a flat or content-centric design. Since most consumers have caught up to the learning curve on how to use mobile devices, it’s not necessary to model it after real-world experiences. In advance of iOS 7 on Sept. 18, Solstice and our clients have been rethinking the user experience and navigation for existing apps. User experience and design are equally critical in both consumer facing and workplace productivity apps to drive and maintain user engagement.
Security and contextual awareness. This is the real game-changing business value aspect of iOS 7 readiness. There are two main security features for iOS 7 – one is support for enterprise single sign-on. This allows an employee in an enterprise environment to sign into a corporate app one time, and enable those credentials to be carried over to other apps. This eliminates the need for employees to sign in over and over, which is a pain point today for large enterprises with corporate apps.

Yesterday, Apple confirmed the oft-rumored integration of biometric fingerprint scanning, enabling the user to sign in to a locked iOS device and process transactions through iTunes and the App Store. This represents a big step forward in device security and could create more opportunities in the future for enterprise application. The feature, TouchID, adds a new layer of user authentication. For now, the security feature is limited to the OS, by storing and authenticating the user’s fingerprint locally on a portion of the A7 chip. Only time will tell if this will be made available to apps in the future through special API’s. The more we can lessen the barrier of entry to apps, while increasing the security features, the better user experience we’ll enable, leading to more adoption and higher conversions.

Additionally, enterprises are now ready to take the next step in the computing revolution, contextual computing. Contextual awareness is about presenting the user with information based on their physical environment and known factors from previous behaviors. As apps become smarter at proactively providing the user with information, without them requesting it, the more powerful those apps will become and the greater utility they can provide. iOS 7 includes features for enterprises to integrate a level of contextual awareness to improve the user experience.

In June 2013, Appleupdated its developer website to note a 93 percent adoption rate of iOS 6 on iPhone, and 83 percent on iPad. This is far greater than the number of users that have adopted the most current version of Android’s mobile operating system. With similarly high numbers of iOS 7 upgrades expected, enterprises can’t afford to offer outdated apps to consumers who are ready for the next big thing.

When it comes to iOS 7 readiness, in which stage would you place your enterprise?

Microsoft Shouldn't Have Bought Nokia, They Should've Bought Tiffany and Co.

2013-09-04T08:18:00.001-05:00

Microsoft's announcement of their purchase of Nokia should come as no surprise. As mobile matures it's clear that an integrated hardware and software experience will ultimately win the handset game. Google realized this last year with their purchase of Motorola Mobility. The question is, is Microsoft too late?

For the handset, they might be. Don't get me wrong, handsets will continue to evolve and there will be an ability to differentiate, for a little while. As time goes on, we will see improvements in screen/projection technologies, battery life, 3-D gesture controls and a myriad of additional sensor technologies to further improve the contextual experience. But the hardware (and OS) manufacturers have entered into an era of leapfrog that will continue for the foreseeable future.

The open frontier; however, is in wearable computers (or wearables). Wearables are purpose-built devices that can augment our physical reality with contextual information and/or quantify our bodies, our actions and our environments. Google has put a stake in the ground with Glass; Nike, FitBit, BodyMedia and many others are attacking the quantified self; and we're about to see a myriad of smart watches hit the market. But I believe all of these technologies are still (and will continue) to hover in early-adopter status. So how will they get to the mainstream?

It's an interesting question and I strongly feel it is not one of technology but of the holistic physical, real-world, user experience. In other words, it's going to be about fashion, not functionality.

My wife is anything but an early-adopter; but she's been on a work-out kick and has fallen in love with the concept of the "quantified self". In fact I once caught her sporting a BodyMedia armband, a Nike Fuel Band and a Garmin heart rate monitor before she went out for a morning jog.

We both laughed at how ridiculous she looked; but she was genuinely interested in determining which technology was the most accurate and helpful. At the end of her tests, she felt they all pretty much gave her the core information she needed to track her fitness, albeit with slightly different measurements. So which was the device she ended up choosing for every day use? The BodyMedia armband. I was floored. "But the Nike FuelBand looks so much cooler!" Her response, "But I can hide the BodyMedia arm band under my shirt, I like to wear nice things on my wrist."

This was an eye-opener for me. For her, it really wasn't a question of, "does this device improve my daily life" but rather, "does this device improve my daily life without making me look like a cyborg or a hospital patient." I get it. In my case, I like wearing a watch because I genuinely enjoy the look of nice watches. So I have my watch on my left wrist and my Fuel Band on my right. This is not ideal and sometimes I feel like I'm walking around with mismatched handcuffs.

This is where wearable manufacturers (and Microsoft) should focus. Sensor technology is quickly becoming commoditized. The real difference will be in how people feel wearing the device; their overall user experience. Google Glass has it's place in the enterprise, but it will never catch on with consumers until it's (at least almost) as stylish as the most recent pair of Ralph Lauren frames. Smart watches will never take off in the mainstream until people can continue to make an individual fashionable statement while wearing them.

So maybe Apple's next move should be in an investment in Piaget and Google's should buy Rolex. To that end, Microsoft could leapfrog the competition by buying Tiffany and Co. and integrating wearable technology into their earrings and bracelets instead of playing catch up using Nokia's handset business. If I had a few billion dollars in the bank, and I wanted to get ahead, this is probably where I'd put my money.

Feeding The Innovation Culture — Practicing What We Preach

2013-08-13T15:29:00.000-05:00

I credit a lot of our success over the past twelve years to following the mantra of “practice what you preach.” When it comes to enterprise innovation—we believe innovation is best achieved when it's practiced. To that end, we have spent the past few months expanding on an internal initiative to build a scalable innovation platform for our own business. Utilizing emerging technologies like contextual awareness, the internet of things and natural user interfaces we've created our very own "Smart Office".

The mission of Smart Office is two-fold: increase workplace productivity for our employees and optimize the guest experience for the many clients and visitors we have in the Solstice office. It enhances the user experience by enabling a set of contextual features that extend our Google Apps collaboration platform with internet connected sensors, custom GAE services and iOS and Android smartphone apps.

Smart Conference Rooms

Quickly view which rooms
around you are available

See who's in a meeting and whether
they are in or out of the office

Smart Office contextually enables our conference rooms with connected-device motion sensors and cameras. Employees can quickly see which conferences rooms are booked, empty or occupied. It's a great way for folks to find a room for impromptu meetings, without having to circle the floors. Employees can also book an open room with one tap from the Smart Office app. Attendees can see profiles of who's in the room and take pictures of whiteboards with mounted internet-enabled cameras. Pictures are also automatically taken at the end of every meeting and emailed to meeting organizers.

Smart Office Supplies
Employees can reorder supplies by snapping contextual QR codes around the office: from office supplies, to coffee to requesting a "fridge purge".

Smart Directory

See a listing of everyone at the firm
and if they're in or out of the office

View profiles of individuals
including skills, projects and interests

The Smart Office Directory provides contact details and skill sets of all members of the firm. It also lets employees quickly identify each other’s location—whether they are in the office, near the office, or out of the office. Through the use of low energy Bluetooth iBeacons, it also let's folks know which floor someone is on, in case they need to track them down for a quick conversation (face-to-face is the primary communication vehicle for folks here at Solstice).

A Smarter Guest Experience
Guests are sent a link to download Smart Office the day before their meeting at Solstice. The guest can view details about their meeting, logistical information and have the ability to integrate their LinkedIn profile.

We've also created contextual displays in our lobby that show personalized content based on the guest's interest (i.e. industry specific case studies). A guest can navigate the content utilizing three-dimensional gestures (Minority Report style!) via the integrated Leap Motion Sensor.

Our engineering and design teams have had a great time building Smart Office, and we’ll continue to execute on a well-defined backlog of future innovations to further enhance the in-office experience for our employees and guests.

Look for more updates on how Smart Office continues to evolve. If you'd like to learn more about the platform or how contextual technologies could apply to your organization, feel free to contact us.

Mobile App Privacy: Value Must Be Greater Than Risk

2013-06-08T07:46:00.001-05:00

Contextual awareness is about linking changes in a user's environment with an app, enabling our smartphones to communicate relevant information to us before we even ask for it. Apps achieve context by having access to information about our environment (i.e. our location, the speed we're traveling, the sounds around us, the direction we're pointing, what we're looking at, etc.)

One of the most common questions I get about contextual apps is, "How does privacy play into all of this?" Are people really going to want to share information about their current surroundings? The answer is yes, if they feel it's worth it.

Before recommending a contextual approach for our projects, we'll try to answer the following question: Is the value the user is getting from this feature greater than the risk they are taking by sharing their context with the app? This is somewhat subjective, as different users will place a differing amount of value on app features; and some may be more risk adverse than others. But it's a good perspective to consider when determining if a contextual feature is worth investing in.

For example, I'm a Square Wallet user. Craig and Joy, the couple that own the amazing Next Stop Coffee Shop at the Glen Ellyn train station, use Square Register to collect payments. Every morning, I walk up to Craig, order my coffee and walk away without ever taking my wallet or my phone out of my pocket. The pictures below are what I see vs. what he sees.

What I See

What Craig Sees

Square works because it knows my location, knows Craig's location and allows us to make the transaction without having to exchange physical currency. Is Square tracking my location? Yes. They are also storing my picture and my credit card info. I am taking a conscious risk providing them with this information. Someone could hack into Square and get a lot of information about me. But it's worth the risk to me, because I trust that Square has good security measures in place and I like not having to take my wallet (or phone) out of my pocket to buy my coffee every morning.

Having said that, I'm not comfortable letting every app track my location; or send me push notifications; or access my camera. That's why phones allow you to grant specific permissions on an app-by-app basis. Sometimes value is greater than risk, sometimes it isn't. At the end of the day, the user must be able to control what an app is allowed to collect, store and share. Given users' variable risk tolerance, apps must be smart enough to work with and without contextual information.

In the employee/enterprise use cases however; the risk is very low. In most cases, the user already trusts the application's owner because they work for the company supplying the app. There are many value-added workforce productivity use cases where we can leverage a user's context to push information to them without requiring them to ask for it; particularly for field service workers, maintenance staff, outside sales reps and point-of-service personnel.

The paradigm shift of contextual awareness is incredibly powerful and offers a new way of thinking about human-computer-interaction. While we embark on this new paradigm we must consider that privacy is not an all-or-nothing proposition. It is an individual choice that the user must be empowered to make.

Don't Let BYOD Stifle Enterprise Innovation

2013-04-11T11:26:00.002-05:00

BYOD has gotten a lot of positive press, often highlighting the decreased costs associated with allowing employees to bring their personal mobile devices into the workplace. It makes sense when we use mobile devices to access common enterprise services like mail, contacts and calendar; but beyond that, things start to get challenging.

Mobile devices are already being used for much more than email. About half of Solstice's business is redefining/transforming our clients' internal business processes to leverage the contextual power of mobile. That means we're writing custom software for the mobile platform, many times replacing (or at a minimum, augmenting) current web-based assets.

This is where BYOD becomes a bit of a problem. Having to support a myriad of different devices for internal use becomes expensive. And as much as the HTML5 pundits would like to claim you can write once and run everywhere; developing HTML5 apps is not the holy grail. There still is a significant overhead cost in tweaking code for different OSs, testing across different OS versions and supporting users on different platforms. Also the HTML5 experience is not as good as the native experience, it's just not; and if the app you are building requires a differentiating user experience then native should be in the mix. BYOD makes native development much more costly.

Folks often cite BYOD as the solution to carrying both a personal and a work device. The reason folks carried around two devices a couple years ago, is they didn't want to use a crappy corporate assigned Blackberry in their personal lives. If companies give their employees a modern Android or iDevice, chances are MOST of them will be happy with using that single device. That means companies would need to be willing to personally enable corporate devices; which most MDMs support.

I'm not claiming you should throw out your BYOD strategy, but don't let it be a roadblock to innovating internally. Many of your core enterprise systems will be ported to smartphone/tablet OSs in the next 12-24 months. You need to acknowledge and get ahead of that.

Mobile in the enterprise isn't a one-size-fits-all approach. Consider a hybrid strategy, where (for example) you support BYOD email for the organization at large, but standardize on a corporate device for departments that are using mobile as a competitive advantage (i.e. front office, field service, point of service workers, etc.). The cost of the hardware/data/maintenance will likely be less than the software costs of supporting multiple platforms in the long run. With access to native technologies behind the firewall, you can also take advantage of the significant returns contextual technologies and native experiences can produce for your organization.

As always, alternative view points in the comments below are welcome.

-J

Enterprise Mobile Innovation: Bullets over Cannonballs

2013-03-20T15:13:00.001-05:00

We are in the midst of an enterprise software re-platforming; not unlike the move from mainframe to client-server applications; or from client-server to web applications. Contextual-aware devices with natural user interfaces are going to dramatically change the way we work over the next few years. This can be daunting to CIOs and enterprise application owners, but it doesn't have to be.

When asked "where to get started" an initial lightweight mobile strategy (think weeks not months) should be put in place to highlight where the mobile moments are in the business, as well as what the underlying architecture of the mobile channel should look like. This is not too incredulous of a task. Many patterns have been identified and proven, it's a matter of picking the right ones for your organization.

But on the heels of that strategy, it's time to get started. And getting started doesn't necessarily mean "boiling the ocean" or re-platforming the entire enterprise in one foul swoop. It also doesn't mean firing a "me too" app out into the app store and claiming "we're mobile!". It means, as a stakeholder, it is your responsibility to aim carefully and take a shot at redefining how a portion of your business operates. I like the analogy of starting with a few well-aimed bullets vs. firing a massive cannonball at your mobile transformation. The following diagram illustrates one approach to identify game changing opportunities in your organization.

The items on the left are examples of corporate strategic initiatives: Improving the supply chain; Shortening the order-to-cash process; Increasing sales to current customers, etc. These are not technology initiatives, they are business initiatives that have been outlined by your board, your executive committee or your CEO.

The items in the middle are a quick inventory of the enterprise technology assets you already have and that you plan to continue to expand in the foreseeable future. These are investments you have already made in your organization and you are going to USE them and collect on some dividends!

The items on the right (Contextual Awareness platforms, Internet of Things platforms, Natural User Interfaces) are some examples of innovative and emerging technologies that can help you "change the game" for your organization or industry. These technologies are fundamentally changing how humans interact with computers and they have (and will continue) to disrupt industries.

The next step is to connect the dots, starting at the left and branching off to the right, figuring out which bullet to fire first. Identify how you can solve the corporate strategic initiatives by delivering existing enterprise technologies in new and more meaningful ways.

One, well aimed bullet can change the game for an organization or industry. Companies like Uber and Square have completely disrupted their respective industries (taxi cabs and cash registers) by taking advantage of the contextual capabilities of mobile. It's your turn to make the same impact in your industry. It's time to take the shot.

-J

Skate To Where The Puck Is Going To Be

2013-02-15T09:18:00.000-06:00

"I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it's been" - Wayne Gretzky

When investing in the digital channel, businesses need to consider investing in the mobile channel first, and the big browser second (vs. the historic view point of the other way around). Customers and employees are picking up their mobile devices first, when they want information or an answer to a question. If they can't conveniently get that information from their smartphones and tablets, they are retreating to legacy desktops and laptops for their information. In other words, mobile is becoming the user's "first screen". This change in human behavior parallels the rise in smartphone and tablet adoption (now over 51%). Mobile is fundamentally changing how the human race receives information. While the PC Revolution brought computing power to 100s of millions of people, the Contextual Revolution will bring that same power to billions. The big browser still has a very important role in human information consumption, but it should be in support of the mobile channel experience, vs. the other way around.

"We understand that the new rule is mobile first. Mobile first in everything. Mobile first in terms of applications. Most first in terms of the way people use things. And it means … that we have a role now to inform, to educate through all these devices." - Eric Schmidt, Google

Enterprise Contextual Computing: From Google Now to Enterprise Now!

2013-01-22T05:05:00.005-06:00

Over the last 30 years, our society has been on a technological journey:

If I had to put my finger on where we are on this journey, I'd say we're somewhere between the tail-end of Mobile Computing and the beginning of Contextual Computing. Contextual Computing is computing in context of a user's environment. More specifically, it's linking changes in a user's environment with a computer system or app, making it more convenient to interact with. As sensors in our phones and other connected devices around us become more prevalent, we can infer more about a user's context, things such as: location, motion, direction, sound, visual cues (image recognition), weather, traffic, previous user behavior, social preferences and of course, time.

All of this information can be used to provide more valuable information about what information a user might want to know right now. This allows us to start complementing the traditional mobile computing pull mechanism, "Please answer my question" to more of a push mechanism, "Proactively tell me information that is relevant to me right now".

We often hear lots of cool contextual computing examples in the consumer context:

Wake me up early if it snowed last night
Suggest I leave for my next meeting sooner if there is lots of traffic
Turn down the temperature in my house to save energy if I have not been there awhile

Technologies such as Google now are enabling this (and also why my next phone will be an Android). But what about at work? I think there are actually more enterprise opportunities than consumer opportunities.

Contextual computing allows us to improve business processes and streamline workflows based on knowledge of a user's environment and their past behaviors. Here are a few examples.

Field Service: tell me my relevant work orders based on my geo-fenced location
MRO: proactively tell me about specific products that I need to reorder based on what store I am currently in and past purchase history
Smart Office: show me quickly which conference rooms are currently unoccupied (physically, not by calendar) for the impromptu meeting/conversation I need to have
Project Management: bring up relevant past action items/to dos (across all my meetings) based on who is in the room with me right now
Financial Advisor: while I'm out visiting clients, show me relevant financial news based on which customer's office I am in and their portfolio's current holdings
Government: optimize snow removal routes based on snow fall levels, past plow patterns (of the entire fleet) and current traffic
Healthcare: Remind me (patient) to take my pills when I get home. Tell me (doctor) if my patient hasn't refilled his prescription in the required timeframe

These are just a handful of ideas but the opportunities are everywhere, across every industry and every line of business within those industries. The real power of mobile is just starting to be tapped as we enter the era of contextual computing. Thankfully, the technology required to power these opportunities is available today, and we don't have to use Google Now. We can build these services right into the enterprise data center; in fact we're already implementing many of these solutions.

I'll talk more about ubiquitous computing concepts as time goes on, as the realization of that era is not far off; but for now, let's focus on unlocking the power of our enterprise mobile channel by utilizing all the great information available about our users' environment. Let's create Enterprise Now!

Let The Product Lead

2013-01-21T17:02:00.001-06:00

In Agile project delivery, there is an important principle referred to as "Let The Product Lead".

That means we set personal agendas aside, to ensure that every action we take is in the best interest of the Product. We defer to the Product's needs over our own career agenda, our department's political agenda and (as a service provider) our company's financial agenda. Let me give you some examples.

A friend recently told me about an mCommerce project which needed to include analytics in their application. John, the IT lead, insisted on leveraging a home-grown system they had developed to capture user/performance analytics. Freely available analytics packages were actually more comprehensive than the home-grown solution John's team had developed, but John wanted to use the home-grown framework because it helped solidify IT's role in the project. Although this was in the best interest of John's team, this was not in the best interest of the Product. As a result, the Product suffered over time, because it didn't deliver the comprehensive feedback the Product Owner needed to help guide the Product's maturation.

In another example; we had a project awhile back where a strong Product Owner (PO) wasn't identified by our customer. Instead they assigned the role to Tim, who was not familiar with the PO role. Instead of taking responsibility of coaching Tim, we offered up one of our own POs to fill the role. This was not effective for the long term; since ultimately, the PO needs to have a communication line to executive leadership to guide The Product effectively. Although providing a temporary PO in the short term served our needs for the project, it did not serve the needs of The Product. That was a bad decision on our part. We didn't let The Product lead.

Large enterprise projects often require the involvement from many different parts of an organization. It's important that when working on a project we all have a common understanding of the Product's goals and align our actions with those goals. Doing so will ensure more successful projects and ultimately, a happier work environment.

Responsive Web Design - Not The Holy Grail

2012-12-28T06:24:00.000-06:00

Responsive Web Design (RWD) is increasingly becoming legacy web designers' answer to solving usability for mobile devices. While responsive design may make sense in some instances, in a majority of cases, it simply doesn't.

First a quick Wikipedia explanation of Responsive Web Design:

Responsive Web Design indicates that a web site is crafted to use fluid proportion-based grids, to adapt the layout to the viewing environment, and also use flexible images. As a result, users across a broad range of devices and browsers will have access to a single source of content, laid out so as to be easy to read and navigate with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling.

This sounds great in theory. A single front end code base to cover all screen sizes: big browser, tablet and smartphone. This paradigm may work well for content-focused sites (i.e. a marketing campaign landing page or a blog) but it's applicability doesn't extend much beyond that.

Think Tasks Not Content

Most sites aren't made to simply consume content; they provide self-service capabilities, user and social interactions and integrated feedback mechanisms. In these cases RWD patterns fall down. The tasks users expect to complete in the mobile channel will often be decidedly different than in the big browser. Users are often looking to do a subset of their normal tasks on a mobile device, or a different set of (mobile only) tasks all together. They will also expect to perform these tasks in a more streamlined manner. Responsive Web Design may address changes in page layout but it doesn't address significant changes in a site's information architecture, or the workflow a user may follow to perform a particular function. Take a look at the difference in American Airlines big browser and mobile web layouts for example:

The design of the mobile site (information architecture, features and workflow) are considerably different than the big browser site. Even the tasks are different (i.e. Mobile Boarding Pass). RWD only addresses a small part of this equation. Using a RWD pattern in this case would actually require quite a bit more development than managing separate front-end code bases for the two channels.

The Native App Channel

Responsive Web Design patterns also do not effectively address the native app equation. Whether or not a company is looking to invest in native apps now, eventually they will need to. If they want to save money, companies need to think about native apps while they are laying down the architecture for their mobile web channel.

The best way to lay the groundwork for native is by building a mobile site that utilizes an ajax-enabled mobile web framework (i.e. JQuery Mobile or Sencha Touch) that integrates with back-end content and services via web services (typically JSON). Sites that utilize an asynchronous web service interaction model can reuse their mobile web services in the native channel. This gives you the flexibility to build fully native applications in the future without incurring additional server-side development cost. This pattern also sets the stage for integration with future human-computer interfaces like augmented reality devices and the internet of things.

There is a place for RWD, but its functions are limited to content-focused sites. Arguably, even in those cases the cost savings will quickly diminish as the features and user experience of the two different channels inevitably diverge.

Be careful of web designers pedaling legacy web techniques to solve future platform problems. We need to utilize next generation patterns and technologies to take advantage of next generation opportunities.

J's Interview on the Future of Enterprise Mobility

2012-12-21T10:31:00.000-06:00

I had a chance to sit down with CEO Intronet last week and chat about the future of mobility. Here's a video of the conversation.

Feel free to let me know your thoughts on what the future holds for enterprise mobility in the comments below.
-J

From Smart Phone to Smart Office

2012-12-10T07:14:00.000-06:00

Mobile computing goes further than smartphones and tablets. At Solstice Mobile, we think about more than the device delivering content. We consider where the device is being used, what kind of content is being delivered, what other actions are in play when content is being accessed/delivered, and how the surrounding physical environment should inform the experience. Here at Solstice Mobile, we talk about contextual computing.

Contextual computing is about computing in the physical world, away from the desk, in ways that make our live's more efficient and enjoyable. Sometimes that computing task is facilitated via a smartphone or a tablet, but not always. Sometimes it is facilitated by something connected to the Internet of Things: Like a WiFi enabled digital pen, or an I-Pass reader on the tollway; or a Speedpass at a McDonald's cash register; or a redbox kiosk; or a Nest thermostat. Mobile is about computing in context of who you are, where you are and most importantly, how you want to interact with our global, interconnected, eco-system.

Outside of our client projects, we're starting to incorporate these concepts into our offices in Chicago's Haymarket Square with our Smartoffice Program. Our innovation roadmap already includes:

Wireless video streaming of any laptop, smartphone or tablet to any flat panel display in the office.
Live Tweets of what conference rooms are open/occupied
Status of what in-suite bathrooms are available (seems odd, I know, but there is some quantifiable opportunity for operational efficiency here)
Installation of smartphone enabled/lockable thermostats (a useful enhancement to correct one of the few downsides of having our offices in a 100+ year old timber loft building, we mess with the thermostat a lot, too much in some cases)
Contextual QR Code scans around the office to trigger reorder requests for printer paper, paper towels, office supplies, food, beverages and the like
A Stinky Fridge Button (button near the fridge, when pressed, sends out a floor-wide email notification of an impeding 48 hour fridge dump)
Conference room body motion sensors to allow for 3D gesture control of any video streamed apps (CNN style)

These are a just a few of the initial low-hanging fruit ideas we'll be incorporating in the coming months. Got any other ideas for our Smart Office program? We'd love to hear them in the comments below.

-J

A Daily Splash of Star Talent

2012-10-30T07:58:00.000-05:00

I was fortunate enough to have a recent article picked up in the Sun Times' Daily Splash. The piece focused on our involvement with the excellent local NFP, i.c. stars. Since 1999, i.c.stars has been identifying, training and jump-starting technology careers for Chicago-area low-income young adults who demonstrate extraordinary potential for success. The program puts talented young adults through three-month technology boot camps, while partnering with Chicago tech firms to provide real-world experience.

We've been a sponsor of i.c. stars for a number of years and, thanks to our continued growth, have been able to increase our involvement with the organization. A couple stars, Lance Andrews and Alphonso Scales recently partnered with our team to complete a mobile project for the State of Illinois. They have now moved on to work on the next release of our MiTeam app. As they work through their internship they are coming up to speed quickly on next-generation HTML5 technologies and have been a great addition to our team.

It's been a great partnership with the stars. The leadership team over there are really making a difference and we wish them continued success. Their upcoming TechBash event is always a great time, if you haven't been to one, you should check it out.

-J

The Pizza Button, Nest Thermostats and the Internet of Things

2012-10-02T21:20:00.001-05:00

Did you know somewhere in the world, there is a magnet on someone's fridge, and when they press it, a pizza arrives at their door 30 minutes later?

Neither did I until I attended trendwatching.com's Consumer Trend Watching seminar today at the Sax Hotel in Chicago. Henry Mason unleashed a firehose of information on consumer trends. Here's one of his nuggets that I'm lining up behind.

There is a relatively new concept called the Internet of Things. The idea is with the pervasiveness of Wi-Fi, Cellular networks, Bluetooth and NFC, many of ordinarily offline devices can now be online, and therefore, smarter.

The Nest Thermostat is a great example. Developed by the same guy that designed the iPod, Nest is a thermostat that connects to the internet to pick up local weather patterns, and combines that information with your coming-and-going patterns to lower your heating and cooling bills. It also looks sweet.

At last week's GigaOM Mobilize conference there was an entire session on the 'Connected Car Experience'. A myriad of use cases were given; such as your car running over a pothole and automatically sending a message to the Streets and Sanitation Department with the precise GPS location they need to ignore (I kid, I kid).

Rich Miner talked about a prototype being developed of an Android computer in the shape of a lightbulb that could screw into any lamp; and project the "screen" onto the surface below the lamp.

So what does this all mean? Mobile is more than smartphones and tablets. It's anywhere, everywhere computing. It's living in a world of connected devices; devices on us and around us. It's technology that is truly ubiquitous. As Mark Weiser so eloquently stated (almost 25 years ago):

"The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it."

We're almost there, Mark. Oh and that Pizza button thing? It's for real. . . and I want one.

Hold on to your hats folks, this mobile party is just getting started.

The 10 Commandments For Building Enterprise Mobile Apps

2012-06-26T06:14:00.000-05:00

Mobile projects are different than your typical software development projects. Time-to-market is often key as well as the necessity to pivot in this quickly moving space. Here are some of the commandments we follow. There are others, but these are my Top 10. Feel free to let others know which commandments you follow in the comments below.

1) Run it Agile
This isn't the time for heavy documentation and lots of sign offs. You need to document only what the team needs, build, and then document the rest later (you'll be amazed at how accurate the documentation is when you take this approach). Execute tight iterative development in lockstep with an ongoing quality assurance effort. Demo to the business as often as reasonably possible. Retrospect at the end of each sprint and continuously improve your process.

2) Fund It Iteratively
Mobile adoption varies depending on the industry and the consumer/employee base. So don't boil the ocean on the first release. Figure out your team structure/run rate and fund a 3 month effort. Start with a tight discovery/planning phase, move into 2 months of development sprints and then get that app out the door. In the third month continue to build features, pivoting based on user feedback. Based on adoption, fund additional sprints if it's warranted. Don't be afraid to stop and wait and see what happens after month 3. You can always get the band back together later.

3) Don't Skimp on Analytics
You need to know what is being used and what isn't in your app. Use Google Analytics or Flurry (at a minimum) to capture click-throughs and real-time usage. Analyze usage weekly. Create custom reports to get the KPIs that will determine if you want to continue to fund development or not. Collect server-side performance analytics as well. Correlate the two if possible. Send crash logs when the app crashes. This does not happen by default. You need to know what's going on in these disconnected devices.

4) Include In-App Feedback Mechanisms and Request App Store Reviews
If you don't include an in-app Feedback mechanism (which takes a couple hours to plug in), then all of your negative feedback will be filed into app store reviews. Give your users an outlet. You want the negative press flowing to you, not to the public.

For your most active users (see Analytics above) present them with a request to leave an external review in the app store. You want that positive feedback flowing into the App Store for all to see!

5) Integrate OAuth for Authentication
OAuth has matured as a viable enterprise capability and is a valuable addition for customer-facing applications. Allowing authorization with public login services (i.e. Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter) eases the burden on end users and increases app utilization.

For employee facing apps, exposing your own OAuth service can allow single-sign-on capability between native mobile apps. This is a huge value add for efficiency and productivity.

6) Continuously Build and Deploy
Build the app utilizing a continuous build environment. Incorporate code-quality checking and automated testing. Have app deployment to test users/devices incorporated into the build process. This will greatly speed up your development effort.

7) Performance First
Build with a performance first mindset. Small network payloads, lots of caching and optimize, optimize, optimize that client code. Nothing kills the UX faster than a crappy, slow app.

8) Get an Artist on the Team
Hire a real designer! Please don't let your developers design your app with out of the box widgets, or by pasting bits of stuff together they find on StackOverflow. Mobile is meant to be a beautiful, joyful experience. Developers are not beautiful or joyful. Designers are.

9) Test on Physical Test Devices
Given the fragmentation in the market, testing on mobile is a pain. First determine what OS and OS levels you want to support. Procure test devices that covers each of your supported OS levels. Test on all of them, early and often. Use emulators or services like Device Anywhere to cover other popular devices. You will not be able to test on them all, but you can hammer out most of the bugs with this approach.

10) Leave Time for Your API Gateway
Whether you take advantage of a packaged API Gateway's capabilities, like Layer 7, or build a gateway with your existing web/middleware, do not underestimate the time it will take to deploy public-facing web services in a scalable and secure manner. Design an architecture that supports stateless services (scales better) and standardize on JSON REST over HTTP as the desired protocol. Avoid SOAP, JSON is much more mobile-friendly due to it's lightweight payload and the abundance of mobile client-side frameworks for it.

Those are our top 10. They are so important to us, in fact, that we've built patent-pending systems that automate a majority of these tasks for us. Give us a call if you'd like to learn more. Thanks for reading.

The New Way To Turn The Page

2012-05-02T06:15:00.000-05:00

http://bit.ly/KLGP6T

I came across this picture on Flickr the other day. It was a great picture and I found the elderly woman's quote to be insightful on many different levels.

As technologists, I feel we are in the midst of turning the next page in personal computing. Why? Touch. Touch is the new form of human-computer-interaction, and it holds the potential to move our society forward faster than any other computing paradigm in history. Touch is intuitive and does not need to be taught. It is agnostic of age, education level and in many cases, is agnostic of disability.

http://bit.ly/JoBI6P

Touch provides us the opportunity to expose information and computing services to those who never received formal training on a computer. Touch will accelerate the educational process for our young children (I've witnessed this first hand with my kids). Touch will innately improve business processes and open up the opportunity for those with disabilities to contribute to and facilitate new business processes.

Mobile is much more than, "cool" or "sexy" or "disruptive". It's transformational. It will inevitably allow us to provide opportunities to many that never existed before. As technologists, it is not often that we are presented with an opportunity to drive so much change and do so much good. Let's make sure we step up to the plate and do it right.

A Promise To David Dimarco

2012-03-21T20:39:00.004-05:00

Update 10/1/2012 - You can now download the MiTeam app on iPhone, Android and the mobile web at www.miteamapp.com
___________________________________________________
My brother-in-law, David Dimarco, passed away this week after a hard fought battle against Mesothelioma. He was an inspiration to me and countless others. I wanted to share what he taught me and the next project we are undertaking in his honor.

David Dimarco was a dreamer. Every time I spoke with Dave the conversation always started the same. First he would ask how I was doing, how the kids were, how Gina was. Then he'd say, “Hey I got an idea. . .” This was followed by a passionate fountain of information about his idea, about how it would change the world in some positive way, about how everyone would buy it and how it would make us both rich.

I always loved talking to Dave for this reason. Just being around him inspired you. Listening to his optimism, his passion and his hope, reminded me of being a kid sitting in my buddy’s treehouse, talking about all the cool things we were going to do when we grew up. There were no barriers back then, no constraints. Just opportunity, Just hope. Just the promise that the future held.

That was the attitude Dave carried with him every day of his life. And it was inspiring.

Here’s a little story about, Dave. My company builds mobile apps and one of them is a wedding app called MiWedding. When Dave heard about it, he immediately latched on to the idea, getting all excited, telling me that it was great, that it was going to transform the wedding industry. One Sunday we were talking and he said, “You’ve got to tell the news stations about this man, they would be all over it, it’s such a great idea.” My skeptical side immediately put this down. “Get on the news? No way man. There’s like 2,000 apps that get released every day. We’re just hoping to get picked up by some blogs. There’s no way we could get on the news.” Dave said, “Watch This.”

Four days later he sent me a link to a Kansas City TV News story. . . .featuring Dave. On Monday he had come up with a patriotic T-Shirt idea, on Tuesday he had the shirts printed, on Wednesday he put up a website. On Thursday he was on the news, talking about the T Shirt. I said, ‘That’s unbelievable!” He told me, “Submit your app to the news.” So I did, and the next morning, the app was covered on NBC News.

David Dimarco inspired people. And his passion was contagious.

One of Dave’s most recent ideas he shared with me was to build an app for little league and high school sports teams. It would communicate practice and game schedules to parents, track stats for the players and could even broadcast games so out of town family members could listen to them. He called the idea, MiTeam. Whenever Dave talked about MiTeam his eyes would get wider. He would start talking faster and we would both start getting excited and brainstorming on different features. But then my pragmatic, pessimistic side would kick in and I'd shake my head. “It’s a great idea and people would love it, they would absolutely use it, but the money is not there. Little leagues don’t have money to pay for something like that. Neither do high schools really. It’s a great idea, but it’s just not a money maker.” I always felt bad for taking the wind out of those conversations, but we have to be practical about these things, don’t we?

No. No we don’t have to be practical about these things. As Dave believed, the real payoff is changing the future. Creating something that people would really love to use, that would make their lives better.

So we’re going to build MiTeam, Dave. And it’s going to be awesome. And we’re going to give it away to everyone for free. And anytime someone uses it, they’re going to first be presented with a picture of you and your kids. The app will provide all the features that you dreamed up, it will have a place where folks can make donations to Mesothelioma charities and it will also have a place where it will tell your story. Cause Dave, you have a great story.

Two days before he passed away, my wife Gina told Dave that we were going to build MiTeam. He was thrilled. She asked him what charity he would want the donations for the app to go to. He said, he wants a portion of it to go to the Dimarco grandkids (there are 23 of them). He asked that every year, on their birthday, they would get $1, from him. Gina and I promise you that we’ll do this, Dave. Every year, your kids and your nieces and nephews will get your dollar. And every year it will remind them to remain positive about the future. To never stop thinking up bold new ideas and to keep pushing even when they hear the words, “it’ll never work.” To hold on to the passion and optimism that we’re all born with. To never stop dreaming.

Thank you, Dave. Thank you for everything you have taught us!

Update 10/1/2012 - You can now download the MiTeam app on iPhone, Android and the mobile web at www.miteamapp.com

Gamification and Vail's Epic App

2012-02-20T16:46:00.002-06:00

I recently spent the weekend skiing in Breckenridge, CO (now owned by Vail Resorts Management Company). Vail recently rolled out a mobile app for their ski resorts utilizing their EpicMix platform. The features of the app are awesome and many of the concepts can be applied to any business' app.

The overarching goal of the app is to track a skiers stats on the slope. Equipped with an RFID-powered lift ticket, a check-in is sent to EpicMix's servers every time a user gets on a ski lift (similar to how a runner's position/time is tracked with racing chips). This allows a user to view stats on their day like how many vertical feet they've skied, which lifts they've ridden, etc. The app also allows you to connect with "friends" so you can track their progress as well (including being able to see where they are on the mountain, a great feature for finding lost friends).

The data in itself is valuable, but how Vail's using the data is really compelling. Vail has introduced "gamification" concepts in their app. Based on activity users can achieve virtual "pins" or awards. Everything from visiting different places on the mountain, to climbing over 10,000 vertical feet, to riding the same lift 3 times in a row. You can see what pins you have earned (and have yet to earn), giving the skier some goals to set for themselves. Pins can be automatically shared on Facebook and Twitter feeds as well, promoting their achievement (and arguably, the resort). Since skiers can connect with friends, a competitive element comes into the app. A user can see their friends' activities and pins and track friends' progress against their own. And guess what? Skiers are competitive.

I asked some locals about their thoughts on the app and a couple things became clear. 1) In many cases, locals were consciously choosing to go to one of the Vail resorts over competing mountains so they could up their "stats" and ensure bragging rights over their friends. 2) Skiers using the app were spending more time on the mountain, padding their stats, going after different pins and arguably, spending more money at break/lunch spots.

The engagement of this platform/app was massive. Signs were everywhere telling people to download the app and check their progress. As an end-user, this was one of the best implementations of mobile I have seen. It genuinely changed our weekend for the better and made it more fun. My family and I set goals every day to break the stats we set the day before. We skied more than we ever had on a trip, and we constantly checked the app for our progress.

Gamification is an incredibly powerful concept. Whether you set up models for users to compete against friends or themselves; by setting goals for achieving virtual or real world awards, a gamification model can significantly increase user engagement. Membership rewards programs have proven this for decades, but mobile makes it possible for data collection to become more passive. Gamification allows your rewards to become less about transactions and more about activity. It creates a stickiness in your app and more importantly, to your brand.

What gamification concepts could be introduced in your favorite mobile apps to further engage users and provide a more fun and compelling experience?

Two Exciting Announcements

2012-01-10T21:35:00.003-06:00

Friends,

I have two exciting announcements to share with you. For the past ten years Solstice Consulting has been focused on helping enterprises embrace emerging technologies. For the first time since our firm's inception, we have found ourselves in the midst of a transformational shift in information technology - Enterprise Mobility. The combination of the intuitive nature of multi-touch interfaces, context-aware smartphones and tablets, the expansion of high speed wireless networks and the proliferation of cloud computing services, has created a new age in human-computer interaction.

Through the adoption of enterprise mobility we have helped companies open new revenue streams, transform their marketing strategies, create new channels of information sharing and even embrace a new definition of the 'workday'. Since I began consulting in the world of emerging technology over 15 years ago, I have never seen a technology have such a rapid and disruptive impact on business as we know it. What's even more exciting? I think it's just getting started.

My first announcement is that going forward, Solstice Consulting will adopt a singular, laser focus on Enterprise Mobility. Over the past 12 months, we have been retooling our current workforce, while doubling its size with an ingestion of the best mobile technology talent in the country. We have formalized our enterprise offering into the following mobile service lines, with deep expertise in each of these channels.

Mobile Enablement Services	Mobile Development Services
Mobile Strategy Mobile Design Mobile Security Mobile Infrastructure	iOS Development Android Development Mobile Web Development Cross Platform Development Mobile Testing & Support

Although we have been working in the enterprise mobility space for several years, we are excited to focus all of our talent and thought leadership in this transformational technology. Also, as Agile is an ingrained part of our culture, we will continue to offer our highly acclaimed Agile Transformation Services.

Our second announcement is just as exciting. Over the years, we have gotten several requests from our clients to help them in a technology staff augmentation capacity. Clients enjoy working with our seasoned engagement managers, all of which come from a deep IT delivery background. They also appreciate our extensive technology community involvement and ability to network and form meaningful relationships with top IT contract talent. As the necessity for experienced, on-demand IT talent continues to increase, we are proud to announce a new Solstice company:

Solstice Workforce is a formalized expansion of Solstice Consulting's ability to mine the top IT talent in the country. SW leverages the entire Solstice physical and virtual social eco-system and utilizes a unique community-driven sourcing approach to mine talent. The service is led by a team of engagement managers with a deep IT delivery background and the best technology talent acquisition team in Chicago. Solstice Workforce offers effective and efficient technology staff augmentation across all engineering and operational IT disciplines.

We're excited about the changes ahead, and I want to thank you for your support and guidance over the years. I am encouraged about the rapid evolution of technology in our industry and look forward to the opportunities it will provide our employees, our clients, our community and our country.

Your Friend,

J

Avoiding Random Acts of Mobility - Forming the Mobility Center of Excellence

2011-12-25T14:11:00.004-06:00

Large organizations are starting to suffer from Random Acts of Mobility. This is when disparate departments in an organization commission the development of an app without talking with one another or a centralized technology group.

The pitfalls of Random Acts of Mobility include increased project costs due to duplicate efforts; increased support costs due to the use of disparate technologies, increased security risks and higher risk of project failures due to each department taking on a pioneering role in the organization.

Depending on the organization, it may be unrealistic to think, at this point, IT can quickly form a team to support all mobility initiatives utilizing a consistent reference architecture and unified support organization. But this shouldn't give the business an excuse to continue down the mobility path firing revolvers into the air; eventually, it's going to catch up to them.

The short-term answer is a Mobility Center of Excellence (MCoE). The MCoE is often a virtual group with representation from Enterprise Architecture, Legal/Compliance, impacted or interested Line of Business folks, Information Security and IT Infrastructrure and App teams. The goal of the group is to start to set some standards around Mobile App Dev Platforms, Mobile Security, App/Server Side Integration, Legal Compliance and App Deployment and Distribution. This group shouldn't hold up business initiatives but empower them. If they don't have all the answers they can at least be aware which direction a project is going to go; and the project team, in turn, will have the foresight to know what may need to be refactored in the future so they build/fund accordingly.

It's not difficult to set up a MCoE, and given the excitement around mobile technologies, it's usually not hard to find volunteers for this virtual group. Once this group is in place, it's also easier to identify what work should be done on the enterprsie level vs. the project level. It also begins to shed some light\justification on what enterprise level capital and expense funding may be required to help facilitate mobile strategy for the organization going forward.

If you have any additional questions or tips on forming a MCoE, feel free to leave them in the comments below or check out our Mobile Strategy service offering.

My Personal Top Ten Business Productivity Apps

2011-11-07T18:01:00.002-06:00

I am always evaluating new apps to help me better manage my day. Here are my favorites that I actually use on a daily basis. Stay tuned for my follow up blog on what common thread makes all of these apps great.

1) Evernote - Evernote is awesome. A free cloud-based note-taking service that has apps on all major smartphone and desktop platforms. Got a PC, an iPad and an Android phone? No problem. Seamlessly syncs notes between everything. Good-bye notebook!

2) Drop Box - If you haven't signed up yet, you're missing the boat! Simple cloud based file-sharing on all platforms. 2GB are free. Awesome collaboration features where you can share folders easily with other Drop Box users.

3) Swackett - Simple free iOS weather program that tells you what to wear in addition to the temp (yeah I need all the help I can get in the morning).

4) CardMunch - Recently bought by LinkedIn. Take a picture of a business card and they'll turn it into an Contact for you. Real people on the other end if their software can't figure it out. Has yet to fail me.

5) Square - Be able to take a credit card payment from anyone. Great party trick or a jaw-dropper when your buddy needs to "pay you back for that cab later". Now has new functionality to open up a "tab" at participating merchants. Very cool.

6) Mint - Financial reporting. Getting rid of Quicken never felt so good. Working on plugging our business into it as well to get some of the great expense reporting features that we can't get out of our accounting system.

7) Ride Metra - If you're a Chicagoan this is the best Metra app I've found.

8) Traffic.com app - Terrible app but you can set up your own drives on traffic.com and they have the most reliable data I've found. One touch access to how wonderful your commute home will be. Worth the hassle of setup.

9) TripIt - Automatically scans your email inbox periodically and generates travel itineraries for you based on confirmation emails from airlines/hotels/travel sites. Brilliant.

10) Siri - Oh Siri, where do I even start? You've changed my world and made me a safer driver in the process.

What other productivity apps rock your world?

Touch Interfaces - A New Age in Human Computer Interaction

2011-10-10T18:04:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I don't think folks realize how big of a transformational event we're going through in IT right now. For the first time in about 25 years, a new human-computer interaction (HCI) model has taken hold. From the evolution of the punch card, to the keyboard, to the mouse; Touch has now taken hold as the next preferred mechanism of HCI. Early adopters are now going to their touch smartphones and tablets "first" when they have a question that needs to be answered. If it's not accessible from their touch based devices, they are then retreating to their keyboard and mouse driven PCs. Smartphones are being brought into the field instead of ruggedized laptops. Tablets are slowly making their way into conference rooms, laboratories, doctors offices, sales meetings and class rooms.

Touch devices are being adopted more rapidly than any other HCI transformational shift in history; namely because the layer of abstraction between the human need and the machine has been steadily decreasing. In each shift, computer interaction has become more intuitive.

Punch cards: Not so much.

Keyboards: Well if you spend a semester learning how to type.

Mice: Kind of intuitive but takes some coordination and practice.

Touch: Boom, no learning curve.

I know how to pinch, zoom, swipe and drag because I do it everyday. Everytime I pick up a piece of paper, turn a page in a book, move an object to the side of my desk or open up a file in a file cabinet. I don't have to learn how to use a touch interface. There is no abstraction between me and the machine.

The intuitiveness of touch is going to open up HCI to every demographic, regardless of education level or age. From 18 month old babies to 95 year old senior citizens, touch just makes sense.

Get ready, because we're just getting started.

Performance Tips for Adobe Flex Mobile Apps

2011-10-04T16:56:00.002-05:00

I just attended a session at Adobe Max given by Evtim Georgiev and Steve Shongrunden on performance tuning mobile Flex apps. Since I'm a performance geek, I thought I'd post the tips here

How to optimize your mobile view rendering

Avoid heavy components
Defer object creation (lazy)
Use BitmapImage instead of Image
Use Group (with a Rectangle) instead of BorderContainer
Reduce nested Groups
Use mobile optimized component skins
Use ConstraintLayout instead of nested VGroup and HGroup

How to increase your Frames Rates

Use cacheAsBitmap on images that don't change often but redraw often
Avoid a lot of nested containers
Use ContentCache class for caching server side data - cache on by default, queue off by default
Use PNG for all images (much faster than jpg/gif)
Use Label over RichText over RichEditableText (Label is a LOT faster than the other two)
StyleableTextField (turn off edit and selection if not needed) - This is used by LabelItemRenderer and IconItemRenderer (can't use directly in MXML)
StyleableStageText - new in 4.6. Use this very responsive editing and scrolling (used by mobile TextINput andTextArea (can't use directly in MXML)
Create ItemRenderes in MXML. Use mobile-optimized IconItemRendererand LabelItemRenderer
Avoid creating heavy ItemRenderers (don't use heavy (text) components. Turn off autoDrawBackground if not needed. Avoid Filters/drop shadows.
Avoid complex binding expressions (i.e. on scrollable content)
Reduce nested Groups

Some other tidbits: Why are Adobe mobile optimized components better?

Use StylableTextField (lightweight layout)
More sophisticated ContentCache
Their configurable (use styles for properties)

What's coming in Flex 4.6?

On demand scrollbars (created when touch interaction starts) - up to 15% faster for list based views
ItemRendererFunction recycles, so now it's mobile friendly
32-bit rendering in Android available, but 16-bit rendering is faster

Feel free to add any other tips in the comments below.

Have You Ever Tried To Tie Your Shoes With One Hand?

2011-09-07T21:01:00.001-05:00

I wanted to let you all know about a 5K run/walk (www.pssweloveyou.com) my wife and I are putting on, at 8:00 AM on September 24th in Glen Ellyn, IL, to benefit Pediatric Stroke Survivors. As many of you may or may not know, pediatric stroke touched our family 2 years ago when our son, Johnny, had a stroke while he was still in the womb. Thankfully, his stroke was relatively mild and thanks to some awesome therapists, he will make a full recovery.

But many kids aren't so lucky. Some babies (1 in 4,000) have had more severe strokes in-utero, or have strokes as kids, which are harder to bounce back from. These kids get some therapy from the state or insurance but it's rarely enough. Our goal is to raise money to give these kids a chance to be "normal" and get them all of the therapy they can handle to be the best they can be. We can tell you first hand that therapy WORKS. It's amazing how the brain can be re-wired and re-trained by qualified therapists. Want to understand some of the challenges a stroke victim has? Try tying your shoes with one hand. Or cutting food with one hand. Therapy will help these kids do the things many of us consider trivial.

I know times are tough out there, but if you have a little extra time or a little extra cash to help these kids, here are some options.

# 1) Volunteer. We can still use some volunteers for the race. This will be about 2 hours of your time and will be a blast. Mainly we need folks to stand at intersections to keep cars at bay while runners come by. Handing out water and pre-race registration/packet pick up are also options. Volunteering will be Saturday morning (9/24) from 7-9 AM and you'll leave feeling like a million bucks, we promise!

#2) Make a donation. EVERY SINGLE DOLLAR WE RAISE is going to a charity called CHASA (chasa.org) whose sole focus is helping pediatric stroke survivors. Their expense ratio is ridiculously low, so if you donate $30, $30 goes to CHASA and ultimately to an hour of therapy for a kid. Even one hour makes a big difference.

#3) Run Forest, Run! (Or Walk!). $25 gets you into the race, an awesome T-shirt, a day-old Einstein Bagel at the finish-line and a warm, good-feeling inside. Nothing makes you feel better than a 30 minute jog, right? Come on out and kick off your Saturday with a brisk fall jog down the beautiful Glen Ellyn Prairie Path. By the way, we already talked to Tom Skilling and he assured us it's not going to rain. :-)

For those of you who are already supporting the P.S.S. 5K, thank you! For those interested you can sign up for #1, #2 or #3 above by clicking the button below. Thanks for reading this and for all your support!

Mobile, the Driver for SOA?

2011-07-22T22:50:00.002-05:00

So SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) was the talk of the town throughout the 2000s, at least by enterprise software vendors. But SOA adoption was more of a pitter patter than a bang.

The first major issue was funding. How do you get the business to buy-off on an enterprise-wide refactor without offering them any real new functionality? Sure you could tout the eventual cost savings and interoperability. But that's a hard argument for CFOs to swallow.

The other issue with SOA adoption was the change management challenge, particularly for large organizations. It's hard to get dozens of development teams (often geographically dispersed) singing the same song to make SOA work right.

But there were some successful SOA adoptions in the last 10 years and the most successful were iterative, not big bang. Meaning that over a period of time, enterprise apps would one-by-one, refactor into a SOA model, exposing reusable services across enterprise apps while they incorporated new functionality for the business.

If you're still trying to get your SOA program kickstarted, mobile could be the catalyst you're looking for. The best enterprise mobile apps aren't writing new business services, but integrating with ones that already exist. And not every feature needs to be refactored, just the ones that make sense in a mobile context (i.e. iterative refactoring).

So as you begin your enterprise mobility initiatives, think of it as a way to kickstart your SOA adoption as well. Put some thought into using a consistent set of patterns and technologies when exposing your existing enterprise services to the mobile channel. You just might get your enterprise "service-oriented" quicker than you think.