pdw.weinstein.org

Viddler API via Perl

2010-03-13T18:56:01Z

Recently, while doing some consulting work, I started working with an new online video platform called Viddler. Much like YouTube, Viddler is a web application, built around videos, that allows one to upload and share on the web.

However, unlike YouTube, Viddler also provides a great deal of features for customization, from the skinning of the video player to the integration of the Viddler platform into customized web applications. The obvious advantage here for a business or organization is the ability to provide video content wrapped within their own branding or application without the expense of building and managing the huge computing infrastructure required for bandwidth and data storage.

For example, checkout the MIT Tech TV, a video-sharing site for the MIT community built using Viddler.

Alas, while there is plenty of support for the Viddler Application Programming Interface via PHP, which is what my consulting work is based in, the support for Perl is quite anemic.

To help rectify this dire situation, in my free time over the last week or so, I've been working on an Perl module that wraps around Viddler's API. The goal here is not only to provide a basic how-to, but a quick method for integrating Perl-based applications with Viddler. As such, I plan on having something more formal to submit, not only to Viddler's Project Directory, but to CPAN as well, in the near future.

With that in mind, here's the basic layout with a few implemented methods for guidance and testing:

package Viddler;

use strict;
use warnings;

use LWP::Simple;
use XML::Simple;

our $VERSION = "0.01";

### To Do
#
# Complete support of all API methods
# Add SSL option for methods such as users_auth
# Validation/Error Handling of parameters/results 
#
#### 

=head1 NAME

Viddler - An encapsulation of the Viddler video platform in Perl

=head1 SYNOPSIS

use Viddler;
my $videos = new Viddler( apiKey => $apiKey, 
			  username => $username,
			  password => $passwd,
			);

print "API Version: " .$videos->api_getInfo(). "\n";

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This is an object-oriented library which focuses on pro diving Perl 
specific methods for accessing the Viddler video service via their 
API, as documented at: 
http://developers.viddler.com/documentation/api/

=head2 Methods

=head3 new

my $video = Viddler->new( apikey => $key, 
			  username => $username, 
			  password => $passwd );

Instantiates an object which established the basic connection to 
the API, including requesting and setting session id.

=cut

# The constructor of an object is called new() by convention.  
   
sub new {

	my ( $class, %args ) = @_;
	my $new = bless {
		_apiURL => 'http://api.viddler.com/rest/v1/',
		_sessionID => undef,
		_record_token => undef,
		%args
	}, $class;

	# Get a sessionid
	$new->users_auth;

	return $new;

}

=head3 users_auth

Gets and sets a sessionid for an authenticated Viddler account.
Returned sessionid is valid for 5 minutes (may change in the
future). Every method request which contains valid sessionid,
renews its validity time.

$video->users_auth;

No required parameters. Will use username and password defined
at object's creation

Additional options parameters include: 

* get_record_token: If set to response will also include
recordToken

Returns 0 ( false ) if unsucessful and 1 ( true ) if sucessful

=cut

sub users_auth {

	my ( $self, $get_record_token ) = @_;

	my $xml = new XML::Simple;
	my $content = get $self->{_apiURL}. 
		"?method=viddler.users.auth&api_key="
		.$self->{apiKey}. "&user=" .$self->{username}. 
		"&password=" .$self->{password}. 
		"get_record_token=" .$get_record_token;
	my $results = $xml->XMLin( $content );
	$self->{_sessionID} = $results->{'sessionid'};
	
	if ( defined $results->{'get_record_token'} ) {

		$self->{_recordToken} = $results->{'record_toaken'};

	}

	if ( defined ( $self->{_sessionID} )) {

		return 1;

	} else {

		return 0;

	}

}

=head3 api_getInfo

Gets and returns the current version of the Viddler API.

$video->api_getInfo;

Returns current API version as a string

=cut

sub api_getInfo {

	my ( $self ) = @_;

	my $xml = new XML::Simple;
	my $content = get $self->{_apiURL}. 
		"?method=viddler.api.getInfo&api_key=" 
		.$self->{apiKey};
	my $results = $xml->XMLin( $content );
	return $results->{'version'};

}

=head3 videos_search

Gets and returns results of a search of Viddler videos and people.

$video->videos_search( $type, $query, $page, $per_page );

Requires the following parameters:

* type: The type of search (e.g. "myvideos", 
"friendsvideos", "allvideos", "relevant", "recent", "popular",
 "timedtags", "globaltags". (The "timedtags" and "globetags"
sorting argument should be used in conjunction with an actual 
tag being given for the query argument.))

* query: What to search for (e.g. "iPhone", "Pennsylvania", or 
"Windows XP")

Additional options parameters include: 

* page: The "page number" of results to retrieve (e.g. 1, 2, 3).

* per_page: The number of results to retrieve per page (maximum 
100). If not specified, the default value equals 20.

Returns a hash of an array of search results

=cut

sub videos_search( $$ ) {

	my ( $self, $type, $query, $page, $per_page ) = @_;

	my $xml = new XML::Simple;
	my $content = get $self->{_apiURL}. 
		"?method=viddler.videos.search&api_key=" 
		.$self->{apiKey}. "&type=" .$type. 
		"&query=" .$query. "&page=" .$page. 
		"&per_age=" .$per_page. "&sessionid=" 
		.$self->{_sessionID};
	my $results = $xml->XMLin( $content );
	return $results;

}

=head3 videos_getByUser

Gets and returns a lists of all videos that were uploaded by the 
specified user.

$video->videos_getByUser( $user, page, $per_page, $tags, $sort );

Requires the following parameters:

* user: The chosen Viddler user name. You can provide multiple 
coma separated viddler usernames

Additional options parameters include: 

* page: The of results to retrieve (e.g. 1, 2, 3).

* per_page: The number of results to retrieve per page (maximum 
100). If not specified, the default value equals 20.

* tags: The tags you would like to filter your query by.

* sort: How you would like to sort your query (views-asc, 
views-desc, uploaded-asc, uploaded-desc)

Returns a hash of an array of search results

=cut

sub videos_getByUser( $ ) {

	my ( $self, $user, $per_page, $page, $tags, $sort ) = @_;

	my $xml = new XML::Simple;
	my $content = get $self->{_apiURL}. 
		"?method=viddler.videos.getByUser&api_key=" 
		.$self->{apiKey}. "&sessionid=" 
		.$self->{_sessionID}. "&user=" .$user. 
		"&page=" .$page. "&per_age=" .$per_page. 
		"&tags=" .$tags. "&sort=" .$sort;
	my $results = $xml->XMLin( $content );
	return $results;

}

=head1 AUTHOR

Paul Weinstein pdw [at] weinstein [dot] org

=cut

1;
__END__

And here's a little code to test the demo package:

#!/usr/bin/perl -T

use strict;
use warnings;

use Data::Dumper;
use Viddler;

my $videos = new Viddler( apiKey => '1234567890abcdefghij', 
			  username => 'username',
			  password => 'password',
			);

print "API Version: " .$videos->api_getInfo(). "\n";

my $searchResults = $videos->videos_getByUser( "username", 
						"", "", 
						"test", "" );
print Dumper( $searchResults );

Comments, suggestions or corrections are quite welcomed.

Apple iPad Preorders Begin

2010-03-13T00:21:11Z

First published: 12th of March 2010 for Technorati

As announced last week Apple has begun taking pre-orders from United States customers for its upcoming Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G model iPad.

Customers are being limited to pre-ordering no more than two devices, but Apple is including free delivery where possible.

The Wi-FI only model is due to beginning arriving in homes and stores on April 3rd while the Wi-Fi with 3G model iPad won't beginning shipping until sometime later in the month. Both the Wi-Fi and 3G models will be also become available in the U.K., Canada, France, Germany, Australia, Italy, Japan, Span and Switzerland late April.

The iPad starts at $499 for the 16GB model with Wi-Fi. Two additional Wi-Fi models are available with greater memory, $599 for 32GB and $699 for 64GB.

While the iPad will initially release with a updated version of what is known as the iPhone OS, AppleInsider is reporting that Apple is working on a major summer update that will introduce a multitasking solution of the mobile multitouch platform.

Citing sources "with a proven track record in predicting Apple's technological advances" they report that development is in full swing, but that "the iPhone Software 4.0 remains under development and reportedly has a quite 'way to go' before it's ready for prime time."

AppleInsider then goes on to speculate on some the issues Apple will need to address, including security, user experience, battery life and other optimize resource conservation issues before the feature is released.

It is unclear if the given summer time-frame is from the reliable source or AppleInsider speculation. None the less, Apple annually holds its World Wide Developer Conference during the summer, and the past two years of the conference have brought refreshes of the iPhone OS.

Meanwhile, not to be left behind, Microsoft made news this past week in regards to their own tablet-based computing initiatives. Engadget last week, shorty after Apple announced the iPad's April 3rd availability, broke with news from its "extremely trusted source" that Microsoft's Courier will be a folding 10x14 "digital journal" that is built on the Tegra 2 mobile processor and will run the same OS as the Zune HD, Pink, and Windows Mobile 7 Series smartphones.

But while the iPad is the could-be hit of the summer, one will have to wait until fall or winter for the Courier.

No matter what, it seems that in some form or another the must-have-gadget of 2010 is going to be a tablet.

0324_016 [Flickr]

2010-03-05T21:40:02-08:00

pdweinstein posted a photo:

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2010-03-05T21:39:57-08:00

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2010-03-05T21:39:52-08:00

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2010-03-05T21:39:49-08:00

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2010-03-05T21:39:46-08:00

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iPad Sales Set to Start April 3

2010-03-06T02:13:14Z

First published: 5th of March 2010 for Technorati

Today Apple has announced that their recently introduced iPad tablet will be available for purchase starting Saturday April 3.

While this initial release will only include the Wi-Fi model in the Unites States, Apple is planning to have the Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi with 3G models available in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK by late April.

In addition to the products' availability in April, Apple will begin allowing customers in the U.S. to pre-order either model from Apple's online stores starting March 12.

Introduced in January, Apple announced to the world its evolution of the widely successful and innovative iPhone. The iPad weighs 1.5 pounds, has a 9.7-inch color display and a custom built dual CPU and graphics chip. The 16GB model, without a 3G radio but with Wi-Fi, will cost $499, and 32GB and 64GB models, also sans 3G, are priced $599 and $699, respectively. Models with 3G radios will cost an extra $130.

While this latest announcement has finally set a firm date for the product's release, it is still to be seen how successful the initial release of the iPad will be. Recent rumors have suggested that Apple has run into manufacturing issues that could limit the number of first available iPads to some 250,000 devices.

While some issues should be expected with bringing a new device to market, the reliability of these rumors, which vary the severity of the issues being dealt with, cast some doubt on a smooth and orderly rollout for Apple's new mobile computing device.

However, one thing is certain: no matter how many initial units will be made available for purchase on April 3, one can expect long lines of individuals camping out in front of their favorite Apple store the last week of March and every weekend in April.

Old Programmers Don't Die, They Just Fade Away

2010-02-26T23:18:17Z

A few days ago I came across this Infoworld article entitled "The painful truth about age discrimination in tech" via Slashdot and have been wanting to comment on it ever since. While I have had no reason to cry foul on any company I've ever interviewed for, I have to say most of the issues certainly ring true to me.

One of the frustrations I feel a lot of tech works have is how to communicate experience. Way too often I fell I've talked to recruiters or HR personnel who are either looking for an exact word-for-word match between the resume and the job opening or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, are looking for just one keyword to hit.

Alas, it seems all too true that "hiring managers are unable to map how 10 years of experience in one programming language can inform or enhance a programmer's months of experience with a newer technology."

Which of course doesn't help when, in the world of technology, the field is evolving at such a rapid pace, with a huge focus on "The Next Big Thing".

True, writing CGI scripts in Perl yesterday doesn't automatically translate to writing custom modules in Joomla. But there is a road that gets a developer from first writing a CGI script in Perl to learning Object-Orientated programming to understanding design patterns such as Model-View-Controller that does provide one with the basis for working with Joomla.

Luckily this is an issue that can be taken care of with a little education.

More troubling for an experienced developer is that "only 19 percent of computer science graduates are still working in programming once they're in their early 40s."

Granted the source of that statistic is a government study that's at least a decade old. But still, the high turn-over I've experienced working in the tech industry - my average is about 2 years at any given company - I can see many individuals would take the break as motivation to look for something "better". Heck, I've even felt it myself, having gone back to school for a Masters in Business Administration at one point.

Invariably when talking about business, a sports analogy tends to make an entrance. Sure enough, Inforworld's article compares the IT industry to that of professional sports, "at some point in those career arcs, the assets that made workers such hot properties -- youth, the ability to devote lots of time to their vocation, comparative inexperience -- diminish. And the marginal utility of what's left -- experience -- is not as strongly valued."

Yet that of course is not true, well at least it isn't true in professional sports. All you have to do is think of all those managers, coaches and scouts, most of whom at one time or another played the sport itself. Perhaps they never made it to the "bigs" or they did, but found out that their talent wasn't above average. Yet found a way to contribute, to use their experience as a way to give back to the sport that gave them a job, as the saying goes.

Which begs the question, where are those jobs, the managing, coaching or scouting positions in IT?

Amazon Looking to Add Touchscreen to Kindle?

2010-02-04T23:09:44Z

First published: 3rd of February 2010 for Technorati

The New York Times is reporting that Amazon has acquired Touchco, a small New York-based start-up specializing in touchscreen technology and is planning to incorporate the company's six employees and technology into its Kindle hardware division, named Lab126, which is located in California.

Unlike Apple's touchscreen technology which has a limited number of touch points, Touchco's solution is reported to detect an unlimited amount of simultaneous touch points - which provides greater accuracy - as well as distinguish between different levels of pressure, at a cheaper cost.

Of course last week Apple announced their latest creation: the iPad, a 10-inch tablet-style multi-touch device which will also include an new app called iBooks, a virtual bookshelf containing the user's personal collection of electronic books that can be purchased and read in a manner similar to music on an iPod. "If you've used iTunes or the App Store, you're already familiar with this," Jobs said.

Currently, Amazon's Kindle, unlike Apple's iPad - which uses a more traditional technology to display colorful, interactive content - uses a different display technology known as E Ink.

E Ink is a specific proprietary type of electronic paper manufactured by the company of the same name. While the principle advantage of E Ink is in its ultra-low power consumption and flexibility, it is only commercially available with a small color range (grayscale) and responsiveness, limiting the Kindle's content to mostly static content, such as novels.

However, Fast Company, in reporting E Ink's merger with a much larger business partner last year, noted that the acquisition was designed "at speeding the development of color e-paper." At the time Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was quoted as saying that a color Kindle was "multiple years" away, but Fast Company went on note that E Ink's Vice President Sriram Peruvemba suggested that color displays would begin being available at the end of 2010.

Of course Amazon has already moved to expand the appeal of its eReader, as last month it announced plans for an application store in hopes of getting outside developers to create the same array of programs that are now available for the iPhone and iPad.

Given the Apple and Google's "pole positions" in the hardware and software development of mobile technologies, could Amazon's Kindle be a dark-horse contender for our lazy Sunday afternoons?

Contemplating the iPad

2010-02-02T20:38:01Z

Now that the dust has settled a bit and everyone else has either praised or condemned Apple's latest hardware offering let us take a look at a few interesting points...

The Beginning of the End Or The End of the Beginning?
A number of people see the end of open, multipurpose computing devices should the iPad find significant traction, such as Jim Stogdill. While comparing the iPad to an Toyota Prius ¹ he lets known his fear that the closed hardware platform coupled with the high barrier to entry (pay for software developer kit (SDK), wait for approval) will significantly detour the next generation of programmers from playing around and innovating.

Yes, I am of the generation that learned programming, first hand on Apple IIe. It is part of the reason why Apple holds quite a hold on my attention. As a kid I playing with the machine for hours at a time, learning what it could do thanks in part to the built-in BASIC programming language. Heck even as an adult I've found that old computing platform useful.

However, I can't stop thinking, just because transistor radios can't be easily fiddled with, didn't mean people stopped fiddling about with electronics. Sure, there might be a bit more ignorance about electronics in the general population than my liking, but that's easy to take care of. I mean, I didn't take auto maintenance in high school to become an auto mechanic. I took to in part to prevent that high barrier to entry as a road block from getting the most out of my vehicle².

Moreover, the conditions that exists today are by no means the end-all-be-all. When the Mac first came out the SDK was priced quite high. Now a days it's free, anyone can start playing around on a Mac by simply using the second DVD included with OS X to install Xcode. Nor did the high entry point stop innovation, I mean just look at Adobe.

Which of course brings me to the overall point about the iPad, it might contain the DNA of what could be - being able to access content at anytime, from anywhere no matter if that spreadsheet resides on your iPad, on your computer or on a cloud - but that doesn't mean what it is limited to now will also be true later.

In fact, I would suggest that, as time goes on Apple with open up the iPod/iPhone/iPad platform more and more as new opportunities arise. That goes double for the iTunes store.

To take just one example, personally, when I see my iPhone 3G pause for a handful of seconds just after it receives new email in the background I'm glad Apple hasn't allowed multitasking applications. From my vantage point the hardware is just barely able to support one or two apps running at the same time, let alone dozens.

About That Hardware
After all that additional computing power comes with a tradeoff, responsiveness and battery life.

The two most power hungry elements of a laptop are the LCD display and the CPU. A 10-inch screen requires quite a bit of power just to keep the screen backlit and readable. Require more computing power for something like multitasking and down goes the battery life drastically.

So I'm not sure why people are surprised that Apple has yet to enable multitasking given that the iPad is reported to get 10 hours of battery-life. Plus, everyone who has had time with the iPad thus far has commented on it being wicked fast. Again no doubt in part because of the lack of overhead required for managing a dozen apps at once.

Apple has obviously made some key decisions about what to focus on for the here and now.

Of course not a lot is publicity known about the custom processor, but I'm sure Apple will be using variations of the chipset in devices to come and has an overall roadmap for the next few generations, leading us back to the conclusion that it is probably only a matter of time until more complex features such as multitasking make their way onto this growing mobile platform.

What About the MacBook Air?
Speaking about Apple's growing mobile platform, has the iPad killed the MacBook Air? I mean I haven't heard much from "the experts" about how the MacBook Air now fits into Apple's overall strategy.

Sure some people are proclaiming the death of computing as we know it which should make one wonder, where does the MacBook Air fit these days?

While I don't know for sure, it doesn't seem hard in hindsight to see the MacBook Air as an evolutionary branch of Apple's long running development of tablet. Or for that matter as an experiment: Are people looking for slim, fast, lightweight laptops, such as what the Air represents or something different?

Given that Apple last quarter sold millions of iPhones and that while iPod sales are decreasing, iPod touch sales were up 55 percent it isn't hard to spot the trend line of where the market seems to be leading.

So given that Apple now has the lightweight go anywhere category covered from the pocket-size mobile device (iPod touch), a smartphone (iPhone) to the tablet (iPad) at various price points as well as the more traditional laptops with the MacBook and MacBook Pro, one has to wonder, what's going to happen to the MacBook Air?

1 I have no idea why tech people love car analogies, but it seems to be the case. However can someone help me understand if the iPhone is the Hummer of smartphones how is an iPad a Prius?

2 Ack, more stupid car analogies...

Apple's iPad Tablet Includes Cool New Apps and Features

2010-01-27T20:58:21Z

First published: 27th of January 2010 for Technorati

Calling it "way better than a laptop, way better than a phone," Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled his company's long-awaited iPad tablet-style multi-touch device Wednesday.

The device weighs just 1.5 pounds, has a 9.7-inch color display and a custom built dual CPU and graphics chip. The 16GB model, without a 3G radio, but with Wi-Fi, will cost $499, 32GB and 64GB models, also sans 3G, are priced $599 and $699, respectively. Models with 3G radios will cost an extra $130.

The WiFi-only models will be shipping in 60 days worldwide, while the 3G included models ship in 90 days.

Alongside their new iPad dubbed tablet device, Apple introduced a number of iPad specific applications and service to enhance the productivity and usefulness of their new mobile device.

Some of these new applications, such as an eReader for books and a mobile productivity suite have been circulating along side the tablet rumors itself for the past few months. Here is a quick run down on the new tablet's features:

iBooks
iBooks is an iPad specific app for reading books with the mobile device's color display, similar to Amazon's Kindle.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs demonstrated the application, which features a virtual bookshelf containing the user's personal collection. Users can also sample a number of books, such as those available on the New York Times bestseller list, before purchasing. From there, the books are downloaded and placed onto the iPad's virtual bookshelf for reading.

"If you've used iTunes or the App Store, you're already familiar with this," Jobs said.

Published content will initially include books from publishers HarperCollins, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan and Hachette Book Group, with more to come over time.

iWorks for iPad
Apple also announced a mobile, multi-touch version of iWorks, their productivity suite, that includes Numbers - a spreadsheet application, Pages - a word processing application - and Keynote a presentation application.

Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, gave a hands-on demonstration of the new iWork which provides users with the ability to work on important documents on the go.

The three applications will be available for download from the iPad App Store for $9.99 each.

Cellular Service
While Apple CEO Steve Jobs said there are no international plans to reveal yet, the company did make an announcement about US availability. Specifically, Apple is continuing its partnership with AT&T, which will offer two data plans for the iPad; 14.99 for a limited 250MB data plan, and a $29.99 unlimited plan with free access to AT&T's nationwide Wi-Fi hotspots.

Moreover, while the data plans, as announced, are limited to AT&T, the data plans themselves are contract-free and can be purchased -- or canceled -- at any time directly from the iPad.

However the 3G-enabled version of the iPad does increase the base cost of the iPad itself, starting at $629.

TV Subscription
One rumor that didn't come true was a TV subscription plan in which people could watch all their favorite TV shows for a flat $30-per-month fee on the iPad.

According to The New York Times and AppleInsider, a number of networks passed on Apple's proposed plans. In fact, Apple has had a rocky relationship with a few networks, including NBC-Universal, which at onetime pulled all its content from Apple's iTunes Store.

Now that national cable provider Comcast owns NBC, relations may become even more strained as Comcast's perspective of alternative distributions methods, such as iTunes, are viewed as a threat to the company's core business.

The Long Road Ahead for Apple's Tablet

2010-01-26T20:59:20Z

First published: 26th of January 2010 for Technorati

Apple is set to announce a "major new product" tomorrow, according to CEO Steve Jobs. Most anticipate the new product to be a mobile, tablet-like computing device, something akin to an iPhone's bigger brother. So meaningful is the new device that Apple's outspoken CEO has reportedly said that the tablet "will be the most important thing I've ever done."

Yet chances are most people won't see Apple tablets in everyday use until sometime next year at the earliest, if recent history is any guide.

That's not to suggest the tablet will fail to be successful. It's kind of hard to make major pronouncements about a device that has yet to be unveiled.

However, consider when Apple announced its equally anticipated iPhone in January 2007. The total number of cellphones sold worldwide in the first three months that year amounted to 256.4 million units. Yet when the iPhone was finally available in June of that year, Apple and AT&T sold a small fraction of that: just under 1.4 million for the final six months of 2007.

Now, 270,000 of those sales were in the first 36 hours of availability, making for a successful launch to be sure, but it also made the iPhone a highly rare device. In fact, the iPhone didn't become as widely visible in everyday life until the fall of 2008, after Apple released the updated iPhone 3G model which has since sold some 36 million times worldwide.

Or consider Apple's near-ubiquitous iPod. When first released in the fall of 2001, they were only compatible with Apple's Mac computers and was sold only 376,000 times in 2002. Not until the fourth generation iPod in 2005 did Apple sell some 22 million units, transforming the iPod to into the cultural icon it is today.

iPod Sales According to Wikipedia

All of this might explain why Apple is rumored to first be focusing the new tablet as a family media device rather than a personal media device, according to a Wall Street Journal article last week. "Apple focused on the role the gadget could play in homes and in classrooms," the WSJ reported, envisioning "that the tablet can be shared by multiple family members to read news and check email in homes."

In other words, no matter how revolutionary Apple's new product may be, it will likely take time, even after the initial buzz and availability, until the iTablet -- or whatever Apple choose to name it -- will become a household word.

Apple's iTablet is About Mobile Productivity

2010-01-19T17:52:08Z

Now that Apple has officially sent out invitations to various members of the media to "Come see our latest creation" next week, January 27^th, at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, let us consider what exactly that creation will be.

Apple's Invite

iTablet

iTablet, iSlate, uSlate, whatever the name affixed to the device will be Apple will most certainly be rolling out a tablet-sized mobile computing device. For the most part I agree with tech-writer Andy Ihnatko in terms of the devices hardware configuration, will have data access via WiFi and cellular, 10'' multitouch screen, a solid state drive (SSD) - but I think it will be of a larger capacity than 32 GB), et al.

I also agree, for the most part, on Andy's comments about functionality. The UI will be designed for the issues of carrying and working with a 10'' slab of computing hardware - on the go - "Think about how a user interface would have to incorporate those observations. Now imagine that you've been doing this experiment for four years and not four minutes. That's a very long list of observations. If you didn't come up with a workable solution, don't worry: I think Apple has", after all Apple has been applying for a number of patents over the years on this very issue.

From Patently Apple's Apple: The Tablet Prophecies

Ok fine, but what exactly will it do? What will you need it for?

Well, I'm glad you asked, because those are very important questions, as AppleInsider recently noted. In the long history of hand-held sized computing, there is a very short list of market-wins, PDAs, such as the Palm Pilot, MP3 devices such as the iPod and smartphones, such as the Blackberry.

That is it.

Apple's Newton was an amazing technology for the time, but was oversized and overpriced as a personal organizer. Microsoft's Tablet PC never really got the third-party software support it need for the form factor to find a home¹ and as AppleInsider recounts history's trash-bin is littered with companies and devices that never even made it that far into the public conciseness.

So as history as our guide, for it to make its way in the world, Apple's iTablet will need to definitely answer the question, what can I use it for?

Well let us consider the key feature of Apple's other hand-held devices:

iPod is for Entertainment - First for music on the go, followed by video on the go (watching video first, now watching and shooting video) and games (with the iPod Touch)
iPhone is for Communication - Yes of course there is an App for that, but even before the App store the iPhone was about communication: Voice, Text (Email, SMS) and Web

So the iTablet will be about ... Productivity!

But wait, I hear, what about those rumors about print publication and eReaders? And, I hear you say you already have a mobile device for productivity, your laptop?

Why yes, a laptop is for productivity on the go, and Apple is looking to redefine what a mobile productivity device is.

Consider, what are the problems with using a laptop? It's heavy and cumbersome to carry, doesn't have access to cellular networks by default and it takes a long time to start up and be, well productive.

An iPhone on the only hand is always on, not just always turned on, but always connected. Your on the road, you get an important email and presto, your at work.

But wait, that email has an attachment, and 10 sheet spreadsheet and oh, bother this graph is completely wrong and oh, look the formula is off and, well guess you'll have to boot up your latptop now while you wait for your airplane. Good luck finding a power outlet that hasn't already be staked out by some other traveler.

But if you take the strengths of the laptop with that of the iPhone, well you get one hell of a productive device.

This is nothing short of revolution! This is, after all, Steve Jobs' Apple!

Oh and that eReader stuff, that will just be some App available in the App store. After all the iPhone was not only built on the success of the iPod, but incorporated the iPod's key functionality as a secondary feature. The iTablet's secondary feature, you'll be able to purchase and run third-party iPhone and iTablet-specific apps too.

In The Pudding

Granted this is speculation, my interpenetration of the various rumors that have been circulating over the years.

If your looking for proof of this interpretation, I can't offer you any, at the moment. I can however point to two interesting side rumors, that Apple has been working on a new, web-based version of their productivity suite iWork and that they recently contracted to build a new data center in North Carolina to support growing web-based "cloud computing".

Oh, and recall that Apple has recently reduce the number of laptops it sells.

That and of course Google's netbook running Chrome and their web-based Google Docs suite and well, if Apple announces a new, distributed version of iWorks next week alongside their shinny new tablet, I say, there is your proof that things are about to get very interesting...

1 Not wishing to give up on anything, Microsoft, at CES, released alongside HP their "Slate PC", which represents - I suppose on how and what your counting - Microsoft's third attempt at tablet-like computing. Once upon a time the knock on Microsoft was they needed three revision to get something right - think Windows 3.1 - for marketplace success. So I suppose one should keep an eye on their Microsoft now...

Mark McGwire Admits To Steroid Use

2010-01-12T15:05:22Z

First published: 11th of January 2010 for Technorati

Mark McGwire today released a statement to The Associated Press that he did in fact use steroids during his 15 year professional playing career in baseball, including his single-season home run record 1998 season.

Heavy speculation that McGwire used steroids or human growth hormone has followed him almost since that very same record breaking season.

McGwire and fellow former Oakland Athletics team member Jose Canseco, along with New York Yankess's Alex Rodriguez and Andy Pettitte have publicly admitted to using steroids during their recent playing careers. With many other suspected players including Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa and David Ortiz being implicated in the past, baseball been forced to toughen its drug program twice in the past five years. Prior to the 2004 season, baseball had no mandatory testing program for active players.

"Baseball is really different now -- it's been cleaned up," McGwire said. "The commissioner and the players' association implemented testing and they cracked down, and I'm glad they did."

McGwire's statement comes on the heels of his appointment as a hitting coach for his former team, "Now that I have become the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals, I have the chance to do something that I wish I was able to do five years ago."

But, with his public admission to using steroids, McGwire refocuses the open question in baseball, what to do about the players, known and suspected and their playing records?

Should players such as McGwire be eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame? Or even be allowed to work in baseball at all?

Since baseball has not outright banned players who have tested positive for or have admitted to using steroids McGwire is indeed still eligible to work in baseball as well as be included in the Hall of Fame.

In fact McGwire recently received 23.7% of the vote among baseball writers for inclusion into the Hall in 2010. While that vote total is well shy of the 75% needed for induction, McGwire obviously has some people pulling for him, including St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright, "they [McGwire and Sosa] did more than just hit home runs, they brought fans back, they brought baseball back," Wainwright said, "There's people in the Hall of Fame who have done much worse."

While it remains to be seen if McGwire or any other "steroid-era" player will make it into the Hall of fame, the fact that McGwire has admitted to and now has a chance to watch out for the use of steroids will be closely watched over the coming season.

Hall of Fame or not, changes are fans of baseball will take recent assertion to heart. When asked if he felt that players of this era should have an asterisk by there name if voted into the Hall, Hank Aaron, a Hall of Famer himself, replied "If they're guilty that's what you should do," Aaron said. "If they're guilty they should come in with that because that, from what we gather, is part of why the record is where it is."

Y2K, C2Net, HKS and Red Hat

2009-12-31T16:25:57Z

In November of 1999 I had over a year of work as a professional programmer under my belt working for C2Net Software. It had been a bit of a bumpy ride, by the end of 1999 I had already been hired, laid-off, hired as a consultant and rehired as an employee.

Given the personal struggle and the fact that I worked for an "Internet company", I had a bit of remote detachment about Y2K. But by November 1999, even C2Net was in the mist of Y2K preparations, internally and externally.

Externally plenty of customers had, as part of their own Y2K compliance efforts, started seeking us out long before November to verify that our main product, the Stronghold Web Server, was Y2K safe. The concern being that plenty of elements about managing web traffic require proper handling of date and time information, from the underlying network protocols to creation of unique session identifiers. The good news was that Stronghold, was a packaged and commercially distributed version of the Apache Web Server, which was indeed Y2K compliant, thanks to its many developers.

While most customers went away content with a signed letter of compliance, I remember our Sales and Marketing VP asking me if I wanted to go to NYC on behalf of client and be available if anything went wrong. Basically, since Stronghold was in the clear and any web application the system was running would have been outside of our domain - I was being asked if I wanted an all expense paid trip from San Francisco to New York City to witnesses the ball drop in Time Square for the new millennium¹. Naturally, I declined².

Internally, the biggest worry I had was dealing with our online credit card processing system. First off, the virtual terminal program we had was running on Windows 98, which itself was not Y2K compliant.

However, the bigger problem was the credit card processing software, ICVerify. Today there are plenty of solutions for processing credit card purchases, in real-time, online, from do it yourself solutions such as MainStreet Softworks' Monetra to all-in-one solutions such as Google's Checkout. But in 1999, while a number of virtual terminal solutions, such as ICVerify existed, for processing credit cards "by hand", few solutions existed for processing credit cards automatically, online.

In fact the only reason C2Net's system did real time transaction³ was because ICVerify had been hacked in such as way as to process transactions via a secured network connection. The best part of the situation, like many other Y2K issues, was that the person(s) who had created the "solution" no longer worked for the company, as everyone at the company had been adversely affected by the previous year's corporate turmoil, as I had.

Patching Windows 98 would hardly solve the problem and since no one with the company understood the ICVerify hack completely, it was unknown if patching it would adversely affect our main method for selling Stronghold within the United States.

Given that Stronghold was a commercially distributed version of Apache and Apache at that time was built for Unix (POSIX) based systems, the main requirement, besides real-time processing, was the ability to run along with our custom ecommerce system built using FreeBSD, Stronghold and PHP. That left us with one viable solution, Hell's Kitchen's⁴ (HKS) CCVS.

By December of 1999 I had already identified CCVS as our would-be solution, to the point that I had actually purchased it on behalf of C2Net and had started developing the replacement credit card processing solution. Doing so had me in contract with a couple of primary individuals at HKS, including the founder, Todd Masco, who must of had his hands full with a few other people, such as myself, rushing to replace their credit card processing systems before the new year. Despite that I don't recall not being able to reach Todd or Doug DeJulio when needed.

Last Remaining Share

That in and of itself endeared me to HKS, but little did I know at the time that wasn't going to be the half of it. While I recall missing the end of the year deadline for getting our new payment system operational by a week (or so), I was hardly in the thick of it. In fact, if anything Todd, Doug and HKS had most certainly had it much worst. For besides the presumed end of the millennium rush to update transaction systems across the nation, in the first week of 2000 the public announcement was made, Red Hat had acquired HKS.

The folks at HKS really had played it cool.

Now here is where things get a bit interesting, the main selling point of Stronghold was that it was a full distribution of the Apache Web Server that included the commercial right to use the encryption technology that allows for secure web transactions, thus allowing one to built solutions such as our custom ecommerce system. As mentioned Stronghold, by way of Apache, was a POSIX based application that ran on systems such as FreeBSD, Sun Solaris and on a the new, up-and-coming operating system Linux which was (and still is) favored by Red Hat. CCVS was a POSIX based credit card processing system.

All of which meant that by the summer of 2000 I received a friendly phone call from Todd, now of course at Red Hat, looking to build contacts at C2Net with regards to possible partnership.

Now it was my turn to play to cool.

Given, in part, the issues at C2Net over the previous year the majority owner of the company was looking to sell and by late spring/early summer the whole of C2Net had been informed that negotiations had been started in regards to Red Hat purchasing C2Net⁵ and then sworn to secrecy.

So when Todd's call came, I had to politely tell him I would pass on his information to our VP of Sales and Marketing and then of course made a beeline to said office after hanging up with Todd. Sadly, with hindsight and all, I should have realized that if Todd was in the dark about the potential purchase of C2Net by Red Hat, given the obvious fit between the three products, that the acquisition of HKS might have been poorly executed, which in turn was not a good sign for C2Net. But at the time I recall hearing shortly after that Todd did eventually get filled in. And by August of 2000 C2Net and Red Hat issued a joint press releases announcing the agreed upon acquisition.

1 That is of course if, like most Americans, you can't count and/or don't care that our Gregorian calendar had no year 0.

2 Call it Bloomberg's Law or whatever, but in the US one's loathing of all things New York (or Los Angeles) is inversely proportional to one's distance from New York City. Thus, Boston, which is closer, hates NYC greater than Chicago. San Francisco, not so much hating NYC as it does LA. New York and Los Angeles can of course clam no one loathes themselves more than they do, which in doing so means they care little about anyone else, given their immediate proximity to their own location. Having grown up in and around Chicago, I naturally care equally less about New York as I do LA.

3 And for that matter the only reason why we had a machine running Windows 98 in our environment

4 Yes, despite my previous ragging on New York City, I do know that not only is Hell's Kitchen the name of a neighborhood in New York, but if I recall correctly, that the company Hell's Kitchen was in fact named after said neighborhood.

5 A bit fuzzy here on the timeline and details, but I recall hearing about a deal between Caldera and C2Net that never materialized and then Red Hat got cold feet when "the bubble burst" in purchasing Red Hat, until various revenue commitments renewed discussions between C2Net and Red Hat.

Apple Tablet Rumors Heat Up

2009-12-24T14:43:42Z

First published: 23rd of December 2009 for Technorati

The Interweb has been ablaze with tablet rumors for quite some time now and according to a recent Financial Times article, "Apple is preparing an announcement next month that many anticipate will be the official unveiling..."

Despite the swirling rumors, Apple has yet to publicly acknowledge the existence of such a device.

Backing up the Financial Times, Silicon Valley Insider (SVI) suggests that Apple is indeed preparing for a demo of a new mobile device with screen resolutions greater than the current iPhone and iPod Touch. Additionally, SVI reports that Apple has asked a select group of software developers to recast their apps and that "they've told select developers that as long as they build their apps to support full screen resolution -- rather than a fixed 320x480 -- their apps should run just fine."

However, SVI suggests that the device itself won't be ready to purchase until sometime in March, supposedly providing remaining software developers time to incorporate the tablet's specifications into their current and future planned releases.

Meanwhile, Appleinsider reports that Gene Munster, a market research analyst with Piper Jaffray, has issued a note to investors suggesting that he expects the long-rumored tablet device to ship by March. However, while Jaffray believes there's a 75% chance of some sort of announcement planned for January - maybe an iPod touch with camera and video or a new TV subscription service for iTunes - the odds of a January announcement for a new tablet are 50-50.

Traditionally, Apple has used the first full week in January to publicly debut new hardware and software, most notably being the iPhone in 2007 during the keynote speech at Macworld. However, at the 2009 Macworld, Apple announced that their strategy would no longer hinge on major events and that the 2009 Macworld would be the last one in which the company would particiapte in. This fact, along with the false rumors of Steve Jobs speaking at the Consumer Electronics Association's event in January, might suggest that Apple intends to delay announcement of the long-awaited tablet until it is actually ready for shipment.

As with all Apple announcements and rumors, consumers, analysts, media-types, industry watchers and brand-enthusiasts will just have to wait and wonder.

AOL Time Warner Split, Leaves AOL Behind

2009-12-11T15:00:08Z

First published: 10th of December 2009 for Technorati

In 2000 with a staggering market capitalization, AOL purchased Time Warner for $164 billion, with an eye towards delivering Time Warner's unique content to the AOL masses.

AOL Market Value Chart by Jay Yarow at The Business Insider

Today most agree that idea never had a chance of becoming reality. AOL is now on its own and after its first full day of independence, Wall Street has let it be known that it views AOL's chances of redemption as slim. AOL stock is down (-0.34%) while Time Warner stock is up (+4.18%).

AOL's idea wasn't half bad. In fact for companies such as Yahoo, the idea itself worked fairly well: build partnerships with content and service providers in order to bridge the gap between users and publishers and make money in the process.

AOL's business model was always about being a destination for digital content. In its dial-up days, AOL was a rich online community that focused on user-generated content in its message boards and chat rooms. Looking to move beyond user-generated content, AOL set its sights on Time Warner and their rich library of print, music,and video content.

It was that monetization that AOL misfired on. Where Yahoo and Google make money on content with advertising, AOL looked to make money with subscriber fees, only to watch as users abandoned AOL's notoriously unreliable dial-up service for cheaper, more dependable service providers with access to all content on the Internet, not just the Time Warner content prominently featured on AOL.

Now consider, since AOL purchased Time Warner, Google has come to dominate aggregating and indexing media. YouTube (also part of Google these days) and Hulu have leadership roles in video. iTunes is the king of Pop with a eye on video (with iPod/iPhone and Apple TV) as well as "print" (rumored tablet). Add in up-and-coming Facebook and Twitter have redefined areas AOL once lead: chat, messaging and sharing of content with friends. It is little wonder AOL's prospects look dim.

Yet while AOL may have lost the #1 spot to Google and is losing momentum to Facebook, AOL can still quickly regroup. Wall Street might be looking down on AOL, but current CEO and former Google executive Tim Armstrong still has a sizable market capitalization north of $2 billion to work with. Plus, AOL is still a top internet destination in the US.

AOL still has a shot or two from behind the eight-ball to make.

@technabob, Look Mario Candy!

2009-12-04T15:37:41Z

If you've ever come across the gadget website Technabob, you probably already know of their twin loves of all things Mario and all things Japanese. And frankly who can blame them? Some of the ~~best~~ oddest items out there can only be found in the land of the rising sun.

So imagine what my first thought was when I discovered that in the land of Mickey and Minnie one can find memorabilia dedicated to everyone's favorite Japaneses-Italian plumber. And not just any old memorabilia such as a t-shirt, but actual Mario candy!

Yep, the fine folks at Mitsukoshi - the Japanese department store that operates at Disney's Epcot Center - have quite a range of products for American tourist, including candy for Mario Kart DS and Donkey Kong.

Who knew that instead of a transoceanic trip to Tokyo one just needed a transcontinental trip to Orlando? Kind of makes me want to go back and see if I can find any of the "great" gadgets from Bandai for sale, such as their electronic bubble wrap popper.

Oh and here's a little extra for those curious about Mario's development, an interview with his creator, Shigeru Miyamoto in promotion of the new Super Mario Bros, Wii Edition. But beware his reference to the "Pac-Man era" and subsequent footnote exampling Pac-Man might make one feel franking old, like me!

Atlas V Launch of Intelsat 14

2009-11-30T07:55:01Z

I captured the following video of a nighttime Atlas V rocket launch I witnessed, along side my father, while in Central Florida on Thanksgiving vacation with my family.

Note that I've modified the audio a bit to try an enhance the interesting bits while muting distracting background noises. That is, I've boosted up the countdown from a nearby radio scanner while muting the sound of cars passing by on the highway. Given the distance between the pad and the viewing location, the sound of the rocket boosters are not noticeable until about 1:35 mark.

The launch occurred at 1:55 am EST on November 23rd, 2009 from pad SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral. The video was shot just north of Florida Highway 528, about 13 miles south of the launch complex.

Red Marker denotes Launchpad 41, Green Marker denotes Viewing Location

The Atlas V rocket launch was preformed by United Launch Alliance and contained an international telecommunications satellite, Intelsat 14, which is slated to replace the Intelsat 1R satellite currently in operation. Intelsat 14 was successfully launched into a transfer orbit that will eventually place it into a circular geostationary orbit over the equator at 45 degrees west longitude.

In addition to bridging commercial intercontinental telecommunications, Intelsat 14 contains experimental equipment on behalf of the Department of Defense designed by Cisco known as Internet Routing in Space (IRIS). The "space router" is designed to test routing IP traffic in orbit, eliminating the need to send data to and from additional ground stations for network routing and in turn promises to allow U.S. military, allied forces and possible future commercial operators to quickly communicate using the Internet protocol for voice, video and data relay to remote locations all over the world.