...that unfortunately has nothing to do with web services.
Wish I could do this with JavaScript!
Sunday, December 23, 2007
1.0 Beta
The title says it all; we're finally at a point where the WSO2 Mashup Server has all the features we think are critical, looks right and feels ready! From the time we started planning for this set of features we had targeted a release before the end of this year; what we hadn't done was draw the line in the sand and said 'once we have these, the product is feature complete'. For all the people building stuff that 'needs just this killer feature and then it'll be complete' I highly recommend putting out a beta; I sleep better at night now!
Having said all that, from where we were a couple of weeks ago with most of the core product features in place but the really critical community stuff just taking shape, it's amazing how everything came together just right and just in time! Maybe it's proof that the bazaar approach really does work, maybe it's the fact that when you can work from anywhere you can get a lot more work done and maybe it's just that I'm working with a bunch of geniuses - the fact is that we got so much done in so little time and all of it works as expected!
I've got a lot planned out for the upcoming holidays and some of these plans actually do involve learning and technology instead of movies, books, food and drink. Either way, I'm hoping for a week and a bit that'll be a great deal of fun, so I'll keep you posted!
Having said all that, from where we were a couple of weeks ago with most of the core product features in place but the really critical community stuff just taking shape, it's amazing how everything came together just right and just in time! Maybe it's proof that the bazaar approach really does work, maybe it's the fact that when you can work from anywhere you can get a lot more work done and maybe it's just that I'm working with a bunch of geniuses - the fact is that we got so much done in so little time and all of it works as expected!
I've got a lot planned out for the upcoming holidays and some of these plans actually do involve learning and technology instead of movies, books, food and drink. Either way, I'm hoping for a week and a bit that'll be a great deal of fun, so I'll keep you posted!
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Upgrading
Along with our transition to a dual income status comes an increase in travel and 'sub optimal' travel times, since flexi-time seems to work for only software engineers. Travel distance has effectively doubled and takes place during peak traffic hours, when I share the road with some of the most interesting drivers in the country. I would like to state here that I'm sure the mandatory religious stickers on the windscreens of their vehicles guarantee all bus and trishaw drivers entry to heaven - I just wish they'd get there faster and not try to take me along for the ride!
The efficiency of the carburettor engine in traffic, extra bootspace that we don't need since the pram was given away and the effect a cable clutch has on calf muscles in two hours of traffic, together justify upgrading to a smaller, lighter car, which is what this post is about - essentially a farewell to the Subi that served us well for the last 3 years, but suddenly is not the right fit anymore!
I've now bought the replacement tail-light and dropped the car off at the garage to get the bumpers and a scratch on the side repainted. The rear end was a victim of an over-extended pickup buffer - completely my fault, but those things make it damn difficult to judge the minimum gap when reversing! Both Sharm and I seem to take turns scraping bits of paint off the front bumper and the scratch on the side is the result of a risky overtaking manoeuvre on a Habarana trip. All of these were UI fixes that I had kept putting because they were obviously not as important as the stuff that keeps the car running reliably, safely and fast ;-) but I guess when it comes to getting a good price, looks count for a lot more than they should!
Assuming people do line up to buy what I still be believe to be a great car, albeit for a few usage patterns only, the next step is finding my upgrade. This is where I'm hoping technology I'm working with on a daily basis will help me find the new 'love of my life'.
There are quite a few web sites that list 'used cars for sale' and if I had the patience and spare time I would visit these regularly and see what's on offer. Fortunately, though I don't have either, I do have a bunch of new features on our Mashup Server, like the screen scraper tools, e-mail support and the ability to send instant messages! The plan is to write a Mashup that will scrape up the offers on a bunch of used car sites and pick out the ones that fit my requirement and budget. I could have this scheduled to run daily and send me a digest e-mail, have it put out an Atom/RSS feed that I can subscribe to or even get it to send me a yahoo chat message when an interesting new car is added to a listing.
Unfortunately, given that quite a few people still believe a newspaper advert is the only way to sell a car, I might have no choice but to waste a few Sunday mornings poring over the classifieds as well. Of course, if I had a scanner, an OCR package that understood newspaper columns......naaah.
I'll blog about progress as and when there is some. I wonder if a facebook album along the lines of 'My last days with the Legacy' would upset the wife and kids?
The efficiency of the carburettor engine in traffic, extra bootspace that we don't need since the pram was given away and the effect a cable clutch has on calf muscles in two hours of traffic, together justify upgrading to a smaller, lighter car, which is what this post is about - essentially a farewell to the Subi that served us well for the last 3 years, but suddenly is not the right fit anymore!
I've now bought the replacement tail-light and dropped the car off at the garage to get the bumpers and a scratch on the side repainted. The rear end was a victim of an over-extended pickup buffer - completely my fault, but those things make it damn difficult to judge the minimum gap when reversing! Both Sharm and I seem to take turns scraping bits of paint off the front bumper and the scratch on the side is the result of a risky overtaking manoeuvre on a Habarana trip. All of these were UI fixes that I had kept putting because they were obviously not as important as the stuff that keeps the car running reliably, safely and fast ;-) but I guess when it comes to getting a good price, looks count for a lot more than they should!
Assuming people do line up to buy what I still be believe to be a great car, albeit for a few usage patterns only, the next step is finding my upgrade. This is where I'm hoping technology I'm working with on a daily basis will help me find the new 'love of my life'.
There are quite a few web sites that list 'used cars for sale' and if I had the patience and spare time I would visit these regularly and see what's on offer. Fortunately, though I don't have either, I do have a bunch of new features on our Mashup Server, like the screen scraper tools, e-mail support and the ability to send instant messages! The plan is to write a Mashup that will scrape up the offers on a bunch of used car sites and pick out the ones that fit my requirement and budget. I could have this scheduled to run daily and send me a digest e-mail, have it put out an Atom/RSS feed that I can subscribe to or even get it to send me a yahoo chat message when an interesting new car is added to a listing.
Unfortunately, given that quite a few people still believe a newspaper advert is the only way to sell a car, I might have no choice but to waste a few Sunday mornings poring over the classifieds as well. Of course, if I had a scanner, an OCR package that understood newspaper columns......naaah.
I'll blog about progress as and when there is some. I wonder if a facebook album along the lines of 'My last days with the Legacy' would upset the wife and kids?
Monday, October 22, 2007
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Hello World
What else can I call my first blog post?
Three things interest me; Cars, Computers and Science Fiction. That's in alphabetical order because I don't want to try and list them in order if importance, it changes from time to time. I suppose that statement also sets the boundaries of what's probably going to be featured in this blog.
Of course I might just get interested is something else at some point of time, but I seriously doubt I'll be writing about golf, ballet or sky diving in the foreseeable future.
The final race of the formula 1 season is tomorrow and I had received news that Hamilton may be getting a penalty for breaking tyre rules in practice, but my happiness was short lived; apparently the teams are going to be fined but the drivers aren't being penalized :-(. I think Lewis is a great driver and deserves all the adoration he's getting from the media and his loyal fan base, but I'd rather watch Alonso win! In either case, someone out there is likely to record a few minutes of footage none of the sports channels captured and put it up on youTube, and Formula Flicks will show it to you Monday morning!
On the Sci-fi front, I'm still going through the Iain M. Banks book I picked up at the fair last month and savoring it. Being my first culture novel (I had just read The Algebraist, which was not set in the same time frame) I was fascinated with the whole idea of Minds, benevolent AI's running the critical machinery while biological life goes about having a good time. I think of all the possible futures involving self-aware machines, Mr. Banks' vision is the most positive one yet, and hopefully the most likely. With all the money I've been spending on accessories for it, I should hope my PC treats me well if it becomes sentient!
I've also been catching up on a few of the older sci-fi movies and TV series I had not been able to get my hands on in the past. I first found out that 'Children of Dune' had been made into a mini series about four or five years ago, and finally managed to watch it about a month back. It was nice to finally see characters that I had visualized when I first read the book (borrowed from the College Library when I was doing my A Levels) and find myself not disappointed.
I started looking for Tarkovsky's Solyaris around the same time I started looking for the book, soon after watching the excellent remake in 2003 and reading reviews that said the original was so much better. Fortunately a friend gave me the book, which he found in the US, later that year, but it took me this long to get my hands on the movie.
I read somewhere that technology's doing for all forms of entertainment, what the printing press started with the written word; I agree and am overjoyed! It's probably even more obvious to us in the developing world, where a few hundred years ago only a king or noble would have had access to entertainment on demand. About 30 years ago I went to a friend's birthday party, and the highlight was a Popeye movie shown using projector. I was thinking 'movies at home, wow' and I'm sure every other kid there was too!
Three things interest me; Cars, Computers and Science Fiction. That's in alphabetical order because I don't want to try and list them in order if importance, it changes from time to time. I suppose that statement also sets the boundaries of what's probably going to be featured in this blog.
Of course I might just get interested is something else at some point of time, but I seriously doubt I'll be writing about golf, ballet or sky diving in the foreseeable future.
The final race of the formula 1 season is tomorrow and I had received news that Hamilton may be getting a penalty for breaking tyre rules in practice, but my happiness was short lived; apparently the teams are going to be fined but the drivers aren't being penalized :-(. I think Lewis is a great driver and deserves all the adoration he's getting from the media and his loyal fan base, but I'd rather watch Alonso win! In either case, someone out there is likely to record a few minutes of footage none of the sports channels captured and put it up on youTube, and Formula Flicks will show it to you Monday morning!
On the Sci-fi front, I'm still going through the Iain M. Banks book I picked up at the fair last month and savoring it. Being my first culture novel (I had just read The Algebraist, which was not set in the same time frame) I was fascinated with the whole idea of Minds, benevolent AI's running the critical machinery while biological life goes about having a good time. I think of all the possible futures involving self-aware machines, Mr. Banks' vision is the most positive one yet, and hopefully the most likely. With all the money I've been spending on accessories for it, I should hope my PC treats me well if it becomes sentient!
I've also been catching up on a few of the older sci-fi movies and TV series I had not been able to get my hands on in the past. I first found out that 'Children of Dune' had been made into a mini series about four or five years ago, and finally managed to watch it about a month back. It was nice to finally see characters that I had visualized when I first read the book (borrowed from the College Library when I was doing my A Levels) and find myself not disappointed.
I started looking for Tarkovsky's Solyaris around the same time I started looking for the book, soon after watching the excellent remake in 2003 and reading reviews that said the original was so much better. Fortunately a friend gave me the book, which he found in the US, later that year, but it took me this long to get my hands on the movie.
I read somewhere that technology's doing for all forms of entertainment, what the printing press started with the written word; I agree and am overjoyed! It's probably even more obvious to us in the developing world, where a few hundred years ago only a king or noble would have had access to entertainment on demand. About 30 years ago I went to a friend's birthday party, and the highlight was a Popeye movie shown using projector. I was thinking 'movies at home, wow' and I'm sure every other kid there was too!
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