NerdyDC

Technology blog relevant to the District

[nerdydc]

[nerdydc]

A Classy Technologist

My fellow technologists, we have a problem. I hate to say this, but most of you look like crap. You think you’re cool rolling into work in jeans, a t-shirt, and a hoody-you don’t. You still look like you did in college. Remember college? You spent most of your time sleeping, eating, and studying. That doesn’t sound like the best recipe for great style and a presentable appearance. You missed a few showers. You ate too much. You really didn’t have anyone to impress. You were too worried about showing up to class, so you didn’t get dropped, to care what you looked like. That’s not your life anymore. It’s time to add some depth, class, and awesomeness to your look. I have just the thing. A waistcoat. Half of you just cocked your head to the side and asked “What’s a waistcoat”, while the other half just laughed. Hear me out. You, your employees, coworkers, and everyone you run into may just thank me. For those of you who don’t know what a waistcoat is, allow me to enlighten you. In layman’s terms it’s a vest. Not a sweater vest, this one has buttons. It’s structured, like a suit jacket, and stops at your waist, thus the name.

Waistcoats haven’t really been in style in America for awhile. As three-piece suits went away and our dress became more casual, they just fell by the wayside. So why bring them back? Honestly, because we need them. Let’s start with just the look.

You want to infuse class into your attire? Throw on a tie and a waistcoat and you are instantly the best dressed guy in the building. Period. You are unique, classy, and cool. You will be asked about it and you will get attention. That’s a given. You can dress it down with jeans or bring it up with some nice slacks.The waistcoat will give you an awesome look for after work too. Want to go to the bar down the street? Best dressed guy in the place. Got a hot date? No need to change. You’ll be standing amongst of sea of men in t-shirts, hoodies, suits, button-downs, and plaid (yuck). You will be the only one in a waistcoat. Take advantage of this. There’s nothing wrong with standing out. Enjoy the attention.

Now, I don’t expect you to just take my style and uniqueness argument. You need more right? Ok, well it’s probably one of the most practical articles of clothing out there. Our pants are getting tighter and tighter, some have completely unusable pockets. Unless you are going to constantly carry around a bag, you need to make up that loss of pocket space. Well waistcoats have extra space for your needs. If you’re sitting at the computer or a workbench, you are going to have pockets that allow you to quickly access your phone, pens, tools, anything.

Well, why not just wear a suit jacket or something like that? What are you doing most of the day? Sitting right? That’s the world we live in. Jackets get wrinkled really quickly they aren’t designed for sitting. they are intended to make you look great, while buttoned and standing. A waistcoat, through it’s design, circumvents this problem. It ends above the waist and is fitted, which prevents wrinkling and accidentally sitting on your tail. Jackets also restrict the movement of your arms. Again they were designed with you standing in mind. A waistcoat liberates your arms and allows them full movement. Finally, the helpful waistcoat allows you to wear a tie without it getting in the way. No flopping around while you’re soldering or typing. It’s not flying into your coffee or somewhere it shouldn’t. It is pressed against you under your waistcoat. No more hassles.

Now on to my most important point. All the things I have explained here, were figured out over a hundred years ago. The waistcoat was a gentleman’s mainstay of the late 19th century, especially that of craftsman; watchmakers, tailors, architects, designers, cobblers, and others who worked with their hands. They were able to look great and still do their work. That is our legacy. Coders, designers, technicians, we are the craftsmen of our age. We are making things of beauty, we are creating intricate, precise order out of chaos, we are maintaining, repairing, updating, and advancing our society. Without us, the world doesn’t work. We are necessary. We are important. We need to give ourselves that credit. Show the world that you are the craftsman keeping their technology surging forward. That legacy is yours.

Now go get yourself a kick-ass waistcoat. Embrace your heritage, show some class, and be practical. Leave behind the child that couldn’t be bothered to dress himself and embrace the classy, craftsman that you are. 

[nerdydc]

Old macintosh startup chimes and crash sounds. One actually sounds like a car accident. That would have to be pretty jarring to hear.

[nerdydc]

A Modern Way to Write?

The above texts are the same font and size. The differences are in spacing and coloring. As you can see, the first one takes up less room than the second and in my opinion is easier to read.

What if we had a new way to write text? Could the use of color help us separate words? Ancient Greek used to be written with no spaces. Readers had to deduce when the words and sentences ended. With the advent of smaller screens, which have less space, we could utilize this technique to crunch more info into a smaller area.

There are variations on this idea. You could use just two colors to separate words and a third color for punctuation. Dark or light backgrounds (darker ones tend to be better for energy consumption and easier on the eyes)

Would this be better or easier? Would it save space? It would be easy to code this into web browsers, devices, and wordprocessors. Thoughts?

[nerdydc]

Why We Love to Hate Facebook

Following the blow-back against Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram, I decided to weigh in on the matter. After talking to many people and reading up on many opinions, I realize that no one really likes Facebook. They use it everyday, but everyone has a problem with it. Why? What has the company done to offend us so much? Well, two things really. They became really big and they know everything about you. When Facebook initially became popular, it was only available to college kids. This caused it to be exclusive and desirable. This restriction also meant that it focused on one particular age group. This group was techy enough to get Facebook and use it properly. Perfect for its virus like spreading. Alternatively, this is also a group at the pinnacle of their social life. College kids are constantly making and changing their social interactions. Every semester they have the potential to meet hundreds of new people. These college kids over shared, because it was just the people at their college doing the same dumb things. No big deal. That all changed. Facebook first expanded to highschool students and then to the general public. At the same time, it kept all previous posts, pictures, and actions tied to your account. The original college kids now had to do damage control. They had the tedious task of hiding everything that was kosher for their schoolmates from their high school sibling, potential employers, and even their parents. Facebook now had scary real world implications on your future. It became fully integrated into society. No longer was it cool and different, instead it became an extension of the rest of our lives. People use Facebook for many different purposes and many different ways. Some see it as a place to talk to their close friends and family. Others “friend” everyone they’ve ever met. Still others see it as a place where they can make connections and do business. Most of the time it is a mixture of all these. The problem with this is the information tailored to one group usually gets mixed in with others. You can’t announce that you’re going to go to the big game today, if you called in sick and are Facebook friends with your boss. That won’t end pretty. Facebook isn’t the freedom of expression it used to be. As it expanded, it brought with it the restrictions society places on us. Everything you do on Facebook is accessible to those that work at Facebook. If they really wanted to, they could see everything you have done. Most of the time I’m sure they don’t look so specifically. Yet, their business is advertising. To further that, they use your info against you. Find out what you like and show you those topics, so you can buy the goods. It is a much more reliable measurement of your direct likes than searches, as Google uses. People hate advertising. At best it can almost be a witty form of entertainment, at worst it is a severe annoyance. Why do you think TIVO’s were so popular? When commercials come on TV, many people immediately change channels. We don’t want to be sold to, especially when we’re aware of it. It’s one thing to inform, it’s quite another to insist. That’s human nature. Push to much and people just push back. It’s even worse when we know that the things we talk with our “friends” about can be thrown back at us as reasons to buy things. When Facebook bought Instagram, there was a collective groan from all Instagram’s users. How was Facebook going to integrate their new service? Would you be unable to share things on other social networks? What would happen to all the old (possibly embarrassing) photos that you had on Instagram? Could they suddenly pop up on an album on Facebook? Would the locations of your pics be used against you in advertising? These are the things people just don’t like. On top of this, everyone will now be able to use Instagram thanks to Facebook. It will lose its cool factor very quickly. Such is the life of a tech company. They are initially cool and things fade as they become more popular. Until one day, the tech company wakes up and all their users just hate them.

[nerdydc]

Scroll to the Top

I am a stickler for simple, intuitive design. Lately, I have been bringing this up with various people in conversation. One example I keep coming back to is Tumblr’s “scroll to the top” button. I can’t help but rave about, so I decide to condense my love and passion here. When you first look at your tumblr dashboard, the button is not there. When you scroll down it suddenly apprears just at the point could possibly be needed. It stays with you as you scroll down the page. If you need it, it’s there. It will take you right to the top of the page, with just a simple click. This is very reminiscent of what Apple does on the iOS. If you tap the top bar on any web page, it scrolls right to the top of that page. Every single website should have this button. I’m an avid twitter user and if they had a similar button, that service would be even more perfect. Reddit would also benefit from this, due to its potential to have extremely long threads. Well imagine my happiness, when I came across this blog today. This genius created a plugin for your web browser that pretty much gives you the “scroll to top” button on every web page you visit. Amazing.

You should check it out and show this amazing programmer some love. Appreciate the simplicity and style of the button that just makes sense for the web. Enjoy!

[nerdydc]

Internet Companies are Different

  The Internet has changed the way the world works. A culture of sharing has risen around its creation. In fact, that was what it was initially designed for sharing information and research between universities. The Internet = mass sharing. They just go together.

  Before the existence of the Internet, it was usually fairly difficult to share information. You would have to create a physical copy of it and then ship it to another person. In such a world, you can easily keep information secret. Every company operated this way. They used trade secrets, patents, and copyrights to control the flow of physical copies of information. Many older companies still attempt to leverage these controls as a way to block sharing.

Companies that developed within this environment of sharing will naturally be different from those that came before. They are naturally inclined to be more open to each other and to work together. Competition still exists and is what has been pushing the high levels of innovation of Internet companies. Yet, companies that exist mainly on the Internet are all about sharing and collaboration. That’s their business and any way they can do it better they look for it.

Collaboration between Internet companies is the quickest and most practical way to be a better business. Facebook and Twitter plug into each other. They realize their users want access to both platforms, so they give it to them. Mobile phones run all types of applications. Many times these apps are better versions of ones that already come pre-installed on the phones. From one perspective, these companies are promoting competitors. Crazy, I know. Yet, that is the new reality.

Internet companies practice quite a bit of “openness”. They are completely open about policies. They are open on where they stand on issues. They are open on what their underlying technologies are and many times use open-source technologies that anyone else can utilize. Fifty years ago all of these would’ve been fantasies for other companies. They just didn’t know how to work that way.

This transformation has not been 100% complete, but it is advancing on all fronts. Google and Apple still fight over many software and hardware issues, yet Google Maps, Gmail, and Google+ are all easily available on the iPhone. All the social networks are competing for ad revenue, but they collaborate for user benefits. Also, given the uniqueness of their networks, they can focus on different ways of displaying ads. They are going niche in the type of advertising they can offer. It’s almost anti-competitive in nature.

Internet companies live by a simple philosophy; You do your thing and I’ll do mine.

[laughingsquid]

Pinterest on The Joy of Tech

[nerdydc]

Digital Alliances

Well, it looks like after last weeks preview of Apple’s OS X Mountain Lion we now know where the digital alliances stand. The coming battle between the tech giants is going to be worth a ton of money. Who will come out on top? No one knows quite yet, but we know the cards they are playing with.

Last week, Apple showed off its new operating system for the mac. One of the key features is Twitter integration. It is everywhere. You will be able to tweet from inside many native Apple applications and Apple is opening up the functionality to third party apps. This is a continuation of their partnership with Twitter in iOS. Since the last software release for iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches, you have been able to sign in with Twitter once and use it across most apps.

What was the key thing missing in this release? Facebook. Apple has not allowed the same level of integration for Facebook as it has for Twitter. Apple did not want to give Facebook that kind of clout and access to its users. It would rather offer that to Twitter, which is smaller and has a different focus.

Facebook has its closest ties to Microsoft. Early on, Microsoft purchased a stake in the company. They also won the contract to power Facebook’s search function with their Bing search engine. Very good wins for Microsoft. As such, Facebook is featured prominently on their phone OS, Windowsphone 7. You have strong integration with contacts and sharing features, with Facebook being the preferred and primary sharing platform.

Google has taken a decidedly different route. They decided to build their own social network, Google+. It offers many novel approaches to how a social network sharing should be structured. They have gone to extreme lengths to grow their own social network. Google has created very deep integration between Google+ sharing on all of its online platforms. Heck, you can’t use Google’s mobile phone OS, Android, without logging into your google account. Since they came late to the social media game, they did not have any choice, but to create this type of integration.

So, the players are set. What is going to happen? Well, it really depends on the consumer. Facebook is the largest social network in the world, but Microsoft only owns 1.5% of the mobile phone market. Google has the largest phone market share, but there hasn’t been too much Google+ bandwagoning. The iPhone is a hit, very popular, and very desirable, and Twitter has shown some impressive growth lately. Yet, will that growth keep going and will Apple stay as desirable?

The issue for these alliances is that “There’s an App for that”. There are apps for Facebook and Twitter on all three platforms. Google+ is only missing on Windowsphone 7, but that might change if it gets larger market share. This makes the phones almost interchangable. You can get all the software and services on whichever one you want. These alliances might bump one social network or mobile device a bit in one direction, but they won’t be definitive. The phone and app markets are open and free. People can mix and match and go with what suits them the best. Devices and social networks will stand on their own accord, not on what partnerships they make. The people will get what they want.

[nerdydc]

[nerdydc]

Social Media Transforms the Government and the Developing World.

In a dozen cities around the world, social media is being celebrated. Washington, DC, our hometown, is one of the lucky cities to host this event and foster the discussion. All week, we have been going to panels and checking out the advances and ideas entering this space. DC as a city tends to be focused on government, nonprofits, and the developing world. Those qualities showed through in the events that were hosted. One of the most interesting events this week discussed the emergence of social media and technology in developing countries. The majority of social media is very text based. You write tweets and post Facebook updates, but globally a billion adults are illiterate. How do the get involved through social media? The International Center For Journalists has created a solution and are testing it out in India. It is called CGnet Swara and is a voice version of Twitter. Users can call in, record a message, and listen to other’s recordings. Phones are so wide-spread, that this is feasible. In an effort to change the system, Apps4Africa is working to promote technological innovation in Africa. They host friendly competitions between entrepreneurs to build solutions to problems, such as civic involvement and climate change. The winner gets recognition and money to develop their idea. The World Bank hosted an event with representatives from Facebook and other organizations to discuss how social can improve entrepreneurship over the world. The two main focuses were apps and mobile. In many developing countries, there are more mobile phone users than internet users. Facebook is focusing on building a platform that others can use to foster development. They are searching for the next “Zynga of development”. The panel discussed how mobile banking is making it easier for the poor to access their money and get paid for the work they do. There is no need to travel great distances to a bank in order to cash a check. Everything can be done electronically. On the final day of Social Media week, I attended a panel on social media and government. There were two main themes; how social media can make the government more authentic and how government deals with the vast amounts of feedback that it receives through social media. The government can only really manage and respond to  96,000 messages a day. There are over 300 million of us. There needs to be some drastic change in the system to make that feasible. Programs are being implemented to make this happen. Yet, it is a slow change that needs to be accelerated. Congress has not made it a priority. They are still operating on systems used since World War 2. Alternatively, social media and the ability to instantly post news and pictures keeps government and politicians honest. The common man can show and spread news about what a politician is doing. They can not keep such things a secret. Overall, it was a very interesting and impressive conference. Showing how social media has changed the world and how the potential the technology still holds. The world is much different from 10 years ago. There are more connections, there is more sharing, there is more information, and there is more potential than ever for one person to be heard. I look forward to what’s around the corner.

[nerdydc]

A Night to Celebrate DCTech.

On Wednesday night, DC entrepreneurs and developers were celebrated at the DCTech Meetup. Many of the tools and ideas presented were solutions to problems that every organization faces.

Email was a big topic of the night. Contactually wants to be your email personal assistant. It reminds you to keep in touch with contacts and groups them relevantly. It even gamifies the mundane task of sorting contacts, with a weekly keyboard game. A smart way to leverage email and make it more useful. Shortmail takes a different approach to the email problem. Then want to take your emails and condense them to 500 characters. No fluff, just actionable messages. You no longer spend hours devoted to email. Quickly see what the issue is and act on it. This is a big step in evolving email.

Spinnakr takes the concept of website analytics and injects it with steroids. It will look at how people use your site and give you feedback. It shows where they go on your site and how they got there. On top of this, Spinnakr allows you to customize the site experience based on users. Different types of users will see different things. That way they feel like your website is tailor made for them.

SocialFlow allows organizations to look at their social media followers and learn more about them. This includes relevant topics, demographics, and best times for engagement. Being involved in the social media industry, I can tell you that such a tool would simplify and improve updating and posting. No longer are there worries about who is listening and what to post. You will already know.

The DC tech industry has some great tools to bring to the world. Looking forward to what else they bring to the table.