At my previous company we created a “data access layer” above all data access layers. One guy mainly built and maintained our templates for generating code. Another guy build complicated views for retrieving and updating data which applied business logic, etc. The database became a repository for metadata about the system. From then on, the […]
TopTV?
Being a guy and a geek, I tend to be rather gadget prone which can be quite frustrating when working on a limited budget. So when the 5 new pay tv licensees were announced about 3 years ago I rejoiced in the promises of lower cost pay tv and waited, and waited, and waited. From […]
Children of Chaos
I have had this book on my bookshelf since 1997(or maybe 1998), but it has sat there unread for a number of reasons over the years but finally it seems my brain has been prepared enough to take it in. If you didn’t get the blog post title, the book is Children of Chaos by […]
Xbox 360 Media Streaming and how TVersity rocks
Let me start at the begining here. I’ve always loved podcasts, and video podcasts so I have a fair bit of odd format video on my PC. Add to that videos from digital cameras of my own, my wife’s, and friends and family and you end up with a large problem. Person A has encoded […]
ARG’s, Innovation and Evocation
I’ve always been particularly intrigued by ARG’s (Alternative Reality Games), and having just watched Jane McGonigal’s TED talk on “Gaming can make a better world”, I checked out her new game “Evoke” For those who don’t know, she’s done I Love Bees, World Without Oil, and The Lost Ring to name just a few of […]
Devs 4 Devs
I was at the Devs4Devs event today. It’s one of those events that really is a great change to the norm in local developer events. Having a time limit of 20-30 minutes per talk is an effective way to make the speakers focus and get through the meat of a topic. In my experience it […]
Android App Review – Layar
App Name Layar Price Free Website http://www.layar.com App Availability Android Market or the Developer version at http://tr.im/wxe0 This is one of the apps with really cool possibilities. You can overlay any geographic information on the augmented reality display. There are layers for Wikipedia, Qype, Google’s “Local Search”, Flickr, Hotels, Mazda dealerships, Brightkite, Twitter, […]
Android Market App Review #1
Big news this week was that the Android Market arrived in South Africa. Only a quick flash of the devices ROM using the officially supplied file, or a quick trip into any Leaf store, and it was done. (See: MyBroadband article) I’ve downloaded a few apps and wanted to review a few of them quickly. […]
Android devices to get Flash 10 beta in October!
Just read a tweet from @DevDroid linking to a post by TalkAndroid entitled “Adobe Flash Player 10 For Android Due In October”. I haven’t listened to the entire talk from Adobe but here’s the quote from their slideshow: Flash Player 10 for smartphone-class devices to be made available in beta at MAX conference in October […]
Getting Android Apps without the Android Market
A “smartphone” without applications isn’t a SMART phone, its just a phone. I know I’ve complained about the lack of the Android Market in South Africa. Apparently the guy at Google in South Africa who’s responsible for the Android Market has said that it’s coming soon. (I didn’t get a response to my email to […]