Storage of media and photos in your hand not in the cloud

Doesn't matter how big a hard drive you get with your latest PC you know its not going to be big enough in 2 years time. External drives are clearly a solution and with the speed of USB then it is also normally more than fast enough to meet most folks needs.

Online storage is increasingly popular of course - ideal for storing or backing up photos and music files - though it is nice to also see a printed photo in your hand for some reason.

With the cloud becoming the way to go for many it's going to be easier still to store and archive on line - though ultimately the cloud is a pricing and business model and not really some strange storage area without boundaries.

Lets go shopping online

It's difficult to remember when ecommerce was just starting. Now its an integral part of the business world. We've built a fair number of ecommerce or shopping cart systems for folks - good fun.

Interfaces with the payment gateways are getting easier - though still not perfect. The biggest challenge is often getting support from the payment folks if a problem crops up.

With a software development background in finance (retail banking) its good to use past skills for a wider market place and good to see business making money on line.

The power of the browser

Web Development has changed a lot in a relatively short space of time. From cutting every single line to the introduction of java script to the adoption of CMS systems.

The technology has turned browsers into desktop applications - enabling users to do almost anything they had to do previously on their own desktop machine.

That introduces challenges from time to time for software and web developers like us. People are now expecting browsers to do anything that they can do on their desktop - thats not a bad thing - but its the browser developers who need to plug the remaining gaps.

If your thinking about using DNN (thats Dot Net Nuke) I thought you might want to get a few pointers as to why we think it's worth considering...

1) huge community that seem keen to offer help
2) a really good basic admin management for registration and privilegies
3) developed in microsoft.net so a good pool of talent out there to extend it
4) lots of extra modules (though some are poor quality so try before you buy)
5) skinning options include lots of third party skins
6) a really generous open source license

We have been developing in Dot Net Nuke for many years now - its made a huge difference to the speed at which we can develop web based systems. It's a big system to get to grips with but worth the effort.

When we first started using the term "intranet" we had to quickly stop. The term confused people. Now, though, it's clear the term is in common usage. We get enquiries now from people very clear that they need an intranet system development for them and even clearer as to what they need it to do. For us we'll do that as a sharepoint development or as a DNN development - it depends on what the client preference is - or the technology already in place.

Good to see the term in common usage - no doubt we'll all be using augmented reality soon as well.

Is it IT or Software

From time to time I find myself having to explain that we are not an IT company - though maybe I shouln't.

IT to me means the plumbing - but I guess increasingly that is not completely true. For instance when does the email system start to become a CRM software system - its a fine line I guess.

Maybe I'll stop trying to explain the difference and just find out what the client wants first.

VB 3 to VB.net - who'd have thought

The first time I saw VB I was knocked out - I couldnt believe it. VB 3 I think it was - at last a product that could let you develop windows applications without it taking a year. At the time I can remember others being less overwhelmed - the term Basic being the thing that seemed to be the problem.

Many years on and VB.net is now the programming choice of many - though it is only a distant constant of VB 3 of course. We use VB.net and c# as our prime software development languages when developing online system - who would have believed that then.

Knock knock - who's there - newsletter

Readership of newsletters always surprise me. We've been sending out our own newsletter for some time now - we built our own newlsetter system and offer it out to clients as well.

The one stat that always surprises is what the readership preference is - its always the funny or amusing one. Technical or business advice articles are read but hardly to the same extent - so if you want your newsletter read put in a few knock knock jokes.

Community websites - getting to grips with engagement

Community has been all the range for a while now - Facebook, Bebo and the like have all changed the way in which we engage with each other and make new friends.

On the website design and development side of the business we have been extending DNN (Dot Net Nuke) to allow us to build community or web 2 sites for a range of clients. Some building brand new businesses some enabling the community they already have. It's been an interesting experience as we see ourselves as sofware developers getting to grips with the needs of an ever changing community.

Train timetables made easy on the iphone

At school I remember being taught how to read a timetable - quite a skill. They can be complicated things and require a fair amount of detective work to ensure you don't try and travel on a Sunday expecting to find normal train scheduling.

Even online train times and train timetables are a bit confusing. But on the iPhone that seems to be a thing of the past. The limited interface has forced designers to simplify the whole thing. So if you want to travel from Peterhead to Kings Cross - it tells you when to get on and when you'll get off - result.

I know will use the iphone to find train times rather than a PC - its so much easier. Well done to the designers of the trainline iphone app.

iPod and touch screens

On buying an iPod as a present the other day I found myself behaving rather oddly - I kept touching the screen to make it do something. It struck me that the iPhone has a lot to answer for - because I was holding the device in my hand my brain was obviously telling me how to use it....wrong!

It shows how quickly we accept new interfaces and how quickly really cool ones become old hat. In its day the interface for the iPod was genius. We've developed a fair number of interfaces - based on an automated retail banking background - but iPod and iPhone - we would never have come up with (pity). As web developers we use our previous skills and the innovations of the market leaders to help us arrive at good design - maybe one day we'll come up with something better than the iphone - that would be good.

Whats the killer app for Multi Input Touch Screens

You can see more and more of the academic institutions playing around with the huge table top touch screen systems - Multi Input Touch Screens.

Can only be a matter of time before we have one to play with - though I suspect the price may hold back software developers like ourselves for a wee while yet.

Scope for there use look interesting - but I dont think anyone has quite came up with the killer app. No doubt it will be obvious when they do - hope its us!

Software development - a green activity?

Software development (I guess) must be one of the more greener activities. It creates efficiencies - allows for remote working and so on - so I guess its sort of green.

Years back you could not have had that argument (correct or otherwise) due to the huge amount of software paper listings that used to be produced and poured over looking for the place where it was all going wrong. And then there was the paper archive that some firms kept - that faded and was useless after 18 months.

Software listings - haven't seen one of them for years.