NYLUG (Linux Users Group)

Thanks to the kind invitation of Brian Gupta, I’ll be part of his presentation on Android next week at the New York Linux Users Group (NYLUG). I met Brian at the Android Meetup, where I had given a short talk on “Android Dev 101”. Brian runs the #androidnyc channel on freenode, and is a great fan of hacking the lower levels of the Android platform.

Here’s a taste of what we’ll be talking about:

The talk will start with a review of the internal architecture of the Android platform, breaking down the various components, and examine how they work. Then we will review the latest status of the open source project, including how to get and build the source code, and how to get involved.

At this point there will be a short session introducing application development on the Android platform, walking through the open-source tool chain, including the command line tools and the Eclipse.org IDE based environment. The core application components will be broken down, including the XML-based formats for resources and user interface design. The required “Hello, World!” app will be shown, along with a more complex “Geo Report” app which utilizes more advanced features such as GPS location and the Camera. Finally, application deployment either via the Android Market or through direct web or physical distribution will be demonstrated.

You can find out more about the event, and if you do want to attend, make sure you RSVP… IBM is hosting, and it is mandatory to get in.

links for 2009-02-10

  • Self-Adhesive Magnetic Tape, Set of 3 rolls order with Pro-Idee service and guarantee.
    It couldn't be any easier or more versatile: Just stick a few centimetres of the 19mm (3⁄4") wide patented magnetic tape to the back of your photos, posters, calendars, etc. and a matching piece on the wall, the sloped ceiling, the fridge door, office cupboard, memo board, etc. The tape strips will stick to each other magnetically. And can be just as easily taken off again.
    (tags: technology magnetic useful interesting)
  • Get Satisfaction
    Not just questions! Report problems and bugs, share ideas and get feedback, or just talk and give your opinion.
    (tags: inspiration customerservice service)
  • Vlc4iphone – Zodipedia
    vlc4iphone is a port of VideoLAN VLC media player's source code to the iPhone and iPod Touch. This port was developed by ZodTTD. The initial intention of this port was/is to allow for less restrictions on formats played on the iPhone and iPod Touch, allow playback of media without syncing to iTunes, and streaming audio and video over HTTP/MMS/RTSP.
    (tags: iphone)
  • Heeb: HQ : Spielberg Helps Yiddish Lit Go Digital
    More than 10,000 works in Yiddish are now available online. The Steven Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library, a joint project between the National Yiddish Book Center and the Internet Archive, has gone live.

    The collection currently features what could be more than half the works ever published in the language, making them available for download in a variety of formats. The project started scanning titles 10 years ago after being launched by a major grant to the Yiddish Book Center from Spielberg’s Righteous Persons Foundation, which the director established to help support a flourshing Jewish community after his experience making Schindler’s List.

Published
Categorized as Awareness

links for 2009-02-09

  • ActiveRecord.js : Cross Browser, Cross Platform, JavaScript ORM
    ActiveRecord.js makes it easy to begin working with databases in JavaScript on the client or server, with Google Gears & Chrome, Aptana Jaxer, Adobe AIR or any platform supporting the W3C HTML5 SQL Specification (currently Webkit and iPhone).
    (tags: programming database activerecord sql)
  • Andrea Mignolo
    The world wide web, and the sites it consists of, are living things. Not quite like you and I are living, but in their own, digital way – evolving, growing, changing. This kind of dynamism means I can never be still, there are always new things to learn, and I love knowing I'll never know it all; it's definitely an exciting field to be a professional in.
    (tags: quotes designer freelancer)
  • The Best Sellers API
    With the Best Sellers API, you can get data from all New York Times best-seller lists, including rank history for specific best sellers.
    (tags: api nytimes)
Published
Categorized as Awareness

Something Extraordinary is Possible!

My friend Ben Rigby, co-founder of The Extraordinaries project that I am contributing some time to, wrote a great post on TechPresident last week that lays out the premise for a new approach to volunteerism. These ideas are both what inspired The Extraordinaries (“Why is it so hard to get people to volunteer?”) and also drivers for its theories (“Why don’t we have a new approach to volunteering?”).

  • Volunteerism has a problem. Most people don’t do it
  • People have a problem with volunteerism.
  • Volunteerism excludes most of us.
  • We’re trying to woo “Last Mile” volunteers.
  • Volunteerism is modeled for the Industrial Economy.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 74.6% of the U.S. population did not volunteer in 2007. Why? Because we’re too busy. We’re driving to work in bumper to bumper traffic, shuttling kids to after school sports, studying for class, and working at Starbucks to pay for college. We’re a nation with a lot to do. And when asked, we cite “lack of time” as the reason for not volunteering.

Fortunately, Ben’s got some ideas on how to improve the situation:

  • Let’s find new ways to do volunteerism.
  • Perspective shift experiment
  • Support Information Era volunteerism

“In addition, we can start thinking about how we can use these inspired models to inform the field of volunteerism. The private sector is quickly coming up with brilliant new ideas that take advantage of the amateur’s passion for participation. Threadless, Innocentive, iStockPhoto. These are companies that have dominated their niches by relying on loosely structured peer production. These models work. Let’s explore them deeply.”

Make sure to read the post and check out the main theextraordinaries.org site as well for information on you can get contribute or get your organization involved in a new approach to getting people to help you get things done.