Apple is expected to announce a Tablet on January 28th or so.  What I’m more interested to see is if they’ll release a real gamebreaker — this docking station for a tablet.  I think it’s fair to accept the first Apple tablet will be like the first iPhone.  Groundbreaking, and having it’s limits as well that the second and third versions of the tablet will hopefully address.

But, I’m all about the docking station.  For the life of me I’ve never been able to understand why a $3000 Apple laptop doesn’t have a docking station.  I come from the Compaq/HP commercial notebook background where a docking station was a way of life and a great way to save wear and tear on the ports of your laptop.    With the increased mobility that people have with their laptops, having to use a third party product like BookEndz, while very capable would be nothing compared to using a real docking station with one docking port.

Onto this tablet.  Take a look at what could be the perfect tablet docking station.  Slide the tablet into the iMac Display….

This could be the Apple docking station for their tablet.

Check out the article and drill into the patent application from there!

“If you know your history,
Then you would know where you coming from,
Then you wouldn’t have to ask me,
Who the ‘eck do I think I am.”

Bob Marley

With that said, the last 10 years of the internet going mainstream have been unimaginable.  I remember a time only 11 years ago that no one knew what the internet was, nor were computers something cool to be savvy with.  As developers, the world has come to us and I look forward to seeing what growth, connection and enlightenment the next 10 years of the internet holds for the world.

Read this nice article at the Huffington Post about it all.

This blog has long been overdue.  I have been writing on my laptop for quite some time and have enough to start sharing my findings and reflections.  I hope to connect with all of you more with respect to my passion, web software and startups.

Jas

Check out the Edmonton Code Camp 2009 site.  Also check out the Speaker Schedule, as well as the Speaker Bios.

My session is titled “Web Applications and Startups: Considerations in Programming Languages and Integration”.  Long title, I know.

I thought it would be interesting to take a pre-coding look at success when it comes to web applications, and web based startups from my experiences over the past 10 years.

From the website, the description of the session:

Web 2.0 and Software as a Service is all the rage. With the abundance of tech talent in Edmonton, it’s no surprise to see more and more startups demoing at events around town. At the same time, developers are seeing a continuing trend of applications being delivered from a universal interface – the web, instead of through desktop based software. The browser is something that has rapidly come of age in the past few years.

When a decision has been made to create a web application, be it a startup, or the next internal company app, the single most critical decision that can be made for it is the language(s) it is built in. Pick the right tools and life is much easier. Try to make do, and every update will be painful.

This session explores solutions and strategies to a problem that each web application faces. The more time spent on browser compatibility, standards, syntax, integrating between languages, adding libraries, the more a project’s quality suffers. Ajax? CSS? HTML? Java? Flex? Silverlight? All at once?

Why does it often end up that developers end up spending so much time unproductively dealing with getting the tools to work together and solving the problem suffers?

How can we minimize the time we spend with the tools, and focus on creating? We will examine the languages any of us prefer to use and seeing if they are there for us in web apps as we are for them. Are they the best fit? Why is over and under-engineering deadly? We will explore experiences, theories, examples, code (of course), and hopefully some good discussion that will get all the .NET/Java/Flex/Air world looking at the fundamental question of, how do we get things done better, faster and quicker?

My thanks go out to the hard working organizer of Edmonton Code Camp, David Woods.  Planning, organizing and running events is a lot of work, he has been very welcoming and supportive of the topic I had chosen.  He is also involved heavily with the Edmonton .NET User Group who hold monthly meetings.  Check them out!  I’ll be doing my best to get out to one of their meetings.  Please feel free to send me any thoughts or input on what you’d like to see covered in the session!

My Beliefs on startups, either gleaned or painfully learnt that I use to assess most anything:

• ACTIVITY VS. RESULTS: In startups, do not confuse activity with results. Do not confuse progress with results either.
• PROFIT IS BLOOD: Profitability and regular cashflow is the blood flow of your startup. Being able to survive is an accomplishment but a small one. Growth is the true goal.
• STARTUPS ARE ABOUT VALUE Every thought, action, person, feature, should be thought of in terms of value. Seems obvious, but we see the gap between user wants and what software delivers.
• EVERYONE SHOULD GIVE VALUE Everyone must contribute value that measurably and consistently brings results in a direction everyone wants to go. If someone isn’t working as hard as you in their area they are not helping.
• 1+1 SHOULD ALWAYS EQUAL 11.: When involved with others, synergies must magnify greater than the sum of people. If you do not have a great advantage by coming together chances are things may fall under their own weight if things really take off.
• GET AND STAY ON THE SAME PAGE: People’s priorities change. Ensure everyone can be committed to the same game plan (including R&D if that’s where you’re at) for the same amount of time and effort everyone is. Talk early, Talk often.
• HEALTH OF A BUSINESS IS THE # OF NEW CUSTOMERS: The health of a business can be quickly determined by the number, frequency and size of new customers + regular orders.