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  <title><![CDATA[Tech Opener]]></title>
  <link href="http://techopener.com/atom.xml" rel="self"/>
  <link href="http://techopener.com/"/>
  <updated>2012-03-03T12:34:44-05:00</updated>
  <id>http://techopener.com/</id>
  <author>
    <name><![CDATA[Kenan Shifflett]]></name>
    
  </author>
  <generator uri="http://octopress.org/">Octopress</generator>

  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Now using Octopress]]></title>
    <link href="http://techopener.com/blog/2012/01/now-using-octopress/"/>
    <updated>2012-01-06T16:18:00-05:00</updated>
    <id>http://techopener.com/blog/2012/01/now-using-octopress</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>Nothing like migrating to a new blogging platform to get you in the mood
to write some new posts. Just switched from Wordpress to
<a href="http://octopress.org">Octopress</a>.</p>

<p>You can find migration instructions a number of places, but the process was pretty straightforward for me.</p>

<ul>
<li>Exported published posts from Wordpress</li>
<li>Updated xml export to include atom namespace that was missing</li>
<li>Used <a href="https://github.com/thomasf/exitwp">exitwp</a> to convert the export
into the markdown format. I did run into a <a href="https://github.com/thomasf/exitwp/issues/6">wrapping issue</a>.</li>
<li>Enabled comments on old posts with the following find and replace</li>
</ul>


<figure class='code'><div class="highlight"><table><tr><td class="gutter"><pre class="line-numbers"><span class='line-number'>1</span>
</pre></td><td class='code'><pre><code class=''><span class='line'> perl -pi -e 's/layout: post/layout: post\ncomments: true/g' *.markdown</span></code></pre></td></tr></table></div></figure>


<ul>
<li>Saved images to source/images and updated posts with proper links</li>
<li>Deploy to github!</li>
<li>Update feedburner RSS feed location</li>
</ul>


<p>Now I just need to find a spell checker plugin!</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Using the Dwolla API with node.js]]></title>
    <link href="http://techopener.com/blog/2011/12/using-the-dwolla-api-with-node-js/"/>
    <updated>2011-12-02T10:55:52-05:00</updated>
    <id>http://techopener.com/blog/2011/12/using-the-dwolla-api-with-node-js</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://dwolla.com">Dwolla.com</a> is a new payment network. It makes it easy to
transfer money without the transaction fees charged by credit cards. Each
transaction over $10 is 25 cents, and those under $10 are free. I think this
has a lot of potential so I have been exploring ways to utilize their API.</p>

<p>To start I wrote a node.js module for their API that you can find at
<a href="https://github.com/nanek/node-dwolla">https://github.com/nanek/node-dwolla</a>.
In addition, I added Dwolla OAuth2 to the
<a href="https://github.com/bnoguchi/everyauth">everyauth</a> module to make it easy to
authenticate.</p>

<p>They have some interesting API methods that are not common to payment APIs.
You can view a user&#8217;s account transactions and balances (with permission of
course). They also integrate and expose a user&#8217;s contacts from various social
networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, to make it easy to send/request money
from friends.</p>

<p>Let me know if you build something cool or if you have a great idea that could
utilize their API.</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Translation API for node.js]]></title>
    <link href="http://techopener.com/blog/2011/11/translation-api-for-node-js/"/>
    <updated>2011-11-17T14:24:20-05:00</updated>
    <id>http://techopener.com/blog/2011/11/translation-api-for-node-js</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>Microsoft provides a Translator API that allows you to translate text from one
language into another. It provides up to 1000 transactions/month for free.
Google also provides a translation API, however has recently removed their
free tier. One the projects I am working on needed the ability to translate
text, so I wrote a node.js module for the Microsoft Translator API, which you
can find more about at
<a href="https://github.com/nanek/mstranslator">github.com/nanek/mstranslator</a>.</p>

<p>The API itself provides a good set of languages to choose from and it also can
provide the audio of the word being spoken.</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Credit Cards and Security]]></title>
    <link href="http://techopener.com/blog/2011/07/credit-cards-and-security/"/>
    <updated>2011-07-07T08:04:54-04:00</updated>
    <id>http://techopener.com/blog/2011/07/credit-cards-and-security</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>I recently returned from a wonderful trip to Norway.  One tech thing that
stood out was that everywhere you go there they have portable card readers
that read cards with a chip or magnetic stripe.  Looking into it, the &#8220;chip&#8221;
is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMV">EMV</a> technology adopted in Europe in
2005 due to security concerns.  Every single place I tried to use my non-chip
credit or debit card came with a puzzled look and the statement, &#8220;no chip?!&#8221;
Being a tech geek I definitely felt out of date.  You could tell by the way
they acted that they didn&#8217;t swipe cards very often, as everyone only uses the
chip there.</p>

<p>I remember when I applied for my first credit card, the American Express Blue
card, which I still have.  It came with a USB card reader and a chip in the
card to help secure online transactions.  I never used the card reader, but it
was the main reason I got the card, and that was back in 1999.  Unfortunately
that is not an EMV chip, so it doesn&#8217;t work in Europe.</p>

<p>Swipe cards, just like plain text account numbers lack any sort of security.
This is widely known, however we currently have a chicken/egg problem of not
many cards with chips and not many readers for these chips in the US.
<a href="https://squareup.com/">Square</a> and other companies are making card readers
more accessible, however is still based upon fundamentally insecure swipe card
technology. Some say mobile payments, such as
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_field_communication">NFC</a> will provide a
more secure technology and are more practical to deploy in the US over EMV
technology.</p>

<p>Frankly, I don&#8217;t care too much what technology is used, however I would prefer
the option to choose a more secure credit/debit card.  Seems like there
shouldn&#8217;t be an issue supporting both.  Recently I just go a new ING Direct
MasterCard, that has no embossed numbers on the card.  In fact, all of the
account information such as my name and account number and expiration are
printed on the back.  It certainly looks cool, albeit almost fake, and it
won&#8217;t leave my CC number imprinted in my wallet, however im not sure it makes
it my account any more secure.  I guess they decided that no one makes card
imprints anymore.</p>

<p>Im looking forward to see some innovation in banking over the next year.
Seems like the market is poised for a shake-up.</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Book recommendation: Responsive Web Design]]></title>
    <link href="http://techopener.com/blog/2011/07/book-recommendation-responsive-web-design/"/>
    <updated>2011-07-06T10:56:30-04:00</updated>
    <id>http://techopener.com/blog/2011/07/book-recommendation-responsive-web-design</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>I just finished <a href="http://www.abookapart.com/products%0A/responsive-web-design">Responsive Web Design</a> by Ethan Marcotte. It is a quick and entertaining
read. It brings together some CSS techniques you may already know and some you
probably don&#8217;t to give clear solution to an ever increasing problem of dealing
with varying screen sizes. I look forward to using these strategies in my next
project and I highly recommend the book. Let me know if you want to borrow it.</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[How to become a Sole Proprietor in Arlington County]]></title>
    <link href="http://techopener.com/blog/2011/07/how-to-become-a-sole-proprietor-in-arlington-county/"/>
    <updated>2011-07-05T12:33:36-04:00</updated>
    <id>http://techopener.com/blog/2011/07/how-to-become-a-sole-proprietor-in-arlington-county</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>When starting out on your own, there a number of things you need to do based
on where you live.  Even with all of the resources on the internet, it can
still be a little confusing to determine what is needed as it varies based on
a number of factors.  As such, if you are starting a business, then be sure to
research what is required for your situation.</p>

<p>Here are the basic steps for becoming a sole proprietor in Arlington County,
Virginia.</p>

<ol>
<li>County - Business License ($30/fee, plus tax at end of year) from the Commissioner of Revenue</li>
<li>County - Home occupation permit (free) from the Commissioner of Revenue</li>
<li>File State Taxes at end of year</li>
<li><p>File Federal Taxes at end of year and complete tax estimates quarterly
Other steps, highly recommended:</p></li>
<li><p>New bank account to separate business income/expenses from personal accounts</p></li>
<li>Business Cards - <a href="http://about.me">about.me</a> provides free <a href="http://moo.com">moo</a> cards</li>
<li>Health Insurance - <a href="http://www.ehealthinsurance.com/">eHealthInsurance.com</a></li>
<li>Networking - <a href="http://meetup.com">meetup.com</a>
After this, you can look into creating a more complex business type, such as
an LLC and/or trademarking a business name and getting an
<a href="http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=98350,00.html">EIN</a> if
needed.  However if you are just looking to get started, it could be a simple
as that.  Let me know if you think im missing something.</li>
</ol>

]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Full Text Search with Dropbox]]></title>
    <link href="http://techopener.com/blog/2011/04/full-text-search-with-dropbox/"/>
    <updated>2011-04-25T18:58:20-04:00</updated>
    <id>http://techopener.com/blog/2011/04/full-text-search-with-dropbox</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://db.tt/BKfYgZE">Dropbox</a> + <a href="http://lucene.apache.org/solr/">Solr</a> =
full text indexing and search for files in your Dropbox. I wrote an app in
<a href="http://www.sinatrarb.com/">Sinatra</a> that authenticates to Dropbox, downloads
your files, and indexes them in Solr. It also provides a simple interface for
searching that includes hit highlighting and some basic facet support.</p>

<p><a href="http://techopener.com/images/searchdropbox.png"><img src="http://techopener.com/images/searchdropbox.png" alt="Search Dropbox" /></a></p>

<p>I&#8217;ve posted the project on <a href="https://github.com/nanek/searchdropbox">github</a>,
so feel free to download and try it. For anyone interested in this as a hosted
service instead of as a download and install, let me know.</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Analyzing data from DonorsChoose.org]]></title>
    <link href="http://techopener.com/blog/2011/04/analyzing-data-from-donorschoose-org/"/>
    <updated>2011-04-14T12:28:38-04:00</updated>
    <id>http://techopener.com/blog/2011/04/analyzing-data-from-donorschoose-org</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>DonorsChoose.org is running a <a href="http://www.donorschoose.org/hacking-%0Aeducation">contest</a> by opening up its data for analysis and use in innovative
applications.  They have provided data dumps for project, search, donation and
gift card data in large csv files.  There are a two free tools that I
recommend to quickly review this data.</p>

<p><a href="http://code.google.com/p/google-refine/">Google Refine</a> allows you to filter
the data and identify data quality issues.  It also makes it very easy to
manipulate and transform the data any way you like.  Bulk replacements and
column transforms are two of its strengths.  Another cool feature is the
ability to template exports into different formats such as JSON.  Heres some
tips I found with working with the Donors Choose data.  First increase the
<a href="http://code.google.com/p/google-%0Arefine/wiki/FaqAllocateMoreMemory">memory settings</a>.  Second, update the <a href="http://code.google.com/p/google-refine/issues/detail?id=31#c6">facet limit
setting</a> to
something higher.  The <a href="http://code.google.com/p/google-refine/">screencasts</a>
for Google Refine do a great job in demonstrating its use.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.google.com/fusiontables/">Google Fusion Tables</a> is good for
visualizing data in various ways like charts, maps, or timelines.  This tool
works better with data sets that are already cleaned up.  It takes some time
to load the data and process it, so it is best served for working with just a
slice of data that you would like to present for a specific purpose.  It does
have a 250mb limit per user and a 100mb limit per csv file.</p>

<p>So go ahead and start analyzing this data.  It is for a good cause and the
lucky contest winner will get to meet Steven Colbert!</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Team Drive on Google App Engine]]></title>
    <link href="http://techopener.com/blog/2011/04/team-drive-on-google-app-engine/"/>
    <updated>2011-04-11T16:11:46-04:00</updated>
    <id>http://techopener.com/blog/2011/04/team-drive-on-google-app-engine</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>Last year, I created <a href="http://funddrive.appspot.com">Team Drive</a> on <a href="http://code.google.com/appengine/">Google App
Engine</a>.  I wanted to learn about Google
App Engine (GAE) which is a hosting platform for python/java based
applications.</p>

<p>Team Drive is based on a site that Fabien built years ago to record donations
of items for a charity food drive.  Users from an organization are split into
separate teams, and then compete to see who can collect the most food items.
By adding this friendly team competition to a normal food drive, you can
increase the participation and results of the drive.</p>

<p>Building on GAE is quite different than traditional single server application
deployments.  Everything in App Engine forces you to think about how to scale
your application.  By placing constraints, such as a thirty second processing
limit per request, it forces you to think about approaching problems
differently than if you were writing this to run on a single server.</p>

<p>App Engine supports two types of authentication methods, Google Accounts and
OpenID.  If you want to leverage their session management you need to use one
of these.  For an site aimed at organizations, I didn&#8217;t want users to have to
create a google account or OpenID.  To work around this I implemented an
OpenID provider in the application.  Administrators could upload a list of
email addresses and a Team Drive OpenID would be created for each of these
users.  The users themselves don&#8217;t need to know that they are using OpenID, as
I only ask for their username and password.</p>

<p>Another example is for counting the number of items contributed by a person,
team, organization or type.  In a relational database you might just sum these
up on demand.  However using the Google datastore you generally store counts
on the object itself and increment this count on each update.  App Engine has
also provided an implementation of map/reduce that makes it easy to perform
operations such as sums or counts over large collections.</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[No timezones / no daylight savings time]]></title>
    <link href="http://techopener.com/blog/2011/04/no-timezones-no-daylight-savings-time/"/>
    <updated>2011-04-01T13:49:30-04:00</updated>
    <id>http://techopener.com/blog/2011/04/no-timezones-no-daylight-savings-time</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>Timezones and daylight savings time never really made sense to me.  How could
something as fundamental, precise and constant as time be dependent upon my
location or a local government?</p>

<p><img src='http://techopener.com/images/SwatchBeat1.jpg' width='263px' height='300px' /></p>

<p>Turns out, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatch_Internet_Time">Swatch</a> tried
to tackle this already.  <a href="http://ebeats.org/">eBeats</a> is trying something
similar.  Until then, there is always <a href="http://everytimezone.com/">Every Time Zone</a>.</p>

<p>&amp;nbsp_place_holder;</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[A location based URL redirector]]></title>
    <link href="http://techopener.com/blog/2011/03/a-location-based-url-redirector/"/>
    <updated>2011-03-31T11:33:40-04:00</updated>
    <id>http://techopener.com/blog/2011/03/a-location-based-url-redirector</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>I wanted to create something to enter into <a href="http://quovadevchallenge.com/">Quova Dev
Challenge</a>, so I created <a href="http://nearbylink.appspot.com">Nearby
Link</a>.  Basically its a service that creates
links that redirect users to different sites based on their current location.</p>

<p>If that doesn&#8217;t make sense, then just visit
<a href="http://goo.gl/ydDZP">http://goo.gl/ydDZP</a> and you will be taken to the
contact form for the governor of your state. If a user in another state
clicked the same link, they would visit the appropriate contact form for their
state.  Get it?  One link, yet it can redirect to different sites based on the
location of the user.</p>

<p>Or instead, let&#8217;s say your trying to get people to eat at your restaurant by
using social media like twitter or facebook, and you want them quickly find a
store location in their area.  Quizno&#8217;s for example, could just link to to
<a href="http://goo.gl/dHYhc">http://goo.gl/dHYhc</a> and it will automatically show
locations around the user where they are at.</p>

<p>Thoughts?  Other uses?</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Location history reporting]]></title>
    <link href="http://techopener.com/blog/2011/03/location-history-reporting/"/>
    <updated>2011-03-07T11:20:54-05:00</updated>
    <id>http://techopener.com/blog/2011/03/location-history-reporting</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>There are lots of mobile location sharing products and many new ones everyday.
Most of them appear to be centered around location check-ins and sharing with
friends.  While this is neat, it seems like only a small slice of the use
cases in which location data is useful.</p>

<p>For example, lets say that I take I-66 W to work everyday, starting around
9am.  If this pattern is established, and there is an accident on I-66 W at
8:50am, it would be great to know that before I start my commute.  The
location and time of this event is important in that if it was another road or
at another time, then I really don&#8217;t care to be informed regarding this event.
Unless the event was at 9:30am and im running late.  In order to provide
context aware alerts, you need to have sufficient data in order to have a good
level of confidence that a user is likely to take an action at a certain time
and place.</p>

<p>Certainly there are existing ways to be informed regarding traffic situations.
However, it seems to me that we have not taken automation regarding similar
use cases yet to a usable level.  Smart phones that are aways on, full of
sensors and generally always with us, empower us to easily track, record,
analyze and alert with minimal or no input.  I&#8217;ve started to explore how to
implement this and I hope to discuss it more over the next few days.</p>

<p>&amp;nbsp_place_holder;</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Online password security]]></title>
    <link href="http://techopener.com/blog/2011/03/online-password-security/"/>
    <updated>2011-03-03T16:22:42-05:00</updated>
    <id>http://techopener.com/blog/2011/03/online-password-security</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>I often find myself forgetting my passwords and usernames to various sites.
So recently, I decided to get serious about password management.  I use
<a href="http://www.keepassx.org/">KeyPassX</a> (or KeyPass if you are using windows) as
a secure way to encrypt and record the urls, usernames and passwords to sites.</p>

<p>I also signed up for <a href="http://www.google.com/suppor%0At/accounts/bin/static.py?hl=en&amp;page=guide.cs&amp;guide=1056283&amp;topic=1056284">Google 2 step verification</a>.
This is useful for many reasons, but one in particular is that your gmail
account contains a lot of information that can be used to access your other
accounts.  Once you get past the initial setup, everything works seamlessly as
it did before.  Enterprises have traditionally paid big bucks to implement
this type of 2 factor authentication, typically requiring issuing RSA tokens
or similar to all employees.  It&#8217;s great to see a more integrated solution
being provided directly to consumers.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.dropbox.com">Dropbox</a> has nothing to do with your password
security, however it is a great tool to sync files between your computer, web,
and devices.  So one way to always be sure that you don&#8217;t lose your KeyPass
database or your Google verification backup codes is to place them in a
private dropbox folder that you can reach from everywhere.</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Smartphone with unlimited everything for $25/month]]></title>
    <link href="http://techopener.com/blog/2011/03/smartphone-with-unlimited-everything/"/>
    <updated>2011-03-02T10:37:12-05:00</updated>
    <id>http://techopener.com/blog/2011/03/smartphone-with-unlimited-everything</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>Virgin Mobile offers a great $25/month plan for unlimited data, text and web
with 300 talk minutes with no contract to sign.  This works great for me, as I
generally just have short phone conversations.  However there are of course
times when I might get stuck on the phone for an hour or so.  Below are a few
extra steps I took to help get around the 300 minute limit without spending
any more.</p>

<p>First, I ported my number to <a href="http://voice.google.com">Google Voice</a>(GV).  GV
has a lot of features, but the key feature is being able to indicate where to
forward calls to when your phone number is dialed.  For example, when my GV
number is called, it is then forwarded to my mobile phone number.</p>

<p>Secondly, I setup GV to forward to Google Talk within Gmail.  Im often in
front of a computer, so this way I can easily make and receive phone calls for
free without using my cell minutes or using a different phone number.</p>

<p>Lastly, to take it the extra mile, what about a VOIP call when you are on your
cell phone in order to avoid using your minutes?  Might as well use that
unlimited data plan.  Turns out that there are a few extra steps here, however
it is relatively easy to setup.  I use a
<a href="http://www.google.com/gizmo5/">Gizmo5</a> SIP account for this and I won&#8217;t go
into the details here, but there are
<a href="http://iiordanov.blogspot.com/2009/07/sipdroid-gv-guava.html">plenty</a> of
<a href="http://code.google.com/p/google-voice-sipsorcery-dialplans/w/list">posts</a> on
the web describing how to set this up.  Keep in mind though that the call
quality of this often does suffer based on the quality of the data connection.</p>

<p>If you sign up for a <a href="http://www.virginmobileusa.com/">Virgin Mobile</a> account,
feel free to use the Kickback Code IYFUMN7I for an extra 60 minutes of talk
time.</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Redmine plugin for windows authentication]]></title>
    <link href="http://techopener.com/blog/2010/05/redmine-plugin-for-windows-authentication/"/>
    <updated>2010-05-02T19:36:16-04:00</updated>
    <id>http://techopener.com/blog/2010/05/redmine-plugin-for-windows-authentication</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>Redmine.org is an open source project management application. It is simple to
setup and works great. It supports LDAP authentication out of the box. We
recently setup Redmine for a project to run behind IIS using fastcgi and
wanted to automatically login using windows authentication. We didn&#8217;t see a
option for this, so I created a simple plugin that can be used to add this
functionality.</p>

<p>http://github.com/nanek/redmine_windowsauth</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[iPad apps]]></title>
    <link href="http://techopener.com/blog/2010/04/ipad-apps/"/>
    <updated>2010-04-02T08:35:36-04:00</updated>
    <id>http://techopener.com/blog/2010/04/ipad-apps</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>Prepared for tomorrow by downloading some iPad applications before the device
has even been released.  Apple = Hype machine.  iPad will win for the same
reasons the iPhone did.  For anyone not paying attention, it is the
applications.</p>

<p><a href="http://techopener.com/images/iPadApps.png"><img src="http://techopener.com/images/iPadApps.png" alt="iPad Apps" /></a></p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[CloudCamp DC 2010]]></title>
    <link href="http://techopener.com/blog/2010/03/cloudcamp-dc-2010/"/>
    <updated>2010-03-25T22:58:21-04:00</updated>
    <id>http://techopener.com/blog/2010/03/cloudcamp-dc-2010</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>Last Tuesday, I attended <a href="http://www.cloudcamp.org/dc">CloudCamp</a> in DC.  I&#8217;ve
been meaning to go to an event like this for sometime and I was finally able
to make it.  In particular my main takeaway from this event was how much
better an unconference format is over a traditional conference.</p>

<p>This CloudCamp was ran by <a href="http://twitter.com/davenielsen">Dave Nielsen</a>.
There were over 200 people at my count, with standing room only at the
beginning of the event.  I had my concerns with how effective the event would
be based on its format with such a diverse and large audience.  However it was
quite successful.  The audience members varied widely, from cloud vendors and
consultants to government employees with no knowledge of the cloud and to
those with existing or future cloud projects.</p>

<p>The event started with lightning talks, followed by a panel from the audience
with questions from the crowd, followed by two audience lead break out
sessions, ending with a wrap-up over drinks.</p>

<p>The best part about the event was that it was able to live up to the
definition of an unconference.  Instead of going to a typical conference and
hearing long presentations from just a few people, we were all able to
participate, share experiences and learn from each other.  I look forward to
attending the next CloudCamp and other unconference events.</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Foursquare on Windows Mobile]]></title>
    <link href="http://techopener.com/blog/2009/12/foursquare-on-windows-mobile/"/>
    <updated>2009-12-22T21:47:50-05:00</updated>
    <id>http://techopener.com/blog/2009/12/foursquare-on-windows-mobile</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://foursquare.com">Foursquare </a>does not have a windows mobile version of
their application, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to try and
build an app.</p>

<p>Things that are working fairly well:</p>

<ul>
<li>Foursquare API access.</li>
<li>JSON.NET is used to parse the JSON responses.</li>
<li>sqlite is used for caching http responses.</li>
<li>OAuth is used for authentication to foursquare.</li>
<li><p>GPS lookup.
Things that don&#8217;t work and have proved difficult to implement:</p></li>
<li><p>Responsiveness.  At times the app stops responding and overall feels too slow for normal use.</p></li>
<li>Cell ID lookup.  This is important as GPS often does not work indoors.  It appears access to this API may be protected on most phones.</li>
<li><p>Good looking user interface.  Plus dealing with different phone resolutions, orientations, and sizes makes it a little more complicated.
Things that would be interesting to implement but require a solid base
application:</p></li>
<li><p>Map integration</p></li>
<li>Integration with other API&#8217;s such as Yelp
You can find the source at
<a href="http://foursquare.codeplex.com">http://foursquare.codeplex.com</a> along with a
CAB for installation on your phone if you want to try it out.  Look under the
planned download section.  It works ok on my HTC Touch Pro.  If you are
interested in contributing to this effort, let me know.  I&#8217;m debating spending
more time on making this work better or building a HTML5 based mobile web
application.</li>
</ul>

]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Life Inc. call to action]]></title>
    <link href="http://techopener.com/blog/2009/10/life-inc-call-to-action/"/>
    <updated>2009-10-20T09:07:21-04:00</updated>
    <id>http://techopener.com/blog/2009/10/life-inc-call-to-action</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>I recently completed the book, &#8221;<a href="http://rushkoff.com/books/life-incorporated/life-inc-distributors">Life Inc.</a> How the world became a corporation and how to take it back,&#8221; by <a href="http://rushkoff.com/">Douglas Rushkoff</a>.</p>

<p><img alt='RUSHKOFF_LifeIncCOVER' src='http://techopener.com/images/RUSHKOFF_LifeIncCOVER.jpg' width='197px' height='300px' /></p>

<p>The book tells the compelling history of how corporations have defined and
controlled the world since their inception.  It might make you rethink some
basic assumptions we have about how society has evolved the way that it has.
One example used in the book is the concept of having a large suburban home
while working in the city, being constructed by car companies to create a
market and the need for cars.  He ends the book with a call to action,
specifically mentioning creating local currencies and using Community
Supported Agriculture.  I&#8217;ve considered trying a
<a href="http://www.localharvest.org/csa/">CSA</a> that would deliver to Arlington, but I
don&#8217;t really cook that much.  He also mentions <a href="http://kiva.org">Kiva.org</a>
which <a href="http://techopener.com/blog/2009/06/kiva-now-allows-loans-to-people-in-the-us/">I use and enjoy</a>.</p>

<p>Do you use a CSA?</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[5 Great Microsoft .NET Developer Blogs]]></title>
    <link href="http://techopener.com/blog/2009/10/5-great-microsoft-net-developer-blogs/"/>
    <updated>2009-10-19T08:42:32-04:00</updated>
    <id>http://techopener.com/blog/2009/10/5-great-microsoft-net-developer-blogs</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>Scott Hanselman <a href="http://www.hanselman.com/">http://www.hanselman.com/</a> Dan
Wahlin <a href="http://weblogs.asp.net/dwahlin/">http://weblogs.asp.net/dwahlin/</a> The
Morning Brew <a href="http://blog.cwa.me.uk/">http://blog.cwa.me.uk/</a> Jon Galloway
<a href="http://weblogs.asp.net/jgalloway/">http://weblogs.asp.net/jgalloway/</a> Scott
Gu <a href="http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/">http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/</a></p>

<p>I&#8217;m sure I missed a bunch.  What do you recommend?</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
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