Sunday, July 17, 2011

You Need a System to Grow

Jessica at Luumin.com on order vs. chaos in everyday life:

http://blog.luumin.com/2011/07/04/need-a-system-to-grow-2/

Saturday, July 16, 2011

ICEHOUSE

expensive
'shit website'
OK content
small company - next level
mentoring / monthly meeting
pay for it - $500 pmonth?

gen IP or exporting
no interest in NZ-focuses biz's

no web focus
in Auckland
shoestring/lean/free

all about them
not sold to
why sign up?
lucky to be chosen
push their partners / advisors
no hightech advisors
tech on own
biz advisors etc

what are they --
landlord? VC? hardass? govt? picking winners?
no transparency?
what's tie-up with Auck Uni?
with govt?
govt-funded VC?
$US150k y-combinator
VC more or less guaranteed
parking bad, furniture bad


what does tech community want?
next level
who can we talk to?

NZTE?
financial?
networking?
pitch deck?
sniffing glue? / work on this...
cofounders
biz ppl
tech ppl
somebody doing biz/tech intro in WN

WINZ do/dont hae a scheme
5k capital grant
need to be on dole and to get off it

practical education? what's wanted?
SPARK program 1.5 times?
biz school icehouse collaboration
day course?
paid - reasonable money value

NZCE program?

maths
Rob Coup?

presenter == ??

@barnaclebarnes, @amatix, @szechuan, @leancto

podcasts - how is it going?

startupTV

success stories - and failure stories
why? who?

database of skills

database of resource people

NDA's

disjoint networks
us
govt networks
big biz nwk
Fonterra

booster seats ? SFO 1 month
Annie?
who do you see?
(Y Combinator)

what networks are they talking about?

accts
lawyers
local and intl money
distrubution
marketing
adv
sales

ICEhouse gets lots of govt funding

filtering?
who is committed to real biz (not Social Media Experts :) )
lots of fake angels in NZ

Good guy network

Lance - he's a good guy

personal recommendations

see other people - ~50 ppl - dont curl up and die

different colored stickers - monthly meeting?

1st Wednesday of month
talk thru sales pitch of how they assist startups

3000 new companies in NZ over what period?
want 1000 companies responsible for


Turn up to our events
Icehouse outside of the icehouse

mentoring adv 2 hours a week at $50ph?

have a new fund for super-early stuff

cut deals for circumstances

Grow Wellington - not many good ones

better Twitter presence?

not interested in the mobile apps space

$2-5M -plus money

feeding the funnel ? (Godin?)

Andy ????

untrusted
lack of transparency

WN Grow Bright Ideas
free events
build trust

Gearman

Tim Uckun
http://tim.uckun.com/

enspiral
Linux + postgreSQL + Ruby + Rails + Gearman
application
"search internet every 10 minutes and predict the future"
goal achieved
1000 seasrches per minute
twitter and reddit digg facebook etc
url mentions
trendings - how fast?
likes videos etc
predict viral or not

painless parallelization
LCA conf Brisbane talk
Manager anagram
workers
massive dist fault tolerant fork mechanism
Joe Stump SimpleGeo
protocol - multiple implementations
diff languages
[scheme / CL / Clojure / FORTH / Factor?]
C and Perl serers
gearman::server CPAN

C: http://launchpad.net/gearman

Go client

Client API
commandline tools
user def SQL db functioins

MySQL etc

worker API
most common langs
usually in same pkgs as client API
cmdline tool


Why Gearman?
lotsa msg brokers
FOSS and not
unique in scope
vs. rapid rabbit?

OSS simple fast multi language
flexible app design
no SPOF

persistent Queues or not

default - jobs ponly stored in mem
various persistence opts
MySQL Drizzle
POstgreSQL
SQLite
Tokyo cabinet
...


Foreground or background
sync and async

large scale archs will work but can start off simple

how does it worek?

clients servers workers
every worker conn to every server
clients not conn to all servers
(no replication)
can get around it

use cases
scatter / gather
map-reduce
async queues
pipeline processing
Erlang says duh - but this is Ruby

scatter gather

# of tasks concurrently
speed up web apps
tasks dont need to be related
alloc dedicat resources for diff tasks
push logic down to where data exists
auto-balancing

DB query x 2 fulltext srch
location srch
...


map/reduce

similar to s/g but split one task

push logic to where data exists (map)
report aggregates or other sumery (reduce_
can be multitier
can be syns, async
aggregates/summary services

client, n tasks, can delegate to subtasks


Async queues
help to scale
not everything needs immed processing
email
tweets
log entries
notofications
insert and indexing

LCA 2011

pipeline processing

some tasks need series of xformations
chain workers to send data for next step


client -> worker -> worker -> worker -> server? DB

examples
ruby

more complex sync client
lambdas

event handlers

example - worker raises an exception
gearman server takes exceptions and raises exception in client library (?)

LAMP excel spreadsheet via COM
SQL Server without TTS / TDS?
cross-platform
ans cross-language


chnked data client

data, completion events

get state of the queue (query gearman itself)

serialized hash to see on screen
hash = Gearmam::srver.new(gearman_servers).status

Zabbix? monitoring tool

alarm on empty work queue

database UDFs

database trigger
start bkgnd jobs on db changes

PostgreQSQL, MySQL , drizzle

SELECT gmen_servers....


Opitonal ingredients

Databases
shared/dist file sys
other nwk protocols
http
email
domain specific libs
image manipulation
full-text indexing


timeouts

by default ops block forever
clients may want timeout on foregnd jobs

workers may need to periodically run oter code besides job callback

cluster-wide cron's

keepalive
over crashes
(job state is persistent?)

other jobs - may not be good thing - not done in an hour -> alarm (e.g.)



Shortcomings
clients must conn to all servers
no replication betw servers
can solve with mysql postgreSQL replication
slower than pure messaging servers
logging not all that great

steps must be taken to assure recovery of queued msgs if a server is completely destroyed
small community - development has slowed
(on which fronts?)

rapid/rabbbit enqueue

all-or-nothing logging level 2 vs 3 big step in volume - pretyt much sux

recently devt has picked up pace again
Brian Akers (MySQL and Drizzle guy)
several new versi0ons
bug - in PHP or other?

CLint ?? also working on it
OSS proj
in C
BSD license? GPL?

priority in queues? - yes but not the way you'd think

retries in X hours / submit job @ time
new feature

boost libs C++

http://gearman.org/

mailing list, docs, related projects

#gearman on irc.freenode.net

Xing using it


PHP people extension? libs

Questions?

Justin??
website lowtraffic
gearman in db server
occasional heavy lifting
queue certain size - fire up vm's til queue only has 3-4 entries in Q

startup time for VM non-critical

Tim - Linode instance 256K ? M? instance

global config file
Capistrano cap deploy

5 twitter and 6 youtube workers etc.

Social Productivity

Web company on K Road - making a social productivity app
social Productivity
social + productivity the perfect app
human traits - one size doesn't fit all
timesheeting
suite of tools - with flexibility
what does it mean ? prob nothing
does it make sense? not really )
is it just a buzzword? probably

witrh harry ferguson @nzharry
and Jess(ica) Desmond @fromaquasar

procrastination
really believe will do better next time
denial!!
tomorrow i will....
crime and punishment / Ulysses - siberia / morocco
task threshold - how to get motivated
motivation is about the 1st 100 pages of the book
techniques - just 5 mins
e.g. tidy house for 5 mins
tend to continue once momentum starts

energizer bunny - inferior feeling :)
accountability
someone to prevent you from telling little lies to self
fear of failure
(effect on mood?)
contrary research re. sharing publically vs actually doing it?
[ask them about it]

personal / work time split
move toward integration

case studies
Facebook - workspace as well as personal lives
didn't happen! FAIL
some aspects too open for enterprise uptake
Moscovitz - peeled off another company - Asana

piles of cash

differences in how people react
overwhelm - too much info demands
Lumen - inhouse (dogfood) - beta soon?

Google+
Facebook / Asana alliance?

list
bundles projects binders
contextual communication
task-based discussions
online todo list
[Wave?]
metadata
status
all in framework of list
privacy settings
communicate re what i am working on and whats happening in life
[is there an assumption / templates re. hierarchy of groupps etc.? - else there is large setup burden

picked busiest area for applications
email / task mgmt fully converged?
e.g. Google+ / gmail / task / calendar
starting small
around the individual
lots of existing apps from ppl who worked in teams
[training?]
James and John engineers
Harry and Jess guinea pigs
[?need more guinea pigs?]

john - support to help stop procrastinating - platform on top of S/W
support network ,accountability
not trying to write another Tony Robbins self-help guru book :)
not hardwiring in particular way of doing things
GTD / other methodologies can be used with it

Jive - collab comms
mostly visible-everything model?

August beta?
individual with mentor support
[will limited scope limit its success?]
All tasks into the aplication - not on paper
the bucket a la GTD
grouping works well
not tagging or categorization
tasks can be on multiple lists
day list
rollover to next day
inbox zero
mentor can view state of the world for individual
take time out to update system before doing anything else

Google Wave - fave product ever (James?)
too complex?
designed email as if it was new thing
alt: integrate existing - lean - 37signals BaseCamp model
product attachment theory (invented and discovered had already existed)
alt: start with list and expand from there
not oversimplisctic
no barriers
not overwhelm

what's in it for mentor?
burden
personal life? Mum might be interested
people like to be in a respected position
find right person
some not interested ; some obsessive - will help with everything and overwhelm
project / subject-specific
passionate people as mentors


[luumin.com]

procrastination in a positive way
unstructured / not burdensome
can check up in a break from work

life coaches / biz coaches

Web app productivity #bca5

@snikchnz
Mal Curtis - Web app productivity
learnable
sitepoint.com
online education marketplace
web biz education freelancing etc
mal.co.nz
HTML
CSS
js
Ruby
php
Rails
Amazon EC2 deployment
macvim?
scc git + github
SASS stylesheet mgmt
RSpec simpletest
cucumber
cont integration

github
paid non-opensource

share team members

mkdir bca
cd bca
git init
git status
touch README.md
git add README.md
staged - now green (on Mac?)
commit -m "Added readme"
git status

Github stores and provides interface to GIT commmands
Githug - create new repo
existing git repo?
can add remote
push - can pull too??
git push -u origin master


SASS
syntactically Awesome Stylesheets
style with attitude
makes CSS fun again
vars
nesting
mixins
selector inheritance
[alt: stylist? stylus?]
DSL
color assignments
.scss file
bca.scss app style sheet
include in other sheets
incl without .scss extn
apple-K clears screen :) in Mac
public/stylesheets - deployed from here?
#sass --watch -c app/stylesheets:public/blah.scss
SASS is a Ruby gem
gem install sass ?

debugging with firebug ? line #'s - CSS file linenums - xref tpo .scss line # ?
break up into page etc stylesheets, buttons etc.
compression support for production?
Rails 3.1? nope - 3.09?

Unit testing? RSpec for Ruby devt
Behaviour-driven
for PHP: Simpletest
PHPUnit
learnable
define biz logic as test cases
regression alarms / reporting - unrelated coade not breaking something?
testr.dev
courses.mal.vm/dev/tests
# of passes, fails, exceptions
assertations?
assertions?


Dropbox should have done test :) -- issue from a few weeks ago?
simpletest
Cucumber
S/w dev teams describe how s/w should behave in plain text
Scenarios - outline and steps
WebRat - automate browser testing - selenium?
heavy AJAX/JS stuff needs Selenium for testing
press button -> correct page?
github andrewk behaviour
course_steps.rb
'Given' precondition
'When'
'Then'
'And I should see'
can give to nondev's to specify what should happen
coverage reports?
bundle exec cucumber featuresw/sales_page.feature
DEPRECATION_WARNING
sets up database? truncates tables
CI server push if all tests pass
(is this == production?)
diff drivers for langs
Capistrano deploy
Jenkins CI server / push

Sponno Mac apps

Payment Charles
bugs etc... real Apple guys - no contact with cust unless bad bugs
XCode
document - based app ? MDI equiv
incognito wraparound safari - doc based
winmail extractor - one window (not doc-based)
equiv dialog-based in Windoze lingo?
clockLock app - what does it do? :)
where do u start?
differnet paradigm for iPhone devt
.nib files
visual prototype - menu and window
controls
app delegate AppDelegate
new file
obj C class
locker.h header
mfile
class lock app delegate
button drop
xib
butler symbol
create control
obj on left
make instance of class locker
NSLog("hello")
wire action to button?
1-2k on winmailextractor
exchange attachment windat files blacch
=> made winmail dat viewer
not greatly lucrative yet on Mac - may improve?
vs. iPhone
incognito made $100 ?
kioskMonster $5-600
long tail - 3 years without update sorry :)
can have multiple windows etc - cf. iPhone stuck to one i/f
stickies for presentation :)
NSTaskth
fullscreen lockin Kiosk app Kioskmonster
mirror with wget
flash, js not so well for spidering
htttrack:
-free mirroring etc
rewrites link refs internal
htttrack writing to some files it shoudn't
beware 64-bit apps - old Mac intel solo 32-bit - won't work
LIPO - 64 and 32-bit packaged together
icons
screenshot
icns file
icon composer in XCode
make mult sizes
github sponno - photo file conv to multiple sizes
FS -interesting
stuck to few places to save files
/users/documents/
Textmate?
test on Guest account - permissions-minimal test
binaries include
what is an ap pon the mac?
appviz.app - directory in a zipfile
can pull other ppls apps apart easily
(how is it deployed though?)
bundles ~=
potentially difficult to profit
no kiwis making mac apps and making money
can make standalone - github etc - don't *have* to go thru App store
rush to the bottom in iOS market has reversed - up 18% yoy
lingon startup prefs
$5
coder html5 uploader CODA $99
omnigraph in mac app store
iOS games call of duty $10 on iPhone
productivity apps are top category on iPhone
(!)
namemangler $10 on appstore
juice king color mixing - iPhone sounds crazy etc
loss-leader and cross-market
focus groups? no!
think talking to 10yo kid about what u make
how to sound cool when describing it (elevator pitch)
15 - 20 yo - exciting?
check apps store
TNEF binary free winmail files
winzip extractor is one of top apps (iPhone?)
time looking what is hot
me-too
create 5 more apps the same
don't spam
- but can put up different flavours
spot holes to fill?
google search for apps?
appcharts.com
popularity
rolling heads
coins down platforms
#1 in games?
top 50 in global charts?
did the idea stick?
sucky design - redo redesign similar concept
ppl to build apps for you
online jobs
rentacoder
odesk (big)
10 pl quoting
$0.50 ph
incredible CV is cheap on ODesk too
:)
can rip off ideas - unprotected
can't do rush jobs - local advantage
risky - no trust
amazing code from ODesk - Zen :)
go, make Mac apps - free coffee for life! :)

Big Data storage etc

Peace S/W utilities - 100 row inserts per power bill in CO

RIAC
Cassandra
PostgreSQL9 has more unstructured data features
NoSQL
MongoDB
up-front schema design important
Robert O'Brien
ACID, BASE -- eventual consistency -- concensus problem
can't do shared nothing with bank balance e.g.
oops - Guy left!
hybrid solutions - relational plus noSQL -- by hand
Hadoop
Guy's back! :)
FOO - NYC? show us your stack
gone off MongoDB
(why?)
if mySQL solves problem, use it
PostgreSQL h-store engine? new
high-write vs high-read/query reqs
operationl considerations
#machines
how to develop
deployment, evolution
SQL not relational (?) - R O'B
Glen Barnes
flume central server
OLTP + analytical - conflicting needs
solution: replicate (denormalize)?
robot filter
geocode
...
other anomalies
Guy : what about huge records (but not many of them necessarily?
MongoDB grid file system
e.g. Radio Telescope etc.
CFD struct mech
scientific
hard to nail down rigid schema for metadata
Petabyte databases
conference MySQL
1P records
(link from Mark Derricutt to Guy)
TB per record
medical scans
x-ray @ cellular level 30GB per record / blob
Provenance - algorithm version etc. - where data came from and how processed
Guy involved with EU grid provenance project til 2006
use cases organ transplant privacy
Aircraft design
German Aerospace
flight simulation
airflow / CFD/ CAD meshes - pressure on surface - FEM mech deformation
100 CPU hours per run - don't want to rerun when forgot little thing like algo version
Rob O'B no longer complete self-contained record in one place - use queues more
Gear-man - Tim ?? session
graph database - transactions, actor state
neo4j ?
REDIS
CouchDB
memcachedb
greenplum?
STB amazon
XML db's Termino? (e)Xist? Berkeley (db) ?
VoltDB
Stonebraker - destroying his reputation / selling soul?
all redundancy in H/W - everything in RAM
high-freq trading
Mark D Spring data - hibernate
Tokyo? Kyoto? Sky were using Tokyo?
Hadoop / RIACK / Cassandra
Mongo most popular by far ?
promoted self by speed claims (but will lose data sometimes)
Guy teaching in Honors paper
PIG query based langs
map-reduce
couch targeting mobile
non-robust links
big data can be quite small
Data Science - O'Reilly - Data Size?
u4j New4j? scientific data (who?) neo4j
not transactional use case
=> graphs analysis
millions of nodes - look for patterns
perturbations - see whether nwk evolves
graphviz
neo4j GPL cut down - AfferoGPL license for full ACID-compliant version
designed to work around 'the cloud hole'
AGPL - must make code available even if not distributing modified project
infinitegraph
torquebase? (Tim ?)
gremlin? query language on top of Neo4J
HF trading = FPGA GPU etc coming in - big $ for sub-ms ping times in same datacentre as market servers
need to be first
Bitcoin
Oracle license $1M US - Peace
2days on paper - call centre