Tuesday 3 July 2012

The cloud computing "state of the nation" in one paragraph

In basic terms, we have a multiplicity of application controls, data transport vectors and network gateways to deal with in a global cloud computing environment that is barely sure enough of itself to settle upon one single agreed set of open architectural standards.

Friday 20 April 2012

Hi there -- thanks for the InfoSec invite, I recieved over 250 emails and 30 phone calls so it's been pretty horrendous. Not one single PR person (OK, there was one - Maxine Ambrose) bothered to pitch me with this kind of style as follows: Dear Adrian - as I know that you specifically cover software application development tools, methodologies and components on your journalistic "beat"… and that you are also very focused on open source technology and application transformation and data management technologies at a deep level down to the command line --- I have read your blogs and taken on board what your editorial remit is before I have decided to pitch you with an opportunity to meet my client at InfoSec. NO -- quite the opposite. 249 pitches have just said -- come and meet my client please. As such, I am still deleting most emails if PR people have not gone the extra mile and tried to tie in vendor themes with current journalistic needs. Simply dropping in the terms "cloud", "virtualised", "customer references" and/or "we'd love to meet you" doesn't cut it -- sorry. I am completely booked up on Tuesday morning. Weds pm I may go in but will have to go to the sister ITSM show. Thursday is still open at this stage but that is a very long way away just now. Ma'a salaama

Tuesday 3 January 2012

B-tree data structures

NOTE: B-tree data structures themselves allow searching of data to be performed with support for sequential access as well as insertions or deletions that may be being performed in logarithmic time. B-trees have roots at the top and leaves (or nodes) at the bottom.

Geekinterview.com defines B-tree as follows: “B-Tree is an indexing technique most commonly used in databases and file systems where pointers to data are placed in a balance tree structure so that all references to any data can be accessed in an equal time frame. It is also a tree data structure, which keeps data sorted so that searching, inserting and deleting can be done in logarithmic amortized time. ”

Monday 31 October 2011

iOS 5 release notes if you missed reading them when you updated your iPad


iOS 5 Software Update

This update contains over 200 new features, including the following:

• Notifications
◦ Swipe from the top of any screen to view notifications in one place with Notification Centre
◦ New notifications appear briefly at the top of the screen
◦ View notifications from lock screen
◦ Slide the notification app icon to the right on the lock screen to go directly to the app
• iMessage
◦ Send and receive unlimited text, photo and video messages with other iOS 5 users
◦ Track messages with delivery and read receipts
◦ Group messaging and secure encryption
◦ Works over mobile networks and Wi-Fi*
• Newsstand
◦ Automatically organises magazine and newspaper subscriptions on Home Screen
◦ Displays the cover of the latest issue
◦ Background downloads of new issues 
• Reminders for managing to-do lists
◦ Syncs with iCloud, iCal and Outlook
◦ Location-based reminders when you leave or arrive at a location for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4
• Built-in support for Twitter
◦ Sign in once in Settings and tweet directly from Camera, Photos, Maps, Safari and YouTube
◦ Add location to any tweet
◦ View Twitter profile pictures and usernames in Contacts
• Camera improvements for devices with cameras
◦ Double-click the Home button when device is asleep to bring up a camera shortcut on iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch (4th generation)
◦ Volume Up button to take a picture
◦ Optional grid lines to line up shots
◦ Pinch to zoom in the preview screen
◦ Swipe to camera roll from preview screen
◦ Tap and hold to lock focus and exposure; iPad 2 and iPod touch (4th generation) only support exposure lock
• Photo improvements for devices with cameras
◦ Crop and rotate
◦ Red-eye removal
◦ One-tap enhance
◦ Organise photos into albums
• Mail improvements
◦ Format text using bold, italic or underlined fonts
◦ Indentation control
◦ Drag to rearrange names in address fields
◦ Flag messages
◦ Mass mark messages as flagged, read or unread
◦ Customise mail alert sounds
◦ S/MIME
• Calendar improvements
◦ Year view on iPad and new Week view for iPhone and iPod touch
◦ Tap to create an event
◦ View and add event attachments
• Game Center improvements
◦ Use personal photos for your Game Center account
◦ Compare your overall achievement scores with your friends
◦ Find new Game Center friends with friend recommendations and friends of friends
◦ Discover new games with custom game recommendations
• AirPlay Mirroring for iPad 2 and iPhone 4S
• Multitasking Gestures for iPad
◦ Use four or five fingers to pinch to the Home Screen
◦ Swipe up to reveal the multitasking bar
◦ Swipe left or right to switch between apps
• On-device setup, activation and configuration with Setup Assistant
• Software updates available over the air without tethering
• iCloud support
◦ iTunes in the Cloud
◦ Photo Stream
◦ Documents in the Cloud
◦ Apps and Books automatic download and purchase history
◦ Backup
◦ Contacts, Calendar and Mail
◦ Find My iPhone
• Redesigned Music app for iPad
• Hourly weather forecast
• Real-time stock quotes
• Wireless sync to iTunes
• Keyboard improvements
◦ Split keyboard for iPad
◦ Improved auto-correction accuracy
◦ Improved Chinese and Japanese input
◦ New Emoji keyboard
◦ Personal dictionary for auto-correction
◦ Optionally create keyboard shortcuts for frequently used words
• Accessibility improvements
◦ Option to light LED flash on incoming calls and alerts for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4
◦ Custom vibration patterns for incoming calls on iPhone
◦ New interface for using iOS with mobility-impairment input devices
◦ Option to speak a selection of text
◦ Custom element labelling for VoiceOver
• Exchange ActiveSync improvements
◦ Wirelessly sync tasks
◦ Mark messages as flagged, read or unread
◦ Improved offline support
◦ Save a new contact from a GAL service
• More than 1,500 new developer APIs
• Bug fixes

Products compatible with this software update:
• iPhone 4S
• iPhone 4
• iPhone 3GS
• iPad 2
• iPad
• iPod touch (4th generation)
• iPod touch (3rd generation)

* Normal carrier data rates may apply. Messages will be sent as SMS when iMessage is unavailable; carrier messaging fees apply.



For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

SD Times

Software Development on SDTimes http://www.sdtimes.com/

Tuesday 16 August 2011

If you get this message from me, then your email was probably poor

Hi there,

Thanks for your PR "outreach" here...

What's the software application development angle from an individual programmer's perspective?

Although I do obviously cover "software" as an industry, I predominantly focus on hard core software engineering considerations. So think tools, APIs, components and command-line centric language related issies.

I presume you know that this is my "beat"?

Adrian