You may have used the tool on LDS.ORG for learning hymns. It's really slick. You can pick which parts you want to play, slow down the tempo and even download mp3 of the songs.
See it here.
Help With String Translation
If you're fluent in a language besides English, we would love your help. We're working on a prototype for a new web site and need help translating some of the strings.
If you're interested, go to this wiki and translate to your heart's content.
We have listed Spanish, Portugese, Italian, French, German, Chinese, Korean, Russian, and Japanese, but if you know other languages, then feel free to add them to the wiki.
Thanks for your help!
UPDATE: You'll need an LDS Account to log in to the WIKI. Get one here.
If you're interested, go to this wiki and translate to your heart's content.
We have listed Spanish, Portugese, Italian, French, German, Chinese, Korean, Russian, and Japanese, but if you know other languages, then feel free to add them to the wiki.
Thanks for your help!
UPDATE: You'll need an LDS Account to log in to the WIKI. Get one here.
Blackberry Developers?
Thank you for the repsonses to my last post where I asked for PHP developers to help us this next month. We're off and running!
We have another project where we're working on some apps for the Blackberry. If you have experience in developing Blackberry apps and some time this next month, please contact edwardsj at ldschurch.org.
We'd love your help! Great stuff happening the next couple of months! Stay tuned!
We have another project where we're working on some apps for the Blackberry. If you have experience in developing Blackberry apps and some time this next month, please contact edwardsj at ldschurch.org.
We'd love your help! Great stuff happening the next couple of months! Stay tuned!
Rock Star PHP Developers for YSA Needed!
Back in May, I posted about our desire to have engineers and designers in the LDS community help us develop software. I referred to this as LDS Open source and took a little flak.
Since then we've had a healthy uptick in the people helping us get work done.
We have 50 active community developers and that grows a little each month.
We have an immediate, high priority need. We're looking for people with PHP experience to help us with a prototype Young Single Adult (YSA) web site. If you have that experience and have some time over the next month, we need you.
Please email edwardsj at ldschurch.org.
Since then we've had a healthy uptick in the people helping us get work done.
We have 50 active community developers and that grows a little each month.
We have an immediate, high priority need. We're looking for people with PHP experience to help us with a prototype Young Single Adult (YSA) web site. If you have that experience and have some time over the next month, we need you.
Please email edwardsj at ldschurch.org.
Mormons Made Simple
Just posted this on LDSMediaTalk about MormonsMadeSimple.
If you haven't seent these videos, check them out!
If you haven't seent these videos, check them out!
Adobe to Acquire Omniture
Adobe to acquire Omniture. I'm scratching my head on this one. Josh James (Omniture CEO) is surely a sharp guy and will become a VP at Adobe. And Omniture has some great engineering resource here in Utah so that's a great pickup.
Why Adobe needs to make a play in the web analytics market, especially with Google offering free services, I don't know.
Why Adobe needs to make a play in the web analytics market, especially with Google offering free services, I don't know.
Rails and .NET
I recenty had a friend tell me that he would "never work in .net again." He'd rather find a different job than work in .net. Literally. He's a big fan of rails.
What do YOU think?
If you've done extensive programming in both languages, tell us if you feel the same way. How much more productive are you in one versus the other?
What do YOU think?
If you've done extensive programming in both languages, tell us if you feel the same way. How much more productive are you in one versus the other?
VMWare and Spring
I met with VMWare this week. They own ninety-something percent of the virtualization market. They've now purchased SpringSource. SpringSource is all about simplifying Java development for the enterprise. We use VMWare virtualization heavily and our Java stack is based on SpringSource's.
Is this acquisition a good thing?
It depends. On one hand, it's an interesting opportunity to more seamlessly integrate virtualization into the development desktop. A developer should be able to use whichever desktop they choose and replicate the production environment as much as possible locally. Then a push of a button should send a virtual machine up to the next environment (test, staging, etc.). Extend this ability to sending your virtual machine to be tested or even hosted in the cloud, either intentionally or automatically.
If VMWare wins over the mindshare of the cloud providers then this has beautiful implications for disaster recovery, horizontal scaling, peak offloading and even data center outsourcing itself.
So what could be bad? Two potential problems.
First, VMWare has more developers than Microsoft Windows had at its peak. It's a big company and getting bigger. How able will it be to avoid the bureacracy and bloat mentality that ended up hurting Microsoft and other technology companies who went through this kind of growth?
More importantly, how benevolent will VMWare be? They're basically a monopoly in the virtualization space--at least today until Microsoft catches up. If they end up owning the data centers, internal and external, it's much easier for them to call the shots.
Will we see the same behavior we have seen from Oracle, Microsoft, SAP and others? Will we be held hostage by exorbitant maintenance fees? Will "optional, but really required" add-on prices go through the roof. Will service levels decline in non-contract years?
We shall see. Might be wise to root for Xen or even Microsoft to keep up in this space.
Is this acquisition a good thing?
It depends. On one hand, it's an interesting opportunity to more seamlessly integrate virtualization into the development desktop. A developer should be able to use whichever desktop they choose and replicate the production environment as much as possible locally. Then a push of a button should send a virtual machine up to the next environment (test, staging, etc.). Extend this ability to sending your virtual machine to be tested or even hosted in the cloud, either intentionally or automatically.
If VMWare wins over the mindshare of the cloud providers then this has beautiful implications for disaster recovery, horizontal scaling, peak offloading and even data center outsourcing itself.
So what could be bad? Two potential problems.
First, VMWare has more developers than Microsoft Windows had at its peak. It's a big company and getting bigger. How able will it be to avoid the bureacracy and bloat mentality that ended up hurting Microsoft and other technology companies who went through this kind of growth?
More importantly, how benevolent will VMWare be? They're basically a monopoly in the virtualization space--at least today until Microsoft catches up. If they end up owning the data centers, internal and external, it's much easier for them to call the shots.
Will we see the same behavior we have seen from Oracle, Microsoft, SAP and others? Will we be held hostage by exorbitant maintenance fees? Will "optional, but really required" add-on prices go through the roof. Will service levels decline in non-contract years?
We shall see. Might be wise to root for Xen or even Microsoft to keep up in this space.
Mormon Radio iPhone App
Mormon Radio now has an iPhone app available on the iPhone app store.
This is the first fruits of our community development effort.
Congrats all!!
This is the first fruits of our community development effort.
Congrats all!!
Be(a)ware the Clouds
Cloud computing. Buzz word? Cliche? Irrational exhuberance? It's hard to tell yet.
The promise is certainly there. According to the 2004 U.S. census, there are about 23 million "firms" in the U.S. alone. Only about 5 million of those have
Over 17,000 companies in the U.S.
The promise is certainly there. According to the 2004 U.S. census, there are about 23 million "firms" in the U.S. alone. Only about 5 million of those have
Over 17,000 companies in the U.S.
Data Extortion
Recently somebody hacked into a web site operated by the State of Virginia, deleted the records of over 8 million people and left a note on the homepage, demanding $10M to restore the data.
We're talking about 0's and 1's here.
It's not the first time hackers have used data for extortion. Typically they threaten to release potentially damaging data, whereas this time it's closer to kidnapping where they're offering to return the data for a price.
This event underscores the importance of regular backups and disaster recovery. Granted, the brutes should never have had the opportunity to get into the web site in the first place, but a secure perimeter won't solve the problem if it's an inside job. Appropriate seperation of duties and regular testing of data (and system) restoration is critical for peace of mind when it comes to making sure your data is safely guarded.
Luckily, the state of Virginia apparently had appropriate backup and restoration precedures in place.
Do you?
We're talking about 0's and 1's here.
It's not the first time hackers have used data for extortion. Typically they threaten to release potentially damaging data, whereas this time it's closer to kidnapping where they're offering to return the data for a price.
This event underscores the importance of regular backups and disaster recovery. Granted, the brutes should never have had the opportunity to get into the web site in the first place, but a secure perimeter won't solve the problem if it's an inside job. Appropriate seperation of duties and regular testing of data (and system) restoration is critical for peace of mind when it comes to making sure your data is safely guarded.
Luckily, the state of Virginia apparently had appropriate backup and restoration precedures in place.
Do you?
Open Source Developers Wanted for Mormon Community Development Efforts
If you're a developer or a tester or a designer, and you're Mormon, or even if you're not, come play!
The Church has been working to figure out a way to allow folks who want to contribute to its missions to do so. We're ready for help!
We now have applications you can work on, a sandbox with web services, source control, bug tracking and even a requirements for participation. :)
The most immediate need is the re-write of the stake and ward web site. We are working on an International web site (10 languages to start with) which will allow members to log in, and view or print their stake/ward directory, see a list of ward leaders, read the ward/stake blog, edit & view the ward/stake/Church calendar, and so forth.
Interested?
Read more here.
The first component you can start on immediately is the calendar portion. It's built on our Java stack, which you can read about here. You can also read up on our "community development best practices."
Tom Welch is our "community development" manager. His contact information is on the web sites.
Come join us! We're ready for your help!!
The Church has been working to figure out a way to allow folks who want to contribute to its missions to do so. We're ready for help!
We now have applications you can work on, a sandbox with web services, source control, bug tracking and even a requirements for participation. :)
The most immediate need is the re-write of the stake and ward web site. We are working on an International web site (10 languages to start with) which will allow members to log in, and view or print their stake/ward directory, see a list of ward leaders, read the ward/stake blog, edit & view the ward/stake/Church calendar, and so forth.
Interested?
Read more here.
The first component you can start on immediately is the calendar portion. It's built on our Java stack, which you can read about here. You can also read up on our "community development best practices."
Tom Welch is our "community development" manager. His contact information is on the web sites.
Come join us! We're ready for your help!!
WolframAlpha=CrazySearch
If you haven't tried WolframAlpha, check it out.
Here is a screencast that explains.
It's a search engine which returns organized data from queries based on normal language. You can ask it math questions, statistics questions, questions about nutritional content, popularity of baby names and so forth.
Notice how often it doesn't understand your question--unlike Google where you almost always get a result, even if it's not what you want. In this case, humans are doing more work behind the magic, trying to predict what people will ask. Though you don't always get a result, when you do get a result it's more satisfying.
Here is a screencast that explains.
It's a search engine which returns organized data from queries based on normal language. You can ask it math questions, statistics questions, questions about nutritional content, popularity of baby names and so forth.
Notice how often it doesn't understand your question--unlike Google where you almost always get a result, even if it's not what you want. In this case, humans are doing more work behind the magic, trying to predict what people will ask. Though you don't always get a result, when you do get a result it's more satisfying.
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