Today, our group (Will, Eddie, Clement, Larry and myself) presented to the class about P2P networks.
View our presentation: https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dgz3hxr4_73csw58fk
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
API
Last week we were introduced to APIs. API stands for Application Programming Interface. I kept thinking of it as a Widgit rather than and layer of programming underneath the user interface. To simplify things for me and help me better understand the concept, I went to You Tube to see what I could find. I found this short 2 min video that uses games as an analogy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r7QpIDEI_o&feature=related Board games are great until the player gets board and out grows the game because it is closed and has only 1 set of rules. Cards however are open and there are millions of variations of games to be played with a deck of cards, kind of like what and API can do. I also watched this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcHhwsTIK_o&feature=related , which explained things a bit better for me. It is an older video but his example of using a company’s sales data and showing it on Google Maps using a Google API was a great example.
I also read a blog by an API developer, http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-tradeoffs-of-using-Mashery-vs-building-and-maintaining-your-own-API . He talked about the advantages and disadvantages for creating your own API versus using a company like Mashery or Apigee. After reading his opinion, it sounds like the only disadvantage of using an API development company is cost. But the level of expertise needed to create, manage and support an API make it very difficult for companies to do on their own. He talks about the need for domain expertise, rapid deployment, scalability, availability, reporting and community support in order to have a successful API. Companies like Mashery and Apigee have the experience and expertise to support all of these needs.
I also found a very interesting article written just 2 weeks ago about AT&T. http://www.fastcompany.com/1779967/why-att-is-opening-itself-up-to-app-developers . AT&T's new toolkit, includes an API platform and HTML5 software developer kit (SDK) for use by any and all developers. Apigee is one of the partners to help build AT&T’s toolkit. So if anyone can use AT&T’s platform and resources for their API’s especially for mobile devices for other carriers, than what is in it for AT&T? This will be a revenue stream for AT&T. There will be lots of free stuff but there will be some “per call” fees and some fees associated with advertising modules, etc. Sort of “a few supporting many” business model.
I find the whole concept of APIs quite fascinating. I am very curious to see how this technology grows and changes the internet.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Google Sites
Google Sites is a great product for making webpages. They can be very simple or quite complex. This is the one I made for class: https://sites.google.com/site/farahstechtips/ . It is simple and just shows a basic template for what I could do for an Infomediary site like the one outlined in the business model from the first assignment.
I actually use Google Sites for work. I have my own "tech support" site for my teachers. https://sites.google.com/a/fultonschools.org/farah-s-tech-notes/ I ask my teachers to fill out the form to request help and I try and post FAQ on the site.
Many of our teachers have teacher websites for their classes and I have encouraged most of them to use Gooogle Sites. I like it because it is easy, it allows them to embed a calendar, attach handouts and insert a picture or embed a photo album. The best part about Google Sites is that it is not software or OS dependant.
The downside of Google Sites is that it is limiting if you are a medium or large business or want something that would incorporate flash, java script, etc. It may be too simplistic for bigger businesses.
I actually use Google Sites for work. I have my own "tech support" site for my teachers. https://sites.google.com/a/fultonschools.org/farah-s-tech-notes/ I ask my teachers to fill out the form to request help and I try and post FAQ on the site.
Many of our teachers have teacher websites for their classes and I have encouraged most of them to use Gooogle Sites. I like it because it is easy, it allows them to embed a calendar, attach handouts and insert a picture or embed a photo album. The best part about Google Sites is that it is not software or OS dependant.
The downside of Google Sites is that it is limiting if you are a medium or large business or want something that would incorporate flash, java script, etc. It may be too simplistic for bigger businesses.
SaaS - Part2
Looking at the 3 sites again. I think Microsoft 365 would be an option in a large corporate-type setting, where there would be email integration, conferencing options, different levels of permissions, etc. This might be a more cost effective option for large business who may not want to pay an open license for Microsoft products. For the average user, whether a single user or smaller group or small business, I would not recommend Microsoft 365. It costs money, the setup, management and implementation of is not easy for the average user.
Zoho and Google docs on the other hand are free, require only a username and password and are very easy to use.
Zoho could be a bit overwhelming for some. There is a lot of color and lots of options, almost too many. There is a Zoho writer and Zoho docs, they seem to be the same thing. The docs are a list of the documents you have and the writer is the actual word processing application. There is a Zoho planner and a Zoho Calendar, a planner can incorporate a to do list, calendar and some other features but a calendar is just a calendar. I think some of these things could be integrated a bit better.
The presentation software in Zoho does however have more templates and color options than Google Docs.
I like Google docs, it is very easy to use and very easy to share. I also really like Google Forms. I didn't see a comparable application with the other two. I would highly recommend Google Docs to anyone.
Zoho and Google docs on the other hand are free, require only a username and password and are very easy to use.
Zoho could be a bit overwhelming for some. There is a lot of color and lots of options, almost too many. There is a Zoho writer and Zoho docs, they seem to be the same thing. The docs are a list of the documents you have and the writer is the actual word processing application. There is a Zoho planner and a Zoho Calendar, a planner can incorporate a to do list, calendar and some other features but a calendar is just a calendar. I think some of these things could be integrated a bit better.
The presentation software in Zoho does however have more templates and color options than Google Docs.
I like Google docs, it is very easy to use and very easy to share. I also really like Google Forms. I didn't see a comparable application with the other two. I would highly recommend Google Docs to anyone.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)