Search Results Category: Web Applications

Launch of funtimes.at – mobile web and apps for schedules.

2012/01/04 at 1:11 pm Filed in:Mobile Apps | Our Sites | Portfolio | Social Apps | Web Applications No Comments

The world has just gone mobile. You have already invested in building a great website, but now your customers expect to have your information available on their iPhones and other smartphones. Do you have to build a new mobile-friendly site, and create, maintain, and support new mobile apps for all the devices your customers use now and may use in future? Or is there an easier way?

Yes! You can deliver the mobile experience your customers need today, by leveraging services like Twitter, Facebook, and funtimes.at. Funtimes.at checks your existing website every night, and makes your schedule information mobile-friendly. We take care of everything so that your customers will have easy and intuitive access with the touch of a finger. And if they install the optional app, they can even see the latest update when they do not have Internet access.

What you see here is only a starting point. The web site and apps can be branded and customized to meet all of your needs.

Condowiki.com relaunched

2011/10/31 at 1:14 pm Filed in:Our Sites | Portfolio | Social Apps | Web Applications No Comments

I’ve just relaunched CondoWiki.com. Not much there yet, but there will be more to come!

A test of Google App Engine’s free Java hosting

2010/09/01 at 11:40 am Filed in:Our Sites | Portfolio | Web Applications No Comments

Shared web hosting for Java (e.g. Apache Tomcat) has generally been more expensive and complex than PHP and basic web hosting. But I’ve recently discovered Google App Engine now offers free hosting for low-traffic sites, with cloud-style pricing for resource use as traffic increases. It’s a very unique service, you have to use their object store instead of MySQL for example, and you need a special appengine configuration file. To try it out, I adapted my simple Jeocoder project to run on AppEngine (you can try it out here).

“JEOCODER” is free sample Java code for determining longitude and latitude from a North American address that works with geocoding services provided by GEOCODER.CA and GEOCODER.US. The code was written by Doug Carmichael for my Gigazad project, where we used it for managing geographically-targeted advertising. GEOCODER.CA offers sample code in other languages, and has a link to my site for our Java version.

It was trivial to get Jeocoder running on appengine. More complex applications could be a challenge… apparently the database doesn’t support joins in queries! It will be interesting to see how Google cloud services evolve vs Amazon and the others.

If I had time I would write a review of Google Sites, which was a breeze to use to create and host a simple web site, www.augcom.ca, for free with no advertising.  The only catch seems to be that there are a set of Google links at the bottom (Sign in | Terms | Report Abuse | Print page | Powered by Google Sites).

Sign in Recent Site Activity Terms Report Abuse Print page |  Powered by Google Sites

MBA student productivity surges with Google Docs

2010/08/15 at 11:02 pm Filed in:Social Apps | Web Applications No Comments

I observed that Google Docs had a dramatic impact on productivity during group work in the EDHEC MBA program. Students typically worked in groups of six students. Initially, they would divide the work so that each student would work on part of a Word document or Powerpoint presentation. One group member would be designated as the “integrator”, and would receive each student’s contribution by email. The “integrator” had to deal with a number of issues, including inconsistent formatting, content overlap (two or more students writing about the same thing), inconsistent style (point of view, 1st vs 3rd person), missing emails and files, mixed up file versions, and other problems. Typically the integrator would receive the files at the last minute, leaving little or no time to work together with team to resolve the issues.

After I introduced Google Docs and Google Groups to several teams, productivity increased dramatically. The role of integrator was eliminated.

The Google Presentation below was prepared for a student group presentation in an Introduction to Information Technology class taught by Professor Vasarhelyi of Rutgers University. Many students in the class were unfamiliar with the concept of using software other than email for group collaboration, and the presenters gave their personal testimony about the significant reduction in effort they experienced using Google Docs instead of Microsoft Office.

“Gigazad” Wi-Fi access point technology available for licensing

2010/06/01 at 10:26 pm Filed in:Mobile Apps | Portfolio | Web Applications No Comments

I launched Gigazad Networks Inc. in 2006 after learning about the ability to run Linux applications on Linksys Wi-Fi routers. The “Gigazad” routers I created can insert full screen pages into the user’s browsing experience, to communicate messages such as advertising or service provider announcements. For example, full page ads can appear periodically with the ability to allow the user to click through and fully explore an advertiser’s site if they are interested.

A network of Wi-Fi hotspots was established that included Vancouver’s Watermark Restaurant at Kits Beach, Nat Bailey Stadium (with news coverage on CBC radio and The Province newspaper), and Blenz Coffee, as well as locations in Alberta, Ontario, and Washington State. The network had 30,000 users prior to being discontinued.

We welcome inquiries if you have a possible application for this technology.

UPDATE: We have published our investigation into the available technologies for advertising-supported free Wi-Fi:

Mobile Broadband Advertising: An Overview of Advertising Revenue Options for Free Networks & Wi-Fi Hotspots

This paper discusses the available solutions for generating advertising revenue from the operation of Wi-Fi Hotspots and other free public networks. The various technological approaches taken by various vendors are reviewed, and usability and effectiveness challenges are identified.

Sample screenshots:

New “Find My Router!” web application launched

2009/02/12 at 9:15 pm Filed in:Our Sites | Portfolio | Web Applications | Web site updates No Comments

It’s easy to find a web site that will tell you your external Internet address (e.g. checkip.dyndns.com). This new site I’ve created uses Java to also determine the local IP address of your computer. Based on that, and a router knowledge base, it provides links to the likely IP address of your router’s administration web pages. Now you no longer need to memorize addresses like “http://192.168.1.1″, and you don’t need to mess around with the command line and ipconfig.

Check it out at http://findmyrouter.net.

Forensic Tool helps track down stolen laptops

2007/08/01 at 11:25 pm Filed in:Mobile Apps | Portfolio | Web Applications No Comments

For Absolute Software Corp., a public company in Vancouver, Canada that is known for their Software-As-A-Service project Computrace LoJack for Laptops, I led product definition, implementation, deployment and training for a strategic new tool that increased the success rate and productivity of a team of non-technical staff.

I worked with internal users to determine requirements, and developed Windows systems software in C++ and an ASP web application to meet their needs. I used techniques such as prototyping, object-oriented programming, unit testing, and in-source documentation to shorten development cycles and maximize maintainability. I incorporated new XML/XSL and Javascript techniques for improved user interface design and maintainability.

According to Lyle Singular, Director, Recovery Services at Absolute:  “Trevor’s talents and capabilities have provided us with a tool that only a few short months ago was more of a dream than a reality. Trevor and the QA team had a very tight timeline on this last release and it came together beautifully. On behalf of the Recovery team I extend a huge thank you for this effort.”

August 10, 2010 Update. We have continued to use the tools that Trevor built 3 years ago and they have continually provided a backbone to our successful recovery service. They provided a foundation with which we have expanded and improved our capabilities that continue to secure customers and establish our services as first in the world.