Category Technology

I awoke this morning to check my twitter expecting to see crazy bunnies up to their antics, but instead in my EMC search column, I encountered a search term I had never thought of or even heard of before.   Apparently in this context EMC stands for “Easter, Mother’s Day and Christmas” referring to a group of church attendee who apparently only attend Church on those two holidays (and Mother’s Day since it falls on a Sunday)

Well, it got me thinking (Hey, I do that occasionally) Why aren’t there any Women’s holidays?  Now I know you Nay-sayers will say YEA WHAT ABOUT MOTHERS DAY?!?! Yea… Allow me to slightly redirect emphasis on the fact that is dedicated and focused on MOTHERS, not WOMEN.

Even taking it a step further looking at a definition of Mothers Day, I got this;

Mother’s Day in the United States is annually held on the second Sunday of May. It celebrates motherhood and it is a time to appreciate mothers and mother figures. Many people give gifts, cards, flowers, candy, a meal in a restaurant or other treats to their mother and mother figures, including grandmothers, great-grandmothers, stepmothers, and foster mothers.

So as you can clearly see… this is for mothers, a matronly focused holiday which doesn’t differ much from Father’s day but does not focus on WOMEN.

So looking past that, hey we live in a massive nation with a lot of holidays no different than the series of holidays hosted across the world.    Who DOES get a holiday if not women?

• New Years get a Holiday, celebrating an entirely new year.
• Jesus, or Presents, or Candles get a whole series of holidays in the winter season
• Hell, even the moon and sun get their respective holidays depending upon the Solstice in question..
• Kids and Candy get holidays with Halloween
• Bunnies, Eggs, – Rock it out on Easter!
• Dead Presidents of all varieties get a holiday as well as the veterans who have served our country
• Wait what’s that you say? FLAG DAY? Yes, even FLAGS get a day dedicated to them.

Okay, now you fascists out there are saying “Yea, there aren’t any men dedicated holidays” yea… whatever, that’s every fricking day so lets seriously not get off on that tangent!

But I know some of you, the sideline folks are going to stand strong, staunchly and supportively say “Yea… What about March 8th – International Women’s Day! HAH I GOT YOU!”

Yes indeed you did get me.   You and the other 3 people who have heard of this holiday, yea I know you searched the internet to even FIND that “UN” sanctioned and created “Holiday”.   And let me just stand strong for a moment and say, anything that the UN Sanctions and stands for, yea that definitely has a LOT of value here in the US….. No, but seriously, I’m sure more than 90% of you had never even heard about that; which honestly is actually marketed and messed a LOT more outside of the US than it is inside of the US.    Yea but it’s a holiday, right?

Did you know that in 2011, we’ll call this the year of the women, and account for the US having roughly a 50% Women Population (Call that 150mil for the sake of argument) there were a whole 300 events this year dedicated to “International Women’s Day” Yea, great job America way to kick it up a notch.   I think there are more Flag Day related events each year, in each STATE alone let alone across the US than anything recognizing or contributing to the growth and development of Women.

So, while clearly the whole United States is behind this almost non-existent “Event” which occurs, it is up to us as the Internet, the world frankly to really kick it up a notch.  I’m not advocating driving further traction on an otherwise March based holiday (Seriously?! March?!), it is up to all of us to let the women, girls and general female population in our lives know that we love them, we care for them and that they matter; even if there isn’t an official “Holiday” promoting that.    Maybe one day there will be a holiday which will gain adoption, drive and initiative behind it, but until then I expect each of you to do your part.

Sponsored by!

OMG THATS RIGHT! Yea, wow, I’m a tad overzealous! But hey, the SECOND EVER API HACK DAY IS COMING TO CHICAGO! That’s right! Stick it to the man! 

What is API Hack Day though you wonder?!?

API Hack Day brings developers together for an all-day coding fest focused on building apps and mashups with APIs. Developers of all experience levels can share ideas, collaborate on existing projects, start new ventures and find out about great tools and new APIs to play with.

Free admission, food and drink provided!

Hackers will also hear from some of the country’s top API-focused companies on tips, tricks and tools for building the next big app. At the end of the day, teams and/or individuals get a chance to present their work to a panel of judges and win great prizes.

API Hack Day Chicago will be held at the offices of event sponsor Morningstar, home of the Morningstar Tech Talks.

Brought to you by SimpleGeo, Twilio, SendGrid, Apigee & Mashery.

When

Saturday, May 28, 2011 from 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM (CT)

Where

Morningstar – Chicago, IL

22 West Washington Street

Chicago, IL 60602

Tentative Schedule as it stands!

• 8:00 – 9:00 Registration / Breakfast
• 9:00 – 9:15 Intro / Welcome / Kick-off
• 9:30 – 10:00 API Workshops
• 12:30 – 1:30 Lunch
• 6:00 Submission Deadline
• 6:30 – 7:15 Presentations
• 7:15-7:30  Judging
• 7:30 – 7:45  Awards

Sign up here!

http://apihackdaychicago.eventbrite.com/

That’s not all!

But wait… this sounds like a Press Release for an event, not at all the sort of thing I’d expect to find here! That’s damn straight! – You’ve seen what is COMING! Now through the power of the WAYBACK MACHINE… Oh and Context.. I’ll show you what you can begin to expect and what has happened!

They came.  They saw. They hacked!

They ate, they voted and they won?!?!

San Francisco – October 2010

• FIRST PLACE: Mootup by Zain Memon and Sha Hwang. An interface to explore upcoming meetups happening around the city, so users can discover various events without having to sign up for a group first.

• SECOND PLACE: Push’d by Sherman Lee, John Milinovich, Jayant Sai and Parth Shah. Push’d empowers developers and consumers to push important online information to mobile phones in a format that can be accessed from anywhere.

• THIRD PLACE: VeePark by Brennan Novak and Daniel Erickson. Air BnB for driveways. Rent out your driveway to people that need to park. Renters can use sms to find the nearest available driveway.

Yea, that’s right! Their hacking not only was rewarded with food and drink, but there were prizes! Props to the winners, and you too could be that winner!

Now, I know you guys know me from attending other events at one point or another in the past – So if the interest is there – I will not only LiveTweet the event on my beloved @cxi twitter ID, but I’ll also do the best of my ability to live-stream it (uStream?) , live-handle questions, and at request, handle one-off video interviews (in HD goodness) which we can throw on up to YouTube – It really is up to you the community to decide just how FAR I’ll go!

So, get your registration on! Get your hack on! And keep on keeping on!

Hi guys! You’ve seen me produce videos in the past I’m sure, although it is not that often that *I* am actually IN the videos where you can see me, if even for a moment.  (You let me know if you like that, or not ;))

Through a series of events, I ended up recording this video.  For your reference: This IS a first draft, in an infinite style of regularly updating my style for delivery.  [This was done using a little camera and a tiny mount on not a whole lot of space on a whiteboard… if I went Pro for the next one… you’ll be all OMFG :)]

Initially, I had drawn up some notes of how I’d present this.. so in the effort of WTF and Full disclosure (You know me all too well ;)) These are those preliminary whiteboard/notes.

I did have some other pictures which showed bits and pieces.. but I’m sure you get the gist of it!  So what exactly am I saying with this video, with these whiteboards.. with this.. you know, whatever it is I’m doing here. :)

Three things actually.   One of the cool things about the VNX is that it provides you with:

• Ease of Use – With simplicity of management using Unisphere, vCenter Integration, Single Pane for all arrays
• Maximum Efficiency – With FAST-VP, You can go Thin, and use the right tier at the right time with auto-tiering
• Consistent Performance – The magic of EFDs, QOS, FAST Cache, Wide-Striping, Consolidate and guarantee SLAs

I know what you’re saying “OMFG CHRISTOPHER, ARE YOU IN MARKETING?” No. And I usually stand by that, because I get things done ;).  Yes, I intentionally chose fitting points which happen to coincide with the acronym EMC, you know why? Because for one thing it’s easier to remember. :)  Not to mention, things should truly be easy to work with, and enjoyable; all the while providing an accurate picture of the story at hand!

Look forward to some future series where I actually go into the guts of the system and show you (from my perspective) the how’s and the why’s of these things [Time permitting ofcourse ;)]

So, for now, I leave you with this video.  Take it with a grain of salt, it IS a first-draft cutting room floor version.  As soon as I get my new mbp (April 1st?!) You should see some far better *Perhaps Annoying* videos coming from me ;)

And I know that some of you love me in videos sometimes… so for those of you who want to see me unplugged in an off-the-cuff impromptu interview (No, I’m not drunk), here is the infamous “I’m CXI, I’m from the Internets!” video!

I hope you enjoyed that.   Now, I’d love to hear your feedback. Where you say “Wow, I never thought of it that way” Or, “OMG You’re a total tool!” Yea, I’m game for either of those – Whatever you have to offer up, constructive or otherwise!

Oh, and I also submitted this for an internal contest (Which if I win.. will give me a sweet wrap-around terrace suite at EMC World [Yes, you can all come hang out in my room ;)] So, support away in every way possible! :)

Watch this space for more stupidity, err I mean great content in the future!

Are you a Hacker? Interested in HTML5/Javascript Mobile based apps, or even looking to transcend beyond that?  Located in the Seattle area (or want to travel to this OMG event?!) Then look no further!  This event is nearly SOLD OUT! So it is best to act now!

So what is this exactly?! I’ll steal little snippets from the official site and registration site!

Mobile App Hackathon (@mobilehackathon) is a hacker event for new and experienced developers working on mobile apps. Experienced coders can show off their mobile apps while new app developers will learn from the best.
The hackathon is the first in a series of mobile development events brought to you by the AT&T Developer Program and will include talks from members of the PhoneGap and AppMobi platform teams, Sencha and Apigee. You won’t want to miss this opportunity to show off your app or learn how to create great ones.
To keep up-to-date on AT&T Developer Events, please sign-up with the program here.

Wow, that sounds pretty cool right? At a high level it can be summed up as:

Hacking. Mobile. Good food. Awesome prizes.

Yea, but let’s not over-simplify things, I know you verbose types want to know some of the HARD details! Like…

Presenters!

Jesse MacFayden	Joe Monastiero	Sam Ramji	Jeff Barr	James Pearce
PhoneGap	AppMobi	Apigee	Amazon	Sencha
Jesse MacFadyen is a senior software engineer at Nitobi, specializing in presentation layer programming for Rich Internet applications. Jesse has developed large scale applications in PhoneGap, JavaScript, Flash/Flex/Air, .net, and Silverlight. As a major contributor to the PhoneGap open-source project, he is passionate about bringing device level functionality to multiple mobile devices through simple web-tech APIs. Jesse has also created the open source project GloveBox to enable the use of fixed positioning and touch scrolling on iOS + Android devices Click here for Jesse’s Blog	Joe Monastiero is co-founder and vice president of business development for AppMobi, bringing with him 20 years of management experience. Prior to AppMobi, he co-founded Intervideo, where he was responsible for sales, marketing and business development activities and helped drive over $30M in software revenue in three years.	Sam’s spent over 15 years working across enterprise software, product development and open source strategy. Currently VP of strategy at Apigee & board member at the CodePlex Foundation, Sam works deeply within the developer, open source and social app communities to create a healthier, more productive ecosystem. Prior to Apigee, Sam led open source strategy across Microsoft and was a founding member of the AquaLogic product team at BEA. In his spare time, Sam enjoys the great outdoors, spending time with the kids, and bacon.	Jeff Barr is a senior web services evangelist for Amazon Web Services. Jeff is focused on furthering awareness among software developers of the opportunity to innovate and build businesses using Amazon Web Services. In this role, Jeff travels, speaks, blogs, and conducts virtual events.	James is a technologist, writer, developer & entrepreneur who has been working with the mobile web for over a decade. He is Senior Director of Developer Relations at Sencha. Previously he was the CTO at dotMobi and has a background in mobile startups, telecoms infrastructure and management consultancy. He speaks extensively on the topic of mobile web development, and has written books for both Wiley and Wrox.

As you can tell, that’s very possibly a major Formatting Fail.. but that’s okay – It definitely gives you the gist of things :)  But by now I’m sure you know, few things are more important than.. the Agenda!

Agenda!!!

And let’s not forget, after the Hack-A-Thon is over, everyone will demo what was worked on, gather feedback and hand out prizes for audience favorites!

Whoa! This sounds cool! So where do I sign up?!?!

I don’t think it can be any clearer than that, right! Hooray! But I guess it may be important to have the rest of the details in one place:

• When: 
• Saturday, April 16, 2011 from 9:00 AM – 7:30 PM (PT)
• Where: 
• F5 Offices
  401 Elliott Avenue West
  Seattle, WA 98119
• Who:
• Hackers, Mobile App, Developers, Ninjas, Gurus
• Why:
• Because it rocks! And you’ll enjoy it! (Oh, and did someone say NETWORKING?!??! :))
• Where do I sign up?
• Sign up here!

Well, there it is, the whole scoop and ready for you to rock this out! I hope you get in a slot before it fills up! Enjoy it, it’ll be a blast!

Whoa, Whoa, Whoa! What is new in Chicago land, more specifically in the User Group Community?!?! That’s right! The opening of the new Microsoft Store in Oak Brook!

This place is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I was there on Opening night (for those of you who saw me, I definitely said hi! and I’m sure I missed others!) This photo is of the interior, it’s definitely a site to see!   But that aside, there is some cool news and coming events to speak of!   Let’s discuss the matter of the November 18th (Thursday) CWUG meeting will be HOSTED at this Microsoft Store location! (OMG I know right?!)  The details are below of course, including where to register and the address/location [I personally find that parking by Pottery Barn and walking through it is the fastest way to get to the store!]

The Chicago Windows User Group has moved our suburban location from the Microsoft Downers Grove office to the Microsoft Store in Oakbrook Center! 

Our first meeting will be held there this Thursday (November 18th). 

Please RSVP by following the link here:  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/65NFKSP
https://store.microsoft.com/StoreLocations/Home.aspx/Index/Oak-Brook-IL
49 Oak Brook Center
Oak Brook, IL 60523
Phone: (630) 288-3420
There will be a tour of the store, information on Windows Phone 7 and an opportunity to reach the Chicago land technical community in new and exciting ways.  Hope to see you there!
The CWUG Crew

This video happens to have a brief overview of what “A” Microsoft Store looks like, which honestly looks VERY similar, so give it a whirl if you want to check it out and will not have the opportunity to make Thursdays meeting!

Though so you don’t feel all lonely of what is going on, here is an ACTUAL Photo I took while going into the store recently too (Yes, it was taken from my iPhone, don’t hate the player!)

One of the cool things you should know about this store (Which I learned from their Community Manager, Ashley Trueblood [OMFG Yes she has a rockass name and rocks as well] ) Is that the store regularly runs training and sessions on:

• Windows 7
• Windows Phone 7
• Xbox
• Windows Live ID
• Windows Live Essentials
• Movie Maker
• ….And more!

So, whether you can make it to this weeks Chicago Windows Users Group meeting, or in general, check it out in the future! (I was just looking at their calendar of events.. Xbox Live Tournaments on Fridays?!? WTF?!?!? Yea it’s fricking cool, check it out!)

Oh yea…  I did mention Windows Phone 7 a little, didn’t I?   Okay, fine I won’t leave you hanging!  While I was at the store on launch day I also had the opportunity to run into Dave Bost (I’ve talked about Dave before, absolute rock star that he is, who also happens to be a Windows Phone Champion, rockstar, right?!) A shame you missed the demo’s he was doing in store days following the opening, and before the release of Windows Phone 7!

Nonetheless, I won’t invoke too many spoilers.. so go check it out! and I’ll see you there this Thursday!!!