Archive for the ‘Business’ category

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Cloud computing – still a bit too pricey for the average project

December 22nd, 2009

I wrote this to Brian Hitney after we’d briefly touched on cloud computing in my podcast with him last week.  I thought I’d post it here for any reaction from the rest of the internet…

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Another point on the economics that isn’t brought up is the cost of data transfer and data storage in the cloud, which is often more than you’d pay for ‘normal’ equivalents.

I’ve got a server that I lease and pay $84/month for.  Included in that I get 750 gig of transfer.

With azure, 12 cents per compute hour for 24 hours x 30 days = $86 - about the same base rate.  But… let’s say I’m pushing out between 150 and 200 gig of bandwidth per month.  200 gig at .15 cents extra is $30.  Factoring in I store about 40 gig of data on that server, that’s another $6.  To replicate my setup on Azure (or Amazon) would cost me about $38/month more, which is a 40% premium over what I can get in the ‘non-cloud’ marketplace. As my data needs scale up, the differential gets bigger.  EC2 pricing is roughly equivalent for storage and xfer, but the base computer rate is cheaper for linux images than for windows images.

There’s a big play to push ‘cloud’, and given the markup, I can see why.  The hardware is commodity, and is essentially a one-off investment, but the data xfer is the lifeblood, and I’m actually a bit fearful of putting so much reliance in the hands of just a few monolithic companies who will then charge us a premium to move our own data around.

If I had a huge amount of number crunching to do, without much data storage or xfer needs, current ‘cloud’ offerings make sense.  And for potential adjunct service in a pinch, or for testing.  But as a long term strategy investment, the pricing needs to change and/or there needs to be more value in the mix for my taste.

6 comments »

Posted in Business, Development, Software, Web

Next magazine topic survey – enter to win

November 24th, 2009

I’m turning to the community to help determine what our next magazine topic should be.  Please visit http://webdevpub.com/topics to give your input on what you’d be interested in reading more about.  Entrants who submit an email address will be entered to win an Amazon gift card, to drawn on our around December 9.

3 comments »

Posted in Business, PHP, Software, Web, Writing

Do you have web development knowledge to share?

November 21st, 2009

Consider working with Web Dev Pubishing to publish your knowledge as an ebook.  Learn more or just submit your idea.

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Posted in Book, Business, Software, Web

PDF Watermarking web service

October 22nd, 2009

I’ve got a PDF watermarking web service I’m considering opening up as a service for others (currently using it internally for my own projects).  If this is something that sounds like it would be of interest to you, let me know.  It should be a pretty easy integration piece, but I’d be interested in getting some feedback on how you’d be planning to use it (what tech, mainly).  Also, this would likely be a paid service, either on a ‘per use’ limit basis, or some flat monthly pricing.  Frankly, I’m a little surprised that I can’t find one out there – I’ve got to think this exists already, but I’ve not seen one.  If you know of one, let me know.

2 comments »

Posted in Business, Ideas, Software, Web

Six week test progress update

October 11th, 2009

My first post back in August identified a project I was going to start, and my goal was to have it done in six weeks. I’m *close*, and closer than last week, but probably another week off. Not happy with myself for missing my initial deadline, and I know even when it ‘launches’ there will still be more work to do, but I’ve taken some positives out of this so far.

I’ve not spent six full weeks on this, or even 7-8 now. This has definitely been a part time ‘after hours’ project, and there’s been a lot of ups and down the past two months which have interfered. So, to that extent, I don’t feel like I have yet ‘failed’. I know if I’d spent 6 full time weeks on this, it would have been done in less than 4. Additionally, it’s given me a bit more time to think about the UI. I know it won’t be perfect, but I’ve gone through 2 iterations of the process sign up, talking with more than a few people, taking their feedback, and generally shortening and tightening up the process. Had I launched 3 weeks ago with the first pass patched together, it would have been much worse. Lastly, I still struggle with PayPal – I hit a snag tonight that cost me more time than I would have liked, and I can’t really see where the problem was (code was copied from jsmag.com, and should have worked fine!)

So, stay tuned for more updates. Also, authors – especially self-published ones – drop me a line if you want to be part of the testing/beta phase.

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Posted in Business, Ideas

Progress on six week test – looking for authors

September 18th, 2009

As a quick followup to my previous post (http://michaelkimsal.com/blog/six-week-test-followup-custom-business-cards/) I wanted to drop a quick update here.  Six weeks isn’t too long if it’s your only activity.  Trying to fit in a six week project in the midst of other projects and deadlines is hard, but you already knew that!.  I’m 4.5 weeks in, and have a basic site template up, and am working on the info gathering portion (nearly done, but can be improved) and then paypal and google checkout integration.  Given my current workload, hitting Sept 28 is still possible, but it’ll be tight!

re: timing – the designer I worked with had me on somewhat lower priority than I’d hoped, which ate up a lot of the 4.5 weeks – I was hoping to be where I’m at now about 1.5 weeks ago.  However, I did not convey any sense of urgency to him, nor give him a deadline, so that rests entirely with me.  I satisfied with the first round of design that we did, so I can’t complain (about anyone except me, anyway!)  Lesson learned: have hard deadlines in place with people you work with :)

If you’d like to be involved in testing or giving feedback, give me a shout or leave contact information.  I’m specifically looking for feedback and testing from self-published authors (of any genre).

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Posted in Book, Business, Development, Software, Web

Web Development Job Hunter classes (raleigh)

September 10th, 2009

I’ve been working with a couple local people on developing a short term plan for them to get in to or move around in the web development job space, and I was wondering if there’s a need for something perhaps sightly more formal in the Raleigh area.  Here’s my initial sketch…

Weekly classes (probably Saturday morning) 2 hours per class for 6-8 weeks

Class would consist of

  • reviewing web development options (technologies, focus – front end or back end, etc)
  • deciding on a particular technology to focus on
  • developing a short term game plan for achieving certain tasks – small projects to connect to a database, do flash animation, handle user authentication, etc.
  • work with participants to keep them on schedule, answering questions that may come up
  • have in speakers from local hiring companies to do presentations about their work environments and what they’re looking for in entry-level positions
  • have in guest presenters from the area who specialize in one tech (.net, ruby, flash, etc) to answer specific questions
  • general support and motivation when learning the new technology.

For some people getting in to new tech can be rather overwhelming because there’s so many choices, and often conflicting advice about what’s “best” to get in to.  What I’ve found is that there’s isn’t one “best” that’s right for everyone.  Learning PHP just because that’s where the jobs are, but you hate it – that’s just pointless.

Is there a need for something like this in the Raleigh area?  Would you be interested in participating?

4 comments »

Posted in Business, Development, Job, Society, Software, Web

US Federal government to change cookie policy?

August 18th, 2009

I stumbled on an article recently about the government’s plan to change its cookie policy.  There wasn’t a whole lot in the article other than that the new federal CIO Vivek Kundra has proposed that federal websites be allowed to use persistent cookies to track visitors.

It’s *about time*.  Give me, the tech savvy end user, the *choice* to be able to interact with the gov’t on my own terms.  If I’m comfortable with cookies, I should be allowed to use them, and get a better experience from the federal agencies I deal with.

Some good that will come out of this is that it will give federal web developers better insight as to how their sites are being used over time by the same people.  As it stands, with no long-term persistent cookie support, it’s completely a guess.  Long-term cookies can, of course, possibly be used for ‘bad’ purposes, and tracking my behaviour across some federal sites (perhaps).  So what?  If you don’t like it, block cookies in your browser.  Browsers like Firefox are making it easier to be ‘anonymous’ online when one wants to be (with the built-in privacy mode), so people who want to be anonymous can be.

A potential problem will be users at state and local agencies who have no control over their browsers using federal sites where the federal cookie policy may be at odds with state-level internet privacy policies.  I realize that’s a bit of a stretch, but I can see it being a problem that’ll hit someone, somewhere.

Either way, I applaud our CIO’s effort to move our federal-level web experience forward.  Privacy advocates – turn off your cookies.  You have a choice.  For those of us that want a smoother experience, I say ‘bring on the cookies!’.

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Posted in Business, Society, Web

Six week test followup – custom business cards

August 17th, 2009

I’m taking my own advice and plunging ahead with a small, focused six-weeker. I’m not sure this counts or not because A) I’ve had the idea for several months and B) I did a bit of work on it several weeks ago. With that said, perhaps I should only give myself five weeks on this one?

The crux of the project is selling custom business cards to self-published authors. If you’re a self-published author and would like to be part of the beta program, let me know. There will probably be some free or discounted cards in it for you in exchange for helping work out the kinks (and helping to promote it!).

Six weeks from now is Sept 28 – five weeks is Sept 21. I’ve got a lot of other work planned in between now and then, so hitting this will be a challenge, but I think it’s doable.  When I said “plunging ahead” above, I meant I contacted a designer and should have an initial comp or two to review in the next few days.  From there, I’d be doing some of the programming, tying in with paypal and google and such, and then finding ways to promote it.  I should be in a position to take money from customers and deliver product by the end of September.

I’ll keep you all posted as this progresses.

2 comments »

Posted in Business, Ideas, Web

GroovyMag and JSMag issues

August 17th, 2009

The August issues of GroovyMag and JSMag are both out.  They’ve been out since earlier this month, but I didn’t publicize them here yet.  :)

GroovyMag‘s content this month includes Part I of building a Grails Portal, Part II of  Logging in Grails, a deeper look at Groovy Typing, the Clojure Plugin, Grails with RMI, and more.

JSMag this month includes pieces on using Cross-Domain AJAX, Events with JavaScript, Yahoo Query Language, ExtJS Plugin Development, Mobile App Development with Dojo, and more.

I mentioned it on the JSMag blog, but not here, so I’ll repeat myself.  One of the pieces of feedback I got on JSMag a few months ago was that the topics looked a bit advanced.  While that was intentional, I’ve added a monthly column aimed at people new to JavaScript.  The column is written by Shea Frederick, so whenever you see anything from him in JSMag, it’s for JS beginners.  I’m still looking for a name to give the column (“Beginner’s Corner” sounds a bit too cliched, no?) so if you have any suggestions, let me know.  :)

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Posted in Business, Grails, Groovy, Javascript, Web