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Working in the industry of Software Development for websites

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

In the last year I have gained a lot of knowledge around ASP.NET and HTML website development, here is a breakdown of the things I have done some personal projects in:

Html5

jQueryUI

MVC 3 Razor

I have also prototyped several CMS frameworks in ASP.NET using SQL Server as a data backend. Of the CMS frameworks I have been developing on, refactoring, and creating I have expanded my knowledge in framework software design of core systems. Fundamental features of recent projects include data tier repositories, multi-tenant website on a single codebase, data driven CMS, dynamic content administration, and business intelligence tracking.

I created an LLC for myself back in July, Seven Twenty Studios LLC. For the last several months I have been contracting development with The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) for continuing work with the CMS platform they use. For this client I have made fundamental changes to the core of the CMS and created new sites using the single codebase each with their own individual layout and css themes.

It’s been exciting learning all of these new technologies and getting my hands dirty with the modern features that web development has to offer. I hope to continue working on my CMS platform and move it closer towards a service based platform that is much more modular and extensible than the one I have today.

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Google IO

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Last month I went to San Francisco for the first time, to attend Google’s developer conference. And I must say that I had a fantastic time. It was a great time getting to experience some of the Google life and be surrounded by so many brilliant engineers that work there. Google is certainly a fascinating company and after offering so many wonderful products, it was eye opening to see more of the behind the scenes mentality. I definitely look forward to attending Google IO next year!

Here are some of the things I learned about and have been playing with since:

Android Honeycomb development
Renderscript
Fragments
Action bar
New system bar

Android Accessories development

Google platforms like App Engine that are OS neutral and pluggable.

Google API explorer

Oauth 2.0

Html5
Chromeframe (so very awesome! allowing me to reliably develop html5 for those late adopters!)
File APIs
Binary data
SVG
Web sockets
CSS Variables and Mixins (Most important thing I learned about)

NFC technologies ( I still need a phone with NFC to test with!)

Google TV (I have a strong desire to make GTV apps, I need to get one to test with!)

I also learned a lot of amazing things about Android and business and about how to build up your own apps as a business. I was showed a lot of neat Html5 demos. And I am still soaking in all of the knowledge I was able to see in the sessions while being there. I really look forward to the expansion of Android and NFC next year!

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My first exploration of SoMe and the associated public APIs

Thursday, April 14, 2011

The SoMe hub I developed in PHP for The Overland Agency

So over the last 3 weeks I have been working vigorously on a project for a new and exciting client of ours, Grass Valley – a leader in technology for the broadcast and film markets, that incorporates a strong social media presence as well as continuous coverage of the National Association of Broadcast convention in Las Vegas. In one week I took the facebook, twitter, and youtube APIs from nothing to a completely functional, and modular of course, site that houses the best of functionality of these three services. I am so happy to have worked on this project and gained the experience I have as well as the opportunity to have put out something so successful and well received.

As of tonight the site has had over 2,500 unique visitors in 6 days. With the well laid out mobile view being exceptionally successful and statistics putting Android and iPhone visitors at a neck and neck pace, yet Android wins in average time on site as well as page views per visit. This is by far the most exposure any one of the projects I have been involved with at The Overland Agency has seen in such a short amount of time and with social media. It’s been great to see the fruits of our success here with the great industry strength that Grass Valley has.

I look forward to furthering my experience with these APIs and possibly building out something even more powerful.

Check out the site at NAB show 2011 coverage!

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The Eat Local Music project and Noizbox

Friday, January 14, 2011

When I first started working with The Overland Agency I was in talks with my co-worker Dylan about the prospects of a music player project. Then when my boss brought up the proposal I was eager to help out on the project. Now, after beginning development on the beta and working with Steve Berlin, the app has been playing in the New Seasons successfully for months now! We have all been really excited about this project from day one.

Over the last 6 months I’ve been to a lot of local music shows in Portland, and I’ve met a lot of really great artists here that I love listening to. I’m now very happy to roll out our local artist submission form for submitting your own music to be played in your local area stores, Noizbox!

Here’s the jist from Billboard Magazine