A Review of Internet Technology Part 6: Data

Over the past 10 years three things are very evident with data.  It has become much more available, there are heaps more of it, and it is being stored in the cloud.  The web would be nothing without data to populate it.  There is no point in having services and devices communicate with each other if the services have nothing to share.

Google has put the internet at our fingertips.  The search engine giant is literally changing the way our brains remember things.  Any question you can think of you can probably type it into google and someone has asked it before.  Wikipedia is another great example.  It draws upon the knowledge of the entire word to populate the most popular encyclopedia that has ever existed.

All of this new web data is being stored in the cloud meaning it can be accessed from any device with an internet connection.

Real time monitoring of data is also a growing trend.  Google Analytics just released an update that allows you to see visits and monitor visitors as they browse your website through the control panel.  How amazing is that?  So much data is being captured and the real problem has become how to make the knowledge meaningful.

Energy Informatics is a good example of turning typically useless data into meaningful knowledge that helps reduce our carbon footprint and save money.  Let's say for example you had a meter on each electrical outlet that collects data every 30 seconds of how much power it has used the past 30 seconds.  Just looking at the data overview you would not see any trends or have any valuable information.  It is only when you use a statistical program such as R or even excel or a web application to create an analysis of the data are we able to create value.  You can begin to see where the most energy is being used by which appliances and will likely turn them off more often once you see how much energy they are actually using.

Google meter was a short lived initiative started by google.  It allowed homeowners to wirelessly monitor their electric meters from a website in real time.  Participants in google meter ended up using 10% less electricity on average after starting the program.  The data was always there for the participants but google meter made it much more available to them by providing a history of all of the meter reads and making it so they could access it from anywhere.

A Review of Internet Technology Part 5: Services

Web Services is a general term that comprises the modes in which devices or programs on the internet interact and communicate with each other.  There does not necessarily need to be any user interaction for web services to communicate with each other unless you are referring to SaaS (Software as a Service).  In that case web applications such as Gmail, Google Docs, Zoho, Ymail and even Facebook could be considered a web service.

There are two areas of web service - the original SOAP model that uses XML to set strict parameters of dialog between devices and the new RESTful model that is similar to a Web API.

Web services are the foundation for SOA (Service Oriented Architecture).  SOA is "a flexible set of design principles used during the phases of systems development and integration".  Basically meaning that software operates as a series of services rather than a massive program that attempts to do everything itself. This opens services up for modularity where additional functions can be plugged into the service without affecting other modules. The image below illustrates the modularity of a web service and how many components interact through the service. An example of a web service that everyone is common with is anti-virus.  In an office setting is is installed on each computer/server and the anti-virus is constantly monitoring the computers and network traffic suspicious activity.  In addition to constant monitoring it frequently checks with remote servers for new downloads to stay up to date.  If anything suspicious or harmful is found the anti-virus then alerts the user and can also send a ticket to tech support.  Anti-virus would be considered a RESTful service.  It checks for new updates on a set schedule and only performs system scans at a certain timeframe while.  Many anti-virus systems are modular allowing additional plugins to be installed for things like anti-spyware or email monitoring for specific clients like Outlook.

A Review of Internet Technology Part 4: Application

The code and markup language that is used to structure and style content on the web has made great progress in the past 10 years.  For Part 4 I will discuss the advancements of HTML, CSS, and Javascript Libraries.  For the longest time I had been developing with HTML 4.  I was formatting my content with tables and defining the style of the page inside the HTML.  CSS came along and really changed the way we make websites.  It is hard to believe that CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) has only been around since 1996 and is at its third evolution CSS3.  It includes many things that make the life of a designer easier like importing fonts and the ability to create 3D imagery among other things.  It's counterpart, HTML 5 is helping to turn the web into a semantic one replacing <div> tags with more common sense things like <nav> and <footer>.  This will help screen readers, search engines, and web browsers know what type of content is on a page. Below is an example of a site I recently built with HTML5/CSS3.  The text looks like it would need to be rendered as an image but it is actually an imported font file with a stroke and two sets of drop shadows to make it appear 3D.  All completed with CSS.

Javascript and Javascript Libraries like JQuery have also made things like AJAX possible.  Content on a page can be dynamically updated from a database or XML file or anything else really in real time without a page refreshing turning the web into a set of applications rather than pages.

The combination of CSS3, HTML5, and javasript libraries are really changing how the web works and is fostering  This has lead to cloud applications like gmail and online calendars that I will discuss in part 5.

A Review of Internet Technology Part 3: The Web Server

Web Servers can range from your laptop computer to a super computer housed in a giant data center in the middle of the dessert.  The biggest trend I am seeing in terms of web servers is that they are becoming increasingly more open and accessible to the masses.  I am first going to discuss how this trend can be seen at the micro level with personal and business server usage and at the macro level with DNS (Domain Name Systems).

Traditionally one would setup local servers to host their business or personal applications.  Ten years ago this was the only option for many unless you could afford your own private data center.  With advancements in hardware and internet infrastructure the use of servers is seeing a shift from local based servers to remote servers i.e. the cloud.  Businesses no longer need to spend money on purchasing local servers and staffing tech support to maintain them.  Options like Amazon Web Services now allow a business to setup managed servers anytime they need them and have the option to only be charged for the time that they are being used.

Servers are used for more than just hosting and running applications.  One very important type of server is a DNS server.  DNS servers have been around since the early days of the web and have helped it to become a decentralized network.  Rather than touch on the technical aspects of DNS I will simply say they are the routers/phone book for the internet.  In the past there were a very limited number of these DNS 'routers'.  They of course did their job, but it raises the question of who is in control.  Sometimes those in Washington and governments abroad try to limit the openness of the internet, passing laws to build 'great firewalls' and controlling what content citizens can see and not see.  Thankfully no one country controls DNS servers.  Every country has begun to take its own slice of the DNS pie which is further decentralizing traffic on the internet.  Now no one country or group of countries can turn off the internet by disabling DNS servers. While there are only 13 root name servers.  Duplicates of those servers appear all around the world and is now at around 100 instances as seen in the map below.

A Review of Internet Technologies Part 2: Internet Infrastructure

Most of us remember the crackling of trying to connect to the internet with our dial-up modems only to have someone pick up the phone 30 seconds later after making a connection.  Great advancements have been made in internet infrastructure in the US and abroad in the past 10 years.

A study by the Pew research group shows broadband internet adoption is now up to 60% in the US.  An even more interesting number is that 93% of teens report to regularly using the internet which will create an even stronger demand for broadband access in the US.  Notwithstanding the US, huge growth in international markets and the massive growth of internet connected mobile devices here, abroad, and especially emerging markets in Africa will fuel more and higher quality mobile and desktop client applications.

One adverse side effect of the growth in devices is that we have begun to run out of IP addresses for them.  Each device aka host requires an IP address to communicate.  The current format of IP addresses (IPv4) is running out of unique possibilities.  Internet Protocol (IPv6) should permanently address this problem by providing a larger address space and optimizing how IP addresses are assigned.

Gone are the days of going to a store to buy a CD to install a software package.  The access to quality bandwidth has dramatically reduced the barrier to entry and is super charging innovation on the internet.

A Review of Internet Technologies Part 1: Client Side Applications

Client side applications are software that act as an interface to access network and internet applications.  They can be full blown software applications or simple scripts and can be written in any programming language.  Common examples of client side applications include web browsers (firefox, internet explorer etc) used to browse websites, messenger clients used to communicate (aim, skype, text messaging) and desktop applications like microsoft outlook used to access email.

There are many client side applications that we never think of that are constantly running and interacting with a web server.  Anti-virus programs are always running and checking for new definitions/patches to download to keep our computers (and other client side applications) safe from attack.  Those of us without anti-virus (and even sometimes with anti-virus) may find that hidden client side applications can become installed on our computer to steal information and to make our lives miserable.

Client side applications are a rapidly evolving group of software.  I attribute much of the growth in diversity and quality of the applications over the last 10 years to much faster and widely available broadband internet which I will discuss in Part 2: Internet Infrastructure.  Updated infrastructure has created an explosive new market for mobile applications.  There are over 520,000 apps currently available for download in the Apple App Store.  The introduction of the Android Marketplace has tipped the mobile application scale to over 1,000,000 applications available for download.

Mobile apps have begun to take-over the marketplace.  Studies show that daily time spent on mobile applications now surpasses that of desktop and mobile web consumption.

Mobile applications have even started taking over time and money from gamers.  No market is safe from mobile.

Mobile Development

Our Lecture November 3rd was lead by Chuck Hudson, Director of Applications at Control4 and a member of the PayPal developers council, and Co-Author of the HTML5 Developers Cookbook.  Our talk covered many areas of mobile development and we spent most of our time talking about the iOS and Android platforms.  With the launch of the Apple App Store and Android Marketplace mobile development has seen a massive growth due to the release of SDK's.

One of the topics chuck discussed was Android vs iOS development.  He noted that you can no longer develop for only the iOS platform to be ultimately successful, you have to develop for Android as well.  Since the iOS and Android markets are becoming equally massive, it has become worth it to begin creating multi-platform applications.  He also talked about how localizing apps for different languages is not as time consuming or difficult as it used to be but that it is also becoming less and less worth it to do because English is seemingly becoming the language for mobile apps.  The bottom line is the less versions of an app you have on each platform the more efficient you can be when it comes time to update each of them.

Another issue that Chuck brought up was a problem with fragmentation in the android market.  Several manufacturers create phones that run Android.  Each of the devices can have a different size screen, aspect ration, or resolution.  This makes developing apps for the platform a big tricky for designers in comparison to the limited number of variations in iOS devices.  The openness of the Android platform is great for fast growth and collaboration but also creates a bit of inconsistency that can make developing working apps harder for the platform.

Big Web Services and RESTful Web Services.

The World Web Web Consortium (W3C) defines a web serves as:

A Web service is a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network. It has an interface described in a machine-processable format (specifically WSDL). Other systems interact with the Web service in a manner prescribed by its description using SOAP-messages, typically conveyed using HTTP with an XML serialization in conjunction with other Web-related standards.

A web service is simply two computers or gadgets are talking to each other over the web and that the two devices are transferring data between each other.  Services are helpful when you want an web-based or native application to be able to talk to another app.  Hulu and Netflix are good examples of online services with web based and native application.  You can begin watching a movie Netflix on your computer/tv and then switch to another device like your smartphone netflix app or PS3/Xbox and it will allow you to keep watching where you left off.  This works because your preferences and viewing information are stored in the cloud and each of your devices talk to the same Netflix web service to pull the information.

There are two types of web services, Big Web Services and RESTful Services

Big Web Services
Big Web Services has been around longer than RESTful Web Services. It uses the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) to grant access to and transmit data. Because it uses SOAP, Big Web Services rely heavily on rigid XML. The XML requires that a formal contract be defined for the web service to function. These rules are defined in a Web Services Description Language (WSDL). Big Web services is popular among large enterprise companies because it offers a lot of options and flexibility for large scale applications. However, due to the flexibility Big Web Services it can easily become very complex and heavy which is how light-weight RESTful services came to be.

RESTful Web Services

Representational State Transfer services came after Big Web Services and is meant to overcome some of Big Web Services weaknesses. RESTful web services are more lightweight and are easier to create and integrate into web traffic. The requirements for RESTful web services to function are less rigid as they usually do not require a formal contract or XML to work. The best conditions for a RESTful web service to work are when the web services are completely stateless, when data can be cached (non dynamically generated data), when bandwidth needs to be limited (think mobile devices), and they are useful for integrating into existing services. Companies that use RESful services include Google maps and cachable map tiles, the yahoo API, and many web 2.0 APi's like OpenSocial.





RESTful vs Big

RESTful services is the newer of the two but that does not mean it is necessarily better. While RESTful services are easier and faster to develop because they use common standards and do not require a niche set of development tools, Big Web Services are still preferred for the enterprise. Big Web Services still has the advantage when large amounts of data need to be handled and manipulated often. As RESTful web services becomes more robust and mature we may see a shift away from the strict standards of Big Web Services to more flexible REStful services. Another reason large enterprises still use Big Web Services is because... they are enterprises... and changing all of their web services would be a massive undertaking.

Source

http://download.oracle.com/javaee/6/tutorial/doc/giqsx.html

AWS Java Web Application in Eclipse

In this project I used Eclipse to launch an AWS ec2 instance and upload a website to Amazon web Services.

Public Address
http://ec2-174-129-187-105.compute-1.amazonaws.com

EasyTicket
EasyTicket's mission is to create an online event box office to sell tickets using a fixed pricing structure. It is an online application that allows the event planners and organizers to handle ticketing themselves. An unlimited number of multi-tiered tickets could be sold for the flat rate and delivered via email with QR codes. The QR codes can then be scanned by using the EasyTickets app provided for download on smartphones. All payments are sent directly to the event organizers via their PayPal accounts. EasyTicket provides a way to keep ticket statistics as well as a customizable event page.

How LuLu leverages its API to tranform the book publishing industry

Lulu was started with the goal of utilizing the internet to shorten the distance between content creators and buyers. After eight years of research and development the lulu platform was launched.  It eliminates three steps of the traditional publishing model and connects creators directly to buyers through the lulu API platform.

Customers can manage a publishing business end-to-end.

Eight years may seem like a lot of time but lulu has really done a great job of automating the tasks of agents, publishers and retailers.  Lulu had to create a way to import files of all different formats and develop a way to integrate them, build up a way to store all of the information, generate books,  print books and distribute them.

Lulu is a free and open platform.  Typically API's only expose a company's data to manipulation.  This method makes sense if the value of your business is in your data.  The Lulu API provides entire access to lulu technology because the real value lulu brings is the process they have created.  It empowers next-gen publishing models by lowering barriers to entry "bringing your great idea to your neighbors doorstep".

lulu.com

There are often risks when relying on an API.  A recent example is when Google Translate closed its translation API, requiring many websites and App developers to find new ways to translate data or face extinction.  If a business considers access to another companies API a strategic asett then that business is setting itself up for possible failure at anytime should the API become restricted.  In my view Lulu possesses less a risk than the traditional API for the end user.  Lulu provides a process to transform data, not data for the user to transform.  A lulu user can find a new process to publish their books should lulu ever cease to exist.  A lulu users strategic asset is the content they create.   There is seemingly no risk of lulu ever closing its API because the business is built around it.

Inversely, imagine lulu was a platform that only made the text of books available and you built a business process to use the text to generate ebooks.  If lulu closed in that case the business would be in a stretch because lulu's data was strategic asset to the business.

Before I grew up! is a website that takes advantage of the lulu platform.  It was built by someone to help his family create a book with with pictures and stories.  Each baby book has an associated email address and family members can email pictures and stories. Lulu then generate a book from all of the information and makes a hard copy or ebook available.  Interestingly enough, an elementary school has since gone on to use his application on the lulu platform to create their yearbook.

beforeigrewup.com  

Lulu is a business totally about the API, leaving development of the platform up to the users.

"The Future Internet"

The May 2011 Future Internet Report is from the UK Future Internet Strategy Group.  If you try to visit the website it may not load because ironically enough, it is currently inaccessible.  The report outlines a 20 year strategy for the UK to attract technology businesses to the UK.

To summarize the report talks about the direction communication is heading.  It introduces the concept of "The Internet of People and Things".   It allows for the connection of previously unconnected services and businesses to allow businesses to put together right combination of services together for a customer.  These services will also be able to be customized to an "incredible degree".

It then discusses elements needed to support the "new internet".  One of the first hurdles is the physical number of connected devices.  The current IPv4 standard provides a limited number of IP addresses.  The shift to IPv6 will provide a seemingly infinite amount of addresses to support the massive growth in connected devices.  It goes on to say that the cloud will enable a new style of converged services.  The cloud will allow user and business data to be available anywhere at anytime.  With the cloud users will have the capability to be in control of their data at any time (for example giving and withdrawing consent).

Cloud services could be "aggregated together in any number of ways by a ‘broker’, to provide the end user with contextually aware applications and decision support services".

I agree with the reports prediction and recommendation of converged services.  With more an more enabled devices and services it has become increasingly hard for me to maintain my many separate online identities.  One online service may have one feature I need but not another.  I could very easily have 100 online accounts to accomplish a myriad of tasks.

2011 UK Future Internet Report

The shift to converged services will provide more choices in service provision allowing a more cost efficient integration of services and produce highly capable and competitive businesses.  The cost efficient and connected services will in turn allow for increased profits and lower end-user costs.  

Our class is even related to converged services.  Later this semester we will be using a software API called PhoneGap.  It acts as a broker to create multiple versions of native applications based on one source of data.

My Experience with Google Sites

Sites is a SaaS (software as a service) offering from the big G.  SaaS, often referred to as "on-demand software" is where software is hosted centrally, usually in the cloud.

To be an entirely web based website building platform, Google Sites his a homerun.  It allows anyone with a google account to create a website in a matter of minutes. Many functions like keeping a consistent navigation that plagued early HTML sites and still present problems to basic designers are all taken care of automatically by Sites.  I would recommend it to someone that does not have the time or budget to learn to use a program like Dreamweaver but still wants the WYSIWYG feel.  It also has a plugin type feature called Gadgets that allows you to easily add an assortment of functions to the site like importing an rss feed or displaying a google calendar.

A disadvantage of using google site is that you have to have an internet connection in order to work on the site.  Another let down is that many of the settings take multiple steps to get to.  There is no overarching structure that allows you to access all elements of google sites.

SaaS systems like google sites are related to SOA (service-oriented architecture) because it part of a larger integration system.  Google provides a loose coupling of services including Gmail, Docs, Sites, Blogger, Calendar etc.  Each system is distinct in its operation but they are all able to communicated with each other.  Sharing the same authentication system and able to pass information between each other.  For example, google sites can pull information from each of the other google services and gmail can automatically add appointments to your calendar based on information in an email.

Microsoft 365 vs. Google Docs. vs Zoho (FIGHT!)

The age old question will finally be settled today. I wish I could be that decisive but between the three SaaS offerings it comes down to preferences really.  Since I can pronounce no clear winner I will at least give awards and honorable mentions in individual categories, Usability, Features and Value.

Usability - Winner Microsoft 365, Honorable Mention Google Docs


We are all familiar with the Microsoft Office desktop product suite.  You will feel right at home using Microsoft 365.  The ribbon feature of the newer office versions has carried over into 365.  Working in office 365 feels just like working on the desktop version.  My only gripe about Microsoft Office 365's usability is that many of its useful and advanced features seem to be hidden in menus.  A common misconception or popular gripe is that Microsoft 365 requires you to download a desktop application in order to run it.  This is completely false, no software is required.  Only if you want to have advanced collaboration and desktop integration is this necessary.

The simplicity of Google Docs is what earned it an Honorable Mention.  It is extremely easy to get an overview of all of your documents from the homepage and it is possible to access any document or to create any type of document from the homepage.  Google's design when editing documents (even though recently updated) leaves much to be desired.

Zoho fails at overall usability.  Integration between the various offerings is non-existent and separate accounts are required to use some portions of the site. Usability within the individual applications is great however and helped it take the gold in the Features category.

Features - Winner Zoho, Honorable Mention Tie, Microsoft 365 and Google Docs


Zoho offers a myriad of SaaS features.  Over 27 applications are available for use.  Zoho definitely feels more fleshed out than Docs and 365. For Microsoft Office you will immediately notice that the online version is lacking many features present in the desktop counterpart.  However, this is the first version of 365 and it is already up to par with Google Docs feature wise.  Many features like setting up a blog or team pages, or creating a personal webpage are useful but hidden under menus and not immediately accessible.




Value - Google Docs


Google was the clear winner here.  Almost all of googles SaaS offerings are free and I do not see that changing anytime soon.  Microsoft 365 offers a free trial and requires a subscription after the trial period.  Zoho is mostly free but resources for free accounts is lower than that of google.  Another advantage of google is you share your storage space between the multiple platforms.  So if you upgrade your storage to 15GB with google you can share that amongst your google docs, gmail account etc.  With zoho you are required to update each account individually without the possibility of sharing resources.


Zoho https://www.zoho.com/
Google Docs http://docs.google.com
Microsoft 365 http://office365.com

How routers really work.

This assignment required us to listen to the How Stuff Works Podcast: "How routers work".  The hosts did a good job of providing a general overview of routers and associated protocols. Unfortunately it is hard for me to pay attention to podcasts... so after listening to it three times I have a decent understanding of their discussion.  I hope to overcome the shortfall of all audio podcast by providing pictures to keep you interested.

The hosts focused on three layers of the OSI model. For those of you that don't live in your parents basement OSI stands for open systems interconnection (I didn't know what OSI meant either) and is the backbone of the modern network. In the most basic sense the OSI model is set of definitions to help create the ideal network. .  

Layer one is the 'bit' or physical layer. The actual physical elements of a single communication device such as the internal configuration of the device (pins, bit rate, encoding) or other elements like the voltage needed to transmit data.

Layer two concerns communication between devices within a LAN (local area network).  Which contrary to the title of the post, a router is not needed to allow communication within a LAN, only a switch.

A router is needed when you need to communicate with another network. The network of networks (Layer 3 - internet) is when routers really come into play.  "The router controls the information moving from a local area network to the internet.... and without a router... global communication would not be possible."

Routers transmit pieces of information called packets. Many packets are used to send or request a piece of information. Packets also come with instructions on where the data is to be delivered. Routers help packets reach their final destination by automatically selecting the fastest path to the destination server.  A router uses a routing table to help it send packets.  Routing tables contain a list of dynamic rules that are constantly updating by routers communicating with each other to help select the best paths for packets to be sent.

Routers constantly communicate with each other to determine the path of least resistance.

Routers essentially calculate the cost of transmitting a piece of data to its destination.  For example, one packet may be sent from router A to router B to router C to router D.  Typically routers look for a path with the fewest hops and if a packet has been through too many hops the router may think the packet is lost or has already reached its destination and is loitering on the network.

Bunnies all over the world are tasked with delivering your Wikipedia searches to and from routers. 

MAC addresses are associated with each device on a local network.  Once a bunny has reached the router with the requested information it looks to see which MAC addressed requested the information and delivers the wikipedia search for Miss Piggy to my laptop. 

Ten points if you can spot what is wrong with this picture.

Sometimes we may receive packets from evil malicious bunnies that are carrying data that is harmful to our computers and network.  That is why it is important to have a firewall.  Thankfully, most routers have firewalls built into them.  Firewalls have a set of rules they use to filter out bad packets from ever entering our local networks.

I like to think of my firewall as being Mr. T

I only scratched the surface on how routers work.  If you have any questions please comment and I will try to answer your question as concisely as possible accompanied with an appropriately funny image.

Business Models and Shameless Plugs

In this assignment I was tasked with creating two business model diagrams.  One of which was to be based on a company you have worked for and one where you create a new infomediary business.

StarWarsIntro.com
The first diagram is of a business I actually started in high school.  It was born from my love of Star Wars.  Users can can re-create the iconic scrolling text introduction with their own text, music or graphics.  I first created the program back when Flash Actionscript 2.0 was released.   There was no dynamic 3D text support with MX 2004 so I would manually create orders as they came in.  I spent a good two weeks glued to my desktop trying to match everything as close to the movie as possible.  It turned out to be a bigger success than I would have ever imagined.  I received order after order and was glad to take their money but I was not much fun converting each order manually into 3D and placing it into the program to run.  Once converted into 3D the text was no longer editable and customers would frequently want to change something at some point and I would have to repeat the entire process over.

Screenshot from starwarsintro.com

Actionscript 3 and CS3 came to the rescue and really changed the way I do business.  The dynamic 3D text support allowed me to re-create the program from scratch with the ability to load data dynamically from a text or XML file.  I am now able to offer a DIY version where users simply update the provided XML file with their text and the program does the rest.   I still offer a custom version where I create the scroll for them. It gives the simplicity of only needing one file and the option of using .mov format.  It is much easier for me to create and update than the previous version. Lastly I offer the source code for those who want the ultimate in control.

My client base is quite diverse. The majority are used for birthday celebrations. I have had someone propose to his wife with one which I thought was creative. Corporations often use them as intro's to training seminars or award ceremonies. Companies like ExxonMobil, Sony, Ernst & Young, and Vision Works to name a few are among my customers, many are repeat customers. TomTom even used the scroll as their press release in several languages when announcing Star Wars voices for their GPS devices. A few years ago a promotor working  MTV commissioned me to create personal invitations to celebrities for the MTV music video awards. Others incorporate them into their website or use them for some other purpose.

Jango Fett next to George Lucas

I am still waiting on King George to send a bounty hunter after me but perhaps he agrees with me that I am helping his brand more than taking away from his warchest.

starwarsintro.com

Adrenaline Junkies

For my infomedia business I created something out of my imagination.  I have several existing ideas but I chose to create a new one. I've only known my classmates for a week and they could steal my ideas. Just kidding..

My idea is a infomedia site geared to 'Adrenaline Junkies'.  There is currently no central location for thrill seekers to virtually meet, discuss their trips (brag), post videos or provide ratings/reviews of places to go. The site would be centered around a message board allowing users to post reviews / comments.  A few of the unique features of the website would be for users to be able to 'check in' at locations and provide an 'adrenaline rating' for where they are.  For example people check in at the Skykomish River in Seattle, or the Goliath roller coaster at Six Flags and after the trip they can give it a rating to share with the community.  Users could then view the top 'adrenaline' activities from around the world and associated reviews/videos etc.  Companies could bid to become a featured adrenaline area or provide groupon style deals to adrenaline junkie users.  Users would also win points for checking in at locations, purchasing trips through the adrenaline junkie site or having a highly rated review among other things.  They could then use the points to purchase apparel, bid on trips etc.  Other community members could rate other members 'adrenaline adventures' to compete to become the the top adrenaline junkie. The possibilities are endless.

I think it is important to note that some of the customer segments can also be classified as partners.  The site in theory would benefit both the end user whether it be a thrill seeker or business and Andrenaline Junkie at the same time.    My application of the idea is fairly broad and it would likely behoove me to narrow the scope a bit..... but for the purpose of this exercise I am thinking big! This idea isn't that bad... hmmm time to register a domain name.

The Shwartz is strong with this one.

Carey Drake in Barcelona

Welcome to my blog, consider yourself lucky that you now have the privilege of hearing my most inner thoughts and scandalous desires.  Not really, but hopefully that sentence gives you an idea of my sense of humor.

Seriously though, this is my class blog for the Master of Internet Technology program at the University of Georgia.  From time to time I will be elaborating on class discussions or talking about a project I am currently working on.  I have to admit that I am a WordPress fanboy and this is my first time using blogger.  I thought I would give it a try, embracing the academic spirit of breaking out of my comfort zone and learning about new ideas and methodologies. Not to mention that I seem to have a hard time remembering to update WordPress installations.

To tell you a little bit about myself I am currently 22 and a native of Athens, Ga.  I work for UGA as a web developer in the Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute and also run two small business of my own.  Web development is a passion of mine.  I built my first website when I was barely out of elementary school back when frames and tables were cool.

I am the one on the left. (Captain Rex)
Recently sold to a new home.

I love to travel as much as possible.  Some of favorite places to visit are Barcelona, Los Angeles, Coruscant, the Mushroom Kingdom and most recently I have fallen in love with Seattle.  Aside from traveling I have enjoyed playing piano for the past 12 years and am a huge fan of Gerswhin. One of my life goals is to actually memorize Rhapsody in Blue.. 3/26 pages to go.  When I am not serenading myself on the piano I am a thrill seeker, always looking for the next class V river to go white water rafting or another perfectly good plane to jump out of.  A recent hobby of mine has been costuming.  I am a member of the Star Wars 501st and Rebel Legion costuming groups but I do not limit myself to only Star Wars costuming.  At the moment I am working on a Jurassic Park ranger costume for DragonCon.

I am genuinely excited to be apart of the MIT program and the challenge it will provide me.

Please visit and comment often.  Whoever leaves the 1,000,000 comment to my blog will win a free Nintendo Wii.

Carey Drake