And so it begins…

By | Published: January 5, 2010

I have started my project, so that’s half the battle then. I am using subversion for versioning. I know git is all the rage at the moment, but subversion is what I know and I’ll have enough on my plate learning Django and Google App Engine.

Using a versioning system is important when working on any project. Subversion allows you keep track of any changes that you make along the way. It also allows you to revert to previous versions if you make any mistakes. Finally, it can give you an offsite back up of your code. For example this blog is hosted on dreamhost. As well as hosting sites, they provide a few other things like hosting subversion repositories.

Tonight I created the repository that I’ll be using on dreamhost.  The next thing I did was to create the base project that I will be using as a starting point. This is basically the one that comes with app engine patch. The next step was to import all the files into the repository.

Once this is done, it is safe to delete the local files. The next step is to perform a ‘checkout’. This pulls all your files from the repository. Once that’s done, it’s easy to keep the code up-to-date.

So there it is, the single step. Now just a thousand miles to go!

New Year Resolution, something newsworthy

By | Published: January 5, 2010

Well it’s January again so I’m going to start a personal project. The project I have in mind is really ambitious so I don’t want to go into details but it will be built in Django and hosted on Google App Engine.

The reasons for using these technologies are many-fold. I really want to learn Django and today I found app-engine-patch which allows better integration between Django and Google App Engine.

The news

Anyway, back to my project. I think that the way people consume news is going to change in the future. I think that people like @marklittlenews have recognized this. I don’t think for a second that 6 0ne or newspapers are going away any time soon.

I do however think that the way we, the public, view the news is changing. The crash-landing on the Hudson in 2009 is a good example. It was all over twitter before it was on the news. Photos included. With a video camera included in nearly every phone. For example, my phone (the HTC Hero) has a video camera built in. I can even post videos directly to youtube. I can even stream videos live using a service like Qik. Photos are the same. Soon any news event will be broadcast on the web as soon as it happens.

Features will also be online. The excellent site Pictory is an example of the direction that I think features will go in.

So what does this mean for Journalists? Even with news events being captured as they happen, the background information, the meat of the story, will still be important. Usually, this comes from a built up network of contacts that comes from years covering stories.

And  so, the project I am planning to build is a platform that brings the on the spot user generated news together with the experience and skill of journalists.

It’s an ambitious project, but what is the point of aiming low? There is a good chance that nothing will come of this, but hopefully I will learn something along the way.

How to quit smoking.

By | Published: December 30, 2009

It’s the time of year again when smokers try to quit.

It is one of the hardest things anyone can do; I know, I quit 7 years ago.

In the past I had tried everything: willpower (ha ha), nicotine patches, nicotine gum, old wives tales. In the end, once I found the right method, it was easy. The method I used was Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking.

It is probably the most boring book I have ever read, but you have to read it to the end in a short space of time. It took me 2 weeks to read through it.

I know of other people who swear by gum and patches, but they don’t really make any sense to me. If you are trying to give up an addictive drug i.e. nicotine, taking nicotine using a different delivery mechanism is not going to help.

After reading Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking, even picking up a box of cigarettes felt weird.

If you do decide to quit smoking in the New Year, I wish you the best of luck. Quitting smoking is one of the hardest and most worthwhile things you can ever do.

Is the Apple tablet finally coming?

By | Published: December 29, 2009

It appears that the long-awaited Apple tablet may be coming on the 26th of January.

This is Apple’s traditional time for big announcements. The big Apple convention MacWorld used to be on at this time of year.

Apparently, back in 2007, Apple registered the domain iSlate.com. That, with the rumors coming from Chinese screen manufacturers seem to point to a 10 inch tablet.

It will be interesting to see if Apple can do for tablet computing, what it did for the mobile.

Personally, I don’t see a future or tablet computers. I think a touch-screen would be really difficult to type on long term. I think tablets are more suited to graphical type applications. I don’t think there will ever be a novel written on a touchscreen.

Who knows though? Apple have surprised us in the past.

Google Android

By | Published: December 21, 2009

I got a HTC Hero a few months back. So far it’s been great. Fantastic apps and everything you would want in a phone. The one thing that really annoys me is Android Market. What possible reason in the world is there for not allowing me to install certain apps?

Google Goggles, for example. Why can I not find that in Market? It is available in Ireland, but seemingly only if you work for Google.

Come on Google, it’s Christmas, where is the love?