Sunday, November 13, 2011

Mac Tech Conference 2011

I attended the Mac Tech Conference at Universal Studios. I took some notes about the presentations that others might find interesting.  Mac Tech was a good conference and I think it's worthwhile. Though, it's certainly no WWDC. If you are a Mac or iOS developer and can only attend one conference, then WWDC should be your choice. If you can attend more than one, or are on a tight budget, then Mac Tech is a good choice.  Overall the Mac Tech conference was more focused towards the mac support and integration world than it was for development.

Keynote: Guy Kawasaki
  • He covered the "12 Things I Learned From Steve Jobs" to promote his new book. "Enchantment".
  • There are three principals of enchantment : Likeability, Trustyworthyness, Quality.
  • "You should use the 10-20-30 rule for presentations. 10 slides, 20 minutes total, 30 point font minimum.
  • He talked a little about why MBA's are bad.  I really enjoyed his point of view.
  • Walt Disney, Henry Ford, and Steve Jobs were visionaires. Though if you had to pick only one, he'd pick Steve.
  • Although the talk was good, he tended to brag a lot.  This took away from the overall message a bit.  For example:
    • "If I had stayed at apple, I'd be so rich on stock now that there's no way I'd be talking to you guys. When they called me to speak here, I would not have returned the calls"
    • "I left apple the first time because I wanted to be a director. When you become a director at Apple you get a car, and I wanted a car paid for by Apple"
    • "You notice I didn't use the 10-20-30 rule with my slides, but you should because you are not me. "
    • He told a story about Richard Branson polishing his shoes with his sleeve to try to get him to get him to fly Virgin Airlines.
Aaron Hillegas : Developing Mobile Apps
  • This was a GREAT talk. I am now a fan of Aaron Hillegas.
  • Everyone agrees that smarts are moving into the cloud, the browser is becoming the OS, the assembly of that OS is javascript, and the presentation is HTML5.
  • He talked about making an app that is Poor, Usable, or Delightful. With Mobile apps, you get to Delightful much cheaper than you can with HTML5.
  • He said, "The best JavaScript/CSS/HTML programmers in the world worked 7 years and only got a usable word processor. " - Good Quote.
  • As the experts talk more, the chance of success goes up, but once you start adding more and more people, the chance of success goes down. You need the experts to keep talking, but limit your calls and meetings to the essential people.
  • Having a designer on your project is part of the expense. He called it revenge of the art nerd.
  • Here are the questions that keep him up at night:
  1. There is a battle between iOS/Apple and all the other handset makers. How can developers benefit from the power struggle in the industry ? Carriers are recognizing that developers are important.
  2. Once we start writing applications and they generate data. What do we do with the data ? There are ethical and environmental questions involved. There are companies that have huge databases about you. How will it be used? Will the data be used for our benefit, or used against us.
  3. Is privacy dead? If you have a phone or a credit card, there is a lot of information about you in the ether.
  4. Are we gradually replacing reality with a simulation of that reality? (simulacrum). Are we communicating with more and more people in a less significant way?
  5. What will be the effect of shorter attention spans. If we are spending more time reading tweets and blogs, what happens?
  6. When we only talk to others like ourselves, how will we have empathy for those who are not.?
  7. Why do we do this? Why do we write apps? Why do we create technology. – This one, we have an answer for. Look at the cheetah and the gazelle. Over time, they get faster and faster. Similarly, we as programmers are co-evolving with our users. User demands are going up along with the capacity of tools and process. We had a bit of a respite when the device came out.
  • He had a great slide about the co-evolution of cheetahs and gazelles as well as Beethoven and pianos.
  • Big Nerd Ranch is now doing more android consulting than iPhone.
Nathan Eror : Using Core Animation
  • This was a good talk showing the basics of Core Animation and how to get started using it.
  • There is example code for everything he covered.
  • https://github.com/neror/CA360/
Chris Rojas: Building Robots From Scripting to full application development.
  • Chris gave examples of talking to the Microsoft XBox Connect Device.
  • Lots of other examples of other things folks have done building projects.
  • Talked about "Hacker Spaces" which are clubs where you have access to tools like laser cutters and CNC.
  • I really liked the Hacker Space idea.  You could come up with project and use the space to build it. 
Patrick Rhone : User interface and design
  • Talked about gestures on iOS devices and why it's important to stay with standards.
  • Visual is what gets folks interested, but you need to build a lasting relationship.
  • Mental Model : What is the user thinking when they try to do a particular thing.
  • An "Invisible UI" is when the intent of the app and the features of the app are matching.
  • We’ve done away with keyboard and mouse. Moving a paper is not about arrow keys, mouse, scroll. You just touch the screen and move it.
Kevin Miller : Live Code from Run Rev
  • 3'rd party application framework for building mobile apps.
  • He built an iPhone app in 3 minutes that displayed information about the conference.
Jeff Biggus - Accelerate Framework
  • Great low level talk about API's available in the Accelerate Framwork
  • Many of these have been around for a long time in C and can be used on Mac and iOS.
  • http://blog.hyperjeff.net/blasLookup.pdf
Indie Software Development
  • This talk was pretty useless. It was about how to make $$ by buying lousy apps and fixing them up.
  • http://www.apparentsoft.com
Tim Isted : Core Data
  • Talked about core data and how to use it.
  • I really like the Core Data framework and think it's a great tool.
  • Core data has its own undo manager.
  • There is a core data instrument that is available for the Mac or the simulator.
Using Instruments:
  • This was a decent talk about how to use instruments in XCode. There are some great tools in there.
  • Zombies: App crashed from something released twice. The zombies tool is the allocations instrument with some custom settings.
10 Dirty Words In Application Developement
  • The idea of this talk was Serendipity : Take learning where you can find it.
  1. insertWithLengthBy
  2. insertBacktab
  3. autorelease : Everyone knows this one.
  4. yank : An NSREsponder method
  5. stroke: an instance method from NSBezierPath
  6. member: Part of NSSet.
  7. NSRectFill : AppKit function. It doesn’t do Alpha
  8. NSInsertionPosition: Enum used by NSPositionalSpecifier.knobThickness : A method on NSSLider and NSSLiderCell.
  9. tooltip
  10. knobThickness. : A method on NSSLider and NSSLiderCell.
Jan Mosh: Security
  • Jan is from Google. He had a great talk about vulnerabilities and how they are exploited.
  • The best to protect the data is full disk encrpytion. – That protects the data at rest.
  • When the data is in memory, it is in plain text so it is vulnerable. You can get to it through DMA.
  • Demo'd pulling memory from a laptop over firewire using DMA. (very cool)
  • Sample Python Code : http://c0re.23.nu/c0de/pyfw/
Daniel Jalkut – Red Sweater Software : Receipts
  • When you purchase something on the app store, the store injects a receipt that takes care of the registration code.
  • Reciept has the id of the machine. If you don’t handle that properly, folks can copy your app to a new machine.
  • Non-Transferable – The receipt is under an Apple ID. If you get a new machine, will it show your app as damaged?
iCloud : Rich Warren
  • As a developer, the only place we can play with is the iCloud Storage
  • It is not remote storage, you still have a local copy on your device. You won’t use less memory.
  • It is not a sharing communication channel
  • It’s not a communication channel between apps.
  • It is for syncing data and documents between devices.
  • rich@freelancemadscience.com
  • http://freelancemadscience.com
Backlot Tour
  • They brought us on a backlot tour of Universal Studios and took us through the King Kong ride.  We then had a Q&A with the folks that maintained the ride. 
  • They showed us a video of how the ride was put together. 
  • They use 16 QVS machines at once to project the show. 8 Per side  There is a slight overlap between the projectors.
  • All the animation was done by Weta Digital.
  • All the testing was done in the large hanger in Long Beach. Folks from Weta flew over to watch as the film progressed. 
  • There were a lot of folks that thought the overlapping projectors or odd screen size would not work but they got it to work.
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Sunday, October 2, 2011

My 6th Grade Teacher: Mr. Loren Jackson

We all have amazing mentors, leaders, and teachers that help shape our lives.  My 6th grade teacher Mr. Loren E. Jackson was very much one of those people for me.  Mr. Jackson really inspired us, challenged us, and made us feel we could do anything.  He always made it a point to show us how capable we were.  I remember much of what he taught us and I still use many of his songs, stories, and lessons with my own kids.

Here I am in 6th grade. Notice how non-traditionally the classroom is organized. Instead of rows of desks facing the teacher, students were organized into groups of 4 facing each other. The group acted as a team and collaborated on classroom activities.

There was a classroom activity that lasted the entire school year which involved "flying" around  South America. This was a team based proejct where each team of 4 was a "Flight Crew" that had to pilot an aircraft through the capitals of all the South American countries.  We had to put together flight plans, compute fuel,  find airports, and work together to solve our problems. This team focused project based learning was at the core of everything we did.



As a 6th grade teacher, Mr Jackson touched many lives. We were his last class.  In 1981, at the age of 64, Mr Jackson retired from teaching.  Here was a tribute in the Lompoc Middle School 1981 yearbook.

Photo of pages from Lompoc Middle School yearbook 1981.

In the years since I've often wondered what happened to Mr. Jackson.  Did he enjoy retirement? Did he keep traveling? Did he stay in Lompoc?  Since we were so young when he retired, I expected I'd never know.  You can imagine my surprise when I got a Facebook invitation to his 95th birthday party.  
Photo of Mr Loren jackson 2011

I attended the party. Mr. Jackson taught for 16 years after retiring from the Air Force.  Since we were his last class, we were the youngest of the crowd.  Though, many of his years of teaching were represented.


Photo of Loren Jackson at 90th birthday party 2011.
Having a teacher with such amazing life experience really brings a lot to the classroom.  Mr. Jackson traveled much of the world and had amazing experiences to tell of his travels. He was also a  WWII veteran, and German POW.  Here's one of his stories.

By Loren E. Jackson, Pilot, 385th Bomb Group, 551st Bomb Squadron.
Taken from the 8th AF News, and reprinted in the Badger News, 8th AFHS Wisconsin Chapter. 12 June 1944, Epilogue to a War Story

On June 12, 1944, we were shot down by anti-aircraft fire approximately 60 miles north of Paris. Because of the large concentration of German troops in the area at that time, I was captured almost as I hit the ground. In the process of being taken to a POW camp, I passed through many hands. But on this particular day I came in contact with a German general whom I have never been able to forget. This is about him.
My bombardier, Joe Haught, and I were captured within a few minutes of each other. We were taken to a headquarters area in a German staff car where we waited for the next step of our processing to begin. In the front seat were a driver and a guard with a rifle. Joe and I sat in the back seat with an armed guard between us. Suddenly, a soldier ran up to the driver and said something to him and we were on our way. One of the guards said to us in English, “General Gerhart Graf von Schwerin has asked to see the American officers who were just shot down.”
Neither of us knew General Von Schwerin by name or reputation, but we did not relish the thought of facing a high-ranking officer. We were driven to a large chateau and were admitted to a huge living room filled with fine furniture. From the opposite end of the room strode a tall, handsome man dressed in slacks, a white wool turtle-neck sweater and bedroom slippers. He looked then like Gregory Peck looks now. We were too frightened and bewildered second lieutenants as he came toward us. He extended his hand and said warmly in perfect English, “Good morning. I am General Von Schwerin. And you are Lieutenants Jackson and Haught. Please have a seat.” We shook hands and sat down uneasily, wondering what was in store for us. “Would you like some lunch? I can have it for you quickly.”
Evan though some eight hours had elapsed since we had eaten breakfast and were hungry, we replied in the negative. I had been told this sort of thing might happen and my thoughts were that he was trying to poison us. Then he asked if would care for glass of wine and we declined again. Having failed in his attempt with food, he was now using the poison wine technique. We would have none of it. “Cigarette?” he asked. Again we refused, feeling that he was trying to lure us into a trap with kindness.
“How are things in the States?” he then asked. I told him things were fine. “I have spent a lot of time in your country,” he went on. “I have visited 35 of your states and I know your country well. A few years ago I attended Stanford University in – oh what is the name of that little town?” Neither of us responded and he fumbled for the name again. We could see that his inability to recall the name was irritating him. “You know, it’s up in the San Francisco Bay area. What is the name of that town? You know where Stanford is, don’t you?” I told him I knew, but wouldn’t tell him. I was not about to lose the war by telling him that Stanford was at Palo Alto.
The general paused a moment as though shocked, looked intently at me and Joe and then began to laugh. “Oh,” he said, “name rank and serial number only, is that it? Very well, I can see that you have assumed that this is an interrogation, but it really isn’t. You are simply obeying your instructions. I can assure you that you will be interrogated later. I only wanted to chat with you a few minutes. I won’t keep you any longer, but congratulate you on being good soldiers. I want to wish you the best of luck and hope your stay in Germany will be as pleasant as possible under the circumstances.”
We shook hands again and returned to a waiting vehicle that took us to the Stalag Luft that was to be our home until the end of the war. We were always puzzled by the General’s behavior. Here in a deadly war of survival and in the heart of the enemy stronghold, we had encountered a high-ranking officer who appeared to by making overtures to us. It was incongruous with our training and expectations. We were unable to believe he was simply trying to be understanding, kind or hospitable.
Twenty years later, in July 1964, I was alerted for reassignment to Europe. Somehow, my first thought was of General von Schwerin, for whom I had a great deal of concern all these intervening years. I would try to find him. I wasn’t sure where I would start, but I was determined to make every effort to find him. I wanted him to know, for one thing, that the kindness he tried to express to a couple of scared, young Americans had, at last, been recognized and appreciated.
Through the help of a friend in the U.S. Embassy in Bonn, we found that General Graf von Schwerin was retired and living in Bonn. They checked with the general, who said he would be pleased to meet with me again and on Saturday, 14 November 1964, I rang the doorbell of the von Schwerin residence. The general met me at the door with his hand extended. As we were shaking hands, I said, “Palo Alto.” At first, my greeting puzzled him, but then recalling the incident, he laughed heartily and said, “How different our meeting is this time.”
We reminisced and both of us relived a few minutes of June 12, 1944. The more we talked the more he remembered. He appeared hurt and visibly shaken when I confessed Joe and I had refused his hospitality for fear of being poisoned. “I wish we had not had that reputation,” he said. “I only wanted to talk to you, as you now realize. We were told how the war was going, but the accounts were not always accurate. The High Command told us only what they wanted us to believe. I would listen to the BBC broadcasts and this was a dangerous practice, because it was forbidden. But I felt I got a better picture of the war by listening to both sides. For example, I saw spearheads and long thrusts made by your armies, which our accounts completely ignored or denied. My point, in asking to talk to you, was trying to determine if conditions and morale in the states was as bad as we were being told by our propagandists.”
He asked me how my crew had faired in prison. It did not take me long to tell him that our activities had been reduced to routine in the Stalag Luft camp. I described our evacuation from Northern Germany, in January 1945, ahead of the Russian advances and our liberation by Patton’s troops in April, which had been the highlight of our stay in Germany.
In response to questions, the general told of his experiences after our meeting. He was relived of his command in France, soon after our first meeting, and given command of the famous Greyhound Division in Italy. He said he as captured in March 1945 and released two and half years later at Dachau on December 24, 1947. “I got back to my home and family in Munich that Christmas Eve. Just in time to light the candles on our Christmas tree.
“I must ask you,” he continued, “Did you go through the interrogation center at Oberursel near Frankfurt?” I told him that I had, that it was called Dulag Luft and that I didn’t enjoy very much. “Well I went through it too,” he said, “only our troops were running then. And let me say that it didn’t improve a bit under American management.
He suggested a number of sights to see during my three year’s assignment. I told him I expected it to be pleasant, compared to my last visit. “Yes,” he said quietly. “It’s a shame. The whole thing was a tragedy for everyone, for two reasons. First, that the war was a senseless one from the beginning. It was hopeless from the outset. And secondly, and even more tragic, was the fact that our people were fighting, bleeding and dying because of this Nazi criminals at the top. That is the real tragedy.”
He paused for a moment and breathed deeply. “We recover from our material losses, but it takes time. My family, all the Schwerins and myself – lost 52 estates, each of which was worth a fortune. The property is all in the East zone on the Baltic coast. We feel lucky we were all in the West zone, even without those fortunes. But it has not been easy. We Germans have and expression, ‘A bad smell never completely goes away’.” During that hour and a half visit I learned much more about this gentleman, including the fact that he was the military advisor to Chancellor Konrad Adenaur in 1947.
The following Monday, General Gerhart Graf von Schwerin’s picture appeared in “Stars and Stripes” long with several other German and American dignitaries. They had placed a wreath on a memorial to the war dead, of both sides, who had fallen in the battle of the Huertgen Forest. This he did on Veteran’s Day three days before my visit.
/s/ Loren E. Jackson, Wisconsin.





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Friday, September 9, 2011

Apple Seminar: In-House Application Development for iPhone and iPad

I attended an Apple seminar in Irvine titled : "In-House Application Development for iPhone and iPad". It was a good high level overview discussing all things iPad/iPod/iPhone for the Enterprise. 

Agenda  (Also See Attached):
  1. Exploring Possibilities in the Enterprise
    • How are enterprise customers using mobile applications?
  2. Design Best Practices
    • What makes a great app?
  3. Getting Started with the Platform
    • Developer programs and training materials
  4. Development Overview
    • Web App Development Overview
    • HTML5/Javascript/CSS3 - What is  possible with web technologies?
    • Demonstration - Building a web app 
    • Native App Development Overview
    • Frameworks and integration options  available for native apps
    • Demonstration - Building a native app      
  5. Distribution and Deployment
    • Channels and methods for application distribution
Notes:
  • The class was given by Allen Braham of Apple. He flew in from New Jersey. Attendees came from as far away as Las Vegas.
  • Case Studies:  Links are to pages explaining the apps, not company links.
  • Deployment
    • You can deploy up to 100 devices through a developer license. If you need more, you need a enterprise license.
    • Each enterprise license has an single "Agent" who names "Admins". Admins can invite developers.
    • The Agent is the only person who can do distribution. The Agent must have legal ability to bind the company in a contract with Apple.
    • Admins or the Agent must approve development certificates.
    • All three positions, Developer, Admin, and Agent can be the same person if necessary.
    • Universal Apps:  One binary for both the iPhone and the iPad.
  • Design:
    • Allen stressed making sure you focus on functionality first. Don't try to cram your desktop app into an iPad. Instead, think about the essentials and do the minimum first.  Worry about graphics after you have a working app.
    • A successful IOS project will have more design than coding. Think about what your users are doign that can be mobilzed to make their life easier.
    • Emphasis is on "Bite Sized Apps", not large ones. "Many Bite Sized Apps make an entire meal".
    • A lot of $$$ is spent doing training. You want small, easy apps so training becomes trivial.
    • Do paper mockups. Mockups should not look too real. There are apps like "App Layout" or "iMockups" you can also look at.
    • It's important that things not be polished because folks won't give feedback on a digital prototype like they will with a paper based one. (I agree!)
    • One major pitfall is to make a screen a certain way because of aparticular API they are using.
    • Every app that is developed internally starts with a User Mental Model: Objects, Task, and Concepts.
      • Object: What are we working with . (Clendars, Days, Weeks, Appointments, Reminders)
      • Tasks: What are the things we need to do. (Scheduling, Create, Edit,    Search)
      • Concepts: What are the high level conceptual things. (Searhching, Search, Filter)
  • Development
    • Web:
    • Web apps can be done in HTML5, CSS3, and Java Script.
    • WebKit is    the engine behind Safari.  Google Chrome uses WebKit. Blackberry and    Android use it as well.
    • There is a 5MB limit to SQL lite for saving offline data which is useful in "Airplane Mode".
    • You can use "Configuration Profiles"  They are generated using the    iPhone configuration utility.
    • Web Clips are a "Chicklet"  which links to a web page. You get a safari window with an optionally    hidden broswer bar.
    • Dashcode : Used for making web apps. Use for iPad/iPhone as well.  (Demo)
    • Native:
    • Done in XCode.  (Demo)
    • Hybrid apps:
    • UI Web view within an app.  You can take advantage of    native applications.
    • You can exceed 5 MB of data storage.
  • Multitasking:Added iwth ios4.  Only allows certain things:
    • Voice over IP (Skype)
    • Location
    • Notification
    • Task Finishing
    • Fast App Switching.
    • Playing audio in the background.
  • Push Notifications. Push notifications are available in the    enterprise as well.  
    • Don't send sensitive information over alerts.
    • You can ship a custom sound for notifications.
    • Your server has to maintain the id # of the devices you are pushing    towards. You push a JSON payload to the apple cloud notificaiton    service.
    • Only the last message is delievered. If you miss the message,. you    will only get the latest.
    • Push Notifications and Local notifications are only available    through native apps.
  • Accessories: 
    • To build an accessory, you have to join the Made For iPod program.
    • Bluetooth Glucose meter.
    • Infinite Periferels Sled. Uses 30 pin connector.  Infinite Periferals gives you an SDK.
  • Location Based Services:
    • GPS takes more power than cel tower.
    • Think about Precision, Power, and TIme
  • Local Storage:
    • SQL lite. (Core Data)
    • Property Lists : an Apple Standard. They can be serialized or    de-serialized to/from data strucutres very quickly.
    • Parsing Speed for the same data: 
      • JSON 416ms
      • XML 812 ms
      • Ascii Property List 140ms
      • Binary Property List 19ms
  • App Security
    • Hardware Encryption: There is hardware encryption on the iPhone, iPad. etc. 
      • AES 256 bit encryption
      • Always on for all data.
      • Instantaneious remote wip
    • Data Protection: All data at rest is encrypted using hardware encryption.
    • There is no shared memory between applications.
    • To brick the system, you just have to throw away the encryption keys.
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Thursday, September 8, 2011

Have You Discovered Minecraft?

Something happened last summer. My kids discovered Minecraft.


At first glance, it looks like a throwback to the early 1990's.  It's a very simple looking  game where players manipulate  blocks to build stuff. It's a sort of digital version of Legos.  However, for all it's apparent simplicity,  Minecraft is a wonderfully entertaining game to play, and a great outlet to express your creativity.




Besides just building, there is complex ability to create mechanical devices through something called Red Stone circuitry which is similar to wiring and circuits. There is also a complex array of things that can be built from raw materials through "Crafting". You collect simple raw resources, put them together, and make more complex things like dynamite for blowing through rock.

Another amazing thing about Minecraft is how it came to be.  It wasn't created by some big gaming company or some large studio. No, it was started by a single person with a passion for games. The person is Sweedish programmer Markus Persson.  He uses the alias "Notch" in many of his on line posting. Notch speaks about creating Minecraft on the minecraft web site. Here is a quote from his explanation.

"I realized that a game that simple yet that dynamic had a lot of potential to turn into a really great game, and kept coming up with things I wanted to change and stuff I wanted to add. I had recently quit my job as a game developer to be able to focus more on indie game dev during my free time, and I was looking for a new game to develop"

Not only is it an great game and a great story. It has generated a ton of money. At the time of this blog posting 3,379,564 users have put down the €14.95 to become a paying player That means Notch's little idie game experiment has generated over 50,000,000 Euros!

The game has also inspired songs and movies. For instance, here are some music videos that give some insight on what is inside the game. These also do a pretty good job of showing the basic concepts of the game and screen shots of what you'll see.



Not only are my kids playing the game, but they are singing the songs as well. This one gets a lot of play in my house as well. It's a parody of a Tiao Cruz song. Instead of "Dynamite", it's "TNT". Ben says "TNT is fun when you hook it to red stone and make TNT cannons".



Of course, what game is complete without a Lady Gaga Parody.



Feel like you are missing out on a whole event that was happening without you knowing it? How about this, a Minecraft Movie. I actually find this one especially entertaining. The movie has quite a bit more blood and carnage than you'll see in the game though.

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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Disney Toon Studios

I was fortunate enough to get invited for a lunch trip to Disney Toon Studios in Glendale, Ca. This was a chance to visit friends and see their new building.  It's really a neat campus.  I was told that the large atrium area was designed by Allied Works Architecture which is the same firm that designed the new building for Pixar Animation studios. I got to visit Pixar while up in San Francisco for WWDC 2010 and really enjoyed seeing their facility as well. Both sites are great facilities with wonderful open spaces.

When you first walk in, you see a large open area. 





The nice thing about a space like this is it makes folks cross paths.  I find that meetings in the hallway tend to be my most productive ones. When meeting in the hallway, you are talking because you have something you really need to talk about, and the meeting ends on time because everyone is standing.


The open area has a Pool Table, Video Games, and Cereal Bar.  These things do a great job of drawing folks into the common area.

Conference rooms are adjacent to the common area as well.

The wood is beautiful.

There is a nice outdoor garden area and lunch tables as well.



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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Tuesdays With TED

Every Tuesday morning, the faculty and staff at SCVi Charter school, gather together to watch a TED Talk.  After the talk we discuss what we learned and how it is relevant to our lives and work. This blog posting is meant to be a running tally of the talks we have reviewed. It will consistently be edited as we watch more.

DateTalk Comments
August 30, 2011 Dan Pink On The Surprising Science Of Motivation Facilitated by Amber Raskin. My favorite TED talk.  A great way to start the 2011/2012 school year.
Sept 06, 2011Johnny Lee Demos Wii Remote HacksFacilitated by Matt Schnittker. Wii Remotes installed in classrooms Summer 2011. We plan to use this system in our school.
Sept 13, 2011 Sam Chaltain - The Freedom To LearnFacilitated by Dawn Evenson.
Sept 20, 2011 Matt Cutts: Try something new for 30 daysFacilitated by Amber Raskin. Folks had the opportunity to commit to something for 30 days.
Sept 27, 2011 Sunni Brown: Doodlers, unite!Facilitated by Mrs. E. Great chance to talk about when we have doodled and when we were scolded for it.
Oct 04, 2011 Richard St. John's 8 secrets of success Facilitated by Allison O'Hare
Oct 11, 2011 Discussion This week was used just to discuss projects being done at the school.
Oct 18, 2011 Julian Treasure: 5 ways to listen better Facilitated by Katie Peterson
Oct 25, 2011 Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Facilitated by Amber Raskin
Nov 1, 2011 Geoff Mulgan: A short intro to the Studio School Facilitated by Jim Mulholland
Nov 8, 2011 Tim Brown on creativity and play Facilitated by K/1 Facilitators
Nov 15, 2011 Kiran Bir Sethi teaches kids to take charge Facilitated by Ana Donovan
Nov 29, 2011 Facilitated by Team 8
Dec 6, 2011 David Blaine : How I held my breath for 17 minutes. Facilitated By Christy Zimmerman
Dec 13, 2011 Tod Machover and Dan Ellsey play with music Facilitated By Jodie Kirby
Jan 10, 2012 Sarah Kay: If I should have a daughter Facilitated By Dawn Evenson
Jan 17, 2012 Joe Sabia: The technology of storytelling Faclilitated By Shannon Barragan
Jan 24, 2012 Hiring Bonanza - No TED
Jan 31, 2012 John Bohannon: Dance vs. Powerpoint, a modest proposal  Facilitated by Shelby Curtis
Feb 07, 2012 TEDx Orange Cost - Matthew Peterson: Teaching without words.
Feb 14, 2012 Diana Laufenberg: How to learn? From mistakes Facilitated By K/1
Feb 21, 2012 Adora Svitak : What adults can learn from kids.
Feb 28, 2012 Raghava KK: Shake up your story. Kathy Reynar
Mar 06, 2012 Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action 2n'd Grade Team
Mar 12, 2012 Drew Dudley : Everyday Leaders 3'rd Grade Team
Mar 20, 2012 TBD Team Explorers
Mar 27, 2012 Susan Cain : The power of introverts Malaka Donovan
Apr 03, 2012 Spring Break Spring Break
Apr 10, 2012 Mick Mountz  : The hidden world of box packaging Dustin And Keith
Apr 17, 2012 TBD TBD
Apr 24, 2012 TBD TBD
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Thursday, August 25, 2011

SCVi Summer 2011 Wireless Project

Overview Of The Project

Wireless devices are now an important part of the learning environment. Students make use of laptop computers, iPods, iPads, and  Netbooks in their learning at our school. In summer 2011, we decided to increase our wireless usage by adding 30 school owned iPads and about 70 new Netbooks.  We also greatly increased the number of school-issued teacher and staff laptop computers and increased our school enrollment from around 500 to over 750.  This warranted a substantial improvement in our wireless network.

What We Started With

For the first three years of Operation, SCVi had a total of 4 wireless access points. These were located throughout the building, but the largest concentration was upstairs in the south wing. This document shows these as "Old AP" and are represented by the blue circles. It also shows some places we were considering adding new AP's for a more optimal coverage and these are marked as Meraki AP's because that is the first vendor we looked at. 


All access points were Cisco Aironet 1200's which we felt could service about 20 users each before we started to see significant performance issues.  With this many access points, we could service about 80 simultaneous users, which meant the school wireless network would come to a crawl by mid morning.

Wireless Research

We started investigating vendors for our wireless upgrade. We knew we wanted to go to Wireless N technology which would give our access points greater speed, greater range, and more concurrent users. We started looking at different vendors. The following table shows some of the vendors we talked with.

Vendor
Option
Hardware Included
Recurring
Cost ( per year)
Notable Features
Meraki / IMT
New Access Points Only
Meraki MR16 Cloud Managed AP
Mandatory Fee For Cloud Controller Access. Pay per AP.
  • Cloud controller ONLY.
  • Cloud controller has an annual fee per access point
  • Great features on the cloud controller and overall very polished product.  Would be nice for multiple sites.
Meraki / IMT
New Access Points + New Router
 Mandatory Fee For Cloud Controller Access. Pay per AP. + License Fee for Router.
  • Router has two inputs and automatic failover.
  • Router will not act as the controller, you still need to pay for a cloud controller.
Aerohive / Altaware
New Access Points Only

Aerohive AP-120
Mandatory Fee For Cloud Controller Access. Pay per AP.
  • Cloud controler.
  • Cloud controller has an annual fee per access point, but fee is less than Meraki. 
  • You can buy a controller for in-house control, but is very expensive.
Blue Socket / Intuitive Networks
New Access Points Only
Optional Support Only.
  • Controller is in-house. No cloud needed. 
  • Was the only vendor that provided us with a Demo access point. This was very nice. 
  • We were able to get a single access point up and running using their cloud controller without too much trouble.
Blue Socket /CDW
New Access Points Only
Blue Socket 1800 Access Points
Optional Support

Aruba / CDW
New Access Points Only

Aruba AP-15 Acces Points
Optional Support
Aruba / CDW
New Access Points + Aruba
Controller
Optional Support
  • Controller required for more than 16 ap's. Could buy controller later.
  • I like their tutorial videos
  • If using the controller, you can no longer use Aruba Instant so you have to pay $100 per AP licensing fee.
DLink /
110 Technology
New Access Points Only
DLink DAP2553
-
  • Cheapest possible solution and still a huge upgrade from what we have now.
DLink /
110 Technology
New Access Points Only
DLink DAP2590
-
  • Plenum rated version of the DAP2553. Put above ceiling.
DLink /
110 Technology
New Access Points Only
Dlink DAP 2555
Mandatory Fee For Cloud Controller Access. Pay per AP.
  • This is DLink's Cloud solution Cloud based solution. Fee is $100 per access point.
  • If we want cloud controlled, this is the cheapest.
DLink / Computer1
New Access Points + Controller
Optional Warranty
  • Most robust hardware solution. Scales to 64 access points.
  • Includes a 24 port switch - Nice.
  • Best overall value of Hardware for $$

We decided to go with Aruba for these reasons:
  • The solution scales nicely. You can start with Aruba Instant, then go to Aruba with a controller or cloud based as you get larger.
  • Good tutorials and videos on web site.
  • Software looks polished and is easy to use. 
  • We got a really good quote. 

Implementing The Access Points

Our old access points had three separate SSID's.  Each had different routing to different VLAN's.  All three were open, but only one broadcast the SSID.  Here is an overview of the config from one of our Cisco access points.



Each of the access points is routed to a separate network with different filtering in Open DNS. This allows us to filter the content for teachers separately than the content from the student population.  Since the SSID's of the old access points were not very descriptive, we decided to change them.


Old SSIDs Security New SSIDs New SecurityVLAN Purpose IP Domain Internet Supplier
Stars Open SCVi-Learner Open Student usage 172.168.128.xx, 172.168.129.xx Fireline Broadband 10Mbit
Ambassadors Open - Hidden SSID SCVi-Facilitator WPA2 - Password Protected Teacher, Admin, and Staff usage 172.168.12.xx Telepacific 10Mbit
guru Open - Hidden SSID SCVi-Admin WPA2- Password Protected Network Administration by IT Staff 192.168.250.xx Telepacific 10Mbit

When the Aruba access points arrived, we started setting them up.  Configuration is pretty easy. You plug in the first access point and connect to it with a computer. You then navigate a web browser to http://instant.arubnetworks.com and use a web page to configure the device. Here is how the network configuration for the above SSIDs looked in the Aruba software.


The Learning Really Begins

As soon as we plugged in the access point, it became evident that our old Cisco Catalyst 3550 was not going to be able to power the new Aruba AP's. The AP's would cycle on and off but never started up. For the first AP, we simply constructed a external power supply to get started and worked with it plugged into the 3550. This worked for one AP, but this was not going to work for the rest of the network.

In order to power the new AP's properly, we purchased a DLink DGS-3100-40 managed POE switch.  This powered the AP's nicely, but after a few days of trying to get it to work, we realized the configuration was going to take some learning.  We needed to get the VLAN's used by the AP's to properly propagate through the new switch.  Otherwise, we could only get them working on the administration network.  It was time to call in some help!

We were able to get some expertise from Earl Rolley who helped design our original network.  He helped work out a lot of our configuration problems with our Cisco equipment. However, after plenty if tinkering, we still were not able to get the DLink switch up and running. So, we are running off the old switch and using POE Power injectors.  Still, we have learned a lot. Some highlights of the config are as follows.
  • We replicated all of the VLAN's from the cisco hardware on the DLink switch and configured it to tag the ports for these VLAN's.
  • Any switch on the Cisco hardware that fed the Dlink Switch or an Access Point must be set to mode "trunk".  (See cisco commands below.)
  • The drop to POE#3 Kindergarten had significant configuration problems that I simply didn't understand. Earl figured them out and set things correctly. 
  • What Cisco calls "Trunking" and DLink calls "Trunking" are totally different things. When Cisco configures a port to "Trunk" that means it's meant to feed another switch. However, in DLink, it is port aggregation. 
  • We enabled Spanning Trees on the DLink switch, but still not sure if that was the right thing to do. 
  • Since we use VLAN 250 as our admin VLAN; To talk to the Dlink switch as an admin plugged into a port, configure all the VLANs to be off except 250.
Understanding Switch Ports and VLANs
Virtual LANs allow different ports on a switch to be configured to talk to different networks. Our old access points were plugged into ports 1-4 on POE switch #2.  We actually were set up to talk to them on 8 total ports. This document shows how things are configured. For the new DLink switch, we plugged it into the Gigabit Ethernet port on SW1 and configured the port to trunk.


    Learned Some Cisco Commands

    There were several cisco commands I learned while configuring the switches. These commands can be performed by logging into the switch using telnet or ssh.

    Command TypeWhat it does
    show vlan Read Shows the VLAN's configured on the device
    show run Read Shows the entire switch config as currently running
    show ip dhcp server Read
    show ip dhcp server statistics Read
    show interfaces Read show the interfaces on the device
    show version Read shows software version, but more importantly, shows Uptime
    show power inline Read shows POE status on POE switches/td>
    show interface status Read show status of each interface.
    show startup-config Read
    show cdp neighbor Read Show who is connected to a port. (Handy!) Must be in switchport mode.
    show run interface fastethernet 0/1 Read
    show run interface fa 0/46 Read Notice that you can abbreviate the word fastethernet
    show run interface gig 0/1 Read
    config - Puts you into configuration mode so you can change settings.
    interface fastethernet 0/6 -
    switchport access vlan 250 Write Adds the port to VLAN 250
    no switchport access vlan 128 Write Removes VLAN 128 from a port
    switchport mode access Write Tells a port to auto-detect for Trunk or VLAN mode.
    switchport mode trunk Write Change the switchport to TRUNK mode
    switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q Write Change port mode to 802.1q (Allows TRUNK mode)
    do show run interface fastEthernet 0/48 Read When in config mode, you can use "do" to run the regular Read commands
    write Write Set's the configuration to be saved for next time the switch reboots

    Using the above comamnds, we were able to learn some really useful things. For instance to see what VLANs are available on a particular port, you can use the "show vlan" command.


    SCVI-POE-SW2#show vlan
VLAN Name                             Status    Ports
---- -------------------------------- --------- -------------------------------
1    default                          active    
2    gateway_network                  active    
4    VLAN0004                         active    
12   VLAN0012                         active    
20   network_printers                 active    
30   teacher_network                  active    
40   student_network                  active    
50   VoIP_phone_network               active    Fa0/9, Fa0/10, Fa0/11, Fa0/12, Fa0/13, Fa0/14, Fa0/15, Fa0/16
                                                Fa0/17, Fa0/18, Fa0/19, Fa0/20, Fa0/21, Fa0/22, Fa0/23, Fa0/24
60   office_administration_network    active    
128  VLAN0128                         active    
250  network_administration_network   active    Fa0/5, Fa0/6, Fa0/7, Fa0/8, Fa0/9, Fa0/10, Fa0/11, Fa0/12, Fa0/13, Fa0/14
                                                Fa0/15, Fa0/16, Fa0/17, Fa0/18, Fa0/19, Fa0/20, Fa0/21, Fa0/22 Fa0/23, Fa0/24



    This is the typical config for a "Trunk" port on the cisco switch. i.e. Ports that power either an Access Point, or a Phone. (The phones are a Trunk device)

    description NetworkAdministration
switchport access vlan 250
switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switchport trunk native vlan 250
switchport mode trunk
switchport voice vlan 50
mls qos trust dscp
priority-queue out
spanning-tree portfast
    Here is a config from the "Student" ports on the POE switch that feeds high school.

    switchport access vlan 128
 switchport mode access
 switchport voice vlan 50
 power inline never
 spanning-tree portfast

    Network Overview - For Technical Parents

    Since our school relies heavily on parent volunteers, We have documented our entire network here.  This is to help future parents understand how we are configured.


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    Wednesday, August 17, 2011

    iPad Resources

    Our school has decided to buy iPads for student use. This was a big decision in many ways because we want to make sure they are actually used for educational purposes instead of as a easy way to sneak an update to your facebook status. (although we block facebook right now).  Here are some links that were being passed around as we did our research.

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      Saturday, April 9, 2011

      Admiral 601 Turntable iPod Dock

      I had an Admiral turntable that I thought might make a nice iPod dock. 


      As usual, the older electrolytic capacitors were bad so I had to replace them with modern ones. 



      I then added the iPod Dock. 


      Testing out  the audio.






       New capacitors soldered in, getting things put back together.




      Added a switch to power on the tube amp without turning on the turntable motor.



      The final install. 

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