UPDATE: My First Production App

For those of you who read about my app that I released a few weeks ago, here is an update. (for those of you who didn't read that, HERE it is)

Much like the beginning of the Tale of Two Cities, my story is the best of outcomes and the worst of outcomes. I didn't win, meaning I didn't get the iPad. HOWEVER, they liked what I had done so much, that they created an additional prize, a $250 Amazon Gift Cert, and they gave that to me. Here is what they said:

"your app is extremely useful to Kynetx developers, shows ingenuity and Kynetx development skillz"


So, I didn't win the iPad, but I did make a big enough impact to get them to reinvent their own rules in order to provide a reward for the app I built. Nice!

My First Production App [UPDATED: 12/29/2010]

Last night at midnight I delivered my first application. I have build other applications, but none to be used on a Production environment, like this one.

A local company (Kynetx) was having a programming competition, the winner of which would receive an iPad. The trick was that you had to use their technology and mix it with YQL to provide an app. I have successfully done that, and here is a link to that app in their marketplace: Kwiki

Kwiki is an app that will allows people building Kynetx apps to have a code completion tool, as the Kynetx Appbuilder is a very barebones text editor. Kwiki provides the coder with a list of all available libraries and methods, along with an explanation to each one, a link to the Kynetx documentation for that method, and a link to Stackoverflow.com to search for that method (in case you are having problems).

My thoughts are that this will be a very well received app, and it should become fairly popular in the kynetx community, especially among the new coders. It will greatly improve the speed at which they can both learn and code in the new KRL language.

Sometime today (if I win) I should be getting a call. I really hope that I won. Even if I don't win, it is a milestone, as I have never delivered a production app before. Either way, this is a WIN. Even if I fail, a FAIL would be still be a WIN!

Update: I got an email today that said that I didn't win, but that since my app was so useful to the Kynetx Developer community, and since it shows ingenuity and Kynetx dev skillz, that they were creating an additional $250 prize (an Amazon gift cert) for me. So... I guess I took an abstract second place.

Glen Beck is a major tool!

Officially, I liked this video a lot. Unofficially, it might be on the top 10 for 2010 of funniest vids!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Back in Black - Glenn Beck's Nazi Tourette's
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

I guess Chrome is fast

Check out these odd and cool speed tests:

AZ is in trouble

AZ is about the lose $56 million dollars of annual business due to their new laws. A Los Angeles city councilman has spoken out, and today the city council approved a boycott on AZ.

They are comparing what AZ is doing to early WWII nazi-ism (not late WWII nazi-ism) and to the internment of Japanese-American's in WWII.

Here is a quote from the councilman Reyes:
"As an American, I cannot go to Arizona today without a passport. If I come across an officer who's having a bad day and feels that the picture on my ID is not me, I can be ... deported, no questions asked. That is not American."

Read HERE

Star to be created on earth

I have posted about this before, but it has got me excited.

This organization is convinced that they are close to completing their test, the results of which will be clean and renewable power. This could solve problems that we have. If we could produce as much energy from one gallon of sea water as we currently do with two tons of coal, that would be amazing.

Check it out HERE

Stop Paying for Cell Minutes: Free calls for iphone users

All, unofficially Google is currently working to get free phone apps up and going for all. Last year they purchased Gizmo5 (like skype) so that they could couple that technology with their Google Voice product. I am not sure when it will be out... but once it is out, you will get to call over the internet to land lines for free. I can currently do it, and it is cool.

HOWEVER, this article explains how to use your iphone to call over the internet (3G or wifi) and it won't use any of your cell minutes. So... essentially... you could oust your phone bill every month. You can also receive phone calls too. This is too cool. I wanted to share it with you all. If you have questions or need help getting it setup, let me know. Otherwise, enjoy THIS BLOG.

Domo Arigato Whitney Houston

This is a dude, Lin yu chun, singing Whitney Houston's "I will always love you" in what appears to be Taiwan's version of American Idol. Check it out. I was laughing!!!

Don't Say Too Much On Facebook

This lady posted that she was going to a concert, and one of the new people on her facebook used to that know that she wasn't going to be home. The new facebook friend then broke into her house and stole her stuff.

Lessons:
1. Don't add odd people to your facebook friends list.
2. Don't give up too much info to your facebook friends.

I've Said This Before

Anyone who knows me and my siblings know that we all left Utah County as soon as we became of age.

Today, like many days before, I am given to opportunity to say, "At least I don't live in Utah County!"

Here are the projected Real Estate prices percentage drops for the year 2010. Salt Lake County is definitely getting the less-worse end of the deal.

Read HERE

Don't Get Dooped: Facebook Phishing Scam

Read HERE

Facebook has made an announcement to let their users know about a new phishing email scam that is aimed at Facebook users. You get an email asking you to provide you email. If you provide it, someone else then has your Facebook password.

Phishing is a term used to describe the act of a group of douche-bags sending you a fake email (an email that looks like it is from someone who it isn't really from) or sending you to a fake website (a site that looks like it is some other site, in this case, Facebook) and ask you to enter your username and password. Once you enter your username and password, they will log you into the site and you will think all is well. Until all of your contacts receive bogus spam from your account.

Here is a fact, for those in doubt: Major site, like facebook, twitter, google, yahoo, etc... will never email you and ask you for your password. If you get an email that asks you for your password, it isn't from that major site.

Here is another fact, for those of you in doubt: the following two websites are very different-
http://www.facebook.com/LoginPage
http://10.50.100.1/www.facebook.com/LoginPage

The second site is a phishing site. If even one letter is different than what you know the web address is, then that means it is a different site. If I gave you my bank account number, and made a mistake and it was one number off, then you would have my incorrect account number. The same goes for web addresses. If you are even one letter different, then it isn't the right address.

If you ever end up at a phishing site, do the following:
1- Close the browser without logging in.
2- Clear your internet cache and temporary files.
3- If you had an email that sent you to the site, delete it.
4- If it was a link, posted by a friends account, notify your friend that they were dooped and warn other not to follow the link.

Be smart. The internet is very simple, but the gimmicks can be elaborate. Just follow the simple things you know about your trusted sites and you should be fine.

My take on the Healthcare action

I was asked why I didn't post today on the healthcare action. I will post later tonight. You will get an update then.

Tears of Joy and Sadness

So... Walmart is experiencing same-store shrinkage, and has for the 3rd straight quarter. Same-store shrinkage means that their year-over-year returns for individual stores is shrinking. They experienced growth, because they opened new stores over the last three quarters, but their stock dropped when they released the news of this same-store problem to the public.

They implemented a plan last year to use less shelf space for different sizes of products (meaning: cereal is one size, not multiple sizes per type) and that has back fired big time. The silent-hand has spoken, and it has said "Fine, I will go somewhere else!" So... they are suffering. That makes me happy.

The sadness I am feeling is because they are currently course correcting and changing this problem with their shelving space. Additionally, after reports came out that WinCo (a California based supermarket) has beating Walmart's prices over 80% of the time, Walmart has begun putting on the gloves. This means that they will drop their prices, which is the one thing that they are more capable of doing than any other retailer in the country.

Click HERE to read more about the Walmart news.

Now Accepting Comments

All,

I have changed my blog to now accept comments. Sorry! I didn't realize that it was disabled.

Re: Your Brains

I found this awesome song that is very much in line with my late enamor of Zombies. It makes some good points, and goes miles to explain to us (the living) the Zombies point-of-view. They really aren't trying to be unreasonable. I mean, its not like they're going to eat your eyes! I hope you like it.

Republican Caucus' - Tuesday March 23rd

All,

For lack of a better word, Bob Bennett is a douche-bag. He is trying to force the GOP into giving him the republican party bid, WITHOUT HAVING TO EARN IT. If he gets enough support, the UTAH GOP will award him candidacy without having to go through a republican primary race. This just CAN NOT HAPPEN.

Since the last time he was voted into office, this guy has voted for every bad idea to come out of Washington, and has voted more anti-capitalistically than not. If he gets voted again, that is our fault. It is only a few hours, but please show up and get this guy out of the race.

If you don't know who he is, then I am asking you to trust me. Whether you are Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Moderate, etc, you don't want this guy representing you in Washington. Please go to the link below and find your area's Caucus, and attend. Preferably you would do some research and come prepared to talk about some issues. However, arriving to show you lack of support for BB is better than nothing.

PLEASE, Click HERE and go take care of it.

One of my Favorites

After sharing the Handsome Men's Club and getting a good response, I wanted to share one of my favorite videos with all. Some of the people who I have worked with in the past will verify, I quote it several times a day.



Partly I love it because it mocks Robert. I don't know why mocking Robert makes me so happy, but it does. My wife is a Twilight elitist, and even she thinks that it is funny. Another reason that I love it is because I think that Jimmy Fallon is one of the funniest guys around. Further, Harry Potter is cooler than Twilight, and this video take one more step at proving that fact.

Get your Pie ready for Sunday

Many if you might not be aware, but Sunday is the day when mega-nerds world-wide will celebrate Pi, the irrational number that represents the difference of a circle's diameter and it's circumference. The masses of nerds are already preparing to celebrate. My recommendation is to get a pie ready. For starters the pie is just good. But, it also seems anti-American to not celebrate something completely irrational.

Read more HERE

1.3 Billion dollar of unclaimed tax returns for 2006

I just read THIS article that explains how for 2006, the government has a calculated 1.3 billion dollar surplus of unclaimed taxes. That 1.3 Billion is calculated based on the standard deduction, so if the 1.4 million people who should have filed but didn't had more than the standard deduction (due to school costs, health care costs, mortgage, charitable contributions, etc) then that number would be even higher.

That is an average of $1,000 per person who hasn't filled but paid. What American, in this economy, wouldn't file their return? I can think of two main groups, although I am sure there are more smaller groups. The first main group, the smaller of the two, is people who owe for previous years. They owe for previous years, and are nervous about filing due to the amount that they will owe. The second main group are undocumented immigrants who paid taxes, but, for one reason or another, don't file their taxes. Maybe they are too nervous to ask the gov for money back. Maybe they don't understand the process. Who knows... but it is my guess that the majority of this 1.3 Billion dollar unclaimed purse was paid by undocumented immigrants who won't file for the return.

After reading that, I read THIS article. I think that the IRS should verify the legality of the tax payers status, and then forward those unclaimed taxes to the health care institutions who are most likely to treat undocumented, uninsured patients.

This is my take on it. Let the good help offset the bad. Don't give the money to the US Treasury. That organization is a mockery, and shouldn't be given a penny of extra money. Any money forwarded to them should be considered lost. Giving handouts to them is like throwing pearls before swine. It is a waste.

AF - OUT!

Calling all Members of the HMC

Please watch and enjoy!

Wave to Blog to Buzz

Wave Post: Test

Mr. Fusion Much?

All,

If any of your remember what happens at the end of the first Back To The Future, then you will know what I am talking about. For those of you who don't, here is a short recap.

Marty McFly gets home to find that things are better than he left them. He has a new car, his nemesis is now an employee of his father, his parents are happy, and his girlfriend is there too. While talking to her, Dr. Brown comes blasting in and tells them that they have to go with him because their kids in the future are in trouble. During this talk Doc grabs a banana peel and a partially full beer can. He puts the peel, the beer, and the can into a device on his car. The device is called Mr. Fusion, and was apparently a mini-fusion reactor that could turn garbage into fuel. Since that day, Sci-fi fans have been waiting for Mr. Fusion to be a real thing.

Well, very soon it will be. The company Bloom has produced a device called "The Bloom Box" that produces power from.... ??? (some sort of fuel) and produces very little carbon-dioxide waste. The goal is that each of us would have one in our yard, which would allow us to unplug from the power grid. Additionally, you could put one in the back of a truck and drive it to where ever you wanted to have power.

The Bloom Box is a private attempt to take NASA technology and make it affordable so that the rest of us can have 100% renewable energy, at a low cost, with a very low carbon-footprint. It is as efficient as solar power, but doesn't have the dependencies on the weather.

Check it out HERE. We are within 10 years of one of these Bloom Boxes being available for about $3,000 per household. It just sounds too good to be true. The fact that Colin Powell is on the board of the company encourages me to trust it. I will try to keep my ear to the pavement on this one. I will keep everyone updated on the progress of the Bloom Box (or Bloom Box imitators).

Laser Fusion will produce net energy gain

This topic is huge. Within the next 10 years they will have proof-of-concept plants functioning. These plants will take the hydrogen atoms from water and will shoot them with 53 lasers that will fuse the two atoms, and it will create more energy that it cost to create the beams and run the machine. Additionally, besides water, their main fuel source is nuclear waste, which it will dissolve. This means that these plants can work in tandem with nuclear plants and help reduce the footprint left by nuclear power, which is already potentially less than other energy's.

Check it out HERE

School Fires All It's Teachers At The Same Time

Go HERE to read more.

A school in Rhode Island fired every single one of it's teachers this week. The school has a 45% graduation rate, so the superintendent of the district mandated that teacher work more hours after school, tutoring their students. After the teachers (who each made between $72,000 and $78,000 a year in an area where the average household median is $22,000) wouldn't agree to the extra hours without a raise in compensation, the Super made a drastic decision to fix the problem.

To me, it seems extremely drastic. This doesn't mean that it is a bad thing. Considering all of the variables, I think that the Super made an appropriate decision. These children are from the highest poverty areas of RI. Their one common hope for a better future is an education. When only 55% of them can pass math and reading testings, you know that you have a problem. Anyone impeding that change would need to leave. I don't think that I would have had the stones to make that decision, but I am sure happy that there are people who will.

--
AF

Comic genius Betty White to host SNL

Coming to an SNL near you: Comic genius Betty White
See HERE:

I love this Golden Girl and am excited to see her host the show. I am amazed that is still getting funnier with age.

Windows Moble... making a comeback?

All,

I just read this article about the new and improved Microsoft Mobile Operating System. It sounds promising. Click HERE to check it out.

Just when I thought that MS was completely lost in the new world of mobile OS', they come out with this. It sounds awesome, but we will all have to keep our eyes open.