The video production effort for RubyNation 2010 is really taking shape now, and it’s clear that we’re going to need more volunteers to help out. We’re up to 7 cameras and two additional recording devices now. Contact me if you’re interested in helping out on April 8 – 11, 2010.
Chad Fowler at RubyNation 2010
Just saw this tweet from Chad Fowler, who was last year’s keynote speaker for RubyNation. He’ll be at the conference this year as an attendee. How cool is that?
RubyNation Video Production Site Survey
I just completed the video production site survey at the Sheraton Hotel, where we’ve got the master ballroom and a junior ballroom booked for RubyNation 2010. We resolved most of the big audio/visual setup issues, so all systems are green for this year’s video production effort. We’ll be video-taping the conference sessions.
BBC Redesigns Their Web Site
The BBC has decided to re-design their web site. This blog entry provides in-depth details about the whole design process, as the BBC rebuilds its entire online digital image. There are some nice insights here. Check it out.
Puzzle Solving and Corporate Culture
There’s a new tradition at MetroStar Systems. It started when someone left a 1000-piece Christmas puzzle in the lunch room at MetroStar’s headquarters in Reston, VA. It quickly became a collaborative effort with many employees participating in solving the puzzle.
Nobody spends very long working at the puzzle. People just mosey on by, place a piece or two, and then leave.
Now, it’s simply become expected that when one puzzle is solved, a new one will soon magically appear in the lunch room.
New Version of RubyNation Site Released
A new version of the RubyNation web site was just released today. The new graphics were created by Don Anderson, while the new look-and-feel, including CSS, was assembled by me. The new look highlights the fact that RubyNation 2010 is being held April 9 – 10, which overlaps with Washington’s Cherry Blossom Festival. This is the first major change to the site’s design since its initial launch in mid-2008.
Exchanges Connect Top 40 Announced
The Top 40 videos for the Exchanges Connect Online Video Contest have been chosen. I was part of the team that created and ran the contest for the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Now it’s in the hands of the celebrity judges to select the final winners!
KeenerTech.com Upgraded!
KeenerTech.com has been upgraded from Rails 2.2.2 to Rails 2.3.5. Even better, the site is now hosted using Phusion Passenger and Nginx, for faster performance than ever before. As a bonus, we’ve even upgraded to the latest version of the ActiveScaffold plugin.
My Talk at RubyNation 2010
I will be speaking at RubyNation 2010. My topic is “Leveraging Rails to Build FaceBook Applications.” This is a distillation of some of the practical tactics that my development team at MetroStar Systems has used to create highly successful FaceBook applications using Rails, including real-life systems like PollCast and Iran Voices. FaceBook is the world’s largest social network, with over 600 million members.
RubyNation 2010 Speakers Selected
The conference organizers, including myself, met last night to finish the evaluation of the 60+ talk proposals we received this year for RubyNation. After a lot of discussion, we’ve now narrowed them down to the final set, pending some last minute tweaking and final confirmations of a few details with a couple of the speakers. Notifications of acceptance/non-acceptance will be going out soon.