This is part of the TechEd Section. As mentioned previously you need to be very careful when using multiple sources of power that are coupled by a common rail – nasty things can happen which will ruin your day (as well let all the critical magic smoke out). Luckily for me my power supplies are able Read more about Arduino, RS485, mixed powers and multiple devices[…]
This is part of the TechEd section. As I mentioned previously , I had a need to double check that the 5v USB supply from my laptop was floating with respect to my lab power supply. I measured a no load difference on the 0v lines of around 120v – which raised the obvious concern Read more about Arduino and multiple power sources – things to watch out for…[…]
After having spent a bit of time trying to work out how to get Propel and Composer to play nicely together, I thought it would be helpful to write up a little aid for those going through similar pains… The end game is to have your custom behaviors ‘live’ in their own Git repo to Read more about Propel, custom Behaviors, Composer and Git – how to get it all working[…]
At home I have a need to measure temperature and control various circuits in response to those temperature changes and other inputs. The sensor network needed to span at least 100m and ideally should have the ability to reach out to 200m (so I could get down to the Chicken Coop and pool). Looking around Read more about Arduino Uno clone RS485 network[…]
PayPal have committed to a longer signing key length and part of this is in the need to upgrade your SSL and CURL stack to support TLS 1.2 and HTTP/1.1, this will hit most people via the IPN acknowledgement call back. Why the longer key length? Basically over time the ability of computers to ‘crack’ a Read more about PayPal SSL upgrade to TLS 1.2 and HTTP/1.1[…]
One thing is very clear, the future is going all STEM… According to various articles, it appears we are heading for a future full of robots and technology that will drastically increase the degree of automation as part of the economic and manufacturing process. I think this is largely inevitable as there are a few Read more about STEM, AI and the future[…]
Although lightning is a common occurred in Australia, not much thought is given to the consequences of it; that is until you suffer a lightning strike.. About 4 weeks ago we had a very severe storm cell that hung around Sydney, in particular it was producing quite a loud lightning show not that far away.. Read more about Lightning Strikes[…]
Just had an interesting email exchange with a perspective client who wanted us to work on an unfinished WordPress website abandoned by the previous website developer… It appears that there is no brief or specification document to be found and no idea on budget, yet he was quite willing to have a chat and see Read more about The importance of a specification and a budget![…]
It is always a constant source of amazement to me how some people can get away with developing insecure and downright terrible code and be able to sleep at night – perhaps ignorance is indeed bliss….
Websites or online services come under constant attack from hackers using automated scripts, if left unmanaged such attacks can consume sufficient resources to impact your quality of service, negatively impacting your brand. This article explains why this is a major problem and what the solution is. Online Security Matters, Dictionary Attacks are everywhere Every online Read more about Online Security and Hungry Caterpillars – they have a lot in common…[…]
It is often the case that in an attempt to quickly set up business services and scale that people will turn right away to Off The Shelf (OTS) solutions, usually zeroing in what they have used before and just buying in and applying. The idea being to forego development costs of an in-house system in Read more about How Off The Shelf (OTS) Solutions ruin Data & Business Integration efforts[…]
Software or Systems architecture is often undertaken from a very technical point of view, the main concerns being around reducing technical complexity and dependencies to make it easier to deal with change in the long run. This is fine for ‘standalone systems’ but in today’s highly interconnected world – the boundary of a system is often Read more about Security and Architecture – always consider both together[…]
Software Architect unfortunately is often seen as one of those ‘nice to do’ things by many businesses. Typically the architecture of a business system (especially in a start-up or online business) tends to ‘evolve’ (putting it nicely) over time – there is usually no unified attempt to create an architecture until you realise you have Read more about Software Architecture Really Matters to Business Success[…]
What is written below is my opinion and is not that of Aykira Given that Policy Hack is occurring today and that I wasn’t actually invited (long story, ask Alan). I thought it best to write up the thoughts that have been formulating in my head thinking that I was invited… #1 Play to Win Read more about Policy Hack Thoughts[…]
A beginning is a sensitive time, especially if you are a startup looking to make an impression on the world. You need a way to stand out and be seen as different to the rest. Usually at this stage the only way you can differentiate yourself is by your own startup story – in essence Read more about Top 5 Startup Story Articles[…]
Something we have noticed is that people seem to be very keen to try and minimise their hosting costs, by getting the cheapest plan available and then putting all their websites into the one account. On the one hand this can be very good strategy at reducing recurrent costs, but if done ‘blindly’ it can Read more about SEO dangers of one box hosting…[…]
When setting up a new website there are several key elements you need to get right from the start. 1. Setup Google Webmaster As soon as your website is live, you should really set it up to linked up to Google Webmaster, this will allow you to: Track what search terms on Google your website Read more about Setting up a new Website, the minimum you must do[…]
Every once a while someone comes up with something completely left of field – in this case its the Swincar… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdM5yCBy0jY It’s difficult to describe the Swincar – one part off roader, one part go-kart, one part fun! What we really like is that its inventors have catalogued the process of progressive refinement on YouTube, Read more about Cool one man off roader[…]
Just how do you go about checking the SEO qualities of your website? Below are a few simple steps that will give you an indication of how your website is doing in SEO terms. 1) Use Google Webmaster reports if you haven’t already, make sure your website is registered on Google Webmaster. With in it Read more about Checking your website SEO[…]
I’m currently using Vagrant with a client to help automate their development build processes. We want to try as much as possible to make the dev environment match the final production environment. So I can set up the provision.sh script to use environmental variable overrides so we can easily go from an ‘all-in-one’ development deployment Read more about Vagrant and Propel – external configuration and tabs[…]