In the business of technology, news is so predictable: Apple launches yet another iPhone, FaceBook – a new design, and Yahoo! – a new CEO
Shuhaib Shariff
Unstoppable Force meets Immovable Object
Filed under Technology …
Getting a sweet deal from SoftLayer
SoftLayer is our preferred vendor for dedicated servers. Their hardware, control panel, support and infrastructure is arguably the best of any hosting company.
SoftLayer does not offer the cheapest rates … infact most of their competitors have lower pricing slabs and I know a lot of people for whom cost is a significant factor in choosing the hosting partner… good for them! Compromising on server infrastructure is NOT an option for us.
They always have some offers running, but it may not be what you are looking for; infact the published discounts are not always significant. What I generally do is talk/chat to their Sales and check the possibility of getting significant discounts on their listed price. More often than not I do manage to get some sweet deals from SoftLayer and every server we have have with them is truly value for money!
Tip:
- Go to softlayer.com, choose a server with your desired configuration and generate a quote
- Find “Frank Y” on SoftLayer’s live chat. Give him your quote ID. Frank will likely give you an aggressive discount … if you negotiate correctly, upto 25% on the quote!
- If you’re building a high-end server (upwards $1,000 / month) you can connect with Frank via email: fybarra at softlayer.com
Please let him know that you were refer ed by the folks at DoubleSpring
DoubleSpring is looking for UI Designer
DoubleSpring is looking to hire an experienced UI designer with some experience in online apps / product development:
http://blog.doublespring.com/2012/03/28/were-hiring-user-interface-designer/
OOH Marketplace For Your Region
Interested in building an online marketplace for outdoor advertising for your region?
We can help you!
Our team at DoubleSpring has built a software platform that connects; media buyers, media agencies & media sellers to create an online marketplace for outdoor advertising. We are now open to licensing the platform and managing it for you … under your own brand/website.
All revenues accrued will be retained by your company.
Possible avenues for revenue in the future:
- Commissions on bookings (10-15%)
- Listing Fee / Subscription Model
- Targeted PPC Ads on listing pages (like FaceBook Ads). This will potentially bring in a lot of OOH support companies like printers, designers, creative agency, etc.
For details: contact [at] doublespring.com
The Downside of Django Development
Django is considered by many to a great framework for building scalable web applications … in a relatively short span of time. My company specializes in Python/Django development.
Over the last 4 years I’ve found that there is a BIG downside to using frameworks like Django:
The thing is, we are a reasonable/honest bunch of folks providing development services. Our clients expect us to to charge by the hour.
There is no way Django development allows us to make enough money… the God-damn apps get built too quickly for too little.
Its about time we moved to J2EE development … 
Django (1.4) Web Application Security
Security is about three things:
Integrity of your data. I should not be able to change it.
Confidentiality: can I access what I should not be able to access?
Availability: can I break your website?
A well-known bad case is DigiNotar. Malware on most of their computers, including the most secure once. Their digital certificates were compromised and the company went bankrupt in three weeks time.
One thing that we have to take care of regarding Django: cookies. Cookies are stored in your browser and are linked to a website. All requests to that website get the cookies in every request. In Django, your session ID is stored in your cookie. If you get hold of the session ID, you get hold of the user’s session. Django stores the actual session’s data in the database, so the actual data is safe.
Continue reading
Web applications using PLAY framework
Play is heavily inspired by Ruby on Rails and Django. A developer familiar with any of these frameworks will feel at home. Play leverages the power of Java to build web applications in an environment that is not Java Enterprise Edition-centric. By lifting away the Java EE constraints, Play provides developers with an easy-to-develop and elegant stack aimed at productivity.
Some notable projects using the Play framework:
Web application development with the PLAY framework
We were recently introduced to the PLAY framework and I can tell you that it is the future of web application development in JAVA/SCALA
The Play framework makes it easier to build Web applications with Java and Scala. PLAY is a clean alternative to bloated Enterprise Java stacks. It focuses on developer productivity and targets RESTful architectures. Great for agile software development!
Although we are Django fanboys; I have to concede that PLAY has some incredible advantages in building scalable web apps.
My biggest grouse with Java platforms is repeated and tedious compile-package-deploy cycles. However, The PLAY framework compiles your Java sources directly and hot-reloads them into the JVM without the need to restart the server. You can then edit, reload and see your modifications instantly!
At DoubleSpring, we are in the market for web app development services in the PLAY framework. If you are interested in discussing your project or idea, get in touch with us.
Researching Scala & Lift
The DoubleSpring team is playing around with some exciting development tool/platforms and I chanced upon Scala & Lift.
Scala is a general purpose programming language designed to express common programming patterns in a concise, elegant, and type-safe way. It smoothly integrates features of object-oriented and functional languages, enabling Java and other programmers to be more productive. Code sizes are typically reduced by a factor of two to three when compared to an equivalent Java application.
Source: www.scala-lang.org
Lift is a free, open source web application development framework for building powerful, interactive, and dynamic applications using the Scala programming language. Scala is purely object-oriented, but, uniquely, it also has support for functional programming, giving you access to features such as anonymous functions, nested functions, curry functions, and higher-order functions. Scala runs in a JVM, making it compatible with Java applications and libraries. These traits mean that web applications powered by Lift can use both Scala and Java class libraries. In addition, Lift applications are packaged as Web Application Archive (WAR) files and can be deployed to any web application server that supports the Servlet 2.4 specification, including Apache Tomcat 5.5 and later.
Details: liftweb.net
We’ve worked on the Spring framework before but there is something very compelling about Lift … possibly because its lightweight and better suited to web development. The only downside with Lift is lack of documentation.
Some very good internet companies have recently moved to using Scala/Lift including the likes of FourSquare, Twitter, LinkedIN, Sony, etc.
Although Django is DoubleSpring’s preferred framework for web application development, we are open to using Scala in projects that are computation & database intensive.
Playing with Android SDK …
Android is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware, and key applications. The Android SDK provides the tools and libraries necessary to begin developing applications that run on Android-powered devices.
