Application Mining

There's much talk today about Data Mining and Big Data.  What I don't see discussed much is Application Mining.

OK, so what is it?  Well in my thinking, it's where you have applications that are effectively performing 1 or more business functions for your organisation.  They aren't the "rising star" applications - more the "cash cow" applications.  You have already invested in them, you maintain them - they just do the job. Some people call them Legacy Applications.

Quite often they are the "green screen" applications - great for data entry, built in a time when GUI sounded like something sticky that you didn't want to accidentally sit on!

The value here is the data AND function.

So how do you leverage this corporate asset?

Intelligent Screen Scraping

Sounds awful - scraping the screen.  Let's use another phrase to cover this - "screen interception".  There's a few products that can intercept the information from the server that was normally displayed on a dumb terminal or in some form of terminal emulator running on the user's PC.

After intercepting the screen instructions, the software can display this to the user in a browser.

This "out of the box" transformation already delivers a benefit of not having to install any special software on the user's machine.

The next level of sophistication is to re-model the browser pages to leverage the power of using the browser and form objects such as date pickers, drop-down lists, etc.  At this point we should also be contemplating how we could revamp the process so that the user interaction is streamlined and designed for ease of use.

We can do this by marshaling multiple "green screens" behind the scenes and presenting a single web page to the user.  This more than compensates for the lack of "data entry speed" that some consultants claim is lost when moving from a character-based screen to a modern web page.

It is also possible to set up a framework that allows you to move some functions out into a web template and better utilise the server functionality.

Delving Deeper Into the Application

Once we have mapped our screens in this way, we can extend their use past the browser.

This can be done by combining screen interactions under a function and making it available in a SOA environment.  There are various approaches in making the function available - it could be by exposing it as a Web Service with a SOAP interface or, more likely, a JSON interface.

It could even be made available to less sophisticated systems running on different operating systems or even different networks.  This is where a product like LANSA's Integrator comes in handy.  LANSA have done a lot of good work in continuing to refine, and add new functionality to, LANSA Integrator.

Of course there are other products out there - so it's a case of "horses for courses".  But is you have an IBM i (aka AS/400) environment, then Integrator is the go.

Removing Thule Roof Racks from Toyota Corolla - Rapid System 317

OK, this is Not an IT post, but I hope it helps anyone that is in the same position that I was.

I bought a Toyota Corolla Ascent 2004 (through work) and optioned it up to include a Thule roof rack.  The guide for installing the roof rack can be found here.

Even this guide didn't help that much.

You get keys to unlock this roof rack.  One set has the wavy edge you expect to see on keys.  In my case I had 4 of these in the pack (don't know why as they were all the same).  But there is also a slightly larger key with straight edges - it is important.

Most of the Thule roof racks have the keyhole in the "base" - the bit that sits on the roof of your car, but not this system.  It has the keyhole in the end of the rack.

I removed the whole key assembly buy:

1. unlocking it with the wavy edge key
2. pulling that key out, then inserting the straight edge key - all the way in
3. then I pulled the black end, with the keyhole in it, outwards away from the body of the car - this allowed me to push the inside of the key mechanism and it just pops out

You probably don't have to remove the key mechanism like I did.

With the black end bit pulled out a few centimetres, but still in the rack,  start turning it counter-clockwise like you are unscrewing a top or a nut off a bolt. The whole mechanism starts to loosen.  Do this on both sides, then pick one side to loosen off enough to clear the edge of the roof and then lift to remove.

OK, so when you "get it" - the process is easy.  But I couldn't find any instructions on how to remove it on the web - and believe me I tried.

I hope this helps someone out there that searches for an answer!

The 3D Printing Revolution

So pretty much every day I'm reading another article about 3D printing.  For those not up to speed, it means you can print solid objects from a plastic like compound.

This used to be a very expensive exercise, but the price is tumbling as more players enter the market (competition) and we get more people wanting to buy the technology (scale).

I predict (actually, I predicted this about 10 years ago - check with my now-adult children...) that 3D printing would become fairly mainstream in most homes - and here's why.

A while back, a small plastic component in my fridge broke.  It was like a little bracket thingy that held up a shelf in the door.  Now I had 3 options (well 4 if you count "do nothing"):

1. Drive to the outlet where you can buy this component,
2. Ring up, order it by phone and pay for it to be delivered, or
3. Order it via their web site and pay for it to be delivered.

What if I could go to their web site and pay to download the component to my 3D printer?  Problem solved in a few minutes and for far less as I'm only paying for the "design" of the part - I'm providing the physical substance and there's no delivery fee.

OK, let's take a breath and start to continue this line of thinking...

What about all the "add on" products like smartphone cases, little clips, frames, hooks...

People can design things to be printed, then you pay to simply use this design to create the physical object.

Now at the moment, the size of the object is restricted to fairly small - but it is increasing slowly.

Let's start designing!

Low cost Tablet - Disruptive Pricing

With the announcement of the Aakash 2, we see the first usable super-low priced tablet running Android.  The tablet is sold commercially as Ubislate and here's a picture of it.

So it looks OK and has some reasonable grunt.  It has a processor as powerful as the first iPad and twice as much RAM memory. It uses Google’s Android operating system.

Pricing

The Ubislate comes in 4 flavours as shown in the table below:

To give you an idea of the price range, the low-end 7Ri model is about AU$60 and the high-end 7C+ is about AU$85.

There are options to upgrade the RAM if you need it.

So it's very important for companies to consider how they will leverage this type of opportunity.  One way is to be able to punch out app content quickly and securely - where you can control the speed at which the app is updated.

The LongRange product from LANSA looks a good bet.  You can build mobile apps that link back to your server infrastructure so that the server drives the mobile experience.  Instead of having to learn a plethora of new technologies and techniques, LongRange uses the languages on the server.  So for Windows and IBM i servers - you can create apps by using the LANSA development environment.  On the IBM i servers, you can also use RPG & COBOL which are widely used on this platform.

Organising Your Life With Evernote

When I first started to use Evernote I thought that it was a simple way to record notes - was I ever wrong!

Evernote has done a fantastic job of providing a ubiquitous platform for storing, organising and accessing information - the information you need to get things done (I've specifically chosen the last three words).

Some years ago, I read a great book by David Allen called "Getting Things Done".  The concepts in David's book just rang true to me and I implemented some of the advice in my work and private life.  But over the years, I started to drift away from these foundational practices as things got busy and a bit chaotic (circa 2009 GFC and other big life moments).

Recently I downloaded an eBook from the Kindle store called "Getting Things Done must read Summaries" by David Allen for my adult son so he could  learn the basics of GTD.  I read it too and it kindled (pun intended) a desire in me to see what solutions were around in the marketplace that would help me to pull together a GTD solution using today's technology.  I found another eBook from the Kindle store called "Evernote: The unofficial guide to capturing everything and getting things done." by Daniel E. Gold.  Now you can see where Evernote is coming into the fray...

One of the underpinning tenets of GTD is that you need a system (system means a set of processes, not necessarily a computer or application) to handle all of the things in your life.  Your work life, your personal life.  You need to handle what things to address now, what to file/store, what to get rid of.  By handling all of the calls on your time, and having a system on which you can rely, you free up your brain (both conscious and sub-conscious) to "flow like water".

Evernote runs just about everywhere - Windows, Mac, Android (Smartphone & tablet), iPhone & iPad, Blackberry (does anyone still use these?) and using a browser.  On Linux you can use an open source solution called Nixnote (used to be known as Nevernote).

OK, so it runs in a lot of places - that's good.  But what do you do with it? You store notes, files, pretty much anything that you can store on a computer.  Notes are stored in Notebooks.  Notebooks can be grouped in Stacks.  A note can have any number of tags (that you define).  When you install Evernote on Windows it has nifty integration features like browser add-ins that allow you to clip information on web pages.  There are several ways in which you can clip information on a web page; the URL, the whole page, a selection and the auto-select option.

Evernote also provides hooks in Outlook and in the right-click menu on files under the "Send to" option.

One feature I find particularly impressive is when you add an image as a note.  I've purchased a portable scanner so that I can scan items like receipts, warranties and other documents.  I then upload the image to Evernote as a new note - give it a title and tags.  But the clever stuff is that Evernote has automatically OCR'd the image and I can find the image based on its content.

Oh, did I say that Evernote is free?

I have chosen the premium edition (which provides some extra functionality and storage).  It's very cost-effective when you consider the benefits I am deriving from it.

Rediscovering the IBM i Platform

Back in 1988 IBM announced the OS/400 operating system that is now known as IBM i.  This operating system, running on the AS/400 hardware platform, provided a TCO (total cost of ownership) that, to this day is unrivaled (in the author's opinion).  For a brief history of this platform, click here.

Although today other platforms have pushed IBM i out of the spotlight, many companies running this platform continue to leverage their investment on a platform that offers tremendous scalability and stability.  It comes with the database "built-in".  Applications can be written in a variety of languages such as RPG, COBOL, LANSA and Java.

I have recently joined LANSA and I can see the tremendous opportunity for organisations running production applications on the IBM i to leverage a new technology that LANSA has brought to the table - LongRange.  LongRange allows programmers to use RPG, COBOL or LANSA on IBM i and build applications that connect and run on most of the popular mobile platforms such as Apple's iPhone and iPad as well as Android SmartPhones and tablets.

Up until now, to unlock the investment in IBM i applications, it was necessary to learn a number of new technologies such as Objective C, HTML, etc.  And the more mobile platforms you want to support, the greater the complexity of your solution which increases your TCO.  You also get the problem of "re-integrating" your technology "supply chain" when any of the components brings out a new release - more cost!

So LongRange is designed in keeping with IBM i's low TCO goal.  Code mobile apps in your native IBM i language once, then deploy it to all of the mobile platforms mentioned above.

I know that I have a vested interest in LongRange, but it resonates with so many of what I look for in a solution, that I believe it is something that all IBM i users should seriously consider.

Touchdown - Android Exchange support made easy

Connecting to Microsoft Exchange from Android

I was recently trying to connect to an Exchange server. I got mostly there, then I was told that my phone didn't support the security method required - blast!

I searched around the web a bit and found this to be a common problem.

Like a grizzly old prospector, I finally found that speck of gold at the bottom of the pan - and it's called Touchdown from Nitrodesk.





I installed the free version (30 day trial) to ensure it worked. If you have the required information; it is extremely easy to set up. Once I had it working, I upgraded to the paid version. It's a little pricey when you compare it to other Android apps, but it is a fully-featured product, not just a simple one-function tool.

Highly recommended!