Softec

CASA - volunteer opportunity for web designer

Hillary Trout — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 22:38:00 GMT

Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children of San Luis Obispo County is seeking a volunteer web designer for our template-based content management site. This site is currently under construction and we estimate that it will take approximately 20 hours to complete this project.

Please let us know if you are interested in volunteering for a great organization.

Cathy Orton
Resource Development Director
CASA - Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children of San Luis Obispo County
P.O. Box 1168 San Luis Obispo, CA 93406

805-541-6542 PHONE
805-541-5637 FAX

www.slocasa.org

Cal Poly's New Technology Park Signs New Tenant

Justin Couto — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 03:01:00 GMT

Cal Poly's New Technology Park Signs New Tenant

San Luis Obispo - Cal Poly recently signed a lease with Couto Solutions Inc. for approximately 3,500 square feet of space in the newly opened Cal Poly Technology Park.

Couto Solutions is a software development firm specializing in custom social networks for businesses and online communities. The company was founded in 2004 by Justin Couto, a former Cal Poly business graduate. Couto Solutions will maintain its headquarters, which includes its core software and development team, at the Tech Park.

A project of Cal Poly's California Central Coast Research Partnership (C³RP), the Tech Park serves as a home on campus for technology-based businesses - particularly firms engaged in applied research and development. Companies located in the park benefit from the expertise and skills of Cal Poly faculty and students.

"We are pleased to have Couto Solutions in the largest available suite of our Tech Park," said Jim Dunning, project administrator for C³RP. "They are truly a success story we would like to replicate many times over - talented graduates of Cal Poly creating and growing high-wage technology based jobs in our region."

"We are extremely excited to be moving our company's primary operations to the Cal Poly Tech Park. It's been a challenge for us to find qualified engineers in the area, and we feel through this partnership with C³RP and the development of our new internship program, being on campus will make the difference in the future success of Couto Solutions on the Central Coast." said Couto.

Partial funding for the construction of the building of the park was provided by the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The mission of C³RP is to facilitate collaboration between Cal Poly and business/industry by acting as the interface with interested collaborators. The new Technology Park has been one of the major initiatives of C³RP.

Phase I of the Technology Park project encompasses a 25,000-square-foot building that was completed earlier this month. The first lease was signed in February with Applied Technologies Associates Inc. (ATA) for 3,000 square feet of space. ATA designs, builds and manufactures technology products for the oil industry.

Currently 9,000 square feet of space is leased, with 11,000 square feet of space still available. Individual labs/suites range from 500 to 3,200 square feet and are available for lease.

For more information about the Cal Poly Technology Park project, contact Jim Dunning at 756-5551 or jdunning@calpoly.edu.

June 16: Learn about Grover Beach’s Technology Master Plan, to become a hub for broadband communications in the West Coast.

Kim Mistretta — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 23:35:00 GMT

GB mayor to discuss tech master plan

Grover Beach Mayor John Shoals will discuss the city’s Technology Master Plan at the next tri-Chamber luncheon set for noon Wednesday, June 16. Shoals will review Grover Beach’s goal to become a hub for broadband communications in the West Coast, utilizing the trans-Pacific fiber optical cable the comes ashore in the city. He’ll also explain how that plan will have an impact in the entire Five Cities area.

The luncheon, presented by the Grover Beach, Arroyo Grande and Pismo Beach chambers of commerce, will be held at Café Vostro, 228 W. Grand Ave., Grover Beach. The cost is $18 for chamber members who pay for reservations by noon Friday and $20 for members who pay at the door – if space is available. The cost for nonmembers is $25. To register and for more information, call the Grover Beach Chamber office at 489-9091.

[Reprinted from the Tribune 6/7/2010]

Tech-Trifecta Tweet Up @ Tech Brew

Hillary Trout — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 13:06:00 GMT

Tech Networking, Tech Brew & Technology Survey

SLO Tech Brew is hosting a networking meeting this Monday!

Monday, June 14th 5:00 - 7:00 pm
Central Coast Brewing, San Luis Obispo
RSVP on Facebook

Learn about, support & promote the TAC Tech Survey!! Be there. http://ht.ly/1X0we

TAC Technology Survey - Take it now!!

Hillary Trout — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 13:33:00 GMT

Please help the Technology Advocacy Committee identify the challenges and opportunities the local technology industry is facing. The SLO Chamber's TAC survey is available now by clicking: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22AQBKVNAA8

This survey isn't just for San Luis Obispo - it covers the entire region from Paso Robles to Santa Maria. Please participate!

Take Survey

Google Factors In Site Speed For Search Ranking

Robert Hope — Fri, 14 May 2010 21:33:00 GMT

So it's official. You will now be penalized by Google if your website underperforms in terms of speed. While the impact should be minimal right now, there is no doubt that this can and likely will become a major differentiator for search ranking down the line. Faster sites not only mean happier users and a happier internet, they also mean less overhead time for GoogleBot as it scans sites that perform more quickly, so it's in Google's best interest to make things go faster all over the internet.

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2010/04/using-site-speed-in-web-search-ranking.html

This implies a couple of things for your website and your ability to acquire a good search ranking score.

Excellent Search Engine Optimization techniques are no longer good enough. You must also keep a sharp eye on your site performance. Make sure that you are configured for maximum optimization including output caching, compressing static web content, and keeping your technology stack up to date. The article suggests several measuring tools for tracking the speed of your website. In addition, you might want to turn a critical eye to pages that are getting crawled, determine how relevant they are to your site SEO strategy, and then put a "no follow" on links to less relevant pages that do not perform well but are getting crawled and potentially damaging your performance rank.

Be aware of third party tracking tools that might damage your performance rank. This is true of not only any crawlers should they choose to track page speed based on all of the resources your page requires, but its also true if you are using services like Nagios or Keynote to track and alert you if your pages are slow. While the user might not have any real problem in the browser waiting for a DoubleClick ad to load up, your performance metrics and any bot performance tracking might be harmed.

This also could potentially impact how you build your SEO content. There are several approaches to providing SEO content to crawlers. One is to dynamically respond to a query and build a response with some sort of code. Another is to build out a bunch of static html pages ahead of time in response to any possible SEO requests. There are others, but the larger issue is it becomes even more important to weigh performance over ease of implementation or reuse of existing infrastructure.

I can attest from my personal experience that site performance is directly tied to site usage. On past sites that I have worked on, performance improvements have almost always been followed by spikes in site metrics such as page views and ecommerce sales. However, I am concerned with how this requirement by Google un-levels the playing field in regards to SEO rank. Before, if you had great content, that was good enough. But now, if you can't get your site to perform up to Google's standards, you could be in trouble. I have to wonder what that means for small lightweight shops who have the resources to address their content but don't have the resources to pay for high end servers or qualified programmers to make their site work as fast as possible.

Register for Code Camp and Get a Free T-Shirt!

Rosa Couto — Thu, 13 May 2010 22:54:00 GMT

The third annual Central Coast Code Camp is only a few days away! If you're ready to get out and get your geek on, you don't want to miss this! The Code Camp volunteers are working hard to put together a terrific event this year and you will not be disappointed. Not a geek? This year features business oriented sessions with a focus on technology. If you haven't already registered, click here to do so soon! The first 150 people who register online get a Central Coast Code Camp Tshirt at the event.

See Who's Already Registered

If you haven't visited CentralCoastCodeCamp.com lately, you might want to check out some of the new features. Now you can see who else is attending (and encourage anyone you don't see on the list to register!) and you can also check out their bios.

Location and Raffle

Central Coast Code Camp is being held Saturday May 22 at Cal Poly in the business building. Registration starts at 8am. A raffle will be held at the end of the event with plenty of geek swag to give away. To see a list of prizes that will be raffled off click here. The day doesn't end there. Following the Code Camp, there will be a no host dinner held at The Graduate on Industrial Way.

We hope to see you there!

Microsoft Certifications for your Team!

Justin Couto — Wed, 05 May 2010 02:36:00 GMT

IT Directors and Managers who are interested in Microsoft certifications for their teams are invited to a briefing by Chris Akelian, instructor from Cuesta College's Computer and Networking Technology Department. He will be talking about new training options offered to IT professionals by Microsoft through the college starting this fall. This new lab is employee friendly, because it is flexible and very affordable.

The event is organized by Clever Ducks CEO/CTO, Peter Kardel as part of his company's IT Director Breakfast Series. An 18-year veteran of the technology industry, Kardel founded Clever Ducks, an IT consulting firm in San Luis Obispo. He knows how important local training options are for techs. "In the past we've had to send people to the Bay Area or Los Angeles for access to this kind of training and certification. This is a great opportunity for our IT community rise to an even higher level," states Kardel.

Akelian adds, "Cuesta is committed to providing industry with a locally trained workforce that meets industry standards. Certification based training and testing here at Cuesta College will provide this opportunity to both students and professionals in the community. We are excited to be offering the resources of the Microsoft IT academy, Cisco Networking Academy and testing options through Pearson Vue as well as others in our courses this fall. I look forward to sharing the details of these opportunities at your Directors breakfast meeting since industry support in this endeavor is crucial to the success of the program."

Since early this year, Clever Ducks has hosted a monthly IT Director Breakfast on the second Wednesday of each month. The idea is to create a peer group for great discussions with other technology professionals. Industry peers collaborate in an informal environment with a catered breakfast and to discuss topics including current technology, the future of technology, and other IT management issues. To join the breakfast briefing on May 12 at 7:30 am, please RSVP online at http://www.cleverducks.com/it-director-breakfast/. - IT Directors and Managers who are interested in Microsoft certifications for their teams are invited to a briefing by Chris Akelian, instructor from Cuesta College's Computer and Networking Technology Department. He will be talking about new training options offered to IT professionals by Microsoft through the college starting this fall. This new lab is employee friendly, because it is flexible and very affordable.

Airport 'Runway Express Gift Shop' Ribbon Cutting

Hillary Trout — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 21:42:00 GMT

The public is invited to help celebrate with both Airport “family members” on Weds, April 28th, with a Runway Express Ribbon Cutting ceremony from 7:30-8 pm, followed by complimentary wine tasting at the Spirit of San Luis Restaurant from 8 to 9:30 pm, featuring a sampling of wines carried collectively in the Runway Express Gift Shop and Spirit of San Luis Restaurant.

The San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport Gift Shop / Snack Bar, the Runway Express, now offers a variety of area wines as gifts items. As many of their regular diners can attest to, the Spirit of San Luis has featured some of our local vintners' finest for quite some time.

You should speak at (and attend!) Central Coast Code Camp.

Robert Hope — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 18:36:00 GMT

Code Camps follow a simple manifesto. The original Code Camp was a conglomeration of ideas by many different people across the development community. The idea was simple: provide an off hour forum for the development community to speak and share ideas for them to come and enjoy. The results have been astounding as they have been held across many different cities. They follow these guidelines.

http://www.centralcoastcodecamp.com

By and For the Developer Community
Code Camps are about the developer community at large. They are meant to be a place for developers to come and learn from their peers. Topics are always based on community interest and never determined by anyone other than the community.

Always Free
Code Camps are always free for attendees.

Community Developed Material
The success of the Code Camps is that they are based on community content. All content that is delivered is original. All presentation content must be provided completely (including code) without any restriction. If you have content you don't want to share or provide to attendees then the Code Camp is not the place for you.

No Fluff only Code
Code Camps are about showing the code. Refer to rule #1 if you have any questions on this.

Community Ownership
The most important element of the Code Camp is always the developer community. All are welcome to attend and speak and do so without expectation of payment or any other compensation other than their participation in the community.

Never occur during work hours
We need to understand that many times people can't leave work for a day or two to attend training or even seminars. The beauty of the Code Camp is that they always occur on weekends.

As the primary planner and guiding force behind the first two Central Coast Code Camps, I want to encourage you to speak at the upcoming camp at Cal Poly. Any topic is available for a session, from the simplest code tricks and tips the most complex projects and frameworks. Chances are if there's something you've hit or felt like you should share, there is an audience for you. And camps are a great way to get your feet wet and give presentations in a low-key, highly supportive atmosphere if you are interested in giving talks at User Group meetings or other gatherings.

If you don't want to speak at Code Camp, you should still come out and attend and support the camp. In many cases you will meet people you would never have a chance to meet otherwise, including representatives from companies like Microsoft and Zend, who have both sent people to past camps. You'll get to interact with your local peers and get great content too. Having spoken at Code Camps across the country, I can tell you that nothing, not even the big conferences, holds up to the level of talent and interaction you can get at Camp.

Hope to see you there!

High Tech Building for Sale

Hillary Trout — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:57:00 GMT

Huge price reduction on this hard-to-find 35,000+ square foot office building in Santa Maria. With convenient airport access, this 2-story stand-alone building is packed with many quality features. Perimeter offices and large executive office suites surround central workstation areas. Conference rooms, a large dedicated server room, cafeteria, kitchen bar with raised stage, 2-lane bowling alley and 47-seat movie theater make this remarkable facility versatile to high-tech businesses, businesses with high standards of customer care or organizations who make employee motivation and retention a priority. The facility comes with ample parking and is a secure facility with key card entry.

The building can be easily divided to accommodate two tenants (each with secure entrances). The building parcel is 7.6 acres, with almost 3 acres being undeveloped land that can be used for future expansion. Or, you can complete the in-progress lot split and reduce your investment by selling the undeveloped land.

To see current floor plan, pictures and information, please review the property brochure (http://www.staffordmccarty.com/documents/2811%20Airpark%20Brochure.pdf or call Steve Davis at 805-543-1801.

The Dioptics building in San Luis Obispo is another candidate for a technology company looking to move to this area. The building has about 36,000 sq ft of office, 80,000 sq ft of manufacturing space, ample power and a fiber optic connection to the building.

Locally Organized TED Event Gathers Fascinating People and Breakthrough Ideas for a Remarkable Evening of Discovery.

Robert Hope — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 12:39:00 GMT

INAUGURAL TEDxCHUMASH CONFERENCE - SLO MUSEUM OF ART - MAY 27TH, 2010

The first-ever TEDxChumash Conference, a three hours conference locally organized gathering of renowned presenters to develop our ability to tackle challenging issues through powerful thinking.
This is not only a current need, but a future trend. Jacky Lopez founder of Queen Global Communications, will bring a diverse line-up of speakers to the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art on Thursday, May 27, 2010.

DEADLINE TO SUBMIT ATTENDEE APPLICATION: April 30th, 2010. Any application submitted after April 30th will be subject to the availability of free places. Apply Now http://bit.ly/c1xsxw

SPEAKERS/PRESENTERS
Blake Irving Professor at Pepperdine University, Wandia Chiuri, Senior Director of Project Development at Twittrafficpro, Matthew Linden, Founder of ConciousBuild, John Battalino, Neurologist & Chief Medical Office for the State of California, Actor, Director, Script Writer, Dan Sieben, serial entrepreneur who founded and ran his first company after returning from two years in the Peace Corps in Lima, Peru. Dr. Mark Juretic, President of the Marian Medical Center Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Marian Medical Center, and Fran Dukehart, Calpoly Leadership Program's Instructor, are some of the speakers and presenters. More about presenters/performers http://bit.ly/dANQyv

Adults tickets cost $50 and student and educator tickets are $25 while quantity lasts (half the house has been set aside for discounted student and educator seating). All proceeds will be donated to the SLO Museum of Art.

About TEDxChumash Conference
The conference theme of “People 3.0: Leadership Beyond Barriers” acknowledges the importance of diversity in organizations and the key role leaders play in building and maintaining a culture and climate that accomplishes the mission and achieves goals, yet one that values and promotes the potential of all. The ever-changing nature of society creates and imperative that leaders recognize and work beyond traditional social and cultural boundaries of race, gender, and ethnicity in organizations.
TED Videos: http://bit.ly/bKqqxW

Sponsorship Opportunities http://bit.ly/d6Rpxe

For more information contact: Jacky by email at jacky@tedxchumash.com, phone at (805) 467- 6777, or visit
www.tedxchumash.com

RRM is seeking “business roommates” for Office Space

Justin Couto — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 00:42:00 GMT

RRM is seeking "business roommates" for companies in need of fully outfitted office space in our San Luis Obispo location. Our goal is to co-locate a group of forward thinking firms in their growing stages to create an informal entrepreneurial environment where we can share our experiences and help attain our business aspirations. We have the desire and opportunity to conduct training sessions and bring in experts in business management and operations in-house to support our needs. We can accommodate various combinations of the available space such as private offices, workstations and office support services such as use of a conference room, training room, reception services, copying, etc.

Our 25,000 sf, LEED®-EB Gold (LEED for Existing Buildings) San Luis Obispo office was designed with earth and employees in mind. Our own in-house design team successfully blended cutting-edge design with energy efficient materials and systems: maximized day lighting; a mechanical system combined with a louver system to optimize fresh air ventilation; and building materials specified with recycled content and no or low VOC's. What originally was a sewing room and warehouse is now an efficient, energetic, and fun place to work. To learn more about RRM please visit http://www.rrmdesign.com/.

For more information please contact Erik Justesen or Susan Whalen at (805) 543-1794.

Google Talks Innovations in Search at Cal Poly April 8th

Rosa Couto — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 23:21:00 GMT

The Department of Computer Science and the College of Engineering of Cal Poly along with Cal Poly's WISH Student Club invite you to attend Innovations in Search @Google presented by Johanna Wright, Director of Program Management for Web Search.

The event will be held at:

Venue:	Harman Hall - Performing Arts Center
Location:	Grand Avenue on the Cal Poly Campus
Time:	Thursday, April 8^th, from 11:00 am to 12:15 pm.

Google is all about innovating the web experience with useful and easy-to use products, many of which have become a huge part of our lives both inside and outside of the classroom. Behind the scenes, these simple products are built upon hundreds of hard and interesting search-related problems in computer science, ranging from machine translation to data extraction. Johanna Wright will share some of the most intriguing search solutions that Google has been working on, in addition to the "secret sauce" innovation principles that keep Google's engine of innovation moving forward.

Johanna Wright is the Director of Product Management responsible for Web Search. She oversees the development of Google's search user interface and features and was the initial product lead on Universal Search, having driven it from inception to launch. Prior to Google, Johanna worked at a number of software start-ups in New York City.

The presentation is free and open to Cal Poly campus and the community.

Central Coast Code Camp Open for Registration

Justin Couto — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 01:15:00 GMT

Get ready to get out, geek up, and get your learn on with us...all for free!

The third annual Central Coast Code Camp is ramping up. The venue has been set at the campus of Cal Poly and the session content is beginning to fill up. This year's event will be a one day seminar and will feature great talks on cutting edge technologies. For those of you that have not attended a Code Camp before, it is a FREE event put on by software developers in the community and abroad that is made up of one hour long sessions devoted to the discussion and sharing of code from all disciplines. To learn more about the Central Coast Code Camp, visit our site at www.centralcoastcodecamp.com or join our discussion on Twitter by using the hash tag #cccc.

If you would like to attend please register at:
http://www.centralcoastcodecamp.com/Register.aspx.

Call for Speakers

Have a great user group talk that you would like to share? Prepping for your big keynote speech and wishing that you had a venue to give it a warm-up run? Or have you been biding your time, waiting for the perfect opportunity to give back to the technology community here on the Central Coast? Your time has come! We are actively taking registration for speakers on a wide range of technology topics. With Code Camp being a one day event, session slots will fill up fast. If you would like to present at Central Coast Code Camp you can find more info at:
http://www.centralcoastcodecamp.com/Sessions.aspx.

Call for Contributors

Central Coast Code Camp follows a contribution model for support. The owners of this event are the Central Coast developer community. Contribution is a great way to show you support the software industry here on the Central Coast. If you are interested in supporting the Central Coast Code Camp or know of a business that would, you can find more information at:

Sponsor Flyer:
http://www.centralcoastcodecamp.com/Downloads/PDF/SponsorCodeCamp.pdf

Become a Sponsor:
http://www.centralcoastcodecamp.com/Sponsor.aspx

Questions & Information

If you have questions or need more information about the up coming Central Coast Code Camp, please visit the website or contact any of the Code Camp Team Members in Softec by visiting their profiles: Steve Evans, Justin Schartzenberger, Jeff Richardson, or Justin Couto

Central Coast Code Camp 2010
May 22^nd, 2010
Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Ca.
www.centralcoastcodecamp.com

Central Coast Code Camp Returns May 22!

Robert Hope — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:44:00 GMT

Code Camp is coming May 22nd, 2010 to the California Central Coast!

The Third Annual Central Coast Code Camp will be held at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA. It has been a very successful event in the past with speakers from all over the country. Registration is now open for this free 1-day code seminar, and they are also looking for speakers. Let's all get involved everyone! Sign up to attend, or even better, sign up to speak!

http://www.centralcoastcodecamp.com/

The Twestival Comes to SLO

Robert Hope — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:40:00 GMT

SLOCAMA, San Luis Obispo Creative and Marketing Alliance will be bringing Twestival to SLO. Meet up at Spike’s, 570 Higuera Street in San Luis Obispo, from 5-8 p.m.

Learn more about SLOCAMA and contribute to global education while meeting up with old friends, new friends and business colleagues.

What’s it all about?

On March 25, 2010, in more than 175 cities around the world, thousands of people will demonstrate social media’s power for social good through the second annual Twestival. The global event is a worldwide fundraising initiative that uses social media, particularly Twitter, to focus participants’ talent and resources to benefit one cause for one day. All proceeds generated from the 2010 Twestival will support education and be donated to Concern Worldwide, a non-governmental, international, humanitarian organization that since 1968 has dedicated itself to reducing suffering and eliminating poverty.

“Organizing online and gathering offline allows Twestival to harness the incredible communication power of Twitter to propel participation in real events around the world,” said Amanda Rose, founder of Twestival. “There is no shortage of people who are passionate and want to help. The challenge is coordination, not participation. By using social media platforms such as Twitter, Twestival is able to connect hundreds of independent local events into a powerful global initiative. At last year’s Twestival, more than 1,000 volunteers and 10,000 donors raised more than $250,000 to provide clean and safe drinking water for more than 17,000 people. We know this works and we’re excited to make it work for every child in the world that deserves an education.”

http://sanluisobispo.twestival.com/

Make SLO Fast Rally

Rosa Couto — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:26:00 GMT

This past Tuesday was a great day for a rally! The weather could not have been nicer and with the recent time change, the extra hour gave everyone plenty of daylight to gather and have their message heard.

What message? Well, if somehow you've missed the buzz around town, Google is sizing up communities in order to determine who will be the first to test out its ultra-high speed fiber optic broadband network. San Luis Obispo is pushing hard, really, really, hard to be one of those towns.

The compitition is stiff. Cities big and small all across our country are throwing their hats in the ring. Places like Boulder, CO, Duluth, MN, Greenville, SC, and Google, KS, are all making their voices heard. Yeah, you read that right. Topeka is changing its name to Google for a month to try to score big with Google. You can bet they aren't the only ones playing hard ball. If you search for Google Fiber pages on facebook, you'll get over 120 results and each one is shouting, "Pick me! Pick me!"

San Luis Obispo wants to be the loudest "Pick me!" shouter in the bunch. The rally at the steps of the Mission brought out over 200 people to cheer on and show their support for the cause. Supplies were on hand to create signs and the attendees put them to good use. T-shirts with the San Luis Obispo Google Fiber logo, provided by Digital West, were distributed to the growing crowd. Kids were passing out balloons in the familiar Google colors to other kids. Even the pooches were on hand to take part. The whole group was in the spirit!

After some rallying talks from the five speakers, the entire group made its move out Chorro Street, down Higuera and around to the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art on Broad Street. Along the way, the crowd chanted the clever slogan, "MAKE SLO FAST!!" Even some business owners along the route joined in by painting signs on their windows.

The party ended with a gathering at the Museum of Art where everyone's sign was mounted on the walls along side works completed by local artists. Snacks, along with beer and wine, were enjoyed by most, after all we DID do a lot of walking and shouting! Supporters who had not yet had a chance to officially nominate San Luis Obispo were able to do so at on of the computers set up for that specific purpose. You can still vote SLO. Google is accepting nominations through March 26th. If you haven't done so already, run, don't walk to the nearest computer and tell Google to bring their fabulously fast fiber to San Luis Obispo!

All in all, the Bring Google Fiber to SLO rally was a great event on a gorgeous day in a beautiful town filled with wonderful people. Hey Google! How can you pass that up? Come on, MAKE SLO FAST!!!

Checkout the Pictures and Videos from the Event!

To see more pictures of the Bring Google Fiber to San Luis Obispo event, Click Here
To watch the Googe Fiber in SLO videos, Click Here

Recent Explosion of False Patent Marking Lawsuit

Thomas Lebens — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 02:33:00 GMT

A recent Federal Circuit decision, Forest Group, Inc. v. Bon Tool Co., No. 2009-1044 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 28, 2009), has invoked new interest in the “false marking” statute, 35 U.S.C. § 292. The Bon Tool decision has led to dozens of new lawsuits, and we expect this trend to continue. We encourage our patent-owning clients to contact us to discuss the potential ramifications of, and our recommended responses to, the Bon Tool decision.

The false marking statute allows recovery of “not more than $500 for every such offense” for false marking. Under the statute, anyone with knowledge of false patent marking may bring a lawsuit against the manufacturer or seller of a falsely marked product. The statute is a qui tam statute, whereby the party who brings the lawsuit keeps half of any recovery, with the other half going to the government.

False marking allegations are not limited to cases of outright fraud. For example, in some cases a plaintiff may allege “false marking” where the product in question was covered by a patent, but where the patent has expired.

Before the Bon Tool decision, there were few reported false marking cases. Some of those cases held that the plaintiff’s recovery was limited to $500 per “decision to mark” – essentially, $500 per product line. Thus, a manufacturer who had applied a false patent mark to tens of thousands of units would be liable only for a single $500 penalty. But in Bon Tool, the Federal Circuit held that the statute permits a penalty of up to $500 for each item that is falsely marked. Now, it may be that a manufacturer who has applied a false patent mark is potentially liable for up to $500 per unit. Especially for mass-produced consumer products, the Bon Tool decision may create vastly larger potential liability for the manufacturer. Likewise, the decision creates significantly greater incentives for opportunistic plaintiffs to bring suit.

Dreamworks Visits Cal Poly March 11, 2010, Free and Open to All

Robert Hope — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:12:00 GMT

The Art, Technology and Making of "How to Train Your Dragon"
Date: March 11, 2010
Time: 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
Location: Spanos Theater, Cal Poly

Co-presenters:

Craig Ring, Visual Effects Supervisor (VFX), DreamWorks Animation
Greg Brentin, Supervising Technical Director, DreamWorks Animation

This presentation is free and open to the Cal Poly community, alumni and the public. For additonal information, please contact: Dr. Ignatios Vakalis, Chair Department of Computer Science (ivakalis@calpoly.edu ;

http://www.csc.calpoly.edu/events/art-technology-and-making-how-train-your-dragon/

Check Settlement in the Digital Age

Ken Long — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:41:00 GMT

In our most recent Softec meeting we were treated to a discussion and demonstration of how technology is helping make paper records more accessible, easier to transport, more disaster-resistant, and more environmentally friendly. In the banking industry, the same thing is happening with the checks you write. In fact, these days the paper check you write to pay the mortgage, your water company, or even your teenage babysitter may cease to exist just moments after they receive it!

Up until early last decade, the tens of billions of paper checks written in the United States were settled physically. Each bank would bundle up their checks and ship them in trucks and airplanes either to each other or, mostly, to the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve would then sort them out and send them (again by trucks and airplanes!) to their originating banks. As recently as 2000, each weeknight the Fed made nearly 200 flights to move 23 tons of checks with a face value of $13 billion among 45 endpoints and five hub cities! The delays caused by the grounding of all air traffic after 9/11 drove home the point that physical transport of all this critical paper was inefficient and prone to disaster.

Now, practically all checks are settled as electronic images. In October, 2004, the Check 21 Act removed legal barriers to the digital settlement of check images, and technology took it from there. Paper went from 100% of check volume going through the Fed to just 1% in less than 6 years. And the Fed now has only one paper check processing site. It's in Cleveland, in case you're planning a trip.

What does all this mean to you? Well, the parts some people grumble about are that checks are clearing faster (no more playing the float) and we can't get our original paper checks back from the bank anymore. But the benefits are enormous. With a small desktop check scanner, many businesses are using remote deposit capture software to make all their deposits online, skipping daily trips to the bank. Others are scanning checks right at the cash register and shredding them or handing them back to the customer. These companies get their money faster and much more conveniently, with less opportunity for errors or fraud. Energy savings from not having to fly planes all over the country have been dramatic. And the benefits aren't limited to businesses. Some institutions are experimenting with technology that lets consumers deposit checks by taking pictures of them with their smartphones!

Paradoxically, all this technology to help settle paper checks electronically has made it easier to keep using them just as the industry had hoped to kill them off. But with the increasing popularity of electronic funds transfers, online bill payment, and debit cards, the volume of checks written will continue to decline over time and your kids or grandkids may never even see one.

Beware Stale Data

Robert Hope — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:48:00 GMT

Once every week, our development team shares lunch and watches a video on some new code, new technology, or maybe something from a recent technology conference online. It's a continuation of the "Lunch 'n Learn" program we started at LoopNet several years ago. This week and last week we watched Udi Dahan's presentation at the London User Group on his alternative to the traditional n-tier web application architecture.

http://skillsmatter.com/podcast/open-source-dot-net/udi-dahan-command-query-responsibility-segregation/rl-311

Dahan attempts to make the case that the current data/business logic/presentation layer hierarchy is not only outdated, but fails to deliver on things such as determining user intent. Instead he claims that systems should be architected by establishing pre-calculated, cached copies of data on a per-query basis to be used for validation and determination of whether UI requests to the database, or "commands", should be allowed to execute. There's more to it than that, of course, but the main thrust of his argument is that, since data is always already inherently stale, that it doesn't matter how stale it is, and it should also be stored out somewhere in some persistent view model to be used for "decision support" as to whether or not to allow "commands" to be accepted. Once accepted, he states that it is perfectly reasonable for those commands to take hours to process, thereby dramatically reducing the load and contention inherent in most n-tier web applications that deliver data immediately, or close to it. The subject of "does your data need to be up-to-date" has come up myriad times in our User Group meetings, so I thought it would be appropriate to discuss.

I feel that while he makes some good points on determining user intent, he misses the point completely on his analysis of when data should be allowed to be stale and processes not be handled real-time. I am going to go through two scenarios he presented and explain why I feel that he doesn't make his case.

In his first scenario, Dahan uses a seat-reservation and ticketing system as an example. He describes a scenario where a user would click on 4 seats, attempt to reserve them, then find one of them taken when they go to check out. At that point they would go back and select a new block of 4 seats, have a similar issue where one or more are taken, and then have to go back and find another block of seats. His argument is that the UI should simply be asking "how many seats do you want, and do you want them together, and in what area/what price"? I'm with him to this point. However, he states that once the UI has gathered that data, the next step should be to inform the customer with a message saying "Thank you for the request. We will send you an email confirmation shortly." No other confirmation, no approval that the seats are available, nothing. I as the user might have to wait as long as two hours to find out whether or not my tickets are actually purchased. And if the request fails, I might have to stop what I am doing and go back and repeat the process again. Dahan's argument is that since we know we have 4 contiguous seats somewhere, we should be able to fill the request 99% of the time, and the "feel-good feedback" of "we'll get to you with a confirmation later" is enough to satisfy the user. I think this is poor customer service, and depending on how things go, I would use a site like Ticketmaster or some other site that could immediately confirm my seats rather than a site designed this way so I could be completely assured that my transaction is done and there is nothing left for me to do to acquire my tickets.

Dahan even goes so far as to suggest that ATMs follow the same model, that it is not necessary to go to the bank directly when a customer withdraws money, that they should be able to persist enough data out into the world so that ATMs could decide whether or not to dispense cash without the issuing bank's direct involvement. In fact, he goes on to state that this actually helps the banks because it encourages overdrafts in the case where a husband and wife both withdraw money on the same day, not knowing that their bank is not actually approving their withdrawals. Dahan claims this is a good thing, because all banks love overdraft fees. I find this type of attitude underhanded, and would cease doing business with a bank that designed their system in this fashion. Further, if I call my bank and report my ATM card stolen, they better be able to stop any use of it immediately, and that's not available in a system of this nature.

To me, real time data is at times critical and necessary, and to employ this sort of distributed caching system across the board seems naive and at times irresponsible. Systems Architects should be able to deliver their data immediately when requirements call for it rather than try to push their inefficiencies or inability to solve the problem back on to the user by making the user wait hours for ticket approvals...or overdraft their bank accounts because the system was incapable of a real-time approval call.

On or Off? Should I leave my computer running?

Russ Levanway — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:30:00 GMT

A simple question?

Should I leave my computer on all the time, or turn it off when it’s not in use? This seems like a simple question, but it’s one of the most common we receive as an IT company. The question is important, and the answer is not as straightforward as we wish it would be.

Many people have the impression that leaving their computer on and running all the time is the best thing they can do for their computer. What is the logic behind this?

Theoretically leaving your computer on all the time is better for your computer hardware, especially the hard drive which stores your files and programs. These drives have moving parts that tend to expand and contract slightly as they heat up and cool off when the computer is started up and shut down. Increasing the frequency of this cycle can slightly increase the risk of hard drive failure.

That being said, the reality is hard drives fail on computers that are running all the time and on computers that are shut down and started up frequently. Statistically, the difference in failure rate is miniscule. For the typical desktop or laptop computer, it is unlikely you will extend the useful life of your computer by leaving it on all the time. Most computer components are designed to last for years, and you will likely need to upgrade your computer system before those components wear out.

So does that mean I should just shut down my computer when it is not in use? Maybe not.

If you frequently use your computer during the course of a work day, it doesn’t really make sense to shut it down for your breaks or if you will be away from your desk for some time. Restarting your computer and re-opening all of your programs can often take a lot of time. During periods of inactivity, computer power management functionality will put the computer into a power-conservation mode.

There is one more very important consideration to keep in mind. In many company networks, virus scans, system updates and patches, and backups are performed overnight. Turning your computer off will prevent these tasks from happening, or result in them being performed during your work day, slowing you down in the process. Your home computer is probably also scheduled to be scanned for viruses and download patches overnight. To avoid having these tasks performed on your computer during the day, you should leave your computer running overnight on days these tasks will be performed.

Recommendations

Our recommendation is for you to make sure power management features are enabled on your computer, and leave your computer running during your work day. In addition, find out what days of the week your computer will need to be on overnight so maintenance tasks can be performed. The rest of the time, shut your computer down to conserve energy.

Bring Google Fiber to San Luis Obispo Rally

Robert Hope — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:57:00 GMT

Please bring your neighbors, your friends, your coworkers, and your signboards! Let's show Google why the should choose San Luis Obispo for the Google Fiber Project.

To bring Google Fiber to San Luis Obispo, SLO's Tech Networking Group is coordinating a Rally for Google Fiber: Make SLO Faster on Tuesday, March 16th. Join us at Mission Plaza in downtown SLO. We will walk down Chorro to Higuera Street, and to Broad Street and gather at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art. Local wine, cheese, and art will await our arrival as we enhance awareness and support to Bring Google Fiber to SLO.

Speakers will include Tim Williams, Digital West; Dave Garth, SLO Chamber of Commerce; Howard Gordon, Surveyor Corporation, Jeff Buckingham, Entrepreneur in Transition, and others. We have also invited Cal Poly, but don't yet have confirmation.

There is a Facebook Event available at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=10150099269000246 for those of you on Facebook.

Please bring your neighbors, your friends, your coworkers, and your signboards!

Cal Poly Announces First Technology Park Tenant

Hillary Trout — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 01:48:00 GMT

Cal Poly announced today that they have signed a sublease with Applied Technologies Associates Inc. (ATA) for 3,000 square feet of laboratory space in the Cal Poly Technology Park. ATA designs, builds, and manufactures technology products for the oil industry. ATA has 30 locations worldwide with primary technical activities located in Paso Robles, California. Other major domestic sites include Houston, Texas and Lafayette, Lousiana. The company will maintain a core software development team at the Technology Park, in addition to leveraging the resources of Cal Poly to expand special projects and programs.

"We are extremely excited to have Applied Technologies join us as the first company in our new Technology Park. The technical challenges associated with exploration will provide for many opportunities for ATA to collaborate with our world-class faculty, focused on applied research." said Jim Dunning, Project Administrator for C3RP.

"We believe that locating a satellite office in the Technology Park provides a means for ATA to tap into the energy and excitement of young engineers while providing them with real world learning opportunities" said Tim Price, Senior VP of Engineering for ATA.

A project of Cal Poly's California Central Coast Research Partnership (C3RP), the Cal Poly Technology Park serves as a home on campus for technology-based businesses, particularly firms engaged in applied research and development. Presence in the Park enhances the ability of companies to benefit from the expertise and skills of Cal Poly faculty and students. Phase I of the Technology Park project encompasses a 25,000 square foot building, currently under construction, and scheduled to be completed in May 2010. Partial funding for the construction of the building was provided by the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The mission of C3RP is to facilitate collaboration between Cal Poly and business/industry by acting as the interface with interested collaborators. The new Technology Park has been one of the major initiatives of C3RP.For more information about the Cal Poly Technology Park project contact Jim Dunning at 1-805-756-5551 or jdunning@calpoly.edu