ProjectX Blog

We’ve shifted the ZoomIn website from our hosting provider in the US to NZ.

In the lead up to Xmas, we had a number of issues with our hosting provider in the US, and we made the decision to move the site back to NZ. The site has been up since the weekend, and is noticeably faster 🙂

VS

We’ve created a fun Xmas game Santa vs the Grinch using ZoomIn maps – santa.projectx.co.nz . Find out who will win this Xmas showdown, Santa or the Ginch? Collect more gifts than the Grinch to win the game. Complete the 10 levels and put your name on the high score table.

Have fun!

Kudo’s to Tim who created the game.

Everyone at ProjectX would like to wish you a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year!

Amazon has expanded their webservices to include a database – SimpleDB. (I’ve been predicting it ever since ec2 arrived) From first glance it looks like a simple spreadsheet where you can lookup values. The API has CREATE, GET, PUT, DELETE, QUERY and you pay for the data being stored and bytes transferred in and out.

Data Transfer

$0.10 per GB – all data transfer in

$0.18 per GB – first 10 TB / month data transfer out
$0.16 per GB – next 40 TB / month data transfer out
$0.13 per GB – data transfer out / month over 50 TB

Data transfer “in” and “out” refers to transfer into and out of Amazon SimpleDB. Data transferred between Amazon SimpleDB and other Amazon Web Services is free of charge (i.e., $0.00 per GB).

Structured Data Storage – $1.50 per GB-month

It’s simple system, but would fulfil the needs of basic e-commerce sites. SimpleDB is limted beta, so you’d better sign up now if you want to play.

I wonder if it will it ever be extended to offer full-text search abilities or spatial querying?

Here’s some of buzz about SimpleDB.

• SimpleDB- your database in the Cloud
• SimpleDB 101 and why it matters
• Simple DB – Pro’s and Con’s
• SimpleDB is built in erlang

Here’s my wishlist for Xmas:

• $NZ500 smart phone with 2MP camera and GPS – iPhone has redefined what a phone should be all about. (And at a sensible price $US399) I want to update my aging Treo to GPS phone and N95 is too expensive.
• Instant messaging style status on Phone: When I look up a number in my address book it tells their status .eg In a meeting.
• Long life batteries: Must have more power ! Maybe sooner than we think
• Global TV / Movie release times: We live in a global economy, so why is media still lagging behind. We should have global release times for all content. Why torrent, when download a legit copy from iTunes.
• Decent broadband speeds: Other countries have 24+MB broadband, why can’t NZ.
• Lower cellphone charges: We’ve been paying too much for too long!

Google have announced a new programme to encourage students to get involved in coding – Highly Open Participation contest. They’re offering cash and a trip to the Googleplex for contributions to open source projects. New Zealand’s own Silverstripe are offering projects for the competition.

Kudo’s to Google and Silverstripe more encouraging students into IT. We’re looking after the next step of providing students with substantial work experience.

More info on the Google Highly Open Participation Contest and Silverstripe’s projects – GHOP project page

I’m really looking forward to this week’s seminar. Henry Maddocks is going to talk about “How to be a professional developer”. Henry has developed a wealth of experience over the years and is going to offer some insights about software development and the industry. The seminar is free, RSVP on the forum.

Title: How to be a professional developer by Henry Maddocks

Summary:

Software development has a bad reputation when it comes to delivering value to users and it is a reputation that is well deserved. Considering we call ourselves engineers and scientists the systems we inflict on our users are generally appalling. That is if we manage to ship anything at all.

Henry Maddocks has spent ten years studying the software development process and knows it doesn’t have to be that way. This presentation will give you insight into what is broken in the software development field and how to avoid becoming part of the problem.

When: 11th December 2007
Time: 12:00pm
Place: Rutherford House LT2
Map: ZoomIn

RSVP on Forum

We moved office over the weekend. We’re now located on Willis St above Roti restaurant. (Across the road from Catalyst and Ascent. Hi Guys !)

Our new contact details are as follows:

ProjectX Technology Ltd.

Address:
149A Willis Street
Wellington
Phone / FAX:
+64 4 910 3100

Postal Address:
PO BOX 155
Wellington