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Ahoyo Overview Video

admin — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 10:29:14 +0000

Here is a little video we knocked together to give you an overview of Ahoyo and what it can do for you.

I Work in an Agile Shop

admin — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:20:46 +0000

In case you don’t know, I work for one of the most progressive and innovative tech companies out there, building enterprise scale voice solutions that make our clients very happy indeed. Qire in Liverpool makes multi channel communications easy to engage and we really try our best to squeeze every last bit of juice out of the technology to make solutions that are truly unique.
The reason I mention it is not as some kind of extended sales pitch, it’s because two wonderful things happened this week at work.

The first is that my bosses bought me a brand spanking new MacBook Pro 2.93 to start investigating edge Ruby on Rails as a platform for a few small scale satellite projects that we have on the go. It’s never going to replace our workhorse C#/CCXML/VXML combo but as a super RAD way to knock out small pieces, it really can’t be beat. It’s fantastic to work for a company that understands that technology is a slave not a master, and that solutions are best shaped by using the right tools for the job

The second thing that happened was that we were able to migrate our entire database rig to SQL Server 2008, syncing millions and millions of rows of call data without any downtime or disruption to our clients at all. No small task I’m sure you understand.

Both of these occurrences are testament to the way we run our shop: Agile. True software agility requires elements of bravery and curiosity, experience and negotiation. The path to being agile takes more effort and dedication than other methods, but the reward is the chance to work in a place that fosters true innovation and creativity.

End of 2008 Roundup

admin — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 22:05:33 +0000

Another year jars to a halt and without any pause for thought a new one appears.

Book of the Year
This may seem like an obvious one, but it’s the book that had the largest impact on my day to day work. Linq In Action is a great primer to get going with Linq and once you get going, it’s difficult to stop.

Non-Tech Book of the Year
The Jelly Effect by Andy Bounds which will redefine the way you present, network, sell and communicate. Highly recommended.

Album of the Year
A pretty grim year for music I thought. Highlights were Beck – Modern Guilt , Foals – Antidote and even thought it came out in late 2007, Municipal Waste’s The Art of Partying provided the cheapest of thrills this year. Hip-hop? Forget it, it’s long dead. The La’s only album also had a massive resurgence around my way and scored the most play time hands down.

Booze of the Year
A hard choice between Van WInkle 10 and Elijah Craig.

Next Year
Next year promises some very exciting projects for me, both with work and personally. I’m hoping to release quite a big open source application in the next few weeks and I have a few massive bank security two-factor authentication systems to architect and implement at Qire. We are planning some revolutionary innovations in terms of voice technology management information and visualization too. Enough to keep me off the streets anyway! Very exciting indeed!

The photo is of me and Kit on Boxing Day going for a stroll by the Mersey. She’s nearly two, endlessly entertaining and a constant source of awe and wonder.

That’s it! Have a happy new year!

SQL Injection – Script kid method du jour

admin — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:18:59 +0000

SQL Injection is back on the rise again it seems. Remember kids, make sure your forms are well scrubbed before doing anything with user data.

Software Design as an Artform

admin — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 17:03:18 +0000

Book Fever

admin — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 22:12:48 +0000

I’m on a weeks holiday from work at the moment, having fun with my wife and baby daughter in the limited sunny weather that our glorious nation provides us with. Time off is great for giving you the perspective you need to achieve what you want to achieve in the coming months and years.
This time around, it’s becoming glaringly obvious to me that – I need to learn something new. I’ve pretty much got most AJAX.NET down pat and I’m looking for the next big subject to tackle.

Not learn something as in ‘understand the basics and hack the rest’ ( I’ve heard this called JIT learning in some quarters!! ) but to really learn, understand and digest all facets of the chosen subject. So to this end, I’ve purchased a few books and am going to choose which amongst them feels the most suitable for me.

The chosen books are:

Introducing Microsoft LINQ: I’ve had a brief look at Linq but I’ll wait to get the book to see if it really has the depth I’m looking for. There’s no doubt I will be learning this, but to what level is the question.

Professional Microsoft Smartphone Programming: The dominance of S60 phones has always put me off really getting into windows mobile development, but with the advent of tools like Red Five Labs S60 SDK, the prospect of real cross platform development looks closer.

Beginning J2ME: I’m not that sure about this one. I’ve done a fair bit of J2ME hacking in the past, but it wasn’t much fun. I’m hoping that some of the projects in this book will spark a bit of interest. Anyway, 3 quid from ebay – can’t grumble!

New day, new blog

admin — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:32:38 +0000

Hi, my name is Jon Paul Davies. My writing will focus on .Net obviously, but more on a personal experience with the framework.

I work for Qire based in Liverpool, building ASP.NET voice applications, and I’m enjoying it very much indeed. We try to run an agile shop here, and are working day by day to make it more so.

So I will try to describe all the positive (and also painful) experiences I have with .Net, and try and grow as a developer in the process.