Watch Full Video of the Splunk Demonstration Here

Denny Webb, Unidev's Splunk-certified developer, explains his social media Splunk app.

Big Data gives you the whole story

John Herzog and David Maislin, our presenters from Splunk, demonstrated the value of pulling data from information “silos” found in traditional IT architecture. Important interactions happen across many different servers, so it can be difficult to get a clear picture on a specific user session. Splunk takes a “slice” of data across all silos to create a complete time-ordered description of a session. This allows administrators to identify and address issues very quickly, increasing resolution speed by up to 90%.

Big Data is getting bigger

Many organizations are struggling to make use of the vast amounts of data being generated by web servers, databases, transaction terminals and mobile devices. However, as the devices in our lives become more integrated into other networks, there will be more and more data sources to mine from. To highlight the variety of data we’ll generate moving forward, John even mentioned a “smart refrigerator” that could push its data to a network. Splunk engineers realized this future is coming all too soon; the Splunk tool is compatible with any “machine data”, allowing data analysis across all types of devices.

Big Data isn’t just for the tech team

Decision makers need as much data as possible to take informed and timely action. However, data can be so complex and overwhelming that only experienced technical developers or engineers can read it. Thankfully, Splunk allows developers to customize high-level dashboards based on the ingested data. With Big Data only growing in importance in the coming years, its essential for organizations to make use of this “operational intelligence” from top to bottom.

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Community is the root of innovation.  If no one ever said that, they should have.  If no one ever said that, I’m claiming the catch phrase.  Trademark that.

At the risk of offending hundreds of respected technology start-ups in California, I’m going to pose a question.  Is Las Vegas the next Silicon Valley?  In the name of full disclosure I’ve become a bit of an adjunct Las Vegas tech community native.  On a monthly basis, I wake up at 3 am in the morning and board the red eye flight from St. Louis to Las Vegas to network, explore, innovate and oh yeah…help Unidev, the software and mobile development company that employs me, to launch our new west regional office which just opened in January 2012.

So why is Las Vegas the next Silicon Valley?  They possess something very rare in an often insulated technology community.  They have community.  This community is “hip”, sort of underground, “quirkishly fashionable” but most importantly it’s not hard to find.  Just search the hashtag #vegastech or handle @VegasTech on a Thursday night and whether you join the meet up on Fremont Street or not, you’re there at the Las Vegas Jelly. That’s right, the “Jelly” (@VegasJelly).

Jelly organizations exist in several communities across the country but the one-year-old Las Vegas Jelly organization can stuff almost one hundred people into a “library” that’s not a library to learn from “start-ups” that are not start-ups. Las Vegas Jelly attracts professionals from Zappos and Microsoft as easily as they attract entrepreneurs from start-ups like Tracky and TicketCake.com.

The point I want to make is that Las Vegas Jelly supports a strong technology community but they’re also part of a larger community of technology support organizations working to promote wide spread adoption of technology innovation at the local, regional and state level.  A few of those other organizations include the Technology Business Alliance of Nevada (TBAN), Nevada Development Authority (NDA) and the Microsoft supported Linq360 Innovation Center.  Silicon Valley, did you know a booming technology community is boiling over right next door?

And this community will boil over in a good way.  Linq360 is quickly attracting big players in the hospitality industry with exciting new launches like Suitelinq’s in-room application developed for the new Revel Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City.  Yes, that project originated in Las Vegas. Likewise, Tony Hseih is relocating Zappos into the old Las Vegas city hall building and is fostering a Zappos backed technology brokering community in downtown Las Vegas with the potential to rival campuses of Google’s calibur – but probably with more neon signs and arcades.

Unidev discovered the community in Las Vegas last July when staking out new locations for expansion.  We chose Las Vegas – and we don’t think we will be alone.

Multiple London businesses are encouraged to arrange for staff to work more flexibly during Games time.  Millions of people will watch the Games on their PCs, phones and tablets.  It is possible that internet services may slow down due to an increasing number of people watching the Games and the same goes for mobile devices.  To prevent a decrease in internet speed, contact your mobile service and internet provider to get information on what they have planned to prevent this from happening during the Games.

As many of you know, streaming video footage has become a large trend on the internet.  There is a possibility live stream video footage will be slower during the Games due to the increase in traffic online.

What can your business do?

According to the article, “British Cabinet Warns of Possible Internet Outages During Summer Olympics” from Mashable.com, Government officials advise employees to consider working from home during this time or stagger in shifts to their jobs.  There is a possibility this could lessen the bandwidth load on these high usage areas.  Consider alternative means for communication during the Games – video streaming may greatly reduce your internal network’s capacity.

To find other ways to get your business involved in the 2012 Summer Olympics, visit the London Olympics website.

Main Features

The most reimagined feature in this major update is the touch-based design. Gone is the familiar start menu and taskbar that has been part of the Windows OS since Windows 95. Large tiled app buttons linking to various applications like music, email, social network activity, Microsoft Word, and Internet Explorer replace the traditional Windows layout.

The design closely follows the Windows Phone app layout.

Microsoft has essentially developed two versions of Windows 8 to facilitate identical experiences on touch screen tablets and desktops. The new operating system will support traditional x86 CPUs found in most PCs in addition to the low-power ARM processors found in most tablets. This could have major implications for mobile application development.

The new “Windows to Go” feature augments even further consistency across multiple devices. Users can create a secure image of Windows 8 and place it on a typical USB flash drive. Users can then boot their own operating system from other Windows 7- and 8-enabled PC’s and laptops. This allows for an easy transfer of important applications and data to other machines. These updates, along with native 3G and 4G support will make mobile workforces more productive than ever.

Will it be worth the upgrade?

At this point, it is impossible to say whether most users will make the jump to the reimagined Windows 8 or not. While the new design is receiving high praise, there are some concerns Microsoft may alienate long-time Windows users by obscuring the traditional start menu interface they are used to (as seen below).

Additional concerns call to question the likelihood that businesses will adopt the new operating system. Though the secure Windows to Go and mobile productivity additions are appealing to business owners and IT managers looking to expand their mobile workforce, the expense of training employees on the new interface could create a high barrier to entry.

So will Windows 8 be a success for Microsoft? We’ll find out this Fall when it is released commercially. For now, you can try it yourself with the recently released Windows 8 consumer preview. Let us know what you think by sounding off in the comments!

Full disclosure: Unidev is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.

Architectural model created using a 3D Printer. How does this relate to search? Read on.

Yes, this is a search marketing article.  Yes, this is a database article.  You’re in the right place.

As a search marketer, the phrase “keyword analysis” accounts for about twenty percent of my daily lexicon.  Google, Yahoo and Bing keep us constantly guessing as to how we can best communicate what our clients do in a 160-character description, a keyword meta tag or a keenly crafted page title.  Then those same search engines announce that meta data and descriptions serve as mere suggestions for algorithms – if that.  In fact, it’s possible that all of our hard work might be in vain.

The bottom line is hard to grapple with.  Search is dynamic.  Search is frustrating.  But keywords will not drive search forever.  And yes, I come armed with supporting points.

After attending over twenty-five different technology discussions, panels, keynotes and conversations at SXSW 2012 in Austin, I gleaned a few insights regarding search and the human discovery process.  After all, isn’t that exactly what search is – a human discovery process aided by technology?

So here it is.  Six predictions illustrating why 2012 is the beginning of the end of search as we know it.

1.       Search will not wait for us to figure out what we want.  If you haven’t heard the term “big data”, do a keyword search to learn more.  Ironically, big data exists to eliminate the need for a keyword.  Big data is based on the assumption that by monitoring and tracking every log error file on our lap tops to GPS coordinates stored on our mobile devices, machines can figure out what we want before we know we want it.  Ginger.io, an up and coming health sciences technology company, competed and placed in the SXSW Accelerator Awards with a mobile application that monitors behavioral analytics by turning mobile data into health insights.  Ginger.io is built to identify patterns of sadness and depression before the patient even realizes they might be experiencing a bout of sadness or depression.  Big data exists to create associations between our behaviors and our needs.

2.       Search will derive new mechanisms based on neuroscience.  Scientists can now create virtual brains that function utilizing a series of artificial circuits.  This isn’t entirely new; it was a concept already common in the field of psychology when I completed my master’s thesis in 2009.  An example of a project like this today is the Blue Brain Project currently underway in Switzerland.  As of mid-2011, it appears that the Blue Brain project is in phase two of a multi-year projected research plan.

3.       Search will live locally and possess omnipresence.  If twenty percent of my daily search marketer lexicon surrounds the phrase “keyword analysis”, an equally important percentage of consideration surrounds a concept known as SoLoMo – short hand for social, local and mobile.  The “local” part of the equation typically refers to a search engine algorithm’s ability to give priority to locally associated search engine results.  Most searchers and consumers understand the “local” concept pretty well thanks to Foursquare, Gowalla, Facebook Places and even newer location-based social applications like Highlight and Glancee.  They understand that to check-in to various places requires the mobile device to share GPS coordinates and store that information in a database.  What they might not realize is that when that data is stored search engines and mobile applications can reference it later to provide results better tailored to the searcher’s location.  If search is automated using big data, search will never cease.  Whether we know we’re searching or not, our devices constantly engage in little micro-searches for us.  Search will possess omnipresence.

4.       Search will reference our digital and physical worlds. The digital world and the physical world continue to become more integrated everyday.  Although not directly related to search, I’ve provided a fascinating example of how technologists combine these worlds. Enter a technology called 3D printing.  3D printing is a new technology that allows printers to take a 3D computer generated graphic and print it as a plastic, plaster, or metal bust.  For a demonstration of what 3D printing looks like check out this video from National Geographic.  If you want to try this at home you can purchase your very own 3D printer within the range of $5,000 to over $17,000, and the technology is constantly changing.  QR codes and face recognition technologies have already begun this combining of worlds, but it will only continue to become more sophisticated and advanced as we continue to develop new technologies.

 5.       Search will assume human-like characteristics.  As Ray Kurzweil alluded to in his keynote presentation, IBM’s Watson and Apple’s Siri both present a case for the humanization of our machines.  As our devices become smarter and more robotic, we perceive them as more human.  Think of how the iPhone’s Siri might improve and evolve over the next few generations.  What if we added a physically human form to Siri?  Eventually we will naturally converse with our devices, perceive them as friends, ask them questions that require in depth analysis, engage with them in an increasingly more human social context.       

 6.       Search will draw a great deal of controversy.  At the end of the line is the issue that really goes without saying.  Search, whether it is keyword driven or whether behavior tracking driven it will hold a great deal of controversy.  Perhaps one of the most crucial panels I attended at SXSW was a panel titled “Big Data: Privacy Threat or Business Model?”  We heard from the political minds of Jay Stanley a Senior Policy Analyst at the ACLU, Lillie Coney the Associate Director at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Molly Wood of CNET, and others.  A crucial conversation is already taking place to answer questions like  - How much data is too much?  And at what point is the quantity of data collected so high that it is no longer worth the risk to our privacy?  Another theme commonly discussed is whether the burden of privacy protection is a free market interest for businesses to monitor in the private sector or whether the government should regulate protection of private data.  The important thing for consumers and searchers to understand is that search is going to change, devices will collect data on each of us and how we manage that change could impact our society as we continue to advance our technologies.

For the meantime, I’m afraid I have no choice but to continue to engage in keyword analysis, falling victim to the ever-changing requirements of Google, Bing and Yahoo.  But someday, search may become as natural as breathing or walking.  It will just be a very integrated extension of our curiosity and desire to discover new ideas in the world.

For more information about Unidev and services related to Big Data, please read about our partnership with machine data company, Splunk.

In January 2012, we officially opened the Unidev West office in Las Vegas, Nevada. And we keep pretty busy. We hold TXCHANGE Events, network with professional organizations and develop new initiatives to bring to the Las Vegas area. But if you’ve ever helped to open a new office for a growing company, you know it takes a lot of work. We decided to give you a sneak peek, behind the scenes look at exactly how we accomplish this huge task!

That’s where I come in! Hi! I’m Elizabeth Maritz, Corporate Marketing Communications Manager for Unidev and The Net Impact. I spent this past week driving around Las Vegas meeting people, learning about the culture, getting plugged in to the business community.  I didn’t take any video of my travels because Las Vegas has VERY strict law regarding cell phone usage in cars…but here’s what I did.

I drove almost 55 miles around the city totaling almost 2 hours in travel time. I visited 11 different locations and met over 30 different individuals. All in 4 days!

A. UNIDEV WEST OFFICES. This is our new location in Las Vegas. We’re getting it all set up right now!

B. TBAN. This is the TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS ALLIANCE of NEVADA. TBAN is one of the longest standing professional organizations in Nevada, they love technology and we love technology. For more information on their events and membership visit www.tban.us/

C. NEVADA DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY. The Nevada Development Authority is a great source for companies looking to expand into Southern Nevada. With a huge number of resources, the NDA has helped Unidev find our place in Las Vegas and get connected. For more information on the NDA visit www.nevadadevelopment.org/

D. NET EFFECT. Net Effect is a fellow IT company that specializes in remote managed IT services, cloud computing companies, information technology consulting services, offsite data backup services and recovery services. For more information on Net Effect visit www.neteffect-it.com/

E. MARGARITAVILLE. You always have to find a little time to party while visiting Las Vegas and there is no better place than Margaritaville. As Unidev continues to become more active in the retail and hospitality industry, our friends at Margaritaville offer great insight and an occasional happy hour venue. Did you know they just opened a Margaritaville Casino at The Flamingo Hotel? Find out more at www.margaritavillelasvegas.com/

F. WALLS360. To get a little creative, we met with the team at Walls360. Also new to Las Vegas, Walls360 is a wall cling and graphics company co-founded by Tavia Campbell, John Doffing and YiYing Lu, the creator of the Twitter Fail Whale. To find out more about what they do visit www.walls360.com/

G. UNLV. University of Nevada Las Vegas is not only known for their killer Rebel basketball team, but also for their community connection. I met with the outgoing Alumni Association President. To learn more about UNLV visit www.unlv.edu/

H. LAS VEGAS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. As one of the largest chambers in the nation, the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce (LVCC) is an impressive institution that offers so many resources to their members. Learn more about the LVCC at www.lvchamber.com/

I. FBG SOCIAL OFFICE SOLUTIONS. Fellow members of the Las Vegas Innovation Center Linq360, FBG and Unidev spend a lot of time together. FBG offers a robust Social Office Suite solution that helps businesses manage their brand on social media. To find out more, visit www.socialofficesuite.com/

J. THE FERRARO GROUP. A leading Nevada communications firm that provides strategic communications counsel to corporations, coalitions, associations and individuals. In 2011, The Ferraro Group was voted “Firm of the Year” by the Las Vegas Business Press “Best Advertising Agencies and PR Firms” awards. To find out more about The Ferraro Group visit http://www.theferrarogroup.com/

K. LINQ360. Supported by Microsoft, Linq360 is the epicenter of technology innovation and is now home to a select group of like-minded businesses aligned to serve the hospitality and retails industries. To find out more about Linq360 visit www.linq360.com

That was my trip! Hope you enjoyed coming along for the ride.

But what exactly makes a great developer? Are there certain traits, skills or habits a successful developer needs? Well, we asked the talented members of the Java, .Net, and mobile development teams at Unidev to find out.

Testing

Of course, a great developer tests her code thoroughly to ensure it performs just as the client expects. Christine of the Unidev West development team in Las Vegas submitted the mantra, “testing, testing, testing” to highlight its importance. This element is essential in delivering high-quality code with confidence.

But testing isn’t simply a phase at the end of a project; it’s a mentality integral to the entire development process. We couldn’t say it any better than one of Unidev’s talented developers, Teresa:

“Besides having some test cases before he starts coding, [a great developer] is also thinking of test cases as he goes, so he can try to break his code in the testing phase. Oh yeah, and he tests his stuff- thoroughly.”

Communication

This development skill may not seem as obvious as technical skills or problem solving abilities, but it is extremely important nonetheless. Great code cannot simply exist in a vacuum, it needs to comply with client needs and function properly with code from other developers.

Strong communication skills reduce errors and can catch minor problems and miscommunications before they become major headaches. Kevin from our development team in St. Louis puts it best:

“A good developer must be a good communicator. He must be able to understand a client’s needs and then be able to respond with useful solutions. He must also be able to explain his development strategy to co-workers.”

Teamwork

Another intangible skill a great developer must possess is teamwork. Successful development may rely heavily on individual abilities, but without positive interactions between other team members, things can fall apart quickly. Brian, another member of our development team in St. Louis, shares his thoughts:

“Although development is largely an individual activity, ultimately the efforts of all the individuals on the team are combined to make the final program, product, or website. If a developer cannot handle the teamwork aspect, he/she will likely be limited to projects where his or her efforts will not adversely affect the larger team.”

These are just a few aspects that the Unidev team thought distinguished a “competent developer” from a “great developer”. Do you agree or disagree? Tell us what you think makes a great developer in the comments below!

Clearly, the competition was stiff this year. From the inflatable figure and Bieber-adorned display of the web design team, to the wrapped paper shredder and toy train of the Auctori team, to the frosted glass and paper snow flakes of the HR and Accounting teams, the Unidev offices looked like a winter wonderland. But of course, there could only be one winner of the grand prize: The Best Office Decorations award for Holiday 2011. Who took home the blue ribbon? Watch our holiday party video below to find out:

So, as you can see in the above video, The Web Design and Development Team from our web marketing division The Net Impact are 2011′s winners for best office decorations! Congratulations to all the teams who participated. We look forward to next years competition!

Everyone have a happy, safe, and prosperous New Year. We’ll see you in 2012!

Unidev recently launched a channel on Livestream.com

Live online video offers an unprecedented level of connectedness between users, events, and the brands that host them. Modern processors, webcams, and bandwidth speeds now allow companies large and small to become their own Live TV studio. Businesses can now stream company announcements, educational seminars, and valuable Q&A sessions directly to users on their website in real time.

Want to broadcast live video around the world but don’t know where to start? Here’s a quick guide to getting started with live streaming video, following the process used to get The Unidev Live Channel up and running.

Hardware and Equipment

Though the equipment is fairly simple, the hardware involved in the live streaming process is very important. The major elements needed are a camera, a microphone, and a PC robust enough to process the video.

A high-definition webcam is a simple way to capture video that is easy to encode and broadcast. For Unidev live we used a Logitech 1080p Webcam Pro C910 that cost around $70. This was a fairly inexpensive way to capture high quality video, and its USB output made it simple for encoding and streaming.

Next an audio capturing device is needed. While most webcams have a microphone, higher quality and flexibility is achieved with a dedicated microphone. For Unidev Live we used a MXL AC404 USB Conference Microphone for about $75. This microphone captured the ambient noise in the room, which was ideal for our discussion based events. Again, the USB output on this microphone makes sound capture and encoding very simple on a PC.

A fairly powerful computer is needed to process and encode the video and audio on the fly.  The CPU is the most important component. To achieve a desirable frame rate (at least 30 frames per second), the computer should be equipped with a dual or quad core processor. The computer should also have a decent amount of RAM (4 GB) and a dedicated video card with at least 512MB VRAM.

Streaming video also requires a certain amount of bandwidth to broadcast a quality video. Upload speeds should be around 1.2 Mbps to 1.5 Mbps. As always you can test your bandwidth speeds at speedtest.net.

Software and Service

Once all the hardware is in place, it’s time to select a streaming service to host your live channel. Justin.tv, Ustream.tv, and Livestream.com are all popular services that allow for free live video broadcasting. We decided to host on Livestream.com for The Unidev Live channel due to the simplicity of the interface and software, but all three services are capable and free.

It is possible to broadcast live video from the webcam on the Livestream.com website right away. However, if you would like to incorporate a feed from the desktop to include videos, slides, and graphics you will need to download capturing software.

Livestream.com offers Procaster, a small program that connects directly with your Livestream.com channel. Procaster captures, encodes, and streams the webcam video feed, the audio from the mic, and a feed of the computer monitor. This allows for live editing between video of the presenter and presentation slides on the computer, including picture-in-picture.

The Procaster software allows on-the-fly mixing of video and desktop feeds.

Live streaming allows businesses to create content in real time with their fans in a high impact medium. Additionally, the live player is fully embeddable on your website and the broadcasts are recorded and archived to show other viewers later.

This technology offers a great opportunity for brand building and consumer engagement. Overall, live video broadcasting does have some technical demands, but the content produced is very valuable.

Questions regarding live video broadcasting or video optimization? Contact us today!

XBox 360 Controller posted from flickr

Holiday shopping is just around the corner and we’re just weeks out from the biggest shopping day of the year, Black Friday. If you’re planning to purchase tech toys for the computer nerd in your life, you might think twice before purchasing the following items. Why? Because they might not even be around soon!

1. Standalone GPS Systems
2. E-Readers
3. Feature Phones (even if they’re only $19.99!!)
4. Low-End Digital Cameras
5. DVD Players
6. Recordable CDs and DVDs and here’s the kicker…
7. Video Game Consoles

We’d like to add USB cables to this list. All hail Wifi, Bluetooth and solar energy! But then again, they may still exist in 2020.

Seth Fiegerman lists these gadgets as the 7 Gadgets That Won’t Be Around In 2020 in a recent Yahoo! Shopping article. In the article, Seth talks about which tech gadgets will be phased out this decade. One surprising gadget that is often associated with “gift unwrap excitement” is the video game console. Ouch!

Video games will forever be popular, but will the separate consoles go away completely and all join as one on smartphone’s, televisions and computers? Seth’s article says, “The gaming systems that will succeed in the future will be those that manage to move away from being focused solely on video games and more on other entertainment options such as movies, evolving from a traditional game console into more of a set-top box.”

Think about the most recent release of gaming consoles, Play Station 3 and X-Box 360. Both of those allow you to access the internet, watch and rent movies and they even have Wi-Fi. But experts still say they won’t be in our homes forever. Rob Enderle, a principle analyst for the Enderle Group expects that consumers will instead buy smart televisions with a gaming system built into it.

If technology is only growing, imagine what the price of these new video games and accessories are going to cost. They already cost an arm and a leg.

What are they going to come up with next?

Interested in technology? Learn more about what Unidev can do for you.