Ancient City Ruby 2016

Hashrocket launched Ancient City Ruby in 2013 and the conference has grown ever since. Participants come from around the world: Some to speak, some to learn, some to pair-program with the Hashrocket team for days (or weeks) after the conference.

I am grateful to the organizers for inviting me to present Get Ready for Parallel Programming Featuring Parallella this year.

Pine64 Quick Start Guide (with Gotchas)

The Pine64 is a single board computer with four 64-bit cores. The device runs Linux, and prices start at US$15.00. The company raised $1.7 million in their Jan 2016 Kickstarter campaign.

This post tells how to get a brand new Pine64 up and running using Mac OS X for image download and creation. Gotchas are included. Finally, we will compare the Pine64 with another multi-core single board computer, Parallella.

Flourish! 2016 at UIC

Flourish! is an exciting and free (as in beer) open source conference held annually at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dates for this year: April 1-2, 2016.

Why Flourish?

We go to conferences so that we can learn about trends before everybody else. Flourish excels in predicting the future. Flourish introduced me to Arduino and Bitcoin years before they were common knowledge. The event is a magnet for open source enthusiasts who love to teach and learn.

How to Build a Successful IoT Company

Find a need and fulfill it. Successful businesses are founded on the needs of people.
 
~A. G. Gaston

The Internet of Things is surrounded by hype. But a few companies are navigating beyond the hype into a river of profit. IoT Chicago recently invited John Hennessy, founder of Sell the Prize, to share the IoT success story of Locus Traxx.

Preserving Perishable Goods

Locus Traxx uses IoT to ensure that perishable goods are shipped safely.

For example, if delicate medications are transported in a hot shipping container, the goods could spoil and lives could be put in danger. Locus Traxx makes sensors that monitor temperature and other environmental factors during transport to ensure that sensitive shipments arrive intact. The sensors send data to a cloud app in real time, while the data is collected, so shipping managers can monitor product health during transport.

Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center

Don’t just be stuck with an idea in your head. Build it, and get it in your hands.
 
~Alan Baker of Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center

The Chicago Chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) hosted a special meeting at the Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center (CIADC) on Wednesday evening. It’s tempting to call CIADC a maker space because it certainly appeals to makers. But as the ACM group learned during a tour, CIADC stretches beyond making and into empowerment.