The Chicago Polyglot Mingle

Members of Chicago’s Python (ChiPy), Java (CJUG), and Ruby (ChicagoRuby) communities launched The Chicago Polyglot Mingle on July 28, 2016. Purpose: To bring Chicago’s software development community together for an evening of networking and socializing. Here’s a 3-minute recap.

Web + IoT for Entrepreneurs

Philip Fairweather and his team at the Small Business Development Center at Bethel New Life are serious about creating opportunities for entrepreneurs. The team invited me to present at one of their entrepreneurship workshops this afternoon. Thank you Phil for the invitation and for an audience of driven entrepreneurs. Slides appear below.

WindyCityThings 2016: Wow!

 
2016 marked the first year for a very special IoT conference, WindyCityThings. Thank you to everyone who made the event so successful, especially:

• Speakers, sponsors, attendees, and organizers who all stepped up to make the conference happen.
• BLUE1647 for running the IoT Youth Program.
• David Kinney and Amy Kinney for helping with speaker selection and MC-ing.
• South Shore Cultural Center for providing a great venue.
• Ganza Image Productions for summarizing the WindyCityThings experience with a 3-minute video.

IoT for Educators and Students

The Internet of Things (IoT) is new, roughly where the web was in the early 1990s (before Amazon or Google). WindyCityThings is a conference for IoT professionals. This year, we’re offering special discounts for educators and students, especially those involved in STEM.

What is IoT and why might you care? This article will give a brief answer. Let’s start with a 60-second video.  

 
There’s still time to be an early adopter in IoT. Here’s why.

RubyConf Kenya 2016

A big “thank you” to the organizers of RubyConf Kenya for inviting me to present on Parallella and on entrepreneurship. Rich learning and networking were had by all.

I was especially impressed with M-Pesa, the mobile payment system used throughout Kenya. M-Pesa is a disruptive blend of financial technology, UX, and ecosystem management. Local devs are writing financial apps that leverage the M-Pesa platform. Banks are already being disrupted by M-Pesa, and the topic is worth a separate post on this blog.