Blog

We don’t need no education

Even though an education would have prevented the writer of the above statement from using a double negative, this should be the motto of anyone serious about usability in their software.

A study by Professor Sugata Mitra has been tracking the usage of internet linked computers they embedded in walls in Delhi, India. The study found that the slum children, who had little education and never used a computer before, quickly picked up the skills to use the computer and the internet.

One of our targets when testing software for usability is enable an adult to sit down and be use the software to perform it’s functions without training or instructions. (This is arguably a tougher goal although we may assume the adult has used a computer before.)

While intuitive software isn’t the only usability indicator it is one of the most important (and fun) to aim for.

Salween Solutions gets in to iPhone development

We’ve just been approved by apple to develop iPhone applications for the App Store. We’ve had a lot of interest from partners and clients for this sort of development service. So it’s a case of watch this space as we prepare to develop and release out first iPhone app.

New intern starts at Salween Solutions

Salween Solutions is pleased to welcome Freddy as our newest member of the team. Freddy is an intern from Germany and will spend the next six months developing a conceptually new and experimental Web Content Management System.

Salween Solutions turns 3 years old!

Thanks very much for all the people that worked so hard to make this company thrive. Pat your selves on the back. Well we’re going out to celebrate!

Salween Solutions hires new Software Developer

Salween Solutions is excited to welcome a new developer to our team. Ant is a Software Developer specialising in .Net and Web technologies. Welcome Ant!

Location Aware Applications using .Net 4

.Net 4 features a snazzy new class called the GeoLocationProvider. It can not only tell you where you are it can also raise an event when you change location! On Gavin Gear's Tech Blog he gives a simple example on how to use it in code.

Salween Solutions develop new image analyzer

We’ve partnered up with Sign Works Co., Ltd., one of the biggest sign producing companies in Thailand. They a have wide and prestigious range of customers from all over the world. We’re developing a new way of calculating quotations on signs, making it possible for software to intelligently analyze the customer sign sketches and compute a quote in real time. This software will ensure Sign Works leaps the head of their field.

Are the next generation CPUs to rely on nano-noise?

If you’re interested, like I am, at how CPU technology is going to climb over the current apparent physical speed limits without resorting to increased parallelism, there is an interesting resent article by Michael Schirber in the in the Physical Review Focus.

Researchers at Arizona State University are experimenting using stochastic resonance with non-linear gates.

Current logic gates use transistors roughly 90 nanometers across, but chip manufacturers are trying to squeeze the elements down to 65, 45, and even 22.5 nanometers. At these scales, the voltages are no longer steady, due to crosstalk between different wires, thermal fluctuations, and even quantum uncertainty.

Entire Article....

Just for fun: Brain Teasers

Growing up I was always a sucker for brain teasers. It's possibly one of the reasons I got into software development.

The MSDN Blog EDUFun has just posted some fun brain teasers for kids and adults to test to see if you've still got it.

Salween Solutions hires new Developer from Denmark

We are pleased to welcome Jeppe as our newest member of the team. Jeppe is an intelligent software developer with six years experience in Copenhagen.

With a creative streak and a quick wit we're sure he'll fit right in here in Bangkok.

He starts at the beginning of July. We're looking forward to it!

Putting value on Simplicity

Because I'm always preaching around the office about the need to remove or break down complexity in software code, some of the staff thought they'd shut me up and bought me the book Simplicity by Edward de Bono.

The book not only explains the immense advantages of simplicity, it contains many useful ways to obtain it climaxing with ten key rules of simplicity.

I enjoyed the book a lot. It was great to have someone sum up the value of simplicity. I recommend it for software architects, developers, managers and everyone else.

Thailand to set up Software Industrial Estate

Khon Kaen province will soon become a landmark location for the software industry for Thailand and Indochina.

Several government agencies and the private sector will cooperate in setting up the Software Industrial Estate and Science Park Khon Kaen, with a view to boosting the regional software industry.

This is exciting news and we'll be keeping abreast of the latest as the park develops.