Occupy Apps
Last week at an IT meeting I was asked to be a magnet (why not “magnate?”) for the Occupy Apps group. While the linked site isn’t mine, it does give some sense of what we’re about. In a nutshell, we’re building mobile and web apps to meet the various needs of the occupants. Aside from the already mentioned Sneakermesh, we have a few other exciting projects in the pipeline.
At the moment, for instance, I’m working on a service to accept audio contributions from occupants and make them available to content reviewers. Note that the project will change URLs when I come up with or am provided a more clever name, so don’t expect that URL to last. Do expect an announcement when it changes, though.
Currently it accepts audio in a number of common formats (thus far I’ve thrown WAV and 3GP at it without issue) and transcodes them into MP3 files. While the core concept isn’t that exciting, some of the deeper technologies are.
I’ve been thrilled at the team’s acceptance of my use of non-conventional languages and tools. We’re currently using Scala and Lift for this particular app, and are considering scaling some of the core concepts out to heavier deployment scenarios. We have over a rack of fairly impressive servers with which to play, and are probably fairly well-stocked for an occupation.
There’s no reason that the transcoding code can’t be broken out into a separate library and service. Using Akka would allow its use in everything from simple deployments within the same JVM, to standalone servers specifically set aside for transcoding media, or even load-balanced services for distributing transcoding workloads. And given our current heavy dependence on inaccessible Flash-based technologies, I’m very eager to move us to open standards. A server-side and scalable transcoding solution would be the perfect tool for that.
Anyway, I’m excited. I get to play with lots of powerful metal. I’m working with a group interested in building the best apps, not just in using the most common or easiest tools for the job. And there’s no shortage of ideas to build out.
And, yeah, I’m putting all this Occupy Austin stuff on my resume. If an employer doesn’t like that, well, that’s why I’m striving for self-employment, so they don’t get to dictate my politics or values. There’s even more in the pipeline, but I’m saving that for another day.
Mirrored from TheWordNerd.info.