Rhode Island Nexus

Shawn Wallace is the Director of AS220 Labs - the year-old "tech arm" of AS220, which among many other things is home to the Providence Fab Lab (in partnership with MIT). At the next Providence Geek Dinner, Shawn will be presenting an overview of the Labs' amazing programs and projects. Details here and RSVP at Facebook.

Tools foster conviviality to the extent to which they can be easily used, by anybody, as often or as seldom as desired, for the accomplishment of a purpose chosen by the user.

-- from Tools for Conviviality by Ivan Illich

In our current mode of production, technologies progress through three watershed moments when rules change and opportunities mushroom and flower. The first watershed is when a technology is formulated in a way that can actually be realized (e.g. that first ugly lump of a transistor back in the 40s). The second watershed is when it is commoditized (e.g. consumer electronics). The third is when the technology becomes accessible to everyone (folk electronics).

AS220 Labs works in the realm of folk technology; making tools accessible and indulging in the opportunities presented by the current watershed moment in history as all sorts of computing and fabrication tools become common and the knowledge of their use becomes commonly shared. Everywhere I go it's happening; it must be a Zeitgeist. See the hundreds of spaces listed at hackerspaces.org for wikification (sniglet for "verifying fact via wiki"). In fact, if you connect all the dots for the various hacker spaces pictured on that web site's Google map, you can spell out "Meme Bucket" (try it!).

So AS220 has become kind of a local hub in this global network of hacker spaces. For example, this weekend we'll be hosting a 3D Printing Summit featuring demos and howtos by Zack Smith from NYCResistor/Makerbot and Bruce Wattendorf from the RepRap Project. We're also training a new generation of artist hackers with our Introduction to Arduino classes that resume on June 23rd.

To learn more about what's going on at AS220 Labs, come to the Geek Dinner on July June 17th for burritos, beer, and conversation. Details here and RSVP at Facebook.

Click here to read Shawn's interview with PBN. 

"Yes, Virginia, there is a tech entrepreneur community alive and well in southern Rhode Island.  As I wrote in a blog post in February, we had a hunch that maybe, just maybe, there might be a collection of RI Nexus followers who might not want to drive "all the way to Providence", but may gather "locally" for coffee and connections.  As you can see from the photos, there is indeed a thriving tech biz community.  So we are happy to report that the RI Nexus Open Coffee, South County edition (affectionately nicknamed "RINOCO-SOCO") will continue, on the third Thursday of every month, at Bagelz Wickford.

The conversations I've had run the gamut:  new mobile phone applications being developed, web business models, the state of the venture capital market, the challenges of straddling the employment/ business startup period, forming partnerships, exploring web applications, what's buzzing on Twitter, and, admittedly, how nice it is to park in Wickford without ever worrying about a parking ticket.  We have welcomed people from Providence to Connecticut to Hope Valley to Jamestown.  All are welcome.

Please join us this Thursday, May 21st, between 9am and 11am.

Bagelz Wickford, upstairs loft area
21 W. Main St.
North Kingstown, RI
Map

Hope to see you there!
Michelle Girasole

And for your Providence area tech entrepreneurs, the next Open Coffee up here is this coming Tuesday. Details here.

Kerri Lemoie is VP of Technology at IMT Services (parent company of InsureMyTrip.com). She is a 10+ year e-commerce veteran with five of those years in the travel insurance industry. Kerri and other IMT team members, including CEO Jim Grace, will be presenting at the April Providence Geeks Dinner. Their presentation will include the first public demo of their new site.  Wed. the 15th 5:30-8:30pm. Get details and RSVP here.

At IMT, we have been working for some time on revamping our primary website InsureMyTrip.com. Along the way, we hit some bumps in the road and learned some solid lessons that in the long run have made us a stronger company. I thought I'd take this opportunity to share some of what we've learned and hopefully offer some helpful advice.

First: Plan for scalability and don't be confined by scope or what you do not know - When we started planning the redesign, a group of us sat in a room and filled a wall with post-it notes full of ideas for what we would like to see in the new website. We brainstormed, took some breaks, and brainstormed some more. By the end of the day we were pretty confident that we had hit every idea. We were, after all, running out of post-its. But as the project progressed, we had more ideas.

We engaged our entire company staff and asked them what they would like to see. We asked our customers. We asked our families and friends. We wanted to garner as much input as we could. What we learned, eventually, was that we wouldn't get every good idea into the first release. We also learned that we couldn't possibly plan for everything. We assessed and reassessed our business goals, made some decisions about the scope and then developed a framework and back-end that is very scalable. Scalability is one of the biggest wins with the redesign. The site that our founder originally developed was written procedurally and, as a result, proved confining. It was successful in getting us where we are today, but it limited how we could expand our business tomorrow and improve the functionality of the site efficiently. The new framework is nimble enough to adapt to our changing business needs. Now we're ready take on those new ideas.

Second: Engage Project Management at the first baby step - This way, you'll get to the finish line sooner. IMT was a much smaller company when we first envisioned this project. The Web Development team ran the redesign project on our own. We were a group of young, ambitious programmers tackling a complex business problem. We were cowboys (and a cowgirl). We could code anything but we weren't doing so well when it came to keeping to a schedule or documenting business decisions. We needed a driver to keep us on the road. Project Management is the glue that holds a project together. No matter how small or how complex your team is, you will find it more effective and efficient to follow a serious project management methodology.

And finally: Be Willing to Say No - We're fortunate to be awash with new ideas and opportunities. We'd love to explore all of them and do our best to investigate each one that comes our way. But (and this is key) there are times when you need to step away from a good idea, at least temporarily. IMT's ongoing operations support the business, including new projects, and we balance our business needs with our resources. It's impossible to do everything. It is far better to make a strategic decision and tackle the opportunities that fit in with your business goals.

There's no doubt that hindsight makes us wiser. It's very easy to get blinded by enthusiasm in the thick of a major project. Its helpful to take a few steps back every so often and re-examine from a new perspective. We learn new lessons every day and in our industry (insurance and dot com), changes happen very quickly. At IMT, we embrace a learning culture, we continue to seek feedback and also continue to adapt our processes.  As a result, we hope to become better people working to make a better company.

James Wright and partner Joe Devine run Bridge Technical Solutions - a leading RI-based IT staffing firm. The Bridge team is very active in and supportive of RI's info-tech and digital media community, including through their sponsorship of RI Nexus.  

Are you a young info-tech and digital media professional? If so, please join us at McFadden's in Downtown Providence next week for:

Free Food!

NetBook Giveaway!  (ASUS-Eee)

A Drink on Us!

At Bridge Technical Solutions, we're big believers that young professionals are the brainpower and creative engine that will drive RI’s economy into the future; the entrepreneurs and idea sparkplugs who will help us jump the curve.

Young IT Professionals Happy Hour

McFadden’s
52 Pine Street
Providence, RI 02903 Google Maps
Thursday, April 16^th, 5:30pm – 8:30pm
RSVP Now  Not required, but RSVP'ing reserves you a free drink ticket

OK, so “young” is a relative term. We don’t want to be overly selective or get hung up on age… if you feel young come on by. Bring a friend. Bring a friend who’s not in ITDM; it’s a happy hour after all.

We have our own resident 23 year old recruiter, Amy McDermott, planning the party and bringing along a bunch of her friends, and it's looking like it will be a strong turnout from other young RI professionals.

We've also set up a short, optional survey. We'd love to hear your opinions and about your experience living and working in Rhode Island. We want to know what's important to you so that we can better serve you. Taking the survey automatically enters you in the notebook drawing.

Bridge Technical Solutions is proud to be a sponsor of RI Nexus. We want to help develop a strong ITDM community in Rhode Island and hope that reaching out to young IT professionals will be a way to do our part. Come join us!

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot! To spice things up we’ve invited Beyonce, Megan Fox, LeBron, Michael Phelps, Panic! at the Disco and a bunch of others. No confirmation yet on whether or not they’ll be there…

The good folks at Johnson & Wales' School of Technology invited me to speak, and we've collectively turned the opportunity into a joint JWU and RI Nexus event on a topic close to my heart: innovation and entrepreneurship among college students and recent grads.

I've been thinking about this topic a lot the past couple of years, and have become convinced that these very young entrepreneurs and innovators could and should play a key role in the transformation of Rhode Island's economy.

I've talked with dozens of you in RI's info-tech and digital media community about the possibilities and challenges, and appreciate the opportunity to get my thoughts down and engage a larger audience in the discussion.

Here's the description for the event - I hope you can make it.

Young Innovators & Entrepreneurs: How a New Generation is Reshaping their Careers and the Economy

Xavier Auditorium
259 Pine Street
Providence, RI
Google Maps
Thursday, April 2nd 9:30-11:00am

Innovation and entrepreneurship among college students and recent graduates has surged in recent years. The economic downturn is further fueling this trend, as more members of this new generation realize that pursuing their passions, and starting their own businesses, is the best route to building a more fulfilling, lucrative – and even more secure – career.

Simultaneously, across the nation, academic, business and government leaders are beginning to recognize that nurturing these young entrepreneurs and innovators is key to reshaping their communities' economies.

Using info-tech and digital media – the industry sector at the vanguard of new generation innovation – as our lens, we'll survey these dynamics, their implications, and strategies for taking advantage of them. We'll do so from the perspective of both students and recent grads looking to forge their careers, as well as from that of faculty, business professionals, public officials and others interested in supporting their efforts.

Joel Evans is the founder and CEO of Cronk Games, Inc.  Previously the founder and "Chief Geek" of Geek.com, Evans now specializes in leveraging his more than a decade of mobile, Internet and wireless experience to bring existing brands and technologies into the mobile and wireless space.  He also serves as a technology expert for a number of well-known publications and authors and regularly advises corporations, analysts, journalists and bloggers on what the future of technology will bring. Joel will be presenting at the March Providence Geeks Dinner Wed. the 18th 5:30-9pm. Get details and RSVP here.

These days everyone either wants or already owns an iPhone or iPod touch. The devices carry that mystique that only Apple can deliver and even if you don't need one, you HAVE to have one. While the device can make calls, surf the internet, and guide you from place to place, one of the most popular features that it offers is access to the App Store. If you're not familiar with the App Store, it's a part of iTunes where Apple offers applications (more than 25,000 at last count) for either a price or for free. The Apps range from utility applications to games that can rival the best console experience.

The success of the App Store has now forced other mobile providers, including Microsoft, RIM, and others, to develop and offer their own App Store. This is all great news for mobile phone users as more applications mean more ways to use your mobile phone.

The reason I've given you the quick history above is that it's because of this new "App" ecosystem that our company, Cronk Games, is a success.

For Cronk Games, I brought together a team of industry experts in console gaming, infrastructure architecture, mobility, social networking, and development tool construction. We made sure to focus on the experience of the game and application first, and which platform it would be delivered on second. Since our founding in 2008 we have already deployed our first successful title, Cronk, on the App Store, with versions for Windows Mobile and other platforms coming in the second half of 2009.

Another piece that differentiates Cronk Games from other iPhone or mobile developers is our proprietary rapid prototyping engine (RPE). Our RPE allows us to develop and test on a variety of platforms. As an example, we most recently used the RPE to build and test our first title, Cronk, in Linux, then compile it in the iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK), with final delivery on the iPhone.

Our development process in conjunction with our RPE allows development to proceed much faster than your typical developer using just the Apple iPhone SDK.

With the combination of an experienced team, rapid prototyping engine and a first game already shipping on the Apple App Store, we are weeks away from releasing an enhanced version of Cronk, including high score support, and delivering our second title in the May timeframe. In addition, we are well positioned to design, develop and deliver other companies' applications to not only the App Store but other mobile platforms.

The above is just words. To see our development process in action and a sneak peak at our roadmap, come to Providence Geeks next Wednesday.

Click here to read Joel's interview with PBN.