Life, the universe and everything - Technical Ambitions

Using D3.js to create a treeview for drilling down into problems

I was intrigued by the drilldown method of probing into where a particular problem lay within some structure. Bear in mind that this still needs a method of creating the json file in the correct flare.js type style. I will probably add the php file at a later stage.

The idea is that when facing a lot of data such as messages or other information that you would like to search out where the error might be, this way would show you a color tree based on green for no problem, orange denotes an upcoming issue and red denotes a problem. This way you drill down into the issue and see visually where the issue lies.

This code is taken from a website https://leanpub.com/D3-Tips-and-Tricks/read where a number of tricks are shown how to use D3 javascript library.

I just changed the code according to the chapter in this ebook. A chapter on autostyling nodes:
https://leanpub.com/D3-Tips-and-Tricks/read#leanpub-auto-styling-nodes-in-a-tree-diagram

Here is the code and the json file used to create this demo: Click here for demo

I had an idea around 5 years ago in which I speculated how nice it would be to be able to go to a bank or any other institution and instead of having to fork out my ID or having to fax any of my personal docs such as utility bills etc in order to verify who I am.

I was rather surprised the other day to hear that this has actually been created and may I say it has been done very nicely indeed. The site is extremely professionally created and it is extremely easy to verify all the badges that one needs. 

Think about how nice it would be to advertise on gumtree and people can trust that the person they are speaking to actually exists in the real world. With all the scams that abound it would be even nicer to know that when you go to buy something on OLX that you are talking to some real person that has been validated and actually exists in the real world.

I cant wait for the day that I dont need to show my whole pedigree to the bank manager in order to verify who I am. He can just use my link and figure out that I am who I say I am. That will probably be the most challenging thing to verify with this system.

So I hope that you go and take a look at this site and check out the benefits we can all have if we get verified. I also know of course that we all hate our privacy being abused and this might be another way in which our privacy gets abused but in theory I love the idea.

OPTIMIM.INFO - Online Project Management System

OPTIMIM stands for : Click here to go to OPTIMIM.INFO
Online Project management
TImesheets
Management Information http://optimim.info/images/onlineprojectmanagement1.png
Information Management

OPTIMIM is a product that I have created over the last two years while working for KWCE who was working with Dark Fiber Africa - DFA. As there engineer that would apply for wayleaves and do designs etc we had a lot of projects running simultaneously. This meant that it was hard to keep track of the projects and so OPTIMIM was born. It made it so much easier to now handle hundreds of projects.

The simple dashboard system gives a quick overview of the status of various deliverables for the project and the Gantt chart allows for full on project management. 

There is a document repository which allows user to email docuementation, photos and certificates etc to the system and it automatically gets filed into correct projects and categories. Once emailed the document also enters an audit trail which noted when documentation was entered allowing for full transparency by all parties involved in the project. It is based on a term I learned while building a Command and Control system while in the Netherlands. The term used is COP - Common Operational Picture meaning everyone gets to see relevant data when needed. It raises situational awareness and allows for problems to be sorted out as they arise instead of later when they really can cause major headaches. 

We have managed many projects with our clients over the last year and it has helped to eliminate a lot of the headaches that usually arise. The main thing is that everybody gets to see data timeously which causes discussions to happen when data is seen instead of later after having hidden issues for a month or two.

Using NFC and QRcodes makes it a lot easier for contractors to update status changes in their projects. Using a smartphone the contractor points towards the QRCode or even an NFC tag which is encoded with the correct URL and then gets a dropdown box where the status of a deliverable can be changed. As easy as that. No fuss. No hassles. Photos taken at site or documentation such as certificates are easily mailed to the system and automatically filed for later searches etc.

Here are a few leaflets describing the major points of our system. 

I had an online demonstration yesterday with the developers of the IXXO Multi Vendor Shopping Cart. Firstly I was surprised that they took the time to give ma an online guided demo of their product. It was great to hear their enthusiasm for the cart however it was even greater to see first hand the most amazing details within the cart and site.

At a prearranged time I was given a URL to share the developers screen and we chatted on skype. He explained all the features of the shopping cart. While evaluating a product it is the most difficult thing to download a tool and then try to figure it out on your own. This is a great way to evaluate a product BUT I can tell you firsthand it is even better being taken through the tool with the developer showing all the features.

They answered every one of my questions to my satisfaction. The most amazing concept that their cart has over any other cart was the Paypal Adaptive Payment system that has been integrated into their cart. Amazing how all the payments headaches will vanish when using the right solution.

I am extremely impressed by their shopping cart solution. They have a stand alone version which is responsive for mobile phones and tablets as well as a joomla version which will catch up on the responsive side by August 2013. It is an impressive cart that will give you the most flexibility that I have not seen in many other carts.

As far as I am concerned, it is the most impressive Multi Vendor Responsive Shopping cart out there in the price range that is affordable to the average Joe setting up a shop.

Thanks for the demo guys.










http://www.ixxocart.com/ixxo-multi-vendor

I love following guys like Seth Godin, Zig Ziglar and other people that say something of substance. The insight they have is amazing. They see things from a different perspective always. Seth Godin has an amazing blog that I subscribe to and you can read it at http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

One of the other people's tweets I love to read are those of my dad Sydney Weber, He has a knack of seeing things in a different light than most people. If you would like some insight into many topics such as love, friends etc than you can follow him at https://twitter.com/skwebers

Chris Anderson - The long tail Why the Future of business is selling less of more

This was an excellent book to read. Quite compelling and most definitely food for thought. This book gives me, as internet entrepreneur, the reason behind why my tny book written by an obscure person from nowhere sold at least 100 copies in the last year. It is beyond comprehension that with such little effort on my part, almost no effort whatsoever, I could manage to even get one person to purchase my book.

Without the long tail and specifically the long tail filters such as amazon, google and all the myriad of other search engines that each have their own algorithms for creating views into the long tail products, I would never have sold one book.

Get this book, and read it. If you are doing any sort of internet business then this book is a must read as it shows you why it is that your book can sell. Even if you are a no name writer or even if this is the first music or song you have ever recorded, the chances are excellent that you will sell some of your art online.

The FILTER is the answer and this is the secret to all this online selling.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Long-Tail-Business-Selling/dp/1401302378

http://www.snapbill.com/
Flexible recurring billing made easy.
Powerful cloud-based billing system for any business.
Online invoicing

I have been fortunate to have been able to use Snapbill for the last year as an online invoicing platform. I say fortunate because it is one of the few companies I have worked with online that supply the service that they do. There tech support was second to none. If I emailed them someone came back to me virtually instantly and tried to help me. They even helped integrate some stuff for me and gave me examples which helped me along the way with the integration of their service right into my site. They are truly an amazing service.

Really cheap to use and worth every cent.

When you need to use an invoicing system that is integrated right into your backend system of your site I would suggest giving the guys and gals at Snapbill.com a trial run. I am 100% sure that you will be very glad you did as they give the most excellent service I have received online till today.

You can try it for free today by going to this link

http://www.snapbill.com/

support@snapbill.com

Regards
johnkweber

A J Mantel (paintings)

My grandfather A J Mantel was an artist who painted in watercolors (mostly anyway). As a child I watched many hours as he sat quietly first drawing and then painting his masterpieces. I was always fascinated by the skill that he displayed in mixing the colors and ensuring that whatever he was painting turned out to look like a photograph.

I remember clear as daylight him telling me that he considered himself first and foremost as a painter and not an artist. He considered an artist to be someone who could create a drawing or painting from within his mind, whereas A J Mantel would copy some postage stamp or postcard or picture and then turn it into a larger precise color copy.

As children some of my siblings must have gotten a lot closer to him than I ever did as his "artiness" rubbed off on them. They also managed to make beautiful paintings and even in my grandfathers time I remember my sister Marisa Nel (Weber) being one of his favourites as she managed to do almost naturally what he took many years to master. Marisa also made a few beautiful paintings but alas hung up her brushes and palette along time ago when she became a mother. One day I am hoping she will have time to be more creative again and paint some more for us.

Sydney Keith Weber (my father) also has some paintings that he can boast with as well as Sydney's sister Dorothy Klatter (Weber).

In honour of my grandfather A J Mantel I have created a site where people who have paintings that he made can place them online for the enjoyment of the family as well as create some sort of line of history of some of his paintings. Many of them were sold to clients and I remember some went to a gallery near East London where my grandfather lived for as long as I can remember him.

On the site I have allowed for the other family members to also portray some of their paintings. As many of my friends know, I got married in April 2012 to Hannah Brandt Weber (J S van Eck) and she also seems to have the knack for the oil canvas. So you will also her paintings on the site. Ofcourse as her husband I am probably biased towards her a teeny bit - lol.

I hope that the many people who have A J Mantel paintings will join our site and place high quality images of my grandfathers paintings on the site so that we may preserve them for the future and for our grandchildren to also admire what their great grandfather had accomplished.

- johnkweber 2012

A J Mantel

It was amazing to watch Pebble come to life with the crowdfunding model as viewed by KickStarter

Never before have I been more excited than seeing those Dollars climb past the $10 000 000 mark. These guys have a product that the world believes in and this is where I think the turning point starts for funding a project. With Venture Capitalists starting to diversify by investing in multiple small investments instead of going all out in one large project and investment, this seems to mark the beginning of a new way of getting funding for your homegrown project.

Here is a list of a few crowdfunding sites to get your project kickstarted.

https://www.crowdtilt.com/
http://crowdfunder.com/
http://wefunder.com/beta
http://www.indiegogo.com/
http://www.microventures.com/
https://www.secondmarket.com/
http://www.studioneat.com/pages/about-us
http://www.rockethub.com/
http://www.kapipal.com/
http://www.unbound.co.uk/
http://www.kickstarter.com

But the post that kickstarted this article was at http://www.kickstarter.com - Pebble epaper watch

- johnkweber

Guest house - Caledon23 - George

I rarely promote a guest house even though I go regularly to them. I love just going out and spoiling myself and my partner every now and then and what better way than to go relax at a guest house where everything gets done for you. After the running around of the week there is a need to just relax and enjoy.

This December I had the good fortune to hit the road and just see where it takes us. It was great. NO planned stays anywhere. SO there was also no reason to rush anywhere. Everyone said we were mad to just go on the whim and yet we found places to stay even though December is a peak season. We ended up being referred to a guest house that had just been started by a lovely couple. Hendrik and Linda Aucamp.

Man what a pleasure. Hendrik is a builder and I think he spared no expense to make the place beautiful. He really went to town and as he says, "Why skimp on the little things since they are the things everyone notices." For the very first time in about 20 years I woke up feeling refreshed and without any stiff or sore back. I now realise the importance of an awesome bed. We tend to spend so much time in our beds yet we skimp on the one thing we really should splurge on.

I am really happy to recommend Caledon23 Guest house in George. Situated in Caledon street number 23 (the place to be apparently in George) it was a stay to remember. Hendrik and Linda are a really friendly and outgoing couple and I know that you will enjoy your stay there.

OH - and the best thing is the price. For a guest house that has all the finery that they have I was expecting to pay a fortune. However the price is almost the most attractive item. At under R800 for a couple bed and breakfast included it was amazing.

If you are ever in the neck of the woods in George, go look up Hendrik and Linda Aucamp at Caledon23 Geust house. You wont be sorry. -

johnkweber

Purchase this kindle book here

For a hardcopy book you may email : captainnewman@gmail.com (author)

Dr. U “Tol” de Wet Pienaar.
Former; Chief Director, South African National Parks Board.
Many people contribute their efforts towards the running of a successful National Parks Service. This is equally so with Provincial Parks and similar organisations. All those who live and work for the betterment of the environment or the education and the well being of visitors, play a vital and important role towards those ideals.
This book is a light hearted rendition of incidents that occurred during John’s service, for both the National Parks and the Provincial Parks service, for which he was, both contracted frequently or fully employed.
The National Parks employ Scientist, Technicians, Rangers, Engineers, Mechanics, Restaurateurs, Retailers, Administrators and Stores Controllers. People working in the parks service that come from every walk of life, those who are making their contribution tirelessly.
John was with the National Parks Aviation division, serving a multiplicity of roles and his stories expose his specific experiences that happened in his daily activity, of which some I was involved personally.
It is therefore true, besides all the animal species in the National Parks............. People live there also.

Introduction
I met John Newman a few years ago and from the very first meeting, I realised that he has amazing skills and talents. While working and using these diverse skills and talents the stories he has collected are now something we can read and enjoy.

This book is a hilarious look into his amazing past, telling of just one or two of the jobs he has been fortunate to do throughout his life. His dedication to the tasks he tackles shows up in the fact that he piloted aircraft and helicopters in the Kruger National Park. We as the reader now get to read of his extraordinary experiences whilst working as a pilot in the KNP.

After having heard all these stories related to me first hand by John, I just knew that they had to be written down, so that others could end up reading them and enjoy them as much as I did hearing them.

John is the type of person who wakes up virtually every day with a new idea that has never been expanded upon before. It truly is amazing how he is just fortunate in that department. I have come to appreciate him for his unique problem solving skills and I also know that we will be seeing a few more books coming from John’s pen as he has many ideas he must still share with the rest of the world

- John K Weber

I was really most impressed with this book. After having read James Caan's The real deal, I knew that this book would have valuable information in it. The way he tells his story makes for easy reading.

If you are wanting to change your career or whether you have been off work for a long time, this is the book for you. I can imagine that this could easily become a prescribed book for school leavers as well since it contains really great information as to how to go about getting the Job you really want.

From setting up your CV to the interview, he talks about everything. Bear in mind that James Caan made a lot of his money actually placing people in jobs. That's the reason I thought this book would be valuable in the first place. He has perfected the art of the interview and he shows you what you need to do to be prepared and to ensure that you land the job you want.

If I can sum up this book in a few words it would be this. "You are about to change the rest of your life, DON'T leave anything to chance."

Get this book now and read it as this will change the way you approach the next career move. I guarantee it. Its not a feeling, its a fact.

I was fortunate enough to be able to see Antonio Forcione (guitar player of note) in Kalkbay this month. The concert was held in the Olympia bakery and it was quite a show. The setting lent itself quite nicely to a rather intimate show and the other two guitarists, Tony Cox and Saudiq Kahn were ofcourse exceptional as usual. Tony is an excellent story teller and makes everything an interesting experience, Saudiq plays extremely nicely and the guitar he had sounded so phenomenal BUT then, enter Antonio Forcione.

If you ever get a chance to see Antonio Forcione live and in concert, beg, borrow or steal the money for the entrance fee and you will see the show of your life. Apart from being a bit eccentric, I have never seen a more impressive display and guitar mastery in my entire life. I never even knew people who had such talent existed. My styles I have always admired are Merle Travis, Tom Bresch, Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed, Buster B, Marcel Dadi and most recently a gentlemen called
Bruce Keener. However these gentlemen all have a style that sounds pretty impressive and even have some speedy fingering which will blow your mind. Take for example Jerry's Breakdown. Man awesome stuff and difficult as hell. However, enter Antonio Forcione....

I caught myself on numerous occasions counting his fingers to see whether he really only has 10 fingers. Man he utilizes every inch of his guitar and his fingers, hands, palms, back of his fingers in the bass slides (finger under the bass string) and playing like a double bass while all the time keeping rythm by playing the front, back and sides of his guitar and still playing the melody by using harmonics, slides, hammer ons, pullofs and literally any trick you have ever seen in the books or on the net. It is all there. Fingerpicking, blues, rock, flamenco and he seems to have mastered them all.

He will think nothing of stopping a tune because his guitar is slightly out of tune, fix the tuning and then restart. The crowd was so mesmerized that they did not even notice these slight little things. They sat at the edge of their seats and they were listening intently to every little note or sound in some cases that was coming out of that guitar. I have never seen a guitar take such abuse and yet produce such sweet sounds.

I can truly say that it changed forever the way I will look at or think about a guitar.

Do yourself a favor and try to experience first hand the experience that is Antonio Forcione. If you like guitar music in any form you will not be sorry.

This must have been the most enjoyable book I have ever read. I think in part it might be due to the fact that the way James seems to handle life resonates with some sort of chord that resonates in my life as well.

This must be the book that has touched me the most and in some way I think it is due to some of the raw emotions that James puts forward when dealing with his country of origin. The woes of the poor people in that country make me look at my own country and I am busy trying to figure out how it is that I can make a difference in my world.

I can truly recommend James Caan - The Real deal.

I could not put this book down and read it in one evening. It is captivating and the knowledge that James has regarding staffing and recruitment means that his next book on how to find the best job coming out in Jan 2011 shoud be just as excellent a read.

According to a very interesting bit of research that I read a few days ago, it seems that advertisements that feature a QR Code or almost 60% more likely to be clicked than normal ads that have text or just a picture.

It seems that the newness of this QR Code technology is a reason that most people are scanning these QR Codes in ads etc.

Apparently the group (cant remember who they were, sorry) created ads that incorporated QR Codes in their pictures banner ads and they had a hit counter attached to the QR Code so that they could measure how many people viewed the ad compared to other ads on the page.

http://deeptechnology.co.za

Once again I have sunk my teeth into something, this time something so awesome that it gives me sleepless nights due to the excitement and thinking about the whole business every waking moment.

SO what is it that excites me so much? This time around it is affordable housing. My partner John Newman from Deep Technology, (Diverse Energy Efficient Projects) has for a number of years held a number of patents, one of them being a design patent on a modular house that is set to change the way people build homes in the future. Once we have some decent pictures I will place them online for your viewing pleasure.

SO whats so exciting about this project? Firstly the house is cast out of a number of pieces and put together in a short six to 8 hours. The cast sections are transported to the site where using some ingenious designed tools the pieces are put together and voila you have a house up in no time at all.

Take note that we are not talking low-cost housing here, we are talking affordable housing meaning normal average guys such as myself will be able to afford a home at last.

The average house nowadays requires that the family (husband and wife) earn around R59 000 combined income to qualify for a bond. This then affords the couple a modest size house (example in Victoria park 49 square meters Costing R790 000) What on earth can one do with 49 square meters?

The houses we are making will give you a minimum of 75 meters squared and allowing the owner to build on 1.8 meters x 5 meters sections at a time. This effectively offers you the ability to resize your home in next to no time at all.

So YES, I am all excited and will keep you up to date as to how the whole story pans out.

Take just one little consideration here. An average house costs you R1 200 000 currently and you can rent that house out for around R5000 maximum, of course depending on the area where the house is situated, now for a fraction of that cost you can purchase a house and still get the same amount of rent out than you normally would on the expensive houses.

The nicest part of all is that everybody needs this commodity. Even you do! Think about it, soon you too might be staying in one of these homes.

Too exciting for words.

Look for more information - coming soon at http://deeptechnology.co.za

The one problem with the HTC Desire so far for me is that every now and then one installs an application that does somethig weird to the magnetometer or even more weird to the nice pinch to resize in the browsers etc.
I have over 1000 plus contacts which were easily transferrable to my HTC Desire from the Nokia E90 I had before. (Select all and send business card via bluetooth. It takes a while but they all go across in a few minutes.)

However, I have had to reset the HTC Desire a few times now in order to get certain functionality back such as pinch resize or the HTC Desire magnetometer that goes awry.

SO this is my process now. I exported all my contacts to my gmail account contacts list. Its quite easy actually:
You go to the "people" widget on the HTC and then you "Export" / Export to SD Card / Choose the Phone choice and it will create a VCF card with all your contacts in it.

Connect the HTC Desire to your PC via the USB cable, so that you can get to the .VCF card that was just created.

Log into your gmail account and click on the contacts menu choice on the left side. Choose the "Import" menu choice at the top right of the contacts list now and select the .VCF and press Import. This will load all those contacts into your Contact list in Gmail and the next time you reset your phone and you resync with Google all your contacts will be then available again on your HTC Desire.

Have fun. It is the most awesome phone I have ever had and I will not go back to Nokia, iphone or anything else I dont think. I find it hard to believe that something better is still going to come out one of these years. I am extremely excited to see what is going to happen in the mobile arena in the next few years. If the HTC Desire is anything to go by, then we will have wonderful phones in the future.