SuperMondays Re-Flash Monday – a review
It was the first time I have attended a flash talk, and I was not sure what to expect, and I was not disappointed. Eight speakers had 7 minutes to talk about a subject close to their heart; 5 minutes talk with 2 minutes for questions. I am sure not all subjects would have appealed to everybody but each of the speakers spoke with passion and had a thorough knowledge about their product.
Some went straight over my head such as Ross Dargan and his FlexRAID product or Derek Frost and developing with the Spring Framework! However I am a web guy, so here are some of my thoughts of the talks that interested me.
Audrius Jankauskas offered a talk on ImpressPages CMS which tries to simplify the whole CMS (Content Management System) process by offering a drag/drop cms tool. Using a desktop program configured to a theme, a user can edit a website by dragging a content type from a menu and dropping onto the appropriate place on the web page then adding the content to the said element. ImpressPages CMS can be installed on any shared hosting like any other popular CMS. Find our more at http://www.impresspages.org/ or follow them on Twitter.
Aidan Garnish talked about his pet project – 65hours.com. This is a site where you can complete a job not for money, but time. Say you do a task for a customer for 4 hours, you have 4 hours to redeem later with another supplier; for example you code up a web design for John, and have Jane write your SQL for your e-commerce site. The site is also well designed and very attractive with some great imagery.
Bobby Paterson told us that by using his website – happie.st - we can help manage our emotional welfare and make positive changes. Currently in its Beta version, you can set your happy habits ranging from wisdom to healthy eating to getting physical which should help the user embrace change and themselves become more positive – and happy. Sign up for the beta at happie.st.
Adrià Mercader showed us that there is to more to finding you way on the web than Google Maps. By using other API’s, such as CloudMade and OS OpenSpace we can offer richer maps with more data, or even just a simple alternative. You can see his presentation at his website.
Keep a look out for the next event at supermondays.org
February 5th, 2011