Tim O'Reilly has recently been advocating that as an industry we focus on building stuff that matters. In response, I want to try and present a way of building startups that can realize that dream. We're living in a time of renewed possibility for startups. Major trends - from the pain of the economic crisis to the disruption of web 2.0 - are breaking the old models and paving the way for a new breed of company. I call it the Lean Startup. The Lean Startup is a disciplined approach to building companies that matter. Eric Ries 2009-03-20T15:49:41-08:10

Though the conventional wisdom on the Internet is that the economic benefits of cloud computing fail for applications with steady usage needs, the reality is that the commodity-server to cloud-server comparisons on which this wisdom is based are flawed. The reality is that the cloud often provides compelling economic benefits even when you have an application with consistent resource demands. George Reese 2009-03-20T08:20:40-08:13

Duration: Approximately 60 minutes.

Cost: Free

Amazon has rapidly established itself as the major player in the infrastructure as a service (IaaS) domain of cloud computing. Author of Cloud Application Architectures and enStratus founder and CTO George Reese provides this introduction into establishing a cloud infrastructure through Amazon Web Services. Learn how to setup servers and launch them into production through the Amazon web console.

About George Reese

George Reese is the founder of two Minneapolis-based companies, enStratus Networks LLC (maker of high-end cloud infrastructure management tools) and Valtira LLC (maker of the Valtira Online Marketing Platform). Over the past 15 years, George has authored a number of technology books, including MySQL Pocket Reference, Database Programming with JDBC and Java, Java Database Best Practices, and the upcoming Web Architecture and Programming in the Cloud.

Throughout the Internet era, George has spent his career building enterprise tools for developers and delivering solutions to the marketing domain. He was an influential force in the evolution of online gaming through the creation of a number of Open Source MUD libraries and he created the first JDBC driver in 1996-the Open Source mSQL-JDBC. Most recently, George has been involved in the development of systems to support the deployment of transactional web applications in the cloud.

George holds a BA in Philosophy from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management in Evanston, Illinois. He currently lives in Minnesota with his wife Monique and his daughters Kyra and Lindsey.

George Reese 2009-03-20T13:45:23-08:11

A guide to building usable, aesthetically pleasing interfaces for web sites and web applications by applying timeless principles of user-centered design. This book focuses on practical applications, by walking readers step-by-step through the process of creating user friendly interfaces for the modern web. Elliot Jay Stocks 2009-03-20T12:18:07-08:12 PRINT

World-renowned ActionScript guru and educator Colin Moock takes viewers to bucolic, seaside Inverness, CA for a one-of-a-kind learning experience. Beautifully filmed with extraordinary production values and clearly presented, Colin Moock's Lost ActionScript 3.0 Weekend isn't just another dry video offering. Instead Moock, the bestselling author of Essential ActionScript 3.0, and friends turn fireside chats, cabin discussions, and even some clowning around into compelling real-world lessons. Get inspired...and get lost in ActionScript 3.0. Watch the video trailer now. Sara Peyton 2009-03-19T18:49:25-08:14

Digital imaging master and unlikely crooner Deke McClelland tenders an original new love song to kick off the next round of his popular video podcast series, dekePod. Titled "The Droplet Song (A Love Song to a Lost Feature in Photoshop)," Deke's goofily romantic new tune honors one of Photoshop's most arcane but useful automation features. Watch dekePod now. Sara Peyton 2009-03-19T18:49:25-08:15

Guest blogger Rep. Mike Honda, D-San Jose, serves in the U.S. Congress on the House Appropriations subcommittee on the Legislative Branch. Tim recently asked readers of this blog to help provide me with guidance on the best way to make official legislative databases available to the developer community. The question, which also made its way onto Slashdot, led to a... Mike Honda 2009-03-19T18:49:25-08:16

Wikipedia is one of the most significant sites on the web. It produces vast quantities of data and the Wikimedia foundation tries to make all of it available to the public. Wikipedia's traffic data can be an insight into what's interesting on the web. Wikirank, currently in closed beta, shares that information very cleanly. On its homepage Wikirank shows... Brady Forrest 2009-03-19T18:49:25-08:17

This week's roundup include discussion of the Sun/IBM rumors, the future of newspapers, Microsoft and Science Commons teaming up, and the weekly podcast quiz.... James Turner 2009-03-19T18:49:25-08:18

Pack your bags for the Lost ActionScript Weekend. In Course 1 of this unique two-part DVD training series, you'll learn how to program in ActionScript 3.0, starting with the basics and moving into intermediate programming techniques. World-renowned ActionScript guru and educator Colin Moock presents this intimate learning experience, based on his bestselling O'Reilly book, Essential ActionScript 3.0, and his successful "ActionScript 3.0 From the Ground Up Tour." Colin Moock 2009-03-19T10:47:22-08:19 PRINT

Pack your bags for the Lost ActionScript Weekend. In Course 2 of this unique two-part DVD training series, you'll learn intermediate to advanced ActionScript 3.0 programming concepts. World-renowned ActionScript guru and educator Colin Moock presents this intimate learning experience, based on his bestselling O'Reilly book, Essential ActionScript 3.0, and his successful "ActionScript 3.0 From the Ground Up Tour." Colin Moock 2009-03-19T10:47:22-08:20 PRINT

The Missing Manual series (www.missingmanuals.com) presents a collection of tutorials to guide you through some popular features in Microsoft Office 2007. Covering topics from simple text formatting in Word all the way to creating a custom query in Access, each video is designed to get you up and running in under 10 minutes, perfect for the learner on the go. O'Reilly Media, Inc. 2009-03-19T10:47:22-08:21 PRINT

How best to encourage people to use an obscure but super-useful Photoshop feature? Rhyme, rhythm, and romance. Hence a music video that will make all your automation dreams come true. Give Deke five minutes of your time and he’ll set your world on fire. Deke McClelland 2009-03-19T04:47:40-08:22 Deke McClelland 00:05:20 dekePod Episode 012: The Droplet Song (A Love Song to a Lost Feature in Photoshop)

Since I discovered Twitterfall.com, I've become addicted to the site's constant stream of Twitter updates. The site works on a basic premise. Enter few search terms, and a 'waterfall' of matching tweets will slowly scroll down the screen. It is... Raymond Camden 2009-03-18T15:50:22-08:23

In his memo on transparency and open government, President Barack Obama made a down payment on his transparency promise by hiring Vivek Kundra, the CTO of Washington D.C., for the new post of government CIO. Kundra's visionary application of technology to the procurement process had attracted national attention, and with recovery.gov the centerpiece of his plans to give the public a view into how stimulus money was being spent, it looked like we were off to a good start. Then reality intervened. Tim O'Reilly 2009-03-18T15:50:22-08:24

Today's iPhone 3.0 Developer Preview was what I call a "block the kick" announcement. What's a block the kick? It is an effort to do such a good job of persuading your core constituency that any perceived momentum of the competition pales in comparison to your own that you block the competition's nascent momentum in its infancy. With 30M units sold across the iPhone + iPod touch line of multi-touch handhelds, and 800M downloads across 25K developer apps, today's event is about running up the score BEFORE the competition finds its footing with developers. Mark Sigal 2009-03-18T15:50:22-08:25

Excerpted from Chapter 18 of the Adobe AIR 1.5 Cookbook. Mashup applications are based on the possibility of consuming remote data sources, and to create one, you need a good understanding of the APIs available. AIR offers even greater possibilities for creating mashup applications and widgets. With AIR, you can go beyond all the sandbox security of the browser and add advanced features to the application to interact with the file system or local storage with SQLite. This chapter demonstrates how to integrate the Flickr, Yahoo Maps, and Twitter web services to create desktop mashup applications with AIR. Marco Casario 2009-03-18T15:50:22-08:26

We had such a fantastic response to our limerick contest yesterday that we decided to pick our winners in a special way. We wrote all the names down and put them in a cup, shook them up well, and started looking for people to pick out one of the three names. Keep reading to see who won... Mary Rotman 2009-03-18T15:50:21-08:27

Duration: Approximately 60 minutes.

Cost: Free

The modern digital camera is a powerful tool, capable of far more than the camera of yesterday. And yet many of us only see the familiar and are blind to the new. What are YOU missing?

For example:

• Almost all digital cameras provide dynamic user control over ISO and the sensitivity of the sensor. When did you last exercise this control?
• A digital image is only as good as the optics used to make it. Have you ever considered using imaging software to get rid of chromatic aberrations, or distortion?
• Does your digital camera lack a good wide angle of view? Do you know how easy it is to take multiple images and stitch them together with software to create stunning panoramas?
• Have you ever panicked when you saw your camera's white balance setting was all wrong? Do you know how easy it is to correct this imbalance with software, especially if you are shooting RAW?
• Have you used your digital camera's video features, and if not, why not?
• Are you aware how easy it is to add GPS tagging to your digital images, even if your digital camera doesn't offer this option?

In this webcast we will look at some commonly forgotten or unknown features of digital cameras and imaging software, then open the discussion to your experiences with the known and unknown world of digital photography.

About Mikkel Aaland

Mikkel Aaland is an award-winning photographer, workshop leader, and best-selling author of Shooting Digital, Photoshop RAW, Photoshop Lightroom 2 Adventure, and many more digital photography books. Since 2001 Aaland has been a regular guest on G4's Call For Help TV Program with Leo Laporte. In 2003 he was a guest columnist for newsweek.com. In 2004, Shooting Digital was named the best "Digital Photography" book of the year by the Designer's Bookshelf.

Aaland has been a pioneer in digital photography, an interest that dates back to a 1980 interview he conducted with Ansel Adams. When Aaland asked Adams what he would be pursuing if he were just starting out, Adams discussed at length his fascination with digital photographs of the planets. Aaland has pursued this new technology since its infancy. During the 1980s he reported on digital photography as west coast editor of the Swedish FOTO magazine, and wrote a column on the subject for American Photographer magazine. Aaland is one of the few original Adobe Lightroom's alpha and beta user, and he served as an unpaid advisor on the project for over a year.

Mikkel Aaland 2009-03-18T13:45:20-08:28

Search Engine Optimization for Flash dispels the myth that Flash-based websites won't show up in a web search by demonstrating exactly what you can do to make your site fully searchable -- no matter how much Flash it contains. You'll learn best practices for using HTML, CSS and JavaScript, as well as SWFObject, for building sites with Flash that will stand tall in search rankings. Todd Perkins 2009-03-18T09:48:06-08:29 PRINT or PDF