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Always On Architecture for Instant Messenger on Mobile Devices

Well, its true that mobile IM will hit big in the coming years. People will need a better way to stay connected with work, family, friends not only on call but also online with their avatar. On my recent search on available services that lets me stay connected on IM, I couldn’t find any. But I heard there is an application in T-Mobile Sidekick that lets us stay always on (not sure how far that is true).
First of all, sorry for putting such a lame concept diagram below… anyways, I began to wonder the complications, the companies (especially communication companies developing mobile apps) might be facing in getting something like this in the market. The only major problem I could think of is in keeping the data connection always on. So here’s a high level simple architecture of what I think can solve this problem. Basically, the intermediate server will store the session between the device and IM server keeping itself transperent. When someone trys to talk to the device, the intermediate server can alert the device and also send the message to the app sitting on the device. This way the user can maintain an Always On state even when the app is not open or device is not active. Any thoughts?

Update: I came across this iPhone/BlackBerry application BeejiveIM that let users stay connected (Always On feature) on their favorite IM client on the go. The service looks very promising but its little expensive $16 plus either Microsoft Exchange Server Connectiviy or subscription to MobileMe (both could be little expensive). It emails the user (via puch email feature) whenever a contact trys to initiate the conversation. Besides that, it has many other features that makes it a popular pick among various IM clients available for iPhone and BlackBerry. (more…)

Posted in Learning | No Comments »

Naming your website: What’s in a name?

Seriously, I began to wonder, how many startups are now coming up with stupid names that don’t make sense? The answer is almost all. Earlier, naming your company/website was supposed to the most important tasks. The name was supposed to reflect the service you do or the products you sell. While its still the case, but startups are now finding cute, cuddly names more attractive and responsive. Twitter, zoho, hulu, zivity, twine, drobo, smibs, orkut, wallop and many more. This clearly means that name isn’t that important these days. Whats more important is the service/product you provide. Of course that doesnt mean you will name your company achmadinijad

Posted in Sales & Marketing | 1 Comment »

Moving drupal site to a different server

With no clear indication on how difficult this could be, I went ahead and started moving a drupal site to a different server (on a different domain). I first followed the standard procedure that I do in Joomla. That is, getting all the files to my local, exporting the databases from phpmyadmin to my local and uploading the files to new server and importing the database to the new server and finally, changing the configuration settings (settings.php in drupal). Turns out that, thats how actually it is done in drupal too but depending on the intial site setup it could be really troublesome for few to figure out the right settings and permissions.
After working on a simple move for more than an hour, I finally realized that the old drupal site was using clean urls and inorder for it to work on new server I must change the .htaccess file to map to new domain. Well that makes sense. So for someone who plans to do that now or in future, here are the quick steps:

If you get stuck anywhere dont hessitate to comment.

1. Use any ftp client to download all the files (usuall all the files and folders under public_html folder) to your local.
2. Use phpmyadmin (or any compatible client for database) to select and export out all the tables (just tables, dont export out the database).
3. On your new server, create a new database and user (and of course map it to the database). Make note of database connection settings.
4. Again use phpmyadmin (or equivalent client for db) to import the downloaded tables to this newly created database.
5. Use ftp upload all the downloaded files and folders to the new server (keep the directory hirarchy as is).
6. Edit /public_html/sites/default/settings.php file to include new database connection strings
7. Optional (if you used clean urls on old site): Edit .htaccess file in /public_html/ folder to include new domain name.

Thats it. couple of steps and the site is totally on the new server and domain. This is a good practice for people who first load the site on test server then want to move to deployment server after completion. But anyways, if you need any assistance, do let me know.

Posted in Drupal | 1 Comment »

Ads are now welcome screens?

Would you like to be welcomed by your parents on your visit to them with a brief message on the new Insurance Policy from AIG that can transform your life? Well, imagine this, you walk into your parents place and at the door your dad comes up and the first thing he says; “AIG now offer detailed and personalized risk reports based on your daily habits. Join today and you could also qualify for a $500,000 grand price!…. [pause]….Hey son, come on in.. how are ya?”

That is how I feel when I see ads on my favorite sites. Forbes, Entrepreneur, Wired, AskMen, or whatever.. I dont understand how come ads are now the welcome screens? It annoys me so bad that I just feel like closing the damn window. I know its a great palce to put an ad, great for the company but reall? Do you want to annoy your visitors?

Posted in Intro | No Comments »