Tag Archives: open source

TechWeekend7 (#tw7): Mobile Application Development – 19 Feb

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TechWeekend 7 (#tw7) will focus on Mobile Application Development, and we have these talks lined up:

  • Application Development for Windows Phone 7 & Marketplace – by Mayur Tendulkar. With Nokia throwing all its weight behind Windows Phone 7 for all its smartphones, Windows Phone 7 has suddenly become a much more important platform than it was before. Get an overview of what Windows Phone 7 is in this talk. Mayur works on various mobile and location aware technologies at Zevenseas India. Click here for Mayur’s full background
  • Cross-Platform Mobile Application Development – by Rohit Ghatol. With the smartphone market becoming increasingly fragmented, frameworks like PhoneGap and Titanium are becoming popular as means of writing an app just once and deploying it across different mobile platforms. Rohit will talk about his experiences with using PhoneGap/Titanium, and will also touch upon how you could create your own cross-platform framework. Rohit is an associated architect for QuickOffice – the mobile office software suite. Click here for Rohit’s full background
  • Performance Tuning for Android Applications – by Anand Hariharan. Performance is a very critical factor for success of a mobile app, since cellphones are still under-powered as compared to the desktops. This talk will cover Java/Android performance tips, best practices; benchmarking and tracing tools, and what areas to look at in your app for improving performance. Anand is Director of Engineering–Product Development at the India office of Android-based tablet software maker TapNTap. Click here for Anand’s full background
  • Using HTML5/CSS3 for Mobile App development – Arnab Chakraborty. HTML5 is fast becoming an alternative to native apps for mobile app development. This talk will cover the specific features of HTML5 and of CSS3 that make it appropriate for development of mobile apps. Arnab is a senior developer at Thoughtworks. Click here for Arnab’s full profile

This event is free and open for anybody to attend. Please register here

About Techweekend

TechWeekend Pune is a volunteer run activity. TechWeekend talks are held on the 3rd Saturday of every month from 10am to 2pm at Sumant Moolgaonkar Auditorium, Ground Floor, ICC Trade Center, SB Road. Each TechWeekend event features 3 or 4 talks on advanced technical topics. These events are free for all to attend. See PuneTech articles about past techweekends to get an idea of the events.

Join the techweekend mailing list to keep in touch with the latest TechWeekend activities.

About the Sponsor – Microsoft

Many thanks to Microsoft for sponsoring the venue for Techweekend. Microsoft wants to get more closely involved with the tech community in Pune, and particularly the open source enthusiasts – with the intention of making everybody aware that their cloud technologies (like Azure) actually play well with open source, and that you can deploy your php applications, your drupal/joomla installs on Azure.

Register

This event is free and open for anybody to attend. Please register here

What to expect at GNUnify – Pune’s biggest open source conference – 11/12 Feb

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GNUnify is possibly India’s biggest open source conference and it is happening in Pune on 11th and 12th February. The schedule (day 1, and day 2) is up and there’s a lot of interesting stuff.

There are workshops, talks, labs, and a wikipedia track. Here are what we believe are the highlights:

  • Workshops: There’s one workshop on efficient numerical computing with Scilab, and another on data visualization with R. Data visualization, data analysis and in general number crunching will be one of the most important activities of all software development in the next 5 years, so this is something that people should take an interest in. For beginners, there’s a two-day workshop on building websites quickly with drupal. And the ‘Beginning with Python’ workshop is another one you should take an interest in because python is a great language to learn and use. (There are also workshops on firewalls, GCC, C+Linux, and LaTeX that you can check out.)

  • Talks: there’s a bunch of talks on security, so anybody interested in this area has a good choice. Understanding Firewalls. Linux Hardening. Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing. For the systems hackers there’s embedded systems design and development, there’s virtual networks various linux utilities, and linux kernel debugging. There’s lots to choose from for people in the application layer too: harnessing the poewr of sms for your web portal, Android native development, data visualization. There are a bunch of talks on mediawiki (the software that runs wikipedia) and Mozilla. And a talk on Haskell – one of the most interesting programming languages that you could learn today.

And remember, many of these talks are not by local Pune people; a lot of the speakers are travelling from outside Pune, and in fact, from outside India for these talks. So, if you miss these talks, you will not get a chance to hear them again for a long time.

And even after that long laundry list of talks that I’ve mentioned, there are a whole lot of other talks, labs, and workshops that I’ve missed out. So take a look at the GNUnify website and register to attend.

This event is free and open for anybody to attend. Please register here

PHPCamp is back – Register to be a Speaker

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India’s largest unconference, PHPCamp is back. PHPCamp 2011 will be on Saturday, 5th March, 2011. The venue is not yet decided but the call for speakers is out.

If you’ve done any interesting work in PHP, this is your chance to show it off to 100s of PHP developers and students (actually the number has been known to even go up to 1000). If your company is doing cool PHP work, then the easiest way to attract star PHP developers is to give a talk at PHPCamp.

PHPCamp is a “barcamp” for PHP developers and enthusiasts. It is basically an unorganized conference where anybody can attend, it is free and open to all, and anybody can register to be a speaker.

For more information check out the PHPCamp FAQ

Talk about your work at Pune’s GNUnify open source conference – CFP open

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GNUnify is one of the top international free/open source software conferences in India. Click on the logo to see all PuneTech articles about GNUnify
GNUnify is one of the top international free/open source software conferences in India. Click on the logo to see all PuneTech articles about GNUnify

Every year since 2003, Pune has been hosting GNUnify, a major open source conference, organized by the Pune Linux Users Group and SICSR (Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research). It attracts a number of students and professionals, not just from all over India, but also other parts of the world.

It’s a two day program with a number of different tracks: 1-hour presentations on tech topics, 2-3 hour workshops, and “birds of a feather” discussion groups.

They are looking for speakers, and you should submit a talk proposal if you have used open source software work in one of these areas:

  • Education
  • Scientic Computing
  • Software Development
    • Web Technoligies
    • System Programming
    • Embedded / Mobile Applications
  • System Administration

Why take the effort?

Because, it helps you, and it the community; because more proposals means a higher quality conference. You could choose to do a presentation that is basic, targeted towards beginners and students, to initiate them into the world of open source, or if you have expertise in a specific field or FOSS software package, you can target your presentation to other professionals in the field who would like to learn from your experiences.

Submit a proposal. It takes very little effort right now. All you need to do is submit a one-paragraph abstract of what you’re going to talk about. The conference is on 11th and 12th Feb, in Pune, giving you enough time to prepare.

Why bother?

This PuneTech’s standard exhortation as to why PuneTech readers should submit proposals for such CFPs:

  • GNUnify is a good conference.
  • If you’re accepted as a speaker, you get travel costs (upto Rs 5000, based on actuals) and accomodation. (All those reading PuneTech from outside Pune, grab this chance to visit the most happening tech community in India.)
  • Become famous: being a speaker at a national conference is good for visibility, and all engineers should strive for visibility. It’s very important. Almost as important as being a good programmer. (Maybe more?)
  • Help out a good Pune initiative. More submissions will improve the quality of the conference, and having a high quality conference in Pune improves the overall stature of Pune as an emerging IT powerhouse.

How

Didn’t I say it was easy?

What are you waiting for. click and click.

Wikipedia 10th Anniversary Celebrations in Pune – 3 Events

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15th January 2011 is the 10th Anniversary of the launch of Wikipedia. To celebrate, the wikipedians in the city have organized three events: two events this weekend, and then the “main” event on 15th January. The events are as follows:

Marathi Wikipedia meetup

8th January, 1830 – 2000 hrs, SICSR,
Atur Centre, Model Colony. Room No 704. 7th floor
Basic idea is to discuss contributions to the Marathi Wikipedia. Mandar Kulkarni is coordinating.

Pune photothon – Pune loves Wikimedia Commons

09 Jan 2011, 9 AM at Shaniwar Wada gate.
All interested photographers meet there.
The basic idea is to take photographs which will be uploaded to Wikipedia (technically, they will be uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons.) Sudhanwa Jogalekar is coordinating.

Wikipedia 10th Anniversary Celebrations Main Event

This event will on 15 Jan, 6:30pm, in room 707, 7th Floor, SICSR, Model Colony.

The schedule is as follows:

  • Presentation on Wikipedia (ten minutes)
  • Short talk on Marathi Wikipedia (ten minutes).
  • Short talk on 7th Ornithology Course’s contribution to Wikipedia with Uploading of the three improved articles on Indian Birds (ten minutes).
  • Talk on contribution to Wikimedia Commons with symbolic upload of two photographs, one each of two TFs – Wikimedia Commons loves Pune, and
    Hill-forts of Maharashtra (ten minutes).
  • Talk on contribution made by TEDxPUNE’s event for college students on 15 Jan 2011 (ten minutes).
  • Hallmark address by Mr Barry Newstead from Wikimedia Foundation.
  • Vote of thanks.
  • Refreshments.

All the above events are free for all to attend. No registration is required.

Wikipedia & Indian Developers – Wikimedia/Mediawiki meetup in Pune – 13 Dec

External Visitors,

Erik Möller, Danese Cooper, and Alolita Sharma, all senior members of the Wikimedia Foundation (the “NGO” behind Wikipedia) are visiting Pune, and a meeting has been organized for everyone interested in Wikipedia to meet them and talk about the product strategy, especially in reference to India and Indian developers.

What’s Wikimedia? What’s Mediawiki?

The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit charitable organization behind Wikipedia and a bunch of other “crowdsourced” reference websites like: Wiktionary (a dictionary), Wikiquote, Wikibooks, Wikinews, etc. These are the guys who collect money to keep the Wikipedia and all other projects running, and also pay for the development and maintainence of the software, servers, and other things.

Mediawiki is the software that Wikipedia uses. This is basically an open source “wiki” software written in PHP. It can be freely downloaded by anyone who wishes to host a wiki with features similar to Wikipedia. For example, the PuneTech wiki also runs on Mediawiki software.

Visitors’ details

  • Erik Möller, Deputy Directory, Wikimedia Foundation, also responsible for product strategy
  • Danese Cooper, CTO of the Wikimedia Foundation
  • Alolita Sharma, Engineering Programs Manager, Wikimedia Foundation, manages the features development team
  • (Maybe) Bishakha Datta, Board of Trustees, Wikimedia Foundation might also join them (not yet confirmed)

They are all doing a tour of India (Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore)…

Agenda for the Meeting

The purpose of the meeting is to get in touch with India’s engineering and open source community. The key questions they’re hoping to explore include:

  • Localization issues concerning Indic languages
  • Other MediaWiki improvements that would make the sites more useful in India
  • Improvements to the mobile gateway
  • Potential partners in developing and deploying offline versions of Wikimedia content.

Logistics

Date: Monday, 13 December, 6:30pm
Venue: SICSR, Model Colony, 7th Floor
Registration: This meeting is free and open for all to attend. No registration is required.

Android/iPhone/BlackBerry/Nokia – Which platform(s) should developers target

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(I attended the IndicThreads Conference on Mobile Application Development today. This article is based on presentations made there and conversations I had with some of the presenters.)

The smartphones market is very fragmented.

In 3Q2010, Symbian had 37% of the smartphone market, Android was second with 25% (it was at 2% 18 months ago), and iOS in third place with 16%. RIM (Blackberry) was next. Windows was losing.

So, what should a developer do? Which to target?

I talked to Romin Irani of Xoriant about this problem, and whether HTML5 is the answer to these issues. My key takeaway’s from this conversation were:

  • HTML5 is here already. I was under the impression that HTML5 is something that will arrive sometime in the near future. Romin pointed out that HTML5 support is pretty good even today, especially if you’re thinking of mobile phone browsers.
  • But HTML5 not the answer to all your problems. If you need access to device sensors, you’re probably better off with a native app. If you want access to the appstore/marketplace, then you need a native app. HTML5 doesn’t qualify!
  • If you’re a new startup, and you want to build a mobile app, what should you do? These are the guidelines:
    • If you don’t need device sensors, and don’t need to be in the appstore/marketplace, strongly consider a HTML5+CSS+JavaScript app
    • If you want to go after the US market, you must have an iPhone native app. (Maybe followed by Android)
    • If you want to go after Europe market, then you will need to have a Nokia based native app, just for the sheer numbers they have

Rohit Nayak of Talentica had talked about the use of cross-platform app development frameworks like Titanium and PhoneGap. Both allow you to write apps in JavaScript. Titanium cross-compiles them to native apps on each platform. PhoneGap uses a modified version of the browser so that your app is HTML+CSS+JavaScript, but there are modifications that allow you to access native phone features (like sensors).

There are some limitations, and such apps aren’t as good as native apps.

So, would he really recommend the use of PhoneGap/Titanium for developing apps? Rohit had this to say:

  • Titanium and PhoneGap are rapidly getting better and better. More and more apps built using them are showing up on the android marketplace.
  • If you already know JavaScript, and need to get to the market quickly, you should definitely consider using one of these tools
  • If you don’t really need advanced native features of any specific platform, then it makes a lot of sense to go this route
  • If you are a software outsourcing company that’s building apps for third parties, you should seriously considering building a team that uses Titanium. For most of your customers, you’ll be able to quickly complete an app that satisfies them. Otherwise, you’re faced with a nightmare – you’ll need to build teams with expertise in each of the major platforms, and this is almost impossible to do with today’s attrition.

The last few points seem very similar to the advantages of HTML5, so I asked Rohit whether PhoneGap/Titanium had any advantages over HTML5. Answer:

  • PhoneGap/Titanium generally support more native features than HTML is planning on supporting
  • An app built Titanium/PhoneGap can go on the appstore/marketplace.
  • An HTML5 app necessarily requires you to have a “cloud” presence – a web server and an API, and supporting all the online connections. PhoneGap/Titanium application does not require any of that.

Calling all Drupal users, developers and enthusiasts in Pune – Drupal Meeup Nov 13

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Dipench says:

This is call for general drupal meetup in city of pune, more and more consulting shops and product startups are now using drupal and its a nice time to start regular monthly meetups to keep a pulse on how people are using drupal. Agenda for the meetup is almost anything under the sun related to drupal, but few specific things we can discuss:

1> How to go about having regular monthly meetups, whats needed and how to go about it – 30 mins
2> Ad hoc drupal related issues/questions people might have – 30 mins
3> Lightning talks – 30 mins ( Could be about anything related to drupal )

Saturday, Nov 13th, 4pm, at SICSR, Model colony. Free for all to attend. No registration required.

Mini DebConf – conference for developers interested in Debian GNU/Linux OS – 7/8 Aug

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(This weekend, Pune will play host to Mini DebConf, a two-day conference targeting students and developers interested in developing for the Debian GNU/Linux Operating system. Debian is one of the most popular distributions of the Linux operating system and free software packages, and is also the base upon with the Ubuntu Linux distributions are based. Debian is known for relatively strict adherence to the Unix and free software philosophies as well as for using collaborative software development and testing processes.

This article about Mini DebConf is written by Amit Karpe for his blog, and is reproduced here with permission (with a few minor modifications))

Debian OpenLogo
Image via Wikipedia. Click on the logo to see more PuneTech articles about Linux.

MiniDebConf India 2010 will be held in College of Engineering Pune on August 7th and 8th, 2010!

Mini DebConf India 2010 is organized by DebianIndia in association with Uncode(Lokayat Free Software Initiative), CoFSUG(COEP Free Software user Group), FSUGP(Free Software User Group of PICT) and PLUG(Pune Linux User Group).

This is great opportunity where we can meet contributors who actually contribute to the Debian Project. You will also get knowledge about Debian and Ubuntu (which is derived from Debain). You will find a great community where students are really leading activities. You will find next generation leaders, innovators, coders, hackers discussing ideas & exciting them.

In one of the first sessions, Praveen will introduce the audience to the concept of Debian as a Universal Operating System. Later, Kartik & team will conduct a workshop where you will get hands on Debian Developer toolbox. And I think the most important workshop will be Debian Packaging by Kartik & team where you can learn how to create .deb packages, which commands to use, which processes to follow. So you can create your own packages, or you can make changes in existing packages. This workshop is highly recommended for those who want to start contributing to Debian or Ubuntu Projects.

On Sunday we have a talk on Debian Edu by Vikram Vincent in which he is going to share his experience of helping children learn with Debian Edu. There will be open discussion on Collaboration between Debian, Ubuntu and BOSS. For those who don’t know what is BOSS – BOSS is Bharat Operating System Solutions a Linux distribution developed in India by NRCFOSS (National Resource Centre for Free/Open Source Software). Also there will be an open discussion on Debian Community Activities and future plans. I hope that students will come forward to ask questions as well as to seek help in organizing college level meetings & activities.

After that there will be a more hands on session building on top of the workshops on Saturday. There will be a Bug Squashing Party and Packaging Sessions.

Overall the sessions/workshop look awesome. No one can afford to miss this event. Specially those who are interested in a career in Free & Open Source Technologies, systems or networking administration.

This is a free event. Anybody can attend. Registration is open now! For schedule, see the event wiki.

Venue: College of Engineering Pune, Besides Sancheti Hospital, Shivajinagar, Pune.

See original article

About the Author – Amit Karpe

Amit Karpe is a Pune-based software engineer and blogger who is active in Free and Open Source Software, Pune Linux Users Group, Ubuntu, Android, ARM, Beagle Board, Hawk Board, Google, Web-2.0, CMS, Drupal, Seva Sahayog, IT Milan, Marathi, and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He blogs at http://amitkarpe.com, and you can follow him on twitter as @amitkarpe.

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6 events in next 4 days: science, maths, cleantech, IP and open source

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The events in Pune in the next four days are a great example of the diversity of Pune in the “science and technology” sector. Far too often, we assume that technology means software technology, but Pune does have much more. NCL is one of the top institutes in the country for chemical technology, and has a history of coming up with chemical science breakthroughs that make it into commercial products. Today, a scientist from NCL will give a talk on the patent and other intellectual property issues that scientists and small businesses should know about. The Bhaskaracharya Pratishthana is a great institute of Mathematics, and it regularly schedules very interesting talks for people interested in Mathematics. (And if you’re a software engineer who is not interested in Mathematics, you should be ashamed of yourself.) Monday will have a talk on probiotics – the use of bacteria and other micro-organisms in industrial waste treatements and other cleantech. And by the way, if you’re interested in finding out what other world-class institutions Pune has, (and it’s a huge number!), check out PuneTech’s top ranked websites of Pune page.

Click on the logo to get all PuneTech articles about events in Pune
Click on the logo to get all PuneTech articles about events in Pune

And all of this is in addition to our usual talks on open source (the Pune Linux Users Group), issues for small startups (the Pune Open Coffee Club), and Microsoft Technologies (the Pune User Group).

This weekend – try to get exposure to a different science & technology community than the one you normally hang out with.

Here are the details:

Jul 3, 2010: Ancient Indian Combinatorial Methods – by Prof Sridharan CMI at Bhaskaracharya Pratisthan

Posted: 29 Jun 2010 11:08 PM PDT

Professor Sridharan, Chennai Mathematical Institute, Chennai, will
give a lecture at Bhaskaracharya Pratishthana.

Topic: Differences in Style but not in Substance: Ancient Indian
Combinatorial Methods

This lecture is free for all to attend. No registration required.

Jul 5, 2010: PuneCleanTech event: Probiotic applications in CleanTech at Venture Center, NCL Innovation Park

Posted: 29 Jun 2010 09:21 PM PDT

PuneCleanTech is proud to present an enlightening talk on ‘Probiotics in CleanTech’ on July 5th, 2010 at 4:00pm at the NCL Innovation Center. The talk will be presented by Dr. Pillai, a renowned authority on the subject. This event is supported by Fusiontech Ventures and NCL Venture Center.

As you know, Probiotics is the use of beneficial micro-organisms to increase the health, vitality and efficiency of various animal processes. The same techniques can be applied to Industrial activity in areas such as soil remediation, effluent treatment, waste management etc. The talk will focus on such applications of Probiotics.

The talk will be suitable for all entities that are actively dealing with such technologies (such as Praj) or might benefit from their applications to industrial and municipal waste management. As a result, institutions such as MCCIA and Pune Municipal Corporation might benefit from this talk. If you agree, please canvass it within your or affiliated organizations.

This broad-ranging talk should be interesting also for concerned citizenry (such as ecological society) and the scientific/technological elites (such as NCL), as well as, educational and research institutes.

As always, the talk is free but the seating is limited to first 60 people. There is no RSVP and the seating will be on a ‘first at the door gets the first chair’ basis 🙂

Jul 2, 2010: Venture Center’s IP Center Event: IP overview by Dr. Tiwari of NCL IP Gropu at Venture Center, NCL Innovation Park

Posted: 29 Jun 2010 09:18 PM PDT

Dr. Nitin Tiwari, a scientist with NCL and part of the NCL IP Group will talk about Intellectual Property. The focus will be general awareness of IP for small and medium enterprises.

This is a free event . It is open to all

Jul 3, 2010: POCC Meet: “Contracts and Intellectual Property” at GrubShup

Posted: 29 Jun 2010 09:15 PM PDT

Are the following significant problem areas for your startup?
* Non-payment from clients who have already taken delivery (ITES, other domains)
* Intellectual Property (trademark violations, copyright enforcement)
* Industry Ethics, price cutting by competitors (who then don’t deliver quality)

Our next meetup is focused on how entrepreneurs deal with these issues.

Attending Counsels:
Kaushik Kute http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kaushik-kute/8/b26/1bb

This is a free event. Anybody can attend. Register here: http://punestartups.ning.com/events/event/show?id=1988582%3AEvent%3A35767&xg_source=msg_invite_event

Jul 3, 2010: Pune Linux Users Group – Monthly Meeting at Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research

Posted: 29 Jun 2010 09:11 PM PDT

PLUG meeting for July is scheduled on Saturday 3rd July, 4 pm @ SICSR

These are the details:
Location: SICSR, Atur Centre, Model Colony.
Room No 704. 7th floor ( room no. may change )
Time: 4 pm

Agenda:

1. We will have a talk on distributed version control and TeamGit by
Abhijit Bhopatkar. Abhijit Bhopatkar is the author of TeamGit
(http://www.devslashzero.com/teamgit).
Audience: Anyone interested in version control
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revision_control), TeamGit, and/or
contributing to an interesting Qt project.
2. Open discussion and QA session

This event is free for all to attend. No registration required.

Jul 3, 2010: Microsoft Community Tech Day at Shekhar Natu Hall

Posted: 29 Jun 2010 07:24 PM PDT

Agenda:
9:00am – 9:30am Registration
9.30am – 9.45am Tea Break
09.45am – 10.00am Keynote
10:00am – 11:00am What’s new in Windows Server 2008 R2 SP 1 – Aviraj Ajgekar
11.00am – 12.00pm Setting Up Remote Access Service on Windows Server 2008 R2 for VPN – Dev Chaudhari
12.00pm – 01.00pm Lunch
01.00pm – 02.00pm Introduction to Forefront Identity Manager 2010 – Mayur Deshpande
02.00pm – 03.00pm Deploying application using Application Virtualization (App-V) – Ninad Doshi
03:00pm – 04:00pm Tea Break & Networking

This event is free for all to attend. Register here: http://www.communitytechdays.com/Registration1.aspx?Status=NotFound&login=offline