Happy days! The new Roomie website is usable!
January 16th, 2012Available at http://roomiebot.com, the new Roomie website works! I use the website to turn lights and things on and off from my desktop computer, laptop, smartphone, and and old still-has-a-browser iPod touch.
I spend most of my time on the Devices page, which lists all of the devices in all home automation networks on my account. (Right now I only have a single Z-Wave network, but in theory I could have a potpourri of different networks that include other existing home automation frameworks, IR transceivers, and—I dunno—USB missile launchers?)
Anyway, the UI all works, and dynamically updates when a devices state changes. Cool!
More on Roomie’s website rewrite
December 11th, 2011As stated in my previous post about Roomie, I’ve been using a lot of brain juice to rewrite Roomie’s website. I wrote the original website in ASP.NET with Web Forms, which was pretty standard for the time. Although technology like ASP.NET MVC and the Entity Framework existed in some form, they weren’t even on my radar. So after some coding and hacking and pushing through unfamiliar problems, I eventually got a workable website. (This website, though not the final version, is pictured in this post.)
After merging all of Roomie’s desktop and web components into one self-aware Visual Studio solution, learning a ton of new technology, and a little trial and error, I now have the Roomie desktop client talking directly to the new website. Best of all, I can locally debug everything which means that I can get quicker feedback on code changes and (shrug?) even develop offline. Below I have a simple example pictured. A more impressive example is when I tell the Roomie desktop client to say something using text-to-speech, but obviously that would not convey over a screenshot.
Hey! Roomie is still here.
November 22nd, 2011Woooh! I have not blogged about Roomie in a looong time! Just like I came to a dead-end with Roomie’s desktop client component and re-wrote it, I came to a dead-end with Roomie’s web component. I started out using ASP.NET, C#, and Web Forms. Web Forms made it really easy for me to do web development using my experience programming desktop applications with WinForms. Last year I reached the limits of what WinForms would offer, and I needed something more powerful. I discovered ASP.NET MVC, which was totally new and strange and awesome. But woes, the darn thing updates all the time! That’s great, except that I was learning MVC2 while MVC3 was in development.
Needless to say, I was daunted by the huge task of migrating the whole Roomie website over from an old technology. I also wanted to take the opportunity to learn more about CSS, and JavaScript, jQuery, AJAX, LINQ, the .NET Entity Framework, and anything else that I didn’t know I needed to know. All of that is still in progress, but I am not to the point where I have started a new website, though it is not live yet.
Pretty! 
Notebook Excerpts: Ponderings
September 21st, 2011Over the summer I purchased a couple pocket-sized Moleskine notebooks to carry with me. One of my motivations was the desire to emulate other smart people who carry notebooks. Another was that if I saw someone with a notebook sticking out of their back pocket I would instantly find them more attractive. As my first notebook fills up, I have decided to scan interesting pages and share them here.
This page, started on Thursday, January 7, 2011, is labeled “Ponderings.” I revisited the page, pen in hand, whenever I had a thought-provoking idea, quip, or something like that.
David’s Dictionary for the Internet Age: Relike
August 30th, 2011Relike (verb)
To unlike and again like a post previously-liked post, e.g., picture, text, or video, on a social networking site in order to produce a notification for the target, e.g., content owner or someone tagged in the post, and remind them that you still like the post. The relike is commonly used as a derpy way to tell the target that the person performing the relike as lubby dubby feelings for the target.
Example usage:
I am hopeless. The best I can do is occasionally relike my favorite photos of him until he maybe gets the hint.
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