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2015 Prepared Talk Proposals

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There are a lot of exciting ways to deploy a stack nowadays. Many of your systems are fully virtualized. Docker is a compelling alternative, and there are also cloud options like Amazon's EC2. This talk will introduce Packer.io, a tool for creating identical machine images for multiple platforms (e.g., Docker, VMWare, VirtualBox, EC2, GCE, OpenStack, et al.) from a single source configuration. It works well with Ansible, Chef, Puppet, Salt, and plain old Bash scripts. And, it's designed to be scriptable so that builds can be automated. This presentation will show how easy it is to use Packer.io to bring up a set of related services like Fedora 4, Grinder, and Graphite. And, as an added value, all the buzzwords in this proposal will be defined and explained!
 
== Technology on your Wrist: Cross-platform Smartwatch Development for Libraries ==
* [[User:sanderson|Steven Carl Anderson]], sanderson@bpl.org, Boston Public Library (no previously accepted prepared talks but have done lightning talks in the past)
 
I'll be the first to admit: smartwatches are unlikely to completely revolutionize how a library provides online services. But I believe they still represent an opportunity to further enhance existing library services and resources in a unique way.
 
At the Boston Public Library (BPL), we're in the initial phases of designing a modest smartwatch app to provide notifications for circulation availability and checked-out-material due-date alerts by the end of current year. We're starting small, but we plan to evolve the concept over time as we see what (if any) traction such an application gets with potential users. For example, we plan to explore the possibility of adding "nearest branch to my current location" functionality to this app.
 
Despite the "development phase" of this application as of this writing, this talk is not being given by a novice. As a technology enthusiast, I've released [http://www.phdgaming.com/smartwatch_projects/ five smartwatch applications] and have had two of those be finalists in a [http://www.phdgaming.com/samsung_challenge/ Samsung sponsored development challenge]. This experience not only will allow for the BPL to avoid many beginner mistakes in its smartwatch app development but also gives a much more complete understanding of the smartwatch development ecosystem.
 
This talk will explore the following questions:
 
* What kinds of online library services could potentially be transformed or translated into the smartwatch/wearable domain? What kinds of services are better left alone? These questions are currently being explored and I'll talk about our plans and experiences. Included will be any statistical information from our application launch along with statistics from my personal development.
 
* How to support all the different operating systems these devices run without painful modifications to your codebase. (There's Tizen that is used by Samsung's Gear 2 and Gear S, Android Wear that is used by most other non-Apple manufacturers, then there is Apple's upcoming smartwatch itself, etc.)
 
* How to support different screen resolutions on such a small device. From round to rectangular to perfectly square, smartwatches come in all different shapes these days.
 
* What are the app stores like on these platforms? As I support multiple applications through different distribution networks, a guide to navigating how to distribute one's app is included and I'll reveal how these systems work “behind the curtain.”
 
* What are common issues and pitfalls to avoid when doing development? Tips on broken APIs and how to cope or optimizing your code will be included.
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