WOW! Rimac Nevera Shatters Tesla’s Nurburgring Lap Record for Electric Vehicles

 It may be a while before we see more mainstream EV classes in motorsports, but that day is coming very soon.  The most dominant harbinger of this is EVs continuing to shatter records due to the electric vehicles having full torque at any RPM. Literally, any EV will outperform it's Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) counterpart in terms of horsepower to weight.  Note that EVs generally weigh more but given ICEs have had a century of evolution ahead of them, it should not be long before they catch up.  After all, who would not want to have such a sexy vehicle in their garage?

The Rimac Nevera has bested the Tesla Model S Plaid Track Pack record at the Nürburgring by over 20 seconds. With a blistering time of 7:05:298 (7 minutes and 5.298 seconds), it pushes Tesla into second place.  My only hope is that Elon Musk reads this and decides to embark on an EV racing program to reclaim the record.  Motorsports is the ultimate driver of increased performance.

To put this into perspective, it is the 19th fastest lap time record at the speedway - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_N%C3%BCrburgring_Nordschleife_lap_times.  

We had hoped to have one at the Fully Charged Live show in Vancouver Sep 8-10.  It is a longshot, but we are working on it.

Can new NASA developed batteries make long-haul electric flights possible?

As reported by Euronews:

"New battery technology being developed by NASA could help to revolutionise air travel.

Aviation makes up around 2.4 per cent of global CO2 emissions. For a long time, scientists have been searching for a way to electrify air travel and eliminate these emissions.

But current battery technology only works for some lighter aircraft like drones. It doesn’t supply enough power or range for passenger aircraft meaning they are rare and not widely used"

So what is the reality here and how far off is it? Lithium-ion batteries are great for most electric vehicles (EVs) and other micromobility vehicles like eBikes, eScooters and eSkateboards,  but they fail to meet the strict safety standards for aviation.  Lithium Ion batteries are literally so volatile, that the ATA rules state they must be transported in Cargo Aircraft Only (CAO).  They are shipped under the ATA classification UN 3171 and must also be discharged to less than 30% according to UN packing rule 965.  One of the main reason is that Lithium Ion batteries are flammable. 

While there are probably ways to mitigate the safety risks, NASA has been exploring alternatives. NASA’s Solid-state Architecture Batteries for Enhanced Rechargeability and Safety (SABERS) projectis developing solid-state batteries as an alternative to Lithium Ion. These batteries not only meet the power requirements, they also retain their state if impacted, making them ideal for use as aircraft power sources.

eAviation is still in its' infancy. It was less than 3 years ago when Harbour Air made the world's first commercial aircraft flight using all electric power. WIth NASA as a backer however, it is likely to accelerate the transition to clean aircraft operation.  Note that this is a metric which must be carefully calculated as upstream CO2 emissions need to be factored in to the equation. In other words, it makes no sense to make an electric aircraft if the battery packs take more GHGs to produce than the aircraft emits over its' lifetime.

NASAs' prototype sulphur selenium battery developed by the project produces 500 watt-hours of energy per kilogram of battery. That is double the energy density of a standard lithium-ion battery.

To learn more, come by Fully Charged LIVE at the Vancouver Convention Centre September 8-10, 2023 and find me. I love to talk about this stuff.

The future is so bright, I may have to wear shades!

Apply to join the Canadian TCS program at GITEX 2023: The largest tech and startup event in Dubai!

Tech companies with eyes on the UAE as their next global destination are invited to join the Trade Commissioner Service (TCS)'s B2B program occurring on the margins of GITEX 2023, one of the world's largest and most influential technology shows. The event routinely brings together thought‑leaders, creators, innovators, and decision‑makers to discuss, debate and showcase new products, as well as to identify future opportunities. The event covers the themes of AI, IoT, 5G, cloud, big data, cybersecurity, blockchain, quantum computing, fintech, immersive marketing, gaming, metaverse, urban mobility, smart city and sustainability.

If selected for the TCS business‑to‑business (B2B) program, you will:

• Attend preorganized one‑on‑one B2B meetings with local companies onsite
• Participate in high‑level discussions with government agencies and regulatory bodies
• Receive advice from trade commissioners ingrained in the local market

Date: October 16‑20, 2023

Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Application deadline: September 4, 2023

Cost: Free*

Any Cleantech Canadian startups should think of applying asap.  There is no cost to participate in the GITEX 2023 B2B program. If you intend to take part in the in‑person meetings from October 16‑20, you will need to purchase a GITEX Conference ticket to access the B2B meeting site (DWTC).

The Trade Commissioner Service (TCS) helps Canadian businesses of all sizes succeed in international markets with export advisory services, funding and accelerator programs. With a presence in more than 160 cities worldwide, the TCS can help you go global.

Fully Charged LIVE - Vancouver, Sep 8-10, 2023

I am very happy to report that I am working as a contractor with Fully Charged LIVE with the Vancouver team doing technical sales.  Billed as the World’s Number 1 Home Energy & Electric Vehicle Show, Fully Charged LIVE (FCL) is coming to Vancouver September 8-10, 2023.  This will be one of only six Fully Charged Live events held around the world in 2023 and only one of two in North America.  The Live show was forged from the massive success of the Fully Charged Show, which started as a single Youtube Channel in 2010 that has now grown to a Clean Tech media powerhouse online and through social media with nearly 1M subscribers and over 4M views per month.  

The most awesome thing about this is I am working for Kryton!  If you are a Red Dwarf fan, you will understand.  Robert is one of the most gifted and talented people of our era and I was lucky enough to meet him last year in person. If you do not know Red Dwarf, please watch at least one episode of the cult classic BBC series.   It turns out Robert Llewellyn shares the same passion I have to save our planet form the perils of GHGs.  I am honored to be a part of the team with Jo, Dan, Jason and others.

FCL Canada will showcase what is new and next for electrification, renewable energy and clean technologies for consumers and businesses alike, all while hosting world class presentations from industry experts and Fully Charged personalities.  Clean Energy is what FCL is all about and with the full support of our Title Sponsor BC Hydro, FCL is working with industry, government, the private sector, sustainable leaders and industry experts to showcase everything to help electrify our lives and our future.

The event has a strong emphasis on transportation with a major focus on EV’s but including everything from e-bikes to micro-mobility, transit, commercial vehicles, marine vessels and even airplanes, all while presenting charging options, mobility planning and various related products and services. Attendees can explore and even test pilot a wide variety of transportation and mobility options of all shapes and sizes to fit their lifestyle and needs.  FCL has a variety of test drive/ride options including, an indoor/outdoor EV test drive, a LSV (Low Speed Vehicle) test drive, E-Bike track and Seawall access, and a Micro Machine test track.  

FCL also presents ways of transforming your homes and businesses to be more efficient with solar and wind technologies, battery storage, heat pumps, insulation, smart control tech and the latest and greatest for efficiency and aesthetics. The internationally celebrated feature, the Home Energy Advice Team (HEAT), presented by Vancity, will allow attendees the opportunity to book one-on-one time with industry experts to discuss their personal household considerations and plans to be more energy conscious.   

Government programs, municipal governments, trade associations, new innovations, education, fleet services, B2B connections/opportunities, will all be under the living green roof of the Vancouver Convention Centre at FCL. Our ‘whole industry approach to electrification’ ensures we are not simply an auto show nor a consumer marketplace, rather a multi-faceted platform where businesses and consumers can find real world solutions for today that will be future proof moving forward. FCL delivers a values-based audience that have their purchasing and lifestyle decisions rooted in doing better for the environment by way of clean energy solutions.  

I will be there! Come by and visit me!

Did Tesla Win the EV Charge Plug Format Standards War?

Source: Associated Press

You're probably familiar with previous technology format wars, whether it be VHS versus Betamax or Blu-ray versus HD DVD. Now another has quickly brewed in the way people plug in and charge their electric vehicles. It's a battle of CCS versus NACS, and the winning format has a familiar backer: Tesla. Edmunds' experts break down what EV owners need to know about the format changes.

Some background context for those who don't yet own EVs.  Most EVs currently have one of two types of plug styles to connect to public fast-charging stations. The first is called the Combined Charging System, or CCS. It's used on nearly all EVs with one notable exception - the Tesla vehicles.  The second competing standard is the North American Charging Standard, or NACS, which Tesla uses.

I always agreed with the statement "The wonderful thing about standards is you have so many to choose from for any given topic".  Arrg!

These two formats currently coexist independently without much issue. If you own a Tesla, you'll typically stop at a Tesla Supercharger station that has NACS. For other EVs, you'll use third-party stations with the CCS-style plug.

So about the title of this post. Is Tesla winning the EV Charging Standards war?  In May 2023, Ford made a shocking announcement: It has made a deal with Tesla to switch its future EVs to Tesla's NACS plug in lieu of the CCS plug. The switch to NACS means owners of these Ford EVs will be able to charge at Tesla stations. Soon after, many other automakers followed suit.

At the time of the AP article, companies that have agreed to switch to NACS include Ford Motor Co., Mercedes-Benz, General Motors, Nissan, Rivian, Volvo and Polestar. A number of other automakers such as BMW, Volkswagen and Hyundai are in discussions with Tesla but have not yet confirmed a switch to NACS.

Read the full article...

Squarespace Acquiting Google Domain Registrations

 Some news for all those who have domains registered with Google Domains.

Squarespace recently announced that it entered into an agreement to purchase all domain name registrations and related customer accounts from Google Domains. As a valued customer we wanted to make you aware of the following important information.

What happens now?

There is nothing you need to do at this time. Your domain will continue to operate and be managed by Google until it is time to move to Squarespace. That won’t happen until after the transaction closes and the migration process begins, which will likely take place over the next few months.

What happens next?

All customers will be moved to Squarespace Domains in the coming months. You will be notified once your domain has moved. Squarespace Domains is an independent domain registrar service provided by Squarespace.

Squarespace has publicly committed to continue to utilize Google Cloud DNS infrastructure, meaning reliability and performance regarding DNS will remain unchanged during the migration.

The purchase is currently subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions. Upon the closing of the transaction, your domain account will be owned by Squarespace but you will continue to manage your domain(s) via Google Domains as you do today, with Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service continuing to apply.

Learn more about Squarespace’s plan for domains here.

Squarespace and Google are committed to a seamless transition. For a limited period of time post-close until your account is migrated to Squarespace, your account will be managed by Squarespace utilizing Google’s infrastructure. After this migration period Squarespace will be solely responsible for providing domain services to you. During the migration period after the closing of the transaction, your customer and, if applicable, billing information will be migrated to Squarespace. Upon migration – which will be at least 30 days from today – your data will be governed by Squarespace’s Privacy Policy and Squarespace’s Terms of Service will apply. Additionally, if you have a Google Workspace subscription billed by Google Domains, billing and support services for such subscription will be transitioned to Squarespace. Following closing of the transaction, you will receive instructions from Squarespace on how to manage your domain(s) via a Squarespace account (including DNS, WHOIS, and renewal settings).

You will continue to have the ability to transfer your domain(s) to another registrar prior to such migration or at any time thereafter.

In the meantime, if you need help with anything related to your domain please contact us. You can also learn more about Squarespace here.

Victoria Real Estate Statistics and Data

 I have recently been studying the technology behind the real estate industry. One of the newest sites for Victoria BC real estate contains a large set of data to help with analysis on the market.  As a homeowner in the market, I have been curious about the effects of Covid-19 on the Vancouver Island real estate market in general.

My partner and I were amongst the lucky ones who got out of Vancouver prior to the market correct in 2018 and 2020 Coronavirus scare.  Since Jan 2020, a number of people have begun making the transition.

After analyzing the real estate data on this page, I have started crunching the data with R, a statistical computing language. Using Vancouver Island real estate data itself was not sufficient, so I have now expanded the scope of the project to include other statistical data. While the project is in early stages, it appears that there was an acceleration in migration from larger cities to Victoria, BC and surrounding areas.  The Victoria BC real estate price averages seem to show a significant uptick during the same time. A realtor friend had told me that initially, leads dried up during the first months of Covid, then the flood gates seemed to open.

While the initial results are indicative, there is no clear causality relationship established between Covid and rural real estate purchases, only a working theory that some people used Covid as a final nudge to get away from urban areas and secure real estate in a more rural and livable location.

I will continue to update as data becomes available.

Apply to Participate in Solar Decathlon by October 26

From my friends at the US DOE, an immense opportunity! 

Compete in the next U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon® and join more than 25,000 students from 35 countries who have experienced the impact of this unique, life-changing competition! 

New and returning collegiate institutions are encouraged to register and participate in this competition that prepares the next generation of building professionals to design and build high-performance, low-carbon buildings powered by renewables. 

 Apply to Compete The Solar Decathlon Competition Guide, 2022 Design Challenge Rules, and 2023 Build Challenge Rules are now available to the public at https://www.solardecathlon.gov/

All collegiate institutions are encouraged to apply to participate in the next edition of Solar Decathlon by October 26, 2021, at 5:00 p.m. ET. Team Applications can be submitted for both the Design Challenge and the Build Challenge. The 2022 Design Challenge Finalist Teams and 2023 Build Challenge Participating Teams will present their projects to juries of experts in April 2022, at the Solar Decathlon Competition Event hosted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. At that event, the 2022 Design Challenge winners will be selected; qualifying 2023 Build Challenge Participating Teams will receive approval to proceed to the construction phase. 

Up to 20 advancing Build Challenge teams will receive $50,000 prizes which can be used to help defray a portion of their project costs.

Check it out at https://www.solardecathlon.gov/

SEO for difficult terms like "Real Estate"

Consider this blog post an addendum to earlier posts on the topic of Search Engine Optimization. Many people have asked us how to get the number one position. This depends upon the search term you are trying to get the listing for. Sadly, this is the Achilles heel that many fail to consider.

As an example, if you are trying to achieve the number one spot for "Real Estate in Victoria BC", you need to realize this is a very competitive term and there are realtors throwing tons of money into achieving the same result.  If you are trying to get the number one spot for "XCellois Edible Kites" or "Veemo Micromobility", these terms are somewhat more specific to a single company.  By contrast, they are much easier to achieve the #1 position for. The lesson here is to understand the laws of supply and demand.

As with any endeavour, the first place to start is research. Many so called "SEO Experts" fail to actually read the valuable information placed in the Google Search Central website.  Be sure to read the data there and understand how Google actually works.  We get tons of questions every week asking about the specifics of SEO and find most of the answers sought by our clients are available via this website.

Another place to start researching your SEO is the Google Keyword Suggestion tool.  This will give you the approximate volumes of search inventory that are available based on what people actually search for.

It is also important to understand that Google search results are based upon a dynamic algorithm. There is no magic formula for getting to the #1 spot and then staying there forever.  Google measures how people interact with search results and use this data to constantly change the top ten results for any search term.

As always, if you do need help, drop us a line and we will try our best to help out.  We've been at this for 26 years, since the days of Lycos, Alta Vista and other search engines prior to Google.

Tips if you are trying to sell me on our web developer skills

I get a lot of calls every day from people claiming that they develop "the best quality" websites.  Most of them have no clue what this even means.  Today I had a cold call from some guy who told me his company fitser.com makes the highest quality websites ever.  He gave me his domain name to check out his portfolio.

Before I go further, this is not an attempt to shame anyone. Rather, this is a pleas for so called web developers to learn more about what their craft requires.  I do entertain hiring the odd remote contract developer however, they must pass a certain threshold.  Sadly, Fitser.com came no where near the bar.  The site loaded very slowly, had multiple browser console errors and when I ran a Google lighthouse test, the results were less than flattering.

When I informed the person on the phone, they did not seem to understand what Google Lighthouse was.  To that end, I want to help educate others.

Google recently announced that SEO rankings are being based primarily on the mobile versions of any website, not the desktop versions as have been done in the past. To me, this means responsive is your first goal as a web developer.  This makes perfect sense given the overwhelming traffic on most websites comes from mobile devices.

Web developer must therefore design websites with MOBILE FIRST in mind.  This is described in my professional blog post at Webstation's Community Blog.  This means taking the time to use aria-labels, the HTML picture element and ensuring images are sized properly and in newer formats like WEPB and JP2.

I had planned to do a blog post on how to use Google Lighthouse as a web developer, however Google's own documentation leaves nothing to be enhanced upon. It is quite complete.

For comparison, here is our Lighthouse scorecard:

The tip I want to give is before you ask me to review your work, please do it yourself.

Nuff said!

U.S. Department of Energy Announces Winners of Lighting R&D Workshop Student Poster Competition

Reprinted from the United Stated Department of Energy.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) announced the winners of the 2020 Lighting R&D Workshop Student Poster Competition.

Congratulations to the winners:

GRAND PRIZE WINNERS

Syed Ahmed Al Muyeed, Lehigh University
Controlled Growth of Self-Assembled InGaN Quantum Dots Using Templates of Quantum-Size-Controlled Photo-Electrochemical Etched Quantum Dots

A.P. Sachintha G. De Vas Gunawardena, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
The Impact of Output Capacitor Aging Under Constant and Cycled Temperature Conditions on LED Driver Lifetime

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Ziqian He, University of Central Florida
Swelling-Deswelling Microencapsulation 2.0: Toward Ultrastable Perovskite-Polymer Composite Downconverters for Tailored Lighting

The student winners will be recognized at the 17th annual Lighting R&D Workshop January 28–30, 2020, in San Diego, California, where they will present their research at the Poster Session alongside more than 50 scientists sharing updates on their EERE-funded research projects.
Read more on the US DOE website at https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/articles/energy-department-announces-winners-lighting-rd-workshop-student-poster

Canadian Company flies World's First Electric Commercial Airplane

A Canadian company, in partnership with a US high-tech firm,  have successfully completed the first commercial aviation flight with an electric-powered aircraft.  British Columbia's Harbour Air (UK English spelling for those of you wondering about the superfluous "U") and magniX, the company powering the electric aviation revolution, today completed the successful flight of the world’s first all-electric commercial aircraft, announcing it on Dec 10, 2019.

The aircraft was a regular-hulled six-passenger DHC-2 de Havilland Beaver magnified by a 750-horsepower (560 kW) magni500 propulsion system.  The entire flight was video-recorded and much of it can be seen on the Magnix website home page at https://www.magnix.aero/.

The flight left the Vancouver Fraser River terminal in Richmond (YVR South) on the morning of the 10th, piloted by Harbour Air CEO and founder Greg McDougall. He now ranks in my books as one of the greatest test pilots of all time.  A CEO who actually puts himself out there for the cause of humanity?  Can we have a dozen more for a start please?

This historic flight signifies the start of the third era in aviation – the electric age. It will take time to sunset the internal combustion engine and jet engine ages so I won't be expecting to buy any tickets anytime soon.  A lot of this is to to the intense regulatory approval, explained by Greg McDougall on this video.

Free Speech MUST be protected

Recently, I have seen many news articles about people who are either wearing pro-Trump t-shirts or those who have taken drastic action against those who do.  So why am I writing this post?  Simple, Freedom of Speech MUST be preserved, no matter what.

I am no fanboy of Trump, nor do I feel the oligarchy of US politics is something others should emulate.  America is a great country. I have many friends in the US and abroad who carry US passports.  

Here are some examples of attacks on free speech:

1. Minneapolis police union selling "Cops for Trump" T-shirts, in wake of uniform ban 

2.  Epping student told to remove Trump T-shirt

3. N.J. teacher blamed for censoring Trump T-shirt says her life was threatened. Now she’s suing

4.  NH Student Told to Cover Up Trump T-Shirt at School

The idea of censoring a persons right to free speech is dangerous!  One of the hardest things any human might undertake is to protect the right of free speech for those who have a message they do not agree with.  While it may seem distasteful, I urge you all to consider the alternative, a totalitarian society whereby no one can speak their true thoughts.  Despite the arguments, disagreements, at least we are free to have such conversations.

It is important to remember that free speech is not-aligned with any specific political movement.  While you may find the very idea of Trump offensive (I am not a fan), it is important to recognize that freedom of speech has no limits, no bounds.  As such I will tolerate his statements.  We must also accept his followers messages, even if we do not agree with the substance.

Yes, there are arguments that shouting "fire" in a crowded movie theatre is probably problematic, yet at the end of the day, my personal belief is that it is a very slippery slope.  You start by banning opinion X, next comes a ban on opinion X divided by 0.9, then 0.8 etc etc. Eventually, we are all faced with a few degrees of separation.

Free speech is without limits.  My plea is for all who read this to reconsider their commitment to furthering their own causes, but within the realm of protection of free speech.  Today, we find ourselves in a democracy.  The current leader of the USA, no matter what you think of him, is making decisions that many do not agree with.  Censoring those who think his actions are correct is a very dangerous idea.  Some day, the tables may be turned.

Improve SEO Rankings | Page Speed and Mobile-First Development

It has been official for quite some time, yet very few Website Design Agencies have capitalized upon the recent changes in search engine indexing. On July 1, 2019, Google announced that Mobile-first Designs will play an imperative part in determining Search Engine Optimization Rankings (SEO). Google stated, "mobile-first indexing is enabled by default for all new websites (new to the web or previously unknown to Google Search)". Coupled with this announcement, we also would point out that Google announced in mid-2018 that page speed would play an equally important component of search engine optimization.

 The rationale is simple to understand. In our previous posts, we have pointed out that the majority of all website traffic is from mobile sources including mobile phones and tablet devices. So how does one check their performance? Simply using the tools available to webmasters from Google (thank you Google!) can give you a strong indication of whether or not you need to update or tweak your website. If you are not comfortable doing this yourself, you can also request a FREE consultation from Webstation.

Pagespeed scores of 90 -100 are optimal for achieving the best search engine results. Before contracting with any prospective digital agency to handle your search engine optimization, we would recommend comparing their Pagespeed rankings to ours. Below is the desktop ranking for https://webstationhq.com (where I now call home).

To compare this to others, we randomly selected a few websites that are not highly optimized for page speed. Here is one (candid) result:

Webhosting technology affects performance and SEO ranking! There are many other factors to optimize websites including optimizing images, placement of scripts, CSS files, minifying files, file formats, and responsive web design. The list is fairly exhaustive.

One of the most critical elements is to have your website developers ensure that Mobile-first enhancements are made to your website. Mobile-first is somewhat of a loaded term however we have created a formula for delivering great mobile experiences using a combination of CSS frameworks like BootStrap as well as newer HTML elements such as the <picture> tag. Rather than force mobile users to load up the desktop version first, then resize everything by requesting additional resources specific to mobile experiences, we highly recommend serving the smaller mobile assets first. Most desktop users will not even notice given our hosting packages are extremely efficient at delivering content coupled with Content Delivery Networks (CDNs). Of course, using a responsive framework is still the easiest way forward for many. To highlight the differences between responsive and non-responsive website, one has to look no further than http://art.yale.edu/. Try loading this into a mobile device or resizing your desktop browser window. The results are (stating this diplomatically) candidates for some improvement. NOTE: This website was chosen randomly as an example.

Other tactics include referencing common libraries (jQuery, BootStrap, FontAwesome to name a few), from their sources. These libraries are often already cached either on the users' device or very few hops away. These small improvements can greatly speed up performance.

Contact Webstation today for a free introductory call to explore your business requirements. Webstation can deliver the following for you are no cost:

• A Full Pagespeed report;
• A Lighthouse Audit trail and report; 
• Suggested optimizations; 
• Recommendations; and
• A quote if requested 

Google Open Source Robots.txt Parser

For those interested in seeing how their websites components are indexed (or not), Googles decision to open source their robots.txt parser is an amazing bit of news.  Webmasters have been struggling with understanding the robots.txt files for many years.  The challenge was not so much how to write and declare the directives in the files; more so to fully comprehend what actions would be taken by each search engine. While there is a single, de-facto standard, the Robots Exclusion Protocol (REP),  the manner in which the corner cases were handled was ambiguous, like when their text editor included BOM characters in their robots.txt files.


On July 1, 2019, Google announced they are spearheading the effort to make the REP an internet standard. Thank you, Google. We applaud your moves thunderously!

<p>Webstation has set up a public Github repository where you can download a snapshot of the full C++ library.  It is an Apache license.  Full instructions on how to build and run the library are included.


<p>Read the full article at https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2019/07/repp-oss.html

Neo4J rocks! Why? Well it's not just about the awesome technology

Developers:

I received a message from my friend Ryan Boyd (at) neo4j.(ext) (see below).  The message is posted for all to read.

Before I present the contents of his email, I want to stress the importance of a few things I believe are very important to all developers.

1. Not many incumbent software vendors care about start-ups. Neo4J is different. I was part of Neo4J as an observer/fan-boy when they launched and I became aware of their technology stack (circa 2002). I ended up becoming a technology teacher for Neo4J. During these times, there were many critics of GraphDB systems, but many of us saw the light and were happy to have an alternative to the RDBMS systems. Most of the critics stated that the concept was old [sigh), but I digress. Graph DBs are simply awesome. I do not want to be corporate specific as there are many great companies (like TigerGraph and AgensGraph/BitNine), that have embraced and expanded upon the ideas of graph databases coupled with advanced data models. Specifically, BitNine, has introduced a mixed-model DB, a technology that could address the shortcomings of pure GraphDBs; and

2. When the first analysts started naming the non-relational/SQL industry as "NoSQL", I saw the inherent flaws in that acronym. NoSQL means "Not Only SQL" (SQL meaning "standardized query language'). In a previous post (2012 - link: https://technoracle.blogspot.com/2012_12_09_archive.html), I expressed a concern that the logic of stating (x 'may include' y) but (x may alternatively 'dis-include’ y) was essentially meaningless since it did not actually did not negate anything. It's like me state "the dinner I cooked for you MAY have white pepper but it may also MAY NOT HAVE white pepper".  Are there really any other alternatives? As Homer said ... "D'oh!!!"

Neo4J did not let this affect them as they knew they were on to something much grander! Of course, their idea of a graph database was far before the social networks where it is obvious that (friend -> hasFriend) is an essential component of every graph (trust me that it gets a lot more specific than this).  Since social networks are so prevalent in every system, I found Neo4K ahead of its time by major factors; and

3. Neo4J was/is_still a start-up. They never forgot the people who helped them while they were trying to get on the map of IT. This makes the character of Neo4J far greater than other start-ups a.  If you are a new start-up, think about how you can emulate Neo4J’s methodology; and

4. They have invested most of their early revenue (see news release below) back into building a stronger community and helping developers> This builds a stronger eco-system of developers who help each other and a more productive environment to work within. Over the years, I have watched this grow in leaps and bounds!

On the latter note, I must disclose some facts.

- Peter Neubauer, is a friend. He was a co-founder of Neo4J. I have worked in a startup with him and come to love him as a brother-from-a-different-mother. Great guy, very smart and ahead of his time!

- I have met with Emil Eifrem on multiple occasions and have come to admire him, both as a human and as a leader in IT.

- Michael Hunger surprised us all by being the single most responsive Technical Evangelist any company has ever had.  I must juxtapose this to my own previous employment experience at Adobe Systems.  As a Tech-Evangelist, we were expected to answer any developer requests as soon as possible. The actual timeframe was stated as "as soon as you can" and Adobe is a very excellent company when it comes to terms with their developer/designer relationships.

The startling fact was that when Peter N., Matt MacKenzie, Moshe Silverstein and I had an issue with the core Neo4J BD system while building a new idea and we reported it to the Neo4J Dev/issues list. Neo4J would acknowledge the issue (if in fact, it were an issue vs. ourselves failing to read the manual), but Michael would have often fixed it prior to us receiving the email and uploaded it to GitHub. I've never seen a company respond so quickly!

I have never dealt with another company that could address developer issues within a week, nevertheless doing it within a day. Fixing issues within 30 minutes was literally unheard of. NOTE: I do not wish to set any unrealistic developer expectations. YAMMV. Mine was awesome! From what I understand, the same level of commitment still exists.

All of this is why Neo4J is special to me. They care about developers. I know I introduced many of you  (reading this post) to coding and/or Neo4J (source: Google Analytics; personal emails).   The truth is that I now want to express just how special Neo4J is.  Many other companies (whom I will not mention by name), could win big time by understanding why Neo4J is helping developers like myself while incumbent giants see themselves losing market share each year to niche players.

Just my (CAD) $0.016534  worth (today's exchange rate).

Duane Nickull

Appendix "A" - Ryan's Email:

Hi there,

We believe in startups as early innovators and disruptors in their respective industries, so we wanted to make it easier to get access to the powerful features in Neo4j Enterprise. We're super happy to let y'all know that we've dramatically expanded the Neo4j Startup Program.

“I’m always struck by the breadth of disruptive business models built around graph technology. Our Startup Program aims to give back to the startup community and make graph technology available to data infrastructures that thrive on connections and drive innovation. It’s gratifying to see our Startup Program members in action and witness their success.” – Emil Eifrem, CEO and Co-Founder of Neo4j

Are you building a product and have <= 50 employees and < $3mm in revenue

You can get Neo4j Enterprise for free, including Causal Clustering and online backup for scale and availability.

But wait, there's more

Qualifying startups also get access to Neo4j Bloom 2 for data discovery and visualization.

Apply today 2 or learn more about the Startup Program from my blog post 2.

Best of luck building your applications and businesses!

Why Using Facebook's OAuth functionality Might not be Wise

I've worked in the tech industry for 25 years. I’m NEVER going to use Facebook to log in to third-party apps and sites online. You should pay attention to the reasons why.

First - who wants FB to know what else you're doing on the internet? It's none of their business. Don't blame the authors of OAuth (Open Authentication). They have done a great job of making it easier to access the web by not having to set up yet another set of login credentials. OAuth is a good idea. It is the implementation, or more precisely who implements it, that scares me.

I use Google OAuth but may rethink this as well. Luckily, Google (to my knowledge) has never revealed my date to malicious entities.

Facebook has, on the other hand, had numerous beaches with accounts being hacked reaching tens of million accounts.  Facebook’s announcement last fall that a security breach allowed hackers to infiltrate the accounts of at least 50 million users, and possibly tens of millions more. The attackers could have gained access to Facebook and possibly, ipso facto, any other accounts you use OAuth for.  This had been noted in a New York Times article where the author states the true magnitude of the danger.  At the time of the article, neither Facebook nor third-party sites seem to be able to measure the true extent of the breach.

The major concern for me is that tech giants security departments tend not to make their processes and procedures public. Once an attack has occurred, all OAuth tokens of affected accounts should be immediately invalidated.  This would require automation to expedite the response as hackers can automate the attack vectors.  A clever attacker could feed each compromised account into a process that forked several new processes to try accessing other targetted accounts.

Complicating this further, many friends I know have admitted they use the same passwords for multiple systems.  Some change their online banking, eBay and PayPal to higher standards, however many do not.  The belief here is that online banking is an A1 priority target for hackers.  Of course, anyone who has read Mitnick's articles on social hacking knows that Facebook and other social media sites can easily be leveraged by clever hackers.

The takeaway here is to take an inventory of which sites you have relied on OAuth for and with which account, then perform your own security audit.  After digesting the contents of this post, I hope it will illuminate some of the potential risks.

Are you working on 64 bit versions of your native Android Apps?

Google recently made a blog post outlining a new requirement for any Android application written in native code to provide a 64-bit version by August 2019.  The requirement is only for those apps using native code and app developers should note that Kotlin/Java source code will not be affected.

The 64-bit CPUs deliver faster, richer experiences and it is imperative to understand the ramifications of this requirement.  Note that  Google is not making changes to 32-bit support.  Google Play will continue to deliver apps with 32-bit native code to 32-bit devices. The requirement means that those apps will need to have a 64-bit version as well.

There is plenty of prepared documentation on how to check whether your app already supports 64-bit and how to become 64-bit compliant.  Technoracle encourages all app developers to understand the requirements.  Briefly, here is a synopsis.

Starting August 1, 2019:

All new apps and app updates are required to provide 64-bit versions of any 32-bit native code they provide.

Extension: Google Play will continue to accept 32-bit only updates to existing games that use Unity 5.6 or older until August 2021.

Starting August 1, 2021:

Google Play will stop serving apps without 64-bit versions on 64-bit capable devices, meaning they will no longer be available in the Play Store on those devices. This will include games built with Unity 5.6 or older. The requirement does not apply to:

• APKs or app bundles explicitly targeting Wear OS or Android TV, which are form factors that do not currently support 64-bit code.
  
• APKs or app bundles that Google Play won't install on Android 9 Pie or later (support for 64-bit does not need to extend to APKs that are only on Android 8 Oreo and below).

We are here to help.  If you have doubts, please contact us directly.

Why Responsive Website Designs Matter

I had previously blogged about my prediction that one day more than 50% of all web traffic would be from "mobile devices".  At the time, I blogged “Smartphone adoption marches on, with 44% of mobile phone users owning a smartphone, compared with 18% in 2009, according to Nielsen” (Post link here - http://technoracle.blogspot.com/2012/01/mobile-tipping-point-five-key-facts.html )

While this prediction was shared by most analysts, no one at the time had predicted that it could rise to over 85%.  During the process of building a recent website for Canadian Cybertech, I perused the server logs to review how the website was being used. To my surprise, we recorded 86% of all engagements were on phones or tablets in November 2018.

So what is a responsive website and why is it critical to have?  Responsive website templates and layouts adjust dynamically to be viewed on almost any sized screen.  They also adjust their layout based on screen orientation.  The opposite pattern of responsive design was once called "keyhole browsing", a term used to denote the rather unpleasant experiences of trying to view a statically laid out website using a small screen.

Most websites you can find today using Google, Yahoo or Bing will be responsive as all three have been known to elevate search engine rankings higher for a responsive website.  Not using a responsive layout can cost you dearly in terms of potential traffic.

So why else is it so important?

To help people understand the differences, here are some examples.  The first graphic shows the opening layout of the Powell Street Salon website on a normal sized computer screen.

The background graphic is shown fully, the menu and other elements are scaled accurately for the screen size and the site has a very spacious look.  The same website on mobile automatically adjusts, as shown below.

Note the menu has collapsed into the three bar icons and the background photo has been cropped without compromising the integrity of the layout.  The font sizes have been adjusted to be readable on the device and the text flows to a more practical layout.

The anti-pattern of responsive can be quite horrible for any mobile user.  Here is a website I found that does not use a responsive design.  First the normal sized computer screen view.

Note that the page elements are not very well aligned as the HTML and CSS code has not taken into account that computer monitors can range from the archaic 640 X 1080 pixel resolution to newer Ultra HD screens with resolutions of up to 4K.  The real horror comes from the first view on a mobile device.  More than half the content disappears.

When the mobile phone is re-oriented into landscape mode, the trouble continues.

Consider now how your business would be perceived if your website was not responsive.  Using the same ratios as the Powell Street Salon, 86% of all your websites visitors could have been so riled up by a bad website experience they likely would have likely clicked on one of your competitor's websites.

The key takeaway here is that most businesses cannot afford to alienate four out of every five of their potential customers.

If you are not yet using responsive designs, please contact us and we can help.  Packages range in price from $500 and up.

Why I am Pro-proportional Representation

In British Columbia, we are finally getting serious about replacing the first past the post electoral system with one that will provide proportional representation.  Why?  For starters, the idea that our elected officials are representative of the desires of the voters just seems like a good idea.  Secondly, gerrymandering is quite frankly evil and should not be allowed to continue in BC (or anywhere).

There are some who say that the new electoral system will not allow our BC government to function at 100% efficiency.  I would state that no system can guarantee such, including the current one.

If you have not yet mailed in your ballot, please consider doing so.  Make our politicians represent what we want.