I have just upgraded my weblog to WordPress 3.0 and, as you can see, I have decided to use the new default theme, Twenty Ten, but with a circuit diagram as the header image to reflect the new subtitle which is “A blog on Technology Convergence.”

In parallel, I’ll continue to blog elsewhere on different topics. For instance, I blog on Knowledge7.com about Information Technology, Computer Science, Personal Development and Career Advancement because, well, this is what Knowledge Seven Ltd is all about. I also blog on Elections.mu on politics in Mauritius including the Government’s strategy for IT in the country as well as for our education system. Finally, I also write articles on Open Source on Lugm.org, the official blog of the Linux User Group of Mauritius.

To be frank, I blog less often now. But I try to make my articles more insightful and useful. So it is as demanding as before.

You will notice that I have enabled the CommentLUV plugin on Noulakaz.net in order to enhance the interaction between you who regularly leave comments on my blog and me. I also have fewer Google ads on the blog because I am not doing Noulakaz.net because of Google’s money.

In fact, and I wrote about this before, I have been blogging for more than 6 years now because this creates the opportunity for me to interact with more interesting people.

Thanks to you all.

I have just released my first ever Android application. It’s called World Cup 2010 TV Guide and is available in the Android Market (do a search for World Cup 2010 TV Guide or, better, just scan the above QR code.)

I got my Google Nexus One exactly two weeks ago (Thanks Alam and Dassen!) and I became a fan from the very first sight. The hardware is fantastic and the operating system, Android, which I upgraded to the latest 2.2 version on the same day, is excellent. It is built on Linux and provided all the features one can dream on a smartphone. Let’s just say that it easily matches whatever exists elsewhere…

Android software development

Android smartphones are programmed using Java using the Eclipse IDE. As you all know, I am somewhat of a Java buff myself and I love Eclipse and all the Java opensource ecosystem. The application itself is not very complex yet I had to spent a few days to understand how Android deals with user interface layouts (DroidDraw helped a lot) as well as with the built-in SQLite database.

Interestingly, I never felt constrained even though I was programming for a phone instead of a PC. The Nexus One is really a powerful device. And it runs Java so well that, now, I know why I spent all those years reading Java books and programming for fun up to 2am

What next?

Who knows? When I bought my Amiga 500 around 1988, it came in a box on which was written “Your Imagination is the Limit” and this really made me understand how malleable and powerful a computer can be when programmed correctly. I am really looking forward to learn how to develop more powerful Android application.

In the meantime, download “World Cup 2010 TV Guide” in the Android Market. And have fun with it!

Since launching my noulakaz.net blog in 2005, I’ve written a lot of posts, received countless comments and responded to most of them. As a matter of fact, I love blogging but I’m doing it less now for reasons I already mentioned.

As I’m sure you already know, a lot of people (including most youngsters) prefer being on Facebook rather than reading blogs.

Consequently, and as a social experiment, I have decided to blog less on noulakaz.net but be more present on Facebook. This will allow me to discuss and form relationships with new people who do not normally read blogs as well as continue to communicate with you (as I’m sure you have a Facebook profile too.)

My personal Facebook profile is:

http://www.facebook.com/avinashmeetoo

My company’s, Knowledge Seven Ltd, page is at:

Knowledge Seven Ltd on Facebook

I have two profiles because, well, I have two personas:

• My personal profile is where I discuss with members of the family, friends and acquaintances of all sorts of things trivial or not.
• On the other hand, I intend to use the Knowledge Seven Ltd page to engage in more serious (and, surely, more interesting) discussions on open source software, Web 2.0 and the convergence of technology which is happening all over the world.

My company, Knowledge Seven Ltd, will be running two courses in the following weeks:

• Web Development with PHP & MySQL will run on 8, 15, 22 February and 1, 8 March
• Linux System Administration will run on 5, 19, 26 February and 5, 11 March

Both courses are MQA-approved and places are still available. Call us on 464-7446 or visit http://www.knowledge7.com/ for more information.

My company, Knowledge Seven Ltd, will shortly start a Web Development with PHP & MySQL course as well as a Linux System Administration course.

Do not hesitate to contact us for more information.

Since launching ThreeBags yesterday, I have received a lot of positive feedback as well as some great proposals for enhancing the website. But, I’ll be frank, the best appreciation came from my daughter, Anya, who is now 7, who gave me the drawing shown above today.

Thanks Anya

I am proud to announce the launching of my new recommendation website called ThreeBags and which is accessible at

http://www.threebags.com/

ThreeBags showcases the best basic, value and prestige mobile phones, smartphones, digital cameras, MP3 players, LCD televisions, home cinema systems and laptops available in Mauritius.

Naturally, ThreeBags relies 100% on open source software and, in fact, uses Linux, MySQL, Java, Spring, Hibernate, C3P0, Jakarta Commons, etc. Interestingly, I considered using PHP initially but I wanted to have a go at Enterprise Java using Spring and Hibernate and I think I can say that this combination is very powerful, somewhat complex to learn and rock solid (as far as I can see.)

A few months ago, I realised that even though technology surround us, choosing and buying a technology product is tough: too many buzzwords, too many models, too many shops and so few people willing to explain things clearly. This is how I got the idea about ThreeBags: a recommendation website with seven categories of products (from mobile phones to home cinema systems) and three recommended products per category: one basic, one value and one prestige model. One interesting aspect of ThreeBags is that you can specify your budget and let ThreeBags give you an optimal set of technological products within that budget.

You will notice that there are no advertisements on ThreeBags. Additionally, I do not get paid by anyone to recommend a specific product. My evaluation criteria are product features, design, availability in Mauritius and price only.

Visit ThreeBags at

http://www.threebags.com/

ThreeBags also has a blog which is accessible at

http://blog.threebags.com/

Of course, constructive criticism is always welcome

We are going to run a web development course (XHTML + CSS + PHP + MySQL) this month. You’ll find the detailed course content on our website. I’ve just blogged on why I have changed the course schedule.

[Edit: the schedule has been changed to five non-consecutive days.]

I am happy to announce that my company, Knowledge Seven Ltd, will start a Linux Level 1 training course on Monday 11 May 2009 (in a little more than one week from now.)

As written above, the course is MQA-approved, runs over five full days (Monday 11 May to Friday 14 May 2009) in our training center in Quatre-Bornes and costs Rs. 15,000 per participant. Of course, those who are eligible can have refunds from the HRDC.

Naturally, I’ll be the one doing the training and you can find what previous trainees have felt about the course (and me) on our Testimonials page.

Do not hesitate to visit our website or to go directly to the Linux Level 1 page for additional information. Also, do not hesitate to call me on either 464-7446 or 493-9394 for any additional information you may require.

Be quick! Places are limited.

A few weeks ago, I blogged about the imminent start of our MQA-approved Object-Oriented Programming in Java course next Monday 20 April. The topics which are going to be covered in depth are:

• Object-oriented analysis, design and programming
• The Java programming language
• The Java class library including Collections and Input/Output
• Generics and Multithreading
• Unit testing (including the use of JUnit and mock objects)

Notice that the focus is both on object-orientation as well as Java. In my opinion, someone who aspire to eventually master enterprise technologies like Struts, Spring and Hibernate needs to have both skills.

Designing object-oriented software is hard. Expert designers know not to do is solve every problem from first principles. They reuse solutions that have worked before. That is why I am putting so much emphasis on sound object-oriented design principles (including the use of design patterns.)

In the coming weeks, Knowledge Seven Ltd will launch two further Java courses which will build upon this foundation Object-Oriented Programming in Java course:

• Web Application Development in Java with a focus on presentation layer technologies such as Servlets, Struts 2 and possibly innovative frameworks such as Wicket. The objective is to allow the trainee to build a complete 2-tier web application using JDBC for persistence.
• Entreprise Java with Spring and Hibernate with a focus on using Spring and Hibernate to build a complete 3-tier enterprise application. The trainee will use the facilities found in Spring (including dependency injection and AOP) to build the domain logic layer of the application. He/she will also use the object-relational mapping facilities of Hibernate for data persistence.

These two courses are intensive and the trainee(s) will have to possess a good mastery of object-orientation and Java in order to follow them satisfactorily (for example, by following this Object-Oriented Programming in Java course.) In fact, I have purposely designed the three courses to be complementary.

There are still seats left and it would be a pleasure for us to train you or people from your company. Do not hesitate to contact us!