theJTOG.com - Joshua Green

Numara FootPrints Launcher for Android Published

The Numara® FootPrints® Launcher Beta for Android has been officially published to the Android Market.  The app allows you to add frequently accessed FootPrints Server URLs to the app’s home screen so that they are quickly available.  Also on the home screen are widgets which display streams of the latest Numara FootPrints User Group posts as well as @numara_software on Twitter.

If your Numara FootPrints server is licensed for FootPrints Mobile, the mobile version is presented through the Numara FootPrints Launcher application (unlike with the Android browser). A FootPrints Mobile license is not required though. Systems without a FootPrints Mobile license will be presented with the standard interface and full functionality.

Want to download the Numara FootPrints Launcher?  From your Android phone, visit this link, scan the image below, or search for ‘Numara FootPrints Launcher’ in the Android Market.

This product is not created or published by Numara® Software, Inc., nor covered under any Numara Software, Inc. maintenance contract. For issues, questions, or enhancement requests, send an email to thejtog@gmail.com.

The Numara FootPrints Launcher is optimized to work in conjunction with a FootPrints Mobile license. To learn more, visit the Numara Software website at http://www.numarasoftware.com/FootPrints/mobile.aspx.

Copyright 2010 Numara Software, Inc. All rights reserved. “Numara” and the Numara Software logo are registered trademarks of Numara Software, Inc. FootPrints is a registered trademark of Numara Software, Inc.

Copyright 2010 theJTOG.com. All rights reserved.

3D TV Fun

A coworker and I stopped by the local Sony Style store during lunch today to see 3D TVs first hand.  Cool stuff!  Considering my wife and I are about to remodel our bonus room, and I just absolutely love new technology, I was impressed with my ability to walk out of the store empty handed.  (Do you feel my wifes eyes staring at you?  No?  Just me huh?  Weird.)

Unless you are wearing the 3D glasses when the TV is in 3D mode the picture looks a bit odd, but with the glasses on I must admit that it made me smile and raise both eyebrows.  The TV does has the ability to be in 3D mode as well as regular mode so that you can watch regular TV, but what fun is that?

example of 3D mode without glasses on

They weren’t able to demo it in the store, but the rep said that the TVs have the ability to take ANY movie and make it 3D on the fly.  I’m interested in seeing this one live - sounds like a marketing gimmick to me.

To my surprise, the price of the TVs aren’t crazy.  For a 55” HX800 3D HDTV, it was ~$3,000, featured built-in WiFi, is Internet video capable, and included a free blu-ray player, (2) 3D glasses, and a 5.1 channel wireless surround system.  Seriously.  The HX800 is a lower level model and, as expected, they do have more impressive TV’s at a higher cost.  The top of the line, 60” LX900 for example was ~$5,000 but didn’t include the freebie blu-ray and sound system.  After 3 minutes of watching Avatar on the high-end model, I’d be hard pressed to say that it wasn’t worth every penny.  The sales rep came close to offering me a tissue (for the drool of course).

In general, TV’s have some exciting features now-a-days!  I mentioned the built-in WiFi and Internet video, but some of the more lavish features stand out like Presence Sensors and Face Detection.  TV’s can now literally turn off when no-one is in the room, or even when you are in the room but not looking at the TV for a period of time.  They can detect when children are too close, and optimize color, brightness, and sound all on the fly depending on where you are in proximity to the set.

Overall while I am very impressed with 3D technology, it doesn’t seem to fit me right now.  Maybe hard core movie buffs and gamers, with a bunch of money, who enjoy wearing glasses would disagree.  What I want is a TV set with enough bells and whistles to justify the cost, which isn’t too far away - 3D is just a bonus at this point.  What oh what will theJTOG do?

Until next time!

-theJTOG

Simplifying a Numara FootPrints Workflow Using Outlook 2010 Quick Steps

I hear all of the time, whether it be from Customers directly or through online forums/blogs/tweets/etc, that they wish it was easier to integrate emails from their inbox with their Service Desk/Change Management/Human Resources application.  This post will focus on Microsoft Outlook 2010 being the email client and Numara Software FootPrints 9.5 being the Service Desk application.

Let me frame a familiar situation and then show you one way to quickly solve it with no programming knowledge required.  Lets say my name is Tom and I am a Support Tech.  I receive an email (could be a manual one from HR or your boss, or could be an automated one coming from a FootPrints or 3rd party system) that tells me to begin the New Hire process from an IT perspective.  Lets say that my FootPrints system is already configured to take incoming emails for the creation of new tickets.  So I can just forward this one in right?  Probably not.  You probably need to forward the message into FootPrints and add some critical data to the body of the message so that when FootPrints receives it, it will already know what automation should occur. 

Here is how we prepare this: (this only has to be set up one time per Quick Step)

1) While on the Home ribbon of Outlook 2010, there should be an area called Quick Steps.  In this area should be a button for Create New.  Click it.

2) Name the Step and configure the actions that you want to occur.  For example, Forward the message to the FootPrints email address and add your Categorization structure to the Body.  Provide a tool-tip so that you can remember what this button does later.  Click Finish and viola!

 You should now have a Quick Step that can be used at anytime.

Now here’s how we use the Quick Step.

1) While on the email message that you want to forward to FootPrints, click on the Quick Step.

2) Review and click Send.

So there it is, a post to show you how to get those emails into the Numara FootPrints system with a minimal amount of effort - and no programming required.  I did take some liberties such as assuming that your FootPrints system is incoming email enabled, that you had valid fields in your FootPrints workspace called Type and Subtype, etc.  Be sure to customize the Quick Step message to fit your specific work-flow and contact your Numara FootPrints Administrator with questions on field requirements, etc.

Have fun with FootPrints and Quick Steps!

-theJTOG

Google App Inventor

Looks like Google is getting the hint that they need a GUI interface for development! http://relink.me/lcxaod8

theJTOG.com Mobile Android App is Published!

After weeks of reading Android development books and blogs, testing others sample code, and having dreams/nightmares about little 1’s and 0’s, my first Android application has been published to the Android Market!  Special thanks to Lee Woods and Mike Pernecky for being the first beta testers.

The app is free and is very simple in design.  By opening it, you are taken to the mobile friendly version of my (this) blog.  Functionally its very similar to a bookmark; but more importantly I can now officially say ‘I’ve done it’. 

As with websites, I have 100+ ideas for apps that I’d love to write - but we’ll have to see how that goes.  Every time I tell someone about my app, there is at least one app idea that they tell me about.  It’s a very addictive topic! 

Do you have any app ideas?  Post them here or email me at thejtog@gmail.com.

Want to download theJTOG.com Mobile App for your Android phone?  From your phone search for theJTOG in the Android Market, follow this link (market://search?q=pname:com.thejtog.mobileApp), or scan the barcode below.

-theJTOG

Friends, fireworks, food, and freedom. Happy birthday America!

Intro to Android Development

I have several little Android apps that I’ve been itching to make, but have had a heck of a time getting started.  Maybe .net and JavaScript programming has fried my brain recently, but I’ve just had a hard time wrapping my head around Eclipse and the instructions on the http://d.android.com site.  I was able to get the tools installed but beyond that, I was wanting to poke my eyes out.

After a quick Google search for Android development videos I ran across Glen Lewis’ blog.  He recorded an hour long seminar that he did at UCC and posted it (http://glenlewis.com/2010/03/29/intro-to-android-development-at-utah-code-camp/).  I have to say, it was a great video for an Android newbie!  Highly recommended.

-theJTOG

Congrats to Ghana, they deserved it. Great playing USA. #worldcup

2:30pm Eastern today - USA Soccer - Go USA! #worldcup #usausausa

the blogger itch

If you followed my old personal blog, you’d know that I havent posted since Sept 19 of last year. I left the blogging world on a good note though - hanging out on the hammock!

Last week I wrote a guest-blog post for my company (hasnt been published yet) and it really gave me the itch to start blogging again.  My current experiment of going without a cell phone for a week should serve as a nice little post soon, so stay tuned.

I’ll be giving Tumblr a try as my new blogging service.  Tumblr seems to have a lot of cool features that Blogger was missing, plus it seems at first glance to be a cool micro-blogging app.  I’ll be trying it out for a while with a new URL, http://thejtog.com, so be sure to update your links and rss feeds.

‘See’ you soon!

!!!!!!!!! #usausausa #worldcup