Authoring a SQL Server report using the twitter API

Twitter is the 'What are you doing (now)?' social messaging,  fastest growing phenomena on the Internet. Members who register with 'Twitter' publish brief messages in text which other members who have agreed to follow can read these messages. Media has jumped on this idea to send out brief messages which will probably appear in extended form later. They (twitter) are trying to monetize the service.

My new article captures the information from one of its API and formats that captured information and turns it into a SQL Server Report using the Report Builder. In this article it is a two step process but it can be bundled into a single applicaiton. You may access the following article on SSWUG.org website.

Tweets with Reporting Services

Become a member of twitter and follow me to get news of my latest articles.
http://twitter.com/subbagiri

It is subscription based site but you can sign up for free as a guest to read the article. Make sure you rate it.

Thanks

* Get two free chapters of my book 'Learn SQL Server Reporting Services 2008' from the pubisher's web site.

Twitter IPO is tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Twitter IPO. Expectations are running high. In October it was between 17 to $20. Two days ago it was 23 to $25 and today it has gone up, may be $27 to $29. Only tomorrow can tell.

On the eve of this I provide my Twitter related posts on my Hodentek blog. I seem to remember that my Twitter article to SSQUG.org was published. I will check it out.

Please follow this link:
http://hodentek.blogspot.com/search?q=Twitter

If you are in a mood to hack:

Hacking New York Times and Twitter with Microsoft AJAX and jQuery

I joined the flock yesterday

After resisting for quite a while, I finally succumbed and joined the Twitter flock this week. I tweet at
http://twitter.com/subbagiri

Well, my forefathers hailed from 'Subbagiri' which is not too far from Bangalore. Presently it is a little hamlet with a brook and mango trees. Lots of tweeting birds you can find. It is altogether a pleasant place.

BTW, Twitter has its own API which you can use to work with Twitter. I have written an article to 'SSWUG.org' on authoring SSRS reports with Twitter API. I will post,  if and when it gets published.

Tweets with Linq

This is another link to programs that use Twitter API. This one is rightly called Linq to Twitter. If you are interested in following it up check out the following  link on codeplex.com.

Link to Twitter

Follow me on Twitter if you feel like,

http://twitter.com/subbagiri

Retrieving data on New York Times and Twitter

There is a wealth of information (tons of it) in New York Times and  the micro-blogging leader Twitter and it will be very useful and could be even remunerative to access data on them.

In this article, I look at two APIs, the Twitter API and the New York Times API and see how we can access data on them using the JavaScript libraries available on the Microsoft Edge Content Network also know as Microsoft Content Delivery Network (CDN). While jQuery is used to access API retrieved data on the intranet web server, the Microsoft AJAX client templates are used in displaying them.

Data in JSON objects are retrieved from New York Times and Twitter using jQuery and pushed into  Microsoft AJAX templates.


Read this article brought to you from Packt Publishing company at
Hacking New York Times and Twitter with Microsoft AJAX and jQuery

Why Hodentek?

It was boom time in silicon valley - days of dotcom. Anything sounding -tek was good. So I decided on Hodentek.

But Why Hoden?

Denki Hoden stands for electrical discharge in Japanaese. I worked the better part of my life in electrical discharges and so my fascination continues. Well, I have a fixation on electrical discharges atmospheric or otherwise. The random path chosen by the atmospheric discharge is spectacular and breathtakingly beautiful.

Recently I copied a part of the lighting photo from a web site to include it in my twitter page,

http://twitter.com/subbagiri

 

I therefore want to acknowledge that. If you are inclined to see more lighting pictures you may go to this link from which I copied. There are many other sites but you need to register, pay etc.

What you really need is a Microsoft Band

What is data to business, health & fitness is to you. It is no wonder that all vendors are in a rush to provide you with 'health and fitness' related resources and help. Of course there have been a plethora of devices that you wrap around your wrist to keep you informed of your 'fitness'.

Microsoft Band stands out among them with many outstanding features as it has incorporated many more sensors to watch and monitor you.

Although health is central; you have many other things to take care of like business, friends, family and your social contacts. Microsoft has made it a point to take care of all these in its Microsoft Band.

In reality the wrist wrap-arounds gather all the intelligence from your body and send it out to your phone, I mean the Smart phone, be it iPhone, Android, or Windows Phone(mPhone-my abbreviation). Microsoft is cross-platform and that means it can communicate with all these phones.
To use a Microsoft Band you do not need to go and buy a Windows Phone, your iPhone or Android is OK.

Let me first of list out the activity related features taken directly from Microsoft site:

24-hour heart rate monitor:
Gives you a better understanding of your calorie burn, sleep patterns, and peak and resting heart rate so you can perform at your best.

Run:
Whether you’re on the treadmill at the gym or outdoors in the rain or sun, you can view your run summary on your band with personalized metrics in the phone app including pace splits and heart rate.

Steps tracker:
Set a goal and track your progress. Microsoft Band calculates the calories you’ve burned and the distance you’ve traveled each day.

Built-in GPS:
Measures the distance you’ve run and tracks your pace and route. Save your favorites to retrace your steps and challenge yourself later.

Calorie tracking:
Count the calories you burn each day. View daily or weekly stats, set goals, and receive a virtual "high-five" when you reach them.

Sleep tracking:
When activated, Microsoft Band tracks the length and quality of your sleep. Analyze the sleep charts in your app to gain insights about your slumber.

Guided Workouts:
Fun and challenging workouts from fitness partners like Gold's Gym, Shape, and Men's Fitness with exercise prompts on the band and much more in the app.

Goal setting:
Challenge yourself by setting daily step and calorie goals. Microsoft Band notifies you when you meet them so that you can stay motivated.

UV monitor:
Get a quick read of the UV Index while you’re out and about.

Here is a list of many other things you can do with this Band.

Text Messaging:
http://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-band/calls
Calls:  incoming call and voicemail notifications
http://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-band/calendar
Calendar: Syncing with your phone
http://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-band/email
Email:
http://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-band/smart notifications
Smart notifications: Customize your notifications
http://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-band/watch mode
Watch mode: Only interested in time
http://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-band/facebook
Facebook & Facebook Messenger: Your know what these are

Twitter:
http://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-band/twitter

Cortana: The great personal assistant who can find what you want as she listens to you
http://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-band/cortana
Real-time weather wth 5 day forecast: no problem
http://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-band/weather

Finance: Create portfolio and watch ticker tape
http://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-band/finance

Starbucks:Easy coffee drinking experience
http://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-band/starbucks

Timer and stop-Watch: that too (Swim or dive)
http://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-band/timer and stopwatch

Don't want to get disturbed:OK
http://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-band/not disturb mode
Personalize colors and designs:
 http://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-band/personalization
Great dispaly:
 http://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-band/display
Bluetooth: Ok with 4.0
http://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-band/bluetooth 4.0

Well this is really impressive list. What you do not see here is the great Windows Technology and the over hanging Microsoft Azure Cloud services ready to take you to the next level.
Great battery life and a price that cannot be beat.
Don't miss the videos on this site:
http://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-band/en-us#

Missing items:
Glucose monitor
spy camera
mosquito repellent
pet trainer

I encourage you to add....

Mahalo

Twitter and Pornography

Recently I have noticed a number of people trying to follow me (http://twitter/subbagiri). I was naturally flattered. My elation subsided when I clicked on the URLs to find they just had Pornographic content.

Social Media, Big data analytics and Indian Elections

This is election time in India. Social Media and Big Data have a big role to play

 Aloha,

This will be a good test for the efficacy of Social media in the first Digital Indian elections since one of the major players (Congress Party) does not seem to care for Social Media. On the other hand, the other major contending parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party  (BJP) and the Aam Admi Party (AAP) parties have very strong social media connections like, Facebook, Twitter, Google ('Pledge to vote'& Google score) and Google+ hangouts (See screen shots). Even the recent WhatsApp is being used to send messages out, to (well!) mostly urban voters.

The parties in focus:



 

 

According to Internet and Mobile Association of India media is going to influence the elections swinging as much as 3 to 4% of the voters. After the March 5 announcement of elections, the word 'election' went up by 561% according to the same source. With more than 238 million young voters this is very credible indeed.

 

 AAP Media Blitz!

AAP web site

AAP is all over the media

 AAP also on Twitter and Facebook

 Modi apps are popular

Here is one of the dozens of Modi Android Apps from Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=google%20score%20for%20Modi&c=apps

  

 Lots of comments

 

Well, Bing search this morning brought these results:

Narendara Modi  5,000,000 - BJP
Rahul Gandhi    3,830,000   -Congress
Arvind Kejriwal 4,180,000  -AAP

My choice: Modi or Kejriwal, the latter preferred if he can indeed end corruption in India. I may even call him the Messiah.

These may just be the types of articles you are looking for

There are some 50 articles covering most areas of contemporary database/web related technologies.

SQL Server 2008, MySQL, Oracle, Analysis Services, Twitter, Microsoft Lightswitch, SSIS, SSRS, Linked Servers, Enterprise DB, SQL Anywhere 10, Data Transfer Access to SQL Server, LinqDataSource, XAML. XBAP, Data Migration, jquery in Dojo, PocketPC, and many more...

Review the following link: Articles on Packt
 

Butchered by the Chinese on the heights of the Himalayas

He went there to serve the country and he fell defending it.

Chinese are flexing their muscle to grab more land in the Ladakh area. During the most recent, serious skirmish, we lost one of our sons. May his soul rest in peace.

Colone B. Santosh Babu

File picture: Colonel B Santosh Babu|Photo Credit: IANS

Source: AFP
Image caption
The cremation ceremony for one of the Indian soldiers killed took place on Thursday

Here is a picture of a club of sorts that appears to have been used in the brawl.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-53089037

It is crude even by MING standards!

https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1273649248941117441

$33 SmartPhone with Mozilla OS debuts in India

The price is low enough to get customers in droves considering that India is the fastest growing market for smartphones. Mozilla OS can easily benefit and get a significant market share and it has already made its mark in over 15 countries.

Cloud FX smartphone just costs Rs 1999 and at that price quite a significant numbers can afford. Facebook and Twitter makes it all the more attractive. Presently English, Tamil and Hindi are supported and I am sure more will be supported in due course.

Here is a picture of the phone:

Cloud FX phone is manufactured by Intex Technologies, India(LTD) and the phone is sold through http://www.snapdeal.com.

More details and features here:
http://hodentekmobile.blogspot.com/2014/08/mozilla-os-forays-into-indian-smatphone.html

 

IoT and changing direction of Intel XDK

If you have been using Intel XDK to build apps both HTML5 based and native apps, there is going to be (actually has been going on) a change in the direction. A number of frameworks were used with Intel XDK in the designer. You might have noticed that the number of frameworks are being deprecated. Presently, in version (the latest) 3641 only the Twitter Bootstrap is currently supported and the others are being deprecated.

Intel XDK is going to focus more on IoT apps. The other apps are not going to be supported in the Intel XDK. Since most of the technologies used in developing non-IoT apps are mature, Intel XDK will get provide documentation help to use these technologies.

This is according to Paul, one of the Intel XDK moderators:

" it's not that there is a benefit for developing IoT apps over mobile apps, they are quite different apps; the point is that we are focusing the tool to emphasize IoT app development, especially since the free and open-source tools available for developing, debugging and building Cordova mobile apps have now become quite mature. We will continue to support the development of Cordova mobile apps, but will rely more heavily on these freely available tools, rather than try to compete with them. The product today supports the creation of two basic types of apps: IoT apps and mobile Cordova apps. When we say "IoT companion apps" we simply mean a mobile Cordova app that is focused on working with an IoT app and any supporting IoT cloud services. As the product progresses it will make more sense."



In version 3641

That going forward the emphasis will be on IoT apps makes great sense from the point  view of Intel Corporation. Intel Corporation makes IoT boards of different kinds and will be investing a lot of effort on IoT.

What better way can be there than this change of direction.

More here for all comments on related topic:
https://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/intel-xdk/topic/700951

Installing the new Insider Preview of Windows 10 - 3

Latest update of user experience after the Installing the new Insider Preview of Windows 10 - 2

List of programs/apps that do no work:
Skype
Photos
Movies and TV
Calculator
My Office
Twitter
Microsoft Store
Paint 3D

Previous updates:

Installed the new Insider Preview of Windows 10 today. The new version is:

Build 17713.rs5_release.18076-1551

The old version was:

Build 17692.rs_prerelease_flt.180625-1624

The new release has the same kind of enhancements as the previous:

http://hodentek.blogspot.com/2018/07/stay-productive-tips-and-windows-10-pro.html

The previous version had many problems and I hope at least some of them have been fixed.

http://hodentek.blogspot.com/2018/03/more-problems-with-windows-10-insider.htmlhttp://hodentek.blogspot.com/2018/03/more-problems-with-windows-10-insider.html

http://hodentek.blogspot.com/2018/01/problem-with-windows-10-pro-insider.html

http://hodentek.blogspot.com/2017/09/basta-i-am-out-of-insider-preview.html

Updated 7/30/2018

Feedback Hub is empty 

Microsoft Store cannot be opened.

You click in All Programs nothing happens.

Type and search in Search Charm|Cortana nothing happens

Tried Cortana as well. She repeats the same question, again and again.

The AI features need improvement. There is no spelling error in Cortana and the best the AI can find a match is Cortland.

Once a blogger dashboard is open in Microsoft Edge Beta, it cannot be closed.

More here:

http://hodentekhelp.blogspot.com/2018/08/is-this-build-of-windows-10-insider.html

Big data to aid Big apple

Big data shakes hands with academics.

Big cities are sources of big data. Data comes in streams from all directions from diverse sources like traffic, crime, scams, events, emails, social media sites, weather sensors, sniffers of various kinds, parking lots and you name it. This data is not the kind of data that you can feed directly to a relational engine, it is diverse, a mélange and can only be termed informatics.

A new center, Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP) at New York University will be utilizing Big data to understand the dynamics of the city through various sensors and look through the data they bring in. Similar programs are already in place in University of Chicago and MIT. Outside USA similar efforts are in place like Spain and Singapore.

NYU will offer MS and PhD programs and takes an integrated look at physical, biological and informational data form the city's sensors. The data comes from not only installed sensors to measure temperature, pollution etc.  but also from body worn sensors like FitBit, and Up wristbands that volunteers wear and go round the city. Of course data from twitter feeds, blogs, video cameras etc. will be integrated as well.

Well there is no dearth for data from such a large resource as Big Apple.

The program has sponsors committed to Big Data with biggies like Microsoft, IBM, Xerox, City agencies, MTA and a couple of National Laboratories thrown in for good measure.

This post was written after reading this article, ‘Smart Cities will need big data’ in Physics today a journal published by the American Physical Society, September 2013, pp. 19, 20. For details get a copy of the journal from a library near you.

Related resources (Please do not skip):

http://cusp.nyu.edu/

Watch this video:

http://cusp.nyu.edu/the-promise-of-urban-informatics-video/

http://www.dw.de/smart-city-santander-takes-lead-in-europe/a-16945649

http://senseable.mit.edu/livesingapore/

Scammer impersonating Elon Musk

 Beware!

Dall-E3 created image

I recently received a private message from Elon Musk in my twitter (X) account. I confess, I felt good. However, I was skeptical because why would a multi-billionaire send a message. Has he no one else to correspond with?

Here are some screenshots on that day (about 2 days ago).

I humored him along to see where that would take me. Then he spoke about the enormous amount of money that he has made and going to make with a new Mining company of his. "Have you looked into investing in Bitcoin", etc. It did not smell good. I terminated the conversation.

It even got better. Then he sent a 0.06Sec voice mail. I ignored.

Today, another Musk (I don't know how many of them are walking around) became my follower and sent another message. This is getting comical and silly.

Well, I may not be the only person on the Internet who is subjected to this nonsense. Take care! I don't believe, he will be sending any message, especially now that he has to think about another $56 billion.

Copenhagen Zoo -->Shame on you sadists

There appeared to be no compelling reason to kill innocent animals at the Copenhagen Zoo except economics. First it was Marius, the baby giraffe (18 months) and now euthanizing two lions and their cubs. The acts were sadistic not only killing but also how they managed the killed animals. People who attended the zoo to watch should hang their head in shame.

Callous, inhuman, despicable are the words to express my feeling.

This picture is from Daily Mail:

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2589039/Danish-zoo-faced-international-outrage-killing-18-month-old-giraffe-faces-criticism-euthanising-four-lions.html#ixzz2x6OiNapQ
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Impact of social media on recent political happenings in India

Not only American elections but elections worldwide and political changes have been influenced by  the tremendous amount of sway social media have on public emotions that includes the 'Arab spring'. This post was inspired by a New York Times article that appeared a few days ago.

Google Hangouts have been used by Non-Resident Indians to bring about ground breaking changes to how business is run in India especially targeting corruption and ushering in new leaders and parties to end this scourge.

One incident of recent time that is noteworthy is the election of Kejri Lal of Aam Aadmi party to the post of chief minister of Delhi.

Google, Facebook and Twitter have contributed to make this happen with a great deal of crowd sourcing efforts and personal participation of overseas Indians in USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany and other places where Indian diaspora have found their homes.  

The growth and proliferation of social media and the availability of mobile devices have forever changed the World and politics is no more localized.

http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/03/nonresident-indians-play-major-role-in-aam-aadmi-partys-delhi-campaign/

This image was screen captured from the above site:
http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/27/a-conversation-with-aam-aadmi-party-leader-arvind-kejriwal/?ref=world&_r=0
 

Creating a ListView type of cross-platform app with Intel XDK is quick and easy

In http://hodentek.blogspot.com/2014/08/jump-start-your-cross-platform-app.html I described some details of Intel XDK for cross-platform app development. In more ways than one this is really one of the easiest platforms to use. The developer support is really good with lots of samples, videos, etc.

I just used the template for starting the project and in no time at all the app was ready and was tested on the device. In this case the app was tested on a Nokia ICON and a iPad.

I am sure it will work on iPhone as well. Sure the app is pretty trivial but the point is made that a successful cross-platform could be created using this platform.

It is true that you may require a language other than HTML5/CSS/JavaScript to create more complex programs, but if your program is small and no so complicated and falls into a familiar type then this program works quite well.

In my previous post http://hodentekmobile.blogspot.com/2014/08/creating-projects-with-intel-xdk-part-2.html   I covered the various project options that you can choose for designing your apps that can be accessed by multiple devices, iPhones, Windows Phones, iPads etc.

In this post I describe the steps to create a ListView App with the Intel XDK using the published templates.

A list view consists of a list and when you click on one of the list items, you get a detailed page related to the item. This is a very common type of application.

Download the source code for the template from github here:
https://github.com/gomobile/template-list-view-ad

The following note is from the above site:
'App Designer Ready-This template can be used for simple list view application
that has a main view with scrollable list and detail view for each list item,
this template can be used for creating applications similar to Mail app, Messages
app or Twitter* app'

After downloading the code, extract to a folder (Herein MyListView)
Launch Intel XDK and choose Start with a template and browse to the extracted folder location.

The extracted folder is as shown:

In the Intel XDK after browsing to the folder location click Create.
It will take a few seconds and you get a 'Success' message.

Follow the step-by-step procedure to create the app here:
http://hodentekmobile.blogspot.com/2014/09/creating-projects-with-intel-xdk.html

Azure Logic Apps and IFTTT

The Azure App Service consists of Web Apps, Mobile Apps, Logic Apps and API Apps.

You can start configuring using the Azure Portal as shown (preview portal).

The Logic Apps in Azure allows you to configure work flows that run automatically every time the app calls an API; makes changes to data in a database; or polls on a timer and takes appropriate action like send a text message or email to configured email address, etc.

 Creating a workflow is easy with a declarative JSON file or using the Logic/Workflow designer in the Azure Portal. Here is an example of such a workflow from Scott Guthrie's blog (http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu).

 

 

 

The basic resource is to pick up from a number of Built-in API connectors (shown here taken from the same blog) and configure your workflow.

 

Well this would be very useful to businesses as long as they have all the connectors they need at their disposal. The workflow may itself be trivial and can be done fast, but to get to that stage of having appropriate connectors may involve other registrations, configurations etc. It is true, however that assuming you have the required connectors creating a workflow is easy and fast.

Conceptually IFTTT (If This The That) offers a similar service, perhaps not enterprise quality and does not encompass all the sophisticated connectors but good enough for most non-enterprise and web users and perhaps even small businesses.
Here are two workflows I created using IFTTT which of requires that I have a blogger account, a twitter account, an email address etc.

 I do not know the details of the premium service of IFTTT but perhaps that can do a lot more.

 

Am I comparing apples with apples? No. Azure's strength comes from its elasticity, the cost-effectiveness for enterprise; the rich eco-system built around it.