Cloudo - scheduled maintenance

Dear reader,
On Wednesday afternoon, 4.00 PM (CET), Cloudo will be taken down for maintenance.
Our estimate is that the intended service should not take more than one hour.

Sincerely,
Hakan Bilgin
Chief System Architect, Cloudo

JS1K attempt

Dear reader,
Recently a Javascript contest was held at http://js1k.com/home. Developers could submit any code demonstrating effectful javascript programming, with the limitation that the code needed to be less than 1Kb (1024 b).

I found out about this contest a month ago and wanted to submit something but didn't know what until recently. Finally I came up with what I wanted to do...though, after many hours of minification of code, I haven't been able to minify the code down to 1Kb. So I can't submit the code to the contest but I really like what I've created so I wanted to demonstrate it here:

www.cloudo.com/tmp/js1k.htm

Note that you need to use a skillful browser that supports Canvas-element; Firefox, Chrome or Safari.

Sincerely,
Hakan Bilgin
Chief System Architect, Cloudo

The OS Opportunity

Yesterday Daring Fireball wrote a very interesting article arguing that computer manufacturers should go create their own OS:es to differentiate themselves.

Somehow in the mind of people creating an OS is super complex, a task only Microsoft or Apple could pursuit. We hear that all the time while demoing Cloudo – "did you create this? How did you pull this off with such a small team? Etc etc".

Given the fact that the web has become the the no 1 applications platform, far bigger than both Windows and Mac OS, it's actually not as complex and resource consuming as one might believe.

Read the full Daring Fireball post here.

News in Cloudo

Dear reader,
Since last time we have been attended to some minor bug fixes as well as developed the system further. Among others, we have added a new tool located in your settings folder; Taskbar and Start Menu. With this tool, you can manage applications in your start menu, quick launch as well as behavior of your Cloudo account. You can access this tool by either opening your settings folder with Finder or just right-click your taskbar.

This tool exposes a three tabbed view, in which you can toggle behaviors and manage application list exposed by quick launch and start menu. Notice that as action you can type in any arbitrary CLI command. You can edit all shortcuts in the list by double-clicking on any item. Clicking the icon on an item will engage the Icon Palette, in which you can select among 99 icons.

We have also been working with Image Viewer; where it’s now possible to tag people or items in images you have uploaded. The usage is pretty straightforward; just click the "Tag People" tool in the toolbar. If the tagging mode is turned on, the mouse appearance is altered to crosshair whenever your image is hovered. On the image, you can click and drag to draw a box. Below your box you can type a name (assuming you are tagging a person) and Image Viewer will save that tag as a metadata connected to that specific image.

To the right of the toolbar of Image Viewer, there is an input field. Typing here a name and hitting search will convey in a search among your images. The Image Viewer will display only images attached with that metadata. Hence allowing you to easily search and locate your images, regardless how you have organized in Cloudo filesystem.

Though, even though Image Viewer works properly, we have noticed that there are a couple of bugs left. We will attend to these as soon as possible and expect them to be terminated in the nearest future.

Addendum; it is now possible to drag and drop applications from your applications folder in Finder on to your Cloudo desktop.

Sincerely,
Hakan Bilgin
Chief System Architect, Cloudo

Developer and Help Documentation

Dear reader,
We are happy to inform you that we have released documentation for developers in Cloudo. Many involved developers have requested documentation and we apologize that it has taken time.

You can view the documentation from the "root-node" by starting up Manual Application or selecting "Help" in whatever application you are using. The latter will start Manual Application and display help pages only about that particular application.



Meanwhile we are completing the documentation; we intend to add commenting system so that developers can ask/reply questions, in the Manual Application. Of course all this in the same standards we're custom to deliver.

Sincerely,
Hakan Bilgin
Chief System Architect, Cloudo

Cloudo selected for Seedcamp

Hurray! Cloudo was selected as one of 20 finalists for the mini Seedcamp held in Helsingborg, Sweden Tuesday next week.
Cross your fingers for us.

Application Source code

Dear reader,
We are working on the first draft of the developer documents. Meanwhile, we have added the possibility to see the source code of selected applications. This means that you can view, edit, save and re-run applications in place, in Cloudo, assuming the source code is available for viewing. Commonly, you can find "Show Source Code" option in the "Help" menu in applications.


Our intention is to make it easy to learn how applications are built so that new developers can get started effortlessly. Of course ideas of improvements are welcome. Below is a list of applications that source codes are viewable.

• Image Viewer
• Word Processor
• Textpad
• RSS Reader
• Painter
• Webflorist
• Google Maps
• Connect Four (game)
• Gomoku (game)
• Iceman (game)
• Minesweeper (game)
• Othello (game)
• Snake (game)
• Solitaire (game)
• Sudoku (game)
• Calendar (widget)
• Weather (widget)
• Clock (widget)
• Slideshow (widget)

Notice that you might need to install the application in order to view its source code.

Sincerely,
Hakan Bilgin
Chief System Architect, Cloudo