Performance is everything

The recent debates about Twitter’s performance has me thinking about iofy this weekend…

Way back when I started at iofy we had the challenge of creating PC and PocketPC applications that played secure audiobook content, displayed table of contents meta data and bookmarked. The applications needed to be under 200k, run on a 200MHz processor and be stable.A latent requirement was that the applications, to satisfy our reliability requirements, had to be statically linked so they could run from a chip without handling varying customer system configurations. Statically linked Microsoft libraries and our code within 200k in a real application. What?


Optimize, optimize, optimize.

iofy download iconNow we’re launching our download service which takes our original offering from a single chip on a single computer (or player) to a service which offers downloadable audiobook content.

There are more performance areas to optimize than you can shake a stick at (client, servers, db access, feed syncing, backups, etc). We’ve stuck to standards and performance as principle design requirements (and we’ve swung intelligently with big sticks.)

As we roll out iofy’s download technology I’ll touch on standards we’ve stuck to and how they may apply to you. I’ll be touching on performance considerations we’ve addressed, especially with feed synchronization. There will be pointers on how you can best integrate your eCommerce system with iofy’s API to offer downloadable content.

This is an exciting time for our engineering team at iofy. We’re seeing our latest hard work make its way to the mainstream.

Spring Mountain – first night

Spring Mountain Season Pass

Last night Gala and I hit the slopes for the first time this season. There’s a tiny hill about 40 minutes from here. It’s a little learning hill with plenty of fun to be had. Being raised on Alpine in the Sierras in California spoiled me, but I love anything frozen. Making turns on anything slick is a favorite past-time.

Look for the Rail Jam on the 27th and Big Air Competition on February 10th. I’m not so keen on rails (video is NOT me) but count me in for the 10th.

(special thanks to Riva and Alex – it’s going to be a wonderful winter season!)

Mentality of Twitter

Lately I’ve re-discovered twitter as an outlet and connection to pretty much everybody. It’s a slick way to communicate what you’re doing without wasting time. Friends from across the country can stay up to speed on what’s going on in each other’s lives. Professional acquaintances stay in touch with achievements. It’s a very social social-network.

Twitter

I wasn’t attracted to the Twitter service when it first came round. It wasn’t because of the service itself, but rather because I didn’t accept the mentality of Twitter. I started out using it as a communications tool for passing work details to fellow co-workers (a terrific use of Twitter, btw!) In that state of mind I knew I was writing for a target group and ultimately found it easier to reach them with email, SMS or phone calls. What’s the point of another channel?

Twittering for a single purpose was clumsy and short-sited. Messages go much farther than the group. Messages go to everyone. It’s a many-to-many service and you’re shouting to the world silently announcing what you’re doing, thinking, or wish you were doing.

So with that in mind, you need the mentality of hitting the Public Timeline. You’re reaching any listening party and sending words which may never reach a destination. <geek>(It’s a massive hub, broadcasting UDP packets.)</geek>

You can follow me at http://twitter.com/solyoung. Leave a comment and get followed.