Last month Chicago had our very own gathering of great minds in the Rich Internet Application (RIA) space. Riapalooza, as it’s called, is a yearly one day conference meant to foster the RIA community in the midwest region. This year’s event was held Friday, May 8th at the Illinois Technology Association (200 S Wacker Drive 15th Floor Chicago, IL) and is the second one of its kind. Riapalooza aims to be technology agnostic and as such we had representatives from many players in the space including a contingency of Microsoft evangelists and few Adobe evangelists.

Adobe has been in the RIA space a long time with its Flash runtime being ubiquitous in over 98% of all desktops. Flash Lite, Adobe’s mobile Flash runtime is forecasted to be in over 1 BILLION mobile devices by 2009. Adobe’s AIR runtime, a cross platform runtime that brings RIAs to the desktop, already has over 100 million installs.

Microsoft on the other hand is a relative new player in the RIA space. Although they’ve been on the web with their .NET platform for a while, it wasn’t as rich an experience as some of the stuff people are used to seeing today. Even though Microsoft was a pioneer in the RIA space with their XmlHttpRequest, a cornerstone in rich AJAX enabled websites today, their early RIA offerings were met with limited success. Lately Microsoft has been pushing Silverlight, a cross platform RIA runtime meant to compete head on with Flash.

The event itself had a very good turnout. The conference room was packed with developers in the industry. The sessions covered a variety of topics from real world RIA problems, consuming 3rd party APIs in Flex, case studies, to RIAs controlled by alternative user interfaces. The six sessions were jam packed with material. I really enjoyed Corey Miller’s Building Interactive Applications Using UX Principles. His presentation can be found on his blog.

The “unconference” also had panel discussions during lunch which was great because it really engaged the audience through participation. Larry Clarkin did a great job of moderating and seeding questions and getting the conversation going. Topics included RIAs and the emerging mobile platform, the definition of RIA, what an evangelist is and what do they do, to how the various companies are approaching RIAs as well. It was great to see Adobe and Microsoft representatives butt heads in a friendly rivalry. What was also great was that user experience (UX) with respect to RIAs was probably given as much face time as RIA technologies. There were discussions of emerging computing areas that will be affected by RIAs such as mobile and touch screens.

Riapalooza is a definite must for developers in the industry interested in learning more about RIAs, meeting new people, connecting with experts and thought leaders in the industry, and keeping up with RIA news and technology. And at $20 a pop, $10 for early registration, it’s a no brainer.

A recap of the talk that Adam Flater and I gave on RIAs beyond the Mouse and Keyboard can be found here.

Follow the speakers and Riapalooza orgainizers on Twitter

• Michael Schaffner, Adobe Certified Instructor http://twitter.com/schaffner
• Anthony Handley, Microsoft Expression MVP http://twitter.com/anthony808
• Kevin Hoyt, Adobe Sr Product Specialist http://twitter.com/parkerkrhoyt
• Steve Holstad, Development Consultant @ Clarity Consulting http://twitter.com/steveholstad
• Josh Holmes, Microsoft UX Architect Evangelist http://twitter.com/joshholmes
• Mike Labriola, Adobe Community Expert at Digital Primates http://twitter.com/mlabriola
• Corey Miller, Magenicon & Microsoft MVP http://twitter.com/xamlmammal
• Chad Udell, Designer/Developer http://twitter.com/visualrinse
• Adam Flater, Technical Architect and Evangelist @ Roundarch http://twitter.com/adamflater
• Dave Meeker, Director of Emerging Technologies @ Roundarch http://twitter.com/dmeeker
• Pek Pongpaet, Lead Interactive Developer @ Roundarch http://twitter.com/pekpongpaet

The second Riapalooza will be held on Friday May 8th at the Illinois Technology Association (200 S Wacker 15th flr) from 9AM-5PM. It’s an unconference gathering of RIA (that’s Rich Internet Applications for you not in the know) professionals who are passionate about what they do.

There will be 6 exciting talks as well as ample opportunity to network. Here are the panel titles:

• RIAs Beyond The Mouse & Keyboard
• Top 10 Questions About RIA That You Never Had The Courage To Ask
• RIA Problems You Never Knew Existed
• Building Interactive Applications using UX Principles
• Empowering the Client-Side: Consuming Internet Services in RIA
• Social Media, RIA and Sustainability: A Website Development Case Study

Roundarch’s Adam Flater and Pek Pongpaet will be giving the talk on RIA’s Beyond the Mouse & Keyboard. This talk will be the last talk at the end of the day so we’ll keep it short, fun and sweet so people can get to the beer at 5. Without giving away too much, we’ll talk about how RIAs and computer interaction in general is moving away from the keyboard and mouse interface as can be seen by the success of the iPhone and Nintendo Wii.

Here’s a couple of sneak peek videos of some of the stuff you’ll see at our talk.

Flash + Merapi + Lego Mindstorm =

Flash + Papervision3D + Augmented Reality Toolkit + Twitter =

So be sure to join us as we demo some really cool stuff.

It is a exciting time in the world of  Web technology and User Experience design.

With every passing week at Roundarch, It becomes more clear to me that consumers are embracing these changes and that companies that provide products and services to those consumers are listening. We’ve reached a point where the Internet has begun to shift from that tool we use while sitting at our desks to our primary conduit of communication, regardless of the type of screen we happen to be sitting in front of or what type of device we decide to use.

The advances we’ve recently seen range from the widespread acceptance of social media, micro-blogging, and geographically-centered information  to a wide range of consumer electronics that push and pull information to and from online sources. These devices include set-top television boxes, wireless photo frames and other consumer electronic right down to the cars that we drive.

As a company that has focused on the development of Web technologies for the last 10 years, Roundarch has been able to keep pace with these changes. Our strategy, user experience and technology teams are constantly working with clients to help them adapt to these changes, providing connected experiences that enrich lives, optimize business processes, and create experiences that are relevant, interesting and meaningful to their users.

We do this by experimentation, shaking out the things that don’t have the impact we desire, and focusing on the things that we believe are truly innovative and that will help further our efforts of invention. Naturally, in the process of experimentation, there is both failure and success. Failures lead to us being challenged to succeed. Small bits of success help to generate more ideas, eventually merging together to create truly great innovation.

Applying Roundarch Innovation to the Tesla Model S

On tonight’s “Late Show with David Letterman”, the world will get a nice look at the the Tesla Model S.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the last few weeks, you are probably already aware that Tesla Motors has announced the development of their new, all-electric, zero-emission, sport sedan that will enter into production starting in late 2011.

Tesla Model S

“It will likely be the first fully drivable car to appear on Late Show with David Letterman,” according to a statement by Elon Musk, Tesla Motors chairman, product architect and CEO. “I’ll be on the show along with the car, and I am looking forward to a lively conversation with Dave, a fellow sports-car aficionado and Tesla fan.”

Merapi, a technology produced by Roundarch, connects the Model S prototype’s sophisticated on-board computer system with peripheral hardware, resulting in a car that is primarily controlled by an intuitive, responsive, 17” touch-screen control panel that is embedded in this revolutionary vehicle’s cockpit dashboard.

One of the features of the Tesla Model S that has been getting a lot of buzz in online conversations and in the media is the giant, haptic-enabled, touch-screen that constitutes the Tesla Model S dashboard and vehicle controls. (See Photos: Tech Crunch - Wired) / (See Video: YouTube)

Before I go any further, I want to make it clear that the Tesla Model S is a prototype. There are going to be a ton of changes to the user experience of the vehicle as the company works towards the goal of mass production. What you see today is by no means what will be delivered to consumers when the car hits the street. That final product will be much cooler than what has been able to be put together in the prototype vehicle.

One thing is clear though, Elon Musk and the whole team at Tesla is serious about innovation and, like Roundarch, aren’t afraid to experiment with ideas. This is especially true when thinking about the user experience of the in-dash systems, and it has been thrilling for Roundarch to be involved in the development of the Model S prototype.

Thanks to Merapi, the Tesla Model S show car offers users the ability to interact with vehicle hardware systems by engaging with the car’s cockpit control center, including a touch screen consisting of HD radio integration, quick GPS navigation, streaming audio and other Internet and cloud-based data and information.

I’d like to thank the folks at Tesla Motors for giving us the opportunity to be involved, and for recognizing Roundarch’s Merapi Project as an important part of the Model S prototype technology. I’d also like to thank Roundarch for believing in the potential of Merapi, and giving Adam Flater (Roundarch’s Technology Evangelist and Lead Architect on the Merapi Project) and I the opportunity to push forward with the development of Merapi, turning it from an idea into a full framework that enables the connection between the Web, desktop and other hardware & software platforms and technologies.

For those of you reading this that don’t understand what Roundarch’s Merapi technology is or does, I encourage you to check out our Merapi Project Web site at http://www.merapiproject.net.

In short, Roundarch’s Merapi is a revolutionary solution for bridging traditional desktop and Web technologies, closing the gap between what has traditionally been a separation of the two.

Merapi’s key advantages include:

• Access to hardware devices: Browser-based technologies (Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, AJAX) previously did not have native access to hardware other than microphone and Web cam.
• Access to existing APIs: Merapi makes existing open source and commercial software accessible from the browser or from run-time engines such as Adobe AIR without the need for a server.
• Improved core performance of an application.
• Accelerated software development times for complex Web/desktop integrated applications.

We’ve been working hard on a few things related to Merapi, all of which we will be going into more detail on in the coming month:

• Merapi – Open Source Release: After a year of development, testing and refinement, we will be releasing an open source version of Merapi that will enable developers to connect the Adobe AIR platform to applications written in the Java programming language.
• The Merapi Platform – We’ve settled on a product roadmap that will take Merapi from a platform-specific solution to a platform in itself. Look out for some of the amazing things we will be showing off at upcoming conferences. While we will always embrace the Adobe platform and Java, the market has helped push our thinking of what Merapi is, and we will be supporting Microsoft .NET, Silverlight, AJAX and other Web & desktop technologies.

For more information about Merapi, check out:

• This recent interview with Adobe Evangelist James Ward
• This write-up on infoQ’s Enterprise Technology Blog
• The Merapi Project Web site (Which we will be revamping in the very near future)
• Or do a try Google Search.

You can also contact me - Dave Meeker, Director of Emerging Technology, Roundarch

Press Release

On May 8th, Chicago will be the host to the 2nd annual RIAPalooza mini-conference, and in the same fashion as last year, Roundarch will be one of the event sponsors.

The 2008 RIAPalooza event was a great success, and brought together designers and developers from the Microsoft, Adobe, AJAX and Java camps to discuss the progression of Web and Web-connected desktop applications and to dive in and take a look at the competing technologies in marketplace.

RIAPalooza is different from many of these types of events and the organizers are committed to keeping RIAPalooza a “platform agnostic and PowerPoint-free zone”, which means a strong focus on keeping the presentations compelling, with no hidden agendas and company marketing pitches masked as presentations on technology.  RIApalooza is about creating Rich Internet Applications; how to go about building them and what is being built.

Roundarch is proud to be a sponsor of the event, and I am excited to see that our own Adam Flater and Pek Pongpaet will be one of the featured presenters. We wanted to give a talk that would capture the interest of attendees and cover something different than what they may have seen at other events. Because of this, we settled on the topic “RIAs beyond the mouse and keyboard”.

This talk is going to show off a variety of technologies, including our own Merapi Project, a bridge between desktop software and the local operating system and other technologies, including Adobe AIR, Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, and AJAX.Be prepared for Adam and Pek to show off some of the exciting things that they’ve been experimenting with. I am positive that the content of their presentation will inspire you.

Other speakers at the event include Kevin Hoyt (Platform Evangelist at Adobe), Josh Holmes, (MS UX Architect Evangelist), Michael Labriola (Lead at Digital Primates and author of “Flex 3 Training From The Source”) and other RIA experts from Chicago companies working with Rich client technologies.

For more information and/or to register for RIAPalooza, be sure to visit  http://www.riapalooza.com.

As Director of Emerging Technology at Roundarch, part of my job responsibilities are to help foster innovation and collaboration among our teams and bring a level of expertise around where experience-enabling technology is headed to our clients. I am not alone in these efforts though, as a primary aspect of the the culture at Roundarch provides a vehicle for everyone here to participate in a similar manner.

To help focus our efforts in idea generation and the research, development and testing of those ideas, we’ve recently started to formalize some internal processes within the company and in doing so, have formed what we are referring to as Roundarch Labs. The Labs is a virtual group within Roundarch that will be co-managed by Director of Technology, Gary Schwartzbard and myself.

Gary and I have two primary goals for Roundarch Labs:

• To serve as an internal mechanism that supports business development, creates marketing opportunities, oversees software product development, and helps to incubate innovative ideas within the company.
• To serve as an external advocate of Roundarch, by demonstrating industry expertise, through community involvement and the evangelism of design & technology solutions developed by Roundarch.

These concepts are not new to the company, as Roundarch has clearly been doing these types of activities since the company was founded and have been quite successful in establishing Roundarch’s position in the marketplace. What is new, however, is the formalization of these initiatives. Our thinking related to this is that our past success can only be amplified as we move forward with the formalization of  structure and process related to the design and development of experimental, experiential projects.

Since the inception of Roundarch Labs, we’ve had a variety of great internal and external wins, and as we continue to push the boundaries of Web, desktop and other screen-based experiences, we will be talking about them on our Roundarch Blog (Impost) as well as discussing them at conferences, in the media and with our clients.

Roundarch Labs will help bring the innovative thinking that permeates the company to our clients and the community, and (i hope) will help provide inspiration both internally and externally on where we think enterprise Web and interactive technology may be headed.

We have a lot going on, and in the coming weeks we plan to elaborate on several different developments that are related to Roundarch Labs, including:

The Merapi Project - Roundarch has adopted the Merapi Project. (www.merapiproject.net). We have finalized the open source merapi roadmap and plan to release the code in the coming month. We are dealing with final details now, and deciding on what open source license works best for the technology. Adam Flater, a long time friend and associate of mine has joined Roundarch in the role of lead evangelist and architect. Adam is the inventor of Merapi, and is now working with our team to expand the Merapi product into a platform. We’ve gotten such great feedback about what we are doing, it’s lit a virtual fire underneath us to push forward as fast as possible with the Merapi platform development. Secrets are secrets though, so more on this to come in the very near future!

Adam Flater, Evangelist and Architect at Roundarch joins a panel at the SXSW Conference where he showed how Merapi can be used to record and transmit telephone calls audio, in conjunction with the cool services offered by Ribbit.

Working with Wilco - The Labs team has been doing a lot of mobile development, focusing primarily on the Apple iPhone and Google Android operating systems, but keeping our eye on the ever-changing future (can you say Palm Pre?). Because most of the large scale Web projects that we engage on with clients have some sort of mobile component, Roundarch has invested a lot of time and energy in the development of what we are referring to as the “Mobile Web Enabler Proxy”. This server-side framework contains a Request Translator and Content Transformation layer, and is designed to provide a standards-based mechanism for the delivery of content to the cornucopia of mobile devices in the marketplace. I will be sure to go into more details about how this all works in future posts, but for now, we are excited to be working with the band Wilco to test things out. We are in the final stages of the development of a Wilco mobile application that will be targeted towards iPhone users and heavily promoted by the folks at Apple. - www.wilcoworld.net

Tesla Motors, Model S Prototype/Show Car - About a month before the new Tesla Model S prototype car was announced to the world, the Roundarch Labs team got involved to help develop some technology related to hardware-software communication in the vehicle cockpit. This project was a thrill to work on, as you can probably imagine. It is important to note that the Tesla Model S is currently in prototype development and no aspects of the car have been finalized, but we were able to play a role in getting the show car (prototype) ready for the road and look forward to working with the amazing team at Tesla in the future as the vehicle technology becomes more final. It is terribly exciting to witness first-hand the convergence of Web technology with the human other human experiences. - www.teslamotors.com

Human-Aware, Socially Connected,  Ambient Data Visualization - I’ve been working on a concept for about 6 months now, and have introduced it to Roundarch labs as a conceptual design and development effort. I don’t want to spill the beans quite yet, because what we are creating is very different than pretty much anything that I’ve seen or heard of. This prototype project utilizes a variety of enterprise-level technologies that we often lean on for client projects: Rich Client GUI technologies, Microsoft FAST Enterprise Search, Wall-based (large format) displays, Computer Imaging, and RFID. We are currently in the design process and as things progress, I will be sure to provide updates.

HTML 5, CSS 3, Apple & The Release of Apple’s Snow Leopard - If you haven’t seen some of the capibilities of the new HTML 5 and CSS 3 specifications, than I recommend that you grab a cup o’ joe, do some googling and prepare yourself for the future of the Web. At Roundarch, we specialize in developing Web applications that have great user experiences and are experts in “RIA” development (Rich Internet Applications). In short, RIAs merge the best of what the Web offers with the robust interface behaviors of what we’ve traditionally thought of as “desktop” software. To enable these types of experiences, we typically need to lean on technologies like Adobe Flash or Microsoft Silverlight, with AJAX as a backup solution for those circumstances where leveraging an embedded player isn’t possible. This is changing though, and the recently announced HTML 5 and CSS 3 specifications bring us very close to being able to develop equally robust applications inside a browser by itself. As a spin-off of the work that Roundarch Labs has done with the band Wilco, we are also working with the band and some of the folks at Apple to create an experiential application that will coincide with the launch of Apple’s new operating system.

Touch Computing and Human Interface Experiments - There are a lot of brilliant people that work at Roundarch, and many have advanced degrees in HCI and similar disciplines. Because our primary goal is to provide world-class Web and software design and development services to our clients, we don’t always get the opportunity to push forward with the ideas that are brewing in our heads. Is the best way for us to interact with information the way we currently do it? You know… sitting in front of a screen with a mouse & keyboard, or fumbling our way across a mobile device’s miniature keypad? We think not! There are several concepts that have been floating around the company related to the next-generation of machine interactions, and we are beginning to work on several proofs of concept around them. This is exciting stuff, and over time, look forward to sharing some of the extraordinary ideas that our teams are coming up with.

Roundarch Labs is not a group of specific people. It is not a place.

It is not limited to practicality and certainly not constrained by what is currently possible.

We’ve replaced white lab coats and beakers with laptops and a serious passion for the future of user experiences and technologies that enable them.

Roundarch Labs is about incubating and testing ideas and working to bring them to market.

It is an exciting time at Roundarch, and I am thrilled to be able to play a part in it.