Joe Cincotta: Thoughts and such…

After 8 years, we have updated our logo.

version 1.8.5.0. is up now. The changes are generally relatively minor since the last release – just a few methods which we’ve needed for iTOK.

- Change Touch() method builder in BizBloxBuilder to use Enum column names rather than indexes- Add new constructor to DataObject(Guid id, Boolean load) which allows loading from an ID in one line of code.

- Fix validation unit test: if Food.cs is updated by Builder, do not overwrite validation

- Add option AddOrderAttribute To DataContract Info in BizBlox Builder.

- addWhereLikeConcatenatedColumns method to SqlBuilder as a lightweight alternative to the existing SearchBuilder method

- addTriStateAndWhere method to SqlBuilder to add built-in TriState filtering on a column.

- GetPrimaryKeyIDs() method added to DOCollection, to allow retrieving primary keys without loading objects.

Well, we have been very quiet over the past three months on our website and this blog. The reason is simple. We have been very very busy.

When I first started working in software – it was the golden age of web 1.0 bubble and I happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Whilst I had intentions of working in film doing software for companies like industrial light and magic, I was drawn in to developing for the Internet instead.

My first job was with the Sydney office of Euro RSCG – the worlds number five advertising agency network – and it was a heck of a ride. Within a year I was appointed the technical director and I was very fortunate to work on amazing brands doing some amazing things. Several world firsts. It was a buzz.

In 2003 I started Pixolüt to focus more on complex business application development. It has been a completely different ride in the world of startups – I have developed four unique platforms for four very different companies since we started – as well as countless hours of consulting for other businesses.

Recently I started working with Scott Wenkart of Mobux fame – one of the businesses which we developed technology for over the years. Scott had started Spiral from his strong background in media. He has been quite visionary over the past few years in understanding inscentive based online experiences and more recently in the space of social media.

As Scott was working with more and more media agencies we found there was a dire need for the experience Pixolüt had already built up in developing the Mobux platform and social applications to enhance the brand experience on these social environments with brand pages and applications.

After some deliberation, Scott and I established Spiral Digital as a joint venture. It has been a joy to work together over the past few months, it reminds me of all the fun aspects of my early days in advertising – only this time I have the benefit of nearly 15 years of experience and a spectacular team backing it all up.

We will have the new Spiral Digital website up soon, however if you would like to contact the team at Spiral check them out at http://www.spiralglobal.com

Below is a show reel of some of our recent work.

Pages
Pringles Australia – www.facebook.com/pringlesaustralia
Red Bull – http://www.facebook.com/RedBullXRAY
Grinspoon – http://www.facebook.com/Grinspoon?v=app_138339362688
Vanessa Amorosi – http://www.facebook.com/VanessaAmorosi?v=app_142539181926

Apps
Pringles – http://apps.facebook.com/pringleskingcanparty/
Smirnoff Champion’s Pass – http://apps.facebook.com/championspass/
Red Bull – http://apps.facebook.com/redbull-xray/
Nike+ – http://apps.facebook.com/nikeplushumanrace/
Lode Busy Summer – http://www.facebook.com/lode
Orcon Iggy Live – http://www.facebook.com/Orcon
Mobux SMS – http://apps.facebook.com/mobuxsms/page

Pixolüt Industries is proud to present their new website with a great new visual style and branding – building on the theme of the second generation Pixolüt logo launched in 2003 with a fresh new photographic style.We have created the new site to better convey the areas of the business and the values and essence of our brand.

Visit the new site today and please let me know what you think.

You can still get the ‘flat 2009′ style logo at our store for the next month or so until we launch the new branding cloting and accessories.

From the birthplace of mobux, comes Spiral a portfolio of brilliant business units, pioneering branded solutions in the digital space.

The details…

Since its inception in 2005, mobux has opened its doors to many talented people, been embraced by an enviable portfolio of exceptional Australian brands and delivered tremendous, bleeding-edge digital campaigns.

This success, evolution and dynamic growth has resulted in a necessary change in our structure and scale.

It is, with great pleasure that we announce the creation of a new, uniquely-divisionalised business called Spiral.

Spiral Media – the only media business enabling brands to connect in the most relevant ways with the users of Facebook, MySpace, smsfun.com.au and mobux.com.au.

Spiral Digital – the only digital business built upon the solutions we have created for our own digital assets. From digital acquisition and retention programs through to basic, tactical promotional micro-sites Spiral can we create, design, develop and deliver.

Spiral Lab – our R&D and innovations business, which includes our consumer brand mobux.com.au and our own portfolio of social applications and other digital assets.

From henceforth, we shall be known as Spiral! We hope that this change will be of great benefit to you, as we continue our journey into the Digital Space…

Stephen has just updated the release of BizBlox on SourceForge

The major change in this release is that the BizBlox Builder will only update files which have changed code. For example, if we just add a column to a single table, we used to run the BizBlox Builder code generator and the code for every entity would be updated. This meant that we used to be updating source control with hundreds of files which had not actually changed.

Stephen has updated the code generation system to now only touch files which have changed and as such, source control updates are cleaner and simpler – especially with large enterprise projects where multiple developers are working on ‘DataObject’ entities or collections at the same time.

Find out more about BizBlox here!