Website hosting in AWS S3 using CSS Corp CloudBuddy Personal

CSS Corp CloudBuddy Personal, our leading AWS S3 explorer, supports easy web hosting of static html pages. It is supported by Web Hosting plug-in or S3 Site hoster plug-in, developed by CSS Corp, which helps users to host the static web pages using AWS S3. Users will be able to configure CNAME using the plug-in. The CNAME needs to be configured in the DNS server with which the web site is registered. The synchronization mechanism supported by CloudBuddy Personal helps the user to synchronize the files between the local system and AWS S3 - to add / delete / update the website contents.

Steps involved in hosting a static website:

•  Download and install the CSS Corp CloudBuddy Personal, if not installed in your system.  

• Download the plug-in from the following link: http://s3.amazonaws.com/csslabs/cloudbuddy/cloudbuddypersonal/plugin/Websitehoster.zip
• Install the plug-in, as shown in the following link: http://m1.mycloudbuddy.com/pluginmanual/cbpluginmanager.html   
• Access the “S3 Sites” which is present in the right extreme of the tool bar.

• The “S3 Website Manager” screen will be displayed, which offers the following functionality.

S.No	Field	Description
1	Site Name	A unique name to identify the website records
2	Local Path	The location of folder containing the website files
3	Index File Path	The home page of website, which need to be displayed on providing the URL in a browser
4	Remote Path	A location in S3, where the website records will be saved and served as web pages
5	S3 URL	Application will generate a S3 URL, on successful transfer or syncing of contents from local location to S3, which will be triggered by the Sync button
6	Distribution URL	Application will generate a CloudFront Distribution URL, on successful enabling of CloudFront distribution for the S3 bucket

Refer the example provided below:

 Share the generated S3 URL or the Distribution URL.

In case of any modification in the site, edit the file in local path and select the website record. Click on the sync which will automatically update the latest contents to AWS S3 i.e., only the file which got modified will be transferred rather than transferring all the files.

The list of other plug-ins available in CloudBuddy Personal are:

S.No	Field	Description
1	CloudFront	Allows you to configure CloudFront distribution i.e., to distribute data through a server closest to the user's geographical location
2	Short URL	Facilitates conversion of long URL's to short and easy to remember URL's
3	AWS	Enables you to send/receive data via a device using AWS Import/Export service.
4	Folder Share	Helps users in sharing folders / files present in AWS S3

Android 3.0 – Peak and Dip

We have been wondering why there is a huge hype around “Android 3.0”. After going through many articles and demos, we realized the cool reasons behind such hype which will be highlighted in this post.  . We believe this is the right forum for us to share our views and experience. Come, let’s explore some cool features and some speculations out there about “Android 3.0”.

What are the cool pieces of Android 3.0 which is code named as “Honeycomb”? (Google follows alphabetical order in naming Android versions).

The major reason is the rich UI support for large screen. We read that they support “holographic” which means it will have 3D effect of widgets.  Widgets would allow you to load up multiple items like album, movie etc.

“Multi Tasking” – With “Android 3.0” you will be able to see the recent application in system bar rather than just name of the application or just an icon in earlier versions.

“Dual Core Support” – Oh! Yeah we have first multi core support “Mobile Operating System” now in the world. Well, Android will run their garbage collection in one core and applications will be executed in another core for better performance. This will allow users to build the applications for the new hardware architecture.

There are other exciting features like

• Redesigned Key Board with better text selection, copy and paste options
• New GUI for Contacts, Mail etc

So far so good, but we mentioned there are some bottom side!! what is that? It is all about - Is Google forks “Android”?- If you look at the versions 2.3 and 3.0 it clearly states that 3.0 goes its own way and Google is trying to have two different versions of Android, one is to support Mobile and another to support large screen devices that is tablet. Google claims Android 3.0 is built entirely for Tablet.

So, how it affects developer? Do we need to write two different codes for same application to target Mobile and Tablet? We really don’t have clear answer for this particular question because Gingerbread and Honeycomb targets different development environments but Android 3.0 supports all features of 2.x APIs. The applications built on top of 2.x can be upgraded without any code changes but to get the “Holographic” UI developers are required to do some changes in manifest file.

You can turn out and ask us this is exactly Apple does. They too have different environments for iPad, iPhone, but why are you questioning us? – Yes valid question but the in iPad and iPhone case the device maker is same “Apple”. But in Android’s case there are many players building devices and they have got their own UI layer hence developer can’t build or test their applications against each of them. That is the bottom side from developer stand point.

Watch out:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPUGNCIozp0&feature=player_embedded

Over all, We agree with “We weren’t blown away by the iPad”

Best of Consumer Electronics Show 2011

It is the year of the gadgets in the technology sector. With all the latest technologies in place, it is now the time to mobilize these technologies and make them handy and available on-the-go at the consumer end. The trend is well set with the innovations in smart phones, tablets and connectivity. The recently concluded CES event at Nevada was a clear indication of where the markets are and what the technology innovators are focusing on.

The CES, Consumer Electronics Show is a major international technology-related trade show conducted every year. It has been the curtain-raiser for many promising technologies in the recent past like the HD, blue-ray Disc, 3DTVs; and in 2011, tablet-PCs have been the show-stealer. Thanks to the tremendous success of the iPad from Apple Inc, who have managed to sell around 14million units of the device. Many are following suit, and the avalability of a solid platform in Android has so much quickened the race. Many big players in the consumer electronics like Motorola, Samsung are coming up with their own android tablets and the CES event 2011 was the perfect stage to showcase their gadgets.

Now before we take a look at some of the unique catchy tablets with distinct features, here is an information. There were a total of 80 different tablet-PCs introduced in this 4-day event, out of which 47 were android tablets. But out of all these devices a few stood for their own discreet features.

Motorola Xoom

This 10.1 inch tablet from Motorola was the one and only tablet in the event to run an Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS, which is yet to be commercially released. Its key features are a 1Ghz dual core processor(NVIDIA Tegra 2), 1 GB RAM, a 4G connectivity and of course, the Android 3.0. Hosting the latest Android OS is a key advantage for this tablet, as it is believed that the Android Honeycomb has updates that are hardware dependent. In other words, the existing android tablets might not be able to upgrade to the new OS.

Notion Ink Adam

Before I move on to tell you what this tablet is all about, here is an interesting piece of information. This Android tablet is from an Indian company Notion Ink and was arguably hailed as one of the most unique tablets at the CES event. This device introduces a lot of unique features that are not only new to the iPad, but to the entire tablet world. When launched in February, Adam will be the first tablet-PC to have a swivel camera(a 3megapixel camera hosted on top of the device which is able to turn 185 degrees top-down). The tablet has a 10 inch screen with Pixel Qi technology, that enables the users to read the screen even under direct sunlight. The device has a dual core processor, an SD card slot, 3 USB ports, 1080p video output, supports multi-tasking, Flash 10.0 and a battery life that enables 16 hours of video viewing. On the downside, it is still unclear, if the tablet would support the Android market apps.

Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid

Here is a real game changer. If you are looking for that extra mile that allows you to choose one tablet over another, here is what Lenovo offers. It is a 10.1 inch screen Android 2.2 tablet that comes with a laptop, or vice versa. In other words, IdeaPad U1 Hrbrid is a notebook, that has a detachable screen. When the screen is attached, the device works as a notebook which runs windows 7 on a 2GB of RAM memory, 320GB hard drive, and processor 1.2GHz Intel Core i5. And when the screen is detached, the screen is a LePad that runs Android 2.2 on 1GB of RAM memory and 32GB of storage, and 1.3GHz Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon processor. The screen has dual cameras – 2mp front-facing, 5mp back-facing. That is some serious innovation and it would be of no surprise if we see a series of market leaders come up with similar devices following suit.

Tremont Electric nPowerPeg

This gadget is a perfect example of green technology. The nPowerPeg is a personal energy generator, a handy device when tossed in your backpack, captures and stores your kinetic energy as you go about your daily work. It’s the world’s first passive kinetic energy charger for hand-held electronics and makes renewable energy generation personal. Performance-wise, 30 minutes of letting this thing jostle around in your backpack translates to about the equivalent amount of battery life for an iPod nano.

The CES event 2011 clearly indicates that the year ahead is the year of the tablets. Or in a broader perspective, it is about bringing services to the very hands of the consumer, whenever and wherever possible.