The AppsLab

So, Mark (@mvilrokx) built a internet-connected Nerf gun, so that happened. If you read here, you’ll have seen the early stages of the build. Heading into JavaOne (@javaoneconf), where he’ll be giving a talk, Mark wanted to build something cool to show. Look for a technical post from him soon. The short version is that he… Read More

The Scavenger Hunt we ran at Kscope15 was a huge success. The players had fun, the game was mostly bug-free and our gracious hosts, ODTUG (@odtug), were happy. The Hunt went so well that we’ve been asked by the OTN (@oracleotn) to run a similar game at this year’s Oracle OpenWorld (@oracleopenworld) and JavaOne (@javaoneconf). I can’t… Read More

Editor’s note: Our team participated in many of the Summer of Innovation events held by Laurie (@lsptahoe) and her team. Here’s a report from Luis (@lsgaleana) on the Mexico Development Center (MDC) ShipIt held in mid-August. Enjoy. Oracle Mexico Development Center (MDC) has grown to bring together some 700 employees, and it continues to grow weekly. However, there is… Read More

Editor’s note: Our team participated in many of the Summer of Innovation events held by Laurie (@lsptahoe) and her team. Here’s Part 1 of Mark’s (@mvilrokx) project from the IoT Hackathon held at Oracle HQ, July 30-31. Enjoy. Last week I participated in the IoT Hackathon at HQ which is part of “The Summer of Innovation,” a series of events… Read More

Editor’s note: Our team participated in many of the Summer of Innovation events held by Laurie (@lsptahoe) and her team. Here’s a recap of the IoT Hackathon held at Oracle HQ, July 30-31. Enjoy. “The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees, The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas…”… Read More

I’m very pleased to announce that our colleague and friend Kathy recently pushed live a page on oracle.com under the OAUX section, dedicated to our Emerging Technologies team and our work. Big moment for us. I feel like a made guy. Don’t worry. This little blog will continue to be our home and stream of consciousness,… Read More

I recently attended a hackaton in Utrecht organized by Laurie Pattison (@lsptahoe) and her team as part of their “Summer of Innovation” series. The theme was Internet of Things (IoT) and this marked the first time that they organized a hackathon specifically for an outside partner, eProseed. All the previous hackathons were internal Oracle events.  Initially… Read More

Despite the amount of iOS and Apple Watch chatter here lately, we still have a dedicated Android user base on the team, including me. If you read here, you’ll know that projecting an Android device screen to an audience has always been important for us, and usually we have more than one screen to project. Over… Read More

Editor’s note: If you read here, you might recall that we have dos hermanos en Guadalajara, Luis (@lsgaleana) y Osvaldo (@vaini11a). Last month, the Mexico Development Center (MDC) celebrated its fifth anniversary. Here’s to many more. Reposted from VoX. By Sarahi Mireles, (@sarahimireles), Oracle Applications User Experience (@usableapps) As you may know, Oracle has a couple… Read More

A couple days after Noel (@noelportugal) wrote about reducing user friction, I got a chance to try one of Amazon’s latest friction-reducing services, Amazon Prime Now. The likes of Webvan pioneered grocery delivery back in the dot com days, and fun fact, Amazon owns and continues to operate what is left of Webvan. In those halcyon… Read More

Editor’s Note: Reposted from Ultan’s (@ultan) Tumblr, a great read. Ultan knows his fitness (and fashion), so his rousing endorsement of the Peak is legit. Read my impressions of the Basis Peak for more. Since I wore it last, Basis has updated the watch’s firmware to add some pretty cool features. Enjoy. “You’ve been running! Take… Read More

The Year of Data continues for me, and yesterday, I finished a four-week relationship with the Garmin Vivosmart. I use relationship purposefully here because if you use a wearable to track fitness and sleep, you’re wearing it a lot, and it actually becomes a little friend (or enemy) that’s almost always with you. Wearables are… Read More

The August 2015 edition of Profit Magazine (@OracleProfit) includes a nice piece called “The Explorers” highlighting the work of our team and that of JD Edwards Labs. This article is nice companion piece to our strategic approach to emerging technologies and how we apply the “Glance, Scan, Commit” design philosophy to our work. I’m honored to be quoted in… Read More

Cross-posted from VoX. Behind the Oracle user experience goals of designing for simplicity, mobility, and extensibility is a core design philosophy guiding the Oracle Applications User Experience (OAUX) team’s work in emerging technologies: “Glance, Scan, Commit.” It nicely boils down a mountain of research and a design experience that shapes the concepts you can see from… Read More

Yesterday I received an Amazon Dash for ordering IZZE juice. I think it is a great device, not that I would order tons of IZZE from Amazon, but at $5 it has wifi module + a micro controller + a LED light + a battery + nice enclosure, and it’s usually in deep sleep which… Read More

The Intel Compute Stick provides a full desktop experience in an ultra-portable HDMI dongle form factor. It’s like Google Chromecast, but an entire PC instead of just a web browser. I tested both the $150 Windows 8 version and the new $110 Ubuntu version. TAP TAP TAP. IS THIS THING ON? The HDMI end goes… Read More

If you follow us on Twitter (@theappslab) or on Facebook, you’ve seen some of the Summer projects coming together. If not, here’s a recap of some of the tinkering going on in OAUX Emerging Technologies land. Mark (@mvilrokx) caught the IoT bug from Noel (@noelportugal), and he’s been busy destroying and rebuilding a Nerf gun,… Read More

If you read here, you’ll recall that Noel (@noelportugal) and I have been supporters of the Raspberry Pi for a long time, Noel on the build side, many, many times, me on the talking-about-how-cool-and-useful-it-is side. And we’ve been spreading the love through internal hackdays and lots of projects. So, yeah, we love us some Raspi. The little… Read More