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  • Michael
    Recently I was asked to look into creating a "live event" system. Sorta like "status update" but for general news/tweets/articles/etc, that could later be converted into a pages page at the end of the live event. This got me thinking about how live event systems work. To be effective, they have to be able to deliver the information in real time, there are only a handful of ways to do this efficiently. Ajax is simply out of the question in most cases, cause it can be a huge resource hit if more than 20 or so people are actively viewing the live event, so this got me thinking about babble once again. One of the things that set babble apart from other chat systems, was the fact it used websockets to deliver the messages to the connected users instead of relying on ajax to retrieve a list of new messages. this allowed for much faster real time communication, as the message being sent and received were almost instantaneous, with the biggest limiting factor being the connection speed of the user.
    However, this required special software to achieve. I opted to use node.js to serve as the websocket host. this would've required a separate server for site to run the babble node.js app on or use my service. Both of these required additional resources from both the client and myself, to implement fully. Now as most of you know, I am not some fairly large corporation or even a large or medium or small business, I'm one person, with the resources of 1 person.  So running the service for me was a costly endeavor for me. Even if it is more of a pita, the self hosted option is honestly better for everyone involved. Yes self hosting a nodejs server could be more expensive for some, but for most it might actually be cheaper. The servers I had, I had 2 of them at one point, then rolled back to 1 cause of cost for version 3 (but it was a more powerful server than the previous 2 I had). I tried to evenly distribute the cost of the service to the packages for babble (which at the time of the service, I was not making any money on the app itself and the service cost i was mostly in the hole on always). This was cause the size of the server had to be large to handle the load it would have, so more load, more cost, and then more cost to you. So with a self hosted server, you could scale to your needs, i would honestly say most sites would need a very cheap vps from like digital ocean or aws (around $6 to $12 a month).
    So if I were to bring back Babble, it would also include a live event system in it. I have several ideas to improve it to, one of the ideas i had was a "watch together" type system, that would allow multiple people to watch the same video (say from youtube and the creator of the watch together would have control over the video, like pausing/ff/rewind/etc) and have a chat going among those watching it. 
    If i was to bring back Babble, it would be apart of the subscription model, but it would not have a service attached to it this time. It would strictly be a self hosted thing, I of course would offer a setup service for those who needed it. 
    Let me think, here are some questions to ponder:
    Should i bring back babble and why. what features would like to see added what changes would you like to see what concerns you'd have with running your own node.js server should alternatives be explored instead of node.js+websockets whatever other question/comment you might have  
  • Michael
    Stratagem 3.3.0 has been released under the new subscription model. 
    I've always wanted to do a central app that was required for all my apps, as I use a lot of "shared" libraries in my apps that i've created, that i will fix a bug in one of those and forget to bring it to the other apps or forget where i fixed the bug or when. So this shared app allows me to have only one app that actives the license key and checks on its status when it needs too and also keeps libs i've created to be shared among my apps into one location. 
    This will likely help a great deal with version 5 of IPS, as i have plans on moving over to a framework that plugins into IPS, but use very little IPS code to avoid issues in the future that always plagues me. this should also allow me to more easily move my apps over to other platforms like xenforo and wordpress moving on in the future. 
  • Michael
    I was hoping to have had at least a beta released before the 4th, but i'm having issues with the license system in nexus. 
    I'll work on it over this weekend and hopefully i will have it up monday
  • Michael
    I just want to wish all my fellow patriots a happy and safe 4th of July!
    and here is a brief history of the U.S.
    How it all started, July 4th 1776:

    When Abraham Lincoln delivered the emancipation proclamation, crushing the rebellion and winning the civil war for the union!

    Teddy winning the west and protecting us from the evil sassysquatch:

    FDR defeating nazi germany and imperialist japan:

    JFK being the first man on the moon and riding a steel stalion:

    Nixon going to china:

    Reagan defeating communism:

    and why no one fucks with america!

    disclaimer: some liberties might have been taken in telling you this brief history of america. stay safe patriots!
    source for images: https://www.etsy.com/shop/sharpwriter?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1246161092&from_page=listing i highly recommend checking this guy out, he has an uncanny ability to capture what it means to be an american  
  • Michael

    Stratagem Update

    By Michael, in General,

    I'm currently finishing up the update for Stratagem. I will be testing it for the next week or so, to make sure i've got everything fixed. Stratagem will be the first app released under the subscription model. 
    after this release, i will begin development of stratagem 4.0, which will like be the last branch for the IPS 4.x series. Stratagem 5.0 will be the first branch for IPS 5.0.
    if you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them down below. 
  • Michael

    New App/Tool

    By Michael, in General,

    I will be coming out with a free new app/tool. I have stripped out a part of the toolbox, the Dev Toy Box, and will be releasing it as a stand alone app. I actually do use these tools quite a bit, but i've noticed toolbox is starting to have issues with php 8.2+, this is largely due to issues with in the IPS 4.x framework (where they are still largely doing things the way you would've done them in php 5.3, that are now deprecated in php 7+). I don't have any inclination to continue to try to fix IPS shortcomings any longer (to clarify this, i think any and all php software should be able to run with E_ALL enabled without suppressing anything. currently IPS doesn't allow this, as it throws a lot of deprecation warnings). Anyway this isn't meant to be a IPS rant, but an announcement to Dev Toys.
    Dev Toys will take the Dev Toy Box from the toolbox app, and allow you to run it without the toolbox. I can see some limited use outside of development for this app. 

    it will have several tools, including converters, encoders/decoders and generators. I personally use the images converter to convert between png to webp and webp to png or various other formats. 
    Hopefully it will out over the next week or so. again it will be free. 
     
  • Michael
    I've decided to give the "subscription" model a chance. I've come up with 3 tiers, with a some additional "packages" to go along with them.
    Tier monthly:
    this tier will cost $10 a month and will allow to run any of my available apps on one site. if you need for multiple sites, you can buy additional uses for $5 a month.*
    Tier Quarterly: 
    this tier will cost $25 every 3 months and will allow to run any of my available apps on one site. if you need for multiple sites, you can buy additional uses for $10 every 3 months.*
    Tier Lifetime:
    This tier will give you access to all my apps for a lifetime on one site. it will cost $400, if you need additional sites, you will need to purchase monthly or quarterly tiers. this subscription will not offer additional packages for multiple sites. This package will also have an elevated support to it. it will also be available to limited quantities. 
    Additional Packages:
    Monthly Addon needs to be purchased if you plan on running any of the apps on more than one site. this package will have a premium of $5 a month Quarterly Addon needs to purchased if you plan on running any of the apps on more than one site. this package will have a premium of $10 every 3 months. Setup Addon have me setup each app on your site elevated support for one month $75 one time fee per site** Premium Support*** 2 hours of premium support $20 monthly * this package will be of limited support and it will also not be perpetual, if you let the package to lapse, the apps will disable themselves.
    ** this isn't per app, just per site. so if you want the apps to be installed per site and have the appropriate add on, this will acquire an additional charge.
    *** each tier/package will offer limited support. support can be a timely and costly thing. there are times my app isn't the direct cause. typically the backtrace from the error logs will tell me exactly what i need to know, other times a more involved investigation is needed. I am considering this move involved investigation to be considered premium support. basically if i can not reproduce it on my local hosts (i have 3 of them using docker, in various configurations to test on various platforms), then i will consider this to require additional support/time. 
    This is what i'm thinking, let me know what you guys think. let me know if you think they are too expensive, too ambitious, too whatever or not enough. if you have any questions, feel free to ask or if you have suggestions, feel free to leave them down in the comments.  
  • Michael

    Streaming?

    By Michael, in General,

    Would anyone be interested in me doing my work as a streaming session? like a few hours a week, just having me talk about what i'm doing, get an idea of what i do, how i do it and possibly why i do it. 
    it would give you all a chance to see a progress of an app/development and get to know me as i'm sure i will try to make it entertaining, with stories and jokes and what not.
    let me know what you all think about this idea. 
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