Software Tools

The internet has been the greatest breeding ground for creativity in human history, acting as the medium through which a unfathomable number of new works are published every day; from the shortest and most informal 'tweets' to 1000 page USPTO patents. Although this boom in creative work has been a blessing, it also has created a large problem in detecting and preventing plagiarism.

Even during this recent economic recession, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have proven resilient, continuing to produce a steady stream of innovation. In fact, the start up mentality was built for the trenches. Unlike the gluttonous tech companies at the turn of the century, today's start up thrives on low cost innovation, minuscule resources and minimal encouragement.

Newton Software is excited to join the good folks at SF New Tech for a night of tacos, beers, and technology. We have been selected to strut our stuff on the main stage for a 5 minute presentation followed by Q&A. Come meet our team on August 12th!

Complete docs on the Ruby Sinatra GEM which enables very rapid web app development

There is still a major fraction of industry that refuses to accept the full efficiency and economy of the Internet. Sure, they might be using email and Google search, but that's about it. I'd like to create a list that spans various cross-sections of industries that are still missing the big picture. Feel free to chirp in with any other examples.

Recruiting is a misunderstood art form. For the shortsighted hiring managers out there, the word recruiting brings to mind hours of distraction that could be better spent on their "real job". One thing the recession has taught us (particularly the mortgage crisis) is that any decision based solely on short term ramifications will generally get us nowhere in the long run.

Very nice SQL browser/IDE, includes JDBC interfaces for FrontBase, MySQL, etc.

A great post on the beauty of a transparent business models. Don't make me talk to a sales guy, just show me the price!!!

Freeware alternatives to proprietary software, some of it pricey (eg.adobe) WARNING: I'm not familiar with most of these packages, and I recall having heard at least one horror story about Ubuntu, so use these recommendations at your own risk.

Thanks to Theo H., a very cool web-based UML drawing tool.

A very cool web tool to draw UML and/or communication flow diagrams, based on simple text input.

MacPorts is a software packaging service that installs prepared binaries, in /opt/local, using the "port" command.

Primary website for composite keys support for ActiveRecord.

Good reference on SSL configuration for Apache

Useful review of ten Ruby standard libraries

GPG software for Mac OS X

GPG for Mac OS X

Free and easy keyword indexing tool for "small" (less than a million) websites

Ruby library for command parsing.

Great, open-sourced graphing library with a well-defined API.

Great tool for managing multiple iTunes libraries and music folders.

Great tool for managing multiple iTunes libraries.

Unlike the slow moving behemoths of old, start-ups have the ability to rapidly change direction and adapt to newly minted consumer demands. Young companies now have access to a plethora of new tools that utilize the internet to minimize costs and maximize efficiency.