Notes and more everywhere

I download lots of iOS apps, mainly out of curiosity. Some I grow to use others just disappear. One which I use more and more and has got better and better is Evernote. With the tagline "Remember Everything" you use Evernote via the web, iOS, Android, BlackBerry etc. You can do simple notes, todo lists, upload files or images. I started to use it for making notes at conferences. The Evernote ecosystem has grown and a great feature is the web clipper. This add-in for your favorite browser clips all or part of a web site and saves it as an evernote note. Once in evernote it is easy to search through it via tags; my google searches even checks my evernote account now (with permission). Skitch is a recent acquisition but makes annotating images dead easy on your desktop, iPad or Android device (and then saves the results to Evernote).

It works on a freemium model. You get everything with some restrictions (60MB upload a month, no offline data on mobile devices). They get you hooked then you can pay for unlimited access, which I'm giving serious consideration to. Why not give it a try at your next conference? I hear CUP XIII should be good fun.

'via Blog this'

Operating systems which are current for now

After switching employer I'm no longer tied to Windows Vista & Red Hat. Truth be told I'm quite happy on Red Hat, Vista less so. Anyway, my new setup is Mac OS X Lion & Ubuntu. I use Lion on my personal computer so that is no problem. Although from a developer perspective OS X isn't Linux like Red Hat, but once you learn the tweaks it does play ball.

As for my new Linux workstation I was encouraged to use Ubuntu. I tried Ubuntu briefly at University and didn't really see what the fuss was about. If anything I found it really annoying as everything I wanted (developer/sysadmin tools) were not installed. However, a new job means an open mind and I've landed with Ubuntu 11.10. I had heard about Unity and indeed it is an impressive desktop, which has been a pleasure to use. Ubuntu 12.04 is out in a matter of weeks and will feature HUD, which again is very nice, but is nothing new over one of my favorite Mac apps: Alfred (Like QuickSilver).

Mountain Lion has just been announced as well. So there will be plenty of activity for my operating systems this year, just after I've got them both setup the way I want them!

All change

After three years at a AstraZeneca I decided it was time for a change. So instead of Manchester I opted for Santa Fe, New Mexico. I've been here for nearly two weeks now and in terms of culture, food and weather it couldn't be more different to Manchester. Thankfully, I'm loving every minute of it. In no small part that is thanks to my new employer - OpenEye. I've had a week at work so far and am immersing myself in the startup like culture that OpenEye has.

I'm speaking at CUP XIII next month on some of my work from AstraZeneca entitled, "Keepalive with OEChem 24x7x365". Given I work for a software company now I expect (though I won't promise) to actually post more to this blog.

Computational Chemistry sandwich placement available

It is that time of year again when I can announce my group at AstraZeneca has a new position available. We are looking for a Sandwich Student to join us in September 2012. We successfully rebooted our sandwich student program last year. The ideal candidate will currently be in the second year of their chemistry or computer science degree. No experience is required, but a willingness to learn is crucial as you will learn about cheminformatics and computational chemistry.

Unfortunately, I personally will not be involved with this student, apart from the recruitment process for reasons which are subject to another blog post.

If you are interested find out more here: http://www.ideas.astrazeneca.com/sandwich-and-summer-placements/ and search for reference: TRES DS 12. Closing date for applications is 25th Jan 2012. Good luck!

Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/53921113@N02/5645102295/

Computational Chemistry sandwich placement available

I'm delighted to announce we have a 12 month placement available for a sandwich student. Typically the third year of a four year undergraduate degree. It has been a while since my department has had a placement student, but I firmly believe the experience is valuable for both the student and us. I did a placement during my undergraduate degree and thoroughly enjoyed it. Seemingly my employer agreed as they later sponsored my PhD.

The ideal candidate would be a chemist or computer scientist. The only skill you need to bring is a desire to learn. We don't expect you to know all about drug discovery or be an amazing programmer. During the placement you will have to the opportunity to pick up the skills required to make a meaningful contribution to our department.

If you are interested find out more here, http://www.ideas.astrazeneca.com/sandwich-and-summer-placements/ and search for reference: TRES DECS 11. Closing date for applications is 15th Feb 2011. Good luck!

Subversion Edge

Subversion is an excellent version control system. It is mature enough to have all sorts of integration - with Apache and Python amongst others. This enables easy communication via the HTTP protocol and language bindings, such as python to form web interfaces for repositories.

With subversion being a server-client model the version of the server is the most important component as it determines what features you can actually use. No good having a 1.6 client if the server is 1.2 as only 1.2 features are available. Depressingly this was the situation I was in. Unsurprisingly, the good folk at CollabNet have added lots of useful new features, which I need to use.

Compiling subversion is actually dead easy (as I have discussed previously, plus lots of binaries are available). So what is Subversion Edge? Essentially a bundle of Apache, Subversion and ViewVC server in a convenient tarball. Then throw in a bonus admin web interface as well. Upgrading your server version becomes slightly more tricky when Apache and Python are tied to it. No worries with Subversion Edge as it has a built-in update mechanism. One of my pet peeves is multiple usernames/passwords. Another freebie from Subversion Edge is LDAP support so plug straight in your authentication system - nice. One less component to ensure you compile against.

I started using the beta over the summer and have had no problems. The 1.2.1 release is now happily serving many repositories for me.  If you run a very large and complicated setup you may find Subversion Edge is too restricted for you, but for a large number of users it will meet your needs.

If you maintain subversion repositories I strongly recommend you give Subversion Edge a go today. Did I mention it was free as well?

Useful links:

• Project homepage
• Screenshots
• Mailing list
• Documentation

iOS apps for Science

I was going to list interesting iPhone/iPad apps months ago, but there is already an excellent list available here and I see no point in reinventing the wheel.

If you fancy hunting through the App Store, which isn't that great a search you'll generally find science apps under Books, Education, Reference or Utilities.

Now I have slightly more free time I might have a dabble with the iOS SDK.