No Macs for eTax

If your wanting to lodge this years tax return online using the Australian Tax Office (ATO) eTax software and you're on Mac, forget it. Actually correction if you're on ANY other platform bar windows forget it.

I find in a day of Web 2.0 apps / AJAX technologies, that the ATO still distributes an executable program that only runs on Windows. They rub a bit of salt in the wound by telling Mac Users that the software does run Mac, but only under Virtual PC (thank you captain obvious).

Now I am not one of these Mac Nuts (who line outside Apple Stores for days on end), but seriously Mac Users are important demographic who simply cannot be ignored.

Besides wouldn't an online tool be so much better (and easier to deploy)? Users are so more familar using web based technologies (cheers to Facebook, mySpace, Internet Banking, Booking Flights / Accommodation .. and the list goes on).

I think that although a web deployed version of eTax would be a complex challenge, and isn't something that could be rolled out overnight - it would deliver real benefits to the ATO as well as its users.

Meet the QR Code.

You are seriously going to see the explosion of these things over the next couple of Years - they are called QR codes and they are coming to an advertisement near you!

QR Codes are a really funky way for Mobile Phone users to quickly get information (such as a web page address) into their mobile phone from a physical medium i.e a print advertisment, business card or banner advert (such as in a bus shelter).

How does this work?

A mobile phone user takes a picture of your QR Code (let's say that you've placed in your Advertisement) using their phone camera. The mobile phone recognises this as a QR Code and translates it into a piece of information (i.e a web address like: http://www.tmdesigns.com.au/).

Example of how this could work

Let's say Seaworld (a tourism attraction on the Gold Coast), runs advertisments in a number of bus shelters along the Gold Coast Highway. In this advertisement they could offer a discount of say $10. To redeem this voucher the mobile phone user has to "scan" the QR Code using their camera phone.

Now let's say Seaworld's Agency is really clever ... and they recommend that Seaworld has different QR Codes for each bus shelter. From this, Seaworld could quickly track which bus shelters are working the best! (Tracking is tops!).

A bit of history

Originally developed in 1994 for use with tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing it has now expanded and is becoming a popular method of inputing information into a Mobile Phone. You can think of a QR Code as a barcode. Wiki has a tonne of information on this here.

Got Questions?

Give me a buzz here

Standards compliance with IE8 - will this web developer's Utopian paradise ever be realised?

I got an email from Microsoft the other day regarding Internet Explorer 8 which is about to be released in August. Now I know not a lot of people are not the biggest fan of Microsoft, however I *think* they have finally done something intelligent in regards to this web browser.

They have *apparently* have released it in a "default rending mode" which will make "real improvements in standards compliance" (note the quote, unquote). They've also bundled it up with some other cool features.

Microsoft adds "IE8 will address many pain points especially for developers and designers helping them drive toward the ideal of “write once, run anywhere” and freeing up more time to innovate vs modify content for different browsers.".

Truly I am praying to the internet gods that this browser will finally solve the issues with web development.

Hello World - it's web development news live from the Gold Coast!

Hello World!

I've decided to start my first blog posting to pay homage to the age old tradition of all those who start programming in a new language (even tho blogging really isn't programming) with the famous "hello world" message.

For those who are not familiar with this - Hello World is usually the first thing a programmer learns when learning a new language (they write a program that writes "hello world" on the screen).

OK enough with the Geek talk.

What's with this blog? Well there are a number of reasons I am writing this blog:

1. To win friends and influence people
2. To create an opportunity share knowledge about web development

Over the next few months, I will be posting (hopefully once every couple days) stuff about web development, things happening in the Gold Coast (that may or not be relevant to Web Development), and what I got up to down the pub last weekend.

Who am I:

I am the head of development for a small web development company on the Gold Coast called Trent Moffatt Designs. For those that aren't aware what we are about, basically we build custom websites that do cool things online.

Well thats about it for now, hope to see you back here soon!

Enjoy!