One of the benefits of being a CLA (Certified LabVIEW Architect), is that you get to go to the exclusive CLA summit. This is a yearly event held in Austin and Europe for the purpose of discussing topics and issues affecting LabVIEW developers today. Topics range from LabVIEW frameworks to source code control techniques. Best of all, admission is free with your membership.

One very enlightening presentation was given by Joe Silva from National Instruments. In it he discussed some basic UI design principles that can help improve your design right away. I interview Joe in this episode and we highlight some of the topics in his presentation. We also discuss some of the struggles LabVIEW developers face in developing good UI designs. – If you want to catch Joe presenting, you can see his session this year at NIWeek 2013

Joe had a list of recommended reading in his presentation. Here is the list:

Links to content mentioned in this episode:

NSA Powerpoint slides, before and after. Designed for better comprehension and data presentation:

In this episode, I interview Matthias Baudot from Studio Bods. He's started a new company that just announced a product on the LabVIEW Tools Network called BLT for LabVIEW.

From the LabVIEW Tools Network Description:

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Here at VI Shots, one of my goals is to always be expanding my knowledge into LabVIEW and learning new software engineering techniques and ideas. To that goal, I try to bring people on the show that can teach me, and in turn you, something new. This episode of the VI Shots LabVIEW podcast is no exception.

We all have, at some point, developed a framework that allows us to create parallel processes and communicate with them. We've even given them cool pet names. We're pretty proud of our creations and excited about using them in our customer projects. However, things fall apart at some point, usually with a looming project deadline.

Stephen Mercer and Allen Smith from National Instruments join me to discuss some of these framework problems and the solution they have within the Actor Framework. The Actor Framework is a collection of VIs made available through the LabVIEW 2012 palette and as a Project Template. Should you be using it in your next customer project? Listen to the show, then dig into it and try it for yourself.

Links to content mentioned in this episode:

In this episode of the VI Shots Podcast. I sit down with Wendy Covey, from Trew Marketing. Wendy founded Trew Marketing with Rebecca Geier back in 2008. Since then, their company has focussed on helping engineering companies uncover their unique voice in the marketplace. As you'll hear in this interview. Sometimes in order to grow your customer base you need to narrowly focus your marketing message.

Links to content mentioned in this episode:

I had the pleasure of interviewing John Bergmans from Bergmans Mechatronics. He's been working with websockets and LabVIEW over the past few years and has evolved his knowledge into a product he calls LabSockets. From his website:

The LabSocket System enables LabVIEW applications to be monitored and controlled remotely using a web browser. The system operates without browser plug-ins, making it suitable for use with a wide range of desktop and mobile browsers. The system is easy to use and requires no knowledge of web programming languages such as HTML or JavaScript.

Listen to the interview to find out more about LabSockets and see if it can help extend your own LabVIEW app, and allow it to be controlled via a web browser interface.

National Instruments has been exploring the mobile space for a couple of years now. They started off with simple utility apps such as the Service Request tracker and NI device pinout documentation tool. They released a mobile app last year which allowed you to view data on an iOS and Android device in a limited fashion. Now with data dashboard 2.0, they've come out with a full featured app to let you not only monitor, but control your remote LabVIEW application.

In this podcast, I interview Grant Heimbach, the data dashboard product manager. We explore some of the capabilities offered by this new free mobile application and how it can help LabVIEW developers extend their reach into the mobile space.

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I had the pleasure of  interviewing Jeff C Jensen, who is a Senior Lead User Manager for Embedded Systems at National Instruments. We had a very interesting discussion about some of the work he's done with various students and NI employees to interface computers with everyday consumer devices using LabVIEW. All of the work can be found on the LabVIEW Hacker website listed in the links below. We also talked about some of the challenges facing software developers in the embedded space.

Links to content mentioned in this episode:

I had the pleasure of speaking with Jeffrey Travis on this podcast episode. Jeffrey has written several LabVIEW related books, has released several open source LabVIEW tools such as LabVNC, LabSQL and LabPerl. He also has a very successful engineering business (Jeffrey Travis Studios ) developing LabVIEW based automation systems.

Over the years, he’s transitioned to a radically different career as a director in the filmmaking industry. He’s had many short film successes, but recently he’s directed an independent feature film called Dragon Day. I had a very interesting discussion with Jeffrey on the challenges to producing an independent film and the balance between his engineering background and his new found passion. Also listen to find out about a special cameo appearance in the film, and it’s not who you might think.

Jeffrey is a fellow engineer that decided to pursue his creative filmmaking passion. He describes how he made that happen in the interview. However, he needs our help. Please visit the following link and contribute what you can so he can complete the post production process and get it released. There are only a few days left in the campaign.

http://www.indiegogo.com/dragonday

Excerpt from the films website:

When out-of-work techie Duke Evans and his family try to rebuild their lives in a remote mountain town, their own version of the American Dream is cut short as planes begin falling from the sky and all power, communications and transportation suddenly stops working. Caught in an unprecedented cyberattack that signifies the end of the U.S. as we know it, Duke and his family must use all their wits and the unlikely help of an illegal immigrant, to survive this frighteningly realistic scenario where water, food and time are running out.

Support the movie:

LabVIEW 2012 was announced today! You can download it from here.

I invited Elijah Kerry, the senior product manager for LabVIEW, on the show so we can find out first-hand about all the new features of LabVIEW 2012. One of the most significant features, this year is the LabVIEW Templates and sample projects. I was a little skeptical of relying on NI to deliver quality sample projects that would meet my high expectations. Listen to the podcast to find out how good they really are.

I will be taking VI Shots to NIWeek 2012. You can see me at the technology theater on Tuesday at 4-5pm. I will be interviewing some past VI Shots guests and some new faces. More info here.

Here are links to items mentioned in this podcast episode:

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I’m very excited today to bring you an interview I did last year at NIWeek 2011. I sat down with a group of engineering interns at National Instruments. Now these intern positions were not typical. Hunter Smith and Ben James who managed this group of students, gave them the flexibility to do whatever project they wanted, as long as it was extremely awesome. How’s that for some parameters to work within?

Top Row: Hunter Smith, Ben James, Humphrey Huang, Peter Gayler – Bottom Row: Dylan Caswell, Tim Lynch, Me. Fred Visser was also a manager for the group (not shown).

This group within NI is called Waterloo Labs, and I had a great time talking with them. It’s feels great to see so much excitement in engineering. Some of the projects that have come out of Waterloo Labs is an iPhone controlled vehicle, an Eyeball powered super mario game, a Kinect powered etch-a-scetch. One of the coolest projects so far, I think is something they go in great detail in this interview.

Here are links to items mentioned in this podcast episode: