Michael Topalovich from Delivered Innovation, along with Jason Venable of F5 Networks and Dan Belwood of salesforce.com, presented “What’s Hot in the World of JavaScript Frameworks” at Dreamforce ’12 in San Francisco.  Jason kicks off the presentation with an overview of jQuery and a demo showing how the framework can provide rich UI functionality within the context of a VisualForce page; Dan then gives an overview of Backbone.js and presents a demo showing the capabilities of the framework in using Salesforce data to generate a mapping visualization; Michael closes out the session by presenting the rich native charting capabilities of the ExtJS 4.1 framework by Sencha.

What’s Hot in the World of JavaScript Frameworks

What JavaScript frameworks have you used with Salesforce?  Follow Delivered Innovation and Michael Topalovich on Twitter and start a conversation today!

This week, Insight Enterprises surpassed their 1 millionth seat in various cloud offerings. Even though the cloud is, of course, larger than 1 million, this article did bring to light important statistics surrounding cloud adoption and the impact the internet has made on our lives: 30% of the world’s population use the internet (that’s 2 billion people), more than 250 billion emails are sent every day, and 10 million devices are web-enabled. Insight brings up the fact that the cloud “can take away the stress and reduce the expense of technology implementations for businesses,” which is why it is catching on so quickly and with ease.

• Cloud Computing is Now One Million Strong

Sencha is launching their final release of Ext JS 4.1, which boosts performance in rendering and layout. Make sure you play around with the new release and take note of the various changes, such as page load, rendering and converting HTML, layout, virtual scrolling, XTemplate, and so on. Overall, the buzz surrounding the new release is positive, and Sencha is encouraging users to play around with it and send them feedback so they can continue to make improvements.

• What’s Coming in Ext JS 4.1

Dawson argues that 2012 will bring to light the fact that all clouds (public or private) are built on the internet, which produces security risks that everyone must take seriously. In 2012, “the emphasis needs to be on creating networks of “trust” based on proven security policies and governance,” and we must stop worrying about where that information is on the cloud, but rather, how it is being protected, managed, and accessed.” This, however, is just one person’s opinion, what do you think 2012 will bring for cloud computing?

• 2012 Will All Be About the Data and How We Manage It

The Force.com MVP program recognizes “outstanding contributions of community members who share their deep technical knowledge for the benefit of others, and shape our community with their leadership.” What does that mean? If you are highly active in the Force.com community, spending your own time answering #askforce questions, writing code and sharing it, answering questions on the DeveloperForce Boards, writing helpful tips and tricks on your blog just because you enjoy it, and so on, you might be eligible as an MVP. Email your nominations to info[at]developerforce.com by January 6th and outline why you or someone you know should be an MVP for a chance to be recognized. Good luck!

• Force.com MVP Nominations Are Open!

On Thursday, Mike Gerholdt gave a compelling presentation at the Wisconsin Salesforce.com User Group meeting on how to be a “super Salesforce admin.” He listed six reasons: education (never stop learning), play around and discover (within your Sandbox, of course, explore different possibilities with various applications and see what can be best for your team), get social (connect on Twitter, LinkedIn, Chatter, etc), communicate to your team (email, webinars, YouTube, Chatter, just to name a few), analyze your business, and always challenge yourself. To view Gerholdt’s entire slide presentation, click the link below.

• How to be a Super Salesforce Admin!

Oracle acquired RightNow, a cloud computing customer service company, on Monday to the tune of $1.5 billion. Thomas Kurian, Executive Vice President of Oracle Development, stated that Oracle is “moving aggressively to offer customers a full range of Cloud Solutions inculding sales force automation, human resources, talent management, social networking, databases and Java as part of the Oracle Public Cloud.” I suppose this acquisition isn’t a shocker, seeing as they announced the Oracle Public Cloud not too long ago. I wonder what other acquisitions Oracle has up their sleeves?

• Oracle Acquires RightNow for 1.5 Billion, Aims Turrets at Salesforce.com

There are many possible reasons as to why Oracle bought RightNow. Being new to the cloud, this acquisition might bring some credibility to Oracle since it has taken them awhile to jump on the cloud computing bandwagon. Also, it may bring them more customers in small and medium sized businesses and reach more markets. Moreover, it allows Oracle to compete better with salesforce.com’s Service Cloud 3, which is their cloud computing customer service. Oracle purchased RightNow at $43 a share, making out to $1.5 billion.

• Why Oracle Paid $1.5B for RightNow

The technology and concept of paying to access resources on a remote system through a network connection is not new, companies have been doing it since the days of renting mainframe time. However, “the cloud” is being featured as a bold new concept, why? There are many factors that play in to this; this article lists 11. For starters, millennials are entering the workforce, and they are very computer literate who hardly remember a time without the Internet. Moreover, international outsourcing is easier and more accessible, software products are being launched faster now than ever before, new advances in mobile computing creates opportunities for employees to work from multiple locations, offices are becoming more fragmented, IT budgets are shrinking, and people trust and rely on the internet a lot more than they used to. All of these factors, and more, create the need for cloud computing.

• 11 Reasons Why SaaS and the Cloud are Taking Over

Sencha announced the public beta launch of Sencha.io this week, their new HTML5 mobile cloud service. Sencha.io provides various cloud services, “including Sencha.io Data, Sencha.io Messages, Sencha.io Login and Sencha.io Development.” These new services allow developers to use just a few lines of Javascript code to store data, send and listen to messages from users, deploy apps or login through Facebook and Twitter. In beta now, so check it out here. Cool!

• Sencha Launched Mobile HTML5 Cloud, Sencha.io

ebizQ always posts great question to ponder, this week it is regarding moving enterprise architecture to the cloud. Is it possible? To sum up our point of view, “definitely.” However, the cloud needs to mature a little more before it is ready for enterprise adoption. There are a few patterns emerging though that need to be taken into account as the cloud becomes a component of enterprise architecture, such as consumerization of IT, the importance of mobile access, and the idea of everything-as-a-service. These are just our opinions though, feel free to input yours in the link below.

• Is it Possible to Move Enterprise Architecture to the Cloud?

We recently held a joint event with Sencha, Explore the Power of ExtJS for Rich Force.com Applications. If you were not in attendance, don’t fret, we have the highlights right here.

Arthur Kay, Solutions Engineer at Sencha, started us off by showcasing Ext JS 4, the newest release in JavaScript framework. Ext JS 4 can be used by software teams in conjunction with HTML5 to create impressive, visually rich web-based applications. In addition to this, Ext JS offers a variety of user interface widgets that are fully customizable and theme-able.

By harnessing the power of HTML5 and JavaScript, software teams can quickly and easily develop an application that can be used on any device. In a world where business is powered by iPads, various models of smartphones, and differing computers/laptops, the ability to have your app accessible by all of these devices is crucial.

Once Arthur wrapped up, Delivered Innovation CTO, Michael Topalovich, took the stage to tell us more about how to use Ext JS 4 within Force.com applications. Mike touched on the need in the market for providing real-time, in-context analytics within Salesforce and Force.com applications, and ExtJS 4 elements such as data grids and charts give us a simple and elegant way to provide this.

Moreover, architecture patterns for mobile and browser user experience (UX) are rapidly converging, and Mike showed us how Sencha’s frameworks can deliver a unified and rich UX across mobile devices. Their implementation of a Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture aligns with the Force.com MVC pattern, giving application designers and developers many options for creating rich, yet lightweight, applications that can evolve in lockstep with ever-changing business requirements.

The presentations were followed up with a networking reception, where attendees had the chance to discuss ExtJS and Force.com in further detail with an Oktoberfest in hand.

If you have any questions about this event, or have an idea for a future event, feel free to email Jessica Buhrman at jessica [at] deliveredinnovation.com.

Ford unveiled their Evos concept car at the Frankfurt Motor Show last week, a car that communicates with smart phone applications to improve driver’s abilities and safety. This could be used for basic tasks such as connecting to iTunes or Pandora, but also for more important tasks, such as scanning the weather and traffic reports in real-time to suggest other routes, detect accidents ahead, or alter the suspension and handling to fit the road conditions. Moreover, a car running on cloud computing can also be good for your health; “The car could monitor a driver’s heartbeat and see if he is stressed, and whether it’s a heart attack,” then the car would make a call for help. This concept is an exciting idea, and we’d love to see how else they connect to the cloud.

• Ford’s Evos Takes Cars to the Cloud

McKendrick names multiple reasons why cloud computing may revolutionize the economy. The cloud is opening up new opportunities for startups and information technology, even if you’re not in the IT business. For startups, it used to be the norm to invested thousands into servers and software. Now, however, all of that is in the cloud, easily costing under $100 a month, creating more of an incentive for entrepreneurs to start their business. Moreover, The rise in cloud computing calls for more software innovation, which leads to companies creating new services or applications, thus creating new jobs and revenue. In fact, even non-IT companies can become cloud providers and assist with could services, creating new jobs. So, is cloud computing just what the doctor ordered?

• Cloud Computing May be a Shot in the Arm our Economy Needs

On Wednesday, Salesforce announced that they acquired Assistly, a social customer service that pulls all of your social conversations into one place, saving time and improving your efficiency. With this acquisition, Salesforce can more easily reach a target they have not been able to reach before- small businesses. Benioff states, “The Assistly acquisition… [puts] us at the heart of a new trend in customer service help desk applications… expanding the potential reach of the Service Cloud to millions of companies around the world.” The deal was sold for $50M in cash, with an additional $30M in deferred payments over two years, totaling $80M.

• Salesforce Buys Customer Service SaaS Assistly for $50M to Reach Small Businesses

The Carbon Disclosure Project has unveiled some shocking cloud computing numbers. In the US alone, companies could save 85.7 million metric tons of CO2 annually by switching to the cloud. That’s the equivalent of 200 million barrels of oil. This move would also allow companies to save money and increase operational efficiency, a win-win for both the environment and the companies budget. Many of the companies that participated in this research, however, stated that “environmental performance was not their primary motivation for moving to the cloud,” instead, it’s time to market that is their main, driving force.

• Cloud Computing ‘can save millions of tons of CO2′

Perhaps you’ve been reading our blog and are already familiar with our event next week. However, for those of you who are not avid readers, Delivered Innovation and Sencha are holding an event next Thursday, September 29th at 2pm in downtown Chicago. Our event, “Explore the Power of ExtJS with Rich Force.com Applications,” will discuss how you can get the most out of Ext JS 4, the newest JavaScript framework, and use it to create rich, modern web applications that extend your value of Salesforce and Force.com. After the presentations, there will be a networking event complete with appetizers and drinks (beer/wine) to get to know the other attendees and presenters. The best part? The event is totally FREE. So come on out and join us and Sencha next Thursday! Register below.

We’ve teamed up with Sencha this month to bring you a FREE event, “Explore the Power of ExtJS for Rich Force.com Applications,” on Thursday, September 29th. As the title suggests, we will show you how you can utilize Ext JS 4 for creating rich, modern Force.com web apps to extend your value of your Salesforce and Force.com platform investments.

The presentation format is designed to encourage interactivity, so bring questions and be prepared to participate in the discussions. There will be a networking reception immediately following the presentation to give you 1-on-1 access to the presenters and to help dig deeper into Ext JS 4 and Force.com.

So head on downtown to our event on September 29th and join us in the discussion and get a free beer (or two) while you’re at it.

When & Where
Thursday, September 29th, 2011 from 2PM to 5:30PM
TechNexus ITA. 200 S Wacker Drive. 15th Floor. Chicago, IL 60606.
Conference room A/B

Schedule
Thursday, September 29th at 2:00PM. Conference room A/B.
2:00 Overview of the Ext JS 4 JavaScript framework and components
2:45 Overview of the Force.com platform and UI patterns
3:15 Real world examples of Ext JS on Force.com
4:00 Q&A
4:30 Networking with complimentary wine, beer, and heavy hors d’oeuvres