Bill is also Principal at Day Web Development where he provides technical writing & editing, specification development, and platform & technology evangelism services. Recent projects include writing and editing source code level documentation, articles, partner how-to materials, conference session descriptions, and blog entries for clients including O’Reilly Media, NVIDIA, Nokia, and Digital Reasoning Systems. He is a contributor to the X.commerce DevZone.

More information on Bill’s professional background and recommendations of his work are available on his LinkedIn profile (click here to view).

Bill is also a runner. He’d like to see you eat right and get plenty of exercise, too. Here’s a little motivation from an Ignite talk he gave a while back:

Here’s an excerpt from the announcement on the RunKeeper blog discussing how and why I’m so excited to join the team:

My personal journey into running, and thereby to RunKeeper, started a couple of years ago. I decided to join some family on a Colorado hunting and hiking trip in early fall 2009. As part of getting ready for that trip, I took a hard look at my fitness. I didn’t like what I saw.

I was fifty pounds overweight. I knew I needed to make some changes to both my diet and my level of physical activity. For diet, that led to colorful veggies and Greek yogurt, along with fewer desserts and seconds. For exercise, I settled on running.

Prior to this, I’d always hated running. Well, distance running, anyway. I loved baseball, but that only involved short sprints. And I’d had a long term on-again, off-again love affair with cycling, but never far or fast enough to give me any serious aches and pains. For me, running was the punishment given out by other sports.

But then I came across a plan from a gentleman named Cameron Hanes that helped me ease into running thirty minutes at a time, three or four times per week. Cameron outlined walking ten minutes, running five, then repeating both each outing for the first two weeks. Then his plan built up gradually over eight weeks to one hour per run, most of it running instead of walking.

Having a plan with specific, measurable “baby steps” made fitness achievable for me. I followed the Hanes plan, ran my first 5k race, and actually enjoyed it. I ran another, and shaved off a pretty good chunk of time. Then I went on the Colorado trip and found myself much fitter and happier hiking at altitude than I’d ever been before. I felt the benefits of the last couple of months of running. That’s when I made the decision to train for a 10k trail race, and from that came several half marathons and now a full marathon later this fall.

I’ve lost the fifty pounds and kept it off through running and eating right. Now I can’t imagine going more than a day or two without running. And I want to share my passion for fitness with everyone I can.

Enter RunKeeper. I tried several fitness apps as I got deeper into running and wanted to record and analyze my runs. RunKeeper stood out as the best for my purposes. I followed @runkeeper as a user, and was pleasantly surprised when RunKeeper CEO, Jason Jacobs (@jjacobs22), responded to some things I posted. I started following him on Twitter, and it was from that follow that I first saw the post for a Health Graph Platform Evangelist position. I immediately knew I had to apply–the role combines both my personal passion for fitness and running with my professional passion for developer advocacy and working with partners to solve real world problems.

When I spoke with Jason and the rest of the RunKeeper team, I found this same enthusiasm for fitness and improving the world’s health in the RunKeeper team. I was hooked! A couple months later and here I am, getting to spread the good word about the Health Graph API. I can’t wait to work with you!

A little bit more about me professionally: My background is in aerospace and software engineering. I leveraged that, along with passions for writing and speaking, to become a developer advocate and evangelist. I’ve been blessed to evangelize mobile, web, and OS technologies for the likes of Sun, Nokia, and Digital Reasoning Systems over the last twelve years. Most recently I’ve been working with O’Reilly Media to help developers understand and take advantage of the PayPal X payments platform.

I’d like to hear about your involvement with RunKeeper and the Health Graph API. I’m especially interested in your suggestions for making the API easier to use and more profitable for you. If there’s anything I can do for you, please let me know. You can contact me via email to bill@runkeeper.com or Twitter @billday. You can also find me on RunKeeper, and LinkedIn.

Looking forward to helping you succeed with the Health Graph!
Bill

More about my path into running from my Ignite talk “Run for Your Life!” recorded early last year, when I was about eight months into my journey:

• Free @PayPalX #Android webinar http://bit.ly/hnLfSK (register now for March 30th event) #
• It seems @PayPalX Express Checkout bumps merchant sales up 18% on average http://tcrn.ch/h0Wror via @TechCrunch #
• "Selling Digital Goods in Data Markets: Part 1, Innovators" http://bit.ly/eLy8Ob is my latest @PayPalX @OReillyMedia DevZone article #
• News and links for recently announced @Apigee to Go embeddable consoles http://bit.ly/fJ91Zn including one for @PayPalX Adaptive Payments #
• Following my @PayPalX Apigee-to-Go post http://bit.ly/fJ91Zn @Apigee posted a video to help you get up and running: http://bit.ly/gyKvQZ #

Big data

• Al Jazeera "Region in Turmoil" Twitter dashboard http://bit.ly/f3kxVH via @ptwobrussell #
• Good news for data geeks, bad news for everyone else http://rww.to/hdxMwK via @rww #bigdata #
• New API calls from @infochimps http://rww.to/hnQs9m includes some examples to get you started; via @rww #sxsw #bigdata #
• User info @infochimps http://www.infochimps.com/me (includes Query API key and dashboard link) #

Wireless and mobility

• The Register's article on the collapse of Nokia's technologies http://bit.ly/ggrFDK is the best I've read on why NOK failed #
• Does Starbucks' card mobile program work precisely because they control five key elements described here? http://bit.ly/ee5awH via @mFoundry #

APIs and development

• Facebook Python client lib options http://bit.ly/fMin5S via StackOverflow #
• Using #YQL to obscure your OAuth keys http://bit.ly/98fd6p via @Nectarineimp #
• New @dreasoning Synthesys demo video http://bit.ly/hQ0GjC (entity oriented analytics) #
• Testing code is hard, but data is harder http://bit.ly/erFom9 from the @factual Dev Blog #
• There are now more than 3,000 public APIs which @ProgrammableWeb has used to call out trends http://bit.ly/edXEDO #
• Using HTML 5 to transform WordPress' TwentyTen theme http://bit.ly/eAid6y via @smashingmag #
• ActivePython AMI http://bit.ly/dFT7G2 includes python plus MySQL and SQLite, Apache, Django, Memcached, Nginx, and more for @awscloud apps #
• Visit @LinkedIn Today now at: http://linkd.in/hFe3Yj #
• TechCrunch coverage of @LinkedIn Today launch http://tcrn.ch/edx0Ap #
• Add @GitHub to your @LinkedIn profile http://bit.ly/htzD7x with more discussion from @nytimes http://nyti.ms/f2rx3Q #

Personal things

• Researching pulmonary embolism http://bit.ly/fkY1ov for a family member; thank God for warfarin http://bit.ly/g5DMKQ #
• S#*! my wife says: "Toby Keith is the male Cher" (then sings "God love her" in Jack 2000-imitating-Cher voice) #

Running

• Ran 6.74 miles in 1 hour and 6 mins and 46 secs and felt great. 3-to-1 run, finishing final quarter at 8:16 p… http://dailymile.com/e/O8Se #
• Ran 3.11 miles in 26 mins and felt great. Fast 5k. I "raced" my St Pat's today so I can enjoy running Saturday running with my wife. http://dailymile.com/e/OOTJ #
• Ran 3.28 miles in 44 mins and felt great. Baby stroller and eldest on her scooter to top of hill. http://dailymile.com/e/OTNu #
• Ran 3.11 miles in 26 mins and felt great. Mile split paces 8:45, 8:17, 8:18. http://dailymile.com/e/Obzl #

• Now that @PayPalX Digital Goods is out of beta http://bit.ly/gd5JZm here's a refresher on how to use it: http://bit.ly/hqPf1E #
• New @PayPalX DevTalk newsletter http://bit.ly/i2x3z0 includes free @OReillyMedia epayments report http://bit.ly/fh6ysK (login required) #
• Fav line from this new @PayPalX ecommerce article http://bit.ly/hRBoRg "If you're paying for things upfront nowadays, you're doing it wrong" #

Big data:

• Looking for a succinct description of the Big Data harvest and analysis process? Here you go: http://bit.ly/esUeQJ by @hmason on dataists #
• Nice report on the final day of #StratConf http://bit.ly/dSSmim again from @JanWillemTulp #BigData #
• Working through the #StrataConf Data Bootcamp http://bit.ly/fceOVi asap (ZIP of materials is at http://bit.ly/campyslides) #
• More #StrataConf recap http://bit.ly/dHaAah including the Data Bootcamp #
• An oldie but a goodie: Sensors smash social networks in creating Big Data http://bit.ly/ebunOV (the flight data numbers are incredible) #
• Congratulations to Digital Reasoning @dreasoning on their public beta of the Synthesys Platform http://bit.ly/hlxfed at http://bit.ly/gu5hdj #
• NPR discussion with Bitly dataist @hmason http://n.pr/hFd06e delves into divining emergent props from data, plus what happens if Bitly dies #

Wireless and mobility (never would have thought Nokia would pick Microsoft):

• Please let Nokia's announcement tomorrow *not* be that they're going with Windoze Phone http://tcrn.ch/fVPbxS #
• PC mag got the key points of Nokia's Microsoft deal spot-on. Big winner: MS. One of the big losers: Nokia
  http://bit.ly/fA4ZeK #
• More on the Nokia-Microsoft two turkey marriage http://bit.ly/g2hPbd & NOK heads are already being replaced by Softies http://tcrn.ch/ftjyEm #
• The End of the Nokia Raj http://bit.ly/gIF2TS by @om gets the key details, including the importance of Indian and Chinese hardware, spot-on #
• Mobile World Congress trends to watch http://bit.ly/hMLa1p via @gigaom (mobile payments is a big one, @PayPalX fans) #

APIs and web development:

• I'm giving ActivePython community edition http://bit.ly/ezmHTv a try after "fun" with Cygwin Python #
• Investigating BeautifulSoup for HTML scraping in Python http://bit.ly/hctlSS on the recommendation of @ptwobrussell #
• "Paul's Python Pearls" @OReillyMedia webcast recording is now available at http://bit.ly/epX0c4 (12min preview at http://bit.ly/fIWeeG ) #
• Git in 5 minutes http://bit.ly/fPrYIp has been useful in getting my first project up on github http://bit.ly/hMYMRS #
• My github feed: http://bit.ly/hclz8Y (includes commits, new follows, etc.) #
• Using PHP, YQL, and RSS to add living data to your site http://bit.ly/e9AOG1 by my friend Peter Mancini @nectarineimp writing for @wpmods #
• I am *loving* the elegance of @CoffeeScript code vs JavaScript http://bit.ly/i1wvmL (worth trying Node just to fire up 'coffee') #
• Understanding prototypal inheritance in JavaScript http://bit.ly/hNE3ht #
• Google's new 2-step sign-in security http://bit.ly/gxvOlP; I wonder if they've managed to keep it simple or not #
• I'm looking forward to seeing more details on @RedDirtRubyConf posted Monday http://bit.ly/hS82ev #
• Research on Scala http://bit.ly/gkPUMT and Lift http://bit.ly/e4czbK turned up this Manning sample chapter http://bit.ly/fR12uj #
• I'm also looking forward to this SproutCore webcast http://bit.ly/fLkjEW to be hosted by @OReillyMedia on February 22nd #

Personal things:

• Trying out the LinkedIn Labs "Resume Builder". What do you think? http://bit.ly/g3VGGe #
• Contact information from the top of my resume, available in HTML and PDF formats http://bit.ly/bundles/billday/1j http://twitpic.com/3ydcjb #
• The people of Egypt have their liberty. I pray they see this through to protecting it with a just democractic government. #Jan25 #
• Great @FortuneMagazine piece on how @ConanOBrien resurrected himself via @TeamCoco and other #SocialMedia http://bit.ly/ibGjyN #

Running:

• Ultramarathon training for beginners http://bit.ly/eP1YhV via @dailymile #
• Ran 5.01 miles in 1 hour and 2 mins and 25 secs and felt great. Slow, slippery run with family as the snow starts to… http://bit.ly/gCw8Td #

My recent post on Intuit giving away free mobile credit card readers for smartphones has received a decent amount of reader comments via back-channel discussion.  My mention of PayPal Mobile SMS payments near the bottom of the post seemed to draw particular attention.

One of my readers, Peter Mancini (a former colleague from my days at Digital Reasoning Systems), brought up some good points about mobile card readers versus paying with a hardware or software based mobile wallet.

Pete noted the widespread adoption of credit cards, the ease of losing a device and the user unfriendliness of locking up a phone with passwords, and the known wireless hacks that have accumulated through the years.  In his words:

The point of the card reader is that it’s the most likely form of payment people are going to have on them at most non-online venues.  I know too much about hacking to ever keep vital payment information available on my easily losable smartphone.  I don’t want to make it so I have to tightly lock up the phone with passwords.  It already is a pain that I have to swipe it to unlock the screen every time. Also, I’ve seen Bluetooth hacking in action so I wouldn’t trust it anyway to keep my payment information secure.

Click here to read how I addressed his points on the complete PayPal X Developer Network blog post. You can also access all of the links referenced in the post by visiting this bit.ly bundle.

My friend and former Digital Reasoning Systems colleague Peter Mancini, now the Principal at Nectarine Imp LLC, has put together an eighteen slide presentation introducing WordPress plugins and their use. It includes a section on creating your own, too. If you’re new to WP or want to patch any holes you might have in your WP plugin knowledge, I’d recommend it.

From Peter’s announcement of the posting of his slides:

WordPress is software for organizing blog posts, documents, multi-media and hyperlinks. This presentation is the one I gave 11 January 2011 to discuss the technology used to extend the system. As of this writing WordPress is at version 3 and has 12,000+ plugins available for it. The process of managing plugins is not difficult and the act of creating new ones, while challenging in some respects, is fairly straightforward if you know what you are looking for.

Click here to access the PDF slides with speaker notes for the presentation.