There is no doubt that Apache Flink is not easy to operate without a good automation. As many other BigData products under the umbrella of Apache Foundation, Flink presents some challenges when getting it up and running.

Fortunately Flink works fine on Kubernetes, and with the right configuration it runs successfully in a cloud platform like AWS or GCP (and it doesn't require Hadoop).

Flink K8s Toolbox is my solution for accelerating the adoption of Apache Flink. The toolbox contains a Kubernetes operator for Flink and a CLI. The operator automates the process of managing Flink clusters and jobs, and it makes easy to use Flink on a Kubernetes environment.

I have created Flink K8s Toolbox to support the use cases I encountered in my job, but I keep updating it to accommodate new use cases. If you have a use case which is not supported yet, please get in touch, you can help to improve the product.

Last but not least, Flink K8s Toolbox is free software!

Apache Flink presents a fairly simple REST API which can be used to monitor an existing cluster and control jobs. As the documentation says, the API is used by Flink’s own dashboard, but it is designed to be used also by custom monitoring tools.

However it can be quite tedious for a developer having to implement several REST calls. For that reason I have created Flink Client library, which makes easy to monitor and control Flink programmatically.

The library is generated from an OpenAPI specification file using Swagger Codegen. The library currently targets the Java language, but the specification file could be used to generate clients for other languages too.

Flink Client library can help you to build your own automation around Flink.

NextSurface is a software for creating interactive surfaces. NextSurface transforms any screen into a surface that people can simultaneously interact with, using hand gestures or pens, like on a physical whiteboard.

NextSurface supports input devices such as Apple Trackpad or similar HID device, however, for a better user experience, we recommend a multi-touch device, such as frame overlays produced by PQLabs or ZaagTech, or our remote controller NextGesture on iPad.

NextSurface includes two applications for presentation and collaboration. The applications are based on NextSurface's proprietary toolkit for creating multi-touch and multi-user interfaces. The toolkit supports a natural interaction with visual elements and it supports gestures performed with multiple fingers.

Common use cases of the applications are interactive meeting rooms, information kiosks for hotels or estate agencies, and digital whiteboards.

NextSurface provides a JavaScript API for creating custom applications on top of the proprietary toolkit. NextSurface's toolkit provides an abstraction layer which makes easy creating user interfaces and handling touch events and gestures.

NextSurface is not a general purpose UI toolkit, but a programmable environment for building multi-user and multi-touch applications.

NextFractal is an application for creating amazing fractal images and other algorithmically generated images. Images are generated processing a script and some user provided parameters, depending on the selected grammar.

NextFractal is currently able to interpret two grammars: M which is a domain specific language for creating Fractals such as Mandelbrot Set or Julia and Fatou Sets. CFDG which is a context-free grammar for creating geometric shapes using an iterative process.

NextFractal provides tools for exploring Fractals, browsing images, creating time-based and event-based animations, and exporting images and animations.

You don't need to learn the M language or the CFDG language to enjoy the examples provided with NextFractal. However we recommend to study those languages in order to create new images or modify the examples.

We have created a tutorial to help you learning the M language. The tutorial shows how to implement various techniques for generating orbits and computing colours.

Do you know you can control NextSurface from iPad?

NextGesture is a controller app which enables multiple people to interact simultaneously with the same instance of NextSurface from any iOS device.

Are you passionate about drawing or painting portraits?

NextPortrait helps artists to create portraits from their images in photos library.