Archive for August, 2009:
What Does it Do?
So, the ongoing quest to modernize my parents took an interesting turn over the weekend.
The Macbook Pro arrived at their house earlier than I expected, and I haven’t yet got them squared away with any intertubes. Thinking they might not want to wait, I suggested they unbox it and get acquainted.
Then I got a tough [...]
What Is This?
If you read Gizmodo, you’re familiar with their “What Is This?” post series.
Basically, they post cool images of weird stuff and ask “What Is This”, simple right?
Here’s an example. I’m a compulsive scanner, so I rarely read the posts, but it looks like they identify the subject in the same post.
That doesn’t seem as fun [...]
AWS Virtual Private Clouds
Looks like I’m not the only one who thinks enterprises will pay for their own cloud-based infrastructure. Today, Amazon Web Services announced (h/t TechCrunch) a new service called Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) targeted at the exact demand I see.
I should pay more attention to when I post stuff. Note to self: Friday afternoons are not [...]
Show Your Inner ‘NERD Outwardly
Update: Realized after posting that I assumed you all knew why Chet should be at OOW. For one, he’s an unabashed Oracle cheerleader, and a savvy APEX and database guy, just the kind of guy who loves to chat about all things Oracle. His head would probably explode during a week at OOW.
Two, he’s a [...]
Strange Things are Afoot at the Circle K
So, we had some downtime overnight, not sure anyone noticed.
Rich and I decided to make a couple tweaks to make the blog load faster. I removed Google Friend Connect, which didn’t seem to do much beyond create a static network with some infrequent discussion. I expect future changes to GFC that might be interesting, so [...]
Who’s in Your Gang?
I had a weird brain wave crossing with Robert Scoble last week.
Basically, I’ve been trying to find value in FourSquare, the hot new web app on the block, that launched this Spring at SXSW, where any self-respecting hot web app gets its initial hotness.
If you care, FourSquare seems like it might be interesting. It’s a [...]
Do You DIY?
After spending the majority of the weekend puttering around my working garden, I find myself wondering how many of you DIY whenever you can.
I have a theory that people who like hacking around with tech and starting numerous side projects in their free time also generally like doing meat-life projects themselves too.
Long ago, I was bitten by [...]
Enterprise Clouds
Bit of a cloudy week with the discussion of risks earlier and now a related post on enterprise clouds.
Even though I’m not a fan of the term, I suppose I’ll keep using it, like Web 2.0. It occurred to me that like a lot of consumer stuff, service-based-computing should thrive inside the corporate firewall, because [...]
I’m Not a Doctor
Paul dropped a great analogy today when he compared product managers to doctors.
I love a good analogy, and this one is gold, at least when applied to sustaining a product.
Plus, it’s funny when you inject a little Hollywood into it.
When you’re not feeling well, you go to a doctor and explain what hurts. When you [...]
PubSubHubbub: Cool, but Hard to Say
PubSubHubbub, a 20% time project of two Google engineers, Brad Fitzpatrick and Brett Slatkin, launched a few weeks ago.
In addition to being a tongue-twister, PubSubHubbub is:
A simple, open, server-to-server web-hook-based pubsub (publish/subscribe) protocol as an extension to Atom (and RSS).
Parties (servers) speaking the PubSubHubbub protocol can get near-instant notifications (via webhook callbacks) when a topic [...]
Goodbye _why.
If you’ve had your hand in Ruby or Rails, you’ve probably heard of Why the Lucky Stiff (aka, _why), an online persona of a programmer who was one of the more influential Rubyists next to Yukihiro Matsumoto (creator of Ruby, aka, Matz) and David Heinemeier Hansson (creator of Rails, aka, DHH). As of this afternoon, [...]
Risks in the Cloud
Channeling Floyd a bit here, I’m reminded of “Get off of My Cloud” by the Rolling Stones.
I’m not a huge fan of the term cloud computing. Not entirely sure why, but I prefer using some variant of service, e.g. service-based computing or SaaS, because including “service” more accurately reflects what’s really going on in the cloud.
Some company [...]
Maker’s vs. Manager’s Schedule
This blog is full of work-hacking lately.
Along those lines, Paul passed along an interesting post by Paul Graham that discusses the differences between schedules of makers and managers and how to account for them when scheduling meetings.
In short, one reason makers (i.e. developers or anyone whose work requires uninterrupted blocks of time to focus on [...]
What Was I Doing Again?
I’m glad I finished my schooling back in the dark ages, when nearly everyone carried a notebook and wrote longhand notes.
Sure, we had computers, but they weren’t terribly common. Plus, the World Wide Web (or “Internet”) was in its infancy and not available everywhere.
I wonder how educators and students survive today with all the distractions [...]
Do You Work Too Much?
Interesting article in the WSJ about a couple recent lawsuits from hourly workers who were required to perform work-related tasks during off-hours.
The proliferation of broadband, laptops and smartphones have made it ridiculously easy for work to bleed into personal time, or at least time that’s not classically work-only.
Add to that the fact that many of [...]
There’s an App for That?
Another interesting tidbit from earlier in the week, also forwarded to me by tipster Chet, was an announcement (h/t TUAW) from USAA, a privately held bank and insurance company.
Surprising, since bank’s haven’t been getting a lot of good ink lately.
USAA plans to update their iPhone mobile banking app to allow certain customers to deposit [...]
Facebook Buys FriendFeed
So, I take a couple days off and Facebook buys FriendFeed. A bit ironic considering there hasn’t been much to discuss lately.
Chet cordially invited me to comment on the acquisition, and even though I planned to anyway, let’s just give him credit for being the tipster.
There certainly hasn’t been a shortage of coverage and analysis [...]
Amateurism or Art?
I read another great entry from Emails from Crazy People the other day.
This one attacks an amateur photographer’s pictures (fauxtos as he calls them) posted to a Flickr group as “artsy and cute” but not “real” photography. Funny stuff, but only if you’re not the poor person who received the email.
Reading these emails, I wonder [...]
Poll: How Should Links Behave?
Earlier in the week Noel “Mr. OraTweet” Portugal asked a question over OraTweet, natch, that created some interesting discussion.
Do you think that all links in websites should open on new tabs (or windows)? I think so, but thats just me…
I figured I’d share it with you all to widen the audience, but first, my take.
I’ve [...]
Hotlinking? What Year is it Again?
During this morning’s feed reading, I came across a great post from one of my new favorites, Emails from Crazy People, another hilarious UGC-based blog from the Cheezburger Network.
These guys provide various forms of hilarity to brighten your day, including I Can Has Cheezburger? and the Failblog. Incidentally, they have the best business model on [...]
