Dare Obasanjo says:
I consider the glory days of Outlook-inspired desktop RSS readers to be in the past.
Sad, but true.
01
Mar 10
Glory days
03
Feb 10
The courage to evolve their product
Dare Obasanjo says:
I commend the people at Facebook for having the courage to evolve their product in the face of new market opportunities instead of being tied to their past. Lots of companies let themselves be ruled by fear and thus stick to the status quo for fear of ticking off their users which often leads to bored users. Kudos.
03
Feb 10
The privilege to buy content from Apple
Ryan Block says:
It used to be that when you bought a device, you owned it and could basically do whatever you want with it. The model of the iPad and the iPhone is the opposite of that. You’re essentially paying for a device that then gives you the privilege to buy content from Apple.
14
Jan 10
The screen is just a canvas that software paints on.
Gina Trapani says:
The most important ingredient in this generation of touchscreen smartphones is the software: the screen is just a canvas that software paints on.
21
Dec 09
Sound is going into my head
Marc Cantor says:
This place reminds me of Japan. They’d sit there and nod their heads and smile – but what they were saying was “yes! I hear sound going into my head.” Not “I agree.”
22
Nov 09
Android is an orphan?
Paul Graham joins the choir singing about the evils of Apple’s iPhone App Store. Buried deep inside is this toss-off:
Android is an orphan; Google doesn’t really care about it, not the way Apple cares about the iPhone. Apple cares about the iPhone the way Google cares about search.
As Bill the Cat says, “Ack!”
After watching the Google brain trust talk about Chrome OS this week, I think he is right. They are clearly in love with the new UI paradigm, and almost embarrassed by Android. I guess they are allowed to change their minds, but… wow.
How long before Chrome OS makes it’s way to a cell phone? Several years, probably. But meanwhile, Android development will trail off, the writing is on the wall.
17
Nov 09
Life can be pretty great
Scott Adams says:
Doing the thing you want at the time when you are most in the mood for it makes a gigantic difference in your overall happiness. If you eat when you’re hungry, nap when you’re sleepy, and work when you’re feeling productive, life can be pretty great.
17
Nov 09
A geek would just blow it all off
The future is here.. it’s just not evenly distributed.
I spent the summer reading The Cluetrain Manifesto, 10th Anniversary Edition. Lots of it is still relevant. But reading it, I thought, “The stilted voice/business speak problem? We’re past that.” I theorized that blogs and Facebook and Twitter had killed that.
But here is Tim Bray, reporting live from the Oracle Conference:
The big deal today was the keynote from Thomas Kurian.
I watched all of it, feeling like an anthropologist observing a society entirely foreign to my own. Mr. Kurian was described to me by an insider in these words: “Amazing guy. works non-stop. super sharp, won’t be bluffed (on tech or business matters). No sense of humor whatsoever.” His presentation was almost entirely in the language of press releases: “Leading provider”… “best of breed”… “integration”… “business solution”… “integrated”… “unified, modern multi-channel user experience”… “from insight to action”… “robust management”… “unsurpassed performance integration”.
Since I’ve never encountered this style of speech in un-ironic conversation, I wasn’t really sure how to interpret it.
I spend lots of time with businesspeople and, while they don’t talk like geeks, they don’t talk like press releases either. The difference seems to be that they don’t mind listening through the marketing language to pick out what’s important in the message; while a geek would just blow it all off.
31
Oct 09
State of the Warriors
Geoff Leper says:
As with Wednesday, GSW is turning in an aesthetically displeasing performance. What happened to the entertaining W’s?
Marcus Thompson says:
Since Nellie refuses to control his vets, things just run amuck.
Tim Kawakami says:
Hey, does Don Nelson even bother to pretend he cares about coaching this team any more? Do they run plays? Utilize any semblance of a defensive gameplan? Any team-wide gameplan? At all? Other than to try to irritate Anthony Randolph as much as possible and play Corey Maggette as much as possible?
Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2009/10 Golden State Warriors!
I hate to abandon hope after game 2, but…
Give Nellie credit: over the course of training camp, he used Jedi mind tricks to bring Jack in from the cold and convince the team that they were good. He had Kawakami worried that the Ws might open strong, go 7-3 maybe, and get the homers lathered up for a playoff run.
Well, that ain’t happening. In 2 real games, all the Ws’ flaws have been exposed:
- Morrow needs to play with Curry. Those minutes probably come at the expense of Jack. That’s okay though, because…
- Jack kills the offense. More than Buke, more than Magette.
- Biedrins was paid on potential. But he’s topped out. He gets out-played, every night, by his backup.
There’s more, especially defensively, especially closing out on shooters. But it’s enough that the coach isn’t coaching, the veterans are selfish, and the ownership is absent.
14
Oct 09
Free vpn
From Techcrunch, some free vpn services:
FreeVPN – thefreevpn.com – A completely free VPN client and service for Windows machines. No ads, and a fast service. Not sure what the business model is, which is why I wouldn’t trust it with any personal or private information and restrict it to just movie watching or poll rigging. Best free VPN service and super easy to install (see review here)
Feeedur – www.freedur.com – A commercial VPN/anonymizing service that works well.
HotSpotShield – hotspotshield.com – Another free VPN service, but forces you to click on an ad. Working with Hulu again.
UltraVPN – www.ultravpn.fr – cross platform (OS X support). Both free and anonymous.