I spent a few minutes filling in the early archives of Commadot.com, specifically 1996-1997. My predictions were sometimes incredibly accurate and other times … not so much. My writing style was also fairly immature. My spelling was atrocious. The worst thing was the font: Comic Sans. What was I thinking? It brought back some memories…
Here are a couple of categories that will help you get recognition, raises, promotions, monetary rewards and all your dreams come true. Technical Skill For whatever you do, there are specific technical aspects to it. There is craft in every job. If you know your craft better, if you are more technically skilled, it will contribute…
For my whole life, I have been nearly immune to the common cold. I might get a headache or a runny nose, but I don’t ever remember running a fever or being bedridden. This sounds good, but I think being sick once in a while is a good thing. An excuse to take the day off…
Here are all the names of the Android Operating system up until now AND what I predict they will be in the future. Alpha (1.0) Beta (1.1) Cupcake (1.5) Donut (1.6) Eclair (2.0–2.1) Froyo (2.2–2.2.3) Gingerbread (2.3–2.3.7) Honeycomb (3.0–3.2.6) Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0–4.0.4) Jelly Bean (4.1–4.3.1) KitKat (4.4–4.4.4) Lollipop (5.0) Marshmellow Nutella Oreo Popcorn Quaker…
Nothing ruins Halloween like rain. Trick or treating becomes a major hassle. It’s just a downer. We need the rain in California, but still, couldn’t it have started tomorrow? Who is running this thing? It’s also bummer when you dress up and 95% of your company doesn’t participate. Like it’s some sort of ridiculous thing. Halloween…
It’s important to try things. I don’t mean try them for 10 seconds. I mean give it an honest chance at success. I see it all the time, projects start with no real commitment and therefore no chance of success. It’s all about having a positive mental attitude. I remember many years ago, I saw a…
I’ve heard this many a time from an emotional child (or adult), “It’s not fair!” This got me thinking. What is fair? Where does this idea come from? Clearly even animals can sense when something isn’t fair. Check out this video showing what I mean. (1 min) Where does this feeling come from? Why do we…
Salesforce.com has been a big part of my thinking over the past 7 years. They were one of the first SaaS B2B companies to get super big. (12,000+ employees) Additionally, they were one of the first B2B systems to have an app store and platform. I am a serious admirer of what they have accomplished. The…
We are tantalizingly close to having a car experience that is more akin to a train, bus or plane. We get in, we sit and read and when we arrive we get out. All we need is self-driving cars. I really want this world to exist, but there are many hurdles to work through. For…
I just finished reading Practical Wisdom by Barry Schwartz. (Author of the great book The Paradox of Choice. – not to be confused with The Wisdom of Crowds, also a great book.) Practical Wisdom is a decent book, but more importantly, it points the way to design our ideal civilization. The book points out how incentives are…
I need my phone to do about 2 things: Call Katie and Google Maps. I have a terrible sense of direction. When I was younger I would drive with paper maps. I would need to pull over every mile or so to make sure I was where I was supposed to be. The navigation feature…
Yesterday, I showed my kids the meme of “planking”. Admittedly, this is a fairly dated meme, but they are young, so it’s new to them. Planking is a photo fad which involves lying face down with arms to the sides in unusual public spaces, photographing the scene and sharing the image online. In form, it bears striking resemblance…
My kid just broke his arm. He was on a skateboard for the first time. What could possibly go wrong? Well, he smacked onto the pavement and broke both big bones in his forearm. Luckily, he was only a block away and his brothers came and got me. I could see from 40 feet away.…
I’ve got alot of different kinds of computers in my house. A desktop from dell, a little Intel NUC, a Mac Mini, iPads, xBoxes, etc etc. I am not generally a Mac user, but I help my kid with his Mac Mini. He (11 yrs old) is a musician and plays drums and base guitar.…