I was invited over the weekend to speak at the Wakanday 2011 conference title JS.Everywhere. It was a fascinating gathering because the emphasis was not on JavaScript in a browser, but rather on the server. 4D is the company sponsoring the event. They have had a database server product for decades and are trying to…
<rant class=”entertainment cheese-move”> I just received this this email from the Netflix founder. After receiving the previous message about the hikes in the prices, I lowered our subscription to the $10 a month level. After this email, I lowered it to the $5 a month level. If they send me one more stupidly conceived email, I…
I spent a good part of last week at Dreamforce in San Francisco. It’s a major tradeshow put on by Salesforce.com. The pattern of my week was very different than normal. Lots of people, parties, interactions. Some of these people came directly out of my past. People I trained on Marketo years ago. People I…
Remember the defragmentation tools in older versions of Windows, especially the 95-98 editions. In those systems, when the disk was needed to store information, it would put it in somewhere in the middle like the picture below. After a while, the disk would get kind of messy that way. In fact, it would yield significant…
A few good puns will brighten anyone’s day. Give it a try: The hand surgeon went to the ophthalmologist to be examined for carpal tunnel vision. Two astronauts who were dating put an end to it because they both needed their space. I told my friend about the creative writing class I took, and she said…
I love my Samsung Series 9. It’s sexy, light-weight, works fast. The backlit keyboard is super handy. Everything about it making me happy, except the fact that I couldn’t connect it to the projectors in the office. Until now… I purchased the StarTech USB VGA Multi Monitor External Video Adapter for Video Card USB2VGAE2! I…
Where does your personality fit in? Confidence is good, but it can be taken too far and turn into arrogance. Humility is a virtuous trait, but taken in extreme and you don’t stand up for your design vision. It is extremely difficult to hit a bullseye. Who is humble and confident without being arrogant or…
Every organization I have ever been a part of has a shifting org structure. Despite it changing all the time, people need to know who to contact in other departments and where people work and who they report to. This usually isn’t public information, but it should be available to people who work in a…
Recently Netflix changed their prices, not that radically (in my opinion), but enough to make me reconsider who we are paying for the privilege of showing me a movie. Go to a Movie Theater This is the most expensive way to watch. On the plus side, you have the largest screen possible and great surround…
Last week we went up to Lake Tahoe and had a nice time. It wasn’t as story laden as the last time, but it was pretty good. The highlight for me was doing some geocaching near Eagle Falls on the south end of Lake Tahoe. Check out this picture of Jared climbing up the side…
I am completely boggled by the development strategy of Chrome. Right now, I am trying to collect various Chrome bugs in the application I design. Which version should I use for testing? How different are they? What’s the difference in the various branches? How will I know if the user upgrades? How will I know…
Already Public: LinkedIn: 6.6B valuation Pandora: 2.3B Fusion-IO: 2.2B IPO in the next 18 months: Groupon: 20B? Facebook: 100B+?? I have been hearing more and more news about this company or that company filing for initial public offerings. On the one hand, this is exciting. Lots of money is going to flow. On the other…
I’ve had the Samsung Series 9 for a little more than a week now. It has been a difficult device to review. It is such a mix of awesome, scary and annoying. Disclaimer: I am picky. Really picky. Especially about computer equipment. Take everything I say with a grain of salt, knowing that I am…
There has been an explosion of different form factors on laptops, netbooks, tablets, smart phones and other internet connected devices like xBox, Roku, DirecTV, etc. It’s nearly impossible to compare apples-to-apples. What is someone to do when they have a specific situation and want to try and get the right device? In the past 2…