A couple of observations from Game 4.
Beyond D-Fish's clutch 3s was how much energy and effort he brought to the game. He out hustled everyone in that 3rd quarter. Everyone, go watch him again. That's heart.
Kobe showed a little frustration when Howard had his arms wrapped around him during a foul, but it was through a complaint to the ref. He must have the patience of a saint because to have people draped over him on every play like that would piss most everyone off. I would guess that most players would've retaliated under that kind of foul and harassment.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
A company is the people who work for it.
I ran across this article through Hacker News by an entrepreneur who had sold his previous company and realized that he needed to start a new company. The author definitely has that entrepreneur spirit of wanting to take action on ideas, but a few of his statements are also examples of the negatives views adopted by many who are in management and leadership positions.
How sad to hear from their leader that he hated having to deal with them. Being in management and leadership positions means having a degree of power over the employees, but it also comes with a responsibility for those employees. Employees are people and not just pawns to fulfill the manager's whims.
Before accepting the job of a manager, think about what that position means because it can be very different from what your existing role is.
"I hated having 85 employees. It had become a little hell. I needed to get away and clear my mind."
How sad to hear from their leader that he hated having to deal with them. Being in management and leadership positions means having a degree of power over the employees, but it also comes with a responsibility for those employees. Employees are people and not just pawns to fulfill the manager's whims.
Before accepting the job of a manager, think about what that position means because it can be very different from what your existing role is.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Google Apps for Business
I've been using Google Apps for Domains (don't confuse it with just apps I.e. Docs) and it is excellent. It is a great solution for small businesses or start-ups especially those with limited IT budgets.
Recently Google added support with Blackberry and with today's announcement that they are adding Outlook sync, the barriers to business adoption continue to fall.
Recently Google added support with Blackberry and with today's announcement that they are adding Outlook sync, the barriers to business adoption continue to fall.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
G1 Android
I've done an unsual amount of traveling (for me) this past month. I spent two weeks in Taiwan and after returning to the states for a week I traveled to Seattle. These trips allowed me to test my travel gears including the Android G1 phone and the iPhone.
I have had the G1 for awhile but no phone service for it. Since it is unlocked I decided to get a SIM card for it in Taiwan and use it while I was there. Getting and installing the card was super simple and I did it at a 7-11 store. It was a matter of putting the card in and turning it on.
As a phone device I found it to be excellent. Sound was clear and it was easy to use. The screen was sharp and overall responsive. One annoyance was that it accidentally dial too easily unless you lock the touch screen. The other annoyance was that the contact list was not easy to navigate and search. I am not sure why Google struggles with contacts on both its site and the phone.
The camera on the G1 is super especially compared to the iPhone. With 3MP and autofocus, it is a real camera. Its excellent intergration with Google means that it can hold its own as a PIM. Add to it the wifi and browser capabilities and you have a nice portable computer that fits into your pocket. For traveling, the G1 is very well suited.
The screen can be a bit larger as it's current size limits its use as a portable dock reader. The UI of its apps are not as uniform, and Android is not as polished as the iPhone. Its marketplace needs to be improved so more apps get built. Battery life is short and needs improvement for it to be a true road warrior.
The experience of using the G1 vs IPhone is like using a PC vs Mac. The advantage of a open platfom is variety but initially a less polished user experience.
I have had the G1 for awhile but no phone service for it. Since it is unlocked I decided to get a SIM card for it in Taiwan and use it while I was there. Getting and installing the card was super simple and I did it at a 7-11 store. It was a matter of putting the card in and turning it on.
As a phone device I found it to be excellent. Sound was clear and it was easy to use. The screen was sharp and overall responsive. One annoyance was that it accidentally dial too easily unless you lock the touch screen. The other annoyance was that the contact list was not easy to navigate and search. I am not sure why Google struggles with contacts on both its site and the phone.
The camera on the G1 is super especially compared to the iPhone. With 3MP and autofocus, it is a real camera. Its excellent intergration with Google means that it can hold its own as a PIM. Add to it the wifi and browser capabilities and you have a nice portable computer that fits into your pocket. For traveling, the G1 is very well suited.
The screen can be a bit larger as it's current size limits its use as a portable dock reader. The UI of its apps are not as uniform, and Android is not as polished as the iPhone. Its marketplace needs to be improved so more apps get built. Battery life is short and needs improvement for it to be a true road warrior.
The experience of using the G1 vs IPhone is like using a PC vs Mac. The advantage of a open platfom is variety but initially a less polished user experience.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Banana bread recipe
3 large or 4 regular size over ripe bananas
1.25 C sugar
0.5 lb (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
2 eggs, room temp
1 tsp vanilla
1.5 C all purpose flour
0.5 tsp kosher salt
1.5 tsp baking soda
0.5 C chopped toasted walnut (optional)
1. Preheat 325. 9"x5"x3" loaf pan.
2. Melt butter then let slightly cool.
3. Whip bananas and sugar in mixer.
4. Mix butter, eggs, vanilla together.
5. Mix flour, salt, baking soda, nuts
6. Whip (4) well and scrape down sides of bowl.
7. Add (5) to bowl and mix
8. Pour into pan and bake for ~1 hour.
(muffin pan: 16-20 mins)
(4 small loaf: ~20mins)
1.25 C sugar
0.5 lb (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
2 eggs, room temp
1 tsp vanilla
1.5 C all purpose flour
0.5 tsp kosher salt
1.5 tsp baking soda
0.5 C chopped toasted walnut (optional)
1. Preheat 325. 9"x5"x3" loaf pan.
2. Melt butter then let slightly cool.
3. Whip bananas and sugar in mixer.
4. Mix butter, eggs, vanilla together.
5. Mix flour, salt, baking soda, nuts
6. Whip (4) well and scrape down sides of bowl.
7. Add (5) to bowl and mix
8. Pour into pan and bake for ~1 hour.
(muffin pan: 16-20 mins)
(4 small loaf: ~20mins)
Saturday, March 21, 2009
I don't get Facebook
I'm not a heavy Facebook user which is probably why I didn't even really noticed that they changed their design to be more like Twitter. It doesn't matter to me what the page looked like 'cause I can click on the "profile" link and see my profile and see the friends list (yes, I know I can click on the friend list at the top).
The first time I really tried using Facebook was when I heard they were making themselves a "platform". People can write apps that other people can access through Facebook. That could be cool, but I always had a hard time finding apps unless I saw it on someone's profile. I eventually was able to find it, but don't ask me how. With the new design, I got lost again.
Eventually I found it it at the bottom of the page (Applications > Find More). So I found an app and I guess I "installed" it, but now have no idea how to put it on my profile page like other people do.
I'm guessing that if I bothered to spend 5 minutes understanding how Facebook work that I'd be able to figure it out, but given how people have been talking about design and using Google as a poster child for suppressing it, I'm asking "Why aren't people accusing Facebook of destroying design?" Google might not be "pretty" but it's design is simple and very functional.
The first time I really tried using Facebook was when I heard they were making themselves a "platform". People can write apps that other people can access through Facebook. That could be cool, but I always had a hard time finding apps unless I saw it on someone's profile. I eventually was able to find it, but don't ask me how. With the new design, I got lost again.
Eventually I found it it at the bottom of the page (Applications > Find More). So I found an app and I guess I "installed" it, but now have no idea how to put it on my profile page like other people do.
I'm guessing that if I bothered to spend 5 minutes understanding how Facebook work that I'd be able to figure it out, but given how people have been talking about design and using Google as a poster child for suppressing it, I'm asking "Why aren't people accusing Facebook of destroying design?" Google might not be "pretty" but it's design is simple and very functional.
3 pixels vs 4 pixels
Doug Bowman's post on leaving Google had a quote that has gotten picked up by many bloggers as representative of what is wrong with the engineering culture:
He doesn't give much more context about this debate, but it reminded me of some of my own experiences where I got involved with almost the exact same debate. In my case, the cause of the debate was almost always because there were multiple designers. Either it was two more more designers arguing about the width or it was after a product launch that the next designer decide that the width decision should be thrown out.
What drove engineers nuts was that because decisions are so arbitrary anyone can override the design at any time. Maybe Google is on the extreme end to demand numerical metrics to back up any decision, but for most engineers it was mainly that they wanted to understand the reasoning for a change. Otherwise, engineers would spend their entire lives changing the size of borders.
"I had a recent debate over whether a border should be 3, 4 or 5 pixels wide, and was asked to prove my case."
He doesn't give much more context about this debate, but it reminded me of some of my own experiences where I got involved with almost the exact same debate. In my case, the cause of the debate was almost always because there were multiple designers. Either it was two more more designers arguing about the width or it was after a product launch that the next designer decide that the width decision should be thrown out.
What drove engineers nuts was that because decisions are so arbitrary anyone can override the design at any time. Maybe Google is on the extreme end to demand numerical metrics to back up any decision, but for most engineers it was mainly that they wanted to understand the reasoning for a change. Otherwise, engineers would spend their entire lives changing the size of borders.
Designer's post overblown.
Apparently one of Google's visual designers decided to leave Google and wrote a blog post on why he is leaving. While he has all the right to tell the world his personal opinion on why the job wasn't good for him, I think the reactions to his post are way overblown. Unlike art or print media, software is very much about function.
Is Google destroying design?!? Why don't they ask the question," Are designers destroying engineering?"
Is Google destroying design?!? Why don't they ask the question," Are designers destroying engineering?"
Sunday, March 8, 2009
The value of Google Chrome
A friend of mine recently posted his thoughts on the "Chrome's overinflated importance". If viewed only as a web browser then it is just another entry in the various browsers that exists out there. However, I believe the true value of Chrome will be if it can change the way people and developers look at web applications.
In many ways, advancement in web development is hindered because developers and businesses have not been able to really think outside of limits imposed by the "WWW" of 10 years ago. Another way to say is that the world wants to move to using the Internet as a platform but we are still stuck on using the WWW as the platform instead.
There has been many attempts to try to break out of that mentality. The unfortunate term "Web 2.0" was one attempt (I think) although it never clearly articulated what it really meant and is now just a overused marketing term. In some ways, "Cloud" seems to be another way to break out from the mindset of "web development" to building applications on the Internet.
Chrome's importance to me is whether it can open up the developer's mind to new possibilities by providing them a tool that goes beyond building web sites and web applications. I hope that someday the "web" will move beyond being viewed as an interactive magazine or at least let the "web" be the interactive magazine while we're also using applications on the Internet.
In many ways, advancement in web development is hindered because developers and businesses have not been able to really think outside of limits imposed by the "WWW" of 10 years ago. Another way to say is that the world wants to move to using the Internet as a platform but we are still stuck on using the WWW as the platform instead.
There has been many attempts to try to break out of that mentality. The unfortunate term "Web 2.0" was one attempt (I think) although it never clearly articulated what it really meant and is now just a overused marketing term. In some ways, "Cloud" seems to be another way to break out from the mindset of "web development" to building applications on the Internet.
Chrome's importance to me is whether it can open up the developer's mind to new possibilities by providing them a tool that goes beyond building web sites and web applications. I hope that someday the "web" will move beyond being viewed as an interactive magazine or at least let the "web" be the interactive magazine while we're also using applications on the Internet.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Installing pysvn on OSX Leopard
Here are the steps I took to install pysvn, a python module for subversion, from source on OSX Leopard.
Assuming you're using macports:
sudo port install python26 (follow any instructions it has)
sudo port install subversion (1.5.6 at time of my install)
sudo port install db43 (whichever version of Berkeley DB you installed, updated the sed line below pointing to the right directory).
Download the pysvn source code.
tar -xzvf [file you downloaded]
cd [directory where you uncompressed the file to]
python setup.py configure
sed -i .backup -e "14s@\(.*\) /opt/local/lib/libsvn_ra_dav-1.a \(.*\)/opt/local/lib/libdb-4.3.a \(.*\)@\1 \2 \3 /opt/local/lib/libsvn_ra_neon-1.a /opt/local/lib/libsvn_ra_serf-1.a /opt/local/lib/libserf-0.a /opt/local/lib/libsvn_fs_util-1.a /opt/local/lib/db43/libdb-4.3.a -lsasl2@" Makefile
make
sudo cp -r pysvn /opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages
(sed line taken from here: http://ice.usq.edu.au/instructions/osx/developers_installation_guide.htm#id3)
Assuming you're using macports:
sudo port install python26 (follow any instructions it has)
sudo port install subversion (1.5.6 at time of my install)
sudo port install db43 (whichever version of Berkeley DB you installed, updated the sed line below pointing to the right directory).
Download the pysvn source code.
tar -xzvf [file you downloaded]
cd [directory where you uncompressed the file to]
python setup.py configure
sed -i .backup -e "14s@\(.*\) /opt/local/lib/libsvn_ra_dav-1.a \(.*\)/opt/local/lib/libdb-4.3.a \(.*\)@\1 \2 \3 /opt/local/lib/libsvn_ra_neon-1.a /opt/local/lib/libsvn_ra_serf-1.a /opt/local/lib/libserf-0.a /opt/local/lib/libsvn_fs_util-1.a /opt/local/lib/db43/libdb-4.3.a -lsasl2@" Makefile
make
sudo cp -r pysvn /opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages
(sed line taken from here: http://ice.usq.edu.au/instructions/osx/developers_installation_guide.htm#id3)
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