All my blog posts and articles
I don’t know why this has not gotten more press. You should take a look at Microsoft’s new Gmail killer, outlook.com. It’s a totally web based email client, like Gmail, but the user experience is miles and miles better than Gmail.
Now I am a huge Gmail user, and generally I get along really well with it. It has years of my emails and I have fully mastered its tricks and hacks. It works, it’s reliable and it’s free.
But boy, as a user interface, isn’t Gmail UGLY?
And now lo...
It turns out that Kaspersky Labs is developing a brand new operating system specifically designed to be used in embedded industrial systems and industrial control systems.
The obvious question:
“First I’ll answer the most obvious question: how will it b...
I am looking forward to watching the Presidential debates tonight. But for all the wrong reasons.
I believe I know pretty clearly what each side’s positions are and what they points will be. So, like when I watch a car race (which is rarely) secretly I have to admit that I will enjoy the suspense of seeing the big crash: the screwup, mistake or unscripted moment.
Here’s an article that pulls out a bunch of revealing details of the arrangement between the two sides and the moderator about what can and cannot be done during the debates. It’s pretty revealing and interesting, for example:
“The candidates may not ask each other direct questions during any of the four debates.” “Th...
Does Google give a different answer if you reorder the words in the search? What? A trivial question? Have you ever tried to refine a search by reordering the words? Wouldn’t it be useful if you knew for sure that it would or would not make a difference?
Experiment:
ruby rails bureaucrat gem examples rails bureaucrat gem examples ruby These two searches indeed did produce different results! And not just a reordering of the results. There were at least two results in the top 7 which were present in one and not the other.
Q.E.D.
From the New York Times, an article by Nick Kristof, describing a real-life story of a friend of his and health care.
Whenever I hear, “We have the best health care in the world”, I think of stories like this. It is a travesty that in a wealthy country like the USA, there are 48 million Americans uninsured. Some 27,000 Americans between the ages of 25 and 65 die prematurely every year because they don’t have health insurance. From the article:
“Let’s just stipulate up front that Scott blew it. Other people are so...
An interesting question, and an expert answer from a friend of mine. If you are interested in elections and voting and how they can and cannot be bought, you might find this intriguing. By the way, this scheme would never work in the US as we have many mechanisms that would prevent that, but these might apply in other countries that are not as sophisticated.
Scenario:
Say a bad guy made an offer secretly to the population that he would give each voter $100 for a vote cast for himself. Say they are using optical scan ballots. Say that cell phone cameras are easily snuck into the polling booth.
If you were the bad guy, what proof would you ask for so that people couldn’t trick you and colle...
I recently subscribed to the New York Review of Books. Not sure this was a good decision as the last thing I need is more stuff to read. I came to it because I kept seeing interesting articles from the NYRB come up on various blogs and searches.
Here’s quite an interesting book review of “Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism
I remember wondering about this when I was in college — this is before I really knew anything about computers.
I noticed that our computer center charged by the minute of processor time and it was a lot! I remember people freaking out because their random prime number generator ran overnight and the department got billed an unexpected $1,000.00. And they were in trouble!
So it must cost a lot to get these computers to do all these calculations, I thought. So, I asked the local expert, how much does it cost, then, when the computer isn’t doing any calculations? He laughed. He said, it costs the same, whether it’s calculating or not. How weird.
Here’s an interesting ...
I first came across Sandy Metz in this video:
[vimeo 12350535 w=500 h=281]
2009 – Sandi Metz – SOLID Object-Oriented Design from Gotham Ruby Conference on Vimeo.
If you are interested in Object Oriented design you will enjoy this. She is a wonderful speaker, and fun to listen to. Even if you don’t agree with (or understand) some of the concepts, I promise that you will enjoy listening to it. Since then Sandy has come out with a wonderful new book which I highly recommend: ...
I created this quick and dirty list of useful resources for some friends who wanted to dig into the latest thinking on web and mobile user interface design. I am sure this list is incomplete and quirky but I thought it would be good to share:
I’ve had great luck with Lynda.com courses. It’s only $25 per month, and you can watch as many as you like. Here’s one about CSSS for Developers Here’s another to teach you Photoshop. I’ve actually taken a lot of this one. The author is great. A famous book with basic concepts on ...
What an antiquated term: Full Duplex. I don’t know if that term is used anymore but what i mean is this:
I use Skype on many many voice calls, either to other Skype users or to telephone. It seems to me that while the other person is talking, I cannot interrupt them. In other words, either I am talking or I am listening, but not both.
Am I mistaken? Or is my Skype set up incorrectly?
Full Duplex is a term that used to mean, maybe still means, that both parties to a connection can be active at the same time. Last time I used it, it was in reference to a teletype machine!
Did you hear that Google bought Sparrow? Sparrow is a really cool email client that I for one have been using very happily for a while now.
Did you hear the announcement that there would be no more development of sparrow?
Did you hear that some people were upset at this, while others defended Sparrow’s “right” to let themselves be sold? (Huh????)
Anyway, I am not getting into that discussion. I was selfishly sad, because I am very fond of Sparrow and I know (from first hand knowledge, m...
You know the old joke that today they say something is good for you, tomorrow it’s bad, and the day after it’s good again? Recently there was a lot of press that sitting 3 hours a day could take years off your lifespan. “Sitting for More Than Three Hours a Day Cuts Life Expectancy”, so said the Wall Street Journal:
“Sitting down for more than three hours a day can shave a person’s life expectancy by two years, even if he or she is physically active and refrains from dangerous habits like smoking, according to a study to be published on Tuesday in the online journal BMJ Open.” (from ...
I like this quote:
“Everyone here introduces themselves as an “entrepreneur.” It’s as if they hand out the title at the airport when you arrive. “Welcome to San Francisco, you are now an entrepreneur! Which start-up T-shirt would you like?”
This belief that everyone is an entrepreneur has a stultifying effect. It can drive founders to seek an easy acquisition instead of a quest for true innovation and a sustainable, profitable business — a truly entrepreneurial challenge.” (from Bits Blog, NYT)
Lucky Me! After tortured litigation and lots of legal fees (not mine, of course), I am receiving a check for $0.47 as my payout for the litigation between Hanson and Google.
What, never heard of Hanson? Well apparently the law suit was about Google doing something wrong in how the charged or paid for Google Adwords. Which I think I might have used a little some long time ago.
But really, how does it make sense to pay out 47 cents? I am sure the lawyers (for both sides) are laughing all the way to the bank!
Code T-Shirt, © Pito Salas, 2012. Let me know if you want to order one!
I am considering these Bluetooth Wireless Powered Speakers… which should I get?
Jawbone JAMBOX Wireless Bluetooth Speaker Braven 625s Wireless Bluetoothe Speaker Soundmatters foxLv2 Bluetooth Loudspeaker
They have all been positively reviewed in this and other articles: A Pocket Sized Speaker With Some Punch
Just from today’s New York Times:
“Voters in New York State use a vote-scanning system that can tally votes swiftly and, in most cases, correctly. Not New York City. The city’s Board of Elections uses a creaky system of counting by hand that is prone to embarrassing errors on election night.” (from Why Can’t NYC Count Votes?)
An interesting fact:
“In the last years of the nineteenth century, Charles Dow created an index of 12 leading industrial companies. Almost none of them exist today….[…]… Four years after Dow invented his average, a group of 14 leading research institutions created the Association of American Universities. All of them exist today.” (fromThe Higher Education Monopoly is Crumbling As We Speak)
The article goes on to talk about where Higher Ed’s staying power has come from:
“I think that rule is going to change, and soon. Many factors explain the endurance of higher education institutions—the ascen...
