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  • 1 min read

Cool idea: Skillshare

Check this post With Skillshare, everyone can be a teacher

"The New York City-based startup launched its service in April, offering a platform for users to offer real-world classes of any kind to interested students. The service, which rolled out in New York first, is now poised to branch out to San Francisco and Philadelphia starting Aug. 15 and is looking to expand to Boston and Los Angeles later this year. It’s already built a strong community of users, who are leveraging Skillshare in much the same way Airbnb has transformed short term room rentals, Kickstarter has evolved project fundraising and Getaround is changing car sharing." (from GigaOM — Tech News, Analysis and Trends)

I can't wait to see this in Boston!

  • 1 min read

[GEEKY] Connecting Web Apps with Web Intents

Check this post Connecting Web Apps with Web Intents

"Android OS addresses this problem with Intents, a facility for late run- time binding between components in the same or different applications. In the Intents system, the client application requests a generic action, e.g. share, and specifies the data to pass to the selected service application. The user is given a list of applications which have registered that they can handle the requested intent. The user-selected application is created in a new context and passed the data sent from the client, the format of which is predefined for each specific intent type." (from Chromium Blog)

This is a really cool idea! If you are familiar with Android Intents it will make sense to you. Read the article if not. I wonder whether W3C will embrace this as a 'good idea'. I think they should!

  • 1 min read

[GEEKY] Why I am not yet developing for iOS

Check this post A strong argument for why iOS development is winning

"IOS platform competitors take note: Fledgling indie iOS dev Chris Eidhof has posted a smart list of the main reasons why a new developer finds Apple’s mobile operating system such an attractive prospect. Eidhof, who is in the process of developing his first software for Apple devices, broke down the appeal of iOS using six main points." (from TheAppleBlog — Apple and iOS News, Tips and Reviews)

For me the biggest resistance, as a developer, to iOS is that I have to learn a new programming language (Objective C) and it's tools, traditions, and bugs. And no one on the planet other than Apple uses Objective C.

  • 2 min read

The flaw in the deal

I am assuming that you've followed the nonsense that has been going on in Washington D.C. about our so-called debt ceiling. If not this post will be meaninless and boring to you.

The deal stipulates that a new super-commision will be formed to sort out the additional 1+ Trillion in defecit reduction. A majority of the commission has to agree on the particular program which will then be sent to the Congress for a "simple" up or down vote.

The famous triggers are designed to force this commision to come to a recommendation and the congress to accept them, because if they don't there will be trouble. Trouble in the form of a forced set of cuts to Social Security (which liberals will hate) and to Defense (which conservatives will hate.) So the commision is amost guaranteed to come up with a compromise , even if very difficult, because the alternative, the trigger will be unacceptable.

Hmm. Didn 't we just go through this? There was an alternative which would be so unbelievably painful, that both sides could not help but make a compromise. That didn't happen. No, the tea party decided to hold us all hostage (yes, I think that analogy is apt) and threaten to let the untinkable happen if they didn't get their way.

The same damn thing will happen again with the so-called select committee. They will hold out to get everything they want even if it would mean serious and dangerous cuts to defense and serious and inhumane cuts to social security.

I don't know who or why anyone thinks this time will be different.

  • 1 min read

Pivotal Tracker, watch out for Trajectory

I've been an avid user and recommender of Pivotal Tracker, an excellent, simple to use, Scrum based project manager. I still love it a lot. Screen Shot 2011 07 29 at 4 49 33 PM

But, today I came across a very clean and simple alternative called Trajectory.

Screen Shot 2011 07 29 at 4 50 08 PM

You may want to check it out. I can't say why we need Trajectory where we have Tracker. My guess is that Trajectory is much less than a scrum system, maybe it's a structured way to communicate stories and design between client and developer.

But wasn't Basecamp for that?

  • 1 min read

Cool Photography

NewImage

Very cool photographs:

"Last summer, Sacha Goldberger decided he would take on a very interesting project. He assembled a team who helped him create an outside studio at Bois de Boulogne, a park located near Paris that's 2.5 times the size of New York's Central Park. He stopped joggers, asking them for a favor - would they sprint for him and then pose right after for his camera? Many obliged. Out of breath, these joggers showed an overwhelming amount of fatigue on their faces." Check this out!

  • 1 min read

What I told my Congressman and Senators

"Dear Congressman,

I implore you to PLEASE do all you can to break the deadlock and the impasse. I am not saying what proposal I would like you to back. What I want is that you compromise and get others to compromise so that this thing is solved TODAY.

It's way passed midnight and the spectacle that we are seeing in DC is embarrassing and shameful.

There are no good guys anymore. All of you are acting badly. Compromise already. It takes two to tango, so it's not 'the other guys' it's just us chickens.

Please I beg you ALL to get along!

Pito Salas"

  • 1 min read

Bill Gates and Microsoft

I still don 't love Microsoft. I used to, actually, use Windows day in and day out, for years. But I am known to frown a the thought of sitting down and usingn Windows 7 or whatever it's called these days.

But isn't Bill Gates awesome? After building Microsoft into a hugely successful business behemoth he takes his money and builds an awesome charitable behemoth:

""We all know that there are these exemplars who can take the toughest students, and they'll teach them two-and-a-half years of math in a single year," he says. "Well, I'm enough of a scientist to want to say, 'What is it about a great teacher? Is it their ability to calm down the classroom or to make the subject interesting? Do they give good problems and understand confusion? Are they good with kids who are behind? Are they good with kids who are ahead?' (from The Wall Street Journal)