Up On the Roof…

Version control is one of the most important, but one of the most challenging areas in the software development process. I’d liken the experience to dental work, sometimes scary, maybe painful at times, but absolutely necessary for good health and longevity.

So, after not so pleasant experiences with: no versioning at all, versioning via IM, run-ins with SVN and others, I’m glad to finally be able to put GitHub to use to see how well it works for me and people I’m coding with.

While googling for GitHub and Mac, I was pointed to a great resource. It’s a video by the GitHub people recorded at Yahoo! Developer Network a few years back, entitled “Git, GitHub and Social Coding” Read Full Post

I’m trying to figure out what the National Football League’s (NFL) strategy is with their iPhone app?  The reviews are not pretty. As I look at the iTunes page now, there’s not one review that rates more than a star. The written reviews are even worse and I’m sure many who gave one star were trying to figure out if Apple would allow no stars or negative stars.

Fortunately for the NFL, iTunes doesn’t let me copy and paste, but they’re along the lines of “Shame on you, NFL,” “Worst sports app,” “Fails to deliver,” “Fire the developers.” I could keep going.

I wonder what’s happening behind the scenes? At NFL headquarters? Around the conference table when they’re discussing the strategy, features, marketing of this app? Read Full Post

I just read Google’s blog today and was surprised to learn that an Italian court convicted some Google employees that, according to the post, had nothing to do with an uploaded video and weren’t aware of its existence, until it was taken down.

The video depicted a bullying attack and the perpetrators we’re found and charged. So, if a person uploads anything that violates privacy law in Italy, the website that hosts the uploaded video, will face charges as well.

Its a ridiculous ruling by the Italian court. Why did they stop at Google? Why not take it further? Why not the camcorder manufacturer?
the tape company?
the battery that powered the thing?
the electric company that powered the PC that uploaded the video?
the ISP that allowed it to be uploaded in the first place?
the ISP that allowed it to be downloaded for replay? etc.

Another point, if Google hadn’t provided a platform for hosting the video, there’s the possibility that the authorities would not have found out about the original crime and the criminals would have gone unpunished?

I wonder what the thought process was behind the justice’s decision? Would it have been better to sweep negative events like this under the rug? Read more about it here.

Here’s a good article about the pitfalls of what look like helpful efforts to save money and help the environment, but on closer inspection are not even close to fulfilling either one. Eco-Bling are these items that may make you feel better and show yourself and others that your fighting the good fight.

I was seriously considering solar panels and even researched wind turbines, but doing more practical things such as installing energy efficient light bulbs, wearing an extra layer of clothing and turning off lights/appliances can do more.

I think the tax incentives tied to some of these things had mislead me to believe that there was more value than what could be recouped.

Hybrid cars are no better especially when your current vehicle is fairly efficient. I could replace my 10 year old Honda (~36 MPGs still) with a Prius or Insight, but it probably would not make economic sense since real-life mileage claims appear to be just over ~40 MPG.

Besides the value of the savings, consider the time you spend researching, planning. Will you have to hire contractors, etc? Doesn’t sound easy.

Putting on a sweater and turning the lights off could be the best answer after all.

We’ve had sporadic internet outages before. Gmail has been down for an hour or more, on occasion. Twitter has the famous “fail whale,” more often than we’d like, and certainly your ISP has been down too.

On these occasions there’s not much we can do about it. If its a connection problem and there’s an iPhone or Blackberry, we’re okay. If its a website or service, we have no choice but to wait. These are pretty isolated events that happen a few times during the year and in a few locations, but…

What if we had the Big One?

What if we had a large scale, full or multi-day, Internet blackout?
Read Full Post