Rauno's Notes

Google Privacy thoughts _ Hotmail and DuckDuckGo and

2012-01-30T20:15:00.000-08:00

If you've been around the web long enough, you'll remember the earlier incarnations of this kind of a moment of truth for a company:
*Yahoo announced new privacy back when (about the last time I used Yahoo)
*Microsoft passport or whatever they currently call it -- Nope, might be that universal logon for them, but I cynically only use their "universe" of services for Hotmail
*Netflix -- know everything about their customers, famous contests for better algorithms that had to be stopped because, turned out they know too much about their customers. Single service provider with one important data point. And they still bumble a service change through that alienates a huge swatch of their customer base who doesn't even have an alternative but they leave anyway.
*Google -- I'll give Google credit for making public what many other companies are doing with data anyway, but what the other companies are doing without any real effort to give some control back to the people who's data they're doing all this with (examine Amazon and its companies and efforts very carefully regarding this statement). The tightrope Google walks is showing whether they cross that line between collecting data on you to make your life better, or collecting data on you to make their economy better at cost to you and your family.

While they're dabbling in all these services that might/might not be useful to you, noone worries. Noone worries until you touch search. Noone worries until you make something that has always been somewhat anonymous into something that is sharing things people have never intended to share. Something that, when it hits the light of day, is creepy.

What I share with my "friends" is something totally different than what I'm going to share with my bank, my insurance company, my car salesman, my appliance salesman, my clothing salesman.

And, my "work" persona is entirely separate from my "personal" persona. To give personal financial information to my general "contacts" is inappropriate. To have my car salesman digging into all my personal information isn't service, it's creepy.

Notice that I use words like creepy, inappropriate, wrong etc. to describe what I see in my Google profile and services.

Imagine how I feel when I update the information through my Google accounts for accuracy or to make something that shouldn't be public, private, and the various services have varying degrees of technical effectiveness which either do not provide options to update the services, do not update the information properly, or do not interact with the Googleplex properly.

To use kind language, most of the other 60-odd Google services do not stack up technically to the standards of Google search. From plain clunky to plain bad tech. We're forgiving when Google is making our lives better. Not so forgiving when a Googleplex is announced that ties things together that we might not want tied together, uses data in ways we most likely did not want to have the data used (otherwise we'd have all jumped on the various Google social initiatives that I'll confess passed so quickly into oblivion for me that I don't remember half their names), and does so before Google has solved even the most basic profile issues around work and personal. Have you ever tried to set up a Google service for your business without finding you have to "inappropriately" either create a bogus gmail or other at Google that violates their then-stated policies or use your personal gmail -- and then have to share that personal gmail access around the office because the Google service ONLY makes full functionality available to that one email address?

Some suggestions and changes that were already moving for me:

1. Gmail. Limit personal info. I've already been tapering off and replacing with Hotmail for everything -- and, I'll admit I'm surprised, Hotmail simply works better anyway.
2. Search. I think this is a pretty big one for Google -- No more automatic Google search. As a personal policy and as a recommendation for my non-tech friends, ALWAYS try another search engine before Google. For my non-tech friends, I'll recommend Bing. For me, I'll try things like DuckDuckGo first, Bing second (try to make sure to stay away from their Passport), Google third.
3. NEVER give Google my mobile information.
4. NEVER use Google phone services.
5. For all other Google offerings, use as required for work, be very circumspect about personal use.
5. Blogging -- only when I have something to say to Googleplex.

I'd finally like to respond to a common thread I see in other comments on Google privacy -- we should be concerned about Google relationship with goverments and censorship. I've never seen an internet business refuse a government request (for long - from the famous Finnish example to Google and China) so my suggestion is that we ask Google to look at government as a model they can try to copy in at least one regard. Even if a governmental agency in the United States is impossible to deal with and unresponsive, somehow we've managed to make the agencies understand that there always has to be a point where the citizen can talk to a real, live, human-being government worker. There has to be. I've still found that to be the case when dealing with the government. It keeps giving me hope with the government. I have not found that to be the case with Google. Just so we can have some hope for you Google, can you make it possible to talk to a real, live, human-being Google employee at some point in your processes?

Our Door is Always Open

2011-03-16T19:09:00.000-07:00

A local story I thought worth repeating.

They still have such things as counseling in schools. Counseling for bullying. Listening to kids who might be having a rough time. One kid in a Petaluma sixth grade class says he doesn't know if he should run away from home. Another kid pipes up, "Our door is always open."

The dad telling the story couldn't be prouder.

His wife tells everyone, "Our door is always open." He's had to answer the door, step outside and listen to husbands looking for their wives.

The dad also coaches and makes sure all the kids know, "Our door is always open."

As parents, we ask our kids for good grades, ask them to learn music and ballet, offer them art classes, sign them up for the sports we enjoy, and ask them to participate in our churches and neighborhood groups. Sometimes, even by sixth grade, they simply understand what we really, truly value.

“Our door is always open.” The dad couldn’t be prouder.

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2011-02-16T12:17:00.001-08:00

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Music Books for a music kick

2009-12-30T06:58:00.000-08:00

Stuff! good drummers should know : an A to Z guide to getting better : take your playing from ordina _ Roscetti

A player's guide to chords & harmony _ Aikin

The Craft and Business of Songwriting _ Braheny

Open Source Catalog

2009-08-01T19:45:00.000-07:00

EOS from Optaros:

EOS started its life offline as the Open Source Catalog in November 2006. We were surprised by the demand (over 10,000 downloads to date) and the positive response from both enterprises and the open source community. The demand for updates, additions and conversations quickly became overwhelming and we built EOS to take the endeavor online and provide a greater opportunity for enterprises to connect with the open source community.

Continuous deployment

2009-07-21T20:14:00.000-07:00

Great explanation of the benefits of continuous deployment:

Eric Ries:

Of all the tactics I have advocated as part of the lean startup, none has provoked as many extreme reactions as continuous deployment, a process that allows companies to release software in minutes instead of days, weeks, or months. My previous startup, IMVU, has used this process to deploy new code as often as an average of fifty times a day. This has stirred up some controversy, with some claiming that this rapid release process contributes to low-quality software or prevents the company from innovating. If we accept the verdict of customers instead of pundits, I think these claims are easy to dismiss. Far more common, and far more difficult, is the range of questions from people who simply wonder if it's possible to apply continuous deployment to their business, industry, or team.

.......

If an engineer has a tendency to ship too soon, they will tend to find themselves grappling with the cluster immune system, continuous integration server, and five whys master more often. These encounters, far from being the high-stakes arguments inherent in traditional teams are actually low-risk, mostly private or small-group affairs. Because the feedback is rapid, Cowboys will start to learn what kinds of testing, preparation and checking really do let them work faster. They’ll be learning the key truth that there is such a thing as “too fast” – many quality problems actually slow you down.

But for engineers that have the tendency to wait too long before shipping, they too have lessons to learn. For one, the larger the batch size of their work, the harder it will be to get it integrated. At IMVU, we would occasionally hire someone from a more traditional organization who had a hard time letting go of their “best practices” and habits. Sometimes they’d advocate for doing their work on a separate branch, and only integrating at the end. Although I’d always do my best to convince them otherwise, if they were insistent I would encourage them to give it a try. Inevitably, a week or two later, I’d enjoy the spectacle of watching them engage in something I called “code bouncing.” It's like throwing a rubber ball against the wall. In a code bounce, someone tries to check in a huge batch. First they have integration conflicts, which require talking to various people on the team to know how to resolve them properly. Of course, while they are resolving, new changes are being checked in. So new conflicts appear. This cycle repeats for a while, until the team either catches up to all the conflicts or just asks the rest of the team for a general check-in freeze. Then the fun part begins. Getting a large batch through the continuous integration server, incremental deploy system, and real-time monitoring system almost never works on the first try. Thus the large batch gets reverted. While the problems are being fixed, more changes are being checked in. Unless we freeze the work of the whole team, this can go on for days. But if we do engage in a general check-in freeze, then we’re driving up the batch size of everyone else – which will lead to future episodes of code bouncing. In my experience, just one or two episodes are enough to cure anyone of their desire to work in large batches.

10+ Deploys Per Day: Dev and Ops Cooperation

2009-06-29T19:31:00.000-07:00

Some good laughs you'll enjoy if you've been in Dev, if you've been in Ops. If you're in between both, turn some painpoints to laughing points: John Allspaw.

Sol Flamenco at Petaluma Public Library

2009-05-02T18:05:00.000-07:00

Sol Flamenco at Petaluma Public Library.

So much fun if you can keep rythm. 4s, 8s, 16s. You can see who's leading, who's having fun.

SF Ballet Spring Community Matinee_Joyride and The Concert

2009-03-19T20:42:00.000-07:00

The family went to the community matinee. First row seats. Mark Morris' Joyride was a solid piece with strong dancing by the company and very well-matched movements. Only one sequence where the dancer entered stage rear and quick, quirky movements. Covered the stage with male energy and stop, energy and stop. Numbers on the dancers chests randomly counting.

Jerome Robbins' The Concert was a great joy for the whole family. Pianist playing Chopin in a park. People come to listen. Woman who danced the lead was nicely quite too in love with everything. Cigar-chomping married man chasing her was fun.

Afterwards, we had a tour of the backstage costume area and music pit.

Ailey II

2009-03-11T20:53:00.000-07:00

P took the kids to Ailey II at Wells Fargo Center.

They all loved it. Next year it will be my turn to go.

San Francisco School of Ballet Trainees in Healdsburg

2009-03-05T21:50:00.000-08:00

Jean-Yves Esquerre brought his 12 San Francisco School of Ballet Trainees (16-19 years olds selected to the program as a bridge between ballet school and ballet companies) to Healdsburg for a demonstration class and performance.

A wonderful outreach. An ambitious program for dance on the west coast. An answer to the question, do we have to send our children to New York?

One girl was absolutely wonderful to watch. Her feet. Simply raising her foot. Later, jumps. Up and down, up and down. The softest most wonderful feet. Like a feather rising and softly landing. Her dancing is added to the great memories I have right up there with Natalia Makarova, Gelsey Kirkland, Fernando Bujones. She reminds me of Cynthia Gregory. A dancer of substance. A dancer who brings her own and adds her own vocabulary to the dance world. Not as technical as ABT II dancers -- but for all their technique, they'll never have what she has. Because noone is like her.

Four dances. Four people in my family liked a different dance each. So, the programing was quite well done. And, the programming shows why many, many dancers would make San Francisco their Number 1 ballet company to dance for. San Francisco is truly making themselves an international dance company.

At the level of ABT II that I saw last year (ABT II)? Simply. No.

But, ABT II didn't have anyone like the one girl San Francisco has.
----------------
A normal review would leave it there. Since this is my blog entry... It's not a matter of better or best or ... simple fact is that ABT II has wonderful dancers I rave about. San Francisco School of Ballet Trainees has a wonderful dancer you have to see and you won't see anywhere else. A richness of dance in America I'm amazed at and appreciative of and enthusiastic about. So much. So many. So good. Please appreciate it because it won't necessarily last forever...
-----------------
Jean-Yves. So enthusiastic. 20 years later still in love with dance.

Invited members of the audience up for lifts. Fun. Only, did make me realize that all those girls on stage were unnaturally light. Normal 14 year old was a challenge to be lifted -- and, she was a normal, healthy, cute girl.

While San Francisco is probably breaking the mold in lots of ways, their women are une type.

A Nutcracker in Northern California

2008-12-12T23:32:00.000-08:00

Petaluma School of Ballet Nutcracker:

Rehearsals for flower presenters. Little people. The littlest. Riley with his mop of golden hair does a babump quick bow, Katey talks to him with her quick bow response -- talks to him with her body like a dancer should. Second time around, Katey's ready and bows quick right with him. Excellent partnering. What an excellent dancer.

Ballet Califia:

The boys and girls jump and spin and, well, dance. And entertain and put on a show. But, mostly, the boys can jump and spin as much as they dare. And they're encouraged to dare. And the audience rises with them and is amazed, and joyful, and appreciative of the spirit. No matter if some boys can't spin quite yet. Can't spin quite as much as others. Can't land quite absolutely rooted. The audience applauds a dance company that says, Dance!

Bicycle Riding

2008-10-15T20:33:00.000-07:00

Both girls learned to ride their bicycles the painless way. When they were ready to have the training wheels off, we also took off the peddles. P's idea. That let them scoot around and learn to balance.

Off at Yosemite with all the other kids, they wanted to scoot and scoot. And then T wanted her pedals. Put them on, she ran, ran, ran and then as she coasted got her feet on to her pedals and started pedaling away. Then she stopped. Just like a little bird learning to fly and she was done.

X took just a little longer scooting. And, we came home and she was scooting. Wanted her pedals on. Ran and ran and then got her coast and then feet on pedals and peddled away and went off the path. Lost track of balance and pedaling. So, we took the pedals off for another 15 minutes or so. Scooting, scooting. Then she was ready for the pedals back on. Just like T, ran and ran and then coasted and then feet on pedals and peddled away and brakes on. Ran and ran and coasted and feed on pedals and peddled away and brakes on. Then, she was done.

They'd both learned to ride their bikes!

ABT II, American Ballet Theatre II

2008-09-24T23:09:00.000-07:00

Saw ABT II up in Santa Rosa last night. Great dancers!

T___ liked a dance called Barbara, choreographed by Aszure Barton. I liked too, but was a little surprised that he liked modern vs. all the traditional ballet. And also a French singer - T---- asked, "What are they saying?"

Don Quixote Pas de Deux was excellent. Both dancers performed the star turns just like you'd expect of ABT dancing. Jose Sebastian lifted his partner all the way up to a one-hand hold, bringing a "Wow" from me (couldn't quite get it up there for the second one (didn't throw her far enough). Jose Sebastian, a great male dancer with jumps, power, ate up the stage. Facial expression needed some work.

His partner Sae Eun Park started a little tentatively but then moved in to her dance so much that you knew that joy on her face was genuine. Such a face that she was a joy to watch, and that was before she even showed her technical prowess that kept up with Jose Sebastian.

When they were done, I could finally turn to T___ and tell him, now that's ABT dancing!!! couldn't say that after we saw the "real" company last fall in Berkeley...

So many strong female dancers it's a shame that I'm not calling them out by name. 4 or 5 that i'd tell you this or that about them. Each one with something unique to watch.

Wes Chapman, Artistic Director, did a wonderful job of having his dancers tight together. And I guess we can thank Jackie O School of ballet for tight turns, surefooted landings, dancers with confidence.

Also thank Wes for a program that had new choreography, several old standby ballets, a riveting bravura pas de deux, sweet dancing, musical dancing, costume dancing. All on one program. Enough to remind me of when ABT would have it's gala opening nights in San Francisco with Misha, Gelsey, Fernando Bujones, Cynthia Gregory, Natalia Makarova...

This isn't just a regular II company...OR, perhaps I should say the real ABT is looking to get very much better, very soon

Bad Boys of Dance; Rasta Thomas

2008-04-07T20:59:00.000-07:00

My family has been to a lot of dance over the last week. Everyone else went to a school show of a Russian ballet company doing Natalia Makarova’s version of Swan Lake over at Zellerbach (Cal Performances) last Monday. They were in the front row and the technique was astounding.

I took T___ to Bad Boys of Dance (Rasta Thomas) up at Wells Fargo center in Santa Rosa on Saturday night. They were fantastic and I’d highly recommend them. Really great, athletic male dancers trained in ballet, modern, jazz. Jumps and leaps and energy and great dance music. If you saw the movie Chicago with the signature dance number they ruined by having the movie stars simply walk downstage to camera – these guys were doing the dance that should’ve been done then.

Yesterday, the entire family went to see SF Ballet hosting Royal Ballet of Canada, New York City Ballet, and Ballet de Monte Carlo. Canada’s was beautiful with falling snow on the stage etc, but not much dancing. NYCB was great – two dancers who were excellent – but too short. Ballet de Monte Carlo was all about the choreography and men in (for me) strange costumes and moving in to poses and – T___ and I didn’t like it at all – P____ thought it was the best thing she’s seen in years. If they had another show of it tonight, she’d go.

Learning

2008-02-23T19:59:00.000-08:00

The Teaching company
ebay: teaching company
sonoma library: teaching company

MIT Open Courseware

Open culture

UC Berkeley webcasts

Wior Wrapability

2008-02-10T14:59:00.000-08:00

Local

2007-11-18T00:01:00.000-08:00

Asked various businesses if I could hang a poster advertising the Petaluma City Ballet's 2007 Nutcracker poster in their window.

The automatic answer from any locally run business - Yes. If you understand local, you understand the answer is automatically yes.

Big 5 - Yes. AND the employee posted it. ANd it remains posted. There is definitely a future for Big 5 - ... and it has something to do with all its locations and how the future of ecommerce needs that "local" connection.

It's all the businesses who hesitate, who have someone else dictating, where you get the wrong answer.

I knew the answer from various national chains would not be so generous. You'll know, if you read my blog, that I'm especially responsive to nationals who at least understand "local" (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft definitely do not):

So, then, on to the other national chains that will need to come to grips with their miscalculations:

Kmart - No.

Ross - No.

Radio Shack - No.

Other chains local employees said Yes, but then the signs disappeared after a day or a few:

Longs - Yes, but upon revisiting, poster down. Kudos to local management - not sure what happened?

Petco - Yes, and up for a few days, but poster down. Kudos to local employee - I'm thinking the regional or other finally came or saw the poster.

Trader Joes - No. To add to the irony, they run ads about how their workers interact with the locals. Big hucks -- a brand ripe for the taking. We'll shop them, but ... we know.

And then we get to the semi-locals:

Silver Screen - had to ask the boss - poster I left still not up a week later .... employee problem or boss problem. Net/net: Silver Screen problem.

Hobbytown USA: Franchise owner (I spoke directly to him) took my poster and promised to work it in to his rotation. A week later, haven't seen it posted. The equation still rattling in his head I'm sure -- ballet dancers = girls == not my male customers. Suggestion which all the other locals understand, community effort == my consumers, or at least, my consumers understand, sympathize and support my local community efforts == my customers give me brownie points for posting the local poster.

So then, the final word. Yes and no, one shop steward tells me. My boss is coming tomorrow, she won't let me. After she's gone, I'll put it up.

Exactly.

Chelsea vs Club America (Mexico City), Stanford Stadium (the new stadium)

2007-07-14T23:07:00.000-07:00

First game in Chelsea's North American pre-season tour (SF Gate story). Next week
they play LA Galaxy in David Beckham's first game in America.

Chelsea's big names (Shevchenko et al) play the first half and after
several successive, sustained, methodical and inspired Club America
attacks find themselves down 1-0 on a defensive breakdown most
troublesome because Club America caused it by controlling the ball
inside the penalty area. An area Club America visited with surprising
frequency in the first 5 minutes. The half ends with Chelsea still
down 1-0, though they have managed to shift some of the balance in the
match. However, Shevchenko et al miss passes, fail to press the
advantage on offensive possessions, stop and wait or charge on
recklessly without support.

Chelsea launches one run up the left side with three attackers, two
dropping back leaving the man with the ball surrounded but with such
team attack possibilities that I'm astounded by the level of strategic
difference in the football played in Europe. A curtain pulled back to
reveal Chelsea's coach as a major Chelsea team advantage.

I'm pleasantly surprised by Club America's brand of soccer, which is
much more open, team oriented and attack-oriented than I've come to
expect from having watched Chivas or the Mexican national team before
Sanchez took over as coach. And, thank God they are simply playing a
match instead of putting a lone attacker out front and playing not to
lose like so many of the US World Cup matches that've gotten imprinted
on my brain. The one needed ability lacking is speed.

After the half, both teams liberally substitute. Chelsea putting in
their second squad and Club America continuing to work substitutions
to give their entire roster experience against Chelsea. And then we
see 45 minutes of what makes Chelsea a great club.

Number 15 up the right side. Speed, pure speed. He is going to be
trouble for Club America. Read after the game that he's Florent Malouda
(Chelsea's new $27 million transfer from a Spanish club). Two quick
runs and Club America's balance is destroyed. Chelsea can attack at
will, up the left side, up the right side. Club America's two
strikers can wait all day for no more passes are coming. They are no
longer oriented to receive passes and they do not make adjustments.
And, no surprise when Chelsea scores. No surprise that the scorer is
Mourinho.

Chelsea's backfield sends long balls that curl over the defense,
landing with spin taking them directly to Club America's goal. The
kind of balls forwards with speed dream about running on to. The kind
of balls spectators are not used to seeing in America.

Number 26 for Chelsea looks good. I find myself marveling over my own
thoughts – I don't often marvel over defenders. But I think to
myself, that defender looks great. I would want him on my team. I'd
feel good having him back there. John Terrey. And then, on a set
play free kick, comes all the way up to score on a header.

Number 15 plays the mid-field and has such a sure touch on the ball
that you know it isn't bouncing off his foot carelessly, it will
always go where he intends it to go.

With Number 15 moving easily between mid-field and attack. With
Numbers 24 and 27 supporting beautifully. With a solid backfield
(even despite No 51's difficulties with bouncing balls intended to
stretch the field). You can see why Chelsea can be a great team.
--------------
The new stadium was beautiful, but our seats in the corner looked
directly over to other seats. Symmetrical to the design. Not
designed for the best view.

Noticed that all the tennis courts on campus, and there were a lot of
them for the students, were all built east-west facing. The sun would
be directly in your eyes. Looked good and fit in perfectly with the
muted lights design everywhere. As did all buildings on campus. But
they didn't look like they'd be nice to play on.

Quiet campus, but traffic from the soccer interminable until someone
removed a closed road sign.

Jessica Snow at Rena Bransten

2007-06-10T18:14:00.000-07:00

Shape and color and -- for me (doubt others will see it) -- views of the San Francisco bay from the Berkeley Hills.

Lively...

Snow

Veslemay

2007-06-08T22:35:00.000-07:00

A fascinating woman.

Picture a fourteen year old Canadian angry at the injustice in the world talking to a 30-something woman raised in a medical mission in Ethiopia. Talking to a mind so open and curious and engaging that ... three hours later, the fourteen year-old can never be quite the same.

A fourteen year-old who is not in the least surprised to learn that Veslemay had been thrown out of Ethiopia for talking too forthrightly to the military dictators.

Veslemay (one of the daughters of Dr. and Mrs. Hogganvik, who were in Debre Tabor when the Saarinens lived there). Veslemay, who was there long after the Saarinens and Dr. and Mrs. Hogganvik lived there.

Some basic discussions I had with my mother about missions, about helping others, ...

It's so easy to be critical of people who are trying to help. And I know I need to always be wary of thinking I know better than other people. And I love the American attitude of trying to help, even though Americans often end up being the elephant trampling all over the things they don't understand ... which is why I think that Veslemay is such a fascinating woman.

Knowledge, compassion, understanding, and curiosity. Definitely a dangerous woman to some people in power in this world ...

One missionary, Veslemay Hogganvik of Norway, was briefly imprisoned for her opposition to what she considered high-handed tactics of the Tollosa faction. A second-generation missionary, considered by many local believers to be "an honorary Ethiopian," she was then deported.

Revisiting memories of a white house in Ethiopia

2007-06-08T21:44:00.000-07:00

My sister recently returned to Ethiopia for a visit and saw a house she had last seen as a little girl. I've never been to Ethiopia, but in reading her memory I revisited that same house for the first time in years. Funny, I remember it as being bigger just as my sister does. Bigger in the pictures. Bigger in my memories. Bigger in the family stories.

Kati, Timo, Tarja, Jouko...all living larger in our slideshows. Kids, always larger than the story we put on our adult lives. Kids, the things that really identify what makes us, well us: Pictures of Jouko running to the camera. Pictures of Timo looking like Timo -- a natural leader because we all look up to him -- not an easy expectation to bear. Pictures of Tarja looking different than Timo -- an assurance borne out of a basic confidence. What's all this different than business? Well, because they're twins. Pictures of Kati, a little person taking a passport picture at 3 am -- a person amongst babies, the baby the jewel the love growing all others. And then there's me, the baby Rauno looking like a little nude Napolean by a Finnish lake one summer.

Now as an adult, we have friends who have babies after all the other children. Not loved more. Conceived in the love brought by the others. Showered with the loving understanding of how fleeting the shared time is.

My family has a shared memory through pictures. Pictures of the house in Ethiopia. Pictures of snow in Toronto. Other pictures.

We have many relatives with summer cabins so I had always thought the Finnish lake pictures were at a relative's cabin but my mother told me we/they had rented that cabin one summer. We'd clambered over the rocks and my dad had taken the pictures that remain in the memories I revisit everytime I think of my family spending time on lakes around rocks and swimming and saunas. Rocks, and swimming and saunas we find wherever we are. In Finland. In Ontario. I'm sure in British Columbia. In California. In California, where I take my children to rivers in Big Sur that are as cold as the lakes in Ontario when you're swimming with the ice still on the lake.

And as I dive into the cold, I revisit memories of a white house in Ethiopia...

French Open

2007-06-08T21:29:00.000-07:00

Watching a little video.

Nikolay Davydenko: wonderful mid-level overhand. Straight,flat topspin. It's a beautiful shot to watch. I think he knows it both forehand and backhand. Good enough to take him to No. 4 in the world. Not quite good enough to beat Federer.

Federer: Changes the match. Against Nikolay, Nikolay is used to the regular back and forth, power to power that everyone throws out there. Roger changes it. Keeps him off-balance. Overpowers the power with change, sublety. That doesn't work unless you have the power.

Davydenko reminds me of watching Sampras. The best volleys you'll ever see. He always chose the point of contact that would have the least bounce for his opponent. Hard for the opponent to do anything but dig to get under for the return to get over the net. The only way to beat it was to be fast enough, and good enough with your hands to take it in the air. McEnroe in his prime.

Resume

2007-06-07T21:44:00.000-07:00

Rauno Saarinen

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

* ECommerce web development and database-driven website maintenance
* Online content system development
* Online editorial system experience

EXPERIENCE

ECommerce Development, TravelSmith Outfitters, Novato, CA, February to present
*Responsible for website performance and functionality and communication with outside vendors for site maintenance, development and other services as required to improve the overall customer experience.
*Co-manage development budget, including project managing all phases of development efforts from creating project specifications, managing project scope with vendors, and coordinating external and internal development, testing and implementation.

Administration, Steadfast Futures and Options, Sonoma, CA, October to February
* Administration for a west coast-based futures, options and derivatives trading desk that handles commodity execution for clients from around the world.

Contract Writer/Developer, Il Fornaio (America) Corporation, Corte Madera, CA, July to October, 2006
* Created Sarbanes-Oxley compliant online policy and procedure system for corporate accounting department.
* DHTML scripting for dynamic presentation while keeping content creation and maintenance simple enough for non-technical content creators.

Content Management and Writing System Consultant, Third Rock Mining, Petaluma, CA, January 2005 to November 2005
* Consultant to the founder of a social web services startup (online, collaborative newspapers) on XML architecture, web services development, blogging, and the use of RSS.
* Development and implementation for both software (web service) and angel/development/venture capital funding for the overall business.

Senior Technical Writer, Legacy Marketing Group, Petaluma, CA, 1999 to March, 2005
* Coordinated 60-employee effort in developing html/javascript/xml documentation system for operations, policy holder services, and claims departments.
* Streamlined maintenance from 800 pages to approximately 50 pages through the use of XML tags.

Project Manager, International Communications [acquired by Lionbridge], San Francisco, CA, 1998 to 1999
* Managed client relationships for complex, long-range print, audio, video, multimedia, software and website projects with a focus on multilingual web projects for e-commerce companies such as Visa and CDNOW.

Development/Editorial, CCH Incorporated, San Rafael, CA, 1989 to 1998
* Developed state and local tax and multistate corporate income tax products for lawyers and accountants

EDUCATION

University of California, Berkeley BA
College of Marin C Programming, Director, Lingo, Multimedia Authoring
Santa Rosa Community College Java Programming, Perl-CGI
UC Berkeley Extension Technology & Publishing, Magazine Marketing

Tavares Watch

2007-05-02T18:18:00.000-07:00

May 02, 2007 11:23 AM

Canadian Press :

Oshawa Generals forward John Tavares has been named the Ontario Hockey League's player of the year.
The 16-year-old from Oakville, Ont., earned the Red Tilson Trophy that goes to the league's outstanding player.
Tavares led the OHL in goals scored with 72, making him just the second 16-year-old to score more than 70 goals in a season after Wayne Gretzky did it with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in 1977-78.
Tavares also had 62 assists and finished second in overall points behind London Knights rookie Patrick Kane.
Tavares was both the OHL and Canadian Hockey League rookie of the year last year at the age of 15.
The 6-foot, 183-pound forward isn't eligible for the NHL draft until 2009.

Cal College of Art Graduate Open Studios

2007-04-05T18:26:00.000-07:00

Aaah. One of my fondest memories was crashing the graduation at an Art College, wandering around amongst all the open studios while sipping champagne and enjoying music from a live band.

Not promising all of that, but these student shows really give you an insight into what each school teaches, and what the students learn.

So, don't miss CCA Graduate Student's Open Studios. Funny, if you visit CCA's website, you might miss this event.

Netgear Wireless card

2007-02-27T19:37:00.000-08:00

38 minutes on hold at customer support on the weekend (2/23/07 9:49 pm). Under 5 minutes tonight. 15 minutes later, wireless network up and running on my laptop.

And that's why I called. The changes we made were simple, and I could've done them myself. But it could have taken me hours of trial and error on my own to figure it out.

I don't want to do that anymore. That's why I buy a product like Netgear.

I was a little frustrated over not being able to reach anyone during the weekend, but I'm happy now.

Wireless Internet

2007-02-07T20:45:00.000-08:00

So we already know you can use your phone and bluetooth to your laptop or tablet pc or other device for internet access.

Verizon's offer:
1. Wireless PC Card for your laptop (49.99)
2. Unlimited broadband access (59.99/mo)
3. Wireless Broadband Network (BroadbandAccess)
4. NationalAccess coverage when BroadbandAccess is unavailable -- look at coverage area maps...LOOK AT COVERAGE AREA MAPS (you know what that means.

Jotspot bought by Google

2006-11-02T11:35:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Joe Kraus. While I wasn't a fan of his product, I was certainly impressed by his willingness to listen to his users and simplify. Hopefully, we'll be seeing a great wiki-application-generator coming out of Google soon, to be followed by great wiki applications.

Where's that leave Socialtext? Ross:

My most sincere congratulations to Joe, Graham, Ken and the Jotspot team with their acquisition by Google. It has been great competing with you....

This acquisition will further commoditize the low end of the market. Something we have encouraged with our Open Source versions of both Socialtext and SocialCalc.

I do like the 'was great competing with you' line. I don't think it was snide or anything like that. Just a statement of fact.

And Microsoft? Office Live to be released in mid-November: free domain, email and website hosting. As for "workspaces", you gotta pay. To sync with Outlook and more storage, you gotta pay.

So, what would you use instead (until Google's wiki is released). Backpack or Wetpaint?

Most small businesses in America start with a yellowpages listing. Yahoo has a great deal with the yellowpages. That's great on the business side, but on the web side in order for Yahoo Local to really work, they have to have ALL listings, even if you didn't pay them for it. Most small businesses should use Yahoo Local basic.

Compare it to Google Local and you'll very quickly understand that Google will have to buy this service; their algorithms are just not designed for this kind of work (if I live in a 2 person town, even if I don't like the other person, their opinions will have a HUGE sway on what I can or can't do). I'll just repeat that for all the local developers out there: Google will have to buy local.

I've personally found localdart.com to be a pretty darn good local finder. Better than Yahoo local, which is ironic because it is built on (api.local.yahoo.com). Better, much better than Yahoo local, because, simply, IT DOES WHAT IT'S SUPPOSED TO DO without all the distracting clutter that Yahoo (has?) to add. That's the part that'll take me some time to contemplate.

One Phone Number for Life

2006-09-25T16:38:00.000-07:00

GrandCentral.com: One phone number for life.

Forward all your calls. Switch from your cell to your home phone. All your messages saved online ... hmmmm

MIT's OpenCourseWare

2006-09-25T16:32:00.000-07:00

For self-learners (and others) around the world, MIT offers many of its course materials free to download.

Sonoma State soccer

2006-08-29T21:19:00.000-07:00

SONOMA STATE MEN's Home Schedule: All the action.

Fri-Sep. 22	CHICO STATE*	ROHNERT PARK	1:30 pm
Sun-Sep. 24	CAL STATE STANISLAUS*	ROHNERT PARK	12:30 pm

Wed-Oct. 4	HUMBOLDT STATE*	ROHNERT PARK	3:00 pm
Fri-Oct. 6	CAL STATE MONTEREY BAY*	ROHNERT PARK	3:00 pm
Sun-Oct. 8	SAN FRANCISCO STATE*	ROHNERT PARK	3:00 pm
Fri-Oct. 13	CAL STATE SAN BERNARDINO*	ROHNERT PARK	12:30 pm
Sun-Oct. 15	CAL POLY POMONA*	ROHNERT PARK	12:30 pm

Soccer in Sonoma

2006-08-29T21:09:00.000-07:00

Street Socccer for Kids -- YES, in theory. NO, in practice.

I show up. Can't really see anything that looks like pick up or "street" soccer. I see a coach instructing kids. The only thing amiss is that the girls have been mixed up with the boys.

So I ask. Yes, it's "street" soccer. But a parent-chauffeur thinks it's really for kids who've played.

The "coach", without looking at me, answers "Yup, anyone can play" in a tone that is as unfriendly as possible to communicate "not really."

So, if you really only wanted Alliance kids, why didn't you say so.

We watched and couldn't really hear anything except the coach coaching each touch of the ball.

The schedule in August has two days a week in order to give everyone a chance to come.

August 29th and 30th 4pm U12+ and 530pm U9-U11 @ Prince Park

Program will run through December! Please visit the website for updates!

1-800 translate from anywhere

2006-08-15T22:41:00.000-07:00

If you're ever traveling and need translation (call from anywhere in the world): 1-800-894-2345
www.bayareatranslations.com

Charlotte's home, Rodney Strong

2006-07-30T21:52:00.000-07:00

A taste here, a taste there. A sip is all it takes to know. And that's true.

2006 Estate Sauvignon Blanc, Charlotte's Home, Rodney Strong.

A white wine that crosses over into the territory of reds in character, taste, anticipation and pure enjoyment. At a fraction of the cost of a red of similar standard.

A white that gets added to the list.

A white that challenges a chef...to meet the standard. Not just as an accompaniment.

World Cup Third Place - the best team in the tournament

2006-07-26T21:29:00.000-07:00

The best team this year, obviously.

Was not thrilled about the final. Thought of watching it with my son, but then I just did not like France (what would they ever have done without the help of the referees in awarding them penalty shots) and was not impressed with Italy's offense. The final that pointed out everything wrong with FIFA -- and we knew that before they played the game. So, went on a hike along a wonderful little stream where the family could watercolor instead of watching the game. Didn't want my son to watch those teams play football.

And then Zidane. No apology. Still a hero in France - tells you so much. Fifa still awards him the MVP - tells you so much.

My Most Valuable Person - Jurgen Klinsmann. What a great team he brought to the World Cup. Here is one of those - didn't win the whole thing, but really won the whole thing efforts.

Video on the internet - Wimbledon

2006-06-28T22:56:00.000-07:00

I was saying Yahoo's video highlights of the World Cup were pretty good. Masters TV video was crap.

Have you seen Wimbledon's video? Absolutely amazing! Their quality is leaps and bounds beyond anything else out there. Wow! That's the way it should be done. The company behind it is MediaZone. Kudos. They really know what they're doing.

Rafat gives the lowdown:

...Meanwhile, on Wimbledon, MediaZone has bought the U.S. rights, and will be webcasting most of the tennis matches, live. About 150 matches will be webcast live and then archived for on-demand. The cost: $24.95 for tennis fans who pay during the tournament, or $19.95 on an early-bird basis for fans who pay before the matches begin. A day pass will sell for about $5.00. Users in some regions such as China will be able to pay less, but the geoblocking technology will enable MediaZone to keep U.S. fans from accessing the matches through the cheaper territories....

Now, the only question, what's their position on "net neutrality"?

World Cup Update

2006-06-28T22:00:00.000-07:00

Absolutely the best world cup to date. So many worthy teams left at this stage (final eight). So many worthy goals.

I was just thinking the other day, poor Ronaldo. Probably the best player the world has ever seen. I know, heresy to say and I'm not trying to take anything away from Pele, but probably better than Pele. What does it get him? In 1998, he gets hacked everytime he touches the ball - even at mid-field. So dangerous, the other teams are willing to foul him there, rather than have him get anywhere near their goal.

He gets lost in the Brazil success. The entire world was shocked in 2002 when Rivaldo lets the ball go through to Ronaldo. We all remember how Rivaldo refused to pass to Ronaldo in 1998.. even with all the hacking, Brazil still would've won if Rivaldo had passed the ball just once. So, of course, Ronaldo scores both goals to win the World Cup for Brazil, but all we remember is Rivaldo letting the ball go to Ronaldo.

And now, we have the most entertaining World Cup ever (to this point...keep your fingers crossed) and The Play is Wayne Rooney for England flicking the ball through the defender's legs, breaking on goal AND PASSING. And in that, is the heartbreak. Michael Owen is not there to finish. Who's to say why. Glory in England; injured when England takes on the world. When I saw him in 1998, I hoped we could see more than that short England World Cup (Beckham expelled for retaliation), but I was very worried about such a great footballer playing in England. Four years of adulation. Four years of "big" games. Would he make it through it to entertain at the World Cup again? He hasn't - the World Cup has never seen the Michael Owen we knew was theoretically a possibility. Our loss. Is he a great, complete, accomplished player like Ronaldo? No. Owen was a bolt of lightning you know comes straight from the gods.

And that's why I say, poor Ronaldo. The greatest player the world has ever seen, but what the world really wants is something so pure we feel we're in the presence of creation itself. And, the hope that somehow their country will be so blessed because they know they'll never quite match the ferver Brazil has for the game.

And so, we come to the final eight and England is the most disappointing team to date. Ironic considering that their delightful romp over Germany (5-1 in 2001) combined with the clear choice of style and resounding result of the 2002 final - Germany tried to win with their goaltender while Brazil flowed, passed, attacked and scored to dominate the game -- is probably one of the major contributing factors to such an entertaining World Cup. Everyone really wants to be Brazil, winning 3-0. Scoring stylish goals. Smiling. Laughing. Letting the whole world enjoy the show. Germany now, most of all. And as long as Germany play that entertaining a game, we don't mind if Germany wins... unlike that team they sent to the finals in 2002.

Germany vs. Argentina
England vs. Portugal
Brazil vs. France
Italy vs. Ukraine

I'm so disappointed for Australia. Italy is not an exciting team. Australia was playing an exciting brand of football. Australia plays Italy straight up through regulation and instead of going to penalty kicks, the referee decides it. I'm so disappointed for football.

Argentina, Portugal are entertaining and worthy. France? Well, at least they won their last game over Spain with style.

And England, the country that showed the Europeans that a European team could dream to play with offense? Sends a lone striker, Wayne Rooney, up front against Ecuador. See, that's the heartbreak.

Writely - Word Editor

2006-06-23T20:42:00.000-07:00

Looking for the online Word editor? It is Writely.com. Not perfect, but I've come to rely on it.

I was hoping Thinkfreeonline (http://online.thinkfree.com) would do it because it does Word, Excel and Powerpoint, but Thinkfree doesn't work:
1. Java engine, takes forever or doesn't work.
2. Doesn't work....who has time to figure out why not or wait when Writely does...

Noticed about three days ago that Writely is now part of Google (guess I missed the announcement). Good news for the rest of you, noticed tonight that you can sign up. If you need a Word editor ... not sure about using it for anything else. But if I start using it for shared doc editing, I'll be sure to let you know.

June and July Footy

2006-06-12T22:19:00.000-07:00

Like the rest of the world, I'll be spending my June/July admiring some great football courtesy of Yahoo, which keeps doing more and more to win over even the most resistant webbies.

Rafa Blogs - One person communicating with another person(s)

2006-06-04T17:29:00.000-07:00

In reading blogs, I get pretty used to the personal voice. I guess that's where I'm very sensitive to when it's that person's voice or when it's filtered through someone else or through the media. You'll remember I wrote it didn't sound like it was Rafa's voice directly, and he confirms it in his fourth post (I'll give you the link, I'm not sure the ATP has this permalink thing set up though so be warned that you might have to go searching):

...I've been reading some of your comments about my blog on one of the web pages. Believe me, it is me doing it. I'm not physically writing it, I don't have the skills to write so fast. But I talk to someone from the ATP and he types it in English. My team and I have been talking about doing a blog since January or February. We thought the best time to do it was during Roland Garros. It is me doing it and I enjoy it....

I like this. Nadal doesn't ignore the criticism. Addresses it head on. And, judging by the posts after that, either he (or the ATP) is responding with more effort or I am responding with more sympathy.
By the way, I take this to mean he was speaking in Spanish and an ATP staffer was simultaneously translating and typing. Think of how much gets left out if that's what they were doing. If you ever think of doing this, much better to publish exactly what was said - either publish in Spanish and provide a translation or let blog readers get their own translations (we can do that). Or, type the English exactly as spoken, without cleaning it up, editing or making all pretty with punctuation choices.
I think there're some good lessons in this. And, I've been thinking about this and I have to admit that I don't think I'd be doing a blog while trying to defend a Grand Slam title. Then again, I think it was Jim Courier who said that he didn't think he would've been playing for a Grand Slam title if he wasn't so open to the world...

Rafa blogs; might've been better if he did actually blog

2006-05-30T22:26:00.000-07:00

Rafael Nadal is blogging about his French Open experience over at atptour.com. I was really looking forward to it because I've admired his tennis, tennis writers make him out to be a good guy, and I've really enjoyed all the blogs over at atptour.com.

Maybe he shouldn't have blogged -- or, maybe I should say, it'd be nice if he did actually blog rather than what's being published as a blog. Every other player's blog you could pretty quickly see they were writing it and they didn't have some publicist over their shoulder (maybe they did, but it didn't seem that way). With Rafael Nadal, I feel like I'm getting the same old, same old that he gives the regular media. Yes, it might run down every minute of his day, but it might as well be his itinerary.

Kindof left with some not too nice conjectures:
1. This is the real Rafa. I hope not.
2. He's dictating to someone as he's being driven somewhere. If so, it takes a little more effort than that.... not much, but a little more. [POSTSCRIPT 6/4/06: TURNS OUT HE WAS DICTATING TO SOMEONE FROM THE ATP- see this post.]

3. Is it possible that after so many interviews and always being in the public eye that it gets difficult to turn off the act? What fun would it be to meet all those famous people if they can't turn it off and have a real conversation.

In conclusion, I wouldn't say that Rafa shouldn't blog, I guess I'd just say it'd be nice if he actually DID blog. He's gotta put something out there that represents some kind of more reasonable effort on his part. It's a shame when the regular media (or your publicists) do a better job of presenting your image than your own words and thoughts do.

Makes me rethink all the negative press Lleyton Hewitt gets. Most of it stems from his being uncooperative with the media -- I kind of get the sense that he's the kind of guy you wouldn't mind hanging out with. All the positive press Rafael Nadal gets seems to be because there is no press request he refuses, but then his blog comes across as a guy who is spending so much time fulfilling media chores that he doesn't ... I always wondered why guys like Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan charge $25,000 etc. for promotional opportunities. After you've already banked $40 million, don't you have some other kind of life to live than going out to make more meaningless money?

Free Online Backup

2006-05-29T23:07:00.000-07:00

Mozy.com

I don't know. I love my FilesAnywhere. But, you said it's free???

Bluetooth phone and ???

2006-05-29T23:00:00.000-07:00

Sony PSP or Nokia 770. Too geeky?

Youtube does three things right

2006-05-29T22:55:00.000-07:00

Fred:

YouTube launched last summer and is now the 23rd most trafficked site on the Internet (according to Alexa). Comscore Media Metrix has a slightly different picture, ranking YouTube as the 89th most trafficked site with 276 million page views in April.....
YouTube wasn't first and they didn't beat the big guys to market. But they did do three things, that in combination secured them a leadership position that to me looks pretty unassailable.
First they launched with a really slick flash player that almost everyone else has now copied. They bet on flash and they were right. For video playback on the web, flash is the way to go.
Second, they provided immediate playback. When Google Video launched, I uploaded a video and had to wait for days to see it playback. Needless to say, I've never uploaded another video to Google.
Third, and this is the biggie, they provided an easy way to embed their flash player and a specific video in another web page. This too has been copied by most everyone in the online video business. But if you go back and look at YouTube's traffic, the day they let people embed their videos in MySpace pages is the day they took off and never looked back....

Hmmm. Giving people a way to use the content in THEIR space. You know, I need this shopping comparison tool that'll let me pull together all my online shopping in one page on MY SPACE. Anyone interested? Anyone doing that...

Fox

2006-05-29T22:47:00.000-07:00

What to invest in?
Bubblegeneration:

Denuo has invested in (=is advising) a few plays so far: Lightningcast, ShadowTV, Brightcove.
Note how strikingly similar Denuo's investments are. They are all infrastructure plays. The investment thesis behind infrastructure plays is simple - and too simplistic. ...
Denuo is an example of something both paradoxical and improbable: media players investing in exactly the wrong parts of the new media value chain. Guys who should get new media, but are, instead, more VC than VC.
To really make this point concrete, let's contrast Denuo's picks with the acquisitions of the most visionary new media player by far - Fox.
Scout Media - team-specific sports content & community
Newroo - (rumoured to be an) attention market
Ksolo - karaoke community
Whatifsports - team-based sports sim community
And, of course:
MySpace - music and fan social network
Fox's acquisition thesis is a bit more complicated - but predicated on a much deeper understanding of the new media value chain. Fox invests in domains which are hypersocial (discontinuous shifts in social connectivity) or hypercultural (discontinuous shifts in cultural specificity): sports, karaoke, music.
Further, Fox invests at the edge of the new value chain: at the interface with consumers. Further, Fox invests in the three roughly distinct models which live there - which are what we talk about at bubblegen a huge amount: markets, networks, and communities.

...So worth republishing...

Motorola Q?

2006-05-29T22:42:00.000-07:00

Fred:

Fred does a roundtrip of smartphones and wonders about the Motorola Q. Noone really asks about how well their phone does at tracking their movements. And, with phones now being tested for their ability to represent you financially, how well they can track your financial worth.

How soon until the gates are seamless filters allowing the right people to flow through? Cash will need to be outlawed. Let's make sure that cash stays here forever - not luddites, One Step Ahead (yes...read their privacy policy).

Blogburst

2006-05-29T22:36:00.000-07:00

What is BlogBurst?

BlogBurst is a syndication service that places your blog content on top-tier online destinations. You get visibility, audience reach and increased traffic, while publishers get a wide range of new coverage to broaden their reach and increase page views.

But, you gotta ask yourself. Do you really want to be there? Really? Presented by the editors rather than chosen directly by the readers?....Sure you do, everyone wants to be famous, talking to a bunch of people rather than just a couple that actually understand the nuance. Right?
Nope. I'd rather see the wicked glimmer in the eye ... the snarl ... the smile ... the laugh that makes it all worthwhile. There really isn't another point. People who don't blog just don't get that.

Edgio

2006-05-29T22:26:00.000-07:00

Postings from the edge -- sounds good.

Read Bob Wyman's take - he's got a good point to make, though I think he's exaggerating about both Craigslist and eBay to make it. Exaggeration can be useful in making a point, but it can obscure some truth that may be even more vital.

Jam Center

2006-05-29T18:01:00.000-07:00

Jam Center. Too, too much fun!

Family tents

2006-05-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

Coleman Weathermaster
TexSport Big Sky
Coleman Montana Big Sky
Columbia Gardner Peak

Amazon

RoxRite

2006-05-27T11:42:00.000-07:00

Check him out -- RoxRite 10 Years in the Making. From his early days as a Straight Up BBoy to his current crew, the Renegades.

Nice DVD editing job by Omar & David.

Bridges...flowing cuts...music overlays, underlays and emphasis, with a feel for the beat ...

I had no idea there was a whole scene up in Healdsburg. Add that to Theremin's at the Imagination Theatre (Raven) and it's still one happening town.

Lego blocks for the web?

2006-05-02T19:14:00.000-07:00

Everything you need for $7/month, $12/month, $17/month - Lego blocks for the web

Squarespace ... not to be confused with MySpace or goingon.com

Google calendar

2006-04-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

...and then along comes Google's calendar

1. Fast.
2. Features you'd expect.
3. Tied in to gmail.

Why?
Why only allow 30 minute scheduling? I guess they live pretty comfortable 30-minute lives -- I need it down to 5 minutes please.

Year over year calendar

2006-04-12T20:50:00.000-07:00

My apologies to those who had trouble loading my blog. I was testing server response time for various online calendar programs by putting them side by side in iframes. The results:

1. www.kiko.com: #1 Excellent server response time.
2. www.trumba.com: #2 Close second - even with a slight headstart by being placed in the first iframe. Considering Trumba is already launched and kiko is just getting started, I'm not sure that's good news for Trumba.
3. www.calendarhub.com: #3, noticeably slower.
4. my.calendars.net: They promise faster servers with their upgrade, but they need to devote some portion of their introductory site (like their homepage) showing they REALLY CAN DELIVER on that promise. My main hesitation about them is server speed as totally, unacceptably slow. Could not use it as a web service.

Reel Paradise

2006-04-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

Reel Paradise is a documentary about John Pierson taking his family on a year-long adventure to a remote island in Fiji where they ran a generator-powered movie theater offering free Hollywood and independent movies for the locals, who're so poor they can't afford admission to movies (even if the theater offered them more than bi-weekly).

I like everything Pierson does so I liked the movie. He has a little bit of an edge, but like Kevin Smith (John launched Kevin Smith's career), an amazingly gentle person considering the shark-infested business he operates in.

Yearly Calendar

2006-04-08T14:36:00.000-07:00

Server testing complete.

Kiko - online calendaring

2006-04-05T15:56:00.000-07:00

Kiko - a new way of calendaring. Take a look. It's immediately usable. They're on the right track. Let's hope they don't get distracted and ruin a great start. Here's what I like:

1. Labels - tested it to about 24 labels. I've asked if they have a limit, but that's a great deal of power right there. (Compare to Trumba - Trumba comes up short. And,compare to Calendarhub.com tags. Liked Calendarhub's tags, but their lack of work on basic calendar views made it unusable on the first go).

2. Quick add for events.

3. At least one view that lets you see your Calendar details without truncation.

4. It's online, so you have full linking possibilities.

5. They're shooting to use SyncML (okay, I'd rather just access using a browser, but you've gotta make some accomodations for today's mobile lifestyle, right?)

Here's the feedback I emailed them directly:

Can you devote at least 1 person to work on the heart of the enterprise -- what you can and can't do with the way the calendar looks?

Right now, the best view of data is with the Month view. The Day and Week views truncate my data and expect me to open a link to see the most information.

I would expect kindof the opposite (but please don't take away anything from the Month view). The best view should be with the Day view -- all information unless the user wants to cut back and then the user should have the power to cut back the detail by each category of detail.

Put control of the views in the hands of the user. Don't dictate.

Put at least one powerful voice on your team dedicated to the heart and soul of your product (what the calendar can/can't look like).

I've looked at lots of calendaring efforts and most start with the traditional look and functionality of the calendar and add everything else around it without improving the calendar itself. You're on track to improve the calendar itself -- don't lose that vision in creating everything else around it.

And now ... on to tags

2006-04-04T23:15:00.000-07:00

Debris.com

After spending a year considering how easy it would be to add tags to this journal software, I spent about 90 minutes actually adding tags to this journal software. See taglinks below.
It’s a pretty basic implementation; the editing interface allows me to add any number of keywords to each journal item. At the moment, the tags are rendered as links to Technorati, allowing readers to discover other blogs covering the same topic....

I've found, once you have them, you don't understand why they aren't here, or here, or... only, I'm wanting them in my calendars etc... I suppose I could use them on my blog, but that'd only slow me down. And how much time do I have to blog anyway?

But, if you want to add them to your blog, click here.

Tags:

blogger
tags

Free online software

2006-04-04T22:43:00.000-07:00

So I was looking at a site the other day pulling in $30,000 a month -- offering free games (PC, Video, Console etc.). The only visible commerce was a couple of Google ads. Really.

Paul Allen:

...sooner or later this approach (free online software in Ajax) will dramatically disrupt Microsoft’s software business. Microsoft will actually adopt this model as well, out of necessity. We’ll wake up one day a few years from now buying powerful $100 PCs and using free online software for most of our productivity applications. Most of our software will be subsidized by some kind of online advertising, like gmail is today.

Metroblogging

2006-04-04T22:25:00.000-07:00

Metroblogging: Go take a look -- nice design. And how about that name -- tells you immediately what they do.

I guess it's not really a question of will it work. I think it's inevitable for a blogging aggregation site to win big. The only question will be who? How many?

Microformats

2006-04-04T17:09:00.000-07:00

Hey, if Ray Ozzie is talking about it does that mean:

a. Done, over with.
b. That guy's a genius, Man! There's gotta be something there for... ms?
c. Might still be something there?
d. Why lead that with any reference to Ray or ms...

You're right. [d] Disregard all of the above and read on about microformats:

hCalendar Creator:

This user interface, and the code behind it, is provided as an example for the benefit of microformat open standards developers, and to demonstrate the clear one to one correspondence between microformat fields and microformat code. The code generated by this interface may be used for semantic web pages, structured blogging, or any other application that requires markup that is simultaneously human presentable and machine readable. Based on the hCard creator by Tantek Çelik, which is based on the XFN Creator (v1.0 by Matt Mullenweg, v1.1 update by Tantek Çelik).

Copyright © 2005 Ryan King. Some rights reserved.

p.s. Look familiar Luke?
Okay, so, what's the definition:

One popular definition from our mailing list (http://microformats.org/discuss/) is "simple conventions for embedding semantics in HTML to enable decentralized development." More precisely, microformats can be defined as:

simple conventions
for embedding semantic markup
for a specific problem domain

in human-readable (X)HTML/XML documents, Atom/RSS feeds, and "plain" XML
that normalize existing content usage patterns
using brief, descriptive class names
often based on existing interoperable standards

to enable decentralized development
of resources, tools, and services

"Or do you just use your browser to browse? That's so 20th century." -- Mark Pilgrim

Our World

2006-03-30T20:37:00.000-08:00

Heard this on the radio (CBS):

"We live in a pharmacologically enhanced world." BALCO founder Victor Conte

Rauno: Well, some of us are less "enhanced" than others ...

Verified Embedded Random Generated Link

2006-03-28T20:50:00.000-08:00

Had to blog about VERGL. Pronounced Virgil...

Mail-Block:

In a nutshell...our technology works
because it requires effort on the part of the bulk mailer!
Mail-Block VERGL (Verified Embedded Random Generated Link)
technology in action...
Thank you!
Your e-mail address has been verified and your message has been delivered.
This is the power of Mail-Block technology in action! This system is completely unique to any other anti-spam system currently being offered. The Mail-Block philosophy is we don't make the choices for you on what you can receive and not receive, that decision is left to you the customer and no one else! Mail-Block gives you that choice. If you would like to take control of your personal and or business e-mail accounts please click here to learn more about Mail-Block and help put an end to Spam!
The Mail-Block Team!

Local and Events etc.

2006-03-24T22:53:00.000-08:00

http://eventful.com/ WHat. Where. When. Good step for evdb.com

Yelp.com (Lumping ME in with San Francisco Bay area. Is that local? Is that me?)

Upcoming.org (Bought by Yahoo and...January, 18 2006 06:56 PM
So, you might have noticed a few small changes around here over the past few days...The biggest are the recent activity, social network browsing, and the new token-based API authentication.) Christ! Enough techno-buzz words to scare off any normal people...but are they the right ones to interest other web application programmers? :)

Reachlocal.com (much more honest than some SEO people we'll leave unmentioned)

Local.com Introducing a powerful local-search engine that allows you to find businesses, products and services near you.

ePilot.com The ePilot Search Engine enables advertisers to reach highly-targeted consumers.

smslocal.comSMS LOCAL BETA Use SMS LOCAL to...

Big Internet News- Streaming Video Comes to the Net

2006-03-24T22:20:00.000-08:00

CBS reports that NCAA basketball has 200,000-300,000 concurrent users online watching March Madness. Another 150,000 to 200,000 are in a waiting room. The rest? Try again later.

Glass half full? Glass half empty?

About 5 years ago, Wimbledon put streaming video highlights on its website. A wonderful experience. Log on. Watch the video - no glitches. This was five years ago. The next year, IBM took over the websites for all Tennis Grand Slams. Haven't seen a video highlight since. Let me explain the experience.

US Open this year. I could watch some old events, so I knew my equipment was okay. But when I'd click on yesterdays match, inevitably nothing would happen. After a few minutes I'd get a message "unable to open connection." Same result over the two weeks of the event.

Indian Wells Master Series event just finished. They're pushing a new MasterSeries.tv. When I click to watch the video, either nothing happens or I come back into the room 5 minutes later and the audio is going without any of the video. Once or twice I saw some video that then stopped when the guys actually started hitting the ball..could hear the audio of the point with the visual frozen.

Looked at the technical FAQ. Everything okay on my side but they suggested I visit Microsoft to download the latest codec. Hmmm. No other option? I'm totally up-to-date with my updates, but I'm having to navigate through a message addressed to and intended for system/network administrators? And, no other options for players (Realplayer? Quicktime?).

Nope. I can tell this isn't going to work...even if I download the codec because these people just don't have it together.

So exactly what's happened since 5 years ago when I had no problems at the Wimbledon site. Well, Wimbledon and all the other Grand Slams gave their websites to a technology company. I'm sure it makes sense on the bottomline, but my user experience is destroyed to the point where I have to remember what's exciting about the event. Certainly can't find that at the website.

Masterseries.tv? Well, they're going with "a" technology company. Tell you the truth, that technology company's technology probably works just fine. Masterseries.tv just isn't taking ultimate responsibility for "my" (the user) experience. They're wasting my time. They're not worth my time.

If you're going to put video on the net, please take responsibility for your actions. Don't wash your hands of the blame by trying to give the responsibility to another company or technology.

Sortable Tables

2006-03-01T17:49:00.000-08:00

Nice sortable table script: http://www.kryogenix.org/code/browser/sorttable/

Some Fun with Lists

2006-02-01T20:19:00.000-08:00

Drag & Drop Sortable Lists with JavaScript and CSS

Lists with XMLHttpRequest and Ajax

cross-browser, client-side sorting of columns of data. Although the data to be sorted is contained in a static HTML document, it could be replaced by XSLT-generated HTML from an XML source.

If you want to represent your information dynamically,
need to show hierarchical information in a comfortable way,
or looking for a way to have a sortable grid, our TreeTable applet is the right solution for you!

American Ballet Theater

2006-01-26T18:08:00.000-08:00

Sorry - had to remove my iframed Trumba calendar. They don't play nice with Blogger's layout :(

A Naturopathic Pharmacy

2006-01-08T21:08:00.000-08:00

The next Northern California trend, look next door to your drugstore. Up in Santa Rosa and online, try Farmacopia. If you want a chain, try Elephant Pharmacy:

Elephant Pharmacy's ... new concept store is a clear alternative to the Walgreens-type big box pharmacies. It was created to meet the growing needs of educated Baby Boomers and other health conscious people seeking a better shopping experience in the following ways:
...
Elephant Pharmacy sells everything our customers need from the Walgreens-type stores along with an unprecedented selection of complimentary and alternative health, beauty, and lifestyle products from around the world. ...
A highly educated staff of health and beauty professionals provides uniquely caring and intelligent service. Our staff pharmacists, herbalists, and aestheticians, offer free and easy access to a full-range of health and wellness information and advice daily.
In addition to a full-time staff, the store also offers free consultations with a rotating staff of experts from registered nurse practitioners and registered dieticians to Naturopathic doctors and Homeopaths....
Key Executives
Kathi Lentzsch, CEO ... responsible for leading the team that transformed Pottery Barn from a small tabletop chain of stores to the leading national home furnishings specialty retailer, during which time sales increased from $50 million to $250 million in just 3 years.
Jack Murphy, Executive Vice Chairman ... key member of the team responsible for the growth, evolution and successful sale of 24 Hour Fitness. He was previously a co-founder of Fresh Fields, a natural foods retailer with $300 million of sales at the time it was sold to Whole Foods.
Stuart Skorman, Founder and Chairman ...He founded and served as CEO of Hungry Minds, Inc., an online education site that he sold to IDG Books nearly three years ago. He also founded and served as CEO of Reel.com, an e-commerce retailer, based in Berkeley, CA, which was sold to Hollywood Video for 100 million dollars in 1998. Skorman pioneered his movie recommendation system as founder and CEO of Empire Video, which he sold to Blockbuster Video.

Calendars

2005-12-08T22:00:00.000-08:00

Think you might need to pull a bunch of calendars into one? Like this? Try Trumba (60 days free, then $39.95):

4 More tomatoes

2005-12-06T14:32:00.000-08:00

Plants covered with frost, but they refuse to stop producing1

Last tomatoes

2005-11-27T14:32:00.000-08:00

Picked the last batch of tomatoes for the year ... I think. Each time I do that, I find another crop the next week.

Local soccer

2005-11-11T13:51:00.000-08:00

Watched Sonoma State men's soccer practice. Wow! That looks like good, clean, fun, fast-paced, and highly skilled entertainment. I'm going to have to put them on the schedule for next year.

For more info: SSU Athletics

Ice Skating in San Francisco!

2005-11-09T13:46:00.000-08:00

Kristi Yamaguchi Holiday Ice Rink at Embarcadero Center
November 9 to January 1, 2006
Justin Herman Plaza

For hours, prices, etc.: click here.

My Brain is Open

2005-11-08T15:24:00.000-08:00

I read a fascinating book My Brain is Open, the Mathematical Journeys of Paul Erdös. I especially like to see theories of art, science, and business making their circular rounds. Ideas, the big ideas, have a way of finding their way into the various silos people erect, and in each instance they revolutionize.

Here, in the world of mathematics, Erdös stands for collaboration over secretive, isolated, development. He stands for working on small problems rather than erecting grand theories that you have to "believe in" in order to be part of the community. Overall, he stands for the principle of working with anyone -- old, young, famous or unknown -- working on the same problems he was working on.

The great thing about blogging is that I do it for myself. Others, do it for themselves. We don't keep our interests secretive, making it possible for the small problems we're solving to work towards larger community solutions. Overall, we'll work with anyone -- old, young, famous or unknown -- working on the same dreams we're working on. Welcome, not so much to Web 2.0 (Dave's right, invite-only conferences serve to exclude, not include), but rather, welcome to the world of internet people, users, developers, artists, business people. We know when you're working with us.

Here're some of my favorite parts of the book:

p. 15. He would work with anyone who could keep up with him, the famous or the unknown...he was particularly interested in meeting and helping to develop the talents of young mathematicians.

p. 127. For Erdös, publication was a form of courtesy, the ultimate act of sharing ... Erdös was acutely aware of the negative example of Gauss, who published only works that he considered finished masterpieces. ...The jottings in Gauss's notebooks, discovered years after his death, would have advanced mathematics by decades had they been published. Even more infuriating and destructive was Gauss's habit of telling mathematicians who came to him with new results that he had anticipated them by decades...

p. 157 The idea of using probability to prove a mathematical result that Erdös used in his 1947 paper was brand new...

p. 182 Grossman publishes updates of his Erdös Number list every year and makes it available on his "Erdos Number Project" website, http://www.oakland.edu/enp/. ...According to Grossman's figures, in 1940 about 90 percent of all mathematical papers were solo efforts; today that number has dropped to around 50 percent....Every year of his life Erdos added new collaborators, a trend that peaked in 1987, when he produced papers with thirty-five mathematicians with whom he had never before published.
Grossman is unable to account for the increasing tendency toward collaboration that has overtaken mathematics in the latter half of this century....

p. 183 Erdös bucked the stylistic trends of contemporary mathematics in other ways as well. Twentieth-century mathematics, Ernst Straus once pointed out, has been dominated by "theory constructors," people who erect vast and general systems that illumante mathematical structures. Erdös had an entirely different approach, focusing on specific problems, confident that as he solved them the generatl theory would slowly be revealed. ...

p. 185 Joel Spencer.. While at Rand he became fascinated by an Erdös problem concerning the best way to rank a tournament. In the tournament Erdös imagined, each participant play a match with every other, and there are not ties. In a fair ranking, if player A is ranked above player B, then player A will actually beat play er B. Unfortunately, no ranking system can be entirely fair; inevitably there will be upsets in which a lower-ranked player beats one with a higher rank. A fair ranking system is one that keeps the number of upsets to a minimum. Erdös wanted to know how fair the fairest ranking system could be.

p. 192 Graham does not like to lose, especially when it can be avoided. When he got back to Bell Labs he hired a ping-pong coach, bought a machine that fired endless rapid volleys of spinning ping-pong balls at him and practiced. Before long he was Bell Labs' ping-pong champion. Employing the same systematic, single-minded approach, Graham has mastered bowling (he's rolled several perfect games), Chinese (on the phone he passes for a native), the piano, and countless tricks with balls, coins, and cards...

p. 206 George Csicsery's beautiful documentary, N is a Number, allowed me to see the living Erdös.

Savage Jazz Dance Company

2005-11-07T15:19:00.000-08:00

Savage Jazz Dance Company
Spreckels Center: Sunday November 6, 2005:

Three acts. Loved 2 out of 3.

Act I: Gospel music. Excellent dance more along the lines of classical ballet. Loved some of the jumps by the men. Some of the spin combinations of the women. One male dancer had great classical lines the choreographer could make much more use of.

One female dancer had the most excellent hands and arms.

Act II: Dance to music by Miles Davis. Hard music to choreograph to, especially to canned music, especially when you play the entire song as Miles recorded it. Mostly, the interpretation did not match with my interpretation. We just didn't connect in this act.

Act III: Island music with lively rythmns and drums, energetic dancing, and some interesting combinations. I loved the low jete followed immediately by the high jete. Makes the high jete seem even higher!

Other male dancer excelled in this act. I think his lines and thoughts don't flow along those classical lines as much as really getting into the rythmns and beats.

Many times I wanted to really applaud the dancer(s) efforts but the music drove on and the next dancer(s) were already on the stage before that dancer had left. Creates a nice visual -- coming onstage as the other is going off -- but doesn't give the audience a chance to applaud.

Suggestion: separate out the dances and have a pause button for the music to really let the audience reward the dancer(s) they've just seen do something that makes them want to go "Wow!"

Conclusion: An excellent dance company I would highly recommend going to see. Final suggestion, I'd love to be able to buy video of some of the combinations..... Sell video AFTER performance as a keepsake/memory.

Nice headline - Out: .Net, In: Web Services

2005-11-06T20:02:00.000-08:00

Hey, and this time it's not just me saying it's time for web services, and they're starting to talk about the same thing when they say web services as well. According to Victoria Murphy Barret at Forbes.com, Ray Ozzie is turning the tide over at Microsoft by suggesting they "listen" to the user.

Let's see what Ray's asking them to "listen" to:

...Now the tide has turned. Revealed in two internal memos crafted by Gates and recently arrived chief technology office, Ray Ozzie, Microsoft is ready to take on the "services wave" of software available to millions over the Web. ...
Ozzie's battle cry is as instructive as it is decisive. He is assigning what he dubs "scenario owners" to monitor services-driven software development. It is unclear how many of these jobs there will be across Microsoft. The role entails prioritizing features and making sure teams are meeting goals. "They'll listen," Ozzie writes. Listening is not known to be a great strength of Microsoft's upper ranks....
Microsoft isn't yet suggesting Windows and Office should be untethered from a PC. Instead, an ad-funded layer of services will be built on top of Windows and Office. Silicon Valley upstarts like Writely.com, Thinkfree and Numsum.com are already offering Word functionality online.

Courtesy of Dave Winer, we have the full memo. It's appropriate to bring in Dave here. I invite you to go see what Dave has to say about "listening" to the user (www.scripting.com or go see what he's been saying since 1994, courtesy of the Wayback Machine). Dave lets you see what's missing from Ray's talk...

Spammers love Google

2005-10-24T16:02:00.000-07:00

Niall Kennedy tells us why spammers love Google.

Hockey in Santa Rosa

2005-10-23T22:01:00.000-07:00

Checked out Santa Rosa Junior College playing College of the Canyons in ice hockey.

College of the Canyons met Santa Rosa at SR's blueline. SR could never work it out.

Level of play reminds me most of industrial hockey. Clutching and grabbing and doing what the players think they're supposed to do to the point where even a Gretzky would be hauled and hacked to mediocrity.

The level of skill is great. Having grown up with Canadian hockey, I'm always astounded at how much better the American skill level is. The attitude, though, is anything but great. I guess Canadians don't grow up hoping to dreaming of having great skills. And, skills aren't the first things you learn to choose your teammates for. In fact, most really admired Canadian players, if truth be told, have some glaring weaknesses.

The hockey is really entertaining as compared to anything on TV. And the packed house relished the hard-hitting, live entertainment. Really, probably the best, most authentic live entertainment in town. But, if you're waiting for some great hockey to break out, the refereeing, clutching and grabbing and expectations of all the players aren't designed to reward. That's a difference from Canadian hockey; no matter how limited various player's skill level is, their expectation isn't merely to play a role, their expectation is to be part of something greater. In Canada, it's not just a game.

Devil's Playground

2005-10-23T21:03:00.000-07:00

When they're 16, Amish children are set free to choose the way of the "english" or to join the Amish church. Each person joining the church has to join of their own free will. So, at 16, they're set loose to drive cars, drink, go to parties every night. 90% of the kids end up becoming Amish. You'll see that it's a hard road for those who don't, but (hint) watch for clues that your family will never completely disown you...

I highly recommend this movie: Devil's Playground.

AVG free

2005-10-23T09:57:00.000-07:00

AVG

Top 5 Web Venture Capitalists

2005-10-21T13:01:00.000-07:00

Take a look at the list and see if it agrees with yours. A hint, take a look at my bloglist over on the right:

Top 5 via Dave.

Tavares Watch

2005-10-19T23:03:00.000-07:00

Roger Lajoie:

So we’re nine games into the new OHL season, and the Generals are ... 1-7-1

But, ...

John Tavares off to an incredible start, with 10 goals, four assists and 14 points in those nine games (and a spot in the top 25 league scorers, not bad for a kid that turned 15 years old just one month ago!), there’s no reason to be discouraged about this hockey club just yet.

Open Studios 2005 - "A" Street Passes Ground Zero

2005-10-16T23:17:00.000-07:00

Took my children to see some art. Came home dreaming of icons (Andrea Speer Hibbard) and marbles (Mary Linnea Vaughan).

Andrea always has some work worth seeing. I have some of her jazz studies. This year, her icons matched her drawing style, her design style, the real faces that inspire her, and an iconic image. Aren't we all, each and every one of us, an icon, a story, a history. I'm inspired.

Met Mary Linnea Vaughan at her new studio, 300 South A Street. I was thinking space, seeds, martinis when I saw her paintings. Asked her for her inspiration: marbles. Wonderful marbles. But think of the effect when it's surrounded by blue and maybe some red flames. She works in acrylic topped by oil. I love the place her paintings take me. My kids loved the marbles she gave them.

And, did I mention that Mary's new studio is on A street. Right next to A Street Studio. There's now a fine collection of studios in the area. When you only have one place you can stop, like I do with my kids, I'd highly recommend A street. It's past ground zero!

Swanston $50,000 Challenger

2005-10-16T23:04:00.000-07:00

Sutter Lawn Tennis Club, Sacramento, Ca. October 10-16, 2005, John Rodrigues, Tournament Director:

Had a wonderful time taking my son to see some real tennis.

Simmonds v. Taino

My son: who do you want to win?
Me: (my stock answer, it's also true) I don't know until I see them play.

I like the looks of Phillip Simmonds game. Nothing especially flashy, but he does most things right. No glaring weakness. Phillip Simmonds gets down a set to Eric Taino.

My son: who do you think is going to win?
Me: Well, I still think Simmonds should win.

And he does, in three. Ends up going all the way to the finals.

Jenkins v. Odesnik

I tell my son that Scoville Jenkins is probably the best player we're going to see.

My son: Can he beat every other player in the world?
Me: Ummm. No.
My son: Can he beat every other player here?
Me: Well, I don't know. It's pretty competitive.
My son: Who do you want to win?
Me: I don't know until I see them play.

They start playing and Jenkins jumps out to an impressive 5-1 lead. Wow! I really like his second serve, he moves really well. Pretty much stays on the baseline but isn't afraid to move to the net. But, he keeps missing his low backhand topspin. Absolutely cannot hit it. Even with that, he's leading 5-1. He's that good.

My son: Who's going to win?
Me: Jenkins should win. See his serve. See the way he moves. But, he is missing his low backhand topspin.

Next thing we know, Jenkins is trying to save the set. Odesnik has come all the way back. It looks to me like Jenkins is worried about missing that shot instead of simply putting Odesnik away. And then Jenkins hits the shot. Set should be over, right? No, he then misses a forehand to lose the game and go into a tiebreaker. Relax just a little bit...and he loses the tiebreak.

My son: Who's going to win?
Me: I think Jenkins should still win.

Frankly, Odesnik should never get a game from Jenkins, but that's why you play the games.

We left for swimming but saw later that Jenkins won 6-0 in the second set and 6-4 in the third.

Talked to Jenkins' coach, Torrey Hawkins.
Me: What'd Scoville do in the second set?
Hawkins: Settled down. Realized that Odesnik wasn't hurting him going wide. Stopped trying to go for so much.
Me: Yup. The match was totally in his hands.

When you're as good as Jenkins is, tennis can be a funny game. Often, your worst enemy is only yourself. Something that's very hard for people to do is to be a little more forgiving. No, you can't hit that shot for anything, but hey, enjoy the other nine shots you can hit today and accept it. Jenkins played it two ways mentally. First, he let it bother him. Then, when his backhand came back, he relaxed.

He's good. But there's an inviolable rule in tennis: you can't relax for even one point. Especially in the pros.

Fruttero vs. Reynolds

Bobby Reynolds. No. 2 seed. Ranked about 111. $138,058 in winnings.

John Paul Fruttero. Ranked about 257. $27,575 in 2005 winnings.

Me: Who looks more confident?
My son: The guy in red (JP Fruttero).

Loved JP's game. Relentlessly pressing Reynolds. Chipping and charging the net. Chipping and charging the net. Chipping with slices. Placement, not necessarily power until he got to the volley.

My son: Who's going to win?
Me: JP is the one putting on all the pressure. The only problem is that he's been pressing and pressing. If he doesn't come up with something soon, he's going to lose.

He broke the next game and then held on for the set. Reynolds broke once to take the second set. Judging by the score, JP broke once in the third to take the match. Great match!

Sad to say, JP lost in the next round.

Rik De Voest

One sad part of the Challenger being at the Sutter Lawn Tennis Club was that matches on the back courts were impossible to see. So, I saw glimpses of Rik De Voest's forehand topspin through the fence. Loved what I could see. Changes direction on the ball more than anyone I can remember seeing recently. Something like what McEnroe did with volleys, but Rik does it from the backcourt.

Rik was the winner of the tournament over Simmonds in the final. Jenkins lost to Vahaly. And John Rodrigues, Tournament Director? Here's what it means to be Tournament Director: Down a ballkid? There's John. Need some drinks shuttled back to the Sponsor's area? There's John. In need of a tennis club to hold a $50,000 Challenger for a year while the Tiburon Peninsula Club is being renovated? There's John and the Sutter Lawn Tennis Club. Thanks!

Flock - the new browser

2005-10-06T22:42:00.000-07:00

I've read about the new browser. Sounds good and all, but I have to wonder why this is being done as a browser?

Hmmmm, notice the path to the information. Developers developing or business working the business?

AlwaysOn carries a Slashdot item reporting a BusinesWeek story on the new browser Flock that promises the following:

...The Flock browser, which is expected to be released to the public in test form in about two weeks, does everything a regular browser does, but with several important additions.
For one, it makes blogging a snap by eliminating the need to do arcane coding in order to post, change fonts or add photos. Right click the mouse on a Web page, and a blogging wizard comes up that automatically creates links, citations, and quotes that are ready to insert into a blog. A horizontal bar on the browser also can load photos from the photo-sharing site Flickr, so they can be simply dragged and dropped into the blog post.
HANDY HISTORY. Moreover, Flock makes it easy to create online bookmarks for Web sites. Visit a Web site and click a "+" button on one of the browser's toolbars, and that site is saved to a personalized list on the social bookmarks Web site http://del.icio.us./.
Those bookmarks can be tagged with useful descriptions and shared with others. Flock also lets people create watchlists of people whose bookmarks they like and form groups with people who link to particular tags. Flock also keeps a history of every Web page a user visits, so they can be found easily later.
....
Flock's software is intended to serve less as a window into static Web content than as a customizable conduit for participatory Web services, from Flickr to del.icio.us to the collaborative online encyclopedia Wikipedia....

Blogs: real money, but is individual expression talent?

2005-10-06T21:57:00.000-07:00

Weblogs Inc. (Jason Calacanis) sells to AOL for $20 million. Weblogs.com (Dave Winer's pinging server) sells to Verisign for $2-5 million. And the bubble buzz builds to the point people ask: Has blogging become a multi-billion dollar industry?

Why, even Slashdot has to wonder if it isn't time to dust off that old Blogger blog:

Victor Cheng writes "Blogs are big money. The Weblogs Inc Network is apparently about to be sold for over $20 million to AOL, an individual blogger is making over $400,000 per year from his living room, a blogger writing about shoes is claiming a six figure income and blog networks are starting every second day with hopes of making it big. It looks like it might be time to dust off the old blogspot blog again."

Rauno: Just remember that blogging is about one person writing what he or she thinks and putting it out there. There's value in that. And, there's value in just ONE other person reading it and thinking about it.

JD reports that:

billionaire Barry Diller made some comments disparaging those who create content on the Web that only a handful of people will ever see. "When you get into forms of entertainment, talent always wins out. There isn't that much talent in the world. An audience of 8 to 12 people might be interested in someone's individual expression, but the process of people with talent and expertise making entertainment products won't be displaced by 18-year-olds making videos, except maybe on 'Funniest Home Videos.' "

How about 14-year-olds?

RSS reader stats

2005-10-05T11:39:00.000-07:00

A very unscientific but notable look at RSS readers:

Feld:

...As a result of my blog and all the stats I collect, I have insight into the way people are using (or not using) RSS to consume content. While I have access to other data as well, my FeedBurner subscriber stats are incredibly useful as I don’t have any “inappropriately biasing” data (e.g. none of the newsreader default feeds list my blog – automatically including them in my user counts). In addition, I have the law of large numbers on my side (with n > 4000 subscribers and all of the top 10 readers having n > 75, I’ve got a decent shot at qualifying for statistical significance.)

The top 10, in order, are:

1. Bloglines: 1384
2. (NewsGator) Online: 627
3. My Yahoo: 295
4. (NewsGator) FeedDemon: 285
5. (NewsGator) NetNewsWire: 238
6. Firefox Live Bookmarks: 227
7. FeedBlitz (email): 202
8. Rojo: 133
9. SharpReader: 109
10. (NewsGator) Outlook: 79

I won’t bore you with rate of change data, but I have that as well and – while Bloglines is still the largest – their rate of change has slowed materially over the past few months while the various NewsGator products have accelerated. Amazingly, there are another 45 different readers with at least 2 reported subscribers, and many more with only 1 (of which a number of them are clearly not reporting their subscriber counts to FeedBurner – something that will improve over time.)...

Events moves to Yahoo

2005-10-05T11:15:00.000-07:00

Okay. Now I'm starting to really take Yahoo seriously.

1. Hiring Russell Beattie.
2. Acquires Flickr.
3. Take a look at Yahoo maps.
4. Take a look at Yahoo search results versus Google.
5. Acquires Upcoming.org.

Not sure what we can do about their attitude. It's hard to be humble when you look at yourselves as THE website and everything you do is a "property."

Maybe we can give them a couple of reminders as to why they should stay humble:

1. Yahoo 360: Nuff said.
2. Yahoo travel: Visit. Mock.
3. Santa Monica snafoozle: So that's what you wannabe!
4. Purple. There's a very thin line between fashion statement and fashion victim. Frankly, looked a little forced from the get-go. But we'll give them a break until it's time to remind what 60s fashion looks like in retrospect.

Via Dave, here'sYahoo Anounces acquisition of Upcoming.org:

What's Upcoming at Yahoo! Local
As readers of the Yahoo! Search blog know, our vision is a far-reaching one -- to enable people to find, use, share, and expand all human knowledge.

Events are a particularly exciting area of human knowledge -- chock full of rich local, social, and temporal data. People want to find out what's going on near them, know what their friends are seeing and doing, and plan their outings. And they want to do it when they want, wherever they are, on any device, in a way that's relevant to them.

Today we've taken a big step toward helping users in this area. We've acquired upcoming.org, a leader in this emerging space.

In just a few years, most of it spent on nights and weekends, the Upcoming team has built an excellent site with a loyal and growing following. Now that they’ve joined Yahoo!, together we’ll build a social events platform that will integrate with our existing events offering and other areas of Y!, and will continue to support all web users in an open, participatory way.

I can't wait to see what the team will pull off once they're working full-time and fully backed by the people and assets at Yahoo!. We expect big things to happen, and look forward to updating you on progress.

For additional thoughts directly from the source, take a look at posts from Andy, Gordon, and Leonard.

Paul Levine
GM, Yahoo! Local

Posted by ysearch at October 4, 2005 08:33 PM

WordPress vs. the World

2005-10-04T13:20:00.000-07:00

If you follow blogs, you've noticed a dearth of stories about Typepad/Moveable type. Not that they aren't doing anything, just that they're conquering the worlds bloggers don't really inhabit, or can't inhabit very publicly. No innovation, just turning over the corporate money. Nothing wrong with that, though it does mean your product that's stable enough for all those corporations starts to be about two years behind the times.

And it also opens yourself up to competitors for corporate blogging like Blogtronix. According to Matt Marshall Mercury News (contact Matt via his blog at www.siliconbeat.com):

Vassil Mladjov, owner of a new company called Blogtronix, which is using Microsoft's .Net platform to let companies blog there. He's betting corporations will trust Microsoft's platform more than they would an open-source company like Mullenweg's WordPress.

Note that he doesn't mention Moveable Type or Typepad or Microsoft's blogging software (whatever it is we'll leave nameless). Nope, the real competition is WordPresss.

That about seals it, WordPress.com. is now the defacto blog software to use and install. I'm sure there'll always be companies turning to Microsoft out of fear, and other companies willing to enable that fear. More and more though, customers (even scared corporations) realize it's perfectly safe to turn to software that simply works, and for their employees, works simply.

SynchroEdit

2005-10-03T22:40:00.001-07:00

Via Ross:
SynchroEdit:

Overview

SynchroEdit is a browser-based simultaneous multiuser editor, a form of same-time, different-place groupware. It allows multiple users to edit a single web-based document at the same time, and it continuously synchronizes all changes so that users always have the same version.

SynchroEdit's main editor is fully WYSIWYG, dynamically displaying bolds, italics, underlines, strikethroughs, with various justifications, indents and listing styles as an author inputs them. SynchroEdit also supports a simple, text-only editor for more basic documents. To clarify the multiuser experience, the editor window clearly depicts every user's changes in a specific color and also marks where each user is currently editing with a colored flag listing the user's name.

Usage

SynchroEdit can be used for any functionality where concurrent, synchronous editing of a single document is useful. It can easily be plugged into web pages using a variety of methods. Following are some of the current uses being considered:

Collaborative Editing — Two or more people can edit a document at exactly the same time, fine-tuning specific wordings and phrases.
Teleconferencing Notes — Members of a teleconference can write about their call, correcting or expanding upon notes made by other call members, thus supporting a true backchannel to a live conference call.
Wiki Editing — Editors can edit popular or heavily edited Wiki pages at the same time, instead of having to wait for their colleagues to complete their work.
Pair/XP Programming, Agile Development — Two or more programmers or web developers can write code at the same time.
Teaching Aids — Teachers can provide dynamic syllabi and lecture notes, and students can take shared class notes together.
Documentation Writing — Authors with a variety of expertise can come together to write a coherent document on a specific topic. This overview of SynchroEdit was originally written in SynchroEdit by multiple people.

Web 2.0 conference Wiki

2005-10-03T22:29:00.000-07:00

Here's the wiki in case you can't attend the conference.

Blog Searching

2005-10-03T09:05:00.000-07:00

So, we'll watch for Yahoo and use Google's blog search and report back.

Update: 1 minute later.

First search I did worked! As in, my post was most recent on the topic and it showed up first. Let's just say, good first impression!

Disintermediation and Personalized Services

2005-10-02T22:00:00.000-07:00

Just have to write a brief note on this post about disintermediation. My six year old (from what I've read, all six year olds), is learning about winning and losing. Six year olds don't like to play a game unless they can win. They'll bend the rules. They'll change the rules. ... Get the idea that some people never get past six?... Anyway, I tried to tell him about the joy of playing the game.

My memorable tennis match this weekend was my loss. It was such a challenge for the other team and the other team was so happy to win. I tried to explain to my son that that was a good game. We go out to have fun. I enjoyed it, even though I didn't win.

Tried to explain that there aren't just winners and losers. That when he's going to start a game, he should not look at himself as better than others or as worse than others. Try to be a little more sophisticated (a bad word in today's Nascar america but there it is) and look at the things you do well and that the other person does well, and that you and they are doing THAT day. Maybe they're very tired and this is the day you peak. I know, it should be a story ... I'll work on that. The point is, to PLAY the game. Don't give up under some impression that they're a better player or something like that. You'll find that you don't lose very often. And if they win, they really had to earn it.

So we look at disintermediation. That it's happening, noone can miss (see Give Up Browser or Desktop Apps?). Its effect? Don't reach for the simplistic winners and losers, be a little more sophisticated in your analysis....

Anita Campbell, Small Business Trends:

During the DotCom boom days of the late 1990s and early 2000s, many people thought that intermediaries would become victims to "disintermediation." We no longer would need distributors or independent agents. The Internet and sophisticated supply chain software would take their place. Or so the thinking went....

But the disintermediation picture is far more complex than some predicted five years ago...

Rather than a trend away from disintermediation, I see instead a separate trend toward personalized services. ...

This trend toward personalized services is good news for some businesses and professions where disintermediation is chipping away. Instead of focusing on lower value-add transactions that can be replaced easily by technology, it can free them to focus on personalized service that technology cannot duplicate.

The accounting profession in the United States is doing just that. Most small businesses I know use QuickBooks or other accounting software. Yet, instead of QuickBooks disintermediating accountants, something different is happening. Businesses use QuickBooks to keep their own records, yet most still have an accountant for doing taxes, providing guidance on complex issues, and reconciling and auditing the books. The accountants have learned to work with the client's electronic accounting records; the technology has not disintermediated them. In fact some accounting firms now have side businesses consulting with clients to help them make better use of software packages like QuickBooks, Peachtree, Microsoft and so on.

There are lessons in this example for every business and profession, including the legal profession.

For basic transactions, people will go with the lowest price alternative, and that usually means a technology-based solution will win out. But for anything complex or confusing or unduly time-consuming, people are willing to pay for someone to talk to and help them individually. Only other people can do that.

Project Censored 2006

2005-10-02T21:23:00.001-07:00

Via Matthew McGlynn:

The new book is out. Do your local democracy a favor and buy a copy today. ...
Peter Phillips, the director of Project Censored, told me last Fall that the project’s bandwidth fees skyrocket this time of year, as the world tunes into the website for the annual book release. So, although you can read the book online, ~$19 would go a long way toward ensuring the project’s success.
Here’s just one of the eye-opening stories you didn’t read about in the mainstream press: The US is spending more money in Iraq than on securing the homeland. ...

Nokia 770 - Will Drop Factor make it a winner?

2005-10-02T21:23:00.000-07:00

Cross between PDA and Tablet PC. Okay. I'm starting to think this is going to be a winner. Here's why.

I was talking to a friend about little devices and we immediately started talking about the Drop factor - Sony's name is becoming dirt in his household because each time he semi drops his camcorders (think sofa or counter), they're done. I told him how Nokia's are rock-solid. Drop them on concrete and they keep on ticking and ticking (don't try it). Can't quite picture doing that with a Treo or many other little devices. Can you?

Now, haven't tried that with the Nokia 770, but someone needs to and needs to report on the results. If it's like their phones, it'll be one of the reasons to buy ...

Give up Browser or Desktop Apps?

2005-10-02T15:18:00.000-07:00

The thing I like about Schwartz is how he articulates the message. This is exactly what I've been saying for years now ... and even though I say it, I'm still constantly amazed at how much stuff has simply been turned in to a web service. Go ahead, next time you're thinking about downloading something or using your desktop app, that's on one machine but not available on another machine for whatever reason, take a peek at what's available online.

Thanks to Blogdigger local, which I'm experimenting with, here's Jeremy Zawodny:

Jonathon Schwartz wrote the following in a recent blog post on The Value in Volume:

Or finally, as I did last week at a keynote, ask the audience which they'd rather give up - their browser, or all the rest of their desktop apps. (Unanimously, they'd all give up the latter without a blink.)

I have no doubt that you could repeat those results in any number of conferences. It's pretty clear that there's way more useful stuff "out there" than "in here" (my desktop). ....

Now there will always be a few applications that I need to have available to me, but I'm hoping that I can get them all onto a single USB "thumb drive" that I can carry around.

Speeding to your Ashram

2005-10-02T15:08:00.000-07:00

I was driving by our local Science of the Soul (their former-lawyer guru, Indian son-in-law of the original guru has decided on real estate and no internet explanations so I can't point you to somebody more authoritavely telling you about them) and noticed this poor woman speeding. She was late damnit! But being a good American, a little speed should overcome her problem. Struck me that you really shouldn't be speeding to your Ashram.

For whatever reason, it reminded me of someone saying they were hoping to crack that "lucrative Marin birthday party circuit." ??? Let's just repeat that, "lucrative Marin birthday party circuit." Hmmm, didn't know that existed. Probably does, kindof. I guess ... :)

Worthy World Sport Notes

2005-10-02T15:05:00.000-07:00

Raul Scores 50th from Beckham:

MADRID, Spain (AP) - Raul Gonzalez scored his 50th Champions League goal in Real Madrid's 2-1 victory over Olympiakos at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium on Wednesday.
Raul headed home David Beckham's cross...

Something like this is why Real got Beckham. Only, they haven't been seeing that much of that. Could be changing.

15-year old John Tavares opens OHL career with two goals in as many games
Oshawa Generals.com:

John Tavares opened the scoring at 1:35 on the powerplay, tipping in a point-shot for his second OHL goal in as many games.

If you had a chance to see Wayne Gretzky play when he was 16, you have some idea how much more entertaining it'll be to see Tavares play Major Junior A than the tedium that the NHL has been (the NHL is supposedly changing their rules to open up the offense this year). Funny that, once again, the best places to see hockey this winter will be in cities and towns in Ontario.

I know the Beanpot and Minnesota High School championships are great events, but for pure hockey entertainment, try to catch Tavares while he's still in the OHL.