blogging tools

Acheter un disque

Mon pauvre monsieur le disque va très mal me dit le monsieur qui est censé distribuer le disque de Faris Nourallah.

Radio Faris, le nouvel album de Faris Nourallah sort aujourd'hui ! Jour de fête chez Blog Up Musique, bien évidemment ! Notre ami Faris on l'aime parce qu'il écrit des pop songs d'une intensité belle. Alors aujourd'hui nous allons tous acheter des disques... et moi aussi... C'est tellement bon d'acheter un disque... Ouvrir le cellophane... Lire le livret voire le renifler... C'est ok, demain on achète un disque

Un jour avant le "election day" Faris Nourallah nous offre un autre regard sur l'amérique. Il habite Dallas, sur son bras est tatoué en arabe "Palestine libre" et il écoute en boucle Oum Kalsoum et cela donne, par magie, des pop songs de moins de 3 minutes qui font de lui l'un des meilleurs songwriters de sa génération !

Faris Nourallah raconte une autre amérique celle qui n'écrit pas "In god we trust"... Pour Faris le monde n'est pas l'amérique et Dallas encore moins. Et soudain on a envie de partir visiter le Texas en écoutant Radio Faris ! C'est cela la magie de Faris Nourallah !

A vous voir chez les disquaires !

Mescaleros

A visiter : le myspace

Le retour

Pendant trois ans, sept jours sur sept Blog Up a publié un billet. Exercice difficile et usant sur le long terme. Blog Up avait besoin de vacances. Blog Up s'est donc offert deux mois de vacances !

Deux mois pour se reposer mais aussi réfléchir à l'avenir de Blog Up. Une certitude Blog Up essayera de rester un espace de liberté où l'on écrit que sur des sujets qui nous intéressent en toute indépendance. Une autre certitude, Blog Up ne publiera plus systématiquement un billet par jour. Là aussi la publication se fera selon notre temps, notre humeur.

Depuis sa création Blog Up a mis en avant les artistes qui ne bénéficient pas des spots light des médias. Nous allons continuer en soutenant des artistes que nous aimons. Chaque mois nous vous présenterons le disque du mois. Il restera visible sur la page pendant un mois et sera pour vous aussi l'occasion non seulement de découvrir un artiste mais aussi de gagner quelques cadeaux !

Et puis l'aventure vous tente, n'hésitez pas à venir rejoindre et étoffer l'équipe.

Blog Up est de retour ! Faîtes le savoir et à très vite.

Mescaleros

Growing Blogs

Unfiltered (RSS)

1. LudditeJourno

   Ramblings in Aotearoa/New Zealand

2. The Entertainment Bug

   Bloggin On Entertainments News, Movies, Music, TV & Books!

3. The Penny Palate

   Food and drink for the thrifty New Yorker

Repérage 1 / 2008 - OROUNI

Blog Up suit Orouni depuis longtemps. Orouni vient de publier son nouvel album "Jump out the window". Un titre qui devrait nous glacer... nous pousser à la catastrophe ! Non ! Orouni nous emporte vers une pop écrite avec merveille. Ouverture avec Panic at the beehive tout en XTC song et beau beat... L'écritrue est parfaite... un single évident. C'est simple comme une véritable pop song ! Ecoutez les riffs grandioses de The moneylenders... toute une histoire de la pop anglaise ! Brillant !

Orouni a cette magie pour écrire des pop songs sans fautes en toute simplicité et légèreté.

 

Vous voilà embarqué dans l'univers d'Orouni. Les 10 titres de "Jump out the window" sont dans cette ligne. Une écriture pop aux arrangements fins qui offre de beaux gimmicks qu'on est heureux de chanter dans le miroir en n'étant pas sérieux ! Malgré ce titre, "Jump out he window" dégage une énergie belle... de la joie avec une terrible envie de chanter le chorus !

C'est véritablement le disque à écouter d'urgence ! Orouni et ses amis nous offrent de belles émotions pop avec élégance.

Ce disque est hors distribution mais sorti sur le très sympathique label Monster K7. Il est évident qu'il est essentiel !

Mescaleros

A visiter : le myspace de Orouni et le site de Monster K7

une pause

Des années de chroniques, le label et la vie intime, quelle aventure ! elle était de toute évidence trop riche.

Alors, le blog au quotidien se repose, le label explose et la vie suit !

Retrouvez moi sur www.blogupmusique.com

Merci !

Blog Up a quelque problème technique... Alors les prochains billets seront courts. Aujourd'hui Neil Young avec cette version de Like a hurricane enregistrée en 1978. Le Crazy Horse accompagne Neil Young. C'est toujours au plus proche. Complicité parfaite.
Neil Young part dans son solo. C'est long... Blog Up ne sait pas si aujourd'hui les kids supporteraient des solos aussi long. Là tout se passe dans la longueur et Neil Young est le maître du temps.

A VOIR : la video

Come back & surprise !

Et voilà le retour ! J'ai adoré vos messages !

Pour cette reprise je vais faire un peu d'auto promotion à propos de Faris Nourallah. La presse adore de Télérama, à Libération en passant par Politis et Volume et encore d'autres....

Mais Faris Nourallah de son Texas lointain est un homme d'une générosité rare ! Il vous offre un album pour Noël ! Il s'appelle tout simplement Faris of Arabian. Cet album de 18 titres inédits de Faris Nourallah est en téléchargement libre sur le site de Magic, la revue pop moderne. Une pochette originale accompagne l'album.

Avec Faris c'est Noël avant l'heure !

A visiter : le site de Magic

La musique a besoin de vous

Ils ont un nom stupide. Ils sont deux : une fille + un garçon. A les entendre on pourrait penser que les frères Ramones sortent de terre ! Quelle drôle idée !

Ils s'appellent Cars can be blue. Ils sont originaires d'Athens comme REM mais eux ils ont la fraîcheur, la simplicité qui fait défaut aujourd'hui à REM.

C'est radical ! Un duo pour des rock'n'roll song simples, efficaces. C'est dépouillé, énergique et j'aimerai les faire venir en France ! Qu'en pensez-vous ?

Désormais la musique a besoin de vous ! Devenez acteur : alors ils viennent chez nous ?

Voilà une autre nouveauté, vous rendre participatif !

Mescaleros

A visiter : le myspace

Google's Data Center
TechCrunch posted a map of Google's data infrastructure. There are 36 data centers in all—19 in the U.S., 12 in Europe, 3 in Asia, and one each in Russia and South America. Future data center sites may include Taiwan, Malaysia,...

TechCrunch posted a map of Google's data infrastructure.

There are 36 data centers in all—19 in the U.S., 12 in Europe, 3 in Asia, and one each in Russia and South America. Future data center sites may include Taiwan, Malaysia, Lithuania, and Blythewood, South Carolina, where Google has reportedly bought 466 acres of land.

The Challenges of Interoperability
KMWorld recently explored the continuing problems with government agencies' "interoperability." Or, their ability to share information and ideas through IT. This is not an easy task, since each government agency -- whether it's federal, state, or local -- have their...

KMWorld recently explored the continuing problems with government agencies' "interoperability."  Or, their ability to share information and ideas through IT.  This is not an easy task, since each government agency -- whether it's federal, state, or local -- have their own IT technologies and requirements: 

For almost 10 years, large metropolitan areas have been working on interoperability issues, but in many cases those efforts have been limited to getting telecommunications systems to communicate with one another. Sharing data during an emergency has proven a more difficult knowledge management challenge.

Especially since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, there’s been a sense that better information sharing protocols are needed. For instance, during Katrina, officials in emergency operations centers (EOCs) needed to know where all the rail cars in the area were and what type of hazardous material was in each one, so they could send out HazMat teams to check on them. Many were under water.

During an emergency, officials also must know the status of hospital facilities near a disaster area, says Drew Sachs, VP, crisis and consequence management, for consultancy James Lee Witt & Associates, a part of GlobalOptions Group. "That data is often not readily available to an EOC," he adds.

Despite agencies’ efforts to improve sharing real-time data, portals or intranets linking multiple emergency response agencies and jurisdictions are still rare. "You won’t find many midsize cities that haven’t touched on this, but few have a complete solution in place," says Sachs.

Googlified Products
Thanks to ubiwar, I'm slowly showing my datageek side, including these two new "Googlfied" information product improvements that would easily fit into the open source intelligence (OSINT) category: WorldCat (OCLC) and Google to better share their resources. Engineering Village to...

Thanks to ubiwar, I'm slowly showing my datageek side, including these two new "Googlfied" information product improvements that would easily fit into the open source intelligence (OSINT) category:

WorldCat (OCLC) and Google to better share their resources.
Engineering Village to integrate GeoRef and GoogleMaps.

Now all I have to do is get the intelligence community to take OSINT seriously...

Cross-posted at my other blog, Making Sense of Jihad.

Daily Digest 04/14/2009
‘Hyperlocal’ Web Sites Deliver News Without Newspapers A number of Web start-up companies are creating so-called hyperlocal news sites that let people zoom in on what is happening closest to them, often without involving traditional journalists. tags: getanewbrowser, hyperlocal, news, journalism Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here. Related posts:Daily Digest 12/09/2008 Tribune’s [...] Related posts:

1. Daily Digest 12/09/2008 Tribune’s Ch. 11: Its Letter to Advertisers Tribune has...
2. Daily Digest 11/19/2008 11 Ways to Use Twitter to Help Your Site...
3. Daily Digest 12/06/2008 Use BackType to Be a Better PR Pro So...

• ‘Hyperlocal’ Web Sites Deliver News Without Newspapers

  A number of Web start-up companies are creating so-called hyperlocal news sites that let people zoom in on what is happening closest to them, often without involving traditional journalists.

  tags: getanewbrowser, hyperlocal, news, journalism

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Related posts:

1. Daily Digest 12/09/2008 Tribune’s Ch. 11: Its Letter to Advertisers Tribune has...
2. Daily Digest 11/19/2008 11 Ways to Use Twitter to Help Your Site...
3. Daily Digest 12/06/2008 Use BackType to Be a Better PR Pro So...

"A Better Distorted View"
The blog, Strange Maps, draws attention to this wonderful data visualization of the geographic sources of "breaking news."

The blog, Strange Maps, draws attention to this wonderful data visualization of the geographic sources of "breaking news."

Free is Good...Sometimes
New York Times recently reported on Harvard University's ambitious program to "begin posting research and articles produced by its faculty on the Internet free of charge." It goes on to describe how this program is going to administered: The [University...

New York Times recently reported on Harvard University's ambitious program to "begin posting research and articles produced by its faculty on the Internet free of charge."  It goes on to describe how this program is going to administered:

The [University Library] will oversee an Office of Scholarly Communication, which is being created to handle the project. Professor Darnton said a Web site instructing the faculty on how to transmit articles is already up and running, and the technical work should be completed by April 1.

My initial response is to see this as an ambitious and innovative move, but I suspect that in practical application it may fail.  After all, some academic research is supported or commissioned by groups that do not want the results published, including in some cases the US government.  Expect some aspects of this program to bear good fruit, and the list of research program "exceptions" to grow over time.

Mark All As Read
I find myself clicking “Mark All As Read” a lot when I succumb to information overload. I used to make myself read all my subscriptions. Nowadays if I’ve missed my Google Reader for more than a few days I assume anything relevant or pressing will bubble up on Twitter, FriendFeed, or Feedly. These tools are [...] Related posts:

1. Information Cleansing Over the last few weeks I have had a bad...
2. The New and Improved Central Iowa Bloggers Just on the heels of the lovely new Iowa Blogs...
3. How often do you read your feeds? Do you check your feeds as often as email? How...

I find myself clicking “Mark All As Read” a lot when I succumb to information overload. I used to make myself read all my subscriptions. Nowadays if I’ve missed my Google Reader for more than a few days I assume anything relevant or pressing will bubble up on Twitter, FriendFeed, or Feedly. These tools are becoming increasingly important in consuming information - moving beyond communcation platforms.

How do you handle information overload? Just give up and “Mark All As Read”? In a future post I’ll discuss systems I’ve setup to automate a lot of the filtering process for me - yet I still have trouble.

Featuring: Iowa Blogs A hyperlocal community of Iowa bloggers.

Related posts:

1. Information Cleansing Over the last few weeks I have had a bad...
2. The New and Improved Central Iowa Bloggers Just on the heels of the lovely new Iowa Blogs...
3. How often do you read your feeds? Do you check your feeds as often as email? How...

Military E-Journal Goodness
The Combined Arms Research Library (CARL) blog has a list of military e-journal rss feeds.

The Combined Arms Research Library (CARL) blog has a list of military e-journal rss feeds. 

Newsmap
Newsmap is a dynamic visualization tool for the Google News aggregator.

Newsmap is a dynamic visualization tool for the Google News aggregator. 

CARL on Syria
The Combined Arms Research Library (CARL) has an excellent link "anthology" dedicated to current awareness open source info on Syrian and the country's military capabilities.

The Combined Arms Research Library (CARL) has an excellent link "anthology" dedicated to current awareness open source info on Syrian and the country's military capabilities.

Sweet new Sun storage stuff on Monday, Nov 10th
FYI, Sun is announcing some sweet new storage stuff on Monday at 3:30pm PT. I’m reviewing a few of the things they’re announcing, and hope to publish my thoughts here soon (one of them joins my production network tonight if all goes well). However, I’m at Disneyland with my kids (first trip!) from [...]

FYI, Sun is announcing some sweet new storage stuff on Monday at 3:30pm PT.

I’m reviewing a few of the things they’re announcing, and hope to publish my thoughts here soon (one of them joins my production network tonight if all goes well). However, I’m at Disneyland with my kids (first trip!) from Monday through Thursday, so I don’t know (yet) when I’ll be able to write them up. Bear with me if it takes a few days.

But the gear is exciting, and the direction Sun is headed is even more exciting!

On Why Auto-Scaling in the Cloud Rocks
In high school, I had a great programmable calculator. I’d program it to solve complicated math and science problems “automatically” for me. Most of my teachers got upset if they found out, but I’ll always remember one especially enlightened teacher who didn’t. He said something to the effect of “Hey, if you [...]

In high school, I had a great programmable calculator. I’d program it to solve complicated math and science problems “automatically” for me. Most of my teachers got upset if they found out, but I’ll always remember one especially enlightened teacher who didn’t. He said something to the effect of “Hey, if you managed to write software to solve the equation, you must thoroughly understand the problem. Way to go!”.

George Reese wrote up a blog post over at O’Reilly the other day called On Why I Don’t Like Auto-Scaling in the Cloud. His main argument seems to be that auto-scaling is bad and reflects poor capacity planning. In the comments, he specifically calls SmugMug out, saying we’re “using auto-scaling as a crutch for poor or non-existent capacity planning”.

George is like one of those math teachers who doesn’t “get it”. I was tempted not to write this post because he gets it so wrong, I’d hate to spread that meme. SkyNet auto-scales well. No humans at SmugMug are monitoring it and it just hums along, doing its job. Why is it so efficient? Because I understand the equation. I know what metrics drive our capacity planning and I programmed SkyNet to take these into account. It checks an awful lot of data points every minute or so - this isn’t simply “oh, we have idle CPU, let’s kill some instances.” (I would argue that, depending on the application, simple auto-scaling based on CPU usage or similar data point can be very effective, too, though).

SkyNet has been in production for over a year with only two incidents of note and SmugMug has more than doubled in size and capacity during that time without adding any new operations people. How on earth is this a bad thing?

Yahoo adds SmugMug support!
Yahoo! in cloud OR Hadoop? (Яху в облаках) by Alexander & Natalie tl;dr: Yahoo adds SmugMug support to Profiles. Windows Live coming. Lots of other services, too. Wow, what a pleasant surprise! Woke up this morning to this story on TechCrunch about 20 new services they’d added to Yahoo Profiles (here’s mine). Lo [...]

tl;dr: Yahoo adds SmugMug support to Profiles. Windows Live coming. Lots of other services, too.

Wow, what a pleasant surprise! Woke up this morning to this story on TechCrunch about 20 new services they’d added to Yahoo Profiles (here’s mine). Lo and behold, SmugMug is one of them! In fact, in Yahoo’s blog post about the new features, SmugMug was the one mentioned for photos. Cool!

As far as I know, we haven’t talked to Yahoo about this at all - which is part of what makes this so great. Microsoft was supposed to have rolled something like this out to Windows Live profiles awhile ago, but I still haven’t seen it drop. We’re very excited about that, too, but the two company’s approaches were very different: Microsoft came over, chatted with us about the product, then had us sign a contract to participate. That was months ago, and I have no idea when it’s actually coming. Yahoo, on the other hand, seems to have just built it and shipped it.

I can see the arguments for both approaches: Microsoft is probably being extra careful about privacy, and working through their internal rules and regulations about re-using user generated content. Yahoo, on the other hand, is scrambling to catch up now as the underdog. I assume Yahoo realized that SmugMug already has strong privacy controls around our feeds and simply hit the gas - full speed ahead.

Either way, what’s especially heartening is the number of sites, services, and pieces of software that now support SmugMug. At The Crunchies last week, we weren’t nominated (we won for Best Design last year), but it still felt like we were winning - many of the winners use or integrate with us: Google Reader, Windows Live Mesh, Cooliris, lots of companies using Amazon Web Services, lots of apps on the iPhone 3G, and FriendFeed. Very cool.

(And all of that despite what we *know* is terrible and/or nonexistent documentation around our feeds. Yes, we’ll work on that.)

Great things afoot in the MySQL community
tl;dr: The MySQL community rocks. Percona, XtraDB, Drizzle, SSD storage, InnoDB IO scalability challenges. For anyone who lives and dies by MySQL and InnoDB, things are finally starting to heat up and get interesting. I’ve been banging the “MySQL/InnoDB scales poorly” drums for years now, and despite having paid Enterprise licenses, I haven’t been [...]

tl;dr: The MySQL community rocks. Percona, XtraDB, Drizzle, SSD storage, InnoDB IO scalability challenges.

For anyone who lives and dies by MySQL and InnoDB, things are finally starting to heat up and get interesting. I’ve been banging the “MySQL/InnoDB scales poorly” drums for years now, and despite having paid Enterprise licenses, I haven’t been able to get anywhere. I was pretty excited when Sun bought MySQL since their future is intrinsically tied to concurrency, but things have been pretty slow going over there this year.

But the community has finally taken up arms and is fighting the good fight. It’s (finally!) a great time to be a MySQL user because there’s been lots of recent progress. Here’re some of my favorites (and highlights of work left to do):

PERCONA

I can’t sing Percona’s praises enough. They’re probably the most knowledgeable MySQL experts out there (possibly even including Sun). Absolutely the best bang for the buck in terms of MySQL service and support - better than MySQL’s own offering. (If I had to guess why that is, I’d bet that MySQL/Sun don’t want to step on Oracle’s toes by fixing InnoDB - but >99% of what we need is related to InnoDB. Percona has no such tip-toeing limitations.) Let me quickly count the ways they’ve helped me in the last few months:

• They knew of a super obscure configuration setting “back_log“. Have you ever heard of it? I hadn’t. But we started seeing latency on MySQL connections (up to *3 seconds*!) on systems that hadn’t changed recently (exactly 3 seconds sounded awfully suspicious, and sure enough, it was TCP retries). After going through every single kernel, network, and MySQL tuning parameter I know (and I know a lot), I finally called Percona. They dug in, investigated the system, and unearthed ‘back_log’ within an hour or two. Popped that into my configuration and boom, everything was fine again. Whew!
• We have servers that easily exceed InnoDB’s transaction limits. Did you know InnoDB has a concurrent transaction limit of 1024? (Technically, 1024 INSERTs and 1024 UPDATEs. But INSERT … ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE manages to chew up one of each). I know all about it - I’ve had bugs open with MySQL Enterprise for more than 2 years on the issue. What’s more, these are low-end systems - 4 cores, 16GB of RAM - and they’re no-where near CPU or IO bound. It took MySQL months to figure out what the problem was (years, really, to figure out all the final details like the different undo logs for INSERT vs UPDATE). Their final answer? It’ll be fixed in MySQL 6. Note that 5.1 *just* went GA after years and years. On the other hand, it took Percona one weekend to diagnose the problem, and 13 days to have a preliminary patch ready to extend it to 4072 undo slots. Talk about progress! (And yes, we want Percona to release the patch to the world)
• Solving the CPU scaling problems. These have been plaguing us for years (we have had some older four-socket systems for awhile … now with quad-core, it’s even worse), and thanks to Google and Percona, this problem is well on its way to being solved. We’re sponsoring this work and can’t wait to see what happens next.
• XtraDB. This is the biggy. So big it deserves its own heading….

XTRADB

Oracle’s done a terrible job of supporting the community with InnoDB. The conspiracy theorists can all say “I told you so! Oracle bought them to halt MySQL progress” now - history supports them. Which is a shame - Heikki is a great guy and has done amazing work with InnoDB, but the fact remains that it wasn’t moving forward. The InnoDB plugin release was disappointing, to say the least. It addressed none of the CPU or IO scalability issues the community has been crying about for years.

Luckily, Percona finally did what everyone else has been too afraid to do - they forked InnoDB. XtraDB is their storage engine, forked from InnoDB (and then turbocharged!). We’re not running it in production yet, but we are running all of the patches that went into XtraDB and I can tell you they’re great. We’re sponsoring more XtraDB development (and yes, we made sure Percona will be contributing anything they build for us back to the community) with Percona, and I’m sure that’ll continue.

DRIZZLE

I’ve already blogged a bit about Drizzle, but it sure looks like Drizzle + XtraDB might be a match made in heaven. Drizzle can be though of as a MySQL engine re-write with an eye towards web workloads and performance, rather than features. MySQL 4.1, 5.0, and 5.1 added a lot of features that bloated the code without offering anything really useful to web-oriented workloads like ours, so the Drizzle team is ripping all that stuff back out and rethinking the approaches to the things that are being left in. Very exciting.

SSD STORAGE

The advent of “cheap enough” super-fast SSD storage is finally upon us. I’ve got Sun S7410 storage appliances in production and they’re blazingly fast. I have a very thorough review coming, but the short version is that even with NFS latencies, we’re able to do obscene write workloads to these boxes (let alone reads). 10000+ write IOPS to 10TB of mirrored, crazy durable (thanks ZFS!) storage is a dream come true. Once you mix in snapshots, clones, replication, and Analytics - well, it just doesn’t get much better than this.

(Don’t get sticker shock looking at the web pricing - no-one pays anything even remotely like that. Sign up for Startup Essentials if you can, or talk to your Sun sales rep if you can’t, and you can get them much cheaper. I nearly had a heart attack myself until I got “real” pricing. Tell them I sent you - enough Sun people read this blog, it might just help ).

STILL NEEDED…

So, all in all, there’s been an awful lot of progress this year, which is great. CPUs are finally scaling under InnoDB, and we finally have storage that isn’t bounded by physical rotation and mechanical arms. Unfortunately, great CPU scaling plus amazing IO capabilities isn’t something InnoDB digests very well. As is common in complicated systems, once you fix one bottleneck, another one elsewhere in the system crops up. This time, it’s IOPS. It was eerie reading Mark Callaghan’s post about this last night - I’d come to the exact same conclusions (from an Operations point of view rather than code-level) just yesterday.

Bottom line: Despite having ample CPU and ample IO, InnoDB isn’t capable of using the IO provided. You can bet we’ll be working with Percona, Google and Sun (read: sitting back and admiring their brilliant work while writing the occasional check and providing production workload information) to look into fixing this.

In the meantime, we’re back to the old standbys: replication and data partitioning. Yes, we’re stacking lots of MySQL instances on each S7410 to maximize both our IOPS and our budget. Fun stuff - more on that later.

UPDATE: Just occurred to me that there are plenty of *new* readers to my blog who haven’t heard me praise Google and their patches before. Mark Callaghan’s team over at Google definitely deserves a shout-out - they’ve really been a catalyst for much of this work along with Percona.

I’m *not* speaking at Cloud Computing Expo 2008
Just a quick update, I was invited to speak at Sys-Con’s Cloud Computing Expo 2008 West (how’s that for a mouthful?) and accepted, planning on talking about SkyNet, S3, and our future use of cloud computing. Alas, my Inbox is so crazy, I failed to see the handful of emails the conference sent me [...]

Just a quick update, I was invited to speak at Sys-Con’s Cloud Computing Expo 2008 West (how’s that for a mouthful?) and accepted, planning on talking about SkyNet, S3, and our future use of cloud computing. Alas, my Inbox is so crazy, I failed to see the handful of emails the conference sent me asking me to sign a contract of some type. So I missed the deadline and they canceled my spot. (BTW, I can’t recall a conference ever asking me to sign something to speak, but this one does and I was full of FAIL.)

So, I’m sorry, despite being listed on the program, I’m *not* speaking there this week. It was my bad - I just missed the emails (as I miss so many emails these days). But still, a phone call from them wouldn’t have hurt, would it?

Who knows if I’ll be on their invitation list next year, but the conference will be great anyway, so have a great time without me!

First 1080p video from Canon’s new 5D MkII - Amazing!
My father and I got our 5D MkIIs on Friday and we could hardly wait for the batteries to charge. He took his to SF to test its vaunted low-light performance and posted this 60-second 1080p clip (along with other resolutions) on his SmugMug site: Click to watch it auto-sized for your monitor or [...]

My father and I got our 5D MkIIs on Friday and we could hardly wait for the batteries to charge. He took his to SF to test its vaunted low-light performance and posted this 60-second 1080p clip (along with other resolutions) on his SmugMug site: Click to watch it auto-sized for your monitor or check out the full 1080p resolution (caution - *high* bandwidth! UPDATE: Apologies if you tried to watch 1080p on Windows earlier. My bug made it look terrible. Try again, please?).

Here’s his story:

“I had seen Vincent Laforet’s amazing short film, but only in 720p. I knew what an amazing photographer he is and wondered how close an everyman like me could come to footage like that. Could the clips possibly hold up to viewing in 1080p?”

“So with only an hour’s practice shooting my dog licking peanut butter and the neighbor’s kids running in their yard, I left for the city to compare myself to a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer with his helicopter, pricey stabilizer, models, set lighting, and post-production experts. I had a few hours and a tripod. What we had in common was the 5D.”

“At first, shooting video on the 5D makes you feel stupid. You’re holding the camera out in front while you look at the LCD on the back and use completely different buttons. I was always wondering if it was in focus, especially at the wide apertures I thought you probably needed at night.”

“How dark was too dark? I’d point at things that seemed impossibly dark, like the fishing boats you saw lit with mostly a string of Christmas lights on the bow of one. But I couldn’t tell how noisy the clips were on the viewfinder, so I held my breath and set the camera at ISO 3200. Why? ‘Cus it was lower than ISO 6400…”

“I had just one sekret weapon, same as Vincent: a Canon 200mm f/2.0 lens, not exactly an everyman item. It made a difference and I used it for maybe half the shots, including the opening clip of the couple kissing at Grace Cathedral, the rotating jewelry in the shop window, the hotel entrances, and the TV reporter. The city skyline was shot with an f/4 lens and it’s noisy. I also used an 85mm f/1.2 for scenes like the cable car, and toys in shop windows.”

“Dog and kid shots look amazing too, but I have to be honest: I missed many shots of fast-moving kids that I would have gotten with my video camera. Maybe I just need figure out how to juggle zooming, focus, and having the controls scattered across the back of the camera, but it felt like I needed three hands and the skillz of a Cirque du Soleil juggler.”

“So which camera for filming my grandkids? Now there’s a question… This calls for some serious 5D time to answer. Even my wife approves of that message.”

BTW, if anyone else out there is shooting 1080p video with cameras like this and would like their SmugMug Pro accounts to allow 1080p video, let us know. That feature is currently in beta, but we’d love to get a few more people using it.

Nasty Safari bug not fixed since December :(
A rotten little apple by Ashley Harding Apple has had a nasty Safari bug since December which breaks SmugMug, Facebook, Gmail, and lots of US banks. 3 months later, it’s still not fixed. Your only option is to use Firefox if you’re affected. Apple’s known about the problem since December, and has lots of internal [...]

Apple has had a nasty Safari bug since December which breaks SmugMug, Facebook, Gmail, and lots of US banks.

3 months later, it’s still not fixed. Your only option is to use Firefox if you’re affected.

Apple’s known about the problem since December, and has lots of internal bugs on the issue (30+ I last heard). (For my Apple readers, here’s our bug on the subject and the one it was marked as a duplicate of).

I’ve done everything I know how to get this resolved - Apple employees have been internally working on our behalf, we have an AppleCare Enterprise Support case open (#332101), I tried to open an ADC Premier case (it was denied because they don’t “provide code-level support for content creation issues” whatever that means). Still no luck.

Apparently this is fixed in Mac OS X 10.5.7. We have the latest seed, so we’re going to find out, but 10.5.7 is likely a month or more away from shipping, so expect this stuff to be be broken at least until then. Use Firefox.

Safari happens to be my favorite browser, so this is especially disheartening. The good news is you may not be affected. Not everyone running 10.5.6 with Safari is, for some reason, but lots of you are. You’ll know you are if you see SmugMug galleries which appear to be empty (but aren’t) or see ugly white pages with undecipherable error messages. For that, I apologize - I really wish we could help but we can’t. You can help yourself, though - use Firefox.

Put another way, Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO, sits on Apple’s board of directors. Gmail has also been broken for 3 months. Apparently he’s powerless too.

Now is the time to build
Big Cats by micalngelo “Every startup CEO is at least thinking about the need to cut back right now” - Michael Arrington “We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.” - Warren Buffet I’ll give you one guess as to which man I’m listening to. So [...]

“Every startup CEO is at least thinking about the need to cut back right now” - Michael Arrington

“We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.” - Warren Buffet

I’ll give you one guess as to which man I’m listening to. So no, not every startup CEO is cutting back. Apple spent their time innovating during the last downturn and look where it got them. I’m thrilled to have just passed out big, healthy profit-sharing bonuses to all of our employees this week for the 5th consecutive year. We think and hope they’ll be even bigger next year.

SmugMug was founded in the middle of the last “nuclear winter” in Silicon Valley. Everyone told us we were crazy, and we knew there was no chance at raising venture capital at a decent valuation, even with our impressive backgrounds. So we did what any good entrepreneur would do: We did it anyway, with both eyes firmly on our business model.

So if you’re running a startup, or thinking of creating one, take heart - downturns are a fabulous time to build and grow businesses. Focus on your revenues and your margins, not your growth rate or # of unique visitors. Find some stable income streams and a customer need. Listen to your customers and give them what they want - and what they’re willing to pay for. And take care of your employees - they’re your most valuable asset.

SmugMug is still hiring Sorcerers, Heroes, and all manner of other mythical beings capable of impossible feats. We filled our last position (quickly, I might add) with a *great* hire (and I’m still sorting through the avalanche of resumes we got to see if we can add a few more), but the job door is never closed at SmugMug for true superstars. Our philosophy is to not let anyone amazing get away, even if we don’t technically have an open position for you.

So if you can make magic and want to work for a company that takes crazy-good care of its employees, let us know.

Nominations open for The Crunchies 2008
SmugMug wins Best Design at The Crunchies 2007 by Luca Filigheddu Photography I loved the idea behind The Crunchies even before we won for Best Design last year so I’m glad to see their triumphant return. And I see that nominations are open for 2008! It looks like we’re probably eligible for a number [...]

I loved the idea behind The Crunchies even before we won for Best Design last year so I’m glad to see their triumphant return. And I see that nominations are open for 2008!

It looks like we’re probably eligible for a number of categories, but even if you don’t think we’re worthy, please go nominate your favorite startups. It really means a lot to the teams that work on these companies. Nothing like a little validation for all of our hard work…

Work on Drizzle full-time at Rackspace Mosso!
This is really cool. Rackspace is hiring people to work on Drizzle full-time for their cloud product, Mosso. Adrian Otto writes the Drizzle mailing list: I was speaking with Eric Day at the developer conference, and I mentioned that Rackspace is wiling to employ full time developers for the specific purpose of furthering the [...]

This is really cool. Rackspace is hiring people to work on Drizzle full-time for their cloud product, Mosso. Adrian Otto writes the Drizzle mailing list:

I was speaking with Eric Day at the developer conference, and I mentioned that Rackspace is wiling to employ full time developers for the specific purpose of furthering the Drizzle project’s mission. He suggested that I email you on this list becuase he expected there would be interest in this offer. If you work on the project now part time, and want to make it a full time job working exclusively on the Drizzle project, let me know. The Rackspcae Cloud believes in open source, and we want to do our part to make Drizzle a wild success.

I’m super-excited about Drizzle and think this is fabulous for the community at large. I’m not alone - Mark Callaghan and Jeremy Zawodny like the idea too.

So if this sounds like your thing, go do it!

The right floats off to Neverland. No girls allowed!
In Texas and elsewhere, conservatives soothe the pain of electoral rout with dreams of secession -- and of magical nerd kingdoms.

New evidence of a secret torture prison
It has long been clear that the CIA used the Szymany military airbase in Poland for extraordinary renditions. Now there is new evidence of a secret torture prison nearby.

Torture and truthiness
If Dick Cheney believes he can prove that torture saved us from terrorist attacks, why does he oppose a full investigation?

This Modern World
What we talk about when we talk about torture.

Time to put "wealth on trial" again?
Congress needs to investigate the reasons behind the economic collapse -- the way Ferdinand Pecora probed the '29 market crash, and made tycoons confess their financial sins.

Swine flu: Don't panic!
While the virus does reveal some novel traits, so far most symptoms are not out of the ordinary.

"I am not a puzzle, I am a person"
People with autism don't need to be "cured," argues the burgeoning "autism culture" movement. Not all parents or medical experts agree.

How I learned to haggle
To reduce my household budget, I had to stare down my fears and ask the 99-cent store guy for a discount.

Mel Gibson's family values
The ultra-orthodox Catholic can't get remarried in the church unless he says he made a "mistake" and gets an annulment -- after a 28-year marriage. Time to reform Catholic divorce.

The last great swine flu epidemic
"This virus will kill 1 million Americans," declared the U.S. in 1976. The panic then has a lot to teach us today.

Emerging Markets Boosted by Facebook + Joyent + Mentez
You’re a developer in Columbia, Brazil, South Africa or Turkey. You know a little PHP. How do you quickly become a world class entrepreneur? How do you reach audiences of millions? You have access to a computer, but you have you have no capital. What [...]

You’re a developer in Columbia, Brazil, South Africa or Turkey. You know a little PHP. How do you quickly become a world class entrepreneur? How do you reach audiences of millions? You have access to a computer, but you have you have no capital. What would you do?

At Joyent, we have partnered with Mentez to help app developers in emerging markets . Mentez starts with competitions to generate successful applications. It’s American Idol done in Columbia or Mexico and focused on good code instead of terrible singing. Mentez helps with everything from technical support to help monetizing the businesses.

How do you monetize an application in Brazil? Mentez has already succeeded by taking successful applications to corporate sponsors. For example, they have taken one game application that gained reasonable traction and sold a sponsorship of the app to a large well known brand. As part of the Mentez agreement, the developer received 50% of all revenue generated. The revenue was much higher than the low value CPMs the developer could have received by going through a standard Facebook ad network.

Bottom line, the way that apps get developed is changing, and it is benefiting developers in Emerging Markets.

• Joyent gives them free infrastructure
• Mentez gives them training and business development assistance
• Facebook gives these developers access to a massive and powerful marketing and distribution tool

Natural Bottom aka Zimbabwe
A friend of mine sent out an email today saying he was upset that the Fed has stepped in to bail out Bear. My friend said he would have preferred to see the market find a natural bottom. My reaction: “A natural bottom”??? Are you crazy?!? Think about a real crash, a real war [...]

A friend of mine sent out an email today saying he was upset that the Fed has stepped in to bail out Bear. My friend said he would have preferred to see the market find a natural bottom. My reaction:

“A natural bottom”???

Are you crazy?!?

Think about a real crash, a real war and the real humanitarian hell it produces.

I was born in Zimbabwe. Look what has happened to my country.

There is only one natural bottom, at it is total and utter depravity.

This is too serious a situation to play with theories about a supposedly self-regulating market. With both the dot com bubble and now the housing bubble, it is clear that the markets need some regulation.

If Bear had gone under tonight, Monday would have seen huge defaults in all the Money Market accounts of people like you, who have some portion of their cash in accounts that eventually lent some of their Billions to Bear. Just one witless moron on CNN saying “They said it was safe, but they done gone and lost every penny of the $55 thousand I had in my money market account” and there would be a massive bank run on money market accounts.

Years ago now, I used to sit next to the funding desk at Wells Fargo. I was part of a team that traded derivatives.   They were balancing the bank’s check book.   I listened as, day after day, Wells either lent or borrowed Billions over night. It would go in waves. We would dip into negative territory for 6 months, then pop back up to lending out for 2 months, then back to borrowing for 1, etc.

A default by Bear could easily have started a collapse of money markets. This would have led to a resulting collapse in over night lending, and suddenly a random 50% of the banks in the US would have a lot of trouble funding themselves tomorrow.

That’s what a “natural bottom” looks like. 50% of the US banks collapsing over night.

The Fed had to step in. The reality is that markets are not perfect, and they need regulating and assistance in times of trouble.

Paul Krugman at the NY Times has a nice little article on the inevitable bail-out that is beginning with tonight’s bail-out of Bear. The only debate now is how much to make the idiots who got us into this mess pay.

It’s either that or, we might as well all move to Zimbabwe. No employment opportunities, collapsed education, health care, hyperinflation, not much to eat. But, it’s actually a beautiful place. It’s a lot like Northern California in the summer time.

I want to donate my excess WiFi
Here’s a simple question. I have a Apple Airport Extreme. It generally works brilliantly. I love it. I want to open up my WiFi. Donate it to my neighbours. To anyone parked in front of my house. Anyone with an iPhone. [...]

Here’s a simple question. I have a Apple Airport Extreme. It generally works brilliantly. I love it.

I want to open up my WiFi. Donate it to my neighbours. To anyone parked in front of my house. Anyone with an iPhone. Apple says that it can support up to 50 users. I am guessing few people would actually use it very much. And I am hoping everyone else gets the same idea.

There is a little bit of a problem. I know that people can run programs like aircrack-ng and hack into your network in a way that would let them see every credit card you enter, all your bank passwords, etc.

So, here’s my request to Apple . Please make a new version of the Aiport Extreme that has two networks on it. One that is open and one that is closed. Ideally, Apple could set it up so that the Extreme would give priority to the closed network traffic. Thus, no one would ever have to worry that donating their excess bandwidth would harm their own performance.

Why should Apple do this. Two reasons. First it would encourage the use of iPhones, because more free wifi makes iPhone users happier. AT&T’s dead slow network certainly doesn’t cause extreme joy. Second, it would give Apple users an excuse to show off their wonderful Apple technology is a socially cool way. No more would Apple users just show up with cooler laptops. Now they would show up with gifts in hand. An Apple Extreme owner would be a good neighbour.

I’d happily put this little badge in my window:

Mark to Market Vs. Mark to Model
Last year, Buddy bought a Hummer.   One of the big H1s.    He spent $80K. Kelly Blue book says it’s worth $55K today. Buddy took the Hummer to every dealer in town.   None would offer him anything for the Hummer.   One guy said he would take if off Buddy’s hands if Buddy paid him $250 to have it [...]

Last year, Buddy bought a Hummer.   One of the big H1s.    He spent $80K.

Kelly Blue book says it’s worth $55K today.

Buddy took the Hummer to every dealer in town.   None would offer him anything for the Hummer.   One guy said he would take if off Buddy’s hands if Buddy paid him $250 to have it towed to the scrap yard.

Kelly Blue book is the Mark to Model.

-$250 is the Mark to Market.

How much is Buddy’s Hummer worth?

If he used it as collateral for a loan, how much would you lend him?

---

Last year, Buddy bought an apartment in San Francisco’s South Beach.   He spent $1.3M.

His Real Estate agent says it’s worth $950K today.

Banks are not lending, so no one is offering to buy Buddy’s apartment.  A drunk guy Buddy met at the bar said he would pay Buddy $5K
$950K is the Mark to Model.

$5K is the Mark to Market.

How much is Buddy’s apartment worth?

If he used it as collateral for a loan, how much would you lend him?

Cloud Computing Enables Enterprise 2.0
You have read the white papers, seen the blogs, attended the conferences. And you have bought into the hype. Enterprise 2.0 tools are going to make your organization an innovation machine! I actually believe that’s true. Or, at least, I think they can go a long way to getting you [...]

You have read the white papers, seen the blogs, attended the conferences. And you have bought into the hype.

Enterprise 2.0 tools are going to make your organization an innovation machine! I actually believe that’s true. Or, at least, I think they can go a long way to getting you there.

So, now what do you do? How do you get there from here. You can fight with your IT department. Get buy in from the whole world and his dog. Literally buy a web server that is installed in a rack somewhere within your company’s data center. You can set up Apache. Set up MySQL. You can install the long dreamed about Wiki.

It’ll take a while.

Or, you can go the SaaS route and try to get your company security people to “Get it” about using a product from small web company. You data will be on their servers. If your data is financially related, or perhaps includes medical information, you will have to reassure yourself that they have both the systems security to protect the data and the, more importantly, the internal processes to protect your data.

There is another…. way

Or, you can go over to a virtual appliance directory like the one at VMware and find a virtual appliance that includes your SocialText Wiki. You download it, find a Cloud Computing Vendor, and install it. The virtual appliance includes everything you need. Web server, database.

Virtual Appliances + Cloud Computing = Hybrid SaaS

You get all the security and control of running an application within your own environment, but you get the flexibility to fire it up and try it with just a few individuals or a small department without having to go through the political BS of getting IT to buy off on every single element of your Enteprise 2.0 vision.

The Enterprise 2.0 Conference

Today, Steve Wylie, who is putting together the
Enterprise 2.0 Boston 2008 conference asked if Cloud Computing should be considered as part of the Enterprise 2.0 Conference.

I think it should. Offerings like Joyent’s Cloud Computer are already being used by small businesses, large companies and everything in between as an infrastructure to develop and deploy new solutions. These solutions often begin as experimental applications that emerge into major mission critical components of successful innovative new business offers.

Enterprise 2.0 is emergence software, and Cloud Computing is a great way of enabling that.

DOW Bottom will be 8088
OK, it’s almost a blind guess, but I believe that the DOW’s bottom is going to be around 8,088.   Why?   8 is a nice lucky number.   A little more seriously, if you “draw a line” from low points going back to 31-Oct-97, you get a suprisinly linear trend with a nice fit.   It’s [...]

OK, it’s almost a blind guess, but I believe that the DOW’s bottom is going to be around 8,088.   Why?   8 is a nice lucky number.   A little more seriously, if you “draw a line” from low points going back to 31-Oct-97, you get a suprisinly linear trend with a nice fit.   It’s spooky how easy it is to connect the dots.   If you extend it out to today, you get a level of 8,088.

There is no formal or “fundamental” logic that would back up my assertion.   Instead, it only represents crude observation about the trends that, at least to my eye, emerge from the collective behavior of all market participants.   Does that make the assertion “wrong”?

I used to think so.  Technical Analysis is called pseudoscientific because it is based on hypotheses that are hard to “prove” and or “test”.   Mind you, all of economics is based on hypotheses that, while proveable in a mathematical sense (if you buy the assumptions), are not provable in the same way that assertions in the fields of physics or chemistry are.   When systems get highly complex true proof is not possible.   People are them forced to rely on controlled observation and studies that draw conclusions based upon the balance of probabilities.   That, for example is what happens when people test drugs in the hopes of getting FDA approval.   “63% of patients improved” is not absoulte proof that something works.   It is proof that it works for a portion of the population.

I got the exact number of 8,088 using the Excel TREND function and punching in the data below.    The bold numbers are the predictions.

Date           Close
31-Oct-97    7,442
4-Sep-98     7,640
4-Oct-02     7,528
31-Mar-03    7,992
09-Oct-08     8,088
10-Oct-08     8,089
13-Oct-08     8,089
20-Oct-08     8,090
27-Oct-08     8,091
03-Nov-08     8,092

On Going Test of Crowd Wisdom
Back in October of last year, I looked at what inTrade was predicting for the results of the upcoming 2008 US elections. There has been a lot of press and a lot of drama, but the result have not changed much.   In a winner take all prediction, here is what inTrade is  predicting now: If you [...]

Back in October of last year, I looked at what inTrade was predicting for the results of the upcoming 2008 US elections.

There has been a lot of press and a lot of drama, but the result have not changed much.   In a winner take all prediction, here is what inTrade is  predicting now:

If you take the contracts with the highest price in each area, here is what the market is predicting today (Jan 18, 2007)

• Hillary Clinton is going to be the next President of the United States
• Someone from the Democratic field (not any of the Presidential Candidates) will be Vice President
• The Clinton / ??? Democratic ticket will defeat the McCain / Huckabee Republican ticket
• The Democrats will control the US Senate after the 2008 elections
• The Democrats will control the US House of Representatives after the 2008 elections

There have only been two changes.   First, the market is predicting that Obama is no longer going to be the Democratic VP candidate.   Second, the market predicting that McCain is going to lead a loosing Republican ticket, instead of Guliani.

The market behaved very strangely, and very poorly when predicting the New Hampshire outcome for the Democratic field.

The Clinton and Obama contract swung wildly in value, indicating a lack of “wisdom”.

inTrade is also currently predicting a recession in 2008, but only with a 70% chance.   My guess is that we are currently in one, so that might be easy money.

Oh, and to be open about any bias I have, I support Obama.

Société Générale had pathetic risk controls
I used to be a fixed income derivatives trader. I have a Masters in Economics, with a specialization in Econometrics and Financial Derivatives Pricing. I work in technology now because, while in grad-school, I learnt how to code FORTRAN-77. If you wanted to be a quant, and you wanted [...]

I used to be a fixed income derivatives trader. I have a Masters in Economics, with a specialization in Econometrics and Financial Derivatives Pricing. I work in technology now because, while in grad-school, I learnt how to code FORTRAN-77. If you wanted to be a quant, and you wanted to price exotic financial derivatives, you had to solve partial differential equations. The only way to do that was to use numerical methods that involved backward induction. And unless you wanted to spend weeks doing it by hand, you were forced to code up a pricer leveraging FORTRAN-77, numerical recipes and code from my brilliant thesis adviser, Robbie Jones.

I got bored with trading at Wells Fargo, moved over to building derivatives trading systems, and since then, have spent time at technology companies and at Ernst & Young. While at EY, I worked in the Financial Services Advisory practice. I have seen and audited the risk management systems at a half dozen of the largest financial institutions in the world.

The WSJ isn’t explaining much

I have just finished reading How to Lose $7.2 Billion: A Trader’s Tale in the Wall Street Journal by David Gauthier-Villars and Carrick Mollenkamp.

Is it just me, or has the WSJ already sunk in quality since the Rupert Murdoch purchase?

The journalists don’t explain much.   Was Jérôme Kerviel working on a desk that clearly allowed proprietary positions?   It isn’t clear.   Was it a pass-through desk dynamically hedging customer accommodations?   It isn’t clear from the article.

His other job consisted of betting on whether European stock markets would rise or fall. The roughly 20 traders on the Delta One desk were supposed to offset each bet that a stock index would rise with another bet in the opposite direction in order to keep risk at minimum levels. The difference between the parallel bets would generate either a profit or a loss.

That is a seriously terrible explanation.   Any trader worth his or her salt can take huge risks even with hedges in place.

There are 50 different ways to bet on an index.   What was this guy trading?   What kind of hedges were supposed to be in place?   What were the risk limits?   Were there notional limits?   Delta limits?   Vega?   Theta?

There is no mention of any of this in the article.   In other words, for people who really know this business, and honestly, it really isn’t that hard to figure out, the article doesn’t explain anything.

And for people who don’t know much about financial derivatives, the article gives a completely false sense that the truth has been explained.   It hasn’t.

SocGen was up by 500 Million Euros… but didn’t notice

The article does say that this trader had SocGen up by 500 million euros as one point, but that the bank didn’t notice.

I have one question only: “How?”

Derivatives trades may be complex bets, but they do result in real money flowing back and forth.   That real money comes out of real bank accounts.   Eventually, the CFO has to notice.   Something like

“Holy Crap!, we have 500 Million more Euros than we thought we would”

And, when your bets start to get into the Billions of Euros, if you are betting exchange traded futures, real margin calls start to happen.   If you are betting OTC derivatives, other banks, with half way decent internal controls, start calling you up and asking for more collateral.

The SocGen CFO and the head of Treasury should have noticed.

Fake Emails Fooled the Mid Office?   Come On!

Beyond that, the fact that any trader could produce fake emails to calm a back office is… well BS.  Here’s how it works at every major bank I’ve ever seen:

1. Trader does a trade with Bank X and enters it into the trade capture system
2. A back office person directly contacts their counterpart at Bank X and confirms the trade.   The variation is that the back office person gets a daily report from Bank X (or Exchange Y).
3. The second back office person sends a legal confirmation to Bank X, which is then sent back.

This double confirmation process makes it impossible to fake trades.   The process above is how it works for Over The Counter (OTC) trades.   It essentially follows the same pattern, but is much more automated for exchange traded derivatives.

And What About the Market Risk Management?

The article talks about all the fancy quants working at SocGen.   Without a nose for profit and a drive for blood, all the math in the world ain’t worth a damn.

But, quant geeks should be able to get you a half way decent risk management report.   And if not, you can buy one from BlackRock or some similar shop.

A stupidly simplistic report would show trades netted out and thus allow fake trades to mask the impact of real positions.   But no one with half a brain uses such simplistic reports.    You split the trades apart.  You find out were the notionals are out of whack.

- Look here, Bob is betting $10M on March DAX contract, and $50B on the June one.   Hmmmm

A $7.2B loss.   This doesn’t look like a rouge.   This looks like one poor patsy being forced to act the scapegoat for gang of bumbling arrogant fools.   Fire the CEO.   Fire the CFO.   Fire the entire trading management team.   Morons!

Collaboration 2.0
Oliver Marks has launched a new blog on ZD/Net called Collaboration 2.0 . It looks like it is definitely worth adding to your subscription list.

Oliver Marks has launched a new blog on ZD/Net called Collaboration 2.0 . It looks like it is definitely worth adding to your subscription list.

LinkedIn’s Innovation Engine - Light Engineering Deveployment
Every company needs to be able to generate a constant stream of innovations if they expect to generate above average profits. The trick is creating an organizational structure that generates that constant stream of innovation.   Google’s got their 20% of each engineers’ time.   LinkedIn has taken a different approach.   They have created a Light Engineering Development [...]

Every company needs to be able to generate a constant stream of innovations if they expect to generate above average profits.

The trick is creating an organizational structure that generates that constant stream of innovation.   Google’s got their 20% of each engineers’ time.   LinkedIn has taken a different approach.   They have created a Light Engineering Development team.   The L.E.D. team builds apps really quickly using Ruby on Rails.   And, they have managed to perfect the process of turning those 1-week turn-around apps into huge, highly scaled applications.

Dennis Howlett over at ZD/Net has just written an article about how LinkedIn used this process to build a Rails app that scaled to 1 Billion page views a month.

We’ve also released a video over at Joyent:

Happy Valentine's Day

Golfing for Inclusion: The Photos

Six Years and Counting

The Power of Dolls From Our Past
Many long-time doll collectors believe that we are most drawn to the dolls of our childhood. For me, those dolls would be the dolls of the 1960s and early 1970s--Barbie,...

Small Steps to a Bigger Problem

Clay and Tyra: Together Again!

Making Money Online By Writing Articles
Article marketing is a commonly used form of online or internet marketing. What with consumers worldwide being bombarded by hard-sell and sometimes exaggerated and fallacious ads on the Internet, serious advertisers choose to employ this method because it provides useful information to the consumers. At the same time enables the businesses to subtly but effectively [...]

Article marketing is a commonly used form of online or internet marketing. What with consumers worldwide being bombarded by hard-sell and sometimes exaggerated and fallacious ads on the Internet, serious advertisers choose to employ this method because it provides useful information to the consumers. At the same time enables the businesses to subtly but effectively sell their products and services.

Simply put, article marketing involves writing high-quality articles closely related to the product being promoted. These articles could then be submitted to article directories, social networks, forums, and blogs. The articles must contain active links, usually placed within an author box, going back to the original website. Thus, backlinks are increased, which is the objective for most other internet marketing campaigns. There are in fact hundreds of article directories on the internet, the main one being EzineArticles. Submitting a well written article to lots of different directories can easily pay off.

Article marketing especially plays a vital role in search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns. The generation of backlinks helps boost the ranking of the original websites on major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Keyword research and insertion is also employed by advertisers to increase website visitors and in turn, more buyers and profit.

Sad to say, the readiness of publishers to accept free content has been leading to poor-quality and duplicate content spreading all over the Internet. The substance of articles is being sacrificed by some in their goal to increase rankings.

Responsible marketing, however, should not be taken for granted because it has benefits that could not be matched. Good articles build a business’ credibility and establish visitor loyalty. Loyal visitors recommend products they trust and consumers listen to people they trust. When you write a good article, then you have a better chance of making people buy from you.

Tax Tips For Home Business Owners

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When it comes to owning a home business, there are lots of things that you are probably thinking about. First of all, the idea of staying at home for work is something that a lot of people dream of. The idea of being at ease with what you are doing, and feeling fee to do as you please is also something that a lot of people want to do, so you aren't alone. However, there are some things that you should keep in mind.

First of all, as you begin a home business one of the first things you should do is go and talk to an accountant. Remember that when you are employed by someone, your taxes are taken out of your pay, and all you have to do is to file them at the end of the year. However, with a home business you are the one who has to be in charge of doing taxes, and so it isn't going to get done for you.

That said, it can be something that is tricky to do. If you wait until the last minute, or if you do something that you aren't sure about, you might find that someone is able to rip you off, and if you are trying to file taxes on your own without knowing what you are doing you might end up spending much more money than you think you'll be spending.

So, the best thing that you can do is to visit someone who does this for a living. But make sure that it is someone who deals with home business owners on a regular basis, so that you can be sure you know what is going on and they do to. Another good option would be to find an accountant that comes well recommended. However, no matter what you find for an accountant, there is still a chance that they might rip you off as well.

The best thing that you can do is to find someone you trust to help you with your taxes, but never go into the situation without knowing what you are doing. Take a look at some tax courses and make sure that you are aware of what kinds of taxes you should be filing, and when you should be filing them. This is something that is very important for you to do because you want to be sure that you are able to get as much money back as you can and that you aren't paying too much. Many times owners of home businesses overpay because they simply don't know what they are doing, and you have to be sure that this isn't going to happen to you at all.

Study More About Review Of Wholesale-dress.net For Wholesale Apparel
Profile- Base Location: Zhejiang // China- Registration Fee: None- Minimum Order: None- Payment Options: Paypal (Credit Card), Money Booker, Western Union, Moneygram, Bank Wire Transfer- Shipping Options: EMS, TNT, China Post (*includes international)- Return Policy: No — Credits for Exchange- Validity: None Products- Quantity: 4000+- Unit Pricing: $1.46 - $224.50- Package Sizes: Individual Items- Category: [...]

Profile
- Base Location: Zhejiang // China
- Registration Fee: None
- Minimum Order: None
- Payment Options: Paypal (Credit Card), Money Booker, Western Union, Moneygram, Bank Wire Transfer
- Shipping Options: EMS, TNT, China Post (*includes international)
- Return Policy: No — Credits for Exchange
- Validity: None

Products
- Quantity: 4000+
- Unit Pricing: $1.46 - $224.50
- Package Sizes: Individual Items
- Category: Apparel - Women, Apparel - Children

Ratings
- Overall Impression (7.8/10) * Good
- Product Prices (7/10)
- Product Quality (7/10)
- Product Quantity (8/10)
- Reliability of Service (9/10) (* offers live online/telephone help)
- Impression of Website (8/10)

Review

Wholesale-Dress.Net is both a wholesale and dropship source that offers clothing for women and children. The items are mostly for women, but the website also offers maternity and children’s provider. It seems, however, that the website handles wholesale better. Dropshipping is available, but it involves a somewhat unusual process of depositing $200 in advance into your account, manually e-mailing the dropship order, and then confirming the order after your e-mail has been received. Of course, there’s always the chance that you will not sell $200 worth of items, unless you are serious and determined to work with this company. Thus, I would suggest testing out this provider with the wholesale option first, in order to experiment with how quickly the items sell and how much profit you can gain.

The next thing to examine, of course, is pricing. Some of the clothing is very low-priced, less than $2.00, and of good quality. Other clothing may be of good quality, but they are too high-priced to consider wholesale. Since there is such a large quantity of items, you will likely find products that are suitable for your store and goals, so you may want to take a look. The website makes the searching process easier by giving the option of arranging all items in a category by price, update, or time left in stock — either in ascending or descending order. However, the key thing to remember is that the shipping charges are likely to be rather high. Remember to keep that in your calculations as you consider what products to buy and what profit they may induce.

All in all, Wholesale-Dress.Net is a worthwhile wholesale source. Though, I would only suggest trying the dropship option if you are truly serious about working with this source. In general, this provider has good prices and quality of items, which is worth looking into. Just be careful about the shipping costs.

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Nokia 6300
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Samsung Ultra Smart F700
Phone phone screen touch... the subject came up about how Virginia basketball was perceived nationally. dailyprogress.com Samsung Debuts Ultra Smart F700 Touch Screen Phone At 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Samsung unveiled its Ultra Sma...




















Nokia N76
Nokia N76The Secret Vegas Hummer Footage: Crushing the Nokia N76..... The Secret Vegas Hummer Footage: Crushing the Nokia N76..... Mi mi ngi thng thc mn trnh din ca Nokia N76 :) Welcome . . . BRs, Duy Anh. blogname：Duy Anh’s blog ｜ 2007/...




















How To Market Your Home Business

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Everyone knows that marketing a home business is one of the trickiest things about having one. You have to be sure that you are doing it correctly, because no matter what your business is, chances are good that there are a lot of people who have home businesses that are going to be able to compete with yours. Because the Internet is open to everyone all over the world, you are going to find that it often comes down to people choosing the business that markets themselves the best.

Make Your Mark

So, how can you make your mark on the world and be sure that you are noticed? First of all, you have to have something that no one else does. Chances are good that other people have your same idea, unless you have come up with something that no one has ever heard of before. So, this means that there has to be something about your business that is unique, whether it is in your web site, the way that you do business, or the product that you are offering. You have to be sure that you can easily say that you have something no one else can offer, and that when you say this, you can actually mean it. If you can do this, you are going to be on the right track.

Market Market Market

Another thing that you have to be sure to do is to market yourself. No matter what you are doing, there is a place somewhere that is going to be able to market you. You have to rely on yourself and do your own research, and figure out where you can best market yourself. If you are just starting out, a good thing to do would be to search online for your product or service, and see what comes up. See what your competition is, and then figure out what they are doing to market themselves. Then, see where you can get your name out there and how you can make yourself known in the world where you want to be.

Another thing that you have to do is to get creative about how you market yourself. This could even be the thing that sets you apart from all the rest. If you can be sure that you really know what you are doing, you might be able to find your way to the top of something, and you might be able to be more of a success than you ever thought it would be possible for you to be. Get out there and market yourself, in the best way possible, and see if you can bring yourself to the forefront.

Top Internet Marketing Techniques
The Internet offers many means of affordable marketing, often with full-color imagery to go along with text. And multimedia components add some spice to the mix and increase online visitors and purchases. Here are some top Internet Marketingtechniques to help increase your sales and income. 1. DIRECTORY - Create your own directory on a specific industry [...]

The Internet offers many means of affordable marketing, often with full-color imagery to go along with text. And multimedia components add some spice to the mix and increase online visitors and purchases. Here are some top Internet Marketingtechniques to help increase your sales and income.

1. DIRECTORY - Create your own directory on a specific industry topic, placing your own ad or banner along the top. Then invite others to add their website links via a link exchange program, listing themselves in your directory. This will result in lots of free advertising for you as your directory expands with links across the World Wide Web. Enter “link exchange software” into your favorite search engine for help with setup.

2. TEACH A COURSE – Write out a simple step-by-step instructional class in your area of expertise. Then break it up into smaller segments and set them up in an autoresponder as email messages with your ads included at the top and / or bottom of each message. Invite website visitors to sign up through on online form or email subscription address offered through the autoresponder service. Then as people sign up, they will learn more about you and your products and services.

3. EZINE EBOOK – Forget about small daily or weekly ezines. Try publishing one large monthly e-zine as an e-book format, preferably an Adobe .pdf file. Include a large number of articles with each issue and regularly featured areas like inspirational quotes, industry tips, favorite sites and advice from the pros. Also insert full-color graphics, multimedia Online Marketing components like audio file links, if you like, and ads. Then you can charge a monthly rate, with an annual discounted package purchase, and sell advertising spots.

4. TIP OF THE DAY – Set up your own Tip of the Day targeting your own area of expertise, relating to your own products and services. You can set it up on your website in a targeted box, via autoresponder, a blog, an RSS feed, an audio file or others means of communication. Add your own ad along with your tip for whichever product or service you want to target or maybe even your own online store for all. This will gently remind your target audience where to go to learn more.

In summary, by using Marketing ng techniques customized to fit your own products and services, you can reach out and increase your website traffic and purchase opportunities. Internet marketing can mean a more affordable way to grow your business.

What Is Keyword Research?
Keyword research refers to a process in search engine optimizing whereby highly profitable keywords are discovered and used in content development or to market your website and offers. This is a very important aspect of search engine optimization and marketing of websites and offers. If you target the wrong keywords or keywords that are not [...]

Keyword research refers to a process in search engine optimizing whereby highly profitable keywords are discovered and used in content development or to market your website and offers. This is a very important aspect of search engine optimization and marketing of websites and offers. If you target the wrong keywords or keywords that are not profitable, you run the risks of jeopardizing your marketing campaigns. For example, if you are running PPC ads for your affiliate offers, you run the risks of losing money.

Developing content using the correct or profitable keywords is one of the best ways to get organic traffic off the search engines. If you have any idea on how people search for information online, you will understand why keyword research is so crucial. Basically, people look for information online by entering words or phrase into their favorite search engines such as Google, Yahoo or Live Search. The words or phrases that people seeking information online are termed as keywords.

Keywords can be further classified into short tailed keywords and long tailed keywords. Long tailed keywords are keyword phrases consisting normally of 4 keywords or more. The shorter the keyword the more competitive it is to get rank for that keyword. For example, if you type “Money” into the Google search engine, you will come up with a list of over a billion search results. Type “Make Money Online” and you will get a search results of 179 million results. Compare the two terms and you can see why the shorter the keyword, the more difficult it is to get rank for that keyword. That is why smart webmasters and internet marketers normally target keywords that are much longer and slowly work their way up to the main and short tailed keywords.

Proper keyword research is the key to getting keywords which will yield you the most profits and returns on your time and effort spent. There are many tools which you can used to find profitable keywords to capitalize on. I will touch on some of the best keyword research tools that you can used to find profitable keywords for your search engine optimization and marketing campaigns in a coming post. Just stay tune!

How Social Media Really Works
Great thoughts on building your products from A Whole Lotta Nothing: So maybe instead of getting your company on twitter, paying marketers to mention you are on twitter, and paying people to blog about your company, forget all that and just make awesome stuff that gets people excited about your products, hire people that represent the [...]

Great thoughts on building your products from A Whole Lotta Nothing:

So maybe instead of getting your company on twitter, paying marketers to mention you are on twitter, and paying people to blog about your company, forget all that and just make awesome stuff that gets people excited about your products, hire people that represent the company well, and when your stuff is so awesome that friends share it with other friends, you may not even need “social media marketing” after all.

(via Daring Fireball)

Work At Home Blog Income Report-March 2009
My second Blog Income Report is out. I was just reading a post on why some bloggers reveal their blog income while others just don’t. A little bragging some say, while others feel is to motivate others. But for me it’s simply sharing with others what I do - right or wrong so others may learn it [...]

My second Blog Income Report is out. I was just reading a post on why some bloggers reveal their blog income while others just don’t. A little bragging some say, while others feel is to motivate others. But for me it’s simply sharing with others what I do - right or wrong so others may learn it too. I really don’t think one should start sharing only when he is making big money . Did you know that in John Chow’s first Blog Income Report that he shared with his readers, he made just $300.00?

Work At Home Blog Statistics:

• 183 RSS Readers (167)
• 3637 visits (3188)
• 7172 Pageviews (6,945)
• Technorati Rank: 37,658 (37,135)
• Technorati Auth: 115 (118)
• Alexa: 73,652 (80763)
• Inbound links: 13,500 (13,071)

Traffic from search engines amounts to 41% (43) while referring sites and blogs contributed 36% (34%) and 23% (23%) come from direct traffic. I guess I’m quite pleased with the search engine traffic and it shows that my seo work on this blog is starting to take effect.

Blog Income:

• Private Advertising: $50 ($12)
• Third Party Ads: $72.92 ($28.72)
• Reviews: $44.00
• Clickbank Sales/Affiliate: $30.68 (CBproAds)
• Clickbank paycheck (past mths/take earnings):$101.60

Total Revenue: $299.20 ($208.74)

Blog Advertising particularly private ads continue to generate my blog income and it’s my favorite means to make money blogging on blog, because it’s relatively simpler than others.  Again I can’t help mentioning OIO Publishing for making things a lot easier for me to do so. I’d like to thank everyone who may have purchased advertising or contributed to my blog income one way or another. In fact, one person who did, recently joined this community and is now commenting on this blog. What an excellent way to get to know one another

Last month I mentioned my immediate focus was to increase my affiliate commission and I found an alternative to Google Adsense for this blog towards the end of February. Well it turns out to be a very good affiliate program after all. Just after one month I now have 6 affiliate members (1 paid) and it contributed $30.68  to my March blog income. It does live up to its Google Adsense Alternative name.

This month, I decided to take in the earnings from Clickbank after having left it there and almost forgotten about it because it was such a forgettable amount. But after having some sales from CBproAds, I decided to take earnings. I’ll just savor the moment in March, sort of giving me some motivation to do better in April. Here is a screenshot:

How much money did you make off your blog in March?

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Beer and Investing
I normally don’t post jokes, but my sister sent me this and I thought it was quite appropriate for the times. If you had purchased $1,000 of AIG stock one year ago…you would have $42 left. Lehman Bros… $6.60 left… Fannie or Freddie… You would have less then $5 left. BUT, [...]

I normally don’t post jokes, but my sister sent me this and I thought it was quite appropriate for the times.

If you had purchased $1,000 of AIG stock one year ago…you would have $42 left. Lehman Bros… $6.60 left… Fannie or Freddie… You would have less then $5 left. BUT, If you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all of the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND, you would have $214 left. Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle. It’s called the 401-Keg plan.

I’m not sure of the source, but you have to admit it’s funny!

John Kerry Proves Once Again He’s an Idiot
Democrats have a host of idiots to draw from in their effort to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. John Kerry is no exception to this rule. In an effort to quickly confirm the allegations that liberals hold appeasement as their primary weapon against national security threats Senator John Kerry reveals Democrats are [...]

Democrats have a host of idiots to draw from in their effort to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. John Kerry is no exception to this rule. In an effort to quickly confirm the allegations that liberals hold appeasement as their primary weapon against national security threats Senator John Kerry reveals Democrats are ready, willing and able to cave to accusations by the “Muslim world’ that the big bad old US needs to ‘forge ties’ with same. For all those who never cease to find time to criticize the Bush Administration’s eight years in office kindly remember we have not been attacked since September 11, 2001. ‘We share your aspirations’ is a quote from Mr Kerry. The problem is Mr Kerry may not be completely up to speed on what those aspirations are. To broadly state that the US wants to ‘forge better ties’ with the ‘Muslim world’ assumes that all Muslims share common aspirations. Are liberals so ignorant as to think ALL Muslims think alike? Are they silly enough to assume a generalization like that? Name one group where all members of the set think exactly alike on any issue or topic. This is part of the Obama brain trust who is the Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. What is worse? That Kerry could have won in 2004 or Obama winning in 2008?

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

By Deborah Tate Washington February 2009

The chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, is calling for a new chapter in America’s relationship with the Muslim world. Kerry chaired a hearing Thursday to explore ways to forge better ties with the Muslim world.

Senator Kerry opened the hearing by echoing President Barack Obama’s call for better ties with the Muslim world. “We share your aspirations for freedom, dignity, justice and security. We are ready to listen, learn, and honor the president’s commitment to approach the Muslim world with a spirit of mutual respect,” he said.

Kerry called on Americans to do their part to ease the climate of fear and distrust that followed the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. “If we truly want to empower Muslim moderates, we must also stop tolerating the casual Islamophobia that has seeped into our political discourse since 9/11,” he said.

The senator, who recently returned from a trip to Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza, called for expanding educational exchanges between the United States and the Muslim world and for greater funding to promote Americans’ foreign language capabilities.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was among those who testified at the hearing. “Our engagement with Muslim communities should include explicit support for democracy. This preference need not be heavy handed, but neither should it be so timid as to be inaudible,” she said.

Dalia Mogahed, executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, discussed Muslim perceptions of the United States gleaned by international surveys of done by her organization.

She said detainee abuses at hands of U.S. personnel in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the U.S. detention center Guantanamo Bay, Cuba hurt America’s image in the Muslim world. She said most Muslims believe the U.S. invasion of Iraq did more harm than good, and that very few Muslims believe the United States takes an even-handed approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Mogahed says many Muslims admire what they say are universal values practiced so well in the west, including good governance and self-determination, as well as human rights. But she says they are skeptical as to the United States’ true intentions in promoting these values in their region.

“Ironically, it stems from the perception that we do not live the values that they so admire about us in our treatment of them - rule of law, self-determination, and human rights. Many believe that the U.S. is denying Muslims these rights by supporting dictatorships, direct occupation of Muslim lands, and what is seen as passive support for Israeli violence,” she said.

Mogahed says Muslim Americans could play an important role in helping improve U.S. ties with the Muslim world.

Mr President: Think Cold War II (test to follow)
This month President Barack Obama caused the eyes of many to glaze over with his wandering message expressing an interest in a world free of nuclear weapons. Those who applauded the announcement were from one of three groups. Those who share membership in the not so exclusive nuclear club of planet Earth or wannabees who [...]

This month President Barack Obama caused the eyes of many to glaze over with his wandering message expressing an interest in a world free of nuclear weapons. Those who applauded the announcement were from one of three groups. Those who share membership in the not so exclusive nuclear club of planet Earth or wannabees who are delighted the new American President will try to disarm the US. Or uber liberals with reality issues who still believe surrender and appeasement will bring peace to the world. Or really nice folks who thought it impolite not to applaud the person on stage accepting blame for everything on behalf of the country he represents.

Yo Barry. Here’s a heads up for you. Most people accept the events in history that led to the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, China and France being the original, and for a time only, members of the group known as the Nuclear Club. Well, except maybe for France, but that’s another story. They’re the same ones who support the US strategy in Afghanistan but won’t send troops or ones that can fight. Oh ya, and they’re the ones like some others in the EU who support the G20 idea of providing a trillion in stimulus but are fine with the US contributing more than their share. And apparently, Mr Obama, you agree.

In addition to the original members of the Nuclear Club are India and Pakistan. Just like Iran and North Korea now, no one had a clue how to prevent these two countries from joining. And there are about a dozen other countries included in discussions of who has the ability to go nuclear. (Israel’s ability is assumed but not declared ) So the number is at or approaching a couple of dozen. Are you following this so far, Mr President?

If you understand the previous few paragraphs then why the hell are you making these public statements about a nuclear free world? This is one time most Americans would hope you are offering another promise you will break. Otherwise one can only assume the pressure is getting to you and you’re losing it. If the problem was so simple to solve and all the people of the planet could get along as you and your followers believe, don’t you expect it would have been achieved by now? Has it ever occurred to you that the reason the problem has not been corrected is that no one has the answer yet? It is fair to assume that what was once feared as the ultimate fate of a nuclear armed Earth still remains.

But a likely alternative expectation, given the UN’s typical failure to respond to the DPRK’s missile launch, is that with proper handling avoiding catastrophe can be achieved in much the same way as it was in the past. All parties will be attracted to their nuclear power of choice while the nuke powers will maintain a balance still based on mutual assured destruction if the worst would happen. At some point thereafter this game will be exhausted and other circumstances yet to arrive will cause nations of the world to abandon this stupidity. Not because we will then be wiser but some other equally scary threat will require extraordinary cooperation between all the people on this planet in order to survive. And no, Mr Gore, it’s not Global Scamming Warming. It’s those peaceful Muslims carrying suitcases. (hint, hint)

We may then have a taste of peace long enough to become addicted to its benefits. But it won’t happen due to some idealistic fantasy that we can all get along because that is the way ti is supposed to be. That may come within time but for now you are trying to put the cart before the horse at best or transforming the human race to an endangered species at worst. Starting with the United States for whom you took an oath. It may be time for you to read it again for the first time.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.comonline casino

Rep Lowey’s Ambivalent Global Warming Resolution
A resolution dated April 22, 2009 sponsored by Rep Nita Lowey (D-NY) and at the time of this writing co-sponsored by no one was presented at The Hill dot com’s Congress Blog by its author.  Dismissing those who do not share her view on global warming as ‘deniers’ Lowey injects plenty of insulting rhetoric but [...]

A resolution dated April 22, 2009 sponsored by Rep Nita Lowey (D-NY) and at the time of this writing co-sponsored by no one was presented at The Hill dot com’s Congress Blog by its author.  Dismissing those who do not share her view on global warming as ‘deniers’ Lowey injects plenty of insulting rhetoric but appears to expect anyone reading her post (which is crossposted at HuffPo) to take her claim on faith.  Lowey claims the evidence for global warming caused by humans is ‘conclusive’.  But of course no details or links are provided to make her case.

The First Step is Admitting You Have a Problem (Rep. Nita Lowey)
April 22nd, 2009

In the past month, the House Minority Leader called the idea that carbon dioxide - a greenhouse gas and known carcinogen - is dangerous “almost comical,” and members of his party suggested that the planet is actually cooling and “carbon-starved” and invited a global warming denier as a public witness to a Congressional hearing on the topic.

As anyone with experience with recovery knows, the first step in addressing a crisis is to admit that you have a problem. Unfortunately, these displays and others make it increasingly clear that, despite conclusive scientific evidence on the existence of global warming and the human role, some elected officials refuse to take Step 1.
As Congress begins the process of legislating to protect humans and ecosystems from the effects of global warming, I believe we need a “temperature check.”

It is interesting that Rep Nita Lowey makes the statements above with such conviction. Yet the resolution she authored and introduced in Congress April 22nd in stark contrast has no such confidence.  She offers seven ‘whereas’ statements which list her arguments supporting that human activity causes global warming.   But twice she is only mildly hinting that such is the case with two statements.  ‘Recognizing that the climate system of the Earth is warming and that most of the increase in global average temperatures is very likely due to the observed increase in human greenhouse gas emissions.’  And ‘Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives– (1) recognizes that the climate system of the Earth is warming and that most of the increase in global average temperatures is very likely due to the  observed increase in human greenhouse gas emissions; and (2) recognizes legislation is needed to mitigate risks humans and ecosystems face from a warming climate  system.’

Seven details in an effort to support her claim that we are causing global warming followed by two statements in her conclusion that this is ‘very likely’ rather than something reflecting she is convinced by her own argument.  Maybe she missed arguments to the contrary or in her zeal to support her political party dismissed everyone that disagrees as a ‘denier’.  There was an article in the Politico which offered the following last November.

Scientists urge caution on global warming
By: Erika Lovley
November 25, 2008 04:48 AM EST

Climate change skeptics on Capitol Hill are quietly watching a growing accumulation of global cooling science and other findings that could signal that the science behind global warming may still be too shaky to warrant cap-and-trade legislation.

There are scientists on both sides of this issue.  Another excerpt from the same article points out one example.

Armed with statistics from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climate Data Center, D’Aleo reported in the 2009 Old Farmer’s Almanac that the U.S. annual mean temperature has fluctuated for decades and has only risen 0.21 degrees since 1930 — which he says is caused by fluctuating solar activity levels and ocean temperatures, not carbon emissions.

The article also stated ‘most’ scientific bodies support the notion of global warming and our involvement in it.  Organizations may not reflect the opinion of everyone connected to their organizations.  But over 30,000 scientists who signed the Petition Project since 1998 make an even stronger case than global warming or cooling. They have objected to the idea that the debate is over and the science is done.  That presents an intelligent and reasonable conclusion.  Science has always been about continuing the pursuit and regularly challenging theories and discoveries.  Galileo risked his life for that pursuit as did others.  Some people take science seriously.  Here’s a snapshot of what the project and the signers are ‘about’.

The purpose of the Petition Project is to demonstrate that the claim of “settled science” and an overwhelming “consensus” in favor of the hypothesis of human-caused global warming and consequent climatological damage is wrong. No such consensus or settled science exists. As indicated by the petition text and signatory list, a very large number of American scientists reject this hypothesis.

In contrast to that and published in 1992 the Union of Concerned Scientists which boasts 250,000 members including scientists and ordinary citizens offered their National Call to Action on Global Warming which proposes essentially taking all sorts of steps to eliminate human causes of global warming.  For an organization that gives at least some impression of being science related they have a troubling list of organizations supporting their position.  That list may have a political agenda or at least be characterized as special interest.  Or another way of putting it is lobbyists.  Decide for yourself, here’s the list.

Organizations Endorsing the National Call to Action on Global Warming:

1Sky * ACORN * Alliance for Climate Protection * Audubon * Catholic Healthcare West * Center for International Environmental Law * Ceres * Clean Water Action * Climate Law and Policy Project * Climate Protection Campaign * Climate Solutions * Defenders of Wildlife * Democracia USA * Earthjustice * Eco-Equity * Ecology Center * Energize America * Energy Action Coalition * Environment America * Environment and Energy Study Institute * Environment Northeast * Environmental Law and Policy Center * Green for All * Greenpeace * Health Professionals for Clean Air * Hip Hop Caucus * ICLEI USA * Insitute for Agriculture and Trade Policy * Interfaith Power and Light * International Forum on Globalization * Kyoto USA * League of Conservation Voters * League of Women Voters * League of Young Voters * Massachusetts Climate Action Network * National Hispanic Environmental Council * National Teach-In on Global Warming Solutions * National Wildlife Federation * Oceana * Oxfam * Physicians for Social Responsibility * Progressive Future * Public Citizen * Religious Witness for the Earth * Rock the Vote * SEED Coalition * Sierra Club * Southern Alliance for Clean Energy * Teleosis Institute * The Humane Society of the United States * The Student Public Interest Research Groups * The Wilderness Society * Union of Concerned Scientists

This post does not suggest global warming does or does not exist.  It does not even suggest whether humans are or are not responsible in whole or in part.  But this is what it does suggest.  Those who dismiss opposing viewpoints are ignoring scientific method.  Just because you may want the argument resolved or that it would be expedient does not gurantee the science will support it or be available now.

As stated earlier in this post, Lowey is not even convinced it is real.  That is why pursuing legislation based on the SWAG method is ridiculous.  Check your politics and special interest agendas at the door.  Causing panic to rush to legislation is a very good sign the proposal is flawed.  That is what the science should help you avoid.  Listen to the more than 30,000 scientists telling you the answer is not here yet.

Stanford Matthews
Morewhat.com

Sarah Palin Slammed by Bloodsucking NEA
This is rich. An organization who never saw a tax dollar they didn’t like, especially when it is spent on them, the NEA, has audacity greater than President Obama to criticize Governor Sarah Palin in a story indicating she is rejecting stimulus money. From the people who brought you flat line educational performance that cannot compete [...]

This is rich. An organization who never saw a tax dollar they didn’t like, especially when it is spent on them, the NEA, has audacity greater than President Obama to criticize Governor Sarah Palin in a story indicating she is rejecting stimulus money.

From the people who brought you flat line educational performance that cannot compete on a global scale they claim as the justification for unrestrained spending comes a criticism of a Governor who may say no to liberals.

“Logic-defying, dumb-founding, short-sighted – and a slap in the face to parents, children and educators across Alaska.” That’s how the National Education Association of Alaska is describing Governor Palin’s decision to reject more than $160 million of federal stimulus funds for Alaska education.

“Governor Palin has deliberately chosen to ignore the education needs of tens of thousands of children across Alaska. Her attempt to score short term gains will have long-term, dire consequences for our students and educators,” said Barb Angaiak, President of NEA-Alaska.

“Her message to our children is callously blunt: ‘In the interests of my political agenda, you’re on your own.’ The governor’s decision is unacceptable to the 13,000 members of NEA-Alaska – and it will be unacceptable to parents, students and all who are concerned about education in our state. Programs will be cut and class sizes will increase. And Governor Palin has rejected millions of dollars that would be used to improve the lives of some of our most vulnerable children with disabilities or in need of special education programs.”

“The Governor tells us making Alaska an education leader is a priority. Then she says she will reject federal government funding to support our schools and educators,” Angaiak said.

There is an abundance of reports in the news slamming Gov Sarah Palin for rejecting at least some of the stimulus package funding. The first thing those who criticize ignore is that all government funding comes from taxpayers. The second thing they forget is that many who receive benefit from such funding have contributed little or nothing to the public coffers. It is evidence in the case of the National Education Association pointing to their dismal record on teaching. The math suggests the enormous debt facing this country will hamstring future generations more than ever before in history. Yet they charge Palin with short-sighted political motives for rejecting the cash. Yet they would take the money now, or anytime, regardless of the consequences. They also claim Palin’s rejection of funds will have long term negative effects on education in Alaska but fail to mention the long term negative effects of the national debt and deficit spending. Who has the real vision problem?

In addition to $160 million in education related funds, $50 million in energy related spending was reported to be rejected by Palin. Where is the NEA outrage over that? Oh, that’s right, it doesn’t count as it shouldn’t find its way to their pockets.

If the NEA wants to hold someone accountable they should invest in a mirror. But that would require another tax increase. The data exposing their failure year after year is out there for everyone to see. Yet they can only slam those who may question education spending that continues to increase while education results continue to flat line or decrease.

At the very least the NEA and teachers who support it are hypocrites. Just another special interest group lobbying for taxpayer money to fill their own pockets.

Stanford Matthews
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Obama, Race and Durban II
More on the Obama Adminisration and troubling trends are in the news. It is not a surprise nor necessarily atypical for a President of one political party to undo that of a former President of another party. The Obama Administration rescinded the Mexico City Policy ban on funding foreign abortions which has a [...]

More on the Obama Adminisration and troubling trends are in the news. It is not a surprise nor necessarily atypical for a President of one political party to undo that of a former President of another party. The Obama Administration rescinded the Mexico City Policy ban on funding foreign abortions which has a history of reversals with each change in President of the opposing party. He appeared to be reversing policy on Gitmo but the jury is still out on that one. And the liberal fringe is not happy about the new President’s action or inaction on Iraq and Afghanistan or some other matters.

Does it seem odd to you that the President Obama’s first foreign trip was to Canada while his new Secretary of State headed for Indonesia and China and the rest of Asia? It is not unlike an opinion voiced by Rush Limbaugh on news the President does not favor the Fairness Doctrine. El Rushbo suggests we should not be optimistic about the news in that Obama did not say something like he would not sign or would veto such legislation. Alternatively, Limbaugh suggested it as a trait of the new liberal President to not spend political capital when he can get others to do it. That may also explain his trip to Canada. And Hillary is simply trying to add to her lacking resume’ for 2012. But Canada is boycotting Durban II. Hmmm.

That brings us to this issue, Durban II. The US and Israel were the only countries to vote against it in 2001 or beyond. Now that Obama is in office funny how the UN’s agenda on race again takes center stage. In the past there was the suggestion that opponents of Israel would use the opportunity to gain advantage by using international events to portray Israel and/or the US as racist. Given Obama and Holder’s notable quotes on the topic this may be of some concern to the public at large. Another reversal of Bush 43 policy which may also prove to be dangerous.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Op-Ed: Boycott Durban II

Jewish Telegraphic Agency, NY - Feb 18, 2009
The April 2009 Durban II conference promises to top that fiasco, despite the Obama administration’s decision to attempt to influence the process. …

Can the United States fix Durban II?

Reuters - Feb 18, 2009
Israel and Canada have already announced they would boycott “Durban II,” as the conference is being called, and the Bush administration was opposed to the …

Obama officials meet US Jews to explain their Durban II policy

Human Rights Tribune, Switzerland - Feb 18, 2009
Jerusalem fears that the “Durban II” summit, set to be held in Geneva this April, will be used by Arab nations and others as a forum to criticize Israel as …

Light from the Global Warming Crowd
That 2014 is the current deadline for phasing out conventional incandescent lamps in the US makes a recent chronology appear eerie or at least a spectacular coincidence. A few days ago I read a post at Right Truth regarding Debbie’s experience with the dreaded CFL, or compact fluorescent lamps, that are to replace the conventional incandescent [...]

That 2014 is the current deadline for phasing out conventional incandescent lamps in the US makes a recent chronology appear eerie or at least a spectacular coincidence.

A few days ago I read a post at Right Truth regarding Debbie’s experience with the dreaded CFL, or compact fluorescent lamps, that are to replace the conventional incandescent variety. Several times I postponed purchasing replacement lamps determining I could wait until at least the next one to expire met its fate.

After reading the post at Right Truth, go figure, an incandescent lamp in my house failed that evening. I said as much in a comment on Debbie’s blog. As it sits now, related to that I had decided to offer some posts promoting George Will’s columns after reading one entitled ‘The Toxic Assets We Elected.’ You’ll understand why I am offering the suggestion to read another George Will column today when you read the excerpt below.

Okay, it’s another timely, skillful, refreshing contribution from an accomplished individual worth reading. But it has the added value of fitting the uncanny chronology described earlier.

Climate Change’s Dim Bulbs
Written by George F. Will, Washington Post
Thursday, 02 April 2009

The story recounted some Americans’ misadventures with the new light bulbs that almost all Americans — all but those who are filling their closets with supplies of today’s incandescent bulbs — will have to use after the phaseout of today’s bulbs in 2014. (You missed that provision of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007?)

A San Francisco — naturally — couple emerged from Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth” incandescent with desire to think globally and act locally, in their home. So they replaced their incandescent bulbs with the compact fluorescents that Congress says must soon be ubiquitous. “Instead of having a satisfying green moment, however,” the Times reported, “they wound up coping with a mess.”

And some want the same people who brought you global warming to manage your healthcare. Now that’s scary.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

radompages added website to StumbleUpon favorites
Comparison of Home based Backup to Online Backup : Techie Zone&|&Life is all about Computer, Internet, Gadgets and Fun
submitted by radompages

radompages added website to StumbleUpon favorites
Comparison of Home based Backup to Online Backup : Techie Zone&|&Life is all about Computer, Internet, Gadgets and Fun
submitted by radompages

Your result for The Which Lolcat Are You? Test...

Sad Cookie Cat

60% Affectionate, 41% Excitable, 69% Hungry

Take The Which Lolcat Are You? Test at HelloQuizzy

Lets hope these videos work! Nate's recent skateboarding videos.

Can you save the Poor, Dead Furbies??

If my life were not so full, I would so go for this job. I could see myself working up to doing layouts here. I wish everything wasn't in Syracuse, though.

http://syracuse.craigslist.org/mnu/547722010.html

Local print shop has a first shift opening Monday thru Friday. We don't work weekends. We seek a person who is neat and dependable with some mechanical aptitude and a good work record. We specialize in fast turn-around times and provide quality products designed to exceed the customer's expectations. You would be trained on how to cut down business cards, box and ship them using a computer set up for this. You also would make rubber stamps and put away stock. You need to be able to lift 50 pounds of paper. Light housekeeping is also part of this job.
After a few months we would start training you to become a press operator. You would learn how to print one and two color business cards , letterhead, envelopes, announcements and other products that we sell. Older workers are encouraged to apply.
Benefits include - health insurance and 8 paid holidays. We also offer 5 paid shutdown days per year that occur during major holiday weekends. This works out to be five 4-day weekends per year.


I don't know who else may have watched ER last night, but I was nopt expecting THAT. I have been watching since the beginning, 14 years ago! And this one really got me. Yes, I cried. A lot.



I can NEVER post here. It never loads. Ack.

All I ask for....
is a smidgen of recognition.

Speaking At php|works In Atlanta
Next week, I’ll be speaking at php|works and PyWorks in Atlanta on Representational State Transfer (REST). My talk is in the general track this time, so it’s good for both the PHP and Python audiences who will be attending the conference. I’ve already invited the Atlanta PHP community, and if you’ll be in the Atlanta area, [...]

URL Rewriting

An awesome assembly from Tom at Seablick comes to our help and makes it easy to rewrite URLs in an ASP.NET application. Love it.

Firewall!!!

Here is my Great Firewall. I don't think any bad guys can get pass Qui-Gon and ObeVan

CDNUG this lunch time
It is time for me to come out of my cave and have a look at what's this fuss about Silverlight (don't throw stones please). I will be at the King O'Malley's Irish Pub today lunch time to listen Greg Harris explaining "Next Generation Silverlight Web Apps" at the Canberra .NET User Group.

By the way winter is almost here in Canberra. I had to put on 2 polars this morning to feel warm. Given that my thyroids are missing, I am feeling much colder than a usual person. Brrrrrr.


For the love of country
The author's son and friends share a laugh during basic training.

ZendCon 2008 Slides
See below for the slides from my Distribution and Publication With Atom Web Services talk given at the 2008 Zend PHP Conference and Expo in Santa Clara, CA. As we move toward “Web 3.0,” the Web is slowly transforming into a platform upon which massively distributed applications run. Rich clients turn personal computers into thin clients, [...]

HTTP Status: 100 Continue Corrections
Last year, I wrote about the 100 Continue HTTP status code and the usage of the Expect header with the 100-continue expect value. However, I made a few erroneous statements, and a reader recently corrected me on them. So, I’m writing now to correct those statements so that I’m not misleading anymore readers. The incorrect statements [...]

Atlanta PHP 11/08 Meeting
I usually don’t announce Atlanta PHP meetings from my blog, but given the short notice, I figured that greater exposure would be best, so here we go… When: Thursday, November 6, 2008—7pm-9pm Where: Consulate General of Canada November Topic: Got a problem? We’ve got answers! Got a bug that’s been nagging you for hours? How about a feature that [...]

Manage Multiple Network Configurations with NetSetMan
If you use different network connection on your laptop or computer at office and at home, then switching between the different networks is a tiring task. NetSetMan is a free application for Windows which can easily switch between 6 different network profiles quickly. NetSetMan is a network settings manager utility which can easily change your [...]

If you use different network connection on your laptop or computer at office and at home, then switching between the different networks is a tiring task. NetSetMan is a free application for Windows which can easily switch between 6 different network profiles quickly. NetSetMan is a network settings manager utility which can easily change your network settings.

Img Credit:NetsetMan

You can configure settings for the following options for 6 networks;

• IP Address
• Subnet Mask
• Default Gateway
• DNS Server
• WINS Server
• Computer Name
• Workgroup
• DNS Domain
• Default Printer
• Network Drives
• NIC Status
• SMTP Server
• Hosts File Entries
• Scripts

You can see the networks and overview of the IPs from the system tray.

Since all settings and changes are saved automatically in a separate file (settings.ini), you can do a backup or transfer from one PC to another.

NetSetMan is a freeware for non-commercial use only, if you need to use it at office, you need to get a PRO version which also offers more features.

Download NetSetMan

Instant Messaging with Language Translation- MeGlobe
MeGlobe is an instant messaging application which can provide you with language translations. With this option, you can chat with friends who don’t know English or the language you speak. Currently MeGlobe supports Yahoo, MSN and AIM instant messaging services. It has a desktop client as well as a web interface which provides you with [...]

MeGlobe is an instant messaging application which can provide you with language translations. With this option, you can chat with friends who don’t know English or the language you speak. Currently MeGlobe supports Yahoo, MSN and AIM instant messaging services. It has a desktop client as well as a web interface which provides you with language translation in instant messaging.

You need to sign up with the service to add your instant messaging service. Once you have logged into the account, you can add your Yahoo, MSN or AIM account. Whenever you want to start a conversation with a friend, you can set his/her language.

You can also set your language in the right hand side options. The Instant messenger has a build in translator where in you can select the language to translate and then start typing. The translator will return you whatever you have typed in the language selected.

MeGlobe provides real time translation into 15 different languages. MeGlobe was built to reduce language barriers from online communication. The web client lets you type in your own language, but sends a translated version, in near real time, specific to the native tongue of whomever you are chatting with.

So if you have non-English speaking friends, MeGlobe is definitely worth a try. If you want to try out the desktop application, you need to install Adobe Air runtime. MeGlobe is compatible with Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari and Opera browsers.

MeGlobe Home Page

Create Free Animated Loading GIF Images with Preloaders
If you wanted to create free animated GIF images to show any loading of websites or content, then Preloaders is a site worth trying. Preloaders is a free web service which allows you to create free GIF images to show loading. There are various categories of images to chose from like rectangle, circular, horizontal, 3D [...]

If you wanted to create free animated GIF images to show any loading of websites or content, then Preloaders is a site worth trying. Preloaders is a free web service which allows you to create free GIF images to show loading. There are various categories of images to chose from like rectangle, circular, horizontal, 3D images etc. These categories contains various predefined loading images.

Once you have select a particular image from a category, you can customize the background color, foreground color, size of the image and also the animation speed. Here are some of the loading GIF images created using this tool.

Once you have done with the customizations, you can download the file to your desktop. These images can also be used for application developments to show loading.

Preloaders Home Page

Encrypt Files with WinFileCrypt
WinFileCrypt is a simple free Win32 application to encrypt and checksum files of any size. It does not require any installation and can be run from an USB and uses 3DES cipher-block-chained encryption, with a 128 bit key. It is very simple to protect your personal and confidential files with this encryption program. You can [...]

WinFileCrypt is a simple free Win32 application to encrypt and checksum files of any size. It does not require any installation and can be run from an USB and uses 3DES cipher-block-chained encryption, with a 128 bit key. It is very simple to protect your personal and confidential files with this encryption program.

You can drag and drop file names to the application, specify the encrypt key and then click the button to encrypt the file.

When you want to decrypt the file, you need to specify the key provided while decrypting. Sine this application does not require any install, you can send the encrypted files in email as well.

WinFileCrypt is a very simple utility and if you are trying out encryption, please take a back up of the original file.

Download WinFileCrypt

Link Scanner for Firefox and IE from AVG
AVG has released a new Link Scanner which is available as a add-in for both Firefox and IE to check the safety of links on the fly. AVG LinkScanner offers safety rankings for all search results on Google, Yahoo, and MSN. The pages which are safe in searches will have green check marks next to [...]

AVG has released a new Link Scanner which is available as a add-in for both Firefox and IE to check the safety of links on the fly. AVG LinkScanner offers safety rankings for all search results on Google, Yahoo, and MSN. The pages which are safe in searches will have green check marks next to them and unsafe ones will have red “X” and a pop up windows offer more information on why it is unsafe.

Img Credit: Webware

Apart from this, Link Scanner also does the scanning of all links in bookmarks, email and Instant messengers. The scanning happens internally and will not effect the speed of searching.

The active search shield will prevent you from navigating to vulnerable sites when you type in the URL in the browser. Link Scanner works silently in the back ground and does not directly effect your browsing experience, but at the same time warns you about threats in links.

Link Scanner works with most popular Windows OS including Win2k, XP, Vista (32 &64 bit) and Internet Explorer (6.0+) and Firefox (2.0+) browsers.

Download Link Scanner [via]

Extract Text from PDF Files with A-PDF Text Extractor
A-PDF Text Extractor is a free application which can extract text from PDF files, so that you can use it elsewhere. The program is a standalone application and does not require Acrobat reader to be installed. For converting PDF to text, the PDF file formatting should have text and not images. There are three mode [...]

A-PDF Text Extractor is a free application which can extract text from PDF files, so that you can use it elsewhere. The program is a standalone application and does not require Acrobat reader to be installed. For converting PDF to text, the PDF file formatting should have text and not images. There are three mode of output text: In PDF Order, Smart Rearrange and With Position.

In the conversion test we did, the conversion of PDF to Text is very fast even though the PDF had more than 200 pages. There are three modes of conversion, In PDF Order which follow the inner order of PDF files, Smart Rearrange, which will rearrange text based on the position and With Position where in output text with positions. The mode of conversion can be selected from the options menu.

With this utility you can also selectively extract text based on page numbers. A-PDF Text Extractor will help you easily get the text from a PDF file, but at the same time this application will not be able to extract text from protected PDF files.

Download A-PDF Text Extractor

Keyword Placement in Title Tag Case Study for SEO consulting
According to search ranking factors done by SEOmoz, your keyword in your title tag is the upmost importance, but the placement of that keyword in your title tag has been debated. Some believe that placing your branding first and then kewyords in your title tag causes little or no difference when optimizing a page in [...]

According to search ranking factors done by SEOmoz, your keyword in your title tag is the upmost importance, but the placement of that keyword in your title tag has been debated. Some believe that placing your branding first and then kewyords in your title tag causes little or no difference when optimizing a page in the SERPS. I am going to finally uncover this once and for all. (more…)

Rewrites Are Like Moving
Moving is one of those things that (hopefully) we don’t have to do that often; it takes a lot of time and energy plus it is a real pain in the behind. But, every so often we have to pick up stakes and when we do, we’re usually amazed at just how much stuff we’ve [...]

Moving is one of those things that (hopefully) we don’t have to do that often; it takes a lot of time and energy plus it is a real pain in the behind. But, every so often we have to pick up stakes and when we do, we’re usually amazed at just how much stuff we’ve accumulated. This is particularly obvious when you’re in college - I distinctly remember packing for the summer wondering how the heck I’d get it all home; I’d only needed one trip up in the fall, why would I need so many in the spring? And then it would occur to me. I’d made several trips during the year, where I’d innocently bring one or two items, maybe even a bag of stuff. Over time, the bits built up.

Software works the same way. Over time, a feature is added here, refined there and before you know you’ve got a mature product. And a messy codebase. Eventually this will lead to a rewrite often accompanied by a technology change of some sort or another (this time we’ll get it right!) Rewrites can be pretty good projects but they’re not without their perils. For one, customers usually won’t spend much time defining requirements. I’ve often heard “it needs to work just like the old system…only better” with better being some vague hand-waving around a pet peeve or two.

In addition to vague requirements, rewrites tend to suffer from estimation fatigue. Customers are convinced that they need to have all of the old system’s functionality (plus all the new doodads they thought up over the last 20 plus years) and they need to have it *right now*. Like my college aged self in the spring, many customers loose site of the gradual build up in functionality of the existing systems and many will insist that the new one won’t be useful until it fully replicates the old. That last statement doesn’t hold water but good luck convincing someone that feels otherwise; the old system didn’t have all its features on day one either but that’s not the anchor point for the people asking for the new system.

Rewrites are an excellent opportunity to do some process reengineering and, if done right, usually results in a vastly improved workflow. Of course this requires us to look past the angry monkeys in our systems and think of how things could be rather than how they currently are. This step is often skipped though, and we simply end up further codifying the legacy approach. But at least it’s in a new technology stack.

Whenever I’ve moved, I’ve used it as an excuse to prune some of the stuff I’ve accumulated over the years (hint - look for boxes that you didn’t unpack the last time you relocated.) When you encounter a rewrite, see if you can’t do the same, try to eliminate some features, reports or screens. Most customers will scream bloody murder when you suggest clipping things, but half a product beats half-assed any day of the week. Writing code is like writing prose, the important bits are the ones you cut - applying this approach leaves you with a smaller codebase that’s easier to maintain. Besides, the code we don’t write is bug free.

So, next time you’re staring a rewrite in the face, see if you can’t cut some of the detritus; odds are you don’t really need all 283 “views.” But instead of using words like eliminate, try defer - most customers will see that as less scary. Be sure to remind them that you can always add that in later when you have a better sense of what you actually need. Odds are those “must haves” will slip quietly to the bottom of the backlog.

Speaking at TSS JS
March is a busy month on the conference circuit - in addition to speaking at QCon London, I’ll be at TheServerSide.com’s Java Symposium talking about DSLs in JavaScript (yes Virginia, there’s a real programming language in there.) They’ve lined up some great speakers - should be an amazing show!

March is a busy month on the conference circuit - in addition to speaking at QCon London, I’ll be at TheServerSide.com’s Java Symposium talking about DSLs in JavaScript (yes Virginia, there’s a real programming language in there.) They’ve lined up some great speakers - should be an amazing show!

Happy freaking Birthday Rebecca Kelley - Mozzer coolnessity at 24!!
Happy mother fricking birthday to Rebecca kelley. You are frickin awsome and totally wicked cool. I have a big suprise for you when I see you at SES san jose!!!!  It ryhmes with entos!!! LOL

Happy mother fricking birthday to Rebecca kelley. You are frickin awsome and totally wicked cool.

I have a big suprise for you when I see you at SES san jose!!!!  It ryhmes with entos!!!

LOL

Vendors are Risky Too
“We’re not a software company” is a common refrain these days; ever since Nicholas Carr’s “IT Doesn’t Matter,” it seems like more and more companies are bending over backwards to prove they don’t do IT. In the process, some consultancies have made a ton of money, often by “replacing” a given company’s IT department with [...]

“We’re not a software company” is a common refrain these days; ever since Nicholas Carr’s “IT Doesn’t Matter,” it seems like more and more companies are bending over backwards to prove they don’t do IT. In the process, some consultancies have made a ton of money, often by “replacing” a given company’s IT department with the newly hired agency replete with people from….the company’s former IT staff. More than a few of my friends went to work one day as an employee of company X only to enter the office the next day via a contractor badge. As companies aped one another, we heard more and more about “core competencies” and how smart companies stuck to what they did best.

Implicit in this arrangement is a transfer of risk - and many (on both the business and IT side of the shop) equate vendors with risk free, or at least, if things go south we have a throat to throttle. While it can be empowering to scream at a vendor rep, that doesn’t mean you’ll get your problem solved - or that they’ll even be inclined to try. Vendor priorities mar or may not line up with yours and more often than not, that service contract entitles you to the C squad, not the A players they showed you during the courtship.

Make no bones about it, when you saddle up with a vendor, it’s a commitment, one you best enter into with your eyes open. Just like with your spouse, year two is rarely the same as the first date and having a phone number to call doesn’t mean you’ll get an answer you’ll like - or even an answer at all. Sure, you can open a problem ticket, but when will it be resolved? Don’t hold your breath, unless your CIO calls their CIO at least. Oh, and never assume the vendor’s developers write higher quality code than you do - some of the worst smelling balls of mud were slung by people working for “software companies.”

While we’re on the topic of software companies, don’t automatically think that the vendor is anymore of a “software company” than you are. It may *seem* like they’re in the same camp as Microsoft or Oracle, but take a look at their income statements - does “professionals services” make up a large percentage of the bottom line? Odds are it does, the software is the modern day equivalent of razors; they’ll darn near give it away (OK, if you call 7 figures “give”) so they can line up a nice fat services contract (mmm, smell the subscription fee!) In some cases, your odds of successfully implementing the project rapidly approach zero without a significant investment in contractors at $250 an hour and up. Nice work if you can get it.

Speaking of contractors, before you pull the trigger on that shiny box of vendor joy, take a look around the job boards to see if anyone is looking for developers with that skill set. Better yet, have your HR people look over recent job applicants to see how many boast time with your new love. Staffing models aren’t always at the forefront, but if you can’t hire people to twiddle the vendor bits, take a look around your cube farm and be sure you’ve got something people will want to train up on. Don’t be surprised when your techies aren’t thrilled by the notion of babysitting a piece of packaged software.

Once you’ve committed to a vendor, you live life on their schedule. Occasionally you might be able to nudge things but chances are you’ll be treated like the rest of the huddled masses. In some cases this might be just fine, but in others it can have a significant impact on your business. Found a critical bug? Odds are that won’t be fixed until the next release…sometime next year. You’re also stuck with their priorities and again, while you might have some influence here, more often then not, your pet feature isn’t so important to the decision makers at Vendor Co.

When you bring in a vendor, expect a platform play - and not all platforms are created equally. The excitement in Java land these days isn’t over Java the language, it’s Java the platform that gets the much deserved press for housing the likes of Clojure, JRuby, Scala, Groovy (hint, your developers would love to play with any of the preceding) and a host of others. While the Java platform (and it’s peer from Microsoft) offer a slew of choices, the vendor’s platform is probably designed like the Hotel California; once a company has invested time, effort and money, they will usually continue to throw good money after bad.

I’m not saying you should never purchase a vendor product - far from it. You shouldn’t write your own database server, you own app server, your own OR mapper or your own build framework (OK, maybe as a replacement to Maven, sure I can see that.) But when it comes to core competencies, the things that make your company special, that’s not something you should be too keen on farming out. As my friend Neal Ford is fond of saying, smart companies understand that IT is strategic.

When it is time to purchase some software, perform a true evaluation - and one that’s up to date. Just because the Foobaz team gave the product the thumbs up three years ago doesn’t mean they’d say the same thing today. Heck, that team might not have even considered the same criteria you are. Too often, we either run through a script that is oddly similar to the vendor’s demo or we try out a couple of hello world size examples; you’ve got to spend some quality time with a product to figure out when Dietzler’s law kicks in. Regardless of what you’re evaluating there are certain things you should pay extra special attention to:

• The testing story. If a tool doesn’t have a good *automated* testing story, fail, or as we say in the project room, frog in a bag (FIAB for short).
• Version control. Repeat after me: copying the files to the LAN isn’t version control. Life without source code management just isn’t worth living, if the tool doesn’t fit within something like Subversion or Git, your evaluation is over.
• Can you diff the artifacts? I’m a fan of pictures, but show me the tool that can diff that fancy BPEL visualization. Oh and good luck with those massive XML files.

I’m sure you have other criteria too (Neal has a good list in part three of his SOA series) but these three are absolute deal breakers for me. Again, I’m not saying you should build everything, but when you do choose to purchase, be sure you know what you’re getting into. Can you live with the constraints? Are you comfortable with the tradeoffs? If so, I wish you all the best. But don’t blithely assume vendors aren’t risky.

TV wedding proposal - How I proposed to my girlfriend monika - Joe Whytes amazing proposal
On wednesday 10/29/08 I came home from lunch to watch my girlfriends favorite show “a baby story”. It’s her favorite show since she we found out that we are having a baby together. After a gieco commercial I suddenly popped up on the television screen. She was shocked OF course! Here is the actual video [...]

On wednesday 10/29/08 I came home from lunch to watch my girlfriends favorite show “a baby story”. It’s her favorite show since she we found out that we are having a baby together. After a gieco commercial I suddenly popped up on the television screen. She was shocked OF course! Here is the actual video that was on TV (stretched a little bit from its original).

I also secretly video taped her reaction. Probably not the very best quality video, lil bit of cursing and some private moments I probably should have edited out but you know what.. I love her and she loves me and she said it was ok and I do what she says because I love her!

Of course this is the first blog I have posted here for a very long time and I would like to start posting more. This will probably be a mix of personal/industry stuff. Look forward to catching up on here and with all of my readers.

Thank you,

Joe Whyte

Social Network Advertising Part 2 is finally here!!! wooo whoo where is my candy bar!
a few days ago I took some time to write up my part 2 on media buying and social network advertising. Check it out if you have the time. Social Network Advertising 

a few days ago I took some time to write up my part 2 on media buying and social network advertising. Check it out if you have the time.

Social Network Advertising 

It Isn’t the Uniforms
If you’re a football fan (American style) this is a big weekend - the AFC and NFC championship pit (pun intended) a couple of six seeds vs. a two and a four respectively. Much will be made in the off-season of just how the Cardinals made a Giants like run or how the Ravens went [...]

If you’re a football fan (American style) this is a big weekend - the AFC and NFC championship pit (pun intended) a couple of six seeds vs. a two and a four respectively. Much will be made in the off-season of just how the Cardinals made a Giants like run or how the Ravens went so far with a rookie quarterback and you can bet your morning mocha that a couple of hundred coaches will be dissecting everything the champions did to win today’s games. Yes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and many will attempt to copy the winning formula.

It isn’t just sports franchises that imitate each other and raid the winner’s coaching staff, no, companies do the same thing. From performing the same morale sapping rifs to utilizing the same bland beige decor, corporate entities love to ape one another. Even within an organization, the “successful*” (however that is defined) VPs will find their ways quickly copied.

While we should certainly ask ourselves what’s working and what’s not, we need to make sure we understand what actually is working. Take Arizona’s success for instance. It may make sense to look at their offensive approach (as well as their coaching staff) to see what gems one might find. However, it takes a great deal of effort to find the golden nugget and most won’t put in the time. No, many will take a shortcut and insist that the Cardinal’s owe their Cinderella year to the color of their uniforms or the fact that Kurt Warner wears a glove on is throwing hand. Not only is the superficial easier to find, it is far easier to implement. Uniforms can be changed in a few days, establishing a winning tradition can take years.

In the technology space, it’s tempting to just copy a specific technology stack and it’s certainly easier to just buy the same vendor supplied vaporware than to hire better developers. But chances are you won’t be capturing the true essence of their success, you’ll just change the color of your uniforms.

So before you run off and decide that all new software in your organization should be written in that awesome new CASE tool that’s Bob’s team uses, be sure that’s the real secret sauce and not an ancillary fact. Odds are if you dig a little deeper you might find something else, something actually worth replicating.
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* Unlike the sports world where a win is a win, success in the corporate world can be defined and then redefined especially when someone’s bonus is involved. Worse, sometimes one area’s success comes at the cost of the overall organization.

Keynote 09
I’ve been a big believer in Keynote since shortly after it came out - at first I didn’t see what all the fuss was about, but after using it for a few months, I had to create a presentation at work and I was reminded of how painful PowerPoint is. There was no going back, [...]

I’ve been a big believer in Keynote since shortly after it came out - at first I didn’t see what all the fuss was about, but after using it for a few months, I had to create a presentation at work and I was reminded of how painful PowerPoint is. There was no going back, I was sold on Keynote. Like so many things in the Apple ecosystem, it isn’t any *one* feature that makes the difference, it’s a collection of little things, some of which you didn’t even know mattered until shown another way. Unlike it’s cousin from Microsoft, Keynote is designed to help you create slides that won’t make users yak and it’s particularly well suited for those that believe in the Lessig method (see his Free Culture talk for an example.) At this point, I can’t imagine using anything else for a real world talk.

Every year, we’re treated to a new version of Keynote (and the rest of its iWork brethren) which means we get a collection of new features: transitions, themes, better charts and now new ways of sharing our work with others. Keynote 09 is no exception, this year we’ve got magic move and you can even use your iPhone as a remote. Before this year’s conference series kicked off, I went ahead and upgraded and while I’m quite pleased I did run into one issue.

As I crafted one of my early decks, I noticed that one of my favorite transitions from Keynote 08 was gone - for example, I couldn’t find confetti.

It may seem strange for an unabashed promoter of Presentation Zen and slide:ology to be married to a transition, but I go out of my way to use them judiciously. A slew of Google searches later, I had my answer - some transitions were considered obsolete in Keynote 09. Enabling them is quite simple, simply go to the Keynote preferences and select “Include obsolete animations in choices.” Perhaps I should just accept the wisdom of Apple and, ah, transition to the new animations but I’ve just got to have my confetti!

The other big change I noticed was the vastly improved printing dialog. While nothing has fundamentally changed in the dialog, with 09, you get a handy preview of just what you’re going to print (or save as PDF - one of the unsung features of OS X.)

You can also change the page setup from within the print dialog, something that is very handy when you’re creating PDFs for handouts.

Oh and for those of you that like the black or gradient background, if you don’t want to kill an ink cartridge, select “Don’t print slide backgrounds or object fills.”

Keynote is an invaluable part of any presenter’s toolbox - if you think its just an Apple version of PowerPoint you’re wrong. If you haven’t tried it out, you owe it to yourself to use it for your next talk, it really does make a difference.

Mengapa Pria Gak Boleh Pake Jaket, dan Wanita Boleh Bawa Tas
Ingat atau pernahkah membaca judul buku yang seperti ini: Mengapa Pria Berpikir dan Wanita Menangis, atau dalam bahasa Sundanya: Why Man Think and Woman Cry? Jika tidak pernah mendengar yang seperti itu…… ya enggak apa-apa sih, secara saya juga lupa judulnya apakah tepat seperti itu atau tidak. Hehehehehe… yang pasti kayaknya saya sendiri pernah lihat [...]

Not As Green As It Looks
Back to the green area. Ternyata mood ngeblog saya angin-anginan. Sama seperti ujan yang sedang turun sekarang, disertai angin yang artinya angin-anginan. Tapi mudah-mudahan berhenti dan gak hujan-hujan lagi sampai malam deh, because I have to attend a reception, a wedding reception. Hmmm… later I remember like I was have an intention to describe about [...]

Main Idea
The main idea of my blog will be to discuss topics from my Entertainment Law class. But I will also “critique” celebrity riders, because let’s face it they are funny as hell. That being said, Elton John evidently likes his nuts unsalted…I may also invite some of my friends who are artists to post how they feel [...]

Hair Shirt Time!
Who says that going to church is boring? Maybe theyshould call it Ass Wednesday. The priests would not mind…I hope the JC in the back of the classroom doesn’t strike me down for this post: Explicit Recordings Disrupt Mass AP SANTA FE, N.M. (Feb. 22) - Three CD players hidden under a cathedral’s pews blared sexually explicit language in [...]

10 Things I Care About December 2008
Sekilas judul di atas mengingatkan saya pada film 10 Things I Hate About You, dan memang judul tersebut terinspirasi dari judul film tersebut. Ingat, judulnya doank ya, bukan filmnya, secara saya sendiri lupa film itu ceritanya apa… *ngakak dikit* Baiklah saudara-saudari yang terkasih *lebay mode on*, saya mulai saja dari point yang pertama, tidak berdasarkan urutan [...]

summer roadshow: the large beyond reason recap, part 2
Virginia Beach to Indiana Even though we're relaxed after Virginia Beach, we're also getting a little fried. Mind you we're not snapping at each other or anything, but driving has officially become a chore. We don't want to do it. But we have to. I rocket through West Virginia and Kentucky like hell on wheels until we're in Indiana at our friendJohn's house. He informs us that if we stay an extra day we can see Jonatha Brooke in Indianapolis with him. We love Jonatha, so we agree. Even though we just saw her in NYC, we were going to miss the LA show. This is a happy medium ... in the mid-west. Get it? Boy decides he's going to surprise her at the airport (don't worry, they're actually friends), which leads to whole ordeal involving rain, flat tires, and your favorite singer-songwriters mocking you while you put on the spare. Her show is great and I buy dinner for five because it's only $48. The Mid-west has its advantages. We spent $50 for the two of us the other night here in LA. Its time to start officially dreading the last leg of the trip, and we are. The End of the Road You may have noticed a heatwave hit America while we were gone. We were about to drive through it. But before we hit the evils of the hot, hot deserts, we take 5 days in Kansas City at Boy's Mom's house. Like all family stops, the visit is nice and relaxing, and we add two days because we're just dreading two 12 hour days of driving back home. When we finally do set off, of course it pours on us, and the heat index starts rising. And Rising. By the time we hit New Mexico, we're hovering at 104º F, which sucks for the puppy because there's not much grass, only dirt and sand. We spend the night at a Best Western (that was very awesome, I'm a fan) in the middle of nowhere Santa Rosa, NM, where the above storm took place. It was like being in the end of Ghostbusters, real end of the world wrath of God stuff. It was amazing. The last day of driving was Arizona and California. The highest it got to was 115º. We pulled over, ate, and got gas after the temperature had gone down ... to 108º. The end of the trip is really a blur to me, and the only thing I can say for sure was that it was hot, I don't really care for the new Kelly Clarkson CD, and I was so happy to get home, even thought it was covered in dust when we walked in the door. And now I'm tired, and you've read (or skimmed) the trip and you're tired, too. It was a blast, happy to be home, not gonna travel in the next few months! Ta-Dah.

le shoppe
If you're in LA, then at the moment you can also find a selection of merchandise at The Artists' Web @ 2806 Main Street in Santa Monica. If you're on the internet, well, then wait 2 days and the brand new online store will be open for you to play. Off to dinner!

moving
Tired of trying to balance between a personal blog riddled with spam and an online gallery /store, I've decided to split things up. If you want to buy some of my stuff (and you should!), go here: shop.kyle-cummings.com, and if you want to read my trivial thoughts, rough exploits, and other such ramblings go here: kyle-cummings.blogspot.com. New art and movie reviews will still be showing here, but adjust your bookmarks according to what you seek.

review: live free or die hard


review: fantastic four, rise of the silver surfer


reviews: harry potter V, knocked up
I saw this in IMAX 3D, where the last 20ish minutes were actually in 3D. The fight was edited a bit too fast for the technology, but there were some truly breath-taking moments. On a technical level, I'm told this is the best IMAX up-res (enlargement) 35mm print thus far, and it did indeed look great on that giant screen.

review: stardust


summer roadshow: the large beyond reason recap
So I've tried to sit down and sort through all the road trip stuff, and I realized that after telling the tale so many times, I have a pretty good short-ish version of things down, and that will probably suffice. Here, is our trip: LA to New Mexico to Houston The first two days on the road were predictably the worst: the deserts of California, Arizona and New Mexico. They might have been a wonder had we not driven them last Thanksgiving. Two days of vast nothingness. Murphy threw up 4 times on the first day, and we learned quickly that it was nerves not motion sickness, and that he needed to be given his pill a half-hour before we got on the road. The stay at my parents' house in Houston lasted 5 days and was the epitome of relaxing. It rained almost everyday, and when you live in LA, big Texas Thunderstorms are just what the doctor ordered. For the first time in two years (!) Boy and my Sister crossed paths, since she and her soon-to-be fiancé Alex were returning from a post-graduation Caribbean trip (congratulations all around: goodbye college, hello impending nuptials!). Houston to Nashville If you looked on a map at any point of our trip and saw a giant green weather system, that is where we were. We drove through pounding rains 90% of the trip. Our stop in Hope, Arkansas (birthplace of President Clinton it turns out) lasts long enough for Murphy to pee before we had to crawl into the back of the Audi and eat our Wendy's. When you go on a road trip, be aware you cannot eat healthy. Even if you try to order a side salad in mid-america, be warned that it will be icky white lettuce, yellow tomatoes, and brown cabbage. Just give in, gain the 8 pounds like we did, and hit the gym when you get home. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Nashville. We stayed with our friends Jill & Greg (NYC music transplants) who lived in the gayborhood. We were two blocks away from a gay karaoke bar, and beforehand we hit up the honkytonks on Broadway. Nothing says mid-west more than smoking in bars and alcoholic to-go cups. For no reason whatsoever, Murph was terrified of J&G's cats, so he spent the whole two days there on my lap or in my arms, until we went to the dog park where he ran like a cheetah on crack. Nashville to Slippery Rock, PA The drive through Ohio was almost as maddening as the drive through New Mexico. NM has "Safety Corridors" which are patrolled like the DMZ, and Ohio just has stupid drivers. Again it rained. Slippery Rock is where Boy grew up, and also where both his parents taught at the local university. It's very much a small town, complete with charm. We spent days trekking through the woods, kayaking up the creek behind his Dad's house, and taking Murph to the state park where he went bananas hopping on rocks and logs. After 5 days at his Dad's, we stopped by his former private school where we dined with the headmaster who had been Boy's physics teacher back in the day. Private schools are about as foreign to me as telenovellas, so it was interesting to see where all the emotional scarring took place. The headmaster was really nice, and he had a "dog" that I'm convinced was a grizzly bear/pony hybrid. New Oxford, PA Outside Gettysburg we stopped to visit Boy's college friend Molly and her fiancé Ben. They rent a 3 bedroom farmhouse and 10 acres of land for $500/mo. It was insane and lovely. Our New Oxford story can't really be condensed down, so you can look it up in the archives. Suffice to say it involves foul-mouthed hillbilly children and military testing grounds. Philly I received an email after my first Philly post telling me I got the wrong idea about the city, its rude citizens and pointless traffic. I stand by my position based on my experience, but I'm sure I would have discovered some charm had I been able to navigate the place with any amount of time or ease. New Market, NH Once we were in New England, the drives became much shorter. If we ignore the obviously slow-going Manhattan traffic (as it should be), we never spent more than 5 hours a day in the car, a far cry from our previous 8-12 hour days. Our friends Pierre and Andrea live in NH with their two awesome kids Luc and Adele, who are entering the "no matter what you do you're awkward" phase of growing up. I'm not sure who I have more pity for, the kids or the parents, but it was enjoyable to visit. Boy picked up Lucia in Boston, she came back and stayed with us a day in New Hampshire, and then we made our way south to... Ben & Julie's Wedding: Cape Cod It just so happened our dear friends here in LA were having their wedding while we were going to be on the east coast, so we were able to RSVP and actually go. The wedding was on the beach, and I've blacked out most of the horrors of getting there. There's very good reason that Massachusetts drivers are called "Mass Holes." The speed limit on the freeway is 55, so everyone is pushing 90, and the speed limit on the cape is 45 and everyone is moving at 20. And cutting you off repeatedly in the process. Thankfully, the wedding was a good time and well worth the trip out. Even if our hotel was like a hostel in Bulgaria. Northampton and Boston The day after the wedding, we drove to Northampton, MA to drop off Lucia at her friend Alex's. She just had twins, who were admittedly adorable and were nice enough to take turns crying. Twins taking turns crying = crying non-stop. Thanks to poor planning we took an extra day to hit up Boston and visit with our friends Smart Lisa and Smart Craig. They have PhD's and other impressive things, hence their nickname. At this point in the trip I'm just getting over being sick (cross-country allergies) and Boy is just beginning to suffer, so we order in Indian and spend the night playing with the dog and watching DVDs. No complaints here. Boston to DC After 3 weeks on the road, the "vacation" aspect of the trip is beginning to move to the wayside as we both start taking on work from afar. I'm working on an Animal Planet series and Boy is predictably working on commercials. Using a verizon day pass and built in wifi, Boy's working on the road while I'm sitting on the Jersey turnpike waiting for traffic to clear up thanks to two (!) exploded (!!) tractor-trailers (!!!). I don't mind traffic jams if there's a reason (like Manhattan and melted 18-wheelers), but I can't stand it when it's without purpose (Philly at 1 in the afternoon on a Tuesday). In DC we stay in John and Jamie's basement, which is more like staying in your own house, so it's nice. We spend evenings with Chris, Brian, Brian, Glenn and John BBQing and eating out, and I spend my days retracing my old steps in the city. The one day we do both go out at the same time it begins pouring, but not before we grab lunch in Dupont and tour the Captiol with our friend who works in Congress -- and actually introduced us to each other during a visit in LA 2 years ago (thanks Kenneth!) DC to Virginia Beach Boy was working so much we took an extra day in DC, then headed down to his aunt's house for Virginia Beach. There's something about staying with family on this trip that made for really relaxing visits. Aunt Annette cooked like a banshee, making us gourmet meals that no doubt helped in the weight gain, but made us feel soooo good. Murphy also got to experience his first toddler, Boy's cousin's son Zane.

the sands of time


comicon
Took the train down for two days of walking, waiting, and geeking. I didn't spend all of my ATM money (which is a miracle in and of itself) and I was present at the Paramount panel where I went gaga over the Iron Man footage, swooned when Karen Allen joing Spielberg and Ford on screen, and went absolutely bananas when Leonard Nimoy joined newly-announcned Spock Zachary Quinto on stage. I'm both incredibly jazzed and incredibly tired, and on sunday I shall attempt to win a booth for myself in 2008. Until then you can shop at my new store at kyle-cummings.com. I'm going to be adding tons more stuff in the coming days (like ray guns, t-shirts, and such), but there's quite a selection there now. Enjoy!

J.P. Morgan Shows Confidence With Non-Guaranteed Debt Issue
J.P. Morgan, like Goldman Sachs a few months ago, impressed investors by issuing bonds without government backing. But building up confidence in the markets isn't the only reason to do so.

Is ABC Using Gibson-Lagasse "Feud" as Marketing Tool?
All the world loves conflict and personality bashing. If you doubt that, look at the favorite fodder of news programs, reality TV, and talking head political programs. (That is, if you can tell the difference among them these days.) And ABC is pushing an in-house domestic tousle, with chef Emeril Lagasse and evening news anchor Charlie Gibson both claiming that the other stole some recipe for an enchilada casserole. But when you look at what's going on, the whole thing smells like a month old fish stew, with enough elements to suggest that the whole thing is being concocted to promote Good Morning America as well as Frito-Lay.

How Jimmy Fallon Laid a New Blueprint for a TV Debut
In the current climate, TV networks are doing all they can to save cash. The frugal mindset has kept the networks in a timid mindset, afraid of taking any risk with new programming. However, cost-savvy networks already have a perfect model to consider when introducing a new show to audiences on the cheap: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. As the new host of Late Night on NBC, Fallon and his crew have reinvented the way a new show debuts. In the past, networks would run advertising promos during high rated programs and hope for the best. Fallon and NBC took a different approach by testing segments and guests on the Web for weeks before even setting foot onto Studio 6B...

Prudential, Hartford, Other Life Insurers May Be Selling Away Their Future
U.S. life insurance companies are asking for a federal bailout to prevent a capital crisis -- but they're also still pushing complex annuity guarantees that could threaten the industry’s viability for years to come.

A Green Competition Shapes Up in California
Los Angeles has its eye set on becoming the "global capital of clean technology" -- just don't tell the dozen or so cities that are well ahead of it. The LA Times reports that the West Coast's metropolis has put itself into the running with a partnership between local universities, aimed at competing for Federal subsidies. The competitors for that "global capital" title include, just within the United States, some pretty big towns like Austin, Tex., Boston, Mass., and San Francisco, Calif. Emphasize that last, which along with neighbors like San Jose and Berkeley has been pushing hard at the clean energy issue for years. California's citizens are no doubt aware of that fact, which is why the competition for...

Energy Roundup: EPA Deems CO2 Hazardous, Pope Pursues Solar, and More
EPA proposal on greenhouse gases could trigger regulation -- The Environmental Protection Agency issued its proposal on greenhouse gases today, and as expected the agency has determined that CO2 -- and five other gases including methane and hydrofluorocarbons -- is bad for humans and contributes to global warming. The proposal may push lawmakers to begin drafting legislation or it could signal the agency's intention of tackling the issue through government mandates. [Source: EPA, The Grist] Pope to harness sun's power in Europe's biggest solar plant -- Vatican City, the world's smallest state, plans to build the biggest solar plant in Europe for 500 million euros or $660 million. Pope Benedict XVI's solar endeavor lies in stark contrast to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's...

YouTube's Coming of Age
It's hard to imagine a business able to lose ~ $500 million a year without any apparent concern, unless of course it is owned by the richest company in the world, Google. But, of course, that is exactly the case for YouTube. Here is my perspective: I've been working inside and with media start-ups in one capacity or another since 1971. Since 1995, these have mainly been online ventures. In our old media start-ups, as long as we could achieve a certain scale, there was really no doubt that we would be successful. The math made sense. In new media, it has also seemed to be an article of faith among many that as long as we can grow ourselves...

Time to Slow Down that Google Book Search Deal
As the proposed settlement by Google of a class-action lawsuit by authors over its Google Book Search rushes toward an impending judicial resolution, it's become apparent that it's time to pull the emergency brake on this one. Memo to judge: "Slow it down, please! There is simply too much at stake here." Six weeks ago, I welcomed news of the settlement, mainly because it promised those of us who've authored out-of-print books a little cash ($60 per title), plus the enticement of seeing our pre-digital work finally join the online conversation of the 21st Century. And, while it may be rare for this crusty old journalist to change his mind,  that's exactly what happened as I was participating on a...

Some Myths About The Public Plan, Pro and Con
The debate over the inclusion of a public health plan in the forthcoming healthcare reform legislation is heating up. Not surprisingly, much of the debate revolves around the comparison between the track records of Medicare and private insurance. Jacob Hacker, an author and a fellow at the New America Foundation, recently wrote a policy brief extolling the merits of the public plan. He argued that not only does Medicare have a much lower administrative cost than private plans do, but that it also has been more successful than they have in holding down costs over the past three decades. Yet he does not see any contradiction when he proposes that the public plan could negotiate rather than dictate provider payments,...

10th January 2009 Sean’s Fancy Dress 40th
Today’s photo is of Lin and John, Pete and I already to go to Sean’s 40th Birthday party.  As you can see we are all in costume.  The theme was what you wanted to be when you grew up.  It was actually quite interesting to see the different costumes that people were wearing.  A couple [...]

12th January 2009
Today’s photo is of Alex at the beach having a fantastic time (can you tell?) boogie boarding in shallow waves.  The water was pretty cold but he didn’t seem to notice at all!  Gotta love mobile phones with built in cameras!!

19th and 20th January
Today’s photo is Alex with his tennis racquet as he was setting off to tennis camp.  This is just a daily thing but he really enjoyed yesterday and is booked in for every day this week.  I hope he is not too hot!! Yesterday’s photo is of Sam sitting on his suitcase and pillow.  We were [...]

17th and 18th January 2009
Today’s photo is of our Bingo set.  A few weeks ago Pete volunteered to take the Summer Sunday School at church, now we are fairly new to the church but Pete wanted to do it, so I let him.  He organised it all himself and ran it with the help of Nicola.  For over an [...]

21st - 25th January 2009
So I have a few days to catch up on… 25th January 2009 Today’s photo is on honour of the Australian Open which is on right now.  We are watching a lot of tennis in our house and today Pete suggested a family game.  Even though the temperature had dropped it was still warm and humid, Sam [...]

26th January 2009 Australia Day!
Australia Day 2009 - We started the day with breakfast at Manly Dam with the usual suspects.  After some typical Aussie activites - BBQ, swimming in the Dam, fun in the inflatable boat, it was time for cake!  Ian and Sue provided the very yummy caramel mudcake!  Happy Birthday Australia! [...]

Matt Bailey giving MarketingTalk at Google
Next month, I will be traveling to the Googleplex to be a presenter for their “MarketingTalks@Google” series. This is an awesome invitation, spawned from the “Analytics According to Captain Kirk” segment in my analytics training and presentations. I’ve known the staff at Google Analytics since their Urchin days, so it’s always nice to [...]

Next month, I will be traveling to the Googleplex to be a presenter for their “MarketingTalks@Google” series. This is an awesome invitation, spawned from the “Analytics According to Captain Kirk” segment in my analytics training and presentations. I’ve known the staff at Google Analytics since their Urchin days, so it’s always nice to see their success and adoption into Google.

I’ll be in San Jose for Search Engine Strategies that week, presenting at two sessions; Analytics 2.0 with Analytics heavyweights Jim Sterne, Erik Peterson, and Marshall Sponder, and then a fun panel on IT for Marketers, where we de-mystify the dark secrets of IT web-speak language for Marketers. I’ll also get to moderate a panel which has the potential for a lot of fun - Black Hat v White Hat tactics with Greg Boser, Jill Whalen, Todd Freisen, Bruce Clay and Dave Naylor. I’ll wrap up the week by presenting a 4-hour training class on Analytics on Friday.

So, it made sense to schedule a time while I was in town, and I’ll speaking at Google on Tuesday the 19th, at the Mountain View location, and then conduct a small round-table discussion later in the day. Both sessions will be taped and made available on the AtGoogle Talks channel on YouTube.

South Africa’s election: A tainted victory
2009-04-16 With South Africa's election fast approaching, Roger Southall predicts a triumphant yet problematic victory for Jacob Zuma’s African National Congress (ANC). Southall examines the shifting electoral terrain within South Africa, indicating that younger voters are changing the political demographic. Despite the ANC’s respected economic record, increasing concern surrounds government policy, with injustice and inequality still prevalent across the country some 15 years after 1994's 'liberation' election. The author argues that regardless of the ANC’s predictable success in the April 2009 election, the party’s sanctity has been shattered as a result of its corruption and role in worsening the livelihoods of ordinary South Africans. The ANC’s dominance in the electoral arena is subsiding, Southall contends, a reality which will prove key in shaping the future development of South Africa's democracy.

Online Marketing in Real Estate - Fast Start to Stagnation
Changes in the Industry like no other It can be argued that no other profession has been so affected by the internet as Real Estate. I count myself lucky to have been in the industry right when it “crossed over” into the Internet age. When I got into Real Estate the agents were the [...]

Changes in the Industry like no other
It can be argued that no other profession has been so affected by the internet as Real Estate. I count myself lucky to have been in the industry right when it “crossed over” into the Internet age. When I got into Real Estate the agents were the true gatekeepers of information. Every two weeks, a book of listings within your county was published, and every Realtor received one. Buyers were primarily reliant upon their agent to communicate new listings to them in a timely and efficient manner. The only other source of Real Estate information was the circular in the local newspaper, published once a week.

Enter the internet, which enabled forward-thinking brokers to start placing listings online. As early as 1996, buyers were using the internet to find homes, especially if they were relocating to new areas. The advent of the internet was amazing, as it transformed the industry in a few short years. I saw amazing results from advertising properties online, and it didn’t take much for me to make the decision to pursue a career in online marketing rather than Real Estate.

Stagnation?
Unfortunately, while the accessibility of property listings has increased, the level of knowledge and online marketing has not grown with the times. In fact, from shopping for homes the past few months, I am convinced that the learning curve for online marketing among many Realtors has stagnated. When Realtor.com came on the scene in 1997, they sold to Realtors, using ploys such as: “the average listing on Realtor.com receives “x” views.” I felt like the lone ranger trying to explain to my fellow Realtors that a lot of the sales lines were bad data improperly applied. It showed me a lot about the lack of understanding of technology in that industry. Some have only recently accepted that the Internet is here to stay.

Here is my recent experience from the past few months of searching for a home. They say that doctors are the worst patients. It may also be true that former Realtors who are now online marketing veterans may be the worst sellers or buyers.

Bad Photos – are you kidding me?
In this day and age of inexpensive, high quality digital cameras, you post low resolution photos that are pixilated and hard to see? Worse yet, you show laziness buy simply uploading everything you took a picture of?

If I had my house on the market, I would be going ballistic on my Realtor, as there are no excuses for :

• Low res, pixilated photos
• Blurry pictures
• Pictures of toilets and mirrors
• Less than 3 pictures uploaded for any listing
• Cameras held at an angle, making everything look like it’s on a slope
• pictures of beds, which I am not buying
• No pictures of the items listed in the description. If there is a workshop – take a picture!



• no labeling of photos that have been uploaded
• No interior pictures!?!?
• Snow on the ground – and it’s late May
• The same three photos – repeated 2-3 times.
• Misspelled adjectives – “Emaculate Condition!” (really?)

Each one of these things is something that can easily turn off a buyer. Not taking the extra time to take a good picture, not considering presentation, and not labeling photos will negatively affect the buyer’s decision as they shop online. Not enough information is one of the worst problems an online listing can have.

Realtors and Responsibility
Pictures are meant to present the sellers home in the best light. Can a little thought be made about the selection and the quality of pictures that are used? The responsibility of the listing Realtor is to represent the seller. This includes the responsibility of the online listing. EVERY part of that online listing should be attractive, explanatory, and sensible. Anything less is a disservice to the seller, who pays your commission. I am very surprised that more sellers do not get online to check their listings. I think more Realtors would be fired if sellers checked their listings.

Expectations
If the listing description highlights certain areas of the home, such as an in-law suite, over-sized garage, pond or other feature that can be a potential selling point – please, add a picture. There are so many homes that had excellent descriptions, but then no photos of any if the items described in the listing. The description is the first area we read, and it sets up the expectations, but then the lack of pictures is more than disappointing, it lessens the property.

When there are an almost unlimited number of pictures that can be uploaded, only loading two to three outdoor shots is inexcusable. If there is an in-ground pool, please add the picture. Someone may want to see it. If you have green or lavender bathroom toilets, you may want to go ahead and add it as well, just to keep expectations in line.

Anything less than 10 photos is a crime against the seller. For newer homes with more than 2000 square feet, 20 photos. Three or less is negligence. Negligence not only towards your seller, but to any buyer who is comparing properties.

Real Estate 2.0? When?
I am waiting for more social aspects of marketing to be implemented. While real estate was one of the earliest adopters of the internet (not without resistance) it has not grown out of a 90’s mentality of online marketing. The only things I can do are email the realtor, email the listing to a friend, or make a printable brochure. Some sites allow me to create lists of the properties I like with registration, which I liked, but I was still disappointed with the lack of flexibility in ranking, saving, excluding, and comparing properties.

I for one am waiting for the ability to add comments to listings. I would love nothing more than adding what I liked or didn’t like about homes, and I am sure that it would help to make some homes more attractive. I am also sure that the comments would also shock some sellers into reality when buyers can be directly honest about the home and the outrageous prices that some are asking for what they are offering.

Some comments I would have left:

The house photo is at a weird angle because of the mobile homes and cars on blocks in the neighbor’s yard.
This home advertises 2 full baths. The second bath is in the basement and has no walls.
The separate 3 car garage and workshop makes this house well worth the asking price.
The pool and the outdoor chimney are amazing, but the yard was too small for us.

URL Addresses
At my previous company, we went to extraordinary lengths to create search friendly URL’s in order to have the database of homes spidered by the search engines. Ultimately, each property had its own short, unique URL, based on the MLS number. We celebrated. Simply searching by using the MLS code in Google would result in the property page showing up in the rankings. Unfortunately, the client had no idea how great an accomplishment this was, nor the implications. Now, the average URL that I cut and past from real estate websites are well over 50 characters . . . Check this out (if you can):

http://www.realtor.com/search/listingdetail.aspx?cmid=1004584%2c1004586%2c1004591%2c1004601
%2c1004613%2c1004616%2c1004622%2c1004707%2c1004708&typ=1&sid=7d172c178d3044dda9d976
e2757d111a&sdir=0&sby=2&pg=6&lid=1087789449&lsn=57&srcnt=1721#Detail

These tend to break. I send these URLs by email, Instant Messaging, and SMS. My wife and I share URL’s incessantly, as it seems we change criteria every week. Sometimes, our friends help out, but rarely does anyone use the “Send to a Friend” option. Could it be that they are not visible or too cumbersome? My opinion is that people do not use these forms because the policy is not clear about using email addresses gleaned from the website. Every send to a friend form that I viewed had no clear policy or explanation of how the emails would be kept, used, or maintained.

Final Thoughts
Having been in the real estate industry and cutting my teeth on real estate websites in the 90’, it frustrated me beyond belief to see the lackluster attempts at online marketing. I would dare say that the majority of buyers are looking online before they ever contact a Realtor. How a Realtor sells a property, the pictures they use, and the description they provide, are all keys to how well they will do their job. It’s a business card. It’s an opportunity for the Realtor and their seller to shine, yet most do not seem to take the time to learn the tools or create effective presentations.

Sellers Need to Demand More
Maybe it’s the area where I live, that many Realtors seem to uncomfortable with a digital camera and creating well-crafted, marketable property descriptions. I am sure that there are Realtors out there who take the time to build an amazing online profile of the houses they list. As a seller, I would demand nothing less than a professional listing with clear, hi-res pictures that present my home in the best possible light. Anything less would be unacceptable.

A friend pointed me to a Realtor’s blog where he has created the Bad MLS Photo of the Day. I like his style, and I am sure that he will have a never-ending source of content.

Related Articles:
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Make your Website Content Explode
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Global: Another world is possible
Reflections and criticisms at the World Social Forum, 2009 2009-04-16 My long trip started on the 20th January 2009 when I traveled from Cape Town to Durban by bus. I spent 26 hours on a City to City bus, moving from Cape Town via PE, East London and Umtata and then to Durban. As much as it was a long journey I must say it I really enjoyed it. I think it was nice touring my own country, getting the opportunity to be exposed to different corners of South Africa from Cities and Townships to Rural areas where the poorest of the poor are located as a result of the past.

The Ability to Question with Authority
Cultural critics and wordsmiths gather around for this outstanding foray into verbal investigation. Have we lost our way when declaring ideas? Why has the declarative been exchanged for the inquisitive? Have we lost our ability, or our nerve, to declare our thoughts with confidence? Highlights include: “We’re the most aggressively inarticulate generation to [...]

Cultural critics and wordsmiths gather around for this outstanding foray into verbal investigation.

• Have we lost our way when declaring ideas?
• Why has the declarative been exchanged for the inquisitive?
• Have we lost our ability, or our nerve, to declare our thoughts with confidence?

Highlights include:
“We’re the most aggressively inarticulate generation to come along since, you know . . , a long time ago.”
“It is not enough these days to question authority, you’ve got to speak with it too.”

How inspirational during a Friday morning lull.

Related Articles:
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Analytics 1.0 - A Case of Velleity
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God Bless Dave Ramsey
Dave Ramsey Update His motto: If you live like no one else, later you can LIVE like no one else! ™ (WARNING: Only boring, boring, personal-type blogging – no poker content, sorry!) Prior to the start of the month, the...

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The Time Has Come
It’s one of those weird moments in a person’s life. It creeps up on you like a bad cold. You know you are getting it; it’s just a matter of time. I am talking about one of those life moments...

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Rematch Time: Carl Icahn and Biogen Idec Square Off Again
It’s rematch time in the battle for control of Biogen Idec. With the Cambridge, MA-based company’s annual shareholder meeting likely coming sometime in the next couple months, the incumbent board nominees are being challenged by four rivals put forth by billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn. A media leak has fueled speculation of a potential [...] Luke Timmerman wrote:

It’s rematch time in the battle for control of Biogen Idec. With the Cambridge, MA-based company’s annual shareholder meeting likely coming sometime in the next couple months, the incumbent board nominees are being challenged by four rivals put forth by billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn. A media leak has fueled speculation of a potential buyout to raise the stakes, and hedge funds have been fanning the rumor flames as they place leveraged bets in the options market.

Facts often get shoved aside by opinions and assertions in brawls like these. But there are some key data points that will emerge Thursday afternoon that could influence whether Biogen wins the way it did last year, or whether billionaire investor Carl Icahn gets the multi-billion dollar takeover he desires. Thursday is an important day because Biogen plans to report its first-quarter earnings after markets close for the day. The results will include an important tally of the number of patients taking its drug for multiple sclerosis, natalizumab (Tysabri).

Tysabri is generally considered by physicians to be the most effective drug against MS, although it has to be given under a strict patient monitoring program for signs of a potentially deadly brain infection called PML. When Icahn first built a stake in Biogen in 2007 and started urging for a sale to a larger drugmaker, Tysabri was gaining momentum after it had a little more than a year in the marketplace. But since then, several new cases of PML have been diagnosed in patients, and growth projections have slowed. About 37,100 patients were taking the drug worldwide when Biogen reported figures at the end of December. When Biogen releases Tysabri’s first-quarter sales Thursday, along with the updated number of patients on Tysabri, it may indicate how demand has slowed, and whether the potential upside is worth the risk to an acquirer.

Partly because of the slowing growth trend for Tysabri, and fierce new competition expected from Novartis and Merck KGaA, which are developing oral MS drugs, at least one analyst is skeptical that this is the time for Biogen to dress up for a sale. So even though the Financial Times reported in February that Sanofi-Aventis may want to buy Biogen, which triggered renewed activity among options traders last week, analyst Christopher Raymond of Robert W. Baird says he still wouldn’t bet on it. He lowered his Tysabri sales forecast for 2009 to $1.11 billion, from $1.15 billion.

“Given Tysabri trends and Avonex-arguably growing mainly through price increases, we don’t see the logic, and wouldn’t bite,” on rumors that the company is a takeover target, Raymond wrote in a note to clients yesterday.

Still, the games have already begun. As we reported back in February, Icahn has nominated …Next Page �

A123Systems Gives Chrysler a Charge, Segway Scoots into GM Deal, Basho Banks $2M, & More Boston-Area Deals News
It’s only been a few days since last I rounded up the deals news from New England’s tech and life sciences firms, but there are still a few transactions worth mentioning. —Millennium, the Cambridge, MA-based subsidiary of Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, paid $4 million up front to Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ: SGEN) for a worldwide license to [...] Rebecca Zacks wrote:

It’s only been a few days since last I rounded up the deals news from New England’s tech and life sciences firms, but there are still a few transactions worth mentioning.

—Millennium, the Cambridge, MA-based subsidiary of Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, paid $4 million up front to Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ: SGEN) for a worldwide license to the Bothell, WA-based firm’s antibody-based cancer drug technology. Millennium will also pay for development of the product candidate and royalties on any eventual sales.

—Watertown, MA-based A123Systems inked a deal to supply Chrysler with advanced lithium ion batteries for its new line of electric vehicles, the first of which is expected to hit the road next year. A123 will build a plant in Michigan to manufacture the batteries.

—Epix Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:EPIX) commenced an exchange offer for $100 million in debt in a bid to avoid bankruptcy. The Lexington, MA-based firm also sold certain market rights to its cardiovascular imaging agent, gadofosveset trisodium, to Lantheus Medical Imaging of North Billerica, MA, for $28 million.

—Bedford, NH-based Segway teamed with General Motors to develop a new electric-powered, two-wheeled, two-seater vehicle. The firms have already begun testing prototypes of the vehicle, called Project P.U.M.A. (for Personal Urban Mobility & Accessibility), which can go up to 35 miles per hour.

—Enterprise sales software maker Basho Technologies, of Cambridge, MA, raised $2 million in an initial close of its Series B round. Harbor Island Equity Partners of Wilmington, NC, led the deal, which was joined by Wilmington Investor Network, an angel group.

Can You Smell What The One Is Cookin?
Oh yeah, he “inherited” the deficit. Can you say “pants on fire”? Posted via email from Easycure's Sidebar

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cancelled the home phone due to economy use my cell to find me
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Riding Dendreon’s Coattails, Antigenics and Oncothyreon Shares Soar
Who will be the next Dendreon? That’s the question investors are asking today, as Dendreon’s good news from this morning is sending a ripple effect through shares of other companies that aspire to develop treatments that stimulate the immune system to fight cancer. Lexington, MA-based Antigenics saw its shares rocket 63 percent in mid-day trading, [...] Luke Timmerman wrote:

Who will be the next Dendreon? That’s the question investors are asking today, as Dendreon’s good news from this morning is sending a ripple effect through shares of other companies that aspire to develop treatments that stimulate the immune system to fight cancer. Lexington, MA-based Antigenics saw its shares rocket 63 percent in mid-day trading, while Seattle-based Oncothyreon climbed by a more modest 10 percent.

The spark for all of this came before markets opened this morning. Seattle-based Dendreon (NASDAQ: DNDN) said its immune-boosting therapy Provenge, sometimes called a cancer vaccine, was able to prolong lives of men with terminal prostate cancer in a clinical trial of 512 patients. Dendreon, which has been on a fascinating, and controversial, journey the past few years, saw its stock more than double on the news from $7.30 to $17.50 at noon Eastern. It was the second-most active stock on the NASDAQ today behind Fifth Third Bancorp.

That momentum spilled over to Antigenics (NASDAQ: AGEN), which is developing a different kind of immune boosting therapy for kidney cancer, called Oncophage. The company failed to show that treatment could slow down kidney cancer relapses, although further analysis of a subpopulation with less aggressive tumors has suggested a benefit. Regulators in Russia have accepted that data and approved the treatment there, and it has asked European regulators for approval, although Antigenics hasn’t generated any significant sales yet. Antigenics stock climbed 63 percent to 77 cents at 12:13 pm Eastern today, on about eight times the average trading volume.

Oncothyreon has made a strategic decision to invest more of its resources in cancer drugs, not cancer vaccines, although it still retains a significant piece of a treatment for lung tumors called Stimuvax, being developed in a partnership with Merck KGaA of Germany. Oncothyreon shares climbed 10 percent to $3.09 at 12:20 pm Eastern time, on about quadruple the average trading volume. The stock has already doubled in the past three months.

Seattle Layoff Update: Amgen, Isilon Cut Staff
The carnage continues at tech and life sciences companies in the Northwest. You can follow Xconomy Seattle’s updated layoff litany here—we’ve kept a running tally of job cuts since November. (If you’ve heard of other layoffs in the innovation community, please drop us a line at tips@xconomy.com or gthuang@xconomy.com.) —Luke broke the news that Amgen (NASDAQ: [...] Gregory T. Huang wrote:

The carnage continues at tech and life sciences companies in the Northwest. You can follow Xconomy Seattle’s updated layoff litany here—we’ve kept a running tally of job cuts since November. (If you’ve heard of other layoffs in the innovation community, please drop us a line at tips@xconomy.com or gthuang@xconomy.com.)

—Luke broke the news that Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN), the world’s largest biotech company, is cutting 100 jobs at its drug manufacturing facility in Bothell, WA. The layoff will be effective in July, and will leave about 70 Amgen workers still employed in Bothell, and just under 900 in Washington state. Amgen said it is merging the work being done in Bothell into a larger facility at company headquarters in Thousand Oaks, CA.

—Seattle-based Isilon Systems (NASDAQ: ISLN), a data storage and virtualization company, is laying off 10 percent of its global workforce (about 40 workers) in an effort to save about $4 million a year. Isilon didn’t specify how many positions were cut in Seattle, but the company had 394 employees at the end of 2008.

—Theraclone Sciences (formerly Spaltudaq), a Seattle biotech startup working on an antibody drug for HIV, had a small layoff in the past few months. To our knowledge, this wasn’t reported elsewhere. Theraclone now has about 22 employees and enough cash to last through 2010, as Luke reported this week.

Ensemble Nails Deal with Bristol-Myers Squibb to Discover New Drugs
Ensemble Discovery has secured an important partnership with Bristol-Myers Squibb to keep its engine of new drugs humming along in a downturn. The Cambridge, MA-based company will get a $5 million upfront payment, $7.5 million to pay part of its research expenses over the next two years, and may get milestone payments worth $29.5 million [...] Luke Timmerman wrote:

Ensemble Discovery has secured an important partnership with Bristol-Myers Squibb to keep its engine of new drugs humming along in a downturn. The Cambridge, MA-based company will get a $5 million upfront payment, $7.5 million to pay part of its research expenses over the next two years, and may get milestone payments worth $29.5 million for every product that makes progress in development in the future.

It might not sound like much as far as biotech and pharma deals go, but this arrangement could establish a template for future deals with other pharma companies, says CEO Mike Taylor. It also gets Bristol to pay the salaries of a “substantial” number of Ensemble’s 35 employees, which is no small thing for a venture-backed company that’s trying to make it through a downturn, especially when it can’t hang its hat on any drug candidates creating tangible value in clinical trials.

“This is really important for us,” Taylor says. “This will allow us to expand, and really explore a range of targets that Ensemblins can address.” He adds, “You can always use more money in the bank.”

Ensemble was founded in 2004 to develop a new class of drugs, which it calls “Ensemblins,” based on research by David Liu at Harvard University. It has raised $32 million in total from Flagship Ventures, Arch Venture Partners, Harris & Harris Group, CMEA Ventures, and Boston University. But the last round was in November 2007—back when it was a lot more common for VCs to stick their necks out for tantalizing and unproven drug discovery technologies.

Since then, Ensemble has shown that it has solved some of the traditional challenges of making macrocyclic drugs, which was what impressed Bristol-Myers, Taylor says. These products are supposed to be mid-sized molecules, somewhere in between …Next Page �

the saturation and full circle back; my netbook thoughts (geek op-ed)

well, 2008 sure seemed to be the year of the netbook.  we had tons of choices and tons of manufacturers (including lenovo and hp) getting into the mix and genre-leaders like Asus and MSI updating their lines and expanding.  already in 2009 we are seeing more and more options and further upgrades being added (incluing new chipsets, atom cpus, gpu’s).

the netbook genre is defined by its low price point combined w/portability and in turn has caused a few manufacturers to be worried about profit margins on such a cheap setup.  remember that prior to the netbook craze, sub 12″ laptops ran over $2,000 a pop.  however, i believe that 2009 is going to be a year (if the economy cooperates) that the manufacturers get one back. hit the jump to hear this geeks theory.

well, 2008 sure seemed to be the year of the netbook.  we had tons of choices and tons of manufacturers (including lenovo and hp) getting into the mix and genre-leaders like Asus and MSI updating their lines and expanding.  already in 2009 we are seeing more and more options and further upgrades being added (incluing new chipsets, atom cpus, gpu’s).

the netbook genre is defined by its low price point combined w/portability and in turn has caused a few manufacturers to be worried about profit margins on such a cheap setup.  remember that prior to the netbook craze, sub 12″ laptops ran over $2,000 a pop.  however, i believe that 2009 is going to be a year (if the economy cooperates) that the manufacturers get one back. hit the jump to hear this geeks theory.

first off, this post is not based on raw data or stats or even a ‘real’ analysts thoughts.  nope, this is just my own opinion based upon being a part of the community and a geek.  ok, so now that disclaimers are out of the way.

netbook (noun)

A subnotebook computer that costs less than US$400 and incorporates an Intel Atom microprocessor (ZDNet)

 A subnotebook computer that costs less than $400. The term was coined by Intel in 2008 for computers that use the Intel Atom microprocessor. However, it may refer to small PCs that use non-Intel CPUS such as those made by AMD and Via (PC Mag)

this definition which as of right now maybe out the window if psion goes after the industry for using such trademarks, which they really should just be proud that a product of theirs, which has not seen a new model or refresh in over 2 years, defines a genre/category.  its like Post-Its (but then again, i’m kind of a hippie like that)

with the new wave of netbooks arriving in 2009, we are about to see netbooks actually out price themselves out of the genre.  more powerful gpus will definitely add to the cost of the machine and other possible add-ins such as 3G cards and GPS will do the same.  yes, costs can be offset by mobile carrier subsidation (which is already starting) however the total cost of ownership of the machine over a year will be well over $400, probably closer to $1000 after 3G data service bills and hardware.

add into the mix the possibility of Windows 7 at the very close of 2009 (i say Win7 RTM by early nov 09 if win7 makes 2009, microsoft will def want to get it OS out before thanksgiving and the rush. they would also want to get it to the oems like HP and Dell a few weeks before tday to let them start installing new machines w/it and prepping for major holiday rush which will be even more important this year. ), which will also increase the cost of the machine.

so basically i see 2009 as the year the netbook grows up and gets even more add-ons.  i see the genre coming back full circle to what it subplanted; sub-notebooks.  the main things driving this full circle type of pattern would be discrete gpus for gaming, touchscreens for easier input, more mini pci-e cards/3Gcards, GPS addons.  these things all cost money and add to the price.

i do not think we’ll see over $1500 sub-notes books, but i definitely could see the ‘premium’ models nearing the $1000 range.

so like bob marley said, “what goes around comes around…”

/end geek op-ed

passing more wind: vista origami experience 2.0 and my touchscreen wind (video)

ok, i promise i’ll stop posting msi wind touchscreen stuff soon. however, until then here is a quick video demo of the Origami Experience 2.0 add-on to Vista running on my touchscreen wind. (download it from ms here )

imo, the origami experience 2.0 is a great step towards a more user friendly netbook experience (given it has a touchscreen), the browser alone is much improved over anything to date that runs on windows for such a device (makes it feel like the iphone’s safari)

enjoy!

[youtube Mp21JySw6dA]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp21JySw6dA

ok, i promise i’ll stop posting msi wind touchscreen stuff soon. however, until then here is a quick video demo of the Origami Experience 2.0 add-on to Vista running on my touchscreen wind. (download it from ms here )

imo, the origami experience 2.0 is a great step towards a more user friendly netbook experience (given it has a touchscreen), the browser alone is much improved over anything to date that runs on windows for such a device (makes it feel like the iphone’s safari)

enjoy!

[youtube Mp21JySw6dA]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp21JySw6dA

Air, OSX and Me: Simplicity can be beautiful (part 2)

well, i admit that the first few times using OS X Leopard (on a hackintoshed pc or the macbook air) was kind of frustrating originally.

being a windows poweruser/geek, i have become accustomed to installshield guides and registry hacking to get my settings and programs running.  however with OS X, installing applications is almost too easy.  just open and drag the app to the Applications folder.  wait? thats all?

yes, simplicity can be a beautiful thing.  this simplicity is shown throughout the whole operating system and applications. in this part 2 i will detail my personal experiences with OS X and the software side of things. again, this is probably a pretty boring read for any OS X hardcore users or power users. 

well, i admit that the first few times using OS X Leopard (on a hackintoshed pc or the macbook air) was kind of frustrating originally.

being a windows poweruser/geek, i have become accustomed to installshield guides and registry hacking to get my settings and programs running.  however with OS X, installing applications is almost too easy.  just open and drag the app to the Applications folder.  wait? thats all?

yes, simplicity can be a beautiful thing.  this simplicity is shown throughout the whole operating system and applications. in this part 2 i will detail my personal experiences with OS X and the software side of things. again, this is probably a pretty boring read for any OS X hardcore users or power users. 

in my part 1 post, i basically outlined my impressions of mac hardware (macbook air).  its nicely designed, expensive, and for the most part pretty reliable.  for the most part it seems to me that most of the hardware is probably more power than most everyday users would ever need and in turn would explain why mac users never/very rarely complain of slowness or freezing (given it isn’t a failing hard drive).

so this post is more centered around me and getting myself familar using OS X Leopard from a windows power user/elite standpoint.

the first thing i’ve noticed from the start is that OS X is VERY INTUITIVE.  its almost too intuitive, especially for us windows users who are accustomed to using Installers, self-extracting .exe installers, .msi installs, etc.  installation of most programs is just a matter of mounting the .dmg file and then dragging the actual application to wherever you want it installed.    also, the application itself is an object not an individual file however the way it is presented to the end user is that its a single looking file.  this is pretty nice for the non-power user who just needs to install the application.

one of the biggest problems i have had with OS X is finding appropriate mac software that can replace what i’ve been using in a windows environment. however i realized that the easiest way to get around this was to just use VMWare Fusion and run a virtual XP on it.  i used Nlite and created a custom, slim-streamlined XP iso installer removing most of things i didn’t need (ie outlook express, msn messenger, msn explorer, extra device drivers i’d never use, etc).

apple’s own software suites are very nicely built and accessible (iwork and ilife). imovie is much more accessible for most users; i know i am still struggling to figure out premiere so imovie is a nice relief in its ease of use and features.  apple’s included templates in iwork are nicely done and fill most basic/general tasks.  garageband 09 is a pretty amazing piece of music software.  you can now use magic garageband to quickly craft a random mix based on a few template/genres.

and finally, i love being able to make a dashboard widget from any webpage or part of a webpage using Safari.  since minneapolis, mn is part of google’s transit web app, i decided to make a google transit widget that lets me find public transportation from any address that has bus service/routes. very handy!!

so yes, simplicity is beautiful.  now lets get some visuals! see some vids of os x in action on my macbook air.

Making your own google transits dashboard item in Leopard w/Safari

[youtube -5xD8L7uCRU]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5xD8L7uCRU

Front Row, Itunes, VMWare fusion demos

[youtube nn-KU8srbzo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn-KU8srbzo

Itunes and Visualizer in action

[youtube gXiJewBdyl4]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXiJewBdyl4

and yes, the kool-aid is good but doesn’t always quench this geek’s thirst.  don’t worry windows, i still love you for your dvring and in turn i cannot see myself leaving microsoft as a main os in my household but rather i see a newly forged co-existence of os x and windows in this geeks world.

a new year, a new cpu! desktop upgrade time.

happy 2009! hopefully a year of rebirth for our nation and each of us!

i started this new year off by scoring a few decent deals on a few upgrades to my desktop rig.  last year i didn’t really upgrade too much since i moved gaming platforms back to consoles (PS3 and late wii) and in a way burned myself out of upgrades/system building the year prior (went through about 8 cases, 6 mobos, 4 vid cards in one year).  however the super low costs of memory and 3ghz dual core processors really got my upgrade-sense a twitching.  in addition, i have fully transitioned all my machines from XP to Vista and actually am enjoying it over XP (vista’s not that bad people, get over it!)

happy 2009! hopefully a year of rebirth for our nation and each of us!

i started this new year off by scoring a few decent deals on a few upgrades to my desktop rig.  last year i didn’t really upgrade too much since i moved gaming platforms back to consoles (PS3 and late wii) and in a way burned myself out of upgrades/system building the year prior (went through about 8 cases, 6 mobos, 4 vid cards in one year).  however the super low costs of memory and 3ghz dual core processors really got my upgrade-sense a twitching.  in addition, i have fully transitioned all my machines from XP to Vista and actually am enjoying it over XP (vista’s not that bad people, get over it!)

my main needs for a desktop are:

-video encoding/transcoding/authoring

-photo editing/resizing/photoshop etc

-file-serving/hosting (main fileserver for rest of local network to get data from)

-basic gaming pc (do latest games but on lowest settings, nothing crazy good)

-playback hd content via hdmi

-do normal pc stuff (email, internet, etc)

osx and ubuntu support are not required (i’ve abandoned both for my desktop os, more novelty than productivity for my desktop; laptops different story).

i debated between Intel and AMD and actually went with AMD this time (prefer intels for my portables though).  i was able to score a AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (3.1ghz per core, dual core) w/psu for around $55 on neweg and then got a new asus mobo for about $90(8gb max mem support and hdmi output w/asus hybrid sli) and finally 8gb of kingston memory for around $90

i should get my upgrades by end of next week (saved on shipping since i’m in no hurry); i’ll post and update on how she runs!

seriously though, who doesn’t want to try to run a system w/8GB of RAM!!!!! and yes, this will require Vista x64.  also, 3ghz per core is pretty impressive too!

Building an inexpensive storage server, HDMI Woes

In the last installment, I got the OS installed and drive array spinning. Since HDMI can pass audio and video over a singl