The Traveling Tech Guy

Why Did I Return My New Laptop - Part II

2008-11-22T14:42:00.000-08:00

A couple of months back, I bought and returned a Dell XPS 1330. But I still needed a laptop, so I waited until October 14th, when Apple announced the new MacBook.

I was a bit disappointed at first with the specs and the price, but convinced myself that since I'm getting 2 laptops (a Mac and a PC - see my Bootcamp review) for the price of one, and since I love the Mac OS, this will be a worthy investment.

Another reason to purchase the MacBook was my interest in developing iPhone applications - an option Apple currently limits to Macs running Leopard (remember that the next time someone accuses Microsoft at tying people to certain hardware and operating systems).

A few things that annoyed me, even before I bought the machine, were:

No way to connect the laptop to an external monitor, without purchasing an adapter. Unlike the rest of the world, that supports VGA, DVI and even HDMI, Apple chose to go with the least-used DisplayPort technology, claiming it's the best digital display protocol out there. I'm not a vieophile, so I won't argue this point, but please show me a single monitor or TV (outside of Apple monitors) supporting this technology. This is just another way to get people to buy additional adapters.
No media card reader. Yes, I can use a USB adapter. Yes, they only cost $5-10 nowadays. But why would I want to lug another piece of equipment, when most laptops provide a reader out of the box? And tie a USB port in the process? Which brings me to the next point...
Only 2 USB ports. I may be alone in this, but when at home, I use 3-4 USB devices with my current laptop.
No PC card reader, which means I'd have had to call Verizon Wireless and replace my cellular modem from a PC card to a USB version. See previous point.

But, as mentioned, I convinced myself that I can get over those minor issues. I paid $2000 at the Apple online store, for the following configuration:

13.3" glossy LED screen
A P8600 Centrino 2 2.4GHz processor
250GB HD
256MB ATI graphics card
4GB DDR3 RAM
AppleCare for 3 years
A ViewPort to VGA adapter

After more than a week, the laptop arrived (having followed a convoluted trail: Shanghai-Alaska-Missouri-Oakland-my home). I managed to use it for 2-3 hours and started configuring it, before hitting my first issue: the DVD reader refused to read several DVDs (software and movies) that my old Mac Mini read without a problem. It then refused to eject some of the discs.

This has been an issue for me ever since I used my first Mac with a CD reader, more than 10 years ago (I believe it was a Mac Quadra): there is no hardware eject button for discs. If the OS refuses to eject a disc, you're screwed. Even the pin hole, allowing for a manual ejection, that existed in earlier models, disappeared. I had to reboot the machine to get my disc back.

The second issue I had was that the Mac promptly went to sleep as soon as the lid was closed. I'm used to assigning my laptop with lengthy tasks, closing the lid - to conserve energy - and leaving it be. Similarly, when I listen to music, I don't like being distracted by the screen's glare. Imagine my surprise, when I tried burning a DVD (a task that was estimated at 32 minutes), closed the lid, saw all lights go dark, and when I opened the lid, the burning operation failed and the DVD turned to a coaster.

I took a long time looking for the option to stop the machine from going to sleep when the lid closes. I tried the Apple sites and researched online forums, and found nothing but frustrated users asking the same question. I later found out Apple did this by design: due to many complaints about the Mac heating up during use, they found an original way to cool it - turn it off when you're not looking. They've also placed the fan hole at the back of the body, directly underneath the screen, so it's blocked when the lid is closed - chalk that to bad design.

The only solution offered, came in the form of a freeware utility called InsomniaX, that forces the Mac to stay awake (use it at your own discretion - this may damage your Mac)

The next day, I went to the Apple store, to try and solve my DVD issue, and ran into another - at the hands of the support engineer (Apple calls them "Geniuses"), my Mac refused to shut down, and later refused to start up, until the battery was removed and re-inserted.

The genius (no offense meant - he was an extremely nice and helpful guy) claimed I had a problem with the power distribution, that may explain all the issues I've suffered. He suggested I replace the machine, since I had it less than 24 hours at that point. He also mentioned that this was the price I paid for being an early adopter. Indeed.
I remember the old "Don't install a Microsoft Windows OS until the first service pack is out" joke. Guess you can add Apple to this conclusion.

Since I purchased my Mac online, the guy at the Apple store couldn't replace it for me. The guy on the Apple support line (again, nice and helpful), informed me that I need to send back the Mac and that it'll take 10 days for a new one to arrive - counted from the day they receive the old Mac.

At this point, I really didn't have a lot of patience and just returned the Mac and got my money back. I brooded for 24 hours or so over the fact almost every laptop I touch misbehaves. Am I technologically cursed? Do I emit an electromagnetic laptop-destroying field? Or is it just bad luck?

But I still need a laptop. So once I'm back from Europe I'm going to try going back to a ThinkPad. I owned one for 2 years and have nothing but good things to say about it. Next stop then, is the ThinkPad T400. Wish me luck, I really don't want to write another post in this series

PS: still looking for a way to develop iPhone apps. Guess I'll have to upgrade my Mac Mini to Leopard...

Gadget Review - iRobot Roomba

2008-11-13T17:56:00.000-08:00

Being a lazy (traveling tech) guy, I never look forward to cleaning my apartment. The part I hate the most (other than doing the windows, laundry, restroom etc.) is vacuuming the carpet. [I hate carpets in general, but could not find a single apartment complex that offers a unit without them, save for the high end ones (those can charge a $1000/month premium for "wooden floors")].
So I rejoiced when I heard that there are people far lazier than me who invented a vacuuming robot.

The Roomba from iRobot is a small robot that will travel the length and breadth of your apartment, happily vacuuming its way around furniture and other debris thrown on your floor. It's smart enough to navigate obstacles, and it'll cover all open floor, in a circuitous way. Looking at it go, I'm often reminded of the A* algorithm, used by game makers to allow AI characters to navigate a maze.

Roomba travels to the living room

The Roomba operates on its own: click the big "Clean" button, and it's good for 2.5 hours. When it finishes covering the apartment, or if it runs out of battery while running, it will go back to its nest to recharge.

Roomba returns home to recharge

You can either activate the Roomba manually, or program a schedule. If you're too lazy to bend and click the button, it even has a remote (I didn't even bother unpacking it - there's a limit to my laziness ).

The Roomba is smart enough to navigate around obstacles and avoid stairs (so if you want it to clean a multi-level house, you have to carry it to the next level, or get one Roomba per floor ). To prevent it from entering certain areas, you can set "virtual barriers" - a small device emitting infrared beams that create a "no-go" zone for the robot. I have 3 of those and I never needed them so far.

One story I do have to share: one day, I ordered my Roomba to clean the house before leaving for work. When I came back, it wasn't at its nest. I looked around the house, and then started crawling under every bed and table - and couldn't find it. I stared thinking "why would anyone break in, steal the Roomba and leave the rest of my stuff alone?". I then went to the last room in the house, the bathroom. The door was closed (and one trick the Roomba can't perform is reach for the handle to let itself in ). Just as I was about to leave, I saw the Roomba under the bathroom carpet, which was thrown in the corner. Apparently, I forgot to close the bathroom door. The Roomba wandered in, and hit the door from the inside, closing it. It then spent its battery banging around the bathroom, trying to get out and back to its nest. Finally, it crawled under the carpet and "died" . Luckily, all it needed was a recharge. And now, I close the bathroom door prior to leaving the house .

The internet is full of proud Roomba users, who anthropomorph their beloved robot, give it names and even dress it up. There is also a community of hackers that add functionality (such as WiFi control and a web cam), allowing for really remote control of the Roomba and turning it into a virtual guard dog.

Pricewise, the Roomba is definitely a commodity. Don't be fooled by the MSRP, no one pays $500 for it. Amazon has all kinds of sales on it. One day, they sold it for $400, the day after they had one of their flash deals and I got the 580 model for $319 + a set of extra brushes and virtual barriers (that costs a $100 on it's own). From time to time, it even features on Woot.com (although they usually sell the older, less reliable models).

But for lazy people like me, the Roomba is a boon. It does what it promises, vacuuming and cleaning the entire house. It has its own personality - having it around is like having a small puppy, sans the noise and mess. And finally, it makes me feel a bit closer to Asimov's futuristic view of humanity and robots. I give it two thumbs up - it's definitely one of my most beloved gadgets.

Cautionary Tales of Science

2008-11-05T22:28:00.000-08:00

I just heard one of my all-time favorite authors, Michael Crichton, just died after a bout with cancer.

I loved Crichton's books ever since I read The Andromeda Strain as a child. Despite it being written before i was born, it still read as current and futuristic at the same time.

Chriton's books always managed to get the right mix of suspense, science and opinions thrilling the reader thrilled, while educating him at the same time. When you finish a Crichton novel, you always feel like you've learned something new about the world.

Mixing cautionary tales of science running amok (Jurassic Park and Next), with his own political and personal agenda (A State of Fear - a book that reads from beginning to end like an anti global-warming manifesto, to the point the story devolves into long, tedious speeches), Crichton always managed to grab my interest. I found myself reading his books with a pad (and later a laptop), jotting down names and facts for further reading.

Despite my disappointment with A State of Fear, the epilogue of the book stands on its own, and should be read by every scientist out there. Using some samples from history, Crichton demonstartes what happens to the scientific community, and indeed, the entire human race, when everyone decide to blindly follow a single voice in science, to the exclusion of all other voices.

I'll miss Crichton's unique writing style. Here's my Michael Crichton must-read list:

The Andromeda Strain - his first, and one of his best, dealing with a possible alien pandemic
Jurassic Park - watch Spielberg for the effects, read Crichton for the science
Sphere - what IS real?
Congo - just a great adventure book
Next - read my review
Airframe: a Novel - what lengths would a corporation go to, to hide its culpability in an accident?

How to Add a Web Slice your Blog

2008-11-02T18:06:00.000-08:00

One of the cool new features in IE8 is called Web Slices. It allows users to subscribe to a part (slice) of a web page, and get notified when it changes.

Think about the following scenario: suppose your only reason browse to CNN's homepage to get the Dow index. Rather than point you browser at the address, load te entire page every time (including countless images, flash files etc.) and hit F5 every couple of seconds, you mark the area of the page that interests you, the browser adds a live link to it in the links bar, it prompts you when the contents of the slice change and actually shows you the content.

So, on the last day of PDC I took a hands-on lab on Web Slices and found out they're extremely easy to implement - just 3 HTML tags needed. I planned to add one experimental slice to the Twitter area of my blog (lower left side on the home page).

The way a Web Slice manifests itself in IE8 is by showing a green frame and icon when you hover over the area where the slice is:

Clicking the green icon, adds a live bookmark to your toolbar, that shows the slice's content when pressed:
Another nice feature is a drop-down menu that shows you all subscribable content on a page, including slices and RSS feeds - so you don't have to hunt them down by hovering over the page:
So, here's what I thought I needed to do: go to the Twitter Page element, add 3 HTML tags and publish. Here's the HTML code of the Twitter element:

<div id="twitter_div">
<ul id="twitter_update_list"></ul>
<a id="twitter-link" style="display:block;text-align:right;"
href="http://twitter.com/TTGuy">follow me on Twitter</a>
<script src="http://twitter.com/javascripts/blogger.js"
type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline
/TTGuy.json?callback=twitterCallback2&count=5"
type="text/javascript"></script>
</div>

To make this into a Web Slice, you need to do the following:

Surround this section with a <div> with a class="hslice"
Add another element (a span or an h1 or h2) with class="entry-title" - to give the slice its name
Surround the rest of the content with a <div> (or a <span>) with class="entry-content"

And that's all. Wrong!

Problem 1
As you can clearly see, this HTML invokes a JSON call, using JScript to the Twitter site to get content for the list. That means that if you subscribe to the slice as is, you'll get an empty page. For security reasons, a slice will not execute the code for you, to prevent a security attack known as XSS (Cross Site Scripting).

It took me awhile to realize that I have to serve the slice with the content already in it - so I actually had to serve the user another HTML page. Luckily, Microsoft prepared for such an eventuality, and you can define your content provider to be another HTML page, by including an invisible a element, with a rel="entry-content":

<a style="display:none;" href="http://gvider.googlepages.com/twitter.html"
rel="entry-content"></a>

The user will never see the tag - it's there for IE's sake.

Problem 2
Since the page was disconnected, none of my pages design carried over, and the element looked like a simple bulleted list. I had to dig through my Blogger template and copy some CSS over to that page (Blogger doesn't make it easy to copy its CSS, since it's full of macros and variables, that serve the GUI template editor). I finally was able to de-reference all variables and get a similar design.

Problem 3
The Web Slice is displayed in a square by IE8 - and you cannot control its dimensions. Think of trying to show your page in an iframe of a certain size that you don't control. This resulted in a cut list - you could only see 2 items instead of 5, and they were cut at the edges.

I solved that by adding a scrollable div around the list (as you can see in the image above).

You can see the source of the page on my Google Pages site.

So, it took longer than the 3 minutes I thought it would take - but now I know how to turn the rest of my elements to Web Slices. I know Microsoft has a list of sites that have already started implementing Web Slices and I hope more will take it up.

For the FireFox purists, rumors are that FF 3.1 will start support for Web Slices as well. In the meantime, enjoy my Twitter Slice and expect more in the future.

PS: showing HTML code in a post is such a hassle. You have to code the whole thing by hand (i.e. change every < to <). Next time I'll just copy-paste an image of the code from my editor .

PDC 08 - Day 4

2008-10-30T16:55:00.000-07:00

Final day of the conference. My day actually started at 3am. One of the giveaways at the show was a bouncy rubber ball that emits shrill sounds while bouncing. Sadly, this specimen decided to start chirping at that odd hour. I was startled awake and it took me several minutes to locate the source of the noise. This thing has no 'off' button. I thought about hurling it out of my window, but 21st floor rooms' windows cannot be opened (although it does bring to mind an interesting question in physics: if you drop a bouncy ball from the 21st floor, how high does it jump back? ). Finally, I resorted to throwing it to a trashcan outside my room.

I attended 2 lectures today: one on RESTful web services (how to switch from SOAP and other heavy web services protocols to REST), and the other on extending Visual Studio.

The second lecture had some eye-opening samples on how VS can be extended - even in the current version. Several things we can do today:

Download (or develop and upload) extensions from the Visual Studio Gallery.
Build scripts and automation into VS, using DTE.
Distribute applications that look like the VS UI, using VS Shell.

Then came the VS 10 samples. Since VS 10 is written entirely in WPF, it is extensible by nature:

The Start Page can be configured and reprogrammed.
Extensions can be developed and distributed by just copying assemblies around.
You can even manipulate the way VS shows code, or comments - the sky's the limit.

Finally, I took a hands-on lab on WebSlices, a new IE8 feature. I liked it so much that I'm now at work on incorporating it into my blog (stay tuned).

I actually got to the airport ahead of schedule and managed to catch an earlier flight home. I just received an email from Microsoft informing me that all lectures and material have been uploaded to MicrosoftPDC.com - go check them out. I was also invited to next year's PDC (November 17th '09 - mark your calendars).

Final observations:

Many people were blogging and twittering from the show. Some just typing, others snapping pictures or filming. All in all, I assume many people around the world got the news in near real-time. The internet is amazing.
There were far less presenters this year (did I hear someone in the crowd say "recession"?). I couldn't understand the business models of some of the presenters - why put so much money in designing UI controls that Microsoft provides for free?
Over the last 2 years, in Tech-Ed and in online education videos, developers and presenters used Windows XP and 2003 to demo. No more. This time ALL presenters used Vista (or 7) on their presentation machines. Guess Microsoft finally started forcing people to eat their own dog food (although one Microsoft developer I spoke to confessed that internally they are using proprietary bug tracking system and source control system, rather than using VSTS and SourceSafe, like they want us to).

That's all for this PDC. I'm now hard at play... I mean work at testing the new operating system, frameworks and demos. Software development is fun again...

PDC 08 - Day 3

2008-10-30T16:35:00.000-07:00

Another day at the PDC. Today's keynote introduced some of the projects Microsoft Research Labs (read my review from awhile back). Some, like a new generation of Surface computer that can read hand gestures made above the table, and can project content on other surfaces - look nice, but not really practical yet. Others, like Mesh and Worldwide Telescope look more useful.

I've attended some sessions and pariticpated in a couple of hands on labs. And then I got an hour to play on a Surface, by myself. Throughout the conference, there were several Surface machines. But they were always surounded by people. Some were playing the Scavenger Hunt game, others using musical instruments, or sharing photos. While I can't immediately see private applications for it (and the price point is still high for the private sector), I do see some uses in the commercial sector - as a planning tool, or as a fun tool (it's already used in some casinos).
Oh yes, I actually got to see one crash. It runs Vista Business as its OS .

I believe touch interaction is the future. Windows 7 supports it out of the box, and for $1500 you can now buy a HP TouchSmart computer that contains a touchscreen, with Windows 7 drivers. Those HPs were used throughout the show for demos and hands-on labs. In fact, this is one of those "adult moments" where I have to convince myself that although this looks cool, i don't really need it .

PDC 08 - Day 2

2008-10-28T23:59:00.000-07:00

Today I finally got what I came here for: the official announcement of Windows 7. It was presented by Steven Sinofsky, senior VP at Microsoft.

UI-wise, 7 looks like Vista, with some UI tweaks (I started writing them down, but found this post that does a nicer job, with pictures to boot - ah, cross-posting is fun ).
I personally liked the following features:

Toned down UAC
Ability to create and mount a virtual disk from the operating system - and even boot from it!
I'm sure VMWare are NOT thrilled about this particular feature
"Libraries" allowing better collection and search of data across disks and computers
Better device handling
Much smaller footprint - it was booted off an EEE PC, 1Ghz CPU, 1Gb of RAM - and there was till half a Gb left
"Homegroup" - Auto-discovery for network. 15 years after Windows 3.1 for Workgroups, Microsoft manages to get networks right
Customizable shutdown button - to solve a major Vista annoyance
You now control the popups in the taskbar from a central location

Touch features were less interesting to me - touch screens have been around for more than 10 years and other than some particular uses, they are not widespread.

As for timeline, we got the pre-beta today (on a nice 160Gb WD hard disk - along with tons of downloads, demos and virtual images). Beta 1 is coming at the beginning of 2009. RTM was not announced - this time Microsoft will work on ity until ready.

Sinofsky mentioned the bad rep that Vista received, including in competing commercials (I assume he meant Apple's "I'm a Mac - I'm a PC") and while everyone laughed, he looked visibly hurt. He claimed Microsoft has learned from the critisism and will provide a better product in 7 as a result. He called to developers to start developing 64-bit code.

I was disappointed to see they still have versions of the OS, similar to Vista ("Premium", "Ultimate" etc.). Still, I can't wait to get home and install it.

We then got a taste of VS 2010 and .Net 4.0. Many features, tying into Azure, WPF, Silverlight etc. The entire VStudio IDE is built in WPF and is therefore exstensible by the user (the demo showed how you can show comments as bubbles rather than text, and how a bug number in a comment turns to a link to the bug in the tracking system).

We then got a whiff of the new Office Web Applications. I was blown away. using WPF and Silverlight, you can now get an exact replica of all Office apps in your browser. What's more, several people can work on the same document at the same time (from desktops or the web and the content gets updated in real time.

Don Box than regaled the crowd with a quick smart session using the new .Net services to expose some of his computer's content to the web using Azure and other new techniques.

I attended some interesting sessions today - some too technical to discuss. But one new feature in 7, called "Troubleshooting packages" is worth waiting for. Common problems can be solved automatically, using a series of scripted tasks. The demo showed how a movie played without the sound. The sound trobleshoot package was double-clicked, and the script started the audio service (which was turned off on purpose) and un-muted the speakers. This opens a lot of opportunities.

Amongst the toys and swag we received from presenters, I like one the most. It's a device with an accelorometer, a light detector and several other features - all accessible through an SDK provided on a CD. I wonder what uses for it I'll come up with...

The day ended with a major Halloween party at Universal Studios. The park was closed to the public. Smoke machines worked overtime (it was impossible to see in some sections) and tens of actors dressed as monster, zombies and clowns with saws (whare is that from?) harassed the people. I'm not into horror films, but it was fun.

PDC 08 - Day 1

2008-10-28T05:16:00.000-07:00

The surprise of the day came to me while listening to Ray Ozzie's keynote - the main thing Microsoft was announcing today is not Windows 7, Visual Studio 10, or even .Net 4. The "new big thing" from MS is "Windows Azure" - a new cloud web services platform (find a definition here).
Welcome to Google and Amazon land, Microsoft.

To differentiate themselves from the competitors offering (see Cloud vs. Cloud), MS is offering full .Net support for the new platform, including VStudio integration, SQL Services layer and other ways to tie you in. They promise a "reasonable price model" to be announce later (probably at 09).
We immediately got to register and play with the new platform (registering and trying it is open to the public, but expect some delays - I've already seen it crash several times, due to traffic). It's nice, but nothing I haven't seen before.

One of the demos they show is called Bluhoo - a mobile app utilizing bluetooth on mobile device to locate friends next to you and present them as likable creatures on the screen - now, how many of those have we seen in recent years, and how many survived? Don't people get the privacy ramifications of leaving my bluetooth open and discoverable at this day and age?

In contrast, the demo of the application built for the Ethiopian Education Ministry, utilizing geo-location seamlessly, made a lot of sense.

I've attended several "Cloud" sessions today. For some reason, they tended to be more demo than theory - which turned them into boring VStudio screencasts. Again, this was a bit of a letdown.

The exhibitions expo this year is much smaller than Tech-Ed standards (did anyone say "recession"?) and was less fun to attend.

My chief hope is that Day 2's keynote will start addressing the new platforms (at this stage, it looks like it will - Microsoft just started releasing Windows 7 videos on their site).

In the meantime, I found the ideal way to blog about a conference: I use twitter to post from my Blackberry (using TwittwrBerry) as things happen. I then go over my twitter stream later, collect my thoughts into a coherent article, and post to the blog. If you look at the lower left side of the screen, you can see my twitter posts. Follow me on twitter to get them in real time.

Couple of Web Sites

2008-10-27T03:53:00.000-07:00

A couple of useful web sites and articles I found over the last couple of days:

Dropbox - Dropbox is a service allowing you to share files across computers. You run a tiny client on your machine (Windows and Mac currently supported), designate a folder as your drop box, and any file or folder you drag into it is immidiately uploaded and is available on all your other machines. It's even available online from machines without the client. And finally, it allows you to share folders with other people. Each time a file is changed or deleted, you have access to previous versions of it.

The free account is limited to 2GB, or you can get 50GB for $99 a year.
Their earlier release had several bugs that prevented installation on Windows Vista - but the latest release fixed those.
Usernamecheck - this simple web application will go over all (most) known collaboration, blogging and social network sites, and find out whether the user name you've specified is taken.
How to use LinkedIn - in this article, Guy Kawasaki discusses 10 ways you can utilize your LinkedIn profile better. Did I mention mine was here?
The Disciplined Investor - Andy Horowitz's blog contains a cool, calm analysis of the stock market. Very important during the current crisis. Alos liten to his weekly podcast.
Cloud vs. Cloud - this article compares several of the available cloud computing platforms (Google Apps, Amazon EC2, AppNexus). I liked the videos demonstrating how easy it is to set up a web server on each.
Resumes suck - Robert Scoble discusses 10 things you should/n't do when sending your resume over email. While I don't agree with all of them, it's food for thought.
The Bugle - a weekly satirical podcast recorded by John Oliver (The Daily Show) in the US and comedian Andy Zaltzman in the UK, is currently my favorite podcast.
It's responsible to the stupid grin I have on my face while listening to John and Andy dissect the weekly news, and other importnat issues like "hotties from history", the crossword puzzle and various corners.

PDC 08 - Day 0

2008-10-27T03:31:00.000-07:00

This week I'm in LA for the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference.
Unlike Tech-Ed, the annual conference, PDC is held only in years when Microsoft has significant announcements to make.

This year they will be announcing Windows 7, .Net FW 4, Visual Studio 10 and several cloud-computing related technologies.

The conference officially starts on Monday, with a keynote by Ray Ozzie - Microsoft's chief software architect - but several pre-sessions were held today. My colleague and I took the chance to participate in a Microsoft QA lab, allowing you to install your exisiting software on an alpha release of Windows 7.

It was an interesting experience. While our software outright failed to run on both 32 and 64 bit versions of W7, we did collect valuable information that will allow our engineers to address the situation.

UI-wise, the releases of W7 we've used look just like Vista, with some tiny GUI changes here and there. The kernel has changed, but not much more - from what we could see. Still, it's an early build and I hope that later builds will utilize some of the new features promised (like touchscreen support and better performance).

I'll attempt to report at least once a day on news as they come in. Hopefully not at 3am again (blame that on my jet lag from the UK trip I took last week).

Is this Site Down, or is it Just Me?

2008-10-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

If you've ever browsed to a web site and got an HTTP error, you're familiar with the question: "is this site down for everyone, or is it just me?". In a world of firewalls, proxies and workplace filters, one site dares to answer this question: downforeveryoneorjustme.com.

Simply type in the site you want to visit and downfor... will tell you if it's really down, or is your firewall acting up again. Very useful.

Beware execcareerhunt.com

2008-10-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

I just received the following email:

Your resume came to me through one of our partners and we would like to set an appointment to meet with you. At Advantage Associates California, we help build relationships to assist senior executives and managers find the best jobs in the San Jose area. We steward our clients careers, maximizing their earning potential and job satisfaction.

We provide unique tools and technology that assist our clients in identifying and pursuing the best career opportunities.

If you are interested in learning more, please reply to sanjose@execcareerhunt.com and attach the most current version of your resume and we will call you to set a time to meet.

Robin
Executive Administrator

If you would like to be removed from receiving any more emails, please reply back with unsubscribe in the subject line.

I immediately became suspicious:

Who are they and where did they get my personal address?
Why would anyone serious sign with just his first name?
Why is the company called "Advantage Associates California", yet the address says "execcareerhunt.com"?
Why does the last line offer the opportunity to "unsubscribe" - like any other spam email?
Finally, the domain execcareerhunt.com does not return any HTML page.

A very short Google search later, I found this great post in the Geeks-R-Us blog, detailing all you need to know about these scammers. The amount of comments show many other people received this email or fell for it. One of the comments actually explains how to reseach these scam domains safely, using Telnet instead of your browser.

Bottom line: Beware unsolicited email (and Nigerian dignitaries who would like to share their ill-gained profits with you ).

Important note: while GMail didn't flag this email as spam, Windows Live Mail did. Good job Microsoft.

Fancy a cuppa gov?

2008-10-19T11:32:00.000-07:00

This week I'm in Halifax, UK, visiting a customer. Just landed not long ago, still jetlagged and shivering from the weather change.
Being in Yorkshire, the people here speak with a heavy accent. So heavy in fact, that I sometimes can't understand a word.

Some of my conversations so far were hilarious (to me, at least ). I either got the gist of things, or just replied with a noncommittal "yes" or "no" at my end of the conversation. I couldn't even pronounce the address I was looking for (try it: "Dean Clough").

To fully experience a Yorkshire conversation, just speak at 3x the normal speed, switch every "o" with "u", and the word "my" with "me". Also, for good measure, add the word "cheers" at the end of every third sentence. To fully grasp the situation, try saying the following sentence out loud:

we had a row because me yungest fancies man U

Which was my cab driver's way of telling me that his youngest son is a fan of Manchester United, while he favors Liverpool (UK Premiere League football teams), leading to some arguments around their dinner table.

This all reminded me of the scene from the movie Snatch, where Brad Pitt plays a Pikey (sort of an English Gypsy) speaking his unique version of English:

This is going to be a fun week

Language, Young Man!

2008-10-11T15:31:00.001-07:00

I've recently returned from Montreal, where I spent Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year’s, with my cousin.

Holiday in Montreal was uneventful. Great weather, good food etc. One day we went for a sandwich at a place called “Dreams” (great food, btw). When the waiter asked me what I wanted to drink, I’ve answered “ice tea”, to which he replied “we don’t use this language here!” and left.

I sat there with a baffled face, until my cousin explained that the word “esti” is used as an expletive in Quebec. It generally means a flat bread served in church, but used like the word “Damn!”. (I later verified that in the Urban Dictionary). Well, the waiter was just joking and I did get my ice tea in the end - and learned a new word.
Foreign languages are fun :)

And now to justify the “Traveling” in the blog’s title:

I found a direct flight from SFO to YUL on points and decided to try the Caltrain for the first time, to see how that works. Usually, it costs me $80-100 using a taxi to get to SFO. The train ride cost me $12 altogether – so that’s a big plus. The minuses are:

The Caltrain takes about an hour to get to SFO, due to all the stops.
You don’t actually get to SFO with the Caltrain.
You disembark at Millbrae, where you take the BART to San Bruno, where you change to the BART line to SFO, where you take the AirTrain to your terminal… All in all, 4 train changes. Why couldn’t they make the train go directly to the airport? Or at least put the San Bruno BART station at the Caltrain terminal, and save one hop?
Despite the fact that everyone who goes to the airport, from both directions, takes the same route, no one at Caltrain and BART is smart enough to sell one ticket to the airport.
Nope – you’ll purchase a Caltrain ticket ($4) at a certain kiosk; disembark at Millbrae and purchase a BART ticket ($1.5) at another machine. This machine has a horrible HORRIBLE user interface. Good luck navigating it - even I needed assistance. To buy a $1.5 ticket, you must insert no more than $5 (if you insert $10, the machine returns no more than $5 change) and then dial the price down to 1.50 in 5 cents increments. Joy!
Schedules – why aren’t the Caltrain and the BART synchronized? You wait 10-20 minutes from one to the other, despite the fact everyone who disembarks at Millbrae is definitely going to the airport. Again, massive stupidity on the organizers side.

Bottom line: Caltrain is a cheap option, if you’ve got the time to play the train game. If you have a lot of luggage, or traveling with someone, skip this and take a taxi.

Red Ring of Death

2008-10-04T20:33:00.001-07:00

While in Israel, I purchased a couple of games for my Xbox 360 on eBay. Wait a couple of months, and get that $60 game for $20 including shipping.

But when I got home, I had an unpleasant surprise: I turned my Xbox on and got the dreaded “Red Ring of Death”. RRoD is the codename for a general hardware failure, signaled by 3 flashing red rings on the front of the console. You might say it’s like a bluescreen on a PC (or a frozen rainbow cursor on a Mac), only worse: restarting the console doesn’t help.

RRoDs are common in early Xboxes, due to shoddy components and QA procedures used by Microsoft, the Xbox overheats, sometime frying some of those cheap components. Microsoft has since improved the quality of the product, but many of the older system are still failing.

Since my machine is at least 2 years old, I wasn’t that surprised – just disappointed. My warranty has run out, but I called the Xbox support line anyway (1-800-MYXBOX) and was delighted to find out that MS took responsibility and retroactively extended the warranty for Xboxes suffering from RRoD.

So, I sent my console to their support center (they pay for the shipment and the box) and have just received a different (new or refurbished, I can’t tell – but it’s not my original) console, an apology letter and a free Xbox Live month.

So now I’m happily fragging terrorists in Rainbow Six Vegas 2.
Thanks Microsoft! (for the great service, not for creating the problem in the first place )

Favorite Programmer Cartoon

2008-09-23T18:51:00.000-07:00

From time to time I publish a tech-related cartoon that I find funny. But someone posted the question "what's your favorite programmer's cartoon?" at StackOverflow.com and the response contains ALL the funny geeky cartoons ever.
Knock yourselves out.

Universe 1 : LHC 0

2008-09-23T18:32:00.000-07:00

2 weeks ago, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), humanity's largest physics experiment ever, came online. Doomsayers immediately warned that such experiments can potentially create a tiny black hole, that would swallow the Earth - and maybe the entire Universe. People were counting down to the experiement's start. And nothing happened - we're still here.

But the Universe had the last laugh (for now): a circuit got burned down in the LHC. Because it was in a frozen part of the Collider, the temperature has to be risen, if technicians are to fix that circuit. And then the whole area has to be re-frozen. Bottom line: according to this latest CNN item, the LHC will close down in November and won't be restarted until next spring.

So our Universe managed to survive 6 more months . And to all those genius scientists at CERN who designed this expensive (6 billion Euro) experiment: couldn't think about this in advance? And what will you do when the next circuit breaks?

Annual Visit to Israel

2008-09-23T18:12:00.001-07:00

My company pays for one annual visit to my home country. I usually take it during the Jewish holidays, but this year I had a wedding to attend in August. So I took the ~24 hours trip (6 hours from San Francisco to New York + 12 hours to Tel Aviv + assorted waiting time in all airports) and landed right in the middle of the humid Israeli summer.

Annual visits are fun – you get to see all your family and friends – and they are all glad to see you. You gently dodge the inevitable “when are you coming back?” question in more ways than you knew possible.

And although you pretend you didn’t miss everyone too much, the amount of changes and growth since your last visit (my last was in January) is sometimes staggering. My little niece is now in school – she actually wrote my name on a sign and hung it on her door .

After my last visit I wrote about some of the little things that pissed me off during my Israeli visit (see Israeli Thoughts). I was immediately accused of being anti-Israeli by a commenter. Not that I really care about anonymous comments, but this time I wanted to highlight some positive thoughts that came to me during of my visit.
I'd also like to recommend to everyone at least one visit to Israel – just not during the summer .

Camaraderie – I already wrote before about the warmth and lack-of-distance between people. Whether in the office, at a wedding, or amongst friends, I could feel that warmth. Colleagues who haven’t seen me for a year continued the same joke they started when I was last there, work offers and personal offers were mingled with gossip everywhere.

I visit and meet many technical people during my work. On only 2 occasions did I see development sites that match the joie-de-vivre of our Israeli office (one was at a large Canadian company that makes a fruit-named communication device, the other at a Las Vegas gaming company). This trend should be exported (and if I figure out how, I’ll make millions ).
Hotel - this time, the hotel was magnificent. The Crowne Plaza City Center in Tel Aviv is highly recommended. The rooms design blew me away. The entire hotel sits in a tower atop of the Azrielli mall. It is accessible by bus and by a direct train from the airport (10 minutes). And it’s located in the middle of Tel Aviv. Granted, you won’t see the Mediterranean from your windows in the morning, but you won’t pay $350 a night either. Oh, and this time, the staff was amazing.
Army – it’s hard to understand how much the army life experience is ingrained into Israeli culture. In language, ways of thought, shared experiences and a world of reference not immediately understood by outsiders. Most long term friendships start in the army (as in my case). You learn to think on your feet.

My favorite army sentence is “This is what we have – and this is what we’ll win with” – meaning, we can make do even with limited resources. I think this is one of the cornerstones of Israeli innovation.

Oh, and another thing that can drive (certain) American tourists to Israel: in the US, people pay for special magazines that show “chicks with guns” – just come to Israel and stroll down any street, and you’ll meet a female soldier or two, carrying an M-16 - for free .
Girls – I may be biased, but I think Israel has the nicest looking girls in the world (and I've been around it a few times. The only place that comes close, in my humble opinion, is Utrecht in the Netherlands). A friend of mine actually gave a lecture about it (with pictures!) during his first MBA year . Man I have to find a link to that presentation...
Involvement – during my visit, one of the most gruesome murders in the history of the country occurred: a grandfather murdered his four year old granddaughter, put her body in a tiny suitcase and threw it into the Yarkon river - one of the filthiest, most polluted rivers in the middle east.

The police started looking for the body, but it soon became clear it was ill-equipped to deal with such a large area, with the limited divers they had. Not long after the police spokesman discussed the issue on the radio and over a dozen ex Navy SEALs reported to the Yarkon bank and volunteered to assist. And indeed, one of them found the suitcase a couple of weeks later. When asked why he left his work and came over to risk his life in the polluted river, he simply answered: “I would like to believe that if it were my little girl in there, everyone else would volunteer to help. So I had to come”.

Well, that's it for this time. Sorry if it sounded a bit sentimental. Hopefully you won't hold it against me .

I used one of my vaction weeks to visit Rome (first time – definitely not the last). But that merits a separate post. And perhaps another one on how Hurricane Ike screwed up my homeward trip (and how Continental dropped the ball on the whole Hurricane issue).