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Scriptable Applications and the Web
March 15th, 2010
Scriptability is a great feature to have in your application. It’s neglected far too often by application developers, for a number of reasons. The developers might be skeptical of the benefits, they might not understand how easy it is to add, or they might not suspect that any of their users would want to write code. (Only in very rare cases is it actually undesirable.) As applications move to the web, scriptability becomes even more important, but also more flexible for both you and the user.
Even Reality TV Values IP Strategy
March 10th, 2010
I was recently hooked on a reality television show called “Shark Tank.” I know, I know! Before you go judging me, just hear me out. And yes, this somehow relates to intellectual property (IP) matters.
For those of you that do not know, the show, which is a remake, offers a fascinating look into investment negotiations between hopeful entrepreneurs and potential angel investors. The show is obviously over-dramatized and keenly edited to show some sort of tension. Entrepreneurs pitch to a panel of five veteran investors, to artificially create an environment of out-bidding and competition between the sharks. Needless to say, most of the fun with the show stems from watching crazy ideas fall flat on their face and, on the upside, cheering on novice businesses as they make a dream deal.
My 5 Favorite Career-Specific Sites
March 8th, 2010
We find that many of the folks (folks such as yourself) come to visit our site in search of jobs. While software is our game, our team members themselves bring a wide-range of job experience to the office every morning, reflecting that we have a unique blend of personalities on our team who have a many of passions and pursuits. Some of the other jobs of our team members have included, just to name a few, film producer, online video director, military soldier, smoke-jumping fireman, doctor (pending), open source guru, lifeguard, dock worker, business manager, real estate agent, TV studio page, concert security guard, financial analyst, stand-up comic, artist, blogger, screenwriter, machinist and baseball vending barker. Clearly, we all have a wide-range of interests and pursuits.
How OK Go and Ignite LA blew my mind
March 2nd, 2010
Last night I sat in a room with at least one hundred other people for Ignite LA. If you’re not familiar Ignite LA is a series of presentations by people who are passionate about something. Each speaker has 5 minutes, 20 slides and 15 seconds per slide. This event takes place in multiple cities, so definitely take the time to see if it’s near where you live.
At the beginning of the evening, we were told that by the end our minds would be blown. I wasn’t so sure. The first couple speakers were really great, but I wouldn’t say I was blown away. But I spoke too soon.
Poor Man's Webspider
March 1st, 2010
Webspiders are fun, but the learning curve is awfully steep. Websites don’t like crawlers stumbling about where they’re not wanted, and barriers as simple as a login screen can stymie a beginner. Add in checks on user agents strings and javaScipt-heavy links, and your weekend is over before you’ve gotten anything to work—side project over! This blog post will show you how to turn your browser and lamp server into a spider capable of taking you straight to the fun.
The Basic Idea
A greasemonkey script will pull data off the pages we’re interested in and send them to a php script. The php script will then tell the greasemonkey script what to do next: either open an alert box telling the user something went wrong, or move on to another url.
What in the world is Lomography?
February 25th, 2010
My experience with photography is very limited. I spent a couple of years buying disposable cameras in college before finally picking up one of the cheaper digital cameras I could find. The words, “alright, on 3” usually preceded the pictures that were generally taken so we had proof of being somewhere. You just never know when the insurance company might follow up on a claim (only kidding).
I read about a movement in the world of photography called Lomography last week and learned that there were workshops for beginners/novices taking place down the street from where I lived. Armed with a good excuse to get out of the house on a sunny day, I decided to head over to the Lomography shop to see what it was all about.
Don't Fear The Tweeter
February 23rd, 2010
I have immersed myself in the world of social media. There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t tweet or check Facebook. Even when I try to have a technology-free day and disconnect, I’m still scheduling tweets and blog posts on the conversation calendar in my brain. It’s become so natural now; it’s a part of my routine. I wake up, check networks, go through Google Reader, search for and share interesting tidbits and start all over. It’s a viciously wonderful cycle that rarely ever leaves zeros on my alerts.
Because social media is such a big part of my life, I sometimes let my jaw drop when I learn that someone isn’t using it. Sure, I’m caught off guard when someone tells me they’re not on Twitter, but that isn’t what causes my jaw to hit the floor. We have been using social media for years, we just haven’t had a name for it until now.
The Case for IPv6
February 22nd, 2010
IPv4 has served us well. It got the internet off the ground. It’s time to move on.
It’s a common joke made amongst network engineers that the internet was an experiment that escaped the lab before it was finished. The first time I heard that was from Paul Vixie during a talk at USENIX around 1995 or so. The most recent time I heard it was from Vint Cerf during a talk about IPv6. I find it funny because it’s kinda true. When the addressing scheme for IPv4 was decided, it was still an experiment in a lab, and the designers of the protocol figured they would have an opportunity to change the addressing at a future date. Then the internet became wildly popular and took off beyond anyone’s wildest imagination. We’re rapidly running out of available IP addresses.
The Monetization Challenge for Internet Based Companies
February 18th, 2010
One of the most complex problems that Internet based companies face is how to sustainably generate profits.
Having a huge user base has proved not to be a guarantee of becoming profitable. Some of the great players in the market have had trouble doing so, even when they have strategic relationships with marketing agencies, vast amounts of cash to advertise their products and experienced business developers. The cases are well known, You Tube, Facebook, Twitter. The increasing pressure from stockholders to bring in cash has pushed their business developers along with the engineering teams to look for more creative ways to translate usage into money. When it comes to generating revenues there are currently two ways to go:
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Latest Comments
Nice article, Oren. Looks like you’re keeping things well ordered and productive in your new role! Very glad to see that.
There’s a really great lomography shop in London, just off Carnaby St. If you’re ever in town you should take a look in.
No matter how many wonderful cameras I buy with their ridiculous numbers of pixels, I always get excited when sending off a roll from my LC-A.
I hope you get addicted.
Thanks for the recap of Gravity Summit. My goal is to inspire others to take their actions to the next level and your blog helps spread that message. I know you had a BLAST at #Gravsum and I was very honored to have you attend as my guest.
@Ramon_DeLeon
Thanks for sharing Erin!
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