The trouble with opensource is that the answer to “Does this software do X?” is invariably the same:
“Yes, you just have to download the 5 GB SDK, open the /…longestpathever…/conf.java, add this custom code {…} and redeploy.
(I’m currently trying to stay away from any kind of microblogging platform as an experiment. After a week, where I resisted the urge to tweet anything that happened to me, I HAD to let this blog post slip)
“An object in the sky spreads radiation over North America. Fearing terrorism, U.S. Homeland Security agents are dispatched to investigate and contain the damage. What they discover will have implications for the entire world.”
Does it sounds like something you would be interested in?
Then head over to http://vodo.net/pioneerone
Pioneer one is an independent project. Its pilot episode was shot for a mere $6000, all funded via Kickstarter, a seed funding website.
The plot is promising, the quality is surprisingly good for a tiny independent project. The acting is ok. They’ve got one episode out, 6 in production and a total of four (4!) season planned.
If you’re into science fiction and into tv series, you’ve got to check this out. And if you like it, drop them a buck or two to show them your interest.
It’s amazing to realize what’s within reach of a handful of independent creative people, through off the shelf technology, the Internet.
I definitely want to see where this is going.
Stay tuned, more to come.
I’m staying at my parents’ for the weekend.
It used to be a habit, in this house, to sit through the ever-growing mind-numbing news reports toward the end of the laughable news programs we get in Italy. And the commercials that follow.
Why? To wait for the weather forecasts.
Now my parents switch channel as soon as the interesting/relevant reports are over.
“Hey, Dad, don’t you watch the forecasts?”
“No, we get those on the Internet. They are more precise and in a greater detail”.
The Times. They are a-changin’.
Stay Tuned, more to come.
After following the keynote for WWDC2010 and watching Jobs’ interview at all things digital, I started to think about one of the first “think different” ads.
You know, “to the crazy ones”
And specifically the part that says “you can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. But the only thing you can’t do is ignore them”.
You hear Jobs talking and it looks like he really mean what he says. We all know he’s the master of deception and he can craft sentences that can convince you of anything.
But the thing is that tonight…I think I trust him. I disagree with him on a lot of things, but as he put it in one of his emails, they’re agenda is pure.
They do stuff, including seemingly (ok, plain) evil stuff, because they believe in it. For this at least they should get credit.
I might just have drank their kool-aid once more, but the do seem honest to me.
I wonder what does it feel like to make a sh*tload amount of money while believing you’re doing it for a higher purpose, though.
Stay tuned, more to come.
This ads are proof.
I want to see more ads like these.
Keep shaping the future.
Just because everybody else is…uh..buzzing about Google Buzz (pun intended), I’ll share a couple of thoughts that may or may not be relevant or accurate. I hope I tackle a few insights nobody else talked about.
Here we go:
Stay tuned, more to come.
Image via Wikipedia
Google filed for patents for a technology for letting downloaded software modules run directly on a processor. SAAS would benefit from that, performance swould benefit from that, but supposedly that technology is going to be embedded only in their Chrome browser. And while I don’t mind Google building a better browser (I’m a full time Chrome/Chromium user now) I’m not sure I want that browser to have a strategical technology for web apps that other can’t have. As discussed in “this week in Google“, it sounds like “ActiveX” to me. They focused on the security issue, I focus on the “browser neutrality” issue.
Web standards need to keep up with the times and I strongly support new technologies for making web apps more like desktop apps, while retaining their “cloudness”.
I’m not sure patenting is the way to encourage this.
I’m a huge Google fanboy. I’m rooting (in the sense of supporting, not installing custom firmware…) for Android to gain support and allow me to ditch the iPhone*.
I’m used to think that Google isn’t evil, at least when it comes to the future of the net, because the more we use the net (with any platform: mobile, browser, ANY browser) the more Google gets eyeballs, and the more their business thrives. I might be biased by having perused Jeff Jarvis’s “What would Google do?”, or maybe I’m just naive.
I want to see where this is going and what use (if any) will Google make of those patents.
Also I wonder how is this related to Google Native Client technology, that somehow I just discovered.
*(that I still *love*, despite its shortcomings in term of freedom. I see the rationale behind that, I understand it, but I still don’t like it)
They are learning.
After my grouchy post about Acer’s design choices, twitterfeed published the link in my Twitter feed.
Shortly after I’ve been contacted by @TheAcerGuy, a guy running a blog asking me to repost my content. “Sure, help yourself”, was my answer.
I did a little research on the guy and I discovered he runs a communication company and works for Acer. He’s basically a consultant for Acer’s brand image on social networks, running his “unofficial” blog. Curiously enough, he lives in Milano.
I like that companies are experimenting with this kind of communication. I doubt that any of my grouchyness will make it through someone who actually takes this kind of decisions, but marketing is no more a broadcast, as much as it became a conversation. It’s interesting.
He did recommend my post to a guy who tweeted about doing the same kind of operation I did on my netbook.
The guy seems really smart and I thank him again for the quick conversation on twitter.
Stay tuned, more to come.
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I have an Acer Aspire One, AOA 110.
It’s a VERY cheap machine, I got it from a department store for 150 euros. It’s an ATOM based netbook, 8.9 inch screen, solid state storage (8 gigs), and makes a decent machine for typing or surfing on the go. Definitely smaller and lighter than my 1st Gen Macbook, that, at the time I bought the Acer, was my primary machine.
It comes with 512 MB of ram, which is not enough for running…well, pretty much anything these days.
It also comes with a preinstalled fugly linux distribution for netbooks (Linpus, which sole name reminds me of some kind of infection), that I got rid of, roughly 10 minutes after unboxing.
My sister has a twin netbook, and she tried running windows XP, that came in a USB stick, included in the price. Unusable. She now uses Linux Mint and frequently complains about the slugginess, but for updating Facebook and writing emails, it serves its purpose.
I had a 512 MB memory stick lying around and I decided to upgrade mine (Running Ubuntu) to at least 1 GB.
I’m not going to bother you with more words. Look at this video to see what I had to go through.
I wished I were a surgeon, so, by the time the new RAM was in, I could have just ordered my freshman assistant to “close him (it..) up”.
I finished the job sparing some 10 screws that were completely unnecessary (but they’ll prove to be VITAL the next time I’ll drop the computer).
The netbook now runs ok, and I’m pretty amazed than it still works.
I just want to point out that freaking APPLE, made the fracking RAM a frigging USER SERVICEABLE PART. Apple. And I had to go through 1,5 hours of pain and a youtube video to expand my RAM.
Why? All Acer had to do was putting a gorram DRAWER on the bottom.
Stay tuned, more to come.
I responded to Gina Trapani’s (smarterware.org) call for use cases for Google Wave.
Here’s what I wrote on her blog.
I host a podcast about space news. (www.astronauticast.com).
Every week I open a wave to discuss the time at which me and the other hosts will meet, the topics we’re going to talk about, with links, etc.
Since I recently moved, I have used the maps tools to include my new location map, but that was more to test the service than for actual use.Using wave we reach a consensus about topics and details well before we meet, and we have everything in one place, without tens of email flying back and forth, or a shared document that mixes comments, revisions, and actual content.
I open the wave with an introduction, another blip for the timeline of the episode, and a third blip to encourage comments.Observations and discussions about meeting time are reply wavelets to the first blip.
Topic and links are added by EDITING my timeline blip, and inline wavelets are added should something need more discussion.
After we reach a consensus, I “clean up”, leaving the timeline blip easier to read. The playback tool allows everyone to see how we reached a consensus.If you need screenshots, I can provide them. If you need them fast, they’ll be in Italian.
Stay tuned, more to come.