Through the magic of LinkedIn; I've been in touch with an old friend of mine from Cyclone Commerce TJ. For the record, he is on the market looking for a C# Developer job; and I would give him 2 thumbs up to anybody hiring him.
Anyways, I noticed he posted a video resume and while a tad rough around the ideas I have to say kudo's to the novel idea. It shows innovation and the ability to think outside the box which is critical for our field.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Been away awhile, whats new?
Busy Busy!
It was mentioned to me that I haven't blogged in awhile and yes that is very much true. At my new digs at Ping Golf, we have been busy with a very large project of deploying our Business Automation software at our Japan facility. While a large project that involved tons of coordination and rework was actually a lot of fun; in some aspects it reminded me of my early days at ISV's.
I'd like to comment on something that is interesting. Way back in the early 2000's; we undertook a localization effort at SalesLogix. While the language was different (Delphi); the effort to localize in C# was very similar. One might have expected that over the last 8 years our industry would have learned something and made the process easier. Granted, we didn't have to worry about things such as AnsiString or the such; but the effort was *not* easier by any stretch.
It was mentioned to me that I haven't blogged in awhile and yes that is very much true. At my new digs at Ping Golf, we have been busy with a very large project of deploying our Business Automation software at our Japan facility. While a large project that involved tons of coordination and rework was actually a lot of fun; in some aspects it reminded me of my early days at ISV's.
I'd like to comment on something that is interesting. Way back in the early 2000's; we undertook a localization effort at SalesLogix. While the language was different (Delphi); the effort to localize in C# was very similar. One might have expected that over the last 8 years our industry would have learned something and made the process easier. Granted, we didn't have to worry about things such as AnsiString or the such; but the effort was *not* easier by any stretch.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
When open soure dies
As a true geeky software developer (non mort) I am always chasing shiny things; and passionately devouring new technology as quickly as I can. However, every now and then something really reaches out and grabs you; and sometimes it is not something that you truly expect.
For example, a sampling of my favorite open source projects:
For example, a sampling of my favorite open source projects:
- iBatis - A lightweight ORM for various languages
- Paint.NET - Think early PaintShopPro before it became bloated
- Notepad++ - A swiss army knife of a text editor
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Netflix's Click To Play
Way back in the day, when Netflix just came out they revolutionized the way you rented DVD's. Instead of paying 'per hit'; you paid your monthly fee and watched what you could when you could. Their success was evident as they dragged the monolith (at the time) Blockbuster with them into the exact same market. I was slow to jump on the Netflix bandwagon; however, due to pure pressure of my coworkers back at SalesLogix I climbed on board and was hooked.
Along the way I have switched back and forth between web-based DVD suppliers for my movie addiction and there is really no perceivable difference between Blockbuster and Netflix to myself. The other day, I was tinkering with my Media PC in my living room and just happened to use a new feature Netflix added that allows me to watch a DVD without the DVD called Watch Instantly. Clicking their Play button opens a modified Windows Media Player instance (so reported), although you must click Play about 3 times to get to the actual movie on different play buttons. While the quality of the movie isn't pure DVD quality or that of HD television, the usability and 'on demand' nature more than compensates for those minor issues.
I would hope Blockbuster is watching netflix again. Netflix wasn't the first to offer video on demand with a large archive; however, they were the first to do it right.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Collection of Thoughts
So I've been pretty negligent on my self imposed therapy of posting my thoughts to my blog. My negligence hasn't been for lack of interest; more for a lack of time!
So I am finally 'out' of puppies for the moment, seven of the nine little guys & gals have been placed in what I hope to be their permanent home. I was slightly worried that it would be hard to part them out, but it was surprisingly easy as there was just so many!
I have also been playing with the new version of Visual Studio; version 2008. There are lots of things to like about it, one of the most being 'consistency'. I was able to install the application and being instantly productive because the user interface is almost exactly the same as 2005 and keystrokes performed exactly how I wanted them to. The new whiz-bang things were added in an unobtrusive fashion as possible. A non-issue is the lack of third-party support which I am sure will be coming along as quickly as they can ramp-up. It was surprising to see the lack of starter-projects available though as they are sponsered by the same group. The performance inside of virtual machines is odd though. Version 2005 performs like a champ inside of my vmware image, but 2008 is a dog which has me worried.
So I am finally 'out' of puppies for the moment, seven of the nine little guys & gals have been placed in what I hope to be their permanent home. I was slightly worried that it would be hard to part them out, but it was surprisingly easy as there was just so many!
I have also been playing with the new version of Visual Studio; version 2008. There are lots of things to like about it, one of the most being 'consistency'. I was able to install the application and being instantly productive because the user interface is almost exactly the same as 2005 and keystrokes performed exactly how I wanted them to. The new whiz-bang things were added in an unobtrusive fashion as possible. A non-issue is the lack of third-party support which I am sure will be coming along as quickly as they can ramp-up. It was surprising to see the lack of starter-projects available though as they are sponsered by the same group. The performance inside of virtual machines is odd though. Version 2005 performs like a champ inside of my vmware image, but 2008 is a dog which has me worried.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Internet Addiction
The brief times when I'm not listening to Sirius satellite radio; I am an avid NPR fan/listener. On the way home from the gym today I happened to catch a segment that was discussing internet addiction.
Just the brief mention of the word addition in a subject topic is usually enough to catch my attention. Usually I scoff at the idea of a person being addicted to something as mundane as Food, Beverage, or Video games. Most often, I agree with any experts and term some of these items to be nothing more than a compulsive behavior. I do understand that there is a psychological draw to these items and people can and usually focus their energies on a non-threatening item as a way of escape. however, this particular topic hit very close to home.
Due to my career and hobby of choice, I am what many can consider a prime candidate for internet addiction even though I do not possess an addictive personality. However, for fun I took an online test to determine if I am an addict; turns out I am.
The individual that was being interviewed on NPR was undertaking a test to see if he could 'survive' 3 consecutive days being disconnected to the outside world. This got me to reflecting if I could survive; which is a short answer of yes I could. Now, my life would be radically changed as a significant portion of my income is a derivative of internet access; however, I do not define my self-being around my perusals. This minor detail for me drags the whole discussion of "is it an addiction or not" back on the table. If a person is merely 'dependent' on an item to facilitate their work or life is addicted, then we can apply the same label to individuals that use a hammer, screwdriver, or an other tool.
Thoughts?
Just the brief mention of the word addition in a subject topic is usually enough to catch my attention. Usually I scoff at the idea of a person being addicted to something as mundane as Food, Beverage, or Video games. Most often, I agree with any experts and term some of these items to be nothing more than a compulsive behavior. I do understand that there is a psychological draw to these items and people can and usually focus their energies on a non-threatening item as a way of escape. however, this particular topic hit very close to home.
Due to my career and hobby of choice, I am what many can consider a prime candidate for internet addiction even though I do not possess an addictive personality. However, for fun I took an online test to determine if I am an addict; turns out I am.
The individual that was being interviewed on NPR was undertaking a test to see if he could 'survive' 3 consecutive days being disconnected to the outside world. This got me to reflecting if I could survive; which is a short answer of yes I could. Now, my life would be radically changed as a significant portion of my income is a derivative of internet access; however, I do not define my self-being around my perusals. This minor detail for me drags the whole discussion of "is it an addiction or not" back on the table. If a person is merely 'dependent' on an item to facilitate their work or life is addicted, then we can apply the same label to individuals that use a hammer, screwdriver, or an other tool.
Thoughts?
Friday, October 26, 2007
Fixing the home network
Years ago just before I had left my cushy development job (post IPO) a few of my co-workers and I were all in the market to purchase a new home. Most chose based off of 'location', some chose for value, while I chose for the school district. At this time, Wireless A/B was the rage and most wired networks were based off of cat 5 and if you had the $$$ you deployed on 100mb.
Instead of wiring my home with cat 5 I foolishly jumped on the band-wagon for Wireless. Why is Wireless foolish? Well, if you have occasional laptop's its fantastic, I can even work outside if I need to. However, if you have a media server, a HTPC, multiple children's PCS, laptops, it gets to be too much. I have switched brands, bumped up to N from mimo-G and I am still getting bogged down at peak times (post school hours). So, I am now going to 'retro-wire' my existing home for Cat 5e complete with closet which I'll blog about quite extensively.
Instead of wiring my home with cat 5 I foolishly jumped on the band-wagon for Wireless. Why is Wireless foolish? Well, if you have occasional laptop's its fantastic, I can even work outside if I need to. However, if you have a media server, a HTPC, multiple children's PCS, laptops, it gets to be too much. I have switched brands, bumped up to N from mimo-G and I am still getting bogged down at peak times (post school hours). So, I am now going to 'retro-wire' my existing home for Cat 5e complete with closet which I'll blog about quite extensively.
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