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Showing posts from 2007

Ten things holding back tech

Agree or disagree, it's a really good article. I find it hard to understand how the author's ideas can be implemented without a surge in government regulation (which usually leads to more innovation stagnation, not less) - but the ideas are fascinating. It may be that for some of these problems government should be less involved, actually, since government's main role currently is to back the wealthiest, most powerful stakeholders, not promote competition. OTOH, in other areas it's obvious that major research efforts would pay off - though not if funded by a particular vendor.
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Chore Wars

I don't know about your family, but the majority of the conflict in mine revolves around chores. Here is a fun way to keep track of who does what, how often, with rewards a la DND. We're trying it out and will let you know how it goes...
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After watching some of the coverage of the Petraeus hearings, it makes me think - if there were a nuclear war, I'd probably have to listen to NPR just to get the facts, because FOX and CNN would be unwilling to report anything that might inconvenience the Bush Administration. I can see it now - "Yes, there has been a limited nuclear exchange, but so far casualties have been low according to our expectations, and we are confident survivability remains possible despite what must must seem to outsiders to look like overwhelming odds."
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The name's Penguin. Penguin Putnam.

Bond gets shaken. Not stirred In May 2008, to mark the centenary of Sir Ian Fleming's birth, Penguin UK will publish a new Bond novel - Devil May Care , written by one of Britain's most admired novelists, Sebastian Faulks. The novel was commissioned by the Fleming estate and will be set in "several of the world's most thrilling cities" during the Cold War. Faulks enjoyed following Sir Ian's lead, he said "In his house in Jamaica, Ian Fleming used to write a thousand words in the morning, then go snorkelling, have a cocktail, lunch on the terrace, more diving, another thousand words in late afternoon, then more Martinis and glamorous women. In my house in London, I followed this routine exactly, apart from the cocktails, the lunch and the snorkelling."
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MAGPIE » Nunatak

What must surely be the coolest gig in this summer’s Live Earth concerts takes place at the British Antarctic Survey’s (BAS) Rothera Research Station. On 7 July the science team’s indie-rock house band, Nunatak will debut in the global event that features over 100 of the world’s top musical acts. Concerts from all 7 continents will raise awareness of climate change world-wide.
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Jeremy Soule - Composer & Symphonist

I enjoy great music, but I don't enjoy being made to feel as though I'm inside a 19th-century ballroom. Jeremy Soule is a prime example of a contemporary composer who uses the instruments of an orchestra to great effect, while neither remaining tied to premodern forms, nor engaging in modern ism . He has provided the soundtracks for Neverwinter Nights and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and from the look of his current projects, it appears his career has only grown since then.
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Google conquering the enterprise space

Holy cow - GOOG is getting serious about competing against MSFT in the enterprise. My wife, who is a manager in a SMB, says she wouldn't want to leave the familiarity of Office, but apparently some Fortune corporations are willing to give Google Apps a shot. How about you?
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Watch FRONTLINE

As always, FRONTLINE is the premier current events program on television. It's amazing how you can live through these events and not understand what has happened until someone places it in context. And PBS is the only network objective enough to host a show like FRONTLINE. By contrast, CNN has been a dismal failure in covering the war. What amazed me as I watched was the consistent view among the military advisers in the show that this is still mainly our problem, and that if we leave and chaos and suffering ensues, it will be mainly our fault. We have such a sky-high-minded view of ourselves - we think the rest of the world will blame us if we leave. In reality, the rest of the world is criticizing us for staying - and the future is up to the Iraqis themselves. We cannot stop people who do not want peace from engaging in violence within their own country. We need to return to a more realist view of foreign policy, hyperpower or not. The standard for justifying foreign i
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30 days with Linux

This is a link to a review of Ubuntu by Brian Boyko, a self-described power user who tries to test systems using real-world hardware. He's done the same thing for WinVista and Mac OS X. He seems quite objective and even-handed. I'm trying out Ubuntu myself. I installed it with wubi , which I found to be painless and smooth. That's not what Brian did, though; he's got dedicated hardware. So far I've found it to be a much smoother OS than WinXP, more responsive even through it's running on a separate hard drive. I haven't done a lot with it so far but will let you know how it goes. http://consumer.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTI5OCwxLCxoY29uc3VtZXI =
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notes on testing

When writing a test plan, start where you are. Focus on the things the developers are focused on and ride their wave. Regression testing should not be done from an abstract perspective, but from a concrete one where problems are already perceived to exist. It's always good to know what release you’re on. This might seem elementary, but it’s harder to keep up with than you might think. When developers and managers talk about “the next release,” be sure you know what they’re referring to, especially for so-called minor releases. Write test cases based on requirements. Even if they’re bad requirements. Don’t try to reverse-engineer requirements and create test cases off those, unless you really have no choice. If you have any kind of requirements at all, create test cases for them. Reverse-engineering requirements will result in thrashing and will make you feel as though nothing is being accomplished. Document all testing, including tests done on the fly. Not doing
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