Tag: Technology

Google recently dumped 50 each on current members. I plan to donate some to our troops overseas, but I’ll give away one to the first 35 people who e-mail slawrence@gmail.com and request one.

I across a Scobleizer post about this and thought I’d give it a try:

An interesting use of MapPoint to say the least.

Some very interesting ideas on what you can do with a Mac mini.

Interesting news for current and future members of the cult of iPod (I’m in the former category). I wouldn’t expect to be a huge moneymaker for Audible. Maybe they intend it as a “wedge” purchase to get people interested in buying more expensive audiobooks. It is a nice option for fans who don’t live where their favorite teams play.

This study from a trio of physicists does an excellent job of highlighting the incredible difficulties of developing a system that can credibly defend the entire US from ICBMs. It’s a great argument for spending our tax dollars elsewhere.

I found the link at Tim Bray’s blog, posted under the far less charitable title of “Missile Defense is a Cult”.

Bloglines is a wonderful service that allows you to keep up with all your RSS feeds without having to install anything on a particular computer. Once you create an account with the site (http://www.bloglines.com) and subscribe to some feeds, you’ll be able to read them from anywhere you can get web access. It’s a great way to get started with RSS feeds.

Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years

Great essay by Peter Norvig that begins by talking about the “Learn topic X in Y Days” publishing phenomenon, and counters with how long it really takes.

His recipe for programming success, and his contention that it takes 10 years to get really good at it both make a lot of sense. Since getting my computer science degree from the University of Maryland (in 1996), the things I’ve learned about programming from doing it for a living have really added a lot to my understanding of what I was taught in school.

Working on projects with other programmers is what I enjoy most. I definitely feel like I learn more and accomplish more when I work with a team. Unfortunately, the position I’ve had the past couple of years means that I have to develop everything by myself. I’ve certainly learned a lot from not having other people to depend on, but I think teams develop the best software.

Working on projects after other programmers has been one of the most frustrating parts of my career. Too often, it’s poorly documented and written in an “ensure job security” sort of way. In other words, it’s not written in a way that easily allows someone else to understand it. Programmers only get away with that if they’re working by themselves. More often than not, if I’m confronted with that situation, I’ll rewrite the application instead of spending a lot of effort deciphering the existing code.

Talking to other programmers about programming is something I don’t do enough of. Finding time to read other good code is a challenge (trying to balance full-time work and a part-time MBA program), but I need to do that as well.

Fiber to the People

A Lawrence Lessig article on customer-owned networks. He uses examples from Boeing Corporation and the city government of Burlington, Vermont. Governments, corporations, and individuals (if they have sufficient funds) buying networks definitely has some benefits. No more worrying about Comcast being the only way to get onto the internet. The knowledge that a municipality could hire contractors to build such a network themselves could also work as an incentive to spur competition (if corporations are being too slow about providing access to certain areas). I hope more cities and counties do this.