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joel garry
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2 days ago
in You Know You Love Email on Oracle AppsLab
There's a hill directly between my house and the nearest tower, so I get all sorts of strange bounces and things changing as the atmospherics change. My wife for her work only uses her cell, and often she works from home having to use a phone connection for hours for government medical stuff (some of her patients have Medical, for example). Plus she's a technophobe and expects everything to just work. And none of it does, except (mostly) the hardwired phones. Her office is just across from the county court and sheriff station, in a building full of lawyers, and funny thing, cellphone works great there. The downtown "village" area is supposed to be getting free 24hour wifi Real Soon Now, but I haven't found out if that extends to the courthouse area. If it did, people would want jury duty :-)
1 reply
Jake
Ah, cursed by geography. You should get satellite phones :)
3 days ago
in You Know You Love Email on Oracle AppsLab
Yeah, I remember parents being all freako about calling relatives on the other side of the country. Now I get on the wife (and soon the kids, I'm sure), "let's remember we get roaming charges..." and worse, local long distance or whatever the hardwire is called (for calling across my local county) costs money, but the cellphone doesn't, but the cellphone doesn't work well at the hardwired location... and the different hardwired lines have different rules... and the cable phone, were I to get it, which I won't because it's even worse than AT&T, can't call 911...
I don't so much love email as am addicted to it. I can tell because of how I feel when it doesn't work. Cue the Zoloft commercial. And don't let me get a smart phone. :-)
I don't so much love email as am addicted to it. I can tell because of how I feel when it doesn't work. Cue the Zoloft commercial. And don't let me get a smart phone. :-)
1 reply
Jake
Sounds like you live out of the way a bit. I thought SoCal down that way had better coverage, or do all the towers burn down each year?
When I had Vonage, you had to opt in to call 911, which is a odd to say the least, but it worked great on DSL, not so much on cable.
I share your addiction to email, as do we all I think.
When I had Vonage, you had to opt in to call 911, which is a odd to say the least, but it worked great on DSL, not so much on cable.
I share your addiction to email, as do we all I think.
4 days ago
in You Know You Love Email on Oracle AppsLab
> Death of an Inbox was 2 years ago dude
Check out what's next to each reply name :-)
Check out what's next to each reply name :-)
1 reply
Jake
Incidentally, that was more "woah, two years already" and less correction.
Re. the time being off, must be related to Disqus, since we were on regular old WP comments for a while and then imported them into Disqus.
Re. the time being off, must be related to Disqus, since we were on regular old WP comments for a while and then imported them into Disqus.
5 days ago
in It Just Works, My New Mantra on Oracle AppsLab
100 years ago: If you are rich and live in the right place a telephone might work. You can get power in urban areas, but it isn't real safe.
50 years ago: The telephone just worked. Just don't touch it during a thunderstorm. But you can call the power company if the power goes out. Phones and power both won't work during an ice storm, which means you don't have heat, either.
20 years ago: The telephone usually worked, if you didn't have old wiring that was backwards. PBX's were a bit less reliable than unmultiplexed phone service. You'd have to know what to ask for to avoid multiplexing. Power works most of the time, but is iffy during various seasons.
Now: The telephone can work in many places, but might not. It can do many more things than talk, but might not. If the power goes out, the phones won't work. Only rich people dare use them to the fullest. The power company is less reliable. You need to condition power, otherwise appliances may break.
"It just works" is temporary and an illusion.
50 years ago: The telephone just worked. Just don't touch it during a thunderstorm. But you can call the power company if the power goes out. Phones and power both won't work during an ice storm, which means you don't have heat, either.
20 years ago: The telephone usually worked, if you didn't have old wiring that was backwards. PBX's were a bit less reliable than unmultiplexed phone service. You'd have to know what to ask for to avoid multiplexing. Power works most of the time, but is iffy during various seasons.
Now: The telephone can work in many places, but might not. It can do many more things than talk, but might not. If the power goes out, the phones won't work. Only rich people dare use them to the fullest. The power company is less reliable. You need to condition power, otherwise appliances may break.
"It just works" is temporary and an illusion.
1 reply
Jake
Did you wander off a bit on me?
How about *everything* is temporary and an illusion :)
I'd love for "it just works" to be erased completely and replaced by consistency of working, but for now, I'll settle for the occasional win. I never got that with Windows, or rather, I got so much fail, it's all I remember.
We have a lot of easy problems that can be solved with "it just works".
How about *everything* is temporary and an illusion :)
I'd love for "it just works" to be erased completely and replaced by consistency of working, but for now, I'll settle for the occasional win. I never got that with Windows, or rather, I got so much fail, it's all I remember.
We have a lot of easy problems that can be solved with "it just works".
5 days ago
in You Know You Love Email on Oracle AppsLab
classmates.com is the most annoying email. You can be a free member, but if you take action to reply to mail they send, you get into the app, compose your message, go to send it - and then get presented with an "upgrade to gold membership so the person you are sending to can see this message!" But at least you can see the threads about people remembering the Manson girls (not making that up, two went to my high school and lived near me).
The more fundamental problem is, how do you (the general clueless user) know you aren't about to get redirected to a hacksite?
I finally signed up to facebook, what's the first thing it does? Tries to access your address book. Can't access my mail app, funny thing. And the general user, and their friends who aren't users, wonder why someone they don't know is sending them invites to view their pictures.
Just finally brought up Thunderbird, with two decades of email, since CS4 (the compuserve app, try googling that) finally shut down. So I had to move my personal web page somewhere, so I moved it to my general isp. Now most businesses can't get to my web page because nannyware blocks it as adult and sexual content. I wish. Naturally I only noticed that after a week or so of sending out business emails with my same old web site url (which I simply redirected from c$erve to members.cox.net. Gee members, cox, what could be adult or sexual about that?). Their support didn't even respond to my inquiry about that. Which is natural, because the blocking is completely outside of their or my control. Fortunately I use other ISP's, but it's Yet Another Useless Non-Productive Web Presence Task.
I can understand the allure of anti-social networks.
Funny, a year ago I replied to the death of an inbox post with a reference to meatworld. A few weeks ago I referenced your reference to the term meat space with a posting I made ten years before (exactly, which made it strange enough to bother), but that disappeared into the ether. Or maybe I'm just dreaming all of this because I have 1000 unread emails after spam removal, not including the mail mentioned above. But none at work, except for oracle-l digests. I read that as a digest because otherwise it is way too annoying, I'd have to turn off email notifications. But reading it as a digest is awful, the way people top post including what they are responding to. If you post, it goes straight to spam-generators.
I think the trick is to organize domains and email addresses so you can ignore most, and only important things get to bother you. Any product driver would need to account for that somehow. The amount of control you perceive you have over metering email is pretty directly related to how stressful you see it.
The more fundamental problem is, how do you (the general clueless user) know you aren't about to get redirected to a hacksite?
I finally signed up to facebook, what's the first thing it does? Tries to access your address book. Can't access my mail app, funny thing. And the general user, and their friends who aren't users, wonder why someone they don't know is sending them invites to view their pictures.
Just finally brought up Thunderbird, with two decades of email, since CS4 (the compuserve app, try googling that) finally shut down. So I had to move my personal web page somewhere, so I moved it to my general isp. Now most businesses can't get to my web page because nannyware blocks it as adult and sexual content. I wish. Naturally I only noticed that after a week or so of sending out business emails with my same old web site url (which I simply redirected from c$erve to members.cox.net. Gee members, cox, what could be adult or sexual about that?). Their support didn't even respond to my inquiry about that. Which is natural, because the blocking is completely outside of their or my control. Fortunately I use other ISP's, but it's Yet Another Useless Non-Productive Web Presence Task.
I can understand the allure of anti-social networks.
Funny, a year ago I replied to the death of an inbox post with a reference to meatworld. A few weeks ago I referenced your reference to the term meat space with a posting I made ten years before (exactly, which made it strange enough to bother), but that disappeared into the ether. Or maybe I'm just dreaming all of this because I have 1000 unread emails after spam removal, not including the mail mentioned above. But none at work, except for oracle-l digests. I read that as a digest because otherwise it is way too annoying, I'd have to turn off email notifications. But reading it as a digest is awful, the way people top post including what they are responding to. If you post, it goes straight to spam-generators.
I think the trick is to organize domains and email addresses so you can ignore most, and only important things get to bother you. Any product driver would need to account for that somehow. The amount of control you perceive you have over metering email is pretty directly related to how stressful you see it.
1 reply
Jake
Death of an Inbox was 2 years ago dude. It's been a while, and you may be the first person I remember who said meatspace. I love that one.
My wife had issues with Classmates too, their upsells seems pretty shady.
I don't have a trick with email. I keep up with it and eliminate bacn and spam when I don't want it. Frankly, I don't get what's so hard about staying on top of it.
That said, it's odd to me that people who can't keep up ask for more, which is why I've begun to think amount of email is a busy badge to some. Would be nice if all that email actually did something, a la Posterous, Sandy, TripIt, etc.
My wife had issues with Classmates too, their upsells seems pretty shady.
I don't have a trick with email. I keep up with it and eliminate bacn and spam when I don't want it. Frankly, I don't get what's so hard about staying on top of it.
That said, it's odd to me that people who can't keep up ask for more, which is why I've begun to think amount of email is a busy badge to some. Would be nice if all that email actually did something, a la Posterous, Sandy, TripIt, etc.
1 week ago
in Twitter for Reporting the News on Oracle AppsLab
Twitter is good for faking a massive net attack.
1 reply
Jake
Yeah, Twitter is a great way to launch a DDOS attack. Just tweet something juicy and plausible with a shortened link and sit back while the site you targeted gets pounded by curious rubberneckers.
2 weeks ago
in Citizen Journalism Gets a Test on Oracle AppsLab
Try googling heart attack or cold feet.
"more accurately" my big hairy tuchus.
I really doubt the accuracy of the Iranian election riots tweets, too. The gummint repressiveness almost guarantees the repressed feel they need to exaggerate. Not necessarily the original tweeters, but those who pass it along. And of course, some of the original tweeters are going to be speaking through emotional filters, and some will rationalize that gummint actions allow or require exaggeration. " We know it is worse than we see".
I worked with a lot of Persian programmers who fled persecution after 1979. The ladies were especially happy to be out of there.
"more accurately" my big hairy tuchus.
I really doubt the accuracy of the Iranian election riots tweets, too. The gummint repressiveness almost guarantees the repressed feel they need to exaggerate. Not necessarily the original tweeters, but those who pass it along. And of course, some of the original tweeters are going to be speaking through emotional filters, and some will rationalize that gummint actions allow or require exaggeration. " We know it is worse than we see".
I worked with a lot of Persian programmers who fled persecution after 1979. The ladies were especially happy to be out of there.
1 reply
Jake
Mmm-k. Twitter is good at reporting news, e.g. there's a riot, there's an earthquake, there's a gunman shooting people, someone's dead, this place is on fire, etc.
Beyond the factual nature of the tweets, and yes, they are frequently factual (see examples), the emotional nature of being caught up in the news is bound to come across in tweets.
Beyond the factual nature of the tweets, and yes, they are frequently factual (see examples), the emotional nature of being caught up in the news is bound to come across in tweets.
1 month ago
in 90-9-1 Rule Skews the New Web on Oracle AppsLab
I signed up for it when Oracle people started doing it, never got into it. I just thought those particular articles were interesting, marketing people have a, er, "different" view of the social technologies. Combine marketing with government and politics and, voila, it's 1984 (the book) all over again. Paying attention? Shoot, don't get me started on that. These people don't pay attention, they only are in it for the money or manipulation. The marketing people are just in it for the money, write a blog, make a tweet, they've done "work." I don't begrudge people getting gummint contracts, but they often are putting out drivel rather than content. And that is not a good thing for social media, as you noted, trust is the differentiator for usefulness. How long would you follow a blog that is just Oracle press releases? Would you hang on its every word in case they bought some other company? Isn't that even less interesting than some stranger saying they don't want to clean their toilet? Good blogs are interesting because they analyse, tell you things you don't already know. Can tweets say the same?
An interesting point came out of an article about Flo TV: “I think that says there is clearly a demand from people who have the service, and we see a really big spike when things are happening that people care about, whether that's a Lakers-Magic game, a plane landing in the Hudson River, swine flu outbreaks, the inauguration... When things are happening in my life, I want to view them on the best screen available. If the Lakers' game was on now, but I'm on an airplane, I'm between classes, I'm on a road trip in a vehicle and I have my netbook with me, that's the best screen available. So people are living their lives, and their expectation is whatever is happening can be integrated into their lives where they're at.” - Bill Stone
You can only watch so many videos of people getting hit in the nuts by eight-balls. You can only read so many useless tweets. At some point, the Grand Canyon gets a little too quiet. Then the bots come.
An interesting point came out of an article about Flo TV: “I think that says there is clearly a demand from people who have the service, and we see a really big spike when things are happening that people care about, whether that's a Lakers-Magic game, a plane landing in the Hudson River, swine flu outbreaks, the inauguration... When things are happening in my life, I want to view them on the best screen available. If the Lakers' game was on now, but I'm on an airplane, I'm between classes, I'm on a road trip in a vehicle and I have my netbook with me, that's the best screen available. So people are living their lives, and their expectation is whatever is happening can be integrated into their lives where they're at.” - Bill Stone
You can only watch so many videos of people getting hit in the nuts by eight-balls. You can only read so many useless tweets. At some point, the Grand Canyon gets a little too quiet. Then the bots come.
1 reply
Jake
Feeling honored that you continue to read here and enjoy your contrarian viewpoint.
Interesting point from Bill Stone. I have used Twitter frequently to find news reported as it happens, and for me, the 'tubes provides the best screen, mainly b/c it's, you know, online and all. The best screen probably applies to your thoughts on mobile as well, incidentally.
I can't do Twitter w/o groups for filtering, which is the only reason I cling to TweetDeck, despite its memory consumption. You don't hear much complaining about native Twitter groups anymore, but that's definitely a gap I'd like to see filled.
There's that trust thing again.
Interesting point from Bill Stone. I have used Twitter frequently to find news reported as it happens, and for me, the 'tubes provides the best screen, mainly b/c it's, you know, online and all. The best screen probably applies to your thoughts on mobile as well, incidentally.
I can't do Twitter w/o groups for filtering, which is the only reason I cling to TweetDeck, despite its memory consumption. You don't hear much complaining about native Twitter groups anymore, but that's definitely a gap I'd like to see filled.
There's that trust thing again.
1 month ago
in 90-9-1 Rule Skews the New Web on Oracle AppsLab
Time to move on to the next technology when mainstream politics get involved.
1 reply
Jake
You're on Twitter? IMO getting local news and government on Twitter, assuming they're paying attention, is a good thing.
Big assumption though.
Big assumption though.
1 month ago
in The Enterprise Implications of Google Wave on Oracle AppsLab
This makes me want to throw any number of 2 inch thick books at somebodies head.
All I can think of is some stupid portal dashboard demo I worked on which took forever to load each little bit. "Glue code" indeed.
All I can think of is some stupid portal dashboard demo I worked on which took forever to load each little bit. "Glue code" indeed.
1 reply
Jake
Why am I surprised :) Time will tell. Google has invested heavily in Wave, so I'm guessing they're committed to it. Did you watch the demo? I felt the same way about clutter when I saw the screenshot (before watching the demo).
Taming that mess of portlets won't be hard, but I don't think it's necessarily putting their best foot forward to show that image, especially since they're known for a Spartan interface.
Taming that mess of portlets won't be hard, but I don't think it's necessarily putting their best foot forward to show that image, especially since they're known for a Spartan interface.
1 month ago
in OpenID: WebVisions 2009 on Oracle AppsLab
1. Agree.
2. Assumption that community decision is good. Yesterday was the anniversary of the first witch-burning in New England. I'm still creeped out by the scene in The Illustrated Man (movie) where they killed all the children. And of course, Zardoz was ultimately a story of fixing a bad community decision that seemed like a good idea at the time. The process may be different, but that doesn't mean better.
3. Disagree, for reason 1. Familiarity breeds ignore. Read any adhesion contracts lately?
4. This all goes away with a strong non-repudiation mechanism, down to the hardware level. But that won't happen for a long, long time. Probably after some very high profile screwups.
Sorry to be such a negative Nellie, but I'm just not convinced the problem statement is done well. This just seems to be a lot of effort that will fall by the wayside. Of course, I may just not get it.
2. Assumption that community decision is good. Yesterday was the anniversary of the first witch-burning in New England. I'm still creeped out by the scene in The Illustrated Man (movie) where they killed all the children. And of course, Zardoz was ultimately a story of fixing a bad community decision that seemed like a good idea at the time. The process may be different, but that doesn't mean better.
3. Disagree, for reason 1. Familiarity breeds ignore. Read any adhesion contracts lately?
4. This all goes away with a strong non-repudiation mechanism, down to the hardware level. But that won't happen for a long, long time. Probably after some very high profile screwups.
Sorry to be such a negative Nellie, but I'm just not convinced the problem statement is done well. This just seems to be a lot of effort that will fall by the wayside. Of course, I may just not get it.
1 reply
Jake
1. Let's agree to agree.
2. Wow, there's no pleasing you :) Community = bad, decisions by corporation = bad. I give up, what = good? Would you settle for better, at least in this case?
3. Again, not a blanket good vs. evil, but a "this is better than that" argument. I don't think you're saying using the same credentials on dozens of sites is better than OpenID.
4. Hardware level repudiation? Provided by a single vendor? Sounds like a monopoly in the making, where do I get on that train :)
No worries. OpenID isn't necessarily for everyone, and it's not meant to be. Some people (probably you) take credential management as seriously as it should be taken. Unfortunately (fortunately if you're into evil), you are in the minority. Thus, I don't think the OpenID community is worried about wasting effort.
I think you get it, well enough to recognize it's not for you.
2. Wow, there's no pleasing you :) Community = bad, decisions by corporation = bad. I give up, what = good? Would you settle for better, at least in this case?
3. Again, not a blanket good vs. evil, but a "this is better than that" argument. I don't think you're saying using the same credentials on dozens of sites is better than OpenID.
4. Hardware level repudiation? Provided by a single vendor? Sounds like a monopoly in the making, where do I get on that train :)
No worries. OpenID isn't necessarily for everyone, and it's not meant to be. Some people (probably you) take credential management as seriously as it should be taken. Unfortunately (fortunately if you're into evil), you are in the minority. Thus, I don't think the OpenID community is worried about wasting effort.
I think you get it, well enough to recognize it's not for you.
1 month ago
in OpenID: WebVisions 2009 on Oracle AppsLab
I don't want a single source! Google's bad enough, what with screwing up my name in different places at random times when they slipstream in changes that break other broken fixes.
But to really see my point of view, imagine you are using IE and it asks to remember your password. Well, maybe I'm weird, but that makes me just recoil and hit NO! Of course, that's due to my dislike of MS, but is there really any difference between them and any other mysterious standards body? Gawrsh, what if Network Solutions ran the world? Icannt even imagine...
It's a fact of social network life that different areas are going to have different views of your online persona. If you are going to have an open ID kind of tagged global login, it needs to be able to handle this simple basic observation. Even the oddly misnamed Oracle SSO recognizes this, think of the difference between OTN and metalink.
Also think about single points of failure - haven't we all seen google results with the first link something nasty? Poisoning reputation is bound to be trivial.
But to really see my point of view, imagine you are using IE and it asks to remember your password. Well, maybe I'm weird, but that makes me just recoil and hit NO! Of course, that's due to my dislike of MS, but is there really any difference between them and any other mysterious standards body? Gawrsh, what if Network Solutions ran the world? Icannt even imagine...
It's a fact of social network life that different areas are going to have different views of your online persona. If you are going to have an open ID kind of tagged global login, it needs to be able to handle this simple basic observation. Even the oddly misnamed Oracle SSO recognizes this, think of the difference between OTN and metalink.
Also think about single points of failure - haven't we all seen google results with the first link something nasty? Poisoning reputation is bound to be trivial.
1 reply
Jake
A few things here.
1. The majority of people use the same password (or two) all over the place, making it dead simple to harvest their information. Bad. They also frequently use the browser to save site passwords, also bad practice.
2. There is a difference between the standards used by MSFT and commercial bodies. OpenID is open source. There is no commercial gain to be had, and decisions are made by the community. Very different process.
3. When you use OpenID to authenticate, the provider tells you what the requesting site wants to know about you. So, you know before you agree.
4. I agree about failure points, but the alternative is even messier, i.e. multiple sites, multiple logins, shady terms of use, misuse of API data (think Twitter credential harvesting), etc.
I think your ideal viewpoint is one that doesn't use all these sites at all, which means no password remembering issues :) Nothing wrong with that, and I lean toward that side myself, which is why I want more support for OpenID.
OpenID attempts to safeguard people who are not as cautious as we are.
1. The majority of people use the same password (or two) all over the place, making it dead simple to harvest their information. Bad. They also frequently use the browser to save site passwords, also bad practice.
2. There is a difference between the standards used by MSFT and commercial bodies. OpenID is open source. There is no commercial gain to be had, and decisions are made by the community. Very different process.
3. When you use OpenID to authenticate, the provider tells you what the requesting site wants to know about you. So, you know before you agree.
4. I agree about failure points, but the alternative is even messier, i.e. multiple sites, multiple logins, shady terms of use, misuse of API data (think Twitter credential harvesting), etc.
I think your ideal viewpoint is one that doesn't use all these sites at all, which means no password remembering issues :) Nothing wrong with that, and I lean toward that side myself, which is why I want more support for OpenID.
OpenID attempts to safeguard people who are not as cautious as we are.
1 month ago
in The Future of Mobile: WebVisions 2009 on Oracle AppsLab
I don't want crazy. I just want a phone that works dependably, unlike all the current phones where the tower is just on the other side of a small hill from my house, which is surrounded by canyons. I don't live in a third world nation. I don't need a smartbook (though I see the attraction). But if I were developing for such things, I'd definitely want to be able to handle all sizes dynamically. And I sure wouldn't trust the power company to contact me before shutting off the power to the cell system.
1 reply
Jake
Not wanting crazy contributes, in part, to our lagging behind other countries in mobile. I think this will fade over time, but I'm with you fundamentally. I rarely use my iPhone for much other than calls and email.
Of course, the carriers help hold us back too.
I'm also not a huge fan of the netbook. Regular notebooks (like my Macbook) aren't terribly large, and "ultra-portable" sounds like "new, improved" marketing talk.
Of course, the carriers help hold us back too.
I'm also not a huge fan of the netbook. Regular notebooks (like my Macbook) aren't terribly large, and "ultra-portable" sounds like "new, improved" marketing talk.
2 months ago
in 2009: Year of the Side Project on Oracle AppsLab
Most companies I've worked for make you sign your intellectual property life away, don't know about Oracle, but it usually refers to whatever business the company is in. When I've been indie, I got much work where other people had kept ownership of modifications of third-party apps, and customers would prefer hiring me to do work that they could own over paying someone slimy to install something they had written for someone else. I never wanted to do a software side project 'cause I always had too many projects going as it was. Sometimes did fun stuff if a company supported it (like "where to go for lunch?" generators) but that kind of support was always rare. I don't consider usenet/oracle forums a side project, since it is so close to my vocation, but probably should. My rationalization is showing :-)
My side projects have tended to be explicitly non-software, usually automotive or real estate related. The latter has been a similar magnitude to 401K and similar investments, with about an order of magnitude better return (varying with the obvious economic vicissitudes, but % diff quite stable over 30 years). Cars are old depreciable things, do those only for love, not money, though some thought can save a lot of money, especially when someone else's love doesn't.
Yes, I was a Corvette expert, though I've started to forget things since kids took priority. I have a big box of pix from my 35mm days I haven't scanned in yet. But I lost the one video of me racing, dammit, I noticed because that was the first thing I got off my butt to digitize. Prolly got put in a Barney box on "clean everything up the maids are coming" day and given to charity...
(Haven't been to Michigan, though, so I probably don't know the car in your pic, though I have met a number of Corvette Engineers from there, who may. Corvetteomania is a fun obsession.)
My side projects have tended to be explicitly non-software, usually automotive or real estate related. The latter has been a similar magnitude to 401K and similar investments, with about an order of magnitude better return (varying with the obvious economic vicissitudes, but % diff quite stable over 30 years). Cars are old depreciable things, do those only for love, not money, though some thought can save a lot of money, especially when someone else's love doesn't.
Yes, I was a Corvette expert, though I've started to forget things since kids took priority. I have a big box of pix from my 35mm days I haven't scanned in yet. But I lost the one video of me racing, dammit, I noticed because that was the first thing I got off my butt to digitize. Prolly got put in a Barney box on "clean everything up the maids are coming" day and given to charity...
(Haven't been to Michigan, though, so I probably don't know the car in your pic, though I have met a number of Corvette Engineers from there, who may. Corvetteomania is a fun obsession.)
1 reply
Jake
Yeah, I keep my side projects to stuff that I enjoy and won't conflict. Easier that way.
I've always wanted to tinker with cars, not sure why. Probably the same thing about me that wants to solve problems with software. The same urge drives me to tinker around the house.
I'm not a Corvette enthusiast, just really like the 50s models. Share those pics when you get them digitized.
I've always wanted to tinker with cars, not sure why. Probably the same thing about me that wants to solve problems with software. The same urge drives me to tinker around the house.
I'm not a Corvette enthusiast, just really like the 50s models. Share those pics when you get them digitized.
2 months ago
in When Are You Most Productive? on Oracle AppsLab
25 years ago when I was fortunate to be able to pick my own hours (and later telecommute), I'd sleep 0100-0730, work 9-7 with a dead spot after lunch (mmmm, Thai food). I'd be hitting my 3rd stride at 1900, but they'd kick me out.
Y2k, a lot of the time a gummint job where I had to get up at 0300, I never, ever, ever could get used to it. But since I was there at 0600, I got a lot done, on usenet or /. if nothing else :-)
Nowadays, I'm getting up a little before 5 'cause of the commute/train schedule, though I just spent a week working from home and would get up then anyways, which kinda doesn't work for me as I naturally go to bed later. Insert expletive here, I'd rather go back to the way 25 years ago when I can, or if I hit the Lotto.
Today's paper, which I read on commute to work: http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/may... Also, when I was in college, we read a research classic called Some Must Watch While Some Must Sleep (as part of my major).
Y2k, a lot of the time a gummint job where I had to get up at 0300, I never, ever, ever could get used to it. But since I was there at 0600, I got a lot done, on usenet or /. if nothing else :-)
Nowadays, I'm getting up a little before 5 'cause of the commute/train schedule, though I just spent a week working from home and would get up then anyways, which kinda doesn't work for me as I naturally go to bed later. Insert expletive here, I'd rather go back to the way 25 years ago when I can, or if I hit the Lotto.
Today's paper, which I read on commute to work: http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/may... Also, when I was in college, we read a research classic called Some Must Watch While Some Must Sleep (as part of my major).
1 reply
Jake
Interesting article. I'm very interested in sleep hacking b/c it's a way to squeeze more out of life (supposedly), which gets more important to me every year.
One thing I've tried but will never understand is physical exercise early in the morning. Just can't hack it, although I've not tried for years. Tried running, tried lifting, hated every second, which made it useless.
I might try it again, to see if my brain is any better at training in the morning. The bummer part would be losing those as work hours though.
One thing I've tried but will never understand is physical exercise early in the morning. Just can't hack it, although I've not tried for years. Tried running, tried lifting, hated every second, which made it useless.
I might try it again, to see if my brain is any better at training in the morning. The bummer part would be losing those as work hours though.
2 months ago
in OpenWorld 2009 News on Oracle AppsLab
Try http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=oow+-hurt+...
1 reply
John E. Bredehoft (Empoprises)
I like the concept, but that wouldn't account for people who (for whatever reason) neglected to mention "Oracle." Take my example "landing at oakland to go to oow"; if I were to see this at the appropriate time of year, I as a human would realize that "oow" stood for Oracle OpenWorld. How do we teach that logic to a search algorithm?
2 months ago
in Google Does Geolocation on Oracle AppsLab
I dunno. It looks like it is reloading and reloading and reloading and reloading.... but only sometimes. Since I don't see that when outside the firewall, I assume that is what is doing it. It definitely slows down the crappy jive used on forums.oracle.com (which seems to send every page twice). Might be a proxy problem, I wouldn't know. Always blame the stuff out of your control.
1 reply
Jake
Not sure about Jive on forums.oracle.com, but that behavior here is definitely caused by the Social Bar, which you can see down there from home :)
I'm not sure how much longer I'll keep that around; I'm waiting for more features, but if you encounter iterative fails like I did. Let me know, and I'll go back to the widget or dump it entirely.
I'm not sure how much longer I'll keep that around; I'm waiting for more features, but if you encounter iterative fails like I did. Let me know, and I'll go back to the widget or dump it entirely.
2 months ago
in All Your Comments Are Belong to Us on Oracle AppsLab
I think it ought to be considered rude to comment elsewhere - I do it myself all the time :-) It's very easy to lose context, very easy to "talk behind someone's back," even though they are likely to see it, perhaps when someone says hey, did you see... And yet, with comment moderation you don't know if someone hasn't seen your comment (I discovered that since I often use the blog name with my domain as the posting email, some posting software thinks I'm giving commands and sends the fail to me! I smell injection attack...), they're ignoring you (like many official Oracle blogs), they configured you to spam, they think you are nuts, they're lazy or what-all.
Blogging and the associated technologies are a type of infrastucture, and yet are evolving. This makes it all much less useful in my opinion, though there is no good answer to that. Infrastructure must be available, predictable and long lasting.
Perhaps the fragmentation is an evolutionary pressure to move away from hierarchy (I speak, many listen, most comments boring and predictable) and towards a network structure (we all communicate en mass... like usenet and early BBS's figured out years ago).
Even Eric Schmidt things the web is unpleasant: http://money.cnn.com/2009/04/08/news/newspaper_...
Blogging and the associated technologies are a type of infrastucture, and yet are evolving. This makes it all much less useful in my opinion, though there is no good answer to that. Infrastructure must be available, predictable and long lasting.
Perhaps the fragmentation is an evolutionary pressure to move away from hierarchy (I speak, many listen, most comments boring and predictable) and towards a network structure (we all communicate en mass... like usenet and early BBS's figured out years ago).
Even Eric Schmidt things the web is unpleasant: http://money.cnn.com/2009/04/08/news/newspaper_...
1 reply
Jake
We don't ignore you. You could say this is the official AppsLab blog :) Accept no substitutes.
I'm with you on moderation and hope I never have to do that b/c it will ruin the conversation here.
Like I said, I've no problem with people chatting about stuff I say in other places, even if it's bad. I just want to know about it so I can chime in and ideally add to the discussion.
There's still a long way to go though.
I'm with you on moderation and hope I never have to do that b/c it will ruin the conversation here.
Like I said, I've no problem with people chatting about stuff I say in other places, even if it's bad. I just want to know about it so I can chime in and ideally add to the discussion.
There's still a long way to go though.
3 months ago
in A Bit More on Our IE6 Stance on Oracle AppsLab
All your base comments are belong to... I mean the top level comments farthest to the left sometimes get truncated on the left side, including this box I'm typing into. I use 4 different browsers at least, so don't talk to me about switching when I'm stuck somewhere with ie6, it's just not my choice to make.
As far as tabs, I seem to like them sometimes and not others, I'm not sure why. With multiple windows, I do tend to position them so I can get a peaky at what is on each one, much quicker than finding and reading tabs, and that's what I do with colors on X windows too, when I'm not full-screen on one particular thing.
And standars - did I miss something, or is there something wrong with http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http://theapp... ?
As far as tabs, I seem to like them sometimes and not others, I'm not sure why. With multiple windows, I do tend to position them so I can get a peaky at what is on each one, much quicker than finding and reading tabs, and that's what I do with colors on X windows too, when I'm not full-screen on one particular thing.
And standars - did I miss something, or is there something wrong with http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http://theapp... ?
1 reply
Jake
I was planning to check it out from IE6 and comment, but wow, I can't even open this blog in IE6.
First, it kept trying to load the Friend Connect toolbar, which was livable, but then it croaked entirely. Now, it dies every time. Sweet.
Sorry about the comments and that you're ever stuck with IE6. I put the blame on Disqus :)
One feature I like about the newer FF builds and Chrome is the ability to tear away a tab into a new window (and vice versa). Fits all use cases pretty well.
Fun fact: I'm writing this comment from Netscape 6, and it looks pretty good.
First, it kept trying to load the Friend Connect toolbar, which was livable, but then it croaked entirely. Now, it dies every time. Sweet.
Sorry about the comments and that you're ever stuck with IE6. I put the blame on Disqus :)
One feature I like about the newer FF builds and Chrome is the ability to tear away a tab into a new window (and vice versa). Fits all use cases pretty well.
Fun fact: I'm writing this comment from Netscape 6, and it looks pretty good.
3 months ago
in Google Does Geolocation on Oracle AppsLab
I was expecting the loki findme to be about 500 miles off based on my IP, but it just failed, icon going around and around and around. All hail corporate hardware firewalls.
They seem to make this blog go bonkers sometimes though.
Geolocation is cool until your SO turns into the pissed off Amazing Colossal 50 Foot Tall Woman and starts ripping the roofs off everywhere you've been.
Or someone clones your phone and kills a liquor store clerk they found using the "nearby" app.
"To protect user privacy, the Gears Geolocation API server does not record user location. However, third party sites may do so, and we recommend that users only allow web sites they trust to access their location. Gears will always tell a user when your site wants to access their location for the first time and the user can either allow or deny your site permission."
That sounds about like certain operating systems continuously and annoyingly asking for the admin password... people will want to turn it off. People are even worse evaluating trust than they are at evaluating risks in general.
They seem to make this blog go bonkers sometimes though.
Geolocation is cool until your SO turns into the pissed off Amazing Colossal 50 Foot Tall Woman and starts ripping the roofs off everywhere you've been.
Or someone clones your phone and kills a liquor store clerk they found using the "nearby" app.
"To protect user privacy, the Gears Geolocation API server does not record user location. However, third party sites may do so, and we recommend that users only allow web sites they trust to access their location. Gears will always tell a user when your site wants to access their location for the first time and the user can either allow or deny your site permission."
That sounds about like certain operating systems continuously and annoyingly asking for the admin password... people will want to turn it off. People are even worse evaluating trust than they are at evaluating risks in general.
1 reply
Jake
Heh, geo isn't for everyone :)
Why would a hardware firewall make this blog go bonkers?
As you say, security is only as good as the annoyed users it's trying to protect. Funny world.
Why would a hardware firewall make this blog go bonkers?
As you say, security is only as good as the annoyed users it's trying to protect. Funny world.
3 months ago
in Had Enough Twitter Yet? on Oracle AppsLab
Someone was listening to the same thing I was this morning: http://moviepals.org/computerkillingyou/2009/03...
Pretty funny, guy would rather be twittering than in bed with Jennifer Aniston. Well, maybe she's just too much in the morning...
Pretty funny, guy would rather be twittering than in bed with Jennifer Aniston. Well, maybe she's just too much in the morning...
1 reply
Jake
Heh, I saw that after posting this and thought it was a strange commentary indeed. Was it an age thing (he's 8 years younger), a gender thing or maybe a "just not that into you" thing?
Whatever it was, Twitter is a house on fire lately.
Whatever it was, Twitter is a house on fire lately.
4 months ago
in Batman vs. Superman on Oracle AppsLab
Superman - 1932
Batman - 1939
Fortress of solitude way better than batcave.
But Howard the Duck - now there's a character I can relate to.
UCSD Round Table Pizza place has a bunch of Tardis - Tardisses - Tardi?
Batman - 1939
Fortress of solitude way better than batcave.
But Howard the Duck - now there's a character I can relate to.
UCSD Round Table Pizza place has a bunch of Tardis - Tardisses - Tardi?
1 reply
Jake
Age makes Superman better? If anything, Batman, spawned by unrest in Europe, impending war and a prolonged depression should get credit for kicking ass when it mattered most.
While I do like the Fortress of Solitude, it doesn't have the gadgets that the Batcave does. Plus, it's only accessible by air, making it yet another thing that we regular schmoes can't aspire to because we're not human.
Howard the Duck is a good call. Solid.
While I do like the Fortress of Solitude, it doesn't have the gadgets that the Batcave does. Plus, it's only accessible by air, making it yet another thing that we regular schmoes can't aspire to because we're not human.
Howard the Duck is a good call. Solid.
