Category: Tech

Adobe CS3

~ rbonini

Scoble just updated his list of Adobe CS3 videos with:

[podtech content=http://media1.podtech.net/media/2007/05/PID_011232/Podtech_ScobleShow_Premiere.flv&postURL=http://www.podtech.net/scobleshow/technology/1486/videoing-the-world-with-adobe-premiere-procs3&totalTime=2808000&breadcrumb=none]

and:

[podtech content=http://media1.podtech.net/media/2007/05/PID_011244/Podtech_ScobleShow_Photoshop.flv&postURL=http://www.podtech.net/scobleshow/technology/1487/inside-adobe-photoshop-cs3-with-john-nack&totalTime=3233000&breadcrumb=none]

(I read John’s blog rather often and its really good – check it out)

This is the entire list:

Adobe Premiere CS3 49 minutes.
Adobe Photoshop CS3 53 minutes.
Adobe Illustrator CS3 47 minutes.
Adobe Flash/Flex architecture overview 30 minutes.
Adobe Flex goes open source 25 minutes.
Adobe Flash CS3 overview 55 minutes.
Adobe Apollo overview 43 minutes.
Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 34 minutes.
Adobe Connect overview 29 minutes.
Adobe Acrobat 8.0 19 minutes.

I’m wondering if I should watch any, since I’ll probably be green with envy and start hopping around to raise money for  a copy of CS3 🙂

I think its great that Adobe are comming out into the open like this. The thing that really gave Flex its opening round of blog mentions was Scoble’s videos.

Just goes to show how business ( and Developer) savvy the Adobe/macromedia tie-up was. I think its one of the few mergers that has had this kind of huge impact on the way designers and developers work.

Advertising

~ rbonini

From Tim O’Reilly’s Post What Does It Mean For Public Space to Go Digital?:

When you put together all the possibilities for the future of advertising, you realize how little we’ve seen yet as digital life truly spreads beyond the computer and becomes pervasive. As digital display surfaces proliferate, so too will portable sensors (and your cell phone is becoming one of those) and controllers (your cell phone is becoming one of those as well). As David warns, we’re going to need some public discourse about how much is enough. But there are also going to be huge opportunities for companies to do what Google did with its early, uncompromising stand on relevant contextual advertising rather than blaring display ads, and to find ways to use those new digital environments in a way that is consumer-friendly and ultimately empowering.

Just take a look at the way Youtube has just added Ad’s (take alook here as well).

I think Youtube has taken the path of least resistance when it comes to ads. I’d keep an eye out for the whole idea of the user choosing to watch the commercial  changing once people have gotten used to the idea. And on that note, I’d like to repeat what Tim said:

we’re going to need some public discourse about how much is enough

Live Software or Web 2.0?

~ rbonini

I just read this by Tim O’Reilly over at the O’Reilly Radar ( aggregated by Planet Intertwingly and via Scoble’s Link Blog – thats Web 2.0 for you)

It strikes me that one of the big differences between the 1.0 class of data aggregators and the 2.0 class is the difference between “back office” and “live” applications. The credit card company mines its database to select you for direct mail offers; it may even get close to real time in monitoring your card activity for fraud or credit limit detection. But Google or Amazon mines its database in real time and builds the results right into its customer-facing applications.

If Google or Amazon were your bank or credit card, they’d let you know which merchants had the best prices for the same products, so you’d be a smarter shopper next time. They’d let merchants know what products were popular with people who also bought related products. They’d help merchants stock the right products by zip code. They’d let you know when you were spending more on dining out than you have set in your family budget. They’d let you know when you were approaching your credit limit, with a real-time fuel gauge, not just a “Sorry, your card has been declined.”

If Google or Amazon were your phone company, they’d give you access to your entire call history, not just your last ten phone calls. They’d build a dynamic address book for you based on everyone you’d ever talked to — and they’d build p2p phone number lookup from your friends right into that address book. They’d get rid of 411, and just help you search for what you need, and then make the connection for you.

This is one reason I think that Microsoft’s term, “Live Software” is so right on. (I thought of naming this piece “Why Live Software is a better name than Web 2.0.”) It’s unfortunate that Microsoft has chosen that name for its own products only, because it goes right to the heart of what makes Web 2.0 applications so interesting: they are alive, or as close to it as you can get with a computer. They learn from and interact directly with their users (and more specifically, provide services to individual users that benefit from the aggregate interaction of the system with all of its users.)

Tim is right on as usual. This is the whole idea of Web 2.0. It shows how Google is becomming much more than a search engine (not that it’ll be buying banks next).

In the past, computers really were dumb terminals connected to a mainframe. Then we got he Personel Computer revolution that mved the mainfraom into a beige box that you plugged your screen into directly. Now our Desktops are turing into terminals again. The avaliability of Software as a Service over the web is essential to using our computers. The enxt Google will take all this one step further and render our pricy desktops using without a highspeed broadband connection (or Verizion Fiber-Optic for you guys in the States – we still have our broadband in Europe 🙂 ).

Soon, Banks and the like will realise the power of the Google Way of handling data. The ways of aggregating this infomation over the web makes it even better to savour the possibilities.

Just to highlight Tim:

It’s unfortunate that Microsoft has chosen that name for its own products only, because it goes right to the heart of what makes Web 2.0 applications so interesting: they are alive

Reminds me of Frankinstien:

It’s Alive!!! <Evil Laugh/>

On Programming

~ rbonini

Jeff Atwood just posted his Favorite Programming Quote:

My all-time favorite programming quote has to be this Nathaniel Borenstein bon mot:

It should be noted that no ethically-trained software engineer would ever consent to write a DestroyBaghdad procedure. Basic professional ethics would instead require him to write a DestroyCity procedure, to which Baghdad could be given as a parameter.

It’s too perfect. Never have programmers been more neatly summarized.

And he also gave a list of great quotes sites:

Here are a few of my favorites:

Theory is when you know something, but it doesn’t work. Practice is when something works, but you don’t know why. Programmers combine theory and practice: Nothing works and they don’t know why.

Most of you are familiar with the virtues of a programmer. There are three, of course: laziness, impatience, and hubris.

Larry Wall

One of the main causes of the fall of the Roman Empire was that, lacking zero, they had no way to indicate successful termination of their C programs.

Robert Firth

Anyone who considers arithmetical methods of producing random numbers is, of course, in a state of sin.

John von Neumann

There is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new…

Niccolo Macchiavelli, The Prince

As an aside, Bill Clinton quotes this in his Autobiography

Writing code has a place in the human hierarchy worth somewhere above grave robbing and beneath managing. (Gerald Weinberg)

Writing code has a place in the human hierarchy worth somewhere above grave robbing and beneath managing. (Gerald Weinberg)

Mix 07 – Live

~ rbonini

Unfortunately I’m stuck at home and not at Mix. It is a pity since I learned a ton just from watching last years sessions.

Fortunately they’re streaming Ray Ozzie’s keynote.  

There are three streams:

I’m already connected, listening to Microsoft’s fine classical music collection. And belive me it is fine.

I hope my internet connection stands up to the full force of 500kbits…

Update: I’ve got no video. Only sound. Anyone have any idea why?

Windows Home Server Re-install, part 2

~ rbonini ~ 4 Comments

Well, its been a week since I had to install the CTP of Windows Home Server.

The long and the short of it is that the Upgrade option in the setup simply does not work – no way, no how. It stopped after the first reboot. It was insane. So I capitualted and copied all my data off the two secodnary hard drives as it was impossible to access data stored on the primary hard disk ( the one with the OS partition). I even tried recovering the hard drive to no avail. Which wasted the entire afternoon, I might add. So thanks to Folder Duplication – I did not lose one shred (no pun intended) of data – THANKS GUYS!!

So I did a new install over the old one and it worked like a Swizz car. It was a total breeze ( it might be going a bit far to say my grand mother could have done it).

I do like what they have done with the Console UI. Its more Vista-ish. Everything is well layed out. There is a helpful label at the bottom of the connector that informs you when storage is balanced.

The settings tab is re-designed. I like the inclusion of the Shutdown button under the menu instead of in a submenu – it saves a click. There are now settings for the Remote Access and Add-in bits. You can register for a custom domain from Live Custom Domains service that actually works very well (the wizard is supurbly designed). You can also auto-configure your router from here. I tried and it didin’t work (Linksys router WAG54G if anyone wants to know).

The process that actually does the configuring is called portfwd.exe and it hogged my system for hours. This slowed down everything. There isn’t actually an option to cancel the config (why???) and simply ending the process buys you a few minutes since it will start up again. the solution is to go into Control panel and click on Services (Control Panel should be in the Start Menu – if it isin’t, customize the Start menu to show it). Find Portfwd.exe and disable it.

Besides that small hickup everything runs smoothly.

This release of WHS really is good. I just need to get my hands on an Add-on or two to test that functionality.

I’m wondering, though, if you can back-up programatically to WHS. This would/ could give finer-grained control over back-up shecedules than is currently possible. It might even allow a few people to write somthing to back-up Macs or PC’s without the Home Connector.

If anyone is interest the WHS team do have a blog.

Millions

~ rbonini

Ever wondered how much Microsoft makes an hour (via)?

Microsoft today announced quarterly revenue of $14.4 billion and net income of $4.93 billion. In other words, Microsoft’s daily net income is about $55 million. That’s $55 million in pure profit every 24 hours. Do some quick math and you’ll learn it takes Microsoft only about…

  • 10 hours or so (yes, hours!) to exceed Red Hat’s quarterly net income of $20.5 million.
  • four days to exceed Research In Motion’s quarterly net income of $187.9 million.
  • four days to exceed Starbucks’ quarterly net income of $205 million.
  • one week to exceed Nike’s quarterly net income of $350.8 million.
  • two weeks to exceed McDonalds’ quarterly net income of $762 million.
  • two weeks to exceed Apple’s quarterly net income of $770 million.
  • 18 days to exceed Google’s quarterly net income of $1 billion.
  • 23 days to exceed Coca-Cola’s quarterly net income of $1.26 billion.
  • five weeks to exceed IBM’s quarterly net income of $1.85 billion.
  • 10 weeks to exceed Wal-Mart’s quarterly net income of $3.9 billion.

Can’t they at least make Vista cheaper?