February 2008
35 posts
The story of Tumblr →
An interesting little article about Tumblr’s founder David Karp and how the site came to be.
From REI: how to repair ski bases →
When I ski, I tend to hit a lot of rocks, and thus need a lot of base repairs. REI put up a nice tutorial and video on how to do this yourself. If you’ve always wanted to do your own base repairs but never knew how, check it out.
“More than 10,000 books have been written about personal finance. You could spend...”
– Mint.com on personal finance
Is virtual destruction an art form? →
Why we enjoy destruction in our online gaming.
Are you a student? Would you like free Microsoft... →
Microsoft is offering students free access to many of its professional development tools as part of an initiative called “DreamSpark”. While I’m not exactly enamored with Visual Studio, I’m all about giving more people access to development tools.
The posture of a communicator →
As usual, Seth Godin hits the nail on the head. Taking the approach of “you need to work to understand this too” misses the point and is counterproductive - as a communicator, your job is to get the point across directly, and that’s an all-or-nothing proposition in that either your audience understands you exactly or they don’t. You’re the one with something to lose...
Guy Kawasaki on launching a company on the cheap →
Granted, you have to be famous and well-respected first, but it’s possible to launch a half-decent company around a web app for ~$12,000. Not bad. Not bad at all.
Health care costs are killing companies →
This guy has built out an interesting niche for himself - consulting with companies on fitness plans for their employees to bring down healthcare costs. It brings up an age-old question, though - are your healthcare costs higher if you’re fat and moderate unhealthy or fit but prone to sports-type injuries?
Trent Reznor wonders why people won't pay $5 for... →
Trent Reznor tried to copy Radiohead’s tactic for distributing Nine Inch Nails’ newest album, but met with little success. He talks about the experience in this article. I think there are two issues at play here. First, people generally won’t pay for something that you’re providing them for free. For the vast majority, the additional quality in the paid download...
In search of a distraction-free desktop →
I’m definitely an ADHD worker - constantly switching back and forth between tasks, applications, and distractions. This is an interesting introduction to some programs to help you manage your attention span better. I’m trying out DarkRoom right now - I’ll post again on how it goes.
For all of your limerick needs →
Finally, a central repository for limericks. Just what the internet’s been missing - another time blackhole!
A handful of helpful shell shortcuts →
Learning lessons and moving on from a failed... →
Code's worst enemy →
…is size. I think this is a point that’s too frequently overlooked - if you have a base of code that’s absolutely massive, it’s essentially doomed to be unmaintanable. Most programmers can pound out somewhat functional code without too much effort, but the real challenge lies in making it maintainable. If that code can’t be read, understood, and managed, it’s...
This is why the MSFT-YHOO deal won't work →
The whole FakeSteve blog is written as a joke, but there are some good points. Yahoo-Microsoft would be a terrible combination for all involved. If they go through with this, one (or both) of the companies is going to get majorly shafted, and it’s not going to be good situation. While I’ve largely switched away from Yahoo products, some of their newer stuff has a lot of promise. ...
The ups and downs of working from home →
Conspiracy Theorists and Free Software →
Is "Canadian" a new racial slur? →
I don’t even know what to say to this. Wow.
Target tells a self-righteous blogger to go away →
Self-righteous people who think they deserve special privileges just because they happen to write a blog need to be put in their place more often. Doubly so when they’ve deemed themselves the moral imperators. This is a good example of exactly that. I think Target’s completely justified - if they caved to every demand from an idiot with a webpage then they’d never be able to...
Java needs an overhaul →
Amen.