GoToMyPC vs. Copilot
I’ve heard all the loud radio ads and never gave it much thought until I needed to fix my mother-in-law’s computer from 400 miles away.
I tried Fog Creek Software’s Copilot. It was usable in the first fifteen minutes or so, but kinda slow. Then, it got slower… and s-l-o-w-e-r. Then, it froze. Trying their performance tips didn’t help out. Copilot is a VNC mod that works with relay servers and switches over to peer-to-peer mode if the connections allow it. My guess was that we may have not only hit real performance bugs, but also an issue with handling certain firewall configurations that did not switch us back over to their relay server. However, none of this speculation was going to help us get the problem fixed. At least it only cost five bucks for the day pass.
Onto GoToMyPC.com: I was not expecting much because I think their advertising is kind of cheesy. It turns out that I was pleasantly surprised. Though the Copilot software setup was extremely easy, GoToMyPC.com actually worked. We were registered, connected, and had the problem fixed remotely all within a half hour. We did not have to tweak anything to improve performance. Sure it cost a little more, but I’m gonna say this again — it worked. Kudos to the developers at Citrix.
So, don’t let those cheesy radio, print, and online ads fool you (as cheesy as they are, I remembered the name, didn’t I? Kudos to their marketing team as well, then). GoToMyPC works as advertised.
Topics: Technology | No Comments »
PHP Cracks Me Up Sometimes
This should probably go under “it’s really funny right now, but will seem very uninteresting tomorrow.”
FRIEND: http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.is-writable.php
ME: haha
FRIEND: yeah
ME: is_that_what_i_think_it_is()
FRIEND: is_that_really_what_i_think_it_is()
ME: aliased to is_this_what_i_really_want()
FRIEND: i looked it up real quick because someone had the wrong spelling in it in our code
ME: which returns constats, including IM_NOT_SURE_WHY_DONT_U_ASK_PERL_THAT
ME: haha that’s a funny blog write up
ME: i think i’ll write it now
FRIEND: yay
Topics: Software Development | 1 Comment »
Stupid Web Tricks: Sightglass 0.1
As expected, I’m behind where I want to be with my Stupid Web Tricks section. Anyway, the Domo-kun were starting to look really lonely, so I decided to throw together a quick carousel implementation for the heck of it.
Topics: Stupid Web Tricks | No Comments »
All-New Shiny Front Page Design
I just finished the all-new shiny front page for otanistudio.com!
I even titled the design. I call it “Web 2.0 Overloaded.”
For those who design web stuff, this should be obvious. For those who don’t, “Web 2.0″ refers the current catchy buzzword in web business and web development. Regarding business, nothing’s really different, except that nobody’s raising billions of dollars to sell gigantic bags of dog food online. Regarding development, the term is an amalgamation of web technologies that have matured over the last ten to twelve years and a design aesthetic that attempts to communicate simplicity through minimalism. This means large text (which is easier on the eyes of those who had to work sixteen hour days on-end during the boom times), squares with rounded corners (more friendly, I suppose), and the use of colors with gradient effects (partly because of restrained use of color palettes in the past).
The term “overloaded” describes the over-use of the “Web 2.0″ term for better or worse. I took a few of the typical design aesthetics and played with them: Rounded corner shapes, visual embellishments using gradients, and a hyperbole of objects sitting on a polished surface, a nod to Apple Computer’s successful design meme. For example, have a look at their FrontRow software — and the observe its propagation across the web design world.
I also had some fun with the Yahoo Animation Utility, which makes coding up cool UI effects tremendously easy.
Topics: Design | No Comments »
Stupid Web Tricks: Orbiting Domo-Kun
I just whipped up this simple orbiting domo-kun animation in JavaScript. After playing around with JavaScript’s Math trig methods (particularly Math.sin and Math.cos), one thing led to another, and after watching a few domo-kun videos on YouTube, I was inspired to use its picture in the effect.
Topics: Software Development, Stupid Web Tricks | No Comments »
Restaurant Review: Tamarindo Antojeria
Tamarindo Antojeria in Oakland, California.
A most excellent place. Everything is good, and according to my Mexican friends, very authentic. Its proper name is “Tamarindo Antojeria Mexicana.” An antojeria is a “place of little cravings,” and sincerely describes this small restaurant in downtown Oakland.
Everyone that works there is beautiful. The dishes are beautiful. Its small interior is casual, elegant, comfortable and well thought-out.
For the big portions crowd, you may be disappointed, but seriously these small plates are meant to be savored and remembered. It’s good stuff, and each plate is $3-$8 so feel free to just order more if your appetite demands it.
As with everything, their Saturday brunch is a winner. I’m a fan of their Huevos con Machaca: Two scrambled eggs mixed with shredded carnitas, sautéed onion and fresh jalapeno. If you want something different than the typical burrito or taco special for lunch or dinner, try the Sopecitos Surtidos: Three small corn masa patties, topped with Chorizo & potato–Carnitas–Rajas & cotija or the Empanaditas de Camaron Estilo Nayarit: which are small shrimp empanadas empanadas made two different ways. If you just can’t remove yourself from tacos, you still won’t go wrong as they are made with your choice of Asada, Carnitas, Pollo Asado, Lengua, Rajas, or Shrimp. Their corn tortillas are all hand-made.
Dinner entrees vary, and range from new takes on traditional dishes to true
Treat yourself to a Mexican hot chocolate. I watched them make a cup: Spices like cinnamon, cardamom and others that I can’t place are hand ground in a mortar with chopped almonds to add body, boquet and depth. Another treat is their flan — don’t get me started about good flan… I’ll have to save that for a future entry. Anyway, their flan is perfectly executed with toasted coconut on top.
I highly recommend this place. Don’t forget to make reservations because this place is small and getting more popular by the minute.
Tamarindo Antojeria Mexicana
468 8th Street
Oakland, California
510.444.1944
info@tamarindoantojeria.com
www.tamarindoantojeria.com
Topics: Restaurant Reviews | No Comments »
Restaurant Review: Chevy’s in Mountain View
My only reason for ever going to Chevy’s is that they have decent accomodations for a large lunch group from work. Margarita pitchers also don’t hurt. At best the food has its moments, and I like the sweet corn mush that is served with nearly every entree. Unfortunately the food in general is underwhelming. Even with the bar set low, the Chevy’s in Mountain View was a dissapointment.
As expected, a bunch of us at work were planning to have lunch together with an ex-coworker the locale immediately defaulted to Chevy’s. Though the final lunch party turned out to be smaller we still went (reluctantly).
I ordered a “Chipotle Chicken Enchilada.” It was served tepid and I’m not even sure there was Chipotle in the sauce, because it tasted more like a sweet roasted pepper sauce. The rice was too dry. The beans were so-so and I ate too many chips beforehand. The salsa was left over from the day before.
My top shelf margarita spilled when it was delivered, and so the stem got sticky. I hate sticky drinkware.
I don’t recommend the Chevy’s in Mountain View, unless of course you’re desperate to accomodate a larger lunch group on short notice.
Topics: Restaurant Reviews | No Comments »
Blogging & Tech Stuff
Apparently, the first rule about blogging is to write about blogging.
I don’t know how guys in my profession can just write informatively, pleasantly, or incessantly about web development, be it “web standards,” JavaScript, PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby, the best implementation of X, or the most elegant way of doing Y even though I can ramble and complain at the office about all sorts of technical crud. What becomes apparent during these monolgues is that I’m not a CS guy, nor do I play one on TV.
I’m the type of developer that just builds stuff, and outside the practice of documenting one’s work I tend to drift over to the next project and rarely look back. I used to post stuff like personal news updates, a bad piece of poetry, or a restaurant review up on my website, but that was back in 1997. That part of my brain has decayed substantially, so I’m giving this another try. Maybe it’ll be better the second time around.
What is notably bothersome is that this stuff tends to get archived on search engines, where years down the road, I’ll run a query against myself, find this post, and say “now that was stupid,” which implies that I may have improved.
There are plenty of smarter guys out there building this web stuff and explaining it at the same time… and doing a good job at it. Go them.
In the meantime, I’m just gonna post some random junk here to see what evolves. Go me.
Topics: Software Development | No Comments »
Hiring: A Haiku
Here is a Management Haiku by yours truly:
Hiring poorly,
Infects, like a virus.
Demise may follow.
A bad hire is like a virus. Infection is easier than eradication: Serious illness often precedes recovery, with demise the most extreme of consequences.
The discipline of hiring well is apparently one of the most difficult things to maintain in the software development world. This seems especially prevalent in larger software organizations where HR departments implement highly structured policies regarding hiring quotas, place limits on the time to fill a requisition, and often publish highly generalized job qualifications. Junior managers seem especially rushed to fill requisitions as the messaging from corporate HQ broadcasts “fill it or lose it.”
As with most anything rushed, one of the first things to drop is the hiring standard.
Lowering standards is one of the most dangerous things that a manager can do when building her team. The codebase is put towards greater risk; senior members of the team need to spend more time helping out the bad hire. They will need to expend extra effort to fix and prevent mistakes. If this continues to become a problem, your best team members will simply quit, as the best are the ones most likely find a better job elsewhere. What’s worse is that with current labor laws, and an increasingly litigious atmosphere, it has become incredibly difficult to fire someone, even if he is a poor performer.
From a product quality perspective, you are better off losing your requisition than risk being stuck with a bad hire. I really have no good recipe if you are stuck in an organization whose policies and culture do not understand this problem, other than you need to be especially savvy in the political arena to build a spectacular team. Otherwise, hold out for the best candidate that fits the job. For those thinking bottom-line: I’d rather pay 50% above the mean salary for a candidate well above-average than having three guys that suck and paying up to three times the average for all of them.
Topics: Management | No Comments »