Tag: friends

Computer Illiteracy

Not too long ago, most people I knew continued to harbor a certain social prejudice well after the major social prejudices had fallen out of favor among the thinking set. This prejudice was not against a person, or a stereotype. It was against the computer. No one ever spoke openly of this prejudice. It was transmitted subtly: a gentle roll of the eyes when someone cautiously suggested that a quick Google search might resolve the conversational impasse; a derisive snort when the token geek in the room offered to show the group what he or she was working on. When a friend said in mixed company that her local movie theater used to project video game play on the big screen for public viewing, there was an unmistakable ‘only in Maine’ undercurrent to the response.

Poor rekha, having computer refusenik friends. The few I had I re-trained them years ago. Nothing beats fact checking a conspiracy nut cab driver on the spot.

Big Picture

Each entry tells a story through high-quality newswire images displayed at large sizes

by kogokiak.
2009-05-31:

Hello blog folks, it’s been a while. 1 year to be exact… 1 long crazy year. This time last year, I announced my project called The Big Picture, hoping, of course, that it would do well. It has really blown me away how well it has done. I will happily take some of the credit, but much of the success belongs to the photographers who consistently deliver amazing imagery that makes choosing and editing both a pleasure and a difficult task.

the state of the big picture

Where is Sarah?

today i checked my deserted blog, feeling a bit guilty after a friend had told me that i have effectively vanished behind the google cone of silence. and what do i see in the logs?

5 days, 9 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
5 days, 6 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
5 days, 3 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
5 days ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
4 days, 21 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
4 days, 18 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
4 days, 15 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
4 days, 12 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
4 days, 9 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
4 days, 6 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
4 days, 3 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
4 days ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
3 days, 21 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
3 days, 18 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
3 days, 15 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
3 days, 12 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
3 days, 9 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
3 days, 6 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
3 days ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
2 days, 21 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
2 days, 18 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
2 days, 15 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
2 days, 12 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
2 days, 9 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
2 days, 6 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
2 days, 3 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
2 days ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
1 day, 21 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
1 day, 18 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
1 day, 15 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
1 day, 12 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
1 day, 9 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
1 day, 6 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
1 day, 3 hours ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
1 day ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
21 hours, 46 minutes ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
18 hours, 46 minutes ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
15 hours, 45 minutes ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
12 hours, 45 minutes ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
9 hours, 45 minutes ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
6 hours, 45 minutes ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
3 hours, 45 minutes ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'
45 minutes ago 	209.85.238.3 	Search: query for 'sarah m. byers'

someone* must be really interested in sarah’s whereabouts! if you haven’t heard, sarah is currently traveling in the stans for work. when internet connectivity allows, she is posting awesome pictures. here is a sampler:

Osh BazaarOsh BazaarOsh BazaarOsh BazaarOsh BazaarOsh BazaarOsh BazaarOsh BazaarOsh BazaarOsh BazaarOsh BazaarOsh BazaarOsh BazaarOsh BazaarOsh Bazaar

* “someone” indeed. here’s why.

StyleFeeder Series A

While Amazon and eBay may dominate shopping in most of the Web universe, things are still up for grabs on planet Facebook. There, the leading shopping application is from a 2-year-old Cambridge, MA, startup called StyleFeeder. 500k people have made StyleFeeder’s shopping app part of their Facebook profiles—which is 50x as large as the Facebook user base claimed by the nearest competitor, eBay. The personal shopping engine at StyleFeeder’s own website boasts a similar number of users, raising $2m in Series A financing.

phil gets more funding

Inside Google Zurich

Bernhard Seefeld then (using the just-released Google Presentations, their online competitor to MS’ PowerPoint) described the 10 principles of Google engineering/software development: Single-source code repository for all Google code (G has a rather big repository, and all engineers have access to the source code) Developers can checkin fixes for any Google product (an “open-source” approach) You can build any Google product in 3 steps (get, configure, make) Uniform coding standards (how should code “look”) across the company Mandatory code reviews before checkin (if a developer fixes a bug in Gmail, the fix needs to be approved by the Gmail team) Pervasive unit testing (a “unit” is the smallest testable part of a program; unit testing validates that it works properly) Test run continuously, emails get sent (automatically) to developers if any failure is spotted Powerful tools that are shared companywide Rapid project-cycles, developers change projects often, and can devote 20% of their time to pursuing whatever idea/project they want (if it gets somewhere, Google will then throw some more engineers at it and turn it into a product or a feature) Peer-driven review process, flat management hierarchy

seefeld cameo