Twitter – is it stupid or not?

A Facebook user, who is in the public media, just recently succumbed to peer pressure and created a Twitter account.  This person is new  to it and will have to figure whether it works for them or not.  What kills me is all the feedback being sent from Facebook friends including one simply saying Twitter is stupid.

I’ve been on Twitter for a little bit now and I have found it very useful to follow people or companies of interest.  For example I purchase a lot of goofy gifts and one of the companies I follow is Archie McPhee.  The great thing about following them is that I get a constant feed of what’s going on and sometimes get the heads up on something I find funny and would like to buy.  So from this stand point I’m an active “consumer” on Twitter.  And so for people who are consumers of information Twitter makes a lot of sense.

Now what about the “providers” on Twitter who have something to say or share.  A company, like Archie McPhee, can leverage Twitter to reach a lot of people who is interested in what the y have to say very quickly and all day long.  So as a provider of information Twitter once again makes a lot of sense.

People in the public media (newscasters, writers, reporters, etc) who use Twitter get an extra benefit beyond communicating information.  But to explain this we need to look at why individuals tune into one station rather than another.  In Chicago there are four major local news stations (CBS-2, NBC-5, ABC-7, and Fox-32).  95% of the time I tune into NBC-5 but the important question is still why.

If I think about it they all report the same topics and local events.  One station may have an exclusive over the others but in general it’s all the same.  I think that I ended up on NBC-5 because I could identify with who was reporting the new (i.e. I liked them for some reason or another).   So can Twitter aide public media people?  I think the answer is yes.

I just recently found this friend on Facebook, who is a reporter on a local news radio station, is the sister of someone I went to high school with.  I was already a listener of  this news station but now when I here her report it just seems to be a little bit more interesting because I feel I know her a little more.  Now that I follow her on Facebook and get to see a bit of the personal side it really makes a difference.

So whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, or any other online service I think it’s actually a very good idea for public people to communicate via any of these tools.  I see these systems as great tools to establish that personal feel and that leads to either new listeners or retaining existing listeners.  The down side is that if not done correctly this can also lead to pushing people away.

Lavazza – a real coffee shop for real coffee drinkers

Looking back over the past 10+ years it’s amazing how much of a coffee based country the US has turned out to be.  There are those that will say we are not a coffee country but more of a “fast food – triple foamy, extra sweet” country and I can’t say that I disagree with that sentiment.  Me personally I love coffee.  Strong, rich, flavorful coffee.  I grew up with European influences so I’ve never been a fan of the lighter stuff.  American coffee tends to be down the middle while I lean more to the stronger side.
So where can you get a coffee?  McDonalds and their new flavor?  The local coffee shop/greasy spoon?  Starbucks?  Caribou?  Seattle’s Best?  Starbucks has been on a steady path to the center of things for a long time now.  They are simply over priced for what you get and what you get isn’t all that great anymore.  Have your ever ordered a Capuccino and expected to get a nice thick foam top only to recieve this frothy thing that dissolves by the team you walk from the counter to your seat?  Caribou, to me, is step above Starbucks; at least they take the time to make a decent cup.  SBC has long left town here but I was never to excited about them.  McDonalds… well it’s McDonalds and if you polish a turd it’s still a turd.
So where can someone who loves coffee and wants to go to real shop with real pastries go?  If you are lucky enough, and I am, you can go to Lavazza.  It’s Italian owned and operated and to me it’s the closest thing to sitting in a coffee shop in Europe.  The coffee is robust and they make their drinks as they should be.  Espressos have that thin brown layer of froth, and their  Cappucinos have a rich, thick, velvety foam topping.  This is how coffee should be made.
I have no idea where Lavazza’s gets their pastries but they are fantastic!  A croissant that is perfect and  buttery inside with an outside layer that is crisp and stands up to the “hit it with a spoon” test.  I’ve had a raisin danish that is so rich and moist it’s almost like eating a raisin bread pudding.  Gelatos, pies, and all the other expected sides are their and they all look great.
I know there are Lavazzas here in Chicago and in New York; if you happen to see one make it a point to stop inside – you won’t be disappointed.

Traxxas Summit – Front and Rear Bumpers

I’ve had my Traxxas Summit for about 3 months now and it’s a great truck.  Our house is up on a hill and I’ve there is a large hill / side yard that we run our trucks around on.  It’s been snow covered for awhile and the Summit has been great and tearing it up out there.

Because of it’s size and weight it is really easy to flip the truck when jumping by just letting off the accelerator.  The front and rear bumpers are mounted on an oval ring that is attached to the frame.  So it goes Bumper –> Oval Ring –> Frame.  If you own or are thinking about getting a Summit I would suggest you buy a couple of spares.  I’ve already busted both the front and the back oval rings.  The parts are only about $8.00 so put a couple in your gear box; it will only be a matter of time.

Nutty Easter Eggs

I’ve always appreciated Easter Eggs in software products.  I remember doing things like searching for Elvis in the original Mac OS Map program, or finding the magic hidden dot in Atari’s Adventure to get you to the secret room.  I just added a friend of mine who is leaving the company where we worked on Facebook and saw a picture of something on Google.

If you search on Google it will often offer up a “did you mean” link in case you misspelled something or they found something with what appears to be more relevant hits.  I’m going to take a detour here and hit upon a programming concept before continuing.

Recursion is an often confusing concept until you have worked with a lot.  The premise is that you take a larger problem and rather than solve the whole problem you make a little machine that can navigate the entire problem one step at a time.

If you had a 5 pictures and wanted to know how many different ways you could arrange them you would solve it as follows.  (# choices on 1st pick) + (# choices on 2nd pick) + (# choices on 3rd pick) + (# choices on 4th pick) + (# choices on 5th pick).  For 5 pictures it would look like this:

(5) + (4) + (3) + (2) + (1) = 15

Each time you choose a picture you take away from the # possible of choices.  This can be written as the following expression to be more generic:

For n > 0;  f(n) = n + (n-1) + (n-2) + … (1)

That’s easy to do if you have a small number of choices but what if you wanted to figure it for 1,000 pictures?  It would take you a long time to write that out and calculate it.  This is a great problem to be solve recursively because you can create a little machine to solve one of the numbers and then use the machine to keep solving the rest.  Here is how that would work.

when n>1: f(n) = n + f(n-1)

when n = 1: f(n) = n

Back to our 5 picture problem it would come out as follows:

  • f(5) = 5 + f(4)
  • f(4) = 4 + f(3)
  • f(3) = 3 + f(2)
  • f(2) = 2 + f(1)
  • f(1) = 1

You can start to see that the little function machine takes (n) and then calls itself to figure out what (n-1) would be.  It keeps calling itself until it reaches 1 and then it just returns one.  Look at the list above and you will notice that the last term on the first line is actually the 2nd line.  The last term on the 2nd line is actually the 3rd line and so on.  You can start performing substitution and when you reach the end you will have our original equation.  Here is the substitution in action:

  • f(5) = 5 + f(4)
  • f(5) = 5  + 4 + f(3)
  • f(5) = 5 + 4 + 3 + f(2)
  • f(5) = 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + f(1)
  • f(5) = 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1
  • f(5) = 15

So our machine is designed to add a number to the results of the same machine for the next lower number until it reaches 1 and simply returns 1.  The machine “recursively” calls itself until it reaches 1 and then breaks out.  So here is what it would look like in coding logic:

  • print Machine(5)
  • function Machine (n)
    • if n > 1 then return (n + Machine(n-1))
    • else return (1)
  • end function

So that was my long detour and let me get back to Google and their “did you mean” link.  If you to go to Google and search on the word “recursion” it will display all the normal results.  If you look at the top of the results Google will offer you a “did you mean” link and it points to the word “recursion”.  If you click on that link it returns you to same page.  Get it?  It’s a nerd thing!  I just love finding and seeing these Easter Eggs!

FlexLM license manager and NodeLocked licenses

FlexLM is a licensing product that can be used with applications to manage licenses for usage.  FlexLM itself can be installed on central servers and used to manage/distribute licenses in a enterprise environment.  There are three license types that can be used with FlexLM:

  • Floating:  a pool of licenses that are given out and returned when a user opens and closes the product.  The advantage here is that it does not limit you on the number of users, just the number of users who use the product at the same time.
  • NodeLocked: licenses that are associated to a single machine for use.  For  example a nodelocked license for my laptop will allow me to run the associated product on that machine, and that machine only.
  • NamedUser:  licenses that are associated to a user id and can be used by that user on any machine.  It’s similar to a floating licenses except that it’s for a single user to be used anywhere.  At work I have 4 to 5 machines that I login to so I, and only I, could use the associated product on all 5 of those machines.

I’m going to focus on NodeLocked licenses because there seems to be some confusion on how they are installed and used.  The general method that is known to most people is that you get a nodelocked license and import (install) it on the machine it is associated to.  For example if I got a nodelocked license for my laptop it would be installed on my laptop.  This works great for a couple of these licenses but what if you are responsible for managing a lot of them?  What if you are responsible for making sure that these get properly assigned and unassigned to stay in compliance with the software vendor?

The less common method for managing and using nodelocked licenses is to install them on a central FlexLM licensing server.  Some people may thinking/saying that you can’t do that.  Let me start by saying with 100% certainty you can do this.  I’m going to paraphrase some facts about nodelocked licenses and then continue on.

  1. NodeLocked licenses do not require a license server.
  2. NodeLocked licenses will not have an associated LMGRD license server process.
  3. Most vendors will not sell a NodeLocked license for Unix/Linux.

It seems that people get confused on the first two items and assume that it means it cannot work.  No where in any FlexLM documentation does it state you cannot install the license on a central server.  You can but its not a required and it won’t have a license process serving it up.  You can see the license on the server via an lmstat command and it will indicate whether or not the associated computer is using it.

I happen to run across some training/class information from the University of California – Irvine that focuses on FlexLM.  Their material actually comes from Macrovision who at one time owned FlexLM.  There is a specific section of the material that describes having both NodeLocked and Floating licenses on a central server for management.  Additionally I manage a single FlexLM server that has floating, nameduser, and nodelocked licenses on it.

So why did I feel it was important to put this out here?  I’ve spent nearly 3 hours on the phone with a software vendor for support and they are insisting that I cannot put nodelocked licenses on central server.  I’ve showed them logs, license files, output and everything else I have but still they continue to believe the earth is flat.  I finally directed to the information found at the university so let’s see if that clears it up.

The most comedic yet accurate reviews

I found a link to this review off of slashdot a couple of weeks ago.  This is a 7 part review of the Star Wars – The Phantom Menace movie done in 10 minute increments.  Let me preface this that at first it will come off as someone just being a goof but I promise that if you listen to what he is saying you will find the review very accurate and spot on.  But the important part is how the reviewer presents it in a fashion where you will laughing nearly the entire time.  I cannot stress enough that this is entirely worth the 70 minutes of time and if you are not careful you will pee your pants.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI

So long 2009 and welcome to 2010!

I remember when I was in 20’s that a New Year always was an exciting time and brought a sense of hope and new beginnings.  As I near 40 a New Year has taken on a different meaning and tone.  I always try and spend New Years day just messing around on odds and ends so I can think about things.  Today brought me a little bit of clarity on why New Years has changed for me.

In my 20’s I didn’t have as much to worry about.  I thought I did but now looking back it was a very simple life.  Zoom forward to today and I have more responsibilities in my career, I have a home that needs tending, I have a wife who is fighting breast cancer, I have a 2.5 year old who is trying to figure her way through things, and I have a 6 month old son who has no idea what is going on yet.  It’s tiring even thinking about it.

In my 20’s I could afford to look at an entire new year with broad hopes and goals but today these simply get lots in the day to day shuffle.  So my first resolution of the new year is to stop looking at it as a new year and look at it as a new month.  The way I see it is that a single month is more discrete and something that is visible even in the day-to-day events.  If I can set one or maybe two clear goals for each month and have a series of successful months then it will be a very good year.  So it’s not that a new is not important it’s that how I look at it needs to change in order for it to be successful.

Password Complexity – Clear as Mud

Today I was going through the process of updating my password on one of my accounts but received an error because the new password failed to meet the minimum requirements.  I knew this because I was presented with a single dialog box that the following paragraph.  If you can read and understand this then you are a better person then I.

“The password supplied does not meet the minimum complexity requirements.  Please select another password that meets all of the following criteria; has not been used in the previous 8 passwords; must not have been changed within the last 0 days; does not contain your account or full name; contains at least three of the following four character groups; English uppercase characters (A through Z); English lowercase characters (a through Z); Non-alphabetic characters (such as !, $, #, %).  Type a password which meets these requirements in both text boxes.”

eBay’s feedback system for sellers

I really didn’t understand all of the changes made to eBays feedback system until I recently sold a bunch of stuff.  I found out the hard way that there really is no longer a method to provide visible feedback stating that a Buyer is a dead beat or unreasonable.  Here are two examples where that I had with some troublesome buyers.

I list groups of items together so I have time to get payments, package them up, and then ship them all together.  I stated very clearly in my auction that I expect payments within 24 hrs so I can do this.  I had one buyer who did not contact me and didn’t pay me until 5 days later.  Rather than taking the time to ship his item  by itself I waited for the next batch which was four days away.  I said I would send it via USPS priority mail and I did.

I get a correspondence from the buyer stating that they are angry that I charged $5.00 for shipping and sent it via first class mail which only costs $0.48.  They were also very upset that I waited to ship it even though they didn’t follow my instructions.  I responded back with the USPS Priority Mail tracking number to show that I did indeed ship via that method.  I even showed that shipping cost me $6.00 while I only charged them $5.00.  I also explained that the reason it shipped later was because they were late in paying and I shipped it with other items.  The kicker is that this user was able to leave me negative feedback but when I tried to leave them feedback all I can do is leave positive or nothing at all.  There is no method for me to communicate to other sellers that this buyer is a little bit high strung.

The second scenario is with someone who did not pay me at all.  The user would not communicate and even though I can file a non-paying bidder and get my funds there is once again no method for me to communicate that this person is a deadbeat.  So when you see buyers with all positive feedback it’s very misleading because there really is no way to get negative feedback.  I really think eBay messed up here and put all of the sellers at a disadvantage.

Mazda5 – POS

Let me preface this by stating prior to our current vehicles I have always driven smaller/compact cars.  VW Bug, VW Golf, Acura Integra, Pontiac LeMans (no, not the cool muscle car but the cheap re-branded Opel Kadet).

My wife had a fender bender and dropped our 06 Durango off for repairs.  Enterprise, granted they were trying to give us the roomiest thing in the class we were given, gave us an 09′ Mazda5.  It also just happened that today is the first real snow day in the Chicagoland area.

I get a call from my wife saying that she is stuck.  I ask where and she says in front of our house.  We have a monstrous hill/driveway but she was simply parking in front of the house on the grass.  I told her I would be right out because I handle the cars better in the winter and figured with this little front wheel drive car she probably just wasn’t use to it.  Boy was I wrong.

I’m sitting in the middle of the road and put it into its lowest gear and barely touch the pedal and got spinnage.  So much spinnage I barely kept the car on the road within the first 10 feet.  I finally had to back the car up 100 yards down the street and get a running start to make it up an itty-bitty hill/grade and then had to pop the e-brake to put it in a spin so I could turn it around and get it parked so she could leave in the right direction the next day.  I have never been in any car that has driven so poorly in the snow.

This is the first Mazda I have ever driven and I hate to say it but it will be my last one too!