tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330578245593963092024-09-10T17:30:03.245-04:00Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06338113017299264392noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-90831175898911716482013-03-01T00:27:00.000-05:002013-03-01T00:27:52.630-05:00

If you have any exposure at all to the tech world you are more than likely familiar with the bombshell dropped by the CEO of Yahoo calling all their remote workers back to the office.  As someone who has spent the last 5 years of his life working remote, this hits me close to home... literally.  As I read the articles and comments to those articles it is absolutely clear to me that the

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06338113017299264392noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-83522734670978645042012-12-25T22:56:00.001-05:002012-12-25T22:56:41.784-05:00

Yes, I am now and have been for the past 3 months a semi-proud Mac owner.  The details of that is for another post, but the bottom line is, I had a horrific crash on my laptop and finally recognized what several people have told me for years.  Linux is great, Ubuntu is great.  But when something you need breaks because of hardware and you can't bill time, it's not just the fact

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06338113017299264392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-43095433243786585312012-08-19T16:33:00.004-04:002012-08-19T18:10:04.821-04:00

Lately I've been getting a lot of return mail from accounts that were sent mail from spammers using my domain.  It's annoying and somewhat frustrating, especially if it is your business domain because you run the risk of being blacklisted.  Here are a couple of simple ways you can prevent this on a standard Google Apps account using Enom for domain registration. Sender Policy Framework

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06338113017299264392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-24327909774186943252012-05-23T01:42:00.001-04:002012-05-24T10:10:30.298-04:00

Spree is a comparatively new addition to the options in the open-source eCommerce world.  Based on Ruby on Rails, it has a certain allure, especially with developers eager to get into RoR.  Here's a quick way to get it running on Ubuntu. First, unlike previous versions of Ubuntu, you need to do nothing to get a recent version of Ruby.  First you will need to install the latest

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06338113017299264392noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-52214071780842953572012-03-28T22:20:00.002-04:002012-03-28T22:20:43.627-04:00

Got an old android phone around that you can't sell and just sits in a box of cast-off old tech?  Do you have a wireless router and a Skype account?  Did you know you can skip the $80 for a Skype phone, reuse your old smartphone, and continue to have the convenience of a mobile email, game playing device? You don't need to be a super hacker or anything... in fact the steps are actually

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06338113017299264392noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-89041288893130374612012-03-04T20:51:00.004-05:002012-04-29T23:47:16.004-04:00

If you're reading this, you don't need to be convinced of how awesome GIT is. This is actually the cheat sheet I use when I need a GIT command. Hope it helps you as much as it helps me when my memory fails. Cloning ... more to come here git-svn and clone Cloning an svn repository where there is only one project with the standard layout(repo_url/[tags trunk branches]): git svn clone

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06338113017299264392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-34667247634519906342011-08-26T00:11:00.000-04:002011-08-26T00:11:29.556-04:00

If you've been a developer for very long you've more than likely been on the project that is over due, over budget, and is nowhere close to being done.  There is no light at the end of the tunnel, the client is mad, management is mad, tempers are short, and no one is having very much fun. I'm not going to pretend I have the answer to that. If I did I'd be writing a book instead of a blog

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-51935029984346757122011-08-25T12:37:00.003-04:002011-09-01T02:21:24.243-04:00

I have used synergy for years so when my laptop is on my desk I can easily use one keyboard to control both my desktop and laptop.  However, either through recent changes in X windows or changes in synergy, I often have issues where left clicking and keyboard operations are simply broken. Enter x2x.  There are a number of limitations, not the least of which is an inability to share

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-14497246181490438082011-03-30T00:15:00.000-04:002011-03-30T00:15:55.178-04:00

I am a huge fan of GMail.  I use it for almost everything and I have since it really was in beta.  I use it for personal mail, I've set up my whole family on it for their mail, and I even use it as a viewer for my mail at work.  They aren't cheap, they'd buy me Outlook, but besides the fact that they don't make an Outlook for Linux, I like GMail's tools better.  Google has

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-29397978840996280612011-03-24T12:01:00.000-04:002011-03-24T12:01:12.470-04:00

In case you missed the not-so-recent interview on linuxformat.com, there was a fantastic and hilarious response from Gloria Wall(Larry Wall's wife) that I thought could be highlighted. LXF: You said that Perl 6 was your one chance to break backwards compatibility. Do you think Perl 9 might be the same thing again?GW: There's not going to be a Perl 9. Larry went on to talk about how Perl might

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-7220393194037208562011-03-16T14:25:00.000-04:002011-03-16T14:25:43.911-04:00

I have toyed with version control systems for years now, seeking a way to have a single process that can accommodate the way I  need to work with version control for different projects and applications.  I have done my time with sccs, CVS, SVN, ClearCase, and so on.  I've also had a brief affair with bazaar.  But so far I think I've found the one to settle down with... and

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-48857616543235788912011-01-06T23:20:00.001-05:002011-01-06T23:53:07.458-05:00

Here's a super simple script to extract the majority of US/English ISBN numbers from a pdf file in Linux.  The dependency, if you don't already have it is pdftk... but if you do anything with pdf files, you probably have it.  If you need to look for other formats or you have suggestions for improving the script, please feel free to comment. for file in $(ls) do      &

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-9206382747302747252010-12-20T09:29:00.000-05:002010-12-20T09:29:25.080-05:00

An interesting thing turned up with the latest release of Ubuntu.  The replacement of f-spot with shotwell along with the ppa for Synapse has freed me from my mono dependency.  Previously there was no way I was giving up gnome-do and I have a love-hate relationship with f-spot.  However, since I couldn't find anything I liked better, f-spot it is. Now, no one is going to confuse

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-49456005481707483262010-10-13T20:58:00.000-04:002010-10-13T20:58:40.744-04:00

Image via WikipediaScrum, LEAN, XP.... for many years people have attempted to apply these types of labels to the art of agile software development and delivery.  In fact, one could even go so far as to call the meta-label of "agile" in the same way.  Each of these communities have devoted followings of people who believe they have the best way to deliver software.  Can we just

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-77548642085213947132010-10-09T20:11:00.000-04:002010-10-09T20:11:09.177-04:00

If there's one thing where I have to concede the superiority of Windows to Linux, it is in the gaming world.  Not because DirectX is so much better than OpenGL or because the engines are better or anything fundamental to technology.  It's a 100% business decision, no one is willing to spend millions of extra dollars in game development, possibly to the detriment of gameplay, for the

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-85604195766739164822010-08-08T15:03:00.001-04:002010-08-08T20:14:54.240-04:00

Ever get to the end of your day and ask yourself that question?  I often have that sinking feeling that I just got nothing done because I have nothing to show for it.  I may have spent the day doing useful things like helping a colleague accomplish a task or giving direction or helping with sales, but if there's nothing to show for it at the end it's tough to know what just happened.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-22324881200495638502010-06-17T12:42:00.000-04:002010-06-17T12:42:38.479-04:00

For many of us, we prefer the tools in Gmail to the tools in a client like Outlook.  I love the organization tools in Gmail and the fact that I can pull up my full email environment anywhere.  A a linux user, Microsoft's web interface doesn't work nearly as well as it does in IE, a fact which I am more than prepared to live with given the fact that I like the way Gmail automatically and

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-91312343710766977962010-06-08T18:56:00.000-04:002010-06-08T18:56:12.531-04:00

For all of my chest beating and pontificating about how much Verizon sucks and how awesome the Evo 4G is and so on... last Sunday I went out and bought a Droid Incredible... selling myself and my family to Big Red for 2 more years. The shame.  Don't get me wrong.  I still hate Verizon Wireless.  I just don't hate them enough to pay $200 more in up front fees and $40 more per month

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-31336231294981678282010-05-22T12:50:00.000-04:002010-05-22T12:50:48.826-04:00

So I can get a web browser and online tv content and my photos and audio all in one thing.  Thats so AWESOME!  Well, it would have been in 2005 anyway. The fact that you can already do this on PS3, MythTV, Apple TV, Boxee, Windows Media Center, and a number of open source projects, one has to wonder, "What's the point?"  The only benefit I see is that Google has the power to

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-79283552158947796382010-05-20T13:28:00.000-04:002010-05-20T13:28:00.197-04:00

If you are used to having block selection in editors like vi, jEdit, TextPad and so on, it's probably been grating on you for years that you can't use those tools in Eclipse.  Those days are over... block selection is here.  To toggle it on, use Shift+Alt+a.  Vwrapper doesn't yet work with shift+v but I'm sure that's  just an update away.  Finally, some real text editing

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-24543690593190569572010-05-20T02:58:00.001-04:002010-05-24T14:06:15.103-04:00

A recent Scientific American article outlines the National Broadband Plan and asks the question, "Who needs high-speed broadband". The answer is, a lot more people than need digital TV.  Ok, maybe 100 Mbps for rural and 1 Gbps might be a little high, but what can we do with such a network?  It means we can forget cable, satellite, and over-air TV; all content can be available 24x7

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-31809333181421174582010-05-10T11:08:00.000-04:002010-05-10T11:08:22.963-04:00

The guys at Intel have one thing right, the average netbook user is probably going to be more interested in social networking, status, and media than writing papers and such.  It's just the nature of netbooks.  With Moblin, you are getting a very nice operating system with a lot of very smart things built in.  That said, I think another review of Moblin is redundant.  What I

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-17044965378783536442010-04-27T07:53:00.000-04:002010-04-27T07:53:02.954-04:00

I honestly can't believe I just wrote that.  I have been a huge proponent of using frameworks for a long time now and I still think they are valuable.  There is great value in frameworks and proponents have written about why you should use them ad nauseum.  Every conference you attend will invariably have a session or two on the state of web frameworks, new web frameworks, and how

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-17996112987692182572010-04-15T22:01:00.002-04:002010-04-15T22:04:35.381-04:00

While I, in no way, feel that I am the expert in this area this is how I select which log level I use for a message.  The number of applications that fail to have a coherent strategy for this is mind boggling.  Logging should not be a second thought or something that doesn't matter.  Especially when fixing a bug is extremely time sensitive, the more information you can concisely

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2033057824559396309.post-53404324979257149882010-04-12T17:59:00.000-04:002010-04-12T17:59:15.830-04:00

There's not really much good that can be inferred from Gosling leaving Oracle and his comments don't do anything but solidify that inference.  "As to why I left, it's difficult to answer: Just about anything I could say that would be accurate and honest would do more harm than good," he said. Really?  This doesn't give me great hope for the direction Oracle is steering Java.  If

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2