dsims' posterous of ponderings

I will miss the Old World. Damn you Apple!

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:56:00 -0800

The Old World

In the Old World, computers are general purpose, do-it-all machines. They can do hundreds of thousands of different things, sometimes all at the same time. We buy them for pennies, load them up to the gills with whatever we feel like, and then we pay for it with instability, performance degradation, viruses, and steep learning curves. Old World computers can do pretty much anything, but carry the burden of 30 years of rapid, unplanned change. Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X based computers all fall into this category.

The New World

In the New World, computers are task-centric. We are reading email, browsing the web, playing a game, but not all at once. Applications are sandboxed, then moats dug around the sandboxes, and then barbed wire placed around the moats. As a direct result, New World computers do not need virus scanners, their batteries last longer, and they rarely crash, but their users have lost a degree of freedom. New World computers have unprecedented ease of use, and benefit from decades of research into human-computer interaction. They are immediately understandable, fast, stable, and laser-focused on the 80% of the famous 80/20 rule.

How long will it take to complete this Old World to New World shift? My guess? The end is near when you can bootstrap a new iPad application on an iPad. When you can comfortably do that without pining for a traditional desktop, the days of Old World computing are officially numbered.

via stevenf.tumblr.com

We'll always have the command line though, right!?

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My goals for 2010

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 06:10:00 -0800

Resolutions, goals, plans... whatever you want to call them, here are mine for two thousand ten. My last year of being a twenty-something.

1. Get my stuff situated

Find a doctor, dentist, and eye doctor. Open a Roth IRA and consolidate all my old 401K's. Look into getting eye surgery and maybe braces.

2. Maintain (or increase) weight and strength.

I've been borderline underweight my whole life. So lately I've been going to the gym and eating more and I have gained about 20 pounds since I started and can squat over 1.5x my weight! Maintaining it will only get harder because I started doing a lot more cardio by...

3. Jogging long distances.

Running has always been fairly easy to me. I guess it sort of runs in the family. I've never done more than a 10K though. Despite the cold weather, I've been going out running to build up my mileage (I just did 8 miles!) so I can...

4. Run a Marathon in March.

"Run" is not really the right word. Jog/walk (jalk?) is more like it. Even still, I know it sounds crazy... 26.2 miles is a loooong way (I'll have 7 hours to finish). I figure I might as well try since I'm going to have to train anyways to...

5. Thru-hike the Appalachian Trail.

Yep, the whole thing (will take about 5 months). I plan to start in April with my dog Kooper. This is something I've always wanted to do and I now find myself with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do it. I work for a great company who will let me disappear (and give me back my job when I get back), I have good health, and few responsibilities. I know what you are thinking... "Daniel? without a computer for 5 months? HA!" Well, you are partly correct. This is my chance to unplug from the busy tech world I've lived in everyday, to take a break from information overload, and get a glimpse of the "real world". So I'm not bringing a computer, but I will have a smartphone that I will use to keep my status updated and share some photos (if I have a signal). I'll have a website for documenting my adventure and I may be the first to tweet all 2180 miles. The website will also help me parlay the hike into...

6. Raising money and awareness for charity

To helps those with Mitochondrial Disease, including my friend Abby. I have no experience with running a fund-raiser like this, so this will be tougher than the hike itself! My thinking is that if people give money to 3-day walks, why not a 150+ day walk? I'll probably have to setup some kind of non-profit org and fill out a bunch of forms, find sponsors, contact press, and blah blah blah... I have no idea it's even possible. If you have any experience running a fund-raiser, I could really use some help.

That should keep me busy for most of the year. When I get back from hiking I suppose I'll go back to work and start looking for a place to live (unless I want to live in the woods).

Thanks for following me during my adventures, I'll need all the support I can get!

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Google's Nexus One is disappointing

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:40:42 -0800

I'm sure the actual device is great, but the idea of the Nexus One is what I'm talking about... or more specifically, Google's Phone Store. Google had the opportunity to turn the phone market on it's head, but instead has just become one of those booths at the mall trying to sell you a new phone package to make commission. Except unlike those mall booths, Google only offers one phone and one plan to choose from.

So what is Google's goal here?

Sell phones? Then they need to offer more than one $79 plan w/ subsidy. This phone isn't special enough to justify breaking a contract or paying $529.

Push Android? Then they need to insure there is an attractive, compatible, and affordable Android phone on the market.

The Nexus One is attractive, but for most people it is not affordable and is not compatible.

So why is Google just being yet-another wireless middle-man? A simplified Google version of http://wireless.amazon.com/ ?

In my dreamworld, Google announces a single unlocked device capable of running on both GSM and CDMA for about $299. A world where your wireless device is totally decoupled from the carrier. An affordable smartphone that can be used on any service without a two-year contract. I know Google has the power to do this, and it would sell like crazy for years.

But they didn't. Nothing to see here, move along.

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Yo listen up here's a story about a [not so] little guy that lives in a blue world

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:51:00 -0800

Avatar evokes feelings similar to those aroused by the wonderment of Jurassic Park and the epicness (not a word, but should be) of Lord of the Rings.

Finally CGI that doesn't make you think "oh, that is CGI". The world is believable... it sucks you in and never spits you back out.

The story drags a little at first and the plot is far from life changing, but it manages to hold your attention the entire 2 hours and 40 minutes. It does this by bouncing between the two contrasting sides (and it helps that even the most trivial stuff is fascinating in 3D).

This was my first 3D movie, and although it was a great experience (this film is perfect for IMAX and 3D due to the sweeping landscape shots and sky-high locales), 3D technology still has a ways to go before it becomes ubiquitous. It took about half the movie for me to adjust to it.

Great cinematography in the big action scenes. Even with lots of stuff going, I never felt overwhelmed or lost. Good use of slow-mo helped.

In conclusion, the plot is a little shallow but the experience is an amazing one worthy of all the hype. 9/10

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Google Wave direct messages

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:43:00 -0700

Google Wave was built for groups, but it can be used like IM or email to talk directly to someone too. Google calls this a "ping", but it's really just a normal wave presented a little differently.

Protip: You can do a search for "dto:me" to see only messages between you and one other person. Create a saved search so it's easy to see your DMs.

Here are the other advanced search queries

Now what I need is a way to get notifications of new waves, so I don't have to keep checking it all the time.

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Netflix Instant Watch officially coming to PS3 next month. Odd that it needs a disc.

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:53:00 -0700

Next month, Netflix Instant Watch officially comes to the Playstation 3 at no additional cost on either end. I say "officially" because like I mentioned before, I've been using PlayOn to stream Netflix to my PS3 for a while now.

I did find it odd that it requires them to send you a (free) Blu-ray disc. It apparently uses BD-Live features found in the latest Blu Ray players instead of being special integrated software like it is on the Xbox 360. So I assume that this ability is eventually coming to ALL Blu-Ray players in the future?

Anyways, props to Netflix for not making exclusive deals with any one console, and props to Sony for building such a great versatile machine.

You can go ahead and order your PS3 disc here.

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Woodstock flooding at I-575. #atlflood

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:06:00 -0700

Crazy flooding in my area. And will probably get worse. This is Towne Lake Pkwy at I-575:

(Photo from a Facebook album)

I-575 is totally shut down at Hwy 92. Evening traffic was horrible. Follow the WoodstockPD for updates.

This is the Waffle House on Hwy 92:

(this and more photos at nesset's smugmug gallery)

Amazing how many YouTube videos there are from people of the flooding in Atlanta & Woodstock. Won't be long before video soon replaces photography as the most common medium. Also, thanks to Kanye, finding photos shared on twitter is almost useless.

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Alternatives to CAPTCHA

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:12:00 -0700

via myapokalips.com

Google just bought RECAPTCHA... mostly to help scan their huge digital archive of books (and to train their robot army), but I think they need to find some other way rather than encourage use of a CAPTCHA. CAPTCHA sucks. It is a huge barrier between your users and what they want to do and 99%* of the time it is unnecessary. This should be the last resort for the most bot-targeted of websites, so your wedding site's guestbook does not need a CAPTCHA. Commenting on your blog does not need a CAPTCHA. Signing up for your new web app does not need a CAPTCHA. In 10 years I think we will look back on these methods and think to ourselves "How was that ever acceptable?".

There are some ways to check if someone is human without using any CAPTCHA:

Check the time it takes between loading the page and submitting the form. If it's too quick, it's a bot.
Put the form on a separate page and then check for a valid referring page. A bot will usually not navigate to the form, it will try to submit the form directly.
If your site requires javascript, use javascript to build your form.
Bots target mass websites built on generic platforms... like wordpress and phpbb. Change up your form template a little bit, you will probably stop most bots.
Use something like OpenID, Facebook, and/or Twitter for authorization. Making it a little harder (for now) to automate.

If you do use a CAPTCHA, try something simple. Have them answer a simple question or select a photo of a cat. On my phpbb forum, I simply asked the user to type in a specific word and that stopped all bot registrations (and insures your users can read).

These alternatives are not unstoppable. A dedicated bot-builder could get around them, but they would have to target your site specifically and then maintain it as you make changes. Chances are no one wants to spam your Contact Us form that bad.

*81% of all statistics are made up on the spot

http://xkcd.com/233/

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I get the point, but I'm not sure voluntarily putting a CAUTION label on your product is a good idea.

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:42:22 -0700

I do admit, it did get my attention.

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Geocoded location based networking awareness... or something like that

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:44:00 -0700

Twitter's announcement today about adding a Geolocation API goes to show how location-centric apps are trying to become the next big thing. Sharing your exact location with the world may seem unnecessary, but if you look back over your text messages and status updates you may be surprised at how often you post that you are doing something somewhere.

Brightkite is a location-based social network that I've been using for a while now. I use it to keep a log of where I've been and to leave notes & photos that future visitors can see, sort of like when you rent a vacation house and you sign the guestbook. It's really easy to use thanks to the great mobile site & apps (especially the Android app) and I like that posts are at a specific business/address (if it exists in Google's directory) instead of at just lat/long coordinates. Plus it's fun to see a map of all the places I've been:

Brightkite isn't the only service though. Lately more and more geo-centric sites and apps are popping up:

Foursquare is a similar service that is fun to use, but at this point it needs a lot of work before it can dethrone Brightkite. For example it only really works within the city limits, else you have to type in all the address details yourself... no thanks. Their achievements system is great though and really encourages you to use the service.
Google Latitude takes a different approach. Instead of "checking-in" to a location, it uses your phone's GPS to share your location on a map in real-time with friends.
Glympse, like Latitude, tracks you in real-time but it lets you to send a temporary view to anyone you want. I used this to share a live view of me running the Peachtree Road Race this year.
GPS logging apps like My Tracks aren't social in of themselves, but it lets you share your hiking/biking/jogging results with others.

All these services have one thing in common... they are much more useful if your *real-life* friends use them (for example Brightkite will alert you when friends check-in nearby). Very few of mine do because there is not enough benefit to justify the effort and expensive technology required to use them. So for now I will be a lonely check-in, signing a lot of blank guestbooks.

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Netflix, Hulu, and more on Nintendo Wii via PlayOn

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 07:15:00 -0700

I just watched a Netflix Instant Watch movie on my Nintendo Wii. Don't believe me? Here is the video evidence:

I am accomplishing this with MediaMall's latest version of their PlayOn media server. PlayOn is a program you install on your PC that transcodes video from various online services such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, YouTube, and CNN and streams it to your DLNA-compliant device, including the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. I have been using it with my PS3 and it works great, but Engadget leaked today that beta Wii support was added so I had to give it a try.

It all runs through the Wii's Opera web browser and uses Flash to play the video. You go to a special url which redirects you to the server at http://192.168.1.xxx:54478/. I went to this address on my PC and was able to see the same interface (which is how I got these screenshots) but was unable to play any video on my laptop.

It takes a little while for the page to initially load, but once you get going the interface is quick and is very polished. All the information about the videos you need is accessible, and I found it much easier to use than the PS3's generic DLNA media browser. The videos started quickly but the quality was not that great. It probably looks fine on a standard-def TV, but on a HDTV you really notice the compression and low resolution. The video quality on the PS3 looks much better in comparison.

So if you have one of the latest gaming consoles and are looking for a Roku Box alternative, then I suggest you give PlayOn a try. There is a 14 day free trial, then it's $39.99 to purchase. Here is a video of the

Now if you excuse me, I just noticed that Netflix put Dexter back up.

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Four things The3Day.org website could do to get more donations

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:51:00 -0700

I recently got an email from a family member, Kathy, asking for donations for her Three Day walk in October, which benefits Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund (which oddly does not have a wikipedia entry). So I went to go donate at http://www.The3Day.org and noticed quite a few issues throughout the process and came up with some suggestions:

1) Make the link to donate more visible.

I mean, the whole point of all this is to raise money... right?

I was expecting there to be a large "Donate Here" button, and not for it to be a menu item. In fact after quickly scanning the page and the bottom footer links, I incorrectly assumed that the Register box was how I got to the donation form. Even If it is in menu bar, it should be the far left item since that is where users look first. A different color would be nice too so it is not lost in the sea of pink and purple.

The Donate link should be in as many places as possible. They should add a big bright button in the homepage body, a link in the footer, and in the upper left in the wasted space in the black login bar. Another thing they could do is to make the link shorter, something like "http://The3Day.org/donate" instead of the nasty "http://www.the3day.org/site/TR/Events/General?fr_id=1170&pg=pfind".

It should be painfully obvious how to give money, and not blend in on a fake button surrounded by more attractive & irrelevant buttons and action items as it is on the fundraiser's personal page:

2) Give fundraisers an easy way to share a link directly to their page

I think the link was supposed to be automatically inserted into the email I received, but it wasn't. Even so there are now infinitely more alternatives to email to get the word out, especially to social networks like Twitter and Facebook. A quick and easy way to do this is to drop an Add This widget onto the page.

3) Accept more payment options other than credit cards.

You want people to donate in as many ways possible because many people are not comfortable giving credit card info to many different websites. Heck, many people are getting rid of their credit cards altogether! Yeah sure they can pay over the phone, or mail in a check, but most people won't take the time. You should accept as many payment types as possible, and there are many to choose from (many of which have lower fees and provide special services for non-profits):

Check out Paypal, Google Checkout, and Amazon Payments.

4) Do not stop people from donating.

I got this message when attempting to go back to the donate page.

I assume this was work around some strange technical issue, but it should be avoided at all costs. Donating a second time should be easier than the first, not harder.

The three day site is great and has lots of helpful information and tools for the fundraisers, but it is easy to overlook the small details that can have a big impact on the main goal to raise money for charity.

If you want to help encourage Kathy as she walks 60 miles to raise money to cure breast cancer, please donate here or click the image of Kathy and her daughter Aubrey:

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Using FriendFeed to deal with Real-time Information Overload

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:35:50 -0700

The real-time web has become a real problem for me lately. All this instant news and social-networking has been overwhelming. Many services start off nice and manageable, but inevitably don't scale and quickly spiral out of control.

My experience has been that when I "follow" over 100 sources of information in any service, it starts to become hard to keep up with the flood of info.

I have seen that social-networks tend to go through these 4 phases as shown in my crude mspaint drawing:

Join a new service to keep up with a specific source of information.
Subscribe to other sources of interest as you stumble upon them, and to your friends as they join.
When what you care about gets lost in the stream of info, start unsubscribing to reduce the noise.
Abandon trying to keep up, or re-define how you use it.

Twitter is currently at phase 3. Real-time updates to my phone is unnecessary for most tweets, so I do not hesitate to click the unfollow button. As more of my real-life friends join, it is rapidly approaching phase 4.

Facebook is at phase 4. I check the website once a day or so, but it is just too slow and cumbersome to use more than that. And it doesn't help that many people feed Twitter into Facebook. The only thing worse than information overload is information overload twice.

Google Reader was also at phase 4. I let it sit for months at the dreaded All Items (1000+). I had to re-define what makes a RSS feeds worthy to subscribe to. My requirements for feeds added to Google Reader are now:

Update no more than twice a day.
Must include the full article.
Have a high signal-to-noise ratio. Every article should be interesting.

So, do we just keep declaring real-time-web bankruptcy over and over? Or is there a better way?

FriendFeed has been the only service that has provided me with adequate tools to deal with a ton of real-time information. It has these three key features:

Organize sources into lists.
Have important info delivered to you via email, IM, or desktop notifier.
Hide what you don't want to see.

Now whenever I stumble upon a new source of information on the web, instead of following it's twitter account or adding it to Google Reader, I try to add it to FriendFeed. If the RSS feed is small or updates really often (or the twitter account only has a few @replies) I create a FriendFeed group. I did this with Georgia Tech, Woot, Jake and Amir, Netflix, Card Observer, ThinkGeek, TMNT, Surviving the World, Giveaway of the Day, wikiHow, and Vimeo Staff Picks. Most other sources were already in FriendFeed like the Big Picture, The Onion, Hacker News, and XKCD.

FriendFeed isn't perfect (ability to hide Twitter replies would be nice), but it is makes a great dashboard to keep up with friends and news across the web in real-time. You can perform advanced searches across everyone, or just your friends, or just lists of friends. Another big aspect of FF is the viral conversations that can form around a single post. If you have only been using FF to aggregate your web activity, I suggest you give it another look. A good way to start is to subscribe to groups that cover topics you are interested in, like The Apple Room or Apps.

The real-time web is only going to get bigger and noisier. If new services are smart, they will follow copy the FriendFeed model (like Facebook has been trying to do). The information won't slow down, but we can manage it better so we don't go crazy... and who knows, maybe we can actually get some work done?

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E3 '09 Press Conference Round-Up

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:29:00 -0700

This week is the biggest week of the year for gaming news. E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo is where all the big players reveal their latest innovations and big-name titles. It wouldn't take much to beat the 2008 E3. Last year was a dud, as the big announcements of the 2008 were an Apple-like interface (Xbox 360), Animal Crossing (Wii), and movie downloads (PS3). The press conferences of 2009 did not disappoint...

MICROSOFT went first and took direct aim at Nintendo with Project Natal for Xbox 360. Instead of just using simple controller "waggle", Microsoft claims to be able detect full 3D motion without the player needing to use any kind of device. Add in voice and facial recognition, and Project Natal sounds very very impressive. A little too impressive. Note the small text in this video: "Product vision: actual features and functionality may vary"

I can't find any technical info on how this actually works, but assuming this technology is as accurate as they claim (even supporting multiple users at once), it could have huge implications on more than just games. Gestures could be added to all kinds of devices. I will wait until I see some detail though, because if it is just a 2D camera and some smart software, I seriously doubt it will be as accurate as they portray in the video. (On stage it had a few... issues). Some notable Microsoft game announcements were Left 4 Dead 2, Forza 3, Halo 3:ODST, Halo:Reach, Alan Wake, Metal Gear Solid: Rising. Xbox 360 is also getting on the social media bandwagon and adding support for last.fm and Facebook.

NINTENDO was next up. Reminding everyone that they began the motion-revolution, they began by showing a new Wii Sports "Resort" and a new Wii Fit "Plus" which will take advantage of the new MotionPlus adapter that arrives next week. Nothing else was really new on the MotionPlus front, but they did show off some "regular" big-name titles... New Super Mario Bros. Wii was the biggest surprise to me. It looks just like the NSMB on DS, but now with 4-player co-op. I really wanted to like the first NSMB, but it was a big disappointment. Hopefully this new new super mario bros will be done right and the added co-op won't make the whole thing just a party game.

Other big game announcements were Super Mario Galaxy 2 (which I believe is the first time a Mario game has gotten a direct sequel on a console reusing the same engine) and Metroid: Other M which looks like a impressive mix of Super Metroid and Metroid Prime. You can check out photos and videos on the Nintendo E3 site. Surprisingly, the recently released DSi got very little attention.

SONY got the final word, and ended the series of conferences with impressively. Continuing with the motion-trend, Sony revealed their new wand-device that looks like the most accurate motion-controller yet. It uses the Playstation Eye camera similar to how motion-capturing is done for films. The result is true 1:1 movement. Check out the on stage demonstration which was much more believable to me than that Project Natal witchcraft:

(and part 2)

Sony also demonstrated major support for the PSP handheld. The PSP go was officially revealed... a slim disc-less PSP with a 16GB harddrive that runs downloaded games and videos. Along with a ton of big-name PSP games: Little Big Planet, Gran Turismo, Resident Evil, Assassin's Creed, and a new Metal Gear Solid. As for PS3 games, nothing too unexpected... except for Final Fantasy XIV Online (yes, that is number 14).

Motion-control was the theme of the year now that Nintendo has proven that it is a legit money-maker. My only gripe is that Microsoft and Sony announce things that we won't see until next year at best. Nintendo's technology may be becoming quickly out-dated, but it is here now and developers have already been creating games that use it. Overall it was a great showing from all three companies. Microsoft had the most impressive show, Nintendo had the best game announcements, but I think the winner is Sony thanks to a great motion-tech demo and big support behind portable gaming.

You can watch the full press conferences at Gamespot. E3 '09 is only just begun, so expect a few more surprises throughout the week.

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Benjamin Franklin on works and faith

Wed, 27 May 2009 09:12:00 -0700

Some great quotes from Benjamin Franklin in his letter to George Whitefield:

"the only thanks I should desire is, that you would always be equally ready to serve any other person that may need your assistance, and so let good offices go round; for mankind are all of a family."

"I can only show my gratitude for these mercies from God, by a readiness to help his other children, and my brethren"

"He that for giving a draught of water to a thirsty person, should expect to be paid with a good plantation, would be modest in his demands, compared with those who think they deserve heaven for the little good they do on earth."

"For my part I have not the vanity to think I deserve it, the folly to expect it, nor the ambition to desire it; but content myself in submitting to the will and disposal of that God who made me"

"The faith you mention... I wish it were more productive of good works than I have generally seen it: I mean real good works; ..."

"if men rest in hearing and praying, as many do, it is as if a tree should value itself on being watered and putting forth leaves, though it never produces any fruit."

and my favorite:

"now-a-days we have scarce a little parson that does not think it the duty of every man within his reach to sit under his petty ministrations;"

Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin at books.google.com

BTW, this is really the first time I've used Google Books. Very nice.

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Video from my G1 emailed to posterous

Sun, 24 May 2009 15:59:30 -0700

Download now or watch on posterous

video-2009-05-24-14-30-11.3gp (1612 KB)

I can send the video as an attachment from the G1 to posterous. It should be embedded and downloadable here

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My first impressions of the new T-Mobile G1 Android update (aka cupcake)

Sun, 24 May 2009 13:43:18 -0700

I just spent a full day using the new Android 1.5 release (also known as "cupcake") on my T-Mobile G1. I manually installed the update, because I am too impatient to wait for the auto-update from T-Mobile sometime next month. It was a quick and easy install, via the instructions here and I highly recommend it.

Here is a quick list of some of the new features I noticed:

Menus and dialogs looks a lot nicer and more polished, with nice animations and transitions. Very iPhone-ish.
The screen can auto-orient and an on-screen keyboard is now available. I really like the hard-keyboard but I can see myself converting over time. The iPhone virtual keyboard frustrated me the few times I've used it, but I felt the Android virtual keyboard was more accurate. It's much more convenient than sliding the keyboard open and turning to landscape mode every time you need to input some simple text.
The Gmail app now has the same functionality as the mobile website which makes taking action on multiple emails at once a breeze.
A Calendar widget. I'm excited about getting new widgets soon, now that it is part of the API.
You can now copy any text from the Browser. You select "Select Text" in the menu then drag your finger over any text which then gets copied to the clipboard.
GTalk was moved out of "IM" into it's own app. Which is nice because I never used the others (which send messages over SMS... what's up with that?)
You can now more easily snap a photo using an on-screen button, or change the camera mode to... VIDEO!

It's awesome that after a simple software update my phone now has a video camera. Here is my first video, uploaded straight to YouTube:

Sure the quality is not near as good as my HD pocket cameras like the Creative Vado, but it's not that bad and it gets the job done, although the audio is very low. Hopefully mobile streaming services like Qik and Kyte will soon support it.

The future is mobile, and I think the android platform is positioning itself to big a big part of that (even running on netbooks). I just downloaded the Android SDK and plan on creating my first mobile app. Maybe I'll even have something to talk about at this week's mobicamp.

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Coming full circle

Tue, 05 May 2009 14:29:00 -0700

About a year ago I created this Posterous account, but at the time I found it to be a little too simple and lacking some basic features. So I decided to roll my own blogging software. It actually worked pretty well... I could post by email w/ attachments and even integrate twitter comments. But I found myself working more on the blogging system than actual blogging.

I decided to ditch my own efforts to free up some time (I did learn a lot from the process that can be used in other projects, so it wasn't a total waste) and have come full circle back to Posterous. They have been adding features like crazy and sometimes I think they can read my mind. I still want my blog posts to appear on my own webpage, so I plan on using XML-RPC to duplicate my posts over there, but it's nice to not have to worry about all the details and be able to get back to blogging again (not that I ever really started).

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