April 2009
1 post
Making Django's Built-in Auth Tests Pass →
Image via WikipediaI added the built in auth framework to a relatively fresh Django project today, and upon running my tests, I got a large number of failures coming from auth….
February 2009
3 posts
How to Compile OCMOCK_VALUE for the iPhone →
If you’re using OCMock to test your iPhone application and OCMOCK_VALUE gives you this error message: error: syntax error before 'typeof'
Add this line to the top of your test case: #define...
Matt Mullenweg: Scaling For Your First 100K Users... →
Software in a nutshell →
January 2009
2 posts
“The research found that the traditional design was better - small, private...”
– Open-plan offices are making workers sick, say Australian scientists | Top Stories | News.com.au
“Money is like gas in the car — you need to pay attention or you’ll...”
– Work on Stuff that Matters: First Principles - O’Reilly Radar
December 2008
17 posts
How to Achieve Anything | ThinkSimpleNow.com →
1. What
2. Why
3. How
“The Obama administration will move forward, as promised with a national program...”
– I, Cringely » Surviving 2009
“Internet Centric devices Theft of smart phones and Internet centric devices will...”
– I, Cringely » Surviving 2009
“11) My last prediction for 2009 has to do with venture capital. While...”
– I, Cringely . The Pulpit . End Game | PBS
“You’re now expert at what you set out to master. Great. Now go do...”
– The Long Tail - Wired Blogs
Erlang Mode for Emacs →
These are the commands you need to add to your .emacs file to enable erlang mode in Emacs. It works for Aquamacs as well. You just need to add them to your Preferences.el.
Make money from open source? Umm, no. →
Image by rigeneriamoci via FlickrOn Open Source: Companies have long hoped to make money from this freely available software by charging customers for support and add-on features. Some…
The Best Programming Books of 2008 →
Image by eMaringolo via FlickrThere’s a thread over at Stack Overflow asking for the Best Programming Books in 2008. I think I’m missing out because I’ve only read one of them: …
“In more recent times, Sarbanes-Oxley has practically destroyed the US IPO...”
– The Other Half of “Artists Ship”
Unless you do something, listening is a waste of... →
Image via WikipediaListening is hard. It’s easier to ignore and rationalize. What’s harder though is learning from those conversations and applying what you’ve learned. The real…
“Every check has a cost”
– The Other Half of “Artists Ship”
The eBay Syndrome : SEO Book.com →
When you are a default category leader you no longer compete against others in your category. You compete against other categories. Google and Amazon.com understand that. Microsoft maybe. eBay no.
The conventional wisdom is that eBay is protected by strong network effects between its buyers and sellers. I’m starting to wonder if that’s still true. Maybe their market is ripe for...
Op-Ed Columnist - Deficits and the Future -... →
Krugman recommends maintaining large deficits to help bring us out of the recession. He points out that in two periods in the past, balancing the budget in the face of the recession made it worse. The result was business further reducing investment.
Magic/Replace - Data Cleanup for Everyone from... →
I’ll need to remember this next time I get a messed up spreadsheet.
The Power of the Poor and the Purpose of Profit →
Here’s a story about three organizations dedicated to improving quality of life by empowering people. The first is about a school in India named “Barefoot College”. The other two are about for-profit enterprises that use their business to enrich lives. The last one in particular reminds me of The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits.
“The proposal to allow a no-smut, free wireless Internet service is part of a...”
– Free Web Plan Being Pushed by FCC Head - WSJ.com
November 2008
42 posts
C o r e P y : Synthetic Programming in Python →
Interactive development of high performance native code. Sweet. I wonder how easy it would be to use this as the basis for higher level interactive development environments.
Exploding Offer Season - Joel on Software →
The purpose of a company is to acquire as many resources as they can as efficiently as possible. This leads some of them to do slimy things. You can’t always beat them, but this kind of behavior lets you know who you can trust and who to avoid.
Yahoo! Search Blog: Search the Web Through a... →
Early releases of BOSS seemed somewhat limited. I’d like to see what you can really build with this.
Google Testing Blog: Guide to Writing Testable... →
This is a topic that doesn’t get enough attention. The guide is now on my todo list.
Send Bill Clinton to the Senate →
I suppose it could happen, but the last president to go to Congress was John Quincy Adams in 1830.
TiVo Economics - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com →
Could a TiVo be worth $250,000 per household? That sounds like Enron math. BTW, that’s an ROI of over 83000%.
SEC Outlines Its Reasoning For Shutting Down P2P... →
Especially in the light of the current implosion, I’d like to see what new Finance 2.0 companies could do, but the way the financial industry is regulated, I don’t know how anyone could get started.
Mental Heuristics Page →
Just a little bit of mid-day motivation.
“A synthetic molecule called peptide nucleic acid (PNA) combines the...”
– Triple Helix: Designing a New Molecule of Life: Scientific American
Link →
Image by Nils Geylen via Flickr“The underlying problem is that individual human beings don’t scale.” - Jeff Atwood Not only is email inefficient, it leads to lost information. If I send…
“After listening to Mukasey defend the Bush administration’s...”
– Local News | State justice confirms he yelled “Tyrant!” at Mukasey before AG collapsed | Seattle Times Newspaper
Government Can Determine Location of Cell Phones... →
How’s that old saying go? Paranoia isn’t paranoia if it’s justified. Scary.
What Makes Great Blogwriting? →
Blog writing is about a personal connection. Clay Shirky discusses this more formally in Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations. Even though everyone can read the content, its written for a small tight group. Keep this in mind when posting.
Branding 101: How to Promote Your Blog Like the... →
Lots of good info here. It’s a practical and step by step guide to building an online brand. This is on my todo list.
31 Ways to Find Inspiration for Your Writing |... →
Writer’s block is a pain the ass. I hope some of these tips help. Bonus: Amusing quote from Jack London, but I prefer a pickaxe to a club.
Follow my Tumblelog →
I’ve started posting some of the random stuff I find online to a Tumlelog. You can find it at http://pfeff.tumblr.com. The stuff I post there comes mostly from my collection of RSS feeds….
Never Been More Bullish →
Corporate bonds are trading below liquidation value. That means that if you buy one and the company goes bust, you MAKE money. Also, the S&P 500 is trading well below its average PE.
Amazing undersea fish rescue by robot →
Dr. Claw takes a break from trying to get Inspector Gadget so he can rescue a swordfish stuck in an undersea oil rig. Mmm, sushi!
Paul Kedrosky: California Housing Sale Volumes... →
Does this mean that bad investments are starting to work their way out of the economy?
“Professor Keith Mason, Chief Executive of the Science and Technology Facilities...”
– Sweet Alien! Sugar Molecule Discovered In Region G31.41+0.31
“A mile and a half (two and a half kilometers) underwater, a remote control...”
– Alien-like Squid With “Elbows” Filmed at Drilling Site
Secret Geek A-Team Hacks Back, Defends Worldwide... →
This is scary stuff. Using a flaw in DNS, an attacker can impersonate an site on the net.
New leaked images of upcoming Nokia E75 : Boy... →
It’s QWERTY slider. I don’t like the asymmetry in any of the phones with this form factor.
The Media Equation - Google Seduces With Utility -... →
Yup, Google is taking over the world. The current economics of the internet seem to be in consolidation mode. Cycles of consolidation and decentralization seem to alternate though. I’m interested to see what form that decentralization will take.
Ray Ozzie Wants to Push Microsoft Back Into... →
This is Microsoft’s strategy for the cloud.
YouTube Videos Now in Widescreen HD 720p |... →
If you have to hack the URL, its not an official release. I’ll be eagerly waiting for this on my Apple TV though.
UIMonkey: JSCocoa-Powered Interactive Development... →
Why isn’t all UI development done like this?