Archive for August, 2006
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23 Aug 2006
It's hard to argue with the fact that Google has grown to the point where it can be a real challenge to compete with it. The first public demonstration (in my memory) came this week when web calendar Kiko went up for auction on eBay, and the obvious reaction was to think that it was killed by Google Calendar. Paul Graham went so far to say that the big lesson here is "to stay out of Google's way". The Kiko team itself came away with some rather different lessons.
But I think that David Heinemeier over at 37signals said it best. Google isn't the be-all end-all. In fact, no one product or application or website will ever be the best thing for everyone. There are plenty of Google applications (among them the Calendar), that while neat, don't suit my needs. When people balked at this idea, claiming "Google is big. Backpack calendar is small. They win, you just haven't realized it yet," Jason Fried piped up with defining your own success. Success is not a zero-sum game. Two competitors can both succeed.
And that's probably the most important lesson.
Discuss -
16 Aug 2006
Supposedly, there's going to be a new planet definition proposal made the IAU today. Everyone thinks "Pluto is a planet. It just is, so whatever we propose needs to keep it a planet". So the new proposal also adds three new planets to the solar system: Xena (that's 2003 UB313 to you), Ceres (the first discovered and largest known asteroid-belt object), and even Pluto's moon Charon. Under the proposed definition, "A planet is a celestial body that (a) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (b) is in orbit around a star, and is neither a star nor a satellite of a planet." What's that you ask? Why does that make Charon a planet? Well, it's because the barycenter for its orbit lies above the surface of Pluto. It would now be considered a double-planet system.
The rule also introduces the likelihood of even more planets (like Quaoar and Orcus) once we have a better idea of their size and mass. I definitely like some of the new terminology: a "Pluton" is any planet beyond Neptune. We need to start working on a new mnemonic for MVEMCJSUNPCX. Go.
Update 10:15: The IAU press release
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14 Aug 2006
Wait, what? That's an outrage. I hope it was a sale. Update: Ah, jeez. It was a photoshop. I've been hoodwinked.
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12 Aug 2006
Some behind-the-scenes stuff: I've finally upgraded this blog from WordPress 1.5 to 2.0.4. While I was at it, I decided to install the coComment plugin, so that you can follow your comments with coComment. They have a new Firefox extension that makes it even easier than before. Almost trivial, in fact.
Update, 13 Aug - I've created a small plugin to add the slash:comments element to my RSS feed. That should fix the discussion counts on my home page, and it's a cleaner solution than hacking the WP code directly.
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7 Aug 2006
Is anyone else unimpressed with Apple's WWDC announcements today? They're cool, I guess, but there was no real bang. Certainly no surprise. I suppose if I had a Mac, I might be excited about some of the Leopard details, but none of them seem especially groundbreaking to me. The Mac Pro was not only rumored for weeks, but doesn't seem especially spectacular or surprising. (Let's see, Macbook, Macbook Pro, iMac, Mac Mini.. Hmm.. What else could they transition to Intel?)
Okay, 16GB of RAM and 2TB of disk in a desktop is pretty impressive. But.. I dunno. What am I missing?
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5 Aug 2006
Here's a random Saturday link-dump:
- Don't believe BusinessWeek's bubble-math - Web 2.0 plus shoddy journalism equals a firm foundation for another bubble. BusinessWeek takes a made up number, multiplies it by a rumored percentage, contradicts itself several times, and most readers are probably just thinking "Wow, what a smart kid!" Related: A hilarious parody.
- Saved locations on Google Maps - This is a great thing. I've been waiting for some sort of smart auto-complete on Google Maps since day one. The interface is a little crusty (I wish I could click on a bubble anywhere and say "save this location" instead of having to have all locations saved), but I'm certain this is just release number one.
- No Space World and Mario Galaxy could be available at launch. Or rather, no one has yet verified that Mario Galaxy won't be available at launch. Related: The early October release rumors still seem to have some air in them.
- Two Cool Bash Tricks - Holy cow. Both are total life savers, but the second more than the first. Redirecting output to two files before you can diff them is a big pain in the neck. (via)