About time. And product. And being more deliberate.
(This post inspired by a Ruby.MN conversation) I’ve burned through at least 3 different XML parsing libraries in building Cullect. I started the built-in REXML (pro: built-in, con: heavy and slow) then moved to FeedTools (pro: easily parses the most common feed formats, con: no longer in active development). I have a lot of love …
Continue reading “Parsing Arbitrary XML Namespaces in Ruby with Hpricot”
“Viewing Garrick’s Twitter opened my eyes to how social media enthusiasts were using it to connect with others in the industry, to share interesting news and resources, and to help out friends and business acquaintances by sharing their accomplishments and cross-linking. This might make Twitter sound way too business-like, but it’s not.” – Reed Smidebush
A couple of conversations about Libertarian Paternalism came up on the iTunes this week, centered around Thaler and Sunstein’s book, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. The most enjoyable being the EconTalk with Richard Thaler, where Thaler does an amazing job of challenging Roberts. Not there’s enough of that on EconTalk. 😉 I …
“…for the first time, society forced on an enormous number of people the requirement to manage something they’ve never had to manage before…which was free time. And what did we do with that free time? Mostly we panicked and spent it watching TV.” – Clay Shirky A nice reminder on what is actually active and …
Continue reading “RE: How Do People Find The Time To Watch Television?”
Something I wrote on Twitter a couple weeks ago: “…2 questions: a) What if there was an open source, more effective alternative to Google search? b) What if Twitter is that alternative?” Today, Four Reasons Why Twitter is the Next Google writes: “Not only has Twitter inadvertently taken crowdsourcing to search, it has actually taken …
Continue reading “…And They Asked 4 Followers, And They Asked 4 Followers”
Not only are these picks really late (SXSW was months ago) but unlike other years, none of the 700+ tracks grabbed me immediately. The overall tone felt like the ‘college rock’ of 20 years ago. Good, sometimes interesting, artistic even, but every song sounds um, the same. As in previous years, these are track that …
Continue reading “Garrick’s SXSW 2008 Showcasing Artists Picks”
On the off chance you can’t get enough of my writing, pop over to Minnov8.com where I have write ups on a Minnesota-based start-up (Tumblon.com) and up-start (DJEdna). If you tire of me more quickly, perhaps you’ll enjoy Phil Wilson’s peek into the new media projects at Minnesota Public Radio.
This weekend, I invited Christopher, the Master in Fermentation Sciences, over to walk me through brewing up a batch of Bavarian Hefe Weizen from Northern Brewer. While I’m sure the extract kit didn’t take full advantage of his expertise, we had an excellent time and I picked up a few tips1 and got a better …
Apple’s initial iPhone application model (build a decent website) is brilliant. Websites are easily the fastest, most compatible, most maintainable, most popular, way to create software applications. Once Apple supported adding specific website’s to the icons on the iPhone’s home screen, you’ve got the equivalent of applications on the Palm Treo – with internet access …
Continue reading “Thinking About iPhone Web Apps for the Enterprise”
Inspired by Rex’s unused domain list, here’s my list of yet-to-be-released projects: BlockByBlog.com CoffeeHacks.com Dashcaster.com ExpiredPotential.com Limble.com LunchForBrains.com Nusability.com Unlistened.com PodcastCalling.com RedBallThankYou.com SLAReporter.com Update June 3, 2008. A few more I’ve picked up since we last talked: DroidWarehouse.com Kernest.com (Launched July 17, 2009) MSGCTRL.com NeuPost.com Update October 21, 2008. Just added: BroadcastCulture.com Update February 8, …