Never Read Another Resume

June 28th, 2010

Interesting article:

Never Read Another Resume

Jason Fried talks about hiring at 37 signals.

Reading on the iPad

June 14th, 2010

I have now read one whole book (Malcom Gladwell’s What The Dog Saw) on my iPad.  I’ve never liked reading books on the computer and was not sure if I would like reading on any electronic device.  But I really enjoyed reading on the iPad.

One thing I like that I don’t recall anyone mentioning about reading on the iPad is that ambient lighting is not an issue.  With the beautiful bright screen on the iPad, I don’t have the same issue that I occasionally do reading a paper book.  Together with the ability to control font size, it takes away two sources of eye strain (or should it be iStrain) for me.

Writing on the iPad

May 18th, 2010

I am writing this blog post on my iPad at a Raleigh Ruby Brigade meeting. The meeting is interesting, but I’m really liking working on the iPad. I’ll keep this short for now because I want to see how it looks on the website.

Learning Ruby

April 13th, 2010

I’m working on learning ruby and rails.  Here are a couple links to useful resources.  This first one is a great primer on Ruby.

http://www.humblelittlerubybook.com/

And the second is site I found most helpful for learning Rails.

http://guides.rubyonrails.org/

First Thoughts About the iPad

April 6th, 2010

Yesterday I got to play with a coworker’s iPad.  Awesome!  Apple has once again created a game changer.  The realization hit home this morning while I was at the health club working out.  I was reading a technical periodical and saw a picture of another, very different, new tablet computer.  This is the kind with the keyboard and the screen that flips around and can be in either laptop mode or in tablet mode.  When I saw the picture I had an emotional reaction:  old, creaky, inefficient, ugly, etc.  ”What?!?  It has a keyboard?  And look at the ugly hinge where the screen flips around!”  Up until I played with the iPad, I would have welcomed the chance to play around with (and own) one of those tablet computers.  Now, I just don’t care anymore.

The iPad brings an elegance to the field that will set the standard for all other tablets.  Just as the iPod was not the first portable MP3 player, the iPad is not first in the field.  But it will redefine the field, just as the iPod did.

CSS for Tables

March 13th, 2010

I was looking for some examples of CSS code to use for tables and found this site.  There are some good examples.

http://icant.co.uk/csstablegallery/index.php

iPad

January 28th, 2010

Yesterday Apple announced the iPad.  It looks awesome and I’m sure it will be a great device.  But I’m disappointed about a couple things.  They should have put a camera on the front.  They could have made video chat/video conferencing ubiquitous.  It seems like a lost opportunity.  And as a developer, I’m disappointed that there is no way to do my work on the device.  Wouldn’t geeks everywhere have rushed to buy one if they could build iPhone/iPad apps on an iPad?

But I am pleasantly surprised by the price.  With a $500 entry point, they are positioned to sell a bunch.

Dan Brinklin’s Note Taker

December 24th, 2009

I love this iPhone app. What a great example of thinking outside the box and coming up with a really functional UI! The video demo is very compelling. But after using the app for a few weeks, I’ve gained an even greater appreciation for the application.

http://danbricklin.com/log/2009_12_05.htm#notetaker

http://www.softwaregarden.com/products/notetaker/

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/innoeco/2009/12/dan_bricklin_from_killer_app_t.html

A Tablet Concept

December 17th, 2009

What a great design!

A Tablet Concept That Apple Could Learn From

Power & Contraints

November 20th, 2009

“Overall, the more power the platform tries to give you, the more constraints they impose.”

-Kent Beck. Interview in Software Development Times article, Nov 1, 2009.