Minimize the Glue
Glue is bad. Too much glue and your systems and processes become rigid, inflexible and incomprehensible. In technology and in business, you need to minimize the glue.
Let’s start with a few definitions. Lets call a potential interconnection between two systems a path. An interface is code to import or export data from an application. Now we can define an integration as a process whereby data is pulled from one interface, travels down a path and is loaded into another interface. A reconciliation is the process of checking that the data that travels along paths matches in both systems. Glue are programs that implement integrations.
Export to Excel is a Red Flag
As a developer, I often get requests from clients asking me if I could deliver them a spreadsheet using their data from their systems that contains X and Y and Z. As a maker of software products, I often get asked whether my product supports ‘Export to Excel’.
Most developers say yes, here is your spreadsheet and yes, the product has ‘Export to Excel’. My answer is different, it’s sometimes and no, and this is why.
Entitlement
Excellent post by Aaron Mahnke called Entitlement about all those moaning about the new iPhone (although I think it applies to all new products), please read and share it:
Where is the sense of gratitude and wonder that we used to have? A tech company sells millions and millions of an amazing smart phone, but decided to create a new model by investing untold amounts of money and energy. And then they released it for the same price as the last model. They didn’t have to, but they did. To moan and complain about that smacks of entitlement and selfishness.
Windows 8 Preview on a Tablet
While on holiday, I got to play with the Windows 8 Preview on a Samsung tablet. It made some notes of the experience, then decided to wait until I returned home to see what I remembered about the experience.
The tablet itself was larger than the iPad, a lot thicker, a lot heavier and had a lot more ports. It also came with a stylus and a keyboard dock which was useful in turning it into a laptop when needed. The screen was a 16:9 widescreen, bright and colorful, which made it amazing for the kids to watch movies on. The sound was loud and clear. All in all, the feel was hefty, but quite comfortable. The tablet hardware seemed solidly built.
Bye bye Skitch, Hello LittleSnapper
Editor’s Note: Written six months ago, I’ve since moved on to using Glui - a better Skitch to replace Skitch.
Bye bye Skitch
I’ve been using Skitch to grab screenshots since the first beta was announced way back in June, 2007. I paid for Skitch Plus in February 2011 because I loved the product, and the work by Plasq, so much. Then Evernote purchased Skitch and I hoped that they would not mess it up.
New iOS6 Cached Maps
One feature I do like about the new Maps in iOS 6, the vectors and data are now cached. Seems the application caches the last viewed maps, so the GPS works rather well when offline.
Screenshot taken near Zushi station in Japan, with no WiFi or cellular data enabled.
Note also that the detail in semi-rural Japan seems pretty good.
The best Sushi
If you love traditional Japanese sushi, not the Western or Californian styles, then I have found the best sushi place in the world. But you had better hurry of you want a chance to eat there, the sushi chef is getting old.
Getting There
The restaurant is in Kanazawa city on the Japan Sea side of Japan, about 450 km north-west of Tokyo. Getting there is easy if you take a shinkansen (bullet train) about half the way and an express train the rest of the way, give yourself 5-6 hours of travel from Tokyo.
Buying a new Suitcase
My suitcase broke on the way back to Japan from Australia, so we decided it was time to buy a new one. As usual, the geek in me meant that we could not just run down to the local Yodobashi Camera and purchase the first one we found (although I did spend a lot of time prodding the ones there). I need facts and information to make the right decision. Here’s how I chose the one I purchased.
Text Editor Addict
Hi, my name is Hilton and maybe, just maybe, I am a text editor addict.
“Hello Hilton” you all say.
I seem to have a lot of text manipulation tools on my devices. Of course, I don’t think I have too many, but most people only seem to have one. You see, to me, each one has it’s own use, it’s the best tool for it’s job, that’s why I have and use it. Here is a list of all the text editors on my laptop that I use right now, and why:
Thwarted by Patents
As you all know, teleportation is easy. But one cannot make a teleporter due to the crazy US Patent system. And it’s frustrating me.
Like you all, I am pretty tired of traveling to airports via trains and monorails, waiting in check-in lines, fighting those darn kiosk things, standing in baggage lines, standing in TSA lines, removing shoes and belt, getting frisked, getting dressed then waiting in dingy boarding areas with horrid coffee and no useable wifi only to spend hours upon hours squished in small cramped seats with bland food and annoying strangers, just to get somewhere.