AT&T effs users again
The beard, Jim Dalrymple nails it in AT&T fucks users… again: “Our network sucks balls. If we tried to let all of you rapid iPhone users have FaceTime, our network would take a firey crash into Hell. Many of the executives that have been too goddamn cheap to upgrade the network are now scared shitless that they will lose their cushy bonuses. So we decided to fuck our users.” Why? AT&T is only allowing cellular FaceTime if you buy into their new overpriced and underserviced family share plans.
Hipstamatic fires its devs
Of all the stupid things to do, Hipstamatic fired its 3 devs, 1 designer and writer yesterday. Here’s how it played out on Twitter. So in case you didn’t get the memo. Entire team laid off. 3 devs, 1 designer, 1 writer. Some of THE best people I’ve ever worked with… Jonathan Wight This is a company making 22 million dollars this year (according to The Verge here). And expects to continue without its creatives!
RIP Twitter
“I wish to complain about this parrot what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.” In March, Ryan Sarver, Platform Lead at Twitter speaking with MG Siegler on Techcrunch in Twitter Drops The Ecosystem Hammer: Don’t Try To Compete With Us On Clients, Focus On Data And Verticals: We need to move to a less fragmented world, where every user can experience Twitter in a consistent way.
My Sublime Text 2 Setup
I have been using Sublime Text 2 for a month or so now, and I still do not love it. Here’s hoping TextMate 2 gets it’s game on. But at least I have it working closer to the way I want it to work and look now. Here are the minor changes I have made to make it work for me and how it compares to TextMate 2 (Updated: See My TextMate 2 Setup - The Hiltmon).
Choosing Sunglasses
Two weeks ago I went kayaking on Long Island sound, and lost my sunglasses. Once again, my friends, it was time to research the next pair. My criteria for sunglasses may differ from yours, they are: Good lenses: I program for a living, and need my eyes to remain in top condition for as long as possible. Cheap lenses increase eye strain for me, which is bad for my work and mood.
App.Net Funded
Today, App.Net got funded. Not many of us expected that to happen, but it did, and we’re happy to pay our $50 or $100 to kick it off. Most reports are reporting this service as a paid Twitter clone, and yes, that’s part of it. But the goals are bigger: You are not the product: The product in Twitter is you, because it’s free. On App.Net, you are paying for the ID and the service and the access.
Textmate 2 is now Open Source
My favorite programmers editor of all time, TextMate, recently updated to TextMate 2 Alpha. I’ve been using the alpha for a while, still love it, but it’s an alpha release and therefore buggy and slow. So I’ve been trying out Sublime Text 2 as a replacement. So far, I switch between TextMate 2 Alpha and Sublime Text 2 daily, only because closing the last tab in TextMate 2 closes the darn project editor and that annoys me.
Expect the Unexpected
There was a panic at one of my client sites today when the reporting software I wrote for them stopped working. Instead of presenting reports as usual, the software threw an unknown error. WTF, an unknown error! I wrote the darn system, I know all the errors, because I coded all of them! A quick glance at the logs indicated that indeed, Passenger was throwing an unknown error when accessing one Rails URL (and all others were working just fine).
Well Managed Scripts better than Platforms
One of the most misunderstood things in computing is the need and power of scripts. Most IT shops seek out platforms, tools and technologies to perform business functions, when a bunch of well architected and documented scripts is all that is really needed. script /noun/ An automated series of instructions carried out in a specific order written in an interpreted computer language Over the years, I have seen many organizations go out and buy very expensive platforms and hardware, and hire very expensive staff, without even once looking at the alternative, well managed scripts.
No competition in Carrier space
If you are looking for more proof that there is no real competition in the US mobile carrier space, check out BGR’s iPhone: Data caps, upgrade fees blamed on iPhone by AT&T, Verizon by Brad Reed: AT&T reported a 45% margin in Q2 2012 and Verizon reported a record-high 49% margin. Challenge: Name one competitive industry with such high margins and such terrible service?