depth first search

“We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done."

Category: computing

Quote of the Day

It’s not that Google is worse on net neutrality than other companies with a stake in the mobile phone game. It’s that they made such a show of being better, of being on the side of the public interest — before they had a big stake in the game. Echoing my thoughts from the other [...]

Google and Apple

One interesting comparison worth making in the context of “net neutrality” is between the positions of Apple and Google. They are now competing in the same mobile space. Among Apple observers, the coverage of Google has been fairly negative recently, but I don’t think this has to do with some kind of fanboi reaction against [...]

Weird Bug in Linux

I’m a heavy Linux user, though I’m not a Linux evangelist. For casual computer users Microsoft (if you’re on a budget) or Apple (affordable luxury!) are both better options. That being said, the typical Ubuntu install is actually quite nice and probably worth playing around with if you are a hobbyist. Part of the reason [...]

iPad Redux

If I had the budget for one, I’d definitely buy one, so I can certainly understand why people with lots of disposable income are flocking to Apple stores today. That said, there is something sort of unseemly about reveling in the act of consumption. I guess this particular tweet captures what I’m trying to say [...]

What is revolutionary about the iPad?

I’m convinced that the iPad is going to create an entirely new market in personal computing devices. I don’t really want to be reductive about why the iPad will do so (but I’m going to anyway). It’s sort of a little piece of the future dropped in our laps (well, not mine, since I’m a [...]

Two Things to Read

The first is about what makes a good blog: To really work, Sierra observed, an entrepreneur’s blog has to be about something bigger than his or her company and his or her product. This sounds simple, but it isn’t. It takes real discipline to not talk about yourself and your company. Blogging as a medium [...]

A Random iPad Thought

I know you probably don’t care about what goes on inside my head most of the time, but here’s a taste anyway. I was rehashing the iPad in my head while perusing my iPod Touch and thinking about the bezel size — a subject of some criticism and a certain amount of defensive posturing: People [...]

On Microsoft

This editorial on Microsoft in today’s NYTimes is interesting on many levels. Part elegy, part exposition, even the choice to run an editorial of this sort is in many ways a bit of a puzzle to me. I suppose I’m too far down the Ubuntu rabbit hole to remember how common Microsoft is for most [...]

Thoughts on the iPad

The entire prefix-i naming scheme is silly in a way that all really excellent marketing is silly. The iPad device itself is not silly, and in many ways proves that freedom zero does not matter, nor do any of the inter-operable hardware or software ecosystems that drove Wintel. What matters is design, capability, and price. The iPad [...]

Worse than Failure

The shorthand “WTF” is common among developers. It does not actually stand for “worse than failure” but I run a clean ship here people. [Hint: let's just say that WTF is a somewhat crude interrogative. Sample usage: "Dude, WTF?" or, if you prefer, comic form.] I just spent two days looking for a bug in [...]