Ok, So quite frankly I’ve would benefit from a new Iphone. I’m currently a version back.. and my iphone is starting to look a bit.. “beat up”.. I would love to get the new Iphone. However…. It seems as though Netflix is comming out with a app for the Iphone now.. Here’s my issue. When I download the netflix app I am SURE my data usage is going to skyrocket ! Well unfortunately, If I get the new Iphone I am mandated to get off the all inclusive plan. So my monthly costs will go up as well… This Sucks !
The only good solution i guess is to stick with my old Iphone with its all inclusive plan, and keep my options open until some pressure gets to the carriers to go back to unlimited data for a plan option. (at the same price point)

Looks like from Apples presentation there are a couple of moves in the iphone 4.0 OS that could be a ‘big deal’ to some parties.. for example.
1. Iphone is now not going to let developers choose their own ad service. They are now making everyone go through Apples service.. This affects, Affiliate Marketers, Google, Microsoft to name a few.. and is a BIG DEAL !!!
- (I would be frowning if I were an Iphone developer that was putting in affiliate ads in my app)
2. Mulitple exchange accounts – Finally !
3. 1500 new API’s .. wow !
4. There are more than 100 new user features, including creating playlists, tap to focus on video, gift apps, spell check, Bluetooth keyboards, file & delete mail search, places in photos, 5x digital zoom and home screen wallpaper
5. multi tasking ! finally !

IMO the biggest impact of the day is taking out everyone except apple in the ad market. while the deal is great for apple.. its the only one.. its great for.

Selenium has been accepted into the Google Summer of Code program. This means participating students will get $5000 USD to hack on Selenium-related Open Source projects in the summer, while getting mentored by contributors of the Selenium project. The deadline for application is April 9, 2010 and Selenium still has open slots – from writing python bindings for Selenium 2.0 to writing mobile support for Android and iPhone to Selenium IDE 2.0. You can suggest projects as well. Once you have submitted your application, you will have until April 18, 2010 to fine tune your proposal with our mentors. Google will announce the list of accepted students / proposal by April 26, 2010.

You can find more information here:

http://code.google.com/p/selenium/wiki/GoogleSummerOfCode

Link to apply:

http://socghop.appspot.com/gsoc/student/apply/google/gsoc2010

If you know students (or people that have children attending college, please pass this info along.

This is a great opportunity for students to work on open source projects that’s used by millions of developers and QA professionals, gain skills in Selenium and ultimately help drive higher quality software everywhere. Do note that most of the work will be done off-site, however, if you are paired up with mentors in San Francisco, LA, Portland, London… you may have a chance to work with them directly too.

Mr. jobs recently announced the arrival of the new “Ipad” So I thought I would write a comment or two about it.

The Ipad is apples latest offering, It’s basically a big “ITouch” with a 9 1/2 inch screen. I’m sure I’m one of the very few.. but I think this thing will be a big flop.

I just dont get what the attraction is to it and why someone with an Itouch or an Iphone would even buy it. First I wouldnt spend 500 dollars on something for my 5 year old to play with. However I do let him play games on my iphone all the time. I didnt see anything that the Ipad does that the Iphone doesnt do (except the size of course). The size at least in my house would be a deterrant not an attraction. My Iphone is small can fit into a pocket and can go anywhere. I can let my son watch movies, play games etc. on my iphone during trips or other times that we are “sitting and waiting”. That said. the ipad is certainly portable, but not as portable as the iphone is… so why take the ipad? Another issue.. and this is really an Apple thing with me.. get a darn USB port. Some of us are just plain tired of
“the apple way”. Last huge issue.. Why the heck do you make people stick with ATT Data plans? WOW ! did you not learn anything from the problems that ATT is having with its Data loads? Why on earth would you do that?? its just insane. and why i for one.. aint gettin it.

Yes. I know it sounds like a post from 2001. but…

I recently read an article on Tech Crunch about showing IE’s downward spiral and chrome’s upward mobility.  It’s interesting to see the depths of IE’s loss in market share in the last couple of years. I remember a time when IE was around 90 percent of market share.. now it sits at 60 ! This really brings up a good point. There are a lot of SaaS solutions out there that only support the IE browser. What is the ‘Magic Metric” (percent) that will make these SaaS providers start to support multiple browsers? Is the answer.. “when our client starts demanding it?” I would have to say that is probably not the right path to take. If you are a SaaS provider out there that only supports IE.. I think it’s fair to say you are way behind. If you wait for your clients to “demand” it.. They will be waiting months before you have it implemented and since they are “demanding it” that means they already think  you are behind on the technology edge and being a SaaS provider.. thats never a good thing. Quite frankly, it’s also embarrasing. I dont really know how I could ever market myself as a Web based technology leader.. and only support IE.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/02/internet-explorer-browser-share/

About a month ago I got a new laptop. A dell Studio 17 with I7. Im amazed at the processer speed and power in this thing.

It’s awesome. I still haven’t been able to get the processors above 30 percent usage. It’s just amazing on the processor side.

However, I can’t really say the same thing for the memory, with my model 1747 came 4 gigs of DDR3 @1333. (I upgraded the speed on the memory) .My laptop constantly runs at around 30-40 percent utilization on memory all the time. Some of this initially was my fault. I had to uninstall alot of the “dell junk” that came preloaded (Dell Dock for example). After I did that I was able to get my memory allocation down to around 20-22 percent.. while i was doing basically nothing.

I think the main culprit here is windows 7. It just seems to have a lot more services running in the background than XP did. Which makes me wonder.. is win 7 really optimized for older computers? Based on what I’ve seen with the memory usage in this new one.. I would guess not. As you can see. I’m a little bummed about the memory usage. I went to dell to price another 4 gigs of memory…. it was around 800 bucks ! man.. crazy prices for DDR3 @1333. I remember when DDR3 just came out.. I was onfire to get it.. I thought it would be a real game changer on memory.. Now obviously I think I was wrong.. After reading a couple of dozen evals of DDR3 vs. DDR2.. You certainly get more bang for the buck from DDR2.

One Last Point…. I also find it disappointing that Dell has pulled the I7 from its studio laptops now (now only offering up to I5).

That concerns me… I wonder how many of the 1747′s went back with heat and melting issues due to the I7. I can’t think of any real other reason on why they would go backwords.. so fingers crossed this sucker keeps working.

I do like my new laptop. I wish memory upgrades were cheaper.. but so far Its been a great piece of equipment.

Oh one other thing.. If you get Win7.. pay a little extra for the Professional Version. Its worth it.

Ok this post is a little late. lol.
but I thought I would post it anyway. First let me say..

Do any of this at your own risk. I am only going to tell you what was wrong with my A/C and How I fixed my A/C. This may or may not be relavant to you. If you are in doubt.. I would call a pro. That being said… lets get started.

Last summer both of my AC’s went out about a month apart from each other. Summers are brutal in Dallas, July/August just usually suck because its so hot. So if you AC goes out during that time you need to get it fixed .. quick.. well. My “big” AC went out during that time. I had no idea what to do. So i called the AC repair man. He came out and replaced 1 part on my AC.. The Bill … 600 bucks.

The good news.. is.. I watched.. from the moment he stepped on my property .. till the moment he left.. i was by his side.. trying to figure out what he was doing. He certainly “checked out” my system. calibration, etc. but he really only replaced one part. A small tube (kind of the size of a Red Bull Can) called a Capacitator.
Sure enough, a month later.. my small AC went out. Well. I certainly didnt want to pay another 600 bucks.. so i took it upon myself to see if i could find the problem. Here’s what I did.
1. I went to the Circuit breaker and turned everything off. (I aint takin no chances).
2. I took off the side panel of the AC (only 4 screws).
3. I looked at the Capacitator to see if it was bad. (You can check and see if the Capacitor is bad by checking a Charge level.. OR.. if the Capacitor is “swollen” at the lid.. (Looks Kind of like a swelled coke at the top). Then I used a flat screwdriver to make sure there was no charge present (google how to do it.. so you are grounded right).
4. Then I took a picture of it on my phone.. (so i would know where all the wires were supposed to go).
5. then I took it off and looked for a product number on the Capacitor.
6. Then I went to ebay.. and bought a capacitor for something like 50 bucks.. (there were mulitple to choose from..
7. After it came in the mail… yes we sweated it out.. with 1 AC till it came in.. I looked at my cell phone picture and hooked up the wires to the right connections
8. Then I flipped the switch on the circuit breaker
9. and I waited till the AC flipped back on..
10. after a few minutes it flipped on (IT recognized it was hot on the second floor )
11. I made sure no sparks or anything were flying around the capacitor that I just installed…
12. I put the side panel back on.. and….

there you go.. 50 bucks.. instead of 600.

Pictures i took of the Bad Capacitor on my phone.. again.. one of these was so i could tell where to put the wires back

For the Newer Managers out there…I thought I would write a post on a couple of tips to leading a team from a management perspective.. This is a small subset list of things I’ve learned over the years.  (I reserve the right to write followups). :)

Being A Manager and a Leader  <Warm and Fuzzys>

Lead By Example

I act the way I like my team to act and those that have worked for me in the past will tell you its pretty easy to “know what I want” because I dont just sit and listen to the choir sing. I’m in touch.. and I am singing in the choir. There is almost nothing more demotivating than having a ‘leader’ that doesn’t lead by example. Lack of this characteristic causes dispution, resentment and disrespect and quite frankly.. if you dont do it.. you deserve every thing it causes.

Learn to Delegate

I can promise you this. Your team will never grow, and never reach its full potential unless you learn to delegate. Your direct reports (at least the good ones) will gobble up the opportunities you delegate out. The ones worth their salt will want to show their stuff and want to do a good job for you. The more you delegate (effectively), the more you will gain trust in your team and you will get gratification out of seeing them be successfull. Communicate well .. Communicate Clearly and delegate so others can learn and can excell.

Micromanaging.

Man I hate micromanaging my team and believe me your team will hate it too. I’ve found in the past that if I have to start micromanaging people 90 percent of the time it’s not worth it. I end up firing them, because there is more of a core problem there. That being said. The other 10 percent of the time that I had to do it .. I realized that the reason I had to step in was my fault in the first place. Maybe I miscommunicated my needs? Maybe I didnt get them to understand the real issue at hand? – so in reality. Micromanging BAD. but before you start writing up Performance Improvement Plans… step back for a second and make sure the problem isnt you.

Be Careful of Overprotection

Overprotection is the art of always taking up for your team infront of other managers etc. While you are responsible for your teams performance, if you dont look at things objectively.. it only hurts you..  You certainly should be an advocate for your team. Thats obviously part of your job. but dont lose your objectivity because thats part of your job as well.

Be Careful of Underprotection

Obviously this is the reverse of Overprotection. Although this type of manager usually fails at a number of other iniatives as well. This just means basically “selling out” your team and bad mouthing your team in front of other managers etc. Man this is the absolutely the worst thing out there that you can do. We all get frustrated at times, as a manager quite frankly… you need to understand  “Game Time Is All The Time”. It’s ok to vent.. about the issues, problems, people .. just make sure you do it by yourself.. in your car.. on the way home from work.. with the radio blasting.

Plan milestones for your team members

A great manager lays out a plan and a vision for their team. Plan for where you want to be and plan how your individual team members can help you get you to that point. It’s my preference to do this at the beginning of every fisical year when we develop the budgets

Positive Attitude and Inspiration

You have to have and keep a positive attitude if you plan on getting anything accomplished. It’s your job to motivate and then motivate some more. You have to not only motivate your team, you have to motivate your peers. Motivate your boss. Motivate your clients. ah.. heck.. might as well Motivate your budget.. . Seriously though, a negative atttitude can and will poison and destroy a shop. I’ve seen shops that had 100 percent turnover (seriously) just because of negativity. worst of all.. its addictive. Once it starts.. unless its contained it will spread and ultimately destroy everything. If you had to keep a “soft list” of things to watch for in your shop, this would certainly be a very key KPI.

All work and no play…

Take your team to lunch, get out of the office, take a break,  people need to step back at times and enjoy each other in order for them to sustain productivity. At one recent company I learned an interesting fact.. “Cows produce more milk when they are comfortable”. No your employees aren’t cows.. but the fact remains..

Recognize individuals and teamwork

Team recognition bolsters the team morale and person recognition provides a lot of individual motivation as well as urges others to rise to the challenge. This all goes back to motivation, trust, and inspiring others.. Ultimately to encourage ownership.

Be there in times of need.

I actually learned how valuable this was about 10 years ago at my dads retirement party (yes back in the day.. IBM actually had retirement parties for people). My dad was speaking at his retirement dinner and from the podeum his eyes went around the room to the some “50 IBM people” that he invited. He spoke about each individual that was there and what they meant to him. One of the individuals only knew him for a short time.. but had showed up when my brother went to the hospital for a broken leg. That point in my family (b/c of other factors) ended up being a defining moment in our family’s past 40 years. That simple act of driving a couple of hours and visiting my brother left such an impact on my dad.. that my dad still remembered him 20 years later and still got teary eyed when he thanked him for comming to his retirement party. The point my friends is simply.. jobs come and go. Friendships and experiences that we share last our entire lives. Sometimes at the time, little things you may or may not do.. may not seem like a big deal. but vesting your time and yourself in the people that work with you can carry a great impact to them. No matter the costs associated with it, I try and make sure I’m there when I know someone on my team (or associated team) is in need. I’ll never forget.. that my dad never forgot and I would certainly be honored to be able to be that person 25 years from now.

a friend of mine told me about Speed Tracer the other day.  So i had to check it out…

glad i did . Speed Tracer is not a new concept, I’ve seen other tools that are similar to this. However this tools integration with Chrome made it extremely easy to use and most of all.. valuable. I tried this tool out on a couple of my own websites and quickly hammered out what was causing my hangups.. Then I tried it out on an enterprise production app we have and found that while the detail was still a little vague in some places. It does do a sweet job of nailing down the main problems. If you havent checked Speed Tracer out.. and you are trying to figure out performance issues.. I suggest you give it a ride..

I’ve recently realised that I have a huge need for a NAS (Network Attached Storage Device). I’ve got 3 computers and am about to get another laptop at Christmas. I need one central place that everyone can connect to (wirelessly) so that we can can have scheduled backups in case of an outage. Now, I’m not really worried about Fire/Floods/or Tornado’s. I’m more worried about a hard-drive failure or some random virus killing one of my machines. So this isnt a total disaster recovery situation. Its just a solution for managing backups and sharing files.

When I started on this ‘quest’ (and don’t fool yourself.. it is more of a quest than anything else).  My requirements were pretty straight forward, as noted above.  I thought really only Online Backup solutions  and/or  NAS solutions would really fit my need. So I read every review that I could find on Online Backup Solutions and then started to try them out.

I started out with Carbonite  (www.Carbonite.com).

Carbonite is an online backup solution which is actually pretty cool. It ‘tags’ your files on your system with either a ‘green/orange/or green dot with a white center’.  This ‘status’ tells you if your file(s) or folder(s) are backedup. Green means backedup/Orange means ‘not backedup’/green with a white center means contents in the folder are ‘partially backedup’. Overall I thought Carbonite was a pretty cool system that worked ‘ok’ on the backup part. However as a tested a recovery file (cause you know… thats what I do for a living..) I found it was a little more complicated to recover your files.  Ultimately I decided against Carbonite for a number reasons.

A. Speed.

It took forever to upload my backup.  I had initially tasked 90 gigs to backup which was a little less than I was expecting to use). 15 days later the upload was still not finished and the trial period was expiring. I chose not to continue. I have a 1.5 upload speed which is pretty standard among Broadband cable internet speeds.

B. Security and Reliability.

I just wasn’t sold on the ability to get my information back if it was lost. I tried a recovery test and had problems. That coulped with the fact that a number of other users had similar issues and quite frankly I had little or no assurances of what this company does to retain their data. for example Do they maintain their own storage facilities? are they SAS70 compliant? CMMi level shop?

in fact its kind of scary all these people are ‘trusting’ some of their most valuable information to any of these online backup solutions without really knowing the ‘shops’ policys and procedures. The devil is in the details my friend. Think I worry too much? You should. Think of all the websites that went down (some forever) when the planet (www.theplanet.com)  http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid80_gci1316219,00.html   had a fire in their Houston location. It’s your information. It’s your risk.

C. Long term costs.

56 bucks a year isnt bad.. as long as you have 1 computer. If  you have 4 well, that’s starting to get up there and maybe its time to look at other solutions. NAS solutions start at around 150 bucks and can go up to 10k. Certainly 10k for my needs is out of the picture.. but if I could find one for 400 or below.. that would certainly work

I also Tried Mozy.com which is similar to Carbonite. A number of vendors have put their ‘private label’ on mozy and resell their services (for example Mcafee recently started to resell their service). Mozy’s price point is pretty much the same as Carbonite.

part of my issues didnt go away with Mozy. upload times were still long. (although I only tested it with 2 gigs this time). I didn’t test recovery with Mozy although all the reviews I read were about the same with Mozy as they are with Carbonite. I decided against Mozy simply because I had a number of issues with my initial backup. Some of my ‘very basic’ word files had errors on backup and didnt get backed up. If this happened routinely, i probably wouldnt realise it. (they should probably shoot you a notification if your backup has errors). Anyway. that was enough for me.  Online backup was now officially out of the picture.

Enter the NAS market.

When looking for a Network Attached Storage Device, you are entering a world that can get very complicated. very quick.  You really need to define what you want (functionality wise) and how much you want to spend first.

My needs were pretty tame, others use NAS devices to stream media to their TV’s/Storage/Remote Backup/Raid functionality etc. Again, my needs were pretty tame. I just needed wireless scheduled backup and maybe from time to time share some files (not really streaming though). Those needs were pretty basic for a NAS device. I tried two very basic and entry level NAS devices.

The first was the ‘Stora’ from Netgear. Netgear offers multiple NAS devices some, I like the ‘duo’ I hear are pretty good. The Stora is their entry level NAS device. It offers the ability to store 1tb and has an additional bay that will mirror the first bay for data redundancy. The drives are ‘hot swappable’ which is pretty cool, but in this price range (under 250.00) it makes me wonder really how well that works. I tried the Stora and had a horrible time trying to get it to work. I couldn’t even the Network Drives to show up on my computers. I tried customer support, and is was simply the worst customer support experience I’ve ever had. I like Netgear, all of my past routers -1 have been Netgear routers but man I’ve quickly learned that if you need customer support from Netgear your going to hate this company. I wont get into the details but I wasted 6 hours of my life on this product. I don’t  plan on buying anything from Netgear again that isnt a switch or a router.

The next one I tried was Western Digitals “My World”. At 150.00 I didn’t really have high expectations. In fact, so far.. if it worked that would be better than the ‘stora’ which costs 60.00 more.

The Product that I got was WD’s 1 tb version. I actually read reviews that their 1tb device was faster than their 2tb version. It doesnt support RAID, and it looks just like a normal external WD drive.

WD’s product is “ok” for entry level and my needs. It is a little slow and for initial backups it does take awhile. It’s important to note I wasnt planning to use the backup software that is provided with any of these NAS devices. I use Norton Ghost 15 for my Backup software. Norton has great customer support and Ghost is a great product. (Note* I’m not a fan of any other Norton software. The only Norton software I’ve ever liked was Ghost and I am a big fan of Ghost.)

Overall

I’m a big fan of NAS devices now and I’m getting addicted. While the WD currently meets my expectations, I’m already thinking about streaming additional storage with mirrored drives, etc. Well see. I just bought a new Studio 17 dell laptop with an I7 processor.. that combined with xmas, new floors.. and well another NAS upgrade will just have to wait a couple of months.