Aughey Tumblr

I’m trying out posting to Tumblr from AIM. This could be useful for those quick posts. Though Twitter seems more appropriate for that sort of post.

WEP Passwords

Why do WEP client programs ask that I enter in the WEP key more than once?  The fields are typically like a “Password - Password Confirm” type thing, but if I type it in wrong it’s not going to work, so why ask me to try to type it wrong twice?  It’s a difficult hex key to type anyway, just let me type it in once and let the 802.11x authentication tell me if I’m wrong.

iPhone gps

The gps caps with the cut and paste is a great way to keep people informed of our travel progress John

When to e-mail?

I’m on the “This Old House” e-mail list.  Several times a week they send an e-mail on house/gardening tips and suggestions.  They do a really great job and it is well written and well rounded, appealing to all types of skill levels.

However, they send this e-mail out between 8am and 9am during the work week.  I NEVER have time to read something like that at that time.  Most of the time, I see it come in on my iPhone and just swipe and delete the e-mail without even opening it.  If I’m on the desktop, I might glance at the headings before hitting delete.  The point is the morning is an awful time for me to pay attention to something non-work-releated.

So when might a good time be?  For me I’d say 6pm.  It’s after dinner and I might be looking for something to read when finishing the day.  Maybe 11am so I can look at it over lunch.  But certainly not 9am.

Engineering/Management perspective

For most of my career I’ve done low level software engineering.  I’ve been in charge of running some small programs, but mostly self-management type roles.

I’m now doing a fair amount of team leading where I have to rely on work done by other people.  It’s an amazing perspective change.

I’ll continue on this further, but the realization I have now is I am so much more interested in the final product rather than the process.  I honestly don’t care as much of how the program works or what wonderful other things I can do, I just want the results of what I’m asking for.

The example I had today is I needed some definitions to put into a configuration file to get 2 visual models to appear on the screen.  The engineer I needed to get this information from was very eager to have me get his program that can generate all the configuration for any model I would ever need from an XML file.  That was great and the end result of his program is great, but what I really needed was 10 lines of the result - not the ability to do it myself.  He was a bit bothered that I didn’t want to use his program but rather just wanted the end result.

But this is something that I know I would have been excited about had I written the wonderful configuration program.  The end result is much less interesting to the engineer, it’s the process that is interesting.  But to the consumer, the end result is everything.

“…Yea, I’m going to need that TPS report.”

The next generation Internet (prediction)

This is a prediction of what the Internet will look like in 5-10 years.

Currently the Internet model is a few large content providers such as Yahoo, Google, Facebook, and so on. There also few medium sized providers such as Dreamhost, MySpace, and company web sites. The majority of the “users” sit behind relatively slow DSL and cable modem connections with web browsers to pull the content into the homes.

If someone wants to publish content, they have to upload this content to one of the large or medium sized providers. I have 200GB+ of photos, but only a tiny tiny fraction of those are uploaded to Facebook. My church has about the same number of photos that are also rotting on our file server unshared with the world.

If I wanted to upload all of these pictures, it would be nearly impossible with the trickle slow upload speed of DSL. Cable modem’s aren’t much better. It’s also a pain, logistically, to upload pictures because of the interface and upload times.

My prediction is that we will start moving to home serving of data. There may be some aggregation service to keep track of what content is available, but the content itself will be served from our own computers.

Wine Glass Gift

I want to start a new fad. Here is my idea…

When you go to someone’s house or party, often guests will bring a bottle of wine. For me, the wine glass is just as much a part of the wine experience as the actual vino. Glasses come in all shapes and sizes, widths and heights. When I think about a time I’ve had at someone’s house, I will have forgotten about the taste of the wine, but I’ll remember the glass and associate that glass with the company.

For example, the Friedman’s have extraordinarily tall glasses that could hold half a bottle if you tried. In Pensacola on a business trip I bought a 750ml bottle and a stemless glass to unwind after a long day. In Cape Vincent, NY, the cottage we stay in has glasses with very short stems.

So here’s my idea, if you’re the one carrying out this idea, buy a set of wine glasses. One for every person who will be at the gathering. Glasses are cheap. Go for the “set of 6 for $18” - if you’re a guest you’re still coming out ahead. Find something that fits your style. I personally like a short stem and a slightly wider base than the top. Or go for stemless. When you arrive at the party, pour everyone a glass and casually let them know that the glass is theirs to take home. Tell this story to explain why.

This serves several purposes.

1. It gets the vino flowing early and no one has to pretend to “be good” by rejecting a drink offer or not requesting a drink themselves.

2. It starts a conversation. You have something to talk about and you’ve just given them something so you are already on their good side.

3. You’ll be remembered. Selflessness should be part of gift giving, but if you need to stand out such as at a business dinner, this is a great way to be noticed at the start and remembered after.

4. It’s a great token of appreciation. People bring wine but truthfully other people’s wine tastes are usually not my own which works bad in both directions. But it’s hard to not like a glass. And when you see that glass in the cupboard later, you’ll remember that event and the person who brought it. And maybe, just maybe, invite that person over again. (or maybe not)

This is just my idea. Maybe you like it, maybe not. Give it a try.