October 2007 Archives

Halloween, par les Têtes à claques: ben, écoute mon p'tit bozo, là, tu vois-tu une citrouille toi devant ma porte?

A Microsoft 1.0 is Alpha, MS SP1 is Beta and MS SP2 is the 1.0 version. When the product is good enough it's discontinued and the whole cycle starts again. [/.]

What if you owned your personal data? what if you didn't always enter things into the storage of businesses? what if they demonstrated the goal of letting you be in the center of your own experience? what if such businesses respected your sphere of privacy, control, and independence?

The Internet needs to grow towards personal data independence. That's not congruent with the purpose of a marketing machine, of course.

Dave Winer: Standards devised by one tech company whose main purpose is to undermine another tech company, usually don't work. In this case it's Google trying to undermine Facebook. ... What would be exciting and uplifting, a real game-changer -- Internet companies giving users full control of their data. When Google makes their announcement on Thursday, the question they should be asked by everyone is -- How much of my data are you letting me control today?

Over-engineering doesn't mean tight tolerances or precision parts. It means you just spent 3/4 of your budget to go from 95% accuracy to 96% when you only needed 95%. [/.]

A marketing research site that ropes participants in by giving them "social networking" tools. So far, 50 million people have spent their time telling facebook as much as possible about themselves. Is market research data and targeted advertisement worth $300 per person? (if one believes their $15b valuation) Certainly not for all, but probably for a small subset of those millions of users. So it all depends on how often facebook can sell the data and access to that subset.

Large software projects that are too big to fail, too costly to stop, are failures of risk management because they try to eliminate risk-taking. Agile methods are approaches that embrace small-risks and small-changes, via iterations. Don't build one large prototype to throw away, build lots of small prototypes to constantly throw away.

Peter Diamandis: The concept that failure is not an option has been taken out of context. Without the ability to fail, we can't have true breakthroughs. That's one of the problems we have. We're not innovating, because people are too scared to fail. In a true research-and-development program; if you're not trying things that don't work 30 or 40 percent of the time, you are really not innovating. You aren't out taking enough risks to have breakthroughs. ... America's success over the last 250 years has been based on our ability and willingness to take risk. The earliest European explorers across the Atlantic risked their lives to search for America, and then to try a new form of government and to write a whole constitution and to lead to a real capitalist society. America is the result of our willingness to take risks.

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If you ask me to solve certain problems, and I give you my estimate of how long it will take, as well as what resources I will need -- don't act as if I said nothing, and don't pretend that somehow, by magic, things will happen without resources or time.

You have no clue what modern technology is, no clue what project management is, no clue what efforts are required to solve technical problems, and no clue how to run a business.

Possibly the one thing you know how to do is get plastic surgery with your fat bonuses (while employees are being fired, and the ones who are not yet gone don't get any recognition or reward, not even the inflation rate).

You also seem to know exactly how to make employees feel bad about everything they do.

They're evil.

There is nothing innocent or benevolent in what they do or say.

For them it's just a game, asserting power over someone else.

It's evil. They don't behave like human beings. They are always looking for ways to diminish you. Or something they can lie about and distort, so they can attempt to use it and so they can belittle you. Or so they can claim that you are responsible for what somebody else did wrong.

They know what they're doing. They do it on purpose. They're profoundly evil.

So, you thought there was no everyday evil. It's right there, in front of you, around you, and it's being rewarded with millions of dollars by lunatics or psychopaths.

Nous sommes les rebelles, nous marchons libres dans la rue, la jungle nous appelle .... pour une vie nouvelle, nous rejetons le système ... nous sommes les rois de la fête ... sauvages et fiers de l'être ... (Bérurier Noir)

par Alberoni. A lire de toute urgence. Pour comprendre comment et pourquoi la fusion initiale mène à la déception. C'est normal. Si cette révolution à deux doit réussir, il faut être conscient des enjeux, comprendre et accepter nos limites.

La beauté du texte réside aussi dans le ton italien partout présent. Après tout, une langue qui a un mot --inamoramento-- pour cette transformation fantastique de l'être humain, ne peut qu'inspirer un observateur aussi réaliste et idéaliste que Alberoni.

En français, on contribue la joie de vivre. En italien, inamoramento.

De temps en temps, le fond de l'histoire commence par un angle, un petit bout de chair qui dépasse, une main qui effleure le coude, ou un peu de tissu qui s'échappe de ton habillement (parce que les lions rugissent dans les fossés au bord des routes où nous agonisons). Le départ d'une émotion c'est le mouvement, et sa réaction. Si on a l'imagination fertile, ça mène à un monde magique, un amour naissant. Il faut aussi y croire, profondément. Ne pas hésiter. Ne pas tomber dans le piège victorien ou américain (la femme butine et se pose en juge de qualités capitales).

Par exemple, ce soir je me replonge dans un concert de Cure, quelques jours magiques à Lyon, il y a deux décennies. Puis retour à la Croix-Rousse avec celle qui disait aimer comme chanterait Charlélie, celle qui lui a brisé le coeur (une fois pour toute? on suppose que non). En fin de compte, Charlotte, parfois, elle pleure toute seule parce que son Jules il a été éliminé par la soi-disant justice.

Et moi, je rêve d'un autre concert.

Un des meilleurs concerts que j'aie eu l'occasion d'apprécier. Eagle-Eye Cherry à Nyon, il y a quelques années (un peu après et avant la mort de mes chers amis). Il a su agiter tout le monde sous la tente. Et visiblement il y a pris plaisir. Chaque chanson vibrait. Chaque personne sous la tente vibrait. Tous à l'unisson.

Sans traduction possible. Ni nécessaire.

SF Chronicle: In August, 1.25 million people visited TechCrunch or its affiliated blogs at least once [...] It brings in $240,000 per month in advertising [...] Blogging is growing up. From the blogosphere's anarchistic roots, a professional cadre is emerging that is creating an industry whose top-performing businesses now earn serious money...

On the other hand, some blog-centric companies have been wasting millions of dollars, because they are ideological entities. They're not growing, not doing anything reasonably profitable, just following a Hollywood script to promote individuals and their personal political agendas. They're not even a business.

Microsoft are investing $240 million in Facebook at a staggering $15 billion valuation.

Facebook claim almost 50 million users. Thus each user is costing Microsoft a bit under $5, and is valued at $300.

I never watch ads on Facebook, and never spend money with my account there. Why that would be worth $300 to Facebook, Microsoft, and other investors is worse than false. There is no adherence to fact, no correspondence to potential profit.

It's heartening to see one major, successful corporation that respects the minds of its employees, and gives them a nurturing environment to experiment, be creative, innovate, and have a hand in imagining then building the future of their company.

One idiotic response I've heard from people who started a Web-based business: But Google has so much money! Right, maybe, if you could let go of the conceit that you are the smartest people on Earth, you'd realize that Google got to where it is thanks to their clock-building mentality (as opposed to telling the time of the day with somebody else's clock). Pushing employees to think and create is the opposite of enforcing a strict hierarchy and screaming at them.

Google engineers are encouraged to take 20 percent of their time to work on something company-related that interests them personally. This means that if you have a great idea, you always have time to run with it. ... many cool technologies have their origins in 20 percent time, including Gmail, Google News ... when the thing you really want to work on is to make a broad change across the whole organization, you need something new — you need a “grouplet.” [NYT]

If you believe that your web site should attempt to deliver a real-time experience, you may want to read this U Delft technical report comparing Ajax pull and push approaches for web-based event notification.

Real-time. Web. Wake me up when words have meaning again.

Welcome the terabyte drive: TB, one thousand GB, enough for more than 2 years of hi-fi music. And in the not-so-distant future: the petabyte (PB), one billion MB, good for 15 years of DVD-quality video. In the palm of your hand.

Disk storage density increases at an average annual rate of 40%. Four years from now, in 2011, we can expect laptops to have 1 TB of disk space, using giant magnetoresistance (GMR). Current 1 TB (desktop) drives cost USD 320; in ten years, 1 PB on your desktop will cost under USD 100.

What is GMR? it's a quantum-level effect used by engineers to exploit the subatomic spin of particles. It takes us beyond electronics: spintronics.

What will you do with all that storage space? keep a complete, encrypted, searchable record of your daily audio experience? carry a complete copy of all songs recorded by all music producers since the beginning of the 20th century? or all the movies with your ten favorite actresses? all works on philosophy in the history of mankind? and a few years later, a digitized archive of all significant cultural works from across the world -- our vast human experience in literature, music, painting, sculpture, and architecture?

Think about it, because it's coming to your laptop sooner than you expect. Disk space is cheaper, faster, and more secure than network access (as long as you use physically redundant storage and backup methods) -- what social and business trends follow?

When they say they want you to Bust your balls they mean they can't stand the reality you are showing to them, and they'd like you to willingly commit suicide in order to pretend that their insane, incompetent desires are decent business goals.

Remember what the cliché actually means: To harass with the intent to break one's spirit.

There is nothing innocent in their choice of words. Don't grant them the sanction of the victim. Don't create a fog in your mind by trying to convince yourself that they don't really mean it. They do, and they're counting on your willingness to walk up to the sacrificial altar.

Valleywag sums up an article on Gawker Media sites: Our core value is outsider rage.

That does perfectly capture both their contents and tone.

Remember the old adage "Measure twice, cut once?" Don't worry -- neither do AOL CEO Randy Falco and COO Ron Grant. [Valleywag]

There are those who can't measure, for sheer incompetence; those who resent the measurement, for it demonstrates the irrationality of their past decisions; those who cling to false metrics, for they hope others will pretend to be blind; and those who have no clue what a measurement is, except for their personal paychecks and ill-conceived, extortionate bonuses.

Many well-known Internet businesses are not productive, lasting, profitable ventures. They're no more than fashionable destinations, as ephemeral in scope as the latest, trendiest nightclub in town.

Jason Calacanis: Social networking is second only to chat rooms as the worst place to advertise. The content there from your friends and your family is more compelling than any advertisement. Google has the greatest advertising in media history -- search advertising. When you type a word into the box, we know what you're looking for. When you're on Facebook, we know you're looking to meet a girl or talk to your friends. It's a terrible platform for advertising. The holy grail of e-commerce forever has been that people are going to buy something online because their friends did, or that everybody here is into skiing so we're going to sell a bunch of skiing stuff. It hasn't happened. Plus, e-commerce is a low-margin business. It's nowhere near search inventory.

What rational argument is there to claim that a business that delivers real value, with labor and material costs, should seek to derive all of its income via advertisement? the likely explanation would be a premise that human beings are targets for advertisers, and nothing else matters -- but then what is the advertisement for? other "free" businesses?

When did the human experience get reduced to becoming a recipient for advertisement?

No Such Thing as a Free Lunch: It seems that the tech industry has already forgotten the lessons of the first tech bubble and is back to the self-deluded idea that great technology alone is enough to survive over the long term. ... Shouldn't the restaurant owner just line his walls with advertisements and be happy?