Transcending Ordinary

Ok, today I gave a technical interview for a software developer position here at Bebo.  Afterwards, I really felt the need to write a do’s and dont’s for technical phone interviews.

First off, if you write it on your resume, know it.  All that, “I did “x” 10 years ago but I don’t remember it today” is crap.  You should at least remember the basics of it, if not, make sure you do before the interview.  Related to that is actually saying, “I don’t remember/know”, if you are asked something, and you really don’t know, just say it, rather then inventing a story, or telling me a story about something else you do know.  continue reading…

Added a new page on a nice optimization I wrote for memcache a while back and would like to share it with others.

Have a look at the memcache page I just created.

So, I’ve created a quick web cast of a project that I’ve been working on in my spare time.  It’s a Google Gadget using the OpenSocial API’s which allows Bebo.com members access to their photos from any OpenSocial gadget container, like Gmail.  Have a look at this short intro (recommend you view full screen):

The gadget manifest is located at this URL:

http://unwiredthinking.com/beboPhotosGadget/bebophotos.xml

Currently I can only guarantee that it works with Firefox. If I get some interest, I’ll port it to other browsers.

I look forward to any feedback

I’ve heard many things in the last few weeks about just how powerful HTML5 is and today I got a taste of how far CSS3 has come.  When I initally read about HTML5 supporting video and audio compression, I quickly considered it a challenge for flash.  However today my friend Steve showed me this: http://www.css3.info/webkit-announces-support-for-css-3d-transforms/ talk about awesome.  I highly recommend you download the latest webkit and check it out.

When I first saw it, I thought for sure that my CPU would be pegged due to all the JS going on behind the scenes, however after looking at my activity monitor, it showed something like 10%!  Heck, this 2D auto scrolling photo list I’ve been working on sits at 50%, and it’s basic compared to the 3D rendering I saw.  Then I looked at the code, the JS simply sets up a few properties of the DOM and connects to CSS.  Once setup, there was no js running at all, everything was done via CSS.

I can only imagine the capabilities of having CSS3 enabled HTML5 would be, but I do know two things for sure, 1) Adobe had better open up their proprietary technology or else ride the M$ wave down, and 2) it’s time to ramp up my HTML5/CSS3 toolset

So, Tyler and I started out on a fine sunday morning over to the Berkeley Marina.  We were both eager for good wind after having gone the previous two days and finding the conditions dull. Well I was in for a treat, that morning the club had sail boat racing   Luckily I had Tyler as my skipper the first few races and he taught me the basics.  I didn’t do very well on my first day, usually coming in last, second to last, though we did take first place for one race:p Here are a few pictures from the doc and boat.  You can see the small boats we raced, called JY’s and Bahias.  Basically 2man sailing boats.  At one point we almost turned one over :p  Lucky for my cell phone, we never completely capsized, though it felt like we sat at 45 degrees waist up over the side of the boat for an uncomfortably long time :p

I spend the weekend hanging out with a good friend I met in Colombia who lives just west of me.  Not having my car out here, I booked a Greyhound ticket out.  It reminded me of my travels as a kid in DC and Baltimore.  Even before being able to drive, the freedom of hoping on the metro, bus or a train and just going places is quite liberating continue reading…

For 6 of the last 8 days I’ve had the pleasure of windsurfing at the Berkeley Marina with Tyler and often his brother Dallas and girlfriend Niki.  Having only done it once before in Colombia, I certainly had lots to learn and needed practice.

After joining the Cal Sailing Club, Tyler, an experienced sailer and proficient windsurfer, quickly got me up to speed on the procedures for getting my windsurfing kit setup and the basics of the sport once I made it to the water.

My first day I took out a huge 220liter board (meaning keep 220 liters of water displacement), and I think a 3.3 metric surface area sail.  That day was simply learning to get the sail up and turning.  The next day I went with a 180 liter board, and either a 3.3m^2 or a 4.2m^2 sail.  By the third day I used a 160 liter board and a 4.2m^2 sail.  I’ve been on that setup since then due to still being at a novice rating.  I need to pass a few tests and log some service time with the sailing club before making it to junior rating. continue reading…

I have so many things to blog about (dell mini9/vostro90 using OSX, trip to thailand, startup ideas, etc etc), But I’ll start with the easiest and one others can use information from.

Ok, before the 3.0 iphone update, I used my 3g iPhone with netShare over wireless or iphone tunnel over usb to share my phone connection with my laptop.  Now I have an even better solution, and you don’t even need to jailbreak your iphone.  I’m getting just over a meg a second connection with this quick setup.  Basically, you are going to connect your iPhone to your computer using USB or Bluetooth, and browse the internet on your computer like normal when we are done (using your phone’s internet connection).

Follow these steps: continue reading…

Another brisk day in sunny, San Francisco   More iPhone videos with another tip, when editing video with iMove, from an iPhone, don’t create a new project with the iphone 3:2 aspect ratio if you intend to upload to YouTube.  Save with 16:9 so that you can use the HD picture settings provided by YouTube for higher quality.  Yesterday’s clip I saved in that format, you’ll notice how much more clear it is then Saturdays clip below (click continue reading).

Also I’m happy to say, the first OneTaste resident came out to play a few games today, Greg.  He mentioned that he played organized basketball before, and he certainly lived up to expectations.  The first game he and I won, alot to a little   The second, we split teams, to make things more fair :p

Also, you’ll noticed unlike the video I posted before with just my shots, this one includes every shot made, regardless of the originator.

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I took some video I shot after work on friday to make this first clip using iMovie rather then my previous (free) program, avidemux2_gtk. Also I learned that you can embed higher quality youtube videos by adding ‘&ap=%2526fmt%3D18′ to both values of your movie url values in the embed block (“param value” and “embed src”) click continue reading to see the difference.

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