One last piece of cool.

I was fortunate to be able to pick up my brothers old phone; which means it is a wicked smart new phone. It’s a HTC Trinity, and lord above I have no idea why you would replace this phone.

Short of washing my socks this phone does everything; and that only because I don’t know how to make it wash them.

As always I wasn’t too sure of buying a new phone; I had spent so much time picking the old one. That when by Bro offer to sell it to me I was going to say no. But the wife said I should get it; after all she could start using my old one.

It’s like a vacation.

But with way more work. You may have noticed that I haven’t been post as much; you may have also noticed that when the sun goes down it gets dark. My only excuse (and it is an excuse) is that the new job is a hassle. Seems every project is due tomorrow and we ship the day after.

Anyway this is about to change.

Kinda.

While I will still post here (but even less) my other blog “Ground Zero Labs” is about to pick up. Big time!

See ya in the funnies.

The job I used to have.

I wanted to rant about how bad the job I used to have was, except they still owed me money. And it looked like they could go out of business any time. Well they still might (well really they are going, it’s just a question as to when) got out of business; but I have my cash!

So let’s talk about Option nOne for second. Why are they going out of business; when not to long ago they where they 3rd largest mortgage lender in the country. Well I can’t speak to the market forces and securities failure rates.

But I can talk about their complete lack of computer ability. They have proven beyond a doubt that these current ideas are false:

1) Manager who manage technical people don’t need to be technical.
2) Outsourcing saves money.
3) Use of open source software saves money.
4) Consultants can back-fill technical short comings.

If you think any of the above are true, and you are a CEO; I have a prediction for you. You’ll be out of business within a six months, a year tops. Fortunately no CEO’s read this blog, so that is kind of a safe wager.

First point. Putting someone who’s non-technical in charge of technical people shows the wisdom of putting Rosie O’Donnell in charge of a cookie factory. I’m sure the factory will turn out a lot of product; not much is going to make it to the store. Honestly, do you think someone who doesn’t understand polymorphism is going to be able to understand when the developer tells them they need to make another interface? The technical people resent it, and the non-technical people think they should make just as much as the technical people they manage.

Second point. Your out-sourcing partners are not your partners; they are your enemies. They want all your money, and want to do as little as possible to get it. This sounds just like your competitors. Your new India buddies know you can’t do the work yourself (otherwise you wouldn’t be talking to them) and they know you have little choice but keep up the pretense of paying them for work; while they keep up the pretense that they are working. They don’t want to succeed, if they do, you’ll never need to pay them again.

Third point. This falls into the rule you get what you pay for. If it’s free, you probably paid too much. Java is not free; Linux is not free, Apache is not free and it not very good. While it might look that you can get these without paying anything, once you try and do something with them; oh you’ll pay. Out-the-nose. Option nOne’s Java implementation ended up costing Millions. Some went to Sybase, and some more went to BEA.

Last point is Consultants. They are like Out-Sourcing, they don’t really want to succeed; if they do, you won’t need them anymore. They know that, and so should you. There are two thing that I loath; simply because they start the Consultant buffet; Oracle and PeopleSoft. I’ve never seen so many fancy cars as outside an Oracle workshop. They demand a lot of money, and now that all your company data is locked up in there databases; you’ll have to pay whatever they demand.

Even my pens are geek

I have two Fisher space pens. I was going to post some pictures of them; except that they are both Telescoping Pens; and they are no longer on the company’s web site. How nice is that; classic geek cool.

The reason I bring up the pens is because of an old joke that’s been running around for sometime: “The U.S. spent a million dollars to invent a pen that could write in space. The Russians took a pencil.”

Very funny. Except that I propose that the reason the U.S. made it to the moon and back (again and again and again) was that the U.S. could afford to spend a million dollars to invent a pen. Space is not cheap; you don’t cut corners when you’re going 250,000 miles without a gas station nearby.

China says they are going to the moon. No they’re not. You don’t get to go to the moon till you can blow a million dollars inventing a pen that can write upside-down.

Only a few countries can do that anymore. And a couple of people; but I don’t think Bill Gates thinks zero-gee makes him look good… Paul Allen does!

Java: The new Cobol

It comes as no surprise that I love to program. With my natural ability to misspell anything; it also come as no surprise that I like really good IDE’s (Integrated Development Environments) to help me out when I want to start using code like:

HttpWebResponse MyResponse = (HttpWebResponse)MyWebReq.GetResponse();

With so many opportunities to misspell.

When Java first came out; there were no IDE’s for it; so while I learned the language (hey I learned Modula too), and thought it was kind of cool, you couldn’t do a whole lot with it; yet. Soon there were graphic libraries out that would allow for some acceptable applications to be done. But for some reason all the IDE’s that were being created boasted that they were 100% written in Java; like that was good. To be clear this was some time ago and Java ran slow. Really slow. Go get a cup of coffee and drink it slow.

For someone who learned on a slow computer, and learned Assembly just so my programs wouldn’t be slow, this was unacceptable. So I grew up, and put my childish ways behind me, and Java too.

Fast forward a couple of years and computers a blazing away at multiple gigahertzes; ok now even Java is running fast. But what have the users done with Java in the mean time? Are there awesome transactional libraries, database connection models, super graphic integrations, imbedded scripting? No, in fact the company the run the Java standard has gone off and sued people who tried to integrate those things in. “Breaks compatibility” is the claim. Which is odd, since everyone who actually uses the language already knows it’s “write once; debug everywhere”. So now these people have gone off and developed systems that do support those requirements.

This led to the creation of the Domain Specific Language (DSL). Simply put, the environment requirements design the language to be used. Want to tie a rational database to a HTTP presentation layer? Ruby on Rails is tough to beat. How about a distributed web based transaction business model? C# is your man.

In today’s business model; everyone wants to be lean, with a short TTM. This leaves Java languishing at the bottom of the programming barrel. It’s not the fastest language, it’s not the smallest, it’s not the easiest, and it’s not even the most universal as was once proclaimed. To make it do anything of use; you have to license an array of products making it rather expensive to use.

Just like Cobol I’m sure there are millions of lines of Java out there running, and at some point in the future some IT guy will point out that they would like to turn such and such server off, but no one knows how the system works anymore, or how to upgrade the code; so they can’t. Maybe next year.

Dude, you got a job!

Yes; things worked out for the best (at least for me). I've got that fancy new job after all. A careful search of this site will reveal the name of the company. However to be fair, I already owned some of their stuff. So I'll still be able to void the warranty but now I'll have to document how I did it.

Take this job

I can hear the refrains of Willie Nelson: “Lost my job again, I can’t wait get a job again…” But yes; after getting laid off from one Mortgage Company (that I’ll refer to as Option nOne); I knew I didn’t want to get another job at a mortgage, but low-and-behold I did just that.

For the last couple of months I’ve been gainfully employed with at a second company. To be fair it’s wasn’t a mortgage company when I interviewed (or even for the first month I worked there). But they made there move into the highly charged world or mortgage. And now it’s folded, and I’m out of work… again…

But not all is lost; if everything pans out correctly, I should be re-employed in a week or so. Knock on wood. And this time; there is no way, mortgage is involed.

When I grow up.

I want to frighten the neighborhood children; I think having these might do it.

http://gizmodo.com/photogallery/frankbuchwald/

Now I just have to find a way to buy them....

The art of Christmas lights

I haven’t been able to get much work done at the Ground Zero Labs; what free time I’ve had has gone into finishing up some video games and cleaning up the Christmas decoration. And just like the art of war there are rules of engagement: If the neighbors have more lights; then avoid lights and use inflated snowmen. If the neighbors have the same amount; use multi-color. If the neighbors have nothing; buy everything that Target has in stock.

We only blew the GFI once.

But the VFD clock hardware is complete. Now I just have to house it. Got a couple of ideas how to do that; but I’ll post some pictures and you can see the tube mounting came out bigger than I would have liked.

I did pick up a new project: a scope clock. I’m not really sure where I’m going with this project. But the control board was way to easy not to do it. I was able to get a scope from my Dad; who I recalled has several spares ‘just in case’. And the Bill-Of-Material isn’t all that expensive. One interesting thing about the design; I’ve settled on using a transformer. I’ll post some pictures after I order a few more things for it.

In the absents of light.

I’m happy to to report I acquired a new toy to work on. I’ve made some Nixie clocks, but now there is something else coming out of Russia; Vacuum Florescent Displays (VFD). At some point I’m sure these were going to go into some sort of calculator.

But now; we’re subverting them for other nefarious purposes: Clocks. I’m planning on a art-deco kind case; with some stone, steel wood Frank Lloyd Wright feeling. But we’ll see how it goes. I’ll keep you posted.

Speaking of keeping up to date; I made some more progress on my mini-Nixie clock. The mounting is all finished; I have to move the AC adaptor to the back of the board; add some silicon to keep things in place and it’s done. The final touch is drilling three holes in a ¼ thick piece of glass; but if that proves too hard; I’ll just switch over to Plexiglas.

Huston, we have a problem.

Once again life snuck up on me and I’ve been very busy here at Ground Zero Labs. Sure we added to the clan; but that was back in January. That shouldn’t have stopped me from posting for two months.

Let’s see if I can get the order correct: Hurt my back (crack); 9 year anniversary, got laid off, take Management 339 Mid-term, interviewed for new job (repeat as necessary), start new job (hurray!), Thanksgiving (drive to AZ and back), put up Christmas lights, put up Christmas tree and take Management 339 final.

But with all that behind me; it’s clear sailing from now on…

Thought I’d help out.

I like Intel; really I do. But they have dropped the ball so badly the last couple of years I really don’t have any computers using their stuff anymore. Why pay for a premium that isn’t really there? AMD had much better products.

Key word there ‘had’. The new Intel Core 2 Duo is a great product; and surprisingly Intel didn’t price it out of the ballpark. So its all clear sailing now; Intel will finally crush AMD and take over the world.

Not so fast. Intel’s biggest problem is they tend to rest on their laurels. They get ahead, and then start believing their own press releases. And here is why AMD is going to kick Intel around again in a couple of months. As good as the Core 2 design is; its duel and quad designs are hacks. They just glue two (or four) CPU together across the L2 cache. While this allows you put multiple CPUs together they aren’t independently processing. And independently processing is where you get your multiple CPU speed from.

Does Intel know this; yes. Do they care? I guess not; here are two quotes from Intel’s CEO

"This is a multichip package, but so what? I think you'd be misreading the market if you think people care about the packaging,"
- Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO

“Intel's first quad-core processor, the Core2 Extreme, will be shipped in November, targeted at gamers and content creators.”
- Paul Otellini

Let me be the first to just throw this out there: Gamers are the only people on the face of the planet who care about the packaging.

AMD’s quad processor with have 4 independent 4way SMP, and quite obviously kick the heck out of the Intel version in performance. Just stay cool.

Just playing games.

I was reading another Blog, when I realized not everybody knows about MAME. (M)ulti (A)rcade (M)achine (E)mulator. And the wonders of being able to play just about any arcade game ever invented. And these are the authentic games, not a conversion. Some very dedicated people create emulators for the CPU’s and the video systems of the classic arcade machines. Then they ‘get’ the game ROMs.

Sometime the company that owns the game will allow the ROM’s to be copied; sometime not so much. Its best not ask too many questions. My collection of games is in the 100’s and about 9Gigs of storage. It’s a wonderful way to preserve these classics; and it’s free.

http://www.mame.net/

Now go play PacMan!

And the winner is

I have a new cell phone. As you might recall I was looking for a new one a couple of months ago. Well T-Mobile finally carried the model I wanted.

Pretty isn’t it? The keyboard slides in, and the screen changes orientation. Really slick. I don’t really need the built in camera; but I have found it makes taking notes really fast. Nothing says geek like taking pictures of white boards after meetings; makes me feel like and agent of C.H.O.A.S.

It also has voice recognition for calling people; you just say their name (after you’ve programmed them in) and the phone does the rest. Really is cool, as long as you don’t ask to ‘call googly-bear’ while in a sports shop.

Be smart and “Don’t Cell and Drive”

One Ring to rule them All

I don’t like wearing jewelry. That said I have to date purchased four rings: High School graduation, my wedding ring (version I and version II) and my new replacement ring as shown here:

I will provide a little history to indicate just how big this is. The only reason I purchased my high school graduation was because my sister Kathleen filled out the form. My parents were not going to attend my graduation; therefore I wasn’t. I swung around during summer to pick up my diploma.

The wedding ring is self explanatory; if anyone can figure out how to get married without a ring it would have been me; so trust me when I say you can’t. I will in the interest of full disclosure admit that I did loose my first wedding ring (to a Hyatt in Kern) and am on ring number 2. (The hotel called to tell my wife they couldn't find it before I had a chance to tell her it was lost.)

Four years ago, my wife gave me a truly wonderful wedding anniversary present ‘I didn’t have to wear my ring anymore’. So why would I go out and buy a new ring?

One word: Titanium!

Ah yeah baby! This sweet sucker will out last me, and most of the northern hemisphere.

With the zoom-zoom and the honk-honk

I recently saw two films (hey I have two baby daughters; this is a big thing), the first ‘An inconvenient truth’ and ‘Who killed the electric car?’ Both were excellent and if you find yourself with some time I would recommend trying to find a showing.

For the record I’m not a tree hugger and tend to think with my wallet.

Both movies got me thinking about electric cars. Or, more to the point; making one! I’ve always been fascinated by the idea; even as a kid I wanted my go-cart to be electric I had rebuilt a starter motor and had my eye on the car battery at the local J&J auto-supply. But my dad explained that I would only burn the motor out after a couple of minutes, so I never made my electric go-cart (but I’ve already got everything I need, in-case one of my daughters wants one…..)

So here’s the list;
Donor car $1200 (Porsche 914-1973)
DC motor $2000
DC/DC control system $2500
Mounting hardware $1500
Wiring harness $750

So for about $10K I can have a electric Porsche; 135 mile range between charges and a top speed of about 80mph.

Now here’s the rub; I know an AC system would be better.

What to do, what to do...

I've been to the mountain top

I’ve been meaning to cover a new processor for a couple of months now; and have found reason after reason for putting it off; sure some of you might point out my new daughter or that fact that my job sucks out loud. But I’ll mark it up to a predisposition for procrastination. I can be honest here, right?

Anyway it is now time at last, to give this chip some of the credit it’s due.

One of the links I have is to a company names Parallax Inc. These are the folks who’ve been building a market for their ‘Basic Stamp’ processor line. For some time now, single chip computers (called PIC’s) have been making life in our modern age possible. But they have been very problematic when it comes to programming. The ‘Basic Stamp’ removed that barrier by providing a simple language and a very intelligent compiler.

These bright folks have gone off; and designed there own processor, the ‘Propeller’ (complete with beanie cap and everything). It’s exceeding well designed and very creatively pulled off. Instead of trying to re-invent the wheel and designing some power mad super chip; they instead bundled 8 very capable processors into one package.

The Propeller is built around a very straight forward Hub and Cog design. The Hub polls that Cogs (the 8 processors) to see if they require access to shared memory and then moves onto the next cog. It you’ve every played with marshalling or semaphore issues with multi-user/processor systems you can appreciate they simple beauty here.

I have an issue with the Phase Lock Loop system and the external crystal, and would have preferred a built in high resolution digital oscillator, but this is such a minor point I wouldn't even being it up in polite company.

Should you doubt the brilliance of this design, I would point you over to Intel’s web site and take a look at their future processor designs. They are almost identical.

Go speed racer!

In keeping with my declaration that I can foretell marketing geek cool, I have provided a link to Tesla Motors. In case you happen to have a spare $80K burning a hole in your pocket, feel free to pick up one of their roadsters. I want mine in the thunder cloud grey, thank you very much!

(I’m hoping that this post get picked up, much the way the Microsoft and Apple ones did)

I want what I want

Apart from the rampant miss-spellings that this site has to offer; I also provide a vast marketing focus group (of 1) as well. It’s nice to know that someone from Apple reads this Bog as well. How else can you explain Apple decision to offer the Mighty Mouse as wireless, and blue-tooth as well?

Sure, some might argue that it was just common sense (and geeky cool), but I prefer to take the high road, and just proclaim that they read my request here.

When-ever possible I recommend being self-delusional, it can provide hours of fun.

Who reading this mess?

I was surprised to find out that someone from Microsoft is obviously reading my blog. After my post about the great stuff MS is providing for free to write games with, they come up with this contest 'out-of-the-blue'.

http://www.upgradeyourgame.com/?LOC=MS8io6xq

Coincidence? I don't think so....

OK, there is the off chance that they might have planed this as part of a marketing ploy.