Eric Martindale

There's been a lot of active discussion about the state of AOL's directory project, DMOZ. There have been many attempts to unseat the directory project from its position as the most authoritative listing resource, such as the Yahoo Directory. Many of these attempts have fallen by the wayside, as Rand Fiskin points out, but none have remained more controversial than DMOZ. More recently, Chris Crum's post on WebProNews about his lack of respect for DMOZ has stirred up a hornet's nest of DMOZ criticism, including a particular post claiming DMOZ is a waste of time.

I forwarded a lot of this on to Philip Nicolcev, known by username as "frug", who is the editor of several roleplay-oriented categories on DMOZ. He responded to me directly with a highly insightful email, and I was fortunate enough to receive his permission to share its contents.

I've been editing the pbp category at DMOZ for what... 4 years now? About that. This article is a big whiny complaint which misses the mark. They are both correct and sadly mistaken. Yes, dmoz is outdated and yes, it fails because of attitude problems, but not silly allegations of 'corruption' or people who are bitter because they didn't get listed. We don't list everything, I don't list even half of the submissions I get, and anyone who has been an administrator or an editor for a similar type of project knows better than to take these kinds of complaints seriously. One thing they say is definitely correct: Apply once carefully following their rules if you wish and then, as Will suggested, forget about them.

This is exactly the approach that should be modeled for any directory, regardless of its state or condition. When you are submitting a link to a directory, you are being offered the privilege to be listed as a resource by the owners and management of that directory. They are not obligated to list your link, let alone review it in a timely fashion--but this would be genuinely appreciated and would reflect on the directory's position as a "good" resource.

DMOZ is the primary source for Google's Directory, and you must respect the opinion of such a large and successful company. It's obvious that the idea behind an open directory like DMOZ is good, but where they fail is in execution. More on that later.

He continues:

That is what you should do. Apply once and forget about it, don't claim anybody is corrupt because whether you believe my opinion or not, there's no corruption. Nobody cares enough about dmoz anymore for it to be valuable for extortion. Don't be ridiculous. Furthermore if you were to speak to some of the senior editors you'd discover that they are pretty damn uptight, even obsessive. The problems with dmoz are, in my opinion, twofold. First off, you have the dated trashy look of the website which is a relic of the 1990's. It's not user friendly, it doesn't entice anyone to go browsing, and it hasn't adapted or added features that would help people understand the structure of the directory or find what they're looking for. The editor forums still use phpBB2, and you should see the editing panel. You wouldn't believe how dated this stuff is. Frankly it has needed an overhaul for years now.

I largely agree with him. The phpBB team deprecated the phpBB2 branch at the beginning of this year, ending support for the outdated platform. AOL would do well to do a complete overhaul of the site's design now that "Web 2.0" has come and gone (and I could reference posts all day on that) - and AOL has completely missed their opportunity to latch on and ride the wave.

Philip finishes his correspondance with the frightening truth that has been plaguing many post-Web2.0 sites and services:

The second problem, attitude, is partially the cause of the first problem. It's a stagnant atmosphere where nothing gets done and nobody gets listened to. They would rather leave a directory as a cluttered mess of garbage than risk breaking its structure by overhauling it. Fixing my category took me about two years before I had approval to restructure it, and I'm in a small niche category nobody pays much attention to. Since becoming an editor I have deleted about 60% of the outdated links listed. Had I not joined, they'd still be there cluttering things up with linkspam geocities pages from 10 years ago. So yeah, dmoz is failing, but not because of corruption or because some guy didn't get what he wanted. And, honestly, if the author of this article was applying to dmoz just to 'test how fair it was' then I'm glad they rejected him. Somehow they made the right decision because he's wasting their time.

And that's the exact problem - the DMOZ community has completely stagnated, which has resulted in the puddle of goop that the directory has become. In my personal opinion, I think that AOL could do a lot better job at community management (all reputation management aside) by setting up a more rigid structure of responsibility. The editors need to be held responsible for a timely review specified by their superiors, and there needs to be cross-checking of the editor's work by other qualified editors.

Is this another example of AOL's purchases being mismanaged and ultimately being forgotten, such as what many people claim is the case with ex-Nullsoft product WinAmp? Perhaps, but I think that remains to be seen. After all, even our favored Google took a questionable amount of time to convert phone-consolidation service GrandCentral to the new Google Voice after its 2007 acquisition. DMOZ was in fact originally a Netscape project, which then-strong AOL acquired in 1998. Since that acquisition, little has changed.

All said and done, DMOZ needs some love if it's going to survive as anything more than a relic of trust and authority in the Web 2.0 bubble. As Philip points out, it has both good and bad traits and deserves further attention, but it needs to be attention in (and from) the right direction. The questions remain; where has AOL been? What can be done about the editors (or lack thereof)? How can DMOZ be improved?

RPGChat is one of the other large roleplaying forums out there, and they've been around since about May, 2001. Since then, RPGChat has gone through many evolutions, and has expanded rapidly - they started with a forum, grew into a decent sized roleplaying chat, and finally removed the chat and went back to forums.

You'll immediately notice the large number of forums, which for most boards isn't an issue. In today's roleplaying world, RPGChat's index fits right in.

They've got four basic navigation options at the top of the page, which are images instead of text, which isn't very good for SEO. The four menu options are Home, Forums, Chat, and Rules. I gave each of them a shot, but it looks like only the "Home" and "Rules" link work.

I'm going to take a look at their code, because using images for links isn't horrible if you specify the right attributes. Let's have a glance:

<a href="http://forums.rpgchat.com/index.php"> <img src="header/but_home.jpg" border="0"> </a>

Yikes! Not only does the anchor not have a title attribute, but the image doesn't have an alt attribute! Search engines won't be able to understand the context of these links, and the flow of link juice to the two working links won't be very beneficial.

I participated on these forums for a few months as the username Alighieri, for that period, I became the single most active user in their welcome forum. I posted in several other topics, but got pretty frustrated with the limitation on the length of a post (20,000 characters).

When attempting to post a profile for one of my characters, I was immediately snubbed by the limitation. This makes well-researched posts difficult to make, specifically with the citations that must be put in place for accurate references. Ultimately, I was forced to cut out portions of my character's history to fit it into the post.

After posting for a few weeks nonstop in the Welcome Forum, I headed off to the The Arena area, where turn-based fighting is largely popular. I opened a topic with a list of the top turn based fighters, placed into a neat little image and posted right into the topic. It took a few days to get any response at all, (save for a few people who contacted me over AIM) and when I did get a response, I logged in to RPGChat to find that I had been banned for "advertising on multiple occasions", much to my surprise.

However, while my visit was cut short, I met some good friends, and had some great discussions. Unfortunately, the forum does not allow any links to external sites of any kind, and also does not allow signatures, which makes it very difficult to spread the word about the topics you start there. This isn't very good for encouraging member interaction, and makes it very difficult for momentum of any sort to be gained within the community.

After speaking with someone who had messaged me on AIM prior to my banning, I confirmed my worst fears - RPGChat is a closed community, and is not very open to outside communities or positive interaction with those communities. This is the number one concern mentioned to me about RPGChat and their future, and there is ongoing fear of the community continuing to stagnate without any growth other than direct referral.

I sent a request via the site's contact form, as listed at the bottom every page, which merely opened a new email to their support address, forums@rpgchat.com - I sent a couple questions in my email, and I identified who I was, but I haven't yet received a response. It'd be great if we could get an interview with an admin from RPGChat on the history of the site!

In terms of organic visitors, a search for pages on RPGChat has about 16,200 results. When digging through the pages, I noticed that only 477 pages were in the primary index, with the remainder in the supplemental index. That's scary!

Let's take a look at their search results:

As you can see from the above search, we can confirm that there is some duplicate content problems. However, from what we've seen - most of RPGChat's traffic is a result of direct referral. We can identify with the importance of defensible traffic, but organic traffic is also a high-quality method of driving laser-targeted traffic to your site, and it looks like RPGChat is seriously missing out on this.

RPGChat has a relatively active forum; 63,708 threads, 1,925,709 posts, and 59,352 "active" members. While that's only an average of about 30 posts per thread and only about 32 posts per user, they do have some great quality and style elements in their posts that you simply don't see in many other places in roleplaying forums these days. I think it would be a great move for them to deactivate a lot of their older and inactive members, and send out reminders to these users to come back and join in on the fun.

It also seemed like a consensus that the single best area on RPGChat was the Clans & Guilds forum, which most users simply called "C/G" for short. It looks like most other forums' version of a multiverse, where roleplay is freeform, and most action is player-driven with rules being defined by the status quo.

Lack of availability aside, RPGChat leaves a pretty strong impression, and if you're careful to follow their 500 word list of rules, you can likely make some friends and enjoy some great high-quality roleplay. The administration needs to do some overhauling if they're going to keep the community healthy, but for the time being - RPGChat makes for a great roleplaying destination.

You may also give input here:
http://occupywallst.org/forum/proposed-list-of-demands-please-help-editadd-so-th/

An awesome list of applications for Linux that is mainly for my use (when I get home tonight), but you might get some use out of it, too.

Some of the better ones are mumble and murmer, some Teamspeak and Ventrilo replacements that I've never heard of. And the list is forcing me to finally get around to using Deluge (woot).

I think I might end up doing a full reinstall of Ubuntu tonight, just because I've mucked with the system so damn much it isn't even funny. Maybe this time around, I'll get my Motorola Q, in all of its new screen goodness (I recently replaced the LCD screen), to actually charge while connected via USB to my Linux box. And, if I really wish to aim high, maybe I can get sync working!

I was putting together a "Top 10 Ways to Kill a Roleplay" list, and I figured I'd post it on the GWing Roleplay site to get everyone's input on the issue. Roleplayers there should spread the votes across all of the options, for the most part. I'll probably take the top 10 and make this top 10 list a bit more intuitive.

On another note - a friend from my childhood found me on Facebook last night, and we were talking this morning a bit. It's good to hear from her, it's been a few years. Her mother called me on Saturday, and we chatted for a short while. It's always good to stay connected. Okay, maybe not always, but this circumstance DOES apply.

Though, it doesn't quite make up for Facebook's broken note import feature.

Absolutely fascinating. This has some pretty incredible implications. At least one of the Easter Island heads has been excavated by a private research group [1], and has been discovered to have a carved body.

Were the Easter Island heads originally on much lower ground? Or were they buried by the original creators?

Easter Island is an internationally recognized World Heritage Site [2] and is also considered to be the most remote inhabited island in the world [3]. Anyone interested in #Anthropology is probably very familiar with the (887) massive stone statues that are scattered around the island, and anyone would be intrigued by the mystery behind them. It falls right in line with the incredible puzzle ancient sites like Stonehenge, the Pyramids, and Machu Picchu provide (in terms of how exactly ancient people constructed them).

What do you think happened on Easter Island?

[1]: http://www.eisp.org/3879/
[2]: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/715
[3]: http://www.portalrapanui.cl/easterisland/index.htm

Absolutely fascinating. This has some pretty incredible implications. At least one of the Easter Island heads has been excavated by a private research group [1], and has been discovered to have a carved body.

Were the Easter Island heads originally on much lower ground? Or were they buried by the original creators?

Easter Island is an internationally recognized World Heritage Site [2] and is also considered to be the most remote inhabited island in the world [3]. Anyone interested in #Anthropology is probably very familiar with the (887) massive stone statues that are scattered around the island, and anyone would be intrigued by the mystery behind them. It falls right in line with the incredible puzzle ancient sites like Stonehenge, the Pyramids, and Machu Picchu provide (in terms of how exactly ancient people constructed them).

What do you think happened on Easter Island?

[1]: http://www.eisp.org/3879/
[2]: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/715
[3]: http://www.portalrapanui.cl/easterisland/index.htm

Absolutely fascinating. This has some pretty incredible implications. At least one of the Easter Island heads has been excavated by a private research group [1], and has been discovered to have a carved body.

Were the Easter Island heads originally on much lower ground? Or were they buried by the original creators?

Easter Island is an internationally recognized World Heritage Site [2] and is also considered to be the most remote inhabited island in the world [3]. Anyone interested in #Anthropology is probably very familiar with the (887) massive stone statues that are scattered around the island, and anyone would be intrigued by the mystery behind them. It falls right in line with the incredible puzzle ancient sites like Stonehenge, the Pyramids, and Machu Picchu provide (in terms of how exactly ancient people constructed them).

What do you think happened on Easter Island?

[1]: http://www.eisp.org/3879/
[2]: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/715
[3]: http://www.portalrapanui.cl/easterisland/index.htm

Absolutely fascinating. This has some pretty incredible implications. At least one of the Easter Island heads has been excavated by a private research group [1], and has been discovered to have a carved body.

Were the Easter Island heads originally on much lower ground? Or were they buried by the original creators?

Easter Island is an internationally recognized World Heritage Site [2] and is also considered to be the most remote inhabited island in the world [3]. Anyone interested in #Anthropology is probably very familiar with the (887) massive stone statues that are scattered around the island, and anyone would be intrigued by the mystery behind them. It falls right in line with the incredible puzzle ancient sites like Stonehenge, the Pyramids, and Machu Picchu provide (in terms of how exactly ancient people constructed them).

What do you think happened on Easter Island?

[1]: http://www.eisp.org/3879/
[2]: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/715
[3]: http://www.portalrapanui.cl/easterisland/index.htm

I just found an awesome list of Open source applications for Windows, and thought I'd take the time to update.

I think I'm sick or getting sick from the weekend, which was awesome all in itself. Rode over to Ian's on Saturday, enjoyed a good night with some new friends, playing Unreal Tournament (the original, what else?) until somewhere around 3AM. Ah, good times. I woke up the next day in time to give Amber a call before she left for work. We got to gaming shortly after lunch, and for once, our ship didn't esplode! (partly because we left it behind for the majority of the game...)

Sunday we relaxed and watched football, both American and World. Poor poor Chelsea! I ended up rolling in at about 4PM, and proceeded to put together some home cooking for when Amber got off work. Unfortunately, my plans were foiled by her work schedule, and she got off at six instead of the planned five, denying us the opportunity of going to the park to eat while the sun set. We enjoyed ourselves nonetheless, and had a good cuddly evening.

Work today was a pain, though. Internet was out, and Bellsouth took until 5PM to bring us a mediocre solution. One of our major clients was having email problems, which I couldn't troubleshoot until the internet was up. Pity.

And, now I come home, GWing is having some people problems, and the GT League is bumbling along as usual. Now, about that roleplaying social reform...

As many of you know, a lot of my best friends came from an online hobby called "online roleplaying". One of the more popular forms is a type of collaborative fiction called "play by post", in which the participants alternate writing sections of the story. More succinctly; I started a roleplaying site of my own in 2005 called RolePlayGateway to give people the same opportunity I had when I was younger.

I wanted to take a moment and go over some of my favorites, for those who are reading.

RolePlayGateway: an obvious favorite. It takes a little while to find your place (if you're a more 'advanced' roleplayer), but our strength is the wide range of people that play here. Oh, and we have an awesome chat built specifically for roleplaying!

Roleplayer Guild: Run by Dan Neumann, Roleplayer Guild is as close to a sister site of RolePlayGateway as it gets. They've got a slightly different format from RolePlayGateway, letting you browse roleplays based on their "quality" level (e.g., Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced). A great place to go if you're looking to start a nice tight-knit group!

Althanas: Althanas is one of the only other large sites dedicated completely to play-by-post roleplay. I've roleplayed here for a couple years (as an anonymous account!) and they're a great group. The "Guides" sections is irreplaceable, so if you're looking to learn, this is the place to be.

Up and coming!

These sites are new or are just getting off the ground, so they're not as established as the above listings.

Roleplaygetaway: launched as a refuge from the insanity that RolePlayGateway provides, RolePlayGetaway (albeit, a confusing name) is showing a lot of promise. With a brand new roleplaying system built to track your roleplays, it is taking the same route that RolePlayGateway's fabled roleplay tab is taking. It's being run by several of my staff members and close friends, and I can attest that they know what they are doing. I hope to see more sites like this!

Fallen off my list...

These sites used to show some promise, but for some reason or another have fallen by the wayside. As such, I'm rel="nofollow"'ing their links.

AnimeLeague: AnimeLeague appears to have gone the way of AnimeMetro; that is, it has begun to focus more on Anime and conventions instead of roleplay. Sadface! Gaia Online: Gaia Online used to be a fairly decent place for play-by-post roleplay, but then it got uber popular. It too is now expanding beyond play-by-post, and the focus has been lost.

There's some discussion about how forums are or are not social media, (frankly, I don't think there's any question at all) - and it occurred to me the answer of why there is this rift in perception of forums/message boards.

Message boards haven't changed in almost 25 years. There simply hasn't been any real innovation - and that's why there's so much "real" social media out there that's exploding right now. The stuff is so radically different from traditional mediums such as forums that everyone is missing the core of what social media is: community engagement and interaction

So, here are some of the things I'd like to see in a forum, and some things that I've implemented on some of my own forums (heh, or at least planning to implement):

Trackbacks It'd be awesome to have the same functionality in a blog post that we have on Wordpress or other blog software - did I give credit to someone? Let me hit the trackback API to make sure there's a connection between the two posts in the semantic web.

A forum thread is no different than a blog post. It has a topic, a goal, and a discussion pertaining to the original post. Let's see some of the functionality we found in the current decade put to use!

Native RSS Support There's nothing worse than having to write an RSS extension for your forum, and still not have the functionality you want. Give every URL on my forum a /feed, please. This includes forums, threads, posts, users: the whole shebang.

While you're at it, tell Feedburner to support filtered feeds - a lot of my users don't want every single post. And I sure as hell don't want to burn a new feed for every forum. C'mon, let's meet somewhere in the middle.

Semantic URLs Blogging software does it, why do we still have URLs on forums that use IDs right there in the URL? What benefit does that have to the user?

Social Profiles Alright, we've got friends and foes lists on our forums, now - but where is the option to make this information public? Why aren't we displaying a users' friend list on their profile page by default? What about all their most recent posts and actions, and selected excerpts?

A community can only grow in a stifled manner if interaction between members isn't made as easy as humanly possible. Current forum software is stuck in the 90's, with an XHTML wrapper around it. Let's fix this, and soon - before we all melt.

Real Metrics and Algorithms Stop using post count as a legitimate metric. This only encourages poor post quality. Let's see the ability to easily show Flesch-Kincaid, average word count, or something similar. The amount of posts a user has is not a good valuation of their contributions.

Instead, replace these with something more community-driven. Look at Digg for example. There is a solid (questionably) algorithm in place that measures users based on what they've submitted and the reactions of other users' reaction to that content, whether it be a comment or a submission.

Maybe I'm just whining. Maybe I've got legitimate desires. What do you think?

P.S.: And good god, phpBB! Why didn't you include this stuff in your phpBB3 release?!

While marketing RolePlayGateway, one of the things we considered was the "virality" of our approach. Viral marketing is any marketing technique that induces Web sites or users to pass on a marketing message to other sites or users, creating a potentially exponential growth in the message's visibility and effect. We're going to guide you on the road to a truly viral campaign.

A successful viral push can be launched simply by following three simple rules.

1. Don't spend everything you have on a single campaign.
2. Don't rely entirely on one vehicle of viral marketing.
3. Be different from everyone else; stand out.

While we're not nearly viral enough, part of our success so far has been the evangelism of our passionate users. And there you have it, one of the most important keys to successful viral marketing:

Passion: Users who are passionate about your service, your community, or your site. They will propagate, they will evangelize, and ultimately will generate more passionate users who will do the same thing for you. Dawn Anfuso calls these members Boomers - and it is important to not ignore them.

Make it easy for your users to share. Make it hard for them NOT to share. Add a feature on your site that encourages them to send an email to their friends about the service. Add blocks where they can copy and paste code straight to their social profiles on sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Bebo. Jeanne Jennings wrote an amazing article on Optimizing the "E-mail This" Marketing Opportunity, and I'd recommend you read it and implement the things you learn from it.

Widgetize: On that note, we arrive on one of our most powerful vehicles for viral marketing: Widgets. The list of sites that you can infect with widgets are endless. From iGoogle to individual sites, widgets encourage users to put your tool on their page. Be sure to incorporate other techniques here: Include encouragement to share it. Make it easy to post elsewhere and share.

One of the items that RolePlay Gateway could utilize to great success is the concept of game trailers. Many of the games on RPGateway are text-based, and have no real graphics. However, most of these games have amazing storylines, storylines which could be utilized to hitch audiences, or at least entertain them. Flash-based videos, or trailers, with pivotal content, captivating video and audio, and viral marketing elements such as "Email this!" or "Share This", would be an amazing leap forward. Take a look at how YouTube's video player works. Such trailers could even be uploaded to social networking sites, like YouTube and Google Video, and shared to millions of users with a touch of viral marketing magic.

Juice It Up: Include your URL everywhere you go. Facebook, MySpace. Everywhere. This generates user authority, even if the site you are on has nothing at all to do with your target market. Cross sections are a beautiful thing, and even if you don't get a drop of link juice in comments, market saturation is a very important, yet delicate, part of viral marketing.

Maintain a presence on every social networking site you can sustain. Extend your campaign to all of them. Create social groups for each of these sites, and publicize them. The more targets you hit, just like investing, the less committed you are to that particular market. Your assets are distributed, and while the workload may be unfathomably difficult (keeping up with so many social networking sites sucks... that's why we have ProfileLinker), the potential for success is incredible.

Reward: Another option is to provide tangible rewards for marketing. This can be in the form of prizes, such as in a contest, or to individual users. Incentives are very powerful, and drive many users to promote where they'd be otherwise apathetic. Things can be very simple, such as giving them tokens or credits, to very expensive, such as providing real cash per referral. This is probably the most effective, albeit expensive, method of encouraging users to infect others.

Don't Stop. Don't set these actions in motion and then hope they work. Get involved. Comment on profiles. Reply to messages. Enhance your viral effect. Make it tangible. If users can see that there is a real person there, they will be a lot more enthusiastic and encouraged to participate, and your viral marketing campaign will be more successful.

Other Resources!!! Web Marketing Today has an amazing list of resource articles that are sure to help you build your campaign.

Heli skiing Eric Martindale! Bring it.... :)... definitely a bucket list item

I dont even know how to get to the bottom of the list without scrolling through all those pages. Too many to actually do.

Get the book. This list is missing a lot of really great trails. http://www.amazon.com/100-Classic-Hikes-North-Carolina/dp/1594850542

Want to follow along with the Bitcoin Development Mailing List, but avoid email? Try this subreddit by @kevinriggen:

Raleigh scored #5 on Forbes' New Tech Hot Spot list. STEM employment has grown 17.9% since 2001. I'm proud to call this place home and be a part of the entrepreneurial culture that thrives here.

I'm giving a talk next week about open-source education and @coursefork. How about that speaker list!? #HackEducation

We've just completed the largest raise in cryptofinancial history, bringing in $30M from an incredible list of investors that now includes Richard Branson, Jerry Yang, and Peter Thiel. I am so incredibly proud to be a part of the team that brought us to this point, and I simply cannot wait to show you how far we'll be going.

+Johnny Roquemore Unfortunately that date is not correct for me. )o:
I have thousands of e-mails before the date listed there. Thank you though

RT @martindale: Want to follow along with the Bitcoin Development Mailing List, but avoid email? Try this subreddit by @kevinriggen: https:

RT @martindale: Want to follow along with the Bitcoin Development Mailing List, but avoid email? Try this subreddit by @kevinriggen: https:

RT @martindale: Want to follow along with the Bitcoin Development Mailing List, but avoid email? Try this subreddit by @kevinriggen: https:

RT @martindale: Want to follow along with the Bitcoin Development Mailing List, but avoid email? Try this subreddit by @kevinriggen: https:

RT @martindale: Want to follow along with the Bitcoin Development Mailing List, but avoid email? Try this subreddit by @kevinriggen: https:

Google Reader is updating their interface at this very moment. Is it possible that they felt threatened by the most recent Bloglines updates?I encountered this when browsing late night feeds - a very weird feed showed up in my subscription list, and my feeds began to break.

read more | digg story

RT @martindale: I'm giving a talk next week about open-source education and @coursefork. How about that speaker list!? #HackEducation http:

RT @martindale: I'm giving a talk next week about open-source education and @coursefork. How about that speaker list!? #HackEducation http:

RT @martindale: I'm giving a talk next week about open-source education and @coursefork. How about that speaker list!? #HackEducation http:

RT @martindale: I'm giving a talk next week about open-source education and @coursefork. How about that speaker list!? #HackEducation http:

RT @martindale: I'm giving a talk next week about open-source education and @coursefork. How about that speaker list!? #HackEducation http:

RT @martindale: I'm giving a talk next week about open-source education and @coursefork. How about that speaker list!? #HackEducation http:

There's been a lot of talk about how Squidoo is getting punished because of how they are getting used by spammers. The idea there was to go in, create something called a "lense" that is relevant to something about your niche, and then do your marketing thing there.

Well, I just ran into "a new service from Amazon. It appears to let you create your own list and present it to the social community. I'm definitely thinking about using it before the Googledance makes it another cesspool.

I didn't do my Ubuntu reload yet, either.

+AmyLynn Arrington You should be able to, if it doesn't come standard. I myself haven't really learned python but it's on my list. So thanks +Akshay Bist for reminding me of the resources available. From what I can tell the reasoning is that python is powerful yet has a low learning curve for entry. I can't imagine anything being easier to learn than Perl but I'll have to save that judgement for when I actually learn it.

I've been working for an industrial company that's still struggling with the very idea of open-source, so unfortunately there's nothing on github I can point a potential employer at. I guess in theory I ought to be doing something on the side just for that reason, but after writing code all week long, it's not exactly high on the list of priorities in my free time. :-)

100% agree with the sentiment though -- résumés are almost worthless for Software Engineers. Once in a while I can tell that someone's not completely inept, based on the specific way they describe their current/past work on a CV. But even then, it's hardly worth the time it takes to sift through the pile, vs. just bringing people in to talk for a bit.

A few lines of code are worth a thousand words. HR at large companies tends to get bogged down with the specifics of which languages/technologies they know, but that's missing the point entirely. If you can just have someone design a small system in pseudocode that solves some simple problem, the orders-of-magnitude difference in talent between individual programmers becomes obvious.

If you're trying to find what tables in your MySQL deployment are consuming the most amount of space, you can use the following query to find this information directly from the information schema.

SELECT CONCAT(table_schema, '.', table_name), CONCAT(ROUND(table_rows / 1000000, 2), 'M') rows, CONCAT(ROUND(data_length / ( 1024 1024 1024 ), 2), 'G') DATA, CONCAT(ROUND(index_length / ( 1024 1024 1024 ), 2), 'G') idx, CONCAT(ROUND(( data_length + index_length ) / ( 1024 1024 1024 ), 2), 'G') total_size, ROUND(index_length / data_length, 2) idxfrac, engine FROM information_schema.TABLES ORDER BY data_length + index_length DESC LIMIT 25;

You'll get a list of the top 25 tables by total size (index size + data size), how many rows they have, and the engine they are using to be stored. Being able to see what engine is being used is especially helpful when running MySQL Cluster.

Here's my list of "top topics" according to +Mohamed Mansour's Stream Plus, which uses a distance and grouping algorithm to analyze your stream for public posts, and determine what they are about. Pretty svelte results!

+Jake McCuistion, +Carmelyne Thompson, and I helped him build this almost immediately after the Google+ API was released -- as far as I can tell, it was the first public application built on top of it. :)

What does your "top topics" look like? What do you think this algorithm accurately conveys? Share!

Link to app: http://stream-plus.appspot.com

Here's my list of "top topics" according to +Mohamed Mansour's Stream Plus, which uses a distance and grouping algorithm to analyze your stream for public posts, and determine what they are about. Pretty svelte results!

+Jake McCuistion, +Carmelyne Thompson, and I helped him build this almost immediately after the Google+ API was released -- as far as I can tell, it was the first public application built on top of it. :)

What does your "top topics" look like? What do you think this algorithm accurately conveys? Share!

Link to app: http://stream-plus.appspot.com

Here's my list of "top topics" according to +Mohamed Mansour's Stream Plus, which uses a distance and grouping algorithm to analyze your stream for public posts, and determine what they are about. Pretty svelte results!

+Jake McCuistion, +Carmelyne Thompson, and I helped him build this almost immediately after the Google+ API was released -- as far as I can tell, it was the first public application built on top of it. :)

What does your "top topics" look like? What do you think this algorithm accurately conveys? Share!

Link to app: http://stream-plus.appspot.com

Here's my list of "top topics" according to +Mohamed Mansour's Stream Plus, which uses a distance and grouping algorithm to analyze your stream for public posts, and determine what they are about. Pretty svelte results!

+Jake McCuistion, +Carmelyne Thompson, and I helped him build this almost immediately after the Google+ API was released -- as far as I can tell, it was the first public application built on top of it. :)

What does your "top topics" look like? What do you think this algorithm accurately conveys? Share!

Link to app: http://stream-plus.appspot.com

SXSW Hangout in Real Life countdown

The next big +HIRL is coming closer and more and more people are getting excited about that. +Superdave Houdini Meralus is working hard on the lists and is setting up some stuff for us all. Get ready for this big event this March

Austin SXSW PhotoWalk
About 300 people have RSVPed!
- Details and RSVP here: http://goo.gl/LkaKO (no invite? click goo.gl/RoxQg )

Hangout In Real Life - 3 Steps to get involved
☞ Sign up using the form [ http://goo.gl/TCI8Z ]
☞ View the applicants [ http://goo.gl/8UiW7 ]
☞ Sit and wait as we get the plans underway!

#SXSW #SXG + #HIRL

SXSW Hangout in Real Life countdown

The next big +HIRL is coming closer and more and more people are getting excited about that. +Superdave Houdini Meralus is working hard on the lists and is setting up some stuff for us all. Get ready for this big event this March

Austin SXSW PhotoWalk
About 300 people have RSVPed!
- Details and RSVP here: http://goo.gl/LkaKO (no invite? click goo.gl/RoxQg )

Hangout In Real Life - 3 Steps to get involved
☞ Sign up using the form [ http://goo.gl/TCI8Z ]
☞ View the applicants [ http://goo.gl/8UiW7 ]
☞ Sit and wait as we get the plans underway!

#SXSW #SXG + #HIRL

SXSW Hangout in Real Life countdown

The next big +HIRL is coming closer and more and more people are getting excited about that. +Superdave Houdini Meralus is working hard on the lists and is setting up some stuff for us all. Get ready for this big event this March

Austin SXSW PhotoWalk
About 300 people have RSVPed!
- Details and RSVP here: http://goo.gl/LkaKO (no invite? click goo.gl/RoxQg )

Hangout In Real Life - 3 Steps to get involved
☞ Sign up using the form [ http://goo.gl/TCI8Z ]
☞ View the applicants [ http://goo.gl/8UiW7 ]
☞ Sit and wait as we get the plans underway!

#SXSW #SXG + #HIRL

SXSW Hangout in Real Life countdown

The next big +HIRL is coming closer and more and more people are getting excited about that. +Superdave Houdini Meralus is working hard on the lists and is setting up some stuff for us all. Get ready for this big event this March

Austin SXSW PhotoWalk
About 300 people have RSVPed!
- Details and RSVP here: http://goo.gl/LkaKO (no invite? click goo.gl/RoxQg )

Hangout In Real Life - 3 Steps to get involved
☞ Sign up using the form [ http://goo.gl/TCI8Z ]
☞ View the applicants [ http://goo.gl/8UiW7 ]
☞ Sit and wait as we get the plans underway!

#SXSW #SXG + #HIRL

I'm so pleased that +Coursefork made +Opensource.com's list of the top 10 open-source projects for 2013... this puts us alongside +Docker and +OpenStack, a true honor in my book.

If you haven't heard what the team has been working on, Coursefork is building an open-source collaboration tool for educators.  In the same way software creators can re-use open-source resources to get ahead in the development cycle, we want to enable teachers to re-use materials and improvements thereof to allow for the accretion of teaching techniques in place of continual re-invention.

“We're creating the pull request for courses, and the process of getting there means creating the tools necessary to support the community of a new open future for education.”

Learn more in this interview on OpenSource.com: http://opensource.com/education/13/9/coursefork-education-tool

Coursefork Among Top 10 Open Source Projects of 2013
I'm so pleased that +Coursefork made +Opensource.com's list of the top 10 open-source projects for 2013... this puts us alongside +Docker and +OpenStack, a true honor in my book.

If you haven't heard what the team has been working on, Coursefork is building an open-source collaboration tool for educators.  In the same way software creators can re-use open-source resources to get ahead in the development cycle, we want to enable teachers to re-use materials and improvements thereof to allow for the accretion of teaching techniques in place of continual re-invention.

“We're creating the pull request for courses, and the process of getting there means creating the tools necessary to support the community of a new open future for education.”

Learn more in this interview on OpenSource.com: http://opensource.com/education/13/9/coursefork-education-tool

Coursefork Among Top 10 Open Source Projects of 2013
I'm so pleased that +Coursefork made +Opensource.com's list of the top 10 open-source projects for 2013... this puts us alongside +Docker and +OpenStack, a true honor in my book.

If you haven't heard what the team has been working on, Coursefork is building an open-source collaboration tool for educators.  In the same way software creators can re-use open-source resources to get ahead in the development cycle, we want to enable teachers to re-use materials and improvements thereof to allow for the accretion of teaching techniques in place of continual re-invention.

“We're creating the pull request for courses, and the process of getting there means creating the tools necessary to support the community of a new open future for education.”

Learn more in this interview on OpenSource.com: http://opensource.com/education/13/9/coursefork-education-tool

Jayme and I have decided to determine which one of us is the best at playing games.  We're in the process of choosing the games to be played to determine the best of the best.  (Or atleast between us two.)  We're trying to get an equal amount of games on both the console and the PC, since he's a console gamer, and I'm a PC gamer.  The winner of this will get bragging rights an' all that, but I think we'll need to write an agreement of some sort stating that the winner is final, no bitching about how the choices of games are sucky, and how lag killed you, and that when entering, you agree that it is FINAL.  So yeah.  Here's what we have so far, and by no means is this list final:

FPS (Console):  Halo 2 (XBOX)
RTS (PC): Starcraft w/ Expansion

Simulation (PC): Mechwarrior 4:Mercenaries w/ MekTek's MekPak 3

We'll see.

--
Eric Martindale
IT Professional
Admin of GWing.net

Coursefork Among Top 10 Open Source Projects of 2013
I'm so pleased that +Coursefork made +Opensource.com's list of the top 10 open-source projects for 2013... this puts us alongside +Docker and +OpenStack, a true honor in my book.

If you haven't heard what the team has been working on, Coursefork is building an open-source collaboration tool for educators.  In the same way software creators can re-use open-source resources to get ahead in the development cycle, we want to enable teachers to re-use materials and improvements thereof to allow for the accretion of teaching techniques in place of continual re-invention.

“We're creating the pull request for courses, and the process of getting there means creating the tools necessary to support the community of a new open future for education.”

Learn more in this interview on OpenSource.com: http://opensource.com/education/13/9/coursefork-education-tool

I've been in the market for my dream phone for almost a year now. Products have been released left and right, but none of them seem to have the functionality that I am desiring. Okay, I admit - "phone" is a bit misleading. What I'm really looking for is a smartphone... no, not a smartphone, a digital companion.

Things I'm looking for:

• Phone


• Camera


• Media Player


• Freedom

Phone
I want a mobile phone with what has become industry standards, including the dual-mode functionality of GSM and WiFi connections. I should be able to take this phone to any service provider, and get service using this device, keeping both my number and my contacts.

Camera
I want a decent camera that gets decent lighting. While a 2 megapixel camera is about the range I'm looking for, most important is the quality of the resulting pictures. The functionality of a modern-day camera should be available, including light temperature and balance. I should be able to record video using this, as well.

Media Player
I should be able to play any format of media on this device as I can play using my home Linux box. OGG, MP3, MPEG, AVI...

Freedom
I wish to be able to install software freely, from wherever I may choose. If I choose to install emulators and play me some NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis games, I should be able to do this freely, and have the necessary hardware resources to do this. I want to be able to make changes to my device's software at any point in time. I should be able to sync my calendar, to do list, and contacts with my choice of repositories.


I'll grow and review this as necessary. Until then, the Apple iPhone looks bitterly disgusting, while the Motorola Q's use of Windows continues to push me away.

I've always loved Eve Online. It's a space MMO, with ridiculous levels of immersion. They tout that it's the world's largest game universe, and let me tell you - it's absolutely huge.

One of our new members has posted her intentions to work on an Eve Online Roleplaying Journal. I think this is an incredibly awesome idea. It's not new, I've seen character journals before, but it just seems to fit in with Eve's extensive world and role playing experience.

Character journaling is a great way to extend the world of a game and add more depth to both the character and the plot. Be careful that you don't fall victim to the inactivity that often plagues real journaling! Stick to it, and you'll reap the benefits of fleshing out your character and having a solid history of the thought processes involved.

Be sure to check out Emywn's Journal from Eve Online Roleplaying. It looks like it's going to be something I'm going to have to follow using my trusty Google RSS Reader. Good luck, Kethro - and thanks for the idea!

P.S.: Google Reader is an amazing tool that lets you follow your favorite sites and their content without ever checking the page. You can check out my shared items list to see what sort of things I follow, but check out the official Google Reader page for more information.

I'm a pretty heavy feedreader, with about 164 subscriptions. Over the last 30 days, I've read 8,032 items, starred 9 items, shared 20 items, and emailed 2 items. Of course... I really enjoy a good number of things that I read - and I want to share these items with everyone.

Then there's the question about content-theft. Some bloggers like to take RSS feeds and republish them on their own site, earning revenue from the content, and there's a huge backlash from the original authors.

What I'd like to do is publish my shared items feed here on my blog, without changing anything in the original article. I'll have to play around with tagging and the like, and I'll have to decide on what plugin to use exactly. However, will I get any backlash from the authors? Is this appropriate?

(There's supposed to be a list of shared items here... but apparently it isn't working.)

Now, keep in mind that each of them would most likely get their own post, with all of the original links intact. I'd be pulling the RSS feed from my Google Reader account (if I could link to my profile, that'd be great - then people could even "Add Eric as a Friend" and subscribe to my shared items. Alas - Google doesn't make it that easy), and letting people read and see it here.

What do you think? Blog authors who I frequently share from, I'd really appreciate your opinion, or even suggestions on alternatives. Google Trends says my most shared items are from Lifehacker (a getting things done blog) - so YOUR comments would be especially helpful. ;) Let me know!

Remote Desktop-ing from work to my personal computer at the house today... and there I was, multitasking AGAIN... Photoshop and Dreamweaver both open... and I was DRAWING with RDP. Well, so Photoshop decides to lock EVERYTHING up. So, I restart the computer and open Remote Desktop again. I connect to my computer, I log in... and KAZZAM!!!!!111one!

There's everything running perfectly just as it was. I was happy. IPG!

I'm tired as hell now, too. We ended up doing like... 400 jumping jacks... and 100 kicks of each type. I'm tired as fook. Oh, and for those that don't understand what I'm talking about, I take Isshin-ryu Karate. Since I'm too tired to list my other experience in martial arts, I think I'm going to lay down.

Readygo.

OR NOT!

Our car decided not to start. Hell, it wasn't even turning. I kicked it. It turned.

You see, certain things deserve a good kick in the face sometimes. Of course, I'd never do that to a person. Unless they did something wrong. That's human nature, though.... ANYWAY. Before I trail off into philosophy, I'll continue on my previous subject. Things such as cars and the occasional computer deserve a good kick. Not just a love tap, but not a decapitation, either. I mean, have you ever build a quantum particle accelerator that just randomly stopped working until you kicked it out of frustation, at which point it sends 300W of microwave energy into your stomach?

Kicking something isn't always the solution, though. There I was using Windows, and it decided to choke and DIE! DIE! DIE! I digress. It was loading something, probably explorer.exe ... and I decided to stroke it. Stroking my machine isn't exactly conventional, but of course, it suddenly worked. Ever since, I've been extremely superstitious about the way I touch my machine. One wrong bump, and it gets irrated at me, and starts shooting sparks everywhere. But a little scratch on the top of the case and it's all good. It works like a charm, let me tell you. Your computer will be cooking popcorn and making your bed in no time.

Speaking of your computer popping teh popcorn, has anyone talked to HAL on GWing lately? Is it just me, or is Chrono trying to get HAL to grow a body and assassinate me? For real? He's getting thoroughly viscious. I've already started a topic on GWing about it, and I guess it'll evolve with time. http://gwing.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=539

Readyslowgo.

--
Eric Martindale
IT Professional
Admin of GWing.net

Open Source ALL the Things!
I'll be speaking next week at +The Research Triangle Park about #OpenSource , #education , and +Coursefork.  I'm extremely excited (and humbled!) to be a part of an event that includes speakers from +Red Hat and +IBM, especially to speak on a topic that I'm so passionate about. See the full speaker list at the official site!

I hope to see you there. :)

About the Event
Open source. It's faster, cleaner, and more accurate than traditional methodologies -- and it's the culture the Triangle is fast-becoming known for. There's a reason that Red Hat, the first billion-dollar open source company, has built its headquarters here.

For September's “RTP 180," we're celebrating our region's fondness for open source with a speaker series that pulls from our three founding universities (NC State, Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill), companies and communities. On September 17, we hope you will join us from 6:00-7:30, at RTP’s headquarters (12 Davis Drive, Durham, NC), for "RTP 180: Open Source All the Things.”

Our doors open at 5:00 so you can stop in right after work to grab a snack; a reception will follow after the event. We hear there will be tacos and free beer.

#HackEducation   #RTP180   #Raleigh   #Durham  

People's fonts in messengers.  What the hell?

I'm using Gaim, a program that allows me full control over any messenger I use, and keeps them all within the same window.  (AIM, MSN... all in one buddy list, plus all the messages can come in the same window, tabbed. =D  )  I've used a feature within Gaim to ignore people's font sizes, because it's annoying to read a size 6 font on even something like 1024 x 768 resolution, let alone anything above that.  So here comes this message, in a nice loopy font that makes me scoot so damned close to the monitor that I can actually see the pixels.  That's fine, I can deal with it.   But then as I cross the distance from my normal resting position in my chair to about 12 inches from the monitor, I notice that the text is written in a light grey color on a white background.  Ugh, what is this crap?  Pick on Eric day?

Oh no, wait... I get it.  It's all part of this "individuality" thing.  You know, when people are referred to as things like "xXx  PWRLVL  xXx"  and  "§Φ¶ђỉ€".  And their profiles say things like " wishing upon a star, i wished for a happy ending<3 ".  What kind of individual are you when you can be grouped with everyone else who does these 'emo' and 'punk' and 'jock' and 'rocker' and 'metal' things.  I guess you are ALL now considered IM culture whores.  Every single one of you who habitually check profiles, update their myspaces, have myspaces, and block people for a second time (or more) on a regular basis... are IM culture whores.  All of you.

Sure, it's all good when you disregard your shift key to actually capitalize things...  but it's bad when you leave CAPS LOCK ON AND YOU TYPE LIKE THIS.  It's even worse  when u type lik this and decide 2 substitute things so u dont hav 2 type so much.  At the very least, learn to type in proper English, you morons.

--
Eric Martindale
IT Professional
Admin of GWing.net

My list of entrepreneurial shortcomings includes Mirascape, which aspired to be a ubiquitous augmented reality (AR) operating system for the real world. The problems we were solving (and our packaged solution) would have been the backbone for all of the [imagined] technology you see in this Samsung promo video for a new tech they're excited about, transparent and flexible OLED displays. [1]

If you're not familiar with augmented reality; it is the visual overlay of otherwise hidden information on the real world, as you observe it.

While you can ogle over ostentatious technologies like the embedded-display contact lenses the University of Washington is so proud of [2], it's exciting to see companies like TDK [3] and Laster Technologies [4] bring these kinds of stepping stone technology to bear. We can all download and install the awkward and barely applicable consumer-level AR applications on our smartphones ([5], [6], and [7]), but they will all remain novelty applications until we see major innovation in the display space.

One of the more practical examples I've seen of augmented reality in the real world is WordLens [8] (sadly only available for iOS), which provides instantaneous video translation through your device. It's not hard to imagine a pair of Oakley glasses with this display technology built-in, providing you with always-on translation while in an unfamiliar foreign location. Or perhaps even displaying your friend's tweet as a speech bubble above their head for a few seconds -- imagine if it were built right, how amazing it could be.

I genuinely hope to see more of this transparent display technology built in to more consumer-level products, and eyewear in particular. We need a lot more developers playing with the practical applications of augmented reality, and not just displaying compass-aligned markers over a geotagged Wikipedia article or Flickr photo. The high-power hardware necessary to do real-time computer vision processing is coming, and the applied software world needs to be ready for it.

[1]: Amazing Screen Technology : Samsung Flexible AMOLED
[2]: http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/augmented-reality-in-a-contact-lens/
[3]: http://www.oled-info.com/tdk-starts-mass-production-transparent-24-qvga-pmoleds
[4]: http://www.laster.fr/produits/promobiledisplay/
[5]: http://www.layar.com/
[6]: http://www.wikitude.com/
[7]: http://www.junaio.com/
[8]: http://questvisual.com/

My list of entrepreneurial shortcomings includes Mirascape, which aspired to be a ubiquitous augmented reality (AR) operating system for the real world. The problems we were solving (and our packaged solution) would have been the backbone for all of the [imagined] technology you see in this Samsung promo video for a new tech they're excited about, transparent and flexible OLED displays. [1]

If you're not familiar with augmented reality; it is the visual overlay of otherwise hidden information on the real world, as you observe it.

While you can ogle over ostentatious technologies like the embedded-display contact lenses the University of Washington is so proud of [2], it's exciting to see companies like TDK [3] and Laster Technologies [4] bring these kinds of stepping stone technology to bear. We can all download and install the awkward and barely applicable consumer-level AR applications on our smartphones ([5], [6], and [7]), but they will all remain novelty applications until we see major innovation in the display space.

One of the more practical examples I've seen of augmented reality in the real world is WordLens [8] (sadly only available for iOS), which provides instantaneous video translation through your device. It's not hard to imagine a pair of Oakley glasses with this display technology built-in, providing you with always-on translation while in an unfamiliar foreign location. Or perhaps even displaying your friend's tweet as a speech bubble above their head for a few seconds -- imagine if it were built right, how amazing it could be.

I genuinely hope to see more of this transparent display technology built in to more consumer-level products, and eyewear in particular. We need a lot more developers playing with the practical applications of augmented reality, and not just displaying compass-aligned markers over a geotagged Wikipedia article or Flickr photo. The high-power hardware necessary to do real-time computer vision processing is coming, and the applied software world needs to be ready for it.

[1]: Amazing Screen Technology : Samsung Flexible AMOLED
[2]: http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/augmented-reality-in-a-contact-lens/
[3]: http://www.oled-info.com/tdk-starts-mass-production-transparent-24-qvga-pmoleds
[4]: http://www.laster.fr/produits/promobiledisplay/
[5]: http://www.layar.com/
[6]: http://www.wikitude.com/
[7]: http://www.junaio.com/
[8]: http://questvisual.com/

My list of entrepreneurial shortcomings includes Mirascape, which aspired to be a ubiquitous augmented reality (AR) operating system for the real world. The problems we were solving (and our packaged solution) would have been the backbone for all of the [imagined] technology you see in this Samsung promo video for a new tech they're excited about, transparent and flexible OLED displays. [1]

If you're not familiar with augmented reality; it is the visual overlay of otherwise hidden information on the real world, as you observe it.

While you can ogle over ostentatious technologies like the embedded-display contact lenses the University of Washington is so proud of [2], it's exciting to see companies like TDK [3] and Laster Technologies [4] bring these kinds of stepping stone technology to bear. We can all download and install the awkward and barely applicable consumer-level AR applications on our smartphones ([5], [6], and [7]), but they will all remain novelty applications until we see major innovation in the display space.

One of the more practical examples I've seen of augmented reality in the real world is WordLens [8] (sadly only available for iOS), which provides instantaneous video translation through your device. It's not hard to imagine a pair of Oakley glasses with this display technology built-in, providing you with always-on translation while in an unfamiliar foreign location. Or perhaps even displaying your friend's tweet as a speech bubble above their head for a few seconds -- imagine if it were built right, how amazing it could be.

I genuinely hope to see more of this transparent display technology built in to more consumer-level products, and eyewear in particular. We need a lot more developers playing with the practical applications of augmented reality, and not just displaying compass-aligned markers over a geotagged Wikipedia article or Flickr photo. The high-power hardware necessary to do real-time computer vision processing is coming, and the applied software world needs to be ready for it.

[1]: Amazing Screen Technology : Samsung Flexible AMOLED
[2]: http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/augmented-reality-in-a-contact-lens/
[3]: http://www.oled-info.com/tdk-starts-mass-production-transparent-24-qvga-pmoleds
[4]: http://www.laster.fr/produits/promobiledisplay/
[5]: http://www.layar.com/
[6]: http://www.wikitude.com/
[7]: http://www.junaio.com/
[8]: http://questvisual.com/

This is it, folks. The be all end all of weight managment, fitness watching, and healthy living solutions. Thanks to Leo at ZenHabits for highlighting this amazing diet. It's simplistic, and it's easy to follow. You can do this on any budget, and you can do this without going out of your way.

Dieting, you say? It's a lifestyle, not a food plan.

What do I mean when I say this? I mean that your diet is what you're eating right now - it's not what you're eating tomorrow, and it isn't what you didn't eat today. It is what waits for you at your lunch break, and it is where you're going for dinner.

Okay, so you're ready? Here it is.

The Zen Diet

1. Eat when you're lightly hungry. Not when you're ravenous. That means eating every 3-4 hours, and paying more attention to your hunger. If you're getting hungry, eat. Action steps: plan meals every 3-4 hours, be more aware of your hunger, pack snacks or meals for on the road.


2. Eat light foods. Nothing too heavy, except cheat meals. Lots of fruits and veggies, whole grains, beans and nuts. Fresh food much better than processed. Action steps: make a list of healthy meals and snacks with real, whole foods. Stuff you like that's healthy. Turn them into meal plans — several days worth of meals and snacks. The quicker it rots, the healthier it is.


3. Eat lightly and slowly. Savor the food. Don't cram it down. Eating slowly will help you not to get overfull, and will help you enjoy your food more.


4. Eat until you're lightly full. Not stuffed. Stop before you're really full, and wait 10 minutes to see if you're really still hungry.

You can change it, you can adapt to it, and you can adjust it to meet your needs - your diet determines what you are - we are living beings, and we consume sustenance and we expel waste. Our bodies require nourishment and replenishment in various forms - fats, carbohydrates, and proteins - and we reconstitute our living flesh with what we consume. This is your diet.

Do it right, and do it well. Build your lifestyle so that it isn't time consuming to manage your diet - plan ahead and be prepared. Being careless isn't the nature of being carefree. Think about what you're eating, and consider what preparations you need to make to establish a healthy, sustainable, and adequate lifestyle.

We are what we eat, after all.

My list of entrepreneurial shortcomings includes Mirascape, which aspired to be a ubiquitous augmented reality (AR) operating system for the real world. The problems we were solving (and our packaged solution) would have been the backbone for all of the [imagined] technology you see in this Samsung promo video for a new tech they're excited about, transparent and flexible OLED displays. [1]

If you're not familiar with augmented reality; it is the visual overlay of otherwise hidden information on the real world, as you observe it.

While you can ogle over ostentatious technologies like the embedded-display contact lenses the University of Washington is so proud of [2], it's exciting to see companies like TDK [3] and Laster Technologies [4] bring these kinds of stepping stone technology to bear. We can all download and install the awkward and barely applicable consumer-level AR applications on our smartphones ([5], [6], and [7]), but they will all remain novelty applications until we see major innovation in the display space.

One of the more practical examples I've seen of augmented reality in the real world is WordLens [8] (sadly only available for iOS), which provides instantaneous video translation through your device. It's not hard to imagine a pair of Oakley glasses with this display technology built-in, providing you with always-on translation while in an unfamiliar foreign location. Or perhaps even displaying your friend's tweet as a speech bubble above their head for a few seconds -- imagine if it were built right, how amazing it could be.

I genuinely hope to see more of this transparent display technology built in to more consumer-level products, and eyewear in particular. We need a lot more developers playing with the practical applications of augmented reality, and not just displaying compass-aligned markers over a geotagged Wikipedia article or Flickr photo. The high-power hardware necessary to do real-time computer vision processing is coming, and the applied software world needs to be ready for it.

[1]: Amazing Screen Technology : Samsung Flexible AMOLED
[2]: http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/augmented-reality-in-a-contact-lens/
[3]: http://www.oled-info.com/tdk-starts-mass-production-transparent-24-qvga-pmoleds
[4]: http://www.laster.fr/produits/promobiledisplay/
[5]: http://www.layar.com/
[6]: http://www.wikitude.com/
[7]: http://www.junaio.com/
[8]: http://questvisual.com/

I often get asked for my Skype address, sometimes in relation to business or casual conversation. I politely decline with some degree of hand-waving about my reasons, and suggest an alternative form of communication (typically either Google Talk or Google Hangouts, depending on the context—both are built right in to Gmail!). I'd like to outline some of the reasons why I've made the decision to avoid Skype, primarily so I have something to link to when someone asks me about it.

First and foremost, we don't really know what Skype actually does. The binary (the actual program you run on your computer) is obfuscated, so attempts at disassembling it [PDF] to verify some of its strange behavior and the information it is transmitting have so far come up with very little. This is an issue, because Skype produces encrypted traffic even when you are not actively using Skype. This means we can only speculate on what information Skype is collecting about you after you've so graciously chosen to install it, and perhaps more importantly who it is sending that information to.

Quoting Salman Baset:

When a Skype client is not in a call and is running on a machine with public IP address, it has on the average 4-8 active TCP connections and atleast one UDP connection.

While connecting to external IP addresses is normal for a server/client architecture and necessary for receiving notifications, the volume of traffic and number of connections is concerning, considering the compounding issues between Skype's peer-to-peer architecture [PDF] and the "reasonable level of detection accuracy" in snooping on voice calls in Skype [PDF], despite the [purportedly] encrypted nature of the Skype protocol.

Speaking in general terms, Skype is "black box" software which has undergone no public review despite very concerning observed behavior. When new Skype malware (like Skype IMBot, of which an analysis is available, or the more recent Skype account hijacking) is released, there are very few options to protect ourselves if we've got Skype installed. On Linux, tools like AppArmor and TOMOYO exist, but without the ability to easily view the source and understand the attack (per perhaps even fix it proactively, before it occurs) we are at the mercy of Skype's new maintainers to provide a timely resolution in a reactive approach.

If you use a proprietary program or somebody else's web server, you're defenceless. You're putty in the hands of whoever developed that software.

In conclusion, while Skype may be convenient, it presents a series of questions that must be asked and implications to be considered before choosing it over other chat, VoIP, and video chat solutions. I can only hope that more people consider these things before doing so.