karlo.org

Flickr's Virtuous Circle

2010-03-16T23:07:16Z

Tilt-shift Cathedral, Granada, Spain, originally uploaded by karlo.

It’s amazing how on Flickr a particular photo, if given extra attention, can end up in this virtuous circle where all of the attention, comments and people saving it as a “favorite” means it shows up higher in search results for other people, leading them to comment on it, favorite it, etc. This shot is not one of my favorites, but it happened to be picked a few weeks ago as one of many shots on the Flickr corporate blog. That actually didn’t result in that many immediate views, but it did kick off a rising cycle that is still going on, with almost 200 people designating the photo a favorite.

(And to be honest, I still don’t see the great appeal myself, even though I took it. I like it - I have a framed one on my wall - but I don’t think it’s an amazing photo per se and if it wasn’t a memento of a trip I doubt I would have printed it.)

Waffles Versailles

2010-02-27T22:36:16Z

Waffles Versailles, originally uploaded by karlo.

I wandered around the Grove Farmer’s Market this morning a bit and got some breakfast. It was a little less a farmer’s market than a food mall, but they did have some damn good strawberry waffles at the French Crepe place.

Allison Parris Fall / Winter 2010 Show

2010-02-16T19:33:29Z

AP Show 086, originally uploaded by karlo.

Today’s show was the company’s third, featuring the Fall / Winter 2010 line. I’ve posted a few snapshots on Flickr from the event, and a slideshow below.

The snapshots are from my Panasonic GF-1, shooting without flash (I had one but decided it was just blowing out the ambient too much.) It was kind of dark at my end of the runway - I was shooting ISO 400, F3.2, 1/100 and getting some motion blur. Overall pretty happy with the camera’s performance but maybe next time I’d try a slightly wider aperture if it got me to 1/150 or 1/200.

Panasonic GF1 Field Test: 16 Days in the Himalayas.

2009-12-18T02:09:49Z

“The GF1 is a near perfect travel camera.”

Craig Mod’s fantastic travelogue / photo-essay / camera review. Earlier this year I wrote why I suspect I’m not going to travel with an SLR any more; getting this camera would just seal the deal.

Slate: Dubai to All That

2009-12-04T19:20:54Z

One of my photos from a trip to Vegas earlier this year has been featured by Slate in their slideshow Dubai to All That: A gallery of the trophy assets and projects that sank Dubai’s ship. It’s number 2, MGM Mirage City Center — I’m happy to get a credit, though a link would have been nice.

"Please design a logo for me. With pie charts. For free."

2009-11-27T17:40:00Z

“The project I am working on will be more successful than twitter within a year. When I sell the project for 40 million dollars I will ignore any emails from you begging to be a part of it and will send you a postcard from my yaght (sic). Ciao.”

This piece is brilliant. There are far too many “entrepreneurs” out there that confuse “being enterprising” with “not paying people for their work.” This page made me laugh out loud knowing how many folks (including myself) have had similar experiences when interacting with self-styled Internet entrepreneurs who are completely dependent on others for execution — but can’t afford to pay for it.

To paraphrase the author: Yes. I can write a web site for you in a weekend. But I spent 15 years working on web projects so that I can do that. If you’re not going to pay me to do it, why shouldn’t I just spend the weekend building a site for myself, or learning how to do it better for the folks that do pay me? And how come your time is so valuable that you’re not willing to learn to do it, if your idea is so fantastic?

Don’t get me wrong. I love entrepreneurs and I love when they discuss their projects with me. I’m just annoyed by the guys who think that 90% of the value is coming up with the idea, but at the same time haven’t the slightest idea what execution will actually entail. It’s the other way around: an idea is worth maybe 10-20% at most, and execution (both business and technical) is where you win or lose.

Read It’s like twittter. Except we charge for it.

links for 2009-11-24

2009-11-24T13:02:19Z

Build your entrepreneurial confidence. Try these tips on for size …

(tags: business inspiration entrepreneurship psychology)

Maverick

2009-11-16T03:36:16Z

Maverick, originally uploaded by karlo.

10-week-old French Bulldog seen today on the boardwalk at Venice Beach. Super mellow at being carried around. Posting him here in case the owner visits the site.

links for 2009-11-15

2009-11-15T13:01:24Z

Log in or sign up? - Leah Culver's Blog

Nice little bit of design detail discussion. Everyone who develops web sites should take a look at this pattern.

(tags: ui, design webdesign web authentication usability)

Dell's Zino HD Media Center PC

2009-11-13T19:29:29Z

If you’re looking to build something like my Mac Mini Media Center, but you’d prefer to use Linux or Windows, check out the Zino HD from Dell.

It’s based on the AMD Athlon (the lesser non-HD Zino is based on the Intel Atom) and has an HDMI port built-in, so it’s a pretty good candidate. I don’t know if there’s much else to distinguish it - the graphics are better than the non-HD one, which isn’t saying much, and you can order it with Ubuntu 9.04 pre-installed, which is nice.

Overall the industrial design seems nice, but looking at the web site it seems like Dell has decided that the most important thing to emphasize about the Zino HD is that it comes with a lot of different color options for the top of the case. If that’s really the best marketing strategy they have for this computer, it’s kind of sad.

The price is right though: $229 for a base-level unit. More practically, about $500 total if you bump up the processor and add some RAM, better Wifi, and a Blu-ray drive — one thing the Mini won’t do. You can read more from Cnet’s coverage of the Zino HD.

Just one more sticker...

2009-11-13T18:42:08Z

Just one more sticker…, originally uploaded by karlo.

I had to laugh when I saw this car… was there a moment when the owner said, I’ve got too many Star Trek stickers, but if I add a Harry Potter, maybe it’ll restore some balance?

The Buffalo WHR-G300N and DD-WRT

2009-10-24T03:19:00Z

Last night I was able to get a newly purchased Buffalo WHR-G300N wifi router ($35 from Newegg.com) to accept a firmware install DD-WRT, the Linux-based open source firmware package for wireless routers.

Why even attempt this perversity? It gives you a very cheap wifi router with the kinds of interface features you might only see built into either commercial or premium units.

Quick notes:

This wasn’t really what I’d consider a straightforward or user-friendly process. I definitely thought at one point that I’d bricked the unit. Eventually I got it working, but I’m not sure I could say with 100% certainty I could do it again without bricking a unit.
Before you start, read the DD-WRT wiki page for this router, and the threads linked to it. (I did not.) It will save you some tears, although it won’t make it completely easy.
All I can say about setup is, keep trying. I finally succeeded by pushing the firmware from my Mac using tftp during the router’s boot sequence, which takes advantage of the device’s built-in recovery method. Once the “put” had finished, it took a while, but the wifi light went on and things were good from there.
The WHR-G300N only does 2.4Ghz, not 5Ghz. Given that it costs about $35, half the price of a retail 802.11g router, it’s not a huge disappointment.
The DD-WRT interface is leaps and bounds better than Buffalo’s original software. They should just bite the bullet and sell these routers with DD-WRT pre-installed.
I’ve had the best results by setting wireless security to WPA2 and TKIP+AES
Despite some early problems, my iPhone now connects to the router just fine

To give a few examples, the DD-WRT software has built-in support for about a half-dozen dynamic DNS services, QoS management, and you can SSH directly into it if you want a command line. The interface is much more useful and informative than Buffalo’s own firmware, or most routers.

Network performance has generally been great. My MacBook backs up every hour to a USB drive connected to my Mac Mini Media Center, and ever since I upgraded from my old G router to this one, that process is fast and reliable.

It certainly doesn’t give my favorite router - the Apple Airport with its great management interface, Time Machine support and gigabit ethernet - a run for the money. But it’s also about 1/4th the price.

So, it’s a little hairy - but if you can get past the setup trials, it’s a good deal.

IsAlternateSideParkingInEffect.com Featured in the NYT

2009-10-22T17:31:35Z

My single-serving web site, IsAlternateSideParkingInEffect.com was featured in the New York Times Blog this morning.

Alternate side of the street parking, which was introduced by the city in 1952 to facilitate street cleaning, is one of the more burdensome rituals of New York City life…

So how to keep track of the state of the parking regulations, especially since so many of the holidays are set by a lunar calendar, and thus vary each year?

links for 2009-10-22

2009-10-22T13:02:18Z

HowTo: Design an offsite backup system « scattershot genius;

"RAID is not a backup system."

(tags: backup mac tips hardware raid storage)

Rails Wiki Credit

2009-10-21T15:47:19Z

I worked on the Rails Wiki earlier this year, but I didn’t realize until now that I’d been credited as part of the Rails Wiki team. I have to say it’s a nice surprise to find out it’s there.