Penov.org

Get rid of the webpage stickers

Franci Penov — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:31:00 GMT

I was wondering lately why are web sties still adding the (X)HTML/CSS-valid buttons? These seem to be the equivalent of the PC stickers for the web pages - something that had its role back in the days, but is now nothing more than just a visual noise.

Yes, validating your website for (X)HTML and CSS standards compliance is important, there's no arguing about that. It ensures your users will get the most consistent experience in various browsers. However, the validation results are actionable only for you, as the owner of the website; there's nothing your users can (or should) do if that validation fails.

Besides, most of the people out on the web care not about how well your site validates. They care what their experience is and how relevant is the content you publish for them. Yes, a non-validating (X)HTML may affect their experience; however, even a site that adheres to the newest HTML5 drafts out there may still offer a horrific experience.

Here's my call for action to all webmasters: As one of your users, I implore of you - get rid of the webpage stickers.

Smart objects

Franci Penov — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 06:26:00 GMT

I was watching yesterday the Microsoft Office Labs 2019 Vision. The common theme throughout both videos was the ubiquity of the smart objects. For an example, take a look at 2:20 in the second video, where the actor looks at a PDA-like object and then detaches the top half of it to get two separate devices that interact, one as a main display and one as a secondary display offering auxiliary function (in that particular case it looked like a location based service).

This really reminded me of the Siftables scenario. Except that Siftables targets kids. Than again, in ten years the kids that play today with Siftables will be in their teen age and smart objects will be something they grew up with. (On a side note, after I posted this on Facebook, I got comments from couple of people my age that were skeptic about how useful and feasible that scenario is. Maybe it is not only a technology, but also an age problem… :-))

One interesting detail about the smart objects in that video (and I still don’t know if it is a side effect of the rendering or intentional effect) was the lack of border on al the smart objects in the video. All the different devices throughout the video were rendering the UI all the way to the edge. This allows for composition of two smart objects to form one whole bigger object visually. Something Siftables does not offer yet.

It is also interesting to figure out the software platform these smart objects would run on. Granted, this is Microsoft vision, so the underlying assumption is that all of these devices run on some form of Windows. :-) Still, to enable such seamless integration, either all the objects have to run the same platform and be able to transform software agents between each other, or they all should be running smart software agents that talk the same protocol for negotiating the composite UI and data processing.

Or maybe the actual processing is done by a big machine and the “smart” objects are just dumb terminals that render the UI and use short-range radio (Bluetooth or wi-fi) to connect. Even though I don’t like this scenario, that might be the practical approach.

Anyway, it would be interesting to watch that space in the next few years.

If you’d like to talk more about this, ping me on Twitter.

Markets In Everything

Franci Penov — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:04:04 GMT

One of my favorite economic blogs is Marginal Revolution written by Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok. The whole blog is worth reading, but my favorite part of it is the series of Markets In Everything posts.

Today I discovered the Markets In Everything index page maintained by Michael Cleverly. This is really neat ideas, as you can go and read all the posts in the series dating from the very first one back in September 2003. It’s definitely worth it.

Different ways to use Live Sync

Franci Penov — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:22:00 GMT

Technorati Tags: cloud,live sync

I’ve been using Live Sync for the almost four years, from before Microsoft bought Foldershare. It’s been slowly creeping into my everyday life more and more, until today I realized that I am so used to the personal cloud I’ve built with it that I can’t even remember what the life before it was. Well, almost :-)

I’ve decided to enumerate here the things I am using Live Sync for. If you have other ideas, shout out to francip at Twitter.

1. Live Sync of documents

The first thing I use Live Sync for is the classic one - I am sharing the Documents folder. The interesting part is that I am sharing that folder between four computers running four different OSes (well, more like versions and SKUs) – XP, Vista, Win7 x86 and Win7 x64. Since two of these computers are always on, it’s like having my documents up in the cloud. They are always there wherever I am.

An interesting side effect of this is that my Visual Studio settings are consistent on all machines. NOTE: There is a drawback to this, however. Visual Studio keeps something tied to the machine in its settings file, so every time you open Visual Studio after you’ve used it another machine, it takes a bit to initialize this piece of data. A bit annoying, if you ask me. Also, keeping VS open on one machine and starting it on another will result in two separate settings files. From there on you lose the settings synchronization until you resolve the conflict. Not a big deal for me either.

Another interesting side effect is that my Live Writer drafts are also synchronized. This allows me to work on any posts from any machine I am currently sitting on, before I publish it.

2. Live Sync for sharing

The second thing I use Live Sync for is for sharing pictures with my family back in Bulgaria. My mom and my brother both have Live Sync installed and syncing the same library. This creates a small cloud for the three of us. My mom loves it, as whenever there are new pictures of the grandkids, they instantly show on her computer. It did take some training to teach her to copy the pictures in a different folder, to avoid hitting the limit of number of files in a library. But it wasn’t hard and was totally worth it.

3. Live Sync and SVN

The third thing I use Live Sync has to do with a personal SVN repository where I keep some personal projects. I am doing two things with Live Sync:

- repository replication - Syncing the repository over Live Sync gives me continuous backup. Of course, it’s not the same as a proper backup – any problems with the repository would be replicated as well. However, it does protect me from hard drive failure and losing everything at once.

- checkout replication – I am also syncing the checkout folders for my projects. This means that any change I make on any of the computers is replicated automatically on any other, thus giving me a workplace in the cloud. It also allows me to update and/or commit from any of my machines.

4. Live Sync and OneNote

The fourth thing is replicating OneNote notebooks. I don’t have a separate library for this, I get it for free from syncing the Documents folder. However, I wanted to mention this separately, as it is really a marvel on its own. If you are OneNote user, I strongly recommend setting at least OneNote notebook replication. You get instant access to all your notes everywhere you are, even if OneNote is opened on any of the computer.

NOTE: There is a drawback if you sync OneNote Mobile from the same device on two computers. Active Sync gets confused and creates separate section for each computer you sync your device on. I’ve solved this problem by syncing my phone on one machine only.

Moving feeds

Franci Penov — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 03:42:00 GMT

Penov.org is using FeedBurner for its feeds. I am currently in process of migrating all feeds over to the Penov.org domain. Unfortunately, this happens at the same time as my hoster is migrating the site to different servers as well. Thus, the DNS entries will be somewhat flaky in the next few days. As a result, the new feeds might be unavailable.

I will do my best to make the transition as smooth as possible. Let's hope everything works out properly.

(Month 5) Започнахме да се обръщаме

Franci Penov — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 23:44:00 GMT

От няколко дена вече се обръщаме по корем като си изпуснем играчката. (Когато казвам “ние”, имам предвид София; Мих и аз отдавна можем да се обръщаме по корем :-))

Разбира се, обръщането се прави само ако наоколо няма някой възрастен, който да бъде накаран да вдигне въпросната изпусната играчка.

(Month 4) Healthy Sleeping Habits, Happy Child

Franci Penov — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 01:03:00 GMT

(Full disclaimer: if you buy anything from Amazon through the links in this post, I get a kickback)

One of the books that helped us tremendously in the past three and a half months is Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth. The book gives a lot of info and practical steps on how to ensure your baby has a healthy sleep and boy does that make her happy. :-) We've been trying to follow the book's advice for a while now and the results are really good. Sophia is going to bed around 7:30pm - 8pm and is sleeping through the whole night with the occasional break aroun 2am for a quick snack, but not too often. Not only is she less cranky, getting more sleep definitely helps mom and dad's mood as well.

If you have to buy only one baby book, buy this one. If you don't want to spend the money, check your local library or borrow it from a friend. But definitely find a copy and read it at least once.

(Month 1) Направихме един месец

Franci Penov — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 05:44:55 GMT

Вчера отпразнувахме първият "рожден ден". :-) София стана на един месец. По този повод има нови снимки на Flickr.

(Week 2) Растем със страшна сила

Franci Penov — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:13:42 GMT

:-) Ако някой още не е разбрал или не се е досетил, не съм писал две седмици поради факта че не ми е останало никакво време. Малката София вече е тука и се старае със всичи сили да ни държи заети, да не би да решим че това да си родил е всъщност лесно.

Малко снимки - на http://flickr.com/francip.

(Week 40) Никакво развитие

Franci Penov — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 01:54:30 GMT

Вече е 40-та седмица, а беба все още не иска да излиза. :-) Според докторите всичко е нормално, правиха тест на околоплодните води и сърдечния ритъм и всичко е в нормата. Плана е да изчакаме още няколко дена и ако няма никакво развитие, другата седмица ще индуцират раждането.