DiPot | Ice Tea Tech Blog
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Hardware
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Written by ageor
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Wednesday, 26 November 2008 11:53 |
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First things first. I told them all in person and I'm saying it here as well. Special thanks go to Andrew Hyde, the mind behind Startup Weekends, Alexandros Pagidas, the person who brought it in Athens, Patrick Malone, our host in Microsoft Innovation Center venue (Patrick and Lydia, you definitely improved Microsoft's image for all of us), the sponsors of the event (Domino's, Loumidis, Coca Cola-3E; hopefully I am not forgetting anyone) and all the professionals who dropped in to give us a hand. I won't go into the event itself. Others have already done that; follow the event's site and the links all over this post for that.
In danger of giving the feeling of repetition to readers of other relevant posts, I'll say it: Athens Startup Weekend was a successful event and proved several points (Greeks can actually work together without shouting or arguing all the time, previous acquaintance is not important, teams can form without guidance or many introductions etc.). Plus, it produced and set off a number of ideas that can eventually work.
 Andrew mentioned that Startup Weekends are not meant to create viable startups over the weekend but, rather, form a community among the participants. In a private conversation he said only 4 such startups were created in Startup Weekend history so far (unfortunately I didn't get the names). The event is meant to prove that people who didn't know each other before can sit around the same table, share and expand on an idea and make the most out of it in a very short time-frame. The important thing is not the idea, but that these people can work together, add their talents to a cause and produce a combined result that's greater than the sum of their individual strengths. At the end of the day, these people become potential partners/collaborators in these very same or other promising projects.
The event put the best out of us all. We expressed our opinions and discussed difficult matters (we sometimes knew nothing about) in a civil, productive manner. We all got out of there with some fresh ideas, some new potential friends and partners, the knowledge that talented, cooperative people are there waiting to be found and great accomplishments are so much closer than expected. Indeed, 10 great projects were born. Stay tuned for a presentation of our team's project, HowSocial.RU, in an upcoming post. I consider myself privileged to have been a part of it and hope the event does go annual so we can experience it again. And Here are a few additional relative links (no particular order; I'll be happy to add links I've missed): |
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TeleCom
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Written by ageor
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Monday, 20 October 2008 18:47 |
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I read about Open Handset Alliance's Android platform and cellular phones with great interest. The web is full of specs, reviews, comparisons and the like. I just can't help but share the following thoughts: - Sometimes it seems Google's Android is the second touch screen platform after Apple's iPhone
I can't understand why Android-based HTC G1 and other touch devices are automatically compared to the iPhone. Yes, it is a great looking device. It has a great touch screen. And that's where innovation ends and limitations begin. Great as the iPhone may (or not) be, it's not clearly and objectively superior to Microsoft's Windows Mobile devices hardware-, software- nor appearance-wise. Plus, Windows (Mobile and its previous incarnations) has been, so far, dominant in the touch arena. So, how come the iPhone (a new comer with plenty of flaws of its own) is the ad hoc point of reference? And how come all Windows Mobile's long-standing features (touch screen, great sofware library, multitasking) are rarely mentioned? - Android, anyone? Sure, on what hardware?
Maybe I understand a new platform like Android needs to come with new hardware for psychological (marketing) reasons. Now that's over and done with, why not introduce Android for old and new hardware? Wasn't one of Linux's advantages better performance on old PCs? I'm sure I would love to run Android on my current Windows Mobile Phone but I fear this won't happen any day soon, if at all. How about selling the HTC Touch HD (my favorite, in the absence of an Android phone with no hardware keyboard. With a camera flash, please) with a choice between Android and Windows Mobile? Better yet, sell it able to dual-boot both platforms? I would buy it right now. Now this is not so, I just have to wait and I am not happy about it at all. Consider how nice it would be to compare different platforms' sales and performance on the same hardware (isn't that what Apple avoids at all cost on the PC market?)! How different the HTC G1 is from the Touch HD or any other current model? It is my prediction that we will see Android and Windows Mobile running on the same hardware not later than 2009. And this will be the start of a new era on the "choice" and "objective comparison" fronts. |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 20 October 2008 19:24 )
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Software
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Written by ageor
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Friday, 06 June 2008 10:22 |
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Now that Mozilla Firefox 3 RC2 is out, it's about time all add-ins are updated. My personal favorites (therefore wishlist) that are not working yet (in alphabetical order): Firebug, FireFTP, Google Browser Sync, Google Toolbar for Firefox, PlainOldFavorites, SEOpen, AddThis.
In all fairness, I am also thankfully mentioning the ones that are already working: BlockSite, DownThemAll, Facebook Toolbar, Forecastfox, IE Tab, IE View, iMacros for Firefox, MySocial 24x7 Bar, PDF Download, Shareholic, Web Developer. |
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How-to
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Written by ageor
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Wednesday, 14 May 2008 12:01 |
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I am in search of a simple "music on hold" (and background music) system for the office PBX.
I have already tried a CD player and WinAmp on a PC. The CD is short in duration and eventually wears out. WinAmp is better, but it requires a PC with a dedicated sound card (or every other sound source disabled), it doesn't run as a service out of the box and it does occasionally stop playing for no apparent reason.
All these were happening before the portable MP3 players days. So, the obvious today's choice would be an MP3 player with enough memory, set to shuffle and repeat. Using an AC to USB adapter should solve the power problem, as batteries don't last for ever, right? Unfortunately, most USB-powered MP3 players switch to data mode when connected, even if connected to power-only USB. And when in data mode, they just won't play songs! Experiments with several players and asking various salespersons confirmed that fact.
So, how can it be done? I got a suggestion to find a player powered from a non-USB source. Not an easy task, these days. The last such device I remember was an MPIO MP3 player (yes, it still works, but it's not mine). Although this was before USB totally dominated the peripherals market, I always held using a non-USB power adapter against it. Little did I know...
Then I accidentally came across the Creative MuVo V100. Its design is exactly such that it distinguishes connection to data USB vs power only USB and acts accordingly, that is play MP3s even when powered! Perfect, at least in theory. Preliminary tests show that, while it works as advertised, it, too (like WinAmp), occasionally stops playback for no apparent reason.
While tests continue, it seems I am still searching... Update: Creative is in the clear. Apparently, MuVo works fine. When I tried another USB power supply all problems disappeared. It turns out even a simple device like that can be faulty enough to work at random! I am finally happy with my music on hold. |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 06 June 2008 09:54 )
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Software
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Written by ageor
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Saturday, 29 December 2007 12:17 |
There is an indirect update to my December 16, 2007 "Web browser standards: Opera Software vs Microsoft" post in the "Internet Explorer 8 and Acid2: A Milestone" IEBlog post. The way I see it, Microsoft effectively confirms allegations about not complying with standards (by, at least, not seriously updating IE6 in over 5 years and creating lots of problems with IE7) promising it will do so with IE8:
"... IE8 now renders the “Acid2 Face” correctly in IE8 standards mode. ..."
"... With respect to standards and interoperability, our goal in developing Internet Explorer 8 is to support the right set of standards with excellent implementations and do so without breaking the existing web. This second goal refers to the lessons we learned during IE 7. IE7’s CSS improvements made IE more compliant with some standards and less compatible with some sites on the web as they were coded. Many sites and developers have done special work to work well with IE6, mostly as a result of the evolution of the web and standards since 2001 and the level of support in the various versions of IE that pre-date many standards. We have a responsibility to respect the work that sites have already done to work with IE. We must deliver improved standards support and backwards compatibility so that IE8 (1) continues to work with the billions of pages on the web today that already work in IE6 and IE7 and (2) makes the development of the next billion pages, in an interoperable way, much easier. ..."
If you wonder who made the "existing web" prone to "breaking", I don't. In my mind, it was Microsoft. When IE was dominant, it never completely adhered to standards, while extending HTML in all sorts of ways. When standards emerged or caught up, was IE updated accordingly? No.
Is Microsoft finally entering a standards compliance era? How, by adding a "Standards mode" in IE8? I still have my doubts and for good reason. You see, past experience says otherwise.
Web developers, Microsoft hasn't and won't ever do it for you. If you are interested in every computer owner being able to fully utilize your sites, please do us all a favor and comply to universal, not Microsoft standards. Windows percentage in the PC market is still very large but dropping. Make them build a decent browser; or not, who cares? Firefox, Opera etc. are excellent, compliant and multiplatform browsers. Don't build the Internet depended on ActiveX and anything else non-standard enough so only IE (therefore only Windows) users can view. |
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