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Call For Your Launchpad and Bazaar Stories

Posted 10 days ago

At Bazcamp this weekend, I had many interesting conversations with a few Bazcampers about Launchpad and Bazaar. The original reason was that I was brainstorming stories for next month's NCLUG talk about Launchpad and Bazaar. As I talked about ... [More] workflows and processes, I started wondering how many other Launchpad and/or Bazaar success stories there were from the community, and how many utter fails have you had (and how can they be fixed).

So, lazyweb, send me your success stories, your gripes, your flames and other adventures with Launchpad and Bazaar. If the stories are too long to leave in comments, send me your emails at paul at eventuallyanyway dot com. [Less]

Micro-Blogging, Web 2.0, and the Secret Sauce

Posted 21 days ago

I started writing this post last night after my wife fell asleep (a common occurrence). It was about Twitter, and why I twittered. The basic idea was that I enjoyed the micro-blogging because it was closer to a a real conversation than reading ... [More] someone's blog and posting comments. It's more of a round table where you select who sits at your table. It was personal, and I enjoy that. I've strengthened already existing acquaintances, and created new ones. For something that initially seemed like such a novelty, it's become a great tool.

Then, this afternoon, after a 2 hour outage of Twitter, a few friends/coworkers pointed me at Identi.ca, which is a fully open source micro-blogging site. I usually just ignored the Twitter clones, because no one I knew had switched. However, it seemed that a few people I was quite interested in "following" had moved to Identi.ca and, as mindless as it sounds, I tweeted because of those around me. So I naturally I got an Identi.ca account.

As I've been using Identi.ca, I've found a problem with it. It has no public facing API. This is absolutely tragic, as that's the only way I use Twitter. I have a little app called gTwitter that keeps me up to date. It crashes often, and I'm not fond of the Mono backend, but it did the job, and stayed out of my way. While Identi.ca apparently allows updating through a Jabber client, I can't get it to work. It has, however, been sending me updates from those I'm subscribed to, through IM. I hate that though, because it's an interruption I don't need.

In defense of Identi.ca, these features ARE planned. It is also an open source app, so any user (including myself) could build these features, and the sky is the limit at that point. You certainly can't say that about Twitter. I just won't jump ship completely until after the features are there.

I've got a little side project I've been putting 5-10 hours a week into (and less recently, as we're moving), but one of the high priorities I've been been working on is a public facing API. As far as I'm concerned, your web site is stuck in 1.0 world unless a user can easily write an external CRUD app with your database as its backend. It doesn't have to be fancy, maybe just a simple REST interface. The new internet is about mashups and using data in creative ways. A public API is THE secret sauce to successful web sites today. [Less]

Adventures in "This Week in Bazaar"

Posted 21 days ago

Elliot Murphy and John Arbash Meinel were kind enough to invite me to co-write This Week in Bazaar. This week covers using bazaar in your build process. It was quite fun, and quite informative to chat with Elliot and John. Thanks to both of them Go read it!

When You're Delivering Newspapers and Want to Check Email

Posted about 1 month ago

My wife and I are buying a house. It's not far from where we live, so I'm constantly riding my bike over there to look at the house and think about living there (we close on the 15th of the July). Every time I'm over there, I want to take notes ... [More] , and even though I have a qwerty keyboard on my phone, it sucks greatly. I also wanted to analyze the wireless networks in the neighborhood to see if the upgrade to 5MHz is required yet.

I have a Nokia 770 tablet that's been collecting dust for a bit. I flashed the latest release of OS2007 Hacker Edition onto it, installed kismet, btscanner and aircrack onto it and tested it out. The only problem is that I can't always ride with no hands (one hand to hold it, one to use the stylus). With some Gorilla Glue and a modified reflector holder, I mounted the 770 to my bike.

I just got back from a ride, and while a custom interface specific to my needs would be helpful, I was able to analyze the area enough to see that the neighborhood will welcome my open wireless network (that complements my private one). Apparently my neighborhood is mostly Amish...

Now if only I could figure out how to hook a generator up so I can charge it while I'm riding... And maybe power my GPS so that I can really warbike. More photos here. [Less]

Like a Virgin : Typing for the very first time

Posted about 1 month ago

I have four friends now all using the dvorak keyboard layout. I decided I would take the plunge and try it out for six months or so and see how it goes. So far it's slow going. Because I was interested in dvorak conversion stories, I figured I ... [More] would share my story.

I'm sure that I won't get this under my belt, and that I'll have to be patient with myself. I haven't written much code (or much of anything for that matter), but many of the common characters I use are better available to me. I can see the potential, if I can learn to make it work. If you're considering the switch, be prepared to type similar to your grandma when she first got a computer.

One caveat I would point out is that I couldn't quite get the Gnome tools at System->Preferences->Keyboard to work properly. It may have been a PEBCAK problem, but if it was, there's a usability bug that needs to be looked at. I eventually broke down and fixed it the old skool way by editing xorg.conf Granted, changing keyboard layout isn't something lots of users do, so maybe it could just use a bit more polish. Any pointers are appreciated. [Less]

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