I couldn’t help but re-tweet (actually re-blog) this from Charlie:
Chain email: "No nativity scene in DC this year. Couldn’t find three wise men in Washington." har har 16 minutes ago from TweetDeck
Charlie Wood
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(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Couldn’t Find Three Wise Men in Washington
Posted on December 19, 2008 ·
1024
Posted on December 18, 2008 ·
1024. That’s how many bytes one Kilobyte is.
1024. It’s also the number of unread emails in my Inbox. I’m approaching email backruptcy, so sorry of you haven’t received a reponse. I hope to clear it up in between the Holidays.
So is this a Great Time or a Terrible Time to Found a Startup?
Posted on December 17, 2008 ·
Now is a Great Time to Join or Found a Startup –says Bob Warfield, friend and fellow Enterprise Irregular. - Now is a Terrible Time to Join or Found a Startup -says Charlie Wood, friend and fellow Enterprise Irregular.
Now what? Who is right? And the debate does not stop here, it sparked a pretty good discussion in the Enterprise Irregulars group. I think both sides are correct. It’s a Great Time and It’s a Terrible Time… read my take on CloudAve.
The Human Touch: TechMeme Getting Nostalgic
Posted on December 16, 2008 ·
TechMeme recently gave up trying to get a 100% working algorithm, instead Gabe switched to half-manual (edited) mode. I suppose and along with it came emotions, otherwise how could we explain TechMeme getting nostalgic. There’s an antique classic in the sponsors’ display:
Memeorandum – The Google for blogs on Microsoft’s Startup Zone. First I got suspicious – is someone recycling TechMeme’s original name for a new venture? But no, clicking through takes us to a fresh post just off the press, dated January 10th, 2005. Don Dodage announces:
Memeorandum is a new blog “news clipper service”. It constantly monitors new blog posts and publishes the title and first 50 words or so to the dynamic news page. The page updates every few minutes with new high quality material. There are currently two news pages. One for technology and another for politics.
Obviously a glitch, I don’s suppose you’ll see it long on TechMeme. Oh, and Happy Birthday, TechMeme ( the 4th, I suppose, more or less).
Zoho Creator Expands Google AppEngine’s Reach
Posted on December 16, 2008 ·
I’ve written about Zoho Creator before – being techno-challenged myself, the key value for me (and I suppose for millions of potential users) is the ability to generate database driven situated applications without the need for any programming. Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu made an interesting statement back in April:
In principle, it would be possible to layer Zoho Creator on top of Google App Engine on top of Amazon EC2.
Well, it’s no longer just in principle: today Zoho announced the ability to use Zoho Creator to generate applications which are then deployed on Google’s AppEngine. Here’s a short video explaining the process:
The video focuses mostly on the process of how to create an app, convert it from Zoho’s own Deluge scripting environment to Python, then installing it on the Google AppEngine. You will get more detailed explanation elsewhere, let me just focus on why I find this an important step.
Zoho essentially expands Google’s reach, making it available to users without programming skills. It’s a perfect marriage: Zoho brings the ability to create programs without coding in a user-friendly graphical environment, while Google brings security for those who might worry keeping their apps and data with a smaller provider: now they can use the Zoho-generated apps in the safety of GoogLand. 
.
The other important aspect is portability, and to quote Zoho’s Raju Vegesna, first they let data be free by releasing CloudSQL, and now they let your applications free.
We’ve already seen Zoho adapt Google Gears first, even before Google Apps; this is now another example of friendly coopetition with Google.
(Disclaimer: Zoho is the exclusive Sponsor of Cloudave, my main blogging gig.)
Related posts:
Forbidden 403 Error in Gmail Contacts Manager
Posted on December 14, 2008 ·
Forbidden
Error 403
Ouch … this is not what you want to see in your Gmail Contacts. Weird… and not fun, not even on Sunday.
It’s not system-wide, appears to be specific to one of my accounts – crazy log-in-log out sequence produces occasional access, but mostly the error. 
Update: apparently (thanks, Charlie), this is a more wide-spread problem than I had thought…
Your Digital Data My Not Be Accessible Soon
Posted on December 12, 2008 ·
So you’re doing the right thing, backing up everything on CDs or DVDs. Too bad they may not be readable in a few years… and even if they are, you still have to worry about data formats.
Data sitting on your hard disk may not be much better: in fact files you created with the very apps you’ve just upgraded to the most recent version my no longer be readable by the current version anymore.
Read the details here…
Is Tivo Selling Out Their Customers?
Posted on December 10, 2008 ·
Zat’s Not Funny reports that Tivo is getting ready to push advertisements whenever you hit Pause on your remote.
Using the TiVo Pause Menu, advertisers can, for the first time, reach audiences with targeted product messages displayed within the pause screen of a Live or Timeshifted program. The feature provides an original solution for advertisers seeking to capture the fast-forwarding viewer. It’s another example of how TiVo offers unique and different solutions for advertisers looking to get viewers to watch advertisements.
Another example of offering solutions to whom? Certainly not their customers.
A Fine Day in America
Posted on December 9, 2008 ·
What a fine day in America:
We’re marching towards a socialist system… or at least a partially nationalized one. After the financial sector now the Government will likely take a stake in Big 3 Auto. Governments are not exactly known for running businesses well, let alone when they start with already ailing ones…
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was taken in Federal custody this morning, straight from his home, on corruption charges. Allegedly he wanted to cash in on his right to appoint the replacement for Senator Obama, who as we know moves to the White House. A line from the FBI affidavit, based on court-approved wiretap on his phones:
(the Senate seat ) "is a fucking valuable thing, you just don’t give it away for nothing."
There are juicier details here. My first reaction was shock … I know about arrests of former politicians but has an active sitting Governor been arrested before?
Apparently yes, and it gets better (actually worse): MSNBC keeps track:
If Blago goes to prison, and former Gov. George Ryan isn’t commuted by President Bush, you’d have two Illinois governors in prison AT THE SAME TIME. What’s more, by our count, Blagojevich would become the FOURTH Illinois governor to go to prison (following Ryan, Otto Kerner, and Dan Walker).
Hm, Jeff Nolan beats MSNBC:
Gov Len Small, also of Illinois, was arrested while in office in 1921 for corruption.
This must be a good Illinois tradition…
What a fine day in America…
On a brighter note, Costco profits are up… must be all my purchases.
No Broadband on Internet Street
Posted on December 3, 2008 ·
You can’t make this up … there really is no Internet on Internet Street.
Andrzej Gromek bought a house in Warsaw, Poland on a street named … Internet. Wow! How nice of the City of Warsaw to recognize the Internet by naming a street after it!
Mr. Gromek soon discovered he could not get a broadband connection in his house. Turned down by all providers he launched a campaign to the National Telecom Authority in Poland. They first took his letters for a prank, but after a dozen or so decided to look at the matter. It turns out that Mr Gromek is the only resident on Internet Street actually wanting to use the Internet, and it would not be economically feasible to pull it to one customer only.
Solution: Mr Gromek is now selling his house. I hope he does not move to a street named after water, electricity or gas…
(Cross-posted from CloudAve)
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