Another Microsoft layoff


In July, I predicted that Microsoft would have another layoff. Today, the news came down: Another 800 employee layoff. That's slightly less than 1% of its worldwide headcount. (John, I beat the year's end with 58 days to spare.)

OSCON’s returning to Portland in 2010


Guess O'Reilly's moving OSCON to San Jose didn't work out so hot. I might attend OSCON 2010, depending on ticket prices and other factors. I'm more interested in Open Source Bridge 2010 — last year's conference was epic.

TV Everywhere


Yesterday on ReadWriteWeb, Mike Berkley penned an article about Comcast's impending battle with Hulu. He also gave a succinct description of the TV Everywhere ecosystem. There have been other articles about TV Everywhere, but in the spirit of less is more, Berkley's well-chosen few words nicely summarized it. Without defending the specific plans of Comcast and … Continue reading TV Everywhere →

For Sale: Buffalo LinkStation Pro Duo 2TB NAS


For sale, a Buffalo LinkStation Pro Duo 2TB NAS. Contains two drives, and can be configured as a 2TB storage, or a 1TB RAID storage. 1.5 yrs old. Features: Share and access your files over the Internet without additional software using Web Access Active Directory support Supports RAID 1 Mirroring, RAID 0 Striping and JBOD (two individual … Continue reading For Sale: Buffalo LinkStation Pro Duo 2TB NAS →

Giving up on Retrospect 8, at last


I've wanted to replace EMC Retrospect 8 as my home backup application for some time. Seven months after its release, Retrospect 8.0/8.1 still has atrocious performance, buggy behavior, and no user manual. I've decided on a simple solution. The primary backups will be Time Machine to a Drobo USB disk hanging off my Airport Extreme. The … Continue reading Giving up on Retrospect 8, at last →

Fall = Pumpkin Pie


Fall is here. Pumpkins are here. And from pumpkins comes pumpkin pie. I sure *cough* Joe Heck *cough* hope I get to eat some *cough* Joe *cough* pumpkin pie soon. One of my *cough* Joe *cough* good friends makes a pretty mean pie. He's not under any obligation *cough* sure as hell he is *cough* … Continue reading Fall = Pumpkin Pie →

Tidbits II


Cleaning the mental loft of some odds and ends... An ex-colleague torpedoed my reputation with a start-up. I uncovered this from the timing of the company's backing out, a LinkedIn update, and a third party's casual comment. It gets better: I had been neutral about them, due to doubts about the company's technical direction and … Continue reading Tidbits II →

Fisher Communications and KOMO vs. Reality


On Friday, TechFlash's Todd Bishop published an interview with Fisher Communications' Troy McGuire and DataSphere's Gary Cowan. It's about what you'd expect from a Q&A puff piece; videlicet, it's a tube steak, not top sirloin. But there's meat in the comments, where local bloggers call Fisher out on its theft of local content, and lack … Continue reading Fisher Communications and KOMO vs. Reality →

I’m grumpy


I'm grumpy about the local Seattle media's self-serving Web 2.0 / blogosphere circular hand-tugs. I'm grumpy about obvious toot-your-own-horn tweets on Twitter. (Hint: If I'm interested in your blog, it'll be in my RSS reader. Tweeting that you just wrote a blog post is inane.) I'm grumpy about how the main stream media writes about … Continue reading I’m grumpy →