FCHouse

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Posted by Carlo - 26/10/07 at 02:10:26 pm

Leopard is coming

Facebook and the Web2.0 Bubble?

Posted by Carlo - 25/10/07 at 09:10:43 am

In these days I am listening to different people theorizing on a possible new DotCom Bubble or, better a Web 2.0 Bubble! I was not so sure about it, it was just a little too sci-fi for me, but there has been one thing that made me change my mind:

Microsoft invested $240M in Facebook.

For itself this would not be a strong news, Facebook has more than 40 million users, a very powerful number. The scary thing is that Facebook is valued $15 billion. It seems that Microsoft will own less than 2% of the useless company Facebook.

Let’s face it… that site is nice, a place where to recycle some non-quality time, yet another social website… but it is not the best site I have ever seen. Its power is the number of user (yes, I know I am one of those) but $15b is way too much!

I was not thinking about it, but this news makes me scared of a possible new bubble…

Gmail goes IMAP!

Posted by Carlo - 24/10/07 at 08:10:24 am

When I open the account on gmail it seemed to be the perfect solution for you email! Perfect, but for one simple detail: it only supported POP! I am used to IMAP, especially reading my mail from different laptops, iPhone and simila, therefore an IMAP protocol would be perfect! Google always told us that having an IMAP account would have meant to have folders, things that was against the gmail tagline: “Don’t sort, Search!“.

This morning I found the news that Gmail has implemented IMAP, converting your tags into IMAP folders! Brilliant! I have already set up my accounts on mail.app, on my iPhone and I am happy! :) I think that this move has been taken for a better iPhone support… good for it, but better for everyday life!

Oh, By The Way, here is the link for your iPhone configurations (but you can use the same values for every mail reader!) Enjoy!

Release Day!

Posted by Carlo - 23/10/07 at 09:10:05 am

I am flexing my muscles to jump. These are the moments of peace before the storm… yes, in an hour or so I will open the connection to our production server and I will publish a major release of my software!

As always in these case I try to relax, to make a list of every single step, collecting information, code and data from everyone involved and I check everything twice.

Ready… Set…Go!

The best moment to release a new software, a patch, an update is ALWAYS the morning, preferably NOT on fridays. If anything bad happens you can rollback, patch, fix or do whatever you need to, without running late, without your men running home because it is late, or simply being agitated because it is late. This is a very important lesson I have learnt during many years in software development.

Remember: Shit Happens! (and usually during releases!)

If someone ask you to set the release deadline on Friday at 15:00, do not accept. Take your time! Go for thursday or for monday, avoid the afternoon, because nine times out of ten you will forget something, and the half-an-hour-job you had planned would become the three-hours-run. Avoid disasters, keep a list of the steps you need to perform, DELEGATE the physical steps to your team, COORDINATE and most important of all:

DON’T PANIC!

Well… I will take a good breath, check my list twice and…

UPDATE: The release went smooth! As planned there were two or three things that had to be fixed on the fly, but overall the job was carried out (almost) painlessly! For the next week I am planning some good debugging (do you really think those bastards will not jump out, even after a LONG debugging?), but I can start looking to the next milestone! Cheerio!

BarCampLondon3: tickets available… and reserved

Posted by Carlo - 18/10/07 at 01:10:49 pm

At the beginning of this week I lost the first wave of tickets for the BarCampLondon3, but today I was wandering on the barcamp website and I was able to reserve my ticket.

This will be my second BarCamp, but I am curious like it was my first one. I will step in the room of Google, even if I do not know if I will keep a presentation (maybe yes, I already have some ideas)!

See you at BarCampLondon3, on the 24th and 25th of November!

Books Underground: The Uninvited

Posted by Carlo - 18/10/07 at 09:10:06 am

Do you enjoy boring, useless reading? The Uninvited is the book for you! I did not like the writing style, the story… ok believe me if I tell you that I did not enjoy a single page! A book to forget, as soon as possible.

The overview of Beijing and of China is such a background thing that too many information require some previous knowledge, I think. The characters are badly described, with a psychology that is a complete nonsense.

I have to admit that I had to wait some days before writing this review, because I was so revolted by how the book ended that I was ready to write something worst than this (is it possible?). The fact was that 100 pages before the end I hoped for a radical change in the story line, something that would have made sense. The same hope was there 50, 40, 30 pages before the last. Then I lost every single hope and, without them, I was not disappointed by one of the worst book I have ever read!

I was expecting something not good after The time traveler’s wife (strongly recommended), but I was hoping something better than this!

The roar of the Leopard (and other news)

Posted by Carlo - 18/10/07 at 09:10:16 am

I know, I am late, but yesterday I was overwhelmed by too many thoughts that I “forgot” to push the news on FCHouse: Apple has announced the release date for its latest operating system. Leopard will be released on the 26th of October at 18:00.

I have tested a beta that has been given me for some time now, and I have to admit that I am extremely happy  about it. The new OS is stable, fast and reliable (also for a Beta). I will be in a queue in eight days from now, to buy my “Family” copy of if. The price is reasonable, a big difference from some other well known OS…

Another VERY important news from Apple is the confirmation that there will be a SDK (Software Development Kit) for the iPhone and the iPod Touch. It seems that some of the requests have been accepted by Cupertino. For this we will have to wait until February 2008, but the decision to open the iPhone to the third party developers is a GOOD news indeed!

Portraiting strangers: the first failures

Posted by Carlo - 11/10/07 at 01:10:38 pm

Today, after some cloudy day, the sun was quite good for some photos. During my lunch break I took my camera and I went to Trafalgar Square. Even if the sun was high, the light was not bad at all. Trafalgar is always full of people and amongst them there are some who are not running around.

Last week I jumped the gap of stopping a perfect stranger, asking if I could have taken a picture. I was so nervous that I just took a bad portrait, before smiling and running away… what a jerk I am! But made stronger by that episode (and ready to remember myself something like “next time, take more than one picture!”) I was ready to go.

To my partial defense I have to admit that I did not find anyone really interesting (and the light was too strong, and the grapes was tart of course). Then I saw her. She was around 50, with a pair of glasses and something in the way she was looking around that hit me. I looked carefully around, imagining a frame around my sight and I was happy. I get near her and I told her something like: “Excuse me if I disturb you. Can I have one minute of your time?“. Polite. She looked at me (X-rayed me to be precise) staring for a while. She smiled and me and, after few more seconds she answered: “No“.

Imagine the moment. I mean… if she had looked worried, disappointed or annoyed I would have understood, but this was hard to digest.

I knew that this part would have been the worst (why didn’t I chose to take pictures of pigeons,  or fruit?) but the first “No” hurt. I hope tomorrow I will not remember that smile and that denial…

anyhow the grapes was tart!

At least some days ago I was able to get this photo… I like it very much!

In Rainbows: long life to Radiohead!

Posted by Carlo - 10/10/07 at 09:10:27 am

In Rainbows is the new Radiohead’s album. Ok, what is new in this, you may ask. The Price, is the answer! In Rainbows can be downloaded from inrainbows website for the price you think fair. You do not need to read it again, you have understood well.

I think that this is a disruptive approach to music distribution, also because Radiohead are no longer under contract with EMI, but are self produced! I think that this move can start a revolution. In the face of the Majors!

There are no big solicitor ready to sue everyone who will download the album from the net, no never ending lawsuit against the bloody pirates. Just go on the website, download the album and pay the price you think fair. I have already bought my copy, paying for it.

Radiohead have decided to run without a big company covering their shoulders, therefore their marketing will be much smaller than expected. I believe that the fairness of the decision they took with the pricing of In Rainbows should be recognized by those who constantly think (and tell) that the music industry is NOT fair.

Stand Up, write this, show the world you want the things to change!

I am listening to In Rainbows right now. Not only it is a Fair Music, but it is also a very nice album!

Barcamp London 3 Announced

Posted by Carlo - 08/10/07 at 06:10:52 pm

The third edition of the Barcamp London has just been announced. It will be held in the Google HQ on the wekkend of the 24th and 25th of November 2007!

This February my  first Barcamp has been quite good, now I am looking forward to participating to this one… hopefully I will be able to grab my ticket when thy will be available!

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Carlo Nicora is at home in London.