Welcome back!

“Like Handel, only funnier”.

WOW – I’d really like to see that one live.

From The Telegraph (huh – why didn’t John Cleese participate?):

“And lo, it came to pass that Monty Python’s Flying Circus reached the age of forty years. And verily it was decided by the surviving members of the Python Team (his holiness John Cleese excepted) to give thanks and praise for this sacred moment by descending from their separate starry havens for one night only at the Royal Albert Hall. And their faithful followers did pay through the nose to join them in that joy, preparing themselves to be amazed. For it was decreed that for the first time in UK history, an oratorio based on Life of Brian was to be delivered unto them. “

In cinemas on March 25th – one day only! Wonder if there’ll be a DVD too…

Come on, admit it: we all knew the Pre would not save Palm, didn’t we?

I mean, I must have bought/used Palm’s complete product line back in the 90s, but they really lost me with the Treo. They dropped the ball a few years ago when the competition started to do ‘proper’ USB, synced to Outlook without 3rd party software. Turning to Windows Mobile made Palm into e “me too” company, so I didn’t even take notice of their new stuff anymore.

Had the Pre come out before the iPhone it might have had a chance. Not that it’s technically necessarily worse, but it has lost the fight for developers before it even hit the market. The type of developer that is attracted by making money fast will certainly aim for the iPhone. Open source developers are much better off developing for Android, which also has a well established marketplace.

So, what would make anyone develop for the Pre? That’s a question I find hard to answer.

The marketplace seems to agree – this is what the Wall Street Journal writes:

“As we mentioned in our press release, our softer than expected performance is due to slower than expected customer adoption of our products, which in turn has prompted our U.S. carrier partners to put additional orders on hold for the time being.”

This means that the carriers have unsold inventory and will not buy any more devices from Palm. This happens at a time where the iPad will soon be here and new Android devices are appearing in the store any other week.

From a consumer side I can’t see a lot of buzz for the Pre either. O2 has TV spots in germany, but I have yet to see someone I know use a Pre.

OK, who wants to disagree…?

Interview with the creator of the Mac startup sound.

OMT in San Francisco #3: ‘Let it beep’ from One More Thing on Vimeo.

Via UI&us

View on black

Taken this morning after I dropped the kids off at school. Nice texture in the sky, the last bits of snow have finally melted and the sun is coming back now and then.

I’m a really really happy user of lots of Google services. I have my own domain linked to Google Apps For Your Domain (GAFYD). I use Google Docs. I’ve been a GMail user before. I put pictures I want to share on Picasa. May contacts are in Google Contacts. Some of my appointments are shared through Google Calendar. Of course I jumped on Google Wave immediately…

So, all should be fine, right?

Nope.

The trouble began when Google Apps For Your Domain became available, and I had to migrate my data over from the old GMail account. I ranted enough about this, so I’ll spare you the repeat.

Ever since I completed that move, I feel like a second class citizen for all services that use Google’s authentication system, and the worst thing is – this is even true for Google’s own services.

Picasa, for example, is not included in Google Apps, so I have to use a different login. That GMail login uses the same email address than Google Apps, but a different password. You can run face recognition, but unfortunately Picasa can not access the Google Apps contacts for names, faces or email invitations – you have to maintain a second set of identities.

I still have my old @gmail.com email account which uses the same email for login, so that makes for all kind of strange confusing messages. I now have two Google Calenders, two Google Docs sites, both completely separate yet under the same email address.

Do you know all those other services that allow you to pull in your contacts from GMail? You probably guessed it – they can’t access my Google Apps account.

It gets even better when you pull Google Wave (they give you _yet another_ email @googlewave.com!) and Buzz into the mix – complete confusion guaranteed.

This post has been sitting as a draft for a few weeks, only recently Gina Trapani picked up the issue on Smarterware. They found someone at Google with a half ass explanation, but do come on – there has to be a better way!

“When you add Android into the mix, Contacts get weird. Because, I think, you can add your Google Apps account to Android and not your gina@example.com “vanilla” Google Account. (GT: Yes, this is true.) But, when you sign in to Google Voice on Android, you will need to enter the password (which might be the same) of your vanilla Google Account. BUT, on Android, your Contacts are read from the system’s phone book. Not necessarily the vanilla Google Voice Google Account that has its separate contacts (accessible through the normal Google Voice webapp). Ugh. The “Contacts” issue is by far the most ‘hurting’ in this whole scenario.”

Eh… ok….

An update to the post brimgs it to the point:

“Clearly FREE vanilla Google Accounts get more preference than potentially-paid Google Apps accounts, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

Welcome to third class citizenship.

What’s your experience with this – how do you make it work for you?

This is an experiment.

Disclaimer: This is NOT AT ALL about bashing Adobe or Flash, being an Apple fanboy or anything. I *love* Flash, FLEX, AIR and the rest of it, but I’m just not sure how much we need it *on web pages*.
(To my friends & colleagues developing in Flash: that experiment is probably not an option for you ;) )

Looking at the recent discussions around Flash on the iPhone/iPad it’s probably time for a reality check – what does having Flash _in the browser_ mean to you, really.

At first I thought about uninstalling Flash for a week and seeing what it’s like, but then I found an easier way:

Firefox: Install Flashblock https://addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/addon/433

Internet Explorer 8: Try this http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/754934-ie8-has-its-built-in-flash-block-its-called-per-site-activex-control/

Opera: Install Flashblock http://my.opera.com/Lex1/blog/flashblock-for-opera-9

Then run like that for a day, and report back in the Facebook group I created (Firefox seems a lot snappier for me with Flashblock ;) )

From http://funkatron.com/site/comments/were-the-stupid-ones-facebook-google-and-our-failure-as-developers/, via Gruber:

“When folks need an elevator, we should give them an elevator, not an airplane. We’ve been giving them airplanes for 30 years, and then laughing at them for being too stupid to fly them right.

I think we’re the stupid ones.”

Apply to any modern IT scenario. Fits nearly every one of them.

You know, as an employee of a publicly traded company you’re constantly being told you need to do better to support reaching the company’s financial goals, in order to satisfy the analysts’ demands.

I’m starting to believe (hah!) that’s not such a good idea. I’ve always been a sceptic, but what I read in today’s Handelsblatt is the best confirmation so far:

“Now, SAP seems to be focusing on innovations again, which costs a lot on money and diminishes the operative margins. (Original article in German)”

Are you kidding me? You’d rather have us deliver the same-old same-old and fire development, so that margins go up?

If you want a look into the kind of future that this kind of thinking might create, I suggest you read Douglas Adams’s “The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe“:

“Thank you. Since we decided a few weeks ago to adopt the leaf as
legal tender, we have, of course, all become immensely rich.”

Ford stared in disbelief at the crowd who were murmuring
appreciatively at this and greedily fingering the wads of leaves
with which their track suits were stuffed.

“But we have also,” continued the Management Consultant, “run
into a small inflation problem on account of the high level of
leaf availability, which means that, I gather, the current going
rate has something like three deciduous forests buying one ship’s
peanut.”

Murmurs of alarm came from the crowd. The Management Consultant
waved them down.

“So in order to obviate this problem,” he continued, “and
effectively revaluate the leaf, we are about to embark on a
massive defoliation campaign, and … er, burn down all the
forests. I think you’ll all agree that’s a sensible move under
the circumstances.”

The crowd seemed a little uncertain about this for a second or
two until someone pointed out how much this would increase the
value of the leaves in their pockets whereupon they let out
whoops of delight and gave the Management Consultant a standing
ovation. The accountants amongst them looked forward to a
profitable Autumn.

“You’re all mad,” explained Ford Prefect.

“You’re absolutely barmy,” he suggested.

“You’re a bunch of raving nutters,” he opined.

Couldn’t say it any better, I suppose.

(#disclaimer: I speak for myself here, which should be obvious. But looking at the possible audience, I’d better make it extra clear.)