Jesse Ross | jesseross.com

Now that I have my laptop, and I have working installations of GNUstep and Etoile, I feel ready to start making apps. But where to start…

I once read that one should “scratch their own itch” — make software that you personally need; chances are others need it too. Since Etoile is just starting out, I need pretty much everything. Most of what I need is outside the scope of my abilities, however: a web browser, an image editor, a Flash replacement. I could maybe see if I could steal some pre-existing code and flesh out the chat client and the file format/bundle for the Contact file type. Yeah, the Contact file type would be good — maybe a wizard for creating a new Contact.

Good work, Jesse. Let’s start there.

I must say, I work with some really damn smart, creative and awesome people. When the time is right (read: the clients buy off on the ideas), I’ll show you what I mean.

Oh, and for those out of the loop, I work at MRM Worldwide (formerly MRM Partners, formerly Zentropy Partners).

I love the Internet. I get so much from the Internet: not only does the Internet provide me a steady paycheck via a web-related job, the Internet also gives me outlets to satisfy my many curiosities and hobbies, as well as a way to just pass the time. While I still watch a lot of DVDs, and the occasional television show, I would still have to say that the Internet is my primary form of entertainment. But not only do I enjoy content distributed via the Internet, like Yacht Rock and ChinesePod and LugRadio, I enjoy content about the Internet.

Take my most recent addictions: Google Current and Rocketboom. I’m sure I’ve mentioned Rocketboom before, since it’s just a damn awesome show, but I’ve really gotten back into it, mostly since upgrading my system has allowed me to store more video and play it more smoothly. Google Current is a relatively recent addiction, but one which got me hooked right off the bat.

Both are news-ish shows. Rocketboom has a focus more on discussing topics that are currently causing a buzz around blogs and forums of the net. Google Current takes a search term that’s been popular on Google lately, and expands that to show what people are actually searching for (and finding) on the Internet. What’s really remarkable about both shows is that they share a similar format: short shows (4 - 7 minutes average), with multiple stories/topics within that timeframe, and a good dosage of reality and humor.

Both shows “get” the Internet, and “get” web attention spans, and “get” how to connect with a busy, but involved, audience. The hosts of both shows (Amanda Congdon on RB, and Conor Knighton and Kinga Philipps on GC) represent the web’s version of news anchors: they’re young, they goof around, and they have the right balance of geek and chic. Neither show is overtly glossy or rehearsed-feeling, although GC has a bit more of that, due to being backed by Current TV’s (and presumably Google’s) budget. Still, both shows feel like someone with the right equipment and time could have produced it out of their basement.

The Internet already has a lot of stories and myths, and a rich world-spanning history. It’s amazing to be at the beginning of this, and to see the formation of Entertainment around the Internet, as people start to tell (and broadcast) these stories. As the gypsies would say:

May you live in interesting times.

Indeed.

I had been struggling with this issue for months on my other Linux boxes, and finally discovered the solution.

If you install Ubuntu, and everything goes smoothly, but then you try to load google.com or yahoo.com or some of the other big sites in Firefox and nothing works, here’s the fix:

try disabling ipv6 if it is not already done by doing this:

gedit /etc/modprobe.d/aliases

find the line:

alias net-pf-10 ipv6

and replace with:

alias net-pf-10 off #ipv6

Oh yeah, and you’ll have to be root, so you may want to preface those gedits with sudo.

Went awesome. It picked up everything I’ve tested so far. I had issues with the Live CD not seeing my wireless card, but the installation did, so I’m golden. I’ve been quite impressed by this system. I’m totally loving the monitor resolution (1400×1050) and big screen (14″), and, like I said earlier, this is just a really responsive system. Call me a satisfied customer.

About the only things still driving me crazy are the whole “clickable trackpad” issue and the strangeness I’ve been having with Firefox. Apparently there is some kind of issue with Firestarter, the firewall software, and there are a bunch of sites that I can’t hit at all, Google being one of them. It’s very irregular — every so often I can get through, but most of the time it just times out. Pretty annoying, so I’m upgrading to the latest version of Ubuntu, which hasn’t been officially released yet, to see if that clears up this issue. It might make everything go totally to hell. We’ll find out soon, I guess.

Got my ThinkPad today. Promptly removed the Windows sticker and did some general clean-up on it. Overall, I’m quite impressed so far. I’ve been playing with the Ubuntu Live CD on it, and it’s AMAZINGLY responsive. Good work, IBM.

On the aesthetics side, I’m also pretty pleased. Granted, there are maybe to many levers and knobs, and those multi-colored buttons are still kind of weird, but it’s bordering on sexy. What really gets me are the flecks of magnesium on the cover. Very, very nice touch, both visually and functionally. It almost makes me believe that this is what a NeXT laptop might have looked like.

More news to come as I get Ubuntu installed. Stay tuned.

I decided on a laptop.

I know I bashed Lenovo for having ugly machines, but, upon closer inspection, IBM has actually made some fairly decent laptops. They’re not inexpensive, mind you, but they seem to have gotten rave reviews. And, while they may not be as pretty as an iBook, Powerbook or MacBook Pro, they’re at least not glossy piles of plastic (although I may have to do something about those multi-colored keys).

I should be getting it in the next couple of days — wish me luck as I try to install Linux on the baby!

Peter Saint-Andre, the head of the Jabber community, agrees with me about the future ubiquity of wireless and what that will mean to mobile communications:

Going Mobile

Final thought: once IP phones take off, presence will indeed become the new dial tone (why call someone if they’re not available?). So the buddy list will become the center of the universe, even more than it is today.

I really hope that this passes — what a huge win that would be both for the public and for open standards:

Bill Introduced in Minnesota to Require Use of “Open Data Formats”

And remember: Open standards make the web go ’round.

Went laptop shopping today.

What a freakin disappointment.

Allow me to explain:

First of all, I am in the market for a new laptop. As many people may know, my previous laptop, which I had been using up until a little over a month ago, was a 500MHz G3 iBook. This iBook got me through many a battle: college, freelance, “real” work. Sadly, it was time to retire my little buddy, which, through various circumstances, had become permanently desk-bound, housed inside of a shelled out cardboard box, because it could no longer support its own monitor nor hold a charge in its battery.

Needless to say, I was in need of an upgrade.

From almost out of nowhere, I was blessed with a very inexpensive second-hand Mac Mini, still under warranty. That’s what I’m using right now. It’s a great machine for what I do, and a dramatic improvement over what I was using.

But, while it is a great machine, it’s not a laptop — can’t take it on travels, can’t work on it in the living room couch or in bed, can’t bring it to user-group meetings and conventions, etc. Now, the logical thing would be to get a MacBook Pro, seeing as how I have no idea when Apple will release any other modern laptops (as of this writing, the MacBook Pro is the only laptop to have moved over to Intel — my other options are an iBook or Powerbook, both of which are still running on a PowerPC G4 processor, and thus don’t have the longest of shelf-lives remaining).

A MacBook Pro would be logical, and anticipated, based on my history. All of my primary machines have been Macs:

• 1997 - 1999: Centris 650, 25MHz 68040
• 1999 - 2001: Lime Green iMac, 333MHz G3
• 2001 - 2006: 2001 iBook, 500MHz G3
• 2006: Mac Mini, 1.25GHz G4

Currently, I am in possession of three other machines I use off and on: two identical generic white-box machines I use for toying around with Linux, and a Zaurus. I do have a fetish for open source software, and it is precisely that which brings me to my problem.

I love Macs, and I love OS X. I really do. But I am also a developer on an open source project that is trying to do what OS X does and more, and the more time I spend using OS X, the less time I spend using Linux and Etoile and GNUstep, and thus the less motivation I have for helping my software grow.

And this is where it comes back to laptop shopping: I am looking for a laptop that I cannot run OS X on.

This means I am looking at the Sonys and the Toshibas and the Gateways and the Lenovos and the Dells and the HP/Compaqs of the world. And looking at them is hurting my eyes. Honestly, is there no one other than Apple who designs nice-looking, high-quality machines? I’m not sure who the audience is for these computers, but by the looks of them, they’re aiming squarely for the Borg — they are the epitome of horrible faux-future: black plastic and cheap brushed metal and glossy screens and blue LEDs. They have the worst port integration I have ever seen. And the excessive icons and decals! I believe by 2008, at the latest, when you buy an HP or Toshiba, it won’t even come in a plastic case, but rather a thin varnish of logos.

Really, all this is to say is that I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed that Apple is the only competitor for my money. Their machines are comparible, cost-wise, to most everything I’ve looked at, and infinitely more attractive, and their quality ensures that they last long after the tech magazines say they’re obsolete. I’m going to keep looking, but I’m really losing hope in the other hardware vendors. Seriously, people, make some nice machines and I will shower you with cash.