Archive for January, 2006

el blog del mal

Chema Alonso, crá de los crases y compañero de aventuras en la Tierra Media, me avisa que nuestro amigo el informático en el lado del mal estrena blog: http://elladodelmal.blogspot.com/. Ya sabéis, si alguna vez habéis estado tentados de pensar que Microsoft no es tan malo, ¡no os lo perdáis! };D

Por cierto, que aprovecho para comentar que el resto de miembros de la Comunidad del Anillo, es decir el reverendo Padre Parada y un servidor estaremos la próxima semana en el Foro Tecnología y Sociedad en Panticosa, Huesca. Si alguno anda por allí y quiere pasarse a saludarnos y/o venirse de fiesta, ya sabéis que somos chicos fáciles (de encontrar, quiero decir)

ieee rss feeds & new website

Back in september, IEEE RAB approved the electronic format availability of both IEEE Spectrum (our all-fields magazine) and IEEE Potentials (our magazine for students) to ALL IEEE members, in the case of Potentials, and to everybody out there in the case of IEEE Spectrum. This is definitely good, but what is even cooler is that now you can also syndicate news to your favourite RSS aggregator to help keep you updated.

In case you’re interested, here are the RSS links:

Quite a jump in the modern world, isn’t it? };P

To add even more spice to the mix, the new look for the IEEE website has recently being launched. Take a look and let webmasters know what you think!

Update: somebody wanted me to point out, for those who might be interested, that ACM Crossroads, the ACM magazine for students, also has an open online version.

spectrum, potentials and the new ieee website

the political compass

Browsing around some political news weblogs I found a link to The Political Compass site. I’ve talked with friends many times about the incorrection of the old terms “left” and “right” in modern-day politics (try to position your country’s parties in one or the other side, let’s see what you find)

Anyway, both the test, the explanations and the sample graphics (such as this one with the US elections) are pretty amusing… give it a try!

Leading by example, this was my result:

my political compass

tips for entrepreneurs

Following links from Enrique Dans’ blog I’ve happened to read this very interesting article for all of you out there who are considering starting new bussinesses about things you should avoid doing when getting money from venture capitalists: The Top Ten Lies of Entrepreneurs

(para hispanohablantes, Enrique Brito tiene disponible una traducción aquí)

If you want to look at it the other way round, there’s also a The Top Ten Lies of Venture Capitalists article!

geek humour

My friend Thais, from the WinCE cellcore team (aka “we’re the ones who make your phone calls”), sent me this link with yet another nerd song:

“Make you happy tonight” by Tripod (for those not so fluent with English, lyrics can be found here)

Just in case you don’t know, there are other equally entertaining themes related to Science and/or Computers. Maybe you’ve listened to “It’s all about the Pentiums” by Weird Al Yankovic, or one of the thousand versions of perverted lyrics to famous songs, such as “Let it be”, for example:

When I find my code in tons of trouble,
Friends and colleagues come to me,
Speaking words of wisdom:
“Write in C.”
As the deadline fast approaches,
And bugs are all that I can see,
Somewhere, someone whispers:
“Write in C.”

There’s even a whole movement called “nerdcore“. As it sounds: geek rap, nerds with an attitude, beat that! I’d suggest you to try MC Frontalot or MC Hawkings (and don’t forget to check his video “What we need more of is Science”, talking about “Intelligent Design”)

All this makes me think: have you wondered why it is that everything related to computers is really easy to make fun of? As Alan Cooper said in “The inmates are running the Asylum”, most computer programs are like dancing bears. We can divide people in two groups: the computer science-related and technophiles in general say: “Hey look! Isn’t it wonderful? The bear dances!“, whereas the rest of the world (you know, the ones we call (l)users) tend to think: “I don’t see why it’s wonderful. I wanted a ballerina dancer! And I’m not sure it’s not going to be dangerous to ask this thing to do a grande jeté“.

Basically, people see (most of) our creations as things they have to suffer, rather than enjoy, and so, as it happens with bosses, mothers-in-law and other equally bad things, they like making fun of it

I suppose our computer-savvy attitude of know-it-alls does not help either…

But, who cares? After all, we KNOW it all, don’t we? };P

Update: Robert Scoble also has the Tripod guys, and adds this video showing a different perspective about gaming

post de feliz año

Año nuevo, vida nueva, ¿no? Yo siempre aprovecho el principio de cada año para proponerme cosas nuevas que quiero hacer de aquí a dentro de 12 meses. Si lo pensamos bien y “rebobinamos” al final de cada año, creo que todos los años son especiales, y hay montones de cambios en nuestras vidas que podemos considerar “grandes cambios”: la vida va tan rápido a veces…

En fin, para empezar en cuanto a web se refiere he decidido reordenar un poco todas las cosas que tengo por aquí, postear en español y en inglés (para que le gente que no le gusta del todo lo de la lengua de Shakespeare me entienda) y volver a usar Emacs como editor (esto último me ha costado lo suyo };P)

Por cierto, que el retraso en postear lo del primer mensaje del año se debe principalmente a que: a) he estado haciendo “frequent flyer miles” otra vez, con 7 aviones en lo que llevamos de año, b) estuve de meeting de la ACM en Boston y tenía poco acceso a Internet y c) segun terminé con lo de los viajes, me he metido en el quirófano a operarme de la nariz (para dejármela como Brad Pitt)

¡Pues eso, que feliz año a todos!