Flooded
Posted on March 5th, 2007
So, yesterday we discovered that our server room, built out quite nicely by a previous tenant, is located directly under an HVAC chiller. The landlord didn’t seem to know this, either.
This kind of equipment involves a cooling water line direct from the City main. It broke. And dumped a few thousand gallons of water onto running, servers. At least a half million dollars of fragile electronics got doused with dirty (filtered by wood, insulation, ceiling tiles) water; even more was exposed to splash or sauna-like humidity.
My team rocks, several of us worked from lunch yesterday through lunch today drying out hard drives, setting up an emergency colocation (props to Xiolink) and confiscating a conference room for a makeshift server room. It looks like we’re going to be able to limp along for a bit on equipment that has silt in crevices and copper oxide bubbles on logic boards. Hopefully the insurance companies won’t cause delay while they argue over replacement.
Tags: work
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I want a SunPad
Posted on February 12th, 2007
I was flipping through Marc’s copy of Tog on Software Design and was intrigued by the “SunPad” in Tognazzini’s description of Sun’s Starfire film (which itself is very reminiscient of Apple’s Knowledge Navigator concept):
She looks at the SunPad display, which now has the camera controls slaved to it. It’s as if the SunPad were a large camera viewfinder. She presses the button which turns on the pad, then zooms out using the zoom buttons as she begins to move the pad (and boom).
Today, we can readily produce a handheld screen with an accelerometer for position sensing. As a bonus, we can even have a camera embedded on the backside. So when do I get to use one to “scan” a scene or object and package the imagery for playback later (or elsewhere)?
Tags: idea, iphone, technology, ui, work
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iPhone dreams
Posted on February 7th, 2007
I know it doesn’t matter, but I have so many things I wish my next phone/PDA could do, I’m going to list them for my own amusement. Even though most of them won’t happen very soon, at least while the iPhone remains closed to native third-party applications.
I could manage data with specialized tools. Special-purpose editors for blogs like this, wikis for knowledge management at work, and genealogy records could take advantage of the multitouch UI.
Assuming it lacks aGPS, I could detect location by network to orient Google Maps and geocode photos.
[I happen to believe we’ll see aGPS or PSAP in a very early release, based on Jobs’s unusual and irrational enthusiasm about the satellite view in Google Maps.]
I could clean up and manipulate photos before sharing them online.
I could control my jukebox iMac from the couch without interrupting what’s currently playing to use Front Row. And control the rest of the home theater, lighting, etc.
I could update Last.fm on the fly.
I could play not just touchscreen microgames but serious games and puzzles.
Maybe I underestimate what will be possible with Safari alone, especially if it includes Flash. It’s already amazing how many of my “desktop” tools actually run in Safari or largely render via WebKit. If the iPhone is half as successful as it’s poised to be, it will quickly vault Safari to the ranks of browsers you cannot afford to ignore. I’d be surprised if Microsoft isn’t already talking to Apple about WPF/E.
Tags: apple, iphone, ui, uncategorized, usability, work
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Design fanboy
Posted on January 23rd, 2007
Besides being a very happy AAPL investor, I’ve been accurately identified as one of [them]… those Apple fanboys that narrow our focus away from the company’s competition, reading MacRumors rather than /..
What’s frustrating is how the Apple fanboy label is used to dismiss my viewpoint, implying that my judgement is meritless, clouded by the reality distortion field and driven by a desire to belong. As if I’m driven to identify with the cocksure slacker on the Get a Mac ads.
Perhaps “we” are simply impressed with Apple’s comprehensive design. Steve and his minions appreciate the value of engineering and understand that beauty is more than skin deep, that design is concerned with function, not merely form.
It’s a rare pleasure to use products that have been thoughtfully assembled with a coherent, consistent user experience. It shouldn’t be: visual voicemail, system-wide search, and tangible interfaces should be obvious. If the rest of the electronics industry would just let go of featuritis, maybe we could just learn to expect it and be less compelled to go overboard with enthusiasm.
Tags: apple, design, work
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