Why I'm Nuts About Alexa (Amazon Echo)

So, the Amazon Echo (or as I call her, Alexa) has changed my world in ways that nothing has since the iPhone.

I actually wasn’t all that excited about the device when I bought it. I thought, neat another bluetooth speaker with a virtual personal assistant, that’s pretty cool — preorder. But once I received it, it became immediately clear that this device was a little more interesting.

I plugged it in, played some music, got used to the voice controls. Fine, it does everything you expect and does it pretty well. But it stuck me that there’s about 99.9% of the stuff that I want her to do she doesn’t do yet (and yes, I’ve completely anthropomorphized her). So, being an industrious sort of person, I cracked open the API and got to work.

Like many people, there are a series of numbers I monitor all day long. Stock prices, bitcoin price, intra-day numbers for companies with which I’m affiliated. So, the first thing I did is start wiring her up to pull all those numbers for me.

Cue the Jarvis moment. This is when she …

Learning Programming and Logo

I recently caught a thread on Reddit. The general question posed was, "Why has this got so much harder to do? Why kids don't program any more." You can read the discussion and see the original post on the site with the aforementioned link.

He really asks two questions:

1. why are simple (fun) things hard to do with today's computers
2. why aren't kids excited about programming

The way the question is asked exposes the bias of the author, who obviously thinks that the complexity of today's software is to fault for the lack of enthusiasm. Summarizing, he believes that because technology has become more complicated and inter-dependent, children are less able to do interesting and fun things with computers. That may be so, but I think there is a much simpler answer:

1. computers aren't new anymore
2. computers are fun without knowing how they work

When I was young, the computers we had didn't have a lot of software written for them yet, and the software written for them was expensive (for a 10-year-old). But they were new, kind of interesting, and didn't have an internet connection. Without a lot of software to play with, and no …

Technology as a Means to an End

I admit I find technology a little less exciting than I used to. I reminisce about the good old days; staying up all night hacking in the latest programming languages and IDEs, trying the latest versions of all the cool operating systems, and applying all of this knowledge to my daily projects.

Maybe I'm burnt out on the rapid changes in all technical arenas. Maybe I'm disgusted with the specialization that HR and recruiters seem to require. Maybe I'm just becoming a better technologist...

There seems to be a natural progressions for nerdfolk out there:

1. Learn a lot about technology
2. Reach critical mass of tech knowledge
3. Relax and realize it's just a tool
4. Reject technology and become a yeoman farmer

Earlier in my career I was both more excited and less learned. I see this combination in almost all technology professionals coming up today, so I'm calling it a trend. It seems to be the nature of the beast that the most energized and motivated people -- those who push the envelope of technology -- also cause the most downtime/bugs/negative outcomes.

This passion is both the greatest asset of the young technology professional …

It all started innocuously enough. I was talking to a colleague recently and through no fault of our own, the conversation turned to intellectual property.

He boldly stated:

"What you really need to do is to apply for a patent for your [software] technology"

Grrrr...

For me, patents have always been a tradition of a bygone era, almost like a land-line telephone or dial-up internet. Patents addressed a problem that doesn't exist in software and most of modern technology. Sure everyone wants to patent their invention because it seems like the thing to do, but is it really?

Three things happen when you apply for a patent and two of them are bad.

• Someone reads you patent documents, makes a trivial modification to it and uses it in a way that's virtually impossible to prove. (50% probability)
• Your legal fees eat all your profits for the next 5 years. (60% probability)
• Everyone respects your patent, thinks you are a genius, and throws money at you to use your technology. (0% probability)

Conceptually, patents are designed the protect the investment into R&D for a technology, insure that enough lead time is given to permit the owner of the patent to …

Why Nerds Think They Know Everything

I work with technology. I love technology. Making some infernal contraption do my bidding is a puzzle that never gets boring for me. I expect a lot of other technical folks out there can identify with this feeling.

One thing that I couldn't figure out for a long time was the derision technical people faced in the workplace. But I think I have a little bit of an answer. For a long time I've wondered why there is such a gap between corporate IT and the people it serves. Both sides of the fence think the other side is full of egotistical idiots. But why?

I often hear complaints from my non-technical friends about their IT staff "thinking they know everything." I thought about this a little and realized, yes, technical people do think they know everything. But then why do technical people think this? I know that a lot of technical people are very smart, but I know a lot of smart people outside of tech too. How is it that people in the technology world showing their brains off became more offensive than anyone else showing competency in their work?

Alright, I'll …

The MySpace Spamularity

It's finally happened. MySpace has reached a point where it now defies all laws of physics and creates matter (SPAM actually). Recently, for reasons that are beyond explanation, I logged into my MySpace account. This would normally be a non-event, since I have only a few links in my MySpace profile, but this time I noticed a strange occurrence.

During the time that I was logged in on my MySpace site, I receive about 10 SPAM messages from MySpace users advertising various websites (mostly porn). So I logged in the next day to delete the SPAM and while I was logged in, I received another 20 messages that were porn-SPAM.

When users are punished for using your software, but they still use it, that's great Web 2.0.

Ok, this is hilarious. The amount of MySpace SPAM I receive is directly correlated with the amount of time I spend logged into the system. The more I log into the system to delete the SPAM, the more SPAM I receive. Their system actually provides a disincentive to use their site. Awesome!

Here, in a highly scientific graph, I display the effect.

[INSERT IMAGE]

As you can see, as …