I’m having some fun tinkering with my blog.

I just moved it from wordpress to blogger. WordPress was giving me some weird layout problems and debugging them didn’t seem like fun. It’s 2008. Blogs should just work. So far the transition has been easy. As part of the move I am trying out some new (to me) feedburner features. My favorite is the “FeedCount” Service that list my subscribers. Turns out I have one subscriber. I am not terribly surprised since I don’t really blog. I just like to play with the medium so I know what the hell is going on with the technology of self expression.

It make me smile to know that I have one fan out there. So, I wanted to give a big shout out to my one subscriber for reading my blog:

Hi Mom!

Star Trek, Twilight Zone, other classics beamed onto ‘Net: “

CBS has begun streaming episodes of Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, and other classic shows on its Audience Network site.

Read More…

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(Via Ars Technica.)

When Is The Release?: “

A company I have a small investment in has been struggling to get the most recent version of their software shipped. A few weeks ago I ran into the CEO who grabbed me and said ‘we are almost ready to go live.’ I looked at him and said ‘when is the release.’ His answer was ‘Friday.’

I gave him a Bronx cheer and said ‘when on Friday?’ He looked at me like I was an alien. I clarified – do you mean ’12:01am on Friday, 4:59pm on Friday, or 11:59pm on Friday.’ I then clarified some more: ‘and I mean in Mountain time.’ We agreed that 11:59pm on Friday was a good time (which they missed, but they got it out a few days later.)

At my first company (Feld Technologies), our client base got to the point where we were often doing multiple releases of different software on a weekly basis (we were a custom software company but used a very traditional software engineering approach to our projects.) For a long time, we used dates to mark releases (e.g. ‘Friday.’) After way too many 11:59pm releases (where our clients definitely were not sticking around the office to wait for us) and missed Fedex deadlines (this was back when you had to Fedex the disks to the clients in another state because modems were too slow to transmit the files), we learned that a release has both a date and a time. We also learned that the external release is – at the minimum – date + 1 of the ‘internal release’ especially on systems with live data. We also learned that the only appropriate days of the week for a release are Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. I’ll let you guess as to why this is.

As I work with new startups and first time entrepreneurs, I see people learning this lesson over and over again. I think it’s just going to be part of the endless education of new software entrepreneurs that you never really learn until you are in the real world.

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(Via Feld Thoughts.)

I am please to announce that my partner Anthony Carro’s store Candle Delirium has been named “LA’s Best Candle Store for 2007″ by Los Angeles Magazine.

If you like candle’s or want to buy a gift for a candle lover, check out Candle Delirium’s website or visit the store in West Hollywood California on 7980 Santa Monica Boulevard.

Congratulations Anthony!

My mom has started a new blog titled ‘Writings from the “Holler” with no name’. Though I am biased, she is surely one of the best bloggers alive today. Seriously, I enjoyed her latest entry ‘mixed blood identity and agency’. The piece explores reasons for testing one’s limits and mankind’s reaction’s to those who push the limits. If you want a bit of inspiration for your day, go read the article.

Mom – Welcome to the blogroll!

With all of this fuss about the future, what am I really interested in getting out of it and when do I think I will get it?

What: Generic Propecia
Why: Save Money!
When: June 2006

What: Universal Bluetooth Headphones
Why: Looking for one headset to mediate my audio input and interface with all of my devices
When: ??

What: Melanotan
Why: Causes body to tan without the sun. Protects against skin cancer. Looks great!
When: ?? The Australian company that is bringing this to market is taking forever.

What: Fat Insulin Receptor Gene Blocker
Why: Eat as much as you want without gaining weight. Live 20-25% longer
When: ?? Anyone want to ask Ray Kurzweil

What: Retinal Display
Why: Supports augemented reality. Would improve telepresence and enable memory assistants
When: ??

We are half way through the first decade of the new millenium. Its time for me make a real website.

Today I was reading

Crade to Cradle by architect William Mcdonough and I had an idea.

In the cradle to cradle model, a product is specifically designed so that it can be completely recycled at the end of its life cycle.

This closed loop system gave me an idea: Why not create a packaging company that sells containers designed to be shipped back to the company? The packages could be shaped to be shipping friendly and could have postage and shipping information printed right on the package.

In this scenario, Package Co. sell a container *service* to its customers – not the actual container. A consumer buys the packaged product in a store and uses the product. Then the consumer give the package to the mail carrier. The Package Co. is then able to recycle the package material into other packages.

With the help of my fellow bloggers I would like to think through the pluses and minuses of this type of system.

I like that it closes the loop on recycling. Think about the tons of packaging going into landfills that would now go back to its manufacturer!

I also like the idea of using the postal system to close the loop.

The postal system ships packages all day long. If some of those packages are empty bottles – so what. There is no concept of trash in this system.

I look forward to any comments people have about this idea. Thanks!