“New research that makes creative use of sensitive location-tracking data from 100,000 cellphones in Europe suggests that most people can be found in one of just a few locations at any time, and that they do not generally go far from home.” I think we sort of knew this already, but it’s nice to get confirmation with experimental data.
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LinkedIn’s Architecture
Cookies are for Closers (great blog name!) has a post about LinkedIn’s architecture, featuring links to slide decks for two JavaOne 2008 presentations by people from LinkedIn and an overview of LinkedIn’s architecture covering its iterations over time.
Eli Bendersky decided to give Python a try about three weeks ago. He summarizes his experiences and impressions in his post, Python Impressions, and summarizes with “All considered, I really like Python. The cons are mainly nits that are easy to overcome, while the pros are significant.”
Why We Skip Photoshop is a 37signals piece that lists 7 reasons why they go straight from a paper sketch to HTML/CSS and skip the step of making a static Photoshop mockup when building web apps. Why We Don’t Skip Photoshop is a response to that article, listing 3 reasons why Blue Flavor doesn’t skip the Photoshop step. Both are worth reading, especially if you’re looking at your own web app design process.
Scenes from the Valley’s El Camino Real (left) and Seattle’s Pioneer Square (right).
Here’s some food for thought. Ahmed Hassan very recently wrote a comment in response to an article of mine, Ideas to Steal from Silicon Valley and Seattle, and it’s worth promoting to its own article, so here it is.
Being from Toronto and having worked in both Toronto, Ottawa, and the US, I think Toronto has severe challenges.
1. We build workers…not leaders.
We have loads of talent…but all we create is good worker bees.
2. Yes, lack of big companies is a big deal.
There are some ‘entrepreneurs’ who will just go at it on their own. yet, the vast majority of people like a decent job. So they meet up at large companies…work for a while…then maybe decide to start their own thing. All we have in Toronto proper is IBM and AMD. Anyone care to explain how RIM was founded in Waterloo. I ask that as a serious question. How does a small town create the only great Canadian tech company in operation right now? Why was it not founded in Toronto? Ask that question a few times…over and over.
3. Politicians do not understand business.
When you have someone like Miller who says he doesn’t care about companies who move to Mississauga for lower tax rates as he only wants companies who are willing to pay more to take advantage of Toronto’s urban character… you know something is wrong. They will try to push venture capital and ‘incubators…’.
As I say…mentality before process.
4. Sometimes you run out of talent.
How many high tech centers do we need? Everywhere you go, there is a lack of talent. If Toronto tech can just pickup and move to Seattle, Silicon valley, New york, boston, dallas, austin… in an already established tech base, why would they bother doing it here? Better weather, lower taxes, more like-minded entrepreneurs.
It’s not impossible. But Toronto has its work cut out for it. The biggest threat to Toronto…is actually Waterloo. Very close to Toronto and with a large tech base. It’s largely a mentality gap. Toronto embraces bureaucracy and structure. Startups are about freedom and independence. If you will…that’s why RIM was founded in Waterloo as opposed to Toronto. No Toronto bureaucracy would have ever approved of RIM. I mean they would be competing against Motorola, Nokia, MS… impossible…that’s a bad investment.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
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Is EF the New IQ?
I’ve been encountering this term with increasing frequency: “executive function”, or “EF” for short. It refers to the ability to inhibit distracting thoughts and stay focused; it’s essentially a measure of your non-ADD-ness. Newsweek has an article titled Is EF the New IQ? that suggests that EF is a better predictor of academic success than IQ and that it can be strengthened through “exercise” such as dramatic play and cognitive games.
Got bare walls in your office/workspace/garage? Royal Pingdom’s got links to IT Posters to Cover Your Empty Walls. Some have to be bought, but some you can download and print for free.