David Herrold

Maker Faire 2008, Austin, TX

Posted by Dave | Filed under Design, Science, Technology

It’s that time of year again: Maker Faire Oct 18 & 19 in Austin, TX!

Steve, John, Justine and I went to Maker Faire 2007 in Austin and had so much fun, we decided to go again this year.

Maker Faire is a two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset. It’s for creative, resourceful people of all ages and backgrounds who like to tinker and love to make things. So much to see, you will need 2 days to see it all!

Here are the details if you’re interested in going.:

• Online tickets - discount pricing available through 10/3/2008. Online ticket purchases from 10/4/2008 - 10/16/2008 will be full price and tickets will be picked up onsite at will call
• Local tickets - discount pricing available through close of business day on 10/17/2008 at:
  • Austin Children’s Museum - 201 Colorado Street, Austin 512.472.2499
    Open: Tuesday - Saturday: 10am-5pm
    Community Night Wednesdays: 5-8pm
    Sunday: Noon-5pm
  • Whole Foods - 525 N. Lamar, Austin, 512.476.1206
    Open: 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. seven days a week
• Onsite Ticket Pricing
  • Adult - $25.00
  • Student (13-21, or with student photo ID) - $15.00
  • Youth (4-12) - $10.00
  • Children 3 and under are free

Let me know if you’re going.  Maybe we can meet for lunch or at the very least, fire rockets at each other.

Tags: austin, craft, diy, make, make magazine, maker faire, texas

Android has its own font called Droid

Posted by Dave | Filed under Design, Mobile

The Android mobile platform has it’s own font.  According to a recent Forbes article:

The font, dubbed Droid, is the product of a two-year collaboration between the Mountain View, Calif.-based Internet giant and Ascender, a digital typeface company based in Elk Grove Village, Ill. Ascender, which has created fonts for Microsoft, Motorola and others, nabbed the Android assignment because its workers knew people on Android’s design and development teams, says Bill Davis, Ascender’s vice president of business development.

You can download the font here.

I think they did a nice job on the font overall.  There are a couple different versions including serif and monospace as well.  You can see them all here.

(via ComputerLove)

Tags: android, font

Richard Stallman on “cloud computing”

Posted by Dave | Filed under Google, Networking, Software

The Guardian published an interesting interview with open source stalwart, Richard Stallman.  He speaks his mind on the concept of “cloud computing.”

One reason you should not use web applications to do your computing is that you lose control,” he said. “It’s just as bad as using a proprietary program. Do your own computing on your own computer with your copy of a freedom-respecting program. If you use a proprietary program or somebody else’s web server, you’re defenceless. You’re putty in the hands of whoever developed that software.

You can read the entire article here.  Needless to say, he doesn’t like “cloud computing” very much.

Photo by Han Soete

Tags: cloud computing, Google, open source, richard stallman

Google, Internet 2 and powdered soap

Posted by Dave | Filed under Google, Mobile, Technology

Vint Cerf, Google’s Chief Internet Evangelist, posted an interesting article on their blog today speculating what the “next internet” will look like. It’s no real surprise that they touch upon mobile web and location-based services.

“In the next decade, around 70% of the human population will have fixed or mobile access to the Internet at increasingly high speeds, up to gigabits per second. We can reliably expect that mobile devices will become a major component of the Internet, as will appliances and sensors of all kinds. Many of the things on the Internet, whether mobile or fixed, will know where they are, both geographically and logically.”

I’m glad to see Google mention the importance of mobile devices in the future (which is already here). I’m fascinated by the prospects that truly “smart” phones will offer us within the next year or two (I think their estimate of 10 years is a bit high. I think the web, mobile or otherwise, is evolving far faster than that.)

Although, I’m not convinced I want the internet involved with my dirty socks.

“A box of washing machine soap will become part of a service as Internet-enabled washing machines are managed by Web-based services that can configure and activate your washing machine.”

Regardless the post is worth reading.

- Dave

Tags: future, Google, internet, Mobile, Technology

Electricity…maybe today?

Posted by Dave | Filed under Personal

Rumor has it, our power should be restored today by noon.  We have been running on generator power since shortly after the storm.  My fingers are crossed.

If we do have power tonight, I anticipate standing in front of a light switch and flicking it on and off in utter amazement for an undetermined amount of time.

Wish me luck.

Hurricane Ike - lost electricity

Posted by Dave | Filed under Personal, Science

UPDATE - Saturday, Sept 12th - We’re all fine here, just without power and water.  It’s like camping, except not nearly as much fun.

I’m updating the blog with my phone because we’ve lost power here in the 77007 area of Houston.

The wind and rain seems to be coming pretty steadily, howling outside. The tall palm trees across the street are bending like flowers. Surprised they are still standing.

Hope everyone in Houston fairs well.

-Dave

PS- wish I could show you photos, but it’s too dark for my phone’s camera.

Tags: houston, hurricane ike

Hurricane Ike wind speeds

Posted by Dave | Filed under Personal, Science

According to the City of Houston’s wind speed charts, our neighborhood will be experiencing 79MPH winds later today.  I suspect Galveston will be experiencing the full force of the hurricane speed winds.  The farther south you go, the faster the winds get.

Stay safe, everyone.  This will be a gully-washer for sure.

- Dave

(Thanks to Marc Nathan on Twitter for the link to Houston’s wind speed chart.)

Tags: houston, hurricane ike, Saffir-Simpson

Hurricane Ike

Posted by Dave | Filed under Personal, Science

According to the National Hurricane Center we may get a little wet this weekend.

Unless Ike magically becomes a category 5 hurricane tracking for Houston, we are staying put.

Is anyone else in Houston leaving for a long weekend?

My essential (Mac) software

Posted by Dave | Filed under Apple, Productivity, Software

I am always fascinated by the software that my friends and coworkers use to get things done on a daily basis.  I’m constantly wondering if there is a better tool out there to make my job easier or more efficient.

Below is a list of software I consider my “can’t live without” applications.  In order to qualify for this list, I have to use it routinely every day.

1. Adium (price = free) - http://www.adiumx.com/

Adium is possibly the best chat client around today.  It supports a ridiculous number of services (including AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, etc.), OTR encryption, file transfer, etc.  The UI is extremely intuitive and contact management is a breeze.  I am shocked Adium is free.

2. Adobe Creative Suite (Price = $1,800) - http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/

After getting over the fact that CS3 costs twice as much as my first car, it’s simply the best set of tools for design out there.  If you plan on designing websites or working with web designers, you should make the investment.  If you are a student (or know a student) you can purchase CS3 at a significant discount (around $500).

3. Coda (price = $99 [free 30-day trial]) - http://www.panic.com/coda/

Since the release of Coda 1.5 update last week, I can safely say that Coda is my web design tool of choice.  Coda combines several different applications necessary for web design into one user-friendly package.  Coda is a text editor, FTP client, SSH terminal, CSS editor, Subversion client and your new bicycle.  You can even kick the tires for free.

4. CyberDuck (price = free) - http://cyberduck.ch/

Cyberduck is a free open source FTP client that supports FTP, SFTP, Amazon S3, remote editing, etc.  When I need to move a lot of files to or from a remote server I use Cyberduck.  It has Quicksilver hooks as well as Growl integration (so I am able to minimize Cyberduck and allow Growl to notify me when my transfers are completed).  Cyberduck also integrates Textmate for remote file editing live on the server (if you enjoy living dangerously).

5. DropBox (price = free for now) - http://www.getdropbox.com/

Dropbox is a remote backup service with version control.  I wrote about DropBox in a previous post and have been using it ever since.  I suspect there will eventually be tiered levels of service, but for now, I am using the free 2GB verion for free to back up this blog (as well as other important files).  Sign up for the beta release here.

6. FireFox (price = free) - http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

According to my blog stats, there is a 50% chance that you are using some version of FireFox to read this post right now.  If so, you already know how useful FireFox is.  The latest version of FireFox includes some new functionality for the address bar (dubbed the “awesome bar”) as well as a new user interface.  I would have a very difficult time doing my job without this browser and it’s 3rd party add-ons.  If this list were ordered by importance, FireFox would be very near the top.

7. Growl (price = free) - http://growl.info/

Growl is a notification system that informs you when certain things happen on your computer.  For instance, you can configure Growl to alert you when you finish an upload or download, received mail, downloaded a podcast, etc.  There are numerous applications and system tools supported by Growl.  You’ll want to configure it to fit your needs.  When I first installed it, I got way too many notifications and almost uninstalled it.  However, after a quick configuration (reducing the number of alerts), I now really love it.

8. iStat Menus (price = free) - http://www.islayer.com/

iStat Menus is a monitoring application that lives in the menu bar at the top right corner of my screen. It allows me to monitor things like CPU action, RAM usage, temperature, fan speed, network usage, etc.  Great information at a glance.

9. iTerm (price = free) - http://iterm.sourceforge.net/

My use of he terminal is not nearly as thorough as my colleagues at chron.com.  However, when I need to ping, trace route, perform a “whois” search or a quick MySQL database search, nothing is faster than the terminal.  iTerm adds useful things like a bookmark tray and the ability to use multiple tabs.

10. Mail (price = free [comes standard on all Macs]) - http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/mail.html

Mail is simple.  Mail works.  Use Mail.  Nuff said.

11. Quicksilver (price = free) - http://www.blacktree.com/

Saying Quicksilver is just an application launcher is like saying a Porsche is just a car.  Quicksilver can access a multitude of applications to perform some amazing feats (if you can remember the key combinations, which I usually don’t).  You can send mail, move files, take notes, delete things, play music, etc.  The list goes on.  By the way, Quicksilver is also a great application launcher.

12. Skitch (price = free) - http://skitch.com/

Skitch is the best screenshot application that I have found for the Mac.  Skitch allows you to capture an image of your screen and then crop, resize, create shapes and draw on top of the screenshot.  The most useful part of Skitch for me is the remote file sharing Skitch provides via your Skitch.com or Flickr account.  Great way to share a screenshot with friends and co-workers.

13. Superduper (price = $27.95) - http://www.shirt-pocket.com

We all know how important backups are, right?  Apple has made good progress with Leopard’s native Time Machine for incremental backups.  However, if something bad happens to your startup disk, Time Machine’s backup won’t save you.  You need a bootable backup.  That’s where SuperDuper steps in and saves the day.  If you ever need it, it will pay for itself many times over.  It’s already saved me once.

14. Textmate - (price = $58) - http://macromates.com/

Textmate is the mother of all text editors that offers some unique tools for people who edit code for a living.  With Textmate, it’s all about the “bundles”.  Bundles are the terminology Textmate uses for small macros that specialize in making tedious jobs a little easier.  I keep all my blog ideas in a Textmate project and edit the posts in Textmate before I post them.

15. Twitterific (price = free w/ads or $14.95 w/o ads) - http://iconfactory.com/software/twitterrific

Twitterific is a Mac OSX desktop application for Twitter.  It has a very simple user interface and (the free version I use) contains very unobtrusive ads.  I tried Twirl, but found the UI a little cluttered, so now I’m back to Twitterific.

16. iTunes (price = free [comes standard on all Macs]) - http://www.apple.com/itunes/overview/

iTunes is a pretty good music player but a lousy pod-catcher.  With the recent upgrade to iTunes 8.0 the Genius sidebar makes suggestions for you based upon music in your library. Very cool.  I still don’t think iTunes is a great podcatcher, but I haven’t found anything better yet.

Honorable mention

(A list of applications I use on a weekly basis, but didn’t make the daily cut).

CocoaMySQL - (price = free) - http://cocoamysql.sourceforge.net/
Colloquy (price = free) - http://colloquy.info/
Flickr Uploader (price = free) - http://www.flickr.com/tools/uploadr/
Google Earth (price = free, plus = $20, Pro = $400) - http://earth.google.com/
iWork (Keynote, Pages, Numbers) - (price = $79) - http://www.apple.com/iwork/
Voodoo Pad (price = $29.95) - http://flyingmeat.com/voodoopad/
VMWare Fusion (price = $79.99) - http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/
Minuteur (price = free) - http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/19356
iPhoto (price = free [comes standard on all Macs]) - http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/

What are your software tools of choice?  Let me know in the comments.

Tags: applications, essential, mac, OSX, Software

Hurricane Gustav

Posted by Dave | Filed under Newspapers, Personal, Science

UPDATE (8:30AM Monday, Sept 1st): Gustav made landfall on the central coast of Louisiana and has dropped to a Category 2 hurricane.  Nearly 100K people without power in the New Orleans area

UPDATE (2PM Saturday, August 30th) : Gustav has been upgraded to a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 145mph.

The latest tracking model of Hurricane Gustav has it making landfall in Louisiana’s central coast with a “cone of uncertainty” stretching from Houston to the Mississippi/Alabama coastal boundary.  Right now, the margin of error is 250 miles east of west of that point (a pretty wide margin of error).  The closer Gustav gets to the Gulf Coast, the more narrow this cone will become as the landfall prediction becomes more accurate.

A couple of Justine’s friends are evacuating from New Orleans and headed to Houston to stay with us for a few days as the storm blows through.  Better safe than sorry.  We’re glad they decided to join us for a few days.

We have plenty of food and water (and alcohol) to weather the storm if it drifts our way.

I almost hope the storm hits the Texas coast instead of Louisiana, because I think we could take the hit much easier than they could.  All the official quotes I’ve heard about New Orleans say the levees are built back up to “pre-Katrina” standards.  Which means they still suck.

New Orleans government may call for mandatory evacuations sometime today or tomorrow (if they haven’t already).  This will mean access to contraflow lanes to move everyone away from the Louisiana coast much faster, in theory.  I hope all my friends and family in the New Orleans area have gotten out before that happens.

On a personal note, I’ve been pretty disgusted with local news coverage of hurricanes ever since Hurricane Rita.  Because of this, I usually rely on national sites like NOAA or the NHC for my hurricane data.  I prefer to get my news from sites that simply display the weather data without interpretation that you get from reporters trying to speculate the details of the hurricane.

Hurricane reporting that uses words like “might”, “could” and “possibly” is simply speculation.  I’d rather get the statistics from the original source and make my own judgment of the direction and severity of the storm.

That being said, I think we do a better job at the newspaper than most other local news outlets, but we still have room for improvement.

I find it fascinating (but not very enlightening) to make note of which local TV station uses the “best” spinning hurricane graphics and the most ominous hurricane “theme” music.  Someone should do a Youtube montage of these some day to show the ridiculousness of it all.

Regardless of the news coverage, I hope everyone on the Louisiana coast is safe from harm this weekend.

Take care, folks.

Tags: gustav, hurricane, media, news coverage