Joseph Javier Perla

Valleywag reports that Facebook still has not started firing employees as every other Silicon Valley startup has. But, the most interesting part of the article lies hidden within the picture.

Mark Zuckerberg (the billionaire) wears the same sandals I do: old-school Adidas sandals .  I don’t know anyone else who wears them.

I just bought these Rainbows in Miami which are pretty nice.

There was an earthquake here last night.

Actually, it was only a tremor. It lasted just a few seconds. It was slight, but real. My bed shook. At first, I was afraid it would build up into something strong. I’m glad it passed quickly.

ASUS recently released their Eee PC. It is a laptop that emphasizes computing for everyone. It is small (tiny), unbelievably light, energy efficient, cheap, and it runs Linux. Actually, it can be all of these things because it runs Linux. A Windows Vista computer would require more big and heavy energy-sucking hardware. Plus, you’d have to pay the expensive Windows tax.

There are two important reasons why the Eee PC is revolutionary. First, it is ridiculously portable. It weighs less than 2 (two) pounds. That’s less than a kilo. Based on my experience with the XO-1 OLPC laptop, you hardly notice its weight in your hands. Most so-called “portable” laptops offered by other manufacturers weigh at least 3-4 pounds. Most laptops in general weight 5.5+ pounds. Moreover, it’s screen has a 7″ diagonal. It takes up hardly any space. You can almost throw it in your pocket. Despite its size, it still sports a complete, usable QWERTY keyboard and an acceptably high-resolution screen.

Check out a picture for comparison (courtesy of Cliff)

The second reason why the Eee PC is revolutionary is that it is cheap. While one of the 3 pound ultraportable laptops other manufacturers offer can cost you upwards of $3000 (!!), the Eee PC costs in the range of $400. Additionally, the ultraportables would be bigger, heavier, and clunkier. Portability carries a premium, and this laptop is the most portable released so far. Yet, it doesn’t have the ridiculous price tag of other ultraportables.

Now, of course, it’s not a perfect comparison. The Eee PC has a lower-resolution screen due to its small size, and the processor isn’t very fast, but it is more than useful enough to run a web browser (Firefox), a word processor, and instant messaging. I would personally love it just to be able to run Firefox and SSH anywhere I want without lugging around a 6 pound mess.

Amazon recently released their Kindle eBook reader, and it’s nearly perfect.

Imagine that you have a 6″ small, unusually light, paperback in your hand or backpack everywhere you go. Instead of that paperback just being a single copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, it’s truly magical. Flip the page, and you can see Catch-22, flip another, and you read Slashdot live. Forgot to pick up the Wall Street Journal on your way to work this morning? Don’t worry, it’s already in your hand.

As you start reading Catch-22, you come across a word you don’t recognize, like infundibuliform, so you instantly read the definition right in your little book. It’s battery lasts nearly a week. You can annotate the books. It works perfectly in sunlight, it is easy to hold in either hand, and you can adjust the font size to the exact size that you want. It is nearly perfect.

Moreover, it is identical to that amazing encyclopedia, the Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The Kindle should have the words “Don’t Panic” inscribed in it. It’s a small, electronic book on which you can look up Wikipedia on the fly through its wireless connection. The Hitchiker’s Guide, too, is an electronic book, and

…though it cannot hope to be useful or informative on all matters, it does make the reassuring claim that where it is inaccurate, it is at least definitively inaccurate. In cases of major discrepancy it was always reality that’s got it wrong.”[3]

The Guide can receive updates to its data base via Sub-Etha. Field researchers (like Ford Prefect) can also use the Guide to edit entries and transmit these back to the publisher.

Finally, if you have a question, although you cannot use Google, you can ask Amazon’s Now Now service to get it answered quickly.. The only thing I can’t do that I would want in a small, personal computer is SSH.

Why isn’t it a perfect ebook reader? Well, mainly, the restrictions and the price. The device itself costs $400. Moreover, the books designed for the reader which you buy on Amazon.com cost $10 each. You can easily get a paperback book for less than $10, plus you can resell it. The Kindle’s delivery costs are far lower, so it’s hard to justify that price. One can infer that the book industry has pressured Amazon into a Faustian deal. Each digital e-book is highly DRM-infested, which means it you can’t use it as freely as you could a real paper book or a DRM-free book. Book publishers still haven’t learned from the music industry’s mistakes.

Nevertheless, Amazon offers a revolutionary product on par with the iPhone. They introduce a revolutionary business model where they subsidize the cost of high-speed wireless delivery of information through the price of the content. Although Sony also has an eBook reader, in terms of usability Amazon’s Kindle trumps it. The Kindle is the eBook done right (almost, it just needs fewer restrictions). Because of its uniqueness, Amazon can charge a premium, just as Apple did for the iPhone.

I don’t think I would buy this version of the Kindle. Given the thought put into this, the popularity of the device (Amazon is sold out), and the massive feedback they are getting from users, the next version of the device will improve. And not just in a superficial way. Yes, the price will improve, and yes, hopefully, they will ask an Apple designer to make the case more aesthetically pleasing. More importantly, other manufacturers will see and try to imitate this revolutionary device. They will provide competition, hopefully innovate even more, and ideally start freeing books from the shackles of DRM.

Disclaimer: I have owned Amazon in the past and may buy it before their next earnings call given this product. Also, I include affiliate links to Amazon in my posts.

Google added a feature to Google Earth which lets you explore the sky as easily as you can cities on Google Earth.

Also, someone created a cool Google Earth plugin that lets you visualize the paths of international flights on Google’s virtual 3D Earth. The video gives me a feeling of connectedness in the world. You can see major cities across the US tightly bound by these paths to every other populated part of the world. The flights hug the planet in a thousand thin embraces.

Google went up today due to a favorable earnings report which exceeded investor expectations. I had once again bought Google right before this stock jump, netting a cool five percent very quickly, though I’ll be holding on for one more week.

Google Calendar is now open to the public! GCal is an amazing application of the new style of the web programmed in AJAX. Everything is draggable, making an unsurpassable online user interface. Also, according to my Google Calendar, today is Easter, so Happy Easter everybody! Now, I’m going to gorge myself on cathartic, large, meaty meals.

Cell phones to seniors. The baby boomers’ parents have retired, and many more baby boomers will soon. The market for simple, cheap cell phones lacks any dominance. A company can plant intself into this fantastic business niche and thrive.
MSNBC reports on one Czech company producing larger, simpler cell phones for seniors. Look closely at the picture. This new “cellular” phone comes complete with a text message pad and phone line….

New York Times Company Jan 28, 2006

Jim Brown and Barry Sanders are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Jets’ Curtis Martin will almost certainly be one day. As Shaun Alexander prepares to lead the Seattle Seahawks into the Super Bowl, he shares more with these players than just being one of football’s best running backs.

Like the others, he is also an avid chess player.

”I just love what chess is all about,” Alexander said. ”To me, it is just a great strategy game.”

That chess is popular among professional athletes is not surprising, given the many weeks they spend away from home during the season and how easy it is to take a set anywhere.

For example, several former Knicks, including Larry Johnson, Allan Houston and Kurt Thomas, were enthusiastic players. Chess Life, the magazine of the United States Chess Federation, once ran a cover story about how Ron Guidry and Mickey Rivers of the Yankees often played each other.

But Alexander’s interest extends beyond playing the game to promoting it. Earlier this season, he gave America’s Foundation for Chess, a nonprofit organization, $7,500 to sponsor a chess-in-the-schools program at Madrona Elementary School in Seattle.

As part of his involvement with the program, Alexander played a game Monday night against a third grader at the school who had won a tournament earlier in the day. Alexander won.

In a telephone interview, Alexander said he supported chess because he believed that it could help make children successful adults. ”Part of being successful is learning how to think,” he said.

The 28-year-old Alexander, who was the N.F.L.’s leading rusher and most valuable player this season, learned the game by watching an older cousin. At family reunions, Alexander’s cousin would play against all the younger cousins and beat them. ”I was like, ‘Wow!’ ” Alexander said.

Alexander said he did not get up the nerve to play his cousin until he was a junior in college. Then, he said, ”It did not go well.”

Now, Alexander plays whenever he gets the chance. He said that he was not an expert player, but that he had improved. And he said he thought that he might now be the best player on the Seahawks, although he quickly added, ”There’s always some guy that you don’t know about.”

Another running back who promotes chess for children is Priest Holmes of the Kansas City Chiefs, whose record for touchdowns in a season was eclipsed this year by Alexander.

Chuck Castellano, a spokesman for the Chiefs, said that Holmes in his first three seasons with the team worked with the Police Athletic League to create chess nights for children. Holmes bought the chess sets and hired a local chess instructor. He also dropped in periodically to play the children and to make sure that they were staying involved.

Recently, Castellano said, Holmes has paid the instructor to teach in after-school programs in Kansas City.

Like Alexander, Holmes learned to play from someone in his family. In his case, it was his stepfather, who used to sit on his porch in San Antonio and play friends as they would drop by.

Holmes is rumored to be a pretty good player. So, too, is Martin, who says he met Jim Brown by playing chess with him at a friend’s wedding years ago.

So, can chess make someone a better athlete, or at least a better running back?

John Fedorowicz, a chess grandmaster and a sports fan, does not think so.

”Chess is kind of a sport itself, but I never saw any kind of carryover to other sports,” he said.

If playing chess made someone a better running back, Fedorowicz said, then they would all play and they would say, ”I wasn’t anything until I started playing chess.” Alexander said he thought there was a bit of a connection between chess and being a running back.

”While you’re watching film, you’re thinking about ways to beat people, and that’s kind of the way it is with chess,” he said. ”Every move, you’re thinking about getting an advantage for yourself. That’s how it is with football as well.”

Today is the Chinese New Year, the year of the fire dog.




I am reminded of a fortune cookie I once opened at Main Moon Buffet: “Someone will invite you to a Karaoke party.” Maybe this year I will be.

That’s amazing engineering.

New York Times, January 28, 2006
Drug smugglers have dug one of the longest, most sophisticated tunnels discovered in recent years along the Mexican border, and the American and Mexican authorities have hauled nearly two tons of marijuana out of it since they entered it on Wednesday, officials said.

The tunnel is 60 feet below ground at some points, five feet high, and nearly half a mile long, extending from a warehouse near the international airport in Tijuana, Mexico, to a vacant industrial building in Otay Mesa, Calif., about 20 miles southeast of downtown San Diego. The sophistication of the tunnel surprised officials, who found it outfitted with a concrete floor, electricity, lights and ventilation and groundwater pumping systems….

Since Sept. 11, 2001, when border security was tightened, agents have uncovered 21 tunnels of varying degrees of length and sophistication, from ”gopher holes” to engineered marvels like Wednesday’s discovery, Mr. Unzueta said.

The builders, he said, ”had to have access to money and somebody with a strong construction and engineering background….”