Galaxy Tab · So, there’s a new kind of Android device in the world. The world still isn’t sure just where it is that tablets are the right tool for the job. That granted, this is a nifty product. And I’m developing my own theory of what tablets are for ... [11 comments]
A Story of O · In recent days I’ve been thinking of JavaOne, as we kicked it around and decided we just couldn’t send speakers; and of Oracle OpenWorld, to which JavaOne will now serve as an appendage. It reminded me of a conversation I had last year about Oracle ... [19 comments]
Short-form Fragments · Week ending Sunday 2010/08/29 ...
Late But Essential Review · I read Michael Lewis’ The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine months ago, and have been feeling guilty about not recommending it, because this material is sort of essential for anyone who would like to understand how our economy ended up in the toilet. Read on, not just for a (spoiler: positive) review, but for potentially time- and money-saving advice ... [16 comments]
Tethering · I travel quite a bit, and I have found that the “tethering & portable hotspot” facility in Android 2.2 is just absolutely wonderful. It has saved me considerable money and got me reasonably-good connectivity in places I wouldn’t otherwise have had it; I’m looking at you, big-name US hotel chains ... [16 comments]
Late Summer Tech Tab Sweep · Some of these puppies have been keeping a browser tab open since April. No theme; ranging on the geekiness scale from extreme to mostly-sociology ... [2 comments]
Short-form Fragments · Week ending Sunday 2010/08/22 ...
CL XIII: Carpentry · Most people who have a cottage which isn’t a mini-mansion spend a lot of their cottage life maintaining and improving it. This can be a little stressful to those like me who are more or less entirely without home-improvement skills ... [8 comments]
Short-form Fragments · Week ending Sunday 2010/08/15 ...
Opaque Visual Remnants · I’ve been so busy at work this last little while, I still take lots of pictures but don’t have time to run that many. I was glancing back over the library and pulled out a few to publish for my pleasure and I hope yours. These have in common that they’re sort of opaque; in the range from non-self-explanatory to mysterious ... [2 comments]
Nazis in a Teapot · Last Thursday evening Michael Gartenberg, who’s a smart analyst, and blogger, tweeted that he’d searched for “Jewish” in Android Market and came up with some Nazi trash. Sure enough, he was right. The moron who was selling a “Hitler theme” and other related junk had used “jewish” and “jews” as keywords. Mind you, this crap was like five screens down, you really had to be working to see it ... [6 comments]
Small Airport Victories · Two of them in the last couple of days, both courtesy of having the Internet in my pocket ... [1 comment]
Galaxy · That’s what Samsung is calling their Android phones, the latest wave of which is getting reviewed all over the place. I’ve seen a few of ’em at Android HQ, and no doubt about it, they’re nice; but so are the other recent Androids. What I’m astounded by is Samsung’s marketing virtuosity; they’ve managed to line up every big mobile telecom I’ve ever heard of, all over the world, to carry one of these devices. I don’t recall ever seeing anything like it from any handset maker. I wonder how it’s done? [11 comments]
Short-form Fragments · Week ending Sunday 2010/08/08 ...
Upcoming Gig — JAOO · I don’t know what the acronym stands for, but JAOO 2010 is in Aarhus, a place I’ve never been to in Denmark; Oct 4-6. It’s a popular event and I’m honored to be among the speakers. What happened was, before I started at Google, they invited me to come and talk about my Doing It Wrong piece, which I regard as summing up my years at Sun. After I joined Google, I wrote back and asked “Can I talk about Android too?” so I’ll be speaking twice on successive days ... [3 comments]
Upcoming Gig — GDD Tokyo · GDD stands for Google Developer Day; since not everyone can come to Google I/O, we take I/O on the road to various points in several continents and both hemispheres. GDD Tokyo, on September 28th, is 2010’s first; I’ll be helping out there talking Android in the keynote. I assume the Tokyo Googlers will find something else useful to do while I’m there. Regular readers here know that I have a special relationship with Tokyo — can’t wait to be back. [1 comment]
Upcoming Gig — Mobile Tech · That’s MobileTech Conference in full, a new conference in Mainz, about which I know nothing except for it’s near Frankfurt. It’s by the same people who do the well-known “JAX” conference series all over Germany. September 6-8; notable for being my first keynote appearance on behalf of my new Android day job.
CL XII: Far Away · The primary recreational activity in our cottage life isn’t boating or hiking or swimming or any of those undoubtedly worthy and improving pastimes; it’s leaning back in a comfy chair on the deck admiring the view, frequently through a camera with a great big chunk of glass on the front, with a refreshing drink (this can range from a stiff G&T to a nice cuppa T) ...
Unserious About Security · Our devices all touch the Internet all the time. There are many people on the Internet who are extremely smart and extremely bad and want to steal your money. We need to take security very seriously. The tech community’s writers, both professional and amateur, are doing an inadequate job; arguably guilty of both recklessness and laziness ... [6 comments]
Short-form Fragments · Week ending Sunday 2010/08/01 ...
What this is · Subscribe to ongoing
Truth · Biz · Tech
software · G & M · Dad author · colophon · rights
Random image, linked to its containing fragment
When? (3657 fragments)
What? (301 categories)

I work for Google, but the opinions expressed here are my own, and no other party necessarily agrees with them.
A full disclosure of my professional interests is on the author page.