As I was setting up a new development machine this morning, I found myself traversing through my old GitHub projects. One such project that was always close to my heart was QuickGrapher, the JavaScript graphing library Mark and I wrote during our start-up years.
Like many of my readers, if I find out there’s another type of input on a device I’m going to plug something into it. Usually some kind of video game. So, when I realized the backup camera/monitor setup on my van had an extra input, I was compelled to install something new.
It’s been about a year since I threw Johnny Castaway up on the web, and I thought it might be time for an update.
Did you know you can temporarily deactivate your Facebook account without losing your Facebook messenger?
The year was 2011. My startup had closed, and I had spent the summer writing Android apps and blogging. I had just joined a Google Ventures startup (Miso), and we all rented a bus to truck it up to TechCrunch Disrupt.
As a life-long hacker, I have spent my life taking things apart, figuring out how they work, and attempting to improve them. Far more of my hacking projects have failed than will ever grace the pages of this blog, sometimes in spectacular and unexpected ways. It’s through that repeated failure and reflection that I learn to succeed. I share those successes (and quite a few of the failures) with others, and they are often the backdrop of my leadership coaching.
Longtime readers of this blog may recall my slight obsession with an old screensaver: Johnny Castaway. Johnny was a Windows 3.1 screensaver, part of Sierra’s ‘Screen Antics’ collection. Fitting handily on a single 3.5” floppy disk, Johnny spent his time alone on a deserted island. He fished, he napped, he went on dates with a mermaid. It was a fascinating, subversive tale. The true moral of the story was that Johnny wasn’t happy until he was on that island, but he didn’t realize it until after he had been rescued. The ‘ending’ scene is of Johnny parachuting back onto his desert island, leaving his old programming job and city life behind.
Earlier this week one of the managers on my leadership team shared a most excellent article around the concept of a manager Readme, a readme file to get folks ready for a new manager, and a number of great examples from our industry. You can read the article here
The Surface (non-pro) was an interesting device. Running windows RT 8.1 and sporting a 720p display, from the outside this was a half-decent productivity tablet. It came with a fully usable version of Microsoft office, could share peripherals with the (far superior) surface pro, and was priced to sell. Sadly, the locked-down operating system meant the software landscape was barren, the hacking scene was anemic, and the technology quickly became outdated.
There’s a pretty well known rule around my house: “If I buy one TV, I need to get rid of two.” I know the math of this doesn’t seem to work out in theory, but in practice it does. Between giveaways from friends and what I find myself, there’s always a steady stream of television related projects coming through.
