One Perk in MS-Nokia deal: Navteq →
Seattle PI seems to agree with my take on the strategic partnership between Nokia and Microsoft.
Dear Women →
For too long now we've misunderstood each other. We are both rational creatures—to a point—but due to our unique hormonal makeups we act in ways that baffle each other. This will never stop, of course, but we can each attempt to shed some light on our thoughts and actions in an effort to understand each other more. Speaking for men, allow me to say…
Most relevant note for any woman in my life?
We like to be the ones who set up new gadgets and electronics when we buy them. Just leave us alone while we attempt to figure out which wires do what. If we need help, we'll ask. It's not that we don't think you can do it, it's that electronics are like Legos for grownups. And we all loved Legos.
MSI (s) (94:F0) [19:29:20:240]: Generating random cookie.Hi, there.
MSI (s) (94:F0) [19:29:20:255]: Created Custom Action Server with PID 2820 (0xB04).
MSI (s) (94:B4) [19:29:20:255]: Running as a service.
MSI (s) (94:B4) [19:29:20:255]: Hello, I'm your 32bit Elevated custom action server.
Photo from the Wellcome Image Awards 2011, recognizing "the creators of the most informative, striking, and technically excellent images among recent acquisitions" to their biological art gallery.
Internet-savvy 'Firefly' fans fly back into the fight - CNN.com →
Please. Oh please.
via Mike Rose
I'm in.
I 5683 You →
People were given phones with nothing but numbers on them and then asked to type in a series of digits, ostensibly as part of an ergonomics study. Instead, the authors were tracking the words that those keys might spell were they being used to punch out a quick text. Unconsciously, it seems the participants were as well. Keying in 5683, which could potentially spell "love" was viewed as a more positive experience than 75463 for "slime."
Six Months In, Reaching the Beginning
Two weeks ago marked my 6 month anniversary at Microsoft. Everybody is asking me what it's been like, what I've enjoyed, what I haven't, but the truth is, I've just gotten to the beginning.
Microsoft, like almost any other technology company, operates in a cyclical release cycle. A list of features is drawn up, they are coded, and then they are released; repeat ad naseum. For Windows Live, four of these release cycles comprise a wave. Before the beginning of each new wave, a period of time is put into development of internal infrastructure, system and operations improvements, and general readiness for the next wave. In August, when I onboarded, we were completing a milestone, and entering this internal development period. So the first two months of my job was ramping up on Hotmail, the Wave 4 release, and a few service packs and the next three were internal development, which consisted of many different tasks in and of itself. Now, as we enter our new phase of coding, I'm experiencing what the whole process is supposed to look like from the beginning. The last three weeks have been a flurry of planning, review, and meetings, unlike anything I've seen yet. And now we begin coding. So, six months in, I've finally gotten to the beginning.
I feel it's similar in my personal life, as well. I found a church home not too long after arriving, but it's taken time to begin to feel personally connected and to start making friends. Three weeks ago, I enrolled in a "start group", where 30-40 of us meet for six weeks to watch a DVD curriculum and discuss. I've started getting out of the house to hang out with people from church and people I've met from Stanford. I'm beginning to get to know them, and hoping to begin the process of forming the deep, personal relationships I've been lacking since coming out here.
There's most certainly been growth. I've learned about scale, from the size of Microsoft itself to the technical difficulties of running one of the world's largest web services to the sheer geographical size of the United States of America. I've learned about corporate culture, Californian culture, and a little bit more about nerd culture. And I've learned more about who I strive to be, my strengths and weaknesses, what motivates me, and how I interact with others. But this is still the beginning of that process. And that's okay, because I do believe the quote "The secret to a rich life is to have more beginnings than endings."
Is Mobile Affecting When We Read? →
When a reader is given a choice about how to consume their content, a major shift in behavior occurs. They no longer consume the majority of their content during the day, on their computer. Instead they shift that content to prime time and onto a device better suited for consumption.
Ken Jennings Describes What It's Like To Play Against a Machine →
Nice writeup on some of the behind-the-scene thoughts beforehand and the emotion during.
The "Unit Effect" Makes 31 Days Seem Better Than a Month →
Apparently, even when people know what the units are, they tend to prefer a bigger number. As a newly released study shows, people would rather pay for expedited service to get things in 31 days than they would to get it in one month.