Not so many companies understand that if they provide the best tools, they get the best of their employees. Base22 certainly thinks in that way: We have top of the line MacBook Pros (I have the 17″, mate screen with 8 GB of RAM), an iPad, access to the best software and a book policy that allows us to buy any book we want.

Base22 is a great place to work, not only because we have the best tools, but mainly because there’s a lot of brilliant people here, so every day is full of pleasant learning experiences (by the way, we’re hiring).

[Show as slideshow]

Caring for your introvert
Published in The Atlantic on March 2003.

To those of you who have called me “taciturn”, or even “antisocial”: I politely invite you to read this 1,385-words article by Jonathan Rauch. We can discuss it one day, if you like.

I have never been a fan of Google, but when they launched Google Apps I thought it was a great idea: Leveraging Gmail (the king of web-based email at the time) for your own domain. So I opened a Google Apps account for my main personal domain, and later opened several Google Apps accounts for my current job, friends, etc. I even considered Android as an alternative for it’s great integration with “cloud” email and calendaring services (that was, of course, before the release of iOS 4).

But now that they’re “granting” incomplete Google Accounts features to every Google Apps domain, they have this Conflicting Accounts concept, and using a Google Apps user with the same email address as your personal Google Account it’s becoming a headache.

I noticed it because I use Google Reader, but I’ve read that YouTube, Blogger, Picassa and Checkout users have worst problems than mine. What can you do when the landlord of half-internet sends you a new contract and you don’t agree?

I found this thread some months ago, and I was particularly impressed with this post:

I’ve been a Google fangirl since Google debuted. I’m a loyal Android user, plus use Google Apps for two domains’ email. This move to the new infrastructure is not just painful, it’s excruciating. Why on earth would you make things so difficult for apps users? We’re your most loyal crowd, aren’t we? YouTube’s new incompatibility with my apps account causes my Android phone not to work right unless I constantly log out and back in under different accounts. I depend on my phone to work well, and it can’t now.
…
-Gardenwife

So I decided it was time to move on. My personal email and calendaring solution has been Google free for a while now, and I’m looking for alternatives to Reader.

More than 4GB on their way

A good mood-setter for the reading is this line from Syracusa’s conclusion:

…the content of the operating system itself clearly marks the start of a new journey. Seemingly emboldened by the success of iOS, Apple has taken a hatchet to decades of conventional wisdom about desktop operating systems.

File system: Bad things, nice improvements and hopes

• What’s wrong with HFS+
• File system changes in Lion
• File system future

Files / documents recovery

• Document revisions
• Mobile Time Machine

System configuration

• System Preferences
• About This Mac (I love the iTunes-esque Storage tab).

User interface

• Here’s to the crazy ones

Sometimes we even agree to have lunch together to celebrate in a place he enjoys (Horacio likes good food and wine), but his real birthday celebration is usually by night at some bar. I don’t usually attend that celebration, as I don’t like bars and clubs, and Horacio has always understood that. But the next time I see him he always tells me how it was and why I should have joined them, and for a short lapse he convinces me.

I met Horacio back in 1999. We used to work together at what was the best web design shop of Mexico at the time. We shared the passion of making great websites (He was a designer, I was more on the software side, though), but in almost all other areas we had opposite interests, or at least that was what I believed.

Perhaps being so different was the key to have such a good friendship, as later we embarked together with other 2 good friends and founded our very own web-consulting, digital art and software firm: Artexia.

I learned a lot of stuff from Horacio along those years at Artexia. Discipline at work and in business, web design, house maintenance (we cleaned, painted, and made plumbing and electrical works in our new office), religious and political views, and I know he learned many things from me too. That was because we enjoyed to talk and listen, and we used to had long conversations on several topics about work and life.

After Artexia closed we made some short projects together and still had some occasional meetings to talk. That’s what I’m mostly missing from him: Great conversation, and his point of view.

Horacio passed away two weeks ago, so I decided to write this post in the time I would have used to phone him for his birthday. I miss him so much.

(I don't have much pictures of Horacio, as he was always behind the camera, but I have a lot of beautiful pictures taken by him!)

It was not a straightforward, easy task for a novice like me. The good news is I have documented the full procedure, and you can read it in the Base22 wiki.

I will attempt the same setup for WebSphere Portal 7, and of course will be posting my results.

* The sad truth is, if you work in the web industry, you will not be completely Windows free for a long time, thanks to that web cancer old browser called Internet Explorer.

So after the release of iPhone OS 3.0 I found this guide about enabling tethering in countries where it is disabled by the carrier’s default configuration, and it has worked really well (I have an unlimited data plan, by the way).

With the release of iPhone OS 3.1 yesterday, rumors and early adopters say the firmware update would disable Internet Tethering on iPhones where the carrier doesn’t officially supports it.

I updated to iPhone OS 3.1 with certain precautions, and Internet Tethering is still functional for me.

So if you want to update to 3.1 without loosing the tethering capacity, this is what you should do:

DISCLAIMER FIRST: This worked for me, but I don’t have any way to know if it will work for you. Proceed at your own risk. If you already have enabled Internet Tethering and it is critical for you, I would recommend you to not follow any unsupported method like this.

Before updating to iTunes 9 make sure you have the last version of your carrier’s provisioning bundle:

1. On your iPhone go to Settings / General / About, and look for Carrier version. Take note of the version number. Mine was Telcel 4.4.
2. Download the list of iPhone OS updates from here, and find your carrier’s latest provisioning bundle available.
   My Carrier is Telcel México, so I found their last provisioning bundle is this:
   Telcel_mx 3.0 BuildVersion 4.4 BundleURL http://appldnld.apple.com.edgesuite.net/content.info.apple.com/iPhone/CarrierBundles/061-6937.20090803.3er5t/Telcel_mx.ipcc

   So, I’m up to date.

If you have the latest version of your carrier’s provisioning bundle you’re free to go; if not, you should first update it while you have iTunes 8.2, and possibly re-enable tethering using the aforementioned guide.

To install the iPhone OS 3.1 update:

1. Download and install iTunes 9.
2. Connect your iPhone, so iTunes 9 can search for updates. When iTunes says there’s an update for your iPhone DON’T UPDATE, choose to ONLY download the new firmware, but don’t install it just yet.
3. Sync your iPhone, so it is ready for upgrading (the backup can take several minutes sometimes). Then disconnect it from your computer.
4. Wait for iTunes to finish downloading your firmware update.
5. When the download finishes, enable Airplane Mode on your iPhone (first option of Settings). This will disconnect your iPhone from your cellphone network and WiFi.
6. Reconnect your iPhone and update your firmware (the one iTunes just downloaded). The operating system will be upgraded and your iPhone will restart. Don’t disconnect your iPhone until it shows up in iTunes, and you are sure it has upgraded to 3.1.
7. Disconnect your iPhone from your computer, disable Airplane mode and wait for your iPhone to reconnect to network.
8. Go and check in Settings if you still have Internet Tethering available as an option.

I have done this in two iPhones: First in my wife’s (she doesn’t use tethering, so I taught it was a good idea to test first on her iPhone) and later in mine.

Both iPhones showed the same carrier version after the firmware upgrade, but after a restart mine shows a different one (5.0). Anyway, tethering is still functional.

I suppose Internet Tethering option may disappear one of these days (when Telcel sends a new carrier configuration file to Apple), or they will start charging extra money, but in the mean time it is working well.

Good luck if you decide to upgrade.

DISCLAIMER: This information is provided AS IS, use it under your own risk. I’m not responsible if you broke your iPhone, or if your carrier charges you a lot of money, or if someone sues you.

If you really want to know what the Pre is, go here:
http://www.palm.com/pre

He has the particularity of throwing rocks to tourists (Ouch!).

Via Daring Fireball.

You can read and bid here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120380600418

By the way, Nitrozac and Snaggy are the the creators of the high-tech humor website GeekCulture.com, and the The Joy of Tech comic.

From Bregović’s official website:

Our mexican tour has sadly been cancelled – the presenters facing a 40% devaluation of the peso could not make ends meet this time. Better luck in November 2009 we hope!

You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii) enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof.

Via ALT1040.

Update:
Mark Zuckerberg has clarified the reasons for the new legal terms on sharing content in Facebook:

Our philosophy is that people own their information and control who they share it with. When a person shares information on Facebook, they first need to grant Facebook a license to use that information so that we can show it to the other people they’ve asked us to share it with. Without this license, we couldn’t help people share that information.

Read the full post here:
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=54434097130

You don’t need to know anything about a game to realize that when there’s two minutes left and the score is really close, and the ball is right on the edge of where the team that is behind needs to put it to get ahead, it’s exciting.

The Super Bowl XLIII on TV, as told by a pilot girl who had never watched a football game; read the full note and laugh here:
http://airplanepilot.blogspot.com/2009/02/last-reason-for-roman-numerals.html

By the way, Aviatrix is a very smart woman who regularly writes about her experience flying private airplanes. You can read her thoughts about the landing of the US Airways A320 in the Hudson River here:
http://airplanepilot.blogspot.com/2009/01/safety-is-not-miracle.html

Microsoft’s new software will eventually be bundled on every new PC sold, outside of Apple’s, so there’s no need to worry about leaking features or showing off the flaws of an unfinished product. Microsoft doesn’t have to sell Windows 7, it only has to worry about market rejection. Due to the volumes of PCs it will eventually be installed on, it’s bound to be successful even if it is a marginal product.

You should read the full note; the approach taken by Apple to 64 bit processing in the upcoming operating system, Snow Leopard, is clearly explained.

Via Windows 7 vs. Mac OS X Snow Leopard: Apple ups the ante (AppleInsider)

I presume they will come for the Festival de México en el Centro Histórico, in México City.

Updated: Tour in México has been cancelled. Read here.

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/songsmith/index.html

Disclaimer: Stickers for hiding the Apple logo on your MacBook Pro not included. ;)

Having the ugly or frightening appearance of a monster…
(from the Oxford American Dictionary)

If there were computers in nightmares, surely they would look like this.

More horrifying pictures on Engadget.

LOL! I didn’t know about the existence of LOLCODE!

(Thanks, Alfredo).

It all ends today, as Apple states 2009 will be the last Macworld they will attend, and Steve Jobs won’t address the keynote this time.

The end of an era.

Via Engadget.