Joel on Bad Code

on Joel

Look for coding conventions that make wrong code look wrong. Getting the right information collocated all together in the same place on screen in your code lets you see certain types of problems and fix them right away.

The Retailing Industry

A very good article on the world Retailing Industry and implications for India.

American mass retailing began in the late 1800s with Montgomery Ward marketing its products through general merchandise mail order catalogs, which was very effective at that time for reaching a largely rural society.

In the 1940s, the population began its movement to the suburbs as the economy shifted from an agricultural base to an industrialised nation. The first shopping center was opened, which would eventually be a significant factor in the decline of downtown retailing in the 1960s and 70s. JCPenney and Sears began their national mass retailing expansion, and the use of credit cards as major retail chains began. .......

CNN : Viral Marketing or Spam ?

on Wired

Earlier this month, blogger Nick Lewis noticed a strange post about CNN on his blog. The comment was critical of some new shows on CNN, but also included detail about the shows, their show times and the anchors hosting them. The same terms were repeated over and over, making it appear like spam. Something was not right.

Hackathon

on Bnoopy

Sustaining innovation for a startup, a rip off from Google's 20% idea.

We call it a "hackathon" and we got inspiration from the good folks at Atlassian. The idea is that you make a day-long event (at whatever frequency you want) where everyone works on something that is:

• valuable to the company
• but not what they're "supposed" to be working on and
• that can be taken from idea to working prototype in one day

We started our hackathon at 9:00am and ended at 8:00pm. From 8:00-10:00pm we did presentations where each team member or group showed their work.

SNAP : News Filter

A pretty cool and easy way to find a particular news piece you are looking for. You can use multiple filters to narrow down your search.

BenedictXVI.com taken !!

on WIRED News

Newly elected popes often take the names of previous popes in honor of them. So when media reports last month revealed that Pope John Paul II was in his final hours, Cadenhead worked out the possible names that the new pope might select and set out to buy those domains.

He ended up buying six in all -- including ClementXV.com, InnocentXIV.com, LeoXIV.com, PaulVII.com and PiusXIII.com. Some domains, like JohnPaulIII.com and JohnXXIV.com, already were taken.

Cadenhead said he hasn't figured out what he's going to do with the BenedictXVI.com domain yet. "I know for certainty I won't be doing that," he said, referring to the adult sites. "The decision would be guided by the idea not to piss off 1.1 billion (Roman Catholics.)"

Adobe and Macromedia

on WIRED News

And now, by picking up the remaining applications in the Macromedia stable, Adobe has just bought its way into every niche in the design market. Digital imaging, motion graphics, desktop publishing, content management, presentations, documents, video editing, audio production, type. You name it, the new Adobe's got a program that does it.

Just think of it. Create a Flash animation using video you've edited in Premiere Pro, graphics elements you've created in Illustrator, and images you've prepared in Photoshop. Add some music you tracked using Audition, then drop it into a web page you've created using ColdFusion and Dreamweaver. Everyone plays nice together and everything works the way it should.

There are also plenty of observers who have voiced fears about a monopoly. It's true, Adobe is now a sort of one-stop shop for all of your web, graphics and publishing needs. There have always been alternatives to Flash and Photoshop, and there probably always will be. But only time will tell if any of the alternatives will stand up to the new giant.

The merger makes sense for both Macromedia and Adobe. Both companies have been busy selling their products to the same people for years. While those customers may see a little less variety, they will certainly see a lot more compatibility. The larger company will also have more resources, allowing it to branch into new areas more quickly and easily.