Bikin' my Bloggin'

What the press is saying about the new Google Mobile App for Blackberry

2010-09-18T00:11:00.003+01:00

Just a collection of links to different articles; probably I'll update it later. Meanwhile, let me enjoy my 15 minutes.

CNET (Really in-depth): Google Mobile App now searches Gmail, Docs on BlackBerry

Wireless Ground (Very balanced, I like it): Google App Gets a Much Needed Update For BlackBerrys Today

Into Mobile (A really serious blackberry user, mentions a Use Case that is not in our blog!): Google App for Blackberry Updated with Gmail, Docs and Google Contact Search

Information Week: Google's BlackBerry Search App Updated

BerryReview:Google Mobile App v3.8.22 Released With Login to Search Gmail

WebProNews (they even mention my name!): BlackBerry Users Get New Gmail, Google Docs Search Features

Blackberry Rocks (they wrote this before we posted on our own blog in Google): Google Mobile App For BlackBerry Updated To Version 3.8.22

The next web (with a user comment!): The Google Mobile App will now search cloud-based items for Blackberry users.

And of course, here is the Google News I am following

Google Mobile App for Blackberry: new version

2010-09-17T19:17:00.003+01:00

Even though I have not witten anything for 2 years, I just wanted to link a new interesting new release from the Google Mobile App for Blackberry:

http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/09/search-gmail-docs-with-google-mobile.html

Not self promoting, of course.

When being a genius means you know you aren't one

2008-06-25T03:29:00.002+01:00

I was reading this post by a fellow Googler, and I have a hunch: he is exactly the person he describes in the post. I bet he has this superhuman ability of coming on Monday and telling that the code you talked about is ready, he refactored the whole code base, and since he was bored, he made some nifty application that you needed for a presentation.
And while you are trying to understand what he has done (how is beyond mere mortals), he wants to play foosball.

Workign in a meritocracy

2008-06-16T22:04:00.003+01:00

I find it so refreshing working in a meritocracy. The lack of turf wars has such a great impact. I started workign on my 20% in an area I am not going to disclose, but let's call it A. There are people already working in A.
In a normal company it would go like this:
I have to ask my manager if I can work in A.
My manager thinks about whether he is going to gain or lose power with that.
If he approves, I go to my project manager, who can still reject it, because he will lose someone from his project, and possibly, is afraid of losing me completely.
My project manager fights with my manager, and I may go to square 1 if the project manager wins (notice the word "win").
After all this approval, my manager will think the best way of telling the manager A that I'll be working part time in that.
The manager in A will be afraid that my manager is planning a takeover, so they will keep information away just from me.
Whatever was wrong, it will be my fault (because I am the inefficient minion of my manager who is trying to spy in A).
If everything goes well, my contribution will be ignored, since prizes, raises, etc. are for "full time staffers only".

In Google, on the other hand it goes like:
Checking that I am not in absolute crunch time, I tell my manager I'll work in A (and notice it is not ask, request, it is just tell).
I read the documentation.
Tell the team A that I am planning to work on this.
Team A will be really helpful since they can use whatever assistance they get.
If it works out, I will get a positive review, raises bonuses, etc.

Why is it profitable to goof off?

2008-06-08T01:18:00.002+01:00

Last Thursday my desktop was running the tests, I had read all my mail so there was nothing to do on my notebook, so I decided to grab a book I had to read for the job , a Diet Coke and go to the massage chair (OK, it was not goofing off, but the title makes a bigger hit this way). In other companies they would tell me that if I want to read, I do it in my own time, and of course, pay for the book myself.
Maybe that was not the most profitable hour that Google paid, but it meant that on Friday I really wanted to get a test suite to run in 60 seconds, no matter if I had to stay until 2 AM (which I did).

Creation Museum

2008-06-07T00:58:00.002+01:00

Looking around the web (hey, it is almost 1 AM and I am having fun programming and surfing the web), I came across this wonderful description of the Creation Museum (link missing not accidentally).

Playing board games Google style

2008-06-03T00:12:00.005+01:00

As you can imagine, we have a board games group in Google (actually, several, one per major location). And by board games, we DON'T mean Monopoly . We mean serious games, and, this being Google, it must be large scale.
Last Saturday we played Twilight Imperium Third Edition with the Shattered Empire expansion. It lasted a mere 11 hours (from 12:40 to 23:55). I cannot recommend it enough (if you are into board games, of course), since it has a really good balance between races and the combination of long term strategy and random events works wonderfully. And to understand what I mean by large, just check the picture.

Why return isn't evil?

2008-06-02T23:28:00.004+01:00

We know that GOTO is the root of all evil (OK, GOTO and premature optimization). However, why return is different? For instance, if you write in Java...

boolean equals(Object o) {

if (!o instanceof MyClass.class)
return false;
....
}

it is salt, and spice and everything nice, even though it is unstructured. Not only is it OK, it is recommended.
I think I have an idea. In this case you are not breaking the structure of the code. You are just shortcutting a huge else; it is the short for of "else do the rest of the stuff, clear local variables and return a value". However, this doesn't apply for continue of break; In both cases they are unstructed and mean: "continue with an unnamed block of code, but leave variables as they are", which is exactly what GOTO does.

Update Jun 4, 4:04: A colleague reminded me the amazing number of WTFs that can be produced just with returns. I have seen them and they can be as ugly as GOTOs; I mainly meant those clear returns that are nested only one or two levels deep.

The world worst traveller: beating my own records.

2008-05-08T23:52:00.002+01:00

This time I had to travel from Dublin to Valencia, changing planes in Madrid. When I arrive to my second flight, I am elated to find out that the flight has only 4 passengers in an ATR 72 (with capacity for 68 people). I sit down, after double and triple checking it is the right flight (since there is another Iberia flight traveling at exactly the same time to Valencia). I arrive to Valencia quite fast, even before the planned time (I guess a couple of tons make a difference to such an small airplane), just to find out that my luggage isn't there! There were more crew-members than pieces of luggage, but they still manage to delay mine. They sent it to my hotel the following day, no harm done, but it is amazing they can screw up moving 3 suitcases!

Airline prices (or how to make a convoluted system not even operators can understand)

2008-04-22T20:06:00.003+01:00

A few months ago I bought a plane ticket and I needed only one way; however, it was cheaper (in absolute terms, not relative or anything fancy) if I bought a return ticket.
As if that weren't enough nonsense, now I had an extra leg I am not going to use, so I'd like to change it to some date when I can effectively use it. After listening to music for 30 minutes the phone operator tells me that changing the date, since it exceeds the maximum stay, is more expensive than buying a one way ticket (and I guess much more than a return).
I think Google will never make a search engine for plane rates. Indexing the web: easy.
Finding the cheapest rate from A to B: hard (heck, I guess it is NP-complete)

This is the kind of people you find in Google...

2008-04-05T23:45:00.003+01:00

So, the standard way of doing thing in the music business is:
-You publish crap
-Your sales suffer because you publish crap
-Some of your suffering customers download your stuff even though it is not worth the electricity it takes to download them
-You sue your customers

Now, the new EMI CIO, ex Googler, says that suing your customers is not a good idea, even though the full music industry is going for it. Again this is what I like about working in Google: nothing less than a full-scale revolution is good enough

Travelling salesman with N processors

2008-03-29T16:25:00.000Z

XKCD applies one more... I have to say that in this case the problem is slightly changed, since it is no longer the travelling salesman, but N customers going to the distribution office, but heck, the joke is still good.

Blackberrying and eating gum

2008-03-25T09:54:00.003Z

I am getting tired of famous magazines plagiarizing my blog. In this case, Time blatantly copied my post about Google reducing my lifespan. I hope my formula for profits works this time... I have a big time lawyer: his last client was SCO!

How to update Netgear WPN824

2008-03-24T15:41:00.006Z

In this post I just want to single out a something from my previous post... If you have a Netgear WPN824, the auto-update feature doesn't work. You have to download the firmware image from the website and apply it.
Of course, applying a firmware upgrade is not for the faint of heart. It is one of those cases when reading the manual and following precautions is useful. You have to do it with the device firmly connected to the wall, in a sunny day, without cats, dogs or children around, praying to your favorite deity (in my case, Steve Jobs) that everything goes well.
In a related note, it reminds me of something I learned in my previous jobs. Electric companies don't apply patches to their EMS or other important systems in rainy or windy days, just in case there is a power failure.

The state of plug and play

2008-03-24T11:58:00.002Z

Today I finally managed to configure my VOIP adapter, a Grandstream Handytone 286. Mind you, it was not easy, to say the least. And that's considering I am a graduate software engineer with 7 years of professional experience; the only way you have a chance is if you fully understand XKCD.
The first strange issue was that my router, a Netgear WPN824, crashed when I plugged the VOIP adapter into it. My first idea was to check if it had the latest firmware; the update system said so, and I went on. Since I had some problems with some VOIP providers and my softphone, and some reports on the Internet said that the firewall could crash the router, I tried to set the adapter in the DMZ. Since my router could only take one server in the DMZ, I had to disable DHCP and manually setup the address, which involved typing the MAC address in the router configuration. As that didn't work -I guess I would have needed to force the expiration of the DHCP address in the adapter- I had to set it statically in the adapter too.
It was really fun to find that the problem was still there: the bloody adapter still crashed the bloody router. I still had a couple of tricks left. I tried disable UPnP, which I read it also caused problems, but to no avail. I was thinking of setting up some port triggering, but I thought that if setting the adapter in the DMZ didn't work, port triggering would be quite useless too.
Going around the router documentation I come across some firmware downloads. I see the versions available and with the corner of the eye I see something strange: the latest version number seems to be different than the one I saw in my router. Fiddling a bit I check and, indeed, I had an old firmware version. All I had to do is a firmware upgrade.
For those of you who have never done it, firmware upgrades is something that really makes a person nervous. If something goes wrong you turn a piece of hardware into a nice decorative ornament; there is no undo, no turning back, it is the point of no return, you cross the Rubicon, you burn the bridges, etc.
Fortunately, the firmware upgrade worked OK and the router no longer crashed. So all I had to configure was the SIP address, the STUN server, the works. That was pretty simple in comparison.
In case you didn't notice the irony of plug and play, I included 11 very technical terms just to configure a bloody VOIP adapter, which took me 2 hours and lots of guesswork to make it work

Internet as a catalyst...

2008-03-19T20:55:00.002Z

a catalyst of people with way too much time in their hands. Just check this video.... These guys would not have spent those days setting everything up if they couldn't show it in the web (and even if it is tricked and isn't continuous, I dare you to set up all that stuff). But what is even worse, the video has 538,169 views, which means, that if every person just saw 3 minutes (less than half), humankind has lost 3 man/years of people just for watching this video. Yes, 3 man/years were lost just because people were watching a video of boxes falling in a supermarket!

Behold, mere mortals! My prophetic powers show themselves all seeing once again

2008-03-16T21:00:00.002Z

Some time ago, I wrote a post about the Oyster card; I also mentioned some privacy concerns from a fellow blogger. Well, in this article it is stated that it is being discussed whether the government should be able to access those records. A very smart comment in Slashdot shows how stupid this idea is, since a not-completely-stupid-terrorist will still use single tickets (hey, you are going to blow up yourself, you are not going to need that pension fund)

Bubblesort with N processors cannot still be reduced from O(n)

2008-03-15T23:13:00.002Z

So, continuing with the previous post, let's assume we can make N comparisons simultaneously. Bubblesort won't still improve the speed from O(n); in the pathological case, where we have MAX, x, x2, x3, ..., x(N-1). Only one comparison per cycle will return that a swap has to be executed. so, we still have to do N-1 swaps.
Now, how we use all this comparisons? Well, a simple algorithm will be to make N/2 comparisons per cycle, comparing all elements xE with xE+1 (where E is all the even numbers). In the next cycle, we compare xE-1 with xE. Why not do both at the same time? It is very simple: we might have a problem that both return true, and we must execute both swaps; which is the equivalent of swapping xE-1 with xE+1. But how do we know that? We must compare the results of the comparisons, and we still have the problem of how xE+2 may compare with xE+1.

Bubblesorting with N processors (where N is REALLY large)

2008-03-06T07:18:00.001Z

I was reading this article in Slashdot, and after this comment an interesting question came to my mind: what may happen if you have a massively overpowered computer for solving a problem. By "massively" I mean that for an O(n) or O(n .log n) you have C.n or C.n.log n processors and equivalently ingent amounts of memory considering parallel memory access (usually memory is not a problem, since even if you solve problems with 1.000.000 integers, that doesn't make a dent in present computers).
So I will try to think how to implement some of this algorithms... if I have too much time (I won't) I will check if I can simulate them. Unfortunately, normal multithreading may not work optimally, since to have some real simulation I would need a per-instruction round-robin, so I don't think that will be possible.
Of course, I am not original. This is the same concept as the Chinese Lottery Cryptanalisis attack (there is even an RFC about it)

Do Aliens dream of Alien sheep?

2008-02-17T04:37:00.004Z

In the xkcd blag there has been an interesting post about detecting alien life. Here come my two cents:
Our bloody telescopes are not powerful enough! They are only capable to detect signals emitted directly to us!
According to the sci.astro.6.FAQ, our TV signals are only detectable within 0.3 light-years by the the equivalent of an Arecibo Telescope. Even if we manage to make a telescope 100 times more powerful than Arecibo, since non-directed radio signals are lost proportionally to the distance squared, we could only receive a TV signal emitted within 3 light-years. As every fifth grader knows (most probably not the other participants in the show), there is no star in that range.
And if you think about directed signals, isn't a bit optimistic to assume that you'll detect something, after you multiply all factors in Drake's equation and then multiply again by the probability of being listening at exactly the right time in the right direction?

And that's why we haven't seen Melmacian Idol or Wookie Inventor.

Hi to Indonesia and the Netherlands

2008-02-17T03:54:00.004Z

Looking around the web (let him who has not used Google on himself cast the first stone) I found Pelopor, an interesting blog that quoted my post about being a Mac Convert. Hi to Bonnie2405 and her/his/their fellow writers!

PS: even though using Google as a verb would have sounded better in the initial phrase, it would be a blatant trademark violation, and you certainly don't want to do that (especially against your employer)

If you visit Orlando don't miss Busch Gardens

2008-02-17T03:33:00.003Z

Last weeks I was in Orlando (that's why I didn't write, not because I am lazy). Besides missing the Dublin weather, I was enjoying Busch Garden's roller coasters (and others). I especially liked SheiKra; it is smooth and soft (yes, you can say that of a roller coaster with a vertical drop). Unfortunately, due to Earth's high gravity field, a vertical fall cannot last long, unless you parachute; even the 200 feet fall cannot last more than 3.5 seconds (even less if you take into account friction with the rails and air). It is quite scary before you go up; afterwards, wooden roller coasters like Gwazi are way scarier.

Haven't you always wondered...

2008-02-06T03:35:00.000Z

How expensive it would be to fill your apartment with plastic balls? No?
Ok, maybe you didn't, but someone else, besides me, did.

You are old when you are a part of a museum...

2008-01-30T05:53:00.000Z

Last few months I've been to a couple of “Living History” museums. What I mean by “Living History”? These were historic museums, but some parts are so recent that actually people who lived through that age are teachers themselves. Last weekend I went to the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. It was really interesting, especially where they showed a Railway Post Office; in this car mail was sorted while the train was riding, so letters could be delivered as soon as the train arrived to the destination! The guy who explained all this, now in his seventies, was actually a clerk, so he explained how he did his job. Actually, since the last wagon was retired in 1977, I was alive when this kind of cars existed!
In addition, 6 months ago, I went to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. They have a restoration project for a PDP 1, and the teacher has actually worked with the computer when he was at university. He told the story how they found the data for a music program, but not the program itself. Amazingly this guy had written the original program, so he reconstructed it from the data! As if that wasn't enough, one of the first Google servers was on display... if you thought turning forty was a crisis, being a part of a museum is way worse!
I can imagine in thirty years being a teacher in a museum explaining the history of the Internet.
I: “So, when I was young, we communicated our computers with modems over a phone line... (young girl raising her hand) Yes, darling?”
Young girl: “What is a phone lane?”
I: “A phone is what we used to talk before we had iBlackBerry's, but the difference is that it was connected to the wall.”
Young girl: “My daddy connects my iBlackie to the wall one night a month, and it is terrible, I cannot use it at that time”
I: “Well, actually, phones had to be connected to the wall to be used....”
Young girl: “But how did you carry it to the playground, to school?”
I: “We didn't” (young girl looks perplexed, not understanding the concept of being out of touch)
Young boy: “How fast were these “phones”? How many Gbps?”
I: “My first modem was 2400 bps”
Young boy: “Ohh, 2400 Gbps is quite good”
I: “No, no, sorry for not being clear: I meant bps. That's like 1 billionth of a Gbps” (the boy refrains from asking me how we hunted mammoths)

gHaircuts

2008-01-28T02:49:00.000Z

No, I am serious. Not only you can have gourmet meals, massages, pets, clothes, doctors and laundry at Google, you can also get a haircut. We have our official hairdressers and they are pretty good (ok, my standards are quite low, so a good haircut is whatever leaves my head on my neck without any major hemorrhages). I guess I'll need some informed opinion about it but I don't think many Googlers have a clue; it is not something simple as stellar astrophysics, Fermat's theorems or Quantum mechanics.

The power to change Google

2008-01-22T03:11:00.000Z

So, you assumed you had to be a major player to change Google results, like Oprah or China? Think again. You can write a small stick figures cartoon and make results jump with just one picture. This picture is way beyond being worth a thousand words; it is more like thirty nine thousand seven hundred (and going up). Will this entry have the same result?
On related news, I've been watching The Big Bang Theory; I have never seen such a thing happening in real life (except the time I've played ONE board game from 1 pm to 10 pm on a Saturday, random discussions about the theory behind moving a couch upstairs and the fact that I will not allow my children to have any inheritance if they even think of using derivation to get the area below a curve).

The customer is always right, as long as you can rip him off

2008-01-17T13:40:00.000Z

I am starting to get tired of hotels not offering free WiFi. We all know the cost of the service... U$S 99 for a router you can share among different rooms, a broadband connection that you can cap per user and some technical support. Instead, you get U$S 500 flat screen TVs and cable, that nobody really needs or wants. Amazingly, cheap hotels and hostels realize that it is a useful service they can easily provide, and give it away more often than upscale hotels. I can think of three reasons why that happens: the first two are convenient and the last one, sadly, is the most likely.

Inertia: hotel chains take a long time to make a decision, since they have to check with their technical departments, ask for several quotes, discuss the quotes, negotiate an order, get it delivered, etc. while a small hotel owner just goes to the neighborhood store and buys U$S 2000 worth of equipment and some network access
Not understanding the market requirements: Nobody needs Internet Access in a hotel... it will take only a couple of years until it is an absolute barrier of entry, just give it time.
Cuts into their profits: this is the sad truth. Do hotels really want to replace their U$S 10.95 movies and U$S 5 a minute calls with free movies (and porn) and 3 cents Skype? I don't think so.

I am a Mac convert...

2008-01-17T12:55:00.000Z

Steve Jobs, Who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy Will be done,
on desktops as it is in Notebooks.
Give us this day our daily cool gadget.
And forgive us our Windows CE,
as we forgive those who Blackberry against us.
And lead us not into Office,
but deliver us from Windows. Amen.

Maybe I went too far?
Nah... A full notebook you can get in a Manila envelope?. Creating the Universe in 6 days may be harder, but not so fashionable.
I am writing this from the MacBook Pro, and I cannot get tired of saying how good the hardware is...

the touchpad, once you add right click, double click, dragging replaces a mouse completely (I have not used my Mighty Mouse in 4 weeks)
the integrated camera is amazing: I have used it today with only 2 non direct 40-watt bulbs and I was still recognizable
the keyboard has exactly the right size; not too small, not too big, just perfect
the power source and cables are completely unobtrusive (especially with US plugs that fit perfectly in the power source) and I love the magnetic lock of the plug that goes into the computer
the speakers are really good
the keyboard lighting allows you to type even in the night

The only drawbacks: it is on the heavy side, and it becomes hot if it is not in a proper table (right, you have always used it as the manual says).
It used to be a problem that you couldn't run Windows on Macs, but that is no longer the case... just search in Google and you will see how to install it with Boot Camp et al. And of course, you can always use Linux, but you don't really need to, since all the power is already there.
Now, let's look at another nifty piece of hardware: the iPod. It is so beautiful... of course, it doesn't do much more than any other MP3 player, but it is so well designed that my alarm clock was replaced yesterday with an iHome. So now, if I actually had an iPod, I could play it there. I have also seen the iPhone, and the design is just perfection, not your average clunky Blackberry, that weights 110 grams (3.9 ounces) and cannot point where you are without Google Maps or a GPS. Of course, Android is much better, but still...

Google food is way beyond my level...

2008-01-15T03:32:00.000Z

Today dinner: salmon with lemon sauce and oysters with caviar horseradish.
I rest my case.

How to treat your customers...

2008-01-12T23:56:00.000Z

Today I've spent my full morning looking for a VOIP service. Unfortunately, the VOIP market has only two players: Skype and everyone else. Skype is good, their payment processing is nice and you have lots of hardware, but they are missing a critical feature for me: they don't have incoming numbers for Argentina. I have looked at the Gizmo Project, which is good too, but my credit card doesn't work with them and they have disabled Paypal, so I cannot use them either; they both have strong barriers of entry to me.
I have looked at different options and finally hired a company that didn't look really good, but offered me one big advantage: No strings attached, one time payment of 15 dollars via Google Checkout. Unfortunately, the service is crappy, so I won't be their customer anymore. However, due to the low price and the one time payment (with the extra assurance of using Google Checkout) I gave them a try, and they sold 15 dollars. There are other companies who look better, but they require a 1-year-long ironclad contract, and that means I will never use them. This is what Joel meant by saying that you have to get your customers IN before you can try lock them in, or they are locked out.
In case you have not read any other common sense marketing articles, I certainly recommend Seven steps to remarkable customer service, or Joel's Strategy Letters. I know what I say, I have an MBA, you can trust me on this.

gGym

2008-01-12T02:45:00.000Z

I have described some time ago how we ate in Google, how much weight we win, and how that is evil. Well, we have the gym of course. Most probably you are joking about us using the net in the gym. It happens you are right. Our bicycles and treadmills are network enabled, so you can compare your efforts, times, calories spent against other athletes. Amazingly (or not) this is the first time were I see Googlers having the worst scores by a large margin.

gBus

2008-01-12T02:41:00.000Z

After a really long hiatus, I am writing again. Last months have been pretty hectic, so I am taking a chance to write about some Google perks I had not used before. This time, it is the gBus. There have been some comments about it, but I don't know how many people have written first hand about them. As a matter of fact, this is as first hand as it gets: I am writing this on the bus, using the wirelesss network. gBus etiquette is strict: you can either sleep, use the computer or talk in a really low voice (because people are sleeping or using their computers, and those activities rank higher in Google's pecking order).
The bus is not your run-of-the-mill bus. It is actually closer to a Limo than a bus, with the leather seats, tables, carpets, etc. I guess I have never driven a car as luxurious as this Limo. In my case I am commuting to San Francisco, so my choices are an hour in the crowded highway getting mad at drivers, or fifty minutes relaxing in the bus in the pool lane... The choice is quite clear, isn't it?
My main complaint: my MacBook Pro doesn't fit in the seat tray in front of me, its screen is too wide.

DHL delivers WORLDWIDE

2007-11-27T23:17:00.000Z

We are used to ads showing DHL vans, airplanes, motorbikes, etc. but this picture shows they REALLY deliver everywhere. So, if you are in Venice, how do you think they deliver? Some other company has made a whole movie about how great they are, that they deliver a parcel even several years after, but this is really amazing (mind you, I liked Castaway) but the blatant advertising took all the magic out of it)

Another reader for my Blackberry comment

2007-11-26T01:18:00.000Z

It seems my original post about the Blackberry is quite popular. Besides the post I have already mentioned, I have found another post about it. If you can't read German, the brief translation is "the deep and insightful blogger delights us with some wonderful perspectives about technology" (hey, don't blame me if you can't understand German, it is not that difficult :-) )

Mirror, Mirror in Dublin Airport

2007-11-26T00:42:00.000Z

Usually arriving in the Dublin Airport is a bit chaotic. It goes as follows:
-You arrive to the gates in the A14 area, where Ryanair passengers are crowding so the can run to get a good seat.
-You go through passport control in a breeze. Irish citizens just show their passports from 1 meter away; any other EU citizens have to wait for a full 5 seconds while the guard controls that the passport is not a blatant forgery.
-You wait for ten hours until they start dispatching the luggage.
-You go outside and you wait for 20 minutes for a taxi.

Today, after some well-deserved holidays -hey, it is tiresome to eat all that food and to walk your dog- the airport was just the opposite (except for the taxi part): the terminal was absolutely empty; the guards, feeling very bored checked every single passport for 10 seconds, and then, when I went to pick my luggage, it was already there!

PS: Bonus Geek points if you knew what the title meant without checking the wikipedia

Some assorted news and reflections

2007-11-15T18:22:00.000Z

Today I am again on the healthy side of 90. So cheers for that (without food, otherwise I'll cross that threshold again).
By the way, have you realized that in my previous articles I have become a bit fond of the number 90? However, my favorite is still 42 for well known reasons. One interesting fact about Google is that everybody knows arcane references to H2G2. Nobody will feel insulted if I call them smarter than mice, and I will start a Krikkit War by saying "your code is worse than Vogon poetry!"

My own three words

2007-11-08T12:23:00.000Z

Since today I helped my friend writing her three English words, I think it is a great opportunity for a shameless act of self-promotion. So, you can check what I've written here.

He will NEVER get his name to rank #1 in Google

2007-11-07T19:12:00.000Z

As you can see, there are really serious Google fans...

Javascript Constructors are factories

2007-11-06T21:17:00.000Z

No reader told me that Javascript Constructors are actually factories; shame on you! In Javascript constructors can actually return an object of a different type. They are closer to factories than to traditional Java constructors.
While researching this post I came across a very interesting article that considers constructors harmful. I agree about the troubling concept of constructor, one of most basic parts of an Object, not being object oriented. I really recommend to read the article, since it explains the problem much better than me.

I will not confirm or deny these perks

2007-11-05T01:23:00.001Z

There are some secret perks stated here. Per policy, I cannot confirm or deny them. In particular, this non-acknowledgment shouldn't be perceived as a confirmation of perk #25.
By the way, the picture in perk #1 looks very similar to a Dalek. And in perk #18, goto statements are grounds for immediate dismissal (this is not an official statement from Google or me confirming such perk). Finally, some statisticians in Google (we have a few of them here... Google Field's medalists are counted with exponential numbers) show a high correlation between people about to leave the company and people who "disappear" in the next months; amazingly, this correlation approaches 1.0 since perk #4 was (or was not) instituted.

I am hooked on English TV and movies

2007-11-04T20:49:00.000Z

I have to say that these days I am completely hooked on English TV and movies. Besides Dr. Who, which is one of the most amazing "recent" (or old, since the first version is from 1963) Sci-Fi shows, along with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I have recently seen Hot Fuzz, an amazing mix between a customary movie AND a police action film. Of course, you have other wonderful classic pieces like the Fawlty Towers, Black Adder, The Benny Hill Show and Monthy Python. So, for make benefits Glorious Broadcasters of Amerikaskhstan, write one hundred times in the blackboard: I will not make clones of every single successful show. To be fair, BBC also copies some awful stuff, but I'd say a bit less than other broadcasters.

Counting in Spanish

2007-11-04T20:47:00.000Z

In my entry "Counting in French" I have explained the strange way of saying 90 in French. In this video you can see some strange way of saying 55 in Spanish.

Everything about Google

2007-10-31T01:43:00.000Z

Today I have found out this Google Blog with plenty of Google information, amazing style and great pictures. It seems they have liked my post about the Blackberry... I guess the gTent (not an official product) might be of interest too.

Finally, the last step for complete Google immersion

2007-10-30T19:20:00.000Z

As I have commented in many previous posts, Google provides us with food, clothing, transportation, treats, gym, entretainment, parties and phones. The only thing missing was a roof. Well, actually, now they do. We have been given tents, so I can now officially spend 24 hours a day in the office (I have a huge bean bag next to me to sleep). And if you are wondering about hygiene:
1. I am a Software Engineer, we don't need no stinkin' showers! (ok, it is just the opposite of stinkin' but you get the idea)
2. There already are showers (you don't want 100 people out of a gym without showers).
By the way, I have seen The Terminal yesterday, and it looks too familiar. Unfortunately, I haven't met Catherine Zeta-Jones yet. Mmhh, this comment may not make me popular among female Googlers. In my defense, I can say I am no Tom Hanks myself either.

Write it, and readers will read it

2007-10-28T21:17:00.002Z

I was analysing my reports in Google Analytics and it is quite obvious. If you have a blog readers are interested in new content; since I've been pretty busy during the last maonth, I couldn't write regularly. However, on Oct. 15-16, There is a peak of 50-56 readers, just after I have written some new posts.
So this is another trick in the blogger's bag. Write, and be linked. Only 1.000.000 bloggers already know this.

The invisible hand working at airports

2007-10-28T19:54:00.000Z

I don't mean security guards with superpowers. I mean market forces dealing with bad service. Accoding to this article in The Economist, airlines state that BAA is trying to use market forces to move people to its other airports. It certainly works for short haul flights (as you have read in my recent post I've travelled to London City), but not in the way they intend, since London City belongs to a different company!. And it is working for international flights in that weird way too: In my trip to San Francisco I used a different airpot, but it belonged to a different company. It simply will not work if you want to use London as a hub; I will never change planes by travelling from Heathrow to Gatwick or viceversa. If service doesn't improve, less passengers will fly to Heathrow, it will collect less money, and the managing company will go broke (or it will sell the rights to administer Heathrow to a different company).
It is quite funny that London City's corporate page states that London City is the only airport in London (which, according to the ASA, is true).

No free stuff received

2007-10-28T19:05:00.001Z

There is an interesting post in DailyTech about reviewers receiving schwag; Joel Spolsky wrote an article about bloggers being bribed. I just wanted to state I have received no free stuff from any company mentioned in my blog (with the obvious exception of my employer). In this case I have not been instructed to write those posts, have not received any compensation for writing them (they were written in my own private time), and, as usually stated, are my opinion and not endorsed by my employer.
By the way, the term schwag is quite funny. It originally was coined as swag (stuff we all get), but it seems schwag sounds better (not for me). Anyway, it can be used to describe another product that is not extremely valuable.

Learning English the Irish Way... or is it Irish the English Way?

2007-10-22T13:03:00.000+01:00

A friend of mine is writing a new blog, with three English words a day... quite an appropriate number for an Irish/English Blog, considering the Holy Trinity. We'll see how pious are the words :-)

PS: I'll never learn to stay away from religion

A win-win proposition

2007-10-21T00:20:00.000+01:00

Win-win is a nice term from the biz lingo. Nobody dislikes it; since you win for certain, how can you dislike it. However, companies don't seem to apply this to employees (and to be honest, unions don't seem to embrace it either). However, I think Google has hit the sweet spot. Today, Saturday, I came to the Gym, and later, I watched a movie in the games room, with a projector I'd never have in my house. It was certainly a win for me. And for Google? Since I was here, I answered mails, performed a bit of work, for the exact cost of 0 for Google, and to my full satisfaction. Philip Greenspun wrote
"Your business success will depend on the extent to which programmers essentially live at your office. For this to be a common choice, your office had better be nicer than the average programmer's home. There are two ways to achieve this result. One is to hire programmers who live in extremely shabby apartments. The other is to create a nice office."
Google has managed to do exactly that.

Scientific Hebrew term

2007-10-15T21:10:00.000+01:00

Some Hebrew and Yiddish words have been incorporated into English; words such as schmuck, bagel and Chutzpah come from Yiddish, and some words like Armageddon, Satan and amen are so well integrated that you'd have never guessed they came from Hebrew. However, no word is less likely to have become a scientific term than Glitch (quite an appropriate term too); since a glitch is a slippery surface, what better term to describe a slip in the frequency of a pulsar (a rotating neutron star [the leftovers of large collapsed star, but not so massive as the ones that give origin to a black hole]).
Note: Unfortunately, my research in the Internet couldn't confirm if the origin of the term for pulsars comes from this slip in frequency, or because a spurious or defective signal in an electric device is also a glitch, and it could have been the first explanation for the change of frequency in a pulsar.

The complete opposite of 100 words for ice

2007-10-14T14:00:00.000+01:00

As I wrote in my previous post, it is a myth that Inuit have 100 words for ice. But according to a Hungarian friend of mine, there is only one food for seafood in Hungarian!

Are there more forms for ice than eskimo words for snow?

2007-10-13T12:37:00.000+01:00

It is an urban myth (debunked here) that Inuit people (formerly known as Eskimos) have more than 100 words for snow. However it is not a well known fact that there are 14 different ice phases. Only 3 of them are occur naturally in Earth, but many more exist and can be obtained in laboratories. A fact that I found amazing is that Ice XI is ferroelectric. I would also like to know whether it is true that the Hungarian parliament was refrigerated until recently with ice from Lake Balaton. Unfortunately, all the information I've found in English doesn't state a precise date, so I am a bit suspicious about the authenticity. If some kind Hungarian speaker could point me to a source in Hungarian I'd be extremely thankful. In addition, he/she will get the dedication of my next post.

Oyster Card: privacy nightmare, UI design disaster or both?

2007-10-12T01:32:00.000+01:00

I have recently been to London and used the Oyster Card to pay my Tube journeys. At first glance, the Oyster Card seems to be a great concept: an electronic purse used to pay small amounts. When you get in the Tube you put the card near the sensor and when you get out you put the card near another sensor, and the correct amount is deducted.

However, it has two huge drawbacks:
Privacy concerns:
you fill a form to get a card (even though you can avoid that), and then there is a complete record of every single trip you make, including origin and destination. If you combine that with the fact that there are cameras all around London, Big Brother (the one from the book, not the TV show) comes too close to reality for comfort (no way the TV show will ever be within an AU from reality).
UI Design:
Matt Stephens points an extremely good issue. If you forget to get your card to the exit sensor you get charged the maximum amount. It is understandable that they don't want people to avoid paying by tailgating (or should it be back-gating), but during the rush our you don't have much time to check if the correct amount was deduced. I don't think it would have been to problematic, as Matt Stephens suggests, to install sensors in the exits (damn, the sensors work in toll stations!), or using all the spoofing^H^H^H data collection for something useful. Nope, big fine for you Mr. Cheater!

PS: It is a sad state of affairs that if you look for Big Brother in Google, the book is only the tenth result.

Some good videos about Google

2007-10-11T01:18:00.000+01:00

The first one is about interviewing in Google. The best part: is it mainly in Dublin! Actually the first revolving door you see, and all the flags, that's here!

If you have been too lazy (or in your right mind) and didn't read why working at Google is great, you have a bite-sized, easy to watch Oprah (yes, that Oprah) video at:

not everything in that video is true: there are 17 canteens, not 11.

Finally, one about Virgin Galactic... not much to do with Google, except that it happened here

Google is evil: they've reduced my lifespan

2007-10-10T00:06:00.000+01:00

Asbestos? No.
Smoke filled rooms? No.
A possible heart attack due to a high stress environment? Certainly not (however, it might be partially true, if you consider how much weight I may gain from eating the amazing food).

I've been given a Blackberry, so I may now read my mails while walking. The problem is that I may get distracted while crossing a street, forgetting to look up. So my lifespan has been reduced by 2.4 years now, due to the risk of a car accident.

Worst flier ever?

2007-10-08T23:38:00.000+01:00

It seems I am trying to qualify to the worst flier ever. In my last 6 flights, only 2 were incident free (and all of them were in full service airlines). This time, I was about to seat and there was another passenger in the same seat AGAIN (seems to be becoming a habit). Fortunately, this time I was in the right flight. Here are the events that happened in my last flights:
Dublin to Buenos Aires: Late departure, missed connection in London, stayed 1 day in London, bags misplaced and only arrived 2 days later
Buenos Aires to Dublin: No incident
Dublin to San Francisco: Bag lost, arrived the following day
San Francisco to Dublin: No incident
Dublin to London: Boarded the wrong plane:
London to Dublin: Seat changed, complained, good seat assigned, seat double-assigned.
PS: it was pretty impressive to see in the London Science Museum that the buildings I flew over and even the airport were I landed last time were just docks 25 years ago.

Generics/template: giving peace of mind to the anal-retentive

2007-10-07T23:30:00.000+01:00

I admit it: I am obsessive. So I am a bit conflicted about Object Oriented Programming. To be true to the concept, objects themselves should define whether they accept a message or not; type checking should not be allowed, since it should be impossible to realize beforehand whether a message (a function call in other paradigms) is valid or not until it is passed to the object. However, not adhering to theory has lots of advantages. On one hand, static typing allows you to detect errors at compilation time, errors that wouldn't be detected until the function is executed; that is certainly a huge advantage, especially since not many people are comfortable with mutable code. In addition, if a call is not polymorphic, it has better performance (this advantage is quite minor, since the performance improvement is very minor).
Java and C++ were strong typed, and life was easy and nice to your average control freak. However, there was a thing in Java (up to 5.0) that bothered me a a bit. You could only add “Object”'s and get “Object”'s from Collections, so to get syntactic errors if you added the wrong type to a collection you had to either to do a very strange casting when adding to the collection (every time casting to the desired class and then letting the implicit casting to “Object” work, without forgetting once about the casting) or you had to subclass the desired Collection instance (which was safer, but you made a bigger mess by adding unnecessary classes). Fortunately, by using Generics (or templates in C++) you can don't have to do anything for type checking the input, you can specify what objects should be contained in a Collection when you must pass a parameter and you don't have to cast the get function, all through a simple syntactic trick (unfortunately, not everything is just a syntactic trick away)

Why I hate Java enums

2007-10-06T23:55:00.000+01:00

Enums are nice: they are static instantiation of objects where some absolute order is introduced between the elements. However, in Java, they have made the instantiation of enums and type declaration go together. You cannot make enums of objects that you have declared previously.
From the implementation point of view the reason is obvious. If an element is a member of an enum and it has a base class, suddenly that object has multiple inheritance, a big NO-NO in Java. On the other hand, if an enum doesn't inherit from any other class the object of class T can inherit from Enum, so it is just a simple syntactical trick to make the enum. The problem is that it is worthless. If you want to create objects of that class, apart from the enumeration, you can't.
Implementing it the other way would have been harder; the element would have had to handle methods with the same name, common ancestors, etc., all the nice stuff that make C++ inheritance syntax a huge mess, and really difficult to implement. But then enums would have been useful instead of a quick gimmick for rookies; right now enums are only useful for a simple lists of Strings.
PS: I am not the only Java-enum-hater

The self defeating prophecy

2007-10-05T01:43:00.000+01:00

We have all heard about self-fulfilling prophecies: a rumour says a bank will go under, so everybody hurries to get their money. Since no bank has enough money to return all deposits, it effectively goes bankrupt even though it fundamentals might have been good.
The name of my blog, as I explained in my first post, is about my tendency to procrastinate. However, if you check, during the last month, I have written a daily entry (take that New York Times!), so it is a self defeating prophecy... Ahhh, if I should could do something similar with diets.

What Googlers do in a blackout?

2007-10-04T01:40:00.000+01:00

Unfortunately, we don't have our own nuclear plant (if we had, it would produce electricity at ten times the normal rate, and we would have an exact replica of Homer's control room for eating donuts). So today there was a blackout in the area where our London office is located (don't panic, Google Search continued business as usual).
What do Googlers do in a blackout? Do we turn off our computers so they don't all power up at the same time? Do we try to save our latest and greatest lines of code? No, we go for our most precious resource: we try to eat the ice cream from our fridges before it melts.

Localizing the Google Commute (or shall I say, the Googmute?)

2007-10-03T23:03:00.000+01:00

In Mountain View, CA, you get bicycles. In Dublin and London, you get umbrellas.
PS: Obvious joke: In Switzerland, do you get skis?
PS2: In the Googlunaplex, do you get space suits (you REALLY need them)

Landing in London City (Blitz style)

2007-10-02T22:36:00.000+01:00

My previous post was about boarding the wrong plane; now I'll write a bit about landing in London City. If you recall another post, you will realize how much I hate Heathrow. So I decided to go to a different airport. There was a cheap flight to London City, so it was pretty convenient.
As you might know, London City is on the east side of the city (you can see it in the introduction to Eastenders). If you come from Dublin, (that's from the northwest) and landing on Runway 10, you have to go around London (quite sensible, I hasten to add). You reach the south of the city (I could see the the Big Ben, the Parliament and the London Eye from the right side of the plane). Then it turns north and as your get next to the 100 radial, it makes a sharp turn east to start the final approach; that happens almost over the Tower Bridge, so you get a wonderful view of the towers. Then, you fly over Canary Wharf (really low by now), clearing the buildings by not so much and finally over some old mills. At that time, you are almost over the runway, so the plane must go down. Fast. I have never seen such a high vertical speed ever or at least, since I was flying single engine planes. At the last second the pilot stopped the descent, and we had a soft touchdown. Even though I enjoyed the view, I can't say it was an uneventful flight.
As the record goes, this airport features a 5.5 degrees glidslope descent (normal is 3); here are some nice flight simulator images, even though they don't give a fair impression to the steep descent.

Today I boarded the wrong flight

2007-09-30T22:30:00.000+01:00

Yes, I mean what you understood. I walked through the gate and got into the plane, but it wasn't the right one. Fortunately, another passenger had the same seat; otherwise, I would have flown in blissful ignorance, while my baggage was being unloaded from the right flight, searched and probably destroyed.
It was a short hop, Dublin to London City, traveling by Air France. I went to the gate and found an Air France flight leaving at the same hour and same plane model. I gave my boarding pass to the stewardess at the gate, and went through. I realized that it was a different gate, but heck, same company, same destination, same plane; gates change, shit happens.
I was about to sit down, and I found this other guy at my seat. We checked both our stubs, and both had the same seat. The plane was empty, so I asked the stewardess if I could change my seat (come on, seats might get double assigned too). At first, the stewardess looked baffled at the other guy's stub, since she was not used to see that kind of stub, but after a brief check, she started looking at what codes that flight had (at least two codes). Suddenly they realize I was in the wrong plane. I disembarked and everything went well; I just wonder what might have happened if the seat was empty (and if the destination weren't the same)
PS: part of this post was written on board the right plane

I've been positevely commented in Google

2007-09-29T23:08:00.000+01:00

I wrote in a public mail thread in Google, suggesting some ideas, and someone actually wrote mentioning that my ideas were good; not only that, he even used my name. It inflates your ego quite a bit when one of the best people in the market makes a positive comment on your ideas.
So, I hope somebody bursts my ego, otherwise, I'll be a pain in the neck.

Living in Google

2007-09-28T10:11:00.000+01:00

I wrote a few articles about working in Google, but there is a fact I have not mentioned: you not only work at Google but you also live in Google.
So, let's take this weekend as an example: on Thursday I went to the gym (in Google), worked, had lunch at Google, got together with a colleague for dinner. On Friday, we had our TGIF, then went for Dinner with some nooglers, and finally, a housewarming party from another noogler; amazingly, in this party, there were a few (like almost 5!) non googlers, so it was a chance to get in contact with the outside world. Today, Saturday, I got together with our board-games group, and spent the full day playing games in the office (we didn't have time for XBox or stuff like that, though). However, I guess it can always get more immersive, especially if I apply for a position in this office.

I will not write anymore about the French

2007-09-27T16:16:00.001+01:00

My page visits were rising until the last two articles; suddenly, they bombed, and dropped to half the number of visits. I used to have visits from India, Indonesia and Canada, and now they are gone. I will not write anything else about the French.

Update: Great, now the French, embraved by their new president, are coming to lynch me. YAIC (I don't mean Yet Another Interpreter Compiler, I mean Yet Another International Conflict)

By the way, when I was researching this post, I discovered that Sarkozy's father was Hungarian, and his mother was of French and Jewish Ottoman descent, quite weird for a French president, isn't it?

If a tree fallls in a French forest, does it make any sound (or does it say "Oui")

2007-09-26T15:21:00.000+01:00

Being ready is always good (always ready, boyscouts, forest, ok, stop the free association). And it is specially good when you are in a foreign country and you are the only one who speaks the language.
Once I was working for a project, and we visited the factory in French. It was a Japanese company, and people stayed late. However, our French colleagues left at 20:00 so the only remaining people where my Japanese bosses, an Englishman, me and 200 factory workers. As you can imagine, the factory workers didn't speak English. Suddenly, with my rudimentary French, I was everyone's translator. That single day proved how right I was trying to learn all the variants of each verb.
Even though I am not very good at languages (unlike a friend of mine whose name I won't mention who speaks perfect Hungarian, English, German and Spanish, or this other woman who Speaks also Spanish, Catalan, German, English and French), I enjoy learning French and Italian, quite easy for me, and German, which is almost beyond my possibilities. I want to learn a few more languages (you never know when they might become useful), and I was thinking about Portuguese to relax, or a tough one, like an Eastern European language, or Hebrew. Anyone who wants to comment (or cheer for their favorite language), be my guest.

The mistery of number 42

2007-09-24T22:53:00.000+01:00

OK, I have to apply for a job writing misleading titles; I just wanted to get numerologists to read this article.
I have finally found one advantage of having multiple measurement systems: you can break arbitrary barriers twice as easily if you have two systems. For instance, i am trying to lose weight. Today, I've broken the 200-pounds barrier, so I am elated. In a few days I'll probably break the 90 kg. barrier, so I'll be happy again (of course, I'd be happier if I weren't dieting).
In related news, the EU has dropped it's plan to force UK to use the metric system. On the practical side, it is quite a loss (I don't think anyone can say the imperial units are better). In the legal side, even for a staunch unionist like me, it was crossing the line a bit too much, especially since there are laws already in effect for that in the UK. Finally, from a traditionalist point of view, it is a pity to see these quaint measures disappearing (good luck trying to change the pint for beer).

Oh, about the number 42, it is the point where Celsius and Fahrenheit degrees are the same (to be exact, is minus 42, but it makes a less striking point). In addition, it is the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything (check with Google if you don't believe me), and is the result of 6 times 9

PS: I am a pretty sorry case

Esperanto as a victim of network effects

2007-09-24T02:00:00.000+01:00

Esperanto was a good idea. A really good idea, as the Euro was a good idea. However, while the Euro is thriving, Esperanto is spoken by very few people (I wouldn't dare to compare the number of Esperanto speakers to the number of Klingon speakers). One big problem with Esperanto is that it suffers from large negative network effects; if many people speak Esperanto, it becomes useful, and so, more people learn it. However, if very few people speak it, it is not useful, and therefore, very few people (just curious ones) will make that big effort.
In addition, Esperanto suffers from a lock-in problem: people have spent a lot of time learning English and maybe some other language; they've become proficient in them. So, the utility of learning Esperanto should be larger than the effort they must make in order to reach the same level of proficiency than the other languages.
This is another example of systems theory: those two effects are trivial to prove in systems theory, but quite hard using any other model.

PS: I have found a similar article from Semisane

Management in Google

2007-09-23T02:00:00.000+01:00

Frederick P. Brooks wrote in The Mythical Man-Month that managing engineers is like herding cats. However, if you take that to Google, you have to think in a different scale. You are not herding cats; you are herding hyper-developed mutant felines who are more knowledgeable than the herder. However, managers in Google are extremely effective; they simply trust their people and let them loose, they just get rid of the stones in the way. Of course, this takes a lot of courage; Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister described this as an Open Kimono policy in Peopleware . I didn't believe this could happen, but it does. It certainly shows that Google not only hires class A engineers, but also, class A managers.

Counting in French

2007-09-22T02:00:00.000+01:00

Opinions about the French are quite divided: some people hate them, others, like me, love them. They are different; they know that and are proud of it. It begins at the very basics. When you learn to count in different languages, you usually start with small numbers, and then go up to the tens. Usually, there are some special cases in the 11-20 area, but then it becomes quite regular, each group of ten starting with some variation of the first number and then, the second number is regular.
So, you are quite jolie learning numbers in French, you reach soixante-neuf (69) and you go to septante.
Arretez! All your instincts are wrong: It is soixant-dix. Yes, sixty-ten. And as if this weren't fou enough, how do you say eighty? Quatre-vingt; exactly, four times twenty (and don't get me started on ninety three)
This post was inspired by a colleague who explained me that accountants actually use the other form, more traditional in other languages in order not to mix numbers, but you would never use them in the street. After some research, I have realized that these numbers might be used in Belgium and Switzerland, but I didn't experience that first-hand. If you click in the links (come on, do that, I spend a lot of time linking), you can see that other European languages use these vigesimal numeration; really mainstream languages like Basque and Gaelic . Just opposite of what Asterix said, Ils sont fous ces gaulois! (and I love them for that!)

PS: cheap Google ad, it is really fun when your colleagues explain these strange things!

Using genetics for diagnosing diseases (and insurance purposes)

2007-09-21T02:00:00.000+01:00

The Economist had an amazing note about genetics for diagnosing illnesses, and the privacy concerns (mainly, how it could be used by insurers to raise rates).
However, there is a systemic consequence if insurers use that information. Let's make a Gedankenexperiment (oh boy, how I love that word). If an insurer could know exactly what genetic diseases a person will get there will be three kinds of costs an insurer will have to cover:
1.an amount every person spends in health every year
2.an amount that some people might spend and others not
3.an amount for genetic diseases

The first amount is a small amount, but since every person uses that amount, it doesn't make sense to have insurance for that (since every person spends that amount, rates should include that amount and a small extra for administrative costs, so it is not convenient for the client to be insured for that, and in a competitive environment, it is not convenient for the insurer, since higher rates means clients going to other companies). I.E. large loss insurance condition is not satisfied in these costs, and that's why health insurance policies usually have deducible clauses.
The second amount is a variable amount that insurers will always cover, where there is variability among individuals. This is why insurance exist: due to the law of large numbers, risks will average among these individuals, so what could be ruinous to one person is distributed in time and among different people, making it affordable to the group.
The third amount is currently inside the second, but insurers would like to split it, so "genetically healthy" people pay less than "genetically unhealthy", giving better rates to a group and attracting more clients. However, this could be ruinous to insurers. They will insure only the small costs, not the large ones, where profits are, turning health insurance into a cheap commodity. If a disease is certain, you'd be better off saving money for the covering the costs yourself rather than giving it to insurers, since you will be saving the administrative costs. In addition, not only it would be bad for particular insurers, but for the industry. You'll have low cost insures, with thin margins, who only take "genetically healthy" clients, and all-inclusive, who theoretically will take all kinds of people, but since it is more expensive, only genetically unhealthy people will go there.

Don't you love systems theory?

Living in a Campus (or a ghetto, as you prefer)

2007-09-20T02:00:00.001+01:00

As some of you may know, I have a new apartment, quite close to the Google office. I went there for a visit when I received my keys, and I crossed 3 different Googlers. When you consider that I am not a very sociable person, that I have been in the city for 3 weeks and that I am an engineer, so I don't meet every single person in the company, you can guess a certain amount of Googlers live in the area. It is almost like living in a campus, great social life, lots of activities and, this being Ireland, lots of drinks.
If you have a pessimistic outlook, you can also say that it is living in a Ghetto, where Googlers gather and defend themselves from the worst elements of society: drug dealers, rapists, and, God save us, Microsofties

PS: some readers told me there are worse things than Microsofties: Microsoft lawyers, RIAA lawyers and the Nazgul
PS2: If you know BOTH main meanings of the Nazgul without checking the Wikipedia and not including rock bands, you certainly are a geek (link here for your convenience)

Update (22/09/2007): I have met two more colleagues living near my building: one is living next to my apartment block and the other is living in it!

The power of linking

2007-09-19T02:00:00.001+01:00

I didn't believe it; I really didn't believe it. If you check my previous post, I described that my blog was included in the list of Blogs by Googlers on September 14th. How much did my visits increase? Almost nothing, 100%. According to Google Analytics (did I say it was fantastic?), this jump is just the visits coming from Google's Official Blog. My second referer is Mariana Riva's blog (another link).
So, if you have a blog, and you want to make it popular, you must certainly have lots of links to it. No other options are available.
Update: Yesterday (Sept. 17th 2007) my visit count went through the roof (ok, only 28, but it was almost twice as much as the day before), reaching the highest ever.

I officially have a "Blog by Googlers"

2007-09-18T02:00:00.000+01:00

Google official blog has links to blogs written by the smartest people in the business. And, for some reason, it also has a blog written by me!

PS: The reason why the blog is there is because I am a Googler. The reason why I am a Googler, well,... only the gods know (meaning Larry and Sergei)

Tall buildings representing the city main business

2007-09-17T02:00:00.000+01:00

Every city has tall buildings representing its main business. New York has the Empire State, that represents the trading performed in the city. San Francisco, being the Wall Street of the West, has the Transamerica Center and the Bank of America Center. Frankfurt has the Commerzbank Zentrale, a landmark in the banking center of Europe.

Dublin has the Guiness Storehouse.

Watching a Rugby match in Ireland

2007-09-15T22:23:00.000+01:00

Or any sports in general, means beer. Lot's of beer. Every pub becomes crowded, and everybody watches the match. The Irish, not a people keen on violence (no matter their viking origins), don't get aggressive while drunk, so it might even be fun seeing them. And, surprise, surprise, who sponsors the national Irish Rugby Team: Guiness.

There already are non-scarce goods

2007-09-15T22:07:00.000+01:00

In my previous post, I wrote about a world where you don't have to work. There are already some goods that are free (as in free goods, not as in gratis).
There are three kinds of free goods:
Goods so abundant that we don't need to pay for them
Goods that are a by product of another good, and nobody really wants it (waste)
Ideas and inventions reproducible at free cost

Of these three, the first one is just that nature provides us with more than we need. However, it is not true that it will always be like this. When I was a child, water was considered a free good. Now we know that it is not, and we don't treat it like that. Air is becoming polluted, and in order to avoid pollution we have emissions trading, that literally places a price for clean air.
Waste is a by product; not really interesting, nobody wants it. The cost of using it is higher than its value.
Finally, information is the interesting free good. It wants to be free. Once information is available it is impossible to stop it from being copied (if it interesting); just check how much the RIAA and the MPAA are fighting against that, and losing. Information reproduction's costs are almost zero; producing costs are way higher. How will artists recoup their production costs? That is a subject that is interesting, since it might illustrate the future of the world economics. Most artists would need to earn their income from live shows, and distribute their music as a sample; maybe they will even collect donations. Even though this seems OK for music, what happens to movies? Since no lives performances are available, is this the end of the next "Titanic", "Terminator 2" and all high-cost blockbusters, since the investment won't be recoup?
We live in interesting times, seeing a transformation that didn't happen since Gutengberg times, and then, it happened in one century; now we'll only have 20 years.

Fresh news about Google

2007-09-14T23:02:00.000+01:00

As I said there is a replica of the SpaceShipOne hanging in the roof of Building 42 in the Googleplex.
Now I learn that Google will fund a moon prize with thirty million dollars. That's why I like working in this company. However, every single day Scott Adams gets closer to reality even in his craziest jokes!

Working at Google VI: It's the people, stupid!

2007-09-13T01:22:00.000+01:00

It is great to work with great people; isn't it? Then it it follows that it is amazing working with amazing people...
In Google everybody is great; they are amazing and friendly. Actually, you can see that in the hiring web page: "world class programming skills", "Are passionate about their work and are great colleagues". And it is important that it is not strong programming skills: they are "world class" programming skills. "Passionate about", not "self-motivated". "Great colleagues"; maybe you have seen "team players" in other companies, but "great colleagues", who can support each other, who can undermine their management, that's outright subversive.
If you read closely the two last posts, you might always find some comment about the people. Your colleagues are another advantage of working at Google. You will always learn something AND have fun. And they are not petulant or trying to show off... they are so good that they don't need that. Actually, every single person in Google I've met is friendly, nice and very simple... So simple that they might trick you in judging the book by the cover. But inside you will always find Kafka, T.S. Elliot and Borges together, in the best ensemble you can think of.

Working at Google V: Evilness is in the eye of the beholder

2007-09-12T08:00:00.000+01:00

I guess this title could be used for some deep thoughts about serious issues like the Iraq War, terrorism or such.
Instead, I will post about how Google gains some good Karma (or loses it, from my point of view): the Gym. As you have read in my previous post, the food is great, abundant, etc. (most probably you knew about that, but I was running out of subjects). However, something has to be done in order to battle the weight gain. And the Gym is the best way to do it. I guess in the grand scheme of life, it is a good thing. However, due to my personal preferences, I'd rather consider that evil. In addition, what else could be said about a place with sweaty engineers exercising (I shriver just at the thought)? They might be computer whizzes all of them, great fun, but none will be featured in Playboy (another awful image, engineers in Playboy, I won't be able to sleep tonight).
On other news, Google has another method of fighting weight gain: the conference bike. Since everybody knows that meeting are a waste of time, at least you can exercise (if something important were to be said, there will be an e-mail later anyway).
PS: no link to Playboy in order to avoid angry parents whose kids have read by blog and found about Playboy.
PS2: that's a Gedankenexperiment! Thinking that somebody with a computer doesn't know about Playboy

Working at Google IV: The free food

2007-09-12T07:03:00.000+01:00

Yes, there is free food; yes, it is amazingly good. Last wednesday, for instance, I had oysters. Unless you've been to a school in the Swiss alps, I guess no other canteen will serve oysters. And of course, you put on weight. It is so common that it even has a name: Google 15 (the imperial impaired say the Google 5, since the Google 6.80388555 don't have such a hit, or the Google Stone, those who are really into measures).
But this being Google, it is part of the world's information, and has to be organized (and Googlers really like to code). The result: The Google 15 Weight Tracker. I rest my case.

Next installment: how we battle the bad karma (Gaining weight is evil)

Working at Google III

2007-09-10T12:46:00.000+01:00

Mariana Riva wrote a link in her blog about my posts on working in Google, and I have realized I didn't write anything about that in a long time.
The first thing that I found interesting were the interviews. I won't go into details; needless to say, they are gruesome. But I had fun, since my interviewers were really smart guys. Of course, even I know that my concept of fun is a bit weird, in the same way that a SM concept of pleasure is kinda strange.
I remember I once had fun sitting for my Data Structures exam. There was a problem that required a mathematical proof about data structures; it had been an exercise left to the during the classes but it was so esoteric that we skipped it, considering it useless.
It was a written exam, but the professor asked oral questions afterwards; therefore, we had as much time as we needed. Since it was a challenge and I had time, I set myself to solve the problem. I started the exam at 8 a.m., finished at 2 p.m., had great fun in between (and got an A+!).
If you are this kind of person, you will excel at Google (and certainly pass the interviews; most probably, you have even solved the famous billboard). If you are not working in Google already, I certainly encourage you to submit your resume.

More to come in my next entry...

Finally Back in Dublin

2007-09-09T09:00:00.000+01:00

It's nice to be back in Dublin. Amazingly, even a short time driving in Ireland (5 days) really screws your driving instincts. In California, where you MUST drive, I was all the time wondering whether I was in the right side of the road. Amazingly, it took me 2 days to get used again in Argentina, but the association English_Speaking_Country-Driving_on_the_Left is forever screwed.
In addition, an Irish colleague of mine proved his linguistic (and national) ties with Oscar Wilde by stating that he prefered Irish weather to Californian: "It is not so boring; in California you always know it will be sunny"

Last day in San Francisco

2007-09-09T06:37:00.000+01:00

Today is my last day in the city. It is really a beautiful city (just check the pictures). If you ever want to follow my steps, just use the link.

Dear Faceball Players...

2007-09-08T05:50:00.000+01:00

not only we have balls in Google (heck, they are our policy), but we are SO hot.
Yours

PS: I'd like to thank our hero.
PS2: Jokes are really lame today.

German trains might not be what you expect...

2007-09-07T06:41:00.000+01:00

A surprising fact is that German trains might be unpunctual; that's not really what you expect. I once boarded a train 10 minutes later than expected, in a 2 hour trip. In addition, S-Bahn (commuter trains) are really bad in Munich. They come every 20 minutes, but after heavy snowing they can be delayed almost 15 minutes!
On the other hand, subways are precise. I still don't understand how, but the time table is precise to the minute, and you are certain that the subway will be there at that time. I used to take the 8:42 S-Bahn, and I had a 6 minute trip in the underground plus 2 minutes for walking between them. Every time I managed to arrive to the subway station at 8:32, I got to the S-Bahn in time. If I arrived 2 minutes late, I missed the 8:33 subway and was only able to catch the S-Bahn if I ran and nobody was standing in front of me in the escalators.

A world without work...

2007-09-06T10:00:00.000+01:00

As you can see, one of my hobbies is economics (it takes all kinds...). So, one of my favorite Gedankenexperimenten (it sounds so much better in German, even though I have no idea if the plural is correct) is to imagine a world where computers have all the jobs. And I mean all the jobs (from collecting fruit to administering justice), so people can just use their leisure time for whatever they want, as the greek citizens did (of course, in ancient Greece, for every Aristotle there were thousands of slaves). I don't mean a world after 29th August 1997, 2:14 a.m., where Google^H^H^H^H Skynet becomes self-aware, but a kind, gentle version where a computer takes care of all the needs.
What happens if scarcity is still around (and it will, no matter how much machines produce there won't be two Mona Lisas)? How do we assign economic capacity? Should we live in a communist state, where a computer decides how much each good is worth, and how much each person can have?
And what happens if there are still some disgusting jobs that still have to be done by humans (i.e., garbage collectors)? How do we compensate this poor individuals who have to perform such disgusting task? Or do we have a draft where everybody should do this for one year? And what about people who are willing to sacrifice some goods in order to avoid this draft (certainly, some people may consider that extra goods are worthy doing this jobs for a couple of extra months, and from there, it is just a question of supply and demand)
Comments are welcome

PS: After my small typo (I swear I meant Skynet!), further posts will be written clandestinely, since only this strange guy with a funny accent who says he will be the governor of California stands between me and a certain death by a liquid metal terminator.

What's good about working in Google...

2007-09-06T06:39:00.000+01:00

The people.
Yes, the people.
They are absolutely f...ing brilliant. Last week, one of my co-workers discussed about a site he created, a slang dictionary. Today, I look for a word and his dictionary is the second entry, just after Wikipedia!
I guess I'll start looking for my colleagues in the list of Fields Medals, just in case.
Disclaimer: The fact that I work there is certainly the result of a bet, most probably something akin to Trading Places

Green America?

2007-09-05T04:08:00.000+01:00

I have to say I am quite surprised I am writing this post, but in this visit to the US there certainly is a green trend over here. So far, I have seen lots of bike roads, made by narrowing streets (you can see the old lanes before). In addition, I have seen thousands of Prius in the streets and in Google's parking lot, my rough estimate is one out of three. In addition, CalTrain and VTA seem to work quite well (maybe not up to German Standards, but there is quite a large network).

Note: My estimate about the Prius in the car park is mine and mine alone; I have not checked if there was any internal data and anybody can see that by checking the parking lot.

If you go to San Francisco, be sure of...

2007-09-04T07:50:00.000+01:00

be wearing flowers in your head? No, that's SO demode. If you go to San Francisco, actually, there are some things you will certainly do:
Go to Alcatraz
Go to Chinatown
Cross the Golden Gate
Go down Lombard Street (Herbie went down that street in The Love Bug, and the fact that I remember watching it projected from film, not from a computer, gives further support to my previous post)
Visit Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf

Howerver, there are a few other things really worth doing:
Going up the Coit Tower
Going to the Financial District
Walking under the falls in Vaillancourt Fountain (also called Quebec Libre!)
Going to the Muir Woods
Having a Shrimp dinner in Bubba Gump (it certainly takes some courage to make a Forrest Gump themed restaurant)

You know, Mama said San Francisco is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you are gonna get...

You are old...

2007-09-02T08:42:00.001+01:00

...when the stuff you used at university is already in museums (not to mention half of your childhood).

PS: This is the museum link.

Solving the turnover problem

2007-09-02T04:37:00.000+01:00

In a company that I've worked there was a huge turnover (around 60% per year). This is a huge problem, as you can imagine. So, in order to improve this situation this company decided to avoid having pictures in their passes (used to open the doors), so when an employee left the company they just removed the label with the name from the pass and gave it to a new employee, with his own personal $0.01 label.

Maybe this offers some insight why there was such a high turnover?

Google Analytics is fantastic

2007-08-30T03:17:00.000+01:00

Do you have a website? A blog? Some presence in the web? Then you must use Google Analytics. The wealth of information is awesome, and it is really well displayed, as pie-charts, graphs and maps. For instance, the two main countries where this blog is read are Argentina and the US (especially since I am now in the US :-) ), and that is displayed in a map, so it is really easy to see, but if I hover over the map, I can get the precise number and if I click I can see where in the US my visitors are coming from.

Disclosure: I am currently employed by Google; however I have found the product great on its own, so my recommendation has nothing to do with that. In addition, my views and opinions are solely my own, and are not endorsed by my employer.

Let your f...ing people work

2007-08-29T04:23:00.000+01:00

Once again I will show why it is great for work for Google (and therefore, everybody wants to work for Google, even the people who literally invented the internet)
The big secret is...
We are allowed to work; there are no obstacles between us and our job.
Since I am currently in the US, I have to use an adapter to plug my computer to the power grid. No biggie, except that the adapter is so large that I cannot have anything plugged in the socket where I plug my computer. Therefore I asked for a power source with the correct plug and it was provided. I didn't need any authorization, explanation or anything. Now my colleagues don't risk that I'll unplug their computers; it is just great that I am allowed to work!

Again, this is my sole opinion and doesn't reflect the opinion of my employer.

Sparing a buck by spending more on programmers

2007-08-28T04:49:00.000+01:00

It is a well known fact that turnover among Software Developers is high, since they usually want higher salaries than the company can afford. So it is just reasonable to save money by letting them go and hiring new ones, instead of trying to retain them. It's just the way things are.
Except it isn't. For those of you who have read my thesis, I will just copy a small part, so don't bother to go on. Imagine you have to replace a developer. Yo have to train him/her for 6 months, in order to have him up to speed (my estimate is quite optimistic, isn't it? So you already have 3 monthly wages lost. In addition, hiring a person through an agency or through internal processes normally costs about 2 months worth of his salary. So you have already lost 5 months as a sunken cost. If you have just a 66% turnover (quite low, I might say), every person stays around 1.5 years, so 5 months is about a 30% of the amount you'll pay this person during his career in the company. If you could double his stay, that would be only a 15% of his earnings with you; I think that paying 15% above market conditions is a good way of keeping your people for a really long time. By doing this you improve quality by having better trained people, with a longer-term mindset, who are more loyal to the company. For the exact cost of 0.
Of course, Timothy Lister and Tom DeMarco said this and nobody listened to them. Also Joel Spolsky repeats this every now and then, but who cares. Only bad companies as Microsoft and Google.

Disclosure: As of the date of publication of this article I am employed by Google. However, the content of this article reflects only my opinions and beliefs, and is in no way sponsored by my employer.

Eating crabs (or how to make a big mess for some very small pieces of meat)

2007-08-28T04:34:00.000+01:00

A typical San Franciscan experience is eating crabs (if you think that you are reading the wrong word, I mean exactly those small sea animals with claws and several legs; famous crabs include the honorable Eugene H. Krabs). Amazingly a 1.5 pound crab (750 grams) might have 150 grams of meat and generate 2 kg. of refuse after you eat.
According to well versed sources you should use a mallet, and not the nutcrackers I used. I guess that way I would have needed a complete shower, instead of only washing my clothes.
Anyway, it is a fun experience, not so much for the food, but... well, for the fun.

Working at Google

2007-08-25T18:39:00.001+01:00

You will not be seeing any new information in this post, just my opinion about some of the perks of working at Google...
First, the free food in a beautiful environment; it is a problem not to eat it, especially since food is available all day long! Then, if you like dogs, you can bring them to the office (no cats allowed, though). And of course, all the nice things as having a full size replica of the Spaceship One
.
One trend that is either cool or worrisome is how easy it is to work in Google. All the campus has WiFi, and even the buses do. So, you can work in the way to the Googleplex, then stay long since it's great in there, and even work while you are in the toilet (which are certainly "Googley").
PS: Don't mind trying to read what is on the computer screen; no trade secrets there, just a newspaper.

A good blog about Software HR in Argentina

2007-08-25T18:24:00.000+01:00

Thanks to a mutual acquiantance, I came across this really good blog about Software HR in Argentina. I've found the entries refreshing and well researched: http://marianariva.blogspot.com/

There is a grain of truth in cliches

2007-08-23T07:08:00.000+01:00

You know that California is known as "sunny California"? Well, I've been here for a week and I haven't seen a single cloud. Except in the Golden Gate. I arrived there and it was sorrounded in fog so thick that you could cut it with a knife. Actually, it was so thick than when the wind was flowing uphill you could see clunks of fog going up. After I crossed the Golden Gate it was sunny again, and you could see how the fog reached about half of the first two columns and completely covered the other two. And meanwhile, in Dublin, it was raining.
I still love how easy is to connect my mobile to my computer and then to Picassa. I also have a small comment about my Mac: it is so well designed. The DVD is just a thin slit in front. The keyboard lights turn themselves off if the room is lit enough. The power plug has no restrains: it attaches magnetically to the computer. Microphone, cammera and speakers are integrated. My only complain (besides the huge amount of programs that won't run): the cover feels a bit plasticky.