Author: Bob Martens

Categories
Technology

Integrating Computing Components

Apple has their A-series SOC (system-on-a-chip) parts. AMD is touting its APUs. Intel is beefing up their graphical offering with their Haswell-series next year. All of this points to a future where formerly-separate parts of a computing device are consolidated into a single chip.

I’m excited.

Now I am, by no means, a system designer or some kind of engineering so I speak only from the expertise of others and also with rampant speculation. However, I am excited about the future where the components we choose become simpler and simpler because they are required to do more and more of the heavy lifting.

A future where the surface of a motherboard is not pockmarked on every little corner with yet another little chip doing some minute little task. A future where chips are not lauded just for how fast they might be able to crunch numbers, but the other tasks that that single chip is able to perform so ably.

First I need to take a step back into the past and what thoughts would go through my head as a system-builder. Here’s a sampling:

  • What overall manufacturer for the CPU?
  • What CPU architecture?
  • What socket or slot does it need?
  • What chipsets are available for that socket or slot?
  • What wattage is the CPU?
  • Does this chipset/board combo support this wattage?
  • What RAM is needed?
  • How much can it handle?
  • What power requirements for the system are there?
  • Does the power supply meet the requirements?
  • How about graphics cards?
  • Now how does that power supply hold up?
  • Hard drives?
  • Sound?
  • Network?
  • BUELLER!?

You get the idea. I haven’t even begun to purchase anything yet. Now Intel is the worst offender, but it seems that every new chip architecture brings a new socket or chipset requirement but AMD is almost as bad (and maybe more confusing with AM2, AM2+, AM3, etc.).

However, combining things brings it all down a little bit. Instead of wondering what graphics card you need to purchase, you have it on-die with the rest of the CPU. This brings down the total wattage of the system. This makes choices of other components easier (or nonexistent). This means less chips and pieces on the main system board so that less stuff can fail.

That’s great!

There will always be a place for discreet components for those who really want/need to mix-and-match stuff for the best outcome in their situation, but in most cases less = more for consumers.

Categories
Business Technology

The Forgotten Industries

Within the realm of “hot startups” and “amazing technology” on the internet are some forgotten industries.

No, these industries won’t be prompting you to write a review about that blade of grass in that new dog park in San Francisco while geo-tagging your whereabouts while you do it so that their application might be able to offer you a discounted grass shake from the local shake shop … and then filter the image of the grass shake so that you can share it with your friends.

These industries are also not filled with multi-billion-dollar VC funds handing out multi-million-dollar rounds of VC funding to high school kids (and a dog) to build the next great social-media-geo-tagging-geo-fencing-filter-inducing-vomit-forming startup. Oh no.

No, these industries are older and more entrenched than that, but the possibilities within are almost endless.

My life is dominated by my family, my faith, and my work. Luckily, all three come together at various points.

Both agricultural and church software is in a woeful state for the sorts of customers that 37signals targets in business. Now there is a lot of overlap to be had with applications like Basecamp and Campfire and the groups I am talking about, but right now there is also an extreme need for newer, better applications tailored specifically for the needs of churches and small-to-mid-sized family farms.

That forgets completely about the fact that there is always the need for better software and better services everywhere. I was reminded of this when looking around for RAM to upgrade my MacBook Pro and Mac mini. I spent over an hour looking around for the best prices but it really came down to what retailer I trusted the most. Which place did I have the best experience with in the past, regardless of the price.

Think about anything you do within that context as well. It isn’t enough to just have a great product to sell, but you want to also have a great relationship for your customers to enter into. It is mutually beneficial on both sides, which should make it even easier, but so many times the relationship is neglected on one or both ends and it ends poorly.

So many parallels.

So I’m asking for other people out there to turn an eye, or two, over here and spend some time and effort into looking into how these industries might be best served. I think there is a huge potential to get some great products up and running.

Maybe I’ll just do it myself.

Categories
Business Life Technology

Fear of Imperfection

When I get stuck, I tend to try and think my way out.

As my wife of almost six years would tell you, that’s probably not the best thing for me to do. However, it is a habit I cannot seem to break.

In my current rut of which I am stuck in I’ve been doing some reflection on why I’m in this rut. It is not a fun rut. I really don’t like being here and I know that things are better when I am out of this said rut but … here I sit. Stuck. In a rut.

Here’s the thing, I’m afraid.

I’m not afraid of failing, per say, or of the unknown (because who really knows what is going to happen even when we do think we have a decent idea of where things are going). No, I’m afraid of doing some imperfect.

Mainly this revolves around programming. What is stuck in my head is that I can’t do anything unless the entire project, from start to finish and every step in between, is going to be perfect. Every step clear. Every decision the correct one. Every line of code exactly where it should be and typed the correct way the first time. Having to clean up later or remove code that really didn’t need to be there is not acceptable. In my head, it shouldn’t be that way. Not that this should be easy, but that I should be able to, somehow, do it perfectly even if it is hard.

I’m not wholly sure where this has come from or how long it has been here, but that is what has been surfaced during my current reflection. It is amazing what a person can find out about themselves even after 26 years.

So what to do? Really, it is to get the fingers moving and the code going again. It is to force through even if things aren’t going perfectly. Embrace the ugly, as it may be in a way. Focus on small wins.

All stuff I know.

It also means putting down the books and tutorials, at least in the obsessive, “this will surely teach me the perfect way” style that I have been reading books recently. What good is the knowledge if not harnessed for something bigger, for moving ahead? It isn’t worth anything except to help me sound smarter when sitting around the table.

What good is that last part anyway? Meaningless.

So I move ahead, with fits and starts, with ideas. With failure behind and ahead and move forward, hoping to find something and knowing that going anywhere is infinitely better than standing still.

Categories
Business Life Technology

Separate Computing

With the addition of the Mac mini into my computing environment, I now will get to test out a theory I’ve had for a little while. Also, Ben Brooks published an article in the most recent addition of The Magazine title One Computer Worked Better which flies directly in the face of what I am trying to accomplish, so it will be interesting to see how it works out.

Basically, I’m splitting my computing needs in two, or at least working with two computers and two mobile devices.

For a long time I’ve been a one-computer user. I’ve had a laptop that I take with me between home and work, setting it up between places with a monitor, mouse, and keyboard wherever I go. This has worked quite well. I keep all of my data on a single machine, back it up daily, and have everything at my fingertips whenever I might need it.

However, I have two purposes. I have a day job and then I have the work that I do for myself and other clients. This means that I can have a co-mingling of data on a single machine.

Which is never good.

As much as I hate to say it, I also don’t like constantly plugging and unplugging my MacBook Pro to take it from work to home and then back again the next day. There is the obvious wear-and-tear on the machine itself, but it also takes just that little extra bit of time in the mornings to get everything setup before I can start work. A minor annoyance, but it is still an annoyance.

The New Setup

There are now four devices that are part of the setup, which does add complexity.

At Home

The base-model Mac mini (Late 2012) sits on a shelf near my desk, attached to a monitor, mouse, and keyboard. Attached to this Mac mini is a bus-powered USB hard drive for local Time Machine backups and that’s about it. It sits there, quietly waiting for me to come home and work.

There is also an iPad mini as the mobile, non-tethered computing for at home. I’ll talk more on that later.

The best things about the Mac mini at home don’t even have to do with the fact that it is a Mac or the benefits of that. No, it is the fact that it is a desktop tethered to my desk that I like the most. I’m not going to pull it up to the first floor and work on something. By forcing me to go work in my office I keep work apart from the family and I also eliminate distractions by “retreating” to my office.

Being a desktop also means I have less chance of component failure due to movement. At least I hope I do. I also have the option of expanding the storage easily using USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt external hard drives.

I am tempted to try a home-made Fusion Drive at some point as well.

At Work

This is where I have the MacBook Pro perched up on a stand and connected to an external monitor. It works well. I wish I had a Thunderbolt Display so that I could eliminate all but two cables (Thunderbolt and power), but I make do with the five hanging off of the side.

Having the portable here means I can take it to meetings if I need to, but that I can also take it on longer vacations if there seems to be a need for that. It has enough storage to get the job done, but if I move all of my personal stuff (photos, music, videos, etc.) to the Mac mini at home, I’ll probably get a smallish SSD just for fun. Development doesn’t always require a ton of space.

On The Road

Here is where it gets interesting. I always have my iPhone with me and that is not going to change. The iPhone 4S has probably been the single best device I’ve ever owned.

However, the iPad mini has now moved into the category of being my main mobile computing device. It can handle the important tasks I need to accomplish and in a smaller package than any laptop I could bring along. It also has the benefit of having cellular internet built into it.

I won’t even get into the fact that there are no moving parts in an iPad either. No fans. No hinges. No spinning disks. Those are all good things.

However, you can’t do everything that I do on an iPad, and so for some longer trips (or trips where I know that I will need to be developing something) I will pack up the MacBook Pro and lug it along. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to eliminate the need to bring along the larger laptop on more and more trips in the future.

It is probably good to just leave work at home anyway.

In Conclusion

Basically, this is an experiment in the syncing and “cloud” infrastructures of today. While there are definite breaks in what data is stored where, there are some things that I have to toss into Dropbox to keep it on both machines. I also keep a lot of stuff in iCloud and … we’ll see how it goes.

You can probably expect a post recanting my current position within six months.

Categories
Life Technology

The Crossover

The Crossover is a new podcast from 5by5. After the dual-knockout that my two favorite podcasts from the network are going to be ended in the coming weeks, I was relieved to hear about some awesome new programming coming up.

Episode 1, You Just Got Curated, did not disappoint at all. Granted, it had Merlin Mann and Marco Arment as the guests, but it really was a pretty remarkable episode. If you are a person who has been on the web for any somewhat-significant amount of time, it is a must-listen. They cover topics ranging from forums to Tumblr to Twitter to … everything in between.

Really, a great episode to start off with.

I am already subscribed and looking forward to the other combinations that Dan can put together for the show. Maybe we’ll see John Gruber show up again on 5by5?