Es Tea Double Eye

Now before you think “Pfft, another surf clip…”, stop. Yes, I’m mad about surfing, but this interview with Kelly Slater actually has a lot to do with all of us. It’s all about attitude and motivation. Kelly has won the World Title 10 times, so surely he must be doing something right. Although this is short, there are a couple things that stands out for me:

• Keep yourself motivated. He is 38 years old. He broke his foot this year and still he goes on and win a world title. Use obstacles and set backs to motivate yourself. I’m sure it sounds easy, but I think it is something that you can learn.
• Why wait? The part where he was still young and driving in a car where he said “Why set a goal to make the top 16? Why not set a goal to make the top 5 or why not just go for it right now and be World Champ?” So often we’re afraid to go for what we want. We’re scared and come up with all kinds of excuses why we cannot do something, when in actual fact, we’re our own worst enemies.
• If you lose focus, it means there is something you still need to learn to stay focussed. Losing focus is very easy and probably the main thing that results in failure in anything we do.

So there, watch it and learn something. Change your attitude. Guy is a true hero of many a surfer. There is a good reason for that :)

If you have issues with the video above, here is the link to the clip: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5783902

This is such an inspirational movie by Relentless energy. This explains it best:

Lives of The Artists features freeride snowboarder Xavier de Le Rue in the incredible, untamed wilderness of Greenland before moving on to the World’s ‘most perfect’ wave, a simply awesome force of nature; Teahupoo in Tahiti with big wave surfers Tom Lowe and Fergal Smith, along with photographer Mickey Smith. Finally we get under the skin of an abrasive and dramatic tour across the US with British hardcore punk band Gallows.

Three diverse domains, with a collection of seemingly diverse personalities but all united by uncompromising integrity, and a willingness to push and suffer for their art as they search for fulfillment.

It is 79 minutes long, so I suggest you bookmark it and watch it when you have time. It is not quite your Youtube tea-break type of clip :P

Some things are just like that because that’s the way they are.

Click here to watch the movie or if you’re not sure, watch the trailer below, THEN go watch the movie.

This is brilliant! In an interview physicist Richard Feynman was asked why do two magnets repel each other and when you turn it around, it attracts each other. He ends up explaining not why it does it, but he explains why a “why?” or “how?” question is so difficult to explain. It is absolutely brilliant. I have to be honest, it is not exactly physics, but it is something I’ve never really given thought. It is quite simple really.

If you have kids, or going to have kids in future, this will be very, very helpful. See kids go through a phase where they ask “why” and “how” a LOT. I think the only reason they outgrow it is because their questions never get answered. As Richard here explains it: Unless it can be related to something that he understand or can accept, his answer will never be answered. Watch it. It will be 7 minutes well spent :)

Mweb is running an ad campaign to introduce their dedicated server hosting. I had a look and while the landing page is a bit confusing, I downloaded the product information sheet to have a closer look and the offering is actually the best I’ve seen to date by far. So I decided to measure it up against other offers out there and was pleasantly surprised.

Here is what Mweb, Webafrica, RSAWeb, Afrihost and Hetzner have to offer. If you know of another option that is worthwhile to look at, let me know.

Mweb (cheapest and most bandwidth)

Mweb has 4 options. Lite, Basic, Standard and Advanced. Let’s have a look at the Lite option which weighs in at R683 per month.

• No set-up fee
• Intel Xeon X3430 (8M cache, 2.40 GHz)
• 4GB 1066 DDR3 ECC RAM
• 2 x 500GB SATA hard drives; 7200rpm
• 50GB Traffic quota (Additional traffic is charged at R0.02 per MB)

As you can see, not shabby hardware at all! That is quite a decent server and the other packages offer even more. What is the real drawcard is the bandwidth. International bandwidth is really the bane of local hosting. 50GB is not really great, but if you use a content delivering network to serve your images and files at a low cost or if you are only a high traffic site with no big downloads, this could really work.

RSAWeb

I’ve heard mostly great things of RSAWeb. They also have 4 options. Their entry level offering comes in at R395 once off setup fee and R895 per month. Here is the specs:

• R395 set-up fee
• Intel Core i5-750 – 2.66Ghz 8MB
• 4GB 1333Mhz RAM
• 2 x 500GB hard drives
• 10GB Traffic quota (They don’t specify the charge for additional traffic.)

The hardware is pretty decent. The bandwidth is a bit shoddy considering that you pay R212 per month more.

Hetzner

Hetzner has 3 options. Truserv, Truserv Plus and Truserv Commerce. Their Truserv package has a R445 once off setup fee and R895 per month.

• R445 set-up fee
• Core i5-750 2.66 GHz
• 4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz
• 2 * 500GB SATA HDD
• 7.5GB Traffic quota (dditional traffic is charged at R0.025 per MB)

As with RSAWeb, the hardware is pretty solid. The included bandwidth is even less though, so this may very well become a hefty amount if you grow.

Web Africa

Web Africa also offers 4 options. The basic option comes in at R599 once off setup fee and R1999 per month.

• R599 set-up fee
• E5504 XEON 2.13 GHZ Quad Core
• 6GB DDR3
• 2 x 500 GB with RAID1 option
• 20GB Traffic quota (Additional traffic is charged at R0.04 per MB)

Once again, decent hardware. The problem is the price. Almost 3 times more expensive than Mweb and extra bandwidth is twice as much.

Afrihost

Afrihost has 4 options but their entry level option is a virtual server, which is not what I’m comparing here. We’ll look at the next best option which is the Silver option. It has no setup fee and R1150 per month.

• No set-up fee
• 2.4GHz Quad Core Xeon
• 2GB RAM
• 250 GB HDD
• 20GB Traffic quota (Additional traffic is charged at R0.025 per MB)

The hardware is ok. Not as great as the other options. Traffic quota isn’t bad either. But it is significantly more expensive than Mweb’s offering. Almost twice.

If your basic need is a little more included bandwidth, then Mweb’s offering is definitely best. The price wins hands down. Good job Mweb. Maybe we can now start having as competitive pricing in the hosting space as we’re currently enjoying in the ADSL market.

My friends always get nervous when I say, “dude, you should totally check out OCaml” or “Erland concurrency is the bomb!” or “Next project we do is in Django/Rails/Scala/Haskell/Putthelanguagenamehere”. I’m sure Justin can concur that I’ve put a grey hair or two on his head. The thing is, I love learning new ways of doing things. I’m like a programming language whore and sleep with every second language that walks through the door.

That being said, I’ve never attempted a project in a new [new to me] language. I don’t experiment while doing critical stuff. I stick to what I know and that is mostly Python or PHP. That doesn’t mean I’m not in love with a couple of other languages. I would most use it in future once I know more about it and feel comfortable using it.

I had to smile while watching this interview with Dr Venkat Subramaniam on Groovy and Scala. I loved this quote and it is seriously one of my favorites:

Should we just be switching these languages? Thats like asking a worker now that he has picked up a screw driver he would not touch a hammer or chisel anymore.

Explains it perfectly. The right tool for the job. Thing is, how the hell are you going to know which is the right tool if you do not experiment or test the tools? Make up your own mind. Play and learn and you will grow. Sometimes the way things are done in other languages would make you a better programmer in what you use every day. Don’t be short sighted. Life is too short!

Net tuts+ is running a very cool promo for the month of October. You can download the ebook Getting good with Git for free. I would highly recommend that you do so while you can. I just skimmed over it quickly last night and I think it is great. Specially for the not-so-technical and designers that doesn’t feel all that comfortable in the command line. It gives you the basics to get going with Git, which is great!

I love this part and had to smile when I read it:

Before we go anywhere near the command line, you need to know something: 99% of everything you do on the command line is irreversible. This is especially true of deleting things; when you remove files or folders from the command line, they don’t go to the trash, the recycle bin, or any other kind of halfway house. They’re gone forever (barring some kind of hardware level recovery … and even that won’t always work).

Take heed to that warning. rm-rf is NOT always your friend. It will make you feel like an idiot. Trust me on that one! Steven Bristol isn’t the only one who has made that mistake… *blush*

I have not read the entire book yet, but it looks solid and simple enough for everyone to understand. What are you waiting for?! Hit this link!

I’ve been developing with Code Igniter for years. One thing that irritated me endlessly is the fact that they destroy the $_GET variable since it does not utilize GET strings, there is no reason to allow it. Never mind that we as developers might want to use it. :P There is a way to access GET variables in Code Igniter, but that mean you have to secure it yourself as it doesn’t get parsed by the system’s filters. It is an annoyance. It was a big enough annoyance for me to ditch Code Igniter for KohanaPHP, which was based on Code Igniter.

KohanaPHP was brilliant. It was everything Code Igniter was and more. It even supported GET strings and was pure OOP. A thing of beauty.

It is a pity that they decided to change it all and redevelop the entire system. Besides that it is now a completely new or different system, the documentation is horrible and I downloaded and installed the latest version and it seems to be incomplete. Trying to set up the database, I found the database config file is missing. The documentation says “An example config file can be found at modules/database/config/database.php.” which sadly is not true.

I have no doubt the new KohanaPHP will rock once completed, but I am far, far, FAR to busy to get a new system working. The old KohanaPHP was perfect for me. Sadly, in future it will be no more. That left me with the only other option. Back to Code Igniter. GET madness and all. I will check it out when things calm down and I have a gap to learn the new KohanaPHP, but that won’t be anytime soon.

Over the last few years I’ve been pretty much out of touch with the business side of business. When I was freelancing, I pretty much did things my own way, not caring about much more than keeping the bank ticking. Until about 2 weeks ago, I was still in that comfort zone, caring about little more than developing shit and having a ball doing it.

Then I was yanked back into the business side with Justin going on a sabbatical. I’ve completely forgotten what it was like making business decisions and sorting out accounting queries, while at the same time still juggling the normal development work and trying to improve support and communications. I’m basically back to working 18 hour days as in the early Afrigator days. Then, on top of it all, I need to keep the kids from killing each other as it is holiday time on top of it all.

Now you might think I’m complaining, but you’d be wrong! I’m kind of strange that way (though I’m sure I’m not alone). The more I have to do, the more I get done and the other way round. I’m enjoying it. I’m even some of the more mundane tasks like bookkeeping. I’ll admit, I’m fairly rusty, but fortunately experience is something that is not simply lost. It all comes back to you a lot quicker than you’d think.

I won’t lie, there were some days when I wanted to run away from my inbox. I’m not the most efficient emailer in the world. Thanks to Gmail’s Priority Inbox I was able to keep on top of it fairly well. Lifesaver feature that. I’ve even made a point to start blogging with renewed vigor again. Half asleep and just before I hit the sack, but it gets done! Since I’ve started slacking on the blog side, I’ve always had this niggle that I’m neglecting something very, very important. You know that feeling. Actually, I forced myself to do it for Adgator and experience kicked in again and once more I’m into it.

I’m forever the student. Learning new things is my thing. Here is a great lesson I can learn you from this experience:

Communication is @#$@%^&* important! Extremely, utterly, crucial. Therefore you need to do it. Even if you think you suck at it, just do it. It is a lot better saying something than nothing. At the very least it is a start of a dialog and through a dialog you can solve a problem.

It is nothing new really. We’ve had niche or exclusive social networks for a long time. Lately though we’ve seen a new kind of exclusive social network emerging. I’m talking about sites like Dribbble, Forrst and Lovedsgn. They’re very niche and very exclusive. While I don’t really have an opinion about Dribbble and Lovedsgn, I must admit that I really enjoy Forrst. Dribbble and Lovedsgn are more aimed towards designers while Forrst caters for designers and developers alike.

Exclusivity

These networks are exclusive. You cannot join unless invited. With Forrst, you can apply for an invitation, but even then you need to prove yourself to be either a designer or developer. I’ve often seen designers on Forrst post images they’ve made begging for Dribbble invites. It is a place you want to be as a serious designer. Likewise, I’ve seen people on Dribbble make images telling the beggars they have none. The haters hate. They can’t be part of it, so they slam it. The interesting thing about this is that it WORKS. Like an Apple :) Forrst goes as far as to say that you may not invite recruiters or marketing people. Not at all.

(The Hulk image is by Francisco Inchauste)

Rules and Regulations

If you end up making the cut, you have to abide by the laws. The rules are clear. Stray off topic and get booted. Each post type on Forrst have rules. Stray once, you’ll be warned. Do it again, well, you’ve been warned. Now, you might think this sound terrible, but for a designer or developer it is paradise. You just know when you go to Forrst, exactly what you are going to get. You know there just won’t be any sales pitch. Pure, unadulterated, geeky goodness. While everyone plays by the same set of rules, everyone is helpful and happy. As I said before, it works.

The community is awesome

Ask a question or for advice, you’ll get it. People on Forrst are extremely helpful. I’ve never asked a question, no matter how tough or stupid, where nobody answered. Forrst has become a helpful tool for me. It’s no longer a gimmick. Although the platform is solid, the community is what makes it valuable. The community is only that valuable, because of the strict rules. It runs like a well oiled machine!

Conclusion

I love it. It is useful. It works for me. While I cannot speak for Dribbble or Lovedsgn, I can only imagine their users must feel the same about their community. I’m not sure if this would work for anything. I cannot really see online marketing experts and social media gurus interacting on that same level. I’ve seen it working in Goodreads, which is a social network for bookworms. Let’s see how this evolve.

Any comments from Dribbble folks? Would love to know.

What is paper.li?

Paper.li is a service which allows you to create newspaper-like daily editions of selected twitter followers and the links they tweet. Depending on how you use this, it could be very valuable. Not only is it pretty useful, it is extremely simple to use and set up. You authorise/login with your existing Twitter account and you create a paper using 3 simple choices:

1. a Twitter user + those being followeda Twitter user + those being followed
2. a Twitter #tag
3. a Twitter @list

Seriously, it cannot be easier! I prefer to use the third option, which allows me to carefully moderate who goes onto my edition using a Twitter list. The twitter list you can view here: @stii/designers and the daily paper.li edition can be viewed here: http://paper.li/stii/designers.

My daily designers edition is a collection of well known web and graphic designers and it collects the links they tweet. 9 out of 10 times, the links are relevant, on topic and very useful. In short, it has become a invaluable resource for me. I cannot sit and watch Twitter all day, every day. It is impossible. Using paper.li, I get a digest with very valuable links relevant to my interests once a day. Nifty! Just like that it solves a real problem for me!

What I would pay for on paper.li

At the moment, paper.li has a few shortfalls, two of which bothers me most.

1. Only refreshes the edition once every 24 hours, more or less at the time you created the edition.
2. You can only see the latest edition. No history

What would be great on paper.li is if they had premium or paid for accounts which allows you to have your editions update a little more frequently or at least let you specify the time when you’d like it to update and allow you to view past editions. It would also not be a terrible option to allow you to customize the look and theme for your editions. Simple things that could easily allow them a business model. How about it SmallRivers?