Load of bull

Slashdot: Software Engineering Is a Dead-End Career, Says Bloomberg http://goo.gl/mag/TrDCn

This is the difference between knowledge and wisdom. While some young programmers are good, others suck.  Experience makes all the difference.

Like it or you're fired!

Interesting post in Slashdot today.  The question is should you astroturf because your company tells you to.  Astroturf-ing is essentially slang for clicking the Like button to give the appearance that something is liked even when the person clicking the button may have no knowledge of the product or service.  For example you come across a web page and it says 10,000 People like this page, be the first of your friends.  Truth be told, 9,999 of the people were employee's of the company.  The term comes from AstroTurf (The fake grass) to show it is a "Fake Grassroots" movement.

The moral question here is if this is wrong.  One would think that if you support the company you work for you would do this simply to help the company.  Company does better, you get a pay raise it all works out for everyone right?  When however does this slip over the edge into unethical.  What if a condition of your employment is to "Use your personal social media accounts to endorse company products".  This comes right after Legislation to prevent disclosure of social media passwords hit the news.

Is this really anything new though?  Companies have been persuading people to support them for years.  US Car manufacturers don't want you driving a Toyota to work, Coke doesn't want you drinking Pepsi while driving the delivery vehicle.  It's clear this has been going on for some time however social media has a significantly larger impact.  Having 300 Facebook friends has far more impact than having a dozen or so friends that even know what car you drive.

I can say I have actually been in this position.  I've had one of my employers ask me to join and like particular things in my social network.  Given the size of the companies I have worked for though I am just a drop in the ocean and not on the radar.  On the other hand however, a smaller company of lets say 80 people might know you more intimately and can easily check for compliance.  The question is what is the punishment for non-compliance?  Can they fire you?  Absolutely.  Most companies are at-will employers which means they can fire you if they don't like your Twitter handle.  Extreme?  Maybe.

I think the next few years are going to be very interesting to watch social media and employers.  The more employers start to use social media and the more people that are involved in social media the more people are going to be coerced into towing the company line.  I think we're going to see the government and human rights activists involved in the issue.  The question is how far will employers push this before the legislators have to get involved.

Employers going to far

I understand the desire for employers to know about potential hires past but when you have to supply your Facebook password as part of pre-employment screening you have gone too far.  Recent legislation is now trying to stop this in at least one state.  What I can't believe is that at least one or more applicants thought this was ok.  People need to stand up for their rights.

Microsoft Internet Explorer will eventually die

For some time I have bashed IE.  It's a non-compliant browser with performance issues and I just hate Microsoft as a whole.  Why?  Microsoft takes the approach that because they are big they don't have to change.  Clearly not everyone fears Microsoft.  I read an article recently in TechCrunch (Thanks to Alex for sending it) how a Bootstrapped Startup Saves Over $100K By Dropping IE.  I don't care if this article is blatant Microsoft bashing or not.  The point is this article is true.  I speak from experience that I can develop awesome software then throw it into IE to unit test and have it FAIL!  That is unacceptable in my mind given that Webkit (Chrome/Safari) is standards based.  The "Big guy" on the block IE should be leading the pack not trailing behind it.

For everyday users the writing is on the wall.  You need to get used to using something than the everyday garbage Microsoft spoon feeds you.  Chrome is a fantastic browser that lets you use the web.  When it's all said and done isn't that what you use 90% of your computer time for?  You boot up, you load a browser then go to Facebook, Yahoo, Blogger and countless other web applications in the cloud.  Wouldn't you rather be doing that faster and easier?  Wouldn't you like to surf with 95% of your page instead of 75% because most of it is taken up with spammy toolbars?  I have been using Google Chrome since it was released.  I set it as my default browser back then and it hasn't changed since.  You need to improve your browsing experience now users.

I believe Chrome will evolve the web to what it should be.  The question is will Microsoft be able to keep up with Chrome before it's too late.

Get Google Chrome

Shut up and take my money! Google Project Glass

Ever since I read Daemon by Daniel Suarez I was waiting for someone to do this.  I can tell you that I personally can't wait to don my pair of google glasses.  I am all for the augmented reality!

Arduino UNO with ZIF socket instant Atmega328 Programmer

I was very excited when I got my Arduino and immediately wanted to program the board and integrate it into something.  I had a project in mind immediately. When I originally started I thought that it was going to be expensive to program all these Arduino Uno's (Which range from $20-$40) to program and then hookup to a shield of some sort for each project.  I had experience in Electronics from high school and have always tinkered around, but the UNO was my first micro controller.  I was of course hooked right away how easy it was to program and couldn't wait to start making all these projects.  The cost however was keeping me from making less expensive toys and having more fun.

My problem was I wanted to take an Arduino prototype and make it a Production project.  I did a lot of Googling for how to take an Arduino project to Production.  I could not however find anything about how people took a simple Arduino project and made it into something standalone.  After a while I started reading a lot about Atmega328 (The chip on the Arduino)  and ran across a post for a Standalone Arduino on a breadboard.  From there I came up with my own process that allows me to prototype with my Uno, then take it to the next level.  I can do this very quickly now with just a few parts.

The first thing I wanted to do was to be able to pull the chip off.  You can get a cheap IC Extractor from Amazon.com.  I personally don't suggest that you make this the regular practice if you are going to program a Atmega328 and put it into your projects. I suggest you get yourself a 28 pin ZIF Socket.  I did buy this one from Sparkfun only because I was ordering other things.  You can find them cheaper on eBay but this is only $3.  Then once you pull off your Atmega328 from your Arduino Uno, carefully push in the ZIF socket.  You'll notice that there is just barely enough room for it on the board, but if you are careful you can insert it.  Then you can swap in and out as many Atmega328's as you want.

You can see here that once you do this, you'll be able to quickly swap out the CPU.  Be very careful when you press this into the socket.  It is a very tight fit.  You also have to be careful not to press too hard since it does cover the small can on the left..  So with a little effort you can now program the chip and use it in your project.  Using the whole Arduino is complete overkill for your project. With this Standalone Arduino instructable you'll see you only need a couple of capacitors and a crystal.  I was able to order them from Sparkfun with the Uno Bootloader already on the Atmega328. From there, you can breadboard your project.  If you need to change the code on the chip, with the ZIF socket, its easy as cake to swap it in and out.  

Then I was able to find this excellent reference to the pins for the Atmega with the Arduino bootloader on it. So, if you read this whole article you can see that if you read a few web pages, and buy a few parts you can take your chip off your Arduino and place it into its own production board.   The extra parts will cost you about $5 and a new Atmega328 with the Arduino Bootloader on it about $5.  What that means is that you can create production projects for about $10 each.  That's less than 1/2 the price of buying an Arduino Uno for each project you create. 

jQuery Class for novice programmers

I use jQuery all the time and for those of you that don't you can now take some classes on it. http://learnjquery.tutsplus.com/  gives you a new lesson each day and allows you to become a jQuery pro in just a month.  Worth checking out.  Props to my friend Daniel who alerted me to this.

Arduino Project For Exercise Bike

I am currently working on a new project at home to integrate an Arduino microcontroller into my exercise bike.  The bike more or less broke several months back.  The problem was that the circuit for increasing or decreasing the resistance on the bike wheel died.  This meant that while I was pushing the buttons, nothing was happening and I was stuck on the last resistance set.

I was able to troubleshoot this and hook a 9v battery directly to to the motor that drove the resistance.  Reversing direction worked perfectly and I was able to control it.  Problem is that it was a bit of a pain riding it to get off of it and adjust the bike.

I originally planned to simply hook a battery to it and replace the switches.  I thought then it might be really neat to integrate the microcontroller into it and build one of those expensive bike computers out of it.  I'm going to see if I can access the hall effect sensor on the bike otherwise I will attach a magnet and my own sensor.  I should be able to get mileage, etc from there.  The current computer only has a few features.  I was thinking the improvement would be that I could add a course into the microcontroller allowing me to increase difficulty and have more fun.

More news to come as the project progresses.

The fifth amendment.

Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now: Judge Rules Americans Can Be Forced to Decrypt Personal Data - What Does That Mean For You? http://goo.gl/mag/t1z5y

So if you encrypt your hard drive and the government wants to use the data on it against you.  Does it violate your fifth amendment right to have a judge order you to give up your password?   Sounds like self incrimination to me.  What do you think?

Watching the SuperBowl? Then you support SOPA!

Are you planning on watching the SuperBowl this year?  If so you are supporting SOPA!  The National Football League is one of the supporters of SOPA!  Simply take a look at SOPA HR 3261 and you will see the NFL supports SOPA!  So if you are wearing your NFL jersey, watching a football game or planning to watch the SuperBowl you are supporting SOPA.

You can feel free to contact the NFL and tell them what you think of your money going to support this bill.  I know I sent an email and I'm not planning on watching the SuperBowl until they publicly say they wont be supporting it.  clare.graff@nfl.com and Amy.Jorgensen@nfl.com who are their media contacts and tell them what you think!

SOPA and PIPA Must Die - Protest Supporters

SOPA and PIPA are evil and will squash your civil liberties by turning everyone into criminals just for linking to a website which contains piracy.  Obviously this law is significantly flawed.  Once again though corporate america means to help take your liberties away.  The List Of SOPA Supporters is an example of corporate America taking your rights away.  I personally am protesting these companies and where possible not purchasing any products from them.  I suggest you review the list for companies you purchase from and look for alternatives.  I also suggest you review the political and corporate supporters of SOPA.  I assure you I will not vote for anyone listed on this Bill.  I am an IT professional and this law is designed to take your freedoms away not protect them.