Category: Weblog

Great silk-screened ties at Cyberoptix. I must have Radio.
The latest Team Fortress 2 update now allows you to use bottles of piss as a weapon. Jarate ftw.
Hybrid Cutlery – I want a Knork, a Spife, and Splayd. (via Kottke)
I helped kill 6 ships in Eve last night, including a Typhoon battleship.
I can lead a nation with a microphone…

My Hotel Room in Gilroy, California from Michael Pusateri on Vimeo.

Many things advertised on TV are terrible. They don’t as fun as they seem, or they don’t work as well as you see, or sometimes they are simply rip offs.
Not so for the ‘Ove’ Glove. The ‘Ove’ Glove is all that and a bag of chips.

Above you see me pulling out my patented Dad’s Easy Lasagna from the oven.
The ‘Ove’ Glove is an oven mitt, but not just any ordinary oven mitt. This one works fantastically well. The advertising says it’s made with Nomex and kelvar. I don’t know if it’s true, but it definitely insulates your hands from serious heat. We’ve sued a pair over the last several months and that have dealt with everything we’ve tried.

Since it’s a true glove and not a mitten or pot holder, you can get a good grip on things. The blue silicon rubber also helps with a good grip on hot things.
In a day of bad products and worse advertising, the ‘Ove’ Glove actually is worth the money. It gets the Cruft Manor seal of approval.

Brief sentence that states an opinion that is diametrically opposed to the writer’s previous views.
Acknowledgment that the writer had held opposing views in the past, but now has truly, honestly changed their ways.
More lying about the writer’s new views on the a topic in an attempt to confuse the reader and convince them of a dramatic change of heart. Simple rationale based on the writing of others, using phases and terminology that have been previously mocked by the writer.
Impassioned speech regarding the new passion surrounding the previously rejected belief, going on at length to just how much the reader has been transformed into their thinking.

Image that goes further to illustrate the joke, attempted to cement it in reality.
Summary of previous explanations and final attempt to truly fool the reader into believe that the post on April 1st is true and note a joke.

Yesterday was my first long bike ride. In the end, much longer then I had planned on.
I rode in the Tour de Sewer, a local ride down in Bell Gardens run by the Lions Club. There were 15, 30, and 62 mile routes. I chose the 30 mile. I had never ridden more than 12 miles before and was nervous about the distance.
The map below shows what I rode.

You’ll see at the bottom of the map, a part where I rode down to Lakewood. Yes, I missed a turn and kept going South for several miles. I finally had to stop and look at where I was on the phone and then angrily back-track to the turn. 7 extra miles than I had planned on.
Things I learned on my first long ride:

• Riding with a group is easier than riding solo.
• I need to get pedals and shoes to clip in, regular pedals are bad for long rides.
• A ham sandwich at the rest stop is a delicious treat, even after sitting in my back pocket for 20 miles.
• Going up a ‘moderate’ hill climb had me sucking wind by the top.
• Some people love to chat while riding, like non-stop chatting.
• I like long rides.

I feel pretty good today. My muscles aren’t sore at all. My left knee hurts a bit, probably from not being clipped into pedals. Today I did a short 6 mile round trip to the bike store in my sexy new Captain America jersey that Michele bought me and felt good.
Consider me sold on road biking as my new hobby.

Besides trying to get Foursquare badges and going to sessions, I’ve been having fun in Austin.
#sxstarwars
I got involved to ‘act’ in a live reenactment of the run on the Death Star in Star wars via Twitter. That link should take you to the start and allow you to read forwards (Newer) to see how it played out.

Jay Bushman organized the whole thing. He even built a wiki to show us actors what to do. Within an hour, the #sxstarwars tag went from nothing to the #3 trending search topic on Twitter Search. Seeing everyone join in was great fun! Here are some photos of us during the event.
Always Be Charging
I’m honored that the guys at SxSWBaby liked my phrase ABC – Always Be Charging and even built an alwaysbecharging.com site.
Causing Trouble
Those that know me, know I can get passionate about things. Here’s me causing trouble in the LA Tech Scene discussion.
Hotel Room
And for the sake of tradition:

My Hotel Room in Austin, Texas from Michael Pusateri on Vimeo.

Last night I took a break from the SxSW parties which tend to involve standing in crowds, drinking beer in the cold, and being aggravated about connectivity to mobile phones.
I went to go see Jonathan Coulton play a show at Antone’s I had heard his music before, but never been to a live show. I walked down to the joint and waited in line to buy a ticket. The show was general admission, but with seating, so I was relieved to find I wouldn’t have to stand all evening. I had fun chatting with people in line and with a nice Austin couple sitting behind me.
The show started pretty promptly and Paul and Storm came out. I had never even heard of them before and was blown away. Their stuff was great. The music was part of it, but the banter with the tech saavy geek crowd was hilarious. I highly recommend their show. During the break after their set, I bought the pack of their CDs.
Jonathan Coulton, or JoCo as he is known to fans, took the stage and was fantastic. Not as into the funny banter with the crowd, he has a more rock presence or charisma. Great song choices, swinging from tech anthems to more introspective songs. He definitely drove the crowd the way he wanted rather than bending to their will. I really liked the show. My favorite moment was his cover of They Might Be Giants – Birdhouse in your Soul. JoCo’s version is much more soulful, touching on the need of those that watch over others to feel love in return. He did this not by changing the lyrics, but with his musicianship and voice. I found it remarkable.
So, go see JoCo and Paul & Storm if you get the chance. You won’t regret it.

I attended the session on the Future of Social Networking, given by Charlene Li with the Altimeter Group. I’ve spoken with Charlene before and she’s very dialed into to what’s happening without being hyperbolic.
I agreed with the general points of her presentation, especially some of the timing aspects. The coordination of standards is HARD and will take time. I think this point was lost on some of the SxSW crowd.
Here is her presentation on Slideshare.
Here are my notes, in case you just want to read and not flip through slides.:
Future of Social Networking
Charlene Li
Altimeter Group
Three things to makes social networks like air:
1. Identity – who you are
2. Contacts – who you know (depth of connection)
3. Activities – what you do (your history)
And it’s still very early, so patience is important
Technologies
Facebook Connect
-vs.-
The New Open Stack
Open ID
XRDS-Simple
OAuth
PortableContacts
OpenSocial
Identity
Context – work, family, etc.
Struggle to maintain separation between context
Friend Management is tough today
Filters and groups are available but laborious to use
Filter make friends and news feeds more manageable and valuable
Implicit social data fills in the gaps
Closeness
Calendar
Call
SMS
Facebook
Twitter
Address Book
A “social algorithm” will make privacy and premissions easier to magae
Context make content privacy easier
Community based privacy
Based on what your trusted friends do
What will get everyone to open?
Money
Most digital activity resides OUTSIDE of the top social networks and portals
Tying content and discussions to social network via data exchange
Leverage social relationships to target ads based on relationships
Most social ads require explicit action
Media6 maps network neighbors
Use for targeted advertising
Rise of the personal CPM
Understanding the value of the influence role
Based on social graph instead of behavior
1) Evaluate where social make sense
Identify where social network data and content can/sould be integrated in the experience
Leverage existing identity and social graphs where your audience already is
Get your privacy and permission policies and processes with an open strategy
Find your trust agents
2) Get your backend data in order
Remove multiple sign-in
3) Prepare to intergrate social networks into your organization
Social networks will disrupt traditional information flows
Where are customers in the org chart? Top or bottom?

SxSW starts March 13th in Austin. This is my SEVENTH year and these are my helpful tips for the novice. I’ve tried to revise the info over the years as things change.
ABC – Always Be Charging – If you bring a laptop, you need to be charging it every single chance you get. No battery lasts long enough. Try to sit near an outlet in the session rooms. Share power outlets with others.
Don’t hog bandwidth – There is good wifi, but a limited amount of bandwidth at SxSW and everyone there is highly connected. That means don’t be a bandwidth hog. Don’t run bittorrent, for anything, at any time. Don’t download large operating system patches at the conference. Don’t try to live broadcast anything. Don’t upload all your photos from your 10MB DSLR camera during sessions. Don’t update your podcast downloads. Don’t download fresh builds of linux distros. Do not backup your laptop to Amazon S3 at the conference. Am I getting through here? Your actions can affect the experience for others. Nothing you are doing is that important that it is worth preventing others from having net access. Beat the hell out the hotel broadband in the evening, but do everyone a favor and show some restraint so everyone can do simple web surfing, IM, and email at the convention center.
Introduce Yourself – People are at SXSW because they want to meet people and see new things. Strangely, many of the blogger types that go are introverted types that are a bit shy. Do yourself a favor and say “Hello, I’m So-and-so” to that person you are sitting next to. (Don’t say So-and-so, use your name…) I guarantee that they will be happy to talk to you.
Personal cards – Make up business cards with your name, email, and website info on them to hand out. Bring your regular business cards if you want, but what people really want is a card that ties you to your online persona so they can find you after SxSW.
When asking a question in a session, don’t make a sales pitch – From time to time, people use the question time during sessions to pitch their own projects. No one cares. You look stupid if you do. Ask questions that the rest of the audience might care about. If you make a sales pitch during question time and I’m in the room, I will throw a brick at your head.
Session Info – When you arrive on Friday go to the Convention Center and pick up your badge. They will give you a large canvas bag of swag. You don’t want to haul this around, so you need to figure a way to drop this off at your hotel before a long night of partying. In the bag are two crucial items. First is the program which has detailed session descriptions. Second is a small pocket card with the session schedule on it. You want these to be in your daily walk around bag, not in your hotel room.
Don’t sleep in – Many of you are not parents that are used to getting up at the crack of dawn, but sleeping in past Noon means you are missing plenty of good stuff you paid a lot to see. Get up so you can grab breakfast and be at the 10AM sessions. If it’s more important to you to stay up till dawn and sleep in until 2PM, you probably shouldn’t be coming to Austin. You can do that at home.
Shiner Bock – Shiner Bock is a local Texas beer that you find everywhere. Often referred to as simply ‘Shiner’.
Badge Surf – Badge surfing is a perfectly acceptable behavior at SxSW, but don’t use it to fake knowing someone. If you want to talk to someone, say “I see from your badge…”. Don’t make them think that they should know you or that you’ve met previously.
Fray Cafe – Go to the Fray Cafe on Sunday night. Fray is people telling truthful stories about their life. It’s one of the best things about SxSW. Kevin Smokler is the new host and is longtime SxSW veteran. Get there early for a good seat, otherwise you will be standing for the whole thing.
Stay Warm – It can get cold and rain in Austin this time of year. Bring a good jacket or coat just in case.
Sharpeners – There are no pencil sharpeners at SXSW. People think writing on a pad of paper with a wooden pencil is a bit strange.
Secure connections – Wifi traffic is in the clear and people are sniffing packets all the time. Arrange for secure email, FTP, and if possible, secure browsing while at SXSW. It’s unlikely that a malicious hacker is gunna do bad things, but it’s best to be prepared.
Street Signs – For some reason, downtown Austin has few street signs. Get a map and study it before venturing out.
Food – Eat food. Austin has a great bar scene. You will be drinking. Don’t drink on an empty stomach. It also would be a good idea to keep a couple energy bars in your bag during sessions.
Texas BBQ – IMHO, Texas BBQ pales in comparison to BBQ in other areas like Kansas City and Carolina. That chopped beef sandwich stuff just doesn’t cut it, but people will want to eat it for lunch. That said, Stubbs makes a great brisket.
Say Hello to Me – I would love to meet Loyal Cruft Readers. On Twitter I’m @cruftbox or email me or IM at pusateri AT gmail.com and I promise to respond.
Any questions?