Eric Arseneau's Weblog

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I just got a development kit with some cool toys in it, which is way cool.  However, it did come with a not so nice surprise. You see, up until now I already knew there were a few different kinds of USB connectors

• USB A - the big boxy looking one
• USB B - the wide narrow one
• USB mini B 5 pin - the one we use on Sun SPOT
• USB mini B 4 pint - I know about this one because there are 400 of them sitting in a cupboard in the lab, due to my screwing up in thinking that ordering a USB mini B cable would be enough to get the right thing :(

One of the projects I've been working on, PlaySIM, used a new USB connector I had not seen before, it seems to be a

• USB To Go mini B connector - scratch head to see what the functional difference is between the mini B and the togo mini B?

So when I got this dev kit I started with on this blog entry, I was not surprised to see this mini B connector again.  What DID surprise me, was

• USB To Go mini A connector

Why?  I dont get it?  Is there really a need to have a USB A & B type connector?  What do they diferentiate? Is it actually physically required?  Is is a scam by cable sellers to get another round at this?

What makes me really laugh is the couple of blog entries I've seen where all the mobile phone manufacturers, including Apple, are supposedly going to use "micro" USB connector as a standard.  So does this mean

• Yet another USB A & B pair of connectors coming out?
• Which connector will they all use?  You think they will use the same actual one, or use different ones as they get as confused as we do with all these different seemingly useless connectors :)

If someone can help me understand this I would really appreciate it.  Will be more than happy to post an update including extra information.

Now, let me go to my USB cable bin and see if I can find the right one to get this board working :(

I saw Guy Kawasaki for the first time at a Palm conference doing his presentation on Rules for Revolutionaries.  If you have never heard him do a talk, find a way to get to one he is very entertaining and provides a lot of useful information.  I tried to find a video of his Rules for Revolutionaries, but could not find one.

I did find one he did for PARC Forum, entitles By the Numbers.  I didn't watch the whole thing yet, but from skimming it has his usual style.

Look at his latest blog entry Everything I Need to Know About Entrepreneurship I Learned From My Comrades in Moscow , and tell me that does not bring a tear to your eye, or laughter into your heart :)

One of my favorites 

With the caption "Celebrity endorsements don’t have to be expensive.".

I love it :)

I have to say that the experience of being interviewed by Al, and then seeing the article he wrote, was a real pleasure.  During the interview he said that he wasn't a techie, but I think he's wrong.  He was able to pick up on all of the really important points and put them together really well for this article.  I was really impressed.  I would check out some of his other articles, which you will find in the archive.

Go take a look at the article Go Small or Not at All 

This blog entry is long overdue.  Squawk was officially announced as Open Source January 2008 at Mobile, Media, and eMbedded Developer Days.  I got the opportunity to do a presentation on what Squawk is and what we are trying to do.  The JTVOS is also included in this video, as the event had too many topics to give them all 60 minutes, so a number of us got half of that.

I did try to be a little entertaining but unfortunately I do not quite have the physique to do a striptease justice :)  Proceed at your own risk, the first minute or so are setup confusion, stick with it and you might find it interesting :)

 http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/184826

M3DD is on again this year, I'll be there and so will other people you mind find interesting, come and register.

I read this totally awesome blog entry that I had to add to my list of clips. The blog entry talks about the different metaphors used to describe software engineering, and I just could not help but laugh, cry and agree with the following quote

"I think we're leaving one metaphor on the table which more accurately reflects the way software is built in the real world: flail around randomly and pray you succeed by force of pure dumb luck. Sometimes it even works. Not very often, but just enough to confuse people who should know better into thinking they're smart, when what they really were is lucky."

From Coding Horror, see Tending Your Software Garden.

• http://www.digg.com
  It seems an interesting alternative to http://www.slashdot.org. digg lets users put digg's on a story and the highest number of diggs show up.
• http://www.librarything.com
  List the books you liked and are reading and share with others. Its interesting to me since its related to a product I would LOVE to have/write myself. A service where I can log books I have read, books I want to read, and when I am browsing in book store I can confirm whether I have read a book or not, or if I want it or not. Would save me a lot of money from buying books I have already read.
• http://www.teleflip.com
  A free service that lets you send SMS messages to any number without knowing the carrier. Going to take a look and see how it works out. Been looking for something like this, but have not looked really hard. Could be interesting.

• Web 3.0 by Jeffrey Zeldman

Web 2.0 is a fresh-faced starlet on the intertwingled longtail to the disruptive experience of tomorrow. Web 3.0 thinks you are so 2005.

• If you have NEVER heard Guy Kawasaki give a talk, then you are really missing something. His blogs seem quite interesting as well
  • The Top Ten Lies of Venture Capitalists
  • The Top Ten Lies of Entrepreneurs

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