favrik http://blog.favrik.com Waking up... Tue, 12 Feb 2008 10:24:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 en In Rainbows: the Album of the year?! http://blog.favrik.com/2008/02/12/in-rainbows-the-album-of-the-year/ http://blog.favrik.com/2008/02/12/in-rainbows-the-album-of-the-year/#comments Tue, 12 Feb 2008 10:24:04 +0000 Favio http://blog.favrik.com/2008/02/12/in-rainbows-the-album-of-the-year/

]]> http://blog.favrik.com/2008/02/12/in-rainbows-the-album-of-the-year/feed/ Blue http://blog.favrik.com/2008/01/30/blue/ http://blog.favrik.com/2008/01/30/blue/#comments Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:01:33 +0000 Favio http://blog.favrik.com/2008/01/30/blue/

From the Cowboy Bebop Anime soundrack.

]]> http://blog.favrik.com/2008/01/30/blue/feed/ Mibbit: the IRC web interface http://blog.favrik.com/2008/01/24/mibbit-the-irc-web-interface/ http://blog.favrik.com/2008/01/24/mibbit-the-irc-web-interface/#comments Thu, 24 Jan 2008 10:30:39 +0000 Favio http://blog.favrik.com/2008/01/24/mibbit-the-irc-web-interface/ A friend was looking through Ajaxian and found Mibbit, a recent IRC web application in the world of AJAX. Remarkable things: /whois command, the smilies, tab completion for nicknames, typing notification, auto-away feature, and more.

The idea is nothing original, what is interesting is the execution of the idea. In my opinion, Mibbit is a lot more attractive to the common Java chat interface, and it seems an embedded version of the client will be available in alpha soon! You can read more about Mibbit, in the blog.

I wonder if the developer of Mibbit will provide some way to customize the interface, and extend the standard functionality of IRC beyond chat, and private messages. I can imagine a plugin that allows file transfers from 1 user to all, or between users; for example.

]]> http://blog.favrik.com/2008/01/24/mibbit-the-irc-web-interface/feed/ How important is being original for a Startup http://blog.favrik.com/2008/01/13/how-important-is-being-original-for-a-startup/ http://blog.favrik.com/2008/01/13/how-important-is-being-original-for-a-startup/#comments Sun, 13 Jan 2008 10:25:50 +0000 Favio http://blog.favrik.com/2008/01/13/how-important-is-being-original-for-a-startup/ Lately, I find myself asking why would anyone want to duplicate, copy, or imitate an existing startup; to form their own startup. So far, I think it could be summarized as just one reason:

Easy Money.

Easy money, or easy success, or easy “something”. Due to world segmentation, one spectacular original idea might not reach every part of the world simultaneously. Besides, there’s always the language barrier. So present the same idea, service, or product localized, and you have considerable hopes of achieving the same success in your location, city, country, etc., right?

Of course, doing any kind of startup as your first one, will give you a lot of experience so it will have, whether you success or fail at it, positive effects.

However, originality is one of the constant traits in successful startups. If you’re the kind of person who has mastered the art of learning from other person’s mistakes and success then, why would you ever want to invest your time in an already beated to death idea?

Working on something that nobody has ever done before, something that could change the status quo for some context, something that solves a current problem, something original; is not work at all. It is passion. And passion is one of the essential driving forces of startups.

It baffles me seeing a lot of job offers where the job is to clone a site. From my freelance web developer perspective, it’s a bit dissapointing. Fortunately, almost everybody can start a startup. I know I can. Just waiting for the right idea. An original idea, that is.

References

Things that make me laugh, and sometimes cry:
Exposed: The 7 Most Blatant Web 2.0 Rip Offs
Web 2.0 in Germany: Copy/Paste Innovation or more?
Cloning Web 2.0: A Look at Copycat Applications
Making a Copycat Site? At Least Copy an Idea That’s Working
Copycats: Top 10 International Facebook Clones

]]> http://blog.favrik.com/2008/01/13/how-important-is-being-original-for-a-startup/feed/ Music recommendations http://blog.favrik.com/2007/12/22/music-recommendations/ http://blog.favrik.com/2007/12/22/music-recommendations/#comments Sun, 23 Dec 2007 03:44:23 +0000 Favio http://blog.favrik.com/2007/12/22/music-recommendations/ It’s hard to come up with great new music when you have specific tastes, you don’t listen to the radio, don’t watch tv, and all you ever read is on the internet. I feel a bit frustrated inside when asking a person what kind of music do they like, and they respond with the ambiguous “Everything”, or “All types!”; but, later, they will modify that answer with some exceptions (they are inevitable, right?). So, I’m thinking on rephrasing that question to: “What kind of music makes you want to leave the place immediately?”. Should work a lot better.

Anyway, since ancient times, word of mouth has been the best way, as in there is some implicit trust, to get in touch with a lot of varied things. In the case of music, I was very lucky to meet Luis Campos (he has no blog alarm!), which is very knowledgeable in music. These are some of his recommendations with youtube videos:

Beirut - Postcards from Italy

The Walkmen - The Rat

The Arcade Fire - Rebellion

TV on the Radio - Wolf like me

Sharing music is a good thing. ^_^

]]> http://blog.favrik.com/2007/12/22/music-recommendations/feed/ VIM settings for PHP Programming http://blog.favrik.com/2007/12/21/vim-settings-for-php-programming/ http://blog.favrik.com/2007/12/21/vim-settings-for-php-programming/#comments Fri, 21 Dec 2007 22:25:20 +0000 Favio http://blog.favrik.com/2007/12/21/vim-settings-for-php-programming/ This is a religious topic, so let’s get done with it quickly:

colorscheme slate
syntax on
set tabstop=4
set shiftwidth=4
set expandtab

Cheers. :)

]]> http://blog.favrik.com/2007/12/21/vim-settings-for-php-programming/feed/ Getting the right mode for an LCD monitor (in GNU/Linux) http://blog.favrik.com/2007/12/21/getting-the-right-mode-for-an-lcd-monitor-in-gnulinux/ http://blog.favrik.com/2007/12/21/getting-the-right-mode-for-an-lcd-monitor-in-gnulinux/#comments Fri, 21 Dec 2007 20:11:19 +0000 Favio http://blog.favrik.com/2007/12/21/getting-the-right-mode-for-an-lcd-monitor-in-gnulinux/ Usually, setting a new debian box with fluxbox as a desktop environment, is fast, easy, an uncomplicated (if you have done it 10 times already). What I didn’t know, was that using a widescreen LCD monitor would mess things with my usual setup.

The first problem you notice, is that the fonts look awful. At first, I thought it was something to do with anti-aliasing, but changing resolutions with xrandr showed me the real problem.

After looking for about 1.5 hours without success, I decided to let it go for the day. The next day, refreshed, I was able to assess the problem in a more calm way. This post was the starting point on the road to monitor resolution bliss. Only problem was that all the links mentioned were not working. Information doesn’t lie static for more than 1 year. So next step was to try pulling the results from google’s cache. And there it is.

How to use the native resolution of your WideScreen Monitor in GNU/Linux

  1. Find the specifications of your monitor, and generate a Modeline string
  2. Backup your xorg.conf file and put something very similar to:
    3. Section "Monitor"
    Identifier    "h193wk"
    Modeline      "1440x900_60.00"  106.47  1440 1520 1672 1904  900 901 904 932 -HSync +Vsync
EndSection

(...)

Section "Screen"
    Identifier    "Screen1"
    Device        "nvidia0"
    Monitor       "h193wk"
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth     24
        Modes     "1440x900_60.00"
        ViewPort  0 0
    EndSubsection
EndSection
  3. Enjoy! (Obviously, you need the correct graphic driver already configured. Mine is an NVidia card, so I used envy)
]]> http://blog.favrik.com/2007/12/21/getting-the-right-mode-for-an-lcd-monitor-in-gnulinux/feed/ My development environment http://blog.favrik.com/2007/12/16/my-development-environment/ http://blog.favrik.com/2007/12/16/my-development-environment/#comments Sun, 16 Dec 2007 09:27:06 +0000 Favio http://blog.favrik.com/2007/12/16/my-development-environment/ Some of my comrades at work look at me in awe (alright, more like with a “WTF? are you insane” stare) when I tell them that my preferred php ide is Notepad++ (plus one of the proggy fonts). I do use gVim too, when I’m on debian (with fluxbox!).

I wonder, is that really unusual? xD

If I couple my tabbed Notepad++ interface with 2 or 3 explorer windows, I have all I need for web development. I don’t think I have to mention Firefox, and all the incredible extensions available. I really don’t. This post mentions some of the essential Firefox add-ons, and some that I didn’t know at the time I read it.

I know that Zend Studio, APtana, PHP Designer, or PHP Eclipse (this has a specific name I don’t remember), are one of the tools I should be using according to the majority of my fellow programmers. However, all I want is syntax coloring, and perhaps a debugger. So yeah, I’m looking for a minimalist editor that provides debugging facilities for PHP. xD

]]> http://blog.favrik.com/2007/12/16/my-development-environment/feed/ IE7 Error: Expected identifier, string or number http://blog.favrik.com/2007/11/29/ie7-error-expected-identifier-string-or-number/ http://blog.favrik.com/2007/11/29/ie7-error-expected-identifier-string-or-number/#comments Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:57:07 +0000 Favio http://blog.favrik.com/2007/11/29/ie7-error-expected-identifier-string-or-number/ For the win!

]]> http://blog.favrik.com/2007/11/29/ie7-error-expected-identifier-string-or-number/feed/ Halo 3: the Xbox 360 version of Halo 2 http://blog.favrik.com/2007/11/24/halo-3-the-xbox-360-version-of-halo-2/ http://blog.favrik.com/2007/11/24/halo-3-the-xbox-360-version-of-halo-2/#comments Sat, 24 Nov 2007 11:33:49 +0000 Favio http://blog.favrik.com/2007/11/24/halo-3-the-xbox-360-version-of-halo-2/ Halo 3 playable characters
Having recently played through all the campaign mode of Halo 3 in cooperative mode with Rodrigo (he has no blog Alarm!), I can say the game was very entertaining, and the co-op mode just roxors (specially, when you play on a big LCD screen ^_^ — we played in the same room).

So we got new weapons, modified old weapons, and lots of vehicles; but even with that, it really felt like playing Halo 2 all over again. And I am refering only to the campaign mode. Multiplayer is, and probably will, one of the best features of the Halo saga. Bungie’s multiplayer system totally beats the crap out of every other game available now. Seriously, respect. And shame for the other games (cough coughcallofduty4cough cough).

Gamer recommendations

Since it’s all about fun, my conclusion and advice is very logical: if you are a hardcore Halo fan, buy the game, and maybe don’t bother playing the campaign (or play it if only to familiarize with the new system).

If you have never played Halo, you could try it, as well as you could try Call of Duty 4, or BioShock. I have read some good comments about the last. Truth is, in the present time it’s really hard to come up with something original regarding FPS’s. I do wonder sometimes, who will initiate the revolution in this genre.

In closing

Things that irritated me about the Halo 3 campaign:

  1. The use and abuse of the same visual effects to support the history.
  2. Map reuse. At first funny, but then exasperating. Just when you get to the end of one map the next action sequence involves returning all the way back to where you started.
  3. At the final chapters of the campaign, you could actually infer that the developer team was really tired of beating a dead horse. LOL!

Why I will keep playing the game:

  1. Multiplayer. I have played a good batch of FPS console games, none come close to Bungie’s standard. It, pure and simple, pwns.
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