Irma L. Olguin Jr.

It’s entirely possible that this problem exists in all major calendar platforms, and I’ve just called Google out for no reason, but I’ve recently had need to work extensively with the Google Apps platform (which I love, by the way), and came across a couple of interesting bits.  Here’s one of them: Other people can accept calendar invitations that they have no business accepting. In other words, with the right link, I can accept an invitation on your behalf.  Here’s a quick proof (all done using Google’s web interface): Send your buddy (we will call him Ryan) a calendar invitation to a bogus event. When Ryan gets the email notification, ask him to simply reply to the message.  He doesn’t  need to write a message, just have him reply to it. Now from  his reply in YOUR EMAIL, click “Yes” … Continue reading →

I work all the time. I get up and I work, I stay up all night — often — just to work. I try to relax and I begin longing for my keyboard and my Inbox. But I’m not a workaholic. I don’t need to work.  It’s not something I can’t help.  Oh, no.  I have a different problem: fear of letting people down. I get my ya-yas off being the hero.  I mean, who doesn’t? I don’t like to be the only guy that can do XYZ — infact, I think that’s a recipe for disaster — but I love being the best of 10 that can do XYZ, or the most efficient, or the most reliable…I love it.  I’ll put my own health on the line with too much adrenaline and too little sleep in order to be that guy. … Continue reading →

The Big, Fat Idea [ 16-26 year-olds, please take the survey. ] There are some of us in the Valley that think we can do tech education, specifically for web development, better.  We think we need more geeks — good ones — to help push our region in the right direction. You see, there’s about to be a big gap in the industry.  We can already see the beginning of it.  People who are not developers are having ideas (some of them are good!) and want to build the next big thing.  Instead of hiring out to software firms, or potentially spending tens of thousands of dollars to have their idea built, the smart first step is to get a rapid prototype out there and see if the idea floats. The Problem We’ve seen a lot of this happen:  Entrepreneurs — … Continue reading →

A web and mobile apps competition for idea people. Now go on and build something.

So my friends and I are putting together this little ditty that, really, is going to be quite the big ditty. We are holding a Web & Mobile Apps competition that is designed to highlight the programming/nerdy talent in the area. It’s open to everyone and the prizes are pretty major. We are doing two categories: Zero Code, and In-Progress. Zero Code is a timed category. You have 59 Days to build your app once the clock starts. In-Progress is for those who might already have something started but still want to compete. The way that it works is this: Apply, Early March > Party + Kickoff, April 23 > Get your App Ready > Showcase + Awards, June 22. We’re putting together around $40K in prizes with one of the winners landing a chunk of cash. (More details about … Continue reading →

I’m just going to lay it down in small words: “If you build it, they will come,” is a crock of shit. To borrow a phrase, if I had a nickle for every time a website launch was delayed on account of the imperfections… As a web programmer, I see a lot of projects come and go. We depend on the project manager’s ability to say, “We could spend more time polishing and adding features, but let’s get this in front of some eyes,” which is a hard thing to say, I’ll admit, because there are 10,000 things that could be better.  If you happen to be the project manager, then that burden is on you. And what makes it even harder is this strange voice in your head that says, in no uncertain terms, that as soon as you upload those … Continue reading →

Downloadable script to perform a find and replace operation over all the tables and fields in a database. Continue reading →

Entreprenuerial programmers can see the end product in their heads before they get started writing the spec.   That vision of the end prodcut is the reason for starting to develop in the first place.  But seeing the end product is a long way from what it takes to make a good programmer.  Really all that means is that they are good dreamers, and has nothing at all to do with writing code. Good programmers follow specs (you do have a spec, don’t you?) and cover all the edge cases as they write code, test  and fix (write code test, and fix,  write code, test and…) But it’s the entreprenuerial programmers that muscle through that, from the very beginning, and do something mediocre programmers will never do: See the Build When a programmer begins to visualize how each module of … Continue reading →

From a usability perspective Joomla, flatly, sucks. Continue reading →

…is that you’re aiming at a moving target. And it’s hard to say who you’re serving in the first place.  Is it the students?  Their parents? The board? The principal? Oh sure.  Take the easy way out and say it’s the students.  No Child Left Behind.  All children have a right to learn.  Blah blah blah.   There’s a very good argument out there that says that teachers are very much like prison wardens. “And as for the schools, they were just holding pens within this fake world. Officially the purpose of schools is to teach kids. In fact their primary purpose is to keep kids locked up in one place for a big chunk of the day so adults can get things done. And I have no problem with this: in a specialized industrial society, it would be a … Continue reading →