Did you buy the new MacBook or MacBook Pro? Maybe the Google Pixel? You're about to enter a world of confusion thanks to those new "USB-C" ports. See, that simple-looking port hides a world of complexity, and the (thankful) backward-compatibility uses different kinds of cables for different tasks. Shoppers have to be very careful to buy exactly the right cable for their … [Read more...] about Total Nightmare: USB-C and Thunderbolt 3
Wherein I Weigh In On Object Storage, SDN, And Commoditization (and Coho Data!)
Today marks the launch of a new enterprise storage company, Coho Data. I'm very excited about the core technology within Coho's storage solutions, and am pleased to present two video discussions about this. Note that Coho Data did not hire me to make some promo videos. I was pre-briefed on their product (back when they were known as Convergent.io) and spent some time with … [Read more...] about Wherein I Weigh In On Object Storage, SDN, And Commoditization (and Coho Data!)
Microsoft’s Big Chance to Change
Big changes are coming to Microsoft. The company that dominated computing in the 1990's and hung on through the 2000's is on the precipice today. Will they fly or fall? Big News: Steve Ballmer Is On the Way Out As I'm sure just about everyone has heard by now, Microsoft announced today that Steve Ballmer will retire "within 12 months." This is fantastic news for … [Read more...] about Microsoft’s Big Chance to Change
Replacing Google Reader With Feedbin and Reeder
I am an avid Google Reader user, so I'm thoroughly annoyed by Google's decision to kill it as of July 1. But there's no stopping the tide, so I've made the move to Feedbin as a Reader replacement as of today. It's a slick, snappy web application with a committed developer and, critically, support for Reeder, my favorite offline RSS reading application. Let's hope this … [Read more...] about Replacing Google Reader With Feedbin and Reeder
Google Spreadsheet Regular Expression Functions Are Insanely Useful
I'm a UNIX command line guy, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that I love regular expressions. This simple language allows one to slice and dice text strings with abandon, greatly simplifying data extraction and replacement tasks. Although it's been there since 2010, I was thrilled recently to discover that Google Spreadsheets now supports in-cell regular expressions! It's … [Read more...] about Google Spreadsheet Regular Expression Functions Are Insanely Useful