Complete listing of all Posts and Updates

The Curious Case of PHP Template Engines

Posted in Programming on April 9, 2015
Last Updated: May 20, 2017

Update: Since this post was written, serverless technology has become my go to choice for most projects. I still like and use PHP, but I would most likely not build another major project with it. 😬

I’ve been writing PHP code since 1998, so it feels very familiar to me. I built my last major web project in PHP, and if I had to do it again, I’d make the same choice. So whenever a task comes up that could be automated with some quick code, I typically default to PHP. Recently I found myself battling with some reporting templates I inherited that were coded as a mix of Python, SQL, HTML, and Javascript. The finalized reports need to be converted to PDFs, which means the PDF converter needs to be able to process Javascript. This has proven to be a problem since the prior developer was unable to find a good solution. So now I’m left with a highly inefficient, manual process.

Beacons and Geofences: Why we’re Limiting Proximity “Networks”

Posted in Random Thoughts on March 31, 2015

I’ve been doing a lot of work lately with beacons and geofences as we ramp up our proximity offerings at ShopAdvisor. There are some very cool things being done by companies such as Skyhook, Urban Airship, and Gimbal. Other companies such as Swirl and Mobiquity are also using micro-location with beacons to record interesting foot traffic patterns in malls and retail stores. Well established players like ShopKick are using beacons to earn in-store rewards, and Starbucks, Apple Stores, and Macy’s have all jumped on the micro-location/beacon bandwagon.

What I’ve discovered with all my research and talking with many of these companies, is that most are still defaulting to simply sending a push notification when a beacon is sighted or a geofenced region is entered. I don’t think this is the intention or the vision of these companies, in fact, many have elaborate scenarios documented on their websites. I think the problem here is with the retailers. I don’t think it is because their vision is short-sighted, more likely, it’s just extremely limited. This certainly isn’t a criticism of retailers, as I know many are quite interested in beacons and micro-location. I think the closed “network” of beacons is what has made truly interesting campaigns difficult, if not impossible.

Getting Things Done: the art of stress-free productivity (2015 edition) by David Allen

Posted in Productivity & Reviews on March 22, 2015
Last Updated: December 15, 2017

Let me start by saying that I’m a big fan of the GTD method. I read the first edition of this book back in late 2007 soon after I had finished The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber. At the time I was running my web development firm and was in desperate need of some operational clarity and organization. While I didn’t commit myself fully to GTD all those years ago, I certainly wish I had. The principles taught in David Allen’s book are simple in theory, but sometimes hard in practice, especially for those of us that have had our own “systems” for so many years. It took me awhile, but once I moved on from my web development firm and began committing myself to more narrowly-focused startups, I found the GTD methods easier to apply. It was partly my own maturity, but more likely the fact that we had a project tracking system at my web development firm that was ingrained into my daily life, that made adoption so difficult. Once I started using the core principles of his system, I found my ability to stay organized and make more progress immeasurable.

Thought Experiment: Will Autonomous Cars Try to Kill Us?

Posted in Random Thoughts on March 15, 2015

I came across an headline on Medium this morning that grabbed my attention. The subheading softened it a bit, but nonetheless, I was intrigued. The article, titled “A Self-Driving Car Might Decide You Should Die”, used a series of well-known ethics questions to reach the author’s ultimate point. That point, at least what I got from it was, if you build an algorithm that removes human error by calculating the optimal outcome of a life-threatening situation, how do you assign value to human life so you can choose who lives and who dies? It is in the programming of this algorithm that our values are truly reflected, and that is, in fact, very scary.

Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal

Posted in Product Management & Reviews on March 4, 2015
Last Updated: February 6, 2017

A few years ago I was invited by a colleague to attend Nir Eyal‘s Hooked Workshop at Wentworth Institute of Technology. At the time I was still working as the CTO of Lifeables, and we were desperately trying to find strategies to keep our users engaged. Needless to say, the thought of being able to “hook” users and have their use of it turn into a habit was very appealing. The opportunity couldn’t have been more timely.

The workshop was a fantastic experience. I found Nir to be exceptionally well-versed in behavioral psychology and how it could be applied to the current technological landscape. I remember thinking at the time that his “hooked model” was a collection of common sense concepts simplified, organized and packaged in a way that made them actionable. I left that workshop excited and overflowing with ideas.

Reading versus Filtering