Brian White » Rants

Explain To Me Why Push Is Important

Brian — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 21:48:12 +0000

I’m reading around about the iPhone SDK announcement, and I see people making a big deal about ActiveSync and ‘Exchange Push.’

My web-based mail client pings home frequently (a couple of times a minute, perhaps) via AJAX techniques. Phone apps have the same HTTP connection available. If you’re curious, keep Gmail open with the LiveHTTPHeaders addon installed and watch the request/responses stream by. Isn’t frequent pull the same as “push?” I’m having an acid flashback of the Wired hype about Push in the mid-90s…and the PointCast screensaver, which “pushed” a bunch of information to you while you were away from your computer…

I guess I’m just annoyed that “Push Technology,” in 2008, is still being called out as something customers need…

Update: Since Third-party apps appear to be limited in that they have to terminate when the user switches apps, this probably makes a daemon harder to run on the iPhone. I’m starting to understand the announcement.

Video Sharing Public Service Announcement

Brian — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 15:57:21 +0000

OK, I’m done with proprietary video players. As of this second (your fault, T )

If you send me a video, make sure that 1. you’re searched YouTube for the same filename and send me that URL. Failing that, 2. I can drag and drop the video onto the VLC Player shortcut.

If it won’t play on a click in a browser or in the email link in Gmail–trash can time.

Thanks for listening

Arrived in Dublin

Brian — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 15:25:26 +0000

First of all, a bit of a thumbs-down to Vodaphone.

I arrived at the Dublin airport this weekend, and the first thing you can see is the Vodaphone store. I got a cheap phone and SIM card on my last visit. What I didn’t have was my own phone number–it was written down or printed somewhere on material that was long thrown away.

It was hard to believe, but the Vodaphone guys could not figure out my phone number. I had the SIM card an the phone, but no, apparently my account was lapsed, and they needed the phone number to access everything on my phone. I ended up shelling out another 15 Euro for a new SIM card, not a huge deal, but Vodaphone earns a big Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Welcome to Ireland!

Every moment since has been fantastic. I’ve re-acquainted myself with colleagues who I am in communication with weekly, but it’s usually really really good to press the flesh and talk face-to-face. The Dublin office has been very welcoming and there is a lot of good work going on, and a unique culture with so many people from different countries working together. This is going to be a good year…

(Speaking of that hyperlink, I saw the film on the plane and thought it was quite good. I wonder why I didn’t hear more about it)