When is it time to retire old technology?

I've spent the better part of this afternoon ripping apart my parent's laptop to replace a hard drive in it. The hard drive cost me $100 and I have a feeling it's only a matter of time until something else decides to fail on the laptop. Perhaps the motherboard is next...

In any case, how long is it before upgrades no longer make sense and it's time to drop $2000 on a new laptop. They do still cost $2000 don't they?? (Goes to find out you can get a brand new one for approximately $800).

On a sidebar, here's the manual that I used to crack it open: Compaq Presario 1600XL Service Guide.

I'll need it again when I put it back together... And yes, I know it's an ancient hunk of a laptop!

Agile Quality

I never thought I would start writing about work in my posts but here's my very first one. We've switched to using Agile methodologies and 4 months in, I'm still concerned about the quality of code we're churning out.

My team initially got a free lunch since we were supporting an already matured product and management didn't want us to invest the time in an automated test framework. Having switched projects, we're now behind the rest of the teams in the quality learning curve.

It's also an area I struggle with as a software developer. There's more to it than just targeted testing. One of the members on my team summed up the right QA mentality quite nicely:

When you're testing you don't want to just test the functionality works, that's boring. You want to get creative and think about the different ways you can make it break, that's a lot more fun.

Anyway, my reason for starting this rant was to post this video by Ken Schwaber on Agile Quality. I haven't watched it yet, but I will soon.

Feed: Agile Planet
Title: Ken Schwaber talks about agile quality

Ken Schwaber talks about Agile Quality: A Canary in a Coal Mine.

GPS for everyone?

I've always dreamt of having a GPS receiver in my car or on my cell phone. It's not so much that I need it but it does rank high on my list of cool gadgets to have. In any case, the following article got me excited and then I realized the definition of "budget-priced" is USD 259.99. I would pay a $100 or perhaps even $150 for one but over $250 is still way too much for a toy to play with. I would rather put $250 towards a Wii.

Feed: Engadget
Title: Axion rolls out budget-priced GEO-632 GPS unit

Apparently there's a gaping hole in the handheld GPS market, as it seems a new manufacturer takes its first dive every other week or so, and this time it's none other than Axion. Diverting its efforts away from those portable DVD players and iPTV gizmos, the firm is unveiling a budget-conscious GPS that pulls double duty as a pedestrian guide when not relaxing on your dash.

The Concept of YouTube

YouTube is the combination of taking Hollywood, previously the only producer of video-entertainment, giving that ability to millions of people around the world and excellent timing.  By excellent timing I mean launching at a time when the Internet has become a necessity in most households and the bandwidth required for video streaming is no longer a limitation.  I find it fascinating and what Google can add to the combination can make it even more fascinating.  The following article talks about how Google may turn YouTube into a gigantic revenue making machine with the use of advertising...

Feed: Wired News: Top Stories
Title: The YouTube Effect

TV advertising is broken, putting $67 billion up for grabs. Which explains why Google spent a billion and change on an online video startup. By Bob Garfield from Wired magazine.

Introduction to IPTV

You would have thought that for a person working in interactive TV industry, I knew exactly what IPTV was all about. I knew a little but this article served as a good intro on the subject - An Introduction to IPTV

Why not download the movie preview right off the poster?

I'm not sure how mainstream payment via cell phones will ever become however I find the prospect of the following snippet becoming reality quite exciting:

"The NFC forum has recently come out with a standardized format for a so-called "smart poster" which will enable a handset user to obtain data such as a URL or a ringtone from a poster or other printed material. And downloading film promos and movie times is not far off, says Christophe Duverne, senior vice-president and general manager for identification at NXP Semiconductors, and chairman of NFC Forum. "

Feed: BusinessWeek Online --
Title: Contactless Payment Comes to Cell Phones

Flash your handset and buy. An industry group wants to bring that facility to the world. But is it secure? And who gets what share of the profits?

Free online DVR service in Germany

OTR claims to be a free online DVR service where the recordings are performed server side. I imagine you can then stream them using your PC. I'll have to check it out later: http://www.onlinetvrecorder.com

Feed: informitv news
Title: Online TV Recorder project seeks investment

OnlineTVRecorder is a free network-based video recorder project in Germany that claims to have reached nearly a quarter of a million users within three months. Its developers are now seeking further investor backing for the service, together with a peer-to-peer live network television system. They will be among a number of entrepreneurs pitching to investors at a Silicon Valley Open Doors conference.