I have moved to a new blog

By Matthew Taylor | March 12, 2010

I am tired of maintaining blog software on my own, so I’ve created a new blog here. This site will stick around indefinitely, but I won’t be posting here, and I probably won’t be very responsive to comments.

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Posted in uncategorized | Leave a comment

Goodbye cable, hello internet TV

By Matthew Taylor | February 6, 2010

This post is for Mario. I started it as an email to him, but he suggested it as a blog post in the first place, and now that it’s done it does seem to be post-worthly (although off-topic).

Here are the details of my new home TV system.

First of all, the only paying services I have for TV entertainment are DSL and Netflix. You can get the cheapest Netflix membership and still get all the “Watch it now” content that they have. Not the best and most recent movies, but there is a lot of stuff you can watch, and I always seem to find something interesting for myself or the kids. I think you can get the basic Netflix account for under $10.

My DSL is the only other monthly expense, which is $60 a month. But it’s only that high because I have a static IP address, which I want to use to access my home computers remotely (at some point in the future).

In order to handle all the streaming content to not only my media computer, but the other 2 computers in my house, I bought an N-band wireless router for $80. You can get a G-band wifi router for under $60, but it is 50Mbps vs over 300Mbps. It is worth it because I can watch youtube on my computer while my kids watch a movie on Netflix.

Hulu is awesome, and it is even more awesome because of Hulu Desktop, which installs on your Mac as an app and interfaces with hulu without a web browser. My Apple remote worked with it without configuring everything, so I can change shows easily without getting up.

The computer I’m using is just the MBP I was using for development for G2One. It only has 2 MB of memory, and it seems to be working fine. I was going to sell it and buy a new Mac Mini, but I thought why not try this one out first, and it is working just fine.

A note about resolution… I have a 1080p HDTV, and the quality of the streaming video can be hit-and-miss at times. Hulu *always* looks great, but Netflix can sometimes deliver crappy video quality if the shows you are watching are older. And YouTube usually looks crappy on a 52-inch TV, but it is better than nothing.

Let me know if any of you attempt this, I’ll be interested to hear of other people’s experiences. I’m really happy so far, but then I hate cable companies. I get so frustrated with the DVR UIs. Don’t they pay usability experts to design them? AT&T Uverse was the best I’ve seen so far, so coming back to Comcast here made me want to throw up.

Another thing you need to think about is placement of the media computer. If you are going to use a remote, you have to put it in a place with line of site to your remote, so it can’t be behind the entertainment center somewhere. I also have a spot right in front of the flatscreen where I put my (very small Apple) keyboard and wireless mighty mouse. You’ll still need to put a keyboard and mouse somewhere because you can’t do everything with your remote.

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged entertainment, home media, off topic | 3 Comments

For GrailsUI help, post to the mailing list

By Matthew Taylor | January 28, 2010

I get a lot of questions on GrailsUI here on my blog, and while it is nice to get feedback, blog comments aren’t the best place to give out technical advice. If you have any questions or comments about GrailsUI, I invite you to become part of the Grails community and join the Grails User mailing list. I usually respond to any email question sent to that list that conains the text “GrailsUI” anywhere in it. And I’m not the only person answering questions there. You should be able to get a lot more feedback and become part of a community of Grails and Groovy enthusiasts. I highly encourage you to join up and ask your questions there.

Posted in grails, grails plugins | Tagged advice, GrailsUI, help, tips | 1 Comment

Video and Slides for Humanity 2.0

By Matthew Taylor | December 4, 2009

Great turn out! Great group! Watch the video as you flip through the slides below.

VIDEO

SLIDES

Humanity 2.0
View more documents from Matthew Taylor.
Posted in presentation | Tagged astronomy, evolution, philosophy, presentation, science, singularity, technology | Leave a comment

Yahoo! I got an AWESOME job

By Matthew Taylor | December 3, 2009

spacer After posting this awhile back, I have found a truly AWESOME job, and will be moving to Silicon Valley to work for Yahoo! on their Presentation Platform Team. This position solidifies my movement from the back-end to the front-end, and I’m really excited to be working alongside the talented people I’ve met during my interview process there.

Hello JavaScript

This also means that I will no longer be programming primarily in Java on the JVM, but JavaScript on the browser, which is a much more fun and rewarding environment for me. I believe that the browser-as-a-platform truly is the way of the future (just check out the graphical power of HTML5). And JavaScript is the major logical component of this environment. This is going to be a ideal opportunity to perfect my knowledge of a misunderstood, yet very powerful, language of the web.

Goodbye St. Louis :’-(

This is a bittersweet victory for me because I’m leaving a very technically nourishing environment in St. Louis. I feel like I’ve met every major software engineer in the area, and it will be a substantial loss to miss out on upcoming hackfests, Lamba Lounges, JUGs, and bar gatherings with friends and coworkers.

I’ve been in St. Louis for over three years now. I came here initially to broaden my technical horizons and learn as much as possible about the industry of software engineering. I’ve worked for six different companies while in St. Louis, and I’ve met some really great and interesting people at each place I’ve landed.

Thanks to Friends and Colleagues

I would like to thank three people in particular whom have been truly instrumental in my development and interaction with the St. Louis IT landscape.

Thanks to Jeff Brown for introducing me to Amon Amarth and Opeth, as well as hiring me to work for G2One and opening up my horizons to dynamic typing and metaprogramming.

Thanks to Mario Aquino for giving me my first decent cigar, teaching me how agile development really should be done, and advising me on what Cuban food to order in Little Havana.

And thanks to Alex Miller for telling me where I could purchase a Great Divide Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout, giving me a chance to present at the first Lambda Lounge, and selecting me to speak at the first Strange Loop Conference.

Much love, STL

These three guys are just the tip of the iceberg. I had to fight myself from listing 20 different people I’ve worked with or met or talked to in St. Louis. If you live in St. Louis now, take a moment and think about how many brilliant people you’ve met or worked with here, and you’ll be truly astounded. St. Louis is an untapped market of outstanding talent in software engineering.

Posted in javascript | Tagged jobs, yahoo | 8 Comments

Check out the latest GroovyMag to see an interview with me about the 1.1 release of GrailsUI:

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