Moving to ATL

We are moving to Atlanta, and just took off from Boston in our 1986 Honda. Will we get there? Only time will tell… The movers took a lot longer to pack than we thought they would, so we heading out kind of late. Let’s see how far we drive today. We will be back with more updates soon.

Second Life on life support

Back in the 90s, there was this hugely popular 3D avatar chat world called “The Palace”. It was very much like Second Life, except that there were rooms and you would go from one room to the next to chat with people.

Honestly, it’s been around 10 years since I last logged into “The Palace”, so I don’t remember the exact details. But if I am not mistaken, that’s all there was to it: rooms and people chatting. Of course, people dressed up in all kinds of ways, very much like SL again.

Which brings me to my point. I was reading this story this morning and it hit me. Second Life is the new “The Palace”. Second Life might be more sophisticated and expansive than “The Palace” used to be, but it’s also less focused. Unlike other virtual worlds such as World of Warcraft, there’s no clear goal or sense of purpose when you are in it. Advertisers and major corporations initially flocked to SL in an attempt to conquer this new virtual landscape, but are now questioning whether it’s worth the effort. And many are abandoning ship.

To give Second Life some credit, the only time I logged in, I managed to find my way to the “Hummingbird Cafe”, where a live music concert was going on. It was quite interesting. A musician’s avatar was on stage and I could hear the music he was playing (in the real world), loud and clear. And even though I looked like a real dork (I didn’t bother to customize my avatar much since I was just checking things out), everyone else in the place, wearing glitzy clothes as if they were really out in a club, was really nice.

I think there’s definitely room for a virtual world like Second Life. People seem to enjoy these kinds of virtual experiences. But it needs to be more targeted, like other virtual worlds that completely took off, such as Club Penguin. Otherwise SL will die a slow death. Like “The Palace”.

Japanese software

Why is it that for the last 25 years, since the personal computer, not a single Japanese software company has emerged with a leading product? Business software, consumer software, Web 2.0, you name it. Not much has come out of Japan.

This is a question I’ve been asking myself for years. The Japanese are certainly meticulous and detail-oriented, shown by their successes in the consumer electronics and auto industries. And creativity is not in short supply either. Just look at the video games industry. Nintendo has done a tremendous job with the Wii lately and Japanese video game companies have been around for a long time, doing great work.

Most software companies are based in the US, but there are some exceptions. SAP is a German company, for example. And they are certainly big enough to qualify as a major success story.

I had a chance to talk to a Japanese research scientist recently, and he said that the lack of software shops in Japan has to do with the perceived value of software in their culture. People regard hardware development as a more worthwhile pursuit.

Bikes and Drugs

It’s hard to believe, but the drug problems at the Tour de France continue. Today, one of the top contenders, Vinokourov, tested positive for a banned blood transfusion.

If you want to kill a sport, that’s how you do it – year after year of drug scandals. The way things are going, it’s not even about low spectator interest. It’s also about the teams. The bike teams won’t have a choice and will need to distance their brands from a drug-plagued sport. And without the teams, there’s no serious money and no professionalism.

Just think about. Imagine how awful things would look for the Discovery Team if one of its riders tested positive. This is what’s happening with Astana today. And they are pulling out from this year’s tour.

Pretty sad. Is there hope for cycling? Don’t these guys realize they are absolutely destroying the sport they are part of?

UPDATE: The story got much worse. This year’s Tour is falling apart.

Plane crash in Brazil

On July 17th, a TAM Airbus A320 carrying more than 150 passengers crashes in São Paulo, Brazil white trying to land. It’s the worst air crash ever in the country and the second in less than a year. No survivors.

São Paulo is the city I grew up in. It’s a city of more than 15 million people and I know it well. Most of my family still lives there and although I’ve been living in the US for more than a decade, I still keep in touch with some friends. Unfortunately, one of my best friends in São Paulo, Enrico Shiohara, was inside that plane.

It’s hard to describe the feeling of going over the list of victims and finding the name of someone you know. My heart beat rate went up and I didn’t know what to say, what to think. Could it be someone else? Highly unlikely, his name is quite unique. Shit, it’s really him! Disbelief settles in for a while, but the more I read about the tragedy, the more his name popped up. Then today I heard from his family.

It’s been a struggle to focus on anything else over the last couple of days. Enrico was a good friend, someone I admired and enjoyed hanging out with. We were very similar in many ways, we shared lots of interests. I keep thinking about our moments together. It is just not right for his life story to end this way. He had so much more to give.

Living in the US, I often hear people fantasize about Brazil, the exotic land where people go to the beach, play soccer all day long and then samba until sunrise. Accidents like this expose a much harsher reality. Yes, there’s a lot of caipirinha, but there’s also a whole lot of incompetence all around.

The institutions in charge of the Brazilian air space and airports, stretching from the airlines all the way up to the president should be ashamed. The situation only got worse as months went by and nobody lifted a finger to address the situation. It’s absolutely disgusting.

Wyoming for July 4th

Andrea and I headed to the mountains for July 4th. We spent some time in Laramie and Casper. Good quality time with the family and just very relaxing overall. Here’s one of the things I did:

I hadn’t gone fishing in many many years. Caught some trout, three if I am not mistaken. But they were too small, so we just tossed them back in the water. But we caught enough fish for dinner that day.

I really thought that I wasn’t going to hear from the iPhone in Wyoming, but then Andrea’s brother showed up with one, so I got to play with it for a bit. Very nice design and package, extremely slick all around. But the keyboard is awkward, maybe it would get better after a few days.