I am currently a software engineer at Google, where as a member of the Android platform team I build frameworks and user interfaces.
The blog here at dsandler.org is mostly historical; you can find more recent posts on Google+.
I still intend to implement many of the thoughtful suggestions you offered back in April when I freaked out about the usability of this site. In the meantime, I’ve adjusted the tag browser on the left to only show tags which apply to two or more entries, in an effort to keep the clutter down. [You can still view the entire tag list.]
Danah Boyd’s strained metaphors for modern corporations as geopolitical entities are pretty funny—
Microsoft is Germany. They did some pretty evil things a while back but you don’t remember the details, you just know that you really hate them. Even though they’re really no worse than any other large corporpation/country, you can’t help but distrust them permanently because, well, you always have.
Google is the United States. It has never seen trouble on home turf. It is arrogant and loved by the elite. You know you’re supposed to respect them for being better than everyone else, because they think they are, but you actually kinda resent them for being so rich and powerful. Yet, you really like their cool toys.
—but Danny O’Brien’s addition is not to be missed:
Sun is France. Big, bit slow these days, defends against accusations of evil by referring to its part in a revolution hundreds of years ago that no-one but them now remembers. Own evil propensities overshadowed by outrage whenever any one else wanders from true path.
Keep on going on about how great their language is.
After several weeks of heavy hacking on my research project, things are finally starting to fall into place:
“I love it when a plan comes together.”
The upcoming
software upgrade works along those lines. When fast-forwarding
through a batch of ads, some commercials will sprout a pop-up window
with a logo. If a viewer finds herself intrigued by the big GM logo
that popped up, she can request more information via the remote
control.
Just got some trackback spam:
Website: Liebig Axel (IP: 204.134.103.6 , dots.nmsbvi.k12.nm.us)
URI : [redacted]
Excerpt:Trackback spam.
Sure enough, it is! Thanks for the tip, mister.
[It turns out that the page that got spammed was entitled Trackback spam, and so the spammer used the title of my post in an attempt to defeat content filters. A happy coincidence.]
Atom version 1.0 is finished and nearly an IETF standard. What is the Atom syndication format, you ask? It’s a flexible XML-based news feed specification, like RSS, but the result of a standards-body process and open for all to use and extend. Many feed readers already support Atom feeds (based on the 0.3 draft of the spec), and even Longhorn ??? Atom. Still confused?
Here’s how to tell your RSS from your elbow.
Dumbledore’s death, as sought by the Guardian, in the manner and style of HP Lovecraft, George Lucas, Jane Austen, William Carlos Wiliams.