Author: Charles Chen

Airline Boarding and How to Make It Suck Less

Airline Boarding and How to Make It Suck Less

Caught an unexpected segment in the news on airline boarding (ending is great): I’ve mostly had (terrible) experiences with boarding Continental flights and I’ve often thought why the process is so screwed up.  I’ve come up with the following conclusions...

Isaacson on Jobs on Craftsmanship

Isaacson on Jobs on Craftsmanship

From an NPR interview with Walter Isaacson, Jobs’ biographer: On Jobs’ father, who rebuilt cars, and held design and craftsmanship in high regard: “He would show Steve the curve of the designs and the interiors and the shapes … and...

SharePoint 2010 Service Applications Thoughts

SharePoint 2010 Service Applications Thoughts

I can’t say that I can add much more to the tutorials and articles already out there on the Net on this topic, but I’d like to point to the definitive example of how to implement one: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg193964.aspx David Taylor’s blog...

Thoughts from Switzerland

Unorganized thoughts from Switzerland: It reminds me a little of Taipei, oddly enough.  I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it has a similar feel (except it’s not 98% Asian and things are a lot more expensive).  I...

Now I REALLY Can’t be Bothered to Learn Silverlight

Now I REALLY Can’t be Bothered to Learn Silverlight

I’ve blogged about it before, but seriously, the question has to be asked: if you’re a developer with limited bandwidth to focus on mastering new technologies, why would you spend that time on Silverlight? Not only is WP7 floundering, but...

Why Teachers Are _Really_ Leaving the Profession

Why Teachers Are _Really_ Leaving the Profession

I caught a portion of an interview last night on NPR as I was in my truck, leaving Lowes. I sat there for a moment, dumbfounded by what I was hearing and entirely outraged by the bullshit that Republican Wisconsin...

Confessions of a Sriracha Fanatic

Confessions of a Sriracha Fanatic

Count me in 🙂 The smidgens and dabs became double-fisted squeezes and dripping spoonfuls. The table was not fully set until the squeeze bottle was centrally placed between the salt and pepper shakers. I carried breath mints in my bag...

Why the USPS SHOULD Lose Money

Why the USPS SHOULD Lose Money

The whole fracas over the USPS losing money has been overwhelming lately with the predictable arguments from the Right citing it as another example of Government Failure and a system that is better served by fully private corporations — not...

A UX Pattern That Needs to DIAF

There are more than a few shopping sites out there with these “fancy” picture viewers like Home Depot and Newegg.com. This has to be one of the worst UX patterns out there and every site that uses it never fails...