Gavin Hall dot org

Amber Alerts help find missing children. This is one of those easy things you can do that make a big difference. So how do you get involved? Text "AMBER 32828" (replacing 32828 with your zip code) to 26237. Any amber alerts that are sent out in your area will be sent to you so you can keep an eye out.

Go ahead and do it now...i'll wait.

We are all heading out to South by Southwest (SxSW) again this year and I'm super excited. Follow me on Twitter or drop me a line if you want to meet up.

"Every man is trying to either live up to his father's expectations or make up for his father's mistakes"

-Unknown, but frequently quoted by Barack Obama

Ask any programmer and efficiency is core to their world. When it comes to how you are going to code something (less code the better) or how you structure your SQL query (less joins the better) or even when it comes to the design of the app (less clicks the better) it is a constant thought running into your head.

Last week Mike and I traveled to DC to give a presentation on some kick ass new things we are working on. Typically I fly a few times each month (I love transportation!) but loading and unloading of a plane is just painful for me to watch as a programmer.

The goal of course for airlines is to have all their planes in the air all the time. If they are on the ground then they are not making any money. Because of this they try to optimize how their time is spent on the ground. However the actual loading of passengers into a plane takes longer then fueling or loading the luggage onto the plane.

This is the same in our industry. It's hard to get stoked about knocking off 1ms on a query because non iframed ads take 18 seconds to load into the page or because the page has 5megs of images. I'm sure this happens in the airline industry as well. Why bother improving the efficiency of loading fuel or bags or food into a plane when you know you are going to wait for the people to load.

Most airlines, like the RIAA, seem to stay in business despite themselves but that is an entirely different post. However they all seem to take some steps in order to optimize load times of passengers. Southwest doesn't do assigned seating. When flying out of LA on JetBlue they loaded from the back and front doors of the plane at the same time which seemed to really decrease load time but that setup is not available in many airports. United and pretty much everyone else gives you a "Zone Number" and you board when your zone is called.

It's that last one that really is bothersome. From my personal experience it looks like they load everyone with a window seat first then middle then aisle row last. This seems to make common sense...you don't want to sit everyone in the aisle first so that people with window seats have to jump over them to get in. However anyone who has been on a plane knows that the 2 seconds to squeeze by someone is nothing compared to the 30 seconds it takes to store your luggage in the overhead compartments.

That seems to be the bottleneck that no one is addressing. If you seat someone in the first row in a window seat but they have to spend 30 seconds putting their bag above them no one else can load in at the same time. So everyone waits in line.

The ideal solution (from an efficiency standpoint) would be to remove over head carry ons. This would mean less time getting through security and less time loading because unless it fits under the seat in front of you it is going to be checked.

Sure that puts more load on the baggage workers but that system can be optimized because you have trained people using it (not depending on your customers to find an efficient route).

I doubt many airlines would be bold enough to actually do that but don't we want to see what we can get the baggage and fuel loaders times down to?

Taking a play from Alex's playbook I am going to post my disgust with FTD. Mostly because it's my blog and I can do whatever I want.

I placed an order on Jan 23rd with FTD to have 12 Red Roses delivered on Valentine's Day. Needless to say the flowers never showed up.

When you call their 800-SEND-FTD phone number and press 3 for "problems with orders" it goes straight to a busy signal (been this way for over 24 hours now).

Also all email sent to them bounce back.

Fantastic!

So not only do I look like an ass for not having flowers sent but I can't even get in touch with anyone at FTD to figure out what went wrong.

From now on I am going to only use local flower shops. In Orlando I use the Downtown Florist and they always do great work.

After watching the Super Bowl I was going to make some joke about how no one ever talks about the "other" Manning. The middle child that decided to become an accountant while the other two brothers are star Quarterbacks who went on to win back to back Super Bowls.

Then I actually checked Wikipedia and there is a third manning. A Cooper Manning who did go into the business world after health issues. Not to mention that Archie Manning (Payton's and Eli's Dad) was a star QB for the Colts back in the day.

Perhaps this was all common knowledge, but craziness.

There are three separate but related advances that excite me.

First is that NanoSolar has produce solar panels that will drop the costs under $1 dollar a watt. Typically solar cells cost about $4 dollars a watt so there are a lot of cases where installing solar panels doesn't make economic sense. However at under a dollar you recoup your money very quickly which would lead to mainstream adoption of solar panels.

Second is Nano Wire batteries. This allows Li-Ion batteries to be able to hold ten times their current charge. So if your laptop gets 2 hours on a single charge it is now getting 20 hours.

Third is the Tesla Roadster. Around 250 miles on a single charge but able to prove that just because you are thinking radically with your technology doesn't mean it has to look like something that people in the 50's assumed they would see in the year 2000. Just a sexy, fast car that runs on dreams electricity.

All three by themselves are exciting but bring them together and now you are looking at being able to drive from Miami to NY and back on a single charge. Add to that the ability to do the charge 100% on your own from solar panels on your house and it seems like a perfect solution. That doesn't even factor that green house gases would go down and the USA wouldn't be 100% dependent on the middle east and all the benefits that come from that.

I don't want to sound like a smelly hippie here...but damn...this is a step in the right direction.

I live in East Orlando which is typically called "The University" to people who live further then 10 minutes away (In Florida distance is by time not miles). Makes sense being University of Central Florida pretty much is what East Orlando is all about. To people that live on this side of town I live in Waterford which is an area with a huge outdoor center that includes a Target, Gap, 22 Screen Movie Theater, LA Fitness, Best Buy some 30 restaurants and lord knows how many shops.

The major stores that draw people are called anchors. An anchors job is to basically take people out of their car. This allows smaller shops that are based on foot traffic (like a smoothie shop) to be able to flourish. Someone will drive to Target but while there they will walk around to some of the other shops.

Downtown Orlando is setup to be based on foot traffic. It has been that way ever since I moved here. I always found it strange because before about five years ago you really couldn't live in the heart of downtown (now there are about 20 buildings you can live in) so there was no foot traffic. The only sudo anchors at that point were clubs. Bars don't count because you don't get all dolled up and pay for parking to go sit in a bar.

It amazes me that every other developer in Central and South Florida knows the concept of Anchors and how to get people out of their cars (which is required with people not using public transportation) yet no one in Downtown ever did it.

Hopefully this will change soon. Publix and an AMC movie theater should be opening up late this year but I don't think this will be enough. Downtown needs shops and restaurants that not only are big enough to draw people to them but also unique in Orlando. I hope that as more of these new skyscrapers finish they will start to flush out shops that draw people in. Small mom and pop shops are what give culture to a downtown and that is something Orlando could use a boost of.

When being a local in Orlando anytime you visit the parks you have a single goal...to get in the background of as many pictures as possible. Sometime in high school when I would visit Orlando is when this tradition was started.

For some reason when I travel this changes from me being in the background to being in the foreground.

And Vegas was no difference. When Jason said he would give me ten bucks to jump in this girl's picture I was on it. If you look close you can see the cash in my left hand. My Internet girlfriend Willo with her cat like reflexes popped over to capture the moment as well.

Another time when in NYC for a meeting with Weblogs Inc/Blogsmith we decided to go out on our last night to see the town. Some how we ended up at a random bar with three levels. Mike, Alex and myself decided to see what the bar had to offer on all three floors.

First floor was just drinking and TV's playing the game. The second floor was drinking and dancing and the third floor was reserved for a couples going away part (I think they just got married).

Someone was just finishing up a speech and I decided that I also should send this couple off with some sage advise. I raised my glass, said a few words on their behalf and said "cheers!" as a group of confused looking people cheers-ed me back.

Although we never got a picture of the toast I think the couple took my advice to heart..."Let the bridges you burn light your path through life".

Cheers!

After getting two tickets within thirty days it occurred to me that perhaps having a radar detector might not be a bad idea. I have always wanted the Valentine One because I've read it's the best but never got around to it because the thing is pretty ugly.

Yesterday I read an article in Wired about a guy trying to beat the 32 hour and 7 minute coast to coast driving from NY to Cali and got inspired again. Why stop at Cali...I'm going to be the fastest driver to go around the world!!

...wait a minute.

So I have been putting aside 50 bucks a pay check in order to be able to splurge on the V1 and a few weeks ago I broke down and bought it.

Well at least I thought I did.

After a Christmas discussion on if leaving apples out for Santa's reindeers is or is not crazy I turned to Wikipedia for the answer.

Finding out that it indeed is crazy to offer apples to reindeers I see this little gem:

Some consider Rudolph as part of the group as well, though he was not part of the original named work referenced previously, and did not join the sleigh team until Santa rightly recognized the traffic benefits of his luminescent nose.

Rightly recognized the traffic benefits of his luminescent nose? Really?

And for the record reindeer eat mostly moss and leaves.

A few years ago while I was in a CodeJam in NY I realized I never had an oyster before. Sitting at a Legal Seafood with people who raved about oysters seemed as good of time as any to go ahead and give them a try.

Curious on how to eat them I asked Brian what the right way to do it was. He instructed me to just dump it into my mouth and just as it passes my lips he goes into a whole speech about how there is really no other way to describe it then chewing on someone else's snot. Texture, smell even the taste really. I just kept chewing and tried to swallow while he just kept going on and on.

It was the first and last time I ever had an oyster.

So it was with great pleasure I was able to send the 2girls1cup video out to the Blogsmith team as a Thanksgiving treat to be thankful for the Internet. I emailed Brian because I know something like this was just up his alley.

His response?

I just had the biggest all you can eat breakfast at The Kitchen. With a very full stomach I finally clicked your link from my laptop.

We are now even for that whole oyster thing!

Brian Alvey

And just like that, I am thankful for the Internet all over again.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A new company called 23andme.com opens to the public today. For $999 you can send them your saliva and they will provide you with your genetic makeup. You are able to login and see what diseases you are more likely to have and then can keep an eye out for those. Hopefully with regular screening and lifestyle changes you would be able to decrease your chances of having bad things happen. Remember that genetics doesn't mean destiny but instead gives you a few things to look out for.

I didn't sign up for the service for two reasons. One it is still expensive but more importantly there is no way to use the service anonymously. I can just see that it tells me I have a better likelihood of getting some strange disease and then an insurance company buys 23andme.com and I am no longer able to get insured. I don't think it will be long before anonymous testing comes out to give the information to the customer without the privacy concerns. I think like anonymous AIDS testing it is important to inform the patient more so then bothering to find out who is who.

The NYT did a story on this that is a good read. I see the power this could provide people to be able to change their lifestyles so that they could live longer and happier lives but the potential for abuse is there for sure. Alex and I were talking about this this morning and my hope is there is some legislation passed in order to keep this information out of the hands of the government or big corporations.

Your thoughts on it?

Well I'm off to Vegas for a week but I have to point out a link before I go. It's a post dedicated to pictures taken at exactly the right time...such as this gem. I think it might be time for me to buy a camera.