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Thursday, May 20, 2004 |
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We've been here 6 months now...whoa. There's no way to sum it up here, but it's been busy. Moved into a house in Redmond, great neighborhood. The rain thing is still a myth to me, I'm having to water the lawn and trees quite a bit. We're hosting the neighborhood happy hour tomorrow. Finally got the garage organized enough to get one car in. Kids are very high energy and growing fast. We think the boy said da-da for the first time the other day. Settling into work, lots of great people, I'm helping with the designs for IE, sharing and search. That's a lot of meat. At the end of every day, both Alex and I are exhausted! We miss our family and friends in Austin. We're looking forward to having Alex's sister come in for Memorial Day weekend. 11:15:17 PM  comment [] trackback []
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Thursday, October 23, 2003 |
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It's time for a new adventure. I'll be leaving frog Nov. 7. I was finally able to tell my current client yesterday in person. 5 years at frog, almost to the day. It's been a great opportunity for me and I've learned tons. I'll miss all of the talented people I've worked with there over the years. I'm totally grateful for the opportunity frog gave me and I'll be leaving on good terms. So where am I headed, you ask? I'm headed to Redmond. Specifically, the MSX team. Longhorn. Helping design Aero, the next Windows shell, the UI of Longhorn. Feels great to say it! It's a great team and I'm psyched about it! One of my passions is designing products that people use and enjoy, whether it's a t-shirt, a brochure, a website, a UI. What a unique opportunity to design for 93% of the desktop users! It will be a culture shock, I'm sure. It's a great team, lots of talent, but there will be lot's of things to get used to. My first large corporation, my first experience being on the 'inside' and not a consultant, different process. I'll let you know how it goes. So add me to the list of Microsoft bloggers! The family and I will be moving up northwest the first week of December. Its gonna be tough to leave Austin. We love it here and will miss being near our family and friends. Alex, my wife, is incredible. She's totally supportive and excited about the opportunity, but I know it will be tough for her to be farther away from friends and family. So we're busy trying to manage the swirl of family life, getting stuff ready for the move, continuing to be involved on my last project at frog, and trying to spend time with as many friends and family here in Austin as we can. More later, I'm at home sick today. 11:03:28 AM comment [] trackback []
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Wednesday, October 15, 2003 |
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Theme change. Sorry I've been off the blog for a while. Lot's happening. I'll be able to say more in a couple of weeks. I'm having fun on my current project. I've been travelling quite a bit to LA. It's gonna be good... My good friend JJ has left frog and is working for ascential software. We'll miss you man! 9:57:06 PM comment [] trackback []
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Wednesday, September 24, 2003 |
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I'm not dead and haven't lost the tablet. I've been swamped with work and considering some big changes. There have been some very interesting developments I'm in a fortunate spot considering the climate out there, we'll see how things turn out this week. 9:33:35 AM comment [] trackback []
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Friday, August 08, 2003 |
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JJ & I held a Fund drive to buy a refurbished XBox for the office. Jared was able to get an XBox off eBay for $130. With a little working of the phones and IM lines, 15 colleagues pledged $10 each. Beautiful! Now it seems we've inspired the development nature in everyone, people are coming out of the woodwork trying to raise funds for different needs. I hope that doesn't distract those willing to donate to my new tablet! 3:19:30 PM comment [] trackback []
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Wednesday, August 06, 2003 |
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Paolo & Bryan talk about Radio's best kept secret. I think there may be more to the story. 5:58:56 PM comment [] trackback []
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Tuesday, August 05, 2003 |
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Scratch the need for a phone built into the tablet. Integrating messenger 6 into the media center, you should be able to start a "phone" conversation with anyone, eventually anywhere--quickly! I was just having a conversation about using iChat AV for extended voice conversations and how good the audio quality is, better than a cell phone. The hurdles are availablity of both parties where as with phones you assume you're able to go ahead and call someone and leave a message. Messenger needs to get to that point, no I don't want to send them a mail. just leave them a message. 5:45:27 PM comment [] trackback []
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I've been submersed in work and family. Kicked off a new project around digital music. Really exciting stuff. I'd be interested in how you use online music services. I find this especially cool with the tablet. Loren talks about what to do with the tablet when your out and about. If you have full Windows XP with you all the time, all your stuff, jeez, there's tons to do. I think where tablets are lacking now is considering tablet use away from work. It doesn't all have to be work related. The tablet team should be thinking about work as 1/3 of your life. what about the other 2/3? Entertainment! Clock radio for sleeping! The goal should be to think about how the user can use this thing and never have to leave it. You wouldn't need an ipod, you've got all your music right there. On business trips, half the people i see using laptops on the plane are playing solitaire or watching a movie. The tough thing with the tablet there is having to prop it up or hold the tablet at the right angle, vs. a laptop or convertible where you've got a natural stand, whether you're using your lap or seatback tray. Oh yeah, heh, you'd have to have ripped a dvd to your hard drive, since most tablets don't have a dvd drive built in. :) But I think the big problem is accessibility, namely starting up the functionality you need quickly, with a pen. Standing up or walking around, you shouldn't have to invoke the start menu. I want simple taps to quickly get to journal, one note, or my media player. Standing up, windows management is even tougher. This is a problem. Instead, you should have the media center/10ft UI as a mode you be in to navigate to the functionality you want and need -- FAST. Media center perfect for interaction with a remote and I think the same goes for using a pen. Easy drill down model, big targets. That is key. But, you know what? I doubt it will happen soon because tablet's are stuck in the business market and media center is stuck in home and entertainment. Rather than thinking from the standpoint of a total user lifestyle in relation to a product, the user's life has been segmented to match a business model. 1:31:23 PM comment [] trackback []
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Last update: 5/20/2004; 11:21:11 PM .
