I was (am?) having an issue with my RSS Syndication plugin (FeedWordPress) where it put my posts into two categories even though I explicitly told it to only put them in one. An hour and one hairy SQL query later, it appears to be fixed!*

Also, it seems like GMail was upset that I hadn’t logged in via the web interface in a while, so it stopped sending my contact form emails over SMTP. So I logged in and fixed that. Yay! You can contact me again now!

*: Although, my feed reader (Pulse) seems to have stopped publishing the RSS feed of the posts that I “star”, so there’s no new posts until I find a hackaround. And wouldn’t you know it, the “previous post” link at the bottom of the page is acting strange. Oh well, you’ll just have to deal with it for now.

I read a blog post recently that inspired me to take some action — specifically setting up reminders to take action. I wish I could remember exactly which blog it was, but I’ve tried to dig and been unsuccessful. If I find it, I’ll certainly update the post with the source.

Anyway, the author had several steps to ‘get off your ass and make changes, be awesomer’ (I’m paraphrasing, of course) and one that I did in the moment was set up some reminders. That was about a month ago, and it did have some effect on me. As of today, I’ve modified and updated the alerts I set for myself.

Here’s the reminders I currently have:

• 12AM: What are you grateful for? (I usually go to sleep around then)
• 12PM: What is the most effective use of your time and energy? (I’m awake and generally have started my workday by now, so this helps to refocus me on what’s most important)
• 4PM Sunday: Review Asana, Evernote, and journal. (Trying to insert a GTD-style weekly review into my routine)
• 6:30PM M-F, Sun: Meditate (simple breathing/gratitude meditation)
• 7:30PM MWF: Work out get huge! (3 days a week. Usually between meals at this point which was an excuse of mine for not doing this before)

Previously, I used the Reminders app for iOS. It doesn’t work quite the way I wanted for a daily reminder, since it wants to “check off” the reminder, and makes a note of how many days ago the reminder was set. I don’t care when I set the reminder, and I don’t want to go to the Reminders app when the alarm is triggered, so now I’m using the Clock app with simple alarms. I just changed the “label” text to be the reminder.

Feel free to steal these alerts, add your own, and all that good stuff.

We started running our site(s) on Amazon’s cloud for flexibility. Unfortunately, we started when the service was very young, and that meant it was difficult to back up our instances. We kluged a backup script in Python from someone else’s script posted on their blog. I just had a search and I can’t even find the source any more — this was at least two years ago.

So now, it’s my job to bring us up to the present. We had a problem where our server was crashing during the backup process — first, the backup would eat up any free space on our root device, which would then slow the site to a crawl as it got stuck at 99% cpu usage. Then, I would reboot the instance only to find MySQL was unable to start because the device was full.

Luckily Amazon offers a Relational Database Service which basically provides more robust/updated database servers in the cloud. I switched us to this service for our main two databases (a blog and a forum) and so far it’s running smoothly.

Now, I’m attempting to get rid of the last bit of vestigial, non-cloud-friendly technology that we’re using — filesystem backups and automatic AMI bundling. This requires creating a new EBS volume, formatting the volume, copying the entire filesystem to this new volume, snapshotting it in the AWS console, and then creating an image from the snapshot (also in the AWS console).

I got a lot of help from this blog post: http://thewebfellas.com/blog/2010/4/19/create-an-ebs-boot-volume-from-a-running-instance

as well as this gist on GitHub: https://gist.github.com/1004950

So that’s what I’ve been up to for the past little bit here. That, and all the debugging/troubleshooting/error-deciphering/guru meditation that goes along with it.

The good news is that once I’m done, our servers will boot faster, be easier to back up, and hopefully, more resilient.

photo credit: lrargerich via photopin cc

Recently, there was much ado about an Apple patent that was filed, where it would allow users to locate people near them, and browse a small profile. In a personal discussion, some friends and I agreed that it wasn’t that likely that Apple would ever actually make something like this, but here they were patenting it just the same. I thought to myself, “this seems like something OKCupid would do.” Lo and behold, that’s exactly what they’ve done!

OKCupid first came onto my radar because of their excellent blog, OKTrends, where they occasionally perform statistical analysis of the people using their site. Everything from what you should send in your first message through what types of photos tend to get the best ratings is covered. They recently wrote an article called, “What if there weren’t so many white people?”

A friend tried to show me her profile, but since it was private to OKC users only, I ended up making one myself. The site is so well designed that it gently pushes you along to fill out your profile and answer match questions, all the while rewarding you by moving a bar from left to right labeled “Profile Completion”. Needless to say, my profile is now complete. Damn you, gamification!

After briefly poking around on the site, I decided to start using it in earnest about two months ago. Being a guy on an online-dating site, especially a free one like OKCupid, is not a breeze. In order to actually make it work, I uploaded more photos, took quizzes, and most importantly, started messaging at least two women every time I went on the site. I was pleasantly surprised when I started getting messages back on a regular basis–and became quickly addicted.

In what felt like no time flat, I was checking the site on my iPad whenever I was online, hoping to see the wonderful pink envelope notification that says I have a new message. Or checking my GMail to see if I had a notification there. And finally, the last piece fell into place when I downloaded their (free) iPhone app. “OKCupid would like to send you push notifications: OK/Cancel?” OK. I’m in this to win it. Now, I know within a minute when someone sends me a message. I can see their profile, see if they’re online, check how compatible we (theoretically) are, and reply from my phone if I so choose. I remembered a friend telling me, months before, “Have you tried out the iPhone app? It’s crazy, definitely try it.” I could see why.

And now, there’s the matter of geo-location. Use your GPS and 3G data connection to broadcast where you are and suggest an instant date to anyone who’s listening. Furthermore, search around you for users who are /nearby right now/ and send them a message. I know what the initial reaction will probably be from most people: “Creepy! Why would I ever do that?” But my reaction was just the opposite: “When can I have it?”

If you’re already playing around with online dating, this is just the next (logical?) step. You’re already looking for friendship/short-term dating/long-term dating/activity partners/casual sex, and now you can look around you. With your phone. Without having to actually talk to people.

I expect this new app will be a big win for OKCupid and its users. I’m not sure how much more people will actually meet up with it, but stranger things have happened. If you have any doubt that this is a solid play, look no further than the app Grindr, which should be well known by any gay man in a major city. The app offers you the option to “find men” around you, and returns the 100 closest users at any given time. It’s so successful that the company is planning to release a “straight” version of the app with more focus on meeting up for friendship… or whatever. They don’t care how you use it, just that you use it. And now OKCupid is here, beating them to the punch in some ways.

I checked my phone earlier today, and didn’t see a new version available for download. OKCupid says they’re ‘beta testing’ the new features before they go live. I’ll definitely be downloading it, and seeing who is nearby when I have it. Will you?

And also, bets on how long until Apple starts suing?

HP made a large purchase last year — they bought Palm. And with that came Palm’s brand spanking new smartphone operating system, WebOS. Despite a rocky start thanks to under-powered hardware and battery-sucking early builds, WebOS has actually gotten decent reviews. Everyone who uses it seems to say that it’s a really solid operating system. And they say it with a glimmer of sadness, since it seems like nothing could unseat Apple as the king of Smartphone Mountain, nor Android as the rogue gathering an army and preparing to lay siege against the incumbent king.

And yet, HP might just have a fighting chance. Recently, they released the TouchPad, a tablet which in many ways rivals the iPad or the current favorite Android tablet, the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Critics will say that the TouchPad is crippled by lack of software, but they’re missing the point. Everyone has different needs from a smartphone, but remember when the iPhone didn’t have apps at all? It survived in part because, as 37 signals put it, “Ten Apps Is All I Need”. Do those basic apps well, and most people don’t need much more. Pretty much every app that you want to use is made to work with Mobile Safari, and should work fine with WebOS’ browser, which also runs on WebKit.

Did I mention it already has a customized Facebook app/web layout, something which even the iPad doesn’t have? Or that it has its own Skype client? Because it already has both of those. And that’s why HP is going to take the scepter of “business tablet” away from RIM and their PlayBook. HP has deep pockets to promote this thing, and they’ve already started advertising on TV. It’s currently priced the same as the iPad, and while it may not be flying off the shelves, we can expect HP will drop the price around the holiday season and advertise around then too.

And now, HP says they’re interested in licensing WebOS to some other smartphone manufacturers. In case you missed Android’s meteoric rise to relevance, that played a big part in Google’s strategy. WebOS also allows better connectivity between devices by the nature of how it’s built. And HP also makes computers, something that Google is only barely getting into right now, in it’s own, very Google-ish way. What if HP were to make computers that integrate WebOS and allow easy passing of data between desktop, tablet, and phone? That could be a game-changer, something that would have Apple scrambling to replicate. It could make sending a website to your phone as easy as … not having to do anything at all. In short, it could be everything we currently want from phone-tablet-PC interactions that we don’t already have. And HP has all the tech it needs to do it now, thanks to Palm.

RIM, the makers of BlackBerry, are already hurting, and pretty much ready to sell out. Their earnings year over year continue to decline. They’re beyond the point of repair, since the PlayBook was their shot at the tablet market, and it’s been (to put it bluntly) a failure. No email client, no app ecosystem (even WebOS has SOME apps already), and despite its dual cameras, no Skype. HP has already smelled blood in the water, and is going for the business market since they can’t take down the iPad. But the PlayBook? That should be child’s play for someone as entrenched as HP. Add to the picture that now third parties can make WebOS phones, and HP’s position will be further strengthened, and the TouchPad won’t seem so much like an obscure thing.

To be clear, it’s unlikely we’ll see any major shifts by the end of the year. Apple will continue to wear the crown, and is already planning to launch an updated iPad around the holiday season. Android is still struggling in the tablet arena, but RIM has already tripped and fallen into the moat. And HP is looking on from the distance, and if they make some calculated moves, it’s certainly possible that they could pick up some marketshare this year. If they convince a couple larger companies to buy TouchPads, and make the killer apps that they need, it could change everything. The tablet wars may have just started to heat up, and it’s certainly going to be an interesting holiday season. May the best man win!

Update: Or, you know, maybe not.

Bored with your .com? Are you over your .org?

In a world where “capturing the .com” is generally thought of as necessary for brand success, a few proud rebels stand apart from the rest. We are the domain hackers, and we make the internet more fun for everyone.

Remember Del.icio.us? That is one early example of domain hacking. I’ve talked about it here before, too.

Today, we’ll just look at the .so domain extension, from Somalia. Here are a few that I found were available, along with ideas for what they could possibly be used for:

• virtuo.so (a musician’s personal site)
• espres.so (coffee or fast news)
• youare.so, (you are so… what?)
• iam.so (/hot /cool /witty, etc.)
• thats.so (/trendy /typical)

Here are a couple of other, non-Somalian, domains that are available at the time of this writing (.gy is from Guyana):

• fog.gy (San Francisco? London?)
• futu.ro (obviously it’s about the future. Also futurolo.gy)
• pr.odi.gy
• slan.gy (urbindictionary competitor?)
• tan.gy

I think that’s enough for today. If you want to purchase any of these domains, head on over to 101Domain (my preferred international domain registrar, I used them to register this site) and get it taken care of.

Thanks for reading!

PS — I found several cool websites while researching this post. Here are the three coolest:

1. wasa.bi
2. syzy.gy
3. zom.bi

Hi there! Welcome to a new decade. We’re glad you decided to join us, here in the future.

Anyone who knows me could probably tell you how much I like “the future” (answer: quite a lot), but I’ve been pretty hesitant about predicting my own future. I may have developed the tendency to not plan too far in the future from two places:

1. Tim Ferriss. In “The 4-Hour Work Week”, Ferriss suggests that it’s difficult if nigh impossible to keep plans for 6+ months. Mostly, I agree with this, but I intend to challenge it.
2. My Job. Working for The Art of Charm is exciting, nerve-racking, challenging, and fulfilling, all at once. Most of all, it has taught me how working for a (relatively) small business is a very dynamic process, and not too much is set in stone.

Whatever the reason, I’m going to break the habit of not-planning somewhat and set down some predictions as to what might transpire in my life this year. But first, Seth Godin told me to write about what we “Shipped” in 2010.

• The Art of Charm Academy is in beta testing, with a full launch beginning later this month
• AJ & Jordan Talk Chicks went live
• The TXT Book was digitally packaged by yours truly, including much of the web design
• We ran 42 A0C Programs this year, including 4 in NYC
• I was interviewed by AJ & Jordan (About time! )
• I posted a few Felix YZ DJ mixes on Soundcloud
• Alex Weber .is Interactive jQuery Pants-toggle homepage, along with my not.com campaign.
• I built my first Facebook Application

Not a bad year at all, if you ask me!

That’s all for now. I want to publish this post so I can start writing the next one.

###

PS: I tried to fix the comments. I’m sorry they were broken. Ow! Don’t hit me! That’s abuse! They should be working now. Please leave your thoughts below.

So, as you well know by now, I’m a proponent of non-standard domain names. I registered my domain with 101Domain and it was super-easy. I just today was browsing around to see what new domains are coming out (.xxx! Really!) and I found the .gs domain from South Georgia… it provides excellent possibility! See for yourself:

(I’ve checked, and these domains are available as of 3:30pm PST 2/11/2011)

• ban.gs
• fan.gs
• bootle.gs
• plasticba.gs
• 3kin.gs
• angelwin.gs
• flyingpi.gs
• thon.gs & g-strin.gs

Cool, right? That was a rhetorical question. I can’t even hear you when you respond to those questions, silly goose!

Full disclosure, I’m an affiliate for 101Domain, so if you buy any domain names from them, I get a small amount.

BTW — I had originally bought this domain with the hope of ranking for my name, which turns out to be really difficult. However, today, I just found out that if you Google for “alex weber is awesome”, this site is the first hit! Sweet!

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for the actions that you take after reading this post. In fact, even landing on this page without reading this disclaimer absolves Alex Weber of any and all responsibility for your actions, past and future. Furthermore, this page is mainly a #rant and not meant to be seen as advice.

Here are my qualifications for when to…

1. Remove someone from my Facebook news feed
2. Un-friend them on Facebook completely
3. Hang out less in person with someone

The first part is easy.

If you write predominantly negative updates on Facebook or Twitter, I don’t want to see it.

Everyone has ups and downs, and I understand that. However, the fact that we had two classes together in High School does not mean that I want to hear that your “boo” is cheating on you, or that you got fired, or that the weather is bad.

Here’s my point: If you predominantly post negativity, I will filter it so it doesn’t infect my brain.

It’s been shown that Happiness is Contagious and I’m pretty sure negativity works that way too.

You may think “Alex, you’re a ig ol’ stick in the mud! We just wanna vent sometimes!”

I understand venting as a short-term thing. I’m talking about repeated negativity, weighted with how well I know someone (how much we actually interact, message, talk, see each other IRL etc.)

My criteria for IRL friends:

This is not a hard list, but more of a set of criteria that I feel is important with my IRL friendships.

1. You must have a similar threshold for caring about money as I do. My threshold is around $20. This means, if you ask to borrow $20, I’ll expect you to pay me back $20. However, if we’re at Burger King and I ask if you want anything and you order a sandwich combo coming up to $6.28, I’d prefer that you pay it forward by buying me a meal or a beer or ANYTHING rather than keeping “six dollars and twenty-eight cents” in a ledger of how much we owe one another.While we’re talking about money, I don’t believe that it makes the world go round. That’s some gravity and inertia and other space-forces. I do see the importance of money–it makes living in our society a lot easier. You can broker deals and favors and whatever else with it.However, I don’t believe that small amounts should be the thing to drive friendships apart. I recently received a series of text messages from a dude who had paid for our whole group’s Chinese food delivery order. Total debt for me and two others: $32. We ordered the food three days ago. I asked when he would be around so I could drop off some cash, but instead, I got back today “whenever u feel like payn me back for chinese food. Kinda weak in [sic] dude”.Seriously? $32? And I’m trying to pay you back? And that’s weak? That’s grounds for IRL friend-de-prioritization. Okay, enough about this. On to the next one.
2. You must be generally positive and “down” (link is to UrbanDictionary definition). I like doing exciting things. I like doing things I haven’t tried before. And most of all, I like friends who will encourage me to do these things, and will want to try them with me. It could be something as simple as going skydiving. Tomorrow. Are you down? That’s the test.What if it’s going out to a national forest, and we’re going to DJ there. You down?Or even, we’ve both had a long week, and it’s Thursday night. We’ve both got to work tomorrow. But there’s a great party tonight. Are you still down?I’m sure you can see how “down-ness” and negativity can counteract one another. If I’m down, I’m saying “Yes” to opportunities. And I’m probably going to have fun, because if I’m already down for new things, I’ve probably had fun trying new things in the past.

With Good Reason?

There’s a lot of common ideas about how your friends influence you. Want to see the best predictor of where you’ll be in 20 years? Look at your friends. How you walk, talk, eat, drink, and think, is all influenced by your peer group. Shouldn’t you maybe take a critical eye to the people who are essentially shaping you for the rest of your life? #justsayin.

What are the rules to be friends with YOU?

I’m curious to know if other people have similar criteria that they grade their friends on. I’d be much obliged if you’d post your thoughts in the comments below.

I know it’s Winter Holiday Season, but shut up. I’ll get to that later. Maybe.

I did a really satisfying small project today. First, some backstory and musical accompaniment…

Felix YZ — Binary Minimix by Felix_YZ

Alex Weber, The DJ

Years ago, I was a Superfamous World-class DJ who was loved and feared far and wide.

(I thought I told you to shut up, just go with me on this one, OK?)

So, while I was busy being awesome, I met Jordan from The Art of Charm and he was so impressed with my unique combination of exessive charisma, social grace, and total nerdiness that he basically pleaded with me for like a year to join his company and help them be more awesome. Something like that.

Being as legendar-ily amazing and infinitely compassionate as I was am, I could not refuse. So I set aside my diamond-encrusted platinum-plated SL-1200s and joined The Art of Charm in their quest to teach men everywhere the Way of Excellence.

Mine was way cooler. It had diamonds.

Over time, my immense fame and reputation has dwindled. However, I was presented with an unique opportunity recently: Join forces with DJ Vandelay and Xiaoyu to form… Something Awesome That Has No Official Name!

This is pretty much awesome, and I’m really excited at the chance to DJ live again.

Something Like A Tragedy Strikes!

And then, people started asking me for stuff. Stupid stuff, like a mix to hear what style I like to play or a picture they could use. So stupid, I know!

So I started mixing, and I put some mixes online. And then yesterday I started drawing some characters to make an icon for myself. Here are a couple little sketches:

They’re mostly upside-down, I know. I’m not sure why my scanner did that, but you can just turn your monitor upside down or stand with your head between your legs to see them right-side up. I’ll wait.

Pretty cool, right? I thought so myself. Problem was, I didn’t want something that looked like I drew it on paper, I wanted something that looked slick and cool and awesome and other words that mean those same things.

Presto-Change-o, Adobe-o!

So I fired up Adobe Illustrator and put my skillz to work. Then I took that product into Photoshop, and finished it off. The ol’ one-two punch, or something. I know you know I know what I’m talking about. I can see it in your eyes.

Feast your eyes on the beauty of the finished product:

I’m pretty proud of how it came out. I mean, how awesome is that?? Quiet, that was a rhetorical question.

If you follow me around the Intertubes (like I know you do!) then you’ll notice this in pretty heavy rotation. It’s already up with my redesigned Twitter page — Alex Weber on Twitter and I’m also using it on my Soundcloud.

I also made the graphic so that I could turn it into a sticker pretty easily.

What do you think, is this awesome?

Shut up. I know it’s awesome. That was a trick question.