Category archive: Random
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Notes from Amsterdam
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- Feeling like the guy with the best host’s house in the world.
- Went for a walk at the local Saturday market. We bought a few stuff to cook some nice dishes during the week.
- On Saturday afternoon the city felt more like Edinburgh than Amsterdam. The World Cup took place and the city was full of Scottish people drinking and singing in the street. The city center was so alive from all the joy — a great Saturday night. The Dutch set them crying back across the English channel™.
- Saturday night in Amsterdam, we couldn’t not go for a walk through the Red Light District. The atmosphere in that part of the city was amazing, felt like London’s Soho and other districts where primitive feelings flourish. Upon returning home I was thinking how interesting it is that there are places in big cities in the world where restrictions are lowered and freedom is given another perspective.
- Very close to where we’re staying was the place where Anne Frank wrote her diaries. It’s a bit stupid, but it makes me feel a bit strange inside. Wakes up a desire of me to stop whining and improve.
- I’ve said so many times “Thanks! I’ll buy you a beer next time we meet!” to Max Spevack. Now that I am in Amsterdam, I’ll need to get him wasted to repay those back. Instead, I’ve decided to do some cooking for him and Diego when I’m having a break from the Transifex stuff I’m doing here. The menu so far included strong Spaghetti aglio e olio, with a note of rocket and gin, Tagliatelle carbonara with chorizo sausage and paprica, and roast chicken with rosemary and melted cheese for today.
(cc) by Vitorio Benedetti -
at night, Tuesday 31 March 2009
Fedora, Personal
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Notes from Amsterdam (Comment!)
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New books: Spring ’09 bookshelf
New books arrival for our bookshelf.
- Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams (Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister)
- It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be (Paul Arden)
- A Smile in the Mind: Witty Thinking in Graphic Design (Beryl McAlhone and David Stuart)
- Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition (Guy Kawasaki)
- Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time (Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz)
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at night, Sunday 29 March 2009
Books/music/films, Indifex, Tech/web
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New books: Spring ’09 bookshelf (Comment!)
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Amsterdam, baby!
I have been looking forward to this trip for quite a while. My travel has been reduced lately, as I’m preoccupied with all the great stuff happening at the Indiplex. Long hours of hacking and designing, planning and talking with clients — not much time to think and interrupt the spree.
But coming to Amsterdam for a week-long hackfest/brainstorm-fest with Max was just an ingenious idea to pass. The flattering comments about Max’s hospitality, house and Amsterdam itself made me much excited about the idea.
A consequence of working in a dynamic startup at which you’re having the time of your life, is that your sleep hours get reduced. At some points, they get reduced a lot. While [releasing with the sunrise][1] is indeed a great feeling, a man needs to get a proper sleep every a few days. I could use some rest at this moment, so being in Amsterdam makes it the best excuse to just say “I’ll try to get some rest in the weekend”.
And this is exactly what I’ll do. No coding for this weekend. I swear.
(cc) by kevindooley-
at night, Saturday 28 March 2009
Fedora, Tech/web
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Amsterdam, baby! (Comment!)
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Amsterdam packing
Almost ready for a week-long trip to Amsterdam, hosting courtesy of Max Spevack. Expecting lots of hacking, fantastic discussions and good food. Two meetings in Athens before leaving Greece at 2:30pm… long first half of day tomorrow, looking forward to the special moment before the plane take-off.
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at night, Thursday 26 March 2009
Mini-Post, Personal, Thoughts
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Amsterdam packing (Comment!)
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Transifex on LWN.net Weekly Edition
Transifex featured on the current LWN.net weekly edition: “Easing software Localization with Transifex” (subscriber-only for now)
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at night, Thursday 26 March 2009
Foss, Linux, Mini-Post, Tech/web
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Transifex on LWN.net Weekly Edition (Comment!)
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La trappe
Enjoying a nice, strong, rich La Trappe.
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at night, Wednesday 25 March 2009
Food, Mini-Post
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La trappe (Comment!)
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My Media Camp Athens 2 presentation
Super-charge your Startup with Openness — The bullet points from my Media Camp 2 talk on Startups, Openness and Open Source (aka Loving the Bomb) are now collected and available as a presentation with a catchy title.
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at night, Tuesday 24 March 2009
Foss, Linux, Indifex, Mini-Post, Startups
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My Media Camp Athens 2 presentation (Comment!)
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Media Camp Athens 2 — Recap
Με 4 ώρες ύπνο (επί 3 ημέρες) το Σάββατο πρωί κατέβηκα στο Media Camp 2. Βλέποντας στο pre-registration αρκετά γνωστά ονόματα από developers και entrepreneurs καθώς και μια ενέργεια ζωντανών κοινοτήτων σαν του Drupal, αποφάσισα να κατέβω στο event.
Οικοδεσπότης το πολλά υποσχόμενο, διαφημιζόμενο, και πολλά εμμέσως πληρωμένο Microsoft Innovation Centre. Πολύ χάρηκα όταν έμαθα ότι το MC2 θα φιλοξενηθεί εκεί, αφού δίνει μια ευκαιρία στην Microsoft να ακούσει για τις νέες ιδέες και τεχνολογίες που είναι δημοφιλείς στο Internet (lightweight apps, modern languages, loosly-coupled services, open source methodologies) και, developers-θέλοντος και δεινοσαυρικών-managers επιτρέποντος, να βοηθήσουν την εταιρία να αντεπεξέλθει στις απαιτήσεις των σύγχρονων developers και χρηστών των προϊόντων της. Rants aside, ευχαριστούμε τη Microsoft για την πολύ ζεστή φιλοξενία, καθώς και τους υπόλοιπους χορηγούς (καφές, σάντουιτς, πίτσες, κλπ).
Χάρη στην πολύ καλή προετοιμασία των Bill και Κωνσταντίνα, όλα ήταν έτοιμα το πρωί όταν φτάσαμε. Πιάσαμε σύντομα τα startup-ικά με τον Γιώργο Τζιραλή με ωραίο εσπρεσσάκι στην ταράτσα/βεράντα του κτιρίου με θέα την πολυάσχολη Βασιλίσσης Σοφίας. Με το Γιώργο το Σάββατο θα μιλήσαμε για θέματα από bootsrapping σε exit strategies, recruiting σε management, venture capital σε actual business. Με τον Παναγιώτη Βρυώνη καλύψαμε όλες τις hot ιδέες που μας κατέβηκαν τελευταία στο κεφάλι, από projects του ενός ΣΚ (από αυτά που άλλοι θα έφτιαχναν startup ειδικά για αυτό) μέχρι και άλλα που θα ήθελαν δικό τους business plan. Good stuff.
Η συνεδρία μου με θέμα “Open Source and Startups” με σαφή παραδείγματα στο πώς το χρησιμοποιούμε στην Indifex για να κάνουμε ωραία πράγματα, πήγε πολύ καλά. Η προσέλευση ήταν πολύ καλή και έγιναν μερικές πολύ καλές ερωτήσεις οι οποίες φώτιζαν νέες πτυχές του θέματος. Χάρηκα που είχα την ευκαιρία να μιλήσω για αυτό το θέμα, αφού γενικώς υπάρχει η αντίληψη ότι το ελεύθερο λογισμικό είναι κάτι για “χομπίστες”, και σε αντιπαραβολή για αυτό μίλησα πώς βοήθησε την εταιρία μας να φτιάξει ένα προϊόν το οποίο χειρίζεται δεδομένα που φτάνουν σε 5εκ χρήστες, να δημιουργήσει μια φοβερή ομάδα από code hackers, και να την εκπαιδεύσει στη παραγωγική χρήση μερικών από των πιο leading-edge και hot τεχνολογιών στον τομέα του developing και system administration που υπάρχουν (Pyhton/Django, Distributed Versioning Systems, Amazon Web Services, Automated App Testing, κλπ).
Σε μια ad-hoc διάθεση, αποφάσισα να κάνω ένα δεύτερο session σχετικά με Web Frameworks, παρέα με τον Κόρακα. Με μια έντονη παρουσία του Drupal στο barcamp, η πρόταση ενός “anti-Drupal” session ήταν υπερβολικά δελεαστική ιδέα για να την προσπεράσουμε. Έτσι οργανώσαμε μια παρουσίαση/συζήτηση για τα εργαλεία που χρησιμοποιούν οι αληθινοί άντρες :P. Πέραν της πλάκας, μιλήσαμε για τις επιλογές από abstraction systems που έχει στη διάθεση του ένας web developer (και ο πελάτης, φυσικά), τα μέρη που ταιριάζει το χτίσιμο πάνω από ένα CMS, το τι συνεπάγεται αυτό και τους περιορισμούς που φέρνει μαζί του. Σε αντιπαραβολή βάλαμε τα web frameworks (Django, Ruby on Rails, CakePHP) και τα πλεονεκτήματα που φέρνουν στα διάφορα context που προκύπτουν από τις ανάγκες των πελατών.
Αυτά! Overall a great Saturday, με πολλή ενέργεια και νέες ιδέες.
~glezos happy.
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at night, Monday 16 March 2009
Indifex, Tech/web
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Media Camp Athens 2 — Recap (Comment!)
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Νέο slogan της Microsoft Hellas;
As seen at the Athens Microsoft Innovation Center
(Απαθανατίστηκε από τον nsyll)Αναρωτιέμαι ποιανού διεστραμμένου μυαλού ήταν αυτή η ιδέα…
English translation: Original slogan: “Your potential. Our passion.”, hacked one: “Our potential. Your mistake.” (rhymes with passion in Greek).
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at night, Monday 16 March 2009
Foss, Linux, Humor
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Νέο slogan της Microsoft Hellas; (Comment!)
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Thinkpad X61s and power consumption
Managed to drop my laptop’s idle power consumption to under 9.5W with a few keystrokes. I love Unix.
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at night, Monday 16 March 2009
Foss, Linux, Mini-Post
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Thinkpad X61s and power consumption (Comment!)
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YouTube Creativity
Awesome YouTube videos remix. Some people talk net piracy. We talk creativity. (via ogmaciel)
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at night, Monday 16 March 2009
Books/music/films, Mini-Post
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YouTube Creativity (Comment!)
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My MediaCamp2 presentation (14-15/3)
Σε μια στιγμή μεταξύ βαθυστόχαστης αυτογνωσίας και αλκοολούχας τρέλας, αποφάσισα να ανέβω στο MediaCamp2 barcamp το ΣαββατοΚύριακο 14-15/2. Είδα ενδιαφέροντες παρουσίες στο event, και είπα να παρευρεθώ και να κάνω μια παρουσίαση. Ας περιγράψω λίγο για τι ψήνομαι να μιλήσω, με την ελπίδα περισσότεροι entrepreneurs να έρθουν και να μάθουν από την εμπειρία μας.
Νομίζω δεν είναι μυστικό ότι στην Indifex αγαπάμε το ελεύθερο λογισμικό. Λίγο-πολύ όλη η ομάδα (5 hackers μέχρι στιγμής) είναι opensource-άδες, και οι developers είναι όλοι Linux-άδες με ενεργή εμπλοκή σε open source communities. Το κυρίως προϊόν μας είναι ελεύθερο λογισμικό το ίδιο, με τον πρώτο του χρήστη ένα δημοφιλές έργο ελεύθερου λογισμικού. Χρησιμοποιούμε σχεδόν αποκλειστικά ελεύθερα εργαλεία και μιλάμε ανοιχτά για τα σχέδια και τις ιδέες της εταιρίας.
Γιατί πίσω από το Transifex, μια εφαρμογή με ένα κοινό εκατομυρίων χρηστών, σημαντικός μέτοχος είναι η επιμονή μας στις ανοιχτές ιδέες και τη συνεργασία μέσω του ανοιχτού κώδικα της εφαρμογής μας.
Στο MediaCamp2 λοιπόν, σκέφτηκα να μοιραστώ και με άλλους “startuppers” πώς στην Indifex χρησιμοποιούμε το Open Source μοντέλο για cost reductions, high-efficiency in developing, talent recruiting, productive customer feedback, marketing, code stability κ.α.
Catchy one liner: “Grow your startup by standing on the shoulder of giants”.
Και ακόμη μία: “Dr. OpenSource or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Startup”.
Update: Η παρουσίαση ανέβηκε στο /box/presentations/mediacamp2/.
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at night, Friday 13 March 2009
Foss, Linux, Indifex, Startups
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My MediaCamp2 presentation (14-15/3) (Comment!)
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Transifex GSoC Ideas
RT: @transifex: Coder currently in University? Take a look at the Transifex GSoC Ideas @ http://transifex.org/wiki/Development/SummerCoding
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at night, Wednesday 11 March 2009
Foss, Linux, Mini-Post, Transifex
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Transifex GSoC Ideas (Comment!)
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Fedora L10n Project Advancement Study
“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
Mark Twain, originally by Benjamin Disraeli
Seeing some nifty statistics from the Fedora Ambassadors group, I decided to jot down some statistics for the Localization group too. Once in a while, it helps taking a step back, and be honest, judgemental and stern with ourselves, before finally concluding what an awesome job we did.
The dear reader is encouraged, with Mark Twain’s words in mind, to go on and read the following ultra-deceptive lies about FLP. The Sirens disguised as charts ruthlessly suggest and persuasively imply that the FLP, just like the Ambassadors group, is indeed growing and improving. It has been reported that the text has even created impossible feelings like, for example, that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. Or that the circle has only one side.
On to the data now.
(In some of the following graphs you’ll notice the absence of some data between last February and today. Feel free to blame my today’s lazyness and stiffness from yesterday’s rock climbing.)
Community
In the past 2 years we’ve changed a lot of things on how the L10n project is structured, how the language teams are organized, and how the actual work is being done.
On March 2007, the group ‘cvsl10n’ was created on the Fedora Account System. We used this group to identify translators and give them access to all projects hosted on the Fedora CVS server. Since then the Fedora Account System group has evolved and became the ID of a “Fedora Translator”. The following chart shows how the number of the Fedora Translators grew the past years.
Approximately 20 new translators join the group each month on a steady rate.
On communication, fedora-trans-list is the main channel of the FLP (together with #fedora-l10n of course). The following graph shows the volume of emails sent to the list for the past four years.
This graph reflects the “bandwidth” increase in the FLP’s main communication channel. Compared to 2005, the list’s content for 2006 grew by 200%, and each consecutive year saw a further increase of 70%. More issues get discussed and resolved, more people participate.
Uptake
With the term “project coverage” and “language coverage” we refer to the number of the resources (software, documentation, websites) we are translating, and the number of languages we are translating these resources to. High project coverage means more translated interfaces, and high language coverage means more Fedora users happy.
One of the best translatable resources Fedora builds are the release notes. I like looking at their coverage when I talk about the health of the FLP, since they are a tough resource to translate, both because of its size and its importance for every Fedora release. Here’s a graph showing in how many languages we shipped it since day 1.
Fedora is upstream for a number of projects. The project coverage measures how many projects we can translate. Increasing this metric was one of the reasons we migrated from elvis to the open Fedora Infrastructure: to allow more projects to be translated. One and a half year later, our infrastructure has improved, the community has grown, and more and more projects request translations. The following chart shows the number of projects that were available for translation on elvis and today.
Finally, the following chart shows the number of commits which happened through Transifex in the past months. In total, 5400 commits took place in the past 15 months, averaging 360 commits per month.
The string freeze periods where translators push their contributions can be seen as the ups in the chart.
L10n engineering
The main FLP tools live in cvs.fedoraproject.org (for now [hg soon], muahaha), ‘L10N’ repo. Files needed by the FLP to work properly are maintained there, such as the translation interface and the
owners.listfile that syncs with Bugzilla to have components created.By February 2009, around 3000 commits have landed on cvs/L10n measuring around 125 commits per month, or 4 per day. It’s worth noting that this repository receives a lot of love by our community members (thumbs-up to Piotr and Diego). These guys have been tirelessly maintaining the tools and keeping them in shape to serve our translation community as best as possible. The following chart helps illustrate the involvement of the volunteer community (non Red Hat employees) in the Fedora Localization toolchain.
Extremely happy to see so much community involvement in the admin side of FLP.
$me happy, listening to “Side” by Travis.
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at night, Sunday 8 March 2009
Fedora
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Fedora L10n Project Advancement Study (Comment!)
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Travis
What a great company Travis are in the wee hours.
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at night, Sunday 8 March 2009
Books/music/films, Mini-Post
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Travis (Comment!)
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In startup spree
Just met @diegobz at the Athens airport. Yippie, a new hardcore coding cycle begins. Predicting loads of coding and brainstorming, some long days and generally great times.
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at night, Thursday 5 March 2009
Indifex, Mini-Post
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In startup spree (Comment!)
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Transifex @ Media Camp Athens
Talk title for @MediaCampAthens: “Dr. OpenSource or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Startup. The Transifex case.”
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at night, Wednesday 4 March 2009
Mini-Post, Tech/web
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Transifex @ Media Camp Athens (Comment!)
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Ὅταν
Βρέφος ποὺ μᾶς κοιτᾶς
τὴν Ψυχούλα μου κλαῖς
τὰ Φτερὰ μου θὰ χάριζα
γιὰ νὰ μοῦ πεῖς,ἄν θὰ πετάξω ποτὲ
στ’ Ἄστρα ἑνὸς Οὐρανοῦ,
πιὸ ψηλοῦ ἀπ’ αὐτὸν
ποὺ τ’ Ἀστέρια κοιτοῦν.Θάνος Τσουάνας, “Ὅταν” (mp3)
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at night, Tuesday 3 March 2009
Quotes, Thoughts
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Ὅταν (Comment!)
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Transifex in yum for Fedora 11
Reviewers needed for packaging Transifex in Fedora’s yum repositories in time for Fedora 11. Also, Python packaging gurus might want to drop their 0.02 to the Django application packabing thread on fedora-devel.
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at night, Tuesday 3 March 2009
Foss, Linux, Mini-Post, Transifex
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Transifex in yum for Fedora 11 (Comment!)
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Hacking in bed
Late-night hacking in bed feels pretty good, I should do this more often.
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at night, Tuesday 24 February 2009
Mini-Post, Transifex
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Hacking in bed (Comment!)