.: On Tokyo Time :.

Some people are sweating over at Google trying to get Blogger/Blogspot back up. The status blog says it should be back since this morning but right now I can’t reach http://blogspot.com/ and get a HTTP 500 (sometimes 502) and some user blogs.

I just got this lovely picture when accessing YouTube:

I even got a 401 Forbidden for a bit. Note that it says “scheduled”!?!

I love it when a big company buys a startup and the next day the big company is held responsible for failures, performance problems or downtime. Happened back when Yahoo! bought Flickr for example. I wonder if this happens here to…

Note: The immediate impact of such an acquisition on the IT architecture is zero. No servers are being moved from one colo to another. Not even files are being transfered from one server to another. Change takes time and will happen gradually. I’m sure YouTube is still running on its own servers today.

It’s already old news by now: Firefox 2.0 is here! What are you waiting for? Go getfirefox.com!

See also IE7 Is Here - Yahoo! Branded Version Installed and Firefox 2.0 rc 3.

Note to self: Go tweak the config [via Zawodny's linkblog]. Who needs the close button when you have Ctrl+w?

I’ve been reading Metroblogging San Francisco for quite a while. They have short (I like short) posts about local events, sometimes funny, sometimes informative, sometimes both.

And they just announced their 50th blog, Metroblogging Graz. Now I had no clue that there is more than the one I’m reading (let alone 50). And I didn’t know that they’re also covering Europe. I went to look at the full list of cities immediately! But no, Switzerland is nowhere on the list :(. C’mon guys!

This Dove “commercial” got me thinking [via Coolz0r*]. The idols we’re looking up to and measuring us against are not real anymore! So how can we live up to the challenge?

I remember when Dove took regular (as in real) women as models for their ad campaign a few years ago. A brave move. And it must have worked as they’re continuing down that route. It is refreshing to see a company fighting the extreme that the fashion and beauty industry have become.

Safeway is also trying to save our values (and us). I read on a milk carton last week something along the lines of “Eat dinner with your family”. They forgot to mention “Turn off your TV first”. I’ll post the details of that campaign later.

I do appreciate the efforts of the two companies even though I am a little skeptical (and cynical) about the campaigns. Both companies are clearly trying to position themselves as the consumers’ friend that is looking out for them.

Kaiser Permanente has already achieved this image. The sun screen booth at a concert in Golden Gate Park was simple, ingenious and felt totally authentic.

How long will it take Safeway to change their image? Also read this BusinessWeek article on what Safeway has been doing and is doing for its image.

* Yes, I’m subscribed again, but the pictures still don’t show up in Yahoo! Mail’s RSS reader

Capital One is closing in on Washington Mutual trying to be the most obnoxious bank (see Number 5 - Thanks Washington Mutual and My Fourth Credit Card Application in 1 Week). Today’s pre-approved credit card offer comes from Carole M. Vaughn personally. Thanks Carole.

And we have a new contender: Tribute! Tri who?

Ok, back to more interesting stuff…

Update 10/26/06: Washington Mutual is not giving up that quickly. I have just received number 7! That’s a pretty comfortable lead..

To focus the search field in the browser chrome:

• hit Ctrl+k in Firefox 2.0
• hit Ctrl+e in IE7

I love consistency ;). See also my gripes about tab switching.

Btw, the Yahoo! live search in Firefox is pretty cool. I don’t think there is a shortcut to focus the search box in the Yahoo! toolbar.

The always useful F6 is another great one to know. And try F11 is you don’t know that one. And obviously Alt+left arrow (who needs backspace!?!) and Alt+right arrow.

Microsoft has released IE7 and pushes it out via Windows Update - a bold move. Yahoo! has released a branded (optimized) version of IE7 which I installed.

During the installation I realized that I didn’t set a system restore point. There is no cancel button once the installation is running. And Windows Update was installing at the same time. Luckily everything went well and I’m back online after a restart.

IE7 comes with tabs but I can’t figure out the keyboard shortcut to go to the next/previous tab (Ctrl+Page Up/Down in Firefox). At least Ctrl+t and Ctrl+w are working. The menu bar is hidden by default (Yahoo! version only?) which gives you more screen real estate.

The upgrade process requires a verification of the Windows license. This might lead to IE6 sticking around on more computers than most webdevs hope for.

I will probably continue using IE 7 and Firefox 2.0 on a daily basis.

Also see Firefox 2.0 rc 3

You know the Mac commercials with the PC Guy and the Mac Guy. I had to laugh pretty hard when I read the following story about the background of the actors a while ago [via Gizmodo]:

Radar interviews John Hodgman, you know, the PC Guy from the Apple ads. And reading it makes me feel just stupid. You know he works for the Daily Show, but did you know he’s a full fledged NY Times Magazine editor and writer, and was a reporter for NPR’s This American Life? Justin Long, the Mac Guy, is best known for working with Lindsay Lohan in Herbie Fully Loaded, Vince Vaughn in Dodgeball, and his cameo on That 70’s Show. Well then.

The writer in John Hodgman was reading out of his new book “The Areas of My Expertise” in San Francisco last week [via Metroblogging San Francisco]. I haven’t heard anything about the book and I’m definitely curious.

Tim Bonneman from Planblog asks why we love Europe and gives his #37 out of 100.

Reason #44 why I love Europe:

The immense diversity in a relatively small area. Every country is so different and unique. The people, the countryside, the religion, the language, everything!

I have to agree with his compliment to the European women though. Funny that we both live in the Silicon Valley…

Update: Web Monday Second Life is coming up on MON Oct 23, 2006 (Tim is the “organizer”). I’ve been to the two real world Web Montags in the Silicon Valley. This virtual one sounds like an interesting experiment. I’ve seen demos of Second Life but haven’t had the urge to join yet. Then again I’m not a gamer.

Niniane Wang (Google) said [via Google Blogoscoped]:

(…) problems usually occur due to mistakes rather than incompetence or indifference. (…) Not blaming means the cost of failure is tolerable. This allows people to feel free to innovate with high-risk high-reward ideas.

This is essential in combination with taking risks (see I’m so glad you made this mistake). It is not enough to encourage taking risks, it is also important to make sure that employees are protected from blame and sanctions if something doesn’t go according to plan. Sometimes you’re betting too high or on the wrong horse.

My Internet connection is really flaky tonight. Not sure what’s going on. Comcast usually has good service.

Anyway, makes me realize how dependent on the Internet I am. It’s not even worth turning on the computer if the Internet is down. There is nothing to do. I even listen to my music online (Yahoo! Music Unlimited, soma fm, di.com). And I’m going crazy right now because it has to rebuffer every 20 seconds!

I just received number 5 (!!) of the exclusive pre-approved offer (for a credit card) from Washington Mutual (see My Fourth Credit Card Application in 1 Week). Washington Mutual must really like me. 5 applications in 3 weeks… C’mon, give me a break! Save the paper, I won’t sign up! I never liked obnoxious companies and you’re only making it worse.

At the same time I received some credit thing (credit line) from Citibank. Including a number to call to ’stop receiving “prescreened” offers’. Maybe I should give it try (the phone number, not the offer). I wonder if it would take care of Washington Mutual too. Does anyone have experience with this?

Update (10/19/06): I received number 6 from Washington Mutual! WTF? And number 3 from Capitol One. Oh boy! I’m feeling bad for the trees that had to die for this nonsense…

Firefox just upgraded itself to v2.0rc3 (from rc2). There are two really cool changes coming with version 2.0 of Firefox:

• Spell check as you type in textarea
• In page search in textarea

As we spend more and more time in the browser, small improvements like the two above make a huge difference. I spend more time in twiki and web-based email than in any desktop application.

Thanks Firefox!

While I’m still being flooded by credit card applications pre-approvals and offers (see comments to ‘My Fourth Credit Card Application in 1 Week‘), I also had a very interesting experience with my existing credit card. Here is a summary of the phone call:

Me: Hi, I would like to increase my credit limit.

Customer Care Representative: Sure, what amount were you thinking of?

Me: 3000

CSR: I can offer you 2500.

Me: Ok.

CSR: Good, I can change your credit limit to 2500 right now.

Me: Ok, sounds good.

CSR after a couple of minutes: Ok, you’re new credit limit is 3000.

I asked for 3000 and got 3000. But I was told I could only have 2500. Huh? Nevermind.