Michiel van Vlaardingen

Sometimes I have a problem focusing on the work I’m currently doing.  And right at that point it’s very easy to wander and go browse for some news, get your email, etc.      Now the quick solution is:  turn of everything and shut down your internet connection.

It really helps sometimes, but most of the time it doesn’t… Why?  I need internet to work:

• synchronize code with the SVN repository
• work on a website that’s on a remote server
• search for documentation

So what I would really like to have is some  ‘work mode’ tray icon that would block everything except for a few things that I have allowed.   It would be even nicer if I could define different contexts that would allow different websites and connections.

Soon I will write a bit about the extended version of this idea that does a bit more than managing access to websites.

About this series: I believe execution is more important than the initial business idea.   At the same time  I have a lot of those ideas, that will never be executed by a shear lack of time.   That’s why I will start something new on this blog:  I will pitch my ideas here.    If you think it’s a good idea or know a service that already does such a thing, please leave a comment.

Ever tried brainstorming by chat?  You know what happens:  conversation will go into particular details soon and the general picture is forgotten. What I would love to have is a threaded chat where things are ordered by subject in a tree (or mindmap if you like)  so you can easily return to a topic and afterwards the chat log is actually a good and useful overview of your session.

The interface would have a summary tree with markings for active/unfinished/closed topics  and the currently active topic chat in an other pane.     This makes it into some sort of live collaborative mindmapping tool.

Some extras that would be nice:

• pre-programming your meeting agenda as the structure so you know that you won’t miss an item
• mobile version
• From: antirez : @Michielvv about idea #2 maybe also the ability to vote chat messages in real time during a brainstorm automatically removing downvoted.
  — Yes that could be a very nice addition
• Something that works well with a group of people in front of a beamer
  

About this series: I believe execution is more important than the initial business idea.   At the same time  I have a lot of those ideas, that will never be executed by a shear lack of time.   That’s why I will start something new on this blog:  I will pitch my ideas here.    If you think it’s a good idea or know a service that already does such a thing, please leave a comment.

Almost two years ago  I got some paint and a canvas for my birthday, but I never got around doing something with it.  Until today:

I think it came out a bit weird, but I’m happy with it for a first (and quick) effort.

I had a design for our business card lying around for more than a year.   There was a nice offer from VistaPrint so I thought I’d give it a go:

It’s quite ok, but I think having the blue printed as a single color, instead of using CMYK would give it a better look.  Also I would really like to put the illustration we have on our website  on the back, to make it a bit less formal.

Anyway,  I don’t really need business cards,  so probably the next edition will not be printed soon 🙂

I thought to give Linux another try on the desktop.  It has been eight years since the last try and things probably have advanced enough to warent a better experience.    After some fiddling with splitting the existing ntfs partition and a failed installation (screen went to black and it froze)  I now have Ubuntu installed.    Now the only thing that’s not working by default is my Dual-Screen  Matrox P650 Graphic card…. so i’m still stuck with a single screen.  The driver provided by Matrox is not working out of the box, so I’ll have to dive into forums, etc. to get it fixed, I hope.