gigaom.com has a piece that was picked up by the NY Times technology bits blog about Ribbit a newish player in VOIP who is taking a more platform approach to telephony and the web.

Can Ribbit Finally Bring Web & Voice Together?

If you strip away the hype (meaningless blather such as the company’s claim of being Silicon Valley’s first phone company), what they have done is built their own Class 5 softswitch and back-end infrastructure and married it to front-end technologies like Flash and Flex from Adobe Systems (ADBE).

Accordingly, Ribbit is offering API (Application Protocol Interface) access to much of our switch today, allowing third party developers to create rich integrated telephony applications without previous knowledge of telephony. Currently, the Ribbit API is optimized for Flash / Flex developers because of the pervasiveness of the technology (Flash is resident on 98% of the world’s computers). This means that Ribbit communication applications written in Flash will run without the need of a client download.

I'm starting to futz with video and video conferencing and voip. I got myself a Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooksand have been having a blast. tokbox.com let's you do p2p video without any software install. And we use Adobe Breeze / Connect Pro at work and it is fantastically easy to use and has pretty good video support.

If you're looking for something to do tonight I have just the thing. Come see The All-For-Nots play at Mercury Lounge (217 E. Houston Street - corner Avenue A & Houston) at 7:30. This is your chance to notch your I-saw-them-when belt so you are well prepared for when they mahir.

I'll be there tonight support my friend Kathleen, producer extraordinaire. It's also endlessly humorous to me that they are following a band called the The Neverbeens. I can't think of a better opening act for a psuedo-fictional real band.

This is really amazing. One family has owned the same townhouse in Brooklyn since 1866 and apparently they more or less kept most things. Be sure and check out the slide show.

The Ghosts of Clinton Street

Bar of Gold is a fairly simple word problem I give people I interview for technical positions. It's not huge think question, IMHO. It's really designed to see if you can conjure a thought process. And while there are, I'm sure high fa luting ways to solve it, a straight forward brute force attack and you can't help but solve it. The most common response I get from candidates is to stare intently at the white board and make a face like that makes me hope their are wearing and adult diaper. The most successful candidates at this just start solving the problem out loud and quickly realize that by beginning to solve it you pretty much can't help but solve it. I know this, because I was presented this problem in an interview with a much higher value and I managed to solve it.

Here is the problem:

You have 1 bar of gold and 7 days of work to be done. You hire a man to do the work for you and agree to pay him 1/7th of your bar of gold a day. You must pay him in full at the end of every day. The problem is you can only cut the bar of gold in two places. Where do you make the two cuts in the bar of gold so that you can pay him properly each day?

Additional Info: Since you live in such a remote location the guy doesn't have any where to spend any of the money you pay him from day to day and because you don't provide your employees with lockers he carries all his gold on him.

My feeling is if you start to solve the problem using trial and error you'll come across the solution pretty quickly. If you stare at it, you invite an aneurysm.

Now the funny part. I had to write this down somewhere. A while back we did a mass intern interview where the candidates showed up anytime from 10 AM to 3 PM and during that window we would try and get them seen by at least 2 interviewers. The thing about intern interviews is that you can't really expect the students to have specific technical expertise, you're looking for good foundations in Computer Science and problem solving and communication abilities. That's why I like the bar of gold. You have to have problem solving abilities and explain to me how you arrived at the solution.

Well, there was one candidate who was exceptionally nervous to whom I gave this problem. He looked as if is head was going to explode until I repeated the question about 5 times clarifying the problem. He then proceeded to scribble down the following formula and then look up at me half triumphantly and half in uncertainty and more or less remarked, "there."

$[\; 1\; -\; [\; 1\; -\; (\; 1\; -\; \Delta \; 1/7)\; 1/7\; ]\; 1/7\; ]$

There what? How did you arrive at this conclusion and what is the answer? Nothing. And while I'm not sure what that formula expresses, I'm reasonably confident it's not the answer.

In case you can't figure it out I'll leave the answer in the comments in a few days.

Answer posted in the comments 12/16/2007

If you're looking for directions to Dave & Busters in Phoenix click here

Today was my second all time ever visit to Dave & Busters. The first time was in Phoenix. There is a bowling alley at the one in Phoenix (actually Scottsdale) and we had a great time at the lanes with wife's family over Thanksgiving. While technically that was a D&B experience, it was a bowling alley. I did go upstairs there to the game area and play one of my favorite video games from years gone by and get hit on by a cougar. Overall, impression of the place more or less neutral - game room really didn't do much for me.

Today we went to the D&B on 42nd street in NYC for an intern event for work. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not ungrateful for an all expense, open bar, game play on the company, trip to D&B. I just wasn't finding much in the game room that was all that great. The whole place was littered with those terrible dexterity games where you drop a coin onto a shelf in the hopes that your coin will shove others off the shelf. What are those? Other than that it's one Dance Dance Revolution in the corner, a Donkey Kong / Super Mario Brothers / Donkey Kong Junior game next to Miss Pac Man and Space Invaders consoles. On the upside, having it be a Tuesday afternoon with two cocktail waitresses who have nothing else to do but follow us around bringing beverages. So at the end of the day, I don't ever really need to go back to D&B, but then again how does the old saying go, "the worst day fishing is better than the best day at work."

Where to start? Since I last posted the bathroom has more or less been entirely finished. Once they finally vacated last Thursday (Day 10) I was overjoyed. There was a board game group at work that night so I hung out and played. I got home around 11 PM, before my wife who was out with friends, to find a puddle in the bathroom coming out from under the vanity. I looked and found that the cold water feed valve to the sink was leaking. I sopped up the water; put a deli container underneath and called the landlord to express my displeasure.

So, day 11 - they come back and fix the valve. I didn't bother to tell him that the seal around the new kitchen faucet was crap. I'll fix that on my own.

Saturday morning, day 12, I'm cleaning up and going to put down a bath mat and realize there is a 2" darkening of the floor around the toilet - what granite floors do when they are wet. So I call the landlord figuring there is some water seepage from the base of the toilet into the floor. No visible water just evidence there is moisture there. He comes over and visits. Long story short, today, day 13, the landlord and the contract stop by and fix the tiny leak in the vanity drain, I had also found on Saturday. The Landlord called me today and told me the contractor assures him there is no problem with the toliet. Not that I care, not my building, so whatever. But they did fix the leaky drain in the vanity.

Bottom line I am thoroughly unimpressed with this contractor's work. The obvious problems aside, the work overall is ripe with cut corners and things that I am going to feel compelled to go back over and dress up a bit. I have to look at them every day.

My friend Kathleen's (creator of theburg.tv) latest endeavor has kicked off in anticipation of it's kick-off.  The All-For-Nots is a band out to "conquer the world wide web..."

I'm excited to see what she's got up her sleeve as I really enjoyed the burg.

I still enjoy watching my favorite episode of the burg - Training. What can I say, I live in Queens and I love the Doppelgängers

All that is left is the vanity, the medicine cabinet, the light fixture over the vanity, and theoretically they are also going to install a new faucet in my kitchen.  The contractor thinks he can do all of this between 8 AM and 11 AM tomorrow.  Yeah right. 

At any rate, the floor is in; the new toilet is in; the shower is in (with my hand picked nice shower head) and I can take showers at home again.  Basically, as soon as he left today and had said I could use the shower I showered, just on principle.

What I'm really afraid of is what he's going to bring for the Vanity.  I mean I already have "Suburban Housewife's Italian Fantasy" (thanks Sarah)  I'm afraid I'm going to get a vanity to match.  It's become painfully clear that because I don't write the check for the work, I am a bystander to be dealt with.  If I really wanted to affect anything I'd have to throw a major fit and piss on the relationship with my landlord, who is pretty great.  Arghhhh.

Well, here is the latest progress. 

I'm guessing this is as boring for you as it is for me, but rest assured you're doing a good deed - this is really cathartic for me.

I love this 80's hit and I have no idea what it means. Apparently, it was a love song?

I promise not too re-point you to or repost EVERYTHING Noam (Pygmy Goats - Man's Best Friend) posts but damn if I can't NOT post this one.

Shawn, I totally get it now. I'd probably go for stew, seems a bit small for kebabs.

I guess it must be day 8... They started last Tuesday.  I'm starting to care less what my bathroom looks like and more that I just get one.  Landlord has said it might be done tomorrow.  Let's all hope together.

I will be using that, big time. I love me the color codes. 

I just want my bathroom back.

Day 5 - Yep they worked on Saturday

Day 6 - Oh yeah the tile is ugly.

GoolgeBlogscoped has an article about the Google Intranet

What the Google Intranet Looks Like

What do around 16,000 Google employees stare at in the morning when they’ve arrived at the office? They might be looking at Moma, the name for the Google intranet. The meaning of the name of “Moma” is a mystery even to some of the employees working on it, we heard, but Moma’s mission is prominently displayed on its footer: “Organize Google’s information and make it accessible and useful to Googlers.”

The article is not all that exciting a read. I don't know really anything about GoolgeBlogscoped and based on the obsessive fascinated tone of the entry I don't think I'll be reading them much.

My wife and I spent some quality time this weekend getting ourselves taken off of spammy useless catalogs we got in the mail.  It all started when we just started going through the mail pile.  She had a catalog in her hand and remarked, "I need to get taken off this one".  I grabbed it and the phone and dialed the 800 number.  Then she handed me another and another until I had called 19 retailers.  At which point we were flabberghasted that we were recieving so much junk.  There are two others Dover Publications and Anthropologie that have no telephone number that I could find in the catalogs.  So overall there are 21 that I attempted to get us removed from (19 successfully). 

Here is the list of catalogs and the 800 numbers if you're thinking about removing yourself, although you will likely need the catalog to provide exact address and name information:

1. The Sharper Image (800) 344-444
2. Garnet Hill (800) 622-6216
3. Red Envelope (877) 733-6383
4. sundance (800) 422-2770
5. Urban Outfitters (800) 282-2200
6. Athleta (888) 322-5515
7. Wine County Gift Baskets (800) 394-0394
8. The Container Store (800) 733-3532
9. Eddie Bauer (800) 426-8020
10. J Crew (800) 562-0258
11. Woolrich (877) 512-7305
12. Uncommon Goods (888) 365-0056
13. Neiman Marcus (800) 825-8000
14. L.L. Bean (800) 221-4221
15. Space.NK (212) 941-4222
16. Fossil (866) 510-4460
17. The Territory Ahead (800) 882-4323
18. Title Nine (800) 609-0092
19. Sahalie (800) 458-4438 (this one deserves special mention, when I called the woman on the phone told me there were THREE catalogs she could help me with.  So, she took me off ALL three, the other two I can't recall and have never heard of)

There are 3 we decided to keep:

1. Archie McPhee
2. Crate & Barrel (we're in the market for some furniture)
3. Heifer International (which incidentally is a philanthropic organization dedicated to ending hunger and poverty)

We spread all the catalogs out on the floor and took some pictures so you could see how much stuff all this really is.

Friending, Ancient or Otherwise

“In tribal cultures, your identity is completely wrapped up in the question of how people know you,” he says. “When you look at Facebook, you can see the same pattern at work: people projecting their identities by demonstrating their relationships to each other. You define yourself in terms of who your friends are.”

In tribal societies, people routinely give each other jewelry, weapons and ritual objects to cement their social ties. On Facebook, people accomplish the same thing by trading symbolic sock monkeys, disco balls and hula girls.

While I was in Phoenix last week for Thanksgiving we did a little antiquing on 7th Avenue. We went to a great antique / architectural salvage place called

QCumberz Highly Recommend
4429 N 7th Ave
Phoenix, AZ 85013
map

Long story short, we've been looking for a couch / love seat for our living room - something small and well suited for our tiny NYC apartment. Well we came upon the following and managed to get it for $99 - a bargain if you ask me.

My wife initially picked up on the idea of using them as a couch for our living room. I was a bit skeptical because I'm not a fan of goldenrod, but after the fellow at the store told me how easy they would be to re-upholster and I got a good look at them, I was sold. Now all I have to do is get them here from Phoenix - Road trip anyone?