grant watson

Stevey’s Blog Rants: Done, and Gets Things Smart
All too often I find myself on interview loops where the candidate knows a seemingly astounding amount about coding, computer science, software engineering, and general industry topics, but we find out at the last minute that they can’t code Hello, World
(tags: hiring philosophy psychology humour)

Google’s Peter Norvig on Why (Some) Humans Do it Better! : SEO Book.com
Exposure from top rankings already creates a self-reinforcing effect because of the power of defaults. Further tying in search usage data directly into relevancy might not add much benefit to searchers, especially as more people click on the first search
(tags: seo google search)

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Robin Blandford [ ByteSurgery.com - Digital Media Engineering ] » Blog Archive » Learning How To Price Your Web App
Unlike many traditional models, it seems web app prices are not pay as much as you eat. You do not get charged per item, rather you buy a bundle that has limits. Prices have to be [...]

http://mashable.com/2008/06/12/web-design-tutorials/
10 video tutorials that show you the basics of web design, from some basic PHP to creating your first website to creating WordPress themes.
(tags: video tutorial webdesign web design css wordpress themes)

Coding Horror: Markov and You
What’s amazing to me about Markov chains is how unbelievably simple they are. A Markov chain has no memory of previous states: the next state is chosen based on a random dice roll and a lookup into a table of the states that tend to historically follow th
(tags: programming)

http://zenhabits.net/2008/06/7-habits-essential-for-tackling-the-multitasking-virus/
“Skipping along the surface will get us nowhere, and if we cultivate the muscle of digging deep, then it will grow. Not only will single-tasking increase effectiveness, but it will also open up our creativity in the learning process. We’ll start making
(tags: learning lifehacks productivity success philosophy gtd)

http://www.osnews.com/images/comics/wtfm.jpg
The only valid measurement of code quality: WTFs/minute
(tags: [...]

Travel Muse Brings “Discovery” To Travel Search
TravelMuse, which has just launched, makes the argument that there’s still room for more “inspiration” in travel search.
(tags: travel search)

Why we skip Photoshop - (37signals)
You can’t click a Photoshop mockup… They aren’t real. Paper isn’t real either, but paper doesn’t have that expectation. A Photoshop mockup is on your screen. If it’s on your screen it should work.
(tags: interface design methodology webdesign usability software)

Coding Horror: Please Give Us Your Email Password
As a software developer, [...]

47 Hats - The future doesn’t just happen.
Let’s make available a optional protocol so any physical object, location or event can be uniquely identified. A really simple system, totally voluntary, user/developer friendly and even kind of fun. Let’s let government - you know, the people who man
(tags: future trends japan technology)

Coding Horror: Designing For Evil
Any public facing website that allows users to post content of any kind is vulnerable to the actions of a handful of evil, spammy users. It’s not pleasant. It is a dark mirror into the ugly underbelly of human nature. But it’s also an unfortunate, unavoid
(tags: web spam design)