Alan Williamson

Observations on software, leadership,
and thinking like a CTO

  • Kobo Libra Color: Fast, Functional, and Perfect for Readers

    So, I started with a Kindle but didn’t like it much and switched to a second-hand Kobo Forma, which I loved until I broke it. Now I’m using the Kobo Libra Color and it’s super fast, has great battery life, and supports note-taking. If you’re looking for an alternative to Kindle, check out Kobo!

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    Kobo Libra Color: Fast, Functional, and Perfect for Readers

  • Yahoo ‘to buy Tumblr for $1.1bn’

    Yahoo’s board has approved a deal to buy New York-based blogging service Tumblr for $1.1bn (£725m), US media reports say. The acquisition is expected to be announced as early as Monday. Once more I have done it again; signed up for a service and in a matter of days learn it is to be acquired. Read Post ⇢

  • NetworkSolutions – is there any real point of them?

    I have been a loyal user of NetworkSolutions for near on 10 years. At my usage peak I had well over a 100 domains managed through them.  However, of late I have been slowly transferring blocks of them over to GoDaddy.  Why? Simple.  Their user interface is an abortion of Web2,0 magnitude.  Too many upsells, Read Post ⇢

  • Free Yourself from Conventional Thinking

    The first step is to consider the way you have always done business — and stop. Failing to do so not only prevents truly innovative thinking; it also ensures failure. An excellent piece on what it means to break away from the conventional wisdom and stop repeating the same tasks.   If your company tells Read Post ⇢

  • patrickborn: Fractured Prune Donuts #lancaster #donuts #powerrings Lancaster, PA 3 out of 5 on the donut scale One of our chaps brought in 3 boxes of wonderful doughnuts which is just the sort of thing you need to power through the mornings worth of meetings.   Development is not always cutting code. Read Post ⇢

  • Dying Careers and their alternatives

    http://education.yahoo.net/articles/careers_dead_by_2020.htm?kid=1LFZ5 Fascinating list this, particular when they advise that instead of going into semi-conductors you may want to look at Database Administration instead. Where is the relationship to semi-conductors?   You may as well said “Sheep Herding” – which incidentally is my own pipe-dream should this computer game finish. Dying Careers and their alternatives Read Post ⇢

  • Tumblr Engineering: Open Source – Memcache Top

    mobocracy: We rely on memcache pretty heavily at Tumblr, with over 10TB of cache memory available across the stack. One of the things we’ve historically had a challenging time with at Tumblr is finding hot keys. A hot key is a memcache key getting dramatically more activity than other keys…. I do love a good Read Post ⇢

the leg-end that is, Alan Williamson.

For over 20 years, I’ve shared my thoughts whenever the muse strikes. It’s unpredictable, honest, unedited, and occasionally witty. I’m living the best years of my life, working harder than ever, and enjoying every second.