Curtis Miller's Comments

Millarian : How Twitter replaced my RSS reader

Mon, 1 Nov 2010 20:52:21 +0000

Thanks Keith! I'd gone through several iterations of building up subscriptions, abandoning, coming back to my reader, purging my subscriptions and then doing it all over again. The 'Mark all as read' button was both my friend and my arch-nemesis. Now I don't worry about it so much. I wouldn't consider myself a heavy reader or blogger, but I can see a blended approach of social media and RSS for those that are. Thanks for pointing out your article, too.

Millarian : How Twitter replaced my RSS reader

Mon, 1 Nov 2010 17:55:14 +0000

Not really, that's why I mention lists, saved searches and RTs. Each of those are ways of discovering, or being directed to, content from people you may not follow. I also try to keep a balance between following locals and non-locals. Following too many local people begins to feel like an echo chamber. I consciously sought people in industries and positions, outside of Phoenix, from which I could learn.

Millarian : How Twitter replaced my RSS reader

Mon, 1 Nov 2010 06:41:16 +0000

As far as I know, most blog-to-Twitter integration is done via the Twitter API, not through RSS. However, there's a difference between RSS as a format (how it's published) and an RSS reader (how it's consumed). The latter is what this article is referring to. I read what I find interesting, regardless of popularity, and I trust the network I've established on Twitter to help vet those articles. There are several authors that I previously subscribed to in a reader, or just dropped in and read, that I now follow on Twitter (e.g., Umair Haque, Paul Graham). Except, now I get to see their daily thoughts and articles they read, as well as the articles they write.

Millarian : How Twitter replaced my RSS reader

Mon, 1 Nov 2010 03:39:59 +0000

Haha, fair enough :) Do a majority of articles you read arrive via RSS or are they from other sources? Have you noticed a shift at all?

Millarian : Say hello to the new Phoenix OpenCoffee Club

Fri, 3 Sep 2010 19:56:16 +0000

Thanks Joel! There's actually quite a bit of startup activity in Phoenix, but it's very spread out. I'm hoping this can become a resource for people to learn more about those people and companies as well as generally about entrepreneurship.

Millarian : IE7 resize window problem

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 18:21:02 +0000

I agree. IE8 is much better than IE6/IE7, but still has some goofiness, as you'll see in my next post ;) Since you're the HTML/CSS master, how often do you run into issues like these? Or do you know them well enough to avoid them?

Millarian : Honeypot Captchas for Rails

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 18:17:35 +0000

I added this to version 0.0.2 of the gem. I turned the honeypot_fields method into a Hash of field name/label text pairs. Theoretically, you should be able to override that method with your own Hash if you wanted more fields, different names, different label values, etc. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Millarian : Honeypot Captchas for Rails

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 01:29:52 +0000

I think that's a very valid point. Currently, their experience will be pretty poor. What do you think would make it better? e.g., adding a label to each field with instructions to not fill it out

Millarian : Nads: My First Firefox Extension

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 23:34:59 +0000

Sorry about that. It died when I migrated my blog...

Millarian : Observations Photographing LaidOffCamp Phoenix

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:50:05 +0000

Thanks for the advice! That's one of the main reasons I am trying photography: to get out of my comfort zone. Being a programmer, I tend to spend all of my time on the computer, but I was longing for something that would get me away from that and challenge me in different ways. I'm still trying to decide if photography is something I actually like or something I want to like... So far, though, it's been great!

Millarian : Observations Photographing LaidOffCamp Phoenix

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:47:36 +0000

Thanks for the encouragement! I think I almost understood what you're saying... still learning all the terminology. With the higher f stop, like f/8, more of the frame should be in focus right? I borrowed a lens from Tyson; it's a 28-90mm, so maybe I'll try using that a little more, too. I don't plan to continue manual focus forever, but it's been a great learning experience. It's even made me think about how my eyes see the world, which is something I didn't really contemplate before.

Millarian : Observations Photographing LaidOffCamp Phoenix

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:43:33 +0000

Thanks Charlene, I really appreciate your encouragement! I'd love to do it again, so maybe some event will give me a chance to try. Next time, I'll consult with professionals about what I should bring first though :)

Millarian : Observations Photographing LaidOffCamp Phoenix

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:19:19 +0000

Thanks Jim, that's probably one of the best compliments someone can give to a newbie :) I barely did any post-processing on the photos, but if you see something you like, feel free!

Millarian : Observations Photographing LaidOffCamp Phoenix

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:36:20 +0000

As the first assignment? Uh... no! But, I think that would be a great addition about midway through. Perhaps it could be the midterm :)

Millarian : Observations Photographing LaidOffCamp Phoenix

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:35:26 +0000

Well said, James! Yes, I used the 50mm all day on manual...

Millarian : Observations Photographing LaidOffCamp Phoenix

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:33:36 +0000

Thanks Susan! I'm glad I didn't disrupt the sessions too much, event if I was in flip-flops :D

Millarian : Building a Strong Company Culture

Fri, 7 Aug 2009 22:22:17 +0000

That's why, as an employer, you would be periodically asking yourself the Keeper Test. If the answer is that you wouldn't fight to keep someone, then why are you still employing them? As Netflix stated, let them go now so you can fill that position with someone you would fight for.

Millarian : Gravatar Problems

Tue, 4 Aug 2009 18:37:30 +0000

I looked around and it doesn't appear that I have the plugin. Sorry!

Millarian : Gravatar Problems

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:19:51 +0000

Sorry, I got rid of my Mephisto installation when I moved to Wordpress. Sounds like a good time to make a new publicly available Mephisto plugin though ;)

Millarian : Using Foursquare to Discover Phoenix

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:09:34 +0000

The top complaints I've heard about Foursquare are the mobile website and difficulty entering venues. I'm confident that Naveen and Dennis will sort these out as they move forward. Check out the Foursquare feedback page and add comments, votes or new problems so they know what should be improved next. I think they've done a great job so far releasing a free, useful application that encourages people to discover their city. It's not perfect, but it will get better as people continue to add new venues and provide feedback.