pedrosttau's posthaven

As soon as the announcement was made that Posterous had been acquired by Twitter, it was obvious to me that the service would not survive for long.

Unfortunately, this was the case. On the February15th, Posterous Founder and CEO Sachin Agarwal posted in the company’s blog that on the 30th of April, Posterous service would be shutting down. The message was short and sweet; lights were going to be “turned off” indefinitely on all desktop and mobile applications as from that moment forward.

Posterous was a great idea, very well executed, but like many others before, without a solid monetization model behind it. It’s the product of a generation of entrepreneurs that did not care too much for making money. 

I can relate to this in more ways than I would like to. Making a difference while worrying about utility bills is draining and ultimately, constraints growth.

Checking out

I found that a great idea wants to be born and wants to fulfill its promise. It does think it needs funding, business cases, risk assessment, or legal support. It just wants to exist. Unfortunately, a great idea does not know if its good or bad. 

Posterous happened to be a good one, a very good one, however, even good ideas need fuel to run, and it does not matter how disruptive or innovative something is, if it does not have financial backing, it is not likely that it will take off. This was what ultimately sealed Posterous destiny. 

Fortunately, the idea that every cloud service should be free or depend on advertising seems to be slowly fading away. Even the likes of Google is now moving from relying exclusively on Pay-Per-Click advertising and is charging for services online. I am hoping this will lead the way for other companies, particularly startups, to start thinking differently about the sustainability of their products before they hit the market. Very few ideas can survive if they do not have means to survive.

The Posterous Experience

I hav nothing but great things to say about my time as a Posterous user. It had this awesome vibe about it that sometimes its hard to explain. Looking at it “scientifically”, it did not really have any disruptive functionality, but a combination of different factors made the platform special. 

The folks at Posterous paid a lot of attention to detail, enabling a wonderful, consistent user experience within their platform. The Blog templates were an extension of this experience. Every element of the Blog design was carefully design with purpose, unnecessary functionality and elements was stripped away. 

The only downside I can remember as a Posterous was the reliability and availability of their network. It was always been somewhat flaky, something that most users have learned to accept as the downside to a free service. This was however all too unnecessary, as I am very certain most users would have gladly paid for the service, I know I would.

Posthaven as an alternative

So how does Posthaven compare to Posterous? 

Posthaven is co founded by Garry Tan and Brett Gibson, both previous co founders at Posterous. The company's pledge states that it is in this for the long run. It bravely emphasis a principle that I think should be at the core of every entrepreneurial venture; Companies need money to be able to survive. 

Currently the homepage is just a splash page that talks about the companies pledge, and a bit about the service. One needs to register to fully experience everything beyond that page. 

The registration process is very straightforward, email, password, subdomain url,  and you are done. Keep in mind that you will need to provide credit card information to be able to login, but no charges will be made beyond the trial period. Nevertheless, payment information needs to be provided in order to access the dashboard features. 

One thing I accidently noticed was that even when I did not provide my payment details at first, I was able still able to register and I think my username was immediately “reserved”, because the second time I tried to register, it made me login, even though I had not provided my credit card details on the previous attempt. 

Importing my Posterous blog was extremely easy, I only needed to provide my Posterous credentials while logged in on both platforms, and the process was quick. Its worth to note that I chose to only import 70 posts, so not sure how the system will behave with bigger blogs. 

The User Dashboard is very well built and easy to use. In comparison to Posterous, its as clean, but somehow feels more robust. There is an apparent understanding of what made Posterous successful, even with the bare minimum functionality available at the moment.

Every detail was looks like it was carefully engineered into the concept. The User Interface is device responsive, and looks amazing in a Tablet. There is an ability to add posts seaminglessly across devices, even on a mobile phone. A user can start a post on a desktop, and continuously edit it on other devices until its ready to be published. 

It is already possible to create multiple blogs through the admin interface, and import content from Posterous. Within the blogs, the functionality is still slightly limited, but it is possible to assign a custom domain to a blog, edit its name and description, and of course, add and edit posts.

There are some features that I am hoping to see very soon. I miss Social Connections and ability to post to different social channels is a must. It would also be good to see more blog templates, but I would rather see very few amazing templates rather than a focus in quantity. Afterall, one of the Unique Selling points of Posthaven should be a “refocus” on content. 

Endless widgets, plugins and functionalities that regurgitate third party content should be left for other blog platforms, like Wordpress and Blogger. Posthaven users care about the content they produce, about how its published and how its used by people. I feel this is exactly what Posthaven needs to capitalize on. Posthaven bloggers are not like any other bloggers, treating them differently, the same way Apple treated their small user base 10 years ago, looks like the right thing to do. 

In short, Posthaven needs to Stick to the basic principles behind a Blogging platform for people who create unique content, stripping away everything that is a distraction, providing the tools to create and share blog posts from any device.

Posthaven is off to a great start and has the potential to become as unique and awesome as Posterous once was. It also seems to be avoiding the mistakes made by posterous by understanding that the service will need to be paid to be able to survive and evolve.

Had an interesting discussion a couple of weeks ago about the best way to identify servers in a scalable and sustainable way.  I used to be very keen in naming boxes with generic unconventional unique names. i.e. city names, colours, movie characters,  but have found that this simply does not scale.

Had a very good piece of advice from my friend Christopher Farley that gave me a different insight to this and outlined the importance of getting this right when scalability is a factor.

In his view,taking a functional approach to server naming, in time, proves to be a scalable solution, by making the identification of boxes more efficient and pragmatic, allowing sys admins and network engineers to quickly map a box against an environment profile.  This saves time and a lot of hassle, particularly in a time when network frames are downsized and upsized in very short time spans.

There are a great number of different conventions out there. I searched for common standards, but it seems that there isn’t a cohesive approach across the industry; each organization tends to follow its own way, which makes sense to a certain extent, but also adds a degree of confusion that could possibly be mitigated if there were a set of principles recognized by the industry. 

For large organizations, identifying boxes with names of the geographic locations where the server is hosted, the data centre location, followed by other specifications, might sound logical, but the most obvious constraint to this approach is around what to do when servers need to be repurposed. 

A clear example of this would be moving a box from one location to the other without intending to make a clean install. Since the Hostname is identified with a specific location, repurposing would not be effortless. Now if we are talking about a significant datacentre migration, this would constitute a major risk and an unnecessary overhead to an already complex operation. 

The same set of limitations is also present when attributing other functional attributes to server names  i..e db001 *database server. What if a server needs to be repurposed to a Web frontend box? or a Load Balancer? These are all valid questions, that should be asked before one chooses a specific server naming convention. Unfortunately, as like most IT challenges, bad decisions usually are only apparent when its too late to do anything about them.

On the other hand, the main advantage behind the functional approach is the ease of identification. In theory, the only thing that needs to be clarified is the principle, i.e. Server Type - Server Number - Location of server. From this moment forth, identifying servers in a network, regardless of the size, becomes extremely efficient. DB001NY - Database Server - Number 001 - Located in New York. 

This is particularly useful when working with external providers that do not necessarily know what icecream.yourhost.com is, and what pumpkinpie.yourhost.com should be mapped against. 

The final case that can be brought forward in favor of the functional naming convention, is that in most cases, repurposing servers is not really the right thing to do. Servers are built for a specific purpose, the Hardware and Software should be aligned to what we want to achieve, not the other way around, thus while repurposing a server might seem to be the quickest solution to respond to an immediate need, long term, its not the ideal way to built a scalable infrastructure.

For more information about this subject, there is a very interesting article by Scott Lowe that provides an excellent insight. 

Was just setting up a brand new Linux Centos box, and thought I would contribute with a small tutorial on how to quickly install the core components of a Web server though shell.

Now note that to get the absolute latest software version an installation through the source code is required. While this is still easy, it’s not as fast.

The commands poster here will work with the Centos and Fedora distributions. 

1.  Login as a Roor user and paste the following command line

yum -y install httpd php mysql mysql-server php-mysql

2. Make sure Mysql is running.

# mysqladmin -u root -p status

If it’s not running, you should be getting something down the lines of…

mysqladmin: connect to server at 'localhost' failed

error: 'Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' (2)'

Check that mysqld is running and that the socket: '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' exists!

To start the service simply type in the command:

/etc/init.d/mysqld start

The Output of this should be something down lines of…

Initializing MySQL database:  Installing MySQL system tables...

OK

Filling help tables...

OK

3. Protect Mysql by setting a password

mysql -u root@localhost

set password for root=password(‘yourpasswordhere’);

reload privileges;

4- Set apache and Mysql to run on startup. 

  /sbin/chkconfig httpd on

  /sbin/chkconfig --add mysqld

  /sbin/chkconfig mysqld on

  /sbin/service httpd start

  /sbin/service mysqld start

Fair to say it has been awhile since my last post, but so much has changed that I don’t even know where to start. In less than 4 months I have moved to the UK, changed jobs, and left behind everything I know and am familiar with. It was very much a leap of faith in many regards, but one that I knew I needed to make and that was long overdue. 

Having lived in Asia for so many years, this change reminded me very much of what I went through when moving to the West after having been part of the Asian Culture for most of my life. It felt like stepping into a place where everything is different; from the way people relate to one another, to simple every day things like currency, driving lanes, food, and so on.

I have been in the UK before, and worked here in the past, but moving here with my family is a completely different logistical operation. 

It wasn’t planned either, as a matter of fact I had promised myself that it would take a very special project for me to accept working for someone else again, and I guess that this was definitely the case with Laterooms.com, a fast paced company that is growing tremendously combined with a role that meant that I would be doing a lot of travelling to Asia! Don’t know if it could get any more exciting than that. 

Here is a short interview with Adam Gerrard, our awesome CTO;

A very cool TV ad campaign for Laterooms.com.

And a quick Asiarooms video:

The city we moved in is called Didsbury, and it’s one of the loveliest places I have ever been in my life. 

It so pitoresc, it has that whole South of France “Provence” feel to it, in an English way. (as if that made any sense!?) 

When I first arrived here, it was Christmas time; snow was falling Christmas lights everywhere, looked like a scene straight out of a film. As spring approached I couldn’t wait to get my Camera out and start capturing the awesomeness of Didsbury! 

Below are some samples of what I captured so far;

On January I had my first visit to Singapore as part of my role as a Programme Manager for Asiarooms, and I can say with all certainty, just as my friend Matthias Schmelz suggested, is my new favourite city. I took a few of shots while I was will there, will try to cover those in the next post. 

I can’t begin to say how much Professor Randy Pausch has influenced my career, for those of you who do not know, Prof. Randy Pausch was an amazing teacher at Carnegie Mellon University, he was brought to the public eye after his famous “Last Lecture” after having been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer.

Listening to a lecture about time management by someone who does not has a lot of time left is very disconcerting, but insightful to say the least. Despite the circumstances, I do not think the lecture would have been any different if Prof. Randy Paush was in perfect health.

Time is your only commodity, money you can always make over and over again, but while this might seem extremely logical, it is not practiced.

Organizations tend to be very good at making cost assessments, but very few establish an actual connection between cost-benefit and time. This is even more evident at a personal level, where employees fail to understand where to better invest time for their own benefit as well as the organization they work in.

I was looking for a really simple non-motorized slider for a shot that would require the camera to move three feet in a horizontal steady movement, after looking around I came a across Proaim’s three feet Linear slider.

ProAim isn’t exactly a high end brand, and doesn’t have the best reputation for reliability and built quality. While I tend to naturally go for more reliable and trusted brands, but I have absolutely no problem trying out new things as long as the purpose is served, in this case all I needed was to get the camera from one end to the other in a steady motion. 

The packaging was perfect; the slider came properly protected with a double layered padding and a plastic cover that covered the entire slider. 

I was very surprised at how heavy the slider was, and immediately understood the reason why it’s recommended the use of two tripods to balance the weight. 

The built feels very robust and professional, the only plastic elements of the slider are the two support pieces that are attached at the end of the rails, and it’s proper plastic, they don’t feel fragile at all.

The platform looks like it’s made of aluminum, and it has the perfect weight to balance out the weight of the camera and lens against the rails. I have not tried to use a Fluid Head on the platform, but it shouldn’t be a problem.

The big issue that I have with this rail system is the four plastic pieces that serve as a connected between the camera platform and the rails. They are very fragile, don’t seem to fit properly in its place holder, and do seem to wear down very quickly. It’s beyond me why a company would go through the trouble of engineering a robust heavy duty slider and then disregard one of the main parts of the unit. 

This also explains why you are given spare plastic connectors, as using the slider for a day with a reasonable load on top of the platform created an obvious wear on the plastic. 

The assembly couldn’t be more straight forward; screw the camera on the platform, assemble it on top of the rails, connect the two plastic supports to the end of the rails and you are done.

The rails and platform provide a smooth and linear movement, but making a steady shot isn’t easy, and it takes time to master a steady consistent camera movement. Unfortunately it’s the case for all manual sliders, moving the camera without dramatic changes in speed takes practice, a lot of it. 

Shifting the lens position to a straight camera movement is simple, but a three feet slider requires a camera elevation so that the rails are not in the field of view. Placing a tripod head on top of the platform should provide enough height to make a shot like this work. 

The unit will set you back 280 USD plus the shipping charges, comparatively with the other sliders out there it’s a giveaway, the build quality is more than reasonable and it does its job properly, so if you’re looking for an affordable slider with very long rails this is definitely a good choice. 

It is commonly said that a leader is born, not made, he possesses innate qualities that make him stand out and incite others to follow him, and while I truly believe that there is nothing that is unachievable, as paradoxical as this might sound, I have found that there is some truth to this.

It cannot be acquired through education: There are specific traits that are commonly found in people that are recognized to be leaders. These are not necessarily acquirable through education or even experience, and are usually very hard to pin point. They range from self-confidence, to charisma, character, and sometimes an undefined quality that somehow, despite everything pointing to the opposite direction, just makes someone stand out inspires people.

It’s can’t be given: Leadership is not a position nor is it a role, it cannot be appointment and it’s not a result of a promotion. A leader is born by an organic decision within a group, most of the times informally, other times it’s a conscious decision by a group to elect their leader.

In a highly technical team, you usually find that it’s not necessarily the most technically gifted member that will be the leader, usually it’s the one that understands the dynamic within the group and excels from it by recognizing his peer’s talent, cultivating it, and keeping group cohesion.

It must be driven by example: Respect is conquered, is not a given right, and it does not come with any role or position. If a team of developers has to work late to deliver a project the next day, it is the obligation of the leader to stay with the team , it doesn’t matter if in theory he isn’t adding anything to the project by being there, the reality is that his presence makes him part of the team.

Soldiers will follow to battle a commander that is leading besides them on the battle field, in the end, its not relevant if he is drawing swords or not, his presence is what truly matters and what inspires them

The dream of any company is to be perceived as more than a business, to become recognized as something beyond an intangible brand, not just commence….something more, very few companies achieve this.

I first purchased a Zacuto product back in 2009, it was the Z-Finder Pro 2.5x, the built of the product was superb and it served its purpose, other than that I didn’t think much of it. At the time I found it to be extremely pricey, and despite the quality being on par with the price I didn’t plan in making any future purchases. This meant that while Zacuto left me with a positive impression, it had no impact at an emotional level.

A couple of years later I came across two web series called Filmed Fellas and it Film Critics, both produced by Zacuto.

The series were addictive to say the least, there was such a unique chemistry between the presenters that made the show extremely compelling and exciting to watch, but there was one episode of critics in particular that stuck with me and for some reason had a really strong impact on me.

It’s not that there was anything transcendent about the episode itself, but the way Steve Weiss reacted to a short film really impressed me, it was so honest, visceral and emotional (in a manly way of course), it showed so much respect for the film maker. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but it doesn’t matter, it really made an impression on me and for some reason started changing the way I looked at Zacuto.

At first glance it doesn’t make much sense, why would it affect the way I felt about a brand? Well, Steve Weiss is not just any film critic; he is one of Zacuto’s founders. The way he gets out there and carries himself with that no BS attitude is a breath of fresh air, he understands that good business is more than selling a good product, it’s about people, it’s about going far beyond what is expected, but most importantly, it’s about becoming everything that a company isn’t supposed to be.

Maybe I’m an easy sell, doesn’t matter, give me a company that delivers a product that is a result of perfect craftsmanship and that at the same time is able to touch me at a deeper  emotional level and I’m sold.   

This month I have finally managed to take time to go on a couple of experimental video shooting sessions but ended taking a lot of stills instead.

You wouldn’t believe how good it felt to finally be able to play with a camera.  Fatherhood is the biggest blessing I have ever received but it does not come without its sacrifices.

So we went for a drive in the mountain range area near Lisbon called Sintra, it’s a gorgeous  place that has a bit of everything, from dense vegetation to century old magnificent trees. It’s also on the coast line so when you leave the mountain side you can immediately see the shore. 

The first sets of pictures were taken in the mountain side near a fountain, the light wasn’t too grand but it did provide good contrast between the road and the vegetation. 

This second set was taken in a very special place in the top of the mountain, a couple of minutes away from the fountain. I was a bit disappointed with my work, the lighting was superb but I didn’t take the most out of it.

On the way down was able to find a spot where you could see the entire coast line and the mountains above it, the light was exquisite, really enjoyed shooting there.

Feel free to checkout the entire set here.