Got GA

I added Google Analytics code to my blog today (not that you'd care).
Used an excellent post from Andy Wibbels which took me step-by-step through it. I love these posts for dummies - they work great for pseudo-professionals like myself.
It also seems like Google Analytics is going to be inherently supported in blogger, but right now it's just private beta (don't you just hate how they get a blog before they even release a product for general availability?)
Don't know about you, but I'm still excited about being able to get all of this nice software for exactly $0.00.

חופש הביטוי

בימים אלה יש רעש גדול בעקבות פיטוריו של העיתונאי שלמה מן ממעריב. מן, שהסתתר מאחורי הכינוי ייגרמייסטר, כתב בלוג שבו ביקר את כתיבת עיתוני הספורט בישראל. קצת מצחיק, בהתחשב בכך שהוא עצמו היה עיתונאי ספורט של מעריב. האיש טוען, ונראה שיש לכך סימוכין, שכתב תמיד באופן אובייקטיבי וביקר גם את מעריב, ובאופן מצחיק גם את עצמו, אם גילה טעות לאחר שכבר פורסמה . כמו כן הוגשה נגדו תביעה ע"י אתר One (אתר ספורט). האמת שאני לא מתעניין בספורט, אלא אם אני עצמי הספורטאי. אבל יש פה משהו מדאיג מאוד אם עיתונאי כבר לא יכול לכתוב דברים אובייקטיביים לכאורה מבלי שייתבע ויפוטר ברגע שמתגלה זהותו. עוד משהו מדאיג כאן היא חשיפתו של מן, שנהג להסתתר מאחורי שם עט. למי שמבין די ברור שזה בטח לא מאמץ פשוט לחשוף מישהו בנבכי האינטרנט ללא צו שופט. ישנן טענות לכאורה להתנהלות בלתי חוקית של אתר One ומפעיליו בניסיונם להוציא את "ייגרמייסטר" מאנונימיותו. מכל מקום, לא נעים בכלל. יש כאן הרבה עניינים של הגנת חופש הביטוי, ובכלל נשמע ונראה מוזר כל ההתעסקות של העיתונים בסגירת פיותיהם של מי שמעזים לבקר אותם. מי שמעוניין לחתום על עצומה שכמה בלוגרים, מן ביניהם, הקימו יכול לעשות זאת כאן: http://www.atzuma.co.il/petition/themis/1

Hebrew in Gmail

Final Update, Sep. 12 2008: Google now has the new RTL button right there at the top of the email body section, rendering this script completely obsolete. If you're still using this script, or are now downloading it, consider looking for those buttons I just mentioned. Many thanks to everyone who downloaded, used, commented, became fans of, reported bugs and cursed me quietly when the script didn't work.
I'll be seeing you next time that the RTL user community is neglected by Google ;)
--itai 

Do you speak Hebrew or Arabic? If not, this blog wouldn't be all that interesting. Ever since Google came out with their new UI, it has been virtually impossible to write right-to-left emails (Hebrew, Arabic...). Extensions that were written for firefox to bring out the direction buttons became non-functional, because those buttons did not exist in the UI. When I found out this week that the Google guys actually bothered to write inherent Greasemonkey APIs, I figured that it wouldn't be all that difficult to write an extension that will enter right-to-left text in your email's body. Those of you who know a bit of HTML probably know that switching direction has become a piece of cake in recent years. So I found this signature script, that seemed to be doing something similar to what I had in mind. I modified it to become Heb4Gmail - a Greasemonkey extension that will insert right-to-left text into your email, allowing you to write nice Hebrew or Arabic emails. It even works great with mixed sentences (Hebrew and English together). If you use Gmail, and you write Hebrew emails, I think you'll find it useful. If you don't know what Greasemonkey is, or you don't use firefox, this isn't for you (but you're missing out on all the fun). Enjoy. Download it here: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/25811

I'm back on windows...First Episode

A couple of months ago, due to various reasons that I will go into on another post I had to go back to using one of my old laptops (Pentium M, 0.5G of memory). Former one was monster Dell with 2G of RAM, dual core 2.something GHz and 7200RPM disks, so I figured this new-old one was going to be a nightmare. I therefore decided to pursue any geek's dream and install a Linux OS on it. Since I have customers and projects that still require C# programming, I thought I'd go for dual boot, unless I can make it work on mono (yet another subject for another post, but bottom line - I don't think you wanna go there...). Last time I worked on linux it was when Redhat was still freely available and no Fedora. This time I went for Suse 10.3. I put the CD in, it recognized all of my devices, including the wireless network during the installation, which allowed it to download updates and a couple of hours later it was all done with.
Oh--MY--GOD. I was very impressed. So easy to install. Like always, everything that I needed already installed (from Office to Gimp to Eclipse ). It took me another 30 minutes to find out that whatever I didn't have installed already, I could use the most impressive YAST tool to automatically get - I swear it's easier than windows, and certainly easier than it used to be on good-old Redhat.
Then I went on to install XP. First mistake. Trashed my MBR, no going back. But wait - all the posts I read said having a dual boot with Suse is a classic. Ah, OK - they said you need to install XP first, then suse. Why on earth would that matter? Well, when I did it the second time, I understood.
Disk reformatted. XP was installed (terrible experience - had to download half the machine drivers from Dell. Shame on you M$ - Novell Suse had it all figured out, no intervention required). Then I put in the Suse disk. BAMMMM! It comes out with a message saying something like "Knock knock Neo, you seem to be installing on a machine that already has windows installed on it. Allow me to suggest the following - I will shrink the windows partition to 10G out of the available 40, then format the remaining 30G for myself, and install Linux there. How about that? Oh, I will also automatically map you windows disk on the linux OS and call it... Windows"
Amazing. What's even more amazing is that it managed to do it perfectly.
Also - Suse met all expectations, and actually performed faster than my Windows was performing on the former monster laptop. What a pathetic comparison, I know...

Anyways, this post is episode 1 and since it is named "Back on Windows", you'd have to now wonder with all the great things I have to say about Suse Linux, what can happen in the next episode. Since I have no time left, I promise to write the next post soon (but not right now). Anyways, if there's one thing you're going to take from this post - remember to always install Windows first on a dual-boot machine - and then install Linux. Oh - and format Windows to FAT32 not NTFS.
That's it. Catch you later.

The SSEWAM Strategy

It's 1998 all over again.
Though the markets are a lot more sane, there's still a lot of money going around, blowing up the valuation of startup companies beyond any proportion to their potential value. Other phenomenas include companies that would not have gotten a dime out of VCs two years ago suddenly securing a few million dollars so they can continue being opportunistic and seek out a real business plan.

I developed a theory about companies that you want to stay away from, at least as an employee or partner (if you're a VC, no need to read on - VCs have other considerations in their agenda many times). It is just a rule of thumb theory, and every rule has its exceptions, but one thing I learned from recent bubbles is to stay away from any company the follows the SSEWAM strategy. Don't Google for it - it's a term I just made up.
SSEWAM stands for Someone Stupid Enough Will Acquire Me.

Ever met a company with such a strategy? Sometimes they wouldn't flat out spell it, but you'd be able to tell it's a SSEWAM company by the explanation you get from the founders on how well their idea fits with the strategy of X company (say, Google). Another thing that you'll sometimes get from these guys is a bunch of examples on latest acquisitions that were done on companies having similar idea/business.
What would be most suspicious is when you get that kind of answer as a response to a question like "how will you make money?". Simple question ain't it?
I say, if you can't give me a straight 30 seconds answer on how you're going to make money, it means that you're still struggling yourself. The worst is to ask the "how will you make money" question and get back a response saying "what are you talking about? Just last week Yahoo acquired FoxyTunes for $XXXM, and our product is even better".
Not buying it (and neither is Yahoo). A company cannot have SSEWAM as an exit strategy. If you cannot explain how you're going to make your business successful on its own, how you're going to build a product or service, and sell it while making a profit, then guess what - Yahoo wouldn't waste what's left of their money on you.

In short, my friends, when you start your companies, make sure that someone will pay you money for using your products (and no, VCs don't count as someone, unless you just built a product for managing VC firms). Your company as a whole is usually worth nothing, if you can't sell your products, and even make profits from it.

Just my take.