Karl Danninger's Blog

I've had many blog's before, but they all lacked a certain direction. So I aim to keep this as my final, and last surviving blog on the web. I also hope I can nurture it with information relevant to my professional side of life. Lately I have become more enthusiastic about what I do. I practice agile development, and running lean. I believe to be extremely creative at times, and am always open to change. I am a Code aficionado. Budding Tech Entrepreneur. Pose striker. Master chef. Caffeine addict. Movie critic. And much more. QR KarlDanninger.com var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-23930958-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); Best ways to reach me: karldanninger [at] me [dot] com kdanninger [at] gmail [dot] com ☃

[felixsalmon]

Apple employees and their projects are pieces of a puzzle. The snapshot of the completed puzzle is known only at the highest reaches of the organization. It calls to mind the cells a resistance organization plants behind enemy lines, whose members aren’t given information that could incriminate a comrade. Jon Rubinstein, formerly Apple’s senior hardware executive, once deployed the comparison in a less flattering but equally effective manner. “We have cells, like a terrorist organization,” he told Business Week in 2000.

The secrets Apple keeps - Fortune Tech (via felixsalmon)

[karldanninger]

Shud be 'llA wrongs reversed.'

Lol, that's actually hilarious :)  Thx anon

[karldanninger]

I can see for miles... via Matthew Ondercin

As the weeks into school progress I feel more and more disconnected from where I want to be. The past two summers have easily been the best summers of my life. You know how people always tell you that "this will change your life"? Well Outlook really did that. As in my life was headed in the direction of AI and robotics and now it's in the direction of a Geological Engineer. Granted this huge shift in programs has caused many problems and presented me with many challenges, but now I have a sense, that this is truly what I want to do.  Every year, I and I'm sure most students, start out with goals for the year, mostly to do what we want to do. I start every semester like that. I'm going to go climbing, I'm going to join Queen's Outdoors Club (sketchiest club on campus btw) or I'm going to get a job. But every year something comes up that ends these goals, usually relating to money, time and motivation. But now I've started turing things around.  I've always been a fan of all these self-help sites. The productivity blogs and all that crap. It's just that it all seems like ideas, sure its worked for this guy but why would it have the same effect on me? Well; I still believe that. But even still this is what I've found out in the past few weeks.  1) Do It! This seems trivial. Clearly if you want to do something you should do it, it's just, this is by far the hardest part of it all. It wouldn't be so bad  if it was just at the beginning, but it happens again and again throughout the process. You get to a point that's "good enough" and you know it could be better but you just don't want to put the time in. I hit this so often. The mentality of do just as much as you need to is one that I've had for a really long time. It takes 20% of the effort to get 80% of the way and all that jazz. But if you can push yourself through that other 80% then the results will be so much better and you'll be happier with them. 2) Break it up. I've finally learned that if I set two goals a night and break up the really big projects then I feel better and get lots more done. Currently I'm using the ToDo app for the mac and iPhone, it allows me to see my day and plan it out so that when I go to study, I have goals that are accomplishable, and I know when I'm done for the day. 3) Take a break If you want to do something else and it's all you can think of, to the point that you're not getting anything else done, then go do it! I seem to devolve into my RSS feeds constantly through the day and that's my indicator to move. A change of scenery, making dinner, just something that isn't in front of a desk or computer. That way I can think of nothing and lets my mind rest before going at it again. I don't expect you to follow these rules, but if you're stuck maybe it'll help. This is my fourth year at Queen's and I've tried a lot, but it's taken me three years to finally hit a grove. And let me tell you, once you find it school becomes so much easier and more fun. Just to point out how much I love my program, this is the video we watched in class today. Source: http://reallyqueensreally.blogspot.com/2011/11/i-can-see-for-miles.html

[erinbury]

[karldanninger]

erinbury:

Thanks to Dharmesh Shah for letting me write a guest post for OnStartups about our recent experience with Sprouter. I’ve been a loyal reader of OnStartups for years, so it’s humbling to see my post published there. Read for lessons from our “deadpool to acquisition” journey…and a little Canadian humour. 

[springwiseintelligence]

[karldanninger]

springwise:

Wise Words with Paul Cameron

Paul Cameron is the co-founder of Booktrack, a new service matching synchronized music, sound effects and ambient sound to the text of e-books.

Paul Cameron is the co-founder of Booktrack, a service matching synchronized music, sound effects and...

[karldanninger]

The Reality Distortion Field

"One day [Steve] Jobs came into the cubicle of Larry Kenyon, an engineer who was working on the Macintosh OS, and complained that it was taking too long to boot up. Kenyon started to explain, but Jobs cut him off. "If it could save a person's life, would you find a way to shave ten seconds off the boot time?" he asked. Kenyon allowed that he probably could. Jobs went to a whiteboard and showed that if there were five million people using the Mac, and it took ten seconds extra to turn it on every day, that added up to three hundred million or so house per year that people would save, which was the equivalent of at least one hundred life-times saves per year. "Larry was suitably impressed, and a few weeks later he came back and it booted up twenty-eight seconds faster" Atkinson recalled. "Steve had a way of motivation by looking at the bigger picture." - Biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson [Excerpt]

[onethingwell]

[karldanninger]

minimalmac:

onethingwell:

The latest version of Quicksilver has landed, with Lion support, a bevy of new features—including automatic plugin updates—and a tasteful new icon.

Via the Love Quicksilver weblog, which has a rundown of features and fixes.

“Finally!”

[murketing]

Facebook’s new Timeline will lock people into their Facebook identities from birth. Speaking at Facebook recently, Poole told its developers that they set the bar for identity, but he has since realized he was wrong: we, the users, do. “We’re about to sacrifice something that’s valuable, and it’s special.”

“I would ask us all to strive for this ideal when we design products, and as users on the Web, what we demand of services,” Poole said. “Facebook and Google do identity wrong, Twitter does it better, and I want people to think about what the world would be like if we did it right.”

[erinbury]

[karldanninger]

erinbury:

Whether you’re bootstrapping or not, keeping costs down is essential to building and growing your company. Some costs are unavoidable – office space if you don’t want to work from home; new hires to grow the company; and administrative costs like business setup costs and computers for your...

[digitalops-deactivated20130601]

Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt. Chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench. Care about people’s approval and you will be their prisoner. Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.

Stephen Mitchell (via mnmal)

Do your work. Step back.

Love this.

(via minimalmac)

[karldanninger]

Think Different

[karldanninger]

Living the dream:  Billions Bottles and Babes.  Drew Houston is Amazing.  Check this out.

[kristap-blog]

Our future prosperity depends on the quality of our collective imaginations.

The Lean Startup (via kristap)

[incrediblebooks]

[karldanninger]

incrediblebooks:

Rework

Jason Fried

Most business books give you the same old advice: Write a business plan, study the competition, seek investors, yadda yadda. If you’re looking for a book like that, put this one back on the shelf.

*Rework *shows you a better, faster, easier way to succeed in business. Read it and you’ll know why plans are actually harmful, why you don’t need outside investors, and why you’re better off ignoring the competition. The truth is, you need less than you think. You don’t need to be a workaholic. You don’t need to staff up. You don’t need to waste time on paperwork or meetings. You don’t even need an office. Those are all just excuses. 

What you really need to do is stop talking and start working. This book shows you the way. You’ll learn how to be more productive, how to get exposure without breaking the bank, and tons more counterintuitive ideas that will inspire and provoke you.

With its straightforward language and easy-is-better approach, *Rework *is the perfect playbook for anyone who’s ever dreamed of doing it on their own. Hardcore entrepreneurs, small-business owners, people stuck in day jobs they hate, victims of “downsizing,” and artists who don’t want to starve anymore will all find valuable guidance in these pages.

[karldanninger]

r20co:

How To Build A Profitable Lifestyle Web App, Even If You’re Not A Developer – with Dane Maxwell via mixergy

[1imagem1000palavras-blog]

[karldanninger]

1imagem1000palavras:

“Às vezes, a vida te acerta na cabeça com um tijolo. Não perca a fé”. Steve Jobs.

[jhammack-blog-blog]

How To: Startup Landing Page

[karldanninger]

jhammack:

Launching a startup is an exciting experience. Long before the bittersweet memories of inner-startup culture trauma. The founding of a startup is like a new relationship, everything feels magical.. So.. About that landing page which spells out our dreams and ambitions for the world to see?

You’ll need to do a few things, how about pick a super simple startup provider so you can focus on building the business? It should look great and communicate the idea clearly. Are we on the same page? Please, follow me down the rabbit hole.. 

Read More