Jeff's Technology Weblog

After 2 1/2 years at Yahoo!, it looks like I’ll be moving on soon. Part of the Search deal with Microsoft included a provision for MSFT to make employment offers to Yahoo! employees. Microsoft made me an offer that I’ve accepted, so I’ll be joining them when I wrap up my work at Yahoo! later this year. 

It has been an uncertain and at times frustrating journey at Yahoo!, but the company has been good to me and I have real mixed feelings about moving on. Unfortunately, the direction of the company is such that it makes sense to join Microsoft. They (msft) seem to be on a path to invest heavily in search and search advertising, so there should be some good opportunities. 

What will be very strange is joining Windows-land after moving pretty heavily to the Apple and Linux camp over the last 5-10 years. I am fully Apple-gadgeted out with my iPhone 3GS, Macbook, AppleTV, and other toys. However, I have done plenty of Windows server dev in the past, so I’ll at least have some (dusty) knowledge to rely upon.

For the present, I’ll stick with my Apple toys but have installed Win7 and DevStudio on my Macbook. Win7 actually looks pretty good compared to Vista and XP. I can see they’ve made some strides in stability and usability. And of course the dev tools have always been first rate. 

Anyway, plenty of time left still before joining later this year to get back into the swing of Windows.     

It seems like almost every video game requires an update these days — even if you get it on release day. This is true on the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360.

But there is big difference between these two consoles. Updates that take seconds on the 360 can take 30 minutes on the PS3. I waste far too much time waiting for the PS3 to download and apply these updates.

Whereas Microsoft has made updates painless, Sony continues to inflict pain on customers again and again with no relief in sight. Consequently, I dub the PS3 the Naystation.

Want to play a game? Playstation says no.

I’ve been reading a fascinating book on the ordinary lives of North Koreans. The book, Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick, describes in depressing detail the backward time warp that is North Korea.

The following satellite photo contrasts city lighting at nighttime between the two Koreas. The lack of infrastructure and energy in the North means little to no lighting at night (or for that matter electricity in general).

Korean Peninsula at Night

The book is well worth reading in order to understand this strange and desperate country.