Bigfrog Weblog

I've spent most of the last nine months of work coding away on Yahoo!'s BrowserPlus. And this week, we unveiled it.

http://browserplus.yahoo.com/

What is it? A browser plugin that makes it really easy to write and distribute new browser plugins. Why is this important? It makes way for Web 3.0, more fully integrating your desktop with your browser. Allows for things you'd expect from any normal desktop application like drag & drop, notifications and more.

It's been fun watching the blogs all week as other's try to figure out what it is and where it fits in. It's another RIA (rich internet application) platform in the crowded field that includes the likes of Adobe Flash, Google Gears, Microsoft Silverlight.

And some people are really starting to get it. If you're a developer and want to start playing, my teammate Skylar Woodward gives you a boost.

Though I'm still waiting to see if anyone picks up on the significance of the Ruby Interpreter...

Posted by Steven Spencer at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, this is rather ominous news. Microsoft buying Yahoo. I've read the rumor before, but never seen Yahoo stock jump $5.00 because of it. Yikes.

When Symantec bought Veritas, they wanted to make sure both companies had the same benefits. Our free soda machines went to $0.25 to align ourselves with Veritas. Shouldn't it have been the other way around?

At Yahoo, not only do we have free sodas :-), but a free professionally run cappuccino bar. They can take over when they pry the coffee from my cold, dead hands. Give me free caffeine or give me death! Actually I'm off the coffee now, but still, it's the thought that counts.

Interesting times.

Will this mean my stock vests? Woo-hoo! Or is that Yah-hoo!

What about my laptop? Half the engineers have Mac PowerBooks. Though you can argue that they do run Microsoft Office.

Wait and see. Wait and see.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 7:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It was on again, off again, but we finally decided to enter Yahoo's Hackday contest late Thursday afternoon. And enter we did, with great results. I was in charge of the javascript for our hack, which I won't mention, as it's top secret. Coming off a nasty virus (human, not computer), I did most of my work from home, but thanks to email, IM and the telephone, coordination wasn't much of a problem. Spent some time in work Friday for the final integration and to watch the other presentations. Good stuff.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (1)

I have two weeks off between jobs. When I changed last year, I just had the weekend. So it's finally time to decompress.

• Volunteered one hour at Katherine's school in the computer lab
• Went out with Suzy and Vincent to the mall to buy Vincent new shoes
• The three of us met Tricia for lunch at CPK
• Took a two hour nap on the couch, with Vince falling asleep on top of me
• The four of us (Katherine, not Tricia) took a walk with Ally
• Watched Ally and Katherine swim in an unheated pool after 6pm in a unseasonably cool April
• Kids to bed
• Watched TV, browsed the net, light IM
• Blogged the above

All in all, a most decidedly unproductive day. So far, so good.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On a day with April Fool's news, in a week with April Fool's job pranks, I'm here to announce my own news (which isn't a prank). After 11 ¹/₂ months, i'm changing jobs. In 2 weeks, i'll be starting at Yahoo!.

My 2+ hour round trip commute will become a managble 45 minutes as I leave the 405 for the first time in my career. And after working with my brother for most of my previous 14 years, we'll be competing ... no more tech exchanges at holidays

Now besides the major benefits of joining Yahoo! (money / career path), Yahoo! has a number of smaller benefits which in total, are quite major:

Minor Benefits

I'm saving 39 work days on the commute ... that's 15% of the work year not spent on that infernal freeway. Totaling the other benefits, I see over $3,000 in savings, which is $4,300+ before taxes. That's not too shabby, as my Dad would say.

Suffice to say, I'll leaving behind a lot of good friends and close coworkers, but I can't wait to start. Two weeks off ... I haven't had that much time off in 6 years. At least now, I have the kids to keep me busy.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 9:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)