I can’t even begin to explain how hectic the last couple months have been - which should be more than obvious from the lack of posts. Between LifeLock, freelance work and finally getting some much needed vacation time in, my little slice of the internet has been neglected. Though I don’t think my life is about to slow down any time soon, I’m going to try to get with the program and keep this up to date more. 
by Ben Rabicoff under Daily Grind
So I opened up my mailbox the other day and was shuffling through my mail when it hit me - the biggest smile came across my face in my history of making trips to my mailbox. I looked down at the crisp blue envelopes addressee, “30k Millionaire … or current resident”. For those of you who don’t know what a 30k Millionaire is, the term is very popular here in Scottsdale, Arizona. Urban dictionary defines a 30k millionaire as:
“A 30k millionaire is a person, usually a guy, who makes around 30k a year, usually from working at a window tinting shop, loan office, or an occupation that does not by any means require a college degree. With his pitiful a income, he spends it all on bottles of champagne at clubs, a boat, a nice car, and sometimes a 3-day trip to Vegas, only to be left with nothing in his account by overdraft fees and possibly a pending loan.”
At first I figured it was a friend playing a joke, signing me up for some service online. But then I realized that this was a legitimate piece of mail, letting me know of upcoming construction around my condo. I thought about it for a second and then realized how this had come about. A few years ago I worked for a Trust and Estate Company, at which time I setup my own trust. In the process I had to pick a name for my trust - and knowing from working at the company that this trust name would be visible to a number or organizations - I thought to myself, what the hell, lets have some fun with it…what would be the last name someone would expect to see as the name on a Trust? So I named it the “30k Millionaire Trust.” I’m not sure if I’ll ever get such a good laugh receiving a piece of mail again.
I’ve been in freelance web development for the past 10 years and have always opted to work in a dim lit area. The only source of light most likely being a low wattage lamp or cracking the blinds open to let a minor amount of natural light in. It seemed as if this was the standard when I worked for web development companies as well. When you’re staring at a monitor for a good 8 hours a day, it seems like the fluorescent bulbs dangling over your head can give you the type of headache that makes you want to go on a baby-punching tangent.
It wasn’t until the past couple of weeks I realized how much of an oddity it is to work in your office with the lights off in the corporate environment. The office I’m currently in is completely glass-faced alongside a highly trafficked hallway - so it’s extremely difficult to miss me on your walk by. Within the past two weeks I think every person that has walked by my office immediately does a double-take and pokes their head in the door asking if I knew my lights were off.
After about a week of this I got a little curious and started searching online to see if working in a dim lit office was normal for web developers, or anyone for that matter. Oddly enough, I really didn’t find too much information on it at all. And from what I did run across, it seems as if working in a dim lit office can be worse for your eyes! Alas, I’m stuck in my ways. So if you’re ever at the offices, stop by – I’m the one sitting in the office with the lights off.
Exciting news has been resonating throughout the offices since last week. But as of Monday we were given the official word that Goldman Sachs is investing $25 million in LifeLock (the company I work for), which values the company at $220 million. This truly is exciting news and I think will help crush the doubts of anyone questioning the validity of the company or its services.
I find it a bit comical that people still questions if LifeLock is a legit company. Not only is LifeLock FTC compliant and ISO 27001 certified, the company is backed by Bessemer Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, but as of today one of the leading investment firms in the world, Goldman Sachs.
LifeLock has had its fair share of bad press - mostly regarding the former CEO Robert Maynard - but companies such as Goldman Sachs don’t invest millions of dollars into companies that they don’t see as a safe and great investment. Goldman Sachs does their due diligence on companies and only invest in those of the highest caliber.
After this infusion from Goldman Sachs, I’ll be very interested to see the reactions of all those skeptical of LifeLock and its services.
I knew the day would come that someone would capitalize on the sheer genius of Jake and Amir. In my personal favorite clip of the duo entitled “Website Ideas”, Amir proposes the Idea of an Alphabetical database. When asked “…of what?” his response is simple, “Anything.” Well Amir, it looks like your hopes and dreams have been crushed by a company called LongJump.
LongJump, a company based out of Sunnyvale, California, has introduced a Database-as-a-Service (DaaS) product that offers users an easy way to build a database application backend for their website and/or business. Long Jump refers to their service as effortless. There are no servers to provision, no redundant systems to worry about, no hosting providers to audition, no back-ups. Just sign-up, set up your data structure and permissions, and connect your web services.
by Ben Rabicoff under Daily Grind
As of late I have been pulling some long hours at work. And to be quite honest, I do it because I love my job. In addition to pulling long hours at work, I’ve been coming home and hitting not only the my freelance development work hard, but some personal projects I’ve been really wanting to get started for quite some time now. I decided to take a small break last night and head over to the fridge for a delectable snack when I realized something…
I think I might be working too much.
I felt it more than appropriate to have a little Sunday rant after logging into my Facebook account and seeing the explosion of pointless invitations on my home screen. Now don’t get me wrong - I love finding a friend request from an old college friend, colleagues or family member, but when it comes to Facebook apps, I want to call it quits.
Guess what? I don’t want to be bitten by a vampire, join your Fightclub or accept your Texas Holdem Poker request. I don’t want to be challenged to a movie quiz, or receive a jack & coke online. If you want to buy me a drink, send me a message, call or text me. I most likely will not pass up the opportunity.
Why hasn’t Facebook instituted a privacy option to block all 3rd party applications - not only from invitations but completely? As of right now, users have to go to the applications directory, find the application, go to it’s about page, and select to block the application. There are greasemokey scripts around this, but I shouldn’t have to resort to a script to do this for me. I think my Facebook user experience and time on the site would increase dramatically if I had the options to do away with the applications completely.
Facebook is truly losing the luster it once had. It has succumbed to the era of spam in my eyes. As for me, I love the basics, the bare essentials. I miss the days when I would get phone calls from friends asking me if I’d seen the new feature on Facebook that lets you tell everyone what your plans are for spring break. I want my old Facebook back.
That being said, I think this is a huge reason why websites such as Twitter are becoming more and more popular. Twitter takes it back to the basics. And that’s the reason I’ll be investing more time on Twitter and similar services.
Lately I’ve been looking long and hard for a charity in Scottsdale or Phoenix that I could get involved with. There were more that a few that I wanted to dedicate my time to, but at the same time I really wanted to find an organization that was on a smaller scale that I could play a leading role in helping the organization to grow. With that being said, I’m excited to say that I spoke with one of the founders of the Linus Foundation earlier today on opening a branch for Phoenix! The Linus Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting fun, innovative programs that educate and empower children, encouraging them to reach the full power of their own potential. Linus hosts social functions and collects “cover” charges at the door, the foundation raised money for local children’s charities, serving as a “cover” or a “security blanket” for the underprivileged children of the community.
Currently the Linus Foundation has branches in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, New York, St. Louis and London – and soon Phoenix! In all honesty I am really excited about this endeavour, so be on the lookout for updates on the planning for upcoming events in Phoenix and Scottsdale areas.
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