Today, TurboGears 0.9a9 was released. This is a bug fix release with a couple of minor enhancements. The big difference with this release was that it was completely handled by Elvelind Grandin. Elvelind was, if memory serves, the first person (after me) with svn commit access to TurboGears and he has been helping out all along. Now he’s helping out as the TG release manager with the mechanics of issuing new releases. Thanks, Elvelind! (And thanks to everyone who continues to send in patches!)
TurboGears
The release notes for Arbor Peakflow SP mention “Zombie army detection”. I’m sure that was written with a straight face. Still, not many companies can list that as a feature of their product. Imagine a car: the new Chevy Impaler with Zombie Army Detection and BrainChaff (courtesy of Brains4Zombies) protects you and your family from the zombie armies that are just waiting to attack.
The botnet and zombie army detection features of Peakflow SP are actually quite useful, but it is still a fun thing to see in print.
Technology
In the madness before EuroPython, Mickey Hadick sent me a copy of his first episode of “All Others Pay Cash”. You can check out a trailer for it on Mickey’s videos page. I finally got around to watching the video this weekend. This episode, “Death By Chocolate”, is funny and worth a watch… for those of us doing Python web stuff, it’s notable for being, by my guess, the only sitcom to mention half a dozen Python web frameworks and even slide in a plug for Fuzzyman. While the chocolate is definitely the key to the episode, it’s fun being a part of a “crazed, desperate internet idea” subplot.
Update: Mick is working on getting the video into a film festival, so it’s not available in its entirety online right now. Wish him luck! As soon as he’s able, I’m sure he’ll make the video available and I’ll post a message here when that happens.
Funny, Python
Like many Mac+Unix users, I’m a big fan of TextMate. Congrats to Allan on winning an Apple Design Award! It’s well-deserved. TextMate takes good advantage of the Mac’s graceful UI and Unix innards. Thanks to Jeff Shell for the pointer.
Technology
Oprius has just updated their website and opened up signups. Their first offering is Oprius Foundations, which is a free, integrated contacts, calendar and todo management app. It’s very slick, Ajaxy goodness can be seen in their screencast. This is a stepping stone to their actual bread-and-butter product: Oprius Independent. Independent is software to help people who are independent direct sales and network sales business people.
It’s also worth noting that Oprius is hiring.
TurboGears
One a-list business blogger interviewing another: Signum sine tinnitu–by Guy Kawasaki: Ten Questions with Seth Godin
I like reading Seth’s thoughts, even if he does keep beating the same drum (hey! he actually believes in what he writes!). I did enjoy Seth’s answer about what makes him successful:
If we define success as the ability to make a living doing what I do, I’d say the following:
1. No ulterior motive. I rarely do A as a calculated tactic to get B. I do A because I believe in A, or it excites me or it’s the right thing to do. That’s it. No secret agendas.
2. I don’t think my audience owes me anything. It’s always their turn.
3. I’m in a hurry to make mistakes and get feedback and get that next idea out there. I’m not in a hurry, at all, to finish the “bigger� project, to get to the finish line.
4. I do things where I actually think I’m right, as opposed to where I think succeeding will make me successful. When you think you’re right, it’s more fun and your passion shows through.
5. I’ve tried to pare down my day so that the stuff I actually do is pretty well leveraged. That, and I show up. Showing up is underrated.
Money
The good folks over at ShowMeDo have put together a convenient, all-in-one-place index of TurboGears videos. Check them out! (And, of course, you can get hours more on the DVD.)
Thanks, Ian and Kyran!
TurboGears
