Archive - Work/Industry

Lessons Learned: Beware of Ad Network Tags!

I had an issue today where a site was being overloaded to the tune of millions of extra pageviews by an ad that was improperly configured by an advertising network.  Specifically, the network was requesting a file that didn’t exist:
/doubleclick/DARTIframe.html
Because this particular site had an incorrect setup with the way its 404 works, redirecting to [...]

iPad 3G: The Killer Device?

I’ve had my iPad since the 3G release about 10 days ago.  I had pre ordered way back in March and had a “wait and see” attitude – after all, with a notebook, and iPod touch, a Kindle…  what was the iPad’s role?  Was it truly “Magical” and the killer device?
Truth be told, Steve Jobs’ [...]

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“Rework” – Review & Comments

15 March 2010 by Pete Czech, Comments

I just finished reading “Rework”.  Brought to you by the guys at 37 Signals, this book was great.  Not because it was groundbreaking – but because it was a summary of many lessons I already use everyday assembled into one handy reference.  Of course, they were articulated better than I probably could.

“Rework” is a phenomenal [...]

iPad: My Take

27 January 2010 by Pete Czech, Comments

Like many others today, I eagerly awaited the 10AM announcement and watched multiple “live blogs” as the event took place.  My takeaways: the iPad is underwhelming but may be a good start towards a product we’ll all be using regularly someday.
Lets look at the good:

Easy, portable web browsing: Definitely something worthwhile, the ability to browse [...]

Can Craigslist Be Saved?

18 January 2010 by Pete Czech, Comments

Anyone who has recently used Craigslist has to have noticed a few things: the rate of success is less and the rate of spam is increased.  Take in part the car that I’ve been trying to sell, for about 3 months.  I have fielded phone calls from people who want to help me sell it, [...]

Late Night Negotiation Lessons, Courtesy of “Pawn Stars”

22 December 2009 by Pete Czech, Comments

Its late at night, and I’m watching “Pawn Stars” on The History Channel.  As I watch, I’m absolutely amazed at how terrible most people are at negotiating.  Now, the variable here is that in most cases, people who are headed to the pawn shop are probably hard-up for cash.  I get that.  But still, the [...]

Toys of the Year, 2009

14 December 2009 by Pete Czech, Comments

With 2009 coming to a close, I figured I’d list some cool toys, gadgets, and similar items that definitely heightened my enjoyment of 2009.  Without further ado, here is the list:

The Flip Ultra HD: I had given up on camcorders… They were bulky, they only did one thing, they were difficult to move to computerized [...]

5 Mac Apps I Couldn’t Live Without…

9 November 2009 by Pete Czech, Comments

I just made the switch to a Mac – and can’t believe I didn’t do it sooner.  Here are a few apps that will make life more productive and fun for you (if you’re like me):
Parallels: The ability to run Windows from the Mac desktop is what sold me on the switch.  Now I can [...]