PictureMash: Smart Sorting for All Your Pics

While I can't exactly call myself an avid photographer - as I have zero skill in this art form - I do have a lot of photo albums. I call it the "quantity over quality approach." Unfortunately, when I want to look up, say, pictures from my Microsoft internship in 2003, it's a mess. Picasa throws all your albums in one ginormous list, making it difficult to track down the right pictures. That's why I created PictureMash.

PictureMash lets you do the following (or go see my account for an example):

• Group albums logically - and automatically - by time into "Smart Folders"
  For example, I created a "Smart Folder" called Microsoft Internship 2003 which contains all albums between May 2003 and August 2003. I don't have to put the albums in there manually - I just give PictureMash the date range I want, and it does its thing. And, I can even group my smart folders, allowing me to tuck away all my college pictures into one master folder.
  
• Merge Picasa and Flickr albums
  If you're like, well, many people, you may have used both Picasa and Flickr albums. PictureMash puts them all into one seamless list.
• Add tags and related links
  When I go to a party or event, I'm usually not the only one taking pictures. With PictureMash, I can add links to my friend's pictures too, right next to my album. This way, when I'm looking up pictures from Seattle Anti-Freeze's Roller Disco party, I remember to look at Ming Li's pictures too.
• Create one feed for all your friends
  Another fun use case for PictureMash: I can create a "group" account and add my friends' pictures to this account. When I move across the country next month, I'll be able to reference this account to see what's going on with my Seattle friends.

And remember: you don't have to re-upload anything. All your pictures are still stored on Picasa or Flickr!

Go check out PictureMash and let me know what you think. It's all free and super easy to use, so enjoy!

Company Loyalty = using Microsoft search to prep for a new job

Microsoft Loyalty Scorecard:
+ 1: Using Microsoft search at work.
- 1: Using Microsoft search to prepare for your upcoming interviews... at work.

Kumo is Microsoft's new search engine that was released internally this month. No one seems to be talking about it much externally, and it doesn't show up in Google Analytics under "Search Engines". Kumo is, however, listed as a referring site for my site, CareerCup, which helps prepare for technical interviews. Almost all the Kumo users are, of course, from Redmond with a couple in Bellevue and Toyko.

Well, hey - while it's not so nice to look for a new job while at work, at least you're using Microsoft's search engine to get there. Your boss must be thrilled.

But, if you're still looking for a new job, I've got one for you.

Learning Spanish on the Kindle? Hmm...

I spent six weeks in Argentina learning Spanish, and I'd love to keep up my limited skills by reading in Spanish. But, the fact is, my vocabulary just isn't good enough, and whipping out a dictionary at every other word is too cumbersome.

With a few relatively straight-forward changes, the Kindle 2 could really help out here. Amazon (or some clever hacker) could modify the existing dictionary to do translation. When you hover the cursor next to a Spanish word, an English translation of the word would pop up.

The technology behind this doesn't seem so tricky. The Kindle 2 already has a dictionary that operates in much the same way: when I hover next to an (English) word, a definition pops up. Thus, Amazon would just need to swap out the English dictionary for an Spanish-English dictionary.

¿Qué piensas?

Amazon Kindle 2 Review (From a Kindle 1 Owner)

I said I wouldn't buy a Kindle 2, as I already own a Kindle 1, and I made it a whole five days. As one friend said, I'd make an awful POW. Fair point. However (this is where I try to justify my choice), my Kindle is probably my most used device, so upgrading isn't so silly.

I love my Kindle 1. I carry it with me in my purse at all times (ah, the benefits of being a woman). I read so much more since I got it. There were the obvious benefits of owning a Kindle (being able to carry multiple books at once), and then the less obvious benefits (being able to read one handed, easily purchasing books while on vacation, not having to buy books at airports).

I must admit though - in the first few hours owning the Kindle 2, it's a serious step up.

Keyboard

The once horrible keyboard is now merely mediocre. The Kindle 1's keys were quite stiff, whereas the Kindle 2's keys have a similar resistance as a mac keyboard. The keys are still awkwardly far apart, unfortunately.

And, now that the screen is faster, the keyboard now feels much faster as well.

Cover

I'm not sure why Amazon didn't put more thought into the Kindle 1 cover, but they seem to have corrected the cover for the Kindle 2. The previous bulky case has been replaced with a trim, firm cover. The Kindle 1 would often slip from it's very lose case - the Kindle 2 locks in place almost like a seatbelt clasp. Snug and slim - perfect.

Underlining and Highlighting

What was once a cumbersome process of fiddling with slow menus is now an intuitive selection process. Want to add a highlight? Move the cursor. Click. Move. Click again. Want to add a note? Just start typing.

Fewer Accidental Clicks

The "Next Page" button has been re-oriented so that you're less likely to accidentally hit it. Frankly, I didn't really have this problem after the first few days of owning the Kindle 1. However, it was a little annoying that every time you showed someone else the Kindle 1 they would turn your page. This has been fixed. This bigger benefit, to me, is that I probably don't need to put on the screen lock any more as things in my purse are less likely to turn the page.

Archived Items

The Archived Items (eg, old books stored on Amazon's servers) are now much easier to retrieve. The previous "Content Manager", which included all current and previous books, has been replaced with Archived Items - a simple listing of all your old books. By trimming it down to only what's _not_ on your device, it's much easier to find what you were looking for.

Look and Feel

The sharp edges (a significant issue when you're reading for long periods of time) have been replaced by rounded edges. The cheap plastic feel that reminded me of the old NES or a children's toy is now something that could have _almost_ been designed by Apple.

Overall, it's not perfect, but it's a big step up from what was already a great device.

Job Opening: Software Engineer / VP of Engineering at EmptySpaceAds

After I left Google and got the travel bug out of my system, I joined a tiny funded start-up called EmptySpaceAds. What excited me about EmptySpaceAds was more than just the product (although that was pretty neat) - it was the opportunity. With just one employee, EmptySpaceAds was small enough that I would lead the engineering effort. But, at the same time, it was funded. Funding = credibility + a great network of advisors. Our investors are actively involved - in all the right ways. How many other teeny tiny start-ups can say that they have funding? Not many! ;-)

Now, six months later, it looks like I may need to relocate and thus EmptySpaceAds must hire a replacement.

Know a rockstar developer - who wants to lead a start-up? Read on for the job posting!

Software Engineer / VP of Engineering at EmptySpaceAds

With over 40% of the space on web page consisting of "empty space" (margins, etc), empty space is the remaining element of the web to be monetized. EmptySpaceAds is turning previously wasted empty space into a growing revenue stream for our web publishers. Publishers no longer have to decide whether to use the margins for ads or for the aesthetic value of empty space - they can do both!

EmptySpaceAds is a small but well-funded startup. We are funded by Second Ave Partners.

Our Product

EmptySpaceAds allows a website owner to utilize the page margins for both "empty space" (eg, pages look better with a bit of emptiness), and for ads.

How does that work?

Our ads only show up when a visitor's mouse hovers over the margins of a page. This means that when you visit a web page, it'll look just as "pretty" as it did before. But, when your mouse hovers over the margins, an ad will (gracefully) fade in behind the margin.

And, here's the best part: because the ads are reacting to the user's mouse rather than being always-present, users don't experience "banner blindness." Publishers will see high click-through rates.

Who We're Looking For

We're looking for someone who is more than an engineer. Someone who can jump in and make decisions. Someone who can prioritize and schedule our product releases. Someone who can lead the engineering effort. Someone who can drive our product's success.

As employee #2, you will be instrumental to the company's success!

Here's why you should join us:

• You will have incredible impact in our company as our first Software Engineer
  
• You will lead our engineering effort... future developers we hire will report to you
  
• Learn what it takes to run a startup. Interact with the founder daily and attend meeting with the company's investors.
  
• You will reboot your career. You'll learn more, fail more, succeed more, and take away more than you ever would at the equivalent Big Company experience.

Hard Requirements:

• B.S. Computer Science or equivalent experience
  
• Minimum two years of professional experience
• Possess initiative, leadership abilities, and the ability to make difficult engineering decisions
  
• Location: Seattle, WA (Pioneer Square)
• Full Time Only

How To Apply

Please email jobs@emptyspaceads.com with the following information:

• Resume / CV
• [OPTIONAL] Pointers to software you've written. Examples: open source contributions, examples of source code you've written, examples of live production software you wrote or were a contributor to
• [OPTIONAL] Links to places you discuss software. Examples: your blog, your website, etc