Romain Lacombe :: Deliberate Practice

Timelapse of a 4-meter high light rod which maps the strength of wifi signal across urban spaces.

This is a thing of art and beauty.

Immaterials: Light painting WiFi from Timo on Vimeo.

More on this project here.

Interesting dataset on the evolution of the mobile OS market shares, as percentages of overall operating system usage (courtesy of Timetric and their "YouTube for data" automated dataset visualisation tool) :

Operating system market share, (%) by type from Timetric

It turns out we might not have to wait for too long. The feature is already prepared for i18n. While it doesn't work yet if you are physically located outside of the 50 states, the UI for Places is already translated in French in the recent update of the Facebook app in the US iPhone App Store. Meet "Facebook Lieux".

Here is how the feature looks like. DisMoiOu and Plyce, better close that partnership deal or brace yourself for serious impact.

--
Sent from my iPad Nano

At the recent Google I/O conference, Google announced Froyo, the 2.2 release of the Android OS family.

Among the perks of the new version is the ability to tether the phone (it was the subject of much anticipation before iPhone OS 3.0 came out, and I used it once on the Caltrain from Palo Alto to San Francisco while it was in beta, but AT&T disabled it when that version of the firmware was released to the public). It is unclear as of yet if operators will allow users to access that feature on Android handsets running Froyo, but it would be a very handy feature for road warriors lacking a wifi connection (or, say, if you saved on the price of your iPad by buying the non-3G version). 

Google is reported to be rolling out 2.2 to a first batch of phones in the US. However, the update binaries are already available for download, and can be installed manually. I just ran it on my French Nexus One (non-rooted, perfectly standard Bouygues Telecom-issued Nexus One on Android OS 2.1). While I can't stress enough that you should always be cautious when performing such operations, and that you're on your own if things turn badly, I've been able to successfully upgrade my phone in about 7 minutes, and it was well worth it.

Here are the steps to follow:

1. Download the official Android OS 2.2 Froyo update from Google here

2. Rename the file to 'update.zip' and upload it via USB on the Nexus One's microSD (you can use the excellent Apollo File Manager to rename the file directly on your phone)

3. Shutdown your phone and, once it is off, press simultaneously on the trackball and the power button. This launches a special white screen with three little androids on skateboards.

4. Select 'Bootloader' from the options (volume up/volume down to move the highlight, power button to select)

5. Select 'Recovery' from the options. Your phone will then restart, and show a black screen with an Android and an arrow sign.

6. This is the trickiest part: you need to press 'volume up' and the power button simulatneously. Plan for a good 4 or 5 tries before getting it just right.

7. You should now see a menu with an option labeled 'Apply sdcard:update.zip'. Select it (volume up/down or trackball, then power button) and let the install run, then reboot your phone.

8. At launch, the OS was updated and worked well, except for the Phone application which didn't work at all. I was able to resolve this issue by rebooting the phone (points 3 through 5 but select 'Reboot' instead).

You should now have a fully functioning release of Froyo in your hands!

Among the noticeable improvements:

• Two handy shortcuts to the browser and the phone at the bottom of the screen
• The browser is way, way faster than earlier! Strangely enough, Flash doesn't seem to work.
• It is hard to track down exactly why, but the keyboard is now much, much easier to use. This used to be my main point of contention against Android as opposed to the iPhone, and is now a moot point. Expect to receive my next emails from my Nexus One :)

Be sure to give a try to tethering in Settings > Wireless & Network > Share Connection. 

Update: tethering is a very tempting option, but it is limited by some operators. You may have to change the user agent of your browser, for example using the 'User Agent Switcher' Firefox extension, and adapt the DNS settings of your browser (see Android France). In any case, remember that it may not permitted by your contract with the operator and that you may be charged extra for these specific tethered packets.

I'm really happy to kick off my return to France with a great entrepreneurship event, which bravely faces the volcanic clouds and mighty Eyjafjallajokul to bridge the Atlantic ocean gap via video streaming.

One of the most interesting ideas -- if not the most outright vital for entrepreneurs -- which I've encountered in Silicon Valley is the Lean Startup methodology and the idea of Customer Development. To (try to) sum it up in a few sentences:

• Startups are organizations that aim to develop (yet) unknown solutions to (yet) unknown problems
• Startups don't die for lack of technology -- they die because they haven't found their customers
• Entrepreneurship at its core is about accelerating the learning process from inception to product/market fit while staying lean, to maximize the chance that the company will get there eventually before running out of cash
• To accelerate validated learning about customers, one needs to circle as fast as possible through a Build (product dev), Measure (analytics and user testing) and Learn (confront results and reorient product development).

The aim of the lean startup movement is to devise tactics to achieve this goal. In software and mobile/web, this means agile development, customer development, continuous deployment, extensive user testing, actionable analytics and product pivots.

The Lean Startup Conference, by Eric Ries, the father of lean startups, is the first conference designed to bring together experts in Building (Kent Beck, inventor of Extreme Programming), Measuring (Hiten Shah, Sean Ellis) and Learning (Steve Blank), as well as successful entrepreneurs (Dropbox, Aardvark, PBWorks), to talk about exactly such tactics, and the lessons we can draw from their success and failures.

If you're an entrepreneur and you're in Paris, you MUST come see this with your peers, streamed live from San Francisco at La Cantine, for a whole night of Lean Startups staring tonight 4/23 at 6pm, until the wee hours of the morning.

RSVP and program (in French) here: http://bit.ly/SLL2010Paris

An overhaul of this blog was long due, as I'm back home in France after 3 and a half life-changing years in the US including the intense but even more awesome last 2 in Silicon Valley.

Looking back, it's quite mind-blowing to realize how much I've lived and learned in the span of these immensely rich few years, and I'm forever indebted to America for such an education.

Boy, was that a trip -- including but not limited to truly finding paradise with the finest professors, learning the ways of the future, living the bond of the flock, crossing the country westward in red Mustang convertible, witnessing History with goosebumps, building a company, raising seed money from top VCs on Sand Hill Road, connecting to the hive brain at the center of the world, learning from great mentors, launching our product in front of thousands of people, and reaching my first startup exit -- and most important of all, meeting by better half of a dancing star.

As I work out what the future holds, I'll post here some of my reflections on the lessons I've learned while building my first startup, and gather the resources that have proved most helpful. I'll aim for quality rather than quantity, so stay hungry, stay foolish, and stay tuned.

Oh yes. You should follow me on Twitter here. (*)