Henry Cipolla

Work has begun in earnest on our business. Andrew and I are both in Boston now and we have places to work and to meet. We have a roadmap for our business and are exploring the different technologies we intend to use for this phase of our idea. I am enjoying this part and look forward to having a working prototype to show people.

One of the things we are doing right now that I thought was particularly interesting is drafting a partnership agreement. This is interesting because it raises all sorts of good questions about things I had never bothered to think about. For example, what happens if I die?

Unfortunately everything is still a bit of a secret but I’m hoping that soon I can talk about the idea and share our vision.

Well everybody is talking about Cloverfield so I guess I should put my two cents in. You have probably heard the usual praises and complaints so I’ll pick something different. Stop reading here if you have not seen the movie.

I thought it was lame that Hud (the cameraman)’s last moments were spent staring at the monster up close. This demystified the monster because it gave the longest shot of it for the entire movie and it makes the monster look smaller and less terrifying than previous shots where it is surviving bombs and destroying bridges.

Also, one other observation a friend of mine made: At one point a building has collapsed into another building. They climbed up to the 57th(ish) floor of the building that was still standing and from there walked across to the roof of the collapsed building. They then immediately went into a room on the 39th floor that had their injured friend. At no time after getting into the second building did they enter any stairs. So, how is it possible for a building to fall over in such a way that the 39th floor is at the same height as the 57th?

And finally, why did their helicopter have to fly so close to the monster? Seems like risky business to me.

One of the things I particularly enjoyed about working at Microsoft’s main campus was having my own office. The company has a lot of space and most of their engineers have an office to themselves. Now I am no longer with the company, so no more office. Instead, I have a ‘home office’ (small bedroom with a desk in it) which I’m very excited about. Here is the virtual tour:

Because I obviously work a lot, I like to leave a laptop in the bedroom in case I have a quick task and don’t feel like trucking my behind into the office… All jokes aside, I am really happy with my setup. It’s another step towards achieving the lifestyle that I want.

As I mentioned before, I moved across the country in a Uhaul. Naturally, I couldn’t just return the Uhaul when I was done with it without first finding some way to abuse it. After talking with Clint we decided to do a burnout in my Miata, which was inside it, while it was driving down the street. See the video.

Here we have another example of Slashdot taking non-news, making it sound very sensational, giving it some anti-Microsoft spin, and then passing it off as something newsworthy. Could you imagine how horribly skewed your perception of the world would be if you took every story and description on Slashdot as truth? Today’s example:

Boot Record Rootkit Threatens Vista, XP, NT
Paul sends us word on a new exploit seen in the wild that attacks Windows systems completely outside of the control of the OS. “Unfortunately, all the Windows NT family (including Vista) still have the same security flaw — MBR [Master Boot Record] can be modified from usermode. Nevertheless, MS blocked write-access to disk sectors from userland code on VISTA after the pagefile attack, however, the first sectors of disk are still unprotected… At the end of 2007 stealth MBR rootkit was discovered by MR Team members (thanks to Tammy & MJ) and it looks like this way of affecting NT systems could be more common in near future if MBR stays unprotected.”

ZOMG?!?!, all Windows machines are vulnerable to this new attack because stupid Microsoft made the MBR writable from usermode! Unfortunately for all the sensationalists out there, this is completely and utterly wrong for the following reasons:

1. You need admin privileges to do this. In which case you can delete all users on the box, format the hard drive, or install a more classic virus. This is no different than having root on a *nix machine.
2. You can do this from any operating system that allows raw access to the disk. That means that almost all operating systems, including Linux, Mac OS, BeOS, etc., are ‘vulnerable’.
3. Without this ability updating the MBR would require a reboot.
4. This isn’t even new. Blue Pill can do this and significantly cooler stuff.

Hey Slashdot, MS-DOS 1.1 called. They want their news story back.

Well, tomorrow begins my last week at Microsoft, and considering my general disregard for ‘normal’ schedules, I feel it is fitting that my last week would begin on a Wednesday and end on a Tuesday. In the spirit of these last days I am sharing a relevant quote from The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene, an author I have a profound interest in:

You are your own worst enemy. You waste precious time dreaming of the future instead of engaging in the present. Since nothing seems urgent to you, you are only half involved in what you do. The only way to change is through action and outside pressure. Put yourself in situations where you have too much at stake to waste time or resources – if you cannot afford to lose, you won’t. Cut your ties to the past; enter unknown territory where you must depend on your wits and energy to see you through. Place yourself on “death ground,” where your back is against the wall and you have to fight like hell to get out alive.

After this week I am taking two weeks to myself and then I hope to begin writing about my new venture in earnest.

There are many books available to people interested in business and startups. However, all the lists suggesting what to read are either too long, focus on too specific an area, or are just plain boring. So instead, I present you three books which are very general and cover completely different topics. I think that these three will provide a better-rounded and more useful education than any fancy list.

• The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything, by Guy Kawasaki. This incredible book gives a general overview of the process of starting a business, including: coming up with a defensible idea, bootstrapping, funding, and hiring. The author is a seasoned veteran of the game and his perspective is priceless. Because this book is so general and covers such a wide range of topics it makes it a perfect starting point for anybody who is considering starting a business. It is also a great resource for people who are moving to a small company or startup because it provides a concise view into how such a company should be run if it is likely to succeed.
• Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win This is a fun book full of stories of people and companies that came up with very clever ways of succeeding. The examples cover a huge range of industries and are applicable to anybody trying to come up with or validate an idea, or anybody who is interested in being more creative and successful in their own job. There are some takeaway lessons spelled out in this book but the best part about reading it is that afterwards the reader will feel like they can revolutionize something which is a very encouraging feeling when deciding to take the plunge.
• How to Win Friends & Influence People, by Dale Carnegie. What the heck is this old book doing on a list of books for entrepreneurs? Well, anybody considering starting a company would be in grave danger if they didn’t realize that their success could easily rely on the contacts they make. This book only takes a night to read and if it teaches even a single lesson, it is worth it. An example that sticks with me relates to arguments: Carnegie points out that it is impossible to change the opinion of anybody worth arguing with, and if you win an argument, the other person will only resent you for it. Instead, it is always better to find another way to get what you want. Sure this is obvious, but you are more likely to think about it when you have it spelled out in a book.

After four days of driving, my move from Seattle to Boston is complete. There is a lot that can be said about this experience, but I think Clint did a great job of covering the interesting bits in his post about it so I won’t repeat him. The only thing I would like to say is that I think everybody should consider taking a road trip across the country at least once in their life. Before this trip I felt as though living in a small town in Illinois, then Boston, and then Seattle had given me a pretty good understanding of what America is like. After this trip I realized I was completely wrong. Without experiencing the vastness of this country and the small differences between each state for yourself it is impossible to fully appreciate it.

Click here to view some pictures from the trip.

Last week Andrew listed his 10 video game picks for 2007. I must confess that I have a lot going on right now and have not had time to keep up with all of the current happenings in the video game world, but I can’t possibly let a top ten list in this space go without a few comments.

1. How can Metroid Prime 3 Corruption not be on there? IGN gives this game a 9.5, ranking it as one of the highest WII games available right now. The series is extremely popular and this is an amazing addition. In my mind this is the first game that utilizes the true potential of the WII. You aim with the Wii-mote, and there is a lot of movement activated options. As with all the games in the Metroid Prime series, this game is extremely immersive. It should be on that list.
2. I do not understand all the excitement around Assasin’s Creed. Does anybody else think a game that consists mostly of waiting for appropriate time to move, and walking around in crowds sounds kind of boring?
3. Half Life Orange Box is great, and I’m glad it is on there, but not because of Episode 2. As cool as Episode 2 is, it is nothing compared to Portal. Portal is a new concept in gaming and we need to encourage developers to come up with great new ideas like this.

Otherwise I think that list seems pretty reasonable.