Driss-A-Blog

Two-and-a-half years into working at Google, and in my third project, I can finally talk about what I'm working on. Google Chrome. It's wickedly-fast and crash-resistant. It's free, so try it.

Oh, you have a Mac. Darn.

So the thing is, we're working on it. Really hard. There are just two comments to make, publicly.

One, we're going to make a first-rate Mac app. No compatibility layers, no lowest-common-denominator UI. Our team is made of old, cranky geeks like me, and we wouldn't settle for anything less.

Two, we're not anywhere near done. We've actually just started. Right now, we're working on getting the test shell up and running. There's no UI to see, no IPC to discuss, no mocks. We'll get there, and since it's all public in the Chromium project, you can see it happen. Please be patient. Trust us, we want to see this just as much as you do.

Posted by Avi at 10:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When I got my guitar, I picked up The Jewish Fake Book. It was a good collection of songs, but it always bothered me that it seemed a bit amateurish. There was no attempt to identify the authors or composers, and for nearly all the songs, there was either “©by the Author” note (who's the author?) or “©by Tara Music” (is the publisher claiming rights?) There were chords that were slightly off, and while I was happy with it, I wasn't in love.

During my workshop with the Western Wind, I found that the Oseh Shalom I was looking for was Klepper's and was published in a book: The Complete Jewish Songbook. I bought it.

Wow.

Each song's labeled with the author of the music and text, and it's of much-higher production quality. But if you've grown up in the Conservative movement (as I did) playing songs from there will just take you back. One after another, these are the songs we grew up with.

The overlap isn't too bad, so both are worth getting, but the Complete Jewish Songbook is a must-have.

Posted by Avi at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Don't ever say that Apple skimps on the details. Talk about having a complete slang dictionary:

Posted by Avi at 7:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've been worried about who Senator McCain was going to pick for his Vice Presidential choice but now I'm breathing easier. Governor Sarah Palin is a wonderful pick. She is middle America. Child of a school teacher and school secretary. Mother of five kids. Just celebrated her 20th wedding anniversary to a fisherman/worker on the oil fields. A normal American we can relate to. Not someone who went to a fancy school or has a lot of money. And to top it all off Palin's oldest son is headed off to Iraq.

I'm impressed.

Posted by Shira at 5:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I got to drink from Lord Stanley's Cup tonight - TWICE. And I hugged Darren McCarty and thank him... :) How's that for a teaser? Tomorrow I am going to work and uploading all my pictures so that I can post an official blog, but just so you know, I still have a smile on my face from getting to hug, kiss, gaze at adoringly, touch, and drink from the Stanley Cup. Sheer joy and bliss - that's what I'm feeling right now.

Posted by Talya at 1:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Once again I find myself sitting on the floor listening to the words of Eicha. Eicha Yashva Badad; how Jerusalem sits by herself with no one to save her as the destruction is described. As the pages turn, the depths of the disaster unfold.

The words of Eicha are immortal and transcend time. When hearing the Jews weeping on the night of Tisha B’Av, Napoleon Bonaparte commented that "any people that still feel strongly about events that occurred to them thousands of years ago, will surely survive as a people, and persevere."

read more of Tisha B’Av Thoughts 2008 »

Posted by Shira at 8:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

So I got an iPod touch today. I'd had a nano that I'd heavily used for podcast listening, and I figured that the touch could take over.

Small problem: The touch has no indication of how long a song is. The touch has no indication of the current listening position in the song. The touch has no way of precision positioning, so if I miss five seconds (easy in the subway with sudden noises) I'm screwed.

Are you kidding me, Apple?

(Yes, filed. Yes, back to the nano.)

[Edit: Oh! You tap in the middle of the display and it comes up. Why hide it?]

Posted by Avi at 4:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's time to celebrate! For all of us Republicans we have been waiting and waiting for our Representatives in Congress to work for us. Today we have finally seen what can be done when the right thing happens.

read more of The Republicans Found Their Backbone! »

Posted by Shira at 3:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I just spent my first night in my new apartment.

I was unpacking my stuff, and unloaded about a quarter of the boxes. The ones for the kitchen and bathroom were easy, but the bedroom (where most of them are from anyway) are a lot harder. Unloading the closet was fine, but there are a lot of sweaters and other clothing that I just never wear that I had in the drawers. I don't want to ditch it, but I have to find some kind of storage for my loft.

read more of First night »

Posted by Avi at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Heaven is just like Hell, but without the paperwork.

Posted by Avi at 9:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)