Yoav's Space

Awesome new MechWarrior game trailer

2009-07-12T12:11:00.003-04:00

MechWarrior is a bit of an old title from the early and mid 1990s, but it was a really fun game at the time. Check out the trailer for the new game in the franchise, coming out later this year supposedly:

Tyner Blain on Writing Complete User Stories

2009-07-09T07:51:00.002-04:00

Tyner Blain is one of my favorite blog authors on product management. He specializes in agile product management. He strikes a great balance between classic PM work and adapting to an agile world where we're not trying to plan and document everything perfectly.

(Insert compulosary note of grief for readers working in a waterfall world...)

The latest post, about writing complete user stories, is very interesting. A lot of people latch on to the idea of user stories, and I believe in it as well. I always found complete use-cases to be too formal, too hard to read, too long and yet never truly complete, and just heavyweight in general. The effort of keeping them updated and in sync with real life was hard. Too hard.

One-sentence user stories are sometimes awesome. Sometimes they even deliver more value in that one sentence than a 100-page document. But they're hardly ever complete at the start, and that's OK.

What I find is that they are often completed verbally in discussions between team members. Tyner helps put a framework, at least a mental one, about what it takes to complete the user story, as well as a decent template for documenting it.

As usual, his writing style is crisp and easy to read. The diagrams and charts are excellent in all his blog posts.

Thanks, Tyner!

Tizian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice

2009-07-06T11:45:00.003-04:00

This past weekend Alli and I went to the Museum of Fine Arts here in Boston. I had wanted to check out this exhibit, Tizian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice, since it started showing a little while ago.

The exhibit was very interesting. I like it when museums display works of art around a theme, as opposed to chronological or some of the more traditional ways of organizing art.

The paintings themselves were beautiful. The richness of the colors, the vividness of the people in the images, and the topics painted themselves were interesting. My favorite was a princess astride a dragon, just because I got tired of the usual religious scenes and the portraits. It's called St. Louis, St. George, and the Princess, and it's by Tintoretto:

The organization around the rivalry between the painters was cool. It conveyed a nice sense of competition and some politics.

Overall, the exhibit was fun. It's not too big, but has enough interesting paintaings to keep you going for a good hour. It's well-organized, well-curated, and interesting. It's worth checking out.

Product review: iHome iH9 iPod alarm clock / radio

2009-07-06T11:30:00.002-04:00

I'm always looking to consolidate and combine devices at home. As a minimalist who likes clean, open spaces, the less visible boxes I have at home, the better I feel.

Last month we bought an iHome iH9 iPod alarm clock radio. This is nice since it replaces the iPod (or iPhone) charger, alarm clock / radio, and speakers (if any) for the iPod.

After a bit of research, not a lot, we bought the iHome iH9 because it looked promising. And it's been great. Definitely recommended.

It's not particularly big, not heavy, easy to use, and easy to understand. It works very well with both an iPod and an iPhone. The music sounds reasonable, the volume levels are good, and the alarms work very well.

I like the little bit of innovation in having simplified alarm calendar settings. The day options are 7-5-2, for every day, every work day, and weekend alarms. It's pretty neat, and saves me from forgetting to turn the alarm off for the weekend.

Overall, we've had the iHome iH9 for a month, and I like it a lot. Consolidation mission accomplished.

The startup checklist, by Jessica (indexed)

2009-07-03T16:35:00.001-04:00

Another brilliant Indexed illustratio n, by Jessica:

Funny Scrum quote

2009-07-01T18:29:00.004-04:00

From the Scrum development mailing list, found via the Agile Game Development blog:

"Scrum is great for either fixed-date variable-scope, or "fixed-scope" (which always grows) variable-date. If you're doing fixed-date fixed-scope, I recommend waterfall or RUP, which will buy you a few months to look for a new job."

Insightful post from Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz

2009-06-28T12:54:00.002-04:00

Rand Fishkin, the founder and CEO of SEOmoz, just wrote a very insightful blog post about their process through funding decisions, execution, metrics, and vision changes. It's worth reading in its entirety. The transparency and honesty are refreshing. Well done, Rand, and thanks!

Read My Startup Experience: VC, Entrepreneurship, Self-Analysis & The Road Ahead.

Guest post: New York state has some crazy driving penalties

2009-06-28T12:45:00.003-04:00

This is a guest post from Alli's aunt, Barbara, who just went through an interesting experience in New York state related to driving penalties. To summarize, her boyfriend was put in jail for a day even though he paid a driving ticket!

Sorry for the departure from my normal topics. I think it's an interesting enough story that I wanted to share it. The bolding is by me.

......................................................................................................................

Yesterday, my boyfriend and I discovered something about suspended driving privileges in New York. We never heard of it before, but we will never forget it now.

He found out because he was driving my car in Manhattan the other day, was stopped for not having his seatbelt on, and when they ran his license, they discovered he had lost his driving privileges in NY state for some moving violation from 1995 (they couldn't tell him what though).

He had no idea what it was about, but they took my car from him, handcuffed him, threw him in the back of a squad car, and then put him in jail. They took a mug shot, fingerprinted him, frisked him, and ran his prints threw some system that took several hours. He just sat in a little cell with some other gentlemen and waited.

Meanwhile, he had called me (as his one phone call!) and told me that if I came to the police station and retrieved my car immediately, I could still get it easily, without having to go the "pound" and incur more work and expense. So I rushed over from my job in the city, and waited to get my car.

They asked for my license before releasing the car to me, and when they ran MY license, they discovered that I, too, had suspended driving privileges in NY for something from 1997! What a shock. I never failed to pay for a ticket of any kind! And, I had been driving in NY for the twenty years since I moved from Queens. This made no sense to me that I would be hearing this for the first time then! Why didn't they let me know sooner?

They finally released my boyfriend after 6 hours, and this morning, he called the NY DMV. He was told that although he paid the ticket back in 1995, there was a surcharge that he didn't know about or pay, and that because it was never paid, his driving privileges were suspended. He owed $50, which they took over the phone and cleared his record. (Thank goodness they don't incur penalties or interest!! That was a big relief.)

I called the NY DMV myself this morning, and was told that although I paid my ticket in 1997, I didn't pay enough and they wanted another $30 from me. I paid it and they cleared my record. But I asked why they didn't inform me of all this back in 1997. I certainly would have taken care of it then.

I found out that NY doesn't care what your current address is on your drivers license. If you move out of NY and don't officially notify the DMV, they will continue to send your mail to the last known address in their records--regardless of the address you show them on your current license at the time you got the ticket. Apparently, when you pay a ticket, there is a place to tell them you changed your address. But since I had lived in NJ for 11 years, I didn't think it applied to me. So I hadn't filled that in.

So our mail was going to whatever our last known addresses were at that time--places we hadn't lived for many years. Neither of us had ever received the requests for more money, or the warnings or notification of suspension. We never knew until he got stopped for his seatbelt yesterday. And he ended up in JAIL!!

So warning to all of you ex-Nyers in NJ. If you didn't officially notify NY DMV that you moved, please call the NY DMV at 518-474-0941 (hit 1/5), and ask if your driving privileges are suspended in NY BEFORE you get stopped and thrown in jail! You can take care of it over the phone, and they can update your address in their records.

Movie review: Transformers 2

2009-06-28T12:23:00.003-04:00

Last night Alli and I watched Transformers 2: Revene of the Fallen, with her cousin Bree.

I really enjoyed the movie, more than I thought I would. This was also true of the first Transformers movie. What makes it more fun than I thought are the quality of the special effects, and the humor in the script.

There were numerous really funny scenes, laugh-out-loud funny. It wasn't quite The Hangover, but then again, it didn't set out to be a pure comedy. The cast is good, the acting good (within the parameters of an action movie, nothing serious), and again, the script is hilarious.

It's actually worth watching. I didn't think I'd be recommending it, but it's fun.

Congrats to Jim and Rosanna!

2009-06-27T13:00:00.001-04:00

The birthday paradox tells us it only takes 23 people in a room before there's a 50% chance that two of them will have the same birthday.

How many people need to work for the same company before there's a 50% chance two of them get engaged? Obviously not the same question, due to many factors.

I don't know the answer ;) But I know Jim and Rosanna got engaged, and that's awesome! Congratulations to both of you!

Amazing ping pong (table tennis) point

2009-06-27T12:14:00.003-04:00

We've been playing a bit of ping pong (table tennis) at HubSpot recently, since we got the new table in our game room. While there are many players better than me, I still enjoy the game. And I think I've been getting a little better over time, which helps my enthusiasm.

Earlier today I was looking on YouTube for some other stuff, when I stumbled across this cool video. It shows one point from a table tennis match, but it's an impressive point. Check it out on YouTube or below.

Restaurant review: Pierre Gagnaire

2009-06-27T09:48:00.003-04:00

Last weekend Alli and I went to Paris. We had a fantastic time, an absolutely perfect trip. I'm going to review several pieces of the trip in separate blog posts, starting with this one.

We had both been to Paris before, multiple times. We had done most of the classic tourist activities, so we wanted something different this time. The emphasis for this trip was on two things, eating good food and shopping. You can guess which hobby goes with which person, although we both enjoy both activities ;)

We would only be in Paris for a long weekend, and we wanted to leave room for random food exploration, so I only actually made one fancy dinner reservation in advance. It was at Pierre Gagnaire, and I'm very happy with that choice.

Choosing a restaurant in Paris is not easy at all, as you might imagine. Restricting the search to restaurants with 3 Michelin stars certainly narrows down the options, but you might be missing on other great places. Nonetheless, looking at the list, I wanted to choose something that is more creative and fun than most of the classic French cuisine places. La Tour d'Argent, Taillevent, Grand Vefour, Alain Ducasse, L'Arpege, etc, all have their place, for sure. I'd love to check all of them out on future trips.

It came down between Pierre Gagnaire, L'Astrance, and Joel Robuchon on this trip, and PG won for non-food reasons. We had a fantastic time.

Although there are other options around themed menus, we went with the general big tasting menu. Everything was delicious. The chef emphasizes combinations of flavors that might not otherwise go together. It's not molecular gastronomy and not presented as such, but it's not really classical cuisine either. It's something in the middle, and it works amazingly well.

The menu is long, complicated, and fancy. My French is limited mostly to normal stuff you'd say on the street, so I did not know many of the ingredient names or related verbs regarding how they were prepared. Thankfully, the staff, complete with a Maitre d' with an amazing mustache, were super helpful.

In fact, service was world-class all-around, from the moment we stepped in until the moment we left. All the servers were attentive, friendly, super-professional, never missed a beat. The maitre d' checked in routinely and helped explain dishes. The wine folks were helpful as well.

The food itself was absolutely delicious. Some of the flavor combinations, like blue lobster with cream-of-spider-crab sauce, totally rocked. Creamed escargots shined as a side decoration on one of the plates. The meats towards the back end of the meal were tasty, succulent, juicy, and delicious. Desserts were light and airy, yet satisfying.

The chef himself came out to say hi to the people in the (small) restraurant a couple of times. We also chatted with him at the end a bit and got a picture together ;)

Overall, it was an extremely well-balanced meal. No misses at all, and a few extraordinary dishes. The service is what you would expect at this level. The wine list is full of interesting choices, and (pleasantly) includes a whole range of prices. A lot of small-production wines, which are very hard to find elsewhere.

I would place Pierre Gagnaire, the restaurant, in the top 10 places we've ever eaten. That said, it's not as fun as Alinea, and probably below Per Se and Dal Pescatore. It fully met my expectations, and they were very, very high.

Work stuff will go on the new HubSpot Dev blog

2009-06-26T11:26:00.003-04:00

We've started a new blog here at HubSpot for the dev team to muse about tech-related stuff. I'll be posting most of my HubSpot technical thoughts there from now on, leaving this blog to more personal stuff like product and restaurant reviews.

It may not be interesting to most readers of this blog, but just in case, it's at dev.hubspot.com.

You can also follow the HubSpot Dev team on Twitter.

Movie review: Yes Man

2009-06-23T09:35:00.003-04:00

I watched the movie Yes Man a few days ago. I had low expectations for this movie, since it looked like a fairly stupid idea. But I like Jim Carrey, and I had some time, so...

The movie was actually a pleasant surprise! It was both funnier and more profound than I expected. It's still not a master piece of film-making, it's still predictable, and it's not even as good a comedy as some recent ones like The Hangover. But it's worth a rental.

Book review: Outliers

2009-06-18T09:27:00.003-04:00

I was looking forward to Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers when it first came out. Then I read various mixed reviews, so I pushed it down my reading queue.

(Notably, there's no such operation in the classic queue model, is there? Maybe just adjusting priority in a priority queue?)

The book is fun to read, because the writing flows well and the questions are interesting. In that regard, it's just like his earlier books.

Also just like his earlier books, I'm not 100% convinced. I always feel like in every chapter, there are some leaps of faith and/or logic from the initial statistics to the grand conclusion.

In this book, the author tapers his conclusions a lot more often. He says things like "granted, so-and-so had a lot more talent than most..." and then proceeds with his conclusion. It's not clear how the weights divide between having more talent than most and being born at the right time of the year, or practicing 10,000 hours at your craft, etc.

So overall, while the book is fun to read, and I'm sure I'll debate it with multiple people in the months to come, I'm luke-warm on it. It certainly has a ton of interesting questions, fascinating statistics, and fun research. It's even inspiring in parts, since most of us don't think we have a ton of talent in one area or another.

That's a lot of good stuff for any book. But I'm not that satisfied with it, and besides the above, I can't quite point out why.

Movie reviews: The Hangover, The Taking of Pelham 123

2009-06-14T14:00:00.004-04:00

Last night Alli and I watched tho movies: The Hangover, and The Taking of Pelham 123.

The Hangover was pretty good and funny, although not as good as Old School or Superbad. I like stupid-humor comedies, so The Hangover fit that bill. A few moments were very funny, but for the most part the movie was just OK.

Then our drinks buddies bailed out, and since we were already in the theatre, we saw another movie. The Taking of Pelham 123 is a fairly simple action movie, nothing crazy. It, too, was pretty good but not amazing. I had higher hopes for this move than I did for The Hangover, so it was a little disappointing.

All in all, a fun night at the movies. Nothing amazing, but not bad either.

Restaurant review: Kolbeh of Kabob

2009-06-14T13:05:00.002-04:00

I must have driven by Kolbeh of Kabob, a little casual hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Cambridge, 100 times. Probably more. Never went in.

But my friends Ziv and Orit live nearby, and they really like this place. So we went there for dinner on Friday night.

It was surprisingly delicious! The menu is what you'd expect: kebabs, falafel, and some similar dishes. Everything came out hot, fresh, and tasty. The prices are cheap, the service is decent, and the atmosphere not bad.

With Kebab Factory going somewhat downhill in terms of quality, this is a good alternative.

Book review: The Secret Servant

2009-06-14T13:00:00.003-04:00

The Secret Servant is a novel by Daniel Silva, one of my favorite authors for simple action / spy writing. The book is easy to read, the story is interesting, and it makes for a great beach or airport accessory.

There's really not much to say beyond the above ;) If you want to pass a couple of hours on the beach or in a plane and want something fun to read, The Secret Servant is a good candidate. I have an affection for books related to Israeli security services in general.

First HubSpot TV coverage!

2009-06-13T00:07:00.002-04:00

HubSpot's CEO, Brian Halligan, was interviewed on New England Cable News (NECN) tonight. It was our first full interview on TV, I think. w00t!

Direct link: http://www.necn.com/Boston/Business/2009/06/12/HubSpot-helps-companies-get/1244848734.html

Video from NECN.com:

Restaurant review: Cafe Sushi (Cambridge)

2009-06-12T09:19:00.003-04:00

Last night Alli and I met up with two Japanese friends from Harvard for dinner at Cafe Sushi in Cambridge.

It's a small place, unassuming in appearance. But the food was excellent. The prices are OK, not cheap, but not extravagant either.

If you read this blog regularly, you know Maluken in Kenmore Square is my favorite sushi place in Boston. I still think it can't be beat on a number of fronts, including value, and that it has the best spicy tuna maki I've ever had.

But when you ask two Japenese natives for their favorite Japanese place, you go where they tell you ;) And it was very good indeed.

As was the conversation. Finally a chance to exercise some of my Economist learnings on Japanese diplomacy by chatting with a government official informally and honestly.

Wine review: 2007 Southern Right Pinotage

2009-06-10T22:15:00.002-04:00

The 2007 Southern Right Pinotage was a nice surprise the other night for dinner. I expected it to be more blunt, since it's so young. But it was very smooth. Almost too smooth. I bet in a couple of years it will be a nice balance with more power. Overall, though, a very good wine, especially for the price around $20.

It's from Walker Bay in South Africa, a country I'd love to visit one day.

Wine Spectator says 90 points and the quote below, but I think that's a bit generous:
Smoky and fleshy, but with good aromatics and vibrancy to the black currant, fig, roasted sage and bramble notes. A nice minerally spine lingers through the finish. Drink now through 2010.

Wine review: 2004 Argiano Solengo

2009-06-10T22:05:00.003-04:00

I had this stellar red wine, the 2004 Argiano Solengo, about 4 months ago. The bottle was waiting, empty, in the wine rack, for me to either blog about or buy more. I'm going to do both.

At the time, I got the wine for a reasonable price. Now it's nearing theoretical full maturity, so its pricing is rising. Nonetheless, even at $85 or $100, it may be a good deal. You won't find it for less than $300 now in a restaurant, and $500 by 2012 when it's fully mature.

As for an actual description, I'll defer to the Wine Enthusiast:

The 2004 Solengo presents gorgeous aromatics followed by super-ripe dark fruit, crushed flowers, herbs, spices and sweet toasted oak that flow from its opulent, full-bodied frame. Showing superb concentration, the wine is supported by an attractive note of underlying minerality that provides balance as well as a sense of proportion. It offers outstanding length, a silky-textured personality and ripe, sweet tannins on the finish in a rare display that marries power with elegance. It will be tempting to drink this early, but a few years of cellaring will give the wine an opportunity to express the fullest range of its potential.

(Port) Wine review: Ramos Pinto Quinta do Bom Retiro 20 year tawny

2009-06-10T21:52:00.005-04:00

The Ramos Pinto Quinta do Bom Retiro 20 year tawny is the best port I've ever had.

I don't say that lightly. It is the perfect balance of flavors, just the right smoothness, a true pleasure to drink.

Gerald Boyd sums it up well, and gives it 95 points, which is super high for a port:

The color is bright and richly tawny with no hints of red. Up-front ripe dried fruit, with traces of iodine and rancio mark the aromatic nose. The flavors are richly textured, high-profile fruit, smooth and supple that carry through to the length finish. This 20-Year Tawny is the perfect choice between the more youthful 10-Year and mature 30-Year.

This is a single quinta tawny, which is more rare than the usual distributions. It was last bottled in 2005, but like most tawnys, contains grapes from multiple vintages blended together.

SDM Pulse Newsletter

2009-06-10T21:51:00.003-04:00

My graduate program at MIT, System Design and Management (SDM), has been publishing newsletters for its alumni. This is not new, but I want to start linking to their online versions now that they're available. Here's the Summer 2009 SDM Pulse (PDF).

Matt Raible's eye surgery experience

2009-06-04T18:22:00.001-04:00

A very detailed, fascinating insider's account of getting PRK eye surgery. Matt Raible is a fellow software engineer. Although we've never met in person, he's a virtual friend since we've used each other's open-source software projects for several years now.

Matt, thanks for being transparent, open, and honest, and taking the time to write this account.