Windmill
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

I’ve been tilting at windmills, recently.

Windmill, actually.

It’s a Python program that lets your computer drive a web browser, without any human interference. We use it at Akoha to run tests that make sure that our website works with Firefox.

We use it to help us test our site with Internet Explorer. So I dutifully set up a Windows machine and tried to get it to run our test suite. I quickly realized that our software was going to need something more Unix-like.

Cygwin is the answer to that problem. It provides a full POSIX environment inside Windows. I built all our software and tried to fire up Windmill.

ImportError: No module named _winreg

Uh oh! Windmill needs to access the Windows Registry. According to the winreg documentation, it’s only available for Windows. Apparently, Cygwin doesn’t count as Windows. So I spent the weekend writing a library that fills in the gap.

cygwinreg allows you to read, write, and explore the Windows Registry from inside Cygwin. Whenever you want to use winreg, use cygwinreg instead.

import sys
if sys.platform == "win32":
    try:
        import winreg
    except ImportError:
        import _winreg as winreg
elif sys.platform == "cygwin":
    import cygwinreg as winreg

After I did that, I plugged it in, stepped back and ran my tests. They worked!

Download cygwinreg
or install it with
easy_install cygwinreg

iPhone
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
Surprise
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

Yule log
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

(39 more photos)

We’ve been stuffing envelopes all week!

First shipments
Originally uploaded by Akoha.

The first Akoha Starter Kits are in the mail. We don’t know exactly when they’ll show up in mailboxes, but we’re pretty confident that the postal service will get them to you.

I wrote a little message on the first four envelopes for testers who test-ordered from us. Then my hand cramped up. (Ow.) But we still want to thank all of you for playing Akoha and sending us your feedback!

We’ll be stuffing more envelopes and doing more shipments soon. Although we can’t promise exactly when they’ll show up, don’t worry, we’re working as fast as we can!

Cross-posted on the Akoha blog.

The Akoha Away Team is flying home from San Francisco now. They did an amazing job at TechCrunch50, where they got on stage to present our amazing project. This great experiment is the best thing I’ve ever done in my life!

If you missed it, you can watch the talk on-line. Or you can read about us in CNET News, The Montreal Gazette, or The Washington Post.

Akoha is our take on paying it forward, the idea that you can make the world a better place by doing small acts of kindness, one little bit at a time. We play a game where you help your friends, family, and strangers every day. As you play, you get to see how your own actions affect the lives of others, as your generosity is played forward. It’s really cool to watch a mission you’ve played travel from place to place, city to city, passed along by a chain of like-minded Akohans.

It doesn’t just affect your own little circle of friends. We work with partners to effect change in big ways. Our first partner is Room to Read, who will help us build a library in Nepal when we reach our first goal of 25,000 acts of kindness. These guys build and stock libraries for schoolchildren in poor parts of the world, giving the gift of education so that kids can climb their way out of poverty.

In the short time that Akoha’s been played, I’ve already seen more smiles amongst my friends. It’s fun to play Akoha, to see people’s faces light up when you do something nice! And after a while, you start seeing more and more ways to help others.

If you bump into me on the street, ask me about Akoha. Or, go to our website at www.akoha.com and register for our beta list. We’re starting small, but we’ll send you a free Akoha Starter Kit as soon as we can.

I’m looking forward to playing it forward with all of you!

I haven’t posted here for months. Not that I haven’t wanted to, but I’ve been working very, very hard on a very, very cool project.

Akoha is our little game that aims to change the world, one good deed at a time. I haven’t been able to tell people what it is, and so much of my life that been dedicated to this project, but it’s been totally worth it!

We’re a TechCrunch50 Finalist, which means we get to go on stage in front of thousands of people and unveil our little project. And we think you’ll like it.

But it is a little stressful.

Biting our nails
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

The whole team has worked night and day to make our little experiment come true. It’s not perfect, but it’s not done. With your help, we can make the world a better place, a bit at a time.

How can you learn more? You can read our blog, follow our Twitter, or join our Facebook page.

You can also watch us on stage this afternoon.

Akoha at TechCrunch50
Wednesday, 10 September 2008
13:30 – 14:45 EDT
Watch TechCrunch50 Live

( Blog | Twitter | Facebook )

This is the first actual day of my vacation.

So far, I have managed to ignore most of my work e-mail. And I’ve only read one patchset. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll do better.

I miss them already.

Akoha
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

Steak
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
Dessert
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

Say, we’re hiring!

If you know someone who’d like to do one of these jobs, send them our way!

Community Gardener
Professional Vandal / Vandale Professionnel

P.S. I’m still starving.

Tap
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

At Akoha, we have been very, very, very busy. So busy, in fact, that Éric and I have no time to take care of the growing number of computers that we are using. We must, it appears, get some help.

Now, we're looking for someone bright, energetic, and loving in their care of Ubuntu systems. We use a wide range of interesting technologies and you certainly will not be just a system administrator.

You'll be a Unix Pipefitter!
(en français)

Green Tree Python
Originally uploaded by nasmac.

Akoha’s sister company, Standout Jobs, has been hosting Montreal on Rails for quite a while. We figured we’d get into the act.

So we’re sponsoring the first Montréal Python gathering tomorrow. Sadly, we don’t really have enough space for everyone, so we’re commandeering the Standout Jobs offices upstairs. After all, what good are siblings if you can’t ask them for favours?

I will actually be on a train to Toronto, so I’m going to miss David Goodger talking about crazy awesome stuff he does in Python. But you should go!

Intimidated? Don't think that Python is for you? Worry not! Python programmers are friendly, charming, and helpful.

Montréal Python 1
Thursday, 7 February 2008
18:30 – 21:00
Standout Jobs
3981 boul. St-Laurent #615
Free admission

( Website | Facebook | Google Maps )

I have been working all week and many long nights on Akoha’s new website and weblog.

Not that I didn’t get help from the amazing team of people I get to work with.

It’s pretty snazzy, if I do say so myself.

Check it out!

Stables
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

We are back from a trip out in the country. This time, the Akoha developers were there for a crunch week, which involved hacking away like madmen to get crazy amounts of work done. Overall, I'm pretty happy about how we did.

Unfortunately for you, dear readers, what we did for work is all hush-hush.

Fortunately, you get to hear about other things. Like how I am sick as a dog. I woke up this morning, crawled downstairs, and managed to work only a couple hours before having to crawl back into bed. I have to admit, though, it was a sweet, sweet bed. I only wish I could have enjoyed it without a headache.

Now don't let me give you the wrong impression! We had a marvellous time out there. There were plenty of things to do during the day and after work!

I'd start the day by stoking the fire, to take the chill off the morning air. We might look at the birds as we munched on breakfast.

I caught the cat trying to catch a fat little squirrel who was nibbling on fallen birdseed. Sadly, it escaped.

One day, after lunch, we went snowshoeing up a hill. After fifty centimetres of snowfall, it was clean and crisp and just plain gorgeous up there.

Across the lake
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

And then there was the food! Café Massawippi did an amazing job catering our trip. These have been the best off-site meals I have ever had. But photographs are far more convincing than words, I'd bet.

Foie gras
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
Sponge cake
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

Chicken supreme
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

U
Originally uploaded by qousqous.

One of my coworkers came up to me after work on Tuesday night.

Uhm… Could you give me a hand? he asked.

I went over to his bike, parked by the kitchen, and he showed me the lock. The handle of his key had snapped off as he'd tried to force the lock open. The thing was jammed shut.

We fiddled with the key for a while, locking it in a set of pliers and wiggling it back and forth. Futile.

It got stuck before, once or twice, he said, but never like this.

At first, I thought that sawing through the lock might be a good idea. But then I remembered that we had a power drill in the office. About two minutes later, we had shattered bits of lock, and the bike was free!

That was far too easy.

Today was my first day at my new job.

I've been pretty darn picky about what I want to do, so it took a long time to find one. But I think that Akoha and I are going to be a really good fit.

Of course, because I'm working for them, you know they're the good guys. The company is geared towards facilitating social change through sharing, which is something I'm really down with.

We're in a building that's about two minutes from my house, which is a lovely commute. The office is buzzing with start-up energy and everyone seems dedicated and practical. There's a team of brilliant hackers and people with business sense. I think we're going to go places.

I've got a new computer, which I spent the whole day setting up, and best of all I got to participate in an interview. Diving into the deep end is always an exciting experience, so we'll see how things go in the next week or so.

Wish me luck!