No, not Kitchen Stadium. Today, August 22, is the five-year anniversary of the day I started at Avvenu in 2005. At the time it was a tiny, 25-employee Internet media-sharing startup in Palo Alto. In December 2007, we were acquired by Nokia and our Nokia start dates were backdated to match our Avvenu start dates. [...]

No, not Kitchen Stadium.

Today, August 22, is the five-year anniversary of the day I started at Avvenu in 2005. At the time it was a tiny, 25-employee Internet media-sharing startup in Palo Alto. In December 2007, we were acquired by Nokia and our Nokia start dates were backdated to match our Avvenu start dates. So Nokia just reminded me that I’ve been working for them for five years.

I don’t like working for large companies. I was definitely going to stay with Nokia for two years, to fully vest my retention bonus. That was December 2009, and nine months later I’m still there. The huge multinational corporate atmosphere is stifling. It’s soul-deadening. And that probably explains my lack of ambition or energy to start searching for a new job, preferably at a tiny Internet startup.

This anniversary, I’ve now resolved, is going to be the kick in the pants that I need to get my resume in order and get the job search going.

We leave for our long vacation one week from today — from last night, actually. Next Tuesday, we drive to LA; we fly from LAX to MCO on Wednesday and the ship sails on Saturday. A neighbor will be house- and cat-sitting for us while we’re gone. We’ve never taken this long of a trip [...]

We leave for our long vacation one week from today — from last night, actually. Next Tuesday, we drive to LA; we fly from LAX to MCO on Wednesday and the ship sails on Saturday. A neighbor will be house- and cat-sitting for us while we’re gone. We’ve never taken this long of a trip and I’m a bit apprehensive. We’ve had more than a year to prepare, though, and I think we’ve done everything we can possibly do to ensure it goes smoothly. I’m especially looking forward to the Panama Canal transit.

The Monterey Pine tree in our back patio, which was infected with Pine Pitch Canker, was removed yesterday. It was a decision we really didn’t want to make and put off as long as possible, but the base of the trunk was decaying and weakened, and if the tree fell it would have taken out our house. On the bright side, with the tree gone the back patio will get more sun and not be covered in pine needles and sap all the time. In order to remove the tree, the arborist had to chainsaw out some of our back fence — not really a problem since it was rotted and falling apart anyway. Don’t get any ideas, though — we’ve put up a temporary fence and the permanent replacement will be installed next week.

I’m still working for Nokia as a result of the Avvenu acquisition from last year. I’m also on the Board of Directors for the Homeowners Association of Mission Palo Alto, and I put in a lot of time in various capacities at MousePlanet. Jennifer is doing very well at CSAA (though they are apparently changing their name for some reason) and not incidentally gets us great travel deals whenever we go anywhere. She’s also copy-editing some MousePlanet columns.

The cats are doing well. Watson had his lower left fang removed a few months ago because it had started to decay. He’d lost the upper left a few years ago so now his mouth is a little lopsided, but he’s still very cute. Rita and Linus are, after only eight years, finally starting to make friends. Actually it’s Rita who is starting to warm up — Linus has always wanted to be friends but until recently, Rita was having none of it.

This November will mark our tenth wedding anniversary. I know, I’m amazed too.

Nokia / Avvenu press release Nokia acquires Avvenu for Mobile Access and Share Technologies Provides anytime, anywhere access to personal and office files Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Nokia and Avvenu today announced that they have signed an agreement under which Nokia will acquire Avvenu. Avvenu provides Internet services that allow anyone to use their mobile [...]

Nokia / Avvenu press release

Nokia acquires Avvenu for Mobile Access and Share Technologies

Provides anytime, anywhere access to personal and office files

Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Nokia and Avvenu today announced that they have signed an agreement under which Nokia will acquire Avvenu. Avvenu provides Internet services that allow anyone to use their mobile devices to securely access, use and share personal computer files, even if their host computer is turned off. By acquiring Avvenu, Nokia plans to further enhance its portfolio of solutions for mobile operators, as well as deliver a secure file access and share service direct to mobile workers. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and has not yet been completed.

Nokia believes that anytime access to PC content is a missing ingredient to mobile productivity. Smartphone adoption is growing faster than previously estimated and surveys confirm that many people are using mobile devices to view, process, and edit content. Easy access to existing pc content will fuel mobile computing convenience and productivity.

“This acquisition is another step toward delivering on Nokia’s business mobility strategy,” said Mary McDowell, executive vice president and general manager, Enterprise Solutions, Nokia. “Avvenu’s ‘digital locker’ file access and sharing technology allows users to search, access and share PC files remotely, using their mobile or other connected devices, even when their PC is turned off or not connected to the Internet. With the integration of Avvenu’s technology, Nokia will further extend its business mobility solutions beyond email to add collaboration tools that enable greater everyday productivity through access to a user’s own content anytime, anywhere, from any connected device.”

“We share Nokia’s vision of quickly and easily connecting people with their information and content regardless of where they are in the world, and whether their PC is with them or not,” said Richard French, CEO, Avvenu. “The combination of our experienced team and our patented technology platform will help realize this vision, while access to Nokia’s extensive technology and market resources will accelerate our time to market for new mobile Internet services.”

Founded in 2004, Avvenu is a privately-owned start up headquartered in Palo Alto, California. Avvenu will be integrated into Nokia’s new Services & Software unit as a part of the company re-organization that will take effect on January 1, 2008.

This is what we’ve been working on for the past several months. I’m going from a 25-person startup to a 65,000-person multi-national. I haven’t been really happy with big companies in the past; hopefully this will go relatively smoothly. The money is good, the benefits are good, the commute is only a bit longer (Mountain View instead of Palo Alto, but all freeway). On the other hand, based on the first day, the hours are a bit harsh. We’ve been here at the Nokia campus all day rolling out the updated version of the Avvenu service and now, at a bit after midnight, I think we’re done and almost ready to head home.

I noticed this disruption last night on the way home, but figured it was weather or sunspots or something. XM Restores Radio Service: XM Satellite Radio restored service Tuesday after a software glitch knocked out the signal from one of its four satellites and disrupted service to many of the company’s 8 million subscribers for [...]

I noticed this disruption last night on the way home, but figured it was weather or sunspots or something.
XM Restores Radio Service:

XM Satellite Radio restored service Tuesday after a software glitch knocked out the signal from one of its four satellites and disrupted service to many of the company’s 8 million subscribers for about a day.

The problems began around noon Monday, the company said. They initially expected to fix the problem after a few hours but service remained disrupted for about 24 hours.

‘The problem occurred during the loading of software to a critical component of our satellite broadcast system, which resulted in a loss of signal from one of our satellites,’ the company said on its Web site.

So they pushed an upgrade without, it seems, adequate testing, and it failed as soon as it was deployed. Whether your software enables sharing your favorite iTunes playlists* or broadcasting 170 satellite radio channels to millions of subscribers, it’s important to test before upgrading!

* plug

After months of hard work, we’ve today released version 2 of Avvenu! It’s completely free for the basic service, so I urge everyone to go check it out.

After months of hard work, we’ve today released version 2 of Avvenu! It’s completely free for the basic service, so I urge everyone to go check it out.