Ben Wu

37signals’ excellent book on web-based application development, Getting Real, is now free to read online.

I have always wanted to be able to read news on my Treo 650. But almost all carriers charge an excessive monthly fee for their unlimited data plan, not to mention the slowness of accessing the Internet through the mobile phone network.

Nowadays I also mostly get my news updates by reading blogs. I use Google Reader to aggregate all my readings in a central place. It is browser based and has a nice AJAX interface so you can pretty much use it on any computer.

So wouldn’t it be nice to have a similar tool on your phone that retrieves all the blog updates for you, displays them in an easy-to-read format, and wont enrich your phone company?

I Googled and came across QuickNews. It does just that. It’s got a very user-friendly interface. And it can either use the phone’s Internet connection or HotSync to retrieve new blog entries. After trying it out for a couple of days, I am totally hooked. I used to buy a copy of New York Post to read on the train to/from work. I am just glad I don’t have to spend another dime on it from now on.

I am a big NBA fan. But I’ve never really watched a game live in an arena, until last night. I went to Madison Square Garden to watch the game between Houston Rockets and New York Knicks. It was really nice to see Yao and T-Mac playing up close. There were some unbelievable moments. During one play, when Yao was trying to put in a layup, the 5-9 Nate Robinso rose above the rim to block it. The whole garden just roared.

But with the way the Knicks are playing these days, almost every team gets a win at the Garden. It doesnt matter how spectacular a single play is. It was Yao who got the last word as the Rockets defeated the Knicks 97-90.

There’s an interesting article from today’s New York Times. It talks about how web companies nowadays can be started cheaply. This is nothing new. But it is the first time it got major media coverage. Meebo, one of my favorites, gets the first page mention with a big photograph of their founders.

Nothing if you are happily married, such is the case for me. But if you are looking for someone, it might just be the best thing that’s ever happened to you.

I broke my wrist falling off my bike. So I have to go to physical therapy 3 times a week. The office specializes in hand therapy and is located in midtown Manhattan. The staff are very friendly and talkative. My therapist, Ms. A, who runs the practice, is one of the best in the field. She is tough on my wrist but is a very kind and gentle old lady. Ms. A enjoys teasing me. But I guess I am not the only one she teases. There’s also Mr. J and Ms. C, who treat me occasionally when Ms. A is too busy.

The thing with hand therapy is, you dont just go there once and done, you normally have to go there a few times a week over the course of a few months. there are always a few patients in one room at a time. It gets pretty easy to know people and know them well.

It soon became clear to me that Mr. J and Ms. C enjoy playing match makers for their patients, whether warranted or not. What I didnt know, is that Ms. A is also quite into it.

Last Friday I was in a room waiting to be treated by Ms. A. In the same room were Mr. J and his patient, and Ms. C and her patient. It was late. She put the heat pad on my wrist and stepped out. I figured she most likely went to treat another patient in the other room while my wrist was being warmed up. And so I waited. She showed up a couple of times looking for stuff. I could tell she was really tired. It must’ve been a long day for her. But the wait was getting longer, unusally long. It was getting dark too. Just when I was getting impatient she came in, a big smile on her face, and announced to Mr. J and Ms. C, “I finally got them together, the dentist and the lady! They left together.” Apparently she’d been spending all this time working hard to hook up two of her patients. Mr. J looked up at her and asked, “Did you know that the dentist is married?” She appeared stunned, a puzzled expression of a little girl’s on her face, and said, “Oh that I dont know.” The whole room cracked up!

Who says meeting people in New York is hard? So long as you dont mind a broken wrist or two.