Tim Samoff // Weblog

Somehow, I forgot about this fair blog’s 9th blogiversary (which was June 15th). But, now that I look back in the Archives, it appears that I missed the 8th one as well. Something’s got to change… And soon.

I’m working on it.

Just got an email that began like this:

Dear Inventor(s):


Re: System and Method for Generating Flash-Based Educational Training (Docket 11259)

It is my pleasure to announce that Embarq recently filed a patent application with the United States Patent Trademark Office (USPTO) for the above referenced invention on which you are named as the (an) inventor.

(Photo by Tom Magliery.)

Thanks to everyone in the Maemo community for voting me into another term of the Maemo Community Council. I’m honored to have had Dave Neary‘s nomination and I’m honored to be serving the community once again.

There is a lot happening for Maemo during the next six months. If you’d like to participate, please join the conversation on the maemo-community mailing list!

Nice work, Flickr!

After the nominations were opened for the next Maemo Community Council, I wasn’t completely sure that I’d jump back into the mix. While I’ve had an extremely rewarding time being a part of the Council, these things — as you may know — have a tendency of becoming more than originally expected. To explain further, I must divulge a little personal information.

As an long-time open source advocate, I am very passionate about the state of open and free software (er…culture?) development and being a part of making open source more of a reality in mainstream computing…and life. This being said, I tend to obsess over the few communities that I’m still a part of (admittedly, this list is much shorter than it has been in years past). So, while being a member of the Council has been an amazing experience, it has also eaten up a lot of time and energy.

But, wouldn’t you know it? In the midst of my pondering and soul searching over the possibilities of the next Council election, one of the maemo.org staff and friend, Dave Neary, asked me if I’d allow him to nominate me… I was more than flattered; needless to say, I felt honored.

Likewise, while I began to see others’ nominations roll in on the maemo-community mailing list, I felt myself getting very excited — not excited over the aspect of actually being a Council member, but excited about just being a community member. It is amazing that so many people will offer their time and energy (the same time and energy that I give) free of charge, just from a sense of improving something that we believe in.

So, because of my love for the Maemo community — a little about what it is for, but mostly for those who fill its ranks — I accepted Dave’s nomination and here I am… Back in the mix.

If you haven’t seen it, check out the spec for the latest iteration of the Maemo user interface. It’s pretty slick and I can’t wait to install the new SDK so I can give it a spin!

Born: June 9, 1972
Location: Kansas City, MO USA

Follower of Jesus. Husband of Julianna. Father of Josiah. Musician, artist, filmmaker, reader, writer, thinker.

Other places you can find me:

• KC Samoffs
• MySpace (personal)
• Flickr (personal)
• Flickr (Josiah)
• YouTube (films and animations)
• DoodleBug (drawings)
• A Different Kind of Cop (my long-running electronic music project)
• A Different Kind of Cop (MySpace)

• Tim and His Guitar (listen to some of my singer/songwriter music)