eCommerce Semi-Sleaziness

I do understand that companies are in business to make money. I really do. I support that. I work for a for-profit company. Always have. But there are fair and ethical ways to make money, then there is sleaze and foolishness. I made a reservation with Budget Rental a week ago, for a rental in 2 days from the present. Got a very nice rate, 21.99 per day (before taxes of course). I just went to change the reservation, to push it out by one day, and the rate was up to $99.99 per day!

I do understand that, like airline tickets and hotel rooms, car rental rates fluctuate based on demand. I get that. But within one week, going up by 5X?! I didn't believe that was a simple reflection of "market conditions". So, instead of changing my existing reservation, I went to make a new one (no penalty for canceling). Sure enough, my original rate was still available.

So what I assume was happening is that they have some algorithm that says people changing at this late date are in a hurry, and you can fleece them. As a consumer, I just really, really resent it when companies try to pull this stuff. Do they really think consumers are that stupid?! Maybe it works, but I find it really irritating. If they weren't so greedy, it might actually have worked. If the rate had gone up by $10, I probably wouldn't have blinked.

"Superphone" Term a Poor Marketing Tactic from Google

In my consumer cosmology, the more heavily promoted an item is, the more skeptical I become about its benefits and value proposition. It is a huge warning sign when a marketer tries to subtly re-name the product or service. For instance, an OCR vendor I dealt with tried to call it "ICR"--intelligent character recognition. I, not O--different than that old, crummy, never-accurate-enough OCR that you tried before. Except it was exactly like the old OCR that never worked well. Old wine in new bottle.

So when Google tried calling it's much-anticipated smartphone a "superphone", I smelled a rat. In this case, the rat wasn't a horrible sewer rat, it was more like a domesticated pet rat. The Nexus is by all accounts (I don't own one) a very nice Android phone, possibly/probably the best on the market. But nothing, absolutely nothing, about it is revolutionary, in a qualitative or quantitative sense.

Unusual Hockey Game

I don't see much hockey, but I was lucky enough to be invited to the Wild-Flames game today. I always enjoy watching a game in person (that cliche is so true). Anwyay, it was a good game, the home team won, and there was plenty of scoring, 4-3. But the relatively plentiful scoring was not among the things that I am counting as unusual:

1. 10 minutes of stoppage due to an injured player who was ultimately wheeled out. Apparently he is okay.
2. Another 10 minutes of stoppage because the gate onto the rink was damaged, apparently by a hard check!
3. Maybe I have missed it before, but I never noticed players skating stickless (because their sticks had broken). In this game, at one point first one, then two, Wild players were skating stickless. I know this is not unheard of when on defense, but I personally never noticed, it, and it lasted a while, with even the second player going stickless.

We had great seats, just above the glass line, 12 rows up, on the blue line. All in all, it was a really good outing.

Is Google's Search Quality Being Eroded by SEO?

When Google first appeared on the scene, it was almost magical. That was over a decade ago, back when the home screen was even plainer than now, back before Gmail, and it said "BETA" in big letters, but it sure didn't feel like beta. More often, now, though, all the top results I get are eCommerce sites. I really have to dig and refine to get useful information.

Resume "Botox"

I heard an NPR segment on "resume botox"--making sure you didn't sound too old in your resume. Two of the points are things I have recommended to others:

1. Use a Gmail address.
2. Dispense with the cover letter.

Music Collections in the Cloud

Pretty good article on access to music from the cloud.

Catch Media is building a registration, tracking and clearinghouse system to give consumers legal access to their music anytime and anywhere across a variety of devices. Mark Segall, its business development adviser, says the company will soon announce which music companies will use the technology but suggests that consumers will have to pay a “convenience fee” for streaming their music from the Web, comparable to charges at an A.T.M.

This is interesting. 20+ years ago I had a debate with my friend, Jeff, over whether it would make sense to own music in the future. I thought it wouldn't, that you would just "rent" it. Partly we were driven by differences in perspective--I was more into jazz and classical, so had more repertoire to draw from, so was less interested in listening to the same piece many, many times.

Now, Rhapsody let's you do that, for $13/month. Even for a casual music-listener, that's not too bad a price--it's equivalent to buying 1 CD. Plus, you can share the account within a family, quite easily. The only problem is that you can't get the music to the cloud, notably to your MP3 player. But Rhapsody works over the web, and they have a beta out for Android, so it seems like all that may change. To me, this seems like it has hugely disruptive potential, and could be much more appealing than these other cloud schemes.

Blogger Feature: Abandoned Posts Functionality

Sometimes I start a post and decide never to finish it. Often, because I have discovered some flaw in my reasoning. Still, I hate to discard anything I have taken the time to write--as with saving all email messages, you just never know which thing you may want for some reason in the future. My work-around in Blogger is to assign such un-published items to an "Abandoned" category. But that will cause them to still accumulate and get in the way when reviewing the backlog of un-published posts (I tend to have a lot of those). I would like to see built-in system functionality for hiding posts in the "Abandoned" category.

Good Design: Blogger Handling of Links

In most apps (Word, Excel), if you paste in a link, when you click on it, it behaves just like a browser window--it launches the link. Sometimes this is the correct behavior, but other times--when you are trying to edit an Excel cell--it is not the desired behavior, and it gets in the way. I really like the way Blogger handles this, in Edit Mode.

Op-Ed Columnist - The Broken Society - NYTimes.com

Britain is always going to be more hospitable to communitarian politics than the more libertarian U.S. But people are social creatures here, too. American society has been atomized by the twin revolutions here, too. This country, too, needs a fresh political wind. America, too, is suffering a devastating crisis of authority. The only way to restore trust is from the local community on up.

Interesting from Brooks...the "crisis of authority" is a theme of great interest to me.

Fitness - Workout Distractions - Good or Bad? - NYTimes.com

Anyone who knows me well will know I am a big advocate of reading while doing exercise machines. The recumbent excercise bike, in particular, is the perfect reading machine. I know my target cadence, and glance from time-to-time to check, so I don't think reading diminishes my workout intensity hardly at all. It is true that if I didn't read, I could probably push myself past hard toward the limit a bit more--if I were so inclined--but by the same token, if I didn't read, I don't think I could stand to stay on the damn thing an hour!

Web Sites that Use Facebook, Google, etc for Identity

It can be convenient and powerful to log in to a website (e.g., to add comments) using your Facebook (or, occasionally, Google) identity. Convenient, because you don't have to sign up for anything. Powerful, because if you want it to--a big if--it is connected with your identity. It makes me nervous though.

In theory, they are connecting directly to Facebook, through a secure HTTP connection, so they never intercept your password. I see several possible problems, though:

1. A rogue site could fake the Facebook login page, and intercept your password. Maybe they could even do this very cleverly, calling through to Facebook, so that you even get the expected results of a successful Facebook connection.
2. A rouge site could just play on the fact that people are used to doing this, and not even offer a Facebook login page, allowing them to easily capture your password.
3. The Facebook login page could be presented over a non-secure HTTP connection. Unless I am missing something, that seems to be what is happening in the screenshot below, from the site hothardware.com. This probably is carelessness, not an intentional attempt to steal your password. (Am I missing something?--I don't see an "httpS", and I don't see a little lock symbol in the lower right corner.

Why can't TouchPal use real spell-check?

I really like the TouchPal virtual keyboard, but its implementation of spell-check/auto-complete on the compact qwerty keyboard is really frustrating to me. Instead of looking at the whole word, it looks at the string you have typed. The moment you make a mistake that doesn't map to a word, it reverts to assuming you are using it in non-auto-complete mode, so that you get the nonsense word that is formed by the first of the two-letter pairs. In other words, it defaults to something that is wrong 100% of the time. I am probably missing something, perhaps it is a matter of computing overhead, but this implementation really mars an otherwise terrific product.

Female Pushup Standards in the Army

When the roles suitable for women in the military are discussed, pushup standards are often a point of debate. The pushup standards are quite a bit lower for women than for men. I personally think this factor is over-rated and mis-interpreted.

We should first ask ourselves--is push-up capability a Bona-Fide Occupational Qualification (aka, BFQ)? Or is it, like a college degree, more of a proxy or marker for some more general indicators of suitability? I would submit, for 90+% of military assignments, it is the latter. Being able to do a goodly number of pushups is an indicator of:

• general physical fitness
• discipline (maintaining one's fitness)
• mental toughness

All of  which are important in the military environment, much more so than the absolute number of pushups a soldier can perform.

Google Android: It's time to end the fragmentation | The Toybox | ZDNet.com

Google Android: It's time to end the fragmentation | The Toybox | ZDNet.com

Android is beginning its spiral into the world of crapware, software which serves no real purpose other than to give marketing people a “differentiator” which doesn’t really meet a customer need. And just as it has on the PC, the situation will get worse before it gets better – with the unfortunate issue that crapware is even harder to get rid of on a phone than it is on a computer.

I think that is a bit dramatic, but the article is a good, comprehensive look at the growing problem of Android fragmentation and non-updates. I am moderately frustrated to still be sitting at 1.6 on my T-Mobile myTouch 3G. Updates need to come more reliably.

I personally would stay the heck away from any custom software on top of Android, such as Motoblur or Sense. I can see how that complicates updating Android versions. Cold-comfort for people who bought those phones. But I am much more frustrated about non-updates for vanilla Android on recent Google Experience phones, such as the MT3G.

Smartphones and Farsightedness

I am starting to get hit by farsightedness. Most of the time I do without reading glasses, but more and more I am noticing I dislike small type. I especially notice it when trying to read on my Android phone. Although there are some options for changing font size, they are limited, not so easily accessed, and not nearly granular enough. Normal is too small, but Large is too big. That is disappointing, although probably not too surprising, given the perceived demographics of Android users. I am curious whether BlackBerry is better, since it appeals to an older demographic.

Well-designed software takes advantage of the medium--software is soft--to allow the user to easily alter the type size to their liking. Firefox, with its CTRL-PLUS and CTRL-MINUS font-incrementing, sets the standard. This is an example of Bruce Tognazzini's teaching that, when designing products to be accessible (to people with handicaps or physical limitations), you actually make a product that is better for all users.

From Israel, a Radical Way to Boost Organ Donation - NYTimes.com

From Israel, a Radical Way to Boost Organ Donation - NYTimes.com. Israel is launching a potentially trailblazing experiment in organ donation: Sign a donor card, and you and your family move up in line for a transplant if one is needed.

Great idea. Seems so obvious.

Inefficiences of Companies Relocations

This article talks about the threats of United Technologies to move out of its longtime headquarters state of Connecticut (I worked at Otis, a UTC company, for the first 12 years of my career).

Rell's office issued a general statement calling for the state to lower business costs, but offered no specific plans on how to accomplish that.

"The comments by the UTC executives today reinforce Governor Rell's message that we must improve our business climate," the statement said. "More taxes, more mandates and more costs for employers are not the answers. Given the current budget deficit, the legislature needs to make some tough choices — but it cannot do so at the expense of our businesses and our employers."

The budget deficits Rell described may limit the state's ability to give millions of dollars in grants and tax breaks, as it has done in the past. [my italics]

Doling out all those tax breaks and incentives is part of the problem.  It is the economic policy version of social engineering. It leads to behavior that is macro-inefficient:

First of all, having companies relocate is often a huge, disruptive inefficiency. People typically make long-term decisions regarding where they live and work in part based on commuting distance. So a relocation of any significant distance--let alone out of state--will have a huge disruption effect on the workforce.[1]

Second, the doling out of tax breaks is inherently inefficient. We all learn in business school that it is one-tenth as expensive to retain an existing customer, versus attracting a new customer. The tax breaks start with luring new companies to the state. But then the existing companies want the same thing, so they threaten to leave. All of that activity employing non-value added state policy officials, lobbyists and lawyers. W-A-S-T-E.

__________________
[1] I recognize that in this case, disrupting the workforce may be a feature, not a bug, because the real desire is to out-source to a cheaper location.
 

Cut the Up-Selling, Waitress!

I hate being marketed to. My patience is often tried in restaurants. I am more or less reconciled to waiters and waitresses making a pass at "up-selling" the high-profit items of appetizers, drinks and desserts. But sometimes they cross the line. It's one thing for them to chirpily ask if they can bring me an appetizer, it's easy enough to say "no" to that. The next level is to make the request more specific, and more suggestive, like "how about if I bring you an order of our brand new sizzling spicy fruitcake?" The tactic there is to simplfiy the request, to remove the "cognitive load" so that all you the patron need to say is "yes". I always say "no".

At a recent group dinner, with 5 couples, the level of sell really crossed the line. The waitress, clearly experienced, tried to take advantage of the ambiguity present in the group setting. In a social group, there is generally no clear leader, and everybody is trying to be polite. She took advantage of that dynamic to try to insert herself as the decision-maker: "Would you all like some appetizers?" When no immediate answer was forthcoming--because nobody wanted appetizers, but nobody was going to speak for the entire group--she followed up with "How about I bring you a couple of our sampler platters?". Happily, this group was having none of it.

Would more general education and awareness help?

My bubbles post ...another example would be psychological behavior. If people were aware of agency bias and confirmation bias, would they be just a little less prone to conspiracy thinking?

Part of this ties into my wish that some person of figure of authority would urge the American people to reconsider how they spending their time. Instead of consuming quite so much vapid reality TV and sports, Continuous education. I know, this is about as likely to happen as getting people to exercise.

Olympian Attitudes

This article about the spirit of the Winter Olympics athletes was good. It pulls together a few thoughts.

1. During the self-esteem boom, I remember hearing a few voices in the wilderness pointing out that self-esteem comes not from being told one is successful or talented, but from being successful or talented, and having it recognized. So the key part is the AND. It is important to help kids find things they can be good at, and then to recognize their success. Especially for kids who aren't academically or athletically talented, they may need help finding something. But it does have to be something real.

2. Happiness--I think wisdom tells us that the paradox is those who seek a happy life are not so likely to achieve it, while those who seek a purposeful or moral life will more likely gain happiness as a byproduct.

3. Olympians' attitudes--it really shows in the sportsmanship .So many of them showed such extraordinary sportsmanship and good attitude, even when falling short of the ideal goal.

Intermittent, Mysterious Laptop Problems Due to Overheating

Our Acer laptop, an Extensa 4420, was exhibiting strange behavior. It would spontaneously shut off, almost as if it was out of power (but it wasn't). Then when I would try to re-start it, it would begin boot sequence, but then shut off. I could repeat this a dozen times, and finally, it would boot, and after that it would be fine.

It took quite a while, but I finally diagnosed the problem--overheating. The unit runs pretty darn hot, and the cooling vents are on the bottom. That works okay if it is on a table, but my family members tend to use it on their laps, and worse, to lay it on the soft couch.

Quite coincidentally, a co-worker was mentioning similar laptop problems. She thought her machine might have a virus, because it shut off in the middle of running her virus scan program. I mentioned our over-heating experience, and sure enough, when she tried making sure it had enough ventiliation, the problem disappeared.

What I wonder is--what are the chances tech support or the Geek Squad would troubleshoot that problem successfully? I have a feeling Geek Squad would happily default to the "Occam's Razor" solution of replacing the cooling fan.

Dealing with Specialists

A theme for me is how poor specialists are in discussing their specialty with "lay" people. Even when those lay people are their customers! I'm in IT, an area notorious for this problem. But it is pervasive. I've had a plumber or electrician do work, and when they try to explain the problem to me, I feel like answering "if I understood that, I wouldn't have to hire an electrician, I would already be one!" Now, because I have a moderately technical background, and because I am a generalist, I can usually back them up, do some paraphrasing, and coax a comprehensible explanation out of them. But not everyone can or will do that.

The other extreme is when the specialist goes for the absolute lowest common denominator. They read right from the rulebook, speaking slowly and loudly, to make sure their dimwitted audience follows along. This, too, is very trying. So I think there are two sides to the coin:

1. How can specialists get better at interacting with lay people? This would involve developing a good "bedside manner", learning to read body language and custom-calibrating, in real-time, their explanation to to their audience's exhibited level of understanding.
2. How can lay people get better interacting with specailists? Lay people will aid their cause by accumulating a good base of general knowledge, and trying to engage in more structured thinking and posing of questions.

Male Android Cheapskates To Dominate Mobile Market | Android Phone Fans

Male Android Cheapskates To Dominate Mobile Market | Android Phone Fans

And this is exactly what Android’s detractors would say – Android is for geeky guys and penny pinchers. Instead, I’d say it suggests the success of the Open Source mentality and the Laissez-faire approach on market regulation. Google has provided an arena where free solutions that are equal or close to paid solutions are widely available. That doesn’t mean developers can’t make bank – go ahead and support your apps with advertising and sponsorships – if I’m getting an app for free I have no problem seeing ads, knowing that it’s what compensates the devs.

I love this. "Cheap" (aka, cost-sensitive) consumers are exactly what the economy needs more of. In my humble opinion, too many companies have expensive cost models that are unsustainable.

Google search coming to Dish Network via Android – Android and Me

Google search coming to Dish Network via Android – Android and Me
Nice. I certainly have been very disappointed in the search for Directv.

NYT: China’s spectacular real estate boom may be a bubble that threatens the global economy.

Bubbles again--so frustrating. Like rubber-necking at crash sites, they cause immense systemic problems, even though they seem like they should be completely avoidable. Many economists firmly maintain the bubbles are inherent to the system (though specific policies, such as easy credit, can make them worse). I have this belief (foolish, vain wish?) that modern society is a little bit over-specialized, and that if people were a bit more well-informed as generalists, many things might run better.

Avoiding economic Bubbles is one of the things I think might be in this category. If people were much more aware of economic bubbles--including the fact that in every single bubble, some new reason is offered why "this is not a bubble"--would we be less likely to engage in this kind of mass foolishness?

Fwd: Even More Reasons to Get a Move On

Really good article on the almost endless benefits of exercise. I think maybe the only way to get people's attention is through their wallets. It could be complex, cumbersome and meddlesome, but I think there needs to be a significant premium penalty for not exercising. I think it would have to be at least equivalent to the penalty now assessed to smokers--maybe more. Obviously the upper limit should be the real, actuarial health costs associated with inactivity--if people choose to incur that cost, it is ultimately their free choice.

I say this warily. As a 100 mile/week cyclist, I have my doubts about ever getting credit  for my exercise regime. Hard to monitor, as opposed to the credit for getting through the gym doors 12 times/week.

First Bike Ride of the Season!

I hit the road for the inaugural ride, after work today. It was in the low 40s, very sunny, not too windy. Reasonably comfortable, all-in-all. So I logged almost 20 miles before dinner.

This was, by far, the most snow I on the ground when I have ridden. However due to the warm temps and very sunny days, the roads were clean and dry.

Murtha--Not Officially Corrupt

This Slate article talks about the recently late Congressman John Murtha, and how he was never corrupt in the accepted, legal sense. That's all well and good so far as it goes, but the article also talks about how he was always after pork (my word) for his district. In my book, that is nearly as bad.

Canceled

I got a USAir(ways) Dividend Miles Credit card from Barclay's a year ago, because they gave me a bunch of frequent flier miles and--when I insisted--no annual fee. I had no intention of using it, and never did. I was just in it for the one-time grant of mmiles.

I was slightly bemused to get a letter from them telling me they had canceled it for non-use. Without even a prior warning. I don't really have a problem with that. As I noted, I had no intention of using it, and I was clearly an unprofitable customer. Still, I have had plenty of other credit cards in the same situation, and that has never happened before. If anything, I might have expected a solicitation, accompanied by a mild sweetener, to try to prompt me to use the card and hopefully fall into the habit of using it once prompted. (Note: I'm not complaining about how it was handled, merely making an observation on an unusual consumer event.)

I wonder if the same Artificial Intelligence that (kinda) works for fraud detection also works to identify people who got the card solely for a the miles, or solely for a 0% balance transfer.

NBC Olympic Vandalism

I love the Olympics! And I really love the Wintery Olympics in glorious HD! What I want to know is--why does NBC think they should be able to vandalize the picture? What I mean by that is--why must they appropriate 3% of my pixels for the non-stop display of this?!








I know, I know--they overpaid for the telecast rights, and they are perfectly entitled to vandalize my picture, if that's what they want to do. I just don't see what purpose it accomplishes. I get that they might want to flash it occasionally--which actually might be more effective--but why does it have to be there 24 x 7, so to speak? I don't think it is much more effective than the hated DVD anti-piracy warnings. In the long run, I have to believe there is bad karma to companies that needlessly antagonize their customers, just because they can.

Develop an Advertising Allergy

Is it possible to develop an allergic reaction to advertising and marketing? Whenever I see something heavily promoted, I think:

1. Maybe it is not that effective or necessary--otherwise it would do a better job of "selling itself".
2. For certain, even if the product is effective--that brand must be over-priced because of all the advertising. So, note to self--look for a generic version of the same product. Avoid advertised brand at all costs, because ipso facto is must be over-priced.

In general I always like to think about how businesses are making their profit, and do everything reasonable I can to make sure I am a minimally profitable customer. Buy on sale, of course. Never order alcohol in restaurants. Avoid buying products which require expensive consumables.

Doc Searls on Google As A Bubble

Really good article speculating that the internet advertising that feeds Google is a bubble. I have always been pretty skeptical about the long-term potential of internet advertising, and I find this totally compelling. Why do people love bubbles so?

Every Computer Glitch Is (Not!) A Virus

There are many reasons why being the go-to tech support resource for family and friends can be trying. Amongst them is the tendency for wildly incorrect self-diagnosis. Instead of reporting "I have a problem", the report I get is almost invariably "I think my computer has a virus". Just one of those little things...

Obama's Vegas "Diss"--Bring It On

At a speech to high school students, Obama said ""You don't blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you're trying to save for college. You prioritize. You make tough choices." He has since received a certain amount of criticism for that assertion, from such disinterested, insightful parties as the mayor of Las Vegas. Critics who clearly have both deep insight into the fundamentals of a strong, sound, sustainable economy, and who only have the best interests of the whole country at heart. Yeah, right.

The libertarian in me says, if people want to blow money gambling (yes, casino gambling does constitute blowing money), then they should not be prohibited from doing so. The pragmatist and ascetic in me says--gambling is bad for people, and bad for the overall economy. So just because it is legal, doesn't mean we have to pretend it is a neutral thing--much less that it is a positive good.

My personal, cherished belief is that the country is aching for a person or institution who will speak to them as if they were adults, who will consistently tell them hard truths. It will not be popular at the time, but would anyone deny that there are millions of people now who wish that someone had looked them in the eye and told them that buying houses they could not afford was a really, really bad idea, not likely to end well? Saying that gambling in Vegas amounts to blowing money is such a truth. Strong countries and socieities do not build strength on gambling.

Here are my ideas of some other hard truths that we would be better off for imbibing, understanding and accepting:

• Healthcare reform won't come cheap. There is no free lunch. But we need to do something. There is abundant empirical evidence that modern, high-quality health care can be obtained for much less than we are spending--the gigantic political/policy/cultural/economic challenge is in getting from here to there. There is no shortcut, but it is not impossible. The journey will start with an honest assessment of the facts. (Here is something he could have said.)
• We need to lose the credit mentality. Not just "responsible" use of credit. The fact is, there are not that many consumer cases where even responsible use of credit is a desirable thing. Credit is over-rated, period.[1]
• The place of the United States in the world is changing. It is inevitable. The United States can still be the "leading" country in the world in most respects, but it is simply not realistic for it to continue to be the dominant hegemon. It is best to face this fact, and strategize accordingly (It would have been much easier for Bush to tell this truth, than for Obama to take it on.) [2]
• It will take a long time to work off the effects of this financial crisis, and the debt we have accumulated. We should accept that and plan for it. Don't fool ourselves, and think that boom times are around the corner. (I do think this concept is taking hold somewhat.)
• A hard question we should ask our collective selves: instead of having 15+% of the population effectively unemployed, and much of the rest over-worked and living in fear that they will be next, would it be better to contemplate an approach where everybody takes a 15% pay cut, but "everybody" also keeps working?. It is one thing to advocate a laissez-faire approach to unemployment when the rate is in the 5% range, the economy is sound, and qualified candidates can generally find replacement jobs. It is quite another in the current environment, when the bad luck of being in the wrong position in the wrong company at the wrong time can throw one out of work, with prospects for a very long period of unemployment. I know I am personally worried for a number of families who are unemployed and not finding work--I think I would actually feel better if I were making 15% less, but my friends were still employed.[3][4] The key to that, though, is the "all in it together" aspect.[5]
• We have other major, major financial crises awaiting. The national debt of course is one huge one. Retirement is another. The three-legged retirement stool--comprised of pensions, savings and social security--is in very rickety shape. You know things are not sound when Social Security is one of the stronger legs. Private pensions have vanished for the vast majority of workers. Though there are exceptions with very high earners, private savings (mostly in the form of 401ks) are not going to make up for the lack of a pension. The only solutions: start saving way more, plan on working much longer.[6]
• Cost of college is right there with healthcare in terms of devouring our standard of living. It is ridiculous how expensive college has gotten. And unlike healthcare, there is no intrinsic reason for it. There are structural reasons, relating largely to government getting in the financing game. They are well-known, I have been reading about them for years, but for whatever reasons, they have not percolated their way into public consciousness--in my opinion, most middle-and upper-middle class parents are still very much followers in this regard, pretty much blindly assuming that whatever the cost of college is, it is ultimately reasonable and worth it. This one would be easier to fix than healthcare, it just requires a sea-change in attitude.
• Call to strength. The state of the union is not so strong. It is far, far from hopeless. But not so strong. However, strength is and should always be our goal. Toward that end, we need leadership which calls the nation to court strength. That means choosing saving over Vegas. Planning for a long, productive career, instead of coveting early retirement[7]. Reconsider our high-overhead lifestyles.[8] Take a hard look at how we spend our time--every minute spent watching Survivor is a minute not making yourself stronger, smarter or more capable. I know, leisure has its place, I totally agree it does, but--how we spend our leisure is just something to think about[9]. And it means investing in your personal fitness, mental, physical and financial.

More than some politicians, Obama dabbles in speaking some hard truth, but then he backs off. Here is his back-pedal on the Vegas comment:

"I was making the simple point that families use vacation dollars, not college tuition money, to have fun," Obama said, according to the letter released by Reid's office. "There is no place better to have fun than Vegas, one of our country's great destinations."

Sigh.

________
 NOTES

[1] Yes, there are exceptions. But not as many as you think. Newly graduated college student needs a car to drive to work? Okay, probably so, but does it have to be a brand-new car, with all the options that make modern cars expensive? The home mortgage would be another example. It is often cheaper to own than rent, for one thing. But--the size of American houses has gone up and up, even as family size has decreased. The mortgage mentality is part of what drives this. So yes, it might be necessary to borrow for your first house, but if houses were somewhat smaller and more affordable, the amount borrowed might be drastically cut. Instead of a 90% loan on a $250,000 house ($225,000 borrowed), how about a 50% loan on a $150,000 house (75,000 borrowed--1/3 as much debt).
[2] I say this even though I am a moderate "American Exceptionalist".
[3] From a practical and cultural standpoint, I do recognize that this is all-but-unthinkable in the U.S. Most of my peers to whom I have mentioned it, honestly had not even for a moment thought of the srpead-the-pain approach. For those who consider themselves Christians--and even more so those who believe the United States is a "Christian nation"--this is something to think about.
[4] There is also an optimizing aspect to this approach. In many cases, the result of cuts is that those remaining behind working harder than ever, for the same wages. While those laid off are either involuntarily idle, or spending all their time mostly vainly hunting for a job. So both the employed and the unemployer are worse off, though in different ways. On the other hand, if wages and hours were cut, roughly in proportion, it would provide at least a partially off-setting benefit to the loss in wages. I know this is absolutely, completely "un-American" and will never happen.[5] I am thinking of "austerity Britain", but hopefully less severe--if we start soon.
[6] In regard to working longer, I think there is a silver lining. It seems like most of the studies I have read about suggest that people who are able to work, and working, in later life often age better than the early-retired.
[7] If you have planned very, very well on your own to retire, more power to you. Go ahead. All I am saying is that most people are not in good shape for retirement, so while they should definitely begin saving for retirement, equally important is to plan to keep working for a long time. An important part of that plan is preserving your ability to earn--your skills and your health.
[8] Houses that get bigger, even as families get smaller. Cars that get more expensive, without getting any better at their core mission of providing transportation. Capital-intensive kids sports (no, your child is not likely to get a "full ride" just because they are pretty good at baseball!) My daughter's band trip is to Hawaii. Hawaii! That just doesn't seem like a reasonable thing for a public school to even consider.
[9]  Call me a scold if you will. Guilty as charged.

Mark It Down

First sunny winter day that was so warm, I had to crack the windows in the sun room.

Lasik Centers That Do 1000s Of Procedures Each Year

I know they are hauling money to the bank, but--doesn't it get boring for the physicians?

iPad Paid Content

This article talks about the importance of media deals for the iPad's success. To me, that is a total non-starter. Same drawback as for the Kindle--I just about wouldn't want one for free (I would take a free iPad, though)...I am firmly in the "information wants to be free" camp. Or if that is not always true, it is certainly always true that I want information to be free (free as in beer as well as free as in speech), and I sure am not going to run out and pay $$ for device that will cost EVEN MORE $$ in ongoing consumables. I hate consumables, and try hard to avoid them, as much as practical, in any consumer product (e.g., I am not buying a $60 shop vac that requires a $20 replaceable filter; I am going to stick with models that have washable filters)

Yes, I know--producers of content need to get paid. I know that, I understand that. But I am not going to do collude in transfering cash from my pocket to theirs (with a big cut for Steve Jobs). And I most certainly am not going to willingly submit to a high-overhead way of paying for content that supports "high-priced office buildings and expensive lunches".

Random Idea for iPad Functionality

I have my doubts about the iPad, and I generally agree with the various concerns about the non-opennes of the device. As to its niche, I do kind of think the "living room" device is a possibility. That is, a lightweight, readily accessible device that is within easy reach in the living room, to look something up quick while watching TV. Very quick, very casual usage, that doesn't require much body movement.

In that regard, I think a great function would be universal remote control. I actually have wished this function would be accomplished by an ordinary smartphone. And I still think that is the ideal platform. However, from a pure strategy point of view, if Apple could have made that happen and made in an iPad capability, that might have been a compelling usage.

The price is too high under all circumstances.

Help Out With My Bags? Are You Kidding Me?!

I made a rare trip to Kowalski's, our nearby Lexus of supermarkets, the other day. I still can't get over it, when I have one puny bag, containing the half-dozen convenience items I bought there, and the bag-boy wants to carry my grocery bag out for me. I am an able-bodied person, there is NO WAY I am letting someone do something for me that I am perfectly capable of doing, while I stand around and watch.

As I was driving away, I saw that very scene playing itself out, but, to me, at the next level of "no way!". A middle-age man, seemingly fit (but who knows, maybe he had a physical handicap), walking to his car, trailed by a 17-year old girl, pushing out his bags! I'm sorry, maybe I am old-fashioned, but that is just too much!.

I guess I have a little bit of ascetic or puritan or something in me. I just hate the idea of letting someone do stuff for me, when I am perfectly capable of doing it, and wouldn't even actually be saving time by out-sourcing the effort. It just seems lazy and decadent to me. I guess other people may consider it pleasant pampering. It's just not for me. It feels to me like another example of what I would call "cultivating weakness".

I guess my perspective is that if one is "able-bodied", one should certainly be grateful. And demonstrate one's gratitude by using the physical ability. For one thing, I think there is ultimately some risk of "use it or lose it" (in the very long term).

I have something of an ideology around this topic...maybe someday I will get around to thinking it through and writing it up.

Lesson from the Climate Email Hack

Why isn't email encryption more common? I suppose in that case the email was probably stolen from the server, so soft-core encryption (encrypting the email when transmitted outside the trusted domain) wouldn't have prevented it. That would have required hard-core encryption--where the message is only decrypted on the client computer, viewing the email. And most people think of soft-core encryption when they think of email encryption. Still, it is surprising to me that it hasn't taken hold, at all.

Teens Can't Buy A Drink, but Can Drown Themselves in Debt

During the Viet Nam era, it was observed, as a great irony, that young men could be drafted and fight in the military, but couldn't buy a drink. This led to the temporary reduction in the drinking age to 18. That era ended, another era began, and the drinking age was raised back to 21.

My ironic observation for this era would be that we don't let teens drink, but we do let them drown themselves in debt. No, I'm not talking about teens being preyed on by credit-card pitch-men, though that does happen. I am talking about the crushing burden of college debt that many graduating high school students take on, often without a lot of thought and guidance.

It's crazy to rack up $100,000 or more in debt, in pursuit of a generic undergraduate degree. I would submit that it is not reasonable to expect a 17 or 18-year old, who has lived at home, not supported themselves, and has no experience of debt, to make good decisions in that regard.We are talking about a debt burden that will have consequences a decade or more into the future.  In the short-term, going to the right college or one's dream college, or just a fun college, may seem totally worthwhile. But in the medium-term, that fateful, ill-advised decision, taken in one's late teens, can have life-long consequences. It's the kind of decision that can cause people to pursue the wrong career, just because it pays well, or to put off child-bearing, until it's too late.

But not only is it legally permissible for teens to make this choice--it is often socially encouraged!

Outlook Feature Idea: Per-Meeting Delegates

For each specific meeting, authorize calendar delegates. They would have delegate privileges, but only for that meeting (i.e., re-schedule, change content, change invitees).

Find All Feature in Excel 2003 Is Very Slick

I have been using Microsoft Office since before there was a Microsoft Office. The last Office upgrade that I found semi-compelling was Office 1997. At work we are still, happily, using Office 2003. I hate the UI in Office 2007, which we have at home on the family laptop.

Anyway, one of very few new features I have found to be significant is the Find All option in Excell 2003. Ironically, I only stumbled on it last week, after years of using that version of Excel.

Vibrate Before Ring--Really Nice Feature

For the first two rings, my cell phone (T-Mobile myTouch) vibrates, before it starts ringing. That is a really nice feature--gives you the chance to grab it, when you get a call in church, and realize you haven't silenced the ringer.

Another thoughtful ringer feature that my old "dumbphone" had was "one beep". This was vibrate mode, except that it would make one, modest little beep on the first ring. It was quiet enough, and not repeated, so that it would go un-noticed in business meetings or church, but if your ears were attuned, you would pick it up, just like a Daddy picks up his baby's cry. One of the advantages is that you never had to put your phone on full-silent, meaning that if you ever misplaced your phone and were hunting for it, you had a slight chance of audibly locating it.

Apple iPad Tablet - Medical Charting

10 years ago, I had a consulting assignment at a hospital, to write a white paper on the feasibility of electronic medical charting. My general conclusion was that what was required was a hand-held that was qualitatively bigger than the Palm Pilot (the hand-held standard of the time), but far smaller than the smallest laptop. It seems like the iPad might be about that size.

Big Media - Another Example of Doing Things the Expensive Way

This Cringely article talks about how much margin big media needs to be profitable. I know, some of that has to go to salaries and things like "hard cars" in war zones. But then there are the lunches and the expensive office buildings. He has a point. It kind of fits in with what is an ongoing theme for me--the extent to which we contemporary Americans have constructed a very high-overhead lifestyle.

Freakonomics

I've previously written about the fact that a catchy name is often half the battle in branding. The Freakonomics authors have been pretty successful extending their brand, with a regular feature in the New York Times. I read the book and enjoyed it, but really, there is nothing particularly freaky about the cases they cover.

Eating your own dog food, in Corporate in-house software development

Many contemporarly writers on software development, including successful sofware entrepreneurs, such as Joel Spolsky, Dave Winer and Paul Graham, emphasize the importance of "eating your own dogfood". This phrase is used a lot in contemporary software development, maybe a bit too much, but what it alludes to is using your product. Not just casually, but intensively. The eat-your-own-dogfood theory makes a lot of sense to me, in theory and in terms of the really good software I have ever used, and also the really awful software (PeopleSoft, for instance).

It is easy to see how it can work for consumer software, or tools used by software developers. It is more challenging to make it happen with in-house corporate systems. I mean, how many developers have ever used a claims-payment system, or a reservation booking system, for example? In my experience, large corporations fail terribly in this regard--and oustourcing and offshoring isn't making it any better.

The problem can be attacked. There are several techniques that I have seen to go a long way. One is to bring people with operational experience into IT. Unfortunately, the trend to offshoring it cutting off the opportunities for entry-level transition into IT. I know of Computer Science undergrads, with average credentials, who have left the field, because they could not get their foot in the door, for a development position. So it is even more unlikely that someone will be able to transition from a business operations job to a technical IT job; the best they can hope for is to make it as a Business Analyst.

Another, even less-used alternative is to have IT people spend some time "apprenticing" in functional areas. Although this has a lot to recommend it, this was never popular, and is even less likely to be tried now. So the last alternative is creating a scaled-down version of this situation. Have the IT people spend a significant chunk of time, 1-2 cumulative work weeks, sitting with real users, and learning their processes. Then, continue that partnership, where those real users--at the do-er level, not at the management level--continue to be closely involved in and consulted throughout the software-development process. Whenever I have done this, the payoff has been huge.

LinkedIn Offers Backdoor to Derive Someone's Email Address

Normally in LinkedIn, you can't see someone's email address if they are not linked to you. If you want to send them an invite, you can do that, but it goes through LinkedIn--the process does not expose their email address.

However, if you send an Invite to someone, and they have their Out of Office (OOO) reminder set, you will get an OOO from them, which gives you their email address. This is a little bit of a security gap, probalby not a huge on, but someone, somewhere, will exploit this in some say.

This problem arises from the interaction of LinkedIn with the OOO reminder (typically set in Microsoft Outlook).  Interestingly, a solution could be obtained if either piece of software were more security-conscious. LinkedIn could send the invitation request email without providing the Inviter's email address. That way, when OOO auto-generated a reply, it would not go to the sender of the invitation--it would go into a no-reply address at LinkedIn. And OOO should definitely be masking the "Reply To" address; not just for this reason, but in general.

Deficit-Reduction Idea

There is talk of a commission for reducing the deficit. I have an idea. Congress should steal a page from business, where many businesses require managers to rank-order their employees, in terms of value to the oraganization. So if you have 10 great employees, that's fine, but still, some must be greater than others, so--just rank-order them.

I would like to require every Congressman to identify the least justified 20% of spending in their district. Not that the 20% would automatically get cut, they just have to identify it. The criteria, in descending order of importance, would be:

1. Not in the best interests of the United States
2. Not accomplishing its intended purpose
3. Not in the best interests of the constituents

The idea is that, if the Congressman is on record as agreeing that the spending is not so useful, maybe that would make it easier to attack.

Gender Wage Gap

Superfreakonomics takes on the question of the "gender wage gap". The conclusion are what I would have expected: "while gender discrimination may be a minor contributor to the male-female wage differential, it is desire — or the lack thereof — that accounts for most of the wage gap. The economists identified three main factors:"

I would be interested to see a similar treatment of the question of age-discrimination.

Airlines Making Obese People Buy a Second Seat, At A Discount

NYT article with lots of comments, about how Air France is making obese people by a modestly-discounted second seat. They should have read my proposal from 2005--I've already solved the problem for them.


Here's a question, though-why don't airlines charge a premium for having an empty seat next to you? They charge for everything else, that actually seems like a really obvious revenue opportunity. I think the way it would have to work is that you pay a premium for an adjacent empty seat. If you don't wind up getting that seat, the premium is credited back to you. There would probably have to be some other rules. Like you can't reserve your specific seat in advance, the most you could do is specify aisle or window. That doesn't seem so bad, though. The other complication is that this would tend to require people to stick to their assigned seat, even if there are some open seats on the flight.

NYT Charging, Again!

I can't believe they are going through another iteration of this...they have done this SO many times. That comment was rhetorical, I actually CAN believe it, because I understand, they want to make money off of me, even if I don't want to give them any money if I can possibly help it. I do like the fact that they are trying something new, the hybrid approach. One good thing about that is that is doesn't put everything behind the walled garden.

Typically, however, the "cliff" between free and charging is too steep...so that flat fee, instead of being $3/month (acceptable) will be something like $11/month or $50/year.

I will be interested to see how they detect a repeat user. Slate's predictably negative take on the whole idea speculates about that.

Colts Class

Although I was among those who were aghast at the Colts' decision to turn their back on NFL immortality, I must say, they are one classy pro sports franchise.

Washing Machine Feature: Detect Electronics in the Load

My daughter had a good design idea today--she said that washing machines need a feature where they detect if an electronic device is in the tub. Obviously the point here is to prevent iPods, cell phones, etc from being left in pockets and tossed in the wash (has happened to her once). That really is a half-decent idea...if the machine had a detector for cell phone and wi-fi signals. I guess false positives would likely be a problem (cell phone in my pocket while loading the laundry).

Movies Android App

I used the Movies app on Android for the first time recently. I have got to say, it is super-convenient. It was pretty much effortless. I would go so far as to say it was as convenient, maybe better, than using a full-size computer. That's not something I could say for very many use cases. Now if only there were a Blockbuster app.

Maintenance--for IT Systems as much as for Cars

I thought this observation about "IT Nuisance Requests" had a lot of merit. It's more exciting to build something new than to maintain what you have. Of course, neglect maintenance long enough, and then you have no choice but to replace with new. So it creates something of a self-fulfilling cycle.

From an IT perspective, the request to change the report structure or one of a myriad of other request is simple enough but it is also small.  This type of project often goes onto a maintenance list prioritized against one another and demands for more strategic projects.  The open request is also a nuisance for IT...It is easy for both parties to overlook the list of nuisances.  Business and IT executives undervalue these individual small requests when prioritizing them against larger investment projects complete with business cases.  The natural inclination is to assign resources to the investment portfolio and address enhancement projects on a best effort basis.

I have seen this play out repeatedly, at different companies. A big project is commissioned, to replace the old, unloved system with the next-gen system. The project winds up being years late and over budget. More often than not, the new project winds up being canceled. Even when not canceled, it often comes in short of expectations, with the result being that the old system is not fully de-commissioned.

This result has a couple of implications. One, if a fraction of the money spent (wasted) on the next-gen system had been devoted to overhauling and maintaining the old system, success could have been obtained, far more economically, far sooner and with far less risk.

The other consideration relates to the overall IT environment. In the past 10 or so years, a huge focus of large, corporate IT departments has been in retiring/sunsetting/de-commissioning/harvesting redundant existing systems. This is far from the most exciting work, but it has become absolutely vital, because the cost of maintaining multiple, redundant systems is crushing IT budgets. So when a big project limps across the finish line, short of expectations, so that the old system is kept alive, this contributes to creating the kudzu-like corporate system environment that, as we have just observed, carries a very high price for maintenance.

Local IT Best Practices Rep

One constantly reads about the woes of corporate IT departments. How they don't have a "seat at the table", how the business doesn't value their services, how they can't get in alignment with the business. Well, I have one teeny, tiny little idea for how they can get a little more love.

Departments within an organization should all have a local IT Best Practices Rep. This person would not be an employee of the IT department. They would be a business user within the department. They would spend 80-90% of their time doing the normal work of their department. However, they would spend 10-20% of their time being the on-site representative of the IT department.

The general responsibilities of this role would be:

1. Serve as best-practices evangelist/consultant to the department
2. Serve as advocate for users, if necessary, when they are dealing with the Help Desk
3. Gently educate users regarding the facts-of-life of corporate IT

It always amazes me how un-informed the average knowledge worker is, regarding simple tricks of the trade. These are generic, personal-productivity techniques that apply to any knowledge worker in any industry. Some of the things I have in mind:

• Keyboard shortcuts. How painful is it to watch someone who isn't adept with the keyboard. I am thinking of things like HOME (beginning of line), CTRL-ARROW (next word), SHIFT-CLICK (multi-select), and even ALT-TAB. It's amazing how many people don't know CTRL-F for Find On Page.
• Archiving mail. This is partly the fault of corporate IT, for their stupid mail archival policies. But I have even seen people who print all their emails, so they retain a copy when the mandatory corporate archiving timeline hits.
• Save to Shared Drive, using Offline Files. WAY too many people save to their hard drive. Sometimes, out of habit--they don't even know there is a shared drive. For others, the motivation is to have access to their files when offline. Fortunately, modern versions of Windows handle this really well, with the Offline Files feature. It works beautifully. You save to your synchronized folders on the network drive. If you are not connected, Windows automagically hands you the synchronized, offline copy of the file. When you re-connect, it all re-synchs, automatically. It even works when you lose your connection mid-edit. I don't think 10% of knowledge workers know about this feature.
• Indexing. I have been indexing for years. I think that having indexing software, like X1 or even Windows Desktop Search, will make any knowledge worker at least 5% more productive. I am not kidding. I have seen people spend 30 minutes looking for an email that I can find in 30 seconds, using search. Again, I don't think 10% of knowledge workers use this, and the IT department does nothing to educate them.
• Corporate Help Desks often do a poor job of servicing users. Sometimes this is because users do a poor job of explaining their problems. The Best Practices Rep could both help the user describe the problem, and could also be a point of contact for the Help Desk. For instance, when the user swears their machine was on AC power, and not low on battery, when it suddenly shut down, the Help Desk will still tend to suspect the user is wrong (often, but not always, for good reason). The BPR can provide the Help Desk with a calibration of how savvy and reliable the user in question really is.
• There are a lot of things about IT that users don't understand. For instance, they may see the internal chargeback of $200/month for their laptop and think "that's crazy, I can buy a really good laptop for less than $1000!" What they don't understand is that $200 per month is an accounting number, burdened with all kinds of overhead.
• Security vigilance. Without becoming the local gestapo, they can remind people of the importance of locking their keyboard, not emailing sensitive information, etc.

I see this as a multi-benefit strategy:

• The IT department benefits by having both better PR and better rapport with end users
• The IT department also has some "reserve" troops to help do its work
• The business departments get better service from IT
• The BPR gets good technical experience

I think a key point here is that Human Resources are, well, human. Humans crave contact, relationship and the personal touch. So many things about the way business are run nowadays take this away. This approach is a way to give people the human-ness they want, in a flexible way that should deliver on the business objectives as well.

Avatar Movie Review

Visually beautiful and stunning. The 3-D was terrific, layered, complete and integral to the visual environment. Those things--3-D and visual environment--were the star of the movie. The plot was terrible, 110% predictable. And the movie was a good 45 minutes too long. They should have stopped when the humanoid city-tree was destroyed--that would have made the movie shorter, and fixed the predictability problem nicely.

As an aside, the movie was criticized for portraying smoking, by the Sigourney Weaver character, in a somewhat romantic way. The dumbest part about that is--it was completely mis-placed. It was thrown in to make her look really tough and hard-edged, but then the rest of the movie she wasn't.

Sherlock Holmes Movie Review

Not very good. Not recognizably Sherlock, just the modern action-movie protagonist type. A combination of Jackie Chan, Batman and Jason Bourne. Robert Downey was reprising his role as Iron Man (saw previous for Iron Man II, that looked really, sequel-ly bad as well). Over-long as well. Yawn. Best part was the re-creation of Victorian London.

Computer Viewing vs the Family Room

Although nearly in the Baby Boomer demographic, I like to view myself as fairly leading-edge in regard to technology utilization. But I have to admit, as far as YouTube usage goes, I'm not. For me, there are three reasons why I don't give YouTube much of my time:

YouTube, the video site owned by Google, is about 10 times more popular than its nearest competitor. But Hunter Walk still thinks of it as an underdog.

For Mr. Walk, director of product management at YouTube, the competition is not other Web sites: it’s TV.

“Our average user spends 15 minutes a day on the site,” he said. “They spend about five hours in front of the television. People say, ‘YouTube is so big,’ but I really see that we have a ways to go.”

1. Content is not compelling. Most of the viral videos are amusing but trivial curiousities. It's like eating donuts or potato chips--briefly enjoyable, but in the end, largely a waste. In other words, different from, but intellectually and spiritually comparable to, broadcast TV. And I happily gave up broadcast TV about the time I started driving.

2. Production values. I love HDTV. Love it. I pretty much won't watch anything in low-def, there is just no reason to. So why would I want to watch ultra-low-def YouTube?

3. Living-room factor. I spend SO much time in front of a computer, I really don't want to increase that amount. So when I read, I would prefer not to read on-screen (I often print articles for off-line reading). Same with watching stuff--I really much prefer to watch on my nice, big-screen, high-def TV in my comfy family room.

Microformat

Jeff Atwood on microformats, and their use for a standard resume format. Since the dawn of XML, I have been wondering when there would be an accepted resume format, and as far as I can tell, there is still no real movement toward structured resumes.

I think my ideas for the expansion of Android intents, to things like addresses for consumption by GPSs, or Bible verses, would be a good use of a microformat.

Smartphone Accessories

Newsfactor Business Report: Eric Migicovsky had his a-ha moment while biking along the canals of the Netherlands. The Canadian engineering student kept missing calls on the BlackBerry tucked into his pockets. So as soon as he got home, the then-22-year-old entrepreneur began work on an accessory that would help him know when he was getting a call.
His brainchild, the inPulse Smartwatch, relays text messages and caller information from the BlackBerry onto its owner's wrist, reducing the chances of missing an important call. Migicovsky says advance orders for the $149 device are twice what he expected and that he's already devising a similar gadget for smartphones that run Google's Android software. "No one is building intelligent accessories" for smartphones, Migicovsky says.

Two points. One, this highlights a different problem. Although I don't get nearly as many texts as the average teenager, I get quite a few emails. I don't want to be notified every time a routine email, or routine text, arrives. The problem is that there is no convention in POP3 or SMS to signifiy a high-priority message. Two, for myself, the accessory I want for biking is just a nice custom mount! How hard can that be?!

Easy-Access Mute Button

A small UI nicety in the Drivesafe.ly app that I just reviewed is the large, floating ON/OFF button. When I went to an Android phone, I was really hoping there would be an app that provided this kind of implementation for the mute button--to make it very, very easy, during a conference call, to mute and un-mute one's self.

Colts v Vikings

I think my two favorite teams are going to be in the Super Bowl. Since Week 5, I've been telling Seth it is a distinct possibility. He has a pessimistic nature, so he has dismissed the idea up until the a couple of weeks ago. We've really been enjoying this season. I took the plunge and got Directv, and they threw in Sunday ticket, so we've seen every Colts game (though they have been on TV so much, we would only have missed about 4 w/o it!). I'm totally addicted to DVR'ing games.

Drive Safely Review

I've written before about the problem of teens texting while driving, and solutions to help control it, by preventing texting when the phone is moving fast. Drivesafe.ly takes a different approach. It reads the text aloud, and auto-replies to notify the sender that the recipient is driving and unavailable (or whatever you want it to say).

I don't actually get many texts while driving, so I had to contrive to have a few sent to me to have it tested. It does seem to do a good job of speech-synthesis for texts. It also supposedly reads email, but that hasn't worked for me--maybe because I only have the trial version.

So in addition to the core feature of speech synthesis, the key features are:

1. Status bar icon for quick access.
2. Large toggle button for on/off. This, combined with #1, make it easy to turn on while driving--in case you forget to do so in advance.
3. Cutomizeable, auto-send of a reply, to explain your current status (e.g., "your text was read aloud to the John, who is driving and can't reply right now.").
   

#3, the auto-reply, is the feature that seals the deal. It fills in a gaping hole in texting technology--the need for status notification. It drives me CRAZY when my kids (say they) can't stop a texting conversation pronto, because the people they are texting won't understand and will think they are being rude. This feature solves that problem. So I actually see it is as being applicable outside the case of driving--any time when you aren't in a position to reply to a text.

So the bottom line is that, based on my very limited testing, this seems like a well-conceived, useful app. At $13.95, the price is grossly excessive, however. As far as missing features, I would like to see in the future:

1. Ability to select from a customized list of pre-set auto-replies.
2. Ability to read already-received messages. The typical use-case I can think of is you are driving, you forget to turn it on, and you realize you just got a message. Now you want to turn it on and listen to that message. I would think the way it should work is based on a customizeable default for "read messages received in last X minutes app is started".
3. Ability to re-read a message if requested.

Mobile Gmail Annoyance

Doesn't auto-complete email addresses, doesn't even seem to offer the ability to pick a recipient from your address book! Really deficient, I can't believe that the reviews haven't hit this point. The built-in messaging app does auto-complete pretty well, though not quite as well as full Gmail.

I guess the work-around is to start by pulling up a contact, and then select "email" as the activity. That is not nearly as natural to me as starting with email, and if sending successive emails, it is quite cumbersome. The other problem is that I don't have email addresses for most of my contacts--I usually just rely on auto-complete, when using full Gmail.

Genesis of An Urban Legend

I hate urban legends (though I sometimes enjoy writing about them). This article was interesting in that it traced the origins of a UL--something you don't see very often.

Mobile Form Factor I'd Like to See

I'm seeing more articles about the proliferation of Android hardware, including different form factors--eReaders, tablets, media devices. A form factor I would like to see is a two-screen folding device. No physical keyboard. So for routine phone and texting operations, you could use it unfolded, in single-screen mode. But if you wanted to do heavy internet browsing, or email, or other stuff, you would fold/flip it open. The extra screen would offer a few possibilities:

1. More real estate, for reading.
2. A "dedicated" virtual keyboard, for heavy typing. (Bonus points if the design is like a clamshell computer, allowing for the screen to be tilted at an angle from the keyboard.)
   
3. Split-screen functionality, for various forms of multi-tasking.
   

(Possible bonus points if the two halves were detachable. That might be asking a lot, and I'm not sure of the value, but something to think about.)

3 Key Features for Google Voice

1. Consistent outbound calling number--so it works with my T-Mobile Faves!
   
2. Ability to set all configurations within the Android app. Including critical, frequently-toggled things such as DO NOT DISTURB and CALL PRESENTATION
3. And when using CALL PRESENTATION with the Google Voice app, don't make the user rely on accessing the phone's keyboard for the options--present a nice, custom screen with big, fat buttons with labels such as 1-Answer Call; 2-Record Call; 3-Send to Voicemail.

Google Search Option I Would Like To See

Google search is great. However, more and more often, it is somewhat polluted by the predictable results:

• Wikipedia
• LinkedIn
• Facebook and LinkedIn imitators

I would like a search that gives me the top links for my search term, where the domains are outside the set of domains that frequently turn up as top domains for all searches. In other words, I want a way to get sites that are authoritative because they are specialists in the topic, not because they are the internet equivalent of mainstream media.

Drivethroughs

This article briefly reviews the history of drivethroughs, and claims that their popularity has peaked, though I didn't find it very convincing.

My cousin Cliff had a good rule, which was--skip the drive through, park and walk in. It's usually faster, always more reliable, and you have much more control over the time. What amazes me is the Dairy Queen in town--people will wait 10 minutes or more in the horrible drive-through line, when they could park, walk in and be served inside of 4 minutes. (Yes, I know, there are special cases involving newborn babies, but that isn't what is driving 90% of the people in the line.)

Single-Issue Politics

Historically, I have despised single-issue politics. But I am beginning to think it would be good to have more single-issue politicicans. Only thing is, not the same, tired handful of issues that traditionally generate the single-issue mindset.

Nuclear energy, for instance--I want a politician who declares "we must build the national storage facility at Yucca Mountain" at the end of every speech.

PS--I loathe Harry Reid the politician.

DoggCatcher Podcatcher Review

I have been using DoggCatcher for 4 months, on my Android phone. It is pretty good. Nothing about it really irritates, for a start. They have an unusually sophisticated set of preferences for a mobile app, including such niceties as when to auto-synch, and how many seconds for the skip button. They also have good UI details, such as “long press required for skip button”. It does a very nice job downloading feeds Over-the-Air, but you don’t have to download at all–you can stream if you want.

Probably the most obvious improvement I can spot is having default user preferences for the Feed Options–rather than having to set manually for each feed you add. In the same vein, I think the set of system defaults could be better--it wasn't immediately obvious to me why feeds were not auto-downloading.

My other, really big idea for them would be to have a web page where you can add feeds. The main benefit would be just to ease of data-entry. But a nice secondary benefit would be to maintain a history of all podcasts you have ever downloaded.

Note that it is a paid app. At $6.99, it is by far the most expensive Android app I have purchased. However, considering its quality and utility, I would say it is well worth it.

Last point--consider a different name...I get the pun: DOG-catcher / POD-catcher...but it seems like a "false pun"--what does "Dogg" have to do with anything podcast-related?

SIM Cards Rock - Why Doesn't T-Mobile Say So?

After years of being a Sprint customer, we recently switched to T-Mobile, and discovered the magic of SIM cards. And thank goodness we did--3 of my 5 family members lost or damaged their phones at some point, and had to make do with a cheapie "go-phone", which can be had for $20-30.

Their primary phones have since been replaced, in the upgrade-renewal cycle, but the go-phones are handy backups. Not just when you lose/damage your main phone, but when you travel in hazardous conditions. For instance, maybe I really don't to take my smartphone that would cost $400 to replace camping...why not just take the go-phone? Same thing for my son skiiing, which he does frequently.

What I don't understand is--why don't T-Mobile and AT&T market this angle more??

(Hint: while you are at it, push the designers. software and hardware, to make the best possible use of them.)

QR Codes: Interesting Idea

But, if these really take off, the hardware needs to be better--instead of taking a picture and OCR'ing the code, it needs a real scanner, like in the supermarket. (The way it is done in Japan, as this article notes.)

"Hell to Pay" - the shattering vindication of Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb

Review of the book Hell to Pay - "the shattering vindication of Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb". The article is interesting, and I'm sure the book would be too, if I had time to read it (right now I just don't). But it is a little ironic to me--although there are more details, this sounds like all the same arguments that have always convinced me that the atomic bombing was unquestionably the right decision, most humane of awful alternatives, for Japan as much as for the United States:

• Estimated 1 million American casualties
• Many, many millions more Japaneses casualties
• Japanese civilians pressed into service and otherwise used for war aims
• A general willingness of the Japanese military leadership to suffer a glorious, heroic final defeat, rather than surrender
• The disastrous potential of an incomplete defeat

It is scary to think that these lessons are so soon forgotten, in the United States, and in Japan.

Tuition Inflation

Full article: http://pundita.blogspot.com/2009/11/rethinking-usa-breaking-up-college.html

...colleges have learned they can charge whatever the traffic will bear for tuition, even during a deep recession, because they know the government will keep increasing financial aid for low income students. As long as the aid spigot is turned on for the poor, the colleges can get away with gouging middle income families because those are the ones that traditionally put up and shut up.

The upshot is that the college cartel bleeds middle income parents dry, keeps their children in debt for years after graduation, and inexorably drives the USA toward fully socialized higher education...

My father told me, years ago, that college tuition only got out of control when government got into the aid business.

Is there any way to break up the cartel? Yes, but it would take a revolt against the university system, which started out as benign and progressed to a tyranny that is wholly supported by society's inertia,

15 years ago, when my daughters were born, I was sure that by the time they were college-aged, the system would have been up-ended, by some combination of technology and revolt. The technology disruption has been slow in coming, and the revolt non-existent.

Cellular Carrier Marketing Strategy Memo

Android is something of a double-edged sword for cellular carriers. It is a hot, new platform that is driving some consumer interest. But it is in no way exclusive, nor for the most part, are the apps available for it. So there is some risk that Android could actually lead to increased commoditization for cellular carriers. T-Mobile did go down the path of trying to create differentiation, through a semi-exclusive app, Sherpa, but as far as I am concerned, that was pretty much a flop.

So here is my idea. Carriers need to work harder to leverage Android's flexibility and openness, to create differentiation and branding. Note however, this takes real work--it is not primarily about advertising, marketing or throwing some development funds at Android developers.

The big marketing campaigns from T-Mobile and Verizon have been somewhat successful in moving handsets, but have been very expensive, and have been rather hazy in regard to the overall benefits of the Android platform and the carrier of choice. Thus, they have done little to build a strong brand for the carrier--all they really say is "right now, we have a really cool handset you should buy".

I have a number of ideas, here is one multi-step strategy for enhancing carrier brand via Android.

Part 1: Solution for Teenage Texting-While-Driving

First, make a big splash by taking on the texting-while-driving problem. I imagine cellular carriers are a bit squeamish about facing that issue, but I think it is coming sooner or later, so why not be proactive and address it head-on.

Modern, GPS-based phones offer the opportunity to deploy technology to restrict texting while driving. The technology is already there, for any carrier to take advantage of. But nobody seems to be moving on it. Advertise yourself as the mobile carrier that puts parents in control. Then pre-install the software on your phones, and make it un-removable (short of admin access). If done right, a carrier would reap major, long-term brand enhancement from the trinity of: game-changing software; hardware value-add; strong identification of the benefits with the brand.

As I noted, I think the time is right, the meme is planted in regard to the dangers of texting, this would make a big splash. And would drive a lot of phone sales, sales that include profitable data plans. So that's the first step.

Part 2: Follow-Up with More

Follow up by executing the same tactics for two other very useful, high-value-add features:

1. GPS
   
2. Find-your-phone

Smartphones all have GPSs now. Google has just released a new version of mobile Maps that offers turn-by-turn directions. It's all there, it's all free, it's just crying out for a carrier to take it and run with it, from a marketing standpoint. Advertise yourself as the carrier that provides a GPS with every (smart)phone. A GPS that is always with you, and always up-to-date--unlike stand-alone GPS devices.

Note that none of this is remotely original thinking. There are already plenty of articles already predicting that Google's latest nav software will be highly disruptive to the GPS market. But that knowledge hasn't diffused to the average phone user. So there is still a window of time where a carrier, with good marketing, could make it seem like this capability was uniquely theirs. But no carrier seems to yet have woken up to this fact. So this opportunity won't last long. Again, advertising and marketing is necessary but not sufficient to build the brand. You have to offer some value-add differentiation. In this case, make sure to include a good very good phone mount, along with a car adapter USB power cord, free with every purchase.

Now the find-your-phone idea. Apple has this for the iPhone, but it is part of a $100/year subscription. Resist the temptation to charge for this feature--you want it in every product, so that it is built into your brand. This helps the value-add integration:

1. Pre-installed find-me and lock-me software
   
2. Not removable
3. Your software can be better than anything in the market, because you will work with Google to make sure it has root access to turn on GPS--something that apps aren't normally allowed to do.
   

If a mobile carrier were to execute on this strategy, it would be like taking a page from Apple's book, but re-writing the page in a way that leverages the Android platform, and a non-exclusive environment. Over time, a series of successful campaigns such as this could go a long way to creating distinctive branding.

Android Call Readiness

The software (Google's Android plus apps both from Google and from other developers) doesn't work and is unacceptable on a mobile device. First, the operating system doesn't work well enough to be considered a mobile OS. A mobile phone needs to have an OS that is really tied down and ready to perform at all times, like for receiving phone calls. This one isn't. The process management in the OS stinks. Press on an app icon; maybe it will come up and maybe the phone will just not respond. Who's to know why? Try pressing on the phone icon at 70 mph and have it not respond. Then try pressing again. And then get a message something like: "Activity Home (in process android.process.acore) is not responding." Force Quit or Wait. Oops! I just drove into the guy in front of me when he slowed down and now I'm dead!

I don't agree with all of this article, but he does have a point. When your cell phone is also a computer, it is also subject to the flakiness of general-purpose computing devices. To me, the occasional incidence of computer-like glitches and lockups impeding use for standard voice calls has been the Android's achilles heel. I have experienced it a few times. Then in the past few days, my phone has spontaneously re-booted 3 times. There is an app I suspect may be the culprit, so I uninstalled it; too soon to report any results.

Doing things the expensive way

This article talks about how the Motorola Droid Android phone has sold well. But it seems insane to me to incur that kind of cost-per-customer. That high cost has to be reflected somewhere. One place I expect it to be reflected is in continuing high prices for mobile data plans. Also maybe it means they can't afford to prevent or fix simple problems, like the battery cover falling off. I have had a similar problem with the back of the myTouch Android phone--the back cover seems very prone to fall off.

However, the success of the Droid is coming at a cost to Verizon. They are spending in excess of $100 million on one of the largest marketing campaigns I have ever witnessed. Over the past month I have seen non-stop television, radio, internet, billboard, and print ads. Verizon also has about a $350 subsidy on each phone ($549-199).

When you add up the advertising costs and subsidy, Verizon is paying almost $450 to acquire each Droid customer. I guess when you are the largest United States carrier, you can afford to do that. Verizon also knows that each Android phone is attached to a data plan so the influx of customers should help increase their ARPU (average revenue per user). In an order to offset the high subsidy costs, Verizon recently raised (doubled) their early termination fee to $350.

Appreciating HD

We have the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on. In past years, I have had almost no interest in it. I can't say I am raptly watching this year--just too many other things to do. But as I pass through the room, or hear my kids exclaiming about one thing or another, I glance at it. And from a sheer aesthetic viewpoint, the HD experience makes it far, far more interesting and enjoyable than old (NTSC) TV.

I Want to See this Stat on Football Penalties

In general, a team or player is never happy to receive a penalty. However, getting a penalty seems like only half the story. In some cases, the penalty may be a wash--if the offense was not committed, the result might have been the same. For instance, a 10-yard holding penalty that prevents a 10-yard loss on a sack is not a bad deal. In a few cases, the penalty may be a positive good--defensive pass interference that prevents a catch that could have been advanced for a touchdown.

I suppose those are still a minority of cases. But what bugs me is when the announcers make a big deal of a big play being called back because of a penalty, most often holding. In my view, in most of these cases, without the hold, the play would have gone nowhere.

Then there is the subtler analysis...even if a particular penalty is a bad deal, is it just the "price of doing business"? That is, for every 1 time caught holding, is the player getting away with it 4 times?

Google Ads More

Google doesn’t spend a dime on fancy TV ads, but the way it has designed its products represents a huge marketing cost. One example is the money it is leaving on the table by putting fewer ads on its pages than users would put up with, which helps build up its Zen-like brand.

But now, times are getting tough. Making quarterly numbers is getting harder. And Google is changing how it decides which ads to place in the yellow box above search results.

Seems like a baby step toward evil-ness. Undermining that "zen-like" brand just a hair. Those little things accumulate, though. Google has a great thing going, which is that most people are so satisfied with the Google brand that they don't even think of switching. In fact, they don't even think about thinking about switching. The thought literally does not enter the average user's head that maybe there are some serious defencies with Google, where competitors might do better. Eventually, though, the annoyances can add up enough to break through that "Google is perfection" zen-spell.

On the other hand, I continue to wonder about the limits of an adveristing-based revenue model.

Cellphone Apps

Cellphones over eReaders, for many users--I totally agree. Although I have, for various reasons, been somewhat disappointed to-date in my Android phone as a reading platform. Speed of access being the biggest problem

Start Load

During the keynote, he showed demos of how computer makers were able to make computers faster by not loading so many applications at start up time.

If this means what I think it does, it's a great idea. I used to have a bunch of stuff that started automatically, but that killed me on startup, so I went to the other extreme. A good middle ground might be to leisurely auto-load stuff, but not put it all on the critical path to the user's immediate access to the machine.

Of course with the trend away from fat-client apps, this may become less important over time.