Month: March 2008

The Year of Web Services

Could this finally be the year that Amazon see some competition in the web services market? I got thinking about this while reading this excellent post from Dave Winer this afternoon. Dave believes that it makes sense for Google to release their offering as a free service and makes a good argument for doing so.

So we’ll have Amazon and Google in this space. There’s no way that Microsoft can ignore Google or Amazon. Anything Google does, Microsoft has to follow. I’ve already written about what a nightmare this could be for Microsoft so I won’t rehash it here. Suffice it to say that Microsoft will be playing by Google’s rules if Google can beat them to the punch by offering a free or nearly free service. Amazon’s services have already lowed costs substantially but I expect many hold outs will jump on the Google bandwagon.

Few companies have the resources and cash to build out such massive data centers like Amazon, Google and Microsoft will do. We all benefit when three large, competitive companies fight for our business.

If I were handicapping the race I’d put Amazon ahead of the pack with Google a close second and Microsoft a distant third. If Ray Ozzie were leading Microsoft, I’d give them better odds but it’s hard to imagine Balmer fully embracing services that could erode Windows and/or Office margins. Microsoft hasn’t shown it possesses the guts to release online versions of Word, Excel or Powerpoint. I keep hearing rumors this will happen but it’s hard to fathom what took them so long. Someone is asleep at the wheel in Redmond.

I’m using Amazon’s Simple Storage Service in conjunction with Jungle Disk and I love it! But I don’t feel locked in to their service. If Google or Microsoft put out a better product, I’ll move over. But does it have to be free? As Winer mentions, Google could benefit from having potential acquisitions already running their products and services on the Google Web Services platform, thereby removing one of the major hurdles to any purchase. Giving the service would make sense in this case.

I wonder if one reason Microsoft is willing to overpay for Yahoo is they feel Yahoo could catapult them into a better position to compete in this space with Google and Amazon? There’s power in combining Microsoft’s cash and human resources with Yahoo’s open source platform. 

Read Om Malik’s interview with Ray Ozzie where they discuss web services.

Teaching 14 Year Olds about Photography

This morning I arrived at my church to teach the Photography merit badge to a bunch of 14 year old scouts. We talked about the various parts of a camera, composition techniques (rule of thirds, framing, leading lines) as well terms such as shutter speed, exposure. aperture, and ISO.

Because the class is an elective, most kids that attended wanted to be there. I printed out pictures showing how different camera settings and angles can make a difference when composing a shot. They asked good questions and many kids had experiences to share with the group making for an interesting class.

image

I had about 45-50 scouts in my class. When I asked how many had taken a picture with a digital camera, every hand went up. When I asked how many had used a film camera, only 3 hands went up. We discussed the pros and cons of using both formats, but it was clear most of these boy will never see or use a film camera. When we talked about the differences between point and shoot and digital SLR models one boy raised his hand and asked, “Why do I need one of those when I have a camera phone?” He wasn’t alone.

It’s exciting to think of how technology is shaping the lives of these kids. I thought about the kinds of cameras my children will be introduced to when they are only a few years older. Most kids these days are first introduced to photography through their phone. Most kids these days, have seen so many top stock photos from acclaimed professionals, that they have digested more photo art in their short lifetimes than true veterans of the past. That would have been hard to imagine just 10 years ago.

I suspect new technologies will become second nature to our children much the same way Nintendo and camera phones are seen by today’s teens. We still laugh about the time my daughter, who was 5 years old at the time, expressed amazement when she noticed her Grandma watching TV commercials. Incredulously, she asked, “Grandma, you can’t Tivo?”

The Muddled Art of Tipping

When did tipping become so confusing? I’m convinced that stupid TIP JAR ruined it for those who were providing excellent service and deserving of a tip. Now it seems like every small cafe, coffee shop, bakery, sandwich ship, and ice cream parlor puts a tip jar near the cash register. The jar is always in plain site and occasionally includes a cute but pithy quote that attempts to lessen the tackiness of the appeal.

How is one supposed to determine who deserves a tip? We’ve all heard that waiters are paid less than minimum wage and rely on tips to make up the difference. So when the service is poor am I still expected to subsidize their wage? But normally I don’t have a problem tipping 18-25% for good service when dining out. The rules are understood by both parties.

But I’m confused when it comes to other situations. Am I expected to tip the gal who scoops my ice cream? What about the guy who makes my hot chocolate? Or the man who cuts my bagel? How do I know if they are making minimum wage and also rely on tips like the those working at the restaurant? At one ice cream shop the workers would break out in song whenever someone left a tip. It was bizarre. The staff looked about as excited as a group of overworked Red Robin waiters who gather around a table to sing happy birthday for the 15th time. By about the 3rd time, they are having a hard time rounding up other waiters so you notice the hostess and short order cooks getting in on the action. Whenever my waiter/waitress gets roped into singing at another table I will leave a bigger tip because I feel sorry for them.

Starbucks has been in the news lately for sharing tips with supervisors that were meant for baristas. Which makes tipping at Starbucks even more confusing since I want my tips going to the person who provided me with excellent service. How would know if the person helping me is a supervisor or hourly employee? Maybe Starbucks can put their managers in shirts than differ from the worker bees like McDonalds does.

I enjoy tipping for excellent service. But I question whether I need to shell out a few bucks to the person who scooped my ice cream or made my sandwich. Unless they do something out of the ordinary should the cost of the goods or service cover a fair wage for them?

Technorati Tags:

The Annoying Upsell

It wasn’t that long ago when the only reliable yet annoying upsell was, “Would you like an apple or cherry turnover with that?” Some bean counter discovered if every cashier was forced to annoy 100 people, maybe 5 would agree to the turnover. I won’t get into why it’s a bad idea to piss off your other 95 customers, but suffice it to say many business owners have jumped on the upsell bandwagon. And the wares they are hawking are far more annoying than a bite of hot cherry ooziness that burns the roof of your mouth. image

When I bought four tires at Goodyear I spent two minutes selecting (I had researched models from Consumer Reports and Car & Driver) the tires and the next 20 minutes deflecting the never ending list of products the lady shoved in my face. No, I don’t want to put it on a Goodyear credit card nor do I want to buy road hazard insurance (I like how they toss in words like “hazard” with the intent of making it sound like you’re declining something that will save your life) When I explained that I only insure items that would be a financial burden to replace (Like my house. If I blow a tire, I’m out maybe 150 bucks?) she looked at me like I was was a bigger tightwad than Al Bundy.

Two days ago we took two of our kids to get haircuts and the selling didn’t stop till we walked out the door 45 minutes later. They tried to talk us into getting our oldest daughter’s hair cut and even went so far to ask my my kids, “Should we make mom look pretty too?” in an attempt get Kim in the chair. I doubt Kim would have enjoyed sitting in the fire truck, or on the tractor or purple dinosaur while while watching Dora the Explorer during the ordeal. What made this experience especially annoying was the fact she wouldn’t take no for an answer and kept at us till we left. We won’t be going back.

And today I went to Kit’s Cameras to purchase a Nikon flash. I called the store to ask about the specific model (Nikon SB400) to confirm it was in stock. I showed up to the store 30 minutes later and spoke with the same guy I talked to on the phone. Yet, he’s decided he knows what’s best for me and tries to upsell two more expensive models. I told him I’d done my homework on the internet, which clearly went in one ear and out the other. I wanted to yell, “SHUT UP! I know what I NEED!!” After turning down the opportunity of a lifetime to purchase a customer card, extended warranty, extra batteries and several lenses, I made it out of the store in one piece.

No wonder I look to purchase more products on the internet from companies like Amazon and New Egg than ever before. Even if I don’t save much money I end up not having to deal with idiots who feel they know what’s best for me. I generally research most everything I buy and I don’t show up to the store in a clueless daze relying on the salesperson to guide me to the products he/she thinks are right for me.

Why do some companies continue to pester the majority of their customers in search of the small percentage who can’t say no to the cherry turnover? I want to support local businesses, but anytime a website provides better customer service than your employees, you’re not going to be around long.

Akula Schokolade

Just another reason I love Twitter so much.

A few weeks back I twittered how much I enjoy European chocolate that I’d buy all the time when I lived in Germany. My favorite is called Kinder Schokolade (Kids Chocolate) and when my coworkers would travel to Europe I’d sweet talk them into bringing me back as much as they could fit in an extra suitcase. They never let me down.

One of my favorite Twitter followers saw my posts about the chocolate and Photoshopped this Kinder Schokolade wrapper.

I believe I’ve bought enough chocolate that a commemorative wrapper of my own wouldn’t be out of line.

Note: Akula is the alias I’ve used since 1994 for instant messaging, Twitter and such. Akula was the name of the first web server I built when I worked at a Seattle based ISP called Wolfe Internet. Over the years I’ve been told that Akula means “shark” in Russian. I’ve also been told it’s a class of submarine. For what it’s worth, I don’t speak Russian nor am I Marine so I can’t verify the validity of such claims.

akulachocolate

Microsoft Execs Burned by Windows Vista

I’m glad I wasn’t the only person who felt burned by Vista when it first launched. I’ve written about my problems running Vista on three fairly new machines and the various problems I encountered. My problems ranged from printers and DVD drives not working to various performance and instability problems.

It’s great to see several Microsoft executives also ran into the same problems and emailed Microsoft CEO, Steve Balmer, to complain.

One executive, Mike Nash, complained he was “burned” so badly by compatibility issues he was left with “a $2100 email machine”.

Steven Sinofsky, the Microsoft executive in charge of Windows, struggled to even get his home printer working with Vista. In an email to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in February last year, Sinofsky outlined reasons why Vista struggled at launch.

He said hardware and software vendors never “really believed we would ever ship [Vista] so they didn’t start the work [on updated drivers] until very late in 2006”.

“People who rely on using all the features of their hardware (like Jon’s Nikon scanner) will not see availability for some time, if ever, depending on the [manufacturer],” Sinofsky wrote.

Ballmer responded with a terse “Righto”.

The “Jon” referred to is Microsoft board member and its former chief operating officer Jon Shirley, who experienced compatibility problems with his Epson printer and scanner and his Nikon film scanner.

You’ve got to love Balmer’s response! Do you think this is a guy who cares about those people who purchased Vista and ran into problems? If he doesn’t care about someone like Jon Shirley, who can certainly afford to upgrade his hardware, I doubt he cares much about the rest of us. The people I know who work for Microsoft DO CARE about their customers, and I’m sure is disheartening to hear such a flippant response from the CEO.

Here’s my take on Vista: The only reason to run Vista is if you purchase a brand new machine and Vista comes standard on your model. I’m running Vista on a new Lenovo X61 without any problems. But I’d strongly recommend sticking with XP on anything else. I run XP at home and Vista at work and I notice very little difference. Both are fairly stable with my XP machine feeling a little faster as desktops usually are. I like how Vista handles pictures, but there are enough annoyances to frustrate power users. I see no need to move to Vista if you’re happy with XP.

–Link to full article

Muxtape Brings the Mixed Tape to the Digital Age

A friend told me about this site called Muxtape that allows anyone to upload up to 12 of their favorite songs.

This reminds me of the times back in high school where I’d created a mixed tape from my friend’s album collections. We’d plan our album purchases in order to maximize the number of songs we could then share and record tapes from. When the CD came around, it wasn’t as easy to create a mix of songs until Mp3s arrived on the scene and the costs of burning disks came down.

Here’s my first Muxtape mix. This is a great way to uncover new music.

Technorati Tags: ,,,

How’s My Driving?

On my way into work this morning I pulled up behind a GE Service Van that had one of those How’s My Driving stickers slapped to the back. I’ve never understood why companies use these stickers. Do they magically make one a better driver when the threat of being reported is just a phone call away?

I followed the van a few blocks before pulling up to a left turn arrow near my credit union. I had my cell phone in hand and wondered if anyone would answer. I dialed the 1-888 number and was immediately forced to listen to a commercial for a fabric softener! I had no idea GE even made fabric softener. I eventually made it through. Here’s how my call when down:

GE Rep1: Can I get your name and phone number in case we get disconnected?

Me: Sure. (I give her my name and bogus number)

GE Rep1: What can I help you with today?

Me: I’d like to comment on the driving of someone in one of your service vans.

GE Rep1: Excuse me?

Me: I may not have the right extension. A sticker on the back of a GE service van invited me to call and comment on how it’s driving.

GE Rep1: Ohhh! Hold just a minute, sir.

(I wait about a minute before another lady comes on the line. It’s clear from the start that she’s not in the best mood)

GE Rep2: So you want to comment on a driver? I’ll need the van number and your location.

(The van starts to pull through the intersection and I’m having a difficult time driving, talking on the phone and trying to locate the van number. I notice the number 9290 in very small font running vertically up the left side of the back door)

Me: The only number I see is 9290. I’m in Redmond, Washington.

GE Rep2: OK. So what’s the problem?

Me: No problem at all. I figured I’d call and let someone know this driver is doing a very good job out here. He just took a left turn in front of me and it couldn’t have gone any smoother.

GE Rep2: So you haven’t noticed any problems?

Me: No, none. Do only people with problems call to comment?

GE Rep2: Mostly. But you have no problems to report?

Me: None. From what I’ve witnessed, his driving the last several blocks has been top notch.

GE Rep2: I’m happy to hear that. Do you have anything else to report.

Me: That’s all for today. Thank you.

My Four Favorite Google Search Tips

Here are four Google tips I use all the time. All these should be run from the primary Google search engine. I ran across a few of these a while back at Expert Village.

If you run Firefox (you should be!) these can be huge time savers since all can be run from the Google search bar in the upper right corner of your browser saving a few steps.

Google Calculator – You can run basic and complex computations from Google. I use this for basic multiplication and division all the time. For example, what if I want to know the answer to 240 times 37. Just type 240*37 into Google and hit enter and you’ll see this. It even handles conversions such as How many pints in a gallon or How many teaspoons in a tablespoon. I wonder how many feet are in 26 miles? Woah!

screen_2008-03-25 23.33.14

Google Dictionary – There’s no need to find an online dictionary when you can find word definitions right from Google. For example, I keep seeing the word, schadenfreude, pop up on a few blogs but I have no idea what it means. Just type define:schadenfreude into Google and it spits out the definition. Very cool! By the way, what’s a Doppelganger? screen_2008-03-25 23.35.09

Google Flight & Weather Status– Two tips for the price of one. Sometimes I need to find flight information but don’t want to track it down from the airline or travel site where I may have to login. All I need to have are the flight number and the airline. So if I’m searching for the status of Delta flight 1410 just type delta 1410 into Google and the first result will link to the flight status I’m after. Google puts a small picture of an airplane next to these results as a visual cue. Coolness.

You can also find the current weather conditions by typing weather “city” such as weather seattle and you’ll be presented with this update which includes a 5-day forecast.  I wonder what the weather is like in Frankfurt, Germany?

screen_2008-03-25 23.37.00

Google Movie Times – This my favorite Google tip! I use this all the time. All you need are the movie’s title and the zip code of the area where you’d like to see it. Say I want to know when the movie, Horton Hears a Who, is showing in the Auburn WA area. Just type horton hears a who 98092 and here are the results. Notice the little movie reel out to the left of the results. If you want to see all theaters in your extended area where the movie is playing just click on the More theaters link.

But what if I want to read reviews of my favorite movie, American Beauty? Easy enough.

screen_2008-03-25 23.43.01

The $40 Dockers Jacket

I picked up the jacket on a whim while looking for Levi’s at Mervyn’s about 4 years ago. It’s a lightweight Dockers jacket that cost $40. And it’s black which everyone knows is the only color a jacket should be. I wear this thing everywhere. It’s perfect for our mild Seattle climate.

I’ve worn it so much that it’s starting to show its age. I should have the zipper replaced as well as professionally cleaned. It has the lowest CPW (cost per wear) of any item in my closet. Easily. image

But I’m bummed I’ve not been able to find a duplicate jacket. I’ve looked everywhere. I found one with a cotton lining, but that’s too heavy. It must be lightweight. And it must have a pocket on the inside for my cell phone. Next to the pocket is a small logo of a brick phone from the 80’s. Somehow that’s fitting.

It’s the perfect jacket. It can’t be improved upon. I’ll continue to check eBay. I’ve stopped by every Dockers outlet we’ve come across hoping to snag one. I have Ralph Lauren, Nautica and Helly Hansen jackets costing much more that hang in the closet, season after season.

I’ve never spent a better $40.