Month: November 2007

Apple still attacking Vista

Apple is still rolling out the anti-Vista ads. Vista has certainly had its share of problems but I’m hearing more and more complaints about Apple’s new Leopard operating system. Isn’t Apple supposed to be the company that makes stuff that “just works”? Scoble calls it the “brand promise” and he does a better job than I do of explaining it. Maybe the days of the major OS upgrade are over given these two giants can’t create an operating system that’s worth upgrading to.

If were Microsoft I’d go on the offensive and call out Apple and their problems with Leopard instead of sitting back and creating marketing crap like this. Yes, you’ll be speechless alright! Speechless to the point of frustration.

Hey Apple, that desktop background looks like someone went to WinCustomize and chose the worst rated background. Man, that’s bad.

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Bono sings Wave of Sorrow

U2’s, the Joshua Tree, is one of my favorite albums of all time. Probably top three. From what I can gather, this song was written back in 1987 for the Joshua Tree  but wasn’t included because Bono felt like it wasn’t quite finished. But it will be included on the upcoming, remastered 20th Anniversary Edition of the Joshua Tree that will be released on November 20th. I don’t know if other unreleased tracks will be included.

I like the song quite a bit. But the best part of this video is watching Bono try to recall lyrics he wrote 20 years ago. He also provides backdrop and context for the song, sometimes during the song!

I’m not sure how many times I’ve bought the Joshua Tree but I wouldn’t be surprised if I’ve bought it three or four times. I wore out two cassettes before moving to CD. The only album I’ve purchased more is probably Pink Floyd’s, Dark Side of the Moon, my favorite album of all-time.

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Why is it nearly impossible to return software?

I bought a scale a few weeks ago at Fred Meyer. When I got it home, it didn’t work so I returned it for a full refund. Same thing happened with a portable blow-up mattress we bought at Costco. We had no trouble returning both items.

Compare that with purchasing software. You’d better do your homework because returning software for a refund is nearly impossible if the box has been opened. I suppose this has something to do with the fact that it’s easier to make a digital copy of a CD/DVD than to replicate a blow up mattress. But it can still make for a disappointing buying experience.

For example, I purchased a game called ShawdowRun that is supposed to run on Windows Vista. In fact, according to the fancy box, it requires Vista to run. Well, I tried installing it four times on Kim’s Vista machine with no luck. It would appear to install correctly but the game wouldn’t launch. Never mind this is a game released by Microsoft Game Studios.

But because I’ve opened the box, I can only return it to the store for the same item which does absolutely no good. I guess I could sell it on eBay for less than I paid for the game, but that’s not the point. I bought an item that was advertised to work, yet I have no recourse that remedies the problem.

The whole thing  leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I didn’t pirate the game. I didn’t make a copy of the game and try to return it. Software return policies assume I’m a criminal instead of treating me like a customer.

Costco can figure out a fair way for their customers to return computers and big screen TVs within a reasonable amount of time. If Costco can do this for large ticket items, why can’t software companies come up with a reasonable return policy?

I’m to the point where I just don’t trust much software anymore which means I’ll only buy programs I must have, like Turbo Tax, and continue to look for freeware options.

No time to work now, I’m busy shaking the toner

I worked for a company where to “shake the toner” became synonymous with “wasting time”. We had two printers from which to choose: One black and white, one color laser. Only management and those working on a design for a client were supposed to use the color printer. The rest of us were instructed to use the black and white model. I once made the mistake of printing to the color printer in order to avoiding shaking the toner. The error of my ways was pointed out to me almost immediately. image

There was one problem with the black and white printer: it was perpetually low on toner. I know laser cartridges can be given more life by a quick shake now and then. I’m not against being frugal, but the amount of time spent getting a basic print job to work was much too high.

Every week I’d see busy individuals spending 15 to 20 minutes at a time shaking the toner cartridge in order to get the printer working. These were marketers, developers and project managers doing most of the shaking. After I’d witnessed this foolishness for a few weeks, I approached our IT Manager and asked him why we didn’t keep a box of new toner cartridges near the printer. His response was that he wanted to do that but was instructed not to because we’d run the risk of going through more toner than was needed. If I recall correctly, the toner cartridges were in the $150/each neighborhood.

Yet it’s hard to imagine all the time wasted on what should be a very simple task. Most of our employees billed out at $150 or more so it didn’t take many trips to the printer to see that it would have been more cost effective to put a box of toner near the printer, even if we did waste the last few remnants of toner. Instead, we had erected a barrier to ensure that several hours were wasted each time the toner ran low.

Whenever I see internal business process that seem to be in place merely to waste employee’s time I refer to them as “shaking the toner” moments. Do you have any “shaking the toner” processes at your work?

Twitter Link to the Rescue

For some unexplained reason, Twitter removed the hyperlink to names today. The hyperlinks were especially useful when deciding whether or not to add that person as a follower because they linked directly to that person’s profile. I figured it was a problem with Tweetr until I read Dave Winer’s post and realized it was service wide.

I assume a few things will happen very shortly:

  1. Twitter users will complain until they are forced to bring back back the feature.
  2. Standalone apps like Tweetr will work around the problem by adding the functionality to their apps

But until that time Twitter user, TDavid, has created a nifty Firefox extension that bring the hyperlinking back to Twitter. I’ve been using it tonight and it works great. You can download it here.

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This might work so I don’t even care if Twitter adds it back. I figured someone would write an extension or a Greasemonkey script but had no idea it would happen tonight! Excellent job.

Curious Sign at Fred Meyer

I went to Fred Meyer last night to pickup a few items including a small light for a children’s night globe. This Fred Meyer has a regular grocery store area and larger department store area. It’s similar to a Super Target or Super Wal-Mart only not quite so large.

I like Fred Meyer because it’s clean, the people are nice, they have a good produce section and I know my way around the aisles. I can find the peanut butter, popcorn, Diet Coke and string cheese with ease!

So last night I located the small light section in the grocery area of the store. I wasn’t finding the light I needed but I noticed a hand-written sign that said:

You can find more lights in the Electrical department

I was happy they had more lights in another area of the store, but it would have been just as easy to include the aisle number on that sign, right?

The electrical section is mixed in between the paint and the lamps areas. Although I’m very familiar with the store layout, it still took some time to find where the lights were.

As luck would have it, after I found the area, I reached in my pocket and realized I’d left the tiny light at home and couldn’t recall the model/size I came for. Total bummer.

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Open Letter to DirecTV

Dear DirecTV,

I’ve been a happy DirecTV customer for over 10 years. I’ve told countless friends, family and coworkers about your service and many have switched from cable to DirecTV.

Recently I’ve been spending less time watching TV and your PPV offerings because nimble companies like Netflix and online software like Miro are making it easier for me to find movies and programming I’m after.

With Netflix, I can queue up movies before they arrive on DVD. Then, once they hit retail shelves, Netflix drops the DVD in the mail. The time to get my attention about a hit movie is when it’s new to theaters and people are talking about it. Netflix makes it easy to find and rent that movie before you can offer it on PPV. Basically, they beat you to the punch.

I’ll save Miro for a different day, but I have a suggestion for how to combat Netflix and take even more money from me each month. Allow me to queue movies from your website so that when Oceans 13 comes to PPV, my DirecTivo will automatically find, purchase and download it to receiver.

This can’t be difficult to do. I know the DVD usually arrives in stores a few weeks before you can offer the same movie on PPV. But I can live with that as long as I know I’m going to get it with minimal hassle.

Just make it happen and you’ll greatly increase the number of PPV customers. You’ve got to make it as easy as Netflix though or it won’t work.

Regards,

BN

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Twitter goes mainstream at work

powerI never thought it would happen. It’s too niche, I told myself. But I was wrong. Today, for reasons unknown, Twitter went mainstream at work. When I started I only knew one other person who was on Twitter. She’s the artsy type so that didn’t surprise me. I figured Twitter was mostly for those that enjoyed blogging and not the geeky IT crowd. 

This got me thinking about how the work culture changes when the majority of the company uses Twitter regularly. Here’s what I think:

  1. Employee to employee email is reduced.
  2. Employee to employee instant messaging is reduced.
  3. Those who may be on the outside can suddenly be in the know
  4. The playing field is leveled. Titles don’t mean anything.
  5. Community is fostered.

It will be interesting to see how Twitter changes our culture at work. Maybe today was just an anomaly and it really won’t change much or people will use it for a week and then quit.

I for one hope it continues.

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Windows Live Writer 2008 Now Available

Even in beta it was one of my favorite programs. Now that it’s out of beta, it’s worth upgrading to the latest version of Windows Live Writer 2008. You can download the latest version from here. 

If you maintain a blog grab this tool today. It takes the hassles out of of updating your blog. It’s easy to setup and use to use. I love the “Save Draft” feature. When I’d use the online WordPress editor, I’d occasionally lose a draft before I hit the publish button. That’s a thing of the past now.

WLW frees you up to write instead of tweak. Isn’t that why you started a blog in the first place?

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