Tretakoff Musings
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Ah, the Satisfaction of Recognition
Always nice to occasionally remember the biggest charm of the Web is to encounter people with like philosophies that you might not have ever encountered. Case in point, I blogged about Brass Goggles in the past, a British blog devoted to all things steampunk (think Jules Verne). I've enjoyed reading it, and dropped the blogger a line to let them know about a steampunk Yahoo Widget, Steam Gage.
Imagine my joy to see that the wonderful blogger added a whole entry on my submission, and thanked "Mr. Tretakoff" for the information! My thanks to Brass Goggles for immortalizing me as such. I am honored.
Always nice to occasionally remember the biggest charm of the Web is to encounter people with like philosophies that you might not have ever encountered. Case in point, I blogged about Brass Goggles in the past, a British blog devoted to all things steampunk (think Jules Verne). I've enjoyed reading it, and dropped the blogger a line to let them know about a steampunk Yahoo Widget, Steam Gage.Imagine my joy to see that the wonderful blogger added a whole entry on my submission, and thanked "Mr. Tretakoff" for the information! My thanks to Brass Goggles for immortalizing me as such. I am honored.
Monday, February 26, 2007
The Workaholic Burnout Culture
Hello. My name is Josh. And I am a workaholic.
Those words have been uttered by me since I was 13 years old. I preferred work over school, work over relationships, and work over fun. At 13, I was working, literally, 80 hours a week in the summers. In college, I had not one, not two, but three jobs, simultaneously. In retrospect, it seems fated that I would be drawn to Silicon Valley, where we have made an art form of transforming our social lives into our work lives...and feeling content with it.
It never used to be this way. Sure we had the distorted view of the nuclear family, replete with images of "Leave It To Beaver" bliss. But remember the influx of happy hours, which fortified the men (since that was who was primarily working) for their familial obligations? As time went one, the happy hours went away, and the Blackberry took its place.
The ultimate distortion of this came when I worked for Inktomi. Great company, great people. The culture was summed up in one phrase: "Work Hard, Play Hard." And the line between the two was obliterated. Yes, the dotcom culture made money an object of the past: we were free to buy anything we wanted, so we molded our work around what we found as fun. And y'know what? It worked. That is, it worked...until the bubble burst, and the party was over.
Now, we have all somehow convinced ourselves that it's ok for work to blend with home. If you don't check your emails constantly, you are perceived to be slacking. Worse, the concept of not checking your emails at least once every 10 minutes is considered...alien. Why would you want to be out of touch for that long?
I say this as a workholic. It's not a proud badge of puritanical fortitude. It's an illness. I'm not talking about the occasional late night to get a project done. I'm talking about the sacrificing of the quality of our lives for the bizarre concept that we need to work harder. Well, I am not alone. Jay has a list of tips for how to leave work at work, and, while I have been trying some of them, I confess I need to do a lot more.
Unless you're Buddhist, remember: we all have one turn on this ride. The quality of our lives is determined not by how much we work, but how much we enjoy those lives. I'm Josh, and I am a workaholic. But today I came home, and did not check email from work. That's one day sober, and tomorrow is another day. I won't always stay on that wagon, but I'm passionate enough to know I can throw myself 100% into my work...and let it stay there.
Let's all learn from Jay.
Those words have been uttered by me since I was 13 years old. I preferred work over school, work over relationships, and work over fun. At 13, I was working, literally, 80 hours a week in the summers. In college, I had not one, not two, but three jobs, simultaneously. In retrospect, it seems fated that I would be drawn to Silicon Valley, where we have made an art form of transforming our social lives into our work lives...and feeling content with it.
It never used to be this way. Sure we had the distorted view of the nuclear family, replete with images of "Leave It To Beaver" bliss. But remember the influx of happy hours, which fortified the men (since that was who was primarily working) for their familial obligations? As time went one, the happy hours went away, and the Blackberry took its place. The ultimate distortion of this came when I worked for Inktomi. Great company, great people. The culture was summed up in one phrase: "Work Hard, Play Hard." And the line between the two was obliterated. Yes, the dotcom culture made money an object of the past: we were free to buy anything we wanted, so we molded our work around what we found as fun. And y'know what? It worked. That is, it worked...until the bubble burst, and the party was over.
Now, we have all somehow convinced ourselves that it's ok for work to blend with home. If you don't check your emails constantly, you are perceived to be slacking. Worse, the concept of not checking your emails at least once every 10 minutes is considered...alien. Why would you want to be out of touch for that long?
I say this as a workholic. It's not a proud badge of puritanical fortitude. It's an illness. I'm not talking about the occasional late night to get a project done. I'm talking about the sacrificing of the quality of our lives for the bizarre concept that we need to work harder. Well, I am not alone. Jay has a list of tips for how to leave work at work, and, while I have been trying some of them, I confess I need to do a lot more.
Unless you're Buddhist, remember: we all have one turn on this ride. The quality of our lives is determined not by how much we work, but how much we enjoy those lives. I'm Josh, and I am a workaholic. But today I came home, and did not check email from work. That's one day sober, and tomorrow is another day. I won't always stay on that wagon, but I'm passionate enough to know I can throw myself 100% into my work...and let it stay there.
Let's all learn from Jay.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
FutureCar: I Want One Now
Not sure if you have been catching it, but the Discovery Channel has been running a miniseries, FutureCar. I'm not all that keen on the editing, as they spend about 2 minutes on each cool car concept, then spend 10 minutes on a hydrogen powered go kart time trial. However, there was one car that looks to be on the cusp of reality that makes it all worth it: the VentureOne.
3 wheels. Cockpit style seating. Hybrid technology. All look spacey and futuristic. But here's the kicker: it leans into turns, up to 45 degrees! That makes driving this thing a combination of motorcyle, car...and plane. See, it takes the best of what I love about my all-wheel drive Outback Sport to a whole new level. The video section of the site really says it all: "This thing is so much fun to drive...it should have guns, or missles on it! I want to dogfight!"
Rumor is, the VentureOne (the evolution of the Carver One featured in FutureCar and the videos) will come in at less than $20K and comarketed with BMW, who made small fun transport a success with the reintroduction of the Mini Cooper. At a range of 350 miles per tank, max speeds in excess of 100 mph, and the feel of "flying the road," not to mention a removable top, I'm so there. Not to mention the parking benefits!
3 wheels. Cockpit style seating. Hybrid technology. All look spacey and futuristic. But here's the kicker: it leans into turns, up to 45 degrees! That makes driving this thing a combination of motorcyle, car...and plane. See, it takes the best of what I love about my all-wheel drive Outback Sport to a whole new level. The video section of the site really says it all: "This thing is so much fun to drive...it should have guns, or missles on it! I want to dogfight!"Rumor is, the VentureOne (the evolution of the Carver One featured in FutureCar and the videos) will come in at less than $20K and comarketed with BMW, who made small fun transport a success with the reintroduction of the Mini Cooper. At a range of 350 miles per tank, max speeds in excess of 100 mph, and the feel of "flying the road," not to mention a removable top, I'm so there. Not to mention the parking benefits!
I Feel The Need...The Need For Speed
Gentlemen, start your engines. As I blogged about before, if you want to know the speed of your web connection, SpeedTest has your back. But now, they have also introduced a new interface, making speed testing a downright participatory sport. Check out that interface to the left!
But wait, there's more. Compare your results to those in the same state, or region, or with the same provider. Historical charts, averages of download and upload speeds, and the ability to customize how you prefer to have the information displayed to you. When you're done, you can post your results through HTML or email. Check out mine:
Now how cool is THAT?
Gentlemen, start your engines. As I blogged about before, if you want to know the speed of your web connection, SpeedTest has your back. But now, they have also introduced a new interface, making speed testing a downright participatory sport. Check out that interface to the left!But wait, there's more. Compare your results to those in the same state, or region, or with the same provider. Historical charts, averages of download and upload speeds, and the ability to customize how you prefer to have the information displayed to you. When you're done, you can post your results through HTML or email. Check out mine:
Now how cool is THAT?
VOIP continues to pay me off
Did you know the IRS is refunding Excise taxes collected between 2003 & 2006 this year, if you have long distance service? Depending on how many deductions you claim you could get up to $60 back. Hell, $30 is there for the taking.
Curiously, this new blog, Nextlust, was what turned me on to it, but they implied it was VOIP users only. My bad.
Did you know the IRS is refunding Excise taxes collected between 2003 & 2006 this year, if you have long distance service? Depending on how many deductions you claim you could get up to $60 back. Hell, $30 is there for the taking. Curiously, this new blog, Nextlust, was what turned me on to it, but they implied it was VOIP users only. My bad.
What Yahoo Widgets were meant to be
On my PC's, I am a big fan of Yahoo Widget Engine; heck, at home I have an entire 2nd monitor devoted to 'em. Unless you want to get OS specific (Mac OSX Dashboard or Vista Sidebar), there are really only two Widget choices to use: Yahoo Widget Engine or Google Desktop Gadgets. Soon, I'll do a head to head review, and give you my feedback. I'll let you know I run both at home. :-)
Check out this amazingly cool YWE widget, Neon Gauges :: System Info. It's every gauge you ever wanted, with slick neon reflection graphics, and smooth animation. Best of all, it's multiple widgets in one. Want to monitor the hard drive? Right click, and add it. Your battery? Right click.
Best YWE Widget I have seen in a while, and adds energy, style, and functionality to any desktop.
Check out this amazingly cool YWE widget, Neon Gauges :: System Info. It's every gauge you ever wanted, with slick neon reflection graphics, and smooth animation. Best of all, it's multiple widgets in one. Want to monitor the hard drive? Right click, and add it. Your battery? Right click. Best YWE Widget I have seen in a while, and adds energy, style, and functionality to any desktop.
Labels: widgets
The Danger of Public Windows
I've written (and showed photos) of how Windows error messages appear at the airport occasionally. Well, looks like I am not alone with this wry observation. The ever-improving Download Squad blog points out a whole flickr group dedicated to these. My favorite is that one to the right: the Vegas-style video billboard that is frozen for lack of a login screen. I want to see some from the Strip, or a football stadium: when those fail, it must be spectacular. :-)
To be fair, the images are not just of Windows crashes/errors, but embedded systems and NT, as well. The reality is that, the more complex the technology, the more that can go wrong. As we move from dumb phones to cell phones, to smartphones, we had better keep this in mind. For instance, my Palm TX is clearly at the end of it's life: the programs I've loaded into it cause memory leaks, and the Palm OS behaves erratically...until it crashes. How to fix it? Rebuild the Palm (hard reset) and start loading the programs on, one by one. Except the Power button is no longer functional, which is required to do a hard reset. End of life.
Now, take my phone. Right now, it has a frustrating thing where, every week or so, it will start acting erratically. It "forgets" what mode it's in, it replaces ringtones, it deletes photos from contacts...until it finally crashes when a call is coming in, and restarts. Annoying, ain't it? But, the phone was the cheapest Bluetooth phone at the time, so I accept it's quirks. If the iPhone starts giving me OSX crashes, I'll have far less tolerance for the $600 it will cost me.
Any Smartphone users out there seeing this today? Windows Mobile (yes, I have been guiltily lusting after the BlackJack) have this? Treo users?
I've written (and showed photos) of how Windows error messages appear at the airport occasionally. Well, looks like I am not alone with this wry observation. The ever-improving Download Squad blog points out a whole flickr group dedicated to these. My favorite is that one to the right: the Vegas-style video billboard that is frozen for lack of a login screen. I want to see some from the Strip, or a football stadium: when those fail, it must be spectacular. :-)To be fair, the images are not just of Windows crashes/errors, but embedded systems and NT, as well. The reality is that, the more complex the technology, the more that can go wrong. As we move from dumb phones to cell phones, to smartphones, we had better keep this in mind. For instance, my Palm TX is clearly at the end of it's life: the programs I've loaded into it cause memory leaks, and the Palm OS behaves erratically...until it crashes. How to fix it? Rebuild the Palm (hard reset) and start loading the programs on, one by one. Except the Power button is no longer functional, which is required to do a hard reset. End of life.
Now, take my phone. Right now, it has a frustrating thing where, every week or so, it will start acting erratically. It "forgets" what mode it's in, it replaces ringtones, it deletes photos from contacts...until it finally crashes when a call is coming in, and restarts. Annoying, ain't it? But, the phone was the cheapest Bluetooth phone at the time, so I accept it's quirks. If the iPhone starts giving me OSX crashes, I'll have far less tolerance for the $600 it will cost me.
Any Smartphone users out there seeing this today? Windows Mobile (yes, I have been guiltily lusting after the BlackJack) have this? Treo users?
Labels: cell phones, Palm, photos
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Outlook as your desktop
Another from the long line of "why the hell didn't this get thought of before?" Outlook is still the most used Calendar/Email/Contacts program (at least, until Gmail/Google Calendar gets sync down pat). However, it suffers from single window problems: you can look at your email, but you can't see your schedule without clicking into Calendar. And, if your Outlook is as bloated as mine, this can be a 5 second delay between click to display.
No more. Enter Outlook on the Desktop. As Download Squad describes it, "It allows you to pick any one of the main Outlook views (Inbox, Calendar, Tasks, etc), and display it directly on your desktop." If you use multiple monitors, like I do, you can always see your schedule open without diverting from your email.
Years ago, Berkeley Systems (venerable makers of the legendary After Dark screensaver) made a PIM program that did a similar thing: it turned your desktop into your calendar. Way before its time, it didn't make it, but not a day goes by that I don't pine for it (it was Mac only, and WAY long ago...so long, I forget the name! Expresso, and it's Star Trek brother, StarDate). Sure you can get similar functionality with Yahoo Widgets or Google Gadgets (probably Vista, too), but I find the Yahoo Widget to be extremely memory intensive, and the Google Gadget is part of Google Desktop: a massive memory hog for my office laptop. This clean, elegant and simple solution does just what I wanted.
Another from the long line of "why the hell didn't this get thought of before?" Outlook is still the most used Calendar/Email/Contacts program (at least, until Gmail/Google Calendar gets sync down pat). However, it suffers from single window problems: you can look at your email, but you can't see your schedule without clicking into Calendar. And, if your Outlook is as bloated as mine, this can be a 5 second delay between click to display.No more. Enter Outlook on the Desktop. As Download Squad describes it, "It allows you to pick any one of the main Outlook views (Inbox, Calendar, Tasks, etc), and display it directly on your desktop." If you use multiple monitors, like I do, you can always see your schedule open without diverting from your email.
Years ago, Berkeley Systems (venerable makers of the legendary After Dark screensaver) made a PIM program that did a similar thing: it turned your desktop into your calendar. Way before its time, it didn't make it, but not a day goes by that I don't pine for it (it was Mac only, and WAY long ago...
Honesty is Good for Business
You can't have a worse week, as a company, than JetBlue had this week. You all know I'm a fan of the airline, but this week, they screwed up royally, stranding and inconveniencing thousands of passengers. Inexcusable. Why did they screw up so badly? A perfect storm of poor decision skills, bad weather, inexperience, and more. Essentially, piss poor planning. But something strange happened, as a result.
They took responsibility.
Think of it for a minute. Enron, Cablevision, United...the list of companies that have screwed their customers and investors reads like a who's who of bad customer service poster children. JetBlue came out, on the day this all happened, and admitted they screwed up and woudl do whatever it took to make it right. And guess what? They are doing what every airline has fought, every HMO has fought, every monolithic services company fights: they have introduced a Customer Bill Of Rights.
Why is this so epic?
Interestingly, years ago, when Southwest started, the other airlines tried to squeeze them out. Southwest appealed directly to the consumers, exposed their commitment, and they were rewarded with loyalty. Let's see if JetBlue can do the same. My money (and preferred flying miles) are on them.
Here's the email they sent today:
Dear JetBlue Customers,
We are sorry and embarrassed. But most of all, we are deeply sorry.
Last week was the worst operational week in JetBlue's seven year history. Following the severe winter ice storm in the Northeast, we subjected our customers to unacceptable delays, flight cancellations, lost baggage, and other major inconveniences. The storm disrupted the movement of aircraft, and, more importantly, disrupted the movement of JetBlue's pilot and inflight crewmembers who were depending on those planes to get them to the airports where they were scheduled to serve you. With the busy President's Day weekend upon us, rebooking opportunities were scarce and hold times at 1-800-JETBLUE were unacceptably long or not even available, further hindering our recovery efforts.
Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for the anxiety, frustration and inconvenience that we caused. This is especially saddening because JetBlue was founded on the promise of bringing humanity back to air travel and making the experience of flying happier and easier for everyone who chooses to fly with us. We know we failed to deliver on this promise last week.
We are committed to you, our valued customers, and are taking immediate corrective steps to regain your confidence in us. We have begun putting a comprehensive plan in place to provide better and more timely information to you, more tools and resources for our crewmembers and improved procedures for handling operational difficulties in the future. We are confident, as a result of these actions, that JetBlue will emerge as a more reliable and even more customer responsive airline than ever before.
Most importantly, we have published the JetBlue Airways Customer Bill of Rights—our official commitment to you of how we will handle operational interruptions going forward—including details of compensation. I have a video message to share with you about this industry leading action.
You deserved better—a lot better—from us last week. Nothing is more important than regaining your trust and all of us here hope you will give us the opportunity to welcome you onboard again soon and provide you the positive JetBlue Experience you have come to expect from us.
Sincerely,
David Neeleman
Founder and CEO
You can't have a worse week, as a company, than JetBlue had this week. You all know I'm a fan of the airline, but this week, they screwed up royally, stranding and inconveniencing thousands of passengers. Inexcusable. Why did they screw up so badly? A perfect storm of poor decision skills, bad weather, inexperience, and more. Essentially, piss poor planning. But something strange happened, as a result.They took responsibility.
Think of it for a minute. Enron, Cablevision, United...the list of companies that have screwed their customers and investors reads like a who's who of bad customer service poster children. JetBlue came out, on the day this all happened, and admitted they screwed up and woudl do whatever it took to make it right. And guess what? They are doing what every airline has fought, every HMO has fought, every monolithic services company fights: they have introduced a Customer Bill Of Rights.
Why is this so epic?
- They did not try to deflect blame. They took it straight on. This is what a company that wants to be customer-centric needs to do.
- They immediately saw that doing this bill of rights would set a precedent in the industry that could spark a fare war or worse. They know they have to break ranks on this, or they will never earn their customers' trust back again.
- This will cost them millions of dollars in revenue and profit. They don't care. They can't make the money if the customers are not using their services.
Interestingly, years ago, when Southwest started, the other airlines tried to squeeze them out. Southwest appealed directly to the consumers, exposed their commitment, and they were rewarded with loyalty. Let's see if JetBlue can do the same. My money (and preferred flying miles) are on them.
Here's the email they sent today:
Dear JetBlue Customers,
We are sorry and embarrassed. But most of all, we are deeply sorry.
Last week was the worst operational week in JetBlue's seven year history. Following the severe winter ice storm in the Northeast, we subjected our customers to unacceptable delays, flight cancellations, lost baggage, and other major inconveniences. The storm disrupted the movement of aircraft, and, more importantly, disrupted the movement of JetBlue's pilot and inflight crewmembers who were depending on those planes to get them to the airports where they were scheduled to serve you. With the busy President's Day weekend upon us, rebooking opportunities were scarce and hold times at 1-800-JETBLUE were unacceptably long or not even available, further hindering our recovery efforts.
Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for the anxiety, frustration and inconvenience that we caused. This is especially saddening because JetBlue was founded on the promise of bringing humanity back to air travel and making the experience of flying happier and easier for everyone who chooses to fly with us. We know we failed to deliver on this promise last week.
We are committed to you, our valued customers, and are taking immediate corrective steps to regain your confidence in us. We have begun putting a comprehensive plan in place to provide better and more timely information to you, more tools and resources for our crewmembers and improved procedures for handling operational difficulties in the future. We are confident, as a result of these actions, that JetBlue will emerge as a more reliable and even more customer responsive airline than ever before.
Most importantly, we have published the JetBlue Airways Customer Bill of Rights—our official commitment to you of how we will handle operational interruptions going forward—including details of compensation. I have a video message to share with you about this industry leading action.
You deserved better—a lot better—from us last week. Nothing is more important than regaining your trust and all of us here hope you will give us the opportunity to welcome you onboard again soon and provide you the positive JetBlue Experience you have come to expect from us.
Sincerely,
David Neeleman
Founder and CEO
Labels: travel
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
People Who Live In Straw Houses...
Most people, when undertaking a project to build a house, think wood, brick, concrete. Then there are the dreamers. The iconoclasts. The people who think they can make a real difference and blaze a new trail.
They build a house from straw.
Yep, you read it right. Meet Leslie Miley, the man of vision in question. I've had the pleasure to work with Leslie and call him a friend. But make no mistake about it: Leslie is a man of vision. He also is a man who is driven. Why, you ask, would a man of Silicon Valley buy a property in Paso Robles (in San Luis Obisbo county, about halfway from San Francisco to LA) and build a straw house? As Leslie says:
When Leslie explains it, in his uncompromising way, you actually get it. You believe it. And then you read the incredibly detailed blog of everything that went right, wrong, and in between. From the nightmare of contractor hell, fires, freezes, and every other imaginable thing, you can see what a militant black man who is the Forrest Gump of Silicon Valley (Inktomi, Yahoo, Google) experiences in trying to build his 40 acres (no mule, though the Kick Ass Coffee shop was a good substitute) and his house of straw in the heart of SLO. He says it best:
Read on...keep the faith, Shaft. You did what many of us could only dream of.
Most people, when undertaking a project to build a house, think wood, brick, concrete. Then there are the dreamers. The iconoclasts. The people who think they can make a real difference and blaze a new trail.They build a house from straw.
Yep, you read it right. Meet Leslie Miley, the man of vision in question. I've had the pleasure to work with Leslie and call him a friend. But make no mistake about it: Leslie is a man of vision. He also is a man who is driven. Why, you ask, would a man of Silicon Valley buy a property in Paso Robles (in San Luis Obisbo county, about halfway from San Francisco to LA) and build a straw house? As Leslie says:
In the year 2000 I started straw bale dream house that would be ecologically sound, environmentally friendly, and a place to finally call home.
When Leslie explains it, in his uncompromising way, you actually get it. You believe it. And then you read the incredibly detailed blog of everything that went right, wrong, and in between. From the nightmare of contractor hell, fires, freezes, and every other imaginable thing, you can see what a militant black man who is the Forrest Gump of Silicon Valley (Inktomi, Yahoo, Google) experiences in trying to build his 40 acres (no mule, though the Kick Ass Coffee shop was a good substitute) and his house of straw in the heart of SLO. He says it best:"...trying to run a coffee bar in a ultra-conservative, racist town. Who and what I am was fundamentally changed and not all for the better."
Read on...keep the faith, Shaft. You did what many of us could only dream of.
Labels: blogs
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Blidgets!
The content for the right side of my blog is provided, mostly, by Widgetbox. It's easy: you pick widgets you want to feature on your blog, configure them, and voila: they appear. Heck, I've even created widgets: that IM one (plugoo) came from my hacking their Javascript. Needless to say, I like the flexibility and variety of Widgetbox, and I have been very happy to see them grow.
Now, they've gone one step further: Blidgets. Essentially, you can take any blog and make it a widget. Then, you can put that widget on your blog: decide if you want headlines, articles, colors: you name it. For instance, I created Blidgets for Pete's Treough Blog, Lani's Fog Blog, and, of course, The Sports Guy. See them all on the right?
Best of all, YOU can have them, too. Anyone can. Sign up for a Widgetbox account, and subscribe away. Already have one, and want to feature Tretakoff Musings? Got you covered:
The content for the right side of my blog is provided, mostly, by Widgetbox. It's easy: you pick widgets you want to feature on your blog, configure them, and voila: they appear. Heck, I've even created widgets: that IM one (plugoo) came from my hacking their Javascript. Needless to say, I like the flexibility and variety of Widgetbox, and I have been very happy to see them grow.Now, they've gone one step further: Blidgets. Essentially, you can take any blog and make it a widget. Then, you can put that widget on your blog: decide if you want headlines, articles, colors: you name it. For instance, I created Blidgets for Pete's Treough Blog, Lani's Fog Blog, and, of course, The Sports Guy. See them all on the right?
Best of all, YOU can have them, too. Anyone can. Sign up for a Widgetbox account, and subscribe away. Already have one, and want to feature Tretakoff Musings? Got you covered:
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Fantasy Sports comes to the Movies
It had to happen. Fantasy Sports is an ever-increasing popular obsession among sports fans, dating back to the Rotisserie Baseball that started in the 1980's. Constructed by bored sportswriters who were looking for ways to amuse themselves, they created a game where an individual player's stats gave him "points." You could assemble a team of players, and the points they earned for their individual achievements would be your total score. Soon, the concept spread from baseball, to football, to basketball...it's now a HUGE business, and, with the arrival of the Web, it became even easier to manage a league, trade, etc.
The problem? For non-sports fans, it's not only boring, it's aggravating. And, for fans of football (like me), who the heck cares about baseball, for instance? Many have tried to look at ways to make fantasy sports more universally appealing, but failed. Others, such as the Sports Guy, have made noble attempts to help, offering his legendary US Magazine Fantasy league for the Sports Gal. But nothing has really captured attention.
Until now.
Fantasy Moguls is open for business. EVERYONE loves the movies, and everyone is a critic. Now's your chance to prove you can run a major studio. Amazon just invested almost $1 million in this, to drive traffic to the IMDB. As Techcrunch had to say:
So, I'm throwing down the gauntlet. Although Lani will, most likely, clean our clock, there are still 6 other slots available in a league I have created. I am inviting readers of this blog to join. If you can't use the link for some reason, it's the Ultimate Mobile league (Lani named it). Yes, you have to sign up (it's free). Winner gets...well, I'm thinking either a bunch of movie tickets or Netflix rentals. You decide.
In any case, I'm looking forward to seeing who plays for 2nd place!
It had to happen. Fantasy Sports is an ever-increasing popular obsession among sports fans, dating back to the Rotisserie Baseball that started in the 1980's. Constructed by bored sportswriters who were looking for ways to amuse themselves, they created a game where an individual player's stats gave him "points." You could assemble a team of players, and the points they earned for their individual achievements would be your total score. Soon, the concept spread from baseball, to football, to basketball...it's now a HUGE business, and, with the arrival of the Web, it became even easier to manage a league, trade, etc.The problem? For non-sports fans, it's not only boring, it's aggravating. And, for fans of football (like me), who the heck cares about baseball, for instance? Many have tried to look at ways to make fantasy sports more universally appealing, but failed. Others, such as the Sports Guy, have made noble attempts to help, offering his legendary US Magazine Fantasy league for the Sports Gal. But nothing has really captured attention.
Until now.
Fantasy Moguls is open for business. EVERYONE loves the movies, and everyone is a critic. Now's your chance to prove you can run a major studio. Amazon just invested almost $1 million in this, to drive traffic to the IMDB. As Techcrunch had to say:You can draft movies and earn points based on how well they do at the box office, number of weeks in the top 5, per-theater average, and their IMDb review score (IMDb is Amazon.com owned). Traditional fantasy sports leagues allow you to draft players and earn points for how well they perform in games.
So, I'm throwing down the gauntlet. Although Lani will, most likely, clean our clock, there are still 6 other slots available in a league I have created. I am inviting readers of this blog to join. If you can't use the link for some reason, it's the Ultimate Mobile league (Lani named it). Yes, you have to sign up (it's free). Winner gets...well, I'm thinking either a bunch of movie tickets or Netflix rentals. You decide.
In any case, I'm looking forward to seeing who plays for 2nd place!
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
If You Get Tired Of Bashing Them, Join Them
Al Franken has been a lot of things in his unusual career. A Saturday Night Live writer in the heyday of the "Not Ready For Prime Time Players," he went on to become a performer and sometime actor. But he really hit a nerve when he became an author of Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot, and the absolute perfect Lies (and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them) Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. Suddenly, the Left was not a meek hippie squawking about Greenpeace: Al was using the intellectual rapier of wit to combat absolute idiocy.
He became the signature of Air America, the radio network that counters the Right's mouthpiece, Fox. I used to listen to his show, via podcast, religiously, as it was not only humorous, and fun, but an absolute taskmaster for the outright lies spewed by the likes of O'Reilly and Ann Coulter. His show was always spot on. I say "was," as he ended it yesterday, after a long success. Why did he end it?
Al Franken is running for the Senate in Minnesota.
Ok, two things you are immediately thinking:
1) This is a joke or a publicity stunt. It's not. Al moved back to Minnesota a couple of years ago, shortly after the death of his friend and the Minn. senator, Paul Wellstone. He carefully considered this for over a year, using his show as a forum to air his decision making process. He knows he can best carry on the ideals Wellstone had by going after his seat in the Congress.
2) Only in Minnesota. Yes, they elected Jesse Ventura as Governor, and as an Independent, no less! Yes, this is Walter Mondale's and Hubert Humphrey's state. They are known for electing wacked out far left candidates, right? Yes, they are, but so is California (Schwarzenegger? Sonny Bono??), and Minnesota seems to be fiercely independent. That is exactly what the Senate needs to not only maintain a Democratic majority, but build on it.
Bottom line is that Al is hardly a slam dunk, even with his popularity and war chest. However, this is a man who has made his living beating up on the blowhards of the Right. Instead of just sitting on his ass and counting the money he makes from that, he's putting his money where his mouth is. He's getting in the game, not as a statement, but as a real movement. His wry intelligence, plain delivery, and honest approach is absolutely what is needed to make a difference, and I, for one, hope to hell he wins.
But you can be assured of one thing of Senator Franken: the floor debates will never be the same again.
Al Franken has been a lot of things in his unusual career. A Saturday Night Live writer in the heyday of the "Not Ready For Prime Time Players," he went on to become a performer and sometime actor. But he really hit a nerve when he became an author of Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot, and the absolute perfect Lies (and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them) Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. Suddenly, the Left was not a meek hippie squawking about Greenpeace: Al was using the intellectual rapier of wit to combat absolute idiocy.He became the signature of Air America, the radio network that counters the Right's mouthpiece, Fox. I used to listen to his show, via podcast, religiously, as it was not only humorous, and fun, but an absolute taskmaster for the outright lies spewed by the likes of O'Reilly and Ann Coulter. His show was always spot on. I say "was," as he ended it yesterday, after a long success. Why did he end it?
Al Franken is running for the Senate in Minnesota.
Ok, two things you are immediately thinking:
1) This is a joke or a publicity stunt. It's not. Al moved back to Minnesota a couple of years ago, shortly after the death of his friend and the Minn. senator, Paul Wellstone. He carefully considered this for over a year, using his show as a forum to air his decision making process. He knows he can best carry on the ideals Wellstone had by going after his seat in the Congress.
2) Only in Minnesota. Yes, they elected Jesse Ventura as Governor, and as an Independent, no less! Yes, this is Walter Mondale's and Hubert Humphrey's state. They are known for electing wacked out far left candidates, right? Yes, they are, but so is California (Schwarzenegger? Sonny Bono??), and Minnesota seems to be fiercely independent. That is exactly what the Senate needs to not only maintain a Democratic majority, but build on it.
Bottom line is that Al is hardly a slam dunk, even with his popularity and war chest. However, this is a man who has made his living beating up on the blowhards of the Right. Instead of just sitting on his ass and counting the money he makes from that, he's putting his money where his mouth is. He's getting in the game, not as a statement, but as a real movement. His wry intelligence, plain delivery, and honest approach is absolutely what is needed to make a difference, and I, for one, hope to hell he wins.
But you can be assured of one thing of Senator Franken: the floor debates will never be the same again.
Labels: Politics
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
The Night is STILL Young
Courtesy of the wondrous Ms. P, I bring you the first new song from the Piano Man himself, Billy Joel, in a dozen years. While he has been busy touring, teaching (Yay Berklee School of Music!), and writing classical pieces, he has pretty much said he's done with the genre that brought him to the Rock N'Roll Hall Of Fame.
This piece, written as a tribute to his wife, is a unique blend of Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and Billy Joel himself. And a welcome throwback to a simpler time. Anytime you want an audience, Billy, we're all still here.
Courtesy of the wondrous Ms. P, I bring you the first new song from the Piano Man himself, Billy Joel, in a dozen years. While he has been busy touring, teaching (Yay Berklee School of Music!), and writing classical pieces, he has pretty much said he's done with the genre that brought him to the Rock N'Roll Hall Of Fame.This piece, written as a tribute to his wife, is a unique blend of Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and Billy Joel himself. And a welcome throwback to a simpler time. Anytime you want an audience, Billy, we're all still here.
Labels: music
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Random Thoughts
See what happens with my brain? Scary.
- If Global Warming is such a "fact," why is most of the country seeing such unseasonable weather? Ask the people in upstate New York, who are looking at records of 100 inches of snow this year, if they are seeing global warming? Check out Michael Crichton's State Of Fear for a good perspective on this (and one of Crichton's better books after a loooong string of bad ones).
- This year's SuperBowl was the 2nd most watched one, ever. WHY??? Two teams that failed to capture the country's imagination, in a rainy, sloppy, mistake-filled event with some of the worst commercials in years? Hell, if it was not for the good company (Lani and Pauline), and good food, I'd have switched to playing Madden.
- After CES and Apple's iPhone, I think the gadget explosion has palpably subsided. It's eerie to see sites like Engadget and Digg so focused on other topics.
- The San Francisco Chronicle has amazingly improved. When I first moved here, it was the most execrable waste of newsprint that I had ever seen. In the last 2-3 years, it's really rededicated itself to reporting, rather than reprinting AP stories. And SFGate remains a tremendous asset. I read it on Plucker every day.
- Documentaries can be a hit or miss thing. Take Who Killed The Electric Car, and you'll get an amazing tale and good old fashioned rabblerousing. Terrorstorm, on the other hand, is proving to be a slog, with fancy graphics trying to distract you from sketchy facts and plain unwatchability, which is a shame for such an important subject.
- Music is completely overlooked by me, way too often. It's ability to blend with key memories and moments, and help me concentrate on tough projects is always forgotten. With Pandora, Last.fm, and iTunes, there is really no excuse for this. I've rediscovered the medium, and I need to make it an "always-on" part of my day.
- The Cowboys hired Wade Phillips as their coach. Given the state of the defense, it's a smart hire, but the odds of this Texan making his mark on America's Team are long. Still, shows a commitment to a more fundamental approach, rather than handing a young rising star the reigns. When Jerry Jones hired Jason Garrett, their former longtime backup quarterback, as a coach in an "unspecified role," I thought we were in for another Chan Gailey. Instead, he avoided the splash he looked for with Jimmy Johnson, Barry Switzer, Chan Gailey and Bil Parcells. Let's just hope we don't have another Dave Campo.
- The Nintendo Wii has won the console debuts this Xmas, with the Xbox 360 staying in a solid leader position, and Sony's uber-stein PS3 quickly looking like a disaster. Even the biggest videogame maker in the world has admitted it failed to realize the Wii potential, and lost 15% of it's value and lost ground to Ubisoft. Why? My opinion: women. I've never seen women so excited about videogames before. The Wii's innovative interactive approach trumps polygons every time.
- What the heck is the point of employment references? Businesses are too afraid to say anything except confirm dates of employment. And personal references are guaranteed to only say good things. Why else would the applicant suggest them? Me, I like LinkedIn: you get to see feedback from contacts and team members.
See what happens with my brain? Scary.
The Skies Are Getting Friendlier
After 9/11, the Airline industry seemed to be headed into a freefall faster than the buggy whip business after the invention of the automobile. Now, nearly six years later, we're seeing an unbelievable resurgence, led by upstart carriers who focus on profitable routes, low fares, and great amenities. While Southwest remains the granddaddy of them all, other airlines saw a way to offer the irreverent attitude of the country's most profitable airline, but add a little more entertainment and comfort.
JetBlue, whom I have blogged about a few times before, is clearly the leader in this area. I still will fly JetBlue anywhere, when given the chance, and they continue to expand. Here in Northern CA, they now fly aggressively out of Sacramento and, starting in May, will complement their Oakland and San Jose service with flights from...gasp...SFO! Delta's Song, from all accounts, offers comparable amenities and service to JetBlue. AirTran continues their push nationwide, with XM Radio at every seat. And Frontier, formerly a regional, is hitting the profitable West Coast market hard, with pricing on a par with Southwest.
But the airline I'm excited for is not only not yet flying...it's not even licensed to fly yet. Virgin America, the latest from the Virgin empire, looks to be offering a domestic airline with low fares and amazingly cool planes, but the US DOT is keeping the San Francisco-based carrier from taking off. Virgin's response? Recruit the Internet to lobby on their behalf. And, after checking out their site, I'm happy to lend my voice. The seats look incredible, the planes large...but the tech has me transfixed. Live TV, Movies, music, games...even a seatback food ordering system and IM other passengers! Check out Red for yourself:
Ok, let's let the marketplace continue to decide. Let VA Fly!
UPDATE: Talk about timing! Within a mere few hours of my post, Engadget posted their review of Virgin America's tech-loving plane, complete with a wealth of pictures. Ah...so nice to be on the same wavelength with the best tech blog. Great minds...
After 9/11, the Airline industry seemed to be headed into a freefall faster than the buggy whip business after the invention of the automobile. Now, nearly six years later, we're seeing an unbelievable resurgence, led by upstart carriers who focus on profitable routes, low fares, and great amenities. While Southwest remains the granddaddy of them all, other airlines saw a way to offer the irreverent attitude of the country's most profitable airline, but add a little more entertainment and comfort.JetBlue, whom I have blogged about a few times before, is clearly the leader in this area. I still will fly JetBlue anywhere, when given the chance, and they continue to expand. Here in Northern CA, they now fly aggressively out of Sacramento and, starting in May, will complement their Oakland and San Jose service with flights from...gasp...SFO! Delta's Song, from all accounts, offers comparable amenities and service to JetBlue. AirTran continues their push nationwide, with XM Radio at every seat. And Frontier, formerly a regional, is hitting the profitable West Coast market hard, with pricing on a par with Southwest.
But the airline I'm excited for is not only not yet flying...it's not even licensed to fly yet. Virgin America, the latest from the Virgin empire, looks to be offering a domestic airline with low fares and amazingly cool planes, but the US DOT is keeping the San Francisco-based carrier from taking off. Virgin's response? Recruit the Internet to lobby on their behalf. And, after checking out their site, I'm happy to lend my voice. The seats look incredible, the planes large...but the tech has me transfixed. Live TV, Movies, music, games...even a seatback food ordering system and IM other passengers! Check out Red for yourself:
Ok, let's let the marketplace continue to decide. Let VA Fly!
UPDATE: Talk about timing! Within a mere few hours of my post, Engadget posted their review of Virgin America's tech-loving plane, complete with a wealth of pictures. Ah...so nice to be on the same wavelength with the best tech blog. Great minds...
Labels: travel
Thursday, February 08, 2007
The Killer Web 2.0 app...AutoCorrect
As I write this, I am using a Blogger form on my Firefox browser. Not a client app; a browser. Firefox is smart enough to recognize words I am typing as misspelled, by helpfully underlining them in red. Blogger helpfully includes a Spell Check function, before I post.
Can someone explain why they can't just correct me?
The one thing that has been holding me back from fleeing from the client app and embracing Web 2.0 is, quite simply, the ability to auto correct my spelling errors. It's the single biggest thing that prevents me from making GMail or Zimbra my platform of choice. It's the one killer feature that Outlook has (by way of Word integration), and keeps me tethered to the desktop.
Now, Firefox goes a long way with the proactive identification of misspelled words, but, as it has the ability to observe and identify, why not correct? But even there is not enough; what about IM clients? The closest I have found is As-U-Type, which looks at EVERYTHING you type, and learns over time, but even it is clumsy, compared to Word, and intrusive. I cannot believe that Firefox does not have an extension for this, or that there is no other option.
I know: "Just take a typing class." Well, I've taken 2. I still type with 4-6 fingers only, and about 10x as fast as anyone else I know. And yes, I still mostly look at the keys. But no matter how many times I type, I still make the same mistakes: transposing the "n" and the "g" in "transposing," for instance. I can't hit an apostrophe the first time, no matter what; that damned semicolon thinks it's the one.
The point is, Word and Outlook have become the true captors of me, because they simply learn, and do it elegantly. I find Webmail frustrating, and don't get me started on the Google suite: you'd think THEY would understand.
Developers, hear me: make a solid, OS-level spell autocorrect, with an elegant interface, and the world will beat a paht to your door. ;-)
As I write this, I am using a Blogger form on my Firefox browser. Not a client app; a browser. Firefox is smart enough to recognize words I am typing as misspelled, by helpfully underlining them in red. Blogger helpfully includes a Spell Check function, before I post. Can someone explain why they can't just correct me?
The one thing that has been holding me back from fleeing from the client app and embracing Web 2.0 is, quite simply, the ability to auto correct my spelling errors. It's the single biggest thing that prevents me from making GMail or Zimbra my platform of choice. It's the one killer feature that Outlook has (by way of Word integration), and keeps me tethered to the desktop.
Now, Firefox goes a long way with the proactive identification of misspelled words, but, as it has the ability to observe and identify, why not correct? But even there is not enough; what about IM clients? The closest I have found is As-U-Type, which looks at EVERYTHING you type, and learns over time, but even it is clumsy, compared to Word, and intrusive. I cannot believe that Firefox does not have an extension for this, or that there is no other option.
I know: "Just take a typing class." Well, I've taken 2. I still type with 4-6 fingers only, and about 10x as fast as anyone else I know. And yes, I still mostly look at the keys. But no matter how many times I type, I still make the same mistakes: transposing the "n" and the "g" in "transposing," for instance. I can't hit an apostrophe the first time, no matter what; that damned semicolon thinks it's the one.
The point is, Word and Outlook have become the true captors of me, because they simply learn, and do it elegantly. I find Webmail frustrating, and don't get me started on the Google suite: you'd think THEY would understand.
Developers, hear me: make a solid, OS-level spell autocorrect, with an elegant interface, and the world will beat a paht to your door. ;-)
Labels: Web 2.0
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Mamet and Tourette's
Do you know who David Mamet is? If you said no, stop reading this, and head straight for your Netflix account. Add Glengarry Glen Ross, State & Main, and The Spanish Prisoner to the top of your queue, right now. Watch. Come back here, after, and we'll resume.
For those of you who are already enlightened to the miracle that is Mamet, you may not be aware that he has a series on television: The Unit. Crackling with a blend of Mamet dialogue, and a "Delta Force meets Desperate Housewives" feel, it's a must watch for the true aficionado. His episodes of The Shield were intense, and he keeps the energy going here (along with employment of his wife, Rebecca Pidgeon).
One thing about Mamet: he never shirks from language. American Bison set the tone, and it reached it's zenith with Glengarry Glen Ross. In fact, one clever director recut a new trailer for GGR, with this in mind. Note: this is NOT safe for work (language) and should probably only be played with headphones. For the Mamet fan, however, this clever parody remix of GGR is not to be missed.
For those of you who are already enlightened to the miracle that is Mamet, you may not be aware that he has a series on television: The Unit. Crackling with a blend of Mamet dialogue, and a "Delta Force meets Desperate Housewives" feel, it's a must watch for the true aficionado. His episodes of The Shield were intense, and he keeps the energy going here (along with employment of his wife, Rebecca Pidgeon).
One thing about Mamet: he never shirks from language. American Bison set the tone, and it reached it's zenith with Glengarry Glen Ross. In fact, one clever director recut a new trailer for GGR, with this in mind. Note: this is NOT safe for work (language) and should probably only be played with headphones. For the Mamet fan, however, this clever parody remix of GGR is not to be missed.
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Speaking of Apple and Superbowl weekend...
While this year's Superbowl is not a major attraction for me (Colts vs. Bears? Yawn.), I am looking forward to the commercials. The buzz is that Apple has a special commercial planned this year, possibly Beatles-related, so that's will be the Easter egg I'm hunting for.
These commercials have become amazing, in their technical detail, their story, and their originality. For instance, I give you Michael Jordan, king of the commercial/sports pitchmen. Already a legend in basketball, sports, clothes, and commercials ("Gotta be the shoes" "Nothing but net"), Gatorade produced this stunning Superbowl commercial for his last major appearance, entitled simply 23 vs. 29:
Some commercials have used famous directors, of course, but never made it to the screen, even for the Superbowl. Take this absolutely brilliant Spike Jonze-directed Gap masterpiece:
However, this year's hype king is also the master of the Superbowl commercial. Let's not forget: it was Apple who brought the idea of the Superbowl commercial to the mainstream as a pop-culture icon, with the original, Ridley Scott's 1984. I leave you with the iconic genius of pop culture it is:
These commercials have become amazing, in their technical detail, their story, and their originality. For instance, I give you Michael Jordan, king of the commercial/sports pitchmen. Already a legend in basketball, sports, clothes, and commercials ("Gotta be the shoes" "Nothing but net"), Gatorade produced this stunning Superbowl commercial for his last major appearance, entitled simply 23 vs. 29:
Some commercials have used famous directors, of course, but never made it to the screen, even for the Superbowl. Take this absolutely brilliant Spike Jonze-directed Gap masterpiece:
However, this year's hype king is also the master of the Superbowl commercial. Let's not forget: it was Apple who brought the idea of the Superbowl commercial to the mainstream as a pop-culture icon, with the original, Ridley Scott's 1984. I leave you with the iconic genius of pop culture it is:
Why my next PC will be a Mac
At the office, we have some seriously hardcore developers. Recently, I've noticed a strange phenomenon spreading among them. No, not the sudden burst of social skills or normal working hours (though those are eerily appearing, as well). It's the sight of monstrously oversized Dell laptops disappearing, being replaced with sleek, slim silver...Macs. How is this possible, in the hallowed ground of development, that the ultimate computer, forever associated with designers, is now a hardcore development machine, you ask? One word: Parallels.
While Microsoft releases Vista and it's more refined UI, and Mac tries to shove more and more into the amazing OS X, the quiet revolution comes from an unlikely pair: Mac's switch to Intel chips and Parallels, which lets you run Windows in a window of your OS X machine, with no seeming loss of speed or quality. Sure, Apple's Boot Camp lets you run either Windows or Mac OS, but Parallels allows the simultaneous approach. While this has been done before with emulation, to watch it in action on the high powered Macs is truly staggering. The seamless movement, the perfect OS X icon treatment, the copying and pasting between the two OS'es...wow.
I'm a longtime Mac fan, but had to give them up with the lack of support. But watching one of my coworkers run both OS's, then switching between the two with eerie speed and gorgeous Mac effects, then watching him hook up his Windows Mobile smartphone to the frankenbox...jaw dropping. There is seriously NO reason that your next full computer or laptop should be anything but a Mac. It is, without question, the best of both worlds. Bravo.
At the office, we have some seriously hardcore developers. Recently, I've noticed a strange phenomenon spreading among them. No, not the sudden burst of social skills or normal working hours (though those are eerily appearing, as well). It's the sight of monstrously oversized Dell laptops disappearing, being replaced with sleek, slim silver...Macs. How is this possible, in the hallowed ground of development, that the ultimate computer, forever associated with designers, is now a hardcore development machine, you ask? One word: Parallels.While Microsoft releases Vista and it's more refined UI, and Mac tries to shove more and more into the amazing OS X, the quiet revolution comes from an unlikely pair: Mac's switch to Intel chips and Parallels, which lets you run Windows in a window of your OS X machine, with no seeming loss of speed or quality. Sure, Apple's Boot Camp lets you run either Windows or Mac OS, but Parallels allows the simultaneous approach. While this has been done before with emulation, to watch it in action on the high powered Macs is truly staggering. The seamless movement, the perfect OS X icon treatment, the copying and pasting between the two OS'es...wow.
I'm a longtime Mac fan, but had to give them up with the lack of support. But watching one of my coworkers run both OS's, then switching between the two with eerie speed and gorgeous Mac effects, then watching him hook up his Windows Mobile smartphone to the frankenbox...jaw dropping. There is seriously NO reason that your next full computer or laptop should be anything but a Mac. It is, without question, the best of both worlds. Bravo.
Labels: Apple
