What NOT To Do in the Midst of a Crisis
Posted on August 26, 2008
Filed Under Miscellaneous | Leave a Comment
In the midst of a crisis, what you DON’T do is sometimes as important as what you do. This applies to business, technology, people - anything. So, the patient is on the table, chest open and bleeding. Here’s my list of mid-crisis don’ts:
- Don’t assign blame. It just doesn’t matter at the moment and only adds fuel to the fire.
- Don’t reflect on what you’d have done differently given another chance. This is just a distraction to the problem at hand.
- Don’t start the post-mortem early. This is especially important if you’re the general and not directly in the fight.
- If you’re the boss, be hands-on but in a hands-off kind of way. Providing just the right amount of support to the troops, while not micro-managing, is a difficult but important balance.
What are some things you think shouldn’t be done during a crisis?
iPod Touch + Click Wheel = Best Usability
Posted on April 28, 2008
Filed Under Consumer Electronics, Miscellaneous | 5 Comments
I misplaced my iPod Touch the other week and went back to using my 30 GB iPod Video. Given my type of usage (primarily podcasts while driving) and some of the iPod Touch annoyances I wrote about previously, the iPod Video and other click wheel-based models definitely fit me better. For example, slewing back and forth in content with precision is much easier with the wheel. This is due to the fact that the distance your thumb must travel around the click wheel is much longer than the slide distance on the touch. As a result, actions like adjusting volume and moving back and forth in a podcast are much less sensitive and hence more accurate. A click wheel on the iPod Touch is entirely doable on the Touch’s multi-touch screen. It could be enabled on the screen when desired. It might look something like this (rendering my own):
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Podcasts aside, I still believe that a virtual click wheel on the iPod Touch and iPhone would benefit all content types.
Kriegster’s Tips for Buying an HDTV
Posted on April 27, 2008
Filed Under Consumer Electronics | 4 Comments
Note: This post is more informal and stream-of-consciousness than normal.
I often get asked by friends, family and coworkers for advice on buying an HDTV. I’m no home theater expert by any stretch, but after going through the research and purchase process myself I’ve come to the conclusion that consumers are unnecessarily focused on the technology details rather than the things that matter most (good price, favorable reviews, technology not obsolete).
Some thoughts in no particular order:
- I have no overall brand preference - for people like you and me (home theater amateurs), most brands will be good enough
- I have full confidence in the Costo-type off-brands like Vizio since the screen and core components are made by the same folks. The prices are lower because their standard definition tuners are typically lower quality. If you plan on watching a lot of standard definition content you might want to steer away from these.
- It’s normally difficult to find online reviews of Costco and Sam’s Club TVs. This is because the model numbers the manufacturers use for the warehouse club units are typically different than the mass market models. Rely on the fact that the TV looks good enough in the store and that Costco lets you return almost anything at any time.
- Don’t get hung up on comparing TVs to each other in the store; it’s a total apples to oranges comparison. Some are older, some are newer, some have been sitting on the floor for 8 months running 24×7 and their bulbs are dim, the lighting stinks and is different in different parts of the store. If a particular TV looks good enough then it’ll be fine at home. Even if conditions were 100% equal, you’ll go nuts comparing two sets, but if you took either of them home, within 5 minutes it’ll be the only one you know and will look great.
- Rely heavily on online user reviews, especially on Amazon. Stay away from TVs that don’t have any (or many) reviews.
- You might be able to negotiate a better price on plasma because there are way more LCDs selling as plasma is phased out
- Don’t buy an extended warranty from the reseller
- It is almost always a sucker bet
- The resellers make almost no margin on the TV and ALL their margin on the warranty; they’ll gouge you on the warranty price.
- If you insist on having an extended warranty, see if you can get it direct from the manufacturer post-purchase. For example, I got my Sony TV at Tweeter and they wanted $300 for an extra 3 years. I called Sony and they told me I could buy the exact same warranty direct from the Sony web site up to 1 year post-purchase for LESS THAN HALF the price. The caveat is you need to buy the set from an authorized reseller.
- If you buy with an American Express card you’ll add a year (max) to the base manufacturer’s warranty at no additional cost. American Express will also give you accidental damage protection (e.g. Nintendo Wii controller wedged in the screen) for 90 days
- Personally I don’t like Best Buy or Circuit City; I find their prices very high. Sears has VERY competitive prices. Online prices are normally the best but you’ll pay shipping. So you just have to do the math. Tweeter is normally much more expensive and I’d normally never buy there but they matched Sears and they give great service (e.g. the sales person isn’t a pimply high school kid who doesn’t know anything). Find the best local price and see if Tweeter will match. As a rule, they won’t match any online reseller or “fell out the back of the truck” places.
- Don’t forget to upgrade your cable service to HD. And if you use your existing Tivo with the new HDTV then you’ll have to keep switching between the regular cable and HDMI inputs. My dad has this problem. I told him to either get an HD Tivo or a HD DVR from the cable company or else it’ll be a giant ongoing pain.
- If your cable box offers HDMI output and component video output (in addition to the standard coax, RCA and S-Video connectors), use the HDMI. I’ve seen many people hook up the new TV with their existing coax or RCA or S-Video cables and they get a lousy picture because connections can’t carry an HD signal.
- Do not ever, under any circumstance let the store sell you HDMI cables. Don’t even buy them from Walmart or other mega-chains which are normally cheap. You get charged 5X what they are worth. Buy them from Amazon (you can get a 6′ cable for $7 online vs. $30 or more in the store).
- There is NO DIFFERENCE between the super-duper-gold-special HDMI cables than the regular old ones. Pretty much universal agreement on this. Just get the cheapest ones you can find that don’t have cat teeth holes in them.
- Social networks are extremely trendy. Members Only jackets were all the rage once too. Bebo may be rich in advertising opportunities today and a wasteland tomorrow.
- Initiatives like Google’s OpenSocial will make it easier for developers to create cross-social network functionality and meta-social networks, which will in turn make it easier for users to (ex)port their contacts and social graphs from social network to social network. Stickiness to individual social networks will decrease as social aspects are built more into Internet plumbing.
- Bebo isn’t Facebook or MySpace.
- Rich text support including the bare basics like bold, italics and support for colored text
- Usage of the Notes Drafts folder from the Blackberry, so that the Notes client and the Blackberry have equal access to message drafts
- Usage of the Notes Trash folder from the Blackberry, so that the Notes client and the Blackberry have equal access to deleted items. This would support undelete from the Blackberry as well.
- Ability to copy and paste attachments between messages, or for a functionally equivalent result the ability to forward a message containing an attachment and then delete all text except for the attachment
- Ability to edit portions of existing messages when replying to or forwarding them. The message body is immutable.
- Tab, indentation and bullet support
- Landscape mode is more difficult for podcast listening than is portrait mode. In landscape for example, the play and pause buttons become miniscule and you can’t slew back and forth in a podcast.
- I do most of my listening in the car. When I put the Touch down, the screen invariably switches from portrait to landscape mode as the device turns sideways along it’s journey from my hand to the seat. (This is a case where a “feature” becomes an annoyance.) When you pick up the device you need to wait the second or two it takes to flip back to portrait mode. Note that this problem isn’t unique to podcasts.
- My fingers move faster than most devices can keep pace, and the iPod Touch is no exception. I wish the CPU was faster or the UI was more responsive or that keystrokes and gestures were buffered in hardware.
- Titles that are longer than approximately 20 (give or take, since the font is proportional) characters are cut off and there’s no horizontal scroll mode or marquee behavior to show you the remaining characters. Turning the Touch to landscape mode provides a marginal improvement since the screen is wider, but even then many titles display truncated.
- Screen real estate is poorly used. While a podcast is playing the majority of the screen is filled with the show image (if the audio file included an image) and the title displays in a micro-mini font.
- Almost nothing in the UI is customizable. Fonts, font sizes, screen colors are all fixed.
- Show notes (may include the text of the podcast, summary info, links, etc.) aren’t supported and aren’t displayed. Previous iPod models (and likely the new Nano and iPod Classic) display the show notes when you click the center button. I know the information is encoded in the audio files but the device just isn’t exploiting it.
- The volume should be adjustable with a tactile button on the unit. You often want to adjust volume in very fine increments and this is difficult as a touch control.
- Fast forward and reverse within a podcast are nearly impossible with one hand. The position control is so fine grained that you have to be holding the unit in one hand (or have the device sitting very stationary on a surface - not exactly the conditions while driving) and adjust the position with the other, while looking directly at the screen. Even with both hands you frequently overshoot your destination - makes it very difficult if you want to listen to the last several seconds or jump forward or back to different places in the audio. The click wheel-based iPods do a good job of this by giving you good control over the position. The Microsoft Zune gets this right as well - hitting forward or back jumps a given number of seconds or minutes, and if you hold down forward or back the device does a VCR-type fast forward/reverse behavior.
- Podcasts are marked as played even if you only listen to the first few seconds. This is unfortunate because you can’t turn to landscape mode to get longer titles until you start playing. So to just view a fuller title you’ve marked the show as played. The Zune doesn’t mark a podcast as played until you listen to the majority of the show (I’m not sure I like this method better.)
- You can’t download new podcast episodes or subscribe to new podcasts over WiFi. The iTunes WiFi interface doesn’t support podcasts at all. The root of this issue is that the Touch doesn’t contain a full blown iTunes client with separate podcast subscription capabilities and as a result, there’s no direct device-to-Internet podcast retrieval. The Zune doesn’t have a direct-to-Internet podcast capability either; you have to sync content from a PC running the Zune Marketplace software which in turn does the Internet downloads. See my previously written related rant.
- While in landscape mode you don’t get volume or position controls.
- The President doesn’t eat anything unless the origin of the contents and who handled it are known. At state banquets for example, it appears that the President is eating the same food as everyone else, but his meal is cooked by White House stewards who actually source the same ingredients themselves. There are exceptions, like when the President is at a baseball game and wants a hot dog. In this case an agent will randomly select a vendor and make a purchase.
- While at an Orioles game, Reagan ordered three hot dogs, handed the vendor $5 and said keep the change. However the hot dogs were $2 a piece and Reagan’s staff had to chip in the difference.
- Upon hearing gunshots, most people instinctively duck and cover. Secret Service agents are trained to unholster their weapons, stand up and return fire.
- By design, the President is never more than 10 minutes away from a trauma center. In the case of foreign soil where there may not be a trusted hospital within range, the Navy may actually locate a ship with full trauma and medical facilities in proximity.
- The legislation creating the Secret Service was actually on Lincoln’s desk waiting to be signed on the same day he was assassinated. However it wasn’t until 1901 that the charter of the Secret Service grew to include presidential protection.
- The Secret Service has protected the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Gutenberg Bible and the Mona Lisa, in addition to human protectees.
- Secret Service protection of the President and Vice President are mandatory; it cannot be turned down. Spousal protection is optional.
- Most presidential trips are preceded by three Service Service visits for surveying and planning purposes. The first trip is typically 3 to 5 months prior and is called the “survey”. The second trip is 1 month prior and is called the “preadvance”. One week prior to the President’s trip the site is visited by advance team. Other agents arrive 1-2 days prior to the President’s visit for bug sweeping and securing and final prep.
- The President travels with a password (although it’s carried by an aide). It needs to be processed like any other.
- Early in his Secret Service career, Petro was advised never to put the President higher than the 9th floor in a hotel, which is the maximum height that ladder trucks can reach. In addition, the Secret Service takes over three entire floors. The President would go in the middle with agents above and below.
- The Oval Office doors are always locked and they don’t open like regular doors; there’s a trick to it. The same applies to the doors on the limo.
- Protectees are assigned code names by the White House Communications Agency (WHCA), with family member’s code names starting with the same letter. For example, George Bush 41 was “Timberwolf” and Barbara Bush was “Tranquility”.
- Family and friends who send letters to the President use a special, private mailing address.
- When the President travels, the Secret Service flies around their own cars They typically bring two complete sets in case there’s a problem. This includes two presidential limos.
- Reagan worked in his residence in the early morning and always came to the Oval Office at 9 AM - no sooner and no later. If Reagan was ready earlier he’d pace for a few minutes while looking at his watch.
- When the President or First Lady went shopping, the Secret Service would never carry their bags as it would interfere with their “operational readiness”.
- Whenever the President traveled, he had with him a slew of Secret Service agents, a doctor, a WHCA officer and the military aide (the person who carries the nuclear football) at all times.
- 95% of the threats against the President and Vice President come from people in mental institutions or are otherwise disturbed.
- Nearly everyone who comes under the attention of the Secret Service as a potential threat is interviewed.
- Reagan’s Secret Service detail took intensive horseback riding training because he was such an avid rider.
- To get off his horse, Reagan always did the Italian dismount. In this maneuver, the rider swings one leg forward and over the horse and then slides down off the side.
- The Secretary of State is protected by State Department Security, who conduct separate advance trips than the Secret Service, even if they’ll be traveling together to the same place.
- During trips, a Secret Service agent would be stationed at the nearest hospital trauma center.
- The Secret Service has to be in the presence of the President at all times, so Petro attended several of Reagan’s colonoscopies during his colon cancer recuperation.
- An AOP is an Attack on the President. The Secret Service trained for multiple kinds of AOP scenarios, including during normal walks or motorcades, skiing, scuba diving, and horseback riding.
- AOPs scenarios don’t get run at the White House because agents running around with guns drawn would upset the staff. As a result, a model of the White House facade was built at the Secret Service training facility in Beltsville, MD.
- Dan Quayle would make impromptu visits to Dairy Queen because he and Dairy Queen have the same initials.
- The inaugural ceremony is a military event run by the Military District of Washington.
- Air Traffic Control (ATC) clears the airspace wherever Air Force One flies.
- President Reagan logged more miles (631,640) on Air Force One than Nixon, Ford and Carter combined (566,386).
- The largest Secret Service protective effort ever was during the Pope’s 1987 visit to the US.
AOL’s Buy of Social Network Bebo is Great News…
Posted on March 20, 2008
Filed Under Internet, Miscellaneous | Leave a Comment
…for the few lucky folks who’ll make a ton of money in the transaction. For AOL and the rest of us, it’s no big deal.
Why do I say this? Several reasons:
I feel like I should have some witty closing sentence here but I can’t think of one. :)
Protect Yourself Using Desktop Search
Posted on March 20, 2008
Filed Under Internet, Miscellaneous | 2 Comments
Must people accumulate lots of stuff; digital stuff is no exception. We’ve got mounds of files and other documents on our computers at home, work and in our various email accounts. Over time we’re bound to let some of our private information seep out and end up in places we don’t want it to be. Using desktop search products (e.g. Google Desktop or Windows Search) you can instantly search your files for occurrences of your social security number, bank account numbers, credit card numbers and any other information you’d prefer not to have floating around.
When searching for items like social security numbers, be sure to look for multiple formats, e.g. “xxx-xxx-xxxx” and “xxxxxxxxxx”).
While you’re at it, you might want to perform the same searches in your email accounts. Many email services provide excellent search capabilities.
Don’t forget to clear your search history when you’re done so you don’t leave any additional crumbs.
Opportunity Lost for Greatest Video Blog Post Ever
Posted on February 26, 2008
Filed Under Miscellaneous | Leave a Comment
Most people who watched the video of last week’s satellite shoot ‘em-up were wanting of a more exciting and spectacular impact and explosion, Star Wars style. The video is cool but I’d prefer to see something like this.
What we should have done was taped uber-blogger extraordinaire Robert Scoble - video-camera and all - to the missile and let him ride it all the way to impact. It would be like watching Major Kong from Dr. Strangelove ride the falling nuclear bomb like a rodeo bull, only funnier.
There’s always next time…
My Blackberry Feature Wishlist
Posted on January 30, 2008
Filed Under Consumer Electronics, Corporate IT, Miscellaneous | 5 Comments
The Blackberry has been so successful as a mobile email device in part because it offers good enough completeness of experience and integration with corporate email systems (Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes being the canonical examples). By “completeness of experience” I’m referring to the fact that most of what you can do natively in the email lifecycle in Outlook/Exchange and Notes you can do on the device. There are a number of gaps - gaps which force me to use the native email client to accomplish basic tasks - and I’d like to see them addressed.
In no particular order (and from a Lotus Notes-centric point of view):
Any Blackberry/Notes experts out there that can comment?
The iPod Touch Could Do a Better Job with Podcasts
Posted on January 23, 2008
Filed Under Consumer Electronics, Miscellaneous | 3 Comments
I’m a big fan of podcasts; I think the medium is excellent. I’ve used the 5G Video iPod and the iPod Touch and I think Apple took a step backwards with the Touch’s support for podcasts. The experience just isn’t optimal.
The following are annoyances and/or problems (in no particular order) which I hope Apple will address with a firmware update:
Update 2-3-08: Added additional bullet.
Usng Google’s “Did you mean?” Feature as a Better Spell Cheker
Posted on January 20, 2008
Filed Under Internet | 13 Comments
Over the years I’ve used Dictionary.com to spell-check the odd word here and there. Recently however I’ve started using Google’s “Did you mean?” feature as my official spell-checker.
Most people have used Google’s “Did you mean?” feature even without knowing it. It works very simply - if you do a Google search on a misspelled word, you’ll most likely be asked, “Did you mean: correctly_spelled_word“. This feature wasn’t built as a spell-checker per-se (in other words, the audience for this feature isn’t generally people looking up the proper spelling of words but rather the person who incorrectly types a search term. Recognizing that the search term is spelled incorrectly (which would return poor results) Google suggests the proper spelling so you can get the results you expect.However, there’s no reason that “Did you mean?” can’t be used directly as a spell checker, and that’s exactly how I use it now. I like it better than the dictionary sites because a) I get just the results I want (the correctly spelled word), b) the results are nearly instant since I have a Google search box just a single click or keystroke away and c) most dictionary sites are built to define words that you spell correctly, not correct incorrectly spelled words (therefore, you end up typing in the incorrectly spelled word several times in trial and error mode until you get the answer you’re looking for).Give it a try. Go to Google and type in an incorrectly spelled word or search phase and you should get a “Did you mean?” suggestion.
Interesting Points from the Book “Standing Next to History: An Agent’s Life Inside the Secret Service” by Joseph Petro
Posted on January 19, 2008
Filed Under Books | 16 Comments
I’ve always been fascinated by the United States Secret Service, especially the procedures, regiment and strict discipline associated with presidential protection. (The Secret Service actually started out as an arm of the U.S. Treasury department with the responsibility of fighting the counterfeiting of U.S. currency, however aspect is far less sexy and interesting to me.) I just finished the book, “Standing Next to History: An Agent’s Life Inside the Secret Service“, written by Joseph Petro, a former agent who spent 4 years of his service protecting Ronald Reagan. The book was interesting and an easy read.
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The following are some facts (according to the author) that I found especially interesting (in order of mention in the book):
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