Where have all the cool sites gone?

In the late 90's and into the 2000's it seemed like the almost every day a friend, colleague or family member would mention some new site they found on the Internet. Whether it was something silly like the Hampster Dance, a scary puzzle, or something helpful to debunk all the various urban legends it seemed like the number of sites were exploding every moment.

With the massive expansion and commercialization of the Internet, new ideas appear to have been overrun by corporate sites. Design has, in many cases, become more important than content. Google, for the most part has stuck to its tried and true minimalist designs. But the rest of the high profile sites seem to be replacing their designs like we change clothes. That's not exactly the wonder of the Internet to me. I think the last new site someone tipped me off to was maybe Zillow.com. I know we still get the occasional viral video that goes around, hits the news sites, etc.

Perhaps the web is dead as a source of innovation? It seems that all the innovation has gone into the various Smartphone App stores. And there's nothing wrong with that at all. But, with over half a million apps in the iOS store and over 200,000 in the Android store, it is awfully hard to find good new apps. And, smartphones are not yet nearly as pervasive as a computer. And even with that many Apps it is extremely rare to hear about a new app from a friend, family member or even a store. There certainly are a lot of updates coming out for the operating systems - and those are good because they bring a lot of improvements to every user.

But, it almost feels like we need a Google for Apps. A search engine that helps you find applications and solutions across all the various platforms. Don't get me wrong, I know this isn't a new problem. There never has been a great way to find applications. Sure, there are reviews and magazines, but you have to almost already be in the eco-system to find things. That's not the accessibility that most people are desperate for.

I suspect that the company that solves this evolving meta problem will find the road ahead paved with gold.

The Day the Blackberry Network Died

Much has been made about the most recent Blackberry outage. Some have claimed that this is the end of  the Blackberry. Others said it reduced traffic accidents.

For me, message delivery ceased around 2AM Pacific. Not a single message was delivered the entire working day. Around 8:30 PM, everything essentially delivered at once. After that, I haven't seen any issues. After all the press bruhaha, I thought it was worthwhile to look back at that 18 hour period.

My own personal productivity was certainly affected by this. I held meetings away from my desk that resulted in a focused discussions with fewer interruptions. All of the same, or more, work got done and it was probably of a higher quality.

Our users - even remote workers - were, surprisingly, relatively unconcerned. The important work also got done via phone and traditional email. Stuff was sold, orders were processed, customers were helped.

Don't get me wrong. The Blackberry is a wonderful convenience. It is very secure, has a physical keyboard to type on (most of the time) and is extremely manageable from an IT perspective. It is especially valuable during travel, crises events, etc.

But, I think that it is important to realize that the device in our hand isn't as important as those around us. Work still gets done as long as we effectively communicate with every one else - no matter what the channel.

Bringing Sexy Back

As I posted last week, I had selected the Drobo as my new storage mechanism at home. However, all of my data was still (hopefully) imprisoned on the no longer sentient server. Windows Home Server uses a custom RAID like software setup to duplicate information across multiple drives.

It is simple stupid in usage. But, when I attempted to boot those drives in another machine I had no success.

Drobo to the Rescue

A cost-effective replacement for my late, great HP MediaSmart server was simply not to be found. I just wasn't able to locate an appropriate solution in the Windows Home Server family. So with reluctance I have moved on.

Welcome to the Drobolicious future! My better half has had one of the original Drobo's for quite some time. Other than a terrible mishap with a 3TB drive, it has served her well. It's not surprising then, that it was tops on my list for consideration to be the new brain in the household. This device is not cheap, but it does feature some great simplicity, improved storage capacity options, direct network access and Apps.

Goodbye Steve Jobs

The loss of a famous person rarely affects beyond making a mental note of their passing. Yesterday after I heard that Steve Jobs had died, an image came to me. I saw Steve Jobs passing into the Great Beyond. As he did, he turned around to hand the baton to his successor.

There was no one there.

Steve Jobs has profoundly affected my life. My very first computer was an Apple II that my parents somehow were able to afford even as they raised 6 children. That computer took me through a lot of school, a lot of projects and forever cemented me as a technophile. Apple and I broke up for a long while after that only to be reunited via a device rather than a computer. The iPhone rekindled my relationship with Apple and Mr. Jobs.

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life."

Say it ain't so! The MediaSmart is dead...

After over two years of faithful service my beloved HP MediaSmart server called it quits. As a quick reminder, this is the system that has provided backup, media streaming and some remote access to my data for all this time. It has been a small, silent media powerhouse for that time. The power supply appeared to have died. That rendered it still small, even more silent and not much of a powerhouse at all.

Clearly, I've been quite happy with it so I set about trying to find some replacement hardware. The power supplies for that system were quite expensive. Not surprising since "service" parts for older equipment tend to sell at a premium. What made it even more challenging is that some time ago, HP announced that they were exiting the MediaSmart server business - At least the one powered by Microsoft, anyway.

As a result, hardware was difficult to come by in any shape or form. The few systems I found that were used on eBay were selling for retail prices. The few retailers that still have them were selling them above MSRP! Clearly, I will have some work ahead of me to locate a suitable replacement. wish me luck.

The iPad 2 - A Look Back

As I previously wrote, I was really on the fence of how much value the iPad 2 brings vs the iPad one. It's now been over 6 months since that launch and ship times have dropped from 5+ weeks to being able to walk into a store and pick one up. Apple has sold millions of these devices almost effortlessly, despite staying firm on pricing in a significantly weak economy.

Regardless, it feels like a good time to hold up old versus new and see how original iPad stacks up to version 2.

Nelgect, thy name is Blog!

I have not posted here in far, far too long. In my defense, I've been busy with the recent acquisition of the company I worked at. However, I've decided to get back on the horse and start publishing again. I have to catch up with a whole lot of information and experiences.

Soon to come will be my experiences with the iPad 2 (that I was originally a naysayer of), the untimely death of my beloved HP MediaSmart Windows Home Server, the conversion from Time Warner to Verizon FiOS, my recent acquisation of a Drobo FS, starting to run again with a Garmin Forerunner 405 and all sorts of other stuff.

Keep an eye on this space over the next few weeks as I make good on the promise of a regularly updated blog.

Getting an iPad 2? eh...

A lot of folks know that I have the original iPad - certainly all the readers of this blog do. Fewer know that I bought it the first day it was available. I think most people looked at me a little askance after that - perhaps questioning my sanity or fiscal sense. Subsequently over 15 million people joined me in this experiment and I think that they have found, as I did, that it was worth it.

But now, the iPad 2 has been announced. Cameras. 2 of em. New design, faster processor and video performance. Lighter. Thinner. All of it impressive. But, in terms of usability, I find little difference. Don't get me wrong - faster is almost always better. But, I'm not clear that there is a compelling difference between the 1 and the 2. I'd like to think there is and I certainly intend on getting my hands on one. But, I'm skeptical that it will be as compelling of an experience as the first one.

I am quite sure however, that the device will be immediately compelling to those who do not have the first one. They'll be entranced by the dead simple functionality and the form factor, etc. I welcome all those who haven't bought one yet - you'll want one. But for those of us early adopters, it's more of a coin flip. And I'm not sure where I'm going to land.

I'm Right; You're Wrong. But Why?

I have never been adept at the concepts of Psychology. And yet, as my career progresses more and more of my day tends to be consumed with personnel issues. This includes personality and performance issues and sometimes it means telling someone that they are wrong. Which means this is the point at which one would want to have a comprehensive understanding of the theory and practice of how the human mind works. Then again, there is nothing like trial by fire.

I continue to marvel at the way in which human minds work in the face of a challenge to their own reality. I often have incidents at work in which I have to coach an individual, correct a situation or often just say no. All of these situations implicitly require that I'm right and they are, in some way, wrong.

However, knowledge of a situation and individual actions or motivations is almost by definition inherently unclear, incomplete or even just plain wrong. There is no such thing as perfect knowledge or the 100% right answer. So how can I sit in seeming judgment over another individual and impart my will upon people and situations?

For one, I have been chosen to be a manager at my company. This creates an obligation for me to put the organization's best interest ahead of everything else, including me. Beyond that I have been asked to be a leader. This assumes that my judgment is superior to that of other individuals at my company. It further assumes that I have created, built or understand the goals that the company is striving more and how to get here.

But let's focus on the challenge of questioning a peer or fellow staffer or perhaps even your boss's judgment. I become aware of a situation or decision and say "That's not right." How do I know my judgment is better than theirs? How do I know that I am not the one who is wrong?

I don't think there is any one answer, but I suspect it comes down to this. The very act of examining/re-examining your own motivations, thoughts and decisions will, on balance, mean you will be right more of the time than someone who goes by their gut or sticks blindly to decisions or a vision regardless of the results. This introversion, this self examination of my own deeds, actions and performance is an inherently superior approach in the long run. The mere act of decisive action keyed off blind faith nee zealotry is an insufficient standard of righteousness, even thought in limited circumstances that can be the right choice.

The Fraud Department at AT&T Wireless is Asleep at the Switch

This will be my first blog post of the year. That is unfortunate in and of itself. Somehow last year simply got away from me at the end and my pace of writing dropped to zero. What is even more unfortunate is that this post is going to deal with my abysmal experience with AT&T Wireless and their quizzical notions of customer service.

Back in October of 2010, towards the very tail-end of my billing cycle, I received my normal monthly wireless bill only to discover that it had mysteriously grown to $500+ dollars from the normal $70-$80. Naturally, this was disturbing so I called AT&T to see what was going on. The customer service representative transferred me to the Fraud Department right away and we went through the process. She began to ask me if I knew where certain Apple stores were, etc. It turns out that someone added a handful of iPhone 4's to my account, each from a different store.