Workspaces, Wikis, and Blogs An interesting post from a Sun employee. I like the way he compares offices and cubes to wikis and blogs:

"Single offices or closed cubicles are like email - sometimes still very relevant but mainly for one2one conversations ("I want a raise!"). Open Spaces or even flexible offices are more like blogs - one to many ("Who stole my stapler... again?!"). In this Sun flexible office program, we also have project rooms - they're the wikis of the world ("Let's actually produce something together"). I'm not sure about working from home, but I guess it's better than cubicles if you blog. "

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  iTunes purchased music I guess I am the minority. I never buy CDs. Now, that I can buy singles off iTunes, I find myself buying more music.

I just downloaded Transatlanticism from Death Cab For Cutie. It was tht song that Claire and her friends on Six Feet Under were singing. It so mello, it reminds me of "Everyday is like Sunday" from Morrissey.  ¶ 11:59 PM links to this post

  John Edwards speech Okay, well it is the new vogue thing to blog about politics. I don't want to be left out.

John Edwards is definitely a good speaker and very charismatic. No doubt about that. I must say the speech itself wasn't very compelling. I thought it was long on platitudes and short on substance. He seemed to tell us (the American public) that we can have it all and there is no real cost to us. I didn't like the part about tax credits for companies that keep jobs in the U.S. To me it goes against free market economics and reeks of protectionism.

I will say Mr. Edwards seems like a stand up guy with a nice family. He seems to have both passion and conviction in what he believes. That is a nice quality in any politician. I guess we will have to see how John Kerry does later this week.  ¶ 9:58 PM 0 comments links to this post

  Tivo Hacks Just found this TiVo hack. Now, I can skip a 30-second commercial with one push of a button. Very cool.

Here is another Tivo article that someone sent me. It outlines all the challenges facing the company. Lots of people think TiVo will eventually lose out to the generic DVR. Most of those people have not use TiVo. I am more loyal to TiVo then to DirecTV. The UI for TiVo is just awesome and differentiates it from the generic DVR. I really don't care how the programs get to TiVo. They can come from a satellite, cable, or over the Internet. Who cares? All I want is to watch the recorded shows through TiVo.

So is TiVo the next iPod (50% plus market share) or the next iMac (less then 5% market share)? We shall see...  ¶ 8:37 PM 0 comments links to this post

  Decentralized employee structure A good article that discusses top down vs. bottom up organizational structures. Makes some good points

"In Nielsen's peer-based world, information sharing and decision-making are open, transparent processes. Forget about closed-door meetings and exclusive strategy-setting offsite retreats; in Nielsen's opinion, the most effective organizations will be those that replace C-level decision-makers with collective groups of employees who share everything they know and make company decisions accordingly."

Via Column Two



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  Premium Vodka vs. Bottled Water I was wondering which product is harder to sell: bottled water vs. Vodka? Seems like everytime I open an important periodical like Maxim, I see yet another ad for some new Vodka. All these premium Vodkas have one thing in common though: a cool glass bottle. I think Gray Goose currently has the best bottle. Absolute is a strong second though.

U.S. Law mandates that vodka be tasteless, colorless, and odorless.  Hmm, given these constraints, it is impressive that there are so many brands of Vodka. It makes me think that selling water would be simpler, I can usually taste the difference in waters.

The next time I am out at bar, I am going to do what all men do. I will order the drink that most impresses the hot girl standing next to me. The week it's Gray Goose, maybe next week it will be something new. It has nothing to do with the taste, it is all about the perception.



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  Payment on your Finger Tips Oh, this sounds cool. Just put your finger on the pad and walk out. Finally, no more signing receipts...

With a touch of the finger to a light-sensitive pad, patrons will be able to pay for their groceries, provided they have an account in the store's system that can be debited, reported the Columbia, S.C., State.

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  Biz Blogs

A couple articles from News.com this week on blogs and businesses. Early in the week I read this article. It makes some good points about all the hype and talk about blogs.

"Yet over the last 12 months, we have all done about as much talking as we have building. It is time to call a moratorium on the "blah blah blah" and get down to the business of building great software. To paraphrase Kenny Rogers, there'll be time enough for talkin' when the building's done."

I guess blogs are going to have to go through the whole technlogy adopition curve. First we love it, then we had it because of overhype, then someone figures out what we need, then we use it.

What's interesting is this story from News.com was actually picked up from an orginal post from VentureBlog. It is somewhat ironic that a post about the overhype of blogs, which was orginally posted on a blog, makes it to a major media Website. I think it show just how far blogs have come. Now, some major news outlets quote blogs, whereas before blogs only quoted media outlets.

The other article talks about how Microoft and other big companies are starting to use blogs. It makes the typical points about corporations starting to use blogs. Nothing really new. I do like this quote:

"There's that other 95 percent of people we have to get to," Dash said. "And a lot of people here are going to help get the message out."

I think that is the key point. I guess the early adopters get it. Now, who is gong to lead blogs across the chasm to main street.

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  Jibjab and viral marketing By now you have seen it. The cartoon presidential parody from JibJab. Looks like their site is getting hammered from all the requests so you may have to wait to see the Flash cartoon. It is pretty funny and very creative.

My friend Amy sent me a link on Monday morning. Since then I have see the JibJab guys featured on CNBC's Squawk Box and the NBC Nightly News.  I am sure countless emails have been forwarded with the link.

The spread is like one of those stories right out of the The Tipping Point or Linked. I am sure Seth Godin must be saying I told you so. I dare say the cartoon was a good Free Prize Inside.

Nice job JibJab, very impressive.

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  New blogger editor The new blogger editor is kewl. I like the WYSIWYG text entry. Much more natural. I never want to enter another HTML tag in my life. Down with blockquote, HREF, and UL!

Looks like the blogger folks kept the same crappy spell checker though. I mean I know they are owned by Google. It's not like Google has the world best spell checker built into the search engine. Oh, wait, Google does have that. What is everyone out buying Hummers in preparation for the IPO.

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  Raising money for cancer Nicole is going to complete a  triathlon in an effort to raise money to fight cancer. If you are against cancer, and I believe even in an election year, we are all against cancer, then you can donate by going here.  Personally, I donated $35.  So far she has raised $2,118.30.  Some pretty good coin for a grass roots effort. I am impressed.

For those wondering, I will not be completing a  triathlon in the near future or ever. I will however continue to watch three football games on Sunday.

Via www.chadwest.com



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  Paying for an email reader? Call me crazy but I just bought a license for an e-mail client. I went ahead and purchased a copy of Bloomba from Stata Labs. Yeah, I know there are a million free e-mail clients out there. I have to say it all comes down to search. Bloomba has a Google style search for all your e-mail. It frees you from having to build the folder index we all have in Outlook. You just file and search. No more folder management. It's nice. How much is it worth you ask? $59.99. That is how much I am willing to pay to not have to file e-mail messages in folders.  ¶ 9:05 PM 0 comments links to this post

  4th of July and Traveling Wifi Over the 4th of July weekend, I went out of town to visit some family and friends. I decided to take the emachines 6805 on the road so I could check email and surf the web over the holiday weekend. I flew out of Austin and wouldn't you know it I got bumped off my Southwest flight. The flight was oversold and I arrived only about 15 minutes before take off. All the boarding passes were given out so I was S-O-L. Southwest was cool, they gave me a $200 voucher (Did someone say Vegas?) and comped the flight fare.

To kill time I broke out the laptop to see if there was Wifi. Evidently, the Austin Airport is a competitive Wifi hot spot. Both T-mobile and Wayport offered service. I have used Wayport before mostly in hotels. I think Wayport had the better deal, $6.95 for the whole day. T-Mobile was $9.99 for the whole day or $6.95 for 60 minutes. I only had a short period in Austin so I didn't get online there, I had to fly to Houston to make a connection.

Ahh, H-Town, and the Hobby airport. There I had a long layover so I figured I would get online there and waste time on the Internet. No dice though. In Austin there are two Wifi providers and in Houston Hobby there were none. How is this possible? I have no idea. I did find some network named SWA something, probably Southwest's private network. I wasn't able to access it so back to reading books and magazines.

On the way back I flew out of BWI. Again, a competitive Wifi market. T-mobile offered service along with some of other high-priced no name. I had a short wait so no time to get online their.

It is interesting to see how fast Wifi has been accepted. I predict it will become a free amenity over the next two years. For whatever reason paying for access just doesn't seem right. I think you will see hotels start to offer it free much like they offer free shampoo. Starbucks will offer it free at some point. There already making a ton off the coffee anyway. Also, there seems to be little differentiation among Wifi providers. I mean if the network works and is fast, which most are, then why would you ever pay more.

I'd like to see roaming Wifi rolled into another one of my monthly bills like SBC local phone or Sprint PCS. Seems like this is another service they should offer. Maybe if the mobile phone companies offered more then we would all not switch every other year? Mark it down though, Wifi will be free everywhere in two years. Don't believe me, check out Continnetal Airlines offering it in their Presdential clubs.

And perhaps in the end, its the airlines that will foot the bill in the major airports. JetBlue passengers can access free Wi-Fi in the airline's gate areas in Terminal 6 at Kennedy International Airport. Continental Airlines, which currently offers free Wi-Fi at all its Presidents Club centers in Houston, Newark and Cleveland airports, plans to extend that service to all 28 of its clubs by the end of this year.

Via http://www.usatoday.com/travel/columnist/baskas/2004-03-02-baskas_x.htm  ¶ 8:57 PM 0 comments links to this post

  Jeopardy streak Ken Jennings is a wicked smart dude. He is dominating jeopardy. He has won 26 times and earned over $800,000. Whoa.   ¶ 10:27 PM 0 comments links to this post