Broadband and Me

Ukrainians Smash Computers

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Computer crashing, Ukraine-style

Just spotted this and after a week of putting up with appalling ICT at work I feel that a quick entry into this Ukrainian competition might be in order but with my work machine. Can't quite see how I'm going to drag the network or the entire IBM outsourced IT department either but I can dream...

Broken Angels

I haven't finished reading Broken Angels by Richard Morgan yet but I thought I would let you know that its is fantastic Sci Fi well worth buying and is a fantastic follow up to Altered Carbon. Violent in the extreme, funny, inciteful and an excellent critique of war, messing with things we don't understand and an advertisement for virtual sex...

I will post a full review in time but if you like Sci Fi you need this book - go buy it!!!!!!!!
P.S. Gollancz or Mr Morgan - if you are reading this - can I have a review copy of Market Forces?

PLSJ Makeover

[purse lip square jaw] anne galloway

Ane gives PLSJ a makeover. Takes a little getting used to compared to the previous design but its grown on me in the last few minutes...

Keep meaning to re-design around here but its never been one of my strong points. Concept needs to be English Oak (I have one in my garden) and a road sign (Beta Road) with a Broadband pipe thrown in. Where's a designer when you need one?

Corporate Governance

I feel let down today. Let down by a business that was once extremely entrepreunerial and let people have their head to solve problems and often threw money at them too. While the latter was unsustainable and probably led to a lot of the issues ntl now faces, the former was always the saving grace.

I have watched people work their socks off to deliver a project. Their passion comittment and I suppose love for their job was evident and their loyalty to the company astounding. I may even have done a little of it myself at one point.

These days croporate governance is in the acendency. Money is certainly not thrown about. This I believe is generally a good thing. Decisions are mae on sound business sense with 'some' analysis thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately it also has the effect of slowing down decision making, of second guessing powerful shareholders and perhaps worst of all making people cover their arse.

Why is that worst of all? Being in business is about taking risks. Generally these should be of an acceptable nature, but ultimately they are risks. Its an uncertain world, imperfect and wonderful because of it. It means we get things wrong, but usually its Pareto saying, 'Hey! isn't there an 80:20 thing here?' 80% is good enough (or better) and 20% just didn't work out.

So in a good business the effort goes into delivering the solution and mitigating risk where it can be mitigated. At the moment though I feel like its 80% of the effort is going into attempting to eliminate risk and follow a process to the letter when in order to achieve business objectives, to please the customer, flexibility is needed.

A phrase paralysis by analysis has been heard mutter on a number of occasions, which is odd, becuase it seems the big multi-million decisions get made easily but the lesser ones get analysed to death.

I miss the old days. There was bad management, especially of money. There was bad decision making based on zero analysis and lots of gut feeling, but there was passion, there was belief and there was pride. And a lot of humour.

The humour is still here but its quiet, cynical, and I don't see anything resemblinh passion. I feel worn out by it all, because I never was a good little corporate solider, I was always the outsider pitching the idea, and these days I have to make so many pitches, and no one is even prepared to take a swing.

Rant ends... ;.(

London Transport's Smart Card

BBC NEWS | Technology | Smart cards track commuters

Civil rights campaigners have expressed concerns about the new smart travelcards introduced for London commuters.

Each card has a unique ID number linked to the registered owner's name, which is recorded together with the location and time of the exchange every time the card is used.

Another interesting use for Smart cards and the worries civil rights campaigners have. While I can quite clearly see their point and have sympathy for the view, it also could have considerable advantages for those organisation running the transport system. This type of information, due to developments in technology, will now become commonplace. The question then becomes not whether the data is held, because it will be like it or not, but whether the organisation that holds it uses the information ethically.

Marketing ethics, often seen as an anathema, reside at the heart of this debate. Can you trust the organisation to make use of the data anonymously? The answer to that of course is up to a point. There have been examples of the Inland revenue (UK tax office) requesting data from supermarkets of people they suspect of having more earnings than they report. This particular card could track your movements around London by rail and in the future maybe the whole of the UK.

Should you be worried? Well the old argument goes that if you are a law abiding citizen you have nothing to hide, so why worry. Alternatively you could argue that what you do in a 'free' society is up to you as long as you don't break any laws, so why should others have access to this information?

Privacy is up to individual's and they will need to work very hard to keep it that way. Loss of privacy could be important in some respects to a wider societal view but we must be ever vigiliant to protect what few rights we still maintain in this area. Even with laws in the UK and Information Commisioners to help us.

Maven Networks

Via Marc's Voice#a1740 is a link to a new 'end-to-end system for delivering high-quality video applications to broadband-connected PCs.'

Maven Networks looks like a firm to watch as does this technology, which is being used by the likes of BMW and Virgin records to promote products online.

A link from the Maven site to the Boston Globe site got me to this quote:

Hilmi Ozguc, cofounder and chief executive of 25-person Maven, said in an interview. "What we're all about is combining the video quality of television merged with the personalization of the Web." Ozguc is a former top executive of the ExciteAtHome broadband cable service.

and a further comment:

Ozguc said Maven envisions people arranging to have the downloads transmitted over high-speed connections late at night or during times when they are not actively surfing the Web. Links to show the clips would then show up in e-mail, roughly like signing up for an online magazine or newsletter subscription. In any case, Ozguc said, the service would be limited to people who opt to sign up for it. "The last thing we want to do is encourage video spam," Ozguc said. "If I'm going to be advertised to, I really want to know about things that actually interest me."

I've already tried to broadcast this within ntl, although I doubt we will make use of it. It would seem to allow powerful makreting messages to be carried and create interesting opportunities for marketeers...

Villages From their own BB company

BBC NEWS | England | Northamptonshire | Villages bypass BT for broadband

Great little story from the BBC about a rural village that organised themselves and formed a comapny to set up broadband. Who said England was merely a nation of shopkeepers?

Doctor Who to return

Doctor Who is coming back

The world's greatest science fiction show is to return. I am over the moon!!!!!

I have to admit to being absoultely nuts about Dr Who and have a collection of videos, DVDs, Novels, Audio Dramas on CD, Models and Daleks. It was a part of my childhood which I have kept with me and it has seen me through a lot of years, entertaining, inspiring and of course the ubiquitous hiding 'behind the sofa'.

Russell T Davies is an extremely good writer despite some negative press, and should breathe new life into the format. I hope the BBC will fund the project properly and give it a chance to succeed. After all, its last run was 26 years.

You can also get further info at Outpost Gallifrey, and I expect lots of other places :)

If you don't know what I am talking about go here NOW!

Its great news considering this is the 40th Anniversary of its inception.

I am off to play Daleks with my son.

Loyalty cards & Privacy

BBC NEWS | Business | Has Nectar played its cards right?

This is an article looing at Nectar's success at signing up customers. Loyalty cards are very widespread in the UK and Nectar is the biggest of the lot. I think a lot of consumers don't really understand that the companies using these are constantly anaylsing data about you to attempt to profile who you are and your buying behaviour.

While companies don't acknowledge it, this data could be used for just about anything despite data protection, because basically you sign up to allowing your data to be used in that way.

Strangely while I have a natural aversion to invasion of my privacy in this way and do not like the idea of people knowing about what I am up to (naturally paranoid I suppose) I am quite happy to share information with a firm like Amazon, who use such data to provide a recommendation service. Perhaps it is because I explicitly know what the data is being used for (or I have that perception at least) and in giving that data I have a need fulfilled (books I might be interested in promoted to me).

Loyalty cards while giving discounts, do not give me a warm fuzzy feeling because I don't know exactly what they are using the data for and even though I would get the discount, from past experience it just isn't worth it. Perhaps if they told me what they were doing and recommended specific products I might just bite?

I'm Back!

I am back feeling just about better! I've added some posts which were outstanding from last week (below somewhere) and hope to catch up with a few further articles today.

In the meantime I've finally finished Redemption Ark which was a bit different to the Sci-Fi I normally read but still good none the less. Its a large space opera which can sometimes meander here and there but generally hits the mark as it describes characters that seem to have appeared in previous Reynolds novels (but as I haven't read them I'm not sure). Its main focus is really on human relationships which considerig the setting is quite interesting. While I may sound a little sceptical about the book it has made me buy some other Books by Alastair Reynolds and I would recommend it but I think it would be better to read one of the earlier books like Revelation Space first.

Systems Thinking

EntreWorld

Systems Thinking: The Critical Component of Entrepreneurship

All who wish to become great entrepreneurs need to learn how to become a Systems Thinker. Or, more accurately, need to develop their innate passion for seeing things whole.

So go read The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge

Regional Government - big win or big sin?

BBC NEWS | Business | Can regional assemblies bridge the divide?

Three English regions, the North-East, North-West, and Yorkshire and the Humber will be given a vote on whether they want their own elected assembly.

But for the scheme's many critics, the new assemblies will amount to little more than expensive talking shops with no real power.

I'm highlighting this article from the Beeb primarily because it is a subject very dear to my heart. So much so because I wrote my degree dissertation on Devolution to the regions of England.

Within the UK, and England in particular are a number of unelected bodies which preside over a wide variety of governmental functions. These can be relatively trivial up to the ecomomically powerful e.g. Regional Development bodies. The idea behind this new intiaitive is to consolidate the powers of these various bodies in an elected assembly at a regional level. A good thing you might think, seeing as the current situation allows for limited if any, accountability for actions and only small amounts of redress.

However one of the big criticisms of this type of devolution of power is that essentially they will be impotent. The key to the success of any Government, wheher nationally or locally is the abiltity to truely influence its surroundings and this is usually accomplished through tax raising powers and the ability to then spend the budget raised. These bodies won't have that and hence the accusation of being a talking shop and an administrative overhead.

So are they desirable and will they get voted in?

Personally I think they are desirable. Any factor which can increase democracy and perhaps more importantly participation is worth the cost, assuming they do have the power to make a difference. Their power may be limited in the first instance but it does create a precedent and allow for further developments towards regional democracy.

Will they come about? I think the choice of areas like Yorkshire and Humberside will work. There is a distinctive regional identity lacking in such areas as the South East, and a desire to have a say in how things work in their area. It also cuts some of the apron strings from London which they will always view as a good thing. Economic development in Scotland, Ibelieve has been booming since devolution and proponents would hope that a similar effect can happen within these regional areas. I think it can given the right leadership, but then that's the lottery of a democracy.

Telewest Merger possibility?

BBC NEWS | Business | Telewest signs debt-swap deal

The spectre of more consolidation rears its head! While I think that having stable competition in all three (?) product markets the cable companies work in is good, I am still not sure of the validity of merging ntl and Telewest or even whether that truely is on the agenda. The discussion as to whether this will happen has been going on for years (ever since I started working for CabelTel - the original cable company that became ntl) but would it be good for customers, consumers in general, employees or the business remains to be seen. Certainly there is a warming because of the situation of the two companies and the overt presence of Shareholder(s), the Huffs. At an operational and marketing level though ntl are two very different beasts, despite their fairly mutual technology and product set.

Its something to keep an eye on.

Quiet Time

Not feeling 100% at the moment. Some horrible bug. Loads to blog but feeling to yuck. Even Broadband doesn't help :(

Expect to be back later in the week.

Collaboration

The Beyond Branding Blog

This is a fantastic little post on Beyond Branding which highlights the importance of collaboration. The most interesting statement for me though is:

...for example companies will never learn to collaborate with their best knowledge workers whilst booking them as costs (unlike machines which tangible accounting compounds -as its meanest cuts of all - by arbitrarily framing as an investment)

Why am I treated as a cost and yet the hardware is an investment? Answers on a postcard...

Values - real or imaginary?

The Ourhouse Weblog: Values - ideal or real

John Moore has started his own blog via his consultancy site Ourhouse

I am very much in tune with John's approach, not to mention he keeps bloggin me on the Beyond Branding blog! Anyway:

...We both agreed that the trouble with many statements of values that companies produce is that they are so poorly connected with reality.

If that's true, then making statements of ideals simply undermines credibility and probably reduces an organisation's ability to live up to them.

Absloutely. And I quote from ntl's statement:

"ntl aims to become the UK's leading communications company [define a communications company! Perhaps we should aim to enter the postal market?] earning the loyalty and respect of our customers, associates and all stakeholders throug the way we run our business and the results we achieve"

What does it mean? Has any one tried to define this in realistic terms or even refer to it after its launch? Well you know the answer...

The above is ntl's Vision statement and there is also a Mission and a set of values. To outline John's critique above one of the statements from the Values is: "Speak up when something's not right". Great! I'll do that and of course in the right culture and context I should expect reward. In the wrong culture it looks like either passing the buck, whistle blowing or even worse criticism of the people above you in the hierarchy. It goes back to if a senior team do not live these types of statements to the extreme then how do they expect the rest of the organisation to respond?

of course an organisation doesn't need to be run this way to be successful. Autocracy or dictatorships can work very well up to a point. But if you are going to express a firm's value's in terms of an open hierarchy then this must be the approach, otherwise you are lying to yourself, you staff (associates) and worse your customers.

So what do you do with Broadband?

BBC NEWS | Technology | Broadband looks to up its appeal

In the UK, 80% of the population can now get broadband over their BT phone line, according to the latest figures.

Leading broadband experts meeting in London this week agreed that providing suitable content, such as video and games, was of key importance.

A good quick look at 2 points to do with BB UK. One - how many people can get it? 4/5ths is a good figure but as the article points out rural areas, perhaps those who need it most in terms of development of the infrastructure are the ones still missing out.

I have previously felt Government shouldn't subsidize Broadband rollout, despite the advantages that this could bring to ntl. However the need to get the capability available to the vast majority of the UK (rather than those populous centres) should encourage the Government and its agencies to provide greater incentives - tax breaks anyone?

What do you do with it?

The second part of the article focuses on what do you do with Broadband:

While technical issues are supposedly being ironed out, more challenges such as what people do with broadband once they have it have to be addressed, industry experts say.

The rest of the article talks about the need to segment the market and target products (and services) to segments rather than the less subtle approach now based mostly on 'speed' (bandwidth). This is an area where ntl could make a significant difference. In theory cable can be more flexible than DSL and enable a variety of customer types to be offer a variety of different services. I mean I hardly use my connection during the day, so why not charge me extra if I do otherwise charge me a lower flat rate in the veneing. If a require a level of quality of servie because I am working from home, then I (or my company) can get this added service (for extra cost of course).

I think little has been done within the whole industry to really look at customer wants & needs and to try the segmentation approach. Maybe that is the correct approach in a growing market at this level of maturity? However 2003 has seen providers turn the corner into the mass market and differentiation will become the key. the faster companies can offer quality products aimed at spefici market segments the faster that growth may happen.

Maybe it will also generate the kind of interest necessary to get rural areas wired?

A Blogging Marketeer

Communications - A Blogging Marketer!

…The emergence of blogs in providing low-cost, two-way communications with clients and customers will change the nature of online marketing as we know it. There will be less talking "at" and more talking "with"; less "buy my stuff" and more "how can we better serve your needs?" Marketers will have no choice but to drop the spin and communicate honestly with their customers. Customers won't tolerate anything less…'
This is the view of Andy Bourland, one of the most knowledgeable commentators on the Internet Marketing scene. His article appeared in the Technology Marketing Newsletter.

I was amused and pleased to see this article on What's New in marketing (a site partly sponsored by the CIM. It shows a willingness to view the world through different eyes, not just the standard approaches of the past.

What's also of interest is how the author, Dick Stroud, has made use of the medium already.

I should mention that so far I have had no consultancy leads although if anyone wants to offer me an opportunity I am always willing to consider :)

Psychology of Communities

Iunctura Daily-- Center for Strategic Relations Under Tuesday 9th September!

Discovery some psychology of communities
theOTHERblog- Psychology of Communities [Newsability] [Bruce Landon: Social Psychology]
Ian Dickson is putting together a community, he wants it to be large, but ran into a few challenges. Here you will find comments and a brief summary of his findings on the psychology of communities.

Ian Dickson is the CEO of Commkit, a provider of tools and knowledge necessary for building communities that work. For more papers and articles visit on-line at http://commkit.com/

Very interesting article. I was recently discussing communities with an ex-colleague as he is working on some consulting on developing communities. This article provides some good basic pointers on how to go about setting up a community, although not necessarily the perfect recipe. I think I would challenge the statement that there is no such thing as an online community though. There may be a good argument for this assertion but on its own i disagree. There are extremely vibrant online communities. The blogging community for one.

Structured Thinking

How to Save the World

Dave has a desire to see communication in the business world improve:

Most of us spend much of our lives in meetings and reading. I wish more of the people that drone on and on in unfocused Powerpoint presentations, or write long unfathomable treatises, would learn to apply some discipline to their oral and written communications. Barbara Minto's Pyramid Principle approach to structured thinking is one excellent methodology that could help

His suggestion of using the Pyramid Principle is worth taking a look at. I personally tend to use stream of conciousness type appraoch and then edit text and arguments later. This approach is far more structured and offers an extremely powerful way to get arguments across but also to provide solid reasoning as to why those arguments are valid.

Its worth reading the comments too, for more approaches.

Quote of the Day

Jean Houston Quotes - The Quotations Page

"We all have the extraordinary coded within us, waiting to be released."

This is a belief that far more people need to have and to takeon board and to live. I include myself within that.

Technology trends and Crystal Balls

Postcards from the Bleeding Edge

Mike is a man with taste and discretion (he has 'Broadband and Me' on his blog roll!) and his posts are always thoughtful and often full of insight.

This is highlighting an article from the Economist's Technology Quarterly.

taking advantage of random events is the most effective strategy for creating successful products. The two worst? Trend following and mental inventions. Need spotting produced twice as many successes as failures, market research generated four times more, and solution spotting (finding a new way to use existing technology) created seven times more successes than failures.

It suggests that the previous post on x law and my comments are ostensibly right. You cannot predict success, although you can give serendipity a hand.

Mike's last point is well made and one I have often heard a number of people mention about such business/technology journals:

Lastly: After 10 years of the economist being online - I'd like to see someone publish how accurate the economist has been at spotting successful technologies - and for that matter, successful studies.

The context in which the criticism was levelled in my experience has been in terms of standard studies tend to compare 5, 10 or 15 companies over 5, 10 or 15 years and that this shows very little because their circumstances cannot be replicated. The suggestion being that 'Complexity' thinking can offer a better approach because you can't really learn from others in that way offered.

I guess that the Ecomomist has been right less than 50% of the time, any further offers?

Fubini's Law

Column Two: Fubini's Law

From the excellent Column Two:

Fubini's Law, which goes like this:

... and eventually change technology.

I thought this neatly summed up some of my thinking around design and markleting. The key point being that while you can develop products with certain functions or market segments in mind, people who buy the products may do something very different with them and force you to change your thinking.

THE INTERVIEW GAME

So as per Thursday's post here, Dave Pollard asks me the following questions, and I shall try not to sound like a complete idiot in answering them:

1. What one thing do you most hope to be remembered for after you die?

The support, love (passion) and leadership that I give to people especially my children.

2. What do you think is the single greatest threat to the survival of the world today, and what do you think is the greatest hope?

Greatest threat: intolerance, especially when related to groups of people i.e. racism, sexism, relgious bigotry

Greatest hope: Education. To educate to socialise appropriately to be inspired, to lead, to question, to not be afraid.

3. What single life lesson do you think is most important for young people to learn?

Be passionate and live life to the full. Never give up on your dreams.

4. Of all the people alive today, who do you think would make the best Prime Minister of Britain? Why?

My 2 year old son, because he asks all the questions that no one else dared asked. But when he has made up his mind there is no shifting him!

5. If you had a million pounds, what would you spend it on?

In the first instance I would seek to make sure that my family's future is secure by ethically investing and ensuring any property I had was ecologically sound e.g. including solar and wind power.

I would want to make a difference in terms of poverty in the Third world and would seek to build educational links with Africa, Asia and South America. I would also like to see more done in terms of governmental policy and change.

I would like to see more done in the UK for Homelessness, drug abuse and abuse against children and would campaign on these issues.

I would invest money in reserach focusing on eradication and mitigation of disease, particular AIDS and Cancer.

Lastly I would like to see a new series of Dr Who made, so assuming I had some money left I would look to invest in that!

As I have accepted the challenge, please now contact me to be asked questions - see the rules:

THE RULES
1. Leave me an email, saying you want to be interviewed.
2. I will respond; I’ll ask you five questions.
3. You’ll update your website with my five questions, and your five answers.
4. You’ll include this explanation, and acknowledge me as the interviewer.
5. You’ll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.

So drop me a line at contact [at] betaroad [dot] com (replace the words in brackets with the symbols).

UK film becomes first to launch on the Internet

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Film | Internet launch for film thriller

I was thrilled (no pun intended) to see this. Last year I plugged endlessly that we would start to see full length films avaialbe on the Internet in the UK. Despite some US sites starting this type of rent a film over the web, nothing has materialised in the UK. Until now:

The new film by Full Monty writer Simon Beaufoy has become the first to be launched officially over the internet.

The film is available for streaming or for download from the film's website at a cost of between £2 to £3.

Unfortunately not everything seems to have gone to plan.

BBC

But soon after, overwhelming demand from the public to see the movie caused the site's streaming facility to crash.

"This is a world first - thank you for bearing with us."

When it does start working again, I urge you to go view it. British films are usually pretty watchable and well worth the effort. I'd like to see more UK based films but so often they get pushed aside by dross from the US (not all films from Hollywood are dross but quite a lot :o )

Anyway I hope to watch it next wekk when the servers come back up and the rush has abated. Give it a go!

Use your mobile as the kitchen sink?

BBC NEWS | Technology | Mobiles 'to replace handheld PCs'

Gadget lovers could find that their mobile phone fulfils all their needs in the very near future.
So says David Levin, head of phone software firm Symbian, reviewing the firm's future prospects.

He said the falling cost of putting extras, such as cameras, into handsets would mean big changes for the consumer electronics market.

I think the vision is true. Whether Symbian lead it is another matter, especially given Motorola's decision to pull out of the Symbian partnership.

My (or rather my Wife's) new phone has a camera (BTW no one has suggested a good moblog approach :( )poyphonic ringtones and games. My colleague has an Orange SPV which gives him the PDA functionality, top games, a MP3 player (though not a camera) In an ideal world (and where I had more money!) I would like a mobile that does all of the above and more. A combination of phone PDA, Wifi synching and Internet connection (not just GPRS or 3G) and of course Bluetooth accessories like a headset. I'm never going to afford circa £500 though, so wait I must. Just as the operators will to work out how to make mre revenue from such products and making them mainstream

What Customers' want!

Fast Company | Desire: Connecting With What Customers Want

A fascinating article in Fast Company, focusing on marketing:

Melinda Davis and her Human Desire Project have developed five answers. Marketers with a desire to succeed are paying attention

We are all in overload. To get people's attention you need to differentiate, and do it well. I guess this is the same as Seth Godin's Purple Cow principle?

Where the possibility for real differentiation comes in is not in the product itself but in how you collaborate with the consumer's need to heal.

its all about peace of mind? Is it? Not totally convinced by this although I see where it comes from. I suppose for certain items this makes sense but Video games? DVDs?

As life becomes even more complicated, the consumer will choose a chooser to make choices on her behalf. By choosing a higher helper, you choose your own reality: your news, your information, your means of communication, your shopping choices.

The examples of Amazon, Virgin etc are spot on. Amazon in particular lives this for me and doesn't stop looking for ways to add value to its existing proposition.

I think to a certan extent Supermarket's in the UK like Tesco and Sainsbury's are also folowing this model as they expand from groceries to consumer electronics, Petrol, banking, ISP, insurance, breakdown services etc.

And ntl also fit into this space albeit on a lower level by offering the triple play of Telco, Digital TV and Internet.

Very thought provoking...!

Hope for Values being valued in the workplace

The Beyond Branding Blog

we can prove our work in countless cases, we demonstrate for perhaps the first time a coherent set of tools, expertise and thinking that can be used by corporations and individuals alike to truly value the relationships between real people and the system, the business and the planet.

I'm so glad the body language is changing and with our combined support we may make it permanent.

An uplifting positivity affirming post from Beyond Branding. I myself have not seen that change (but then why would I?). I only really see how life is within ntl and a few other suppliers, although that is really only fleeting and not of great depth. Values have been, and still seem to be paid lip servie without actually being taken seriously the point:

They are not smiling quite so patronisingly about values... is not happening here. We have vluaes, and visions, and objectives and someone occasionally insists we should know them and take heed but I have yet to see a leader live them. That's what I want - people to walk the walk. Lead with passion tolerance and understanding. Show people the way don't expect them to follow orders.

And guess what? Look after me and I'll walk bare foot over glass for you. Blame me for things that are ultimately your responsiblity and I'll head for the door.

Does Everyone hate Microsoft?

Matt.Blogs.It

I would estimate that M$ have cost me 3 days of lost productivity just over the last week with having to reinstall and then another 2 hours this morning trying to debug this fscking problem.

You better believe I will be buying a Mac next time around.

Yet another disatisfied MS customer. I know for a long time that MS have been up against the firing line, after all they are the dominant player in the market with limited (despite all the fuss about Linux and Macs) competition. The recent viruses with the obvious focus on MSBlaster, have done them no favours. I know that ntl's technical call centre has been in melt down with customers who were not aware of needing to patch their computer (or Firewalls or Anitvirus software for that matter).

While I understand the reent change in approach at MS to focus on secuirty, it does feel too little too late. I wonder whether future products will start to address this public concern properly?

The Blogging Meme

Marc's Voice

Marc Comments on Dana Blankenhorn

From Dana's article comes:

In other words, the problem isn't getting it written, or getting it published. The problem for bloggers is getting it read.

Blogged on Corante: Moore's Law

I see the point but I guess it depends on why you blog. Am I doing it for the traffic? Well no, but I do like people to read and comment. Its not necessarily about mass readership but rather on the quality of conversations I can have. And I have had some very good ones.

That's where I get my value from blogging, and also from the cathartic affect of writing in itself. It often allows me to put the world and ideas in perspective.

Work 2.0

John Porcaro: mktg@msft: Work 2.0: The New Contract

I was so impressed with this when I saw it I emailed it to my whole team (and some others). I was almost overwhelmed with a sense of 'I wish this happened here' feeling.

The link to the page is here: Work 2.0 The New Contract

"Dear Leader:
Life is just too damn precious!
It’s no longer acceptable to say that there’s work and there’s life and it’s up to us to balance the two. We deserve a better return on the time and energy we invest in our company.

Throw out much of what you thought you knew about creating a "great place to work." Work 2.0 is hitting your shores. "

I've signed it. Go take a look. I think you wil want to too!

I especially like:

Article 19.
Work 2.0 creates new levels of trust, clarity, and deep conversation.
What will happen when yo u use our working capital more wisely? We will have
more time to connect with the real, wonderful people in your organization.
And to talk about stuff that really matters.

P.S. You gotta love John 'Sinatra' Porcaro's new picture :) You do it your way!

The Interview Game

How to Save the World

Dave Pollard firstly explores some Canadian blogs. Personally I read his, Anne Galloway's Purse Lip Square Jaw and Seb Paquet's Open research. However looks like there are some other very interesting blogs here to explore. Give them a go!

In addition i thought I might participate in the Interview Game. I await Dave's questions with relish :)

*Meanwhile, I invite the authors of these blogs (and any other readers so inclined, whether Canadian or not) to participate in The Interview Game. Here's how it works:

Kinds like a combination Friday Five and chain letter. But it could help increase the visibility and popularity of Canadian blogs, and help us understand each other a little better. And that's gotta be a good thing, eh?

Linksys Wireless Video Camera

Gizmodo : Wireless network video camera from Linksys

Gizmodo note the launch of Linksys' new wireless network video camera.

I have to say I'm tempted!

...basically a surveillance camera which can connect to a local area network over 802.11b and stream its video feed to any Internet-connected Web browser anywhere.... does have a couple of nice extra features, like a Security Mode that will email you whenever it detects motion, so you can be alerted to when to tune into the video stream.

Now where would be the best place to put it?

Rational Economic Person?

Economist.com | Economics focus

Are people rational as economic theory suggests (or even as political theory suggests they should be in voting)?

This article explores just that question and offers some interesting answers:

... the “endowment effect”, one of the chief tenets of prospect theory. Put simply, this means that people place an extra value on things they already own. Think of a favourite sweater, or your house: would you swap either for something of equal market value? Over the past decade, prospect theorists have found support for the endowment effect in scores of experiments.

This means therefore that despite being able to get market value or above market value for something you own, you will prefer to keep it. Not very rational at all. however the article then goes on to look at the experiments of John List, which showed that inexpereinced 'traders' tended to exhibit the endowment effect, whereas expereince traders reacted against this and acted in a manner consistent with the classical rational hypothesis.

So experience increases your ability to be rational in an economic sense. (I wonder if a similar effect can be seen in something like voting patterns? I suspect not. ) Could this be important in terms of the marketing of products and service and in terms of predicting customer loyalty? Early adopters of new technology tend to be more technically savvy and more easily swayed by 'rational' concerns i.e. price or functionality. These aren't the same sort of things that drive a more mainstream later adopter.

I am not sure whether this can be applied in this way but if so there are some very interesting implications.

How to overthrow the regime (in a video game of course)

BBC NEWS | Technology | Game plays politics with your PC

But the writings of Elias Canetti about the nature of power are behind a complex and ambitious game called Republic: The Revolution, which has just gone on sale in the UK.

Much of the artificial intelligence in the game is based on the book, Crowds and Power, by the 1981 Nobel Laureate in Literature.

Ah, two of my favourite topics rolled into one. Games and politics (well the nature of power anyway). I am very tempted to purchase this, not only because it looks like a fascinating game, but also because of the teaching benefits.

If anyone has played it let me know - or buy it now and get back to me :)

Translation to Go - Wireless style!

BBC NEWS | Technology | Digital cam translates in a snap

Most would agree it is handy to have signs which warn you of dangers like shark-infested waters.

It combines a pocket computer, a digital camera and a wireless internet connection.

Fantastic idea to use a camera and an Ipaq to carry out translation. Of courssse you also need a wireless transceiver and to be able to hook into a wireless network. How many important signs are there in a Starbucks or Mcdonalds?

Still a great idea, and one I hope will be made into a product or service soon.

The Toasted Kingdom

Postcards from the Bleeding Edge

Wonderfully funny story posted by Mike on Postcards. A serious point is the one of over complication in the marketing / design /product development arena. It reminds me of the Swiss Army pen knife approach to products rather than designing a product to suit its function. (Perhaps Jack of All trades and Master of none). It is also a striking difference between consumer electronics and PC manufacturers. One approaches things from the idea that lets make it as easy as possible but we know this has a short shelf life and we'll bring out a new model soon, to make it do everything, make it complicated and sell it on numbers not on what it does or how to use it!

Really must read Don Norman's The Invisible Computer

Keep smiling or you might end up ill!

BBC NEWS | Health | Negative thoughts 'make you ill'

Okay, I am really going to have to make more of an effort to cheer up:

Having negative thoughts really could make you more illness-prone, say scientists.
A study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences links "negative" brain activity with a weakened immune system.

My generally dour and depressed outlook come from my teenage years when I was a Goth and i have never managed to shake it. I think light (or rather lack of it can also have an effect:

Dr Davidson said: "Emotions play an important role in modulating bodily systems that influence our health.

"We turned to the brain to understand the mechanisms by which the mind influences the body."

So I think I will just have to learn to laugh at least once a day. Mostly at myself. Still my youngest son is a smiler, he is enough to cheer you up (so long as its not at 3am)

The Digital Entertainment network comes a step closer

Consumer Electronics Association: Press Room

I think this is a massive step forward for 'plug and play' in home networking linking consumer electronis, computers and network hardware together:

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) announced today that its Home Network Committee (R7) has adopted a new standard for home networks, designated CEA-2008 -The Digital Entertainment Network Initiative DENi (TM). The standard was created to make it easier for consumers to share content over a home network and to establish consistent interoperability between consumer electronics end devices. The standard collects existing standards and specifies how they work together.

"With DENi, consumers will be able to choose compatible home networking products from different CE manufacturers and literally plug-and-play them together with no user setup required. Now that we have agreed on how to do audio/video networking, we can start building products which share content with other vendors' products over the network."

I wonder what companies will be the first into this arena and use the standard to promote interoperability?

BTW: If anyone wants to pay me to blog CES 2004, I am sooooo there :)

Good Weblog Design and Layout

How to Save the World

How to improve your blog in terms of its structure and design (as opposed to its content):

...make your blog easy to navigate and an aesthetic pleasure to read. The key is to appreciate the limitations of the medium: the web page and the screen.

Some very good points here worth noting. I have still yet to truely do to this blog (and the whole site) exactly what I want i.e. 3 columns, Betaroad branding and lots of other bits and pieces.

I have bought a CSS book though and its well worth a read. Not that I'm an expert :)

Games are only for Geeks?

BBC NEWS | Technology | Games suffer from 'geek stereotype'

"Games are still too difficult for a mass audience," she told the Game Developers Conference, held at London's Earls Court last week. "People don't focus on gameplay. Instead they make a beautiful game that is no fun."

She urged game makers to come up with titles that would appeal to a hardcore 15-year-old gamer as well as someone older who just wants to have fun.

Absolutely. The figures point to gaming being a mass market phenomena and revenues rising, people are spending more and enjoy the experience but gaming needs to broaden its appeal.

Sony's Eye Toy for the PS2 is a big step in the right direction. A brillaint idea, with simple, annoyingly addictive games for everyone to play. They may not have the beauty or the depth of something like Grand Theft Auto: Vice City or Halo but my 6 year old can play, even my 2 year old can play and know (roughly) what they are doing, and moe importantly compete against me and their grand parents.

If you have a PS2, I wholehearted recommend the Eye Toy - buy it now!

Live theatre at home

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Arts | Live theatre comes to digital TV

I went to London on Saturday for my daughter's birthday to see the Lion King (this is probably copyright Disney or something). great show well worth seeing simply for the costumes / puppets alone. Anyway, I started thinking about how perhaps, like sport, you could broadcast theatre performances live on the web. Obviously it would have to be paid for content but nevetheless i thought it would be an interesting venture then I saw today:

Digital TV channel BBC Four is to make the first live broadcast of a theatre performance for years.

The station was not sure if it was a television first - but it has not been attempted for many years.

The suggestion from this is that it would be quite difficult to deliver, although quite why its very risky is beyond me. After all the BBC reguarly broadcasts live events from sports, to Royal occasions and concerts.

Still I'm going to keep the idea and see whether it could be done another time.

UR2004 and Incremental Development

BBC NEWS | Technology | Online sci-fi shooter listens to fans

This article from the Beeb, quoting the unreal 2004 developers, made me think that this is what marketing should be about and exactly how you should enhance a product after its intial development.

What is important is game makers ensure they go through a step by step process to make the game even better, he said.

"We took everything the community said was good and we made it better and everything they said was bad, we worked to make that better too or eliminated it completely," said the Epic developer.

Even better is this development:

Or you can sit back and watch the game from afar using UT2004's new feature, UnrealTV.

"Who knows? But the key, world changing innovations are going to come from some place you never expected and are going to be delivered in a manner you'd never consider, from people you thought would probably never have made it."

It also mentions that broadband is clearly a driver in the development of the games and the functionality. Something that I feel ntl should take more heed of and look to develop products specifically for gamers, like the current console service.

If we go out and listen to our customers there may even be a chance of this kind of successful collaboration between developers and players.