Connections to "friends" on social networking sites can have their benefits, though, a bit like that 6th pint, can also have their detriments.
My plaxo account for instance, is spammed by inane one liners from someone whom I'm not that friendly with, but connected to flippantly during a moment when I was feeling needy.
Why is he telling me all this? I don't care that he is stuck in traffic/meetings/bored/hungry/horny. When I log in, I want reassurance, love and attention from those I have carefully chosen as my friends. I don't care what they are doing.
To understand why people bother with twitter, I signed up and went exploring.
I saw the hook almost immediately. It is a small icon that flashes "followers" when you mouse over it. What ever marketing freak dreamed that up was some special kind of genius. Suddenly I was like god (or was it jesus?...whatever) and had my own band of disciples hanging on every word I wrote. Soon, even people I didnt' know were listening.
4 seconds of Research turned up exactly what was happening. Micro Fame.
There are further benefits of course. I don't have to actually talk to people about stuff I micro blog. If you're famous enough, you only need to say things once, and that might as well be on twitter.
All these new technologies don't enhance communication like the publicity would like us to believe, but actually replaces it.
"I'm going on my OE, Dad. I won't write or call, but you can tune in to my micro blog and stay up-to-the-minute.... bye"
And my old-skool friends? The ones that don't blog/tweet/book/space/link? Well the path to fame is littered with the corpses of the weak.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Friends in High Places
Spent the last week in Queenstown. Stayed with some old friends whom are deeply embedded in the ski industry.
After they picked us up from the airport and drove to their house, the first thing I see as the garage door opens is:
3 mountain bikes
1 road bike
4 pairs of alpine skis (slalom + super G)
3 pairs of telemarking skis
3 pairs of x-country skis
1 pair of childrens skis
a football
2 pairs of ice climbing boots
countless (at least 10) assorted ski boots (telemarking, downhill, cross country etc)
Baby trailer (for towing children on a mtb)
They don't earn much but ski most days before work and most days off. In the summer they ride a whole bunch of cool tracks with and without the family in tow.
Our host is the former NZ ski racing coach, and he kindly gave me a few pointers to improve my skiing.
My goal for September is to drain the acid from my legs.
Today I fly back to wellington to my job. Why am I doing this again?
Monday, August 25, 2008
Idea to Action
I have about 4-5 ideas for turning into corporate ventures. Some are brazen, one is shady, and 1 is just common sense ... nuts and bolts.
None of them have yet launched. If I were to remain the sole owner/proprietor, they would probably never launch. I am an ideas person with a very active imagination, but probably lack something to take the final step.
So what needs to happen to get my ideas up and running?
1. Get my elevator pitch sorted. (written about this before)
2. Hook up with someone that complements me. Someone that is good at what I'm not and vice versa.
3. Look closely at myself to discover what it is in my own failings that I can change.
4. Launch before the concept is 100%. Near enough is good enough to decide if it needs more effort. So many people around me spew out great ideas, but don't launch because it isn't nailed to the final detail.
Are they good ideas? Dunno
Will they see the light of day? maybe
Will I be gutted if someone else gets there first? Certainly
None of them have yet launched. If I were to remain the sole owner/proprietor, they would probably never launch. I am an ideas person with a very active imagination, but probably lack something to take the final step.
So what needs to happen to get my ideas up and running?
1. Get my elevator pitch sorted. (written about this before)
2. Hook up with someone that complements me. Someone that is good at what I'm not and vice versa.
3. Look closely at myself to discover what it is in my own failings that I can change.
4. Launch before the concept is 100%. Near enough is good enough to decide if it needs more effort. So many people around me spew out great ideas, but don't launch because it isn't nailed to the final detail.
Are they good ideas? Dunno
Will they see the light of day? maybe
Will I be gutted if someone else gets there first? Certainly
Monday, August 11, 2008
Linux Video Calling
It has been nearly a year since I purchased my home PC. It came from Dell with Micro$oft Vista installed. I hate windows, and hence installed openSuse 10.3. All good.... everything works.... except video calling. Skype Beta 2 for linux says it can do video calling, but hasn't worked til now.
To get it working:
1. lsusb to get the ID of the device.
2. Look up the device here
3. Look here for the required driver (and if it is supported)
4. (this is the bit that took me a year to work out) Add the opensuse webcam repo to the update repositories list
5. install the driver suggested above
6. unplug the webcam and plug it in again. check dmesg to ensure it was picked up
To get it working:
1. lsusb to get the ID of the device.
2. Look up the device here
3. Look here for the required driver (and if it is supported)
4. (this is the bit that took me a year to work out) Add the opensuse webcam repo to the update repositories list
5. install the driver suggested above
6. unplug the webcam and plug it in again. check dmesg to ensure it was picked up
The Elevator Pitch
Last Saturday night was a Stag-Do, and on Sunday morning, as I review (and regret) the night before through the pall of a drunken haze, I recall talking to a buddy about a (nother) business idea of mine. He is clever and self made, but I still couldn't grab him with the idea. I can therefore eliminate the possibility that he is just too dumb, and I have every confidence that the idea is a flier; so the audience is good, and the idea is good, but nonetheless, in the two or three sentences at my disposal I couldn't sell it.
This reinforces my growing belief that to be successful you not only need to be clever and hard working, but need to be able to communicate your message effectively. The cornerstone of my success will not, therefore, be the quality of my idea, but will in fact be the quality of my communication to investors/users/partners. The vision should be delivered in the time you have at your disposal while sharing an elevator journey with someone. At the end of the elevator trip, your audience should understand and believe what it is you are trying to achieve.
This reinforces my growing belief that to be successful you not only need to be clever and hard working, but need to be able to communicate your message effectively. The cornerstone of my success will not, therefore, be the quality of my idea, but will in fact be the quality of my communication to investors/users/partners. The vision should be delivered in the time you have at your disposal while sharing an elevator journey with someone. At the end of the elevator trip, your audience should understand and believe what it is you are trying to achieve.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
SharePoint and B2E
The girls are away for the week, and a buddy referred to me on his blog. Now I have to write something or we all just look lame.
Been really struggling at work trying to get Microsoft Sharepoint working responsibly.
The major challenge here is that it seems fairly visually stunning to users (including the crowd that decided to buy it, and presumably pay for it), yet those of us empowered to make it work are in a bit of a bind. I try not to deal with M$ products in general as it is never a happy seamless experience. It is my job to ensure that when our directory of users is updated to show that you no longer work for Business Unit A, but in fact now work for BU = B, you no longer have access to documents and distribution lists that are inappropriate to your new role.
Herein lies the problem. Sharepoint works off Active Directory (it has it's own store of users as well, but I'll gloss over that bit in the name of clarity), but requires group membership to define access rights. You work for the Retail BU, you end up in the Retail group. You change to work for anther BU, for sharepoint to work, you have to be removed from Retail and put in the new group. Real software would do this dynamically and just "know" when you changed role.
As we scratched our head and wondered how we would deliver, along came BitKoo. In a completely unrelated conf call, they mentioned an abstraction layer for Sharepoint. Install the small BitKoo dll, and you don't need Active Dir, you don't need groups, in fact you can point Sharepoint to any directory you like and it just works. We are in the throes of testing and news will be forthcoming (if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is)
Been really struggling at work trying to get Microsoft Sharepoint working responsibly.
The major challenge here is that it seems fairly visually stunning to users (including the crowd that decided to buy it, and presumably pay for it), yet those of us empowered to make it work are in a bit of a bind. I try not to deal with M$ products in general as it is never a happy seamless experience. It is my job to ensure that when our directory of users is updated to show that you no longer work for Business Unit A, but in fact now work for BU = B, you no longer have access to documents and distribution lists that are inappropriate to your new role.
Herein lies the problem. Sharepoint works off Active Directory (it has it's own store of users as well, but I'll gloss over that bit in the name of clarity), but requires group membership to define access rights. You work for the Retail BU, you end up in the Retail group. You change to work for anther BU, for sharepoint to work, you have to be removed from Retail and put in the new group. Real software would do this dynamically and just "know" when you changed role.
As we scratched our head and wondered how we would deliver, along came BitKoo. In a completely unrelated conf call, they mentioned an abstraction layer for Sharepoint. Install the small BitKoo dll, and you don't need Active Dir, you don't need groups, in fact you can point Sharepoint to any directory you like and it just works. We are in the throes of testing and news will be forthcoming (if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is)
Monday, February 11, 2008
The Gorilla of all Startups
So I have been sparingly involved in a new venture at work. They are trying to build a new, better telco, from the ground up. I don't know what the budget is, but it probably has 9 zeros in it.
The question I ask myself is:
Did Sam Morgan have that when he started Trademe? What abut Sergei brin/Larry Page? I doubt it. Why then, can they do it, yet large established organisations can't?
It didn't take me long to work this out. Large organisations lose the ability to do iterative, rapid prototyping in their production environments. How many google web sites have "beta" in the title?
When a company gets big enough, or maybe when management become intoxicated by process, they begin to demand that every project goes in perfect, first time... and then DON'T TOUCH IT AGAIN FOR ANOTHER FIVE YEARS! not even for upgrades.
My catchphrase at work is "always time to do it twice, but never time to do it right". Well, I think it might only apply to projects of a certain size. After that it becomes a case "never do it more than once. no matter what!"
Stay tuned. The next episode, I work out how break out of the death spiral that teaches companies how to make a small fortune... out of a big one.
The question I ask myself is:
Did Sam Morgan have that when he started Trademe? What abut Sergei brin/Larry Page? I doubt it. Why then, can they do it, yet large established organisations can't?
It didn't take me long to work this out. Large organisations lose the ability to do iterative, rapid prototyping in their production environments. How many google web sites have "beta" in the title?
When a company gets big enough, or maybe when management become intoxicated by process, they begin to demand that every project goes in perfect, first time... and then DON'T TOUCH IT AGAIN FOR ANOTHER FIVE YEARS! not even for upgrades.
My catchphrase at work is "always time to do it twice, but never time to do it right". Well, I think it might only apply to projects of a certain size. After that it becomes a case "never do it more than once. no matter what!"
Stay tuned. The next episode, I work out how break out of the death spiral that teaches companies how to make a small fortune... out of a big one.
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