First, a couple things need to be made clear. For instance, the most recognized PA “State School” (Penn State) is actually not a State School, receiving less than 4% of their funding from the state. Most other private schools are the same. In fact, the article points out that the schools Gov Corbett is considering funding through vouchers are the schools that are specifically NOT the state schools. He believes that the state schools should have institutional support.

Now, for the real “State schools” (those that are part of the Pennsylvania university system, such as Indiana U of P, Mansfield, Bloomsburg, Shippensburg, etc…) Their funding is about 30% from the state. There is already a significant distinction between these schools. That is why the governor is not willing to cut those loose.

Let’s think about how these things could break down if the vouchers were to be across all schools (DD’s assumption but as noted, not the one contained in the article).

As it stands now, the money that PSU, Pitt, Temple, etc receive is a small percentage not only of the budget, but of the costs of having the students. Their tuition is significantly higher than those of the real state schools. So if you are a student that is paying attention to your tuition costs, you are currently choosing between a higher cost “state affiliated” school or a lower costs “state” school. There need not be a reason for a distinction.

So that addresses the first point: There remains a distinction because they have priced themselves with a distinction. (and I will skip the second point–it’s included in the first).

For your third point, at no point was there ever any consideration that the state funding would pay the costs of providing education? The funding levels don’t now (as mentioned above).

Point four: There is no real distinction between the Publics. The publics are part of the Pennsylvania State University System, which does NOT include PSU, or Pitt, or Temple, or any of the schools often seen as ‘prestigious state schools.”

Point five: actually collaboration will continue at the R1s, since the reward structure there is based on research and not on teaching/education. Expect this: if anything the R1s will provide less “higher education” and will tout more and more “collaboration” with other schools to bring in even more research grant money.

Point six: The adjunct trend really isn’t an issue at the “state” schools. Why? They are unionized. Among other things. And at the R1s (I refuse to say (“prestigious”) why use adjuncts when you have TAs?

Point seven: The only way admissions offices would grow is if a) anyone really understood how businesses and markets work and b) they actually found themselves facing declining enrollment. That certainly isn’t happening at the R1s, and as the economy tightened, the state schools became the more affordable choice.

That’s enough… for now…

Story 1: Alleged Kidnappers Surrender to Police.  In this story 3 men (without description) are said to have lured a 21 y.o. woman into their van and sexually assaulted her.  While the report was filed after 2 AM, there is no hint as to when the abduction and assault occurred.  Oh–and the three men apparently surrendered to police on their own.

Is anyone surprised that the comment section is rife with people challenging every aspect of the story?  Someone was lured (not abducted forcibly) into a van, and the story failed to include any description of the perpetrators.  Not their estimated ages, race, height, or even accents.  And while the report was early morning (2 AM) no indication of the time of the abduction makes things even more “sketch” as the youth today say.

I am like the rest of the more rational commenters on this story in that I believe we wait for all the facts before reaching any judgement.  But this story doesn’t help in any way.  As far as news goes, it creates more questions than it answers.  Is this something we should all be worrying about?  Was this someone that she knew? What was the “technique” used to lure a young adult into a (purple-the only retail we get) van with three men?  And what compelled these men to turn themselves in?

Make no mistake: I am not excusing bad/evil/illegal behavior.  I am saying that this reporting does nothing but feed fear without providing any useful information.

Story 2:  PSU Students cited for trespassing at pool.  This story should be well below everyone’s radar, especially the CDT, but apparently it was made “newsworthy” by the lead sentence:  ”A Penn State student convicted of being involved in November’s downtown State College riot got a citation after police said they caught him and two others at the university’s outdoor pool this past weekend.” The story goes on to say the suspect and his friends were caught inside the fenceline “‘partially clothed’ but hadn’t gone into the pool yet.”

In what world is this a news story?  I worked at several swimming pools and during the summer “fence hoppers” were a common occurrence.  Generally speaking we not only didn’t notice, but we didn’t mind, except in those instances when they felt compelled to vandalize the pool. (And keep in mind, the vandalism usually consisted of simply tossing lounge chairs into the pool.)

No–what made this story “news” is that one of the three was convicted of “being involved” in the “riot” following the firing of Coach Joe Paterno.  Really?  What is the connection?  Does being involved, and caught up in the moment last November make this action somehow more heinous?

What happened is, once again, there is “just enough” information to get the commenters on the CDT site all riled up and full of righteous indignation. They get to once again hate on the vicious criminals that burned their city down.

By the way, for those that missed it on Twitter, I have been quite incensed at the use of the term “riot” to describe much of what happens on college campuses and around the US lately.  Read up on Riots.  REAL Riots.  Riots that, in fact, were occurring simultaneously with the events on US College campuses.    In “real” Riots people die.  Property is damaged in large swaths.

What happened in State College was not a riot.  It was large gathering of students expressing their emotions, and a few, a very few, took an opportunity to commit vandalism.

But we can’t expect it to be reported that way either–since once again, it would involve too much work on the part of local media reporters.

I am not sure you can blame Bush or anyone in the last decade for the onslaught of standardized testing in elementary school. I remember when I was a wee lad in the late 60s and early 70s we had regular testing as well, that lasted a week or more.

These tests were known by the states from which they came, “The California Test.” “The Iowa Test.” And these tests were often used for placement  in the upcoming two years.

It seems that, with the “no child left behind” initiative the complaint really isn’t about the testing so much as holding the teachers and schools accountable for the outcomes. Perish the thought that, at the end of the day, the producers would be measured by the quality of the output!

So let’s break that particular discussion down this way:

1. Can we agree that for any job there should be a way to assess how effective an employee is at performing that job?

2. Should your promotions, or continued employment, be contingent on how well you perform your job?

3. Is the education of children important enough to make sure that those performing their task are doing it well?

If we answer yes to these (and why shouldn’t we?) the then next question, the one that really is the heart of the argument, is:

4. How can we measure the ability of the teachers (employee) to produce the desired outcome (an educated student)?

I would love to hear your thoughts on these… Please, leave your comments and “join the discussion”

REAL TECH 110

NEWS:

“FlashBack”: Mac’s first serious malicious threat.  Botnet. Java

US Government Sues Apple, Book publishers.  Good thing? Bad thing?

Samsung names their flexible displays: Youm But what is REALLY worth knowing is–it’s AMOLED.

Global Payments problems still linger; Visa warns of phone phishing after Global Payments breach

Curated YouTube–College Replacement? (Matt’s story)

TIPS/SUGGESTIONS:

SpiderOak:  If security is a concern for you, or if you store important (read: tax) files in Dropbox, you might want to consider switching to SpiderOak. Like Dropbox, first 2 gbs are free.  Up to 100 GB for $100 for 12 months… but with the code SPRING save 25%.

BoxCryptor.  Don’t want to leave DropBox, but want to be more secure?  Then there is BoxCryptor. Works with Mac/Windows/Linux/Android/iOs.  I found this one while searching for more secure storage, and mentioned it to Steve Gibson.  He will now be covering this, along with SpiderOak, in the next Security Now. (see a review here)

Google Glasses?  http://www.pcworld.com/article/253404/google_glasses_all_hype_or_reality.html

First Hand Review:  Matthew and the Samsung Note. Day two.

PICKS:

Steve:Expensify. Scan receipts.  Create Expense reports.
Tony: Kiosk Pro: http://www.kioskproapp.com/
Matthew: 500px.com – inspiration

The argument generally falls on the view that the Court should follow the “strict constructionist” view–that is, it is there to assess the constitutionality of laws, not create new rights or laws. And this is where Obama’s criticism, and the criticism from the right, diverge. President Obama said he was:

“confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically-elected Congress, and I just remind conservative commentators that for years, what we’ve heard is, the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint, that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a dually constituted and passed law.”  (Emphasis added)

He is a brilliant orator. He essentially argued that the will of the majority of the people should trump the constitutionality of a law, while covering his argument with the cloak of “you did it too.” The passing and signing of a law doesn’t make it “dually constituted” and certainly doesn’t make it constitutional. Regardless of how strong the majority was that passed the law. In fact, a law that passes unanimously through Congress must still pass Constitutional muster.

So let’s be clear here: Congress passed a law, and the President signed it. The law is being judged in this case solely and completely on the constitutionality of specific clauses of the law, based on long standing understandings of the intent and interpretations of the Constitution. If anything, that is exactly the role conservatives have been calling for the Court to play. To argue that Obama’s position, and those on the Right who criticize the Court, are the same, is simply specious.

Episode 109 (Scroll to the bottom of the post after the break to listen):

Show notes:

REAL TECH 109

NEWS:

HEADLINE: Thu Mar 22, 2012 5:41 PM EDT Senator: Employers shouldn’t seek site passwords   A Democratic senator from Connecticut is writing a bill that would stop the practice of employers asking job applicants for their Facebook or other social media passwords, he told The Associated Press on Thursday.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said that such a practice is an “unreasonable invasion of privacy for people seeking work.”

About time!: FAA to take ‘fresh look’ at gadget restrictions on flights http://t.co/kmSkND7i
The real issue: airlines won’t test!

Apple now gives dividends.  Harken back to our past discussions.  Thoughts? Steve says: About time…

In the “Are you serious?” category:  “Commodore unveils Amiga Mini PC with i7-2700K, Blu-ray”
http://www.techspot.com/news/47916-commodore-unveils-amiga-mini-pc-with-i7-2700k-blu-ray.html  Ships with a “copy of Commodore OS Vision”

TIPS:

Google News Alerts.  If you haven’t tried it already, you can set up alerts from Google that will either email you quick summaries and links to new items you select, or will add it to your Google Reader stream. Just go to: http://www.google.com/alerts

Want to see the future? Visit “WE Solve for X” http://www.wesolveforx.com/ They are looking for the “Moon shots”  From their site:  This combination of things – a huge problem to solve, a radical solution for solving it, and the breakthrough technology to make it happen – is the essence of a moonshot.

PICKS:
Steve:  Yubico Yubikey, and (Password Safe) http://www.yubico.com/products I bought 5 more keys recently, and have my eye on the NEO for a key with NFC built in. http://www.yubico.com/yubikey-neo

Tony: Draw Something:  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.omgpop.dstfree

Here’s what scares me about Obama.  On New Years Eve he signed the National Defense Authorization Act, which, among other things, allows the President to authorize the indefinite detention, in secret, and without legal counsel, of US Citizens.  At the time, he expressed his concerns about the language but promised that his administration would never use it.

Then he (at the beginning of the month) started a campaign to discredit the Supreme Court, attacking them as “unelected people” who should never consider overturning a law (Obamacare) that the majority supports. (Set aside, for just a moment, the thought that he isn’t interested in protecting the minority from the tyranny of the Majority)

He is now running the campaign against Congress, working to do things without them passing laws first. This he is calling “We can’t wait.”

What do you call a President who is actively working to discredit two branches of government that are in place to control the excesses of the other two? A President who is actively working to undermine the “Checks and Balances” protections that our constitution so brilliantly enacted.   A President who has convinced the “Law makers”  to give him the authority to detain and even kill at will?

I hate to say it–but I think the word is “Dictator.”

N.B.:  Now I hope my good friend over at A liberal Dose, and the other one at Pressing the Flesh may actually agree with me on this.   We as a nation must band together. And honestly, at this point, I am beginning to think our only answer will be Ron Paul.  And if you know me, you know I don’t really like that idea all that much.  But at least he isn’t part of the corrupt system.

In a nutshell, this means prices on ebooks went up because the agreement with Apple made it so other sellers, like Amazon, couldn’t lower the price on ebooks.

Three of the seven publishers have already settled with the Department of Justice, but Apple, Penguin, and Macmillan rejected the offer. Now that we know the reasons behind the lawsuit, let’s see if any of this news is actually will have an effect on pricing.

Read the full article here.

Watch the video (and read MY thoughts) after the break:

When I first saw this commercial I was cheering!  You see, the largest contributor to greenhouse gases are the power generating plants–the ELECTRIC plants.  They contribute more than all the cars in the nation–combined.  So I saw the commercial as pointing out that, while we think we are “being green” using electronic devices.  I thought the message was, while we aren’t the “point source” of pollution, we are still polluting.

But NOOOOOooo.  The message is: Drive an electric car.  That somehow taking the cars off the road will be better.

The real message?  ”Out of Sight, Out of Mind.”

I couldn’t bring myself to buy a Toyota Prius like our good friend Fleshy. I am not sure if it is because I don’t like the “cramped” look of the car, or simply that Fleshy, and so many liberals, wear that car as a (tight fitting) badge of good liberalism.

I was clearly aware that some people drive the Prius simply to show that “they care.”  Recently Freakonomics Radio (brought to you by the same guys that brought you the books Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics) discussed the concept of “Conspicuous Conservationism” — that is, people that try to enhance their status by showing that they are being “altruistic” — even if they aren’t really effective.  For instance, in the story they talk about how the “greens” in San Francisco are putting solar panels on their roofs, and regardless of which side of the house is best for the sunlight, they put them on the side facing the street.

But I wanted to discuss another quick area: Real Efficiency.

I am hearing more and more people push towards Hybrids in an almost “knee jerk” way.  They feel that a hybrid is simply better for the environment than a purely internal combustion engine.  But here’s the question:  If I have a vehicle that is extremely efficient and is solely gas powered, is it worse than a hybrid on the environment?  Let’s say they get equal fuel economy.  Is one “better” than the other?

This is an interesting question.  If they are both generating the same number of miles for every gallon of gas consumed, are they not both being efficient?  And even if the burning of the fuel is somehow slightly more polluting in dangerous gasses than the hybrid cars, what is the environmental impact of these heavy metal batteries that, once they fail, must be handled as hazardous waste?

As consumers, we need to take more time to  learn about the full environmental impact of our decisions, and make choices not only on the status our choices will convey but the actual improvement in our environment that we will receive.

Please, let’s all work to make real environmentally aware decisions, and not ‘made for appearances’ choices.

As this story from the BBC notes, the UK remembers Falklands invasion.

===========

I wanted to take a minute of your time and let you know I am sorely disappointed that Drivers’ Education is being eliminated from the CV Curriculum and more importantly, that the teacher will be leaving the HS and no one else has stepped up to be the faculty advisor for CV THON.

Honestly, I have three points of interest here that happen tointer-weave. First, I believe the of all the courses at a HS that are beneficial, the most beneficial is the Drivers’ Ed course. I have seen places where that course is only taught outside the school, and honestly, all they do is teach driving. The benefit of the course taught in the HS is that there is more thought to the education portion of the program than just the training. By being in a setting with your peers, and having a sense of community that is brought through with this course, they learn more than simply how to pass a driving exam.

Secondly, as I am sure you are aware, CV THON has done wonders for supporting the Four Diamond fund and has put CV School District on the map as more than an academic or a sports district, but as one with compassion. I can’t say for sure if the THON’s sprouting up around the nation are directly related to PENN STATE THON, but I think the THON at CV has much to do with them as well. Specifically, several universities around the country have THONS, many with direct support and leadership from students who graduated from CV HS. These students learned empathy, compassion, and action from their engagement and participation at CV THON. They are making a difference, in part because CV THON made a difference. Let’s not discontinue that.

Finally, the one common thread in both of these is not the decision to eliminate Drivers’ Education. That was just the push of the domino. The common thread is the faculty advisor with a heart, that not only pushed CV THON, but cared about teaching responsible driving in the HS.

Please–find another way to economize. But do not harm the students, or the district, by allowing both of these to go away.

Thank you.

Steve Brady

In 1990 George H W Bush made the statement, as the Iraqi forces were still rolling in to Kuwait, that “This will not stand, this aggression against Kuwait.”

I heard these words on the radio as I was starting my leave from the USAF to go camping at Cass Lake in MN. I told my mother in law at the time that we were going to war. Why? These words were clear, and unequivocal. The implication: Leave–or we will make you leave.

So that takes me to where we are now, with Iran. It wasn’t Obama who made the statement, but close. In discussing the possibility of Iran developing nuclear weapons the Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, declared: “I think they need to know that — that if they take that step — that they’re going to get stopped.”

The link contains a more detailed review of the testimony, and it should be said their was much more nuance to the testimony that the declarative statement and the sabre-rattling headlines. But (and this is an important but) the SecDef has made it clear–here is the line in the sand.

Once politicians–and Governments–have drawn that line, it is nigh-impossible to back down without losing faith.

Things are going to get worse. I feel it.

I enjoy, no LOVE, my place at Rose Valley Lake in PA. Perhaps you have seen some of my photographs that I have posted here ocassionally, or visited my  sets on Flickr (around Rose Valley Lake and  creeks and rivers)  The beauty remains despite reasonable and rational development.

I love it so much that I am, In fact, disappointed every time I have to leave here to return to “Civilization.” That said, I also understand that private citizens have a right to use their private property in ways that they see fit, so long as the proposed uses are in line with the general guidelines and zoning of the area.

The “Friends of Rose Valley Lake” are stepping beyond the bounds of good citizens, as they are now seeking to block an individual from using his property in accordance with the zoning laws of the area. They are asserting that by granting this man access to his property (through the State fish commission property) he will somehow be violating the law.

They write on their homepage that:

” The ‘intent’ for Rose Valley Lake, was to ‘prevent developments . . . and retain the area in generally primitive conditions,’”

They then are somehow complaining that this citizen is willing to “trade with the PFBC one acre of land (generally inaccessible to the public) and $15,000 in exchange for an expanded farm lane right-of-way through Rose Valley Lake.”

Apparently the fact that he isn’t asking for a flat trade of one acre for another, but rather giving the state the land, AND $15,000, isn’t sufficient. Also, apparently the statement that the one acre of land is “generally inaccessible to the public” is meant to imply that is somehow a negative. Interesting in that many believe that in order to meet the objective of maintaining land in “generally primitive conditions” we should keep people from going there. (Remember, the biggest enemy of National Parks tends to be visitors to those same parks….)

One final comment from them. They are argue that the proposed trade would be for an “expanded farm lane right-of-way through Rose Valley Lake public lands in order to facilitate private development.”

Note this citizen isn’t proposing to DEVELOP public lands. He is simply seeking access to his privately owned property, so that he can exercise his legal right to develop his property as he sees fit, in accordance with the local zoning ordinances.

I ask–who are the unreasonable ones?

Also, they are requesting people sign their petition, but there exists no comparable avenue to elicit support for the land owner.  I have created a form, and would appreciate your taking the time to respond.  And for the record, I am interested in learning about BOTH sides of this.

I actually presented a paper on the challenges of digital textbook pricing at the Western DSI (Decision Sciences Institute) conference in 2011.   You can read the paper here.  In that paper, I point out that by driving the logistics costs of moving, handling, and returning paper products out of the system, along with other costs such as maintaining a bookstore, one can drive the costs down to about (surprise!) $15.00 while maintaining the 2 year profits of the publisher. And by withdrawing the pressures of the resale market, the profits only go up from there.

First thoughts that led to that paper were written about here  and here.

Most recently I wrote about  consumer driven markets. Who should make the  choice? Digital textbooks are able separate the content from the medium, and allow flexibility–unless we are locked into a hardware platform.  I also wrote about this in this post.

I would welcome other thoughts on those posts and on the paper.

from the article:

For $24.95 a month, the service will give users unlimited access to its library of 11,000 audio books through its website and an HTML5 mobile app.

Though Amazon-owned competitor Audible has a monthly membership, it relies on a credit system that give users access to a certain number of books per month depending on the fee. Audiobooks is the first service we can find that is streaming books using a monthly model.

I am intrigued–and I started to wonder how many people actually listen.  Please take the time to fill out my survey, I would love to know what your preferences are!

(and, don’t forget to listen to our version of audiobooks–the Real Tech for Real People podcast!  Go visit http://rtfrp.com and get the latest episode!)

One drawback had been that Amazon never explained how to get to the highlighted texts or notes when you were using a Kindle app–whether iPhone or Android.

Luckily others have deciphered this for us, and have developed a program that will generate a text file from the data file.  (The information in the apps is stored in *.mbp files, because they, like the core Kindle format, are based on the MobiBook standard.)

To find the files (in Android devices) go into the file system, either through a USB connection, or using a file explorer program such as Astro File Manager.  From there search the /SDCard/Android/Amazon/Kindle folder for the files.  You will need to do a little exploring here if you want to only get the information from one file, since the books are named with the Amazon naming convention and not using “book titles” as we know them.

From here, either copy the files to your computer or email them to yourself (or put them in your dropbox on your Android and expect them to be on your computer.)  At that point, just move the files to the folder on your computer where you have installed the mbp reader program, and you are off and running!

The first two were aimed to address the issues at the heart of the charges being levied against Penn State in the scandal–that there was a cover-up, and that leaders of Penn State perjured themselves–lying in court rather than allegedly tell of the evils revealed to them.  The last one? Transparency?  Where did that one come from?

Calls for transparency arise when people believe some one, or some organization, is perceived to be acting in secret, and that secrecy is assumed, rightly or wrongly, to be covering improper or even illegal behavior.  Often the charge of improper or illegal behavior is warranted, and often it is not.  Of course, we rarely remember those instances when things ended up perfectly but as humans we are “inclined to believe the very worst about anything and everything.” (see “Free: The Future of a Radical Price,” below).  Of one thing we can be sure–when an organization commits to transparency they are doing so because of a perception that they haven’t been, and they need to change. ¹

In this case, Penn State faced tough critics from around the nation that felt that a cloak of secrecy pervaded the actions of the University that at best hindered investigations into Sandusky, and at worst enabled his predatory behavior.  Then, as the crisis broke, the lights in Old Main were on, but the President of the University was no where to be seen.  Depending on who you follow he was either hiding, or he was being held back by the Board of Trustees.  Then, the Board began their activities in near silence allowing just enough light in to let us know they were “engaged.”  Many questioned how the whole Board could both remain silent at this critical juncture in Penn State history, and how they could all unanimously support what seems to many to be terribly wrong decisions.²

In response, we saw a promise from Erickson, the interim President of the University, to transparency.  He wrote:

Penn State is committed to transparency to the fullest extent possible, given the ongoing investigations.

• I commit to providing meaningful and timely updates as frequently as needed.
• I encourage dialogue with students, faculty, alumni, and other members of the Penn State community.(http://president.psu.edu/promise.html)

So we have here a practical application of how Penn State will be “transparent” but not much of a definition of what Transparency means.  We have an expectation to receive “timely” updates, and that they will be “meaningful.”  But no clear definition of what even “timely” means.  And updates on “what?”  Finally–who determines “frequency?”

To be clear then, what is the definition of “Transparency” that Penn State is using? According to Tactical Transparency (see below) there are traditionally two definitions of transparency that are already accepted–financial transparency, and governance transparency.  Publicly traded companies are already required to provide certain financial and governance information.  But we are seeing companies stepping beyond that simple definition.  But before we go much further on what this “new” or modern view of Transparency has become, let’s quickly review: once again, we have documentation on how the university’s governance has been anything but transparent, and those with any memory longer than 6 months will remember the significant battles Penn State has fought to keep from disclosing salaries and other financial information.  In fact, just last month the Philadelphia newspaper, the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote:

The school has long had a reputation for guarding its secrets closely and zealously, and when the state attorney general announced the charges against Sandusky, she said their investigation , by a grand jury with subpoena power , had been hampered by an uncooperative atmosphere among unnamed school officials.

In addition, the NY Times wrote concerning the unique ability that Penn State has to use a cloak of secrecy:

But the public’s access to e-mails, phone records and other potentially critical evidence is restricted because Penn State has a special exemption from having to disclose a host of information that state agencies and many other state universities are forced to divulge under Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Law.

So there you have it–Penn State has been reluctant to release information and in fact has engaged in legal battles to keep from releasing even those records usually expected from government and publicly traded companies.

These first two definitions of transparency, long held, and expected. And yet, Penn State hasn’t even met those expectations. But this is not the transparency Erickson was discussing.  It was clear he was talking about a new form of transparency–a transparency to the inner workings of the University.

This transparency is about the reputation of the University (or any organization).  It is one that builds credibility.  That instills trust. That, as a senior leader for a major retail firm recently told me, is “opening the Kimono” and letting the stakeholders see just how things are being done.  I don’t think anyone can argue that the comment from the President is one driven by a need to restore the reputation of the University.

In the case of Penn State I think they set themselves up for failure from the start.  First, they failed to define what they meant by transparency, creating a vacuum that is filled by whatever definitions the hearer expects.  (Not unlike “Change you can believe in…” led many to vote based on a blank check).  Second, their behavior didn’t change. I don’t think you can argue that you are “more transparent” when you do things essentially the same way you always have done things. [4. This is the essence of the article from StateCollege.com–that this is how things have always been done.)

Much of the background and thoughts on Transparency comes from the book Tactical Transparency: How Leaders Can Leverage Social Media to Maximize Value and Build their Brand as well as from Free: How Today’s Smartest Businesses Profit by Giving Something for Nothing

Does transparency mean that you tell everyone everything you do and why do it?  bust you violate all levels of confidentiality?

It seems to me when people an organization promise transparency, they are acknowledging a problem and suggesting they can no longer continue doing things the way they have always been done.  I realize this is not always the case, in that sometimes we’re just promising to foster an environment of trust, but that trust is based on the concept of sharing information.

reach leads me to ask these questions is the reality of organizations promising transparency while then defending your actions as being consistent with how things have always been done. If things have always been done this way how is that being more transparent?  Or to put it another way, if you have always been transparent why promise transparency as if it is something new?

I welcome your thoughts on these questions.

Check these, and the other gift ideas out–and don’t forget your favorite Professor! (Even if it isn’t me!)

Please, take a minute and leave your story in the comment section!

Thanks!

On Veteran’s Day, Genesis10’s founder and CEO Harley Lippman and newly appointed Manager of Diversity and Veterans Relations, Richard Sanchez, were interviewed by MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan about the challenges American Veterans face transitioning their careers from the military to corporate America. Watch the clip here:

Working with Genesis10 means working with a company that is dedicated to serving our community where and when we can. Veterans Outreach is our latest initiative whereby Genesis10 will partner with clients to identify opportunities for U.S. Veterans. Using training and mentoring programs in place internally and through external partners, Genesis10’s Veterans Outreach will prepare and support Veterans during their career transition from the military to the private sector.

If you know a Veteran who may benefit from this program, we want to know. You or the Veteran can send a message directly to G10Veterans@genesis10.com. Please share this message with your network. We ask you to help us spread the word – because by working together we can connect and support the men and women who served to protect our freedoms with new career opportunities in business and technology.

I would encourage everyone to share this post, the video link, and the email address with anyone who is either a veteran, or knows a veteran–or knows someone who knows… (you get it–tell everyone!)

The primary and secondary schools systems are selecting a specific device and the books are content to go on that device. In this case, the system purchases the devices and the content and then delivers that to the student. So who is the consumer in this case? Setting aside for the moment the argument that the taxpayer is always the consumer, let’s focus on whether the consumer is the school district or the student. We can all agree that there are many stakeholders in this arrangement: the school board, parents, teachers, students, taxpayers, and I’m sure many others. But when I consider the consumer, I am considering their role in consumer plays in shaping the marketplace. In this case, while the students consumed the content, the school board by virtue of the purse string is the consumer. We can hope they are making wise decisions as they select the best combination of hardware, software, and support infrastructure.

Given this scenario the selection of a specific hardware platform makes sense. As a consumer the school district is selecting an all encompassing solution for all to use. This approach will undoubtedly balance the educational needs with the technological abilities, and of course the fiscal reality is the school board faces. The district will be able to leverage their scarce taxpayer dollars to get the best benefit possible. Are there limitations to this approach? Perhaps. There might be better solutions that only run on a different platform. But those are the tradeoffs one makes when one selects a technological platform on which to base decisions. We must satisfice.

Not consider the higher education model. As professors and students alike start to look towards digital textbooks as a valuable and viable alternative to the costly new-used-new book cycle we find a new challenge. In the old paper based book paradigm each professor selected the content and the medium for delivery of the material for their class. As I wrote previously this whole paradigm the content and the medium are inextricably entwined. Each selection of a book was in and of itself the selection of the ecosystem combining the technology (paper) and the content, and quite frankly the support infrastructure. Digital course content (textbooks) separate those.

In the old paradigm the student as consumer handbook three choices. They could buy the book new, they could buy the book old were used, or quite frankly they could choose not to buy the book. They controlled the purchasing decisions and there were really no other considerations of value for them or their professor since all books were delivered in the same – way as complete units. Now, we have some separation between the content and the media.

So who is the consumer and how does that shape the market? Following the old model the professor will select the textbook and the student will be expected to buy that content. If we allow the old system to continue unchanged the faculty member may continue to select what they feel to be the best possible text for the class without regard to the delivery media they will be forcing upon the student. Of course, they are decision may well be driven by the technology they happen to own and not the technology the students own. A professor with an android tablet may well selected android specific text applications while another faculty member with an iPad may well selects iPad content applications. This becomes especially problematic when faculty are selecting multimedia are rich content that may only work in one operating system and not the other.

Purchasing decisions than shift from the student who controls their own purse strings and now can fall on the faculty member who is on constrained by the fiscal realities their students face. It is quite possible for students to need three separate portable digital devices to support three or more classes. The student, by my definition earlier, is the consumer who must make the purchasing decision but that decision has been taken from them.

Once again, we see the value of interface and interoperability standards that cross the various platform divides. Rather than develop operating system specific applications, textbook publishers should work to ensure that their content can be delivered across the wide spectrum of portable devices available. Certainly Amazon has provided that ability through their multiple instances of the kindle application. If a professor assigns a Kindle book a student can easily select that content to view on nearly any device. With the maturation of HTML5 hopefully we will see more and more experience-based course content available and not tide to specific platforms were operating systems.

This will then returned the student to the role of consumer allowing them to make the decision about which media device best fits their needs and wants, while allowing the faculty member to select the content that they believe best fits their course requirements.

I would love to learn your thoughts on the role of consumer in education, and not just in relation to textbooks but who the consumer really as in both primary and secondary education as well as higher education.

Tweak me @SCMprofessor with your thoughts or share them here.

For centuries our ability to gather content and disseminated wirh tide is not just to the content but to the media and the physical media that was used for delivery. If you wanted to read a book you would buy both the content and the delivery media simultaneously. The words in the paper on which they were printed or written were forever enmeshed. Even in recent decades with books on CD or tape you were still purchasing both the delivery media and the content as an inseparable unit.

We have an opportunity to day with the development of digital content and robust data exchange standards to forever separate the content from the media, or at least that will we use to receive the content. We’re at a crossroads. We can choose to follow the path of standards allowing users to decide on the delivery mechanism they prefer, or we can continue to develop content for delivery in specific devices and tools.

We’re currently entering a world where we have a wide variety of choices for the personal technology we use to access media. For instance, we have both been nearly ubiquitous iPad and now more and more android tablets on the market. We’re also seeing the early stages of windows eight tablets being previewed. If we take a device centric approach content will be developed and delivered as operating system specific applications. This will enable content creators to leverage the unique creative aspects of each of the operating systems and the devices. But it will limit the flexibility of the user and potentially limit the consumer base. Imagine if there is compelling content available for an android, and different yet equally compelling content available on the iPad. If you would like to consume the content available on both devices you’ll have to make an investment in each of the devices. If however the content creator focused on developing inside of existing content delivery standards the user will be free to choose the marriage of device and content that works best for them.

In the early days of conversations about developig media rich textbook on tablets, the discussions centered around the iPad and how to make compelling applications for that device. Once the android operating system began to get traction however the discussion we found devices competing not only for consumer selection but for the ability to consume content. This opens up a whole new avenue for the consumer where they get to choose both the delivery tool and the content that they to consume.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s the content standards movement focused on Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) as a platform and application agnostic means of sharing and transferring content. This then evolved into the heart of the world wide web with the transformation into HTML.  Now, some browser developers added unique features to their implementation of HTML but over time they all seem to have come to the realization that standardized interfaces and interactions are better for all. This has now evolved into HTML5 and the integration of multimedia and interactive content into the markup language.

So here is the call—content creators and publishers need to focus on platform and application agnostic means of delivering their content. If they have a creative and innovative multimedia presentation they wish to provide they would do well to follow the lead of Amazon and other eBook resellers and develop their content for delivery using HTML5.  There are significant benefits to the publisher and content creator to this approach. First, the creators and publishers will not need to develop separate approaches for each and every device available to consumers. They will be able to create once and distribute to many. In addition, by following this open approach to content delivery they will please their consumer by allowing their consumer to choose the tool that works best for them while opening the door to significant increases in sales by offering their content to the widest selection of consumers available.

One final note: there are other benefits as well including the encouragement of design innovation in the devices separate from the need to maintain compatibility with specific applications running an existing hardware and software designs.

Win. Win. Win.

To hear more on this topic, listen to our discussion on the upcoming Episode 97 of Real Tech for Real People.

There are intrinsic motivators–those things you do because you are just internally motivated to do them.  Perhaps you enjoy a task (graphic design, podcasting), or you feel a “calling” to be doing something (the preacher on the sidewalk, the environmentalist chained to a tree.)

I am wondering–what motivates you? And specifically, what motivates you at work?

Do you live to work, or do you work to live?

RESEARCH:

–noun

1. diligent and systematic inquiry or investigation into a subject in order to discover or revise facts, theories, applications,etc.: recent research in medicine.

2. a particular instance or piece of research.

SCHOLARSHIP

noun

1. learning; knowledge acquired by study; the academic attainments of a scholar.

Upon further clickage, a scholar is defined as

“a learned or erudite person, especially one who has profoundknowledge of a particular subject.”

Interestingly, there is no such distinction in definitions for Researcher vs Research.

If we look at what defines the two is the distinction one more of the approach used?  Is it that a “researcher” follows a “systematic approach”  to gathering new information–a methodology, if you will, while a scholar may not follow such a rigorously defined structure?  It that is the case, I would as that you answer a few questions:  researcher of scholar?

While perusing Gina Trapani’s blog from Smarterware.org, I saw she too struggles with sharing her varied, yet often inter-related, interests.

She writes:

It’s a tough question to answer, especially when you’re not working on a single thing. Last weekend at Foo Camp I failed miserably at explaining myself and my slash careers and how they all intersect. But at that same conference, I had the pleasure of attending a session by David Eaves, who eloquently explained that his goal is to apply his experience and training in negotiation skills to open source community management. On his site, he published a map of his past, current, and future work, and how those activities all interrelated. Cool!

When I read this I had one of those “DUH!” moments. It’s a brilliantly simple idea.  I like the way it forces some things into reductionism (you have to determine a fixed set of spheres–how many do you REALLY have?).  In addition, this approach can even help one find relationships between work that seemed “intuitively” there, but were never explicitly stated, even to oneself.  And finally, the approach David and Gina have both taken is to show how they are seeking the “greater good” (or a “Better world”) through their work.

The Venn Diagram David Eaves created is below.  To see the one Gina put together about her interests and work, go visit the link (really–you should!)  To see mine…. well, that may take a while longer.

Feel free to share yours here, or just put a link to yours in the comments!

I just want to quickly point out a few things, as I prepare for tomorrow night’s Real Tech for Real People podcast (listen live at 9PM ET).

1.  It’s not just computer security–it’s your personal security.  Sony unfortunately stored way too much information about you on their site and in the clear meaning that the hackers got people’s passwords, and credit card numbers, as well as other personal identifying information.  Talk about “bad juju.”

2.  Safe computers are not “safe” any more.  No computer is safe.  And neither are you.  Gone are the days when malicious hackers want to destroy your hard drive, or play silly music, or just replicate their software.  Today’s hackers would prefer you not even know they have made it onto your machine.  They want your passwords.  Your bank account information.  Your social security numbers.  Oh, and your CPU cycles.

Today’s infestations are sneaky.  They don’t advertise through garish graphics and sounds. They sneak on and install keyloggers ².  Or Trojans, or Backdoors.  Or “rootkits.” They all have one goal–to NOT be detected while they steal your precious information, or your computer processing power itself.

3.  In an effort to steal your valuable information and even assume your very identity, hackers still rely on the most trustworthy of approaches–the CON.  Yes, they will practice “phishing”   tossing out bait through mass emails to see if anyone (you?) will log on to a look alike site (bank site, FaceBook, Twitter, whatever…) and then they will simply take your user name and password as you type it in.  Even more “evil” is the approach known as “spear Phishing.” In this attack they go after specific targets, sending emails that really do seem to be sent to you directly. You “trust” it…

According to the FBI Spear Phishing works like this:

First, criminals need some inside information on their targets to convince them the e-mails are legitimate. They often obtain it by hacking into an organization’s computer network (which is what happened in the above case) or sometimes by combing through other websites, blogs, and social networking sites.

Then, they send e-mails that look like the real thing to targeted victims, offering all sorts of urgent and legitimate-sounding explanations as to why they need your personal data.

Finally, the victims are asked to click on a link inside the e-mail that takes them to a phony but realistic-looking website, where they are asked to provide passwords, account numbers, user IDs, access codes, PINs, etc.

This particular attack has recently been made simpler by the loss of the email lists by the mass-marketing firm “Epsilon.”  Perhaps you received an email from one of your banks, or stores your frequent, or travel company, notifying you that their marketer’s system was hacked.  Sadly, this means you can no longer trust emails from those firms to not lead you astray.

All of these stories (and many more) should have you a bit concerned.  Computer security is now no longer about people stealing internet, or putting destructive programs on your hard drives.  No longer is it simply your $1000 computer investment that is at risk.

It is your identity.  And it is time to protect yourself.  In my next post I will share some tips, and software tools, that you can use to help build a protective barrier around your computer, and your identity.

Ojime are hand-carved sculptures that originated in Japan.

From about 17^th century, the Japanese people (especially the men) carried a small compartmentalized box called an Inro. There was also a Netsuke to balance the Inro over the person’s sash and an Ojime to slide down the string and keep the Inro closed.  By the end of the 19^th Century, they had evolved into elaborately carved boxes with the accompanying Netsuke and Ojime. While many people are familiar with the larger 2” Netsuke; Ojime are typically between 3/4 inch to 1 inch – a perfect size for 1/12 scale miniatures. The Ojime are found in most of the same designs as the Netsuke.

Go visit her site, and check out the wide selection, ranging from cute bunnies to skulls, cats, monkeys, and large wild animals.

Relaxing in the summer sun.

At $2.99 an image, how can you go wrong?

“For those questioning the appropriateness of the celebrations on Sunday night, especially at PSU, keep in mind that many of us were In middle school. Those were the most impressionable days of our lives. It completely changed our lives and views.”

He wrote much more, and I took the liberty of making it more readable, and posting it over at our joint blog, http://thefathersonchats.com.

Please, go read his thoughts, and share yours. These thoughts are the ones we need to share, and preserve.

• Select a word: Double click the left mouse button inside the word to be selected
• Select a sentence: Simple. Hold down the CTRL key, and then select any word in the sentence (single click).
• Select the whole paragraph: TRIPLE click any word in the paragraph.

I used to use a Targus Wireless Presentation Remote for presentations.  I love the sleek design, and the fact that the USB wireless connector would fit inside the remote.  It was easy to use, and flawless in execution.

And alas, easy for me to lose the USB dongle.

I recently attended a conference where I presented my paper on eTextbook pricing (more to come on THAT later) and I found myself in desperate need of a remote.  Nothing is worse than wanting to be able to roam the room to connect with the audience, and yet become trapped to the front of the room hitting the “ENTER” key.  My first thought was that I would need to walk a mile or two to the closest office equipment store.  But then I realized that I had a IOGEAR Bluetooth dongle already on my computer.  It was a simple matter of finding the right software to run on my android phone.

Enter PPT Remote Control.  I searched the Google Market and found a number of options.  I read the reviews, and then downloaded the “free” version of the application (limited to 15 slides.)  I liked it, so I went ahead and bought the full version.

So what did I like?

First, it did exactly what I needed it to do.  It controls my PowerPoint presentations, but there is more to it. The app downloaded the slides to the phone so I could look at my phone and see where I was in the presentation, and it also downloaded any notes.  I was able to have my crib notes right there in my remote control!

Some of the additional details (after the break):

• Bluetooth support.  Obviously what I was looking for
• WiFi support. If you happen to be on the same network that is a great option! ¹
• Requires an app to be running on your computer, but that is the extent of the set up. Effortless.
• Use it in “pointer” mode.  Puts a “red dot” on your screen you can move using the remote as a “mouse.”  Who needs a laser?
• Many other features–go check out their site.

Download the app using the QR code below, or visit the main website at: http://pptremotecontrol.com/index.html

We don’t like PowerPoint and we don’t like presentations.  But as much as we want to blame the tool we find we cannot leave this crutch behind.  Perhaps it is because we do not see it as a tool that assists in our delivering content but rather as a surrogate, a stand-in,  so that we aren’t the ones being observed, but rather it is our slides.  Too often we expect (or are required) to have our presentations “stand alone” or worse “speak for themselves” (I say worse, because when given this mission it rarely actually means including the voice of the presenter, but rather that the written words must contain all the thoughts.)  Yes, we cannot leave the world of wordy slides.

Chris Brogan at the time reminded us of the importance of “big pictures” (real images) that convey the emotion, or the sense of the topic discussed, but that we as the speaker should deliver the content.  He also shared that we should remember that presentations are about the audience and our connecting with the audience.  If we are to connect, we cannot have them getting lost in reading the words (the many, many, often forced to be tiny, words…) on the screen.

Here is another take on just that very thing:

So my question for you is this:  What sort of presentation do you prefer? Do you want all the information laid out before you in verbose slides, ensuring you have all the information at your fingertips for later, or are you instead a person who learns best by listening and asborbing?

Leave your comments, or tweet me @SCMProfessor

Let me highlight a few tools that have been developed to (supposedly) make presentation development easier (or catchier, or “better” … ).  The first is “SlideRocket.’  SlideRocket is a presentation tool that lets you develop and share your presentations through a web based platform. I have given it a few run-throughs in the limited/free online version, as well as stepped through the tutorial, and I find that it generally helps develop solid, even “attractive” presentations.

The second tool is “Impress” that goes with the OpenOffice Suite.  While this tool is not “cloud based” it is provided as part of the open sourced suite and has a comprehensive feature set, including being able to import and export PowerPoint presentations.

The third and final tool is Google Docs Presentation.  This is a relatively light-weight presentation development package, but it has enough features to get your point across, and do it through the cloud using a  web-based interface.  Perhaps the best feature of this (and really any Google Docs tool) is the opportunity to collaborate on the development of the document. Being able to watch and interact with the document and my collaborators in near-real-time is quite an effective, and efficient, way of moving any idea forward.

These are just a few of the possible alternatives. I would love to hear what YOU think are possible PowerPoint stand-ins. Comment here, or tweet me. I am @SCMProfessor

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Twitter has proven itself to be an amazingly useful tool.  Remarkable considering it was only introduced at SXSW in 2007.  We have seen Twitter move from a discussion about “what I had for lunch”, into a tool used by people daily to find topics of interest to them usually because their friends view them to be interesting as well.  And recently-well, we have seen Twitter used as a tool for social and political change.

This is what’s most interesting about twitter.  Twitter is not one thing.  It’s not even a couple of things.  Twitter is an amorphic tool, that is shaped by the way each and every user will use that tool.  Individuals use twitter to share information or thoughts for the day.  Corporations use twitter to monitor what people are saying about their product and in the case of Comcast stepping in and fixing problems customers are having.  Some corporations are even using twitter as a marketing tool offering free products through drawings.  Many even blend twitter with face book to create a more socially aware, new media presence.

Herein lies the challenge: there is no quote user end quote of twitter.  There is no specific use case of twitter.  Where many predicted the death of twitter once britney spears and Ashton kutcher arrived we have seen twitter continue to thrive and grow.  What these doomsayers failed to understand is that while the arrival of these celebreties to Twitter may have removed them from the “most followed” ranks of Twitter, people were not forced to follow these people.

The magic of twitter is that we choose the people we follow.  We can even block the people we wish to have not follow us (sort of).  We create our own tribes as Seth Godin would say.  I personally have several tribes if you will that I view as my friends, or people I follow, on Twitter.

Here are my tribes:

1. Educators
2. Real people who use technology
3. Supply chain people
4. Family and friends
5. People who discuss politics (on all sides of an issue)

So what lessons can we take from this as marketing people looking at twitter?  I think you can walk away from twitter knowing that everyone there are seeks information that is of value to them.  Not everyone uses twitter in the same way, but everyone is there to gain value for themselves.  For some the value comes in being able to share information they have, while for others the value is simply seeing what people they respect are thinking on specific topics.  These range from political viewpoints, to the latest cool tech application, to experiences as a diabetic or even sharing a favorite restaurant.  We need to find the value that we provide to those who want to follow us.  What would make someone want to follow me on twitter, and how can I deliver that to them?

So as we step forward I suggest we keep in mind my following “main points of twitter”:

1. People follow you on twitter-so while it is transmit not everyone will receive
2. People follow you because you do or say something of interest.  Stay on topic!
3. Provide value in your tweets.  Give information, insights, links, or all of the above.
4. The twitter stream is just that-and it flows past people.  Don’t expect them to see everything you say
5. You can reach people that are not following you when engaging in popular topics.  Watch the hash tags.
6. Don’t hijack a hash tag!  Be relevant.

You might think about donating your computer to a school, or other charity. And when you do, you know the conventional advice, right? “Be sure to completely wipe your hard drive.”

(More after the break!)

While we used to recommend you WIPE your hard drive, we now recommend you remove it, and physically destroy it. Hard drives are now true commodities and your older computer can still be useful with only a $50 hard drive installed.  Even better, donate the computer (sans hard disk) and then donate the cash to the charity to BUY a new hard drive.  In that way, you don’t have the hassle of justifying the value of the computer, and the hard drive you purchase.  You can deduct the cash donation directly.

But then again–I am NOT a tax attorney, so don’t trust my tax advice.  Just trust me–you don’t want to give away your hard drive.

One final thought:  you might want to consider destroying your old hard drive.  While there are various techniques out there, I wouldn’t recommend the one in the video below (but it looks fun!)

To hear more on this discussion and much more, listen to Real Tech for Real People at http://rtfrp.com, episode 76.

This sort of scenario falls easily into the realm of “doom and gloomer” crackpots. (Ed Dames even has a Video The Killshot.)   But Scientists are warning that this particular solar cycle, and our dependence on electronics, could be catastrophic.  This article describes things in economic terms, but imagine the potential harm that can result in $2,000 BILLION in losses.

According to this story, we were visited by another flare, but luckily it was weak in comparison.  I include an excerpt below, but recommend you read the full article.

From the article:

The sun is waking up from a long quiet spell. Last week it sent out the strongest flare for four years – and scientists are warning that earth should prepare for an intense electromagnetic storm that, in the worst case, could be a “global Katrina” costing the world economy $2,000bn.

Senior officials responsible for policy on solar storms – also known as space weather – in the US, UK and Sweden urged more preparedness at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington.

…

In terms of terrestrial vulnerability, the biggest change since the 2000 peak is that the world has become more dependent on global positioning system satellites – and not just for navigation. The world’s mobile phone networks depend on ultra-precise GPS time signals for their co-ordination.

Recently, my wife switched over to the Samsung Captivate phone (the same one Android based phone that I use.)  She wanted to get a case for it, so she went to our local AT&T  store to find one.  The salesperson there recommended the Otterbox Commuter Series Shield for the Samsung I897 Captivate (Black).  I liked it, so I bought one as well.

Since getting the phone, I have been sporting a nice rubbery silicone case.  It provided some measure of protection, and generally kept my phone in good condition, but never quite “felt” right.  The hardshell cases that were available all made the phone too thick, taking away one of the advantages I saw in the Captivate–the sleek and thin design.

Enter the OtterBox.

The Otterbox combines an inner rubbery silicone case with a hardshell “sleeve” that provides impact protection and absorption.  In addition, the soft shell covers the power button and volume rocker, while also having a “plug” to protect the headset port from dirt, grime and fluids.  And it does all this while adding no significant bulk to the phone.  The case also comes with a self-adhering screen protector, but as you all know, I prefer to use ZAGG screens “invisishields.”

Oh–and while I bought mine at the AT&T “authorized dealer” store,¹  you can get the Otterbox series for about half the price through Amazon.

Learn more about this tip, and many others, in Episode 69 of Real Tech for Real People.  You can subscribe to our podcast on iTunes–simply search for RTFRP.

I have been assigning blogs for my “Service Operations” class for several years now.  The purpose of the blog is to have the MBA students reflect on a service experience they have recently had and then directly analyze the experience in light of the topics recently covered in the course.  The challenge is quite like the one my brother pointed out–the writing dropped off when they began to feel that no one (least of all, the professor–me) was reading.  My first response was to mandate commenting, similar to what he  mentioned–a sort of stick to the carrot.   Of course, that is difficult to enforce, and leads too often to a quick “nice blog–thanks.” type of analysis.

I have attacked that in four specific ways this semester.

First, I have created a Google Reader bundle which I distributed to the class (and now to you! )  This addresses the issue of me not getting to all of the blogs–I simply work down the full list every week and find some amazing blog entries! In addition, by giving them the bundle, I have directly connected the students with one another and their writings.  That has led to more direct initial engagement. But I suspect that this will not be the “fix” that I hope it to be if there is no way to encourage engagement.

Second, I have used Google Forms to allow students to evaluate their team members’ blogs. I have given them criteria on which to evaluate the blogs of their team-mates, and;

Third, while I treat the responses as confidential information, I share the summary information with the class regularly.  In this way I remind them that others are reading their blogs.  For instance, one of the questions is whether the blog entry covered a positive or a negative service experience.  I used this as a question specifically to encourage a more reasonable balance in the class, since we are more likely to remember (and write about) negative experiences.  As you can see, the balance, at least so far, has shifted to positive experiences. ¹

Finally, I directly reference their blogs in class, asking the author to perhaps lend more backstory, and then weave their narrative and lessons learned into the content of the course.  This works even better when other students are encouraged to share their views on what they took away from reading that blog.

Have any of you found ways to encourage commenting and engagement on blogs? Share it here (seems sort of META doesn’t it?)

So far, many have found it to be quite useful, but it was initially limited to Windows versions of Word because Microsoft removed VBA from the Mac versions  Microsoft has since added VBA back in, making the macro accessible for users of both Mac and Windows.

If you have a Kindle, feel free to try the macro.  If you like it, please consider making a donation–every $1 dollar helps.

Sure, I know some will say “But it’s WIKI… it’s not to be used for academics! It’s not reliable!”  To that I respond–then take the time, as an expert in your field, to clean up what you think is incorrect–it is, after all, editable by us. Make your contribution to the greater good.

Now, the video:

Well, as an iPad user and an observer of tech, I was a bit surprised by this.  I have seen many iPads showing up around campus, and in other places, and almost exclusively I have seen it used as a reader (PDFs for class, books, and such) and as a device to view movies and shows.  Actually, I have seen less “video” than text on the screens of those around me.  I would venture to say that for most people the use of the iPad remains consumption.

I mentioned that, and my brother challenged me, arguing that he, and his colleagues, are using the iPad quite regularly for note taking and email.  I had to agree, but then…. we learned.

See, for me the operational definition of “content creation” is something that is substantive.  I have a definition that looks at the degree, or dare I say it, quantity, of the “content” being created.  I never viewed writing emails, taking notes, or editing existing slideshows as real “content creation.”  And I certainly don’t view arranging photographs into a slideshow as a “content creation” event.  The creation of the content in that case was during the translation from the photographer’s eye to the sensor in the camera.

So things came down to “Operational Definitions.”  In research we are often faced with the need to not just have a  simple definition but one that we can use to clearly differentiate between things, and more specifically, to transfer from a qualitative assessment to a measurable response.  For instance, we often talk about “small businesses” but without an “operational definition” we open ourselves up to a wide range of mis-communications.  For instance a small business can be measured as:

• a level of revenue (less than 1 million a year?)
• a level of profit (less than 1 million a year?  Notice that the same dollar figure leads to two very different thresholds)
• a number of employees (less than 5? 50? 500?)

So then, we are now faced with the question, how do we define “Content creation”?

Is it simply “creating a document of some sort and any size, so that something that did not exist, now does?”

Or does it require a greater degree of creativity and involvement in the process?

So readers:  I was wondering how you would define “Content Creation” and what amount of additional creativity do you believe needs to be brought to the process?  Please–comment here so others can see your thoughts!

I know, I should be doing all sorts of things techie, and you might think I am “all over the net.” But I am not. In fact, I not only don’t like the invasion of privacy that is so often the net, I actively choose to not invade other’s privacy as well.

So let me share my little rule book with you.

1. I view twitter as I do the ocean. I can’t take it all in, even with the people I follow. I will read any and all messages sent @ me, and also the direct messages. I will try, when I am on, to scan the twitter feed of people I follow, but just as I can’t catch every wave when I am at the beach, I can’t read every tweet that flows my way.

2. I don’t chase down people’s comments and statements on “the Facebook.” My family will tell you that. When asked by my kids or even my wife “did you see ____ on Facebook?” My answer invariably is “No.” They have learned–if you want to be sure I see something on Facebook, you might want to let me know through some other means (say, an @ comment or DM on Twitter–or an email!)

3. If a platform is not meant to be a social communication platform, I DEFINITELY don’t go there often. This includes Flickr, and PicasaWeb, and Youtube. I view these sites as places to go and see the creations of others, and perhaps be inspired. I certainly don’t go there for conversation. If you thought I had been reading your conversations there, i am sorry. It wasn’t me.

4. Honestly, I only put things on these sites that I want to have out there, and am willing to share with the world.

5. I have no expectation that the world will care, or even visit anything I write, or photograph, or post. If no one visits, then that is fine. I am not hurt.

6. If I create something for someone (think–water polo videos, or slideshows) I will point out that it is available.

7. Finally, I believe protecting other’s privacy is so important that I actually think long and hard before posting things that include other people in them, and often will ensure (double, and triple check the privacy settings) that I have shared certain things only with those people. Generally these are family photographs, or photographs from events, and I will share those with “family and friends.”

So there are my “not so short” rules that I live by when it comes to social media.

Now, dear reader, let me ask you: are you more or less open with your life and sharing your thoughts with the world now that we are in the era of “social”?

Or more importantly–do you really know just how much you are sharing, and how much “anyone” can actually see?

Let me know YOUR thoughts (in the comments, or in twitter! But remember to @ me, or I might not see it. LOL)

Be sure to visit our Real Tech for Real People Facebook page and listen to our podcasts every week!  You can find the podcasts over at RTFRP.com or subscribe via iTunes.

And don’t forget–you can save 20% on any order from ZAGG.com simply by using the discount code RTFRP at checkout!  (Good until the end of 2010.)

Remember, you can save 20% on ANY product you buy from ZAGG.com simply by typing RTFRP into the discount code at checkout.

Click Here to listen to Real Tech 56

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PLAY ON: Jason Leisure has convinced me to go back to it. Rocking–and even has iPad app (Steve) It works inside the house, and gives access to a wide range of video sources, including NHL, MLB, HULU, CBS and others. It supposedly supports streaming out to the iDevices through 3G and other wifis, like AirVideo but I can’t get that to work… more to come…

Josh recommends SquareTrade for your electronic warranties, and honestly, so do I! Why? This LifeHacker article says it best–They are less expensive AND cover more things, including glass breaking (see next story). Apple Care doesn’t cover broken glass/screens.

PICKS of the WEEK:

Tony: Jason O – http://www.jasonomusic.com/home.html

Steve: Overdrive Media Console THE Software to listen to audio books from your library–for free! Check to make sure your library supports online electronic books, and you are in! (Runs on Android, iPhone/iPad, Blackberry and Windows Mobile. Also, Windows and Mac. (and they have free audiobook samplers!)

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Steve’s info:  [blog] http://theprofessornotes.com[twitter] @scmprofessor

Tony’s info: [blog] http://getthenext.com [twitter] @tonypittman

For those of you that have been following along, you know I co-host Real Tech for Real People, a podcast for “people with Tech in their lives, but who don’t live for the tech.”  We have created a Facebook page (and I encourage you all to visit and subscribe) and as part of that page I am going to be doing “tutorials” for things people want to know how to do.

WebCamMax is the perfect tool for me to record this.  I want to be able to switch between cameras, and screen shots, when preparing the tutorials.  So if you go watch the first video I did, on how to create a book from a collection of Wikipedia pages, you will see I start with a camera shot of me, and then switch to the screen shots, live as I edit.  I switch back and forth between me, and the screen.  WebCamMax makes that as simple as selecting a different button on the main WebCamMax screen.

WebCamMax also allows me to just select an area of the screen, or a window on the screen, and transmit that.  I have used that when Tony and I are recording our podcast on skype, so Tony can get a good video recording out of skype, while I transmit the audio AND NOW VIDEO to the chatroom as we record our podcast live (come join us in the chat room on Tuesday nights at 9PM ET– http://tinychat.com/realtech)

WebCamMax also has a few other “interesting” features, some I like, some I won’t use…

First, I do like that it will allow you to use a different background image, without a green screen.  All you have to do is step (or roll) out of the image for a few seconds, while it captures what it sees as your background. It then will replace that background with whatever image you choose to insert.  I will be using this down the road to insert the Real Tech for Real People graphic behind me, for recording the videos and the podcast.  One critical note: Don’t wear something that matches your background.  Just like you shouldn’t wear green when working with a green-screen, if you or your clothing match colors in the background, you will “disappear.”

I also like that, in addition to switching between cameras and screen shots, you can play media files.  This will be useful for me when I record a “how to” video using my Kodak Zi8 digital video recorder.  I can have the file “ready to go” and then just embed it, either with it’s own audio or with my dubbing over it.

You can also add on those “fun” graphics such as hats, faces, and beards and such.  Not exactly my cup of tea though.

I have a few issues with it, but I suspect that my problems are more of my inability to understand the intricacies of the program. For instance, I don’t like having to move my mouse back to the WebCamMax screen to click to change “views” when I have it set to follow my mouse pointer.  That is distracting.  Hopefully I will find a keystroke combination that will let me do that more smoothly.

I also would like to see it be licensed for use on two computers, for those times when I am mobile, and will be using my notebook rather than my desktop.  The software is affordable ($50 for a “lifetime” license) but paying an additional $50 for the privilege of being mobile seems a bit excessive.

Overall, I like it, and I have already recommended it to several colleagues who like what they saw in the video tutorial I put together.

Perhaps there is a very good reason why someone would ask for money for a helicopter (oh, wait–”helOcopter”) ride to JFK–but wouldn’t a cab be more affordable?

From 2010_08_08

I also chuckle at “pan handling” while talking on a cell-phone, and having your Starbucks cup between your feet.

Speaking of “Pan Handling“–feel free to donate to this blog to keep this blog, and the podcast “Real Tech for Real People” moving along!  The donate button is over there on the right!

And I promise not to use your money for helicopter rides.

Also, listen regularly to learn how you can win prizes that you can use daily!

Let us know what YOU want us to talk about.

======================

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NEWS:

Bloomberg predicts Apple’s moves in TV.  Bloomberg expects Apple’s next conquest will be  the TV industry, comparing its early moves to its first steps in the mobile phone market. The article analyzes the technology of Apple TV, noting potential methods through which Apple may approach the TV business.

Bloomberg

Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac – Assuming I can make the podcast, I have 2011 (enterprise have it now, the broader public will have to wait to 10/26) and can make some preliminary comments.

In Brief: Apple TV part cost pegged at $64 Thin-ish margin for Apple on the TV.

TIPS:

Microsoft to debut WP7 smartphones on AT&T;

Microsoft’s Ballmer receives $1.35m pay package, but bonus curbed.  Microsoft will unveil its new line of      smartphones sporting the Windows 7 OS on Oct. 11. The devices are scheduled to launch about a month later on AT&T. IDG reports that Microsoft is the only non-exclusive smartphone OS developer charging hardware makers a licensing fee, noting that vendors receive greater intellectual-property protection through the arrangement. One analyst claims the company offers “a better managed and coordinated ecosystem that might improve the chances of success for the entire platform.” Separately, outlets note that although the compensation package paid to Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer rose 6 percent to $1.35 million in 2010, he was denied the maximum  bonus for the last financial year due to stumbles with mobile products and a failure to respond quickly to Apple’s iPad. Wall Street Journal; 24/7

Wall Street Journal; 24/7 Wall St. (also MarketWatch); IDG/Computerworld; eWeek (1);eWeek (2); Reuters (also CNBC); Associated Press (also Forbes; CNBC; San Francisco
Chronicle)

Chronicle)

iTunes Tip:

iTunes: In iTunes 10 you can double-click on the “Now Playing” window (bottom left, if you have it showing) and it will pop out to show you a small window with the album art. Now if this is a movie, it will play, etc. But in iTunes 10 the album art for music ALSO has controls. So I now have a small square window in the top right corner letting me konw what is playing and allowing me to control the music and I have minimized my iTunes window. Sure I could use iTunes long-enabled mini window for this purpose but this is prettier.

General Tech Tip:

* Wikipedia lets you create “books” of information. If you find a wiki page, or pages, that you would like in a different format, you can now save the page, or pages, as a “book.” On the left hand side of the screen you will see “print/export” as an option. If you click on that, you can see how to create the book. Also more information on my blog at http://theprofessornotes.com or just play around in Wikipedia.

PICKS:

Tony: Magnetic Alphabet
Steve: Book Mobile for Android and http://books.google.com
Josh : VGA to HDMI Scaler/Converter
Chris: Monoprice.com HDMI cables from $1.89

Presentation Clock – tested and using for a debate on Wed. Update from feedback is already being included, this dev responds! UPDATED tonight! Worked great for the debate.

Blog post from Chris on using the iPad:  HERE

Don’t miss the EXCITING news for winning prizes-including TWO TICKETS to Michigan at Penn State (Football).  Listen to Real Tech for Real People for how to win!

Engadget is reporting today that Samsung will finally be releasing the FroYo Android 2.2 update for their Galaxy S phones, including the Captivate for AT&T and the Fascinate for Verizon.  I hope this is the real deal.  We have had so many rumors floating around.

There are many new and interesting features in the 2.2 Android OS, including the new GMail application, and voice dialing (finally?), in addition to “built-in” tethering.

Fingers crossed…

Since the start of the smartphone experience, the hardware and the operating system have been so tightly integrated that one is hard to distinguish from the other.  This started as far back as the Springboard Sprint phone hardware attachment for the Handspring Visor, and continues today with the Windows 7 phones, the iPhone and in reality the Android phone.  But what if the phones (hardware) and the soul of the phones, the mobile OS’s, could be separated?

As the Windows 7 phone rolls out we are once again introduced to a wide array of mobile phone models, names, and interfaces.  We have been seeing that with the Android, with several different Galaxy S phone from Samsung, as well as a variety of “Droid” branded Motorola phones with Verizon.  And of course, as mentioned in the NY Times recently, if you want to get the iOS on a phone, you have to get an iPhone.

But imagine a different world: Imagine a world where the hardware becomes separate from the OS.  Imagine if you could go into a cellphone store, and decide on the hardware you wanted, and then purchase (or just install in the case of the Android) an operating system?  It would seem we aren’t all that far away from this reality.  The processors in the Windows Phone 7 are the same as many of the Android phones.  The memory, displays, and cameras are all essentially commodities these days.  The only real difference is the cellular radios that are included in the phones, and that is network dependent, not OS dependent–three “flavors” for each OS and you are done.

Does this open up a whole new world, or just add to more confusion?

Would YOU want to be able to mix and match the OS with the hardware that you prefer?

Let me know your thoughts.

…players are forbidden from using the popular microblogging service.

The decision follows at least two instances where players were told to take down Twitter posts.²

My first reaction was “Wow!  Banning the use of a personal tool, on a personal phone or computer–that seems a bit Draconian!”  Then I started wondering what I would suggest instead.  After a little thought (very little) I decided this–he should take the same approach that I have had with my children.Football players are taught, or at least trained, to have discipline on the field, and in their practice regimen.  They must learn daily to control their urge to run over someone, to rush to a position, and rather hold their place, watch the play unfold, and then react.

Twitter (and life) isn’t that much different.

This was a “teachable” moment.  The coach (at the college level) is a teacher, a mentor–a COACH.  Take this as an opportunity to remind the players of important life lessons:

• Their words and their actions have consequences.
• They need to learn self-discipline as well as football discipline.
• They need to understand that what is said on twitter (or Facebook, or even a blog like this one) will take on a life of its own, and perhaps spiral well beyond the few people you thought you were talking with at the time.

Banning them from using Twitter teaches them nothing.  They don’t learn how to engage in a social (network/media) setting.  They don’t learn self discipline.

They don’t learn life lessons that they will need once they are off the field.

Sorry Coach–you lose this game.  And unfortunately this is the only game that matters–the game of life!

That said, we don’t charge for our podcasts, but we would love it if you would show your love of Real Tech for Real People, through purchasing yourself, or your loved one, a Real Tech for Real People gift.  A mug, a T-Shirt, a Mousepad… they are all available over at

http://cafepress.com/rtfrp

Take advantage of 15% off on orders over 60%

And if you do, send us your photo with the item, and we will post it here, and over at http://RTFRP.com!

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This episode is a first for us. You can download either the audio, or a VIDEO version of the podcast.

Select YOUR version of Real Tech for Real People!

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Click Here to WATCH to Real Tech 54

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Free Phone Fridays at Best Buy! For the month of October! Each week they will include at least one smart phone.

Flexibility is the key to air power, AND ereaders. The F-15C gets a new set of eyes and Sony debuts a bendable e-screen!

AND Flexibility making it’s move to batteries. LiIon battery made on paper by Stanford researchers. Probably won’t be in phones, but could make for “active” RFID technology, among other thin uses.

Speaking of Batteries, Panasonic is finally creating rechargable AA batteries that recharge through frustration! (er, shaking…) Great they say for remote controls, and other hand held devices. About time, *I* say.

We discuss an article that challenges the notion thatAndroid is Open:

Android Is As Open As The Clenched Fist I’d Like To Punch The Carriers With

MG Siegler

Sep 9, 2010

This past weekend, I wrote a post wondering if Android was surging in the U.S. market because Apple was letting it? The main thought was that by remaining exclusively tied to AT&T, Apple was driving some users to choose Android, which is available on all the U.S. carriers. In the post, I posed a question: if it’s not the iPhone/AT&T deal, why do you choose Android? Nearly 1,000 people responded, and a large percentage focused on the same idea: the idea of “openness.”

You’ll forgive me, but I have to say it: what a load of crap.

Old News, but worth mentioning: Gorilla Glass is also in the Samsung Galaxy S displays (and it is transparent aluminum. Sort of.)

And with the Kindle for the iPad/iPhone that feature became even easier with the ability to highlight with your fingertips rather than a joy stick or a wheel.  One of the more recent additions to the various Kindle incarnations is the showing of passages that others find useful as well.  This is done through underlining and when you touch that section of the book it tells you (for instance) “76 other people highlighted this part of the book” which is what it has for a section of “SuperFreakonomics” (The quote being:  ”Doing the math, you find that on a per-mile basis, a drunk walker is eight times more likely to get killed than a drunk driver.” Italics original to text).¹

Of course, all this was made easier by the Whispersync network, ensuring that I could easily move between devices (and moving us one more step closer to ubiquitous reading.)

When I switched over the Android Captivate (AT&T) I was elated to see the Kindle app there as well.  But that enthusiasm was quickly reduced to a sense that I would only read “leisure books” because the Android did not support highlighting, or note taking, although it would “sync” to the furthest read location in my other device(s).

That changed a couple days ago.  The Android Kindle was updated to include the features I wanted most:  adding, editing and deleting of notes,  and the ability to highlight. But the Kindle Krew also added full text search (find those pesky quotes you KNOW are there, but can’t quite remember where² and wikipedia and dictionary look ups.  There are other fatuers added with 1.1 as well as bug fixes.  It even added voice search!

I downloaded it immediately, and upon opening it went to the book I am currently reading, Wrong: Why experts* keep failing us.  I am happy to report that the Kindle App took me to the part of the book where I left off (correctly identifying that I was last reading on the iPad.)  It also showed immediately the highlighting that I had created with the iPad, let me add highlighting, and add notes.  Most importantly when I closed the app and switched to the Kindle on the iPad my new highlighting was there (and it moved me to the latest spot–from my Captivate Kindle!)

No other eReading platform is as diverse or as available as the Kindle platform, and with this revision Amazon once again asserts their commitment to digital books and the eReading public.

I am still left with one question though:  Will the Android Kindle version port well to the Barnes and Noble Nook? After all the Nook is based on the Android OS…

In addition, Tony shares his thoughts comparing his iPhone 4 to his newly purchased Samsung Captivate.  It’s Android vs iOS.  Certainly a don’t miss episode!

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LISTENER QUESTION: Sgt Slade asks…

NEWS:
Amazon takes aim at iPad in the sun. Snarky?

HP Announces an Android Based Tablet (but it seems rather hamstrung)

“Why isn’t the pricing of Broadband obeying Moore’s Law?” The article title is a bit OTT, but the bottom line is quite interesting: Since the buildout is nearly complete, they author(s) argue that the revenue now is almost “pure profit.” Should we expect prices to come down? Or are they displaying a common misperception of economics, assuming that there is a relationship between “cost” and “Price” (there isn’t.)

TIPS

Photo: Just for fun (or is it Phun?) you can get make an overlay to put on your (i)Phone to make it look like a camera. So now, it really CAN be a camera! (or just go to step 7 and download one…) http://content.photojojo.com/diy/make-your-phone-look-like-a-camera/

PICKS:

Steve: TuneIn Radio for the Android
Tony:  TWIT for iPad

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Steve’s info:  [blog] http://theprofessornotes.com[twitter] @scmprofessor

Tony’s info: [blog] http://getthenext.com [twitter] @tonypittman

I found the post to be an interesting read but there exists one GLARING problem:  they misuse statistics and probabilities, and reach erroneous (though perhaps accidentally correct) conclusions.

They are acting as if previous numbers/ratios of hardcover to paperback books remain UNCHANGED with the introduction of digital books.

Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that the split has been 77/23 paperback to hardcover. To come in and say that ebooks are 29% which is more than Hardcovers, but not more than the 77% paperback percentage is, well, silly. That would then result in 129% of sales.

Here’s what the author(s) wrote:

“…But then I discovered a business analyst who’d found an even bigger problem with Amazon’s statistic. According to the Nielsen Bookscan service,hardcover books accounted for just 23% of all books sold in the previous year.

So what happens if you ask how many “printed books” Amazon sold, instead of using the smaller number of “hardcover books”? Following the same ratio, Amazon would be selling approximately 334 paperbacks for every 100 hardcover books — or a total of 434 printed books for every 180 ebooks. That would mean over 70% of the books Amazon sells are still printed books — 180 out of 614 — with ebooks accounting for just 29.3% of all the books that Amazon sells.

I do have to insert one quick correction to their comment: the analyst actually wrote that hardcover books account for “23% of total dead-tree book sales”  and that’s important.

Okay, in reality here is what they did:

They read that 23% of all books sold are hardcover. That works out to about 4.3478 books for each percent. They then multiplied that number by 77% to get the magical number of softcover books sold: 334.78 softcover books. They then add those (read: 100%) and compare that to the number of ebooks sold (180).

Hopefully, at this point, the problem is becoming clear: Are ebooks additive–that is, people are buying ebooks above beyond the numbers of hard/soft cover books they always bought? If that is the case, then So while it wouldn’t be 140% it would result in a larger pie, meaning that ebooks went from ZERO to 29% (the number they mention in the post). Not bad for eBooks. If only every new “business model” could garner 23% of a market, while not touching the rest.

But I suspect there is a shift here–people are buying either an ebook, or a paper book. Thus the “old school” ratio doesn’t hold true anymore. it’s not 23% hardcover, 77% softcover, and 29% ebooks (note: 129%). The 29% have come from somewhere–most likely eating out of some mix of hard/soft cover sales.

The authors believe (yes, believe) that there is “no evidence” that Amazon is selling more eBooks than printed books. True-they simply argued that they sold more hardcover books. But the evidence they overlooked, through flawed math, tells a very interesting, and different, story.

Sadly, one of the problems with moving the equipment around, and doing something for “the first time” is that I make “first time mistakes” and this was no different.  I tried to use the Zoom H4 recorder, but ran out of room.  Luckily we caught it early, but sadly you will hear the difference.

Let us know what you think of the podcast, though, and please, share it with your friends!

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Live From Penn State

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Boxing Great Mayweather arrested for stealing iphone:
http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=5554683

WINDOWS TIP: Spread a Windows desktop image across two monitors:

• Follow these steps in to display a large image across multiple monitors:
• Right click on the background and select Personalization.
• Click on Desktop Background
• Select a background image that is at least as wide as the combined resolution of both of your monitors. For Example, I have two 19â€� monitors that have a resolution of 1280×1024. I need an image of 2560×1024 or greater so that it can be displayed across both monitors.
• Next, this is the step that most users would never even think about trying: Select the Tile picture positioning option as shown below. This is the only option that will display your background image across multiple monitors.

GOOGLE VOICE AND SKYPE

• • Like Peanut Butter and chocolate, these are two great things that are better together. Here’s what is great:
  • Get a Google Voice account and number
  • Pay $30 (for one year) to get a “skype IN” phone number
  • now add that number to your Google voice number. Now people calling your google voice can reach you on Skype (if you want them to.)
  • EVEN MORE powerful: For another $30/year you can get “skype OUT” and make unlimited calls to REAL numbers in the US and Canada. But it gets BETTER:
  • In the SKYPE application, set your caller-ID number to your Google number. Then the only number people will see if your GVoice #.
  • By doing this, you add another way to receive calls, but still only have to give out one number. Sweet, eh?
  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
  Steve’s info:  [blog] http://theprofessornotes.com[twitter] @scmprofessor
  Tony’s info: [blog] http://getthenext.com [twitter] @tonypittman
  Chris’ info: [blog] http://targuman.org/blog [twitter] @targumanJosh’s info: [twitter] @joshfink

K-9 Email. Scan QR with camera to install

I wanted to switch email programs. I don’t like the email program that comes “stock” on the android phone and, after trying a few, decided that I really liked the K-9 email application.¹  You can read a review of it here.  It is quick, customizable, and quick.  Did I mention quick?

So once I decided that this was the “One App to rule them all” (well, rule the email apps) I saw no use having the stock email icon cluttering up the dock on the bottom of the screen (that’s the row at the bottom that presents the four most commonly used icons: phone, email, browser, and applications.)

But how do you do that?  It isn’t as obvious as “hold the icon until it selects and drag to the trash” (the way you delete other icons from the home screen-but not the applications themselves).  Luckily I found the instructions on the Android Forums website.  Here it is:

It looks like you can customize the dock on the bottom of the screen, but only the two icons in the middle. (ed.–not true) To do this, you much (sic) go into your app launcher, and make sure the View Type is on Customizable Grid, which you can change by hitting Menu > View Type > Customizable Grid. While still in the Application launcher, hit Menu > Edit to change the two middle dock icons.

Note though that it turns out (at least on my Captivate) you can swap out, or delete, the icons for all 4 items in the Dock.  Not sure I want to–but nice to know I can!

At least not until now!

Now, if you find a wiki page, or pages, that you would like to read you can now save the page, or pages, as a “book.” On the left hand side of the screen you will see “print/export” as an option. If you click on that, you can enable “book creator” and start adding pages to your “book.”

You can add pages as you find them, and then move them around to get them in the sequence that makes the most sense for you.  In addition, you can create “Chapters” that will help you, and others, understand the structure of your document and provide a sense of direction and flow.

Once you have added pages, sorted them, and added chapter headings you can then save the collection as a “PDF” book, or an Open Document format perfect for editing using the Open Office Writer tool.  I have created a mini-textbook dealing with Supply Chain Management.  I created this so that I could share this information in an accessible and structured way for my students in the Collaborative Supply Chain Management class.

In addition, you can print the collection of “pages” as a real paper book.  Wikipedia makes this possible through PediaPress with prices starting at $7.90.  They explain it this way:

PediaPress offers high-quality printed books based on wiki content and is an official partner of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Clicking the Order book from PediaPress button, will take you to the website of PediaPress. Once there you’ll get a quote for your individual printed book and see a preview how it would look like.

The price depends on the number of pages, starting with US$ 7.90 for books up to 100 pages. 10% of the gross sales price goes to the Wikimedia Foundation.

Books are perfect bound, printed in the dimensions 8.5 inch x 5.5 inch (216 mm x 140 mm) and contain a table of contents, your chapters and articles, licensing information next to an index.

More information on printed books can be found in the FAQ.

One more thing:  If you have a Wikipedia account, and if you have made at  least 10 “contributions” to the Wiki (including additions, changes, deletions or corrections) you can and share your book with others.  Very useful if you want to maintain the “digital, cloud-based” feel of the wiki but provide a guided experience for your friends, or students.

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ANDROID – Will the Google Android OS take over?

Click Here to listen to Real Tech 51

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NEWS:Amazon has amazing prices on Cell Phones. Especially if you are wanting to get a new contract, but great prices even on renewing. A Captivate ($249 for 2 yr contract at ATT store) will sell for $40 with a new contract, or only $99 to renew (Addendum:  that’s $99 for a renewal for an individual plan.  It is $149 for a family plan phone)! Other great deals as well. Just go to wireless.amazon.com and check them out.

SECURITY ALWAYS:

• Steve was visiting his grandmother’s and found an unsecured WiFi. Not a problem–necessarily, EXCEPT the Router had NO PASSWORD.
• Tip to listeners: at least enter a password for the router (especially DLink routers that have as their default “NO” password)

PICKS of the Week:Steve: Paper.li Build your own online newspaper based on your friends on Facebook or Twitter. Works from any OS on any browser.

Chris: iPad Twitter App

Tony: eCamm Skype Recorder

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Steve’s info:  [blog] http://theprofessornotes.com[twitter] @scmprofessor

Tony’s info: [blog] http://getthenext.com [twitter] @tonypittman

Chris’ info: [blog] http://targuman.org/blog [twitter] @targumanJosh’s info: [twitter] @joshfink

Real Tech for Real People was started by Tony Pittman and me to talk about tech issues that everyone has–not just those issues that are of interest to the tech elite, or the “technorati.” Many that do podcasts lose sight of the fact that not everyone has extremely fast broadband into their homes (cable or FiOS), and those there are people that use computers but don’t want to spend time every day working and tweaking.

We try to answer the every day questions that every person has. What should you consider when buying a notebook computer? Are there differences in monitors? What are the differences between all these new phones?

And if you like our podcast, and want to show your support, please do it while giving yourself a little something as well.  We are selling coffee mugs, t-shirts, and mousepads (along with other great gifts) through CafePress.  Just visit http://cafepress.com/rtfrp and order your item today.  Show everyone that YOU are a real person!

REAL TECH FOR REAL PEOPLE: For people with tech in their lives, that don’t live for the tech

=============================
We review the first year of Real Tech

Click here to subscribe via iTunes

NEWS
BCS NEWS: Graham Spanier to be next BCS Chair. (okay, football news…)

Google lets you make phone calls from GMAIL. Check the story at their blog.

Apple TV Rumor. More Disintermediation?

Sun Attacks Earth! (in 2012, maybe, according to scientists…) The news from India.

USAF C-5 gets “Makeover” — emerges at C-5M (from the “News from Last Year” category…)

Disney and Time Warner duke it out. Why I have issues with Cable!

ESPN 360 is great for online sports–*IF* you can get access

Commodore…. it’s BACK

APP CORNER: The Daily App Show with Adam Curry. (search for the iPhone App)

TIP of the WEEK: Google GMail LABS. Adds all sorts of cool tools, including the option to “undo send”, send and receive SMS “text” messages in chat, and a wealth of other items.

PICKS of the WEEK:
Steve: nextup.com TextAloud

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Steve’s info: [blog] http://theprofessornotes.com [twitter] @scmprofessor
Tony’s info: [blog] http://getthenext.com  [twitter] @tonypittman
Chris’ info: [blog] http://targuman.org/blog  [twitter] @targuman
Josh’s info:  [twitter] @joshfink

I was a generally happy iPhone user when I first got my 3G. I was also a very happy Google Voice user (still am) and was quick to install the Google Voice apps when they arrived. I became rather reliant on the app, since the Google Voice number is the only one I give out. Then the app disappeared. I was not happy.

So I joined the ranks of people who “jailbroke” their phones. I only jailbroke when I had a need–and for me that need was Google Voice access. I then found the use of settting up a 3G wifi hotspot using the MyWi app.

Of course, as I mentioned in my previous post, I recently switched over to the Android OS and the Samsung Captivate and again, part of the move was the tight integration with the Google Voice service. There are many other useful applications that make the Android attractive to me, but certainly the Google Voice app was a significant draw.

I am glad to see that Apple is letting Google Voice back in, but I am not sure that it will mean much any more. Will it be enough to bring people back into the fold? Will they reconsider switching to the Android, because Apple is being (potentially) more open, or has Apple lost some people–perhaps permanently?

As reporters say when they have nothing else to say…. “Only time will tell…”

I bought the iPhone 3G when it came out in 2008. Yes, I even waited in line for an Apple device.¹ I liked the phone, and unlike many others really felt no need to upgrade to the 3GS the next year, or even the iPhone 4.² I did jailbreak my phone, but I only did that after Apple unceremoniously removed the Google Voice application from the App Store.

I did generally update my phone whenever a new update came out, only waiting first to ensure the jailbreak was also available at the time. This was true with the 4.0 update as well. I wanted folders, and multitasking. Who wouldn’t? It’s what we have all been clamoring for since the first iPhone arrived. And, as promised iOS 4.0 (and later, 4.01) delivered. Sadly, for iPhone 3G owners that meant that we paid a great price–our phones no longer responded to our desires with swift efficiency. Instead our phones responded sluggishly, if at all. Answering phone calls became a race between the phone responding to my command to answer, and the caller’s patience on the other end. More often than not the caller, unaware of the skirmish between me and my phone, would hang up.

So I, like every other 3G owner who had upgraded to 4.0, upgraded when the 4.1 iOS rolled out. And yes, the snap, the responsiveness, is back. Mostly.

But “Surprise!” that is the only significant new feature announced in 4.1 to actually make it into the 3G version of 4.1.³ In fact, they removed multitasking!

I will say, I was never happier with my decision to switch to the Android OS and the Samsung Captivate Phone I made the switch days before the iOS 4.1 update. I thought it was a good chance to try to Android OS, and I have 30 days with AT&T to decide if I want to keep the phone. I will provide a review of the Captivate later, but after 1 week, I am definitely thinking this is a keeper.

So does this mean that Flickr is as bad as Facebook, running rough-shod over our rights with our own photographs?

I don’t think so, and let me explain why.  In the case of Facebook, they (the Facebook Machine) declared that all our Photos belong to Them (and us.)  Actually, the Flickr action is meant to ensure that all my photos remain my photos.  If I take a photograph, and I am willing to show it to the world, then I don’t mind you sharing it (perhaps) but only if you keep my credit attached.  People have been going around, linking to others photographs without linking back to the original, or to Flickr.

That is changed.  Now you must provide a way to link back.

To demonstrate, I have included one of my photos taken using the iPhone in the local Walmart.  As you (most likely) know, I am a Supply Chain and Operations Management professor. One of the things I teach is “service” and facility layout and design.  This photograph shows how our local Wal*Mart positioned their inventory in the floorspace prior to stocking–blocking access to much of the store (forcing you to walk around) and in one case, keeping you from purchasing their more expensive (and most likely higher margin) electric razors.

*sigh*

The Razors

One of the interesting points (and relevant to Warehouse 13)  is that males tend to throw “Rock” first.

Go visit the site, and read–it’s worth you time–especially if you use Rock-Paper-Scissors to decide who gets to shoot the bad guys first.

Recently a writer at the Atlantic Monthly has done the same thing, exploring the 4 myths around religion, and discussing the impact the “Antenna Problem” may or may not have had on the “faithful.”  It’s a good read, but I find the discussions in the comment section even more interesting.

The author of the article includes the video showing a hypothetical exchange between a tech salesman and a customer.  The customer insists that he(?) wants an iPhone.  When the salesperson presents reasons for wanting another phone, the customer insists on an iPhone.  ”It’s has the wifi.”

What intrigues me, and what has me wanting to get my brother’s take on this, isn’t so much the article, or even the video, but the comment thread that has arisen, discussing the video.  One commenter (@therantguy) sees the video as simply portraying the blind fervor and devotion demonstrated by the Apple Faithful, while another sees the video as a testament to the “truth” about Apple-that other salespeople don’t listen, and actually mislead their customers while Apple is all that is true and virtuous.  The discussion goes on for a while, bringing in others as well–and it’s a good read!

So–here’s my question for those that play in the interpretation game:  What can we learn about how we interpret documents (scripture, the Constitution, our Tax Code) by this simple exchange?

For the video, watch this (but be warned, it’s NOT SAFE FOR WORK)

For a discussion on this, listen to “”Real Tech for Real People” episode 42.

I have received numerous emails purportedly from “Verizon Wireless” but which instead is a rather malicious attempt to download many evil things onto your compu

ter.  NOTE:  The emails really are NOT coming from Verizon Wireless, but are imposters.

The email advertises new features/phones, etc, and when you click on the link it “ultimately” takes you to the Verizon Wireless site–but first routes you through several EVIL sites that drop malicious payloads into your computer  (trojans, keyloggers, password-stealers, worms, etc.)

TIP OFF? Check the actual email address that sent the email. It usually will be from some “other” site. I have seen:

• mugrealize (dot com)
• reply.rigidcomp (dot com)
• mx2.driftshy
• labelfair
• and many MANY others.

BEST DEFENSE: As always, DON’T use the links in the emails, but go directly to the site.

I discuss other ways of knowing whether an email is “legitimate” on the podcast.  Go listen to Episode 42.

As I understand it, Twitter added “lists” because people wanted a simple way of grouping the people they follow according to some sort of structure that made sense to them.  Tweetdeck had added that capability through “groups” and I had even started using that feature.  I had built groups based on my major categories of interest:  Family. Close (real) friends.  Local people. Educators.  Twitter took that idea, allowed us to create lists through them, and then also offered the option to make the lists “public” and subscribe-able.  People can see your public lists, and if they like them–follow them!

Once Twitter released that option I had actually abandoned the notion of groups and lists.  I wasn’t so sure about what I wanted to use them for anyway.  I have since gone back, adding a private list of just family and friends.

So here is what I am wondering as I peruse the 35 lists that have listed my brother, and the lists that have added me:

Are they all really that different?  And if not, are they a “waste” of time?

In my lists, I see I am listed on a number of Supply Chain Management lists.  And educator lists.  My brother’s lists are understandably predominantly discipline related, and education related.  There are a few others, but those dominate–and that’s the point.  There appears, on a curory look, to be significant overlap on these lists.

The concept of “Wisdom of the Crowds” and “Crowd-sourcing” is that crowds, when gathered together, make better decisions, and are more creative.  Potentially (and grossly oversimplified).   By building lists of people that share common interests we can see the views of others who are thinking about the same things, and get a wide range of perspectives. ²

So here are the “research questions” (or “investigative questions”) that I have:

1.  How many groups have identical or very similar themes? (Like “supply Chain Managers”)

2.  On similar lists, what is the membership overlap?

3.  How much time is spent developing these similar, and perhaps redundant, lists?

4.  Is there a better way to “share” lists, so people aren’t always reinventing the lists (and taking time to do that?)

5.  Is there some psychological need that gets filled by creating one’s own lists, rather than following someone else’s list?  Control? Ownership?

I like the grocery store analogy, but he didn’t  go where I thought he would.

Original Image from http://www.joe-anybody.com/id47.html

I thought he was going to go with the “General Store” analogy where Mr Ike (remember the Waltons?) would be behind the counter. You would go the counter with your mom’s list and he would get everything for you. No real choice in manufacturer of flour, or sugar, or even fabric. You bought what he bought, and brought.

Then we had the advent of the supermarket. You, the consumer, could now peruse from a vast array of similar products, deciding which ones of the myriad choices was right for you. Let’s take my favorite example: tomato paste. You want Heinz? Hunts? Giant store brand? Great Value? You want 4 oz? 8? 16? 32? The killer 64 oz? The assortment just of tomato based products is staggering–yet all choices we have.

Our choices remain limited by that which Walmart, or Giant, or Wegman’s chooses to stock, but (at least in the 2 former cases) they are limited by fiscal and physical constraints, and not some artistic and aesthetic focus.

If you don’t like the choices at one grocery store, you can simply go to another.

Apple is somewhere between these. They aren’t limiting us to only one choice (but oh happy day if we only could be annoyed by one fart app instead of 300!)

Apple however does limit choice. They not only control the store, but they won’t let you go to another store (without forcing you to make ‘unauthorized changes” to your device. Now, I hear the response–”you can go to another store–get a different phone!” But that’s not really the same.

In the analogy of the grocery store I have a device that I use to consume a product (my stomach, and all pertinences attached thereto). I am able to choose between a selection of products that I consume, but the device of consumption stays the same.

In the Apple model, I am forced to forgo a consumption device (one that might have a large number of appealing factors) for the “option” to consume a different assortment of products.

I don’t see why it has to be “either, or.” This Cartesian Anxiety must stop. Tell us that we are “safest” if we shop in the company store. But let us choose (perhaps through an “opt in” feature that won’t cause nightmares with firmware updates) to choose a different store. Let the consumer decide on the risks of consumption, while allowing us to have the same consumption device.

Let us “choose.”

Does Apple not have the “Stomach” for that?

So, here are my replies to his 14 requests.  Some were rather quick, others are requests for tech that would be “way cool” if we could ever get it. Without further ado, the 14 points:

You may know that I am trying to leave Facebook (and if you read my posts, you know I proposed a way to ‘roll your own’ using existing social networking sites.)  The reason I am concerned about Facebook, and wanting to leave, is that I am tired of the constant push and pull.  They push the limits on protecting privacy, we push back, they pull back… They claim they own our photos, we push, they pull back… I am not surprised, though. They don’t view their users as their customers (we aren’t–the advertisers are) but they simply view their users as the generators of content that will drive advertising sales.

The problem is that I am not sure how many really understand the several layers of privacy that could be at risk.

And here is where Moms put their kids at risk.  You know that security question “What is your mother’s maiden name?” Well… with so many women including there maiden name on facebook (“hey–my old friends can find me easier!”) it may actually put their childrens’ identity at risk.¹  I suppose this wouldn’t be a problem, so long as we make sure we don’t connect to our parents/siblings, and so forth.  But we share the information (Maiden name) and the say “oh, here are my kids’ names, too.”

Quickly, let me say I am in no way really trying to blame moms for ANYTHING here.  It’s not the fault of Moms or the kids.   I suspect all of us are in a sense “guilty” here–we don’t think about how easily people can connect the dots on this information.

Part of the problem here is that we don’t fully understand how Facebook shares information.  Apparently, even if you only share your information with your friends, if the friends have their settings open to “everyone” then your information is exposed.

I wish we could trust people. I wish we could trust Facebook.  But in this world we must be cautious.

It at first seemed a rehash of the old story.  As Google’s street mapping cars drive by the apparently record your WIFI address and map it to the GEOLOC (GPS) coordinates to enhance navigation. ¹  But then the story got, well.. interesting.

It turns out that they’ve also been collecting and storing data from those unsecured hotspots.  Anything that was being transmitted during the time those cars were driving by may have been picked up by Google’s software and stored.²

So, as if to prove to people that they should be encrypting their wifi networks, the Google car has been capturing the actual DATA being transmitted.  Now keep in mind, this isn’t just the data that is being sent out over the internet. Oh, no.  This is everything you are doing over your wifi network.

Saving homework to a network drive?

GOT IT.

Moving pictures or music from one computer to another?

GOT IT.

Updating your business’ financial spreadsheets on the network drive?

GOT IT.

But we shouldn’t worry, because Google doesn’t want to do evil, and so they are doing everything they need to do.  They will make adjustments to their software to stop “eavesdropping” on your digital “in home” conversations.  And then, at the end of the article, they tell us this:

Google says it will work with local authorities to show what information was collected and make sure it is disposed of properly.

Yup–have no fear.  Whatever information they have “accidentally” collected will be given to the local authorities to dispose of “properly.”

Honestly, I am more concerned about my financials getting handed around than I am anything else, but does this strike anyone else as… well…. odd?  And remember, you don’t have to be doing something “illegal” to have information that could be embarrassing or personally destructive if  released.  ^{3   4}

Usually the local authorities need a warrant to tap into your phone and data lines.  They certainly need a warrant before they can go into your homes. (Just ask Jason Chen) but what happens if someone “just happens to give them information?”  Can that information be used?  I mean, it essentially has the same weight as “we received a tip from a citizen that…”

Should we be worried?  What are your thoughts?  Big Brother, or a “Tempest in a Teapot?” ⁵

What to do?

How about this–build your own community!  The tools are already here–we just need to come up with a coordinated way to share.

Let’s start with Twitter as the “hub.”  You can use Twitter to keep in touch, and follow your friends.  Of course, it is important to note that your public tweets are just that.  PUBLIC.¹  So what to do?  First, watch what you say (always good advice.)  Second, if you want to add an extra layer of privacy just create a “Blocked” account, and only allow your followers to see what you post. So you can share with your friends what you are doing, and they can share with you.  And let’s not forget the direct, one-on-one messages you can share, or “DMs.”

But that’s just the start.  Do you like sharing your photographs?  Flickr is a much better site for photo storage and sharing anyway. It’s the purpose of Flickr. And in Flickr you can create or join photo groups that are focused on things that interest you, ranging from entertainment groups you might have been in, to people sharing the same interests in photographic subjects or cameras.  In addition, you can make your photos public and visible to everyone, or just to friends, or for family.  You can control the access to your photographs and even control who can download the image or reuse it. On top of all of that, you can even choose to make your photo available to photo services to use and pay you for the use! If you haven’t checked out Flickr, you really should.

And when you add a photo to flickr, and want the world to know about it–tell them on Twitter!

Now maybe you want to share videos.  There are many sites for doing that, as well.  Certainly YouTube is the most well known but Vimeo is making a strong showing as well.  Again, you can share your videos publicly, or share only with friends.  (And Flickr also now supports limited videos, as well!)

This is just the tip of the iceberg.  These three sites (Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube) really address the majority of how people use Facebook–to connect, share conversation, share photos, and share videos.  Why turn over control to Facebook, when you can “roll your own?”

So let us know–how else do you use Facebook, and what other community tools do YOU know that could help wean ourselves off Facebook?

And let’s start with Twitter.  You can find me there as @scmprofessor

Privacy.  PRIVACY.  The RIGHT to PRIVACY.  Do you believe we should have a right to privacy?  Should we expect that our government will allow us to live our lives without surveillance, free from the need to check, to constantly look over our shoulders to see who from the government is watching?

As always the world is full of events occupying our time and driving the news.  And, as is usually the case, each story is presented in isolation.  Rarely does anyone discuss the connectedness of the stories or their implications.  Often, that means little, but occasionally the disconnectedness points to the dissonance in government when agencies pursue their agendas.  Once in a while the opportunity arises from this to view the conflict in “generalizable principles” that drive our government’s behavior.

Yesterday President Obama made a rare selection for the Supreme Court choosing someone who has not sat on the bench. ¹  In the past few decades concomitant with the selection of a nominee we have heard the hue and cry from both sides of the abortion debate.  So far there has been little discussion on this issue. ²   The Washington Post today suggests today that part of the silence is due to the economic issues of the past few years, but hints that the lack of a record on the part of Elena Kagan will cause many to dig back through what record there is.  This in itself could be cause for silence.

As the Post points out the issue of concern to many is her views on the “right to privacy.”  Interestingly, this is the “right” that has been cited as the underpinnings of a woman’s right to choose.  Also, interestingly, opponents point out the glaring absence of the “right” to privacy in the constitution. ³

The Washington Post may be correct–this may well be the sleeper issue of the summer. ⁴

So the right to privacy has been a major underpinning of the “pro-choice” movement.  And so far the government has held that there is a “right to privacy.” The question now is–is that a special right, or a general right?  That is, does this “right to privacy exist only for the arguments surrounding and defending abortion, or is it a fundamental right that is applied to everyone in every walk of life, every day?

Think long and hard about this.  What is the heart of the debate concerning immigration in Arizona?  Is it really racism? Or is it about the right to live a private life, without the intrusion of the government into your private life without cause?  After removing the words “Racism” and “racist” from the discussion, the most vocal arguments so far against the new immigration law in Arizona have centered around the stopping of individuals that law enforcement might believe are here illegally based solely on “their perceived ethnic origin.” So the question really is one of privacy.

Now let’s take that next step–the government actually implying that they are using the tools of high-tech espionage to track down citizens–not for terrorism, or murder, or violent crimes, but for failing to pay $4000 in taxes. ⁵  (See the video below)

Of course, we all know that the state of Pennsylvania doesn’t actually use satellite surveillance and listening devices, and gps tracking to monitor their citizens.⁶  It’s just a commercial. It’s not meant to REALLY intimidate anyone.  It’s just meant to be cute.

Right?  RIGHT?

One author, however, worries that if we view the iPad as the path that Apple would rise up and exert censorship over the content, giving us the Jobs view of the world (much as many criticize Disney for giving us Walt’s sanitized view of how the world is.)  I could see  Apple doing that not only to sanitize content, but also to further whatever political agendas they may have given their apparent arbitrary, capricious and vindictive approaches to what is and isn’t approved.  (political in this sense in the larger meaning, not simply political as in government affairs.)

I mentioned this is an email, and in reply, I was told that we shouldn’t worry about that.  That Apple has demonstrated a willingness to not interfere in educational issues as shown through iTunesU and that Apple would probably never get enough market share for that to happen.

Perhaps.  But that led me to ponder further what really would it take to get digital texts  (or as my brother calls them “educational applications” to move from obscurity to ubiquity–and will proprietary get in the way?

First I wanted to address the interesting  notion that  iTunesU is the model of an Open Apple.  That might be true, but the textbook/educational applications that we are seeing discussed are positioned to be sold through the AppStore model, and  the App Store is a model of a closed Apple.  At times, a VERY closed Apple.   Recently we have seeen Apple exerting control not only on content but the tools to be used in developing that content.But let’s set aside for a moment the problems of if Apple were to control the market, and look at what it would take to get there.
Perhaps my correspondent is correct that Apple cannot garner enough market share to make them (and their iPad) a viable contender and competitor in the textbook space, but then we are left wondering:

• If Apple doesn’t control a significant share of the textbook “space” then what are the options for students?
• What incentive will students have to drop $500+ on a device that only a small fraction of faculty will have as the platform for their texts/instructional materials?

Will Apple work towards open standards so that the books/media will be able to be hosted on a wide range of platforms, or will Apple insist on a proprietary standard, working towards exclusivity for the instructional material they “host” on their platform.  This isn’t simply a red herring tossed out to direct attention from some “Greater Good.”  The fact is that right now students are able to choose from a variety of sources to purchase their texts (and thus a wide range of service/price combinations) and even between new and used books.  Faculty can choose between various textbook publishers/providers, which allows the professor to not only choose the best content, but the best value package for the students.

All that can disappear if one source controls the access to the media, and if there exist competing exclusive and proprietary sources for access to media, then students will be required to purchase not one, but several expensive readers/devices depending on the choices of the faculty member.  Or, alternatively the faculty will be hamstrung, “encouraged” by students or administration to only focus on those source-materials available and the dominant device.

So here we go–what is the decision making process that leads a faculty member to assign a “multi-media resource” as the course “text” rather than a regular textbook? What do you when the students are told that for my ONE class the book is no longer that big expense at $100-200 but rather the iPad becomes the big expense–costing 2-5 times that amount. AND there is no guarantee that any other faculty members will commit to a similar path? And of course the publishers don’t want to reduce the price of the “text” below 50% of the current price AND don’t want to make the “book” available permanently. And don’t forget, most technology has a life of 2-3 years when used regularly. Heavy use, along with ever increasing complexity of the applications/software, may well shorten the lifespan of the product that students must purchase, shifting them from a 1 time outlay to 2, or 3 times in the span of a college career–assuming of course that enough faculty adopt these “books” to make it worth their while.

At a time when the pressures from students AND the federal government is to lower the costs of education (and specifically texts) what professor wants to be the one to step up and insist that students get a high priced device that is designed for obsolescence?

So we are faced with an interesting challenge.  At a time when technology is holding out such promise we find at least one company who has the technical ability to break down the cost walls while simultaneously catapulting the technology of learning well beyond anything we have experienced.  And we find that the same company is tighting the grips on their “ecosystem” arguing that they can control their own little corner of the world.

This is one of those pivotal moments–we can see proprietary walls go up, and little gardens of creative learning spread slowly.  Or we can encourage open architectures that will enable creativity and learning to spread quickly, and widely.

Ubiquity? Or Proprietary? Which way do you think things will go?

That said I have had my issues with the device.  In this post I want to focus on two:  the initial syncing to iTunes for Windows users, and the on-screen keyboard.

I had some initial problems getting it synced with my Windows 7 machine, which i initially attributed to my own unique configuration, but have since heard many others have had similar problems.  Specifically iTunes 9.1 won’t “see” the iPad (and in my case stopped seeing the iphone as well.) The solution was simple if time consuming–completely delete out the installation of iTunes and all things Apple.

I will say though that, by not being able to connect to the computer at first, i found the iPad to be a real joy to use as a stand alone device.  I was able to get applications quite easily, and watch streaming video.  If it weren’t for my insane desire to actually listen to and watch my already purchased media I would have had no desire to connect.

That does beg the question though–why must we actually continue to connect our devices with the computers through cables? This device is the epitome of mobility allowing full connectivity through wifi and soon through 3G cell networks.  Cant Apple find a way to sync the ipad to the computers wirelessly?  (HINT:  Microsoft already does that with the ZUNE)

Now the next criticism is the keyboard.  First let me say that I generally enjoy typing on the screen keyboard.  I am using it now in fact.  But some of the key placements are a bit awkward considering the fact that I am starting to use it like a “normal” keyboard.  I expect keys to be in certain places, and when they require two or three extra keystrokes to use (yes apostrophe i am talking to you!) i find it to to be a hindrance.  But what is worse given that I am not a professional typist, is the lack of arrow keys.  When i type (er, mistype) i want to be able to go back and edit the word without trying to place the cursor with my fingertip.  Perhaps others are more dextrous than I, but I have a heck of a time getting it “exactly” right, forcing me to make more corrections than i had intended, and again hindering the work flow.

In your reading of this you may have come across another annoying “feature.” For some reason the smart typing system insists on a lower case I more often than not.  Others have noticed this as well, and my brother even brought it up in conversation.   A seemingly trivial annoyance, but one that requires an inordinate amount of proof-reading when they could have just left things alone.

Admittedly I could go and purchase either the keyboard Dock or the Bluetooth keyboard but honestly, I think that defeats the purpose of the highly portable and lightweight device.

So there you have it.  A couple of my “nits” that I am going to pick about the iPad.

Now–back to watching Castle on the ABC app!

Today’s soldier, airman and sailor (fine, and marine) carries around not only their weapon and ammunition, but provisions, body armor and all sorts of other sundries not dreamed of in past wars.  Much is designed to ensure both success and survivability on the battlefield.  But like soldiers through the ages, they like to have diversions and distractions through reading material during the “down” times.

Enter the eReader and digital books.  The beauty of these devices is they can hold hundreds of books at weight that at most tips the scale at 1.5 pounds.  This is quite attractive for the warfighter already hauling tens of pounds of gear.

An organization has formed to provide eReaders/eBooks to troops.  Their vision is:

to build the nation’s leading non-profit organization dedicated to providing e-books and e-book technology to military personnel who are deployed overseas defending our country.

and by doing this they hope to support the men and women who serve our country, putting their lives on the line daily.

I have used this then to spurred some discussion on Twitter about the survivability of these devices in the field.  Which would hold up better, an iPad or a Kindle?

Some of the considerations have included:

• Susceptibility of the screen to cracking/breaking
• Dust/Sand damage
• Battery life
• Ability to purchase/install books

One person on Twitter, @nutzareus, has commented on his experience in the field and noted that regardless what you use you must use an OtterBox to protect your device.  He commented that he used the OtterBox Defender Case for iPhone 3G, 3GS when he was in the field.

Other contributors to the discussion include:

@dpowensj, @obsidianspider, @iPeat

So what other things should be considered?  What do YOU recommend for our soldiers?  Please, share your thoughts.

Google has now made storytelling through searches available for the masses!  I decided to throw together a VERY quick story, about the marriage of Apple, Best Buy and the iPad.  There is very little control over the story, in that it only shows search results, so through trial and error you may be able to come up with the PERFECT story.

In fact, some have done AMAZING work (go see the examples for the Winter Games for instance).  Try it.  Let me know what YOU like.

It is priced at $50, which is a bit pricey to start, and became an unacceptable price for me when I started using the case at home.

The one thing–the ONE thing it doesn’t do is actually make the connection to the dock connector when placed in the “easel style dock” sold by Apple.  The silicon is thin enough that the iPad will settle comfortably and securely onto the dock but will not actually settle in far enough to make a connection.

That for me is a deal breaker.  It’s going BACK to Best Buy!

That said, if you didn’t get the Apple Dock and/or if you don’t mind $50 as a price, then by all means get it.  But remember, the Apple portfolio case is $10 cheaper.

So today I trundled over to the app store and decided to download the free WordPress app. It is Spartan in design in that it provides a simple interface for entering text and no real “glitz” with the interface. that said it does have an option to add images, and even provides a drop down menu for selecting categories.

When adding images I lose the ability to place the image where I want it to specifically go, but I can at least get the image in the blog, and provide the information and content i want a he reader to get–I can always edit/redesign later.

Enough of this-you should see it to believe it.

In my homage to all things meta, here is this blog entry added as an image:

NOTE:  Comment  after posting from iPad.  I am leaving everything above exactly as it posted.  As you can see the image posted in portrait mode, even though the iPad knew that I was in landscape mode when I took the snap.  Also there was no easy way to resize the image.  I have noticed that, after posting, I can go in and edit directly the HTML code that is embedded to display the image.

I am willing to accept that these are failures on my part.  I don’t know the inner workings of the iPad yet, or the WordPress app, but my “first touch” experience says that this app adds some quite useful features, but is still lacking some of the basics that would make it far more useful when “on the run.”

Once you download the app, you can see a display showing the planets and the future stages of the moon over the next few days.  In that first screen you can learn when the Sun will rise and set, how long our day will be that day, and when each planet will rise and set.

(click for larger image)

You can go past that to a full sky mode that not only shows you the stars but can overlay constellations and the horizon but even more, as you turn, it turns, showing you what is in front of you as you turn, using e built in compass. Heck, I didn’t realize that the iPad even had a compass in it!

Check. Out the link. I will try to add screen captures later.

(Click for larger image)

blog post written completely on iPad — and not easily.  More on that later.

First out of the gate is Camera for iPad.  We had talked in Episode 31 (recorded last night) about the lack of a camera for the iPad.  Not an “order loser” (at least not for 300,000+ new owners) but certainly something we would have liked to have seen.  It turns out there are ways around it.  The first approach is to tie your iPad to your iPhone.  Admittedly this only works if you have an iPhone, but if you do, the app “Camera for iPad” will link your iPad to your iPhone via the bluetooth connection and allow you to capture pictures using the iPhone.  This is a very interesting app (and for 99 cents total, installed on both devices, affordable) and I am looking forward to seeing what other innovative  ways people will link their iPhone and other bluetooth enabled devices to their iPad.

(Click for larger image)

NOTE:  Please, after reading through here, share your thoughts to my question that I ask at the end of the post. I crave your inputs and your ideas on this topic of great significance to students, and parents, who buy textbooks)

Underlying my view on digital textbooks is the idea that publishing through a digital medium removes the costs of production, shipping, and other supply chain costs, and thus could significantly reduce the costs of the  texts, resulting in the possibility of a substantial reduction in price to the students.  In addition, I argue that by making the textbooks very reasonably priced students would be more likely to simply “buy new” rather than seek out ways to hack the protections and “steal” books.

Unfortunately it seems the publishers are seeking to do everything they can to dissuade students from making the shift to digital books while appearing to be progressive.

Let me explain:

I have a textbook that I use for my Introduction to Supply Chain and Production Operations course.  The text is Operations Management (10th Edition) by Jay Heizer and Barry Render.  According to Amazon, the text lists new for $198.67 but is available through Amazon for 162.98.  Amazon points out that this is a savings of 18%.  ²

So what would you expect the price to be for a digital version?  $30? $50?  $75?

Try $99.35 — and this isn’t a copy you OWN!  You are essentially leasing it (subscribing to it) for 6 months!

Don’t believe me?  Visit the link, and also check the graphic below (click to see larger image.)

This is just one example of the pricing schema.

So let me ask you this:

• Do you believe a 50% discount off the list price is enough to get you to “purchase” a digital 6 month subscription rather than purchase the text?
• What are your thoughts on the subscription idea versus owning an actual copy of the text?
• What would it take to move YOU to a digital textbook?

And what if that resource is required?

I had the privilege to speak with a representative from a textbook publisher about their new technological advance, designed to help students learn better, and even more, help faculty by automating the grading and evaluation process.  At first blush I was convinced we had a win-win here. Students would be able to learn at their own pace, seeking out knowledge to help them with their problems while simultaneously lifting some of the administrative burden that faculty like least–the grading of homework.  ¹  In the presentation, I was shown how students could not only work through their homework problems, but also click a link to take them directly to the section of the textbook that discusses the approaches needed to solve the homework problem.

While all these solutions are browser based and would work on a wide range of netbook, notebook and desktop computers (Mac, Windows and presumably LINUX based) I was beginning to see just how a digital device such as the Apple iPad could be perfect for such a solution.  The iPad could easily contain all the textbooks a student would have in a semester, could then also assist in the completion not only of the homework but could be instrumental in integrating their understanding of the material with their communications with their classmates and their professor and, given the right writing tools, could be the hub for their homework, email and writing assignments.

Then my thoughts came to a screeching halt when the representative started to talk about prices.

*SIGH*

Access to the homework tool (included in the purchase of a NEW textbook) would cost students $10 if they chose to instead by a book used.  Of course, that would only give them access to the homework assignments.  There was an additional fee ($30 I believe) if they wanted to have the “PLUS” features, including the hyperlinking to the appropriate section of the text.  Of course students could simply purchase the complete digital version, integrating the textbook with the online supplemental materials, and read the books on their computer ²

As I listened, I started hearing the dollar signs tally up quite quickly–and all because of decisions I would make concerning the structure of my class.  Would I require students to complete their homework online?  Would I choose to be considerate of their purse-strings and instead make the online homework an option–requiring me as a faculty member to not only NOT see a time savings but now instead have to manage two separate streams of assignment turn-ins, along with separate grading schema as well?

And what about the students who feel they learn best when they can sit, with a pencil and piece of paper, textbook open before them and their trusty calculator by their side, plugging and chugging their way through to the solutions each problem challenging, then leading to the epiphany they so richly enjoy?

So now I sit here, faced with the interesting challenge–Do I push forward into the technology of pedagogy, and require students to spend more money for digital learning, or do I resist, ironically clinging to paper texts with the twisted ideal of helping students more frugally achieve their learning objective?  Or do I try to chart a course, mandating neither, and potentially creating chaos in the wake? ³

How do we know if it is working?

I have had a simple measure:  Do some (or even any) students use the tools, and when they use them do they feel that they are grasping the material better?

My thought has been that numbers don’t matter as much as outcomes for individuals and if some students find value then these approaches are worth continuing.

What are your thoughts?  Must we have numbers to be considered successful?

Once this hard fought and necessary battle was won, the HOA celebrated their victory, and opened up a Yahoo Group to the community to enhance communications.  Alas, this seems to have brought out not a spirit of friendship and community but one of sniping and backbiting.

Everyone has their own little petty concerns that bother them.  Of course, what seems to bother them the most are what their neighbors are doing with their own property, or with their cars in front of their property.  And of course, all arguments er discussions are brought up with the “greater good” at heart, the greater good being, of course “Property Values.”

Sounds fair, right?

Try this one.  The first comment (and I mean the very first comment) was that, now that the roads have been paved and it is easier to get into your driveway, we need to mandate that everyone parks in the drive and ban parking on the streets in front of their own home.  Oh, and if you have too many cars for the driveway–you need to park in your garage.

The battles have continued, over swimming pools, RVs, pets, fences, and all the various other issues that can annoy neighbors.  But despite all of this, one things remains constant:  no one wants to participate in a Democracy.  They want things to simply be “their way.”

As I mentioned I am renting, so I honestly have “no dog in the hunt.”  I couldn’t care less how things are for the long term.  I just enjoy watching this little corner of America play itself out.  So I have until now just stayed out of the discussions, and watched–and laughed.

This weekend after a rather lengthy back and forth discussion with someone having violated a “24 hour RV parking rule” by 48 hours, I finally offered up my suggestion.  The argument seemed to focus on two things.  First, one group was adamant that “these are the rules” and it doesn’t matter if you like these rules are not, rules are rules and must be followed.  The other group (to summarize) essentially argued that some of these rules are silly and the application of fines and punishments for silly rules is beyond silly.

So I stepped in and suggested that, here in America, it might be a good idea to put the various rules up for a referendum.  Let the community decide as a whole, through a vote, which rules are important and which are worth modifying or discarding.  Then, as we always do in America, live with the will of the people until the next opportunity to change the rules presents itself. {2.  The current rules were simply “handed down” as an edict from the builder when he created the community (remember the builder? Bankrupt and all…) The various members did agree to the rules when they moved in, but are these rules to remain etched in stone for all eternity? ]

Seems simple.  But nooooooo… You can’t change the rules.  The rules are the rules.  And of course, my FAVORITE argument was this one:

“The only people who would want to change the rules are the people who want to break them in the first place.  We shouldn’t give these lawless people a voice!”

SERIOUSLY?  Yes… seriously.  That was the response.  Um. Duh.  People who repeal laws usually do so to allow a behavior that had previously been made illegal.  Remember Prohibition anyone?

I could go on, recounting story after story–the stories are numerous and honestly, I am saving every one of them, hoping some day to turn this dysfunctional microcosm of America into some sort of Erma Bombeck style book.

In the meantime, I would LOVE to hear from each of you–do YOU have any HOA stories you can share?  Horror, humor or happy?

I have found that, on days when I am checking emails with greater frequency, listening to music and podcasts, and tweeting, my battery lasts about 6 hours.  The Mophie has come in quite handy.  If you want to actually USE your phone, then this is a must-have device.

The Mophie makes most buttons and connectors on the iPhone readily accessible. I can insert headsets, and press the power buttonsand the volume rocker quite easily.  On the other hand the “ringer/vibrate” switch is a little more difficult to operate (at least for me, since I don’t have fingernails to speak of…)  The other drawback is the connector (see below for more information on that).

They designers gave some serious thought to the use as both a phone and music player designing audio channels that direct your voice to the microphone and also channel the music out through the device with no limitations on volume or sound quality.

That said, the Mophie does have its drawbacks, specifically the connector.  The Mophie does not use the standard iPhone/iPod docking connector but rather uses a micro-USB connector (the same one used in the Amazon Kindle DX and Kindle 2).  The Mophie comes with a USB cable, so that you can easily plug the Mophie (and iPhone) into your computer, and your computer will recognize the iPhone and connect through to your iTunes application and any other applications you use with your iPhone.  The only real difficulty comes when you want to use other devices with your iPhone specifically designed with the Dock connector.  My simple solution–take the phone out of the Mophie.  That is what I do any time I want to listen to podcasts through my car soundsystem.  ¹

Pros:

• Doubles the battery life of the iPhone
• Protects the iPhone from accidental drops and tumbles
• 4 LEDs on the back indicate charge levels (with test button)
• No real significant weight/balance change
• Available in several colors

Cons:

• The connector is not the “standard” pass through for the iPhone Dock
• If you wish to use your iPhone with a “standard” device you must remove the phone from the Mophie
• Does increase the weight a bit
• Doubles the thickness of the phone

I have enjoyed the Mophie and the additional protection and power that it provides.  I only have to switch to battery from the Mophie occasionally, but when it was nice to know that I had that extra reserve ready to go when I needed it.

One final note:  my sister-in-law saw mine, liked it, and bought one for herself in red.  I asked her what she thinks and she too loves the extended battery life that she is experiencing.

I have mentioned many of these as my “picks of the week” over at our Real Tech for Real People podcast, so go visit the site, and listen to the weekly podcast to not only find out what we pick, but why!  My partners, Tony Pittman and Josh Finklestein always have great choices as well, and our guests do too!

My first pick today is one my eldest daughter gave me for Christmas.  I wanted an adapter that would let me use SD memory cards in my cameras that use “Compact Flash” cards.  The predominant reason is the increasing scarcity of CF cards and the lower price point and near ubiquity of the SD cards.  She found for me the SD-CF II : SD to CF Type II Adapter (Supports SDHC) by Semco.

This card is relatively inexpensive, and that is perhaps its biggest draw. For only $15 you can have a quick and easy way to make use of the readily available SD cards.   I have put it through its paces in the past few months and here is what I have found:

Pros:

• Inexpensive.  Yup, it’s downright cheap.
• Has worked in every camera I have used it in, which is my Sony Digital Alpha 100, my Canon Digital Rebel, and my Canon Digital Rebel Xt
• Has worked in every card reader I have used on my computers

Cons:

• Slow.  It’s not PAINFULLY slow, but it is not as fast as the SD memory I put in it, and frankly isn’t as fast as my existing CF cards (middle-of-the-road speed, for value)

So there you have it.  If you want to be able to capture every day pictures then this card is more than capable and opens up opportunities for you to take advantage of sales on SD cards that might not be available for CF Cards.  On the other hand if you have to shoot fast, and want very quick write speeds to “keep up with the action” at events like football or swimming, then you will want a dedicated higher end CF Card.

All in all, a solid value, and I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

=====

Books are wonderful things. Millenia ago, our predecessors shared their histories, and explained the world around them, through an oral tradition, passing stories down from one generation to another. Over time, these stories were written down, essentially “locking” the stories down on paper. Ever since, books have been a way to disseminate information for thousands of years, and with the advent of the printing press, to do so quickly, and broadly. We can partake in the imaginations of a Tolkien, a Lewis, a Shakespeare, or a Plato. We can read the political thoughts of Aristotle, Marx, and Obama, or the theological insights of Paul, Aquinas and Spong. We can even allow our minds to drift as we read romance novels through the ages, or the horror stories from Beowolf, to Frankenstein, to any Stephen King novel. Each book brings new thoughts, new images, and new imaginings.

In the 21st century we have even more ways to disseminate, and enjoy, the works and thoughts of others. Just as the printing press made paper books available to the masses, we have digital ebooks to take dozens of books with us, to read anywhere. We now also have stepped beyond “books on tape” to truly digital audio books that, when combined with personal media players such as the iPod, enable even those who cannot read to enjoy the panoply of thoughts.

If the printing press was the first revolution, sharing ideas with the literate masses, it was limited in the very requirement for literacy. In order to read, one must be able to read. Thus is its limitation it provided the impetus for literacy as more people sought to embrace the ideas made possible through literature.

This latest revolution both extends and hinders the reach of literature. Certainly, if one defines ‘educated’ and ‘literate’ as being exposed to ideas, then we can see how a more informed, and thus more literate, populace will result from such broad access to reading. And through the efforts of Project Gutenberg many of the classics through the ages are now available to the masses. People with internet access can now enjoy the thoughts of the ages, wherever they can reach the internet. And with the One Laptop per Child initiative, children in developing nations can be exposed to ideas global in scope, and timeless as the ages. And finally, whether one can actually read, or not, the proliferation and easy transportability of digital audio files has opened literature to everyone.

Alas, this great awakening may yet be returned to slumber. In the great confluence of enlightened self-interest we find that several challenges remain for making this the greatest literate population ever.

First, it is possible that, when provided with ample reasons to not learn to read, the population reverts once again to an “oral” tradition. Admittedly this is a different oral tradition. In this “new” tradition, the stories are told, and frozen, and remain accessible to those that can’t read. But in this “new” oral tradition the strengths of the oral tradition, the committing the stories to personal memory, embedding them deep in the social soul, is replaced by committing them to digital memory. The stories are retold, but not necessarily embraced. And perhaps worse, these stories then are so easily accessible as to render the impetus to read almost impotent. ¹

The second great challenge is the rush to protect the “digital rights.” Cory Doctorow, in a This Week in Tech podcast, (42 minutes, 50 seconds in) points out that Audible books, and other electronic book distributors, will not allow for the distribution of digital rights free books. Cory Doctorow actually insisted that his books be distributed without DRM, and audible refused.

So why is this the “second great challenge?” Perhaps the best way to explain the impact of DRM is to ask this set of questions: Have you ever given away a book? Loaned a book? Borrowed one from the library? The way digital rights are currently implemented, you cannot loan out a book that you have already read. You can’t say, as so many of us have, “this is a great book–I will give it to you when I am done.” In fact, the terms of service are such for the Kindle that you can’t sell, it loan it or give it away! If we are to experience the benefits of this greatest age of literacy, we need to allow for information to be shared. I honestly understand the concept of intellectual property (what professor doesn’t?) but I also understand that once we share an idea (and perhaps, get paid for it) the idea not only can enter the mainstream, we should hope that it does!

¹ In fact, this is one area in which I struggle with podcasting for courses. If I make my lectures, notes and answers available as audio podcasts have I disconnected the students even further from the richness that is “the text?”

That said, I am willing to go that route, with support from our listeners and my readers.

If you want to support me in getting an iPad, just click here, and make a donation to “Help Steve get an iPad”

Heck if you just like what you read, are pleased that I am here sharing my thoughts, or you enjoyed the video that posted from the swim team (or the other videos here and at http://thefathersonchats.com) then please, feel free to donate.

2 dollars, 4 dollars. 10 dollars.  Anything is gratefully accepted.

Thanks.

This time it was for Matthew’s Swim Team.  I had fun with this one, including playing with some 3D effects, but most importantly it was a chance for me to help the kids highlight the fun and excitement that was their Swim Season.

I would like to thank Mike Singletary for giving us the GREAT “Formula” quote, and the good folks Crackpot and Buzzkill at The No Agenda Show for the mix of the Formula quote.  It’s a great way to start a slide show–especially if we watch it “In the Morning.”

For the sound track I used:
Ladies and Gentlemen by Saliva

There’s A Party (Feat. George Clinton & Chali 2na) by N.A.S.A.

Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines by US Air Force Band and Singing Sergeants

Just A Friend by Biz Markie

Lord, Guard and Guide (The U.S. Air Force Hymn) by US Air Force Band and Singing Sergeants

Nota Bene:

There are two hidden audio jewels.  At the end of the first song, there is a faint voice over, with a certain person saying “I was told that, that suit is illegal.”  And then, before “Just a Friend” the audio is, in classic “no one likes to be a video star” mode being told “Brady, Go Away.”

So now we face  the BIG PROBLEM.

By shifting to a policy where everyone is now to be insured, we open the floodgates of demand (okay, a bit much. But we certainly will allow millions more in.) Demand for services will increase. So it would make sense that prices would increase to balance out the demand (remember Econ 101, all else equal, in the near term an increase in demand will result in an increase in price. In the long term it should result in an increase in supply, as the market responds to the increased demand for the product).

Will we see prices increase? Not for the consumer–they are capped at the Co-pay. And now we are seeing pressures to not raise prices from the supply side (and the insurance companies will be SHOT if they raise rates significantly).

So what happens now? If prices cannot go up, then demand will remain (unrealisticly) high. Unrealistic in that demand is acting free of the market place.

With demand high, and the inability to increase prices we will see no real “benefit” to more providers entering the marketplace.

More to the point, even if we could see more providers enter the market there are significant barriers to entry. Consider the medical field:

1. Doctors must go through extensive training, and then licensing (not to mention the fact that they never really get it right–so must keep “practicing”)

2. medicines must be approved after rigorous testing, and their labs must be approved, and so forth.

3. Various other licensing and authorizing are in place for therapists, assistants, nurses, and the like.

Supply cannot respond quickly, and with a rising demand and supply unable to keep up, and with no pricing mechanism to regulate the demand we will face:

Shortages of service resulting in long waiting lines/delays.

And how do you deal with shortages? Since the market forces are not allowed to work, we are left with the government stepping in, once again, to fix the mess of it’s own making. They will have to “ration” care.

Sorry–it’s a fact. In every nation that has shifted to “socialized” they have faced shortages, lines and rationing.

It’s not something we can “do better.”

It’s economics.

The whole initiative is predicated on a few arguments:

1. Costs (prices) are too high.
2. Insurance companies are “making too much money”
3. Millions of people don’t have access to care
4. The Health Care people are receiving is poor (oh, wait, it’s not about the actual care…)

So let’s tackle this. The basic problem now comes down to a discussion of supply and demand/economics.

As the system currently works we have two sets of perverse incentives fighting against the consumer (and one of these incentives takes place with the willing, yet unknowing, assistance of the patient)

First, the perverse incentives of the patient:

Currently, the “cost of entry” into the health care system is high (monthly “Insurance” rates) but thanks to low, or no, co-pays, the marginal costs of most health care transactions are quite low.

Given the low costs incurred per visit, and the high “sunk” costs incurred to enter the system, the insureds (patients) who HAVE insurance are incented to go to the doctors more frequently, and to go ahead and get the prescriptions (Hey, it’s only $3 copay at Wal*Mart!)

Of course, this is a mirage. The actual costs of each visit and each prescription are borne by the insurance companies, which then have to recover their costs through increased premiums, which of course has everyone screaming that the insurance companies are “gouging” the customers.

On the other hand, we have a set of pricing incentives that also conspire against the consumer. The ‘care providers” are aware that the patient/customer doesn’t see the actual costs–they only pay the co-pay. So given this we have a series of perversions that are at play:

1. Doctors are more able to prescribe tests/medicines, and the like, since they will receive little if any push-back from the patients because of costs. More services with a low marginal cost to the consumer/patient, but a higher total cost, paid by the insurance companies.
2. Insurance companies work to lower their costs by negotiating to pay health care providers a fraction (some value less than 1) of the billable rate. Thus the providers are incented to increase their prices the maintain their revenue stream. This increases the costs once again.

So these two twists to the problem work once again to force the insurance companies to have to raise the rates (really on everyone) to cover the payments they are having to make.

Now–as consumers, we see that we are paying a high “sunk cost” as a monthly fee and, rather than view this as traditional insurance (where I am betting against myself) the consumer wants to try to get at least that benefit back out of the “system” (and is encouraged to do so, by “low co-pays”)

Sadly, the whole mess was brought on by our desire to protect everyone and provide some level planning to health care. The “free market” actually would provide better incentives here, placing limits/governors not only on how much people are willing to spend on services, but the prices that people would have to pay. If service providers want to stay in business then they would be forced to price competitively based on the market, and the market would be making the decisions based on the consumers. As it stands now, with the “same co-pay regardless” the consumer has no indication of value, and the market cannot respond. Viagra is as valued as Interferon and as Motrin.

What to do when everything costs the same?

I am not alone in my expectation that the Health Care (insurance) reform will not improve Health Care (it won’t make bad doctors good ones, for instance) and it won’t improve access since lower prices have that pesky effect of increasing demand–in a field where the barriers to entry for suppliers are significant.

I will say this:  Welcome to the new “Grand Experiment.”  If it succeeds, then by all means celebrate (but could we get a good solid definition of success on which we can all agree?)  But (and this is significant) if it fails, how many will have died as part of the experiment, and will we ever be able to recover?

One final note:  As researchers we have to seek, and get, informed consent from human subjects before we can experiment on them.  Did you get the forms?

I am not writing this as a “hater” or critic of the iPad.  I just would love to see if the demand spiked on the first day and dropped precipitously, or whether the demand over the 21 days prior to shipping stayed relatively constant, or even ramped up as we approached the 3rd of April.

Here’s what I wonder:  people who are early adopters, and the first to get in line and wait for days for a new product, are by all anecdotal evidence I have heard the ones who pre-order, and pre-ordered on the first day they could.  And in the case of my brother, ordered it as soon as the Apple Store made it available.

If my supposition is true, then the demand for pre-ordered items would have been heavily front-loaded.  Conversely,  I would find it quite interesting if demand for the iPad through pre-ordering had any sort of ramping to the demand pattern.  If the demand was increasing, then the big question of the day would be:  Why?

The next question is are the people who would normally stand in line to get the next “really cool product” the same who would want to pre-order right away (and thus reduce or eliminate lines at the stores) or is the psychology of waiting in line for a “cool new product” palpably different from the psychology of “getting” it?

Anyone have any thoughts or insights into this?

I wanted to tackle this for a minute.¹  I would have to agree that the NEXUS is not selling as well as, well, most other smart phones on the market right now, but on the other hand let’s balance the assessment by pointing out a couple things contained in the short post above.

1.  The forecast anticipates selling 1 million units by the end of 2010.   This is actually quite a  significant figure for a phone that really only works best (for now) with T-Mobile.

2.  The Nexus is only “sold directly by Google.”  In fact, let’s be more pointed with this: it’s only sold by Google, through an online purchase.  Imagine if the only way to get an iPhone was through the Apple Store site.  Would they still have sold millions? Yes, undoubtedly, but one cannot discount the tremendous boost Apple received by having their products in the hands of thousands of people nationwide, simultaneously.  Not to mention the tremendous press coverage of the “long lines waiting to get their hands on their first iPhone” that we saw in every news media market.

Now, a million units sold in 1 year is relatively trivial compared to the numbers of even the iPhone 1st generation phone.  That said, consider the deck that Google has elected to stack against itself.

T-Mobile is a good and worthy network, so I am told.  But more often than not, people talk about it as if it is the little sibling of the  ”big 3″ when people talk about their cell-carriers.  I think I can count on one hand (without resorting to binary)  the number of friends and colleagues that use T-Mobile.  Selling a million units for a phone that is, out of the box, tied to a company with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-Mobile_USA is “not too shabby.”  (This compares right now with AT&T having approximately 85 million wireless customers.)  Given the large numbers of people who are locked in to their existing contracts, I don’t see many people switching carriers, especially since they are not afforded the opportunity to “try before they buy.”  (See next point)

Additionally, the decision by Google to only sell the Nexus online, through their website, has to hamstring their sales.  I may like tech, but when it comes to dropping $500 or more on a phone (and/or getting a long term contract) I want to be able to touch it first, see how it feels and responds in my hands, and feel like I was an informed consumer when  I make  my decision.  I suspect I am not alone.  More than once I have driven past our local T-Mobile store thinking that, if only they had a Nexus in the store, I would stop and at least test the waters.  I suspect that, if I could go in to a T-Mobile and not only play with the phone a bit, but talk with them about the affordability of switching from AT&T to T-Mobile, I would make the switch.  And again, I suspect I am not alone.

Finally, early reports of lack-luster customer support by Google has most likely scared off a number of would-be consumers.  Take away the store front/salesperson access, and market your phone on a network that would require me to switch carriers, and I am going to want, nay expect, a rather significant online and “on phone” support structure.   Unfortunately, Google has grown a culture based around offering “free” and “Beta” services.  Expectations of support for “free” services are far lower than expectations when one spends a significant amount of cash.

And make no mistake–$500 is significant.

In the final (as of today) analysis, I would say that 1 million units sold is actually a remarkable number given that Google has left the confines of their “core competency” (which I will describe as creating free and innovative software-based experiences) and ventured in to the world of offering “for sale” hardware products.²  Additionally, they seem to be wanting to “play by the rules” of traditional retailing instead of breaking new ground in the cellphone industry (as was speculated prior to the offering of the Nexus).

What does the future really hold for the Nexus line?  It is now a waiting game, I suppose.  Imagine Google addressing even 1 of the issues above. An expansion to another network (such as a Verizon or AT&T) or even the opening of sales at T-Mobile stores could make a significant difference for the phone.  Or, perhaps they utimately will rewrite the rules for cell-phones, offering free phones to those that actively use Google services, extending the Ad Revenue model to a whole new domain.

Considering the mis-steps one can only conclude that the Nexus succeeds, despite itself.

He is also a self-professed liberal. This is not surprising. He believes that we need to look out for our neighbors, and his view of neighbor is expansive. So understandably (I hop) I found myself pondering if I am missing something. Is there something “great” about liberalism as we know it today? And if it is “great” does that mean conservatism somehow misses the boat?

After much reflection, I realized that we have two problems facing us. First, the liberal ideal of caring for those around you is not only a good one, it’s Biblical. We are called on by Christ to love our neighbors. And Christ didn’t draw any neighborhood boundaries, either. On the other hand, we are faced with an ever-enlarging government that, despite all the best intentions and heartfelt goodwill, never seems to deliver on the “big promises.”

My conclusion? Liberalism doesn’t scale–and it wasn’t ever intended to. For us to love our neighbor we must be in contact with our neighbors. We can care best for those we touch. I suspect this was designed into our nature.

There have been many articles and books written, speeches given, and studies done, identifying that we respond more positively, and give more freely, to concerns closer to home. So we are hard-wired to care for those around us. This “local giving” may not be motivated from a pure heart, but at least we know it happens. Superfreakonomics gives us a perspective on this altruism: ‘Most giving is, as economists call it, impure altruism or warm-glow altruism. You give not only because you want to help but because it makes you look good, or feel good, or perhaps feel less bad.”]

So we, for whatever reasons or motivations, generally want to help our neighbors. Surely that extends to those we cannot see, correct? Well, the authors of the book SuperFreakonomics would perhaps argue no. Not only do they essentially argue that liberalism doesn’t scale, they go a step further and discusses research that indicates that, when given an opportunity, people will not only fail to behave benevolently towards their neighbor, they will in fact, cheat them. But what is most interesting here, is that, in the research they discussed, the cheating occurred most often between people who were not neighbors. “In the data, List found an interesting split: the out-of-town dealers cheated more often than the locals.”

So here is where I believe liberalism, or altruism, fails. When we ask the government to step in and perform altruistic acts, we ask the government to do a few things on our behalf:
1. We want an non-person to demonstrate humanity. We ask that the government “care.”
2. We want the government to make the “right” choices about what and whom to care for. Of course, we find that often that means bringing the “bacon” (or “Pork”) back to our own districts, where we “see the need.”
3. We want the government to do all this, without actually requiring that we pay for it, and simultaneously wanting the government to make sure someone else pays for it (“raise the taxes on the wealthy.”)

So over time, we find that government is called on less to be altruistic on a grand scale, and becomes for nearly all a way to force others to give money to causes and people they otherwise might not support, while simultaneously bringing resources to bear on my own local problems. Government then takes on the roll of proxy for the same local concerns we used to care for ourselves!

This is, of course, simply a blog. I make no pretense of conducting large scale research myself on this topic. I am simply tying together my readings, and my observations of the world around me. It seems to me that most people want to help those close to them, and most when presented with true and compelling need or tragedy, will give. But when we rely on our government to function on our behalf we become disconnected. We no longer have those “feel good” moments that cause us to practice “warm glow altruism.” Government

And then, over time, we stop caring.

Here is a video of the first of the linedances of the night.

Oh–and it’s never too late to donate to THON and the Four Diamonds Fund.

Donations can be sent to:
CV Four Diamonds Fund
Cumberland Valley High School
6746 Carlisle Pike
Mechanicsburg, PA 17050
Attn: Elizabeth Rimpfel

Enjoy!

I have written about this all week, and I wanted to take another couple of minutes to remind you, dear reader, why they are doing this.

(Paraphrased from the Four Diamonds site “About us“) CV HS joins many other schools, and Penn State, in helping raise money for the Four Diamonds Fund. This fund was started in 1972 by Charles and Irma Millard soon after their son, Christopher, died of cancer at 14 years of age. They named the fund after a story their son wrote while battling cancer. In that story, he wrote about a knight that had to find the four diamonds of Courage, Wisdom, Honesty, and Strength. You can read his story, by visiting the Four Diamonds Fund site.

The students at Cumberland Valley HS have worked tirelessly through this year raising funds, and they have been doing this for 4 years (according to the Four Diamonds site) and last year, they raised $55,500 for the Four Diamonds Fund–the second largest school mini-thon amount!

Let’s give credit where it’s due. CVHS isn’t alone. Central Dauphin HS (15 yrs running a mini thon) raised $68,612 in 2009. All told, for the 2008-09 school year 38 schools (from elementary schools through HS) raised over 3/4 of a MILLION dollars for the Fund.

Please, consider a donation to CV THON. Visit their website at http://CVSCHOOLS.ORG/THON and go to “Donors” (or, simply Click Here!)

All the schools unite with one hope, one dream, one cause–to stop Childhood cancer. And they do it for one reason: FOR THE KIDS.

So in the spirit of unity, today, I will include a Central Dauphin THON Dodgeball Video.

The THON Team at Cumberland Valley >are not afraid. They have been planning and working, and fund-raising, year round, anticipating their “big event.” They apparently also have an “in” with God. In looking at the weather maps, and they way the storm will swirl about Pennsylvania, it appears our portion of South-Central PA will emerge relatively unscathed and, more importantly, with no school cancellations that would have a negating effect on CV THON.

So I am left with two requests: Pray for “no snow.” And, when it comes to donations, “Pray for Rain.” Pray, that our community will continue to reach out, and touch hundreds of lives through the love and dedication of these high school kids!

I am posting a triple video threat today. First, I wanted to share a video from Penn State’s THON in 2009, entitled “Where are They Now.” A powerful testimony to the love and devotion the THON has, and the impact the Four Diamonds Fund has had on children 10 15, or 20 years after they were diagnosed with pediatric cancer.

The second video shows just home much fun CV THON students have, as they find creative ways to not only raise money For The Kids, but to do it while having fun with each other (This time–dodge-ball.) Check the schedule. They have this Dodge Ball TOURNAMENT scheduled DURING CV THON! According to Matthew, they have about 30 teams — “It’s EPIC.”

Finally, no plea for you, dear readers, to “Pray for Rain” would be complete without including the song from PFR.

FOR THE KIDS!

Where are They Now

DODGEBALL

PFR

I am sure you are wondering “how can I donate, and ensure these kids get credit for it?” It’s simple. From their website:

For Members of the Community

Donations of $100 and up will receive a t-shirt.

Donations can be sent to:

CV Four Diamonds Fund
Cumberland Valley High School
6746 Carlisle Pike
Mechanicsburg, PA 17050
Attn: Elizabeth Rimpfel

These kids work hard year round.  They are planning, canning (raising funds at sporting events and retailers), and reaching out to the media.  They certainly know that it is important to work hard FOR THE KIDS.

BUT… they also know how to have fun.  Don’t believe me? Just watch this video.

Take the time to learn about the wide range of activities they have planned at the CV THON by visiting their site at http://cvschools.org/thon and then watch the video of last year’s LINE DANCE at CV THON!

FOR THE KIDS!

…to conquer childhood cancer by assisting children treated at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital and their families through superior care, comprehensive support, and innovative research.

Any family with a child being treated for pediatric cancer at Penn StateHershey Children’s Hospital is automatically eligible for support.

But wait-there’s MORE!

Cumberland Valley High School has their THON Dance Marathon this coming weekend.  High school kids couldn’t sit by and watch Penn State students raise all the funds.  They too were moved to help in the fight against childhood cancer.  They too wanted to contribute in not only money, but time and passion.  They too wanted to dance to victory over Pediatric Cancer.

So they will have their THON dance, February 27th-28th, 2010.  Learn more about CV Thon here.  Or see pictures from last year’s CV THON.

You can support CV THON by donating directly to the Four Diamonds Fund.  Just visit their site at: http://www.pennstatehershey.org/web/development/give

Oh, and watch these videos.

Take the time to read about THON, and the Four Diamonds Foundation, and please, donate. Any amount helps. Go visit http://THON.org

And while you are thinking THON, remember, Cumberland Valley HS will be hosting their CV THON this coming weekend–and the proceeds there go to the Four Diamond Foundation as well, visit http://www.cvschools.org/thon

Every year at Penn State the largest student-run philanthropic organization pulls together with the Dance Marathon called THON that culminates a year-long effort at fund raising. The funds raised go to the Four Diamonds Foundation providing support to children with cancer and their families.  From THON.org:

In 1973, a small group of dedicated Penn State students held our first Dance Marathon. That year, 34 dancers participated and raised $2,000. Since then, THON’s presence in the Penn State community has grown exponentially. THON now has 15,000 student volunteers, 700 dancers, and has raised more than $61 million, benefiting The Four Diamonds Fund at Penn State Children’s Hospital.

Last year, THON helped raise 7.4 MILLION dollars for the Four Diamonds Foundation.

To learn more about THON and to make your donation to help fight pediatric cancer, watch the streaming vide, and visit THON.org.

FOR THE KIDS!

Free Videos by Ustream.TV

Enjoy.

But could he have lost his touch? Could Steve Jobs and Apple not only missed it this time, but could they be responsible for bringing down a whole nascent industry with them?

On the heels of the introduction of the Apple iPad (and their announcement that books would cost between $13 and $15) we saw an emboldened Macmillan publishing house pressing their case against Amazon.  For a brief moment Amazon seemed to be fighting the good fight for consumers, and went so far as to ban direct sales of Macmillan books.

Macmillan was simply “acting out” what Steve Jobs told to Walt Mossberg when he said that the prices would end up being the same (between Apple and Amazon), because the publishers are not happy (with Amazon) and are going to pull their books from there.  It appears that Steve Jobs is doing the work of the Publishers, pushing the price points up, rather than down.  Rather than being a champion of the individual, does this make Steve Jobs simply a big business “hack?”

The bottom line here really is that Amazon knew 2 years ago what Steve Jobs should know now. Verso Direct has conducted a book buyers behavioral study/survey, in which they discover that the magic price-point for digital books seems to be right at $9.99.  According to the article “Amazon Flanks…” when Verso presented their study and broke down their findings, they reported that 3 out of 5 people will consider buying an ebook at or below $9.99.  Raise the price, and that drops to 1 out of 5.

The article then goes on to identify the real “winners” as pirates.

Is it possible that, in his rush to kill Amazon, Steve Jobs may have instead spell the death of eBooks?¹

With Apple’s release of the iPad, and their move into eReader book sales through the iBook, some have argued that Apple has just rung the bell, tolling the death of the Kindle.  Others argue that, among other things, the Kindle meets a certain “niche” (just as the iPad serves a niche) and thus will not only survive but thrive.  In fact, an Amazon spokesperson said, in that NY Times article:

Customers can read and sync their Kindle books on the iPhone, iPod Touch, PCs, and soon BlackBerry, Mac and iPad. Kindle is purpose-built for reading. Weighing in at less than 0.64 pounds, Kindle fits comfortably in one hand for hours, has an E Ink display that is easy on the eyes even in bright daylight, two weeks of battery life, and 3G wireless with no monthly fees — all at a $259 price. Kindle editions of New York Times best sellers and most new releases are only $9.99.

This is a key strength of the Kindle –the portability of reading. As I have written before, in several places, a move to ubiquitous reading seems to be the greatest opportunity facing publishers.  Make reading your books, or magazine, tied to the reader, not the device.  With the Kindle publishing/software reader business unit Amazon is heading down that road. I can move from Kindle-enabled device to device, and when I pick up a device, it will automatically sync to where I last was reading in any of the other devices.  This actually makes having several different devices quite attractive, so that I can use the device that is most convenient for the task (or location) at hand.

So that brings us to the “Kindle reading experience” on the iPhone.  I personally like the Kindle app for the iPhone.  In some ways it is superior to the Kindle itself, specifically in how it handles highlighting and notetaking.¹  This makes the iPad a very attractive device to me, as a Kindle reader for those tasks when I want to highlight and take notes, generally for work-related reading.  I can even see Amazon enhancing the app on the iPhone/iPad even further, perhaps blending the Kindle App with Stanza for a better reading experience.

Even the author of the article in the NY Times that put forward “Three Reasons why the iPad WILL kill the Amazon Kindle” has conceded that the Kindle app has significant draw:

Kindle’s store and its reading application for the iPhone are both excellent, simple experiences for purchasing and consuming books. Amazon understands this market better than anyone and could easily sell more books on the iPad than Apple could through its new iTunes bookstore. Amazon also offers an excellent recommendation system, and I can envision some users opting for the Kindle application on their fancy new iPads.

I can actually envision more than “some users” opting for the Kindle application–especially if they are able to develop a similar flashy interface for showing your bookshelf, and helping you “buy” books from Amazon.  Don’t forget–a significant number of people have already heavily invested in the DRM’d (copy protected) books sold  by Amazon, and they will not want to leave that investment behind.  Will they opt then for what will be (most likely) another DRM’d book format?  Say what you will about the fact that the Amazon books aren’t portable, there is some comfort in having all the books you purchased available for download from a single repository.  Avid Kindle readers may not want to leave that behind.

So the question becomes: will Apple now “ban” the Kindle App (and possibly Stanza) for the same reason that it banned other apps, including the Google Voice app?   The reason, as you may recall, was that the app “duplicated functionality” that the phone provided.  Other apps have been rejected (er, “not approved” — sorry) for the same reason.  Clearly, by entering into the eBook sales business they are seeking to directly compete with Amazon in this “space.”

What do YOU think? Will Apple ban the Kindle App in the near future?

Jump forward nearly 4 years and many MegaDecibles of hype later, and you can see the lack of creativity still abounds.  Most prognosticators are predicting “a larger iPhone” with some of the images shown (purportedly “legitimate from inside sources”) showing exactly the same layout–to include a speaker where there is currently an ear piece.

Give me a break.  We won’t have to hold this up to our ears so why should Apple be captive to that design?

I see no reason for the device to look “like a larger iPhone” except in the broad brushes of Steve Job’s design Ken.  Remember, Jobs likes simplicity, and we were “told” after the release of the iPhone that he wasn’t happy with the concessions they had to make for the few buttons that exist on the iPhone.

What can we expect to see? (and check back in 16 hours for my Mea Culpa.)

• All Glass Front
• Touch Interface
• No buttons on the front
• In fact, no buttons.  Except power.
• Pencil thin
• limited physical connections, if any. Yup, no Firewire, no USB. Maybe not even an iPod connector. WiFi/3G only.
• Power connector? (can you say “no–inductive charging?”)

So, if the rumored names are true, expect exactly that-a slate.  A blank slate.

My thoughts? Apple will surprise us again.  And that should be no surprise.

Tech Tutoring, Apple Ruminations, Google Nexus, Weekly Picks, and more…

Click here to listen to Real Tech 20

Click here to subscribe via iTunes

Stories:

• Initial sales of Google Nexus 1 Phone: 20k in first week….shocking, or not?
• Rumors of 4G iphones circulating.
• Magic Jack uses “femtocell” technology.
• Nintendo finally gets NetFlix on the Wii.
• Matt Brady joins to discuss how Cumberland Valley HS is teaming with Microsoft.

PHOTO TIP:  With DSLR (and most digital cameras) changing your resolution can change your photo speed.

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

Steve: Blueant z9i BT earpiece

Tony: Mirafiber Ultimate Cloth:  http://www.southerncarparts.com/ultimate-cloth-p-712.html

Courtney: http://blog.louisgray.com/2010/01/abuzz-launches-social-media-search.html (techie) & a bit easier http://www.dimdim.com/

Past Picks of the Week now available at: http://tinyurl.com/RTPicks

websites to visit:

http://getthenext.com

http://theprofessornotes.com

Show Voicemail: 814.808-JOE1  (814.808.5631)

Tony is: tony.pittman@gmail.com  or twitter.com/tonypittman

Steve is: scmprofessor@gmail.com or twitter.com/scmprofessor and he blogs at http://theprofessornotes.com

Guest, Courtney Engel is http://courtneyengle.com and @courtneyengle on Twitter

CES 2010, MagicJack, New iPhone possible, Google Nexus miscalculation, The eReader boom, Our weekly picks.

Click here to listen to Real Tech 19

Click here to subscribe via iTunes

STORIES:

• CES: Is the Consumer Electronics Show still relevant?
  • http://www.engadget.com/tag/ces/
• Magic Jack uses “femtocell” technology
• Hot off the rumor mill: New iPhone by April?
• More Phone Conversations. Google Nexus leaves customers “sour”
• Ereader boom “kindles” a variety of options

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

Steve: Keurig Coffee Maker

Tony: Google Voice + POTS = low cost home office solution.

Chris: iPhone Explorer

Stevier: Nike+iPod Nike+iPod

Past Picks of the Week now available at: http://tinyurl.com/RTPicks

Show Voicemail: 814.808-JOE1  (814.808.5631)

Tony is: tony.pittman@gmail.com  or twitter.com/tonypittman

Steve is: scmprofessor@gmail.com or twitter.com/scmprofessor and he blogs at http://theprofessornotes.com

Matthew made the big decision today.  He went back and forth, considering a Droid from Verizon, or upgrading his iPhone to a 3Gs.  (If you follow @scmprofessor or @spreadhdgfx on twitter you know the questions we were asking.)

After much consideration, he decided on the 3Gs.  Part of the decision was based on the fact that AT&T agreed to waive the activation fee.  This was no small thing–Verizon was willing to wave it if we switched to them, so it made AT&T competitive.

We did learn one other interesting tidbit–AT&T will be getting their own Motorola Android-based phone, as well as their own rebranded HTC Hero (again, Android based.) later this year.  While waiting until March (or later) wasn’t going to meet Matt’s immediate need (remember his video about the damaged 1st Gen iPhone), this is good news for those of us leaving AT&T to get to a Droid.

(On the other hand, if the Droid is a viable alternative to the iPhone, so that you can leave AT&T, well, that’s a different story.)

A birthday present for our soon to be 6 year old son was being delivered by UPS. Initially their site said (according to my mother-in-law) that it had been delivered on our porch on Thursday. When my wife called UPS on Friday to say that it was not delivered she was told, “Mack Brady called and requested it be returned to sender.” My wife pointed out that Mack Brady was 5 years old and expecting that box to contain lots of LEGOs from his grandparents. He was unlikely to make the call much less request that the package be returned to sender.

It was delivered 5 days (3 business days) later.

I find this experience very interesting as we seek to learn valuable service delivery,  supply chain, and life lessons.

SHIPPER-CARRIER RELATIONSHIPS

First, as a logistician and Supply Chain professional, I am reminded that shippers (the company in this case selling the LEGOs) are often at the mercy of the carrier (in this case UPS.)  They enter into a contract, expecting in good faith that UPS will deliver the package to the customer.  In fact, there is an expectation on the part of the shipper that the carrier will, if necessary, make several attempts before requesting that the customer come to them. ¹  In this case, UPS not only failed to deliver the product on the behalf of the shipper, they then created a rather interesting backstory for why they failed to deliver.

IN TRANSIT VISIBILITY (ITV)

In addition, this story speaks to the importance of accurate tracking of packages.  There are two parts to the tracking issue that confuse me.  First, the fact that the website tracking initially reported delivery to the porch is interesting, since the package was not actually delivered.  ²  Initially, we believe the online tracking to be accurate.  Our whole business operation is based on accuracy in reporting.  The shipper expects the carrier to deliver the package and provide updated information along the way as necessary.  The carriers themselves rely on accurate ITV to know where their drivers and trucks are at any given time, and provide assurance to customers and shippers that they are providing appropriate care for their items.  And finally, ITV provides receivers (in this case my 5 y.o. nephew) a sense of security knowing that, even if a package has not yet arrived, it is safely on it’s way and that the carrier know exactly where it is.

Given the importance of ITV, the systems are designed to ensure and  enhance accuracy through barcode readers and digital signatures.  When these systems fail, and they will, carriers should not respond with finger pointing, or cover-ups, but rather work to understand the cause of the failure and attempt to once again poka-yoke the process.

HONESTY IN SERVICE RECOVERY

The failure of in-transit visibility unfortunately led to the next, and perhaps more disturbing to anyone in this profession, reaction by the carrier’s representative.   As I am sure you are all thinking by now (and as my sister-in-law pointed out to the Customer Service Representative (CSR) from UPS) 5 y.o.s generally don’t ask for their much anticipated birthday presents to be “returned to sender.”  So this strikes me as a serious “CYA” ³ moment.  I suspect that, more often than not, this line works on their customers. ⁴   Now, we can’t know where the decision was made to “adjust” the record like this (or is it “falsify?”)  It could be that the driver mistakenly marked “left on porch” when delivering another package and that, upon arriving back at the distribution center realized he/she still had a package on the truck–and thus covered the tracks.  Or it could be that the CSR, in an effort to deflect blame away from UPS, confabulated on her own?  (I highly doubt this one is the case, but it’s possible.)

Just as “in transit visibility” relies on accurate reporting of information to enhance decision making, so does customer service, and service recovery.  One does not help the business by covering one’s tracks.⁵  Admittedly not every bad experience will result in a blog post such as this one–and that is all the more reason for carriers to be ever vigilant.  If given a choice between carriers, and you have had an experience where a carrier (or anyone, really) has been dishonest in their dealings with you, are you more, or less, likely to choose that carrier?  Decisions are often made on trust–trust that items will be delivered, and trust that firms will make every effort to make good when they don’t.  When one has a negative experience such as this, then one is more likely to perhaps go with a less reliable, or more costly, provider that they can trust.

When faced with our own failures, I learned a valuable lesson from my earliest military mentor, Dave Morris (@nicheguy on twitter.)  You step up, admit your failure, and work to make it right.⁶  I have generally found that at a personal level people respond almost in shock that someone is willing to take responsibility for the own actions, and more often than not, you are provided that second chance.  Firms would do well to create a culture that rewards stepping up, and taking responsibility, rather than making things worse by fostering cover-ups.

When people are honest with you about their failures and their successes, you are more likely to trust them.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

I am not calling for a boycott of UPS or any carrier.  I am simply pointing out that future decisions are based on past experiences, and negative experiences carry more weight that positive ones. An old military aphorism seems appropriate here: “One oh, Sh*t wipes out a thousand ‘atta-boys’!”  Being able to “blame” people only goes so far, but being willing to take the blame certainly is better than attempting to blame the customers themselves.

We will never know the true genesis of the tale delivered in lieu of the package, but what we can know is this–UPS as an entity ends up taking the hit.

Share your thoughts–am I too harsh on UPS for this?

My wife is an insulin dependent diabetic, and has been using the Medtronic “pump” for several years now.  In addition, she has the “continuous glucose monitoring” (CGM) sensors, that talk with the pump, and allow her to get information far more quickly about changes in her glucose levels.  ¹

As part of that treatment regimen she has to order supplies on a regular basis.  Of course, these supplies are only available from the manufacturer.   Our insurance company picks up the tab for much of the supply cost, and as part of the typical healthcare regimen, we pay our portion of the bill as well.  I typically call  Medtronic, or at least their billing contractor, and make the payment over the phone with a credit card.

In December I called, and quickly dispatched with the task, paying the balance owed on the bill, and writing down the confirmation number.  Then, in January, we received another bill, for the next set of supplies received, and I called back.  This time, they told me I owed for the new supplies, and that I still owed the (now late) payment for the prior supplies.

Here is where things could have gone terribly wrong, with accusations, recriminations, and the like being passed back and forth.  But instead, things went terribly RIGHT. (um… is that possible?)

I dug around, and found my copy of the previous bill, with the confirmation number written on there (in traditional, Air Force “Memo for Record” fashion.  Old habits die hard.)  I read the customer service representative the number, and she looked it up.  And then she gasped! “I was the person who took the payment!”

She immediately sprang into action, verifying that they had, indeed, taken my call on that day, and that I had indeed paid my bill.  She went to her supervisor whom I was told was “as we speak” taking the paperwork to the accounting office to straighten them out.  We then proceeded to take care of the rest of the business, and process the payment for the balance owed.

At the end of the call, I asked if she wouldn’t mind sharing her name with me, just in case I had any other issues.  She was very gracious and agreed to that.

So, Esther, thank you for your gracious and attentive support to your customers.  It is very appreciated!

Killer Products?

It seems clear that when people (generally the pundits) refer to a product as “a ____ killer” they usually mean that it is all over for that other product.  Pack it up, it’s gone. ²  In fact, in a recent Mac Break Weekly Leo LaPorte specifically talked about driving RIM (makers of the Blackberry) “out of business.”  ³

Rarely have we seen a product enter an existing product category and “kill” all the competitors.  I am sure we can find a few examples (the iPod itself comes to mind).  That isn’t to say that a product can’t enter into what appears to be one category and completely define a new one in the process.

For example, the iPhone didn’t “kill any other product.  It entered the “smartphone market” and has done remarkably well with the iPhone OSX operating system owning 28% of the smartphone market.  But…

• RIM has continued to rock their BlackBerry success (39% manufacturer market share)
• The Android has rocketed to second place for preferred OS.

Not “Killer” but “Transformer”

What’s important to note here is that while the iPhone wasn’t a “killer” product (it didn’t really drive anything out of the marketplace) it certainly was transformative.  That may seem obvious, since all of the latest smartphone products are now emulating many of the features of the iPhone.  But it is not just the look, and feel, of the iPhone that I mean.

The SmartPhone market space has been expanding significantly since the introduction of the iPhone.  Remember 2007, before the iPhone?  What phone did you have, or even want?  Was it a smartphone?  Unless your phone was for business use, then probably not.  Smartphones were the playtoys of the professional–the person who had to stay connected to their workplace.  The iPhone took the smartphone and made it personal.

In a sense, the Kindle has been transformative as well.  The Kindle hasn’t “killed” the paper book.  Many (probably most) people still prefer the sensory experience of paper in their fingertips.⁴  The Kindle has opened the path for people to find other ways to read more, and take more reading with them.  Time once was we referred to the number of partially read books on our nightstand. We literally meant books that we would read as we went to bed.  That was “the place” for books and for reading.  The Kindle has transformed that experience.

The Kindle has transformed reading from one book carried at a time, to many books carried at all times, with the ability to add more books at any time. I have read more since getting the Sony e-Reader and then Kindle a little over 2 years ago, than I had in perhaps 10 years.

Perhaps even more “transformative” is that the eReader has allowed us to simply  co-mingle personal with professional.  With these devices we can now have, in one highly portable, easily accessible place, our professional documents (pdfs, word documents, and the like) and our personal reading (SuperFreakonomics, or Tolkien anyone?).

Remember, a few posts back I mentioned that Jeff Bezos talked about two Kindle product lines–the hardware and the reading experience.  Amazon has already produced Kindle Reader applications for the Mac, Windows, and the iPhone.  I even wrote that if an Android Kindle reader is developed, could we be that far from reading Kindle books on the Nook?  The point here is that Amazon, through their leader Bezos, has already talked about transforming the digital reading space, shifting the view away from a loyalty to any medium, and fostering a loyalty to the written word.

That said, the Kindle and other eInk readers are not without faults.

Tablet Transformation

So this brings us to the latest “killer” product (rumored to be) set to enter the stage.  If Apple introduces a tablet PC (where I use PC in it’s generic, original meaning of “Personal Computer”) then I suspect we can continue to hear about the iSlate being the latest “killer product” introduced by Apple.  Already we see the headlines, here, here, and back in April 2009.  ⁵

Will a (still only rumor) iSlate “kill” any product?  Probably not.  Some firms may make a mis-step or two, but that would be their own failings ⁶  Can we expect it to be transformative?  You bet.  And here is why.

Given the history of Apple and their ability to innovate and create new market spaces, it is now no longer a stretch to imagine a world where eReaders, and Windows Tablet PCs continue to flourish, while an Apple tablet-like device carves some market away, all while creating a new dynamic environment.  So what would we see here?

The Windows tablet PC hasn’t been an abysmal product (it just hasn’t had significant market share.) It has traditionally been a niche product.  It has specific uses and thus a group of niche users.  Typically the uses for a tablet PC have been focused in the business world, used for those applications where handwriting has made sense.  The eReaders have been designed (and marketed) predominantly at the what I will call the “avid, voracious  reader” base–those people that love to read for the pleasure of reading.  Whether it is for knowledge or fun, they  consume the written word.   That is also a niche market.  These consumers, these “readers” are less interested in marking up and writing on their text than they are about devouring it.

So in steps a (mythical) Apple tablet product.  Imagine a device that is able to merge these two “spaces” into some new area.  Just like the iPhone created new spaces beyond the traditional “business oriented” smartphones, this mythical beast may be able to create a new, hybridized use-case blurring the lines yet again, only this time by taking two products from two very different worlds, and blending them in a new way.

The power of market space transformation.

(What are your thoughts on this?  Do you see these products as transformative? How would you envision the blending of the work oriented tablet with the pleasure oriented reading devices?  Leave your comments!)

Matt and I had a chat in the car while waiting for his Mom to join us for lunch.  We were talking about his iPhone which has  lived a good, but HARD life. And we chatted about it… on the zi8.

I took this photo on the 30th anniversary of the “event” that shook the US, if not the world.

One of my goals is to photograph the area around Rose Valley Lake here in PA.  You can find many of my photographs from around Rose Valley on Flickr in the “Around Rose Valley” photoset.

I also have been continuing my exploration of HDR, or High Dynamic Range, imaging along with “tone mapping.”  While I have, in the past, used HDR and tone mapping to simply enhance the tonal range of an image to more closely match what the human eye can see, I have lately been exploring some of the more “intense” image manipulation options available.

Here are a few samples:

Taken actually out on the lake.

“Early in the Morning”

Starting the walk.

I’ve gotten a number of emails about a Windows 7 “God Mode” feature, and while I haven’t had time to check it out thoroughly, it’s now making the rounds internally at Microsoft too, so that (somewhat) suggests it’s legit. What it basically is, is an extended control panel that allows you to control various aspects of the OS that are not typically surfaced via a GUI.

Here’s how you enable it:

Create a new folder (right-click and click on “New Folder”). Right-click on the folder and click on rename, copy and paste this:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

What comes up is a Control Panel like window with sections for Action Center (“Check security status” and so on), Administrative Tools, and AutoPlay.

Nothing major, frankly, but interesting. Use at your own risk, of course.

So I did it.  And when you rename the folder, it changes to this icon (captured directly from my screen):

Click away, and you end up with this (Screen capture on the right):

There is nothing really “new” here that I can tell.  Most of the more “advanced” features have always been accessible.  What makes this particular “GodMode” useful is that it puts most of the more advanced system management features in one place and, since I placed the folder on my desktop, makes it quite easy to access.

For instance, you may recall I was having some challenges when I switched over to Windows 7.  The problems were ultimately all induced by my own failure to properly seat the RAM in the slots, but I found that the reliability history was a very useful tool to see what was crashing, and what was causing the crashes.  I even used that feature today to see what was apparently slowing down my machine.  Apparently Google Earth was having problems, and couldn’t install an update. So–bye bye a hardly ever used Google tool.

The question left for me is:  Do I start reviewing each of these features, and post them on the blog?

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These items, and more, on Real Tech 18

• The Big Announcement: Google Nexus.
• Google’s Chrome tops Apple’s Safari. at least in use.
• What is the best microphone and headset setup for podcasting?
• Social Networking! – For you, and for businesses

PICKS OF THE WEEK

• Tony : Tweetdeck
• Steve: gurulib.com
• Josh : Life Rocks 2.0 Web Site
• Jay: Who’s talking. Animoto.

Past Picks of the Week now available at: http://tinyurl.com/RTPicks

Show Voicemail: 814.808-JOE1  (814.808.531)

Tony is: tony.pittman@gmail.com  or twitter.com/tonypittman

Steve is: scmprofessor@gmail.com or twitter.com/scmprofessor and he blogs at http://theprofessornotes.com

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These items, and more, on Real Tech 17

• Demystifying Apple’s Mobile Me?
• iPhone and Android users are “the same” Or at least, their usage patterns are.
• Alternatives to iPhone/Android? What is out there?
• Why is the iPod Touch (not “iTouch!”) so popular? Article
• Is a tablet device (Apple’s?) in your future?  Chris Brady thinks so.
• What is the Best File System for external drives ?

Book Mentions:

• Freakonomics Steven Levitt,
• Super Freakonomics Steven Levitt,
• Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly about security in an Uncertain World by Bruce Schneier

PICKS of the WEEK:

• STEVE: Scosche passPORT for home docks and Car Adapter
• TONY: ATEQ VT 10 TPMS Trigger Tool
• Logitech Harmony Remote : Remote
• CHRIS: MacSpeech Dictate, OliveTree BibleReader (why not? it’s my schtick) http://www.olivetree.com/ Their software runs on most smart phones, including Android, BlackBerry, and iPhone/iPod Touch.
• Past Picks of the Week now available at: http://tinyurl.com/RTPicks

Show Voicemail: 814.808-JOE1  (814.808.531)

Tony is: tony.pittman@gmail.com  or twitter.com/tonypittman

Steve is: scmprofessor@gmail.com or twitter.com/scmprofessor and he blogs at http://theprofessornotes.com

His writing seems to make us say, instead “Look at yourself…. what are you?”

I am pleased that I have come across his blog (a direct result of his strong defense of Brit Hume against the attacks of those who seem to hate Christians, and Christianity.)  I would encourage any of you that want to be challenged in your thinking, whether you disagree or agree with his positions, to read him regularly.

Click here to listen to Real Tech 16

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These items, and more, on Real Tech 16

• The Kodak Zi8 pick from Episode 11? Sold out–nationwide!
• Batteries Plus will (or can) replace iPhone and iPod batteries, according to Jason
• Can I (Should I) set up two separate networks in my house? Go with 802.11 N, B, or G?

• Microsoft Tag “Linking Real Life to the Digital World”

• Microsoft ordered to pay $290M, stop selling Word.
• Microsoft Losing the Fight For Consumers, says analyst.

• Facebook masks worse privacy with new interface / Wired.com – How to Unfacebook yourself

Picks of the week:

Steve: Red Laser : What if your iPhone could read barcodes?

Tony:  HP Bluetooth Noise Canceling Headphones

Joe Tillman: TextFree Unlimited for iPod Touch and iPhone.

Past Picks of the Week now available at: http://tinyurl.com/RTPicks

Show Voicemail: 814.808-JOE1  (814.808.531)

Tony is: tony.pittman@gmail.com  or twitter.com/tonypittman

Steve is: scmprofessor@gmail.com or twitter.com/scmprofessor and he blogs athttp://theprofessornotes.com

I have been pondering for a while the use of the eBooks (and specifically the Kindle) in Academia.  Ever since I considered purchasing my first eReader (the Sony eReader 505) I have found the convenience of having several books at my finger tips, without weighing me down, to be the most obvious benefit.  That said, I believe there are many others, and some which can result in the elusive “win-win” situations for producers and consumers alike.

• Affordability of textbooks
• Desk Reference/Review copies
• Physical size/weight relief
• notetaking and highlighting

Need to rethink old views:

• why see “a page”?
• how do I “flip” through a book?
• what is the focus/purpose of an “illustration”?
• are there other ways to “illustrate”?
• How do we do “citations?”

Challenges:

• How to compare two separated pages (i.e., pages 57, and 106) (side by side?)

Issues I want to see if they have added/changed:

• Highlighting:  does the menu appear next to where I clicked? How is that interface changed?
• can we move/sync highlights/notes between devices?

Have you given much thought to the changes we can see with Digital Textbooks?  What are your thoughts? Please share them in the comments.

So here’s my question:

What if they don’t?

Would Apple face a backlash from their loyal fanbase, frustrated that they have held off purchasing other devices (like the Amazon Kindle 2) waiting for Steve Jobs to hand them their “holy tablet?”

Or (and I believe this to be far more likely) will it simply fuel the hype even further leading the faithful believers to defend Apple while simultaneously ramping up their “expected features” list?

I looked at the numbers.  You can purchase a windows 7 home premium from Wal-Mart for about $110 as an upgrade.  The software on his blog was $154.99.  So I see a savings of $45.00.  But that’s just comparing upgrading the operating system with purchasing the software and operating system.  Purchasing window 7 new is about $200.  That is significantly more.  But I guess the question is, “who purchases window 7 as an operating system new and not as an upgrade?”

Typically people buy the operating system knew when they purchase a new computer so let’s compare the purchase of a good sized, powerful, notebook computer for windows to a Mac OS X notebook.  I compared to the low end Mc book from Best Buy with a middle of the road HP at Best Buy.  The Macbook for a 13 inch screen 2.2 GHz processor cost $1000. The HP for a 14 inch screen, 2.2 GHz processor cost $750.  There were some other differences to include battery type and system bus however these are reasonably comparable computers  (The HP had a larger and faster hardrive, the Apple Macbook has a faster bus.  The HP has 4 GB of Ram while the MacBook only has 2GB,and according to the Best Buy specification sheets the HP is upgradeable to 8 GB while the Macbook is only upgradeable to 4.)

So given this if I look at a very narrow focus, simply the acquisition price of the speech dictation capability getting a new computer with windows 7 installed with the built in speech recognition and dictation is $400 cheaper than purchasing a new Macbook and having to purchase Mac speech dictate.

Honestly, I think this just shows how silly most of these discussions can be.  If you like the design, style, and cachet that comes with owning a Mac then get a Mac.  If on the other hand you’re willing to sacrifice style and beauty for functionality, or just don’t want to spend that much money, I think windows 7 is clearly your choice.

The bottom line: it all comes down to your personal choice and aesthetic.

(NOTE: This post was written completely through dictation using the speech dictation capability built-in to Windows 7.)

As you should know, I am a child of the space age, and a fan of space anythings for a long time.  Heck, my research areas have included Space Logistics, and Interplanetary Supply Chain Management.  So this REALLY caught my eye!

This website gives you plans to build your own paper model of the Space Shuttle!

From their site:

If you are a Space Shuttle model builder, this site is for you. Build a 1:144 scale Space Shuttle papermodel in several versions: Full Stack version with External tank and boosters or a single Orbiter with either a closed or open payload bay, for FREE! Also, Shuttle Payloads for every mission are available via PAYPAL. Check this site for new models every month.

Check it out–and if you make any of these, send me a picture that I can upload to the blog to share!

Oh wait, I do talk about it–in this short podcast!

Enjoy!

And then–tell me what YOU would like us to talk about at the other podcast “Real Tech for Real People” over at http://getthenext.com

I decided you might be interested in a review of the device as well.

Based on the use from my friend and colleague, the choice of the Kodak was an overwhelming success.  Starting with the bottom line from a very personal assessment, his daughter, who has used both the Flip cameras and now the zi8, has asked to take his camera when she goes places.  Her opinion is that it is superior.

Now, on to the features.

My friend liked that it has a flip-out USB connector, and that it can charge both with a charger and through the computer via the USB connector.  He also liked the HD resolution (1080p) and the quality of the audio.  The built in audio isn’t “the best” but it was “good enough” for most personal use.  As I mentioned before, he then combined it with the Zoom H2 Handy Portable Stereo Recorder combining outstanding video with high quality stereo audio.

Other features that were “cool” included the image stabilization built in, and the face tracking, although the face tracking feature wasn’t tested very heavily (yet.)

Now the device isn’t without flaws.  The zoom on the camera is digital, and the quality falls off rather quickly.  In addition the memory that comes with the camera is paltry at best.  His recommendation? Get the SD card with it at the time of purchase.  Get a large enough SD card, and you can record up to 10 hours of video.

The low light image quality was “okay” and sufficient for family videos.

I hope to get my hands on one myself, sometime in the near future (did you check my Wishlist on the right side of the blog? Anyone want to order me one?)  When I get my hands on one, I promise to put it through its paces testing all the features.  With my love of outdoor photography, and constant video work in swim meets and water polo matches I hope to get lots of opportunities to test.

My friend bought the camera from a local Best Buy, and that weekend took some great video of trains traveling past.  Imagine watching in HD, while the train, and the audio, travels from right to left.  Amazing.

Since that time the camera has become the pick for many people including Leo LaPorte on his Windows Weekly podcast.

That said, it apparently is the hottest item this Christmas, if stockouts are any indication.

I tried to help someone find a camera to purchase for Christmas, so we visited all the usual places.

Amazon.  Best Buy. Walmart. We even tried the mothership, Kodak itself where they offer free shipping on the product, but just don’t have it. Then we tried various mail-order locations, such as J&R Audio and Video and B&H Photo-video.  No luck.  In fact, since that date, Best Buy has raised their price to $209, $30 more than even Kodak is selling it for.

There are other choices.  As I mentioned above, you could get the Flip Ultra.  That isn’t out of stock.  But if you want the best small High Definition, High Quality video camera, you will have to wait.  A while.

They do use a very timely approach, expressing the perfect order in terms that would satsify Ralphie, from the Christmas movie classic “A Christmas Story.” The article is well worth your read.

One post in particular caught my eye. It contains all that I like. It contains religion.  Music.  Argument.  And an opportunity for me to comment. *smile*

In particular he was continuing a discussion about what I would call Garrison Keillor’s defense of Christian Christmas.  So I commented.  Below is my comment, in full:

Chris,

As you know I often say (and write) that all too often Christians want to be Christians, but prefer to be known simply as ‘-ians”

They like all the trappings of the Church.  The fellowship. The candles.  The music (and in your church’s case–the robes and perhaps incense.)

But they don’t like all that comes with it.

• A call to holiness
• A recognition of sin that separates Man from God
• or worse, a denial of Sin as defined by God, and replaced by Sin as defined by Man
• And, even worse, a rewriting of the Bible to keep all they like, but dispense with the pesky God

So that brings us to the Christmas holiday.  I have not been one to join in the rants that condemn those who replace Christ with an X. (Partly because I know the larger history, and partly because, well–it doesn’t seem very Christian.)  I also don’t get all riled up about a Nativity Scene being banned from the public square.

I do get concerned when, instead, Churches (perhaps I should use the lower case “c”) instead work to ban them from our hearts.

The Nativity isn’t the miracle of a poor homeless child (ht to your previous entry)  being visited by rich folk, or poor folk, or animals.  It isn’t about any of us visiting him doing anything for him.

It’s about God.  Visiting us.  Despite our Sin as GOD defines it, th.

And alas, just as it was 2000 years ago, humanity chooses to ignore his real message, and turn him into our own definition of Messiah.

*sigh*

Click here to listen to Real Tech 15

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These items, and more, on Real Tech 15  (to see the links to the stories, go visit http://getthenext.com)

• Saving Electricity
• AT&T to “incentivize” iPhone owners to reduce usage?
• Google about to launch “un-locked” phone at a GREAT price?
• Apple to launch tablet in Spring 2010: Link to article
• Scosche adapter for charging iPhone 3G and 3Gs with older devices

Picks:

Josh : Website Pick : Knowem – Allows you to check for your username across multiple sites at one time.

Tony: iGoogle: http://google.com/ig – Using the iGoogle home page to organize content.

Chris: Lose It! iPhone app to track eating habits; Dragon Dictation, iPhone app. So impressive it has me going to order the desktop version. {This just in! Dragon Search [iTunes link] has just gone live on the App Store for the iPhone. You can set what you want to search, apparently, including Bing!}

Stevie Rocco: Posterous.com manage your social networking stuff.-

Steve: mSecure, for iPhone, Windows and Mac.

Past Picks of the Week now available at: http://tinyurl.com/RTPicks

Our websites to visit:

http://theprofessornotes.com – Steve Brady
http://targuman.org/blog/ [or http://engage.shc.psu.edu/] – Chris Brady
Show Voicemail: 814.808-JOE1 (814.808.531)

Tony is: tony.pittman@gmail.com or twitter.com/tonypittman

Steve is: scmprofessor@gmail.com or twitter.com/scmprofessor

Well, it didn’t take long before the Nook was hacked, and the possibilities are, while not quite endless, quite broad.  Wired Magazine reports:

If you tear open a Nook (which the team has done) you’ll find that the Android operating system is contained on a microSD card (separate from the microSD expansion slot). From here, it’s a simple matter of using a card reader to mount this card on your computer and changing a single word in the init.rc file (the file that’s in charge of which services are begun at startup, similar to a Linux boot).

This single hack will let you plug the Nook into your computer (once you have reassembled it) and access the OS, using the freely available Google Android developers kit.

The short article goes on to point out that, while for now the possibilities are limited to only a few hackers, it does mean that you have a device, with a fully capable Android operating system, running (for free) on a wireless (cellphone) network.  Imagine the possibilities!

Well, I have.

Kindle, on the Nook.  Anyone want to predict when?

I have been anxiously awaiting a useable application for reading the UPC and ISBN barcodes.  I agreed with Alex Lindsay from PixelCorp when he said on MacBreak Weekly that this would be a killer app for the iPhone. In fact, he commented again as recently as May 11th 2009, on This Week in Tech 194 saying “I know that the one thing about point of purchase is that you can’t use the iPhone to take pictures of the barcodes, because it doesn’t focus.”

Well, I am VERY happy to report that there is an application available now for jailbroken and NON-jailbroken iPhones, that will read barcodes!  And–it does it with the older phones that don’t focus well.  This application is called “RedLaser” and apparently has quite a good algorithm for working through the fuzz that is an out of focus image.

To use the program, you open start the application, and click on the lightning bolt at the bottom of the screen.  That will take you to the “camera” screen.

Once you get to the camera screen, you will see a white set of brackets.  Move the camera lining the barcode up inside the edges of the brackets, and they will turn green when RedLaser thinks it sees a barcode.  Give it a few seconds, and when you are holding still it will take a snap, and reach out to the network and pull back the information.  In the image below, you can see I snapped the picture just as it was changing from white to green.  (Cool, eh?)

The process I mentioned above is automatic, and in fact for the image above it read the barcode for the DVD (“Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow”) with no problems.

If you are having problems, and it either won’t “lock on” to the barcode, or it returns the wrong information, there is an alternative.  Take a still image by clicking on the camera icon (and you can now be 10-12 inches away) and then use the pinch feature to zoom in and align the barcode up with the brackets, and then click “Use.”

Once the barcode has been read, and it pulls the info of the inter-tubes, it adds it to your list, showing the best pri

It comes as no surprise that it’s not perfect.  I am sure many of you know how hard it is to read without our glasses or our contacts in.   In testing the application in various lighting conditions, and with large and small UPCs, and ISBNs for books, I have found it will read everything I give it, if I have patience, and am willing to try a few different times.  And generally it will read them “live.”

One of the innovations they introduce

My brother has extended the ongoing discussion about anonymous and pseudonymous blogging yet again in his recent blog entry.

His conclusion got me thinking that perhaps there is more here than simply academics hiding behind anonymity or pseudonimity.  He wrote:

This is leading me to the growing conviction that academics should not blog anonymously. If we truly believe in the dissemination and  examination of ideas then we should also be willing to own up to our ideas. There is some risk, but we are living in an age and country² with tremendous protections. To you believe what you are saying? Then say it clearly and be willing to defend your views in the light of day.

As Chris mentions, as academics we are about the dissemination and examination of ideas.  This brings me back to the notion of the “double blind peer review.” The double blind process is in place to ensure that our ideas aren’t accepted, or rejected, out of hand simply by the history of the author, but rather measured by our adherence to rigorous methodologies and that our conclusions are supported by the literature, the data and the proper analysis. Through this “blind review” process we attempt to avoid both the Halo and the Horns effect. (see the great repository of knowledge, Wikipedia) Of course, once accepted for publication, the anonymity is removed, and we are allowed to heap praise, or criticism, on the person(s) who wrote the brilliance/drivel.

Perhaps a greater criticism of academics blogging is that, in addition to the anonymity, we tend to also stop writing as academics. Blogging seems to be a place where writers go to bloviate (to borrow from Bill O’Reilly) but not to provide much in the way of supporting documentation.

When academics blog, we tend to stop conducting and reporting on the review of extant literature. We stop providing supporting citations. (despite the ease with which we can do that in html.) We don’t discuss and defend our methodologies. And worst of all, we get defensive when our (often unsupported) ideas are challenged.

In short–we stop being academics.

Your thoughts?

The first is the Scosche PassPORT USB Home Charging Adapter . This device is for those players you have around the house where you would set your iPod or iPhone in and play your music while it charges. This adapter sits in the “well” where you would place your 1st Gen iPhone or iPod, and it essentially re-routes the power to the correct connectors, allowing a charge. A great idea, and it appears to only add a few centimeters of height. You can get this through Amazon for $25.47

The second device is the Scosche passPORT Charging Adapter for iPod touch 2G, 3G; iPod nano 4G; iPhone 3G . This answers the other challenging problem of having a car charger that will not charge the newer iPhones. This is a small (1 x 0.5 x 0.5 inches) device that plugs into your charger, extending it by 1/2″ but then plugs in to your iphone. Now you can charge your phone with older chargers. This device is only 9.99
from Amazon.

I hope to get my hands on these units and provide a review soon.

First, you need a pan.  While many “crepe pans” have you cook the crepe inside the pan, that’s not how the Magic Pan did it–they cooked the crepes on the bottom of the pan.  I have scoured the universe (okay, searched online) and found a crepe pan that does the same thing.  It’s the VillaWare V5225 Crepe Maker and I think you will find it does a great job at giving you that Magic Pan consistency. Remember, what made it work for them was not only the standard speed of the rotisserie, but also the evenness of the batter–which was achieved by having the pan upside down!

Once you get the pan, you might want to also then have some recipes. I have posted several “near authentic” recipes on my blog.  We start with the basic crepe recipe, followed by the Chantilly Crepes here, and the Chicken Elegante.  With the Potage St Germaine Soup recipe also included.

If that’s not enough, check out these cookbooks for recipes!

Finally, if you don’t want to mix your own batter, either because you don’t have the time, or want the hassle, try either of these crepe batter mixes!

What sort of incentives could they be talking about? And why choose that word?

Well, the last point is obvious.  The definition of incentive (by most dictionaries) is to encourage or motivate to action.  These are all “positive” words.  Things that make us shake our head in the affirmative. “Ahhh… incentives. Nice.”

We usually see these as pay bonuses, time off, gifts.  Additional “things” that would encourage us to do a bit more.

Of course, that isn’t what AT&T is thinking.  In this case AT&T is going to try to come up with some way to get people (their customers) to stop using a service they provide–most likely the service offering that led them to AT&T and the iPhone in the first place! AT&T is looking to “consider new pricing models to curb users’ data usage as it tries to keep up with growing demand.”

What pricing model would “encourage” you to use less of something you currently consume and enjoy?  I think this is obvious–AT&T is going to charge you more.  So the incentive here is a negative one.  ¹

What is perhaps even more interesting is this (and I will leave you with this thought):  AT&T isn’t saying “We realize you like using our product and our product is in high demand and thus we will increase the price and generate greater profits for our shareholders.”  They are saying “We realize you like using our product, but we don’t want you to, so we are going to raise the price so that you stop using it.”

Tell ya what AT&T, when my contract runs out, how about I reduce my data consumption to zero.  The Droid sure is looking better every day!

I worked through all of that, then realized I had some other hardware problems, so I went the next “logical” step:  I bought a whole new motherboard/CPU/Memory/Video card/Case combination (yes, I essentially built a new computer.) ¹  There were some growing pains, but that said, things are running quite smoothly.  ²

I am happy to report that Windows 7 really is the most stable (Windows) operating system I have used.  Others seem to perhaps be more stable, but I don’t stress any other OS as much as I do my Windows machines. So let me list off the greatest successes.

• I have had to reboot my machine very infrequently, placing this quite easily “on par” with one of the more popular “benefits” of the Mac OS-X.  As in, only when I have installed security updates, or new software.  I have worked hard with this new version of Windows to resist the urge to reboot before starting a “big” project.  This has been a change for me since I would always restart my machine to ensure the machine had a clean start.
• I am able (knock on wood) to start Adobe Audition 3.0 (download trial here), and record a full 1 1/2 hour podcast, then edit it, without any hiccups.  Prior to this, I had issues with the recording stopping in the middle of a recording or worse, giving the BSOD.
• I installed the 64 bit version of Win7 (and everyone should.)  I have found no program that will not run in the 64 bit OS.
• As would be expected, there were a flurry of hardware driver updates the first few weeks after the install (mostly video updates) and with each new update the system became more stable.

These are just some of the highlights for me of having Windows 7 installed.

The bottom line: Windows 7 truly is faster, more stable, and thus more reliable.  A joy to use.

Interesting. Chris and I have talked about this before, and there are many echoes here of past conversations.

I too like the idea of work clothes, and honestly, one could extend it to include different work clothes for different tasks. Or, from my background, different uniforms. There was the BDU (cammies) for more utility or warfighting activities, the “blues” for office work, and of course, the service dress for formal functions. But I continue perhaps too far down this path…

I have three blogs/web presences. I have a “professional” service one where I am focused on Supply Chain and Logistics issues. That is the main address, and the one I even use for my (non-Penn State) email. You can see that at http://sctoday.net . I then have a more “catch all” blog (the first one I ever had, actually) where I put my more broad thinking posts. Politics. Tech. Recipes for Crepes. It’s all there at http://theprofessornotes.com and then finally, I have the one I do with my son, where we focus more on the things in our lives together (and mostly focused on him. That’s aptly named “http://fathersonchats.com” because we were originally not only blogging but podcasting as well.

My approach was not so much to have separate “identities” but rather to have venues that were appropriate for the topics at hand. In part I was thinking about the audience. The readers/listeners at the more professional site would have little interest in my personal life. And we found that people listening/reading at the Father and Sons Chat were interested in those activities, and not some of my other ramblings. That said, my Professor Notes does serve the role as “catch all” and in that blog I am less concerned with my audience than I am with just sharing “thoughts.”

That said, I have felt that, regardless of my “online attire” it was never appropriate to be “in my PJs.” For me, that meant I protected the identity of my kids (perhaps overly so) until they were old enough to be part of that decision–and I erred on the side of over protective. For a long time, we would mention our first names, but when we were just running our two blogs I kept our last name unmentioned. (Not ‘hidden’ just not shared.) I have generally moderated my posts at all sites. I have at times written posts where the ideas might offend or challenge, but I have worked hard to not write anything that would cause one to ignore the message because of the words. Sometimes I have failed, but maintaining public decorum has always been a concern. Anyway, my thoughts.

So there you have it.  Go check out the post on Chris’ blog, and read the other comments as well.

That is really an interesting question.  Whether the desktop or a notebook/netbook computer, we were curious just how often those drives are used.  I use mine fairly regularly, but it is generally to create DVDs of the slideshows that I make for the HS Swim and Water Polo teams.  Other than that, the occasional file backup, and I too join the ranks of those who aren’t using them very often.

We also talked a bout about Windows 7 highlighting the 77 Windows 7 tips, and the challenges I had with the installation.  Of course, I had to later admit that some (um, most?) of the later problems were due to my failing to fully install one of the DDR3 memory sticks.

We had fun, and continue to enjoy talking about the technology that real people like to use.

We would love it if you would listen, and leave us feedback.

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Write us at:

Tony Pittman:  tony.pittman@gmail.com

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Or call and leave us a voicemail at:

814-808-JOE1 (yes, we are both Joe Paterno fans.  Of course, Tony also played for Paterno!)

Earlier this month we recorded Episode 9 of our podcast (listen here or download/subscribe through iTunes.)  The highlights of that week included a discussion of “Femtocell” technology, which essentially means installing a box in your home, connected to your internet (cable or FiOS) that creates a micro-cellphone tower in your own home.  It only transmits voice, but the ability to make cellphone calls in homes when you previously couldn’t get a strong (or any) signal is quite appealing.

We also discussed the new Apple line-up including the 27″ iMac and the Magic Mouse.

Finally, I shared my first “pick of the week” in this podcast.  I selected the Mophie Juice Pack Air.  This is a case that not only provides protection for the iPhone but by including a lithium ion battery doubles the battery life of your iPhone.

We talked about a number of other things, including Tony’s pick of the week.  So, check out the podcast, and let us know what you would like us to research and talk about!  Write us at:

Tony Pittman:  tony.pittman@gmail.com

Steve Brady: scmprofessor@gmail.com

Or call and leave us a voicemail at:

814-808-JOE1 (yes, we are both Joe Paterno fans.  Of course, Tony also played for Paterno!)

Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, said essentially that the reading of Kindle books, and the hardware that we know as the Kindle are separate businesses.  In that article Bezos specifically described the competitive environment inside the Kindle world:

The device team has the job of making the most remarkable purpose-built reading device in the world,” Mr. Bezos said. “We are going to give the device team competition. We will make Kindle books, at the same $9.99 price points, available on the iPhone, and other mobile devices and other computing devices.

Jeff Bezos saw the need to create a competitive environment inside Amazon for the Kindle device design team.  As we all know, there are now more outside competitors, with the Barnes and Noble Nook making a strong run towards toppling the Kindle as the preferred eReader.  Many have called it “Kindle killing,” or a Kindle incinerator (cute play on words there) and suggest Nook will “eat Kindle’s lunch.”  All strong words, and so far most of the reviews seem to indicate the Nook lives up to the hype.

One interesting feature of the Nook is that it runs on the Google Android platform.  So what, you might ask?  Good question.

So far we have noted that Kindle books are able to be read not only on Kindles but on iPhones and Windows PCs (and soon the Mac).  Clearly Amazon has developed a strong skill set at writing software to run on other platforms that can buy and read their eBooks.

The Nook runs the Google Android and the President of B&N has suggested that they may release an SDK (software development kit) for the Nook.  An interesting move, and one that the author of the article noted above thinks might spell trouble for Amazon’s Kindle.  I disagree.

Opening up the Nook with an SDK could mean that Amazon can slide in with another software based eReader, allowing Nook owners to choose between bookstores and selecting the copy of the book that provides the price and features they want most.  (“Features” you make ask?  Yes, some may trade a higher price in exchange for no copy protection, for instance.  Just one of the “features” that could added as competition increases.

I see this as a great opportunity for consumers.  Competition now exists on price-points for books between digital and paper.  Add the possibility to choose between book retailers for digital versions and possibly to choose between features including DRM-free books, and a whole new world opens for avid readers.

Read On!

The biggest downside?  That this doesn’t help the Kindle 1 owners at all.  Needless to say, those of us that weren’t convinced that the few features added to the Kindle 2 were worth the full purchase price for the upgrade are not too pleased with the lack of support (read the comments in the above link.)

On the other hand, perhaps this is a good reason to consider the Barnes and Noble Nook (if they can keep them in stock.)

We started simple.  We had a camcorder ¹ on a tripod, and a notebook computer with wifi.²  The camcorder had a Firewire out,  and the computer had a Firewire port as well, so we were able to simply feed the video out to the computer.

I created a UStream account and was ready to go.

I turned on the camcorder, and then logged in to the UStream account.  From that point forward it was quite simple:  point the camera at the action! ³

For later sessions, we added an audio mixer and microphones so that we could have commentators “calling” the match.  The kids loved that, and who knows, maybe we have encouraged some to pursue careers in media.

Families locked on to this quite quickly.  Family members from around the country, and around the world (to include Scotland and Iraq), were soon logging on to watch the live polo matches.  In addition, we picked up a few fans who are fans of water polo (and hopefully now fans of our high school team as well!)  It was quite gratifying to receive comments from the parents that their families were loving the video, and that the quality was outstanding.  The quality was so good that my brother was able to recognize my son, and comment on the plays he (and others) were making.

Of course, UStream provides the option to record the video and make it available for later viewing as well–and many of the families have taken advantage of that option as well.  You can too.  Go watch the videos!

This was a simple solution that I think serves to show how we can take events and provide coverage nationwide of what are traditionally under-covered sports.  Local HS football teams get coverage (every place I have lived has had “Football Friday” HS News coverage) but one rarely, if ever, sees TV coverage (live or recorded) of sports in the pool.

Try it yourself–and stop back here to share the link!

Let me start by noting that while my son has been using a Beta version (and loving it) for about 6 months, I have not been using any variant of Win 7.  I have installed a copy as a virtual machine (that install went quickly) and even upgraded a virtual install of Vista to Win 7 (went cleanly, but by no means quickly.)  This is my first foray into using the OS, and I am diving in head first. ¹

(Read my first reactions after the break)

As noted earlier, once I installed the device drivers the SATA card (that controls two of my hard drives) the install went smoothly, including recognizing all my “normal” device.

First things first, I immediately installed Google Chrome as my browser of choice, and then proceeded to use that browser to find and download various updates.

Next, I installed the drivers for my more “non-standard” items including the Alesis Multimix 8 Firewire, and the Linksys iPhone CIT200 (for Skype–and yes, it was iPhone first.)  I had to download the latest drivers for each (a good idea anyway) and they both seem to be working well.

I installed Skype, and tested that out with the Alesis mixer by having my brother call me. That went well except after about a minute I could no longer hear him.  I am not sure what happened and have not been able to duplicate the problem so I am not sure if it was on my end or his. ²

The big test for me was Adobe Production Studio Premium CS3 and Adobe Audition 3.0.  I needed to create a commercial for my son’s water polo match today, and so was going to put the packages to the test.  I was a bit nervous, since I had heard of problems previously with these applications in Vista 64 (they are older applications, and written for 32 bit.)  I deactivated the installs in my Vista partition, installed them in Win 7, and started using them.  I am happy to report that every program in CS3 that I have tried has so far worked well.  I have been able to import files, make edits and add effects, and with the video export in a variety of formats.  You can even see the results of the effort here.

One final note:  I used the Microsoft DVD Maker that is part of the Windows 7 install ³  I built the DVD and my son commented upon seeing the menu screen that it seemed very professional. (“That looks real!”)  I must say, the few minutes I spent with that tool showed me that it can be quick and simple to make a nice looking DVD.  A big improvement over Nero’s NeroVision DVD maker that I had been using (which was also quite easy to use.)

There are a number of other little programs that I also installed, and will be writing more about those as I put them through their paces over the next few days, getting ready for the Windows 7 Launch Party I am hosting.

This time, I have a clean install, and the dual boot option letting me get back to Win Vista is there.  Once again, it stepped me through setting up the user name, password, time zone and the product key (will it burp since I already tried this once?)  I paid close attention while typing the information into the computer, since it allows for the use of the mouse.

Yup.  The Microsoft USB Laser Mouse 6000 is working on those screens.

I was greeted with a screen telling me that it had recovered from a critical error (assuming the BSOD), and I was able to move my mouse pointer to click on the appropriate responses.  I was also then notified that there are system updates available.  Again, I selected those and they are installing.

Win 7 correctly identified the webcam attached to my computer, and started the update for those drivers, and installing Microsoft Live Essentials (after checking with me that I would want it–thanks Microsoft!)

I will probably write more about Live Essentials later (and definitely talk about them on the podcast).  The selection I will definitely install are the Movie Maker and Photo Gallery, as well as Silverlight.  I prefer Thunderbird for my email client so I will most likely not install the Mail app, or even MS Messenger.

So far this re-installation is going much more smoothly.  More to follow.

Win7 doesn’t see my mouse!  And this is no trivial matter–it’s a MICROSOFT MOUSE!  The same mouse that Win 7 saw throughout the upgrade process.

I chose “Add a Device” and the computer has been searching now for several minutes.  I suspect a reboot is in order.

*Fingers crossed*

Okay, here we go!  I was excited to have been selected for the Win 7 Launch Party.  I received my “party pack” with my signature edition of Win7 Ultimate (“signed” by Steve Ballmer) and decided to install on an existing partition, keeping my Windows Vista install working until I am convinced that all my software will work under the new (64 bit) OS.

Alas, things did not go smoothly.

First, one of my DVD drives is apparently failing.  Not Microsoft’s fault–but annoying.

Next (and this is MS’s fault) when I went to install, I found that I couldn’t.  Let me explain.

The first few steps (splash screen, select install, select “custom install” and check off the license agreement) went well. What could go wrong there?  But from there, things did not go so well.

I was presented with 4 drive choices for installing.  That was interesting, considering that I have 6 active partitions installed, but since two of those drives are running off of a PCI SATA card, I was not surprised they weren’t recognized.  I knew the drive on which I intended to install Windows (the C: drive that had named Dillsburg).  I selected the drive, and clicked “install” to be greeted with an error:

“Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition. See the Setup log files for more information.”

Hmm.  I thought “well, perhaps I should tell it to format that partition.  The install will do that anyway.  Perhaps it just doesn’t recognize that step.”  So I did.  It wiped the partition (no problem there) and deleted out the name of the partition (again, I can redo that.)  I tell it to install, and again I get the same error.  I decide that maybe a reboot is in order.

No joy.

So I go to consult my research assistant.  You may have met him G.oogle.  ¹  So off to Google I go, to find that I am not alone with this problem.  Apparently it has been plaguing people since the dawn of time (er, Win7 Beta 1).  Google suggests I read a tech support discussion from Microsoft (the mothership–so must be good!)  I carefully read through the possible solutions, and learn that this is often due to “external storage devices” being plugged in but not recognized. So I look.

Nope.

None of those.  I do  have a card reader plugged in that, when I run the DISKPART utility I learn it sees as “empty” storage devices. (DISKPART is a disk partitioning utility that comes on the install disk and is suppose to help us troubleshoot and fix disk partitioning errors).  So I disconnect those and reboot.

Nope.

So I turn my command chair once again to the iMac on my desk and consult the page of tech support.  I learn that the most successful option seems to be to disconnect all the drives except the one on which one hopes to install WIn 7. (Yes, hopes.  I have decided that with these problems, it is more hope than expect.)  Time for minor surgery.  I open the case, identify which hard drive contains the partition I want to use, and then unplug the power from rest. ²  Of course, when one does this approach, the install will not automatically provide a “dual boot” option, so either brain surgery using BCDEdit (a command line tool in Windows) or a third party solution will be necessary. *sigh*

So, off I go, unplugging the power to 3 of the 4 physical hard drives.  I start again, and all seems to be going according to plan.  The install is never quick (but choosing a clean install will apparently save me several hours of watching the computer try to do an upgrade.)

More reports to follow, after the install completes.  I will report on

• how cleanly it installed
• the ease with which I could set up the “dual boot” option
• compatibility with the more cantankerous software/hardware selections I have (like the Alesis Multimix Firewire 8, which has had notoriously bad drivers)

Leave a comment with YOUR experiences, and tune in to our podcast this week where I can guarantee I will have a few words to say about this, and other tech issues that “Real People” face.

So for those that have been listening to our podcast Real Tech for Real People, we have talked quite a bit about the numbers of people that don’t have high speed (broadband) internet access.  We have been reporting the numbers we had previously read that had anywhere from 40-45% of the population does not have access.

Okay, I am confused. FCC says 96% of households have, or have access to, broadband.

“No less than 96 percent of households either subscribe to or have access to broadband service, according to an F.C.C. task force, which presented a status report to the commission last month.” (see commission report here)

The article reports that the task force goes on to report that:

• median speed is 3 megabit/second ¹
• 1/3 of households “choose” to not subscribe

The seem to be dumbfounded that so many households would choose to not get high-speed internet.

“The most interesting question here is the one that the F.C.C. can’t answer: Why have 33 percent of American households that have access to broadband elected not to subscribe? The reasons “are not well understood,” the report says. A survey focusing on the nonadopters is under way.” (see Pew survey for breakdown of demographics)

The astute reader will note a few things here:

• 33% of “households” does not equal %33 of population.
• “have access to” is not clearly defined.  Does this mean “can drive to Panera?” Or are sitting under a satellite?
• The assumption that these households “elect” ( or choose) to not subscribe is a poor assumption
• There exists a Pew survey (see link above) that actually gives strong hints as to why they don’t have it–so why aren’t they “well understood”?

I have sat through many presentations where the demographics have been dissected ad nauseum, along with conclusions!  Usually it revolves around the high cost of delivery of low quality service to rural areas, $50-$80/month for .5, to 1.5 megbit/second.  Think about that.  If you pay $50 for FIOS for 15 mb/sec service, you are paying the same price for 30 TIMES more speed/capability than the same price for satellite internet, without the latency (lag) issues associated with satellite.  And the satellite internet puts a 17 GB download/month cap on your use! Oh, and with FIOS you can also get TV service, and phone service.

Of course, there are other issues as well, including the fact that some segments of the population prefer to live their “first life” rather than a “Second Life” interacting in a real rather than a virtual world.

But I cannot get past the simple, obvious fact that “access” that is over-priced and under-capable is not really access at all, but political double-speak.

Do you know people without a “broadband subscription” (let’s say, for this discussion, broadband at home)?  Why do you think they have “elected” not to subscribe? Or if they have told you–please share!

Tell me–what do YOU think?  I would like to share your thoughts in our next Podcast that we record Tuesday night, 20 October 2009.

Now, I won’t make any bones about it–I am not attending all of them.  Heck, I am trying my best to attend the few that I think I can get the most from for either Supply Chain discussions, or (yes, surprise) Social Networking analysis.

Why Social Networking? Setting aside for the moment that I think it is simply “cool” I am also quite interested in what we can collectively learn from these networks.  But apparently my interest is not the same as the interest of those doing the research.

Each and every presentation I have attended has focused on the math.  How many connections are there?  How often do those connections share something?  Can we come up with a measure that shows the diffusion of (music/pictures/videos/ideas)? Or, to put it in the language of the Operations Researchers and the Management Science folks, they are “interested in the connections between nodes.”

I think we are missing a golden opportunity here.  I am not interested in the connections, but the content and the context of the information being diffused, shared or otherwise “networked.”  I think there is much we can learn if we can somehow take this Great Discussion and somehow contextualize the chats.

Let me explain:  I was enjoying reading the Twitter stream for Penn State’s Teaching and Learning with Technology Symposium back in March 2009. They were using the hashtag #TLT09 so we could easily mark, and track, comments made about, for and at the Symposium.  There were quite a lot of great ideas bouncing back and forth as some reported on what was being said in the sessions, others commented on those thoughts, and still others added new ideas into the stream that otherwise would have been lost.  Mixed in was the occasional “I need to get a bagel” or “This reminds me, I need to update my blog.”

All in all hundreds, if not thousands, of “tweets” were created during the event.  The ETS folks at Penn State created a “word cloud” from the Tweeting, so we could quickly see which words were being used the most, and thus we could get a sense of what the major thought drivers were throughout the day.  But I didn’t think that was enough.  I wasn’t just interested in the content I was interested in the context.

So I started thinking about what it was that I was seeking.  I would love a tool that we could point to a #stream (a stream based on a hashtag, like #TLT09 or #INFORMS09 ) and let a tool go through, analyzing the hundreds or thousands of tweets, and then tell us not only what was said, but what relationships existed between the words.  BLOG might be the number one word, but a collection of words such as “ereader” and “kindle” and “Digital textbooks” and “ebooks” may as a group have dominated the discussion.  And inside that group we may find that themes emerged, such as “ease of use” or “notetaking” or “portability.”

So here I am, at a “meeting” where over 3 thousand presentations are being given, and I have yet to find anyone here that is interested in the content or, more importantly, the context of the network.  When I have asked a few people about the topic, their response is unfortunately typical:

“That’s too hard. The data is hard to access.  We don’t know how to do that yet.”

I am not sure I buy that, but then again, if it was simple, I suppose I would have already done it.

So let me put out the call to anyone that knows a “Quant Jock” (quantitative analyst) that would like to tackle this problem with me, please, contact me.  I am ready to go!

The purpose of social networks is to be social, sharing ideas, let explore our content and our context, that all of us may grow!

What ultimately caught my eye, though was the argument, buried deep in the article, that for such a pervasive and deadly action to be occurring  so frequently (the article reports “at any given moment the drivers of 812,000 cars are in mid-conversation on the nation’s highways”) we are not seeing a comparable increase in accidents/deaths.

What Does It Take to Get Texting Off Roads? (Wash Post)

“Given those findings and vast cellphone use, the experts are puzzled by the fact that overall crash rates haven’t increased dramatically, too. Without statistics to show that, persuading drivers — and legislators — not to use cellphones becomes more problematic, even considering the current impact.

“If it’s not causing additional crashes, then banning it isn’t going to reduce crashes,” Lund said. “The risk of talking on a cellphone is real, but it’s entirely possible that it’s replacing some other risky behavior.”"

I am not seeking to defend (or condemn) texting while driving in this blog post.  I am, however, wondering when we are going to see the return to objective analysis of data.  Wasn’t that what the new Administration was going to bring?  A removal of political motivations from science, and a return to objectivity?

Just a thought.

Want to hear my thoughts more fully on this, and other tech topics that “Real People” have to deal with?  Come listen, as Tony Pittman and I discuss Real Tech for Real People–a weekly podcast talking about tech where we all live.  (Don’t have iTunes?  Go listen at Tony’s site: Get The Next___)

While this research had been dismissed by many (including my Daughter’s petrogeology professor) the work continues.  In a recent article in Science Daily titled “Fossils From Animals And Plants Are Not Necessary For Crude Oil And Natural Gas, Swedish Researchers Find” the argument is once again made.  Reading from the article:

According to Vladimir Kutcherov, the findings are a clear indication that the oil supply is not about to end, which researchers and experts in the field have long feared.

He adds that there is no way that fossil oil, with the help of gravity or other forces, could have seeped down to a depth of 10.5 kilometers in the state of Texas, for example, which is rich in oil deposits. As Vladimir Kutcherov sees it, this is further proof, alongside his own research findings, of the genesis of these energy sources – that they can be created in other ways than via fossils. This has long been a matter of lively discussion among scientists.

“There is no doubt that our research proves that crude oil and natural gas are generated without the involvement of fossils. All types of bedrock can serve as reservoirs of oil,” says Vladimir Kutcherov, who adds that this is true of land areas that have not yet been prospected for these energy sources.

Some of this is rather disconcerting.  For those that abhor the ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) the thought that we might someday run out of petroleum was at least some small solace. Alas, we apparently now won’t.

One of the more interesting points about their research is that they believe they can now more precisely pinpoint where to find petroleum deposits based not on where they believe dinosaurs and other prehistoric life existed but rather based on the geologic fissures.  Using this approach they believe they can improve the accuracy of drilling from 20 to 70%.

I do  have one small gripe: I don’t think they can say (as they do in the article) that the findings are revolutionary.  The findings support theories that have been around for quite a while.  Perhaps these finding will have the effect of moving abiogenesis from being the “Rodney Dangerfield” of geologic science, and start to get real “Respect.”

A “Tipping Point” perhaps?

nb: I find this arena to be quite interesting from a “philosophy of science” perspective, as the “conventional” science has long dismissed this alternative view as “crack-pot” science.  Much of our understanding of energy consumption has been based on this being a “non-renewable” resource.  Perhaps that assumption is mistaken? Thomas Kuhn’s paradigm shift “in the wild?”

I have just found on the Amazon site that they are selling the original Kindle for only $149.99. (see update above)

If you are interested, check it out.  It’s “almost” as good as the Kindle2.  I have the original, and haven’t felt the need to upgrade, since the only really new features are the ability of the Kindle 2 to read to me (with a computer generated voice) and more esthetically pleasing buttons.  In fact, I personally like the ability, with the original Kindle, to add a memory card, thereby having unlimited storage (and I can remove the card–with my books–before I ship it out if I have problems).  Also, the original Kindle has a removable/replaceable battery, so you won’t have to send the whole unit off to Amazon if your battery dies.

Anyway–just wanted to share this with you.

I must admit, I had somewhat of a knee-jerk reaction to that story.  I have always been resistant to people bringing up accusations of -isms when criticizing the actions of others.  That holds true for racism, sexism, and naziism to name just a few.¹

One comment of Williams’ that really stood out to me was when he said:

WILLIAMS: Well, there was an undercurrent, but in recent days the episode with Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouting out, You lie, as Obama was speaking to the joint session has really exacerbated that anxiety, and it’s led to this notion that there is disrespect, even condescension, in the way that Obama is being treated as compared to any other president of the United States.

I found myself thinking that this isn’t so much a disprespect directed at the President because he is black, but rather a further manifestation of what I believe we have been seeing ever since the “me” generation of the 70s.  Once we were told that WE were important, and that in a relativistic society *I* am the most important person in *my* life, it was only a matter of time until that level of narcissism pervaded every aspect of society.  We have been seeing it for years in talk radio and talking-head television shows when one person just shouts louder and louder, denying the other the basic right to be heard.  Why? Because what you have to say isn’t important because it gets in the way of what *I* want to say.

Rabbi Hirschfield, in his article “Why Joe (and Kanye and Serena) Won’t Apologize” from today’s Washington Post, points out that Wilson’s outburst is a symptom of something greater.

Over the past seven days, we have been treated to obnoxious outbursts by leading figures not only in politics, but in sports and pop culture as well. In addition to the heckle heard round the world issued by Rep. Wilson, there was the verbal attack launched by Serena Williams against a line judge at the U.S. Open, and the boorish behavior displayed by rapper and music producer Kanye West when he grabbed the microphone from award winner Taylor Swift at MTV’s Video Music Awards.

All of these stories are rooted in the same basic fact: speakers who think it’s all about them. And if it isn’t about them, they seem to think it must be about some other individual who is even more important than they are. Apparently though, it’s beyond any of the offenders’ ability to appreciate that civility is about all of us.

So while others were stunned, shocked, or outraged, I was not surprised by Wilson’s outburst, any more than I am surprised at the outbursts of any other public, or private, figure that chooses to elevate themselves over all others.  Look around.   We have been hearing reports of teens killing each other over sneakers. A cheerleader mom taking a “contract” out on her daughter’s rival.  Once we start seeing achieving our happiness as “all important” and achieving our goals in life as the most important aspect, it is little wonder we as a society start to devolve into a society of rudeness, and violence.  It is this propensity to devolve into violence then that has me concurring with Juan Williams when he says:

And it’s also then, I think, led to lots of discussion of whether or not there’s a greater chance of Obama being physically attacked, assaulted. This was heightened, of course, by people who were bringing guns to some of the August and other tea party events, you know, to express opposition to President Obama’s policies.

But let me be clear–I certainly believe there are some people who are opposed to Barrack Obama simply because of the color of his skin.  I cannot personally understand that, but I do know they exist.  But I think this cuts deeper.  It is my opinion that, when confronted with views in opposition to one’s own (either from the left, or the right) people have a tendency to view themselves as correct, and superior.  And once they step across that line, they believe they can justify any words, any action.

Perhaps I need to rethink my resistance to all charges of -isms.  If the Rabbi is right, then we do have a problem, and it is “Narcissism.”

^1. Of course in instances where one wears a white sheet, a swastika, and so forth you will get no argument from me.  I am not blind!

Listen, join in, and let us know how you use technology, and what you would like us to talk about each week.  We are already lining up guest speakers, so tell us who you want to hear!

If the other link doesn’t work, listen here

Well, TUAW and Apple apparently agree:

Apple goes on to agree with AT&T that the carrier did not engage on any level regarding the GV apps.

Question 4. Please explain any differences between the Google Voice iPhone application and any Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications that Apple has approved for the iPhone. Are any of the approved VoIP applications allowed to operate on AT&T’s 3G network?

Apple does not know if there is a VoIP element in the way the Google Voice application routes calls and messages, and whether VoIP technology is used over the 3G network by the application. Apple has approved numerous standard VoIP applications (such as Skype, Nimbuzz and iCall) for use over WiFi, but not over AT&T’s 3G network.

As we noted in some of our original coverage of the GV controversy, Google Voice is not a VoIP service in the same way that Skype or Gizmo are, since it continues to use the cell network for voice connectivity to the device. Apple’s response to the FCC inquiry shows that they are on the same page.

So there you have it.

“But if scientific achievements can be judged only after the event and if there is no abstract way of ensuring success beforehand, then there exists no special way of weighting scientific promises either–scientists are not better off than anybody else in these matters, they only know more details.  This means that the public can participate in the discussion without disturbing existing roads to success (there are no such roads).  In cases where the scientists’ work affects the public it even should participate:  first, because it is a concerned party (many scientific decisions affect public life); secondly, because such participation is the best scientific education the public can get–a full democratization of science (which includes the protection of minorities such as scientists) is not in conflict with science.  It is in conflict with a philosophy, often called “Rationalism,” that uses a frozen image of science to terrorize people unfamiliar with its practice.”  (emphasis his)

If you can take a few moments, read through this a few times, and think through what it is saying.

• The role of the public in Science, as many view the “public” as being too poorly educated as to be able to fully grasp science (Some have heatedly called the recent political era the “era of anti-intellectualism”)
• Perhaps think about it in the context of the discussions concerning stem cell research and the “promises” made by scientists concerning the cures that will come.
• Consider the discussions about the origins of man in the context of his point of the “philosophy … called ‘Rationalism’” and what appeals are made to authority on the various sides.

How do you view science and the nature of discovery?

As you know, I am a critic of airlines and their (lack of) customer service.  But usually my response is to blog, or perhaps ocassionally call or write an email hoping to have someone at least feel guilt.  But this–this actually takes the cake.

When an airline breaks a guitar, and even admits they were at fault, you would think they would make good.  But no.  So the artists, Sons of Maxwell, dealt with it the only way they know how–in song:

So I promised the last person to finally say no to compensation (Ms. Irlweg) that I would write and produce three songs about my experience with United Airlines and make videos for each to be viewed online by anyone in the world.

I wouldn’t ever mishandle a guitar after this–especially if I was “Ms. Irlweg” the woman who finally said no.

So here you go.

That said, the uses mentioned for the tablet are what surprised me the most.  HD Video/media.  Gaming. Umm…

So far, that sounds like an iPod Touch or iPhone on steroids.  Don’t get me wrong–I like my iPhone.  I use it every day.  And if you go to the podcast my son and I do at Father Son Chats you can listen to us talk about some of our favorite apps.

I just don’t think that is why people buy netbooks.

When I talk to people who are buying, or wanting to buy, a netbook, they are seeking a small, lightweight computer to do their lightweight computing tasks.  For them that means being able to type out rather lengthy emails, update documents and spreadsheets, and oh by the way, also to web browse.  Only a few of the folks I talk with say their desire is to watch videos or movies on a smaller device. (And of those, they typically have wanted to watch DVDs–even after I told them they could get the files digitally.)

That said, let me really go out on a limb here with some predictions:

1.  The Apple slate computer will receive thousands and thousands of digital pages of commentary.

2.  Mac/Apple Podcasts (specifically Mac Break Weekly) will break with their coverage of all iPhone all the time, to sing the praises of this device, and wonder how their life had any meaning prior to Jobs revealing this device.

3.  Apple Mac OSX owners will line up immediately to purchase them. (Demonstrating that there still exists a segment of the population that has not been taxed sufficiently to pay for the new Health Care Initiatives in this “bad economy.”)

4.  The tablet will sell well.  Not as well as the iPhone, since people don’t have the argument “well I needed a new phone anyway” argument, but it will sell reasonably well.

5.  Netbooks will still sell quite nicely, as will the HP and Dell notebook computers.

Oh, and I will want one.

I am reminded of the old BASF motto “They don’t make the things we use, they make the things we use better.”  That fits Google Voice to a “T.”

I have read over the past few months many articles warning that Skype (and even the cell phone) is doomed, and that Google Voice will replace it.  Most (like How Google Voice can kill Skype ) simply miss the point.  Google Voice is not a phone service.  It is not VOIP.  Google Voice connects existing phone numbers through a Universal number.  But it does not actually make the call for you through the internet.

Skype, as a VOIP (or Voice Over Internet Protocol) actually makes the call through the internet.  I use a computer (which may be  a desktop, a notebook/netbook, or even a cell phone that has WiFi) to make the call.  And yes, Skype lets me receive calls by allowing me to “purchase” a SkypeIn number, and allows me through SkypeOut to call real numbers.  But it is still VOIP.  I am calling from a computer, using the internet to make the call.

Google Voice doesn’t do that (although Google Talk might someday fill that gap).  Google Voice lets me route calls to and from my existing phones using my existing service providers.  Therefore, I can send an receive calls using my cell phone and AT&T, my work phone through Verizon, my home phone (again, Verizon) and yes, even my “SkypeIn” phone number.  But it, in and of itself, isn’t providing the call.

So I ask you–why can’t these “techy people” seem to figure this out?

NB:  Google has added voice and video chat to gMail, which does target Skype.  And because I can can send and receive SMS through a web interface, I can step away from certain aspects of my cellphone (at the loss of portability).  But at it’s heart Google Voice is still more of a turbo charging kit for your phone use than a replacement.

This can make for a very interesting future.  I can imagine a very fluid world with digital books, using much of the technology already existing.  Let’s discuss briefly the existing tech (in the Kindle) and the look at how we can imagine a new reading world.

Ease of Delivery First, the Kindle allows the purchase of books through the Sprint cellular network (a service Amazon has called “Whispernet.“)  Books are delivered relatively quickly (in my experience in less than a minute) and are ready to read.  I actually ordered, and was reading, a book for our Sunday School class before the sign up sheet to order the hard copy of the book even made it to my row.  So here we have the first component to the future.

Fluid Movement Between Devices For those readers that are unaware, Amazon has released a Kindle app for the iPhone that lets users read Kindle books on their phone.  As with any book that you read, when one goes from one device to another (or pick up a different copy of the same book) one must search for where they left off.  A different copy means no obvious book marks.  Amazon makes this simple–they synchronize where you were in one device when you pick up the other.  It tells you that you have read further ahead, and asks if you want to move to that spot.  Pretty “cool” in my book.

Devices for Different Settings As noted above, the Kindle is no longer just the “device” but it is the operating and reading application.  One can not only read on the “Kindle” that you purchase through Amazon (see the link on the right column of this page) but you can choose two different size Kindles.  In addition, you can also read using the free application for the iPhone.   As you move through the day, you can read using the devices that best fit your lifstyle at that time.

Currently books, magazines and papers are sent to “Devices” and are thus tied to the device.  You can move easily between those devices, but cannot pick up a different device.  But imagine a different world.

Imagine a world where the books,magazines and papers are associated with the person rather than the device.  As you move through the day, you pick up a “Whispernet capable” device (iPhone, Kindle, or something new) and “log in” to the Kindle.  You are presented with a list of items you have purchased, and you select which one you want to read.  Quietly, and quickly, the book or paper is downloaded to that device, and it picks up right where you left off when you were last reading.  In this way, you are able to read your books, without being tied to a device.

But what could this mean?

• Libraries can have “digital reading rooms” where people (especially students) can sign out a device, log on, and read their books simply, and easily.
• One could have several devices in the house and work place, shared between family members or co-workers.  Just grab the closest device, log on, and start reading.
• With the digital voice technology (available in the Kindle2) we can even imagine a device that, when we log on, will read to us as we drive.  Satellite Radio replaced by books!

Reading can become what we do, when we want to, not when we remember to bring our books, or our devices.

The possibilities seem almost endless.  How could you imagine this world?

Part of my argument hinged on the elimination of the resale market in large part due to the robust DRM (copy protection) afforded by the digital books.  Unfortunately, when I presented this argument a few weeks ago, someone pointed me to a site that shared the (convoluted) steps necessary to break the DRM on the Kindle.  So much for secure. ¹

This forced me to think a bit further.

In this post, I hope to make a case for reasonably priced digital textbooks in an era of “cracked DRM” that can still result in a win-win.

If students can copy textbooks and share them, will they?  Perhaps I have a more optimistic view of the world, but I think that, when given a choice to do the right thing, students will.  That is, if they think they are being treated as adults, and not being unjustly charged.  Let me explain.

I believe that students will buy the textbooks rather than steal them, if the books are affordable.  and by affordable I mean, as one student put it when asked on Twitter “@ steep discount.”  Probably $30 for a textbook that in print sells for $150.  Remember from my previous post that publishers aren’t selling to every student as it is.  Capturing a significantly larger piece of the market, semester over semester, will result in significant revenue increases–without any additional overhead or variable costs.

I also believe that students will buy a reasonably priced textbook if, along with the book, they receive other types of “digital” support.  That support will be available, but may require them to have a “licensed” copy of the book.  Simple enough.  Your digital reader has a serial number/PID, so the licensed copy can access additional licensed material.   The additional materials could include podcasts, video lectures, or video/audio tutorials on working through homework problems.

I also believe students will pay for books, because the system supports the buying of books.  Loans cover tuition and expenses, to include books. Parents buy books.  My students have reminded me that there is a significant amount of “outside” money that comes their way for book purchases.  But that alone won’t be enough to get them to buy the books. What will?

How about providing a way for students to continue to “resell” their books?  Another common criticism from students is that they get pennies on the dollar when they go back to resell the book.  They are more incensed when they see the mark-up the bookstore then places on the book they sold back!² Students currently fight back by selling (and buying) their used books on sites such as half.com, a used book online marketplace.

I think that a technological solution to book resales, that allows the students to transfer digital ownership to another student, will result in more students buying legitimate copies.  Why? In the paragraph above I mention that students get “outside” money for book purchases.  More than a few students pointed out to me that, at the end of the semester, they sell those book back and that money then becomes “theirs.”  A few call it “Beer money” but I am sure there are other uses as well.  Given that this is digital, this doesn’t have to be seen as a competitor to the publisher, but rather as another opportunity for the publisher to “add value.”

Imagine this:  the publisher, who controls the DRM accounts, sets up a clearing house where the student who purchased the book can make the book (and the license to read/use that book) available for resale, setting the sale price themselves.  At the end of the sale, the seller essentially will turn over the digital rights to the book to the new purchaser.  This is half.com made simpler.  There are no shipping costs.  The transfer can be automatic and nearly instantaneous.  And if the publisher manages the site, the publisher can charge a “reasonable” handling fee, just like half.com.  And we know students are willing to pay it–because they already do!

So, in summary, the hacking of the DRM doesn’t have to spell the doom of affordable digital textbooks.  Despite what RIAA and the MPAA may say, we aren’t all criminals.  When provided with affordable content, and a reasonable way to re-sell the content when the semester is over, students will continue to buy books from the publishers, and the publishers can continue to make revenue–even in the resale market!

Win! Win! Win!

¹ For the record, I tried it, and it works.  I broke the protection of a book I bought, and read it in another device that I own. After that, I deleted them.

² (For example, a $180 book was “bought back” at $15. Resold at $80. Yes, that is an extreme example, but it is a true one!)

• Text books have a limited audience, resulting in smaller volumes of sales and prin runs (10′s not 100s, of thousands).  Limited runs mean that the overhead and setup costs of printing a run are spread across a fewer number of books. Historically to make a book cheaper they either had to reduce the quality of the materials, automate the process, or produce larger production runs hoping to sell more of the books.
• The costs associated with distributing books are high (packaging, warehousing, and shipping to name a few key ones)
• The inability to accurately forecast demand for “new” editions at locations, because of the…
• Strong used  book market that publishers compete against

My support for digital textbooks has emphasized that digital textbooks drive out  out the costs associated with physical books, and thus allow for both a reduction in price, and an increased margin for the publisher.  This can be seen because:

1.  Publishers no longer need the overhead necessary to design the packaging (including the covers), presses to print the books, warehouses to store the books, or distribution systems to ship the books.   Oh, and they don’t need the management to manage all of that.  This drives costs out of the process. (hint–what could this do for prices?)

2.  Because the books are delivered, directly to the student through digital means, there is no need to keep safety stocks of book inventories to cover the sales of the books.  No physical inventory drives costs out because it means there is:

• No capital outlay for bookstores to buy a “forecasted” amount of books
• No shelves required for the books
• No possibility of stockouts (I had a class where there were only enough books for 10% of my students well into the second week of class!)
• No need to ship back the unsold books, because the forecast was “wrong” (due to used book sales, borrowed books, or just students “dropping” the class.)

3.  The digital rights management (DRM, or “copy protection”) of digital books appears to be rock solid, so students are not likely to “give” copies to their friends.  Publishers would be guaranteed sales², allowing them to lower prices. This would mean that:

• Publishers don’t compete with a ‘re-sale’ market. Think about this.  Part of the reason the costs are so high for the textbooks is that the publishers know that they will only “fully” sell out in the first semester the book is available.  Every semester after that they are competing with a (rather robust) resale market.
• Publishers won’t have to release new editions every two years “simply” to refresh the sales.  With strong DRM publishers can expect to make sales to nearly every student, every semester.
• New editions will be developed for the right reasons–new, improved content and new knowledge.

Given the above, my argument really focused on the need for publishers to pass on the savings to the consumer (the student) making textbook pricing reasonable again.   The major criticism of students (the high prices of textbooks) could all but disappear.

Affordable textbooks for students, and increased (and guaranteed) revenue for publishers!

One of the key points in my argument had been (yes, had) that the DRM on the Kindle and Sony readers was secure, and thus students wouldn’t hack the books and “share” (illegally give copies) to other students.  That is essential to keeping the revenue model moving forward for publishers and is why the RIAA and MPAA are working so hard to protect their intellectual property.  But alas, sometimes things change, and we know that if anyone can hack a DRM it will most likely be motivated college students.

Thus, I have been spending time thinking about how we can still achieve a win-win, even if students “crack” the DRM market.

Stay tuned! More on this to come!

¹ Unfortunately, there will be near term losers, including the people working at the printing presses, the local bookstores, and the supply chain partners that normally deliver, store, and reship textbooks. More on these folks later.

² Think about it. In a class of 30 students, in the first semester a new book is offered, all the students will buy the book. Let’s say the book costs $100. That is $3000 in sales for the publisher. (Not profit. Remember the high costs of physical books.) Now let’s assume that half of the students with new books decide to resell their books each semester. If in the next semester half of the next class purchases “used: books that reduces the revenue for the publisher to just $1500. If we follow this through, then the 3rd semester, 3/4^ths of the books in the class are used books cutting revenue to $750. by the end of the second academic year the publishers revenue is cut to about $400. In two years, with 120 students going through the class, the publisher would make $5650. If there was no used book market, the publisher could make the same revenue selling the books at $47/book. And that is assuming there was no savings in costs by shipping digitally!

At least, I thought it was.  Now I am not one to go all crazy over conspiracy theories and the like.  Personally, I like my aluminum foil wrapping leftovers, not as a hat.  But it occurred to me that Amazon is not only gathering information about our buying patterns (our actual buying patterns, and not simply what sites we look at or ads we see), but they are  now getting something more.  Amazon now is learning what we read, and how fast we read it. (Or perhaps whether we actually read them, or finish them?) But Amazon is essentially capable of gathering information on what we think is important by what we highlight, and what we think and believe by any notes we may write.

In my mind this actually puts them a step ahead of Google.

Will Amazon do anything with this?  Probably not.  But think about it–what does it say about you?  This is creating a “virtual you” that can be analyzed.  Tie this with the Google information, and what a picture it becomes.

Recently a guest on TWIT said that not only is this a virtual you, but it is a virtual you that knows more about you than you do.  It’s memory of what you read, highlight, and type is “perfect.”  Can you say that about yourself?

Would you want to learn about yourself?  Or would you (almost) be afraid to know?

A couple posts back I noted an email where Amazon announced they are giving web access to the clippings and notes that you make in your Kindle when reading.  And as you will recall, I believe the highlighting/notes feature is the best “game changing” feature of the Kindle so I was anxious to see what they have done.  I have since logged on to the site, and given it a test drive.

I must say I am not all that impressed.

When you first log on you get a listing of the books you have purchased, called a “reading list.”  (See graphic below)

As you can see it lists the books (in this case, sorted by most recently accessed) and even gives you your rating, and the average rating of others.  Interesting, but honestly, I think I already know what I thought, and I checked the ratings of others (if I cared about that) before I purchased the book.

What is potentially the most exciting thing here though is the little pen, and paper, that you see in the bottom right.  The pen indicates that I have “highlighted” some text and the notepaper shows that I have typed in notes about the text.  Hey, that shows promise!  How does that work?

And here is where the real disappointment comes in.  As I have noted before, the Kindle myclippings.txt file actually makes the clippings readily accessible as digital text.  The draw-back (and hence my writing the macro) was that it wasn’t sorted in any useful manner.  It was all entered sequentially, based on when I actually highlighted or wrote the note.  Thus, since I read (and highlight) several books concurrently (work, pleasure, and the like) I have a jumbled mess of texts.  My macro sorted that all out (but as has been pointed out–doesn’t work in anything but MS Windows.  But a new solution is coming! More on this later…)

The Kindle website solves the major problem of sequencing, in that it makes your highlights and notes available by book. In addition, the site shows you a quick summary count of your notes and highlights,  So for instance, in the book “Everything is Miscellaneous” I have:

That is interesting.  I didn’t know I had 41 sections highlighted, nor that I had 9 notes.  But when it comes to actually accessing my notes, the presentation of the text is weak.  They break it down into “screens” or “pages” of information, and my combined 50 highlights and notes are in 10 “screens” or pages.  And as you can see below, the text is presented in a rather simple way:

This is a start, but I find the access to the information to be rather cumbersome, requiring many clicks, and still keeping me from being able to get my hands around the information on the whole.  I personally like the idea of being able to have “documents” that are my notes and highlighting. And while I do like having the notes and highlighting together (that provides context, after all) I would appreciate the ability to get one, or the other.

There are a few simple things that I think could really improve utility of the site:

1. Allow the user to determine how many clippings to show on a screen. This would let us see as much, or as little, of the content as we wish, providing the context we might want to have. NOTE: as of 11 Jun 2009, they have added the option to view all the notes and higlights on one “page.” Consider this one down…
2. Provide an export feature. Having the text sorted by book is helpful, but if I could then get it as another usable file, it would be better.  Let me download the single book’s highlighting as a text file (to let me use/quote the material when writing), or perhaps pdf?
3. Give a formatted citation option.  Speaking as an academic, I want to be able to quote, and reference, the materials I read.  Providing me with a formatted citation (MLA, APA, etc) in the summary section would be quite helpful.  Better yet, include it in the exported file (see #2).

Honestly, I think what Amazon has done is a good start.  They have provided a web-based solution that keeps me from having to connect my Kindle to a computer.  If I am working at another workstation, or heaven forfend I have not brought my kindle or my cable with me, this is a great way to quickly get to my notes.  But there are so many other great things that can be done with this information.

And as a teaser, let me say this–there are some great things still TO COME!

My techie friends at Penn State are starting work on a project to manipulate the Kindle myclippings.txt file that will not only sort the information but provide many different ways of using the data.  And most importantly, they are creating a solution that is “OS agnostic!” Yes–it should ultimately work for any OS.

I hope to have more information from them to share later, and in a dedicated blog post.

Until then–happy reading!

My good friend and Colleague Dr Swartz has since asked the age old question–”What were the results!?”

Well, I am here to tell you (and I will be assisted by the rather cool graphics generated by Google as part of their Google Forms functionality.)

As of this date, we have had 100 responses.  When asked if they watched Hulu 65% said yes, while 35% have not.

When asked the “demographic” questions, we learned picked up some other interesting “tid bits.”

For instance when asked , “Are you a student” we learned that:

And that the respondents came from all the areas where we “advertised” the survey:

But here is where it gets interesting.  When we started looking at correlation between questions, it became apparent that the majority of Hulu watchers are students (both grad and undergrad) but what was really interesting is that nearly 100% of the “non-students” who went to the survey from Facebook did NOT watch Hulu (and from the comments it appears most had not heard of Hulu.) I suspect (but can’t prove, since we didn’t ask many more questions) that those people who are out of college, and away from convenient access to high speed internet, are less likely to know about, and use, these sorts of tools.  In addition, and this is important, I suspect that it is NOT a function of simply “age” since grad students do watch Hulu when they have time, but is rather a function of ready access.  Remember, these are people we “know” and thus the non-students are most likely our peers, people our age who are no longer tied to the University networks.

I suspect that it is NOT a function of simply “age”

I am curious if we were to ask people of all ages, and all walks of life, if we would see an “age” split or if the suspicion that it is related to access would hold.  It is this sort of “digging” just below the surface that I really found interesting.  It might even be worth further study as we continue to have discussions about who uses technology.

Anyway, here’s the results–let me know what YOU think of the outcomes.  And if you decide to conduct any surveys let us know, we will gladly help get the work out!

Dear Amazon.com Customer,

Our customers have told us that they love being able to add highlights and notes to their Kindle books. We want to make it possible for you to access your highlights and notes directly from a Web browser too. So we’ve released http://kindle.amazon.com, an online tool that enables you to do just that.

To try it out, go to http://kindle.amazon.com, sign in with your Amazon account, and simply select one of your books where you have added highlights or notes.

We hope you enjoy this new feature. If you have feedback please send it to us at amazonkindle-feedback@amazon.com.

The Amazon Kindle Team

When making a choice between two options, only consider what’s going to happen in the future, not which investments you’ve made in the past. The past investments are over, lost, gone forever. They are irrelevant to the future.

He (quite properly) deals with the monetary aspect of the sunk cost (it is called a “cost” after all). In his final example he points to the sign in the photograph on his blog, and reminds the reader that, regardless of the cost of the sign, having the largest word on the sign spelled correctly is, as they would say in the Visa commercial, “Priceless.”

But another point worthy of consideration is the emotional investment.  Quite often we fail to let go of efforts gone awry for emotional reasons.  How often have you been so wrapped up in a project that you haven’t been able to step back, take a deep breath, and see the “forest for the trees”?

When we are engaged in projects we need to be able to step back, as an outside observer for advice, and change.  We need to be able to realize that, no matter how vested we feel about a project, no matter how emotionally entangled we are, it is time to ignore the “sunk costs” of emotional investment and cut the ties.

Am I arguing that we should always just “walk away?”  Not necessarily.  If the “outcome” you want to achieve is still worth achieving then strive for that outcome.  But don’t continue to spend time heading down a fruitless path.  Don’t walk down a road heading away from your destination, simply because you have paid for that road, either emotionally or with cash.

Move on. Chart a new course.

I suggested that it would be a great idea to ask you, our readers, how you watch TV.  And a Google Form seemed the perfect vehicle for that.  So, while I was driving, I introduced my brother to Google Forms–and I think he did quite an admirable job putting it together.

We would love it if you would come take the survey. Thanks!

UPDATE 2: I have the image wrong–the  one below is the rumored reader from Plastic Logic

UPDATE 3: As you are by now aware, they announced.  And it is PRICEY!

Early morning readers of the newsfeeds may notice that many news sources are writing about the possible pending release, perhaps as early as this week, of a larger (8 1/2″ x 11″?) Amazon Kindle.  This may well be the rumored “student version” but according to the article from which all others are based, the one from the New York Times, this Kindle is seen as the savior of the newspaper industry.

Brad Stone in his NYT article writes:

Unlike tiny mobile phones and devices like the Kindle that are made to display text from books, these new gadgets, with screens roughly the size of a standard sheet of paper, could present much of the editorial and advertising content of traditional periodicals in generally the same format as they appear in print. And they might be a way to get readers to pay for those periodicals — something they have been reluctant to do on the Web.Image from the NYT of the rumored larger Kindle.

This article understandably has a few missing tidbits.  Will this new Kindle be the same price as the existing Kindles (over $300?) or will the price of these larger Kindles be subsidized (similar to the cell-phone model) by subscription plans to newspapers and magazines?  In addition, will this larger Kindle also display Kindle books, or will it be only a device for reading periodicals?

These questions are quite interesting, especially since (if the rumor is true) they are releasing a new Kindle only months after the introduction of the Kindle2.

Hopefully we will know–this week!

“I had to hold my nose, and vote for Specter.  Now I have to do neither.”

Why vote for him, you say? Well, years ago, when I was sitting on the knee of (well, on the floor, looking up at) my Grandfather, I asked him why we should support the Maryland US Senator Charles “Mac” Mathias, since he was about as liberal as the (then) junior Senator from Maryland, Paul Sarbanes.  He explained that “he may be a monster, but he’s our monster.”  A rather cynical view, but at the time (late 1970s, and the heart of the “Carter Economic Disaster” the likes of which we STILL haven’t seen since) it was clear that if Mathias lost the primary the democrat candidate would most likely win the seat, reducing the numbers of Republicans below the line allowing for a filibuster.  So keeping that number was important, if only for the greater good.

So, I learned the lesson well, and followed the logic.  When necessary, I have voted for a candidate I didn’t like “all that much” because of the greater good.

I most likely would have again.  But now, thanks to Senator Specter’s decision to return to the Democrat Party, I am free once again to vote conscience.

I am now only left with one question:  how will our good friend over at “Pressing the Flesh” respond?  Will he welcome this lost sheep into the Democrat fold after all these years, or will he actively campaign against that former Republican?  I await his post!

In reading her post, however, I find that while I agree that when it comes to “how” content is delivered a “professor is a scribe” may be correct, I believe that is unfortunately a rather narrow view of the role of the professor.

Back when the printing presses were gaining ascendancy, they replaced the scribe, because they were doing what the scribe was doing–copying someone’s words for others to read.  Scribes had to be worried, since printing presses ostensibly would make fewer *random* errors than scribes would. (That said, the printing presses could easily replicate the same error by the hundreds, and now millions.)

The people who at the time should have (and probably were) most excited by this revolution were the authors.  Those people who spent time thinking, researching, and writing the texts that were now being made available at a far faster rate.

Professors are not mere scribes.  Professors are experts in their field of study, who are contributing to that body of knowledge through that research, and then share that “research informed knowledge” with the world.  One way they share that knowledge is through publications, another through presentations and talks, and finally (and perhaps most importantly) professors share it by educating the next generation.

So professors are not scribes.

Who should be worried that they can be considered scribes?  Instructors.  Those people hired to teach materials developed by someone else, without having a rigorous, peer reviewed research stream of their own.  They are simply vessels through which others speak.  THAT can be easily replaced by well-designed technology.

That said, professors are certainly worried.  Rightly so.  Not that they will be replaced, but that people seem to think they can be.

As I have written before, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Andrew Keen‘s book “Cult of the Amateur.”  He argues that experts are essentially being pushed out of the arena and replaced by those whom I will call the “dabblers.”  These are people that some would say “know enough to be dangerous” but are not well-versed in the detailed specifics to be experts, and therefore unable to deal with the nuances.  In fact professors, as an integral part of their earning their terminal degree, learn the research methods necessary to truly understand the data they are viewing.  Regardless of whether one is a Hebrew Literature scholar or a theoretical physicist, the opinions of the Professor are informed by their understanding of how to interpret their data. Without such a background all interpretations are considered valid, and truth becomes subjective.

I am anything but a technophobe, but I am concerned that, as we start touting the role of youtube, facebook, twitter, and Wikipedia as ways for students to share their knowledge about materials, we fail the students.  We allow them to elevate their views, their perspectives, and their understanding of the material while simultaneously dev0lving the role of professor as mentor, guide and expert.

Let’s all work to enable better ways of helping students grasp material, but please, let’s not make the mistake of thinking that professors are “just scribes.”

Interestingly, I had apparently just missed all the media outlets that covered it, including the Wall Street Journal.  When discussing this video in the context of the rest of the videos they wrote:

The video about The Veteran is similar to the others, in that all depict abnormal behavior by young people who probably are normal, but are immature or temporarily impaired. But the characters in the other videos are all completely generic, with no distinguishing characteristics other than their sex. Only The Veteran is fleshed out enough even to be a stereotype.

The obvious objection to the depiction of The Veteran is that there is no reason to think that veterans are more prone than anyone else to lash out angrily, blaming others for their own failings. If anything, one would think that the rigors of military training and deployment would leave them more mature, at least in this regard.

Herein lies, I believe, the problem.

The video does seem to call out the “veteran” as the miscreant.  The reality is something quite different, however.  In the video, a student expresses a strong opinion, and raises his voice apparently in anger, although one could argue it is out of frustration.  At the end of the video he even “threatens” the instructor.  But not with violence.  He threatens to get her fired for what he perceives is a bias against veterans based on her anti-war comments expressed in class.

So here is the stereotype–a young, female and liberal professor, subconciously demonstrating a bias against a returning veteran.  In addition, because she knows he is a veteran having returned from Iraq, she attributes his rather benign actions to some sort of predisposition to violence, and one could perhaps argue over-reacts.

Interestingly the Wall Street Journal sees it in much the same light, although again focused on the stereotyping of the veteran when they write:

But The Veteran’s status as a veteran is relevant to the video’s story, inasmuch as he believes the instructor is treating him unfairly because he is a veteran. This lends another dimension to Maggie Kwok’s speculation about the reaction if the character were depicted as a member of an ethnic or sexual minority.

What if the student in the video were black and accused the instructor of racial discrimination? Would this be depicted, as it is in this video, as if the charge was absurd on its face? Would the student’s threat to have the (presumably untenured) instructor “fired” come across as an empty one, the way it does in the actual video? And if the department chairman in the opening exchange identified the student by asking, “Oh, the black guy?,” would that not be seen–with some justification–as bolstering the charge of discrimination?

Perhaps the most telling part about it is that no one saw the stereotyping of the veteran when the video was first done, and perhaps more telling, the University still doesn’t seem to see the portrayal of the instructor as in any way deserving comment.

Unfortunately, this video seems to gloss over two very real facts.  First, our biases affect the way we view others.  If we have a deep-seated bias against the military, and the war, then it may well spill over into how we view those who participated in it.  And of course, those on the right are just as guilty of this bias–we can easily caricature those “pinko-commie, Birkenstock wearing liberals” and assume we know why they say something, and thus hear something completely different from what they say.

But the second, and perhaps more important, fact, is that soldiers, sailors, marines, and airman are returning from the  war suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.  We need to find good, solid ways of preparing our faculty, staff and friends for those times when these veterans need more than to be “controlled” but cared for, loved, and nurtured back to a healthy life.

I would like to see someone come out and remind faculty that we need to guard against our own prejudices.  Don’t let our own views of how certain people might act result in coloring our interpretation of how they are acting.  And let’s once again let our compassion rule not only our politics, but our daily personal interactions.

So watch the video, and tell me–what bias do you see here?

Enjoy!

Jason

First thank you for all your newsletters and emails that you share with the world.  As a business professor at Penn State, I find it refreshing and useful to see a business person not only being successful and touting their success, but sharing the inner-workings of their decision processes.  Certainly this most recent email with the Twitter/$500K explanation is great to show students how to actually conduct an analysis for a business decision.

I did want to answer your three questions, and then as for what amounts to a “favor” from you (to someone you don’t know.)

First, the questions:

1. Am I crazy, or crazy like fox?

Crazy?  Well I would say not–but if the choice is simply either/or, then crazy like a fox.  I actually believe you are far from crazy.  You have conducted a detailed analysis of the situation, evaluated what history has shown, and made a deliberate and informed decision.  All decisions have risk, but it appears you have worked to limit the risk (or at least understand it.)

2. What’s the value of a Twitter follower?

This one, honestly, is a “it depends on the follower.”  Of course, you have accounted for the “it depends” piece by eliminating group after group, and working down to just how many out of a million followers with be “valuable.”  I have found that followers, AND following, are quite valuable for the ways I use Twitter–and I use Twitter in different ways for different groups.  I use Twitter to connect with at least 3 (sometimes overlapping) groups.  First, there are the “supply chain” professionals actively engaged in my profession and field of study.  Then there are the educators, specifically those that are using technology to reach students.  Finally, there is the geo-specific group of folks here in Central PA, that I reach out and touch to stay connected with my community.  ed: (Of course there always exists that 3rd group–actual friends and family!)

Each has value, but in different ways.  Can I monetize this? Perhaps–but that’s not quite what I am about in a direct sense.  Although I would like to think that, as we all improve our skill sets, learning from one another, we all enhance our earnings, potential and kinetic (to steal from Physics).

3. What’s the value of of being one of “The Suggested?”

This is an interesting one.  I think being one of “The Suggested” is great in your type of area, where you are offering services that are of value to nearly the full range of Twitter users.  I suspect if I were to show up on the list, I would end up with a large number of followers with whom I have little in common, and that “twitter-stream” would cloud the engagement with the communities I have worked to develop.
This discussion is actually what I like most about Twitter–it allows us to develop our own communities, meeting nearly an infinite set of needs and desires truly providing a platform for community.  The communities are no longer bound by time, or space, and can grow organically as people connect with what is of interest to them.

The “Requests”

//**requests deleted–for I hope obvious reasons**//

Thanks for perhaps reading this far down–I realize your time is far more valuable than mine.

Best wishes.

While I haven’t heard back from Mr Calacanis I wanted to at least share these thoughts with you, my reader.

S

One of Reagan’s favorite stories concerned a man who goes to the Soviet bureau of transportation to order an automobile. He is informed that he will have to put down his money now, but there is a 10-year wait. The man fills out all the various forms, has them processed through the various agencies, and finally he gets to the last agency. He pays them his money and they say, ‘Come back in 10 years and get your car.’ He asks, ‘Morning or afternoon?’ The man in the agency says, ‘We’re talking about 10 years from now. What difference does it make?’ He replies, ‘The plumber is coming in the morning.’

Thanks, Historynet.com for making this available to us.

I have to wonder–are we heading down the road not only to socialism (which most people thought Barack would bring) but also towards the miserable life we saw in the Soviet Union?  As rumors are starting to circulate that the White House is forcing the CEO of GM to step down, and putting further direct guidance attached to the loans the government is providing. one cannot help but wonder who in the White House has the background, and the skills, necessary to make decisions–business decisions–to dictate how a major auto manufacturer should operate.

Don’t misunderstand me–I am in favor of accountability for those who spend government dollars.  I believe that when the government loans money there should be a viable plan in place to demonstrate that the money will be repaid.  I just am not convinced that government is best suited to manage business.  Certainly not “private” business.

I am left to wonder if the government has not only exceeeded their authority, but exceeded their ability.

Yesterday many apparently acknowledged their own inability to do anything significant by jointly doing something silly–turning off all their lights for an hour, during “Earth Hour.” I made a few comments about it last night to family, and was told that it was all fodder for my blog.  In fact, these actions (designed to be done at night, so presumably everyone else can see what good citizens we are) remind me of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14).

Let’s, for a moment, consider the value in simply helping those in need.  We can wait for the government to institute a program, identify people that have a need, hope those people will learn about the program, seek help, and receive it in a timely manner.

Or–we can act, and help our brother and sister in need, when in need, directly. And even better, we can do it anonymously so that no one need feel awkward or indebted to a friend, colleague, boss or employee.

There is a new website that helps facilitate just this very thing.  Giving Anonymously has as it’s mission the task of enabling people helping people.

As they say on their site:

We are a non-profit organization facilitating generosity between people.

We are not the ‘charity’ you are! Look around your community, your neighbors, friends and family. Do you see anyone in need? If so, give to them. You can give anonymously. We’ll send them a check, and you’ll get an email with a voice file of them thanking you. But they won’t know who you are! How cool is this!

The Goal

Our goal is to enable and encourage you to be your own charity, and for you to give anonymously to those around you in need.

Sure, you could give money to us and expect us to find those in need. But then your neighbor, Bill, who had to quit his job because he’s sick and now can’t pay the bills or adequately feed his family, will not be helped.

Do you know people who could use a helping hand, and you would like to help, but don’t want, or need, the credit?  Do you have a friend that:

• Had their work hours cut, and they can’t make ends meet?
• Is struggling with chemotherapy for cancer and perhaps simply needs a manicure/pedicure to feel good about themselves?
• Has a child with an illness and cannot deal with the mounting medical bills?
• You would just like to give a hand to?

If so this is the site for you!

They will charge a $2.50 and additional 2.5% handling fee, but considering they will be handling the delivery, and even accepting, on your behalf, an audio thank-you note, it’s a small price (and hey, it keeps others employed in this tough time!)

I commend the site to you, and encourage all of us to take actions that are substantive and meaningful–and perhaps actually make a real, immediate difference in people’s lives.

DISCLAIMER:  As of this writing, I have not yet used this service, and cannot vouch that it isn’t simply a scam.  If anyone knows anything more about the service, please contact me. –Steve

I broke the presentation into three areas of collaboration:
1.  Data gathering (del.icio.us)
2.  Structuring of the research (wiki)
3.  Writing (Google Docs, Microsoft Live Mesh)

(note:  I say in the presentation that Live Mesh is Windows only.  Turns out I was a few versions wrong. It is now available for Mac OSX as well.)

Much of these tools allow us to work asynchronously, sharing information as we find it, and learning what our team has discovered as we have the time.  That said, I also talk about using communication tools such as Skype and Google Talk to work synchronously with your team when geographically separated.  I briefly referred to Twitter, but unfortunately, as much as I love Twitter (and you can find me on Twitter as @SCMProfessor) I don’t see it as a real engine to facilitate collaboration in conducting research.)

I also identified a few things that collaboration in research does:

1.  Fosters cooperation rather than competition
2.  Enables other researchers to share in the research (long discussion about what is and isn’t the outcome of our research).
3.  Speeds the cycle time of research (idea-data-analysis-draft-publication)

Finally, we discussed that the tools should:

1.  Be freely available
2.  Easily understandable audit trail
3.  Provide some levels of security

In the presentation I refer to a few documents (as Google Docs) that I have built to help my students collaborate in their research and project efforts.  First, I have the “Tools and Tutorials” document, where I provide links to not only the tools listed above, but links to helper sites for using these tools, as well as links to “really cool stuff.”

I also mentioned the document I give my students to guide them in the development of their podcast projects.  I even have a 12 step program for them!

So go, listen to the podcast, and please–come back and let me know how YOU are using Web 2.0 to work more closely with your colleagues.

[sarcasm] This is exactly what’s needed in the current economic climate. [/sarcasm]

The commenters on that post have taken him to task for that comment, pointing out that businesses can, and perhaps should, continue to make all levels of products.  One could even argue that making and selling these sorts of things, and creating markets for these products, is exactly what is needed during these economic times to pull us out of the downturn.

Thurrott does point out that the new computer appears to be taking aim at Apple’s Mac Air.  Interesting.  But in reading the comments I was surprised no one even hinted at this question–like so many of the new “netbooks” on this market…

Will this computer run Apple’s OSX?

The important thing to remember here is, our conversation was recorded ON Google Voice, using the re

Needless to say we enjoyed the experience–it’s a typical Google experience!

We did spend a few minutes talking about our various websites.

To learn more about my son’s water polo camp, or to have him design a custom branding image, go visit http://fathersonchats.com

Aaron has a couple of websites worth visiting.  Check out his personal site.  He and his wife have a good site going, and worth checking out, especially helping out with financial issues!

Finally, Aaron is beginning a new business of his own, so go check http://trimtabcreative.com

It provided not only a voicemail system, but an opportunity to record a call, and even download the voicemail or recording for later use (even as podcasts!)   Oh, and just like a regular answering machine in your house, there is an option to screen the call, listen as it records the voicemail, and jump in if it is “critical.”

Well, Google bought them (a while ago) and just today announced they are remaking it as “Google Voice.”

I have just converted to the new account, and Aaron over on Twitter (@aaronaiken) politely tested it with me.  He called, and I let it go to voice mail.  You can listen to the actual audio file below.

I watched as it first delivered the mail to the webpage inbox, and was immediately available to listen to, and download.

Then, after 2 minutes, provided the coolest new feature:

VOICEMAIL CONVERTED TO TEXT.

Yup, you read that right.  His voicemail was converted to text.  The darker the text in the display, the more confident the automated conversion system was of the words.  Here is a graphic of the actual voicemail.

As you can see it was pretty confident.  And honestly, it should be.  It got most of the grey words correct as well.  I am sure “your mileage may vary” but it was quite good!  Perhaps most interesting, it deleted out all the “verbal pauses.”

Within another minute I was not only notified by text message on my iPhone that I had a voicemail, but they delivered the text of that voicemail as well!

I hope to be testing out other features later today–so be on the lookout for a podcast, recorded using Google Voice, and the new “conference Call” feature!

One more thing:  If you haven’t yet, please consider helping my son get to water polo camp.  Even a simple one, or two, dollar donation would be great!

One of the thoughts that he makes it that is harder and harder to know when we are being sold to, and when we are just being “talked” to.  Is that Youtube video truly an amateur sharing a moment and a thought?

Today someone on twitter shared a link from YouTube that is a video of a “spontaneous” event filmed at a train station, for a T-Mobile commercial.  In this commercial music starts playing, and the crowd starts dancing… at first a few, then a few more, and then almost everyone.

I would assume they had a few people “seed” the crowd to get them started.  It might even be a LOT of people were “seeded” in the crowd.

But I wondered–are we so easily manipulated that we can be pulled into a commercial for a mobile phone company in real life?

(UPDATE: see below for an update on this.)

Anyway, enjoy the clip!

(And, if you get a chance, go support my son and his effort to get to water polo camp!)

(UPDATE: well it turns out it was apparently ALL choreographed. Hm. That means that while it was a openly sold as a commercial, they manipulated the audience into thinking it was like a “flash mob” event. Hmmmmm)

To earn money for his upcoming water polo camp, he is willing to custom design wallpapers for anyone that asks, for a donation of $50 towards camp.

To learn more about it, or just to donate a small amount (2 (two) dollars is fine!) go read about it at that site.

And go, and enjoy his existing work!

Usually they point to the entry of celebrities to the Twitterverse as the beginning of the demise.  For a while, @theRealDvorak predicted that Britney Spears would bring down Twitter.  Then it was other “stars.”

Well, some of this is true.  The massive number of followers that Leo and Dvorak have are dwarfed by Obama’s twitter following. As well as the numbers put up by other greats like @bobbyllew and @brentSpiner (again, my two favorite TV androids–just WHY Google hasn’t contacted them to sell their G1 I don’t know.)  Twitter left the hands of the “Techies” and became mainstream.  Somehow, this is what would make it “jump the shark.”

I  have to respectfully disagree.

What makes twitter “work” is that while many will follow what I will call “vanity twitterers” twitter has as its heart, its soul, the development of personal communities and networks.  One connects with people that have interests in common.

For me, I have really three distinct “twitter” communities.  I am a Supply Chain guy, and want to connect with other professionals in that arena (it’s why my twitter name is @SCMProfessor).  I am also a professor (another part of that name) and so I am interested in connecting with educators, especially those that are innovative and using technology in helping people learn and understand the world around them. Like @ChrisChampion, @MisterLamb and @Dsalvucci.  I also like connecting with “real people” living real lives. Much of that comes from getting to know those in the first two groups.  Some is connecting with people I already knew, and some simply comes from finding other areas of interest where we intersect (location, politics, food, and so forth.)

Twitter’s ability to connect small pockets of people from around the globe, and allow us to develop digital relationships, is what keeps Twitter moving forward.  Sure, we may follow some “vanity twitterers” but that is like watching “Entertainment Tonight.”  It’s a fun diversion.

Relationships are what moves us forward–and relationships are what powers Twitter.

View the animation, and then please, come back here and share your thoughts.  Do you see this as a potential? Why, or why not?

nb: I had originally posted a link to this well done Flash production back in 2006.  Because it gives “future  history” (that is, presents things as fact that at the time had not yet occured) the timeline is somewhat muddied.  I can certainly say it was produced before May of 2006.

A few months ago I was commenting that Google’s new browser, Chrome, looked interesting, but alas couldn’t be used by Mac users.  I was quickly corrected, as one pointed out that they can run MS Vista on their Mac, and then use that browser.

Here’s the conundrum:

If you are running Vista is it still a Mac?

The argument seems to be yes, since the hardware is the computer, then the Apple Mac computer is the hardware.

I would accept that a “true Mac” is the combination of the hardware with the software, but the introduction of running Vista (or XP) on the Apple hardware and still calling it a Mac makes murky the water.

Now, with the ability to run the Apple Mac OSX operating system on a number of other Intel based machines, and on a number of netbooks we face a new question:

“If a computer running Vista is still a Mac because the hardware is Apple’s, then is a non-Apple machine, running OSX not a Mac?”

So should I stop saying I use Vista, and start saying I use “HP” or “Dell” or “homebuilt” or…?

I am left with another comparison to religion, and thus the title to this post.  Just as we can talk about a “cultural Christian” or a “cultural Jew” (someone connected through the heritage but not through religious or spiritual beliefs) and we talk about the spiritual or observant adherents to those faiths, can we make the same statement about Macs?

Are there “Cultural Macs” (those connected through the heritage that is hardware and logo) and “Observant” or “spiritual” Macs, that have the indwelling of the holy OSX code?

Banks are in trouble because they loaned out money to people that are having a hard time paying them back.  That’s mortgages, and credit cards, and car loans, and… well you get the point.

So the government gives money to the banks.  OUR money to the banks.  Money from the people that are having a hard time paying the bills.

As I see it, this results in taxpayers (you know, those of us giving the money to the Government to use “wisely” on our behalf) owing two debts instead of one.  I have the original debt that I have a hard time paying, and now I have this NEW debt that my government has assumed on my behalf.  Thanks, Government.  You’re a peach.

What would I have done?  Well, given that “let things work themselves out without government meddling ” isn’t a good idea (apparently) I would have said “hmm…. let’s give the money to the people that owe the money.  Let them pay the banks back, so the banks get the capital they need, and we don’t drown our populace in debt.”

Imagine that.  The government supporting the banks through helping the people the government is really here to help–THE PEOPLE!

Thankfully, we have people like Jon Stewart on our side.  Unfortunately, the government doesn’t listen.

But you should.  Get a cup of coffee and take a 10 minute break from work and watch.

The website, Get The Next _____ is a nice website, highlighting things that you may, or may not, already be using.  Rarely does he seem to highlight anything outrageously expensive, but they are things that are cool, and useful!

As he writes in the “About” section:

Here we’re all about what’s coming next.  Check back regularly to see input from technology and media enthusiasts who are always focused on what’s on the horizon.  There is a lot going on in the worlds of technology and new media.  We’re here to help you stay on top of what’s next so that you are always prepared to Get The Next ____.

Go visit, follow Tony on Twitter, or email him at: tony@getthenext.com

UPDATE 2:  Microsoft has returned VBA to their Mac Office 2011 suite, so you can now run this macro in both Windows and Mac OS’s.  If you find this useful, please consider making a donation–even $1.00 let’s me know you appreciate with we are doing here.  You can find the link for donations on the right side of the page.

UPDATE:  MAC Users–apparently Microsoft removed VBA from their Word for MAC (read excruciating details here.)  Thus, the only way to use this macro is to run Windows on your Mac, with the Windows version of Office running.

First let me thank Lance Laytner for encouraging me to pull out the macros and work on them some more.

As I posted previously, I had compiled/written a Word macro routine that would go through and reformat the Kindle’s “My Clippings.txt” file into something a bit more useful.  It was rough around the edges requiring much massaging afterwards due to some quirks of formatting.  In other words, it was a 50% solution.

I have fixed “most” of the problems with the macros. (see the file after the break!)  I say most, because it now works properly for me, but that’s not to say there aren’t some other “odd” formatting features I haven’t found yet.

You can find the file here.  (It should show up as a text file in your browser.  I recommend cutting and pasting into a text document, and then saving as kindle.bas)

To install the macro, just go in Word to the VBA window (Alt-F11 usually gets you there–you might need to enable the “developer” tab first) and then import the file Kindle.bas — it should load into the Normal project, as Module Kindle.

To use the macro, just open the My Clippings.txt file (I open as a text file, and cut and paste into word) and then run the macro in Word.

Here’s what the macro does:

• Creates a table of highlights, notes and bookmarks.
• sorts the table by book and location in book
• removes a (now useless) column
• changes the font to a smaller one
• adjusts the column sizes

Let me know what you think.  (and feel free to make a small donation to the right, if you like it!)

I wanted to take a few minutes to write about ways to address the challenges of these three points.

I have commented on twitter (@SCMProfessor) that I don’t like the push to be “followed” but not to follow back.  Leo LaPorte, and many others, talk in their podcasts about how many people follow them, and either in jest or with serious intent, talk about wanting more followers.  There I find myself usually asking “why?”

Of course, people like Barack Obama, @LeoLaPorte, and my two personal favorites @BrentSpiner  and @bobbyll (two of the best TV androids around!) serve a role as thought leaders.  But what about the rest of  us? Should we want to be folllowed by millions and not follow back?

I admit, I enjoy watching the following numbers go up.  It is in some sense a boost to the ego.  But I also feel it is important to follow back.  If we are to be part of a “community” then that community should encourage discourse and exchange.  We should want to follow the people that follow us, so that we can learn from them.  @TheRealDvorak (John C Dvorak) actually was doing this.  He would follow back.  He would engage.  Of course, leading the way in following back is Scoble (@thescobleizer) who follows 70K people, and is followed by 65K.  He engages!

Here’s my suggestions for engagement on Twitter.

1. First, when someone follows you (and they aren’t a scam-bot) follow back.
2. Don’t block people you disagree with–engage, and learn.  Neither of you will likely change, but both can grow.
3. Seek out experts in your field on Twitter, and acknoweldge them
4. Ask questions!  A true community should be willing to help one another, which leads to;
5. Answer questions!  When someone asks for help, and if you are qualified, respond, and finally;
6. Engage people at the personal level.

I have tried, in thinking through these suggestions, to address Keen’s legitimate concerns regarding Web 2.0.

First and foremost if we make this conversational and if we are willing to follow and engage with people whom we disagree, we may find that while ideologies separate us, we can be friends.  And through it all we may learn that the “I” is not as important as the “we.”

Second, by seeking out, and acknowledging, experts in a our fields, we help to quell the cacaophony of amateurs, and reinforce the importance of depth.  This approach also helps build sub-communities in Twitter where practitioners (for instance in my fields of education, and supply chain) can grow and share and learn.

Finally, by engaging in these social networking communities of practice we open doors for further growth and development of knowledge.  The professional benefit of Twitter can be that it answers questions to immediate needs, and opens doors for further (monetarily rewarding)

Take a minutes, and contribute to the community. Leave a comment, and if you are on Twitter, leave your twitter info!

First, “I”  matter the most. In this new world we are all equally important, and apparently all have an equal right to be heard.  Unfortunately, in our rush to be heard we forget that we should also listen.  We are rushing to be heard, and ultimately result in simply asserting our right to speak.   In discussing an event he attended, he writes

“Everyone was simultaneously broadcasting  themselves, but nobody was listening. Out of this  anarchy, it suddenly became clear that what was  governing the infinite monkeys now inputting away on  the Internet was the law of digital Darwinism, the  survival of the loudest and most opinionated. Under  these rules, the only way to intellectually prevail is by  infinite filibustering.”

He then goes on to write

“The information business is  being transformed by the Internet into the sheer noise of a  hundred million bloggers all simultaneously talking about  themselves. “

So what?  What’s wrong with everyone writing about themselves?    His point is a bit more than simply we are producing too much noise.  When we do take time to read, and to listen, we are no longer availing ourselves of the filters of expertise.  We are starting to read and value uninformed, and ignorant, analysis over the informed and educated.  When we no longer look to experts for opinions on lofty and heady subjects we lose the ability to truly learn, and instead replace that with a sense of knowing and not a reality of knowing.

Second, from this drift away from the works of experts to amateurs, he argues that facts and truth are no longer immutable.

Again, he writes:

As Marshall Poe observed in the September 2006 issue of the  Atlantic:  We tend to think of truth as something that resides in  the world. The fact that two plus two equals four is  written in the stars…. But Wikipedia suggests a  different theory of truth. Just think about the way we  learn what words mean…. The community decides that  two plus two equals four the same way it decides what  an apple is: by consensus. Yes, that means that if the  community changes its mind and decides that two plus  two equals five, then two plus two does equal five. The  community isn’t likely to do such an absurd or useless  thing, but it has the ability.

What’s even more dangerous here than just the self-absorbed cacophony is that this new cult of the amateur actually elevates opinion to the same level as educated fact. Once we believe a few hours of exposure to a topic makes us “as good as” an expert, we substitute our knowledge for real knowledge.

I was listening to an ETS Talk podcast from Cole Camplese and his group at Penn State University — University Park.  They were attending a conference and Cole was mentioning the great work done by Michael Wesch and his students at Kansas State University.  In the discussion Cole talks about the change from the focus on the Professor, with 200+ hours of advanced coursework, to the “wisdom of the crowd.”  When they added up the experiences of the professor, and  his classes, they “discovered” that collectively they have over 24000 credit hours of study, and global experiences with humanitarian, military, and personal experiences, including collectively 24 years of military service in Iraq.  As if, somehow, having all that “introductory level experience” in any way compares to the depth of research, study and experience of the experts.  For example,

• If 100 students each took 8 credit hours of Calculus do those 800 hours somehow equate to a Math Professor who has taken 100 credit hours of advanced math?  (Let’s ignore the simple fact that most probably earned a C, and likely received a B.)
• Do  the 24 years of collective experience in Iraq in the military (most likely served by 24 junior enlisted troops serving in frontline positions) mean that they collectively are as good as the General who has served in varied posts for 24 years?

What bothers me here is not that we quickly accept these assertions without much reflection–it’s that some, in reading my two bullets above, may actually agree that they are in some way equivalent!  That is what Keen is speaking to when he argues we are losing the value of the experts.

The third point of Keen’s that speaks to me is when he argues that our efforts at creating, and embracing, the democratization of information actually is harming the creation of new knowledge. As he writes,

…a radically  democratic culture is hardly conducive to scholarship or to  the creation of wisdom. The reality is that we now live in a  highly specialized society, where excellence is rewarded and  where professionals receive years of training to properly do  their jobs, whether as doctors or journalists, environmental  scientists or clothing designers. In The Wealth of Nations,  economist Adam Smith reminds us that specialization and  division of labor is, in fact, the most revolutionary  achievement of capitalism:  The greatest improvement in the productive powers of  labour, and the greater part of the skill, dexterity, and  judgment with which it is any where directed, or  applied, seem to have been the effects of labour.

Keen goes on to argue that our tearing down of the existing structure for vetting information, and our apparent wilingness to go to other less reliable sources, results in the diminution of resources to further develop the skills necessary for true knowledge creation.   Some talk about this as being the “new economy” but imagine an economy based on not paying for what you receive.

Scary, right?

As I said, I am working through Keen’s book, and find it interesting and challenging.  Of course, I am writing about this on my own blog.  I even acknowledge that for me the writing is as much to help me think through things (listen to myself talk) as it is for anyone else.

But perhaps there is another view.  Perhaps we can transform the transmit only world into one where true engagement can take place.

Stay tuned–and in the meantime, take part in the engagement right here!  Leave your thoughts in the comment section.  Let’s actually “talk” rather than just read.