The United States presidential election of 2008 is going to be fascinating for any number of reasons. Technology will play a role without doubt. Blogging will have an impact; the only question being how much of an impact that will be. Robert Scoble recently tagged along while John Edwards announced that he’s running for President.
I think the most important aspect of the election will potentially be the fact that it will represent the first time a woman has been a credible candidate for the presidency. A poll of New Hampshire Democrats released Thursday by the American Research Group indicated that the undeclared Senator Hillary Clinton of New York has 27 percent support, significantly ahead of John Edwards who has just 18 percent support.
This is, of course, a long race and much can happen between now and election day. Stay tuned.
Technorati Tags: Robert Scoble, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards
Saturday, December 30, 2006
15 seconds of fame...
In 1968 Andy Warhol made the statement that "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." In 1979 Warhol reiterated his claim: "...my prediction from the sixties finally came true: In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes."
Warhol may turn out to be right in principle but wrong about how fleeting fame might be, courtesy of CBS Interactive.
[Link]
Technorati Tags: andy warhol, CBS, Fame
Warhol may turn out to be right in principle but wrong about how fleeting fame might be, courtesy of CBS Interactive.
If you had 15 seconds to tell the world whatever you want to, what would you say? Well, now's your chance to be seen and heard on national television, courtesy of CBS Interactive. Post your 15-second video on YouTube, and CBS Interactive will select one to be broadcast on TV! The first selection will air on Sunday, February 4, 2007.This has the potential to be fascinating.
[Link]
Technorati Tags: andy warhol, CBS, Fame
Ticket to the moon...
I have some vivid memories of watching the moon landings at school as a child. I was just eight years old when Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon. When I travelled to Florida on holiday one of the highlights of the trip was the visit to Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. I guess you could call me a child of the space age.
It was with some sadness, therefore, that I read in this article on CNN about the scale of indifference among 18 to 25 year olds for the NASA vision to return to the moon and then go to Mars.
I guess the good news is that NASA is recognising that is has a problem and therefore is applying some thought to how to turn this around. The article indicates some understanding of what the solution has to manage, but I'm not convinced they have yet found the inspiring, viral idea that will get them to their goal.
I hope they do, before Congress decides the vision has insufficient public support and quietly buries the plans.
Technorati Tags: NASA
It was with some sadness, therefore, that I read in this article on CNN about the scale of indifference among 18 to 25 year olds for the NASA vision to return to the moon and then go to Mars.
I guess the good news is that NASA is recognising that is has a problem and therefore is applying some thought to how to turn this around. The article indicates some understanding of what the solution has to manage, but I'm not convinced they have yet found the inspiring, viral idea that will get them to their goal.
I hope they do, before Congress decides the vision has insufficient public support and quietly buries the plans.
Technorati Tags: NASA
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Google Reader
As I haven't had much time to blog I haven't had the chance to report that I've moved over to Google Reader and although I thought I'd never find that I would be happy with a feed reader tool that wasn't based in Outlook I've actually found the transition relatively painless. This is how I went about implementing Reader:
(1) I was able to get going in minutes by importing an opml file of my Newsgator subscriptions
(2) I keep all my subscriptions in a simple list, in other words I don't create folders. I do, however, only list updated subscriptions. I sometimes scan the list to zero in on favourite feeds but most of the time I use "All items" view and just next, next, next through my items in expanded mode. I never use the list mode. So after all this time I finally get completely the concept of a "river of news", but it's taken Google's implementation of it to win me over.
(3) I keep my "All items" view and each subscription sorted by oldest. I like to read in the order in which people wrote items and I also keep an eye on how far behind I am with my feed reading.
(4) I love the way "Starred items" has been implemented. This makes it easy to retrieve items I want to blog about or to go back and read a post in more depth later on.
(5) I also totally love the way that shared items has been implemented. Robert Scoble used this feature to re-introduce his link blog. I use it to share items of interest from my feeds with my wife and friends.
I'm definitely a convert!
Tags: Robert Scoble, Google Reader
(1) I was able to get going in minutes by importing an opml file of my Newsgator subscriptions
(2) I keep all my subscriptions in a simple list, in other words I don't create folders. I do, however, only list updated subscriptions. I sometimes scan the list to zero in on favourite feeds but most of the time I use "All items" view and just next, next, next through my items in expanded mode. I never use the list mode. So after all this time I finally get completely the concept of a "river of news", but it's taken Google's implementation of it to win me over.
(3) I keep my "All items" view and each subscription sorted by oldest. I like to read in the order in which people wrote items and I also keep an eye on how far behind I am with my feed reading.
(4) I love the way "Starred items" has been implemented. This makes it easy to retrieve items I want to blog about or to go back and read a post in more depth later on.
(5) I also totally love the way that shared items has been implemented. Robert Scoble used this feature to re-introduce his link blog. I use it to share items of interest from my feeds with my wife and friends.
I'm definitely a convert!
Tags: Robert Scoble, Google Reader
Sigh...
So I haven't blogged in over a month and now that I have some time to catch up I find the spammers have found a way to hit haloscan and statcounter is down. Terrific!
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Mindjet responds to resource useage issues
I've been aware for some time of concerns that some MindManager users have been voicing over issues which manifest as high consumption of CPU and RAM resource when using the product.
Mindjet have published an update today that illustrates they've been listening, working on the problem and now believe they have a structured way forward to attack some of the issues.
The route map consists of some specific changes that will be made to how MindManager utilises CPU and RAM resources coupled with some advice on using MindManager on a tablet.
Whilst MindJet make the point that they only have data on 80 users suffering with these problems out of a user base of over 800,000 I think the issue has (so far) been a model of how blogging can help companies listen to user issues and respond to them.
Tags: Mindjet, MindManager
Mindjet have published an update today that illustrates they've been listening, working on the problem and now believe they have a structured way forward to attack some of the issues.
The route map consists of some specific changes that will be made to how MindManager utilises CPU and RAM resources coupled with some advice on using MindManager on a tablet.
Whilst MindJet make the point that they only have data on 80 users suffering with these problems out of a user base of over 800,000 I think the issue has (so far) been a model of how blogging can help companies listen to user issues and respond to them.
Tags: Mindjet, MindManager
Sunday, November 12, 2006
State of the Blogosphere
Dave Sifry has published his quarterly State of the Blogosphere report. This is my view of the findings:
- Technorati is now tracking more than 57 million blogs (although only 55% are active)
- The blogosphere is doubling in size approximately every 230 days
- About 100,000 new weblogs are created each day
- About 1.3 million posting are made per day
- There is a strong correlation between frequency of posting and Technorati ranking.
Boy, is the blogosphere getting big. I'm glad I was among the "relatively" early adopters because my ranking, pathetic though it is, still puts me in the top 1% 0f active blogs. Cool. Is it cool to say cool these days?
Tags: Technorati, Blogs, Blogging
MediaFire free file hosting...
I'm trying out the free file hosting service at MediaFire, and I'm using it to share the mind map files that I talked about in my previous post.
Creating an account is as simple as providing your email address and picking a password.
Uploading couldn't be simpler and the service provides unlimited uploads / downloads and unlimited file sizes, for free (it's all ad supported). The upload progress page is quite spiffy:
and they make the process of sharing your file once uploaded as easy as can be...
I don't want to sound like the prophet of doom, but I've seen a number of these services come and then migrate to a pay service. Bottom line - I hope MediaFire manages to secure enough ad revenue to provide a basic free service in it's current form ad infinitum.
As it stands this is a great, no-nonsense, file hosting service.
Tags: MediaFire, file hosting
Creating an account is as simple as providing your email address and picking a password.
Uploading couldn't be simpler and the service provides unlimited uploads / downloads and unlimited file sizes, for free (it's all ad supported). The upload progress page is quite spiffy:
and they make the process of sharing your file once uploaded as easy as can be...
I don't want to sound like the prophet of doom, but I've seen a number of these services come and then migrate to a pay service. Bottom line - I hope MediaFire manages to secure enough ad revenue to provide a basic free service in it's current form ad infinitum.
As it stands this is a great, no-nonsense, file hosting service.
Tags: MediaFire, file hosting
RSS Primers
I starred a post in Google Reader to come back to at a later date and blog about. It was something Steve Rubel wrote about the best primer on RSS that he's seen to date.
I must admit that I usually send people who ask me about RSS to the BBC primers either here or here.
I thought Wikipedia made heavy weather of it, even the section on "usage" (which is effectively the introduction) was a bit technical for the average reader; quickly descending into XML's, Atom's, and client sides.
I googled "RSS primer" and the number one hit also get's technical pretty quickly; less than a page in and we're looking at what an RSS file looks like.
Where do you send people for a good introduction to RSS?
Tags: RSS, RSS Primer, Steve Rubel
I must admit that I usually send people who ask me about RSS to the BBC primers either here or here.
I thought Wikipedia made heavy weather of it, even the section on "usage" (which is effectively the introduction) was a bit technical for the average reader; quickly descending into XML's, Atom's, and client sides.
I googled "RSS primer" and the number one hit also get's technical pretty quickly; less than a page in and we're looking at what an RSS file looks like.
Where do you send people for a good introduction to RSS?
Tags: RSS, RSS Primer, Steve Rubel
The fedaration against bullets (FAB)
For the past year or so I've been interested in my approach to producing presentations. Google Desktop Search tells me that Robert Scoble blogged about Beyond Bullets in March 2005, although I think the source of Robert's post was this post by Steve Rubel.
I mention this because I can't believe I haven't blogged about Beyond Bullets before now. I occasionally run across posts like this one, which makes a headline out of the hypothesis that bad PowerPoint is costing something like $250m dollars a day in wasted time whilst the fine print points out that the problem isn't the software, just the way that people use it. And there's any number of this type of post with a headline about the many ways to create better PowerPoint but when you get to the source you find it's good advice only if you're going to keep approaching presentations in the same old way.
Beyond Bullets was the first time that I'd come across a radically different approach to PowerPoint. Here is my short version of the book:
Bullet points are easy but they are an obstacle. They make the atmosphere formal and stiff. They tend to make people confused and unclear. They "dumb down" critical thinking. The alternative? Tell a story; (1) write a script to focus your ideas. (2) storyboard the script to clarify ideas and provide the foundation for the words and visuals (3) engage with your audience.
When I first read the book I mind mapped my learning. The mind maps I created with supporting files are available here. If you have trouble downloading drop me a mail at steve.newson@gmail.com and I'll email the file to you.
Cliff Atkinson, the author of Beyond Bullets, also writes the Beyond Bullets blog, although it's been silent since July, 2006. I hope Cliff will blog again in the future. If you're seriously interested in creating better presentations then I highly recommend the book.
UPDATE: Kathy Sierra who writes the awesome Creating Passionate Users blog has some great advice in this post about adding graphics to your blog, book or presentation.
Tags: Beyond Bullets, Robert Scoble, Powerpoint, Presentations, Mind Manager, Mind Mapping
I mention this because I can't believe I haven't blogged about Beyond Bullets before now. I occasionally run across posts like this one, which makes a headline out of the hypothesis that bad PowerPoint is costing something like $250m dollars a day in wasted time whilst the fine print points out that the problem isn't the software, just the way that people use it. And there's any number of this type of post with a headline about the many ways to create better PowerPoint but when you get to the source you find it's good advice only if you're going to keep approaching presentations in the same old way.
Beyond Bullets was the first time that I'd come across a radically different approach to PowerPoint. Here is my short version of the book:
Bullet points are easy but they are an obstacle. They make the atmosphere formal and stiff. They tend to make people confused and unclear. They "dumb down" critical thinking. The alternative? Tell a story; (1) write a script to focus your ideas. (2) storyboard the script to clarify ideas and provide the foundation for the words and visuals (3) engage with your audience.
When I first read the book I mind mapped my learning. The mind maps I created with supporting files are available here. If you have trouble downloading drop me a mail at steve.newson@gmail.com and I'll email the file to you.
Cliff Atkinson, the author of Beyond Bullets, also writes the Beyond Bullets blog, although it's been silent since July, 2006. I hope Cliff will blog again in the future. If you're seriously interested in creating better presentations then I highly recommend the book.
UPDATE: Kathy Sierra who writes the awesome Creating Passionate Users blog has some great advice in this post about adding graphics to your blog, book or presentation.
Tags: Beyond Bullets, Robert Scoble, Powerpoint, Presentations, Mind Manager, Mind Mapping
Penguin goes shopping...
I promise I'm not trying to takeover from Cute Overload, but this is priceless...
Tags: Penguin, Cute
Tags: Penguin, Cute
Zune has installation issues...
You have to feel for the guys at Microsoft sometimes. If catching up with the iPod wasn't hard enough already the first reports trickling out from pre-launch sales of the Zune suggest installation isn't going to be straightforward for everyone.
"Embrace and extend" may have been taken care of. Extinguishing the iPod is just going to take a bit longer.
Tags: Microsoft, Zune, iPod
"Embrace and extend" may have been taken care of. Extinguishing the iPod is just going to take a bit longer.
Tags: Microsoft, Zune, iPod
Saturday, November 11, 2006
I'm not usually this lucky but...
If it wasn't already obvious to regular readers of this site I'm a big fan of MindManager from Mindjet. I've had access to the application for the past couple of years through my former employer, but have been unable to use my maps for the last several weeks since starting my new job. If I'm honest I haven't had time to miss it properly as I've been so busy settling in to my new role.
A couple of weeks ago one of the GTD blogs that I subscribe to - What's the Next Action - reviewed MindManager and announced a competition with five MindManager Pro 6 licences as prizes. The prizes would go to the finest, most original, thoughtprovoking or best-coloured mindmaps on any topic of choice. So I submitted one of my maps and thought nothing more about it.
So I was hugely pleased to read that I was one of the winners.
The map that I submitted was the one I made of my CV (resume). The judging panel called it innovative and original. Scott Herrick commented on the results on his BizBlog and thought the map was cool. High praise indeed.
As Scott pointed out I wrote about the creation of the map in this post.
I'm so glad to have MindManager back in my toolkit.
Tags: Mindjet, MindManager, Mind Mapping, mindmapping, GTD
A couple of weeks ago one of the GTD blogs that I subscribe to - What's the Next Action - reviewed MindManager and announced a competition with five MindManager Pro 6 licences as prizes. The prizes would go to the finest, most original, thoughtprovoking or best-coloured mindmaps on any topic of choice. So I submitted one of my maps and thought nothing more about it.
So I was hugely pleased to read that I was one of the winners.
The map that I submitted was the one I made of my CV (resume). The judging panel called it innovative and original. Scott Herrick commented on the results on his BizBlog and thought the map was cool. High praise indeed.
As Scott pointed out I wrote about the creation of the map in this post.
I'm so glad to have MindManager back in my toolkit.
Tags: Mindjet, MindManager, Mind Mapping, mindmapping, GTD
Launching a takeover...
Ok, so I have the front end:
... now I just need a spider, an indexed database, a few servers, some power and the big G better watch out!
Something tells me Sergey and Larry don't have much to worry about for a while.
Follow the link to create your own customised Google homepage (at least until the takedown notice arrives).
[Link]
Tags: Google, Joke
... now I just need a spider, an indexed database, a few servers, some power and the big G better watch out!
Something tells me Sergey and Larry don't have much to worry about for a while.
Follow the link to create your own customised Google homepage (at least until the takedown notice arrives).
[Link]
Tags: Google, Joke
My link blog...
You know me by now, any chance for a gratuitous picture of a panda and I'm you're man.
This picture was taken at the WoLong Panda Center in China by ynts060701
It's also from one of the first posts on my link blog which you can find here, or you can subscribe here.
Tags: Panda, Pandas, Google Reader
This picture was taken at the WoLong Panda Center in China by ynts060701
It's also from one of the first posts on my link blog which you can find here, or you can subscribe here.
Tags: Panda, Pandas, Google Reader
When I'm 65...
Speaking of motivational quotes here's one from the great George Burns:
"Retirement at sixty-five is ridiculous. When I was sixty-five I still had pimples."
I hope I feel the same when I get there.
Tags: Motivation
"Retirement at sixty-five is ridiculous. When I was sixty-five I still had pimples."
I hope I feel the same when I get there.
Tags: Motivation
I feel the need, the need for speed
I've read some of the commentary about Marissa Meyer's speech at the Web 2.0 Conference in which she offered some insight into what Google have learned about speed, the user experience, and user satisfaction.
The lesson, Marissa said, is that speed matters. People do not like to wait. Do not make them.
I hope the Google Reader team were listening. For various reasons I've recently moved from Newsgator to Google Reader as my aggregator and I have to say that for the most part the experience has been excellent.
Things I like:
(1) Starred Items - I can mark an item as starred to come back later and blog about it. This means I can keep the reading process and writing process separate when I want to.
(2) Shared Items - makes it easy to share blog posts with my wife, so I don't have to keep emailing her either the post or a link to the post. She can subscribe to my shared item feed so I don't have to say "Honey, did you see that post about...." anymore. Robert Scoble took this feature one step further and turned this functionality into his link blog, simply by advertising the page / feed details. There are some problems with layout on the page view, but the feed works perfectly well.
(3) River of News - I never really got the argument about a "river of news" until I started to use the "All items" view in Reader. I show only the new items in the expanded view and use the Next / Previous buttons to advance through my unread posts as a river of news. I don't usually use keyboard shortcuts as a rule and I know that I could use the j / k keys for Next / Previous movement, for some reason I personally prefer the Next / Previous buttons. Each item I land on is automatically marked as read. I can "star" or "share" as I go. I can also email or tag items but I don't use the email feature often and haven't used the tagging feature at all. I don't have to use the river of news view and when I want to, I can zero in on feeds that I'm interested in at a particular point in time. What I have noticed though is that I do get through the reading process faster than I did using folders in Outlook. I haven't changed the number of feeds I'm reading so unless everyone is suddenly writing a whole lot less than before the river of news approach is definitely speeding up how fast I can get through my reading.
What is less good is the time it takes to load items into the view. As I move through my river of news it appears that the reader loads twenty items at a time but it seems not to load the next 20 until you get to the bottom of the current twenty, so I'm continually waiting while the reader is "loading next 20 items".
To be fair Google Reader is still a beta product and they're probably still working on improvements. As Marissa has pointed out though, speed matters.
Tags: Google Reader, Newsgator, Robert Scoble
The lesson, Marissa said, is that speed matters. People do not like to wait. Do not make them.
I hope the Google Reader team were listening. For various reasons I've recently moved from Newsgator to Google Reader as my aggregator and I have to say that for the most part the experience has been excellent.
Things I like:
(1) Starred Items - I can mark an item as starred to come back later and blog about it. This means I can keep the reading process and writing process separate when I want to.
(2) Shared Items - makes it easy to share blog posts with my wife, so I don't have to keep emailing her either the post or a link to the post. She can subscribe to my shared item feed so I don't have to say "Honey, did you see that post about...." anymore. Robert Scoble took this feature one step further and turned this functionality into his link blog, simply by advertising the page / feed details. There are some problems with layout on the page view, but the feed works perfectly well.
(3) River of News - I never really got the argument about a "river of news" until I started to use the "All items" view in Reader. I show only the new items in the expanded view and use the Next / Previous buttons to advance through my unread posts as a river of news. I don't usually use keyboard shortcuts as a rule and I know that I could use the j / k keys for Next / Previous movement, for some reason I personally prefer the Next / Previous buttons. Each item I land on is automatically marked as read. I can "star" or "share" as I go. I can also email or tag items but I don't use the email feature often and haven't used the tagging feature at all. I don't have to use the river of news view and when I want to, I can zero in on feeds that I'm interested in at a particular point in time. What I have noticed though is that I do get through the reading process faster than I did using folders in Outlook. I haven't changed the number of feeds I'm reading so unless everyone is suddenly writing a whole lot less than before the river of news approach is definitely speeding up how fast I can get through my reading.
What is less good is the time it takes to load items into the view. As I move through my river of news it appears that the reader loads twenty items at a time but it seems not to load the next 20 until you get to the bottom of the current twenty, so I'm continually waiting while the reader is "loading next 20 items".
To be fair Google Reader is still a beta product and they're probably still working on improvements. As Marissa has pointed out though, speed matters.
Tags: Google Reader, Newsgator, Robert Scoble
Motivation
According to the blurb on the website, the Quotations Page is the oldest quotation site on the Web, established in 1994. They have over 25,200 quotations online from over 3,000 authors, and more are added daily.
The quotes are broken down into categories, one of the categories is called "Motivational Quotes". It's possible to subscribe to a feed from this category that sends your reader four quotes per day.
Two recent quotes were particularly relevant to my ongoing fascination with Getting Things Done, so I thought I would share them:
"Life is too complicated not to be orderly." (Martha Stewart)
"Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is a nobler art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials." (Lin Yutang)
These are the sort of quotes I like to use as an email tagline, although my favourite tagline has always been a project management line:
"Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine."
Tags: Motivation, GTD, Getting Things Done
The quotes are broken down into categories, one of the categories is called "Motivational Quotes". It's possible to subscribe to a feed from this category that sends your reader four quotes per day.
Two recent quotes were particularly relevant to my ongoing fascination with Getting Things Done, so I thought I would share them:
"Life is too complicated not to be orderly." (Martha Stewart)
"Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is a nobler art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials." (Lin Yutang)
These are the sort of quotes I like to use as an email tagline, although my favourite tagline has always been a project management line:
"Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine."
Tags: Motivation, GTD, Getting Things Done
FogBugz as a Help Desk application
I've mentioned recently that I'm a fan of the work of Joel Spolsky.
At my last place of employment I implemented Fogbugz to replace the defect tracking and enhancement management tool we were using at the time and I found that it made light work of that task with the added bonus of an impressive reduction in costs. I was particularly impressed by how uncomplicated it made everything compared with what Joel would consider "high ceremony" equivalent bug tracking tools. I found it to be software that epitomised the whole "less is sometimes more" ethos.
Reading Joel's blog this morning I picked up today on a great article by Kiere on using Fogbugz as a Help Desk application. The back story is that Kiere was looking for a Help Desk system but due to budget constraints (we all know about those, right!) decided to take a look at how he was using Fogbugz and for the investment of a bit of thought and with a few tweaks here and there he's got a functional help desk ticket system together with a knowledge base. Very cool stuff.
It makes you wonder how often software purchasing decisons are made on the strength of "I need one of those" rather than thinking about leveraging exisiting tools first, which is an obvious question to which part of the answer is that you need smart people who can make the intellectual leap which identifies the possibilty in the first place.
Knowing that Joel has read Kiere's article I also wonder if he's planning on a few changes in the next version of FogBugz to make operating the software as a Help Desk tool a more obvious component of the marketed functionality.
Tags: Joel Spolsky, FogBugz
At my last place of employment I implemented Fogbugz to replace the defect tracking and enhancement management tool we were using at the time and I found that it made light work of that task with the added bonus of an impressive reduction in costs. I was particularly impressed by how uncomplicated it made everything compared with what Joel would consider "high ceremony" equivalent bug tracking tools. I found it to be software that epitomised the whole "less is sometimes more" ethos.
Reading Joel's blog this morning I picked up today on a great article by Kiere on using Fogbugz as a Help Desk application. The back story is that Kiere was looking for a Help Desk system but due to budget constraints (we all know about those, right!) decided to take a look at how he was using Fogbugz and for the investment of a bit of thought and with a few tweaks here and there he's got a functional help desk ticket system together with a knowledge base. Very cool stuff.
It makes you wonder how often software purchasing decisons are made on the strength of "I need one of those" rather than thinking about leveraging exisiting tools first, which is an obvious question to which part of the answer is that you need smart people who can make the intellectual leap which identifies the possibilty in the first place.
Knowing that Joel has read Kiere's article I also wonder if he's planning on a few changes in the next version of FogBugz to make operating the software as a Help Desk tool a more obvious component of the marketed functionality.
Tags: Joel Spolsky, FogBugz
What do you mean I didn't win...
This was just too funny to pass up. Keep your eyes on Faith Hill's reaction to NOT winning the female vocalist of the year gong at the recent Country Music Awards show.
There has been some suggestions that Faith was only joking but I'd have to agree with those who think that's a last ditch attempt at damage control.
I'm sort of reminded of one of Colin Powell's lessons:
Tags: Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood, Viral Video, Humor
There has been some suggestions that Faith was only joking but I'd have to agree with those who think that's a last ditch attempt at damage control.
I'm sort of reminded of one of Colin Powell's lessons:
"Never let your ego get so close to your position that when your position goes, your ego goes with it."I'm also a closet Carrie Underwood fan.
Tags: Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood, Viral Video, Humor
Saturday, October 28, 2006
The hiring decison...
One of the smartest guys I know is Joel Spolsky, and I say that even though I know him only through what he writes on his blog.
He's just posted some really interesting views about interviewing, set in the context of hiring a programmer. I particularly enjoyed his perspective on the hiring decision…
Gladwell makes some important points about unconscious bias that can creep into the hiring process. The example I remember best from the book is about height. It's possibly no surprise to learn that overwhelmingly the CEO's of big companies in the US are white males. What Gladwell discovered was they were also overwhelmingly tall. Whilst it's possible for companies to argue that the small percentages of women and minorities within the management ranks is simply reflected into the executive ranks; the same argument doesn't seem plausible when applied to height.
Gladwell argues that this is an unconscious bias; that there is a stereotype of what a leader is supposed to look like which is so powerful that when someone fits we become blind to other considerations. I wonder what a stereotypical programmer looks like.
Tags: Joel Spolsky, Malcolm Gladwell, Blink
He's just posted some really interesting views about interviewing, set in the context of hiring a programmer. I particularly enjoyed his perspective on the hiring decision…
If, at the end of the interview, you’ve convinced yourself that this person is smart and gets things done, and four or five other interviewers agree, you probably won’t go wrong in hiring them. But if you have any doubts, you’re better off waiting for someone better.I'm not sure if Joel has read "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell but this is what Gladwell would call rapid cognition, that moment when you know something without knowing why.
The optimal time to make a decision about the candidate is about three minutes after the end of the interview. Far too many companies allow interviewers to wait days or weeks before turning in their feedback. Unfortunately, the more time that passes, the less you’ll remember.
If you’re having trouble deciding, there’s a very simple solution. NO HIRE. Just don’t hire people that you aren’t sure about. This is a little nerve wracking the first few times—what if we never find someone good? That’s OK. If your resume and phone-screening process is working, you’ll probably have about 20% hires in the live interview. And when you find the smart, gets-things-done candidate, you’ll know it. If you’re not thrilled with someone, move on.
Gladwell makes some important points about unconscious bias that can creep into the hiring process. The example I remember best from the book is about height. It's possibly no surprise to learn that overwhelmingly the CEO's of big companies in the US are white males. What Gladwell discovered was they were also overwhelmingly tall. Whilst it's possible for companies to argue that the small percentages of women and minorities within the management ranks is simply reflected into the executive ranks; the same argument doesn't seem plausible when applied to height.
Gladwell argues that this is an unconscious bias; that there is a stereotype of what a leader is supposed to look like which is so powerful that when someone fits we become blind to other considerations. I wonder what a stereotypical programmer looks like.
Tags: Joel Spolsky, Malcolm Gladwell, Blink
Getting the world to switch to XML didn't work?
Tim Berners-Lee is a British national treasure. He is the de facto inventor of the World Wide Web. If I've understood (correctly) the research I've done this morning the creation of hypertext is generally credited to Ted Nelson and Douglas Engelbart. Tim linked the idea of hypertext to the DNS and TCP protocols of the internet as he developed and designed the HTML language and - ta-da! — the World Wide Web was born. [DNS is about how computers find each other and TCP is about how computers exchange data with each other]. Tim built the first web browser, editor and web server. He created the first listing of other websites (which I guess is the forerunner of Yahoo).
Today Tim is director of the World Wide Web Consortium (or W3C) and you've probably guessed by now that he has a blog; on which I read this morning that something is up in the world of HTML standards. The first thing I hadn't realised was that the underlying specification for HTML hasn't changed since Xmas Day 1999, and Tim goes on to talk about setting up a new group to move the HTML specification on in small steps in the direction of a well-formed language, without explicitly stating that the destination is XML.
I thought this was the killer quote in what Tim said:
Tags: HTML, XML, W3C
Today Tim is director of the World Wide Web Consortium (or W3C) and you've probably guessed by now that he has a blog; on which I read this morning that something is up in the world of HTML standards. The first thing I hadn't realised was that the underlying specification for HTML hasn't changed since Xmas Day 1999, and Tim goes on to talk about setting up a new group to move the HTML specification on in small steps in the direction of a well-formed language, without explicitly stating that the destination is XML.
I thought this was the killer quote in what Tim said:
Some things are clearer with hindsight of several years. It is necessary to evolve HTML incrementally. The attempt to get the world to switch to XML, including quotes around attribute values and slashes in empty tags and namespaces all at once didn't work. The large HTML-generating public did not move, largely because the browsers didn't complain. Some large communities did shift and are enjoying the fruits of well-formed systems, but not all. It is important to maintain HTML incrementally, as well as continuing a transition to well-formed world, and developing more power in that world.I wonder what the blogosphere will say today about how well the switch to XML has worked. I'll be monitoring the conversation on Techmeme.
Tags: HTML, XML, W3C
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Scrybe, maybe not
Yesterday marked four weeks in my new job. I spent today getting organised, which was mainly about getting back into the GTD habit. So when I took a break to catch up with my blog reading I was immediately drawn to a post by Robert Scoble directing me towards the latest tool for getting organised: Scrybe. The blogosphere is eagerly anticipating the launch.
The registration page describes Scrybe as "a groundbreaking online organizer that caters to today´s lifestyle in a cohesive and intuitive way. Simple solutions for some age old problems."
I signed up for the beta and watched a video of some impressive ajax trickery. What stood out for me, from watching the video, was the way you can get Hipster PDA style functionality out of the product via the papersync feature. I liked that a lot.
However I don't see this as a product that is in danger of replacing my Outlook / NetCentrics GTD add-in combo anytime soon. The lack of an email client, or integration with an email client, means there is no seamless way of moving projects / tasks / next actions from email to the to-do lists. Email is my primary source of next actions, so seamless integration is critical to my organisational process. To-do lists are integrated with the calendar, so I couldn't see easily how you’d operate lists for different contexts (@Home @Office etc) within Scrybe.
At the end of the day a whizzy interface isn't a substitute for process. The GTD process has become an integral part of my day to day approach to being organised, although circumstances sometimes force me off the path, temporarily. The achievement of stress free productivity will always remain more important to me than how flashy the toolset is.
UPDATE 1: I've updated this post to add a link to the YouTube video which is well worth a look, even if it's for no other reason than to see a really classy example of a pre-launch video covering an overview of the product and some of it's distinctive features. As Michael Arrington points out this approach helps the company control the message in the phase before the product is launched.
UPDATE 2: Mathew Ingram shares the sentiment that salivating over the product before it's released and we get to try it out for ourselves is a bit premature.
UPDATE 3: Although Technorati seems to have indexed my post it seems to have missed indexing my tags. So the third reason for this update is to see if updating my post will get Tecnorati to pick up on what it seems to have missed earlier. If not I might get lucky and the blogosphere's most responsive CEO, Dave Sifry, might pick this up and help me out (again).
Tags: Scrybe, GTD, Getting Things Done, Personal Productivity, Robert Scoble, Dave Sifry, Technorati
The registration page describes Scrybe as "a groundbreaking online organizer that caters to today´s lifestyle in a cohesive and intuitive way. Simple solutions for some age old problems."
I signed up for the beta and watched a video of some impressive ajax trickery. What stood out for me, from watching the video, was the way you can get Hipster PDA style functionality out of the product via the papersync feature. I liked that a lot.
However I don't see this as a product that is in danger of replacing my Outlook / NetCentrics GTD add-in combo anytime soon. The lack of an email client, or integration with an email client, means there is no seamless way of moving projects / tasks / next actions from email to the to-do lists. Email is my primary source of next actions, so seamless integration is critical to my organisational process. To-do lists are integrated with the calendar, so I couldn't see easily how you’d operate lists for different contexts (@Home @Office etc) within Scrybe.
At the end of the day a whizzy interface isn't a substitute for process. The GTD process has become an integral part of my day to day approach to being organised, although circumstances sometimes force me off the path, temporarily. The achievement of stress free productivity will always remain more important to me than how flashy the toolset is.
UPDATE 1: I've updated this post to add a link to the YouTube video which is well worth a look, even if it's for no other reason than to see a really classy example of a pre-launch video covering an overview of the product and some of it's distinctive features. As Michael Arrington points out this approach helps the company control the message in the phase before the product is launched.
UPDATE 2: Mathew Ingram shares the sentiment that salivating over the product before it's released and we get to try it out for ourselves is a bit premature.
UPDATE 3: Although Technorati seems to have indexed my post it seems to have missed indexing my tags. So the third reason for this update is to see if updating my post will get Tecnorati to pick up on what it seems to have missed earlier. If not I might get lucky and the blogosphere's most responsive CEO, Dave Sifry, might pick this up and help me out (again).
Tags: Scrybe, GTD, Getting Things Done, Personal Productivity, Robert Scoble, Dave Sifry, Technorati
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Scott Adams, triple Nobel laureate?
Scott Adams, the cartoonist creator of Dilbert, might, according to some informed financial sources, be in the running for the Nobel prize in Economics for his Unified Theory of Everything Financial. Today he's staked his claim for the Peace prize.
I don't know what he's thinking, surely he's on the shortlist for the Literature prize. Or does he secretly think a hat-trick is on the cards?
He's a funny guy and I love the way his mind works as reflected in both the Dilbert comics and on his personal blog. I think the USA should regard him as a National Treasure.
Tags: Dilbert, Scott Adams, Nobel Prize
I don't know what he's thinking, surely he's on the shortlist for the Literature prize. Or does he secretly think a hat-trick is on the cards?
He's a funny guy and I love the way his mind works as reflected in both the Dilbert comics and on his personal blog. I think the USA should regard him as a National Treasure.
Tags: Dilbert, Scott Adams, Nobel Prize
The state of web based powerpointing
I'm guessing it's a pretty safe assumption that Google will eventually develop or buy a web based presentation tool / powerpoint clone. I've seen the odd TechCrunch posting about tools entering this arena but haven't spent any time looking at them until today. The logic behind spending some time on this project today was thinking about a Presentation Zen article that spoke to the issue of planning for the eventuality that I can't deliver a presentation because of a technology failure and the associated thought that in some circumstances it just might be easier to use the web to deliver a presentation rather than lugging a pile of equipment to a difficult location.
The applications I looked at were:
(1) Slideshare - the best of the options for importing a powerpoint file and being able to deliver the presentation from any pc with a browser and internet connection. There is a 20MB file limit, which would be a pretty big presentation. I comfortably imported a 4MB file and was able to play my presentation within minutes of uploading. Very cool.
(2) Zoho Show - can also import a powerpoint format file and deliver it from a pc with browser and internet connection. The file limit is 5MB but when I tested this I had to split a 4MB file into two halves to get it uploaded. In delivery mode the controls for advancing the slides sit over the slide towards the bottom and can potentially obscure data on your slides, whereas slideshare has the controls outside the slide display area.
(3) Empressr - is not capable of importing a powerpoint file (yet) but what I did like about it was it's rich media capabilities that allow the creation of dynamic presentations which isn't presently possible with slideshare and Zoho Show. Perhaps the tool to pick if you want to stand out from the crowd with a web based pitch.
(4) Thumbstacks - strikes me as the least capable of the bunch at the moment but it's very simplicity may turn out to be it's killer feature. It can't import powerpoint and has no rich media capabilities.
I think this will be an area to watch in the coming months. Watch for new entrants into this space, rapid feature releases from the current players and lots of speculation about who Google might be talking with.
Tags: Presentation Zen, Slideshare, Zoho Show, Empressr, Thumbstacks
The applications I looked at were:
(1) Slideshare - the best of the options for importing a powerpoint file and being able to deliver the presentation from any pc with a browser and internet connection. There is a 20MB file limit, which would be a pretty big presentation. I comfortably imported a 4MB file and was able to play my presentation within minutes of uploading. Very cool.
(2) Zoho Show - can also import a powerpoint format file and deliver it from a pc with browser and internet connection. The file limit is 5MB but when I tested this I had to split a 4MB file into two halves to get it uploaded. In delivery mode the controls for advancing the slides sit over the slide towards the bottom and can potentially obscure data on your slides, whereas slideshare has the controls outside the slide display area.
(3) Empressr - is not capable of importing a powerpoint file (yet) but what I did like about it was it's rich media capabilities that allow the creation of dynamic presentations which isn't presently possible with slideshare and Zoho Show. Perhaps the tool to pick if you want to stand out from the crowd with a web based pitch.
(4) Thumbstacks - strikes me as the least capable of the bunch at the moment but it's very simplicity may turn out to be it's killer feature. It can't import powerpoint and has no rich media capabilities.
I think this will be an area to watch in the coming months. Watch for new entrants into this space, rapid feature releases from the current players and lots of speculation about who Google might be talking with.
Tags: Presentation Zen, Slideshare, Zoho Show, Empressr, Thumbstacks
Fast and free PDF creation
I spotted an interesting tip on Lifehacker about using Google Docs & Spreadsheets to convert documents to PDF format. In a nutshell the tip involving uploading your document into Google Docs (directly from your drive or by emailing the document to your account) and then using the "Save As" feature to convert the document to PDF and download.
I know that the original source article for the Lifehacker posting mentions that this method overcomes the need to buy expensive PDF tools or install any virtual PDF printer drivers but I'd question what's wrong with a virtual PDF printer driver when a tool like PDF Creator is quicker once installed (which takes about as long as getting your first file up on Google Docs), will convert anything you can print from so it doesn't limit you to documents and spreadsheets and is yours to own for the low, low price of absolutely free (although this is such a gem that you might consider donating). PDF creator is high on the list of "must have" applications on any machine I'm going to work on for any length of time.
What's on your "must have" list?
Tags: Personal Productivity, Lifehacker, Google Docs, Google Docs & Spreadsheets, PDF Creator
I know that the original source article for the Lifehacker posting mentions that this method overcomes the need to buy expensive PDF tools or install any virtual PDF printer drivers but I'd question what's wrong with a virtual PDF printer driver when a tool like PDF Creator is quicker once installed (which takes about as long as getting your first file up on Google Docs), will convert anything you can print from so it doesn't limit you to documents and spreadsheets and is yours to own for the low, low price of absolutely free (although this is such a gem that you might consider donating). PDF creator is high on the list of "must have" applications on any machine I'm going to work on for any length of time.
What's on your "must have" list?
Tags: Personal Productivity, Lifehacker, Google Docs, Google Docs & Spreadsheets, PDF Creator
Holding Better Meetings
BusinessWeek have just run a feature on meetings. As the introduction to the article points out, meetings have a bad reputation because they are often unstructured, uninspiring and unproductive.
In order to write the feature the author spoke with Google VP Marissa Mayer who runs an average of 70 meetings per week. Marissa shared her six keys to running successful meetings:
Tags: Personal Productivity, Meetings, Google, Marissa Mayer
In order to write the feature the author spoke with Google VP Marissa Mayer who runs an average of 70 meetings per week. Marissa shared her six keys to running successful meetings:
1. Set a firm agenda.This was like finding out that everything that I hold to be true about meetings either anecdotally, from experience or because I read it somewhere in the past; particularly structure (via agenda) and an official set of notes (recording decisions and actions), actually holds true in reality for black belt practitioners. I found it to be a compelling insight.
Mayer requests a meeting agenda ahead of time that outlines what the participants want to discuss and the best way of using the allotted time. Agendas need to have flexibility, of course, but Mayer finds that agendas act as tools that force individuals to think about what they want to accomplish in meetings. It helps all those involved to focus on what they are really trying to achieve and how best to reach that goal.
2. Assign a note-taker.
A Google meeting features a lot of displays. On one wall, a projector displays the presentation, while right next to it, another projector shows the transcription of the meeting. (Yet another displays a 4-foot image of a ticking stopwatch.) Google executives are big believers in capturing an official set of notes, so inaccuracies and inconsistencies can be caught immediately. Those who missed the meetings receive a copy of the notes. When people are trying to remember what decisions were made, in what direction the team is going, and what actions need to be taken, they can simply review the notes.
3. Carve out micro-meetings.
Mayer sets aside large blocks of time that she slices into smaller, self-contained gatherings on a particular subject or project. For example, during her weekly two-hour confab with the co-founders and CEO Eric Schmidt, she sets aside five- to 10-minute segments—or longer, depending on the subject—devoted to such specific areas as weekly reports on how the site is performing, new product launches, etc. This method offers enough flexibility to modify the agenda just before the meeting, should anything pressing occur. It also instills discipline that keeps the meeting tightly focused. Mayer does the same with members of her teams who might need only five or 10 minutes of her time instead of 30 minutes—the shortest block of time her calendar permits. By setting aside micro-meetings within a larger block of time, she accomplishes more. Mayer, who has a background in engineering and computer science, jokingly refers to micro-meetings as "reducing latency in the pipeline." That means if she has an employee with an issue that comes up Tuesday, he or she can schedule a 10-minute micro-meeting during Mayer's large time block, instead of waiting for her next 30-minute opening, which might not be available for two weeks.
4. Hold office hours.
Mayer brought this idea from her experience teaching computer science at Stanford, where she first met the two guys who would go on to revolutionize how the world gets its information. Beginning at 4 p.m., for 90 minutes a day, Mayer holds office hours. Employees add their name to a board outside her office, and she sees them on a first-come, first-serve basis. Sometimes project managers need approval on a marketing campaign; sometimes staffers want a few minutes to pitch a design. Says Mayer: "Many of our most technologically interesting products have shown up during office hours. Google News, Orkut [Google's social networking site], Google Reviews, and Google Desktop all showed up first in office hours." During office hours, Mayer can get through up to 15 meetings, averaging seven minutes per person.
5. Discourage politics, use data.
One of Mayer's "Nine Notions of Innovation" is "Don't politic, use data". This idea can and should apply to meetings in organizations in which people feel as though the boss will give the green light to a design created by the person he or she likes the best, showing favoritism for the individual instead of the idea. Mayer believes this mindset can demoralize employees, so she goes out of her way to make the approval process a science. Google chooses designs on a clearly defined set of metrics and how well they perform against those metrics. Designs are chosen based on merit and evidence, not personal relationships. Mayer discourages using the phrase "I like" in design meetings, such as "I like the way the screen looks." Instead, she encourages such comments as "The experimentation on the site shows that his design performed 10% better." This works for Google, because it builds a culture driven by customer feedback data, not the internal politics that pervade so many of today's corporations.
6. Stick to the clock.
To add a little pressure to keep meetings focused, Google gatherings often feature a giant timer on the wall, counting down the minutes left for a particular meeting or topic. It's literally a downloadable timer that runs off a computer and is projected 4 feet tall. Imagine how chaotic it must look to outsiders when the wall shows several displays at once—the presentation, transcription, and a mega-timer! And yet, at Google, it makes sense, imposing structure amidst creative chaos. The timer exerts a subtle pressure to keep meetings running on schedule.
Tags: Personal Productivity, Meetings, Google, Marissa Mayer
Sunday, September 17, 2006
I'm not giving up radio anytime soon...
Kent Newsome pointed me this morning in the direction of a New York Times article on the demise of radio. Kent summarises that there are two underlying causes of the trend away from radio - alternative delivery models (online services, portable music players, mobile phones) and advertising. In passing I wonder if it's too late for a radio version of TiVo.
One thing that we have in the UK that makes for a different equation to the USA is the BBC. On the drive to work in the morning I tend not to like to listen to music and inane DJ's who sound like they've had a few too many happy injections just don't do it for me. Fortunately there is BBC Radio 4 and "The Today Programme", an intelligent news and current affairs programme for grown ups that examines the state of the nation (and the rest of the world) on a daily basis. As with all BBC programming, it's advertising free.
The Today Programme website now publishes an audio archive of the last seven days of transmissions and you can even get podcasts of key interviews.
Tags: Kent Newsome, radio, BBC, The Today Programme
One thing that we have in the UK that makes for a different equation to the USA is the BBC. On the drive to work in the morning I tend not to like to listen to music and inane DJ's who sound like they've had a few too many happy injections just don't do it for me. Fortunately there is BBC Radio 4 and "The Today Programme", an intelligent news and current affairs programme for grown ups that examines the state of the nation (and the rest of the world) on a daily basis. As with all BBC programming, it's advertising free.
The Today Programme website now publishes an audio archive of the last seven days of transmissions and you can even get podcasts of key interviews.
Tags: Kent Newsome, radio, BBC, The Today Programme
Videoblogging probably isn't for me...
Robert Scoble has picked up on the whole videoblogging debate via Techmeme, that I first ran into over at Mathew Ingram's blog.
Dave Winer, the blogfather, has some sage advice in a comment on Robert's post. If Dave doesn't mind me paraphrasing: there is much communication that lends itself to using the written word, in some circumstances audio might be better and sometimes there is just no substitute for video.
Personally, to extend one of Mathew's analogies, I have a "voice for print" which is why I never got into the podcasting thing. I come from a part of the world where inhabitants are called Geordie’s and we sound like this:
www.bobjude.co.uk/bobjude/geordie/geordie.htm
Things won’t improve much if I tried videoblogging :)
Tags: Robert Scoble, Mathew Ingram, Dave Winer, Geordie, videoblogging
Dave Winer, the blogfather, has some sage advice in a comment on Robert's post. If Dave doesn't mind me paraphrasing: there is much communication that lends itself to using the written word, in some circumstances audio might be better and sometimes there is just no substitute for video.
Personally, to extend one of Mathew's analogies, I have a "voice for print" which is why I never got into the podcasting thing. I come from a part of the world where inhabitants are called Geordie’s and we sound like this:
www.bobjude.co.uk/bobjude/geordie/geordie.htm
Things won’t improve much if I tried videoblogging :)
Tags: Robert Scoble, Mathew Ingram, Dave Winer, Geordie, videoblogging
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Out with an old meme, in with the new
TDavid over at things that... make you go hmm shares a stunning video of an acoustic performance of the Bon Jovi classic Livin' on a Prayer by Finnish guitarist Tomi Paldanius.
Pity the same can't be said of the video which marks the return of Gary Brolsma (the Numa Numa guy)
Tags: TDavid, Bon Jovi, Gary Brolsma
Pity the same can't be said of the video which marks the return of Gary Brolsma (the Numa Numa guy)
Tags: TDavid, Bon Jovi, Gary Brolsma
All change for the A list
I wrote the other day that for as long as I could remember the top gun as far as blogs were concerned was Boing Boing. For some reason the Technorati popular blogs page appeared on Techmeme today so, whilst my plan this weekend includes culling some of the blogs I read because I feel obliged to read them rather than because I'm truly interested, I thought I'd check out the current Top 100 list to see what was going on in the world of the A list.
I got one major surprise from looking at the current list - Boing Boing has lost it's mojo. It's no longer the most linked to blog. Engadget has stolen the top slot!
I noted that TechCrunch has basically come out of nowhere and joined the Top 10 in a little over a year. Congratulations to Mike Arrington, even though I have to confess that TechCrunch is top of my hit list for the weekend cull of my subscriptions.
I further noted that leaving Microsoft hasn't harmed the Scobleizer's mojo, at least so far.
I'm curious why gapingvoid isn't higher up the list. I'm a great fan of Hugh MacLeod's work.
Dave Winer looks like he's about to fall from the A list, he's currently hanging on in there at number 100, but I fear that he'll have to hand over his key to the gate before too long.
I counted up that I read 5 of the top 10 blogs and 19 of the Top 100. Looking over the current list the only blog that stood out as one I should consider subscribing to is ze frank. We could all do with more laughter in our lives, no?
Tags: Technorati, Top+100, blogs, blogging
I got one major surprise from looking at the current list - Boing Boing has lost it's mojo. It's no longer the most linked to blog. Engadget has stolen the top slot!
I noted that TechCrunch has basically come out of nowhere and joined the Top 10 in a little over a year. Congratulations to Mike Arrington, even though I have to confess that TechCrunch is top of my hit list for the weekend cull of my subscriptions.
I further noted that leaving Microsoft hasn't harmed the Scobleizer's mojo, at least so far.
I'm curious why gapingvoid isn't higher up the list. I'm a great fan of Hugh MacLeod's work.
Dave Winer looks like he's about to fall from the A list, he's currently hanging on in there at number 100, but I fear that he'll have to hand over his key to the gate before too long.
I counted up that I read 5 of the top 10 blogs and 19 of the Top 100. Looking over the current list the only blog that stood out as one I should consider subscribing to is ze frank. We could all do with more laughter in our lives, no?
Tags: Technorati, Top+100, blogs, blogging
Fallen, a long way
Fallen, the debut album by Evanescence, was one of my musical highlights of 2003. So I had very high expectations for the follow up album, The Open Door , which I got to hear for the first time today.
Sad to say, I was very disappointed.
Tags: Evanescence, Fallen, The Open Door
Sad to say, I was very disappointed.
Tags: Evanescence, Fallen, The Open Door
Thursday, September 07, 2006
What does the ultimate blog post teach us?
The ultimate blog post is a pretty funny (and a somewhat cynical) view of some of the more popular blogs out there. One of the things it teaches us though is that blogs often write for specific niches, in a specific style, and have a specific slant; and if what that blog writes about isn't really your niche, style or slant - it may be that you have a peripheral interest but it's not where your heart is - then pretty soon that blog is going to get boring to you.
Kent Newsome has reached the end of the road with the blogs that are boring him. I think I'm reaching a similar point with some of the blogs in my subscriptions list, although possibly not for the same reasons in all cases.
I know that some of the blogs I subscribe to, I subscribe to because I feel like I ought to.
Boing Boing is a classic example. I subscribe because it's generally thought to be the number one blog out there, and it's held the top spot on Technorati for as long as I can remember. If I'm brutally honest though I'm interested in less than 10% of the posts which actually makes for quite a lot of wasted attention.
TechCrunch is another example. I think I subscribe to give myself the comfort that I'm not missing out on the latest and greatest Web 2.0 news, whereas I actually get the best of that news filtered by other writers (Robert Scoble, Steve Rubel, Kent Newsome and Mathew Ingram amongst others) and from Techmeme.
I think this weekend might be a good time for a clear out. I'll add a task to my Zoho Project.
Getting back to Kent, and the points he makes today, I think there are a few comments I'd like to make at this point:
(1) There's certainly the age old question of why we blog in the first place at play here. I still like the answer I came up with the other day.
(2) It would make for a better blogosphere if some of the influential players within it exhibited better linking behaviour.
(3) Linking and commenting is how we connect to each other in the blogosphere. If we're all honest about it, we could all be a bit better at that.
(4) Climbing the blogging hill is hard, and getting harder. I can see, daily, Kent making efforts to converse with bloggers up at the top of the hill and I can also see the silence with which those efforts are generally rewarded. That must just get tiring after a while. I'd be very surprised if the people that Kent is reaching out to don't have a vanity watchlist on Technorati (or some equivalent), so he has (in my book) every right to ask, periodically, the rhetorical question "why am I being ignored?"
So where does all this take us? The bottom line for Kent is a question: How do I find people I'd converse with in the real world in the blogosphere? Part of the answer to that (as already identified) is to go find the blogs that talk about what you talk about in the real world. If I've read your blog correctly in the past Kent, you don't talk about technology and blogging in the real world so culling the tech blogs and the meta blogs is a good place to start.
Let me hypothesise that part of the rest of the answer is that for all the web 2.0 hype about sociable media there isn't an online community that you'd actually feel comfortable hanging out in at the moment. MySpace and FaceBook certainly don't fit your profile. YouTube - nope. Flickr - you're interested but not that deadly serious about photography.
So where's your web 2.0 community? And (with tongue firmly in cheek) - is that a business opportunity????
Tags: blogs, blogging, web+2.0, Kent Newsome
Kent Newsome has reached the end of the road with the blogs that are boring him. I think I'm reaching a similar point with some of the blogs in my subscriptions list, although possibly not for the same reasons in all cases.
I know that some of the blogs I subscribe to, I subscribe to because I feel like I ought to.
Boing Boing is a classic example. I subscribe because it's generally thought to be the number one blog out there, and it's held the top spot on Technorati for as long as I can remember. If I'm brutally honest though I'm interested in less than 10% of the posts which actually makes for quite a lot of wasted attention.
TechCrunch is another example. I think I subscribe to give myself the comfort that I'm not missing out on the latest and greatest Web 2.0 news, whereas I actually get the best of that news filtered by other writers (Robert Scoble, Steve Rubel, Kent Newsome and Mathew Ingram amongst others) and from Techmeme.
I think this weekend might be a good time for a clear out. I'll add a task to my Zoho Project.
Getting back to Kent, and the points he makes today, I think there are a few comments I'd like to make at this point:
(1) There's certainly the age old question of why we blog in the first place at play here. I still like the answer I came up with the other day.
(2) It would make for a better blogosphere if some of the influential players within it exhibited better linking behaviour.
(3) Linking and commenting is how we connect to each other in the blogosphere. If we're all honest about it, we could all be a bit better at that.
(4) Climbing the blogging hill is hard, and getting harder. I can see, daily, Kent making efforts to converse with bloggers up at the top of the hill and I can also see the silence with which those efforts are generally rewarded. That must just get tiring after a while. I'd be very surprised if the people that Kent is reaching out to don't have a vanity watchlist on Technorati (or some equivalent), so he has (in my book) every right to ask, periodically, the rhetorical question "why am I being ignored?"
So where does all this take us? The bottom line for Kent is a question: How do I find people I'd converse with in the real world in the blogosphere? Part of the answer to that (as already identified) is to go find the blogs that talk about what you talk about in the real world. If I've read your blog correctly in the past Kent, you don't talk about technology and blogging in the real world so culling the tech blogs and the meta blogs is a good place to start.
Let me hypothesise that part of the rest of the answer is that for all the web 2.0 hype about sociable media there isn't an online community that you'd actually feel comfortable hanging out in at the moment. MySpace and FaceBook certainly don't fit your profile. YouTube - nope. Flickr - you're interested but not that deadly serious about photography.
So where's your web 2.0 community? And (with tongue firmly in cheek) - is that a business opportunity????
Tags: blogs, blogging, web+2.0, Kent Newsome
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
A different approach to creating a resume / CV
A quick definition: what Americans / Canadians call a resume is generally referred to in the UK as a CV (short for Curriculum Vitae).
I originally found the resume of Chris Heuer via the MindJet Blog. It inspired me to try something similar. I could see that the mind map was put together using MindManager but I couldn't figure out the tool used to compile the rest of the document. My first thought was he'd done the document entirely in Mind Manager using floating topics to do the text boxes. Then I thought for a while that it might be a word document, but I could not come close to the kind of layout and formatting that was achieved in the text boxes containing his bio and strengths.
I wrote to Chris to find out the secret. What I discovered was that he created the mind map in MindManager and then output it to a PDF file. He then opened it up in Photoshop, copied it and pasted it into a new document where he did the layout design. I didn't have Photoshop at the time so I decided to try and see what I could do entirely within a native MindManager mind map.
I'm quite pleased with the results:
You can a larger scale version of the image here:
http://steve.newson.googlepages.com/SteveNewsonCV2006.pdf
or here:
http://static.flickr.com/80/236054089_403e98ebd8_o.png
I'm always on the lookout for interesting uses of MindManager. I don't think that this style of CV is going to replace more traditional approaches anytime soon and I generally send a word version of my CV alongside this visual style, but I do think the approach says something about me in the sense that I do absolutely believe in the power of information visualisation and mind mapping.
I've placed a copy of the native MindManager (mmap) file here, if you can't get it from there then drop me a line via steve.newson@gmail.com and I'll send you a copy. All I ask is that if you extend the idea further then I'd love to see the results.
Tags: MindManager, Mindjet, CV, resume
I originally found the resume of Chris Heuer via the MindJet Blog. It inspired me to try something similar. I could see that the mind map was put together using MindManager but I couldn't figure out the tool used to compile the rest of the document. My first thought was he'd done the document entirely in Mind Manager using floating topics to do the text boxes. Then I thought for a while that it might be a word document, but I could not come close to the kind of layout and formatting that was achieved in the text boxes containing his bio and strengths.
I wrote to Chris to find out the secret. What I discovered was that he created the mind map in MindManager and then output it to a PDF file. He then opened it up in Photoshop, copied it and pasted it into a new document where he did the layout design. I didn't have Photoshop at the time so I decided to try and see what I could do entirely within a native MindManager mind map.
I'm quite pleased with the results:
You can a larger scale version of the image here:
http://steve.newson.googlepages.com/SteveNewsonCV2006.pdf
or here:
http://static.flickr.com/80/236054089_403e98ebd8_o.png
I'm always on the lookout for interesting uses of MindManager. I don't think that this style of CV is going to replace more traditional approaches anytime soon and I generally send a word version of my CV alongside this visual style, but I do think the approach says something about me in the sense that I do absolutely believe in the power of information visualisation and mind mapping.
I've placed a copy of the native MindManager (mmap) file here, if you can't get it from there then drop me a line via steve.newson@gmail.com and I'll send you a copy. All I ask is that if you extend the idea further then I'd love to see the results.
Tags: MindManager, Mindjet, CV, resume
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Zoho Projects
I caught the announcement of a new addition to the Zoho productivity suite on TechCrunch and have had a few minutes to play with it over the last 24 hours. Zoho Projects is an online project mangement tool that helps project managers and / or project teams to easily organize their work & track progress. The only issue of note in the blogosphere seems to be questioning the Zoho strategy of building a feature rich application.
I found the product to be intuitive, which is good as there doesn't seem to be any "how to" documentation so far, other than a product tour quicktime movie. Robin Good at MasterNewMedia has taken the quicktime movie and added a voice over, the resultant screencast is being hosted at YouTube.
In short order I was able to:
- customise my settings, set up a project and add users (project team members)
- add tasks and milestones
- schedule a project meeting (with the application handling notication of the participants)
- upload documents connected with the project and have the application handle version control
- submit a timesheet for the hours expended against a task
- look at an overview of my project on a calendar or dashboard
I'm most impressed. What a great collaboration tool for projects. I also found it very stable for a beta release.
Even better, the product is free for one project. Zoho intend to have plans ranging from free (for one project) up to an enterprise plan (unlimited projects, $80/month).
I definitely recommend it.
Tags: Zoho Projects
I found the product to be intuitive, which is good as there doesn't seem to be any "how to" documentation so far, other than a product tour quicktime movie. Robin Good at MasterNewMedia has taken the quicktime movie and added a voice over, the resultant screencast is being hosted at YouTube.
In short order I was able to:
- customise my settings, set up a project and add users (project team members)
- add tasks and milestones
- schedule a project meeting (with the application handling notication of the participants)
- upload documents connected with the project and have the application handle version control
- submit a timesheet for the hours expended against a task
- look at an overview of my project on a calendar or dashboard
I'm most impressed. What a great collaboration tool for projects. I also found it very stable for a beta release.
Even better, the product is free for one project. Zoho intend to have plans ranging from free (for one project) up to an enterprise plan (unlimited projects, $80/month).
I definitely recommend it.
Tags: Zoho Projects
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Magazine 2.0 Wars
Kent Newsome has written a very funny, tongue in cheek, post about the MySpace plan to launch a magazine.
Then he gone and done it, by launching Newsome.Org, the magazine. In true Web 2.0 tradition today I'm launching Newson.Net, the competition; with more features, more gossip , more naked pictures of Robert Scoble and Shel Israel, but absolutely no business model.
I'll certainly shift more copies than Kent's overpriced Newsome.Org, but will it get me any morepublicity links?
Here's issue one...
Then he gone and done it, by launching Newsome.Org, the magazine. In true Web 2.0 tradition today I'm launching Newson.Net, the competition; with more features, more gossip , more naked pictures of Robert Scoble and Shel Israel, but absolutely no business model.
I'll certainly shift more copies than Kent's overpriced Newsome.Org, but will it get me any more
Here's issue one...
Tags: Kent Newsome, Robert Scoble, Shel Israel, Dave Winer, Chris Pirillo, Hugh Macleod
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Collaboration
I picked up on Boing Boing that Google has finally gotten around to re-launching Writely. I may be wrong but I have the feeling that the timing is not unconnected with the recent launch of Live Writer. So I get to write this post on Writely and test out it's ability to function as a blogging tool. Unlike Live Writer, blog posting is not the primary function of Writely so the first thing that becomes obvious is that it's not as WYSIWYG as Live Writer. The second thing I picked up is the absence of a tag generator for Technorati. Whilst I have this functionality in Live Writer as a result of a plugin at least I have the functionality.
On the plus side for Writely, it's internet based rather than desktop based, so I can get at documents anywhere. And then, like Google Spreadsheets, it comes with collaboration tools built in, although chat is missing. I seem to have been looking at a lot of collaborative tools recently including MindManager, Webex, GoToMeeting, Google Spreadsheets and now Writely. So I'm feeling in collaborative mood. Anyone want to write a book?
Update: When I posted to my blog from Writely, the document title didn't transfer as the post title and I can't immediately see why not.
Verdict: For now I'm going to stick with Live Writer as my blog authoring tool, but I suspect Google will not let the challenge of Live Writer go unanswered for long. I will, however, check out Writely in a bit more detail as a collaborative document authoring tool.
P.S. Techmeme and TechCrunch seem to be a bit behind on the story of the re-launch. Maybe it's because it's Sunday or is everyone TechCrunched?
Tags: Writely, Live Writer
On the plus side for Writely, it's internet based rather than desktop based, so I can get at documents anywhere. And then, like Google Spreadsheets, it comes with collaboration tools built in, although chat is missing. I seem to have been looking at a lot of collaborative tools recently including MindManager, Webex, GoToMeeting, Google Spreadsheets and now Writely. So I'm feeling in collaborative mood. Anyone want to write a book?
Update: When I posted to my blog from Writely, the document title didn't transfer as the post title and I can't immediately see why not.
Verdict: For now I'm going to stick with Live Writer as my blog authoring tool, but I suspect Google will not let the challenge of Live Writer go unanswered for long. I will, however, check out Writely in a bit more detail as a collaborative document authoring tool.
P.S. Techmeme and TechCrunch seem to be a bit behind on the story of the re-launch. Maybe it's because it's Sunday or is everyone TechCrunched?
Tags: Writely, Live Writer
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Curiosita
Regular readers of this blog will know that I'm a fan of MindManager. Mindjet (the makers of MindManager) recently hosted a Webinar delivered by Michael Gelb, author of "How to think like Leonardo da Vinci".
The resources from that webinar are now available online.
Michael theorises that there are seven principles to thinking like Leonardo. The first of these is "Curiosita", which roughly translates as an insatiably curious approach to life. One way that Leonardo manifested this principle was in his notebooks. Leonardo carried a notebook with him at all times, so that he could jot down ideas, impressions and observations as they occurred. The process of note taking was of great importance to Leonardo.
Eighteen sheets of Leonardo's notebooks were purchased by Bill Gates for 30.8 million dollars in November 1994.
If there is a connection between this post and my last one, perhaps blogging actually represents a desire to share our insatiable curiosity with each other. If Leonardo was alive today I believe he would certainly be a blogger and probably a mind mapper.
Tags: Mindjet, MindManager, Michael Gelb, Leonardo da Vinci, blogs, blogging
The resources from that webinar are now available online.
Michael theorises that there are seven principles to thinking like Leonardo. The first of these is "Curiosita", which roughly translates as an insatiably curious approach to life. One way that Leonardo manifested this principle was in his notebooks. Leonardo carried a notebook with him at all times, so that he could jot down ideas, impressions and observations as they occurred. The process of note taking was of great importance to Leonardo.
Eighteen sheets of Leonardo's notebooks were purchased by Bill Gates for 30.8 million dollars in November 1994.
If there is a connection between this post and my last one, perhaps blogging actually represents a desire to share our insatiable curiosity with each other. If Leonardo was alive today I believe he would certainly be a blogger and probably a mind mapper.
Tags: Mindjet, MindManager, Michael Gelb, Leonardo da Vinci, blogs, blogging
Dry Spell
I haven't written to my blog recently and this afternoon I've been pondering on the reasons for that.
I have been busy at work, climbing a learning curve with a new project, but it's more than that. As I have been so busy I have fallen a little behind with my blog reading but not by much, and by the end of the weekend I'll have caught up even if with some feeds I will achieve inbox zero by judicious use of the delete key.
It's not that I haven't had anything to say, because like most people I tend to have an opinion on lots of things. I do feel that I haven't had anything particularly worthwhile to say and contributing to the echo chamber by regurgitating the efforts of others doesn't hold much appeal as a route to overcoming a dry spell. I've asked myself whether it's procrastination and that isn't what's going on. It does , however, feel like I've fallen off the bandwagon so this post is an attempt to dust myself down and get back in the saddle.
Being a bit of a geek it helped that I had a new toy to try out to write this post with. Yep, I wrote this post with Live Writer and I'm indebted to Kent Newsome for the pointers to Live Writer plugins. My preliminary take on Live Writer is that the setup and configuration is very smooth and it's great to finally blog using a WYSIWYG approach.
If you stop by, please leave me a comment, I could do with the encouragement. If you're feeling really generous, a link would be nice too!
Tags: blogs, blogging, procrastination, inbox zero, echo chamber
I have been busy at work, climbing a learning curve with a new project, but it's more than that. As I have been so busy I have fallen a little behind with my blog reading but not by much, and by the end of the weekend I'll have caught up even if with some feeds I will achieve inbox zero by judicious use of the delete key.
It's not that I haven't had anything to say, because like most people I tend to have an opinion on lots of things. I do feel that I haven't had anything particularly worthwhile to say and contributing to the echo chamber by regurgitating the efforts of others doesn't hold much appeal as a route to overcoming a dry spell. I've asked myself whether it's procrastination and that isn't what's going on. It does , however, feel like I've fallen off the bandwagon so this post is an attempt to dust myself down and get back in the saddle.
Being a bit of a geek it helped that I had a new toy to try out to write this post with. Yep, I wrote this post with Live Writer and I'm indebted to Kent Newsome for the pointers to Live Writer plugins. My preliminary take on Live Writer is that the setup and configuration is very smooth and it's great to finally blog using a WYSIWYG approach.
If you stop by, please leave me a comment, I could do with the encouragement. If you're feeling really generous, a link would be nice too!
Tags: blogs, blogging, procrastination, inbox zero, echo chamber
Monday, July 17, 2006
Memories of my youth...
I recently set up a Technorati watchlist to keep an eye out for any mention of my hometown of Wallsend. Wallsend is so named as it's the town at the end of Hadrian's Wall.
Over the weekend the watchlist turned up this nugget from a fellow Geordie in exile, which included this fascinating photograph by Norman Dunn...
When this picture was taken in 1969 I would have been around 7 or 8 years old. I have a vague recollection from about that age of seeing a vessel launched at the Swan Hunter yard and an overwhelming memory of the sound of chains dragging over the ground and a colossal storm of dust being generated, but to be honest I don't know if the launch I recall was the Esso Northumbria or not.
In any case, it's a small world.
Tags: Wallsend
Over the weekend the watchlist turned up this nugget from a fellow Geordie in exile, which included this fascinating photograph by Norman Dunn...
When this picture was taken in 1969 I would have been around 7 or 8 years old. I have a vague recollection from about that age of seeing a vessel launched at the Swan Hunter yard and an overwhelming memory of the sound of chains dragging over the ground and a colossal storm of dust being generated, but to be honest I don't know if the launch I recall was the Esso Northumbria or not.
In any case, it's a small world.
Tags: Wallsend
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Creating web albums with Picasa
I finally got round to taking up the invitation from Google to create web albums using Picasa.
My public gallery can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/steve.newson
Tags: Picasa
My public gallery can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/steve.newson
Tags: Picasa
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Ten ways to become more proficient with MindManager
I received an email today from someone new to MindManger asking for "my opinion on the best method / resource to become proficient." I thought it would be worthwhile sharing the answer here on my blog.
(1) If you're new to mind mapping then I'd recommend reading some Tony Buzan material such as "Use Your Head".
(2) You can get a copy of my mind mapped book notes on "Use Your Head" here:
http://stevenewson.blogspot.com/2006/06/use-your-head.html
(3) The product itself comes with a pretty good learning center that contains some excellent built in animated tutorials.
(4) Mindjet have some additional animated tutorials online.
(5) I didn't go this route myself but the Mindjet site also has links to training resources including computer based training, open seminars and Mindjet certified trainers.
(5) I bought the MindManager for Dummies book [which was written for MindManager 5 and does not yet appear to have been updated for MindManager 6]
(6) I joined the MindManager group on Yahoo and downloaded the maps in the files area and looked at how others were using the product. [Andrew Wilcox, a frequent contributor to the group, offers MindManager training and online coaching.]
(7) I search the internet for MindManager maps, download them and look at how others are building maps
(8) I subscribe to the Mindjet newsletter and Mindjet blog to pick up hints and tips
(9) I use Technorati to find and subscribe to blogs about MindManager.
(10) I also use Technorati watchlists for "Mind Mapping" and "MindManager" so pick up on mentions of these terms in the blogosphere
Ok, so I lied about there being just ten ways, here's a bonus tip...
(11) Brett Bumeter, who I "met" through MindManager group on Yahoo writes intelligently about MindManager, as well as the latest trends in Knowledge Management, software and gadgets over at Maven Mapper's Information.
Please leave a comment if you have other suggestions to add to the list....
Tags: Mindjet, MindManager, Mind Mapping, information visualization
(1) If you're new to mind mapping then I'd recommend reading some Tony Buzan material such as "Use Your Head".
(2) You can get a copy of my mind mapped book notes on "Use Your Head" here:
http://stevenewson.blogspot.com/2006/06/use-your-head.html
(3) The product itself comes with a pretty good learning center that contains some excellent built in animated tutorials.
(4) Mindjet have some additional animated tutorials online.
(5) I didn't go this route myself but the Mindjet site also has links to training resources including computer based training, open seminars and Mindjet certified trainers.
(5) I bought the MindManager for Dummies book [which was written for MindManager 5 and does not yet appear to have been updated for MindManager 6]
(6) I joined the MindManager group on Yahoo and downloaded the maps in the files area and looked at how others were using the product. [Andrew Wilcox, a frequent contributor to the group, offers MindManager training and online coaching.]
(7) I search the internet for MindManager maps, download them and look at how others are building maps
(8) I subscribe to the Mindjet newsletter and Mindjet blog to pick up hints and tips
(9) I use Technorati to find and subscribe to blogs about MindManager.
(10) I also use Technorati watchlists for "Mind Mapping" and "MindManager" so pick up on mentions of these terms in the blogosphere
Ok, so I lied about there being just ten ways, here's a bonus tip...
(11) Brett Bumeter, who I "met" through MindManager group on Yahoo writes intelligently about MindManager, as well as the latest trends in Knowledge Management, software and gadgets over at Maven Mapper's Information.
Please leave a comment if you have other suggestions to add to the list....
Tags: Mindjet, MindManager, Mind Mapping, information visualization
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Making good stuff happen
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a long post called "Attitude is everything..." based on a parable about having a positive approach to life.
In the parable the answer to the question "how are you doing?" was always "if I was any better I'd be twins".
At the moment I'm re-reading Scott Berkun's "The Art of Project Management" and I found the answer to the question "what are you doing?"; which is "I'm making good stuff happen".
I find the first mantra "if I was any better I'd be twins" doesn't seem to fit my personality so I think I need to come up with a variation, but I do like "I'm making good stuff happen".
I'll try it out.
Tags: Project Management, Scott Berkun, Lifehack
In the parable the answer to the question "how are you doing?" was always "if I was any better I'd be twins".
At the moment I'm re-reading Scott Berkun's "The Art of Project Management" and I found the answer to the question "what are you doing?"; which is "I'm making good stuff happen".
I find the first mantra "if I was any better I'd be twins" doesn't seem to fit my personality so I think I need to come up with a variation, but I do like "I'm making good stuff happen".
I'll try it out.
Tags: Project Management, Scott Berkun, Lifehack
More on the SnagIt to Flickr extension...
I originally blogged about the SnagIt to Flickr extension back in May and followed up about possible problems the extension might cause your Flickr account in June.
That makes it appropriate to link to an clarification on the issue from Betsy Weber, Chief Evangelist at Techsmith.
Tags: SnagIt, Techsmith, Flickr
That makes it appropriate to link to an clarification on the issue from Betsy Weber, Chief Evangelist at Techsmith.
Flickr has a policy stating any account (free or paid) that has more than half of their images as non-photographic content (screenshots, etc.) will be turned from public to private.Thanks for clearing that up Betsy.
Basically this means that once a user has over half of his images as non-photographic content, his images on Flickr will no longer be made searchable by the greater Flickr community or viewable in the public area. If Flickr finds your account having more than half of your content as non-photographic content, they may mark you as NIPSA - 'Not in Public Site Areas'. Users that reach this state will still be able to upload and share images on Flickr.
Tags: SnagIt, Techsmith, Flickr
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Close encounter with an owl
Linda had an up close and personal encounter with an owl at the Hollowell Steam & Heavy Horse Show today.
I'm enjoying the new camera.
I'm enjoying the new camera.
Steam Engine
1917 Fowler engine named 'Prince of Wales' owned by Mr. D Woodward of Buglawton.
A classic from times gone by.
Tags: Steam Engine
A classic from times gone by.
Tags: Steam Engine
Bernese Mountain Dog
We went to the the Hollowell Steam and Heavy Horse Show today, and I took this picture of a Bernese Mountain Dog. In their native Switzerland they were used extensivley to pull small carts containing farm produce between mountain farms, dairies and markets.
Interacting with them for a few minutes we found them to be very sweet natured creatures.
Tags: Bernese Mountain Dog
Interacting with them for a few minutes we found them to be very sweet natured creatures.
Tags: Bernese Mountain Dog
Friday, June 30, 2006
Happy Slapping gone mad...
I caught a bit of local news on TV after the football game this evening. I was appalled by the lead story about a group of young thugs who threw a cat off a fifth floor balcony.
Not once.
Not twice.
Not thrice.
Four times!
And they filmed the incident using their mobile phones.
According to the news report the cat managed to limp away after being dropped the fourth time, screaming in agony. The cat's owner who eventually found the wounded animal took it to a local vet and the cat was put to sleep.
The incident is thought to be first happy slapping incident involving an animal. Happy Slapping is defined by Wikipedia as a fad in which an unsuspecting victim is attacked while an accomplice records the assault (commonly with a camera phone). The name can refer to any type of violent assault, not just slapping.
The RSPCA managed to track down the thugs who today pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges.
I'm afraid that the severity of the sentences handed out will not match the brutality of the crime.
Tags: Animal Cruelty, Animal Rights
Not once.
Not twice.
Not thrice.
Four times!
And they filmed the incident using their mobile phones.
According to the news report the cat managed to limp away after being dropped the fourth time, screaming in agony. The cat's owner who eventually found the wounded animal took it to a local vet and the cat was put to sleep.
The incident is thought to be first happy slapping incident involving an animal. Happy Slapping is defined by Wikipedia as a fad in which an unsuspecting victim is attacked while an accomplice records the assault (commonly with a camera phone). The name can refer to any type of violent assault, not just slapping.
The RSPCA managed to track down the thugs who today pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges.
I'm afraid that the severity of the sentences handed out will not match the brutality of the crime.
Tags: Animal Cruelty, Animal Rights
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Just because we can't hear them scream doesn't make this right...
The New Zealand Department of Conservation writes:
The Sun gets to the heart of the matter from my point of view...
I'm realistic enough to believe that we probably can't stop all whaling but the barbarity with which it is undertaken is stomach turning.
David Attenborough is quoted as saying:
Tags: Whaling, Greenpeace, Animal Cruelty, Animal Rights
Despite a moratorium on commercial whaling since 1986, and two ocean sanctuaries to further protect whales, only a few whale populations are increasing. Slow reproductive rates and new environmental threats affect the ability of whales to recover, even in the absence of any whaling activities.The BBC in a report on the recent International Whaling Commission's annual meeting notes that:
Currently, Japan and Iceland kill whales under an IWC ruling which allows nations to catch whales for "scientific research".
Norway, which formally objected to the 1986 ban, openly conducts commercial whaling.
The Sun gets to the heart of the matter from my point of view...
And The Sun has obtained harrowing undercover footage which proves that whales suffer a torturous and lingering death when they have been harpooned.
The images, filmed by the World Society for the Protection of Animals and the Environmental Investigation Agency, show a Norwegian ship firing a grenade-tipped harpoon into a minke whale.
The whale takes two-and-a-half agonising minutes to die. Others can take more than AN HOUR.
Even the Norwegians admit that around 20 per cent of whales fail to be killed straight away. Japan has reported that almost 60 per cent are not killed outright.
I'm realistic enough to believe that we probably can't stop all whaling but the barbarity with which it is undertaken is stomach turning.
David Attenborough is quoted as saying:
“And there is hard, scientific, dispassionate evidence that there is no humane way to kill a whale at sea. Dr Harry Lillie, who worked as a ship’s physician on a whaling trip in the Antarctic half a century ago, wrote this:Shane Rattenbury, of Greenpeace’s ocean’s campaign, goes on to describe the cruelty he witnessed at first hand:
“ ‘If we can imagine a horse having two or three explosive spears stuck in its stomach and being made to pull a butcher’s truck through the streets of London while it pours blood into the gutter, we shall have an idea of the method of killing. The gunners themselves admit that if whales could scream the industry would stop, for nobody would be able to stand it.’
“Harpoons with explosive grenade heads are still the main technique used to kill whales today.”
“We saw how long it took for the whales to die.Call me a liberal, tea-smoking, hippy if you like but this isn't about the killing. It's about cruelty and a lack of respect for life.
“The worst example I saw was when a whale was struck three times. The time between being struck with the harpoon and ceasing to struggle to fight was 35 minutes.
“We also saw the whales being asphyxiated. This hasn’t been documented before.
“When they have harpooned the whale, they tie it to the side of the catcher ship and take it to the factory ship.
“They were being hung up by their tails with their heads under water so they couldn’t breath. That’s how they were dying. The whale normally breathes from the top of the head.
“You could see the whale tail flapping as it was being carried along — which is not the promised quick death from a harpoon.
“The Japanese claim these are scientific hunts. But no scientist could support such unsophisticated deaths. It is appalling. None of us had prepared ourselves for something like that.”
Tags: Whaling, Greenpeace, Animal Cruelty, Animal Rights
Up close and personal with an Eagle Owl
We spent a wonderful day on Saturday at the Althorp Country Show. Althorp is the ancestral home of the Spencer family, including Diana, The Princess of Wales.
One of the demonstrations was given by the Hawkeye Falconry Display Team, professional falconers with many years experience of showing birds of prey. As an opener they have an eagle owl fly over a line of children lying on the ground. They invite photographers to get in close and take pictures. I managed to capture this shot using my wife's new Canon EOS 350D in sports mode.
At this point the bird is just a second away from flying over my head to land on the trainer's glove.
Tags: Falconry, Canon EOS 350D
One of the demonstrations was given by the Hawkeye Falconry Display Team, professional falconers with many years experience of showing birds of prey. As an opener they have an eagle owl fly over a line of children lying on the ground. They invite photographers to get in close and take pictures. I managed to capture this shot using my wife's new Canon EOS 350D in sports mode.
At this point the bird is just a second away from flying over my head to land on the trainer's glove.
Tags: Falconry, Canon EOS 350D
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Attitude is everything...
Like most people I get copied in on viral emails making the rounds. I recently received this one:
Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"
He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.
Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.' I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life."
"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.
"Yes it is," Jerry said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life."
I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body. I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?"
I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied. "Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live.
"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked.
Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, 'He's a dead man. " I knew I needed to take action."
"What did you do?" I asked.
"Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply... I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!' Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."
Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.
Attitude, after all, is everything.
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34
After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
I found support for this parable from an improbable source. I'm currently reading "The ultimate book of mind maps" by Tony Buzan. Buzan describes the human brain as a synergetic system, a system where the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts.
Thus a thought does not exist in isolation, it fits into a network of other thoughts and associations that exist only in your own brain. This network is a kind of internal super-mind map of your growing thoughts, ideas and memories. As you think, new connections between thoughts are forged and your internal mind map becomes more sophisticated, complex and powerful. In other words, more than just the sum of the individual thoughts.
The more you use your brain to think about something, through repetition, the more you strengthen the links between thoughts, making the mind map of these thoughts and ideas stronger. Everything you do or say or think or feel increases the probability that you will do, say, think, or feel in the same way again. If you do things well, speak and think positively, and generally feel good about yourself, others, the world and the universe, the probability continually increases that you will do better, talk and think better, and feel and be better. This is sometimes referred to as a virtuous circle.
The flip side of this is that if you do poorly, think and act negatively, practice inadequately, and regularly feel bad about yourself, others, the world, and the universe, then with every such thought and act you increase the probablity of a continuing and deepening downwards spiral.
Buzan concludes that the brain principles of synergy and repetition mean that our brains can be both infinitely creative and infinitely destructive, but the power to use you brain positively and to the greatest effect lies in your own hands.
It's your choice.
Key learning points summary:
(1) the synergy created by the ability to connect thoughts and ideas is a fundamental benefit of mind mapping tools such as MindManager
(2) that repetition is important to strengthen retention (mapping + repetition = better retention)
(3) mind mapping provides a powerful way to harness the potential of the brain
Tags: Mind Mapping, Mindjet, MindManager, Tony Buzan, LifeHack, Personal Productivity
Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"
He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.
Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.' I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life."
"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.
"Yes it is," Jerry said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life."
I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body. I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?"
I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied. "Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live.
"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked.
Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, 'He's a dead man. " I knew I needed to take action."
"What did you do?" I asked.
"Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply... I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!' Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."
Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.
Attitude, after all, is everything.
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34
After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
I found support for this parable from an improbable source. I'm currently reading "The ultimate book of mind maps" by Tony Buzan. Buzan describes the human brain as a synergetic system, a system where the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts.
Thus a thought does not exist in isolation, it fits into a network of other thoughts and associations that exist only in your own brain. This network is a kind of internal super-mind map of your growing thoughts, ideas and memories. As you think, new connections between thoughts are forged and your internal mind map becomes more sophisticated, complex and powerful. In other words, more than just the sum of the individual thoughts.
The more you use your brain to think about something, through repetition, the more you strengthen the links between thoughts, making the mind map of these thoughts and ideas stronger. Everything you do or say or think or feel increases the probability that you will do, say, think, or feel in the same way again. If you do things well, speak and think positively, and generally feel good about yourself, others, the world and the universe, the probability continually increases that you will do better, talk and think better, and feel and be better. This is sometimes referred to as a virtuous circle.
The flip side of this is that if you do poorly, think and act negatively, practice inadequately, and regularly feel bad about yourself, others, the world, and the universe, then with every such thought and act you increase the probablity of a continuing and deepening downwards spiral.
Buzan concludes that the brain principles of synergy and repetition mean that our brains can be both infinitely creative and infinitely destructive, but the power to use you brain positively and to the greatest effect lies in your own hands.
It's your choice.
Key learning points summary:
(1) the synergy created by the ability to connect thoughts and ideas is a fundamental benefit of mind mapping tools such as MindManager
(2) that repetition is important to strengthen retention (mapping + repetition = better retention)
(3) mind mapping provides a powerful way to harness the potential of the brain
Tags: Mind Mapping, Mindjet, MindManager, Tony Buzan, LifeHack, Personal Productivity
Saturday, June 17, 2006
It doesn't sound like risk management as I understand it...
A BBC report suggests that the shuttle has been cleared to fly despite objections from both NASA's top safety official AND lead engineer.
NASA administrator Michael Griffin told a news conference:
Tags: NASA, Shuttle
NASA administrator Michael Griffin told a news conference:
"I can't possibly accept every recommendation given to me by every member of my staff, especially when they all don't agree."Adminsitrator Griffin describes the Flight Readiness Review as spirited. After the Columbia disaster and the following investigation I would have thought the top safety official would have a "golden vote", but apparently not.
Tags: NASA, Shuttle
Connecting to the bottom line...
Nick Duffill writes the always interesting Beyond Crayons blog. I wish he wrote more often. His recent post on how mapping software creates value inside organisations provides some good pointers for anyone who has ever tried to evangelise the introduction or use of mind mapping software in an organisation.
Tags: Mind Mapping, Mindjet, MindManager, Nick Duffill, Beyond Crayons
To understand the potential value of software mapping in your organisation, ask yourself: "What core processes are not working very well today because we struggle to describe and communicate fundamental concepts in a consistent and engaging way?" If the answer to this is "none", then it is probable that software mapping will remain a novelty at the fringes of your organisation. However, if you can produce a strong answer, then you have every chance of completing the value chain between the technology and the bottom line.I think you can extend the point to lots of software tools. If you can't connect the tool to the bottom line you can demonstrate exquisite functionality till you're blue in the face, but you won't get much traction.
Tags: Mind Mapping, Mindjet, MindManager, Nick Duffill, Beyond Crayons
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