Blog Posts

December 2008

• 2008-12-17

  A little more about “Outliers”

  Since I wrote a somewhat negative post mentioning Outliers and Malcolm Gladwell the other day, I thought this was a worthwhile follow-up,“Lost in the Crowd” from the New York Times, which starts sounding positive: “As usual, Gladwell intelligently captures a larger tendency of thought — the growing appreciation of the power of cultural patterns, social contagions, memes. His book is being received by reviewers as a call to action for the Obama age. It could lead policy makers to finally reject policies built on the assumption ...

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  #culture
• 2008-12-16

  Back Channels May Add, But They Also Subtract

  I totally agree. Is it just part of the tendency of those people to always want to be the center of attention? Check this post Back Channels May Add, But They Also Subtract from McToonish: “Rick Schwier and I were actually talking about this last week and then Stephen Downes blogged about it today. Is it rude for people to use laptops, cell phones (for texting) and other hand-held devices while sitting in on somebody else’s conference presentation? I know that this will likely be unpopular with the crowd that I run in, but I happen to think it is. [snip…]” (from Back Channels May Add, But They Also Subtract)

  Originally posted on May 13, 2008. Reprinted courtesy of ReRuns plug-in.

• 2008-12-15

  How come are these two swindlers also huge philanthropists?

  The irony and paradox confounds: “[…] Mr. Dreier, who grew up on Long Island, the son of a refugee from Poland who owned movie theaters, evolved into a bon vivant who belonged to the Harmonie Club and was a staple of high-wattage charity events[…].” (from NYT, “Lawyer Seen as Bold Enough to Cheat the Best”)

  and

  “[…]They were renowned for their charitable work and gave away millions to arts and education groups and Jewish charities. They also served on the boards of several prominent foundations, theatres and colleges.[…] (from The Telegraph, “Bernie Madoff: Profile of a Wall Street star“)

  Oh well.

  charity swindlers

  #business
• 2008-12-14

  How are the New England Patriots like the United States Post Office?

  I’ve gotten more interested in logos and graphic design lately so I guess I am noticing stuff like this more than before…

  

  

  #design
• 2008-12-08

  VRM and Iammoving.com

  VRM is a concept that’s been floating around for a while. Evangelized (and perhaps coined) by Doc Searls, it has developed a strong following. In their words: “VRM, or Vendor Relationship Management, is the reciprocal of CRM or Customer Relationship Management. It provides customers with tools for engaging with vendors in ways that work for both parties.

  CRM systems for the duration have borne the full burden of relating with customers. VRM will provide customers with the means to bear some of that weight, and to help make markets work for both vendors and customers — in ways that don’t r...

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• 2008-12-07

  Joel on Software talks about Malcolm Gladwell and Tom Friedman

  There have been a number of articles taking shots at some of Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book, “Outliers”. No doubt Mr. Gladwell is really good at getting visibility for his books and has hit upon a formula with The Tipping Point and Blink which are fascinating reads, with profound insights, that happen to sell well. Michiko Kakutani in the New York Times was the first one I saw being not 100% flattering about the book, saying:

  ““Outliers,” Mr. Gladwell’s latest book, employs this same recipe, but does so in such a clumsy manner that it italicizes the weaknesses of his methodology.: (from ...

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  #culture
• 2008-12-06

  Warning: Email Sabbatical is Imminent .. and other random thoughts

  I really like this approach to vacation. I think I will try it: Check out this post Warning: Email Sabbatical is Imminent .. and other random thoughts: "For those who are unaware of my approach to vacation… I believe that email eradicates any benefits gained from taking a vacation by collecting mold and spitting it back out at you the moment you return. As such, I’ve trained my beloved INBOX to reject all email during vacation. I give it a little help in the form of a .procmail file that sends everything directly to /dev/null. The effect is very simple. You cannot put anything in my queue while I’m away (ho...

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• 2008-12-05

  XConomy’s Battle of the bands

  As a favor I am posting this notice about an event that looks like it might be fun: Battle of the Bands

  The requirement is that at least one member of the band must work for a New England-area technology or life sciences company or a venture-capital or private-equity firm that invests in technology. All levels of bands are welcome—from club veterans to garage hackers. All musical styles are welcome – entry deadline is Dec 12, 2008.

  The event will take place on January 22, 2009 at the Middle East in Cambridge. Last year Jeet “Miki” Singh, co-fou...

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  #places #culture
• 2008-12-05

  Ideas are still cheap, right?

  From XConomy Seattle, this article covers ‘an inspiring talk by Nick Hanauer of Seattle-based Second Avenue Partners‘. It’s a good read with lots of useful insights. Here’s his formula for judging whether your idea for a new product is any good. I am not sure whether I like these because they are cleverly worded and snarky or whether there’s a big grain of truth in them. Probably a little of both.

  If everyone thinks it’s a great idea, it probably sucks.

  If people understand it, you’re too late.

  If people don’t like it and don’t understand it, it probably still sucks.

  A ...

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  #business
• 2008-12-03

  Watch out for the ‘Nigerian Scam

  Yes, some people do fall for it “So how did this otherwise lucid, intelligent woman end up sending nearly half a million dollars to a bunch of con artists running what has to be one of the best-known Internet scams in the world?” (from TimesOnline Tech Central)

  Read all about the Woman Who Fell For the Nigerian Scam, in TimesOnline Tech Central. Amazing!

  #politics
• 2008-12-02

  Are magazines committing suicide?

  I was traveling this weekend and as I am wont to do, spent too much time at bookstores and magazine stands. I came across the current issue of the New Yorker, where this article caught my eye: “A reporter at Large: Anatomy of a Meltdown”, and the current issue of Wired, where this article caught my eye: “Ray Ozzie wants to Push Microsoft Back into Startup Mode”.

  I haven’t read either article yet, but a cursory scan says that they are just the kind of thing I am interested in. Just the thing I’d be willing to pay for. Here’s the thing...

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  #business #politics

November 2008

• 2008-11-29

  What I am reading this morning

  A few really quick links:

  Responsible Tweeting, about the role of Twitter ‘news’ in influencing real world events. What to do, by Paul Krugman, about how to rescue the world economy About Robert Rubin’s role in the demise or semi-demise of Citicorp Our Culture is Better, about a Dutch politician who released a highly inflammatory film this summer And in Take My Position Paper, Please, about how comics (in the US anyway) have become more serious and policy oriented

  I said ‘really quick links’. Elapsed time, 3 minutes. There you have it. Enjoy.

  #politics
• 2008-11-28

  OpenStreetMap – Let’s map the whole planet, one person at a time

  Another crazy-brilliant site, OpenStreetMap.org, is aiming to get all of us to annotate maps of all places on the planet. In other words, I know my neighborhood, let me log in and indicate what streets are called what, which ones are one way, where the intersections are etc. This may not sound so special if you live in Boston, or any other relatively built up part of the world. But for out of the way places where, one might presume, the bigco’s have not yet come through to annotate the sattelite photos, it sets up a rather cool, people powered way of capturing this inform...

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  #computing
• 2008-11-27

  It’s the cars, stupid

  Robert X. Cringely’s prescription for Detroit automakers: “So the trick to turning around the U.S. auto industry is to make car buyers adopt the values of bicycle buyers, which implies the willingness to pay $20 per pound of final product. The way to achieve that goal is by building cars that are both affordable at $20 per pound and EXCITING TO DRIVE.” (from I Cringely, Saving Detroit)

  #business
• 2008-11-26

  How many sources of video signal?

  Netflix has a box to stream video into my living room. TIVO has a deal with Amazon to do the same. Blockbuster is just coming out with their set-top box. Check out this interesting option from Myka: “The beauty of this box is that it takes the nerd-factor out of BitTorrent, giving you access to all the content (licit and illicit) available on the P2P network without requiring advanced skills. The Linux-based box connects to the TV using HDMI, composite, S-Video or SPDIF connectors ...

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• 2008-11-25

  Clean up your Amazon Wishlist!

  If you are anything like me, you are constantly coming across books and other goodies that look interesting but not interesting enough to actually get. In my house, there are several shelves that contain books purchased but not yet read. It’s my queue. I love them . It’s like having a personal bookstore with only books that I love. Or at least, I think I will love.

  The Amazon wish list has become basically another way station between Amazon and my shelves. I save money by storing part of my queue of interesting books inside Amazon’s wish list. After all, when will I actually read them?

  Which brings us to today’s topic. Clean up that Amazon wishlist. The holidays are coming and people actua...

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• 2008-11-25

  Very unscientific survey of online survey tools

  Because of a couple of projects that I am working on, I thought I might be able to use some tool for an online survey. I have two particular requirements:

  respondents can be anonymous respondents are allowed to complete the survey in multiple sittings. In other words, they can go back to a form and continue where they left off.

  I thought others might be trying to do the same thing so it would be nice to share my personal (non scientific) findings:

  The three that seemed to come up in my web search are: Wufoo, SurveyMonkey and Zoomerang. All three have a free option that allows a basic survey to be done and som...

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• 2008-11-24

  Ask the pilot how hard it is to fly a plane

  Ask The Pilot is a regular Salon column. Recently there was a good one, essentially about how hard or easy it is to fly and land a plane nowadays: “But wait, he goes on. “Most of the time,” says heyja, “pilots will push the seats back, push a button, never look out the window, arranging their Jeppsens [sic], drink their coffee, whine about the Democrats and their disappearing pensions.” (from Ask The Pilot)

  to which he retorts:

  “Compare, for a moment, an airline flight with a medical procedure. That’s as good an analogy as any, I think. I p...

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• 2008-11-20

  Bummer for Whole Foods

  Not than anyone is buying any stocks these days (are you?) but I happened to have a very small number of Whole Foods shares, so this bit of news explains why Whole Foods have been tanking (other than the general lowering tide which lowers all boats) “… Whole Foods has had a cult like following amongst upscale urban professionals. Aspirational shoppers even mocked their own spending by nicknaming Whole Foods: “Whole Paycheck”. Given the economic instability though, customers are staying away from Whole Foods in droves….” (from Seeking Alpha, Whole Foods in a Whole Lot of Trouble)

  Bummer…

  #business
• 2008-11-18

  Ever hear of teratomas?

  Here’s a truly weird article, which a sticks in my mind a week after reading it: “Clark had seen teratomas. They were common in the reproductive tract, often found accidentally in the course of an operation or on a scan done for some other reason.

  These strange cysts have been a source of fascination since their discovery in the 19th century because, although smooth and normal-appearing on the outside, on the inside they often contain hair and teeth and other tissues not normally seen in the reproductive system.

  The name “teratoma” is derived from the Greek word for “monster,” because of their creepy contents. These cysts rarely cause trouble and are usually removed only if they get too large or cause pain. This cyst was the size of a peach pit. Could a small growth do all this?” (from Brain Drain)

  #life