LIVEdigitally

Monthly Archives: August 2009

Signs You Live in the Silicon Valley Echochamber

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Your home page is one of: TechMeme, Yhacker news, Friendfeed.

You debate the merits of various URL shorteners.

Hearing that teenagers think Twitter is stupid, yet they send ~500 texts per day is somehow disconcerting to you, and challenges some core beliefs you have about the world.

You (a) have a tag cloud on your blog and (b) it actively contains any one of: Louis Gray, Scobleizer, Cloud Computing.  (note: it was pointed out to me that this seems like a possible slam on Louis/Robert – it’s not. Having their names in your tag cloud means you write about them a lot as a topic. So unless you are them, it’s echochambery)

You think you are “good at Twitter”.

You believe that writing a blog on a topic for more than 6 months makes someone an expert at that topic.

You think the iPhone sucks and the gPhone rocks in comparison (note: I may not personally own an iPhone, and I may make jokes about it, but even I know it doesn’t suck).

You tell friends or family when someone more popular than you retweets something you wrote (whether they care or not).

You can easily define the difference between the types of posts written on ReadWriteWeb, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, and Mashable.

You are surprised to learn that AOL has over 10 million paying subscribers.

You lament over the failure of the “Semantic” Web.

When you hear the following first names, in your mind they have direct associations with specific individuals: Mike, Jeff, Pete, Erick, Marshall, Rafe, Justine, Brian, Fred, Ron, Louis, Robert, Chad, Veronica, Jeremiah, and Gabe. You might also guess at a Paul, a Dave, a Sarah, and a Chris.  And, of course, a Jeremy.

You believe yourself to be “very” aware of news as it happens. But this is specifically because of Twitter trending topics.

You still say “(subject) two point oh”.

You see absolutely no reason whatsoever not to put all of your personal information into sites like Facebook, Google Health, Mint, Dopplr, or LinkedIn.

You can name one (or multiple) competitors to Twitter.

You (a) have more than 500 twitter followers and (b) know exactly how many you have at this moment (+/- 10 people).

You use terms like “Tweeple”, “Social Graph”, “Real-Time Web”, “Microsyntax”.

You look around very carefully before dissing “industry heavyweights” out loud (though rarely ponder why they are so powerful).

You think Spymaster, KDice, and Tap Tap Revenge are “popular video games”.

You know precisely what Google Wave is.

You know how much FriendFeed and iLike were acquired for, but cannot (without research) answer questions like “how much does the war in Iraq cost US taxpayers?” or “in a nutshell, what is the conflict in Darfur actually about?”.

What we really want out of new operating systems

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With Snow Leopard set to debut tomorrow (except for all my industry friends who already have it that is), I’ve been pondering a lot as to the true value of new/improved operating systems.  In a nutshell for SL it seems to be $30 to improve the overall performance of existing Leopard installations.  That makes sense as a value proposition (for only $30, my $1000 laptop will perform better than it does today? count me in). Windows 7 is coming soon, which seems primed as a substantial improvement over Vista (insert cheap shot here), and again I ponder as to the alignment between market needs and product offerings.

My basic assertion is we’ve reached a plateau in the cycle of improving computer/OS/Internet experiences, and the investment should be more oriented on basic performance and reliability, as well as dramatic improvements in simple ease of use. As a simple assertion, it’s my belief that the average computer user (PC and Mac) is still challenged to perform tasks as “basic” as locating downloaded files, upgrading software, and virtually any kind of networking function.  And for those of you reading and slowly sticking your nose in the air in a mocking fashion, your snobbery does not benefit those who use computers day-in and day-out, and in the long run is costing you time and money.

Here’s my target list of what fixes would help the bulk of computer users today and tomorrow:

  • Expert Mode.
    The steepest challenge in most systems is helping novices while empowering expert users.  When it comes to as big a system as the core OS to a computer, the challenge is close to insurmountable.  As a result, features that many people would want to use are buried into hard-to-find places or unknown keyboard shortcuts (command-shift-3 to screenshot? come on). In the short term, letting a user “flip a switch” to go into expert mode after getting comfortable with basic OS usage could be the easiest way to improve overall usability.  Then, all sorts of helpful tooltips, modal alerts, and more could be used to help new/novice users learn the basics.
  • firefox-downloads-screenshotThe Download – Save – Install sequence.
    Good examples: Firefox extensions and AIR applications.
    Bad examples: everything else.
    I am still stunned at the complexity of most installers, and I’m not even talking about the poorly designed installation wizards.  The number of ZIPs, SITs, DMGs, RARs, and more that sit on desktops and download folders without getting opened is awful and reflects poorly not on users, but on the developers who built these systems.  I get it that we need protection against viruses and malware, but can’t there be a smarter way to deal with this?  Yes we can.
  • Taking Screenshots.
    If making screenshots was as simple for people to use as it should be, my hunch is tech support costs for application developers would drop dramatically.  Instead, it’s a highly buried feature in both Windows and OS X, and it doesn’t look like that’s going away anytime soon.
  • Integrated support for removable storage (semi-permanent vs not).
    There are literally hundreds of millions of removable storage drives, both USB thumb sticks and external hard drives.  Yet almost no basic set of applications have native support for the concept of a “semi-permanent” drive (one that sits on your office desk, for example, but not at home).  Sure most apps can use data on these drives, but it’s always in a semi-dysfunctional manner.  iPhoto, for example, retains thumbnails on the local hard drive, but at no point informs the user that the full resolution image won’t be available until the drive is reconnected.  There should be utter clarity to the user, at all times, as to which files are where, and how to properly manage stuff.  For a follow-up example with iPhoto, I should be able to “move” folders/events to removable drives (as my iPhoto Library is the biggest space consumer on my hard drive), and it should act smartly about it.
  • Browser speed!
    Okay, this is happening in Snow Leopard anyway, but I still wanted to iterate it.  The bulk of time spent on computers is inside the browser these days, so the more the browser can natively be fast, the more productivity we have.
  • File sharing.
    I fundamentally believe that Finder and File Explorer still represent the worst aspect of computing. Watching people try to upload photos to sites like Tumblr is such an easy example of the brokenness of it all. The analog of folders/file folders is simply broken, as is the entire concept of what files, shortcuts, applications, etc are. If tied in to my earlier comment on “expert mode”, then the creation of a “novice” file browser could be a huge step forward.  In the interim, the more the OS can help promote local search, the better.
  • photo-82Webcams.
    Everybody (and I use the term fairly literally now) wants to use webcams. Whether its for dating, remote working and productivity (disclosure: Team Apart is a client of Stage Two Consulting), or staying in touch with friends or family, the webcam is probably the most useful accessory I can think of.  So why did it take me over an hour to get my father’s working with Skype? Whatever needs to happen in regards to drivers, API, and other common technology components to make Webcams work all the time needs to happen, and soon.
  • Backups.
    Both Windows and OS X include backup capabilities.  Both are better than they’ve ever been.  Neither are good enough.  If I had to make a wager on impending individualized technology crises, I’d bet that a lot of good people are going to suffer some serious data loss in the coming years.  Backup should be more than just “an option”, but an annoying, pestering reminder that prevents users from doing much without properly configuring backups.  Further, backup should be enabled on a per-file, per-folder, per-application basis (like Time Machine does, but even moreso).
  • Automatic Document Saving & Versioning.
    Technically this really lies within Office applications more than the OS, but it could happen at any level.  The entire concept of “saving” a file is ridiculous.  When you write on a piece of paper, it’s “saved”.  You can opt to discard it, which you’d have to pro-actively do.  If you want to easily retrieve it from a stack of others, you might put some special tag or label on it, or put it in a specific drawer or file cabinet that you have, which you’ve probably organized fairly easily.  Electronic files must work the same way! The entire concept that one could write a document, then accidentally click a single button to destroy hours of work is utterly idiotic. The mere act of typing a new document should save, and every edit you make should also save, and every version of every edit should be retrievable (especially considering apps like Stickies and sites like WordPress do this natively).  Instead of renaming documents, there should simply be a visual timeline and an easy-to-use slider that lets you use Time Machine-like visuals to see prior versions.
  • e-Wallets.
    If the computer guys want to stop the mobile guys and social networking guys from owning my transactions, they need to step it up soon.  A built-in wallet to more rapidly enable e-commerce and microtransactions is a logical evolution of the operating system, not a third-party Website.

Unfortunately there seems to be a bit too much energy into “video desktop backgrounds” instead.  Ah well, one can dream.  Any other “basic wants” people have to improve computing, please share in the comments!

Email, the worst excuse for communications

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Following my theme of recognizing interesting barriers of communications due to technology (well, by theme I mean one post), I thought I’d help rant about another one.  And, just like the previous topic, it’s something I’ve probably been guilty of myself, and am also working on being better about.  Email has created an amazing barrier to communications.

What do I mean?

First, there’s the signal vs noise problem of people getting too many emails.  Newsletters and other mailing lists are partly to blame, as is spam, but a real issue in my opinion is the over-CC-ing.  Whether its large internal groups or other methods of including a lot of folks, there’s a whole heckuvalot of threads people are CC’ed on that are probably unnecessary.  Regardless of the Why, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t feel they get too much email to properly handle.

Second, people are using email to do things that are better done on the phone.  For example, scheduling phone calls.  It seems like instead of just picking up the phone and dialing people have resorted to emailing each other about the future plans to call each other.  Again, I’ll be totally upfront and admit I do it too, but I’m most certainly aware of the problem and am working on it.

Third, and the real reason I wrote this post, is related to #2 above, and is all about people using email to avoid having meetings.  Here’s a summary of how those emails go, where I’ll use fictitious Bill and Steve as my two personas having a realistic, but purely fictitious dialogue:

From: Bill
Sent: Monday, July 6th at 08:11am
To: Steve
Subject: Nice seeing you at that event!
Steve,
It was fun catching up with you in the halls at that conference.  I wanted to follow up with you on meeting in person to talk about possible opportunities.  How’s next Thursday at your office?
-Bill

From: Steve
Sent: Thursday, July 9th at 04:45pm
To: Bill
Subject: re: Nice seeing you at that event!
Good to see you too.  Can’t do next Thursday, going to be in NYC.  Would love to catch up.
S

From: Bill
Sent: Thursday, July 9th at 06:11pm
To: Steve
Subject: re: Nice seeing you at that event!
No problem.  How about the week following, when you’re back from your trip?  I’m good pretty much every afternoon other than Monday.  Let me know if anything in there works for you!
-Bill

From: Bill
Sent: Tuesday, July 14th at 11:41am
To: Steve
Subject: re: Nice seeing you at that event!
Steve,
Just wanted to touch base again about next week?  I’m still free on Mon, Tues, and Fri afternoons next week.  Anything good for you?
-Bill

From: Steve
Sent: Tuesday, July 14th at 11:42am
To: Bill
Subject: Out of Office Reply re: Nice seeing you at that event!

From: Bill
Sent: Monday, July 20th at 09:01am
To: Steve
Subject: Trying again…
Steve,
Hi, I’m still interested in meeting up with you this week.  I can do tomorrow after 3pm, or Friday after 1pm.  Anything there work?
-Bill

From: Steve
Sent: Monday, July 20th at 07:41pm
To: Bill
Subject: re: Trying again…
Sorry about missing you this week.  I could do something late next week if you can come out to my office.

From: Bill
Sent: Tuesday, July 21st at 08:44am
To: Steve
Subject: re: Trying again…
Sounds great.  Next Thursday, 2pm?  I’m free that afternoon.

From: Bill
Sent: Friday, July 24th at 10:11am
To: Steve
Subject: re: Trying again…
Steve – are we on for next Thursday afternoon?  I put down 2pm if that works for you…

From: Steve
Sent: Sunday, July 26th at 9:44pm
To: Bill
Subject: re: Trying again…
Going to end up on the road for big meetings this week, I didn’t realize you meant this week.

and so on…

Now I am definitely paraphrasing, but it’s not too far off the mark.  In our above scenario (in case it wasn’t clear) Steve just doesn’t want to meet with Bill, and just doesn’t seem to want to say it.  Instead, emails are ignored, meetings are missed, etc. There are certainly lots of excuses and such, but at the end of the day, it’s either time to pick up the phone, or drop it.  He’s just not that into meeting with you.

I’m sure my list of ways email is a pain is far from exhaustive.  But moving to Facebook, Twitter, or other direct messaging platforms is just substituting one leaky ship for another.  My only recommendation for fixing it is to keep your inbox as empty as possible, and to have the good sense about picking the right communication vehicle for the task at hand.  And there’s nothing like picking up the phone and just dialing…

Are You a Jerk With a Keyboard?

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The other day I wrote about my issues with tablet computers.  My general position, in a word, was that they suck.  Now observant readers like Andrew Parker noticed my last line: “if you do figure it out, I’m buying!” My post was about the real-world limitations of tablets, and was written specifically in contrast to the hype and attention the potential of tablets (and I’m definitely not the only one who feels the category has a terrible history and numerous challenges in reaching a wider customer base).  But what sucks more than the tablets was the kind of responses I saw both on my comments here and by a blogger at GottaBeMobile.  It really got me thinking about how easy it is to be a real jerk when there is no potential for face-to-face interaction.

Being a keyboard jerk, in a nutshell, is writing things you’d never have the cajones to say to someone in person for fear of some kind of retribution.  So I write a tongue-in-cheek post about tablets, and as a result, here are some of the “counter-arguments” (from commentors and the blog post in question):

  • “Yes, sadly, I think Toeman has revealed himself as yet another critic who sits at a keyboard typing in English all day, someone who would gain no benefit from a tablet, and lacks the imagination to see beyond his condition.”
  • “Did you know that the average IQ of tablet users is 1.482 times higher than those who think that tablets suck.”
  • “It can certainly reveal how much a pundit’s opinion can suck though.”
  • “Tablets make you tired. No, you tire easily because you’re a wuss.”

As commentor “Bob” on the blog pointed out “You have good points to make; there’s no reason to hide them under the blanket of a personal attack.” Wired’s Brian Chen wrote an excellent counter-point, and at no point did he stoop to do so.

There is no debate in my mind that neither Mark (the poster) nor any commentor would have said any of the above statements had we been chatting in person.  They are easy to type, but much, much harder to say.  In person, people have to see each others’ reactions, and in general, don’t like hurting feelings or saying things that might get them, say, punched.  So I could very comfortably talk derisively about a tablet computer because, well, who cares?

Look, it’s easy to type nastily.  Mark lives on the East Coast, he has no fear of me in any way, and I’m not much the punching type anyway.  And commentors tend to do so anonymously, which in my eyes is on a par with yelling at a pedestrian from inside a rapidly moving vehicle, which is why their value/contribution is roughly nil.

The reality is we all do it at some time.  We type without thinking.  We send “nastygram” emails to coworkers, colleagues, or even loved ones.  The keyboard is just so easy to use, and there’s no reason not to move rapidly.  I tweeted about how I “hated” a company’s user interface, which is true, and in fact something I’d be comfortable saying to that company’s CEO (which I ended up doing).  But it was inappropriate, and something better said in person or in a private email, and not for public consumption (which I apologized for).

So I pledge to be less of a keyboard jerk myself, and I hope others read, consider, and follow.  I can’t promise to be perfect, but hopefuly it’ll make my IQ increase, be less of a wuss, have a better imagination, and generally suck less.

The Tablet That Nobody Really Wants…

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All of them.

Wired claims 2010 is the year of the tablet. Let’s face it, however much they sound dreamy (even I’ve speculated on wanting one in the past), in practical reality tablets generally suck.  They are both a worse laptop than a laptop, and a worse touch-input device than a piece of paper I can scan with my cheapo HP all-in-one printer/scanner/fax/sock darner combo device.  So this is my “I don’t care what they say in the focus group, nobody’s buying your crappy tablet” intervention blog post.

Tablets suck at handwriting recognition. The dream of a touch-screen is you can easily edit/mark up your documents, and, as if by magic, the edits transform into your Word doc in a useful manner.  Instead you get edts tht looh lik ths, intermixed with the occasional number and odd symbol.

Tablets suck to carry around. It’s too big for your pocket, and probably too big for your murse.  Which means you need a laptop bag.  Which means you might as well carry a… laptop.

Tablets make you tired. The ergonomic problems with a laptop are bad enough. Where am I going to carry the tablet such that constant use doesn’t get exhausting?  The only worse user interface is the full hand motion system from Minority Report. Seriously, have you seen Tom Cruise’s biceps? they got huge after *that* movie!

Tablets can’t share nicely with others. So let’s pretend your tablet comes with some fancy new visual editing tool.  Well, how do you get that useful data back to the other 99.9% of people you have to interact with?  PDF?  I don’t think so.  Although I do assume that Apple would make some proprietary app that *would* work well, but that’s not the point.

Tablets suck at hiding smudges. The spittle residue on my MacBook screen is fairly intense.  I can’t imagine how my greasy french-fry-eating fingers are going to make any tablet look.  And yes, I’ve seen your iPhone, and I carry wipes around just so I don’t have to put it next to my head.  Gross.

Tablets are bad Web browsers. I still applaud the CrunchPad team for their hard work, but I have no idea why anyone thinks surfing a Web page on a tablet with fingers is better, easier, or faster than doing the same with my laptop.  Ditto for anyone else’s tablet.  Plus, when I have to input anything, which is always, I don’t really want a virtual keyboard that will, by definition, work worse than the one on my laptop.

Tablets are priced poorly. What’s the “magic” price point for this thing?  $200? No way it’ll be any good.  $800? Buy a MacBook.  $500? Buy a 3G NetBook.  There is no price point that makes sense, other than as a gimmicky product for those with too much money lying around.  Who will, for the record, all purchase one as soon as they come out.

Tablets suck at everything else. IM? Won’t work well. Video chat? Won’t work well. Spreadsheets? Nope.  About the only other thing a tablet will be good at is a finger painting application, which my 2-year-old would love.  For about 5 minutes until his short attention span moves onto the cardboard box he was playing with yesterday. Oh, and FreeCell – a tablet would be a killer FreeCell device.  Awesome.

So there you have it.  Sorry teams Apple TouchBook, CrunchPad, Windows Tablet Home Premium Ultimate 7 Edition (service pack 8), I know there is crazy hard work and tremendous effort going on in the labs.  But I think until literally all of the above problems are solved, this is a non-category.

But if you do figure it out, I’m buying!