The Advent Conspiracy

Ran across this today from a friend on facebook.  Not only did I think the message was appropriate, but it really appealed to me from a presentation (visualization) point of view.  I think that Garr would like it also...  Anyway, enjoy!

The next evolutionary step of the mobile device

iPhone, step aside, there is a new device in town.

;)

Enjoy! dv

StickySorter

Well, once again I ran across a cool little application that I think has some pretty cool potential. The app is from Microsoft Office Labs and it is called 'StickySorter'. Although I don't do this a lot, I do have times when I need to hold a brainstorming session for some larger groups. Typically, I have what I call a 'Post-it Party', the real name for the technique is called the 'Nominal Group Technique'. Using this technique, everyone in the meeting has a little stack of Post-it notes that they write down their ideas on. Once they have a few written down, everyone takes turns bringing them up to the front and reading them (one at a time) and then posting them on the appropriate 'theme' on the board. If there isn't a theme that matches their note, then they create a new theme. When the meeting is done, the organizer gets the daunting job of transcribing it all out.

What StickySorter does is all that only on your computer, with the ability to reorganize on the fly and then export it out when complete. Pretty plain and simple, but has the ability to bring in some real efficiency. Check it out if you ever have the job of leading a brainstorming session!

Redistribution of Wealth - The Beer Analogy

Special thanks to my friend Andy O. for passing along this analogy created by David R. Kamerchen, Ph.D., (Professor of Economics, University of Georgia). Enjoy!

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers,' he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.' Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.

But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could theydivide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So,
the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

'I only got a dollar out of the $20,'declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,' but he got $10!'

'Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I got'

'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!'

'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!'

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

More Visualizations on the how we got to where we are..

As I continue in my desire to learn more about effective communication, one area that I like to learn about is how to best use visuals to get a point across. Getting rid of bullet points etc. is becoming a war cry for me. I have recently been observing the power of simple drawings to obtain this (somewhat lofty) goal.

Along those lines I have run across a few interesting visuals on how the economy got to where it is at right now. If you are offended by foul language, you may want to skip the first one (it drops the f-bomb a few times), but it does do a really good job of simplifying how we got to where we are.

Visual 1 - 'A Subprime Primer ' - a slide show that utilizes stick people

Visual 2 - 'Uncorking CDO's', - A video that does a good job of explaining the same thing utilizing a slightly different but yet simple delivery method.




Enjoy!

The Rise of the Machines!

A friend sent this article to me today and I thought it was interesting enough to rant about. It has to do with the current financial crisis and the fact that nobody can really pipoint how it happened. With movies like Terminator and The Matrix floating through our heads we usually think of computers taking over the world as battle. Maybe they already have and we are doing it willingly in the name of speed and efficiency? Here is an quote from the article:

"But we are suggesting neither that the human race would voluntarily turn power over to the machines nor that the machines would willfully seize power. What we do suggest is that the human race might easily permit itself to drift into a position of such dependence on the machines that it would have no practical choice but to accept all of the machines’ decisions. ... Eventually a stage may be reached at which the decisions necessary to keep the system running will be so complex that human beings will be incapable of making them intelligently. At that stage the machines will be in effective control. People won’t be able to just turn the machines off, because they will be so dependent on them that turning them off would amount to suicide."

Read the article to find out who originally wrote that statement in their manifesto. It will blow you away. - dv

The Long Run

I ran across this video today on something called 'L Studio'. I thought it was pretty amazing and inspirational so I posted it on the rant. Enjoy! dv

Easy FREE Home Heat

I found this on my friend Tony's blog and thought it was worth posting on mine. I think I may try this out in my a few rooms in my house. Check it out - it is pretty easy to make and the concept is very simple. Enjoy!



Easy FREE Home Heat! - Click here for this week’s top video clips

System Stockholm Syndrome

I was attending a meeting the other day and we (my friend Larry and I) were amazed by the amount of manual work that was happening to get out some monthly reports. At a break, he and I were chatting and he told me about this phrase that his girlfriend 'Lee' came up with. System Stockholm Syndrome. In reality it is a take off of Stockholm Syndrome but it is totally spot on! If you look up this term on Wiki it refers to a bank robbery in which people were held hostage for 5 days or so. At the end of the ordeal, the hostages actually defended their captors. It ultimately refers to the idea that no matter how bad some systems are, people will still defend them and deal with it and not even attempt to make it better.

Ultimately it got me thinking about the way I do things and how I could do them better. It is funny how sometimes it is so much easier to keep doing things the way that we know how to do them, rather than investing a little bit of time to make them better. So, as you go about your day and perform routine tasks, ask yourself this: Could I be doing this in a more efficient way? Enjoy!

Taking 'Self-Sufficient' to a whole new level...

So I was poking around at some of the sites that I frequently go to and ran across this YouTube video. The Ginger Ninjas is a band that goes on tours (like many musical groups do) and decided that to get out their message regarding saving the planet they would do a tour on bikes. Problem was that they still had to carry their gear using trucks etc. So, when they scheduled their next tour, they decided to do the WHOLE thing using only their bikes. They devised a way to turn their bikes into generators and to carry EVERYTHING with them. They can do a whole show for 400 people without ever having to plug into an electrical receptacle. Kind of rare to find people like this who totally believe in a concept and find a solution to support it. Usually it is just lip service.. Check it out! dv

Google 'Chrome'

It appears that Google has introduced a beta of their new web browser called 'Chrome'.  I thought I would give it a whirl and have to say that is very fast.  Not available for the Mac yet, but apparently they are working on it.  Since it is still in beta (does Google ever take software off of beta?) you may run into a few bugs now and then. So, if you are running Windows - take a gander. It has a few cool new features that I think are intuitive and in true Google style, they have a different take on the UI. Check it out and see what you think!  Enjoy!

I want Matt's job!!!!

So, a friend from work sent this to me today and I thought it was worth mentioning it on the rant. Make sure you check out this site to get a little history on Matt. How do you get a job like this, huh! He is sponsored by Stride Gum and has done two or three tours around the world. Enjoy the video - if nothing else it will make you feel good!

Hacking your Coffee Maker

OK - been away for a bit, but I am back now and loaded with lots of topics to rant about. You should see the rants pick up in the near future. Here is the first. I have developed a real interest in data visualization and for that matter visualization in general. It all started when I went to an Edward Tufte seminar and then started working on data visualization for a project at work. It has since passed into most areas of my life. I tend to look at things a little more critically now and am always asking the question 'what is this visual trying to get across' followed by 'how successful is it at doing that'. Maybe it is the long repressed creative side coming out - or maybe just a passing fancy...

I have ranted about data visualization in the past and this one was too good to not pass along. Not only does it apply to data vis., but is also has to do with coffee. Something that is near and dear to my heart as well as the hearts of my readers. Actually, according to Wikipedia's definition of addiction - 'a state in which the body relies on a substance for normal functioning and develops physical dependence', I am 'slightly' addicted to coffee and the caffeine that flows through its (coffee) veins. To the point where I get headaches when I don't get my 'fix' for the day. Tried to quit a few times, but that would only last for a few weeks. What, I ask you, is the point of drinking decaffeinated anything? Anyway - back to the rant...



Some folks figured out how to hack their coffee pot to measure their coffee (caffeine) consumption. Check out the article, it is worth the read. Maybe a few certain people at a certain church that I know of should install these on their coffee machines? The article also brought up a good point, would I actually curb my consumption if I knew how much I drank? That's all for this one ~ Enjoy!

Cool Web App For Finding a House

Once again, my friend Larry sent me a link to a website that is worthy of the rant. A company called 'Trulia' (which helps you in searching for homes) introduced a new tool today called 'Snapshot' which has a very cool UI design (UI = user interface). It allows you to select a price range and shows all the houses that are for sale within that range. Pretty common I know, but it also shows you where they are on the map and includes a little picture of the house (if available). In the words of Larry, 'simple, elegant and it works'. The perfect tri-fecta! Until later, Enjoy!

Career limiting moves...

I ran across this article from Baseline and thought it was interesting enough to rant about. The jist of the article is that you need to be careful about what you put on your 'myspace' or 'facebook' site due to the fact that recruiters and HR folks are using these as a way to screen potential employees.

Imagine, a future employer visiting your social networking site and finding out something about you that is very different from the way they think about it. For example, you like to 'Party like a Rock Star' every night and you are applying for a job working for a high school as a guidance counselor. Although it may not be right (and maybe it is right) that they use that in their decision process, the fact of the matter is that it will influence their position on whether or not they hire you. Kind of like tattoos that creep up your neck and stick out when you are in your 'interview' suit. Like it or not - the interviewer is going to form an opinion about you. (I call these types of things - career limiting moves...)

Another thought is that you can use these sites in a purposeful way to promote yourself. It also talks about the site 'LinkedIn', which could be equated to a 'professional' version of myspace/facebook. Using sites like these, might be a good backup to a resume. On 'LinkedIn' you can create a lot of content about yourself and the potential employer could learn a lot more about you with out having to create (and read) a 5 page resume.

So, I am not sayaying to hide who you are, just be aware of the ramifications..... Until next time - Enjoy!

New Graphic!!

OK - let me know what you think of the new header! My friend Dan Powell whipped this up for me and I think it looks pretty cool. Who is that goofy dude shouting anyways???

Thanks Dan!

Enjoy!

Linux for the Desktop?

Ran across this today and thought I would use it to re-enter the blog-o-sphere.

A while back I ranted about Linux on the desktop and how that related to Windows domination. Here is a survey that shows some stats on the topic. Looks like almost 80% (of top IT leaders) still aren't using a Linux desktop in some form or fashion. For bigger shops it all probably gets back to TCO (total cost of ownership), if it takes twice as many people to support it, the cost of the OS (free for Linux) seems to lose it's value propostition. We have a few (Linux Boxes) where I spend my days, but mostly they are just acting as terminals to run a remote session of Winodws, not sure if that counts....

Anyway, for more information on where I got graphic, click here.

Enjoy!!

Doom and Gloom for Windows?

Ran across this article today about the future of Microsoft. Gartner (a pretty respected company that analyses and reports on trends in IT) is claiming that Microsoft "faces serious competition that will make Windows moot unless the software developer acts". Interesting thing though. Linux doesn't seem to be picking up steam at the desktop level and, for a business, the Mac (although a beautiful work of art) is generally more expensive and incompatible with most client/server business software. So, who is the competition? The article brings up a good point in that there is not any competition in the enterprise space except for themselves (Microsoft). I would say that the SaaS space is where the competition is ultimately going to come from. When everything (or almost everything) becomes browser based, it won't matter what desktop OS you have, it just has to be compatible with the applications you are trying to run from wherever they may be on whatever you may have in your hand at the time (pc, phone, etc..).

Until later - Enjoy!

Data Centers Heating Pools??

Ran across this article today which lead me to this article from IBM, and thought it was interesting and innovative enough to rant about. It is from a site called 'GreenerComputing'. As a person who is pretty familiar with a smaller data center and the amount of heat that gets produced, coupled with my desire to use alternative forms of energy (I would love to have wind turbine in my back yard), I thought this was pretty cool. The innovation is intriguing and I am sure that even on smaller scales you could do similar projects. Here is a quick example of how much heat gets generated from a small data-center. A few years ago, we had a data center that was comprised of a mid-size phone switch, and about 6 servers. Occasionally the 'chiller' would stop working and the room would start to heat up. Once, this happened on the weekend and nobody was around to respond to it. One of our team members happened to stop in and heard the alarm going off. The room had heated up to about 125 degrees and as soon as he opened the door, it instantly fogged up his glasses (this was before the days when servers would shut themselves off when they got too warm). Needless to say we installed a remote monitoring system that called our phones when the temp got to warm. Imagine what you could do with the heat that is being wasted by larger data centers????

Anyway - Enjoy!!

Ranting about Starbucks

OK - so this all started from a conversation I had with my father-in-law. He was telling me that he heard that the biggest competition that Starbucks has is McDonald's. Now that they are serving specialty coffee's and tea's, McDonald's is taking aim at the big Buck (literally and figuratively). He also informed me that because of this apparent pressure from Mickey D's Starbucks has modified the taste they have and made it milder (read - not burnt tasting).

Now, I don't really have anything against Starbucks, except that I prefer other coffee over theirs due to the fact that I don't like the aftertaste. Some tell me that I need to 'acquire the taste', (sounds like beer) but I really prefer a smoother coffee. Funny thing though, I don't really enjoy much else that has a burnt taste. I don't like burnt french fries, I don't like burnt toast, and I don't like burnt coffee. I have to say I like Beaners better. The exception to that is when I go to really nice restaurants, they always seem to have great coffee.

Back to the rant. So I started looking for articles that would tell me about what I heard. This is what I found. Turns out that Consumer Reports actually said that McDonald's coffee is actually preferred to Starbucks. To some people I know (you know who you are) this is borderline blasphemy! The part I thought was funny though is that for years, people have developed an attitude about Starbucks, almost an elitist attitude, that if you don't like Starbucks coffee, you must really not be a coffee aficionado. It is part of the huge success that Starbucks has had over the past decade. Then when the market forces change and people really start drinking the coffee they like, Starbucks is forced to change their taste. Guess the elitist are out of luck.

In the process of looking for this information, I found this graphic. It shows both Starbucks and McDonald's and their respective global footprint. I thought it was a good use of a visual system to get a point across so I sent it off to a friend a work (with whom I chat about how to effectively show data from time to time) and he sent me back this site which shows a funny relationship between Starbucks and Walmart. It is almost an inverse relationship. If you have a higher concentration of Walmart's, you have a lower concentration of Starbuks and vice versa. Back to my thoughts on the elitist attitude.

So, this turned out to be a longer rant, but I had a lot of fun writing it. Hope you enjoyed it also! Chat at you next time.....

Indexed - Grip on Reality

One of the blogs that I regularly check out is 'Indexed'. This was on there a few days ago and cracked me up. Maybe I am losing my grip on reality....

The Original Human TETRIS Performance

So - I think that some people may have a lot of time on their hands.. Kind of funny though!

Banking Crisis Visually

A friend sent me this link yesterday (thanks Larry!) and I deemed it worthy of the rant. We have heard a lot of press lately about the banking crisis. This blog site gives you a good visual of what we are up against. Kind of crazy what happens at the end of 2007. Time to get out of debt ladies and gentlemen....

As a side note - make sure you are using Firefox for this one. IE doesn't seem to like it. I don't know about Safari.... Enjoy!

Too Bad Michigan and Florida

I ran across this article today and thought it was worth ranting about. It has bee interesting to watch the Democratic Party fight over what to do with MI and FL. I like what Glenn has to say about it. Look, you broke the rules, now live with it. I also enjoyed his perspective on personal responsibility and the governments lack thereof. Enjoy!

Google Sites

A few posts ago I chatted about SaaS. Today I came across this article that is talking about Google Sites. Another example of a Software as a Service application. I am curious to see how it works, so I may give it a try. We use Microsoft SharePoint at work and although I was a little reluctant at first, I have really come to like it. It kind of follows the SaaS idea, although it is hosted locally. It has become our internal collaboration tool. We can (very easily) set up a 'web-page' that people can use to store documents, create surveys, create simple project plans, create issue logs, create discussion boards, blog and wet up wiki sites. There is also a feature where you can have your own 'page', similar to Facebook or other social networking sites. The cool part is that you don't need a technologist to walk you through every step. With minimal training, you can create and maintain your own site. It is starting to become more of a standard for how we collaborate internally. The downside is that is that it is hard for us to let outside users have access to information that they may need to help us on specific projects. I am thinking that maybe Google Sites would be a potential solution for this.

Frozen Grand Central

A friend sent this video to me today. Thought it was worthy of the rant. Enjoy!!

SaaS

OK - I haven't posted in a bit. Sorry about that. I ran across a cool site last week that I wanted to share with all (all 2 of them) my readers. A little background first. Since I work in the IT industry it is part of my job to keep up on different technologies. Part of that includes watching for different paradigm shifts when they happen and seeing if it makes sense for us to move in the direction of the shifts. One of those shifts has been the concept of 'Software as a Service'. From a business perspective I love this idea. My favorite part of this shift is that it lets the folks who are really good at server maintenance do what they do best, and it let's the customers (us) focus on our business as opposed to spending time maintaining servers etc (I know of a certain blogger who might be wishing his Apple server was a SaaS...). Anyway, another part of this rant is the fact that it really is starting to annoy me that I have to run all my own backups for my (and more importantly - my wife's) stuff. When there is all this space on the internet, why can't there be a little bit of space that is easily accesable for us to use. Enter ideas like Google docs and (one that I thnk has the potential to be way better) Zoho. I ran across Zoho last week and thought to myself, man, we are getting close. (I think that Google docs is a little bit sterile and clunky). Not only would we have a place to store all the data we create, but the on-line apps to create and edit them too. there is an on-line word processor, spreadsheet, calendar, database app, etc. I love this idea since I use three or four different computers (Lenovo/Vista, Dell/XP, IBM/XP, Macbook Pro/Leopard) and this solves the 'where is my data' issue that I seem to have. I like the thought of 'anywhere - anyhow'. As I was checking out the stuff on Zoho, I was thinking to myself, all they really need is some sort of email program, like 'gmail'. To my suprise, they are coming out with one Q2. Anyway, check it out and let me know what you think.

Along those same lines, here is an article about SaaS. More from an enterprise level, but the thoughts are still the same. As we move forward we are becoming increasingly mobile and we don't want to have to have our laptop or files with us, but rather be able to get to them 'anywhere - anyhow'.

Enjoy!

The Great Up-North

Occasionally I travel to Quebec for business. I had another opportunity to go up there this week and I thought I would share a picture to give a little taste as to the amount of snow they have up there right now. I did not take this, one of my collegues snapped it as a warning to what we were going to enjoy once we arrived. They don't use plows up there, they use blowers, big blowers. The snow banks were so high, a lot of the street signs were covered up. I actually thought it was awesome, but I love snow. Anyway, if I hear anyone complaining about the weather in Kalamazoo, I will let them know that we have it pretty good. It could be worse, way worse.

Enjoy!!

Microsoft bidding on Yahoo

Looks like Microsoft wants a bigger piece of the internet pie and is shoring up for it's war against Google. At a price of $44 billion. Check out the article here. Interesting...

The kinder, gentler Clinton

This year I decided to be more invloved in the political process than I have been in the past. What this really amounts to is reading up on it more and comparing what I read to try and distinguish the truth from the 'slightly' true. So, I ran across this acticle today about the Clinton camp and it kind of reminded me why I tend to shy away from politics. A few phrases from the article made me chuckle.

• '(they) bemoaned the degree to which former President Bill Clinton’s criticism of Senator Barack Obama last week had inflicted lasting damage on his wife’s presidential candidacy.'
• 'a sense among many Democrats that Mr. Clinton had injected himself clumsily into the race, will try to shift the former president back into the sunnier, supportive-spouse role'

Anyway - I like the 'sunnier, supportive-spouse' too. How dare he be so mean. Hard to imagine how her presidency would go. Is Bill being allowed out, or does he have to stay in? Sit Bill, sit. Good boy......

Fisker Karma Concept Car

Found this today on the 'tube. Again, it is cool to see that some companies are investing in alternative energy cars that have style and performance. Who knows? Someday they may even be affordable.

Mozilla Turns 10 Today

If you are a user of Firefox, you should check this out. I ran across this article today and thought it was interesting. They estimate that 25% of the browser market belongs to Firefox. Make sure you check out the 'Mozilla Chart', gives an cool view of their history. Anyone remember Netscape.....

Enjoy!

20 Greatest Hacker Movies of All Time

Check out this list of he 20 greatest hacker movies of all time. I think I have watched most of them. I liked the comments on 'Star Wars'....

Enjoy...

iPhone going corporate (or not?)

A friend sent me this article today about AT&T announcing a 'corporate' plan for the iPhone. Great title, but alas it is all smoke and mirrors. Apparently they have come up with a corporate pricing model and that makes it a 'corporate' ready device. Uhmm, yeah, about that... Sorry, but you can't get your email (unless your workplace has low security standards), can't connect with an exchange server for calendaring, tasks, notes, etc. (I mean without having to hook the device up to your computer - wasn't I doing that with my palm pilot back in the 90's?). Unfortunately, it isn't there yet and based on the 'big' (read - disappointing) Apple announcements last week, we may have to wait a little while longer for it to truly be corporate ready. The other hurdle they have to overcome will be the fact that it is solely available on AT&T. Is it just me, or does this type of proprietary shenanigans annoy anyone else? Everyone always beating up Microsoft for their supposed market domination, but then a company like Apple comes out and you have to run it on their hardware, over their network and people don't mind not having choices. Strange....

Anyway - enough for now - Peace.....

Detroit Auto Show

OK - Didn't get a chance to go to the Detroit Auto show this year. I did go looking for pictures and this is the one that intrigued me the most. An Audi R8 TDI - yep, you read it right - a Turbo Diesel Engine. It puts out over 500 hp and 735 lb-ft of torque. Pretty impressive for a diesel engine. Kind of neat to see a performance car using diesel.

Social Networking - Who owns the data?

Read an interesting article today about the data that is kept on social networking sites (facebook, myspace, etc.). To be honest, I had never really thought about it before, but I guess if you don't pay for the site, should you have a right to own the data that you put there???

Bugatti Veyron Video

OK - Go check out this link for a little video of a very nice (fast) car. Another thing that is kind of interesting is if you look up 'Volkswagon Secret Test Track' on Google Earth. Man, that would fun to take a car onto. Enjoy....

Alienware curve protype display

Found this last night and thought it was pretty cool. I have a 24" at work and this is twice that size. Imagine the possibilities!!!

Select Your Candidate

A friend sent me this link. It is a pretty cool way to see how your viewpoints line up with the current candidates for President. Check it out!!