Propono

10 Reasons You Probably Shouldn't Tweet

2009-04-17T13:46:00.000-07:00

Came across this on twitter recently (thanks @ntenhross):

http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=135827

The Obamas in DC

2009-03-26T23:14:00.000-07:00

Interesting piece on the Obamas in D.C.

Compelling

2009-02-26T16:36:00.001-08:00

Very interesting graphic. Thanks to EcoVelo for the link. Original Source is Good magazine, I understand.

I, Too, Sing America

2009-01-21T13:49:00.001-08:00

I was reminded yesterday of Langston Hughes’ poem, I, Too, Sing America, penned in 1925:

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes.
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
”Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.

Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.

[I don’t have a credit/source for this picture, but thought it was a great one.]

Free Windows Software from Microsoft

2009-01-07T11:59:00.001-08:00

Good resource:

Ultimate List of Free Windows Software from Microsoft - Windows Live

An Historic Day

2008-11-05T01:16:00.001-08:00

photo credit/courtesy Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times

Barack Obama has been elected the 44th President of the United States of America. We hosted an election night party Tuesday, and had a spirited evening watching the returns come in. Lots of emotions, but summed up well by his persistent message of – and consistent call for – hope.

As President-Elect Obama reached the 270 electoral votes needed, fireworks went off here in our neighborhood, and downtown Seattle has crowds in the streets. It has been a remarkable, and long 22-month campaign, and there is certainly much to watch closely in the weeks until Inauguration Day (January 20th) and then, of course, with the new administration. It was reassuring and encouraging today to see such outstanding turnout at polling places here in Seattle and across the country.

Senator McCain gave a generous and classy concession speech tonight, and President-Elect Obama gave an eloquent victory speech from Chicago.

Results from a number of other races and ballot initiatives here in Washington State continue to come in.

I need to turn off the election coverage and go to bed now.

What a night.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 4th

2008-11-03T22:33:00.001-08:00

Finding that lost laptop

2008-10-03T11:37:00.001-07:00

This looks pretty cool: http://adeona.cs.washington.edu/

Bicycles as emergency vehicles

2008-08-18T12:19:00.001-07:00

I've long thought about this in my own disaster-scenario ideas. The author argues that there is no more practical conveyance than a bicycle in times of emergency. Load up the kids, some basics, and pedal out of town or to safety....

http://www.palmbeachbiketours.com/2008/07/15/sally-forth-bike-for-emergency-travel/

Hi, I'm a Mac. And I'm a PC.

2008-04-09T15:26:00.001-07:00

And I use both.

About three months ago, my wife and I got a new computer, having used our previous one (a very reliable IBM ThinkPad T40) for over five years. The ThinkPads are great, and are – perhaps – the best laptops in the market. They are a little less consumer-focused (i.e. no media card readers, no fancy colors, etc.), but they are reliable, dependable, nearly-unbreakable workhorses, and a favorite in the corporate world as well as for home users so inclined.

Anyway, with the Macintosh’s recent move to an Intel chipset, I figured it was time to dip my feet back in the Apple/Mac pool. I grew up on the Mac. As a kid, we had a Macintosh 128k, the MacPlus, MacClassic, etc. I used a PowerBook all through college. It wasn’t until I got my first job after college that I jumped into the Windows world. And how. Windows is great. And especially in the era (back then) of Mac OS 8 and 9, Windows offered a lot of incredibly compelling advantages. I’ve been a Windows user ever since.

Mac’s OS X, however, has had me intrigued for a long time. And, with the move to Intel chips, there was no reason not to explore the Mac again. Leopard recently came out. The Apple hardware is fantastic, if a little pricier, and – of course – very, very slick.

So, I thought I’d post some thoughts on my experience, and some thoughts on Windows Vista vs. OS X (10.5.+, aka Leopard).

First, some context:

I like Vista. I always have. I know it’s taken some lumps from some reviewers and critics, but honestly, I just don’t see it. Though a little large, Vista is a great OS. It is fast, stable, pretty, and runs incredibly well on my (new-ish) hardware. I have had no (zero!) driver compatibility issues, and all in all have been very pleased with some of the plumbing and cosmetic improvements (more on that later). I suspect that some folks who’ve disliked Vista have been running it on old or under-performing hardware, and that that may be the cause of some of their poor experience. Mine has been good. Perfect? No. But I wouldn’t expect that from any OS.

So, my Vista machine is a ThinkPad T60p 15” widescreen, 80GB hard drive, 4GB of RAM, Centrino Duo chipset, and an ATI graphics card.

The MacBook Pro I recently acquired is a little beefier. 15” widescreen. 250 GB hard drive. 4GB RAM (purchased elsewhere, of course, as Apple charges an arm and a leg for RAM), 256MB ATI graphics card, Core Duo chipset.

I really want to like the Mac. And I do. But I can’t say I’ve been blown away or completely bowled over by it. It is a great piece of hardware, though the truth is I think I prefer the ThinkPad’s keyboard and eraser-head mouse pointer option (I admit it, I like the eraser head as much as the trackpad). All in all, it does very well everything it is supposed to do. It has its pros, but it also has its cons. It is also a competent, so-far reliable, fast OS, with some great features. And, I admit, the longer I use it and the more comfortable I become, the more I like it.

I think the Mac suffers in comparison with Windows, however, in three key areas (in my use and opinion):

1. File Management in general and Photo Management in particular. Yes, you read that right. I think Vista beats OSX in photo management. Why? One reason: Windows Live Photo Gallery (Beta). This is the iPhoto of Windows, and it does two things exceptionally well: first, it easily imports and organizes photos by date and by “events” in a way that makes it very easy to sort, organize, and peruse one’s massive photo collection. Second, Windows does a much better job importing photos, giving them discrete names, organizing them by folders according to events, etc. And, Windows allows you to batch rename your photos in one fell swoop, something I was surprisingly disappointed to learn that the Mac simply does not do. Mac and iPhoto, on the other hand, do import all your photos very easily into iPhoto, but they don’t allow for batch renames of the actual files (only the iPhoto copies), and if you’re an organization nut like me, that’s a hard, hard pill to swallow. iPhoto’s playlists (albums) are great, and a definite strength, as is the overall interface. But on Windows you can keyword like nobody’s business, you can update photo information at the file level, you can preview videos in the preview window, and the sorting/organizing is just better. For my dad, or someone who wants the computer to just do it all for them, no questions asked, the Mac is perfect. For someone who’s managing a huge photo library and wants/needs to be organize it in specific ways, Windows wins. Why would one ever want the native file to be named “ABC0123.jpg” when it could be called “my picture 2008-04-09.jpg” instead?

2. Software ecosystem. This one really kind of goes without saying, but you can’t beat Windows’ ecosystem. Let’s say there’s some little application you want or need to do some little something on your computer. I can almost guarantee that on Windows you’ll be able to find it, and it will almost certainly be available for free. On the Mac, you’ll probably be able to find something, but you will also most likely pay for it. This is a result, of course, of Windows’ hugely overwhelming market share relative to OSX, but it is a real advantage. That said, there are some great pieces of free software that you should look at on the Mac: Adium, for instant messaging, File Zilla (on either Mac of Windows) for FTP. My friend Rob also just pointed me to Cyberduck on the Mac for FTP. Quicksilver on the Mac (Launchy or Dash for Windows).

3. Finally, the one program I love and adore on Windows, and for which there is simply no comparable equivalent on Mac: Windows Live Writer. The Mac bloggers in the world don’t know what they’re missing, as this is one awesome piece of software. This is a blogging client that allows one to update one’s blog locally from one’s computer. It is perhaps one of the greatest pieces of software out there, and a great success story from Microsoft’s Windows Live teams. It handles photos amazingly well (perfect for a personal blog, like mine), and has all other neat bells and whistles, that are too numerous to go into here. MarsEdit and a few others are popular on the Mac, but the truth is they are not nearly as capable or robust, and they’re expensive. Windows Live Writer is one application that will keep people using Windows. Thank goodness for virtualization, though of course that always adds a layer or two of complexity.

Speaking of virtualization, it works very well on the Mac. I opted for Fusion over Parallels (opinions differ, I wanted the dual-core support), and it works fine. And, of course, the Mac offers BootCamp, for those who want to run Windows natively on their hardware, turning their Mac into a true Wintel machine.

A few other thoughts I’ve collected on using the two:

Windows Explorer vs. Mac’s Finder:

· Explorer wins.

o Sorting

o File renaming (just right-click on WIndows). No easy way to do it on the Mac. Can create an automator script, but this takes 3-4x the effort and time of just batch renaming in Windows.

· Blogging

o No Windows Live Writer equivalent (i.e. good and free)

· Photos

o iPhoto is great. Smart albums are great.

o One library to rule them all is not so great.

o Windows = keyword tagging is great and sorting by date is phenomenal

· Hotmail integration

o Windows Live Mail wins

· Virtual PCs – very nice

· Windows Home Server is a great product. Advantage Windows.

· Front Row is great. Advantage Mac.

· The Stacks are all right – but not as good as Windows’ nested folders, though I understand these are coming in the 10.5.2 update.

· Mac’s Task Bar vs. Windows Start Button and Taskbar = different paradigm. I don’t know that one is superior to the other, just different. I like both.

· Windows Sidebar. Mac’s widgets are great, but they’re not right on the edge of your desktop all the time, like sidebar is. I think the SideBar concept is superior, as they’re always accessible and visible.

· “just works” – Mac does win here. Like I said, for someone like my dad, I think the Mac is the right OS.

· “I want to tinker and customize it” – Windows is for you.

· Keychain is pretty cool. Nothing equivalent in Windows.

· What I miss: Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Writer, Windows Live Mail’s hotmail integration, SyncToy, another great backup app.

· FolderShare works on both – a must-have. Though it hiccups sometimes on the Mac, which it’s never done on Windows.

· Eye candy = Vista closes this gap, but Mac still wins

· 3^rd-party applications: Windows has huge advantage here. Need some random application that does some niche thing you like? You’ll find it for Windows. You might find it for mac, but you’ll pay for it, and it may or may not be that great.

· The apple logo? Very cool.

· Power management – Mac wins. Sleeps and restores like a champ, and being able to program it’s timing (wake-up in the mornings, for example) is very cool.

A few other wins for the Mac:

· iChat and video/audio chats.

· Preview, which is very handy.

· iCal is nice and clean, though Windows Calendar is essentially equivalent.

· Mail is great, unless you’re a long-time, faithful hotmail user such as I.

So, if someone were to write about “why you’ll switch back to Windows,” it would look something like this:

Chapter 1: Photos and photo management
Chapter 2: Blogging
Chapter 3: File management
Chapter 4: General productivity and ease of use
Chapter 5: software

So, some thoughts from my first few weeks’ use. I’d love to hear thoughts others have. And I know that my own opinions will continue to change as I spend more time in both OSes. I appreciate virtualization, which I find myself using quite a bit, but I also like a lot of things on the Mac. And don’t get me wrong, I like the Mac. I just think people don’t give the two a fair, neutral shake sometimes, as the OS preference issue almost takes on religious overtones, when – really – it’s about ‘what helps me get done the things I need to do?’ I mostly (especially) like having a new computer which is much, much faster than our old one.

Mac OS 10.5.2 (Leopard) v. Windows Vista

E-mail

Mail.app is great with .mac or gmail, but does not work with hotmail and has no vertical preview pane. Advantage: Windows.

Windows Live Mail or Outlook is awesome, especially with hotmail, gmail, or any other POP or IMAP mail service. Advantage: Windows.

Web Browsing

Go with Firefox, Safari is disappointing, and handles RSS very poorly.

Firefox or IE7 are both great options. IE7 does RSS very well, and the favorites management is superior. Advantage: Windows

RSS

The Mac clearly lags here, both in Safari and Mail.app, as IE7 and Outlook or Live Mail both do RSS better. Winner: Google Reader.

IE7 and both mail clients handle RSS very well. I still prefer the online readers.

Blogging

MarsEdit / Ecto: a) not that great, b) you’ll pay for them

Windows Live Writer: a) it is awesome, b) it is free. Advantage: Windows

Podcasting

The Mac does make podcasting easy, with Garage Band, etc. Advantage: Mac

No built-in podcasting equivalent. Advantage: Mac.

Office/Productivity

I prefer Office 2008 to the iWork Suite. This one is almost sixes, except that Outlook allows for instant previews of attachments, whereas Entourage does not (why this wasn’t included, I have no idea).

Office 2007 is awesome, as is Mac Office 2008. Especially improvements to powerpoint and outlook. Outlook is tough to beat as a personal information manager (PIM). Windows has a slight advantage because of a) preview of attachments in e-mail, and b) hotmail integration.

Boot Times

Clear Winner: Mac

Vista boots faster than XP, but it still takes longer than I’d like

FTP

Draw – great clients for both. I like FileZilla

Draw – great clients for both. I like FileZilla.

Web site building

iWeb is pretty slick. Advantage: Mac.

Instant Messaging

Adium is nice. iChat is great. Draw.

Great cross-platform options on Windows include Trillian and Digsby. Draw.

Music

iTunes wins (platform agnostic)

iTunes wins (platform agnostic). Though some still love WinAmp and Windows Media Player. And props on the Zune desktop software – very nice!

Photo Management

iPhoto is good, but quite limited, and handles importing and renaming of native files very poorly (i.e. not at all).

Windows Live Photo Gallery is a must-have tool for any Windows user. Rename your files on import, organizes, tags are great, sort by date out of the box, etc. Advantage (sorry Mac fans): Windows.

Backup

Time machine is slick, painless, and seems to work well. For average Jane consumer, advantage: Mac.

SyncToy is another of the must-have Windows tools out there (for free, again), and is my backup utility of choice. Advantage Mac on this one, though, as they’ve made it so simple for everyone.

File Management

QuickView is nice, but the finder is still a little kloodgy.

By no means perfect, but reliable and consistent.

Security / Anti-Virus

I actually think this is where Mac is going to get hurt, eventually. Everyone speaks to its invulnerability, but in fact, it is exploitable, it’s just not as popular and fewer people have chips against it. You’ll want good security on both, and the Mac’s firewall is not on by default (oops). Probably a draw.

If one uses security and anti-virus software and practices good e-mail hygiene (don’t open that unknown attachment from that unknown sender!), one isn’t going to have issues here. There are great tools out there, and Vista actually is pretty darn secure, much to the displeasure of some. Probably a draw.

Ecosystem

Mac: Not much of one.

Windows: Huge. This is one of Windows’ key advantages.

Home networking

Mac does this very well, though not perfectly.

Windows does this very well, though not perfectly.

Shortcuts (e.g. launchy, quicksilver)

Quicksilver is great, but I’m not sure it’s any better than Launchy or others on Windows.

Launchy is great, but I’m not sure it’s any better than Quicksilver on the Mac.

a test

2008-03-17T11:27:00.001-07:00

In Memoriam - President Gordon B. Hinckley

2008-01-28T11:23:00.001-08:00

Gordon Bitner Hinckley, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, passed away Sunday evening, aged 97. He was the 15th president of the church, having served for almost 13 years. He served nearly 30 years (26, I believe) as a member of the first presidency, meaning he has been a central figure in the church's leadership for much of my lifetime.

A sweet, gregarious, and outgoing man, he led the church during a significant period of growth in terms of its membership, temples, and increased accessibility and outreach throughout the world.

I had various opportunities to meet President Hinckley throughout my life, and was always impressed at what a kind, tolerant, generous, humorous, and good-hearted man he is. He and my grandfather were close friends from boyhood, and I have always had a great deal of affection for him personally and as a church leader. He will be missed tremendously. Our thoughts are prayers are with his family.

Additional information:

LDS Newsroom

New York Times

The LDS Newsroom has additional information, including a biography, recent comments from President Hinckley, a timeline of significant events, and an overview of Succession in the First Presidency.

--
Also of note: American Public Media's Speaking of Faith series this weekend aired an episode entitled "Inside Mormon Faith." I have not yet listened to it, so cannot speak to it personally, but I've been told that it was well done. You can download an mp3, listen to streaming audio, or grab the podcast on their site, linked here.

of interest

2008-01-28T11:20:00.000-08:00

My friend Steve sent me this link. Interesting visual representation of some of the relationships, places, names, and cross-references in the bible: http://www.chrisharrison.net/projects/bibleviz/index.html

Another interesting map

2008-01-23T11:54:00.001-08:00

This one an overview of religious affiliation by county, from a Glenmary Research Center study on Religious Congregations and Leadership.

Pop vs. Soda

2008-01-23T08:59:00.001-08:00

Do you want a soda with that?

A Pop?

A coke?

How about a tonic?

I can never remember who calls it what, but having lived in a variety of places across the country, I have noticed real regional differences in how one generally refers to sweetened carbonated beverages.

And I did have a friend in college who grew up calling it tonic.

I just came across a great site that tries to bring some analysis to the question: http://popvssoda.com:2998/. You can even add a datum to the sample.

There is also a county-by-county overview, seen below.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

2008-01-21T10:16:00.001-08:00

Stanford University has a great collection of Martin Luther King speeches, sermons, and resources, available at www.kingpapers.org. Amongst its highlights, I've always admired King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," as well as his most-famous "I Have a Dream" address, both available on the site.

Enjoy your Martin Luther King Day, and take some time to read some of his enduring words.

Don't blame the turkey

2007-11-21T14:05:00.000-08:00

I guess we can't blame the turkey for the Thanksgiving nap. "Turkey coma," we used to call it....

Story here.

Donate rice and test your vocabulary

2007-11-09T13:21:00.000-08:00

Very cool -- http://www.freerice.com/index.php

two more

2007-10-29T14:59:00.001-07:00

Handy: http://www.brijit.com/

And another good read: http://www.fimoculous.com/ (from which I got the brijit link)

To do: write a book

2007-10-26T13:23:00.001-07:00

Do you have a Great American Novel lurking inside your head?

November is National Novel Writing Month and this web site may just help one get it done.

We'll see....

Some Monday reading

2007-10-22T13:23:00.001-07:00

Walt Mossberg's advice if you're buying a new PC this holiday season.

Some insights into Apple's Retail business.

Southwest no longer letting families traveling with kiddos board before the 'A' group. Instead, families with children <5 will board between the A and B groups (unless they have an A pass). Details here.

And it's earning season....

Interesting....

2007-10-21T23:16:00.001-07:00

A drink a day for health? Forget it, research says | Seattle Times Newspaper

Two must-read articles

2007-10-19T15:34:00.001-07:00

This month's issue of The Atlantic marks the 150th anniversary of this distinctively American journal.

The Atlantic always has great reads, but his month's has two in particular that I would strongly encourage anyone to take a look at:

The first is a collection of essays on "The Future of the American Idea." The magazine invited scholars, writers, politicians, artists, and others to write on this topic, and the results are a rich and varied collection of thoughts, recollections, and exegeses on the theme. It is well worth reading for anyone who participates in this remarkable "experiment" that is the United States. It is available online (here: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200711/intro), or you can pick up a hard-copy of the magazine at your local bookstore.

The second piece I'd recommend it a piece entitled "The Autumn of the Multitaskers," in which the author (Walter Kirn) spells out the case (amen!) that multitasking is "dumbing us down and driving us crazy." Serious and lighthearted at the same time, he articulates well the notion that technology is driving all of us to do as many things at once as we can (as I write this, my e-mail is coming in, my calendar is beckoning me, I'm reading a web page, and having an IM with a colleague), because the tools themselves impel us to do so many things at once. This, he spells out (and points to solid evidence), is actually resulting in our getting diminished long-term productivity, as retention and knowledge actually decline in the face of a barrage of information and competing processes. Convenience and efficiency translates into atrophy for our ability to focus, analyze, and synthesize information. (Link here: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200711/multitasking)

Anyone living in the modern world knows all too well the ills of which he writes. This is a great piece, and will make you think. Thou almost persuadest me to get rid of my smartphone.

[Note: You'll need to be a subscriber to read these online. $20 well spent, I guarantee it, or you can pick up the issue off your local magazine rack.]

Worth looking at

2007-10-18T14:50:00.001-07:00

Vimeo (instead of YouTube): www.vimeo.com

MyPunchBowl (instead of Evite, though I do like Evite): www.mypunchbowl.com

Tumblr: www.tumblr.com (sort of a blogger meets del.icio.us?)

Hilarious

2007-10-18T14:36:00.001-07:00

Excellence

2007-10-18T12:12:00.001-07:00

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is a habit."
- Socrates

Windows Live pursuing Evite

2007-10-15T14:23:00.001-07:00

We all know (and love?) Evite, the online calendaring / invitation service that's been around since the boom time. It's a handy little tool, and seems to be the default online invitation service that many use.

Microsoft and Windows Live has created a competitive offering, called Events (http://events.live.com). It's easy to use, and not a bad offering. It certainly is less congested with advertising, and seeks to integrate into the other Live community offerings, such as photo albums, spaces (blogging), etc. It will be interested to see how it does.

Also, if you haven't already done so, Windows Live SkyDrive (http://skydrive.live.com) is worth checking out, for an easy way to share files online.

Four articles worth looking at

2007-10-11T01:44:00.001-07:00

Four recent articles from the NY Times worth taking a look at:

On children's eating habits (apparently mom and dad and genetics are at fault)
Friedman on "Generation Q" ("the 'quiet Americans' ...more optimistic and idealistic than they should be....less radical and politically engaged than they need to be.")
Talk to someone instead of e-mailing them (a favorite topic of mine, as I sit here and post on my blog while doing e-mail)
Seattle, recycling, and food waste (go Seattle!)

Irvine -- wish I had my bike

2007-10-04T13:28:00.001-07:00

I'm in Irvine, CA for a few days (for work). There's this great bike trail near the hotel (additional information here and here), and I wish I had more time to go for a ride. Our hotel even has bicycles for guests to use, but we don't get out of our meeting(s) until late.

Next time you're in Irvine, you should set aside some time to do this ride....

Marumushi newsmap

2007-10-03T15:38:00.003-07:00

Very cool: graphical, interactive display of current news: newsmap

Go on a bike ride

2007-10-03T15:38:00.001-07:00

A colleague sent this to me. Unfortunately, I don't have a source to cite.

Location: Southeast Seattle
Distance: 9.2 miles

You don't need to leave Seattle to get a great view of Mount Rainier from an off-street bike trail. Look no further than the new Chief Sealth Trail atop Beacon Hill in south Seattle. With its grand opening on May 12, 2007, it is a great route for spying the big mountain from a paved city trail. Plus, the trail gets you close to a couple of the city's wonderful parks.

This 3.6 mile bike trail winds through scenic stretches of South Seattle and very close to a couple of the city's best parks.(BILL THORNESS)

Lay your wheels on the pavement by Jefferson Park Golf Course on Beacon Avenue South, a mile and a half south of the I-90 and I-5 interchange at the edge of downtown Seattle. Ride the broad, tree-lined street for a half-mile to the trail's start at South Dawson Street. It's easy to find: Just look overhead for the massive electrical power lines.

The Ride | Directions

Terrain: rolling hills
Surface: paved trail, city streets
Riding time: allow 1.5 hours
Best time to ride: any

The 3.6-mile trail is built on City Light right-of-way with fill from Sound Transit excavation, so you ride beneath and between two rows of massive girder structures nearly the entire route. Imagine your own 1950s sci-fi film as you pedal the curves and grassy hills beneath the behemoths. On clear days, Mount Rainier rises majestically beyond the towers and cables.

The two-mile north section of the trail is less hilly and more secluded. At South Othello Street, that section ends, and riders must jog a half-block east, then cross Othello into the New Holly housing development. (Continuing east on Othello, you would reach Seward Park Avenue South in one mile; go left there and follow the signs to Seward Park for one more mile. Reverse that route to return to the trail.)

To find the 1.6-mile south trail segment, cross Othello at the four-way stop at Holly Park Drive South and continue on Holly Park. Turn right at 39th Avenue South and rejoin the trail in 0.4 miles. It comes out briefly next to Martin Luther King Jr. Way South alongside the Thistle P-Patch. Turn left at South Henderson Street to cross MLK, then rejoin the trail on the south side of Henderson in a half-block.

Chief Sealth ends at 51st Avenue South and South Gazelle Street, tantalizingly close to the botanical wonderland called Kubota Garden Park, a verdant, Japanese-inspired, 4.3-acre public garden. It is an exercise in calmness to walk its graveled paths or sit on the large stones beside its streams or ponds.

To reach the garden from the end of the Chief Sealth Trail, turn right onto 51st and ride 0.5 miles to a left turn onto South Creston Street. Take Creston two blocks to 55th Avenue South, then turn left again and ride 0.3 miles downhill to the garden's entrance. To return, rather than tackle the steep climb on 55th, exit the garden onto Renton Avenue South, turn left and ride north 0.5 miles to 51st Avenue South. Turn left onto 51st and climb the 0.4-mile medium-challenge grade back to Gazelle.

The trail ride and visit to Kubota comprise a 10-mile trip with many short hill climbs. Lengthen your tour with a side trip and a picnic: Shop the Asian markets at the intersection of Columbian Way and Beacon Avenue as you start your ride, or cycle an extra 0.6 miles south on Beacon to get a delectable barbecue sandwich from Willie's Taste of Soul at Beacon and Graham. Extend the ride significantly with a side trip to Seward Park or a ride along Lake Washington Boulevard north from Seward. Any combination of routes will offer a pleasant visit to the neighborhoods of south Seattle.

Directions: Take I-5 to the Columbian Way exit, turn left at the first light on Spokane Street, take the second right on Beacon Avenue South and travel a quarter-mile to parking.

John Harvard as Master Chief?

2007-09-25T13:58:00.001-07:00

I'm not a big video-game guy, but as some may have heard, Microsoft's blockbuster Halo 3 released yesterday. (See Seattle Times review here.)

The following did catch my attention, however: Those MIT Beavers are up to their crazy antics again, this time dressing up Harvard's venerable John Harvard Statue in the guide of Halo's Master Chief.

From: http://www-tech.mit.edu/V127/N41/graphics/halo3.html

Photo credit: TungShen Chew

In recognition of the release of Halo 3, a highly anticipated video game by Microsoft and Bungie, MIT hackers adorned the John P. Harvard statue, in Harvard Yard, with a Spartan helmet. The back of the helmet, which is worn by the protagonist of the game, Master Chief, was labeled with “Master Chief in Training.” The statue was decorated with an assault rifle (bullet count of 2E), as well as a Beaver emblem on the right shoulder.

Well done.

Avast! This Be Talk Like a Pirate Day!

2007-09-19T12:47:00.000-07:00

Happy September 19th!

Talk Like a Pirate Day

DC and Utah lose bids for additional House seats

2007-09-18T14:01:00.001-07:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070918/ap_on_el_ge/dc_vote_2

A bill that would have given District of Columbia residents their first-ever member of Congress died in the Senate on Tuesday, dashing hopes of finally gaining full voting rights after a 206-year wait.

Senators voted 57-42, just three votes short of the 60 needed to move the measure forward. The bill would have created two new House seats: One for the city of about 600,000 people and one for Utah, which narrowly missed out on a fourth seat after the last census.

Calvin Rampton passes away

2007-09-18T13:59:00.001-07:00

From the SL Tribune:

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_6924904?source=rv

Calvin L. Rampton lost six elections in a row and seemed to be Utah's consummate political loser before he was elected governor in 1964, served three terms and earned a place in history as one of the state's most significant figures.

The man who went on to modernize state government, invent Utah's economic and tourism development model and renovate and expand college and university campuses died Sunday night of complications from cancer. He was 93.

2007-09-14T09:00:00.001-07:00

good reference, if you're considering a mac (though waiting, I suspect, until october)....

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/09/the_newbs_guide.html

LDS Church offers Mountain Meadows apology

2007-09-12T11:21:00.001-07:00

Elder Henry B. Eyring on Tuesday expressed "profound regret for the [Mountain Meadows] massacre," saying that "what was done here long ago by members of our church represents a terrible and inexcusable departure from Christian teaching and conduct."

For those familiar with some of the history surrounding Mountain Meadows, Tuesday's comments from the Church were historic.

Full SL Trib story here: http://www.sltrib.com/ci_6869005

And Deseret News coverage here: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695209359,00.html

MBA-in-a-web-page

2007-09-04T16:26:00.001-07:00

I wish I'd had this in business school.

Not sure whether to describe this as hilarious, or really cool, or a little bit of both:

http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/

Thanks Tamara for the link!

An iPod for some increased civility

2007-08-30T13:44:00.001-07:00

The iPod Shuffle retails for about $79. It provides approximately 12 hours of uninterrupted playing time (assuming you've got the music).

This NYT City Room blog post ("Like a Mute Button for Hate")discusses a Park Slope "ranter" that routinely chews out passing Yankees fans (he being a Mets fan). Until a few days ago, that is, when the tell-tale white earbuds appeared.

iPod Shuffle: $79
Some increased peace and quiet for the neighbors (and the passing Yankees fans): Priceless, I'm sure.

Interesting idea.

Interesting perspective on welfare reform

2007-08-17T12:31:00.001-07:00

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_6648087

Especially this:

But since completing her undergraduate degree - she now also has a doctorate and master's degree in social work - Stevens figures she has paid about $113,000 in federal income taxes. That's $97,000 more than was spent on her in cash and food stamps, a 600 percent return on the government's investment.
Her contributions don't end there, having spent a stint as treatment director for Salt Lake County's Division of Substance Abuse.
Had she forsaken school for minimum wage work, earning about $10,712 annually, she wouldn't have paid federal taxes until her children reached 18; her payback totalling $13,000 by the time she reached 65.

Karl Rove tenders resignation

2007-08-13T10:02:00.001-07:00

And, of course, the news story of the week: Karl Rove, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Senior Adviser to the President, and long-time Republican party strategist, today announced that he would step down at the end of August.

His leaving may be beneficial to his boss, whose poll numbers and public support continue to be very low.

New York Times story here.

Presidential Candidate Issues Scorecard

2007-08-13T09:56:00.001-07:00

For those seeking one person's quick scorecard view of where the current field of candidates stand on a variety of issues:

http://www.2decide.com/table.htm

I think it's an interesting conversation piece, but I strongly believe that any candidate for public office needs to be looked at much more carefully than merely a series of supports/opposes or check marks on certain issues. Context, history, background, rationale, and the subtleties of one's stances are much more informative than merely stating that Candidate X supports or doesn't support Issue Y. And while these issues may be salient to many, it is by no means a comprehensive view of what one should consider in a presidential nominee.

Fake Steve Jobs outed

2007-08-05T14:49:00.000-07:00

The New York Times' Brad Stone has sleuthed out the identity of popular blog-author Fake Steve Jobs.

As Fake Steve posts on his site:

...[T]ip of the hat to you, Brad Stone. You did the sleuthing. You put the
pieces of the puzzle together. You went through my trash, hacked into my
computer, and put listening devices in my home. Now you've ruined the mystery of
Fake Steve, robbing thousands of people around the world of their sense of
childlike wonder. Hope you feel good about yourself.... One bright
side is that at least I was busted by the Times and not Valleywag. I really,
really enjoyed seeing those guys keep guessing wrong. For six months Dr. Evil
and Mr. Bigglesworth put their big brains together and couldn't come up with the
answer. Guy from the Times did it in a week. So much for the trope about
smarty-pants bloggers disrupting old media. Brilliant.

The Right Place

2007-07-24T11:51:00.000-07:00

July 24th is Pioneer Day in Utah. And columnist Rebecca Walsh provides some important food for thought. It's a beautiful, beautiful place -- with a rich and remarkable history. Its LDS population takes seriously the notion of stewardship, but how that stewardship is being managed is an important question to consider. And not just in Utah, to be sure, but everywhere.

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_6448740

Please be seated

2007-07-16T11:52:00.000-07:00

I need to mix things up and sit all around the table in my meetings.... (which I tend to do anyway). I don't know, do you think there's some validity here?

You Are Where You Sit, Business Week.

The loss of all Internet data?

2007-07-13T22:32:00.000-07:00

Worth 3 minutes for a good chuckle....

Breaking News: All Online Data Lost After Internet Crash

And, of course, don't press this button!

Single on the coasts

2007-07-12T12:47:00.001-07:00

Interesting post from Interesting Maps site, showing a map from February 2007's National Geographic Magazine (which I must have missed):

Single men (represented by blue dots) are apparently much more prevalent in the West (especially, Southern California, LA, and note Seattle), while single women (represented by red dots) are much more prevalent on the East Coast, especially NY, Phila, etc. Interesting to see the visual representation.

lawn chair pilot

2007-07-10T14:19:00.001-07:00

Living the dream....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070710/ap_on_re_us/flying_lawn_chair_3

Catolica, Romana

2007-07-10T14:09:00.000-07:00

Interesting news today from Rome:

LORENZAGO DI CADORE, Italy - Pope Benedict XVI reasserted the primacy of the
Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says other
Christian communities are either defective or not true churches and Catholicism
provides the only true path to salvation.

Link to full AP story here.

Immigration and software development

2007-07-05T18:36:00.000-07:00

Microsoft can't get them in the U.S., so it's building software development centers in neighbouring Vancouver, BC. Seattle P.I. story here.

Olympic games as political catalyst for Romney

2007-07-05T16:28:00.000-07:00

An interesting, and insightful piece from SLC's Deseret News on Mitt Romney's role in the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, as precursor to future political moves. Some interesting insights into the quirky politics of the Beehive State.

Like him or not, 2002's was a great olympics.

netflix 'cheating'

2007-07-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

Funny piece on watching those Netflix DVDs without (or before) your significant other/ housemate/ spouse. KHD has done this to me a few times: watching a few episodes ahead leaving me no chance of ever catching up.

The separate queues is a must.

Link here.

And I don't know that I have it in me to even begin Season 3 of Lost.

Independence Day

2007-07-04T08:30:00.001-07:00

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

Worth a read today. Happy Independence Day.

The week in review?

2007-07-03T18:23:00.001-07:00

The iPhone arrived. The Supreme Court ended its most recent session with some clear jurisprudential changes. Lewis Libby's jail term was commuted by President Bush. And the earliest presidential campaign of all time continues on in full force.

My take?

The iPhone, remarkably, seems to be living up to the hype. I haven't gotten my hands on one yet (we went camping this weekend -- in the woods, not at the Apple store), but all signs point to its being a remarkable device, especially for v1. Not perfect, but for any technology product with that much (free) pre-launch hype, it would be difficult to meet expectations. Mr. Jobs and company appear to have done so, however, shaking up the mobile market, perhaps, in much the same way they've continued to shake up the consumer PC industry.

The Roberts Court, far from approaching the unanimity he strongly advocated in his confirmation hearings, has ended its first full session with some interesting changes in jurisprudential precedent. The decisions handed down, and the cases that get considered, leave both sides wondering which way the winds are blowing, though President Bush's nominees will certainly have a long-lasting impact, for better or for worse.

Everyone suspected Mr. Libby had a pardon in the offing. He still may, though the President, yesterday, commuted his prison sentence ("excessive," in his words) while maintaining the fine and the probation. Some argue that doing so runs counter to the philosophy surrounding sentencing guidelines that the administration and the Justice Department have espoused historically, but I think most watchers expected something along these lines for Mr. Libby. Stay tuned to see whether or not an end-of-term pardon is extended or not. I would predict it will be.

And, the presidential campaign continues. The Repbulicans are uncertain: they like Thompson because he's not Giuliani or McCain, but Romney continues to raise a lot of money and poll very well in key early states. The Democrats are also torn: Clinton has the experience and the substance, but Obama's got the excitement and the charisma.

Independence Day is tomorrow. The Declaration, of course, is well worth a read, especially if you haven't read it in a while (opening and closing paragraphs follow):

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
[...]
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Seattle Summer Guide

2007-06-24T22:21:00.000-07:00

Great resource from the Seattle Times.

25 sites to watch

2007-06-18T11:01:00.000-07:00

interesting piece in PC World on 25 up and coming(?) web sites to watch....

Link here.

Mormonism and Democratic Politics: Are They Compatible?

2007-06-11T09:45:00.000-07:00

Great piece from the Pew Forum on Mormonism and democratic politics. Richard Bushman was the speaker, and the link provides a transcript of the discussion amongst Mr. Bushman and the journalists on the church and some of its political history and context. I haven't read the entire thing yet (30 pages), but have just printed it out and wanted to post it here.

Thank you Steve for the pointer!

Link here as well: http://pewforum.org/events/?EventID=148

Mr. Gore comes to Washington

2007-06-06T10:29:00.000-07:00

Al Gore was in Seattle yesterday.

Seattle Times summary of his town hall meeting here.

And the podcast of his appearance on Steve Scher's Weekday is here.

picturesync

2007-06-05T13:25:00.001-07:00

to look into....

Two Titans of Tech

2007-05-31T09:47:00.000-07:00

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs appeared on stage together at ~~Walt Mossberg's~~ The Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference yesterday. Videos are available of the 90-minute joint interview here, and The Seattle Times' Brier Dudley has a great synopsis here. As fiercely as their two companies compete, one gets the sense that these two long-time tech titans admire one another and have so much shared history that the relationship is a cordial, professional, and built on mutual respect. When you're at that level, you don't have too many peers, and I'm sure both appreciate having someone with so much shared history and context, despite the ongoing business competition. The videos are worth taking a look at if you have the time.

Are Google's people its fiercest competition?

2007-05-29T08:12:00.001-07:00

Interesting piece by Robert Cringely looking at the competition Google may face (faces?) from its own talent, especially those whose 20% ideas don't get taken up by the company, but who have the resources and the inclination to -- eventually -- see them through.

eyejot

2007-05-24T23:21:00.000-07:00

Note to self: look at eyejot

http://www.eyejot.com/

Stakeholders

2007-05-21T11:15:00.001-07:00

Interesting column in the most recent issue of Business Week by Clay Christensen, about reevaluating the notion that managers' primary obligation is to increase shareholder value, pointing out that, in today's world, most of those "shareholders" do not really share managements' long-term concerns about the company. Instead, he submits, managers ought to act in the interest of other long-term stakeholders, viz. employees, customers, communities, and long-term shareholders.

Good perspective, that I think needs more focus in today's quarterly-results driven world.

From the BW piece:

Why do smart, motivated, hardworking managers find it so difficult to innovate? Here's one key culprit: the belief that management's primary obligation is to maximize shareholder value. That credo, which is shaky to begin with, distorts managers' sense of responsibility. And in fact it has been rendered obsolete by developments in the capital markets.

[...]

Perhaps it is time for companies to adjust the paradigm of management responsibility: "You are investors and speculators, not shareholders, and you temporarily find yourselves holding the securities of our company. You are responsible for maximizing the returns on your investments. Our responsibility is to maximize the long-term value of this company. We will therefore act in the interest of those whose interests coincide with our long-term prospects, namely employees, customers, the communities in which our employees live, and the minority of investors who plan to hold our securities for several years."

Time cover story on Al Gore

2007-05-21T11:07:00.001-07:00

Great piece in last week's(?) Time Magazine entitled "The Last Temptation of Al Gore." It's a good read.

One excerpt that stood out:

"...the pain he still feels over the hard blow of the 2000 election, when he became only the fourth man in U.S. history to win the popular vote but lose a presidential election. In the face of wrenching disappointment, he showed enormous discipline--waking up every day knowing he came so close, believing the Supreme Court was dead wrong to shut down the Florida recount but never talking about it publicly because he didn't want Americans to lose faith in their system. That changes a man forever."

Printing your blog

2007-05-18T11:55:00.001-07:00

Very cool: Software that takes your blog and puts it in book form. I keep saying I need to print ours out, and here I may have the solution.

http://www.blurb.com/

Thanks Cindy for the pointer!

Update, and a few more:

http://www.blogprinting.com/

http://www.lulu.com/

http://www.ljbook.com/

I haven't looked into these last three (though at first glance they don't work with blogger), but I looked at blurb, above, and it seems like a slick little tool. Unfortunately, if you blog with blogger (as I do) it can only "slurp" blogs hosted on a blogspot server, not on your own server (which I happen to do with some of my other blogs). I contacted customer support, but it looks as if there's nothing to be done about it at this point.

The other option to consider is converting your .html files to .pdf, and then printing those out.

A project for another year. :)

The science behind the "five-second rule"

2007-05-09T10:51:00.001-07:00

We've all done it: dropped the something-delicious on the floor and wanted to pick it up to finish eating it (oreo cookies, anyone?). Most people I know (and 70% of all adults, according to the article) are familiar with the so-called "five-second rule." That is, you can eat the dropped food so long as you pick it up within 5 seconds. I've always viewed it as rationale for eating something that you're going to eat anyway, but here's an interesting NY Times piece that explores some scientific research behind the rule.

My take: if you're invoking the rule, I'm betting you're all right. Most of the time.

More difficult might be explaining why I, as a parent, sometimes allow my daughter to eat something she's dropped on the floor, while other times prohibiting it. I'm sure it appears completely irrational to her, and I can't fully explain the calculus used to make the determination myself. But, sometimes eating what we've dropped is all right, and other times, it's clearly not....

New Yorker piece on Walt Mossberg

2007-05-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

I haven't read it yet....

From Brier Dudley's Blog: Top 10 Reasons to Invest in Seattle

2007-05-02T18:18:00.000-07:00

From Brier Dudley's Seattle Times Blog today:

Top 10 reasons to invest in Seattle: A Silicon Valley perspective
Posted by Brier Dudley at 03:22 PM
Here's the list that Larry Orr, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, shared at today's WSA Investment Forum.
Orr is managing partner at Trinity Ventures, a firm that made three notable home runs in Seattle by investing in BlueNile, Wall Data and Starbucks.
More recently it funded Jobster, PayScale, Wetpaint, Centeris and a fifth company that hasn't been announced yet.
The list:
10. 39 flights a day from the Bay Area.
9. No need to pack sunscreen.
8. It's the coffee, stupid. (He presented a graph showing that human enlightenment rises as the density of espresso outlets increases; the line began with the "rest of the world" then rose to Bay Area, then Italy and finally Seattle).
7. People can afford to live here. "This is on a relative basis,"' he explained, showing a supporting graphic with two houses: One was a 1,090-square-foot ranch house in the Bay Area selling for $889,000; the other was a two-story, 4,100-square-foot Seattle area home selling for the same price.
6. You can see an NFL playoff game. (This was accompanied by a photo of the Seahawks playing the Carolina Panthers). Orr added that in the Bay Area, you can see a Major League Baseball playoff game, a National Hockey League playoff and an NBA playoff.
5. Underserved venture market. "If you were to look at the average size of venture firms, funds here tend to be more modest in size." Why don't more Bay Area VCs focus on the Seattle area? They're lazy or too busy; they don't know the community well; and some Seattle companies seeking funding don't seem as "packaged for VC consumption."
4. Quality companies with domain expertise. Orr called out software, wireless and Internet expertise, and the confluence around those three areas.
3. Technical talent. "There is a deep bench for technical talent here, provided they're not all hired by Google. There are few left to be hired by other folks."
Engineers are also less expensive, compared with the Bay Area: Base salary for a software engineer with five to nine years experience is $92,000 down there and $79,000 in the Seattle area. "I think you get somewhat more bang for your engineer buck here."
2. Great local partners. "We get a lot of referrals from people here,"' Orr said, explaining that investors in Seattle seem to "actively welcome" syndication and in particular we feel very welcome as a Bay Area firm.
1. Entrepreneurial values. The Seattle area "hasn't gotten so big you've threatened to lose sight of some of these values."
Those values include substance over form, referring back to the "packaged for funding" notion under No. 5. Another value is "relationship orientation" -- companies recognize it's a small world. The third that he mentioned is capital efficiency -- "I think firms here do a better job generally keeping these rounds to a moderate size."
Orr said he toyed with adding an 11th reason to his list: "The halibut at Etta's Seafood."

Bike to Work Month

2007-05-01T12:52:00.000-07:00

May is bike to work month. May 14-18 is Bike to Work Week. May 18th is Bike to Work Day.

So far, I've ridden my bike to work every day this month. :)

It's a great way to commute -- you should try it.

NPR on PBS on Mormons

2007-05-01T12:49:00.000-07:00

Howard Berkes discusses the PBS documentary this morning on NPR's Morning Edition. Link here.

The New Yorker also had a full page ad for the documentary.

PBS/Frontline's documentary on the Mormons

2007-04-30T23:17:00.000-07:00

If you didn't catch part I this evening, it's worth watching. Part II airs tomorrow, and I'll try to post some thoughts. The first part was very well done. Well researched, fair, and insightful.

Apparently you can watch the entire broadcast online (if you're willing to spend 4 hours at your computer.

Link here. Or see PBS.org.

Seattle Times on KEXP

2007-04-30T23:14:00.000-07:00

Great piece in today's Seattle Times about one of our great local radio stations, KEXP. I hadn't known about the Paul Allen connection.

Lest you think I'm too hip, I admit that my dial rarely leaves the public radio/NPR station.

Rent or Buy? Rent or Buy?

2007-04-18T16:06:00.000-07:00

My wife gets tired of me iterating on this argument, but an interesting piece on today's SmartMoney.com again makes the case for renting over buying. We own (full disclosure), but as others have maybe heard me say, this is for reasons other than purely financial ones (which, the author points out, don't necessarily hold true over time).

It may seem economic mumbo-jumbo to some, but it's an important decision calculus to contemplate. My own analysis: one must view a house as a consumption item and choose to spend the money on it for the benefits of consumption, not for purely economic or financial benefits. Because if one is acting based solely on economic benefits, the author's right that the advantage may fall to renting. One gets utility from living in one's home even if thatutility is not purely financial. One chooses to consume through owning or renting, but must do so based on different bases.

Article here: Renting Makes More Financial Sense Than Homeownership.

[Postscript: with all the above said, I still think Seattle is a great market in which to "own shares" of real estate (i.e. to own a home). At least in the short run.]

Why Microsoft Should Fear Apple

2007-04-06T09:50:00.000-07:00

Interesting piece from ComputerWorld's Scot Finnie, himself a recent Mac convert, on Apple, the Mac, OSX vs. Windows Vista, etc. The article contains some good links to additional content as well.

Online market share resource

2007-04-06T09:27:00.000-07:00

This is a great online resource for a quick overview of marketshare for various operating systems, browsers, and search engines: http://marketshare.hitslink.com/

Browser share: http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=0
Search Engine share: http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=0
OS Share: http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=2

All data provided by > Net Applications

PC World's Top 50 Technology Products of All Time

2007-04-04T21:36:00.000-07:00

And for the tech enthusiast (and nostalgic reader): PC World's compiled a list of (in its opinion) the 50 Best Technology Products to date. Disagreements to ensue, I am sure. But an interesting list nonetheless.

A quick summary and ranked order of the 50:

Netscape Navigator (1994)
Apple II (1977)
TiVo HDR110 (1999)
Napster (1999)
Lotus 1-2-3 for DOS (1983)
Apple iPod (2001)
Hayes Smartmodem (1981)
Motorola StarTAC (1996)
WordPerfect 5.1 (1989)
Tetris (1985)
Adobe Photoshop 3.0 (1994)
IBM ThinkPad 700C (1992)
Atari VCS/2600 (1977)
Apple Macintosh Plus (1986)
RIM BlackBerry 857 (2000)
3dfx Voodoo3 (1999)
Canon Digital Elph S100 (2000)
Palm Pilot 1000 (1996)
id Software Doom (1993)
Microsoft Windows 95 (1995)
Apple iTunes 4 (2003)
Nintendo Game Boy (1989)
Iomega Zip Drive (1994)
Spybot Search & Destroy (2000)
Compaq Deskpro 386 (1986)
CompuServe (1982)
Blizzard World of Warcraft (2004)
Aldus PageMaker (1985)
HP LaserJet 4L (1993)
Apple Mac OS X (2001)
Nintendo Entertainment System (1985)
Eudora (1988)
Sony Handycam DCR-VX1000 (1995)
Apple Airport Base Station (1999)
Brøderbund The Print Shop (1984)
McAfee VirusScan (1990)
Commodore Amiga 1000 (1985)
ChipSoft TurboTax (1985)
Mirabilis ICQ (1996)
Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 (1992)
Apple HyperCard (1987)
Epson MX-80 (1980)
Central Point Software PC Tools (1985)
Canon EOS Digital Rebel (2003)
Red Hat Linux (1994)
Adaptec Easy CD Creator (1996)
PC-Talk (1982)
Sony Mavica MVC-FD5 (1997)
Microsoft Excel (1985)
Northgate OmniKey Ultra (1987)

Cycling in Seattle

2007-04-04T21:28:00.000-07:00

You've gotta love this town.

"The goal is simple: to make Seattle the best bicycling city in the
nation." -Mayor Greg Nickels

New online outlets for political junkies

2007-04-04T10:43:00.000-07:00

Interesting piece from today's wsj.com. One hopes that these sites will also help educate voters and encourage them to vote, rather than just creating venues for political-advertising dollars.

Stop the e-mail madness!

2007-04-02T12:52:00.000-07:00

Amen.

From today's free WSJ online (click title above for full text):

Do me a favor and look through your inbox. (Or your Deleted Items, depending on your email habits.) Never mind spam or personal email -- just focus on the portion coming from within your own organization. How much of it did you really need to read? How many of those emails are pointless paper-trailing and butt-covering, conversations going on long after you stopped having something to contribute (if you did in the first place), arguments you're trapped witnessing, recurring status notes that no longer concern you or haven't registered in years, or never-to-be-read corporate rah-rah? (My own unscientific survey of a week's worth of my email yielded 195 legitimate messages and 184 ones that were delete-finger exercises.)
By making communicating so easy, email enables lazy communication. By giving us a way to exchange messages that aren't important enough to require a phone call or a face-to-face meeting, it breeds unimportant communications. This isn't bad for our social lives -- periodic low-level chatter between friends and loved ones lets us stay in touch and eases the stresses of the working day. But it's horrible for our professional lives, allowing and even encouraging our inner bureaucrat to come out and play.

1st Annual YouTube Awards

2007-03-26T14:32:00.000-07:00

The first annual YouTube Video Awards were released this week. I wonder if we'll enter a world in which awards for this type of user-generated content (awards, by the way, which are selected by the users) will rival in stature the awards given for professional-generated content in awards ceremonies such as the Oscars, Golden Globes, etc. Might an Online Video Award one day garner the same attention and coveted status as a little gold statuette?

Awards available here: http://www.youtube.com/ytawards.

I have to admit the only winner I knew was the OKGo treadmill choreography: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv5zWaTEVkI. Free Hugs is also great.

Media production and consumption: times they are a changin'.

Marketing to the Time-Rich vs. Time-Poor

2007-03-23T09:51:00.000-07:00

An interesting piece on differing marketing approaches of software companies, e.g. Microsoft-Apple, Google-Yahoo, that tend to market to a time-rich or a time-poor user to do different things...

http://www.blackfriarsinc.com/blog/2007/03/apple-versus-microsoft-marketing-it

Lowering the Temperature

2007-03-19T08:35:00.000-07:00

A compelling piece by Ian S. Lustick, a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania. His argument, in a nutshell: we need to "lower the temperature" on the so-called "war on terror," as elevating terrorist threats to such a lofty level actually serves terrorists' interests much more than it serves our own. He calls for agressive, deliberate, multi-faceted enforcement, as opposed to an inherently unwinnable "war" on something that, like crime, will always be part of the social fabric to some degree. By lowering the temperature and reducing the importance we give terrorists and their causes, he argues, we can create a world that is many degrees safer that it is today.

Full piece here: http://www.upenn.edu/gazette/1106/feature2.html

A few excerpts:

[...]

The government’s loudly trumpeted ‘‘War on Terror’’ is not the solution to the problem. It has become the problem. The War on Terror does not reduce public anxieties by thwarting terrorists poised to strike. Rather, in myriad ways, conducting the anti-terror effort as a “war” fuels those anxieties. By stoking these public fears and attracting vast political and economic resources in response to them, the War on Terror encourages, indeed virtually compels, every interest group in the country to advance its own agenda as crucial for winning the war. As a result, widening circles of Americans are drawn into spirals of exaggeration, waste, and fear.

[...]

The first and most difficult step to take is to open up debate over the logic and appropriateness of the War on Terror that American opinion leaders and the public at large have been trapped into serving. As a self-powered system the War on Terror permits them criticism of the way it is conducted but not questions about whether it should be fought at all. In this way the War on Terror transforms almost all criticism into its own cannon fodder. Only by publicly debating the existence and justification of the War on Terror itself can we begin to expose the psychological and political nets that entangle us within it and begin to cut them away.

This will not be easy. Those who begin the discussion, especially politicians, are likely to pay a heavy price. Their message can easily be misunderstood or distorted as a refusal to take the problem of terrorism seriously, to learn the lessons of our lack of preparedness on September 11, or to recognize al-Qaeda as the force for evil it is in the world. Many will find their political, economic, and even personal interests so well served by the discourse, fears, and escalating expenditures of the War on Terror that, consciously or not, they will resist evidence of its counterproductive effects and destructive dynamics. Inexorably, however, as the War on Terror continues to expand, breaking every barrier in our constitutional system and budgetary system, it will overextend itself so grossly that even many Americans who benefit from it will be emboldened to think critically and speak publicly about it.

Gallup poll on Mormonism

2007-03-05T12:05:00.000-08:00

It's been a few weeks since my last post (work and other obligations have had be traveling and quite busy the past weeks/months), but someone pointed me to this recently, and I thought I'd post both as an interesting read and for future reference.

It's a summary of a Gallup poll on Mormons (or, more correctly, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=26758

An interesting, insightful, and in some ways disheartening read.

Especially interesting to me was the fact that Republicans (the dominant political party in Utah and some other western states where Latter-day Saints are concentrated) tend to have a more negative view of Mormons than either Democrats or Independents.

No matter how compelling a candidate Mitt Romney may appear to some, he's got an uphill battle in many respects, even in 21st-Century America. Further fodder, perhaps, to the argument that the first LDS President will need to be a Democrat.

postscript: two more related pieces (thanks Andy for the links!):
http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=26611
And one more

Presiding Patriarch

2006-12-30T15:40:00.001-08:00

An interesting piece in today's online version of the Deseret News about Eldred Smith, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' last Presiding Patriarch.

He turns 100 next week, and though an emeritus general authority, continues to be active in a variety of endeavors.

Article here.

accident this a.m.

2006-12-21T17:36:00.001-08:00

Coverage on the accident just down the block from us at Green Lake, around which we often walk. It's fortunate no pedestrians were injured walking round the lake.

I heard the sirens and went down to see some of the rescue efforts. Amazing that they all lived, given the condition of the car.

I installed the new car seat with especial care.

Regina Spektor

2006-12-21T13:53:00.001-08:00

Anyone who knows me knows I'm not the hippest of music listeners, but, last night, I was on my way home (very late) and heard the following song on the radio: Regina Spektor - Fidelity. Great song, and yes, it's been in my head all day long. There's also a video of her performing the song live on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Worth a listen.

Scrybe

2006-12-18T15:56:00.000-08:00

This looks neat -- worth checking out. I've signed up for the beta, will let you know if/when I get an invitation and get a chance to look at it a little bit:

http://iscrybe.com/

And one more: www.thinkfree.com -- not sure how compelling this is (yet), but an interesting idea.... Online Office, essentially, with sharing built in. Acquisition target, a la Writely?

Time's Person of the Year

2006-12-18T15:31:00.001-08:00

Congratulations.

You (yes, you) were named Time Magazine's "Person of the Year" this year.

And thank you.

sharing a bed

2006-11-30T13:39:00.000-08:00

For those of you who share a bed:

To sleep, perchance to dream, perchance to roll over, smack your bedmate in
the nose and confiscate the quilt.

Post-Thanksgiving post

2006-11-27T10:37:00.000-08:00

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a great holiday here in the Northwest, and we even got some snow yesterday evening here in Seattle!

A few random tidbits for you:

Hilarious. The Show with ZeFrank (Thanksgiving episode here, if you've got time for just one).
Podcasts for your Zune (at last!)
Computerworld on how Zune can/should compete with the iPod
And, Zune-hacking begins in earnest (see above, as well -- given his argument, such hacking is good for Zune)

iPod or Zune this holiday season?

And what else is on the wish-list?

Google/Windows Live Maps' Click-to-Call

2006-11-16T11:58:00.000-08:00

Okay, this is very cool:

Google Maps. Look up a business. You'll see a "Call" hyperlink next to the business' phone number. Click that. Enter your telephone number. The service will call your phone. It will then call the business' phone, and voila -- you're connected. Free. Very cool. And a lot of fun.

Some additional information here.

Windows Live Local. Look up a business. You'll see a "Call for Free" hyperlink next to the business' phone number. Click that. Enter your telephone number. The service will call your phone. It will then call the business' phone, and voila -- you're connected. Free. Very cool. And a lot of fun.

I believe Windows Live was actually first out the gate with this technology, but Google's gotten a little more attention on it, I believe. Either service works very well, and it's a great service.

Earth from Space

2006-11-09T11:19:00.000-08:00

The Smithsonian is sponsoring a fascinating exhibit on earth as seen from space. Some of the images can be seen in the online gallery, here. Very cool.

Market Share

2006-11-08T14:26:00.000-08:00

As you're likely aware, Microsoft's Windows desktop operating systems (e.g. Windows XP) enjoy a 95%-97% share of the personal computer (PC) market. That means Apple's Macintosh operating system (e.g. OS X) has approximately 3% of the market (there are also a handful of Linux variants outside of Mac's OS X that get a few points of share). Both operating systems are great and have genuine strengths. Fair enough.

Yesterday, I went with my wife and daughters to a nearby cupcake/coffee shop in Ballard called Cupcake Royale, one of our favorite spots. As with so many cute, hip Seattle coffee shops, the good food, inviting atmosphere, and free wi-fi brings out many of the young hip urbanites who, as near as I can tell, listen to music, surf the web, and/or are working on the next Great American Screenplay on their laptops. (I admit, I envy them, I'd love to sit in a nice shop all day and do the same -- though mine would be the Great American Novel, rather than the screenplay.) What struck me, though, was the dramatic lack of Windows-based PCs in the house. There were three. But there were no fewer than twelve laptops humming around the place, by my quick count. A small sample, to be sure, and not your typical worldwide audience, but that's 75% share for Macs, and 25% share for PCs. When I walked in I thought -- 'boy, you've got to own a Mac to hang out here.' But then I noted the two or three hipsters with their PCs as well.

They're both great OSs, and both can come on great machines. I was just interested that the PCs had such a limited slice of the Seattle coffee shop usage pie.

With Apple's turn to Intel's chipset archtecture, and Microsoft's release of Windows Vista (today), who knows what that market share, in a coffee shop or elsewhere, will look like down the road?

Talk about a news cycle

2006-11-08T14:08:00.000-08:00

Election Day yesterday. In my sister's words: "Election Day is like the Super Bowl for you, isn't it?" I was able to duck out of work a little early and get home to start watching the returns come in (one advantage to living on the west coast is that election returns don't require the same late-night committment that they do in the east). I had to run to a meeting at one point during the evening, but not before learning that the Democrats would assume control of the house. By the end of the evening, of course, it was clear that not only would they gain control, but that they would win a substantial majority. After 12 years of Republican control in Congress, yesterday's turn was significant for many reasons, and perhaps doubly notable given the redistricting that has occurred over time to align and protect incumbents' districts. Voters were in a feisty mood. While it still hinges on the Allen-Webb race in Virginia, the Democrats are on the verge of a senate majority as well. [Update, Wednesday p.m.: NBC & Associated Press are calling the VA race for Webb, meaning Democrats gain Senate control as well.] Gubernatorial races, ballot initiatives, it was quite an evening for the political junkies out there. I'll hope to post some post-election thoughts at some point.

Then, this morning, news that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who serves at the pleasure of the President, is stepping down, to be replaced by former CIA director and current Texas A&M President Robert Gates (who also sits on the blue ribbon commission on Iraq).

Then, also, word this morning that Microsoft has released to manufacturing (RTM) the latest version of its desktop operating system, Windows Vista, with late-November availability for volume licensing and business customers, and general customer availability in January 2007 (just after the holidays).

It was a late night, but my wife put up with me and didn't complain about my staying up with two laptops refreshing pages until the wee hours of the morning. (Truth is, I should have just gone to bed once it became clear that Tester would win and VA would remain in limbo, but oh well.)

November's a great month. And the coming days and weeks should see plenty of analysis and prediction and hindsight, but the coming weeks and months are also likely to bring some marked changes in the political tenor in Washington, D.C., U.S. foreign policy, and Congressional oversight of Government agencies.

Fantasy Congress

2006-11-07T14:29:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of Election Day (go vote!) -- Fantasy Congress.

How-to videos

2006-10-30T11:27:00.000-08:00

A colleague pointed me to this today -- hilarious. British, I gather. It's a collection of instructional how-to videos on (seemingly) every topic under the sun. Wondering how to carve that pumpkin? It's on there.

http://www.videojug.com/

Nevermore

2006-10-26T23:24:00.000-07:00

A Halloween Classic: From the original 'Treehouse of Horror'

Bwa-ha-ha-ha

2006-10-26T16:56:00.000-07:00

Halloween is just five days away....

If you're a fan of scary stories and/or in need of some great reading for Halloween, the folks at Google's Book Search have provided a great compendium here: google.com/scarystories

The site includes such classics as Dracula, Frankenstein (no, Frankestein...), The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and my favorite, Poe's The Raven, which I'm sure we'll be reading at our house next week.

Happy reading (and happy halloween -- if a little early)! Don't forget to carve those pumpkins (and roast the pumkin seeds)!

one to watch

2006-10-26T16:45:00.000-07:00

iLike, based here in the Seattle area, and headed by some former ex-Microsofties. It integrates with iTunes to help discover new music and share your music with friends. One to watch.

Just entered beta with their product.

Good-bye to My Space?

2006-10-26T12:31:00.000-07:00

Probably not anytime soon, but the WSJ today had an interesting piece on the inherent challenges of becoming too popular. Sites like Facebook and MySpace gain much of their initial cachet and popularity because they appeal to a bit of a niche (for Facebook it was colleges and universities, for MySpace: music lovers). They need 'critical mass' to become successful and ultimately make it, but that same mass can undo some of the 'cool' factor around which the sites were originally built. No one wants to manage miles-long friends lists of people one doesn't really even know. How do you take 'cool' mainstream? It's not easy, but can be done (witness Apple and the ubiquitously cool iPods) -- but I think it requires careful strictures about what can and can't be done with a product/brand, and/or a community that is uber-devoted to the integrity of that brand experience.

Money and resources and technology continue to flow to social networking (Microsoft, Google, and everyone else is getting into the pool) -- will social networking sites as we know them today continue to pay dividends? We shall see.

If you don't know it, you ought also to check out MeetUp, the original social networking (and really, it meant it -- you had to meet up with other people) site.

My own $.02? Social networking sites will continue to fluorish, but the best ones will be smaller sites built around specific interests and niche markets -- not necessarily the one-size-fits-all-and-everyone's-on-here-so-I-am-too sites.