DISQUS

Odzyskiwanie, I think you're missing my point. 21 hours of battery life while using the iPhone as a computer (not just phone functions) is still impressive to me when my Macbook Pro can get at best 2 hours on a charge.

Thanks Stepan!

Chris, my wife's comment to me was basically the same. She said good thing it wasn't a car or you would have hit the brakes! For the cyclist, I almost pulled over to let him have his fun, but at that point there wasn't really anywhere to do that.

Thanks Chris. I completely missed the error in that link.

True Cory, but the difference I'm talking about is that passion is necessary for entrepreneurship while for any other job where you're working for someone else it's a "nice to have."




You don't need passion to do most jobs, but obviously your enjoyment and performance would be much better. Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, face a different set of circumstances on average and having passion for their idea/company/etc can carry them through the hard times.

I basically agree and think it's a good sign they're using Twitter for
proactive customer support. But what about all the other areas of

customer support? Are they trying as hard there?



I guess I'm just a bit cynical when so many are gushing over Comcast's

use of Twitter, when most other aspects of their business are so bad.

"there are so many strong climbers ... resulting in me really starting to wonder if I was truly a “climber” since I am unable to climb 5.13"

I feel the same way here in Boulder most of the time!

Good points. I guess my overall argument is to get people to fill out surveys it usually takes more that the promise of getting lucky!

@Sarah, @Kage you're very welcome!

Chris, so far so good as we made it to Colorado this past weekend. I'll try to write up a follow up post soon with what we've learned and thought so far.

I agree. I got a question every semester I taught my strategic marketing class that was basically "will employers look at Facebook and other social networking sites?" And of course my answer was YES!

They had a hard time accepting this and were quite surprised. If it's publicly available, people will look at it or search for any way to find some insight or advantage. The best policy is to simply be aware of everything you post with the thought that it may be very hard if not impossible to delete.

Jeremy, that's an excellent point. Blogs and social networks have changed the game and enabled students to get a leg up on building their networks.

Will, my preference is absolutely to live in Boulder itself. The problem is the price of buying a home within city limits. Once our house sells here in Virginia, we'll initially rent a place in Boulder and then go from there. The homes for sale in Boulder in our price range are not really what we're looking for thus the idea of Superior or Louisville.

Rob, interesting choice. I lived in Northern Virginia and metro DC for about 10 years, most recently Alexandria, Va and progressively disliked living there.

I have to strongly disagree with your statement that "life is life" - yes, certain aspects of life remain the same regardless of location, but you imply that location doesn't matter that much to day to day living.

I can honestly tell you that even though I'm moving away from Blacksburg to Boulder, no matter how big the problems I faced the past three years I woke up every morning in Blacksburg and said to myself "at least I'm here and not living in NoVa anymore."

Location choice is personal and in my opinion can absolutely affect all other aspects of your life. I'm glad you're happy with NoVa, but I'm surprised there isn't more of a mass exodus out of the area with all the issues I saw while there.

@Doc - Thanks. We just returned from a house hunting trip and absolutely love it out there. We can't wait to move out permanently this summer.

@Corbett - Thanks as well. You ever stop by to see Schumacher at Ball when you're out there? We just spent the weekend with him.

Thanks James, I appreciate that. Good luck with the business and keep me posted on developments.

Thanks Steven. I realize I didn't write about our timeframe in the post. I should be around until June so we'll have to get lunch before I leave the area.

Nathan, good point.

What I'm also finding interesting is how many people are foregoing recording tv shows because they know they can find them online anytime from all the major networks.

My sister recently told me she doesn't even bother recording her favorite tv shows because she just watches them online whenever she wants.

Nice job Ben!

Thanks Phil, good luck with the new blog!

@eric You're welcome. Unfortunately, using the same set of drivers at that site, I've been unable to get my HP OfficeJet k80 to work.

@Marty - The best thing about Everbank so far is their online banking services. It's the best I've used. Very robust, nice UI, and email notices make it so much better than Netbank.

@JD you're very welcome, glad I could help

Great analogy! BTW, I'm still waiting for that Gmail IMAP... I look forward to hearing about any issues you run into.

I won't be coming in till Friday morning, but I've signed up for the Facebook group. If you plan something on one of the other days, I'd love to attend..

@VT Student - First, I don't see a correlation between speaking English and BlackBoard's usability. The fact that they are not complaining does not imply that the software is usable or even that they like it. It only proves that they either don't care or don't feel like complaining publicly.

You're entitled to your opinion, but I'll ask one question. Presumably, from the name left on the comment form, you're a student. If so, have you actually used the instructor interface for BlackBoard? Have you actually tried to set up a course, add grades, add documents, and otherwise manage a course throughout a semester. This is what I'm discussing and maybe I should have been more clear in mentioning my specific perspective though I felt it was implied in the post.

You may have a different point of view as a student using the system, but from the instructor perspective BlackBoard is very hard to use compared to other applications and what is available today.

I've mentioned these issues with BlackBoard in every class and I've yet to have any student say positive things regarding the app.

Finally, the post was not necessarily meant to attack BlackBoard, but to use it as an example of how important web usability is in designing web applications. Additionally, I wanted to emphasize how some companies have little incentive to improve their products which can ultimately lead to problems.

Anyone else think I'm being overly harsh? Let me know!