Disqus - Latest Comments for r

Re: Some dude thinks he can reverse engineer my amazing keynote style

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:18:58 -0000

fyi the geniuses at business week don't permit linking to individual stories... only their homepage:

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9858916-7.html...

bright right?

Re: Every Man Should Carry a Pocket Knife

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 09:58:57 -0000

Generally agree it's useful.

Though for the love of god, don't use it for any food prep... nothing is more unmanly than getting sick from using a contaminated surface for food prep. Especially if you use it for any other purpose listed above (mail is just loaded with bacteria if your lucky.... and anthax if your unlucky). At a minimum take some alcohol and sanitize it first. Even your pocket is a pretty unsanitary place (since people keep their dirty hands in there all the time).

I would recommend carrying one on a plane. The TSA recommends you sow it to the inside of your clothing prior to boarding a plane. If anyone asks you about it... just deny ;-) . Ok I'm kidding. But seriously, they don't believe in "accidents" so make sure you don't have one when boarding a plane... if they don't like your face, your spending the night in jail. Same with many sporting events, schools, etc. I recall someone in high school getting busted for accidentally carrying a knife from fishing over the weekend. 0 tolerance is just that.

May also want to disclose if your pulled over and asked to get out of the car... should the cop find one, intent or not... it can be big trouble depending on your state.

Re: Saddleback Leather Man Bag | The Art of Manliness

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 09:27:10 -0000

I've got three tips i like somewhat equally:

1. Carry a maglite in your bag. These things are rugged and designed to last a long time. They are also very small and light (at least the smaller 2 AA models). It's surprising how many times it comes in handy. If you encounter a blackout, it's even more handy. Just remember to change the battery every year or so that way you don't end up stuck with a dead flashlight. If you don't use it much, just rotate it with something else you have (I move the old batteries into my wireless keyboard) so you don't waste them.

2. When I travel, I hate the idea that if something happens, my electronic data could be in peril. As a result I backup key stuff to a MicroSD card. They are so small they fit easily in a nook of your wallet and weight virtually nothing. You can get several GB's of data in something smaller and lighter than your finger nail. Should you need to retrieve data, you can carry a USB reader in your bag, or in an emergency just buy one on the road, they aren't that expensive. Easy way to always have key data at your fingertips. If you have a cell phone that lets you save files to it (or it's memory card) that's another great alternative, just keep in mind it's more likely to be searched at US customs and border security.

3. If flying with other family members, cross-pack. Rather than 1 person to 1 bag, mix it up. That way if one bag doesn't show up at your destination, someone isn't missing everything. Odds of loosing all your bags are pretty small. This just reduces your chances of problems.

Those are my fav's.

Re: kindle

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:29:51 -0000

A couple of years ago, I could see the point. But now? I don't really see it. A few disruptive innovations are coming around:

1. The iPhone sparked a new breed of all-in-one devices. Beautiful display, small size, does pretty much everything (give it 2 years, and the camera will be pretty good too).

2. Cheaper bandwidth. Android and the spectrum opening up (Google/Sprint merger?) Are all hinting at lower bandwidth costs.

3. WiFi becoming more widespread. Means dependency on #2 is less and less.

I'd rather have one device that does everything than 5 devices that do 5 different things. Just more practical and cost effective.

I can see Amazon's service doing very well as an iPhone app and an Android app. And I'm sure they are thinking the same thing.

Re: The Decline of Reading

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 13:41:58 -0000

I think part of the reason for the decline in reading has to do with how we've become such a textual society. Once upon a time the majority of a job wasn't about staring at glyphs on a computer screen. These days, between computers on every office desk, mobile email, mobile web, etc. etc. tickers on the bottom of news channels, and so on, we spend the majority of our life deciphering these squiggles.

Most leisure reading these days is dual purpose, such as reading rss feeds, for both education and fun.

I'll be perfectly honest. After sitting in front of a computer 10hrs a day, the last thing I really feel like doing is staring at text during the little time to relax.

I guess the saying holds true even on a slightly different topic... Even people who live in [insert tropical island here] go somewhere on vacation. Despite home being a paradise. While reading may be relaxation, people who do it all day, desire something that's non-work-like.

Re: more on why mozilla will not IPO

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 09:50:17 -0000

So essentially the debate goes like this:

Venture Dudes: Google is some sugar daddy. Mozilla's got a sweet deal. Would make a great investment.

Mozilla: We're not out to make money. Just better the internet. The money made helps us achieve that goal by hiring developers and funding projects.

Venture Dudes: No, it's a corporation, they make money.

Mozilla: Don't care about money Venture Dudes. The corporation was setup as a legal maneuver to help fund our mission.

Venture Dudes: It's software, WTF is with the "greater good" stuff?

Mozilla: We have a manifesto. It's all outlined in there. You didn't even bother reading the manifesto did you?

Venture Dudes: We prefer intuition rather than reading. We could all be rich if you would shut up about the "mission" and "manifesto".

Venture Dudes: Not fair, I want a piece of the pie.

Mozilla: No IPO for you.

Venture Dudes: So when is the IPO?

Mozilla: No IPO!

Venture Dudes: What a waste.

Mozilla: Enjoy the internet.

Venture Dudes: Bastards.

[momentary pause]

Venture Dudes: Apache has what percentage of the http server marketshare? What's their stock price? [pause] No IPO either? **** Me. [passes out].

Re: Air Mozilla Preparations

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 22:40:36 -0000

I don't think I'm going to be able to catch it... hopefully reruns are available.

Re: Amsterdam

Sat, 04 Jun 2005 15:54:39 -0000

I personally don't drink coffee, but my parents only buy Douwe Egberts (either bring it with them, or buy it here from an importer) from Holland.

As far as waiters go, it's very cultural. In most countries for example, asking if "your done" so they can take your dishes away is _extremely_ rude an unprofessional. You don't remove anything until all plates are done and silverwear is down. Only in the US it seems is this standard behavior. In the US is extremely uncommon to wait more than 20 minutes for food, with the exception of a few resturaunts. In most countries that would also be inpolite (it's rushing you out).

Depends where you are. Most foreign tourists are uphauled by American resturaunts and their behavior. Asking if your done while others are still eating, just giving you a check (similar to asking you to leave really), not bringing _all_ the food out at one time, etc. etc.

Depends where you are. Stuff that's unacceptable in the US is the norm abroad. And vice versa.

Re: Shared Whiteboard App?

Sun, 11 Dec 2005 18:18:50 -0000

Perhaps this will help:
http://www.writeboard.com/

Re: Firefox Summit Photos

Wed, 14 Dec 2005 10:34:25 -0000

Nice gallery. Don't want this to go to your head, but it's by far the best gallery thus far of the Summit. Great photo's, even the ones you felt were blurry and dark.

Re: Secrets of greatness

Sun, 19 Mar 2006 02:07:18 -0000

The gold in that article is the picture of John McCain's face.

Priceless.

Re: Turned off Feedburner

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:59:41 -0000

It's not quite as feature packed as Feedburner (if it worked) but you can take a look at Feed Statistics. No redirects or any mess. It's all in a wordpress plugin.

Re: Dual booting Windows on new Macs…

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 07:48:45 -0000

IBM does one of both. 1 PCMCIA slot, 1 Express. At least on the T43.

Re: Apple sold out of iSights

Sun, 22 Oct 2006 22:14:36 -0000

They have been rumored to be updated soon:
http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id...
http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2006/...

That would be my guess. EU regulations require it, and it's due for a refresh anyway.

Re: Apple blogger calls "bullshit" on me

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 16:12:28 -0000

I'm in a similar situation working for a news organization. Those with editorial control can't blog, but as a technical person I can... though not on behalf of the company or in competition etc. etc.

I don't think to many companies will go down the slippery slope of banning blogs (and other forms of online contact including blog comments, forum posting, newsgroups, etc) except in cases of: bias, speaking on behalf of a company, or doing something to damage the brand.

I personally think my situation is rather fair. Some may disagree, but there is a legitimate business/ethical reason for the rule. It's also not a blanket statement, there are exceptions for cases such as mine, where the reason for banning certain activities just don't apply.

I'd personally love to see Apple blog. If they followed Sun or MS's model and provided and encouraged groups and employees to blog, I think it would dramatically improve the brand, and the products. A perfect example is the IE blog for Microsoft, and Planet Mozilla for Firefox. Both blog systems are very effective communication methods for building community among product users, and allow dev's to keep up with users (and vice versa).

It's a powerful medium. But businesses do need to make sure it's not abused by employees. I think it can be done reasonably if a company sits down and comes up with a logical policy.

Personally, I'd like to see companies adopt software like Planet, if not to simply encourage employees to blog as a bonding/community activity. Bonus points if it's used like a Sun, Microsoft.

Re: Apple blogger calls "bullshit" on me

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 16:13:07 -0000

The above statements don't reflect the opinions of my employer.

;-)

Sorry... couldn't resist.

Re: Dave Winer was right about river reading

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 08:38:24 -0000

I do use Google reader. Fast, and works from home and work with no effort. Tried bloglines, but found it to awkward and the UI's distracting. I guess simplicity rules.

Re: Too fast for Google Reader?

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 08:49:27 -0000

I've noticed this as well. I've even seen the read indicator get stuck way up top. A real pain.

Overall still best rss reader out there.

Re: Two Zunes arrived…

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 06:19:45 -0000

Wow, that's a cool mailing list to be on ;-). Especially like the keep one aspect of it, rather than return both.

Re: Talking about the hard drive business with my sponsor, Seagate

Tue, 21 Nov 2006 21:17:52 -0000

The way Seagate made their new 750MB drive (largest in the industry) is to stand the magnets on end, like a forest of trees, instead of laying them down like has always been done.

<strike>MB</strike> should be GB most likely.

What do I win?

Re: Talking about the hard drive business with my sponsor, Seagate

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 08:42:22 -0000

Robert: well, I guess that has some value in the long run. ;-).

Re: Google replaces SOAP API with AJAX one

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 15:48:19 -0000

This isn't so much of a move against Windows Apps, but the ability to modify search results with ease. SOAP works just fine with PHP, Perl and other languages.

This is more about not letting third parties modify (and possibly degrade) "Powered By Google" searches.

Re: Microsoft sending free computers to bloggers?

Wed, 27 Dec 2006 09:23:07 -0000

So where's the signup list for this? ;-)

Then again, I'm still waiting 'free usb drive':
http://www.microsoft.com//windowsxp/mysterysolv...

Really cool though.

How will Google outdo? Laptop/Desktop Combo?

Re: There’s some porn on my link blog

Tue, 02 Jan 2007 09:02:41 -0000

Oh boy... troll bait 2.0! Go Scoble!

Re: “Default” racism

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:24:27 -0000

I'll take it a step further.

I don't think Hillary has a chance, because she's a woman.

I don't think the general US population is "ready" for a woman or minority president. Personally? I'd welcome the change with either.

The US has traditionally been very slow to adopt to the idea of change. People still can't get over the idea that the speaker of the house is a woman. THAT was a headliner, and in a way controversial. Meanwhile, 98% of Americans couldn't name the last 3 or 4 to hold that position (because we don't care).

I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but I think we are still a while away.

Regardless, a serious run by them is still a giant step forward. You can't win if your not even in the race. I think that's the big thing to keep in mind here.

Re: I love European trains…

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 09:54:00 -0000

I’ve heard several times that only about 20% of Americans own passports.

I'd call it embarrassing, especially considering how the rest of the world sees our attitude towards them as arrogant. Most who make these statements haven't even left their home state, much less the country.

Re: “I’m so unsubscribing cause you’re inane”

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 13:43:16 -0000

If I complain enough about your blogging, will you dedicate a post or two to me? ;-)

Re: Google isn’t the only one going offline…

Wed, 30 May 2007 21:25:49 -0000

Mozilla?
http://www.bluishcoder.co.nz/2007/02/offline-zi...

;-)

Re: Cranky geeks is up — where are you going to buy your iPhone?

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 22:57:03 -0000

Cingular store, at least 1 more year. Wouldn't get a 1st gen.

Re: When should I give a company a second chance?

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 09:18:42 -0000

I tried it before too, and couldn't stand it.

I'm still waiting for someone who can keep my Thunderbird AB, Palm AB, and phone AB in sync... and handle my phone via bluetooth sync using the windows AB.

Then let me keep my Mac AB in sync.

What a drag to have addresses in the places you need them huh?

Re: Firefox on Macs giving people fits

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 21:15:53 -0000

Robert: I'd be curious to know if you've found any patterns (particular sites, usage patterns, etc) that cause problems in Firefox.

A little collaboration to find the common element makes finding the bug (and a fix) 1000X better.

May also want to try "Minefield" aka Firefox 3.0 alpha and see if you encounter the same problem. While still alpha quality (be careful) it may give you an idea if the problem has already been fixed in the next release.

Re: Why Mahalo, TechMeme, and Facebook are going to kick Google’s butt in four years

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 08:53:05 -0000

I'm still of the personal opinion that the whole business plan of these sites is to sell their index to a major search engine (read: Google, Yahoo, MSN). Give it a year or two, and you'll see Facebook search integrated into one of them as the new "phone book". Some sort of rev-share agreement. There's a reason they keep everything as anti-search engine as possible. They could easily open up really basic profiles to search engines and keep all the private info private. They op out intentionally.

They have a valuable asset, they want to cash in on it. Just wait.

Re: Email ain’t going away

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 22:35:07 -0000

Email is the ultimate API. Everyone has it, everyone knows how to use it, it works cross platform on many devices it's mobile it's everywhere no company can stop it (even if they want to... spam).

Re: Dear Steve Jobs

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 22:08:34 -0000

You don't want flash. Flash will kill the battery life, and yes it will be used in ads, so fat chance on just avoiding them if you care about battery life.

Apple pushes h.264/AAC encoding for a reason: hardware encoding is very efficient. They want to ensure you can get as much battery life as possible or they will be criticized for the poor battery life.

Flash sucks when you care about laptop battery life. Will hurt even more on your phone.

Re: The you-don’t-need-more-friends lobby

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 17:15:35 -0000

I don't think it's practical to build applications to meet every persons needs. You build towards your target audience. Your clearly not Facebook's target.

One could say they should just get rid of the "Friend" concept and make it just 1 large community.

That said, one could *very easily* say Facebook is inept because it won't let me bulk comment on everyone's wall. One may need this for commercial purposes. Of course Facebook doesn't want this. But there are easily hundreds of thousands on Facebook who want to be able to leave "commercial offers/advertisements" on everyone's profile page.

5000 is a pretty nice # because it limits the amount of damage anyone can do. Even the worst type of social exploits can only go so far to damage their global community. MySpace didn't have this. MySpace, Facebook, Flickr constantly wage a war against spammers/child molesters/porn, etc. etc. Facebook has been able to avoid most of this because everyone is essentially sandboxed. You can only go so far without having enough friends. A cap on friends means you still have a limited reach.

I'd say it's a brilliant design. The biggest problems that face their competitors are much smaller issues for them. I'm pretty sure every company would like to be able say that. Especially in tech, normally your competitors biggest problem is yours. The winner is the one who can handle it the best and still edge out the others. Facebook can focus purely on the fight.

Also rather well done is LinkedIn, they cured the problem by avoiding the true "social" aspect instead going for "business". Combined with a "pro" or "paid" whatever you want to call it model. That's left them with a fairly beneficial networking model, but their niche targeting hasn't allowed them to bring in as much traffic.

Nobody has solved the problems thus far as well as Facebook. Not even Google managed to pull off a community as well. Orkut's drove Americans away by being spam filled when alternatives were open and spam free. Now it's mainly for Latin America.

Re: What would you ask Tim Berners-Lee?

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:13:22 -0000

Was the internet invented for research or business? Or was that really just a guise for the real intent: porn?

Come on, you have to wonder ;-)

Re: Erased

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 02:23:17 -0000

Just another reason why social networking is at least partially all hype and little substance. Flickr (Yahoo) can do the same thing to you.

I'm personally more of a fan of things like OpenID, XFN, etc. Things I can host myself and manage my identity. I host my own blog for this reason. I host my own photos/videos for this reason. I keep backups of my data for this reason. I own my domain for this reason.

Everyone can visit, I have full text feeds, but I control my content. I can move my domain as I wish, update as I wish, and do what I want without someone telling me otherwise.

I like Google, Yahoo, etc. But would I trust them with my online identity? No. Do I trust myself? Yea, I do.

I wish more would do the same.

What happens when these companies get bought out, change focus, or just shut down? What happens to your data then?

That's why I like the syndication model. Share your content, but control the distribution point. You can read many of my blog posts on planet mozilla, or your feed reader, I don't care. But the url to that feed is mine. Not FeedBurner/Google's, not wordpress.com, not typepad.

I changed my CMS from movabletype to wordpress, and changed hosts since I started blogging. Every post, every comment was preserved. I like that. In 10 years, I'll love that.

Re: Shel Israel joins FastCompany.tv

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:45:15 -0000

...Let’s clear this up. We were NOT naked. Just took our shirts off...

Yea, at the moment when the picture was taken... let the rumors persist!

Kidding ;-)

Anyway, what I wanted to say was good luck... I'm interested to see what the site will look like when you guys launch.

Re: Podcasting with BlogTalkRadio

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 20:53:10 -0000

Is that the night you proposed?

;-)

Re: I’ve joined FriendFeed

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 23:49:59 -0000

Hard to join you when they are only beta and don't have open reg yet.

Re: Google about to drop the other Enterprise shoe on Microsoft?

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:44:51 -0000

Offline support via Google Gears has been expected for a while. They may do like Zimbra and use prism.

Re: Era of blogger’s control is over

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 14:19:19 -0000

The problem I have is that there's no ability to archive and retain.

Lets face it. 9/10 companies in this space, like most of Web 2.0 will disappear in the not too distant future. It's just part of tech. We saw it in 1.0 as well. The problem is when they disappear, so does their data.

I love the fact that I can quickly link to a blog post from 4 years ago and all the comments are still there, and intact. I'd hate to loose that.

Web 2.0 is unfortunately modeled around data entrapment. What sucks is when the VC's decide to pull out, lots of great data disappears forever. That sucks.

Re: Firefox down

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:26:51 -0000

None of these methods will contribute to the world record (which is currently on hold while the server issues are taken care of). Downloading directly from the download server isn't going to count.

To contribute to the world record, download from the official webpage (mozilla.com, getfirefox.com) when it's back online.

Re: My blog about other blogs

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:33:12 -0000

Blogs are still the premium content in the social space. They are more thought out, and have more reputation behind them than the every dynamic social space.

Not to mention there's much more detail and useful info in a post that just doesn't fit in a tweet or FF comment.

Quality over quantity is my goal. That's why I still give 80%+ to Google Reader. I learn way more, and for my job, I think that's important.

Re: A tale of two photos on Flickr

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:49:45 -0000

I've got to question if that picture was more popular just because it's a better picture content wise.

In reality, while you may appreciate the camera technique and effort in the other picture... it's only you and a small audience who get/appreciate that. For some reason creative folks find this hard to believe. In tech programmers learn this very early on... nobody gives a cr@p what your algorithm looks like, or how eloquent your code is.. they care about the product. For content, producers tend to feel that the production is as important if not more important than the end product. I'm not sure why that is though.

Re: Economic Idiocy

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 09:35:27 -0000

In reality, recession isn't a bad thing. An *healthy* economy works in cycles. Growth followed by recession followed by more growth. What's important is the longer term growth. That's right, recession is actually good. I said it.

The two biggest problems are:
1. Nobody is willing to accept anything less than growth in our country.
2. Few want to correct the economy. Most just want a bandaid and worry about it later.

You can't loose what you didn't have. Saying that the economy is collapsing because the smoke-and-mirrors wall street used to look big are gone is a fallacy. The money was never really there. That's the root cause of the problem. Bad loans. You can't say money was "lost". True, people were mislead and cheated out of money, but money wasn't "lost".

If the economy doesn't correct hard and fast, it's going to hurt more later on. In retrospect this should have happened 12 months ago.

I'm a bit more worried about if we try to postpone the necessary cycle of the economy. We wouldn't have had Web 2.0 if the Web 1.0 stupidity and poor business plans didn't die. That's just the reality of it.

A healthy economy is cyclical:
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2005/12/...

I like this graph in particular:
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/.shared/image.htm...

Yea the depression was brutal... but the economy did recover and grow (as expected).

Trick is to prevent the excessive growth which is often the result of BS, which is what the Pecora Commission was trying to figure out in 1929, and the feds are trying to do today. If they had been paying attention and regulated things better, economic growth would have slowed a few years ago but we wouldn't be subjected to the sudden instability and drops of today.

But of course in the early 2000's anything short of record growth regardless of it's foundation was "unamerican" and "letting the terrorists win". So low interest rates for everyone.

Re: Our disappearing web

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:54:02 -0000

I make an effort to keep my stuff on the web as much as possible, but under my control. I use my own domain, backup my data, and keep things up and running. I've been through a few CMS's, several servers, etc. But it's still there. The very first blog post is still there. And I intend to keep it that way.

I host my own photos too. So I can keep them online. What happens to Flickr if Yahoo doesn't survive? While you may have backups, what about the url's?

Certain people (won't mention names) think 80% of startups could die in this economic downturn... what about the data they host? What about the users and the networks created?

I'm convinced at this point that hosting your own data is important, and I live by that mantra.

That's largely why I'm interested in things like distributed social networks, openID, blogs, more than Facebook, FriendFeed, Flickr. I like my data, I value my time, and my relationships. I don't want my relationships to be owned by a third party.

Am I insane for feeling this is important? At times I wonder, but seeing your post in some concern gives me hope that I'm not alone.

I own and share my data. Owning it lets me share forever. I think that's better than letting a company own it and share it on my behalf.

Re: Help, I’m clueless about Web Service scalability

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:19:52 -0000

Following the pareto principle (80% rule) what is in your opinion(s) the hitlist of tasks to scale a LAMP application on the web? When do you feel the deadline is in terms of development and launch?

Re: We’re in a death spiral

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:37:41 -0000

"Hoarding" isn't a bad thing. It's what should have been happening all along.

For years people have been spending more than they are earning. Now suddenly everyone is either building savings either by choice or by force. Regardless it's a good thing.

Personal savings does help insulate against recessions, which are a normal part of a healthy economy. It pads us for the hard times (that's why it's strongly suggested you have some).

What's the lesson to learn here? Never spend more than you can afford, always put a % of your cash into a place with enough liquidity and stability that you can quickly retrieve it at a moments notice (savings account, money market account, etc.).

Unfortunately everyone is feeling it, even if they weren't the individuals (and companies) who made these mistakes.

Re: The Enterprise Soft Spot, er, the Enterprise Email Crisis

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 09:37:04 -0000

IMHO the problem isn't Email... it's people.

People keep suggesting alternatives such as IM, Facebook, etc... but they all have the same problem: people send tons of unnecessary things just to make noise.

IMHO these other services are even more of an issue. Besides for more things to check, they are also hard to port over. At least an email address can move from one ISP to another (unless you use your ISP's domain name). Facebook owns your data.

IM's are even worse... no longer can you que and prioritize to make the most of your time... it's "instant". A constant distraction to your workflow and concentration (IMHO the recent study that it improves productivity is BS).

95% of things sent by email pretty much all FYI's, How To's, and reference email's belong on Wiki's or other intranet products. Email is conversational and private.

New services don't fix the problem. New people, or retraining people would.

Re: Why I love the US auto industry

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 23:38:33 -0000

You make a good point about quality, and I 100% agree, but the problems go much deeper.

These companies couldn't get rid of the brands, but that won't reduce costs, just make PR easier (which is still the least of their problems). These companies did such poor jobs negotiating union deals over the past 30 years that a few thousand dollars on every car goes towards pensions and paying people who should have been subject to layoffs and don't even put in a days work anymore (but still get a paycheck and benefits). On top of that, the large number of dealers essentially being subsidized by the manufactures are strangling the companies.

Assuming they work out these problems, they still need to figure out how to react to the American energy concerns. Foreign cars are becoming very efficient and affordable. US cars are not nearly as efficient and cost more.

For China, this is really the perfect time to invade the US market. If they could produce a reliable, energy efficient car that still looked and performed well in the next 5-8 years, it's over for US automakers unless large taxes were instituted against foreign cars.

Their problems aren't just the product, it's also how it's made. Fixing both at the same time is nearly impossible legally and technically. A bailout doesn't fix these problems, it just lets them squander more time, and gives the foreign competitors more time to workout how to kill them off.

What the US auto industry needs is exactly what it has right now, and ultimatum. Fix it or die. That simple. If it becomes any less dire, they aren't going to suffer the necessary pain to resurrect these brands.

I'm hoping they rebound... but I want a true rebound, one that creates a viable industry, not one like we have had for several years that despite records sales they hemorrhage money.

Re: The Facebook/Google war over your blog’s friends

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:17:04 -0000

What's the point? It's one thing to have a universal registration system, but to add one in? That's just silly.

I'm still holding out for OpenID. I hate the idea that Facebook or Google could tomorrow decide to charge $29.95 a month to keep your profile. Just the potential for that is ridiculous. For those who say it could never happen, just think back to when .mac was free for all Mac users. Then it became subscription based, and fell into disrepair for years.

Gravatar is the one I hate the least, since it's so benign you can add/remove it without feeling a thing. Still don't like hitting a third party for images, but it's the least offensive of them all.

Re: User data ownership on Facebook and why it doesn’t matter

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:26:27 -0000

One could say the same for when you started complaining about Facebooks 5000 friend limit. Why is this a big deal? Why do you feel you should be entitled to more. It's their service.

That said, I still don't use facebook and have no plans to start. I like controlling my information and having email archives that extend as far back as I want. Not to mention anyone can contact me, even if their company blocks facebook (since very few outlaw email).

I don't like that a company can shut me down for no reason at all. At least with email their is competition. I can also move my email (thanks to having a domain).

I won't use a service in a way I can't afford to loose unless I either have backups, other options.

Even my twitter feed is backed up to my personal database. So if twitter goes under, I still have a record of my content. Still thinking of a way to harvest tinyurl.com links for future use should that service go under.

If you have no control over your data, it's your fault, not a companies. Thanks to many companies out there who are very good about making data portable (WordPress, even Google is very good).

Re: User data ownership on Facebook and why it doesn’t matter

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:32:51 -0000

By the way, legally the author or content creator ALWAYS has copyrights. But defending those online is pretty difficult sometimes.

Yes, but your giving them away on facebook. You give them pretty much all rights a copyright holder has.

Re: productivity tip: don’t check your email in the morning

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:42:19 -0000

This strategy also assumes you know what your high priority (or any priority) tasks are without looking at your inbox. ;-)

Re: productivity tip: don't check your email in the morning

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:42:19 -0000

This strategy also assumes you know what your high priority (or any priority) tasks are without looking at your inbox. ;-)

Re: productivity tip: don't check your email in the morning

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:42:19 -0000

This strategy also assumes you know what your high priority (or any priority) tasks are without looking at your inbox. ;-)