Bottoms up
Feb 28, 2010 Faith and Works, Futurama, Heart and spirit, Orient, Past is prologue
Today is the Jewish holiday of Purim. (Unlike the biblically-based Jewish holidays, this is one, like Chanuka, on which I’m allowed to blog!)
As well explained in the Book of Esther, it’s the holiday of turnabout, surprises, false identities, intrigue, perhaps some emotional legerdemain, and not a little spiritual confusion. The outcome isn’t always funny, or even fun, except perhaps in the sense of the divine comedy.
It all comes around in the end, though!
Google Buzz: Can we still reclaim ourselves from the Net?
Feb 11, 2010 Futurama, Heart and spirit, Social networking
No, it’s not all good.
Years ago I wrote, ”Google is not a utility. Or an agent of the state, or a thing that owes anyone anything except to the extent they pay for it. At least for now.”
Out of nowhere comes Google Buzz. It’s social networking that just appeared in your mailbox! As Adrian Dayton said earlier today, “I feel a little bit like I have been “spammed” into joining Google Buzz.”
Here’s a chat I had this morning with social media consultant (not “guru”!) Brian Wallace, who is entirely responsible for everything I have achieved with (and nothing I have abused via) social media, and he is not a happy camper, either:
[2/10/2010 7:08:41 PM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: hi
[2/10/2010 7:09:08 PM] Ron Coleman: hi — just logging off, catching train — talk later!
[2/10/2010 7:21:57 PM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: safe trip
[12:13:52 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: when you’re up and about – really would like to talk about google buzz with you
[9:29:00 AM] Ron Coleman: Good, I actually logged on because of my rude departure with you last night
[9:39:32 AM] Ron Coleman: OK yeah so I saw your initial take on this yesterday AM!
[9:39:51 AM] Ron Coleman: I was imagining you probably are thinking it’s bad enough they already know everything else about us…
[9:39:53 AM] Ron Coleman: That was my guess.
[9:42:04 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: hehe
[9:42:08 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: google buzz you mean
[9:42:16 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: it’s freaking awful
[9:42:27 AM] Ron Coleman: well that’s what you starrting the conversation with yeah
[9:42:29 AM] Ron Coleman: awful as in?
[9:42:32 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: as in
[9:42:49 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: raping our social network for their “search quality efforts”
[9:43:03 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: i’m just getting nervous about what they are in charge of and how it all connects
[9:43:11 AM] Ron Coleman: Well I saw this coming when they started returning results from “within your social network”
[9:43:18 AM] Ron Coleman: Whoa!
[9:43:19 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: yes agree
[9:43:24 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: whoa what
[9:43:30 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: oh the raping
[9:43:38 AM] Ron Coleman: I don’t think anything can stop them from owning us all but a law at this point
[9:43:47 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: right
[9:44:57 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: search + web history + analytics + transactions + mail (and reading it, mind you) + chat (and history) + our sites + trusted connections/connecting the dots + docs (and don’t forget, now they let u upload any docs, not just goog) + wave (comic relief?) + deals with real time search + etc
[9:46:00 AM] Ron Coleman: It’s ironic though because these are all services that do on their own merit greatly — albeit in varying degrees — really benefit the user.
[9:46:14 AM] Ron Coleman: I LOVE being able to read an attachment in Google docs without having to download it…
[9:46:29 AM] Ron Coleman: But between Google and FB …
[9:46:50 AM] Ron Coleman: I bet they could do a pretty good virtual mirror of all our hard drives without actually ever taking an image.
[9:47:50 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: correct
[9:47:59 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: maybe i should do a post like
[9:48:04 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: has google gone too far
[9:48:10 AM] Ron Coleman: Maybe I should do a post of
[9:48:14 AM] Ron Coleman: this IM exchange
[9:48:16 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: and suggest how you can exist w/o using goog
[9:48:20 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: sure
[9:48:33 AM] Ron Coleman: Well maybe we can exist without it
[9:48:42 AM] Ron Coleman: but isn’t it too late anyway?
[9:48:47 AM] Ron Coleman: They’ve got “everything they need”
[9:49:12 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: we can exist without it
[9:49:23 AM] Ron Coleman: I never thought I’d be the one yammering “there oughtta be a law” over a mere private enterprise thing like this
[9:49:25 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: google is hurting from social, real time search etc
[9:49:34 AM] Ron Coleman: but I guess there oughtta be a law
[9:49:38 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: google does not have enough regulation
[9:49:41 AM] Ron Coleman: Not regulation per se though
[9:49:53 AM] Ron Coleman: I want across the board requirement as to deletion of data
[9:49:55 AM] Ron Coleman: say 60 days
[9:49:57 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: mostly because lawmakers don’t know the nuts and bolts likely
[9:49:57 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: ok
[9:50:04 AM] Ron Coleman: Once a user deletes something
[9:50:08 AM] Ron Coleman: it is DELETED
[9:50:09 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: right
[9:50:19 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: try that with facebook haha
[9:50:22 AM] Ron Coleman: Plus much more opt in on what they do
[9:50:22 AM] Brian Wallace – NowSourcing: we’re all for sale
50 ways to leave your real life
Sep 6, 2009 Edumacallit, Futurama, Nuvo-Techno
Matthew Moore of Britain’s Telegraph shares 50 things that are being killed by the Internet. They’re not all bad. A couple of faves:
2 ) Fear that you are the only person unmoved by a celebrity’s death
8 ) Telephone directories
10 ) Watches
18 ) Authoritative reference works
Regarding the last one, Moore says the jolting truth: “We still crave reliable information, but generally aren’t willing to pay for it.”
Easy being green?
Aug 31, 2009 Futurama, Scientificus
My old friend and colleague John Howley is now the CEO of Davies Energy, a global energy efficiency company.
The picture of sanity
I like energy efficiency.
I’m not obsessive about energy efficiency on the petty scale, and I am suspicious of its politicization, but looking all around me I have always been struck by the massive waste of juice out there at every level.
I mention this because I see now that John is also turning his interests toward blogging about energy efficiency. Okay, so maybe he is a little obsessive about it, but, hey, it’s putting food on the table and probably putting the table under the food, too. But not only this, I see that his so far lightly-posted blog – JOHN HOWLEY’S GREEN ENERGY– is not only just full of common sense stuff, it’s not insane.
I like not insane.
I hope John (who, really, I always knew was not insane, by virtue of the easy recourse I had to comparison with insane people at the place where we used to work together) posts some more, and maybe that he’ll have some non-insane effect on energy policy around here, and everywhere else. Am I crazy to think that?
Everything you do is wrong
Jul 26, 2009 Futurama, Nuvo-Techno, Stragety
According to John Dvorak, the rise and fall of Microsoft is emblematic of not so much a lack of vision as a lack of blinders:
What’s shocking is that the cash cows, specifically the Windows operating system and the Office suite, have managed to finance all these idiotic efforts for so many years. While Microsoft’s profits and sales were way down this last quarter, it is only a matter of time before losses begin. Read more about the disappointing earnings.
The cash cows are dying of neglect. This company cannot keep its eye on the ball because there are too many shiny objects to distract it.
