[un]common sense

Facebook's Gross National Happiness Index

2009-10-06T15:28:00.003-06:00

Facebook has developed, among creepier pools of information, a Gross National Happiness Index. This assumes that FB users are a reliable representative sample -- not always the case -- and that people are largely reporting their actual feelings as opposed to song lyrics or statements which trigger the general 'happy' bucket or 'sad' bucket in error.

My question is, when is the last time you were sitting someplace and wondered exactly how happy is the world, right at this instant?

Further, to whom is this information relevant -- how will FB monetize this chart? Will FB become a modern 'Big Brother', sending out news flashes which result in specific and desirable GNHI readings? When the US is sad will Obama appear in our news feeds with save-the-day messages of encouragement?

I'm fairly certain I would opt out.

via CNET

Brad and Marilyn's Wedding Highlights

2009-09-30T11:27:00.001-06:00

Marilyn and Brad - Highlights from Jamie Honce on Vimeo.

"Fell In Love at the Apple Store"

2009-09-29T01:17:00.000-06:00

Love this.

Serving Suggestion: cold liquor

2009-09-20T21:41:00.003-06:00

Great presentation for a casual dinner or girls' night.

Networking = Savings

2009-08-08T11:15:00.003-06:00

My parents have a room where they share computer time: two desktops, two printers, two scanners...you get the picture. This makes absoultely no sense. Except that anymore, desktops are sold with these items as a bundle for a few hundred extra dollars.

Since they already have wiresless, there would be minimal costs associated with networking the desktops, printers and scanners. They would have immediately saved money on the useless bundle and space in the room, and long-term on electricity costs of running the additional equipment.

I wonder why one of the questions the Best Buy salesperson fails to ask is, "Do you plan to run multiple machines or just this one?"

Hilarious from Macenstein - Steve Jobs

2009-06-23T12:01:00.003-06:00

Macenstein's response to Steve Jobs' liver transplant announcement -- likely fueled by the Dos Equis "Most Interesting Man in the World" campaign, but who cares, it's still hilarious.

"Steve Jobs’ alleged liver transplant came as a bit of a shock to Apple fans this week. Given that Jobs is one of the most high-profile and rumored-about CEO’s on the interweb, sometimes we may feel we know everything there is to know about the man. However, Steve is like an onion. He’ll make you cry if you cut him. AND he has layers. Many layers. Here are 13 little known facts that you may not be aware of about everyone’s favorite Apple CEO (not including Gil, of course).

#1 Steve’s liver transplant is not his first organ transplant operation. Over the last 400 years Steve has been gradually replacing all his organs as they wear out.

#2 Steve Jobs’ favorite color is a special color that only he can see called “flursch”. According to a 1996 Vanity Fair article, Steve once described flursch as “sort of like how you see purple, except it’s just about as different as you can imagine.”

#3 Steve Jobs CAN believe it’s not butter.

#4 Steve Jobs can divide by zero.

#5 “Steven Paul Jobs” is an anagram for “Elves Put Banjos”. Think about it.

#6 Despite holding a public funeral for Mac OS 9, Steve still runs Classic on his MacBook Pro to play Sid Meier’s Civilization 2.

#7 Steve has been rumored to be romantically linked to Joan Baez and ex-New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms.

#8 Steve’s first fruit-themed computer company, Elderberry Computers, went under in 1975 shortly after Monty Python’s The Holy Grail was released and turned the once proud fruit into a joke.

#9 Contrary to popular belief, there does not appear to be any direct correlation between N2N (the tail number on Steve Jobs’ Gulfstream 5 Jet) and the Los Angeles-based N2N erotic men’s clothing store.

#10 According to scientists who study such things, the “most uncomfortable moment ever recorded” occurred in Cupertino CA, March 18th, 2004 during a 75-minute Steve Jobs tongue-lashing given to a technician who could not get a projector working.

#11 Steve Jobs was originally up for the role or “Neo” in the Matrix movies, but the Wachowski brothers didn’t feel like doing a documentary.

#12 Steve Jobs can pee at a urinal even if flanked on both sides and with a line behind him.

#13 Steve Jobs has cried only once during his life - while watching the movie Sophie’s Choice. It wasn’t the heart-wrenching plot that made Steve tear up, it was reportedly the idea of a person being given “choice” that got to him."

Interesting feedback from my father on the Google Power Meter

2009-06-03T14:46:00.003-06:00

In an email from Dan K.:

When we lived in Brunswick, we had an all electric house. We had a demand meter installed to regulate our electric usage. This sounds like the same kind of technology. It regulated the furnace, hot water tank, and the washer and dryer. It limited the peak demand which was the basis for your electric bill. At that time, only two places in the country had demand meters,Cleveland and Denver. This meter was designed for all electric houses only. Many all electric homes were constructed in the mid to late 70's because there was a gas shortage. These new devices seem to be designed to work with any power source. Selling these will be like shooting fish in a barrel. We were the second people on our street to purchase the demand meter and within six months, almost everyone on the block had one. We used to have contests to see who could have the lowest demand for the month. That is,without having your wife complain about it being too cold in the house. The way Obama is headed, he should offer a subsidy for the purchase on these. They will only work if your house is well insulated and you can afford repairs to bring it up to code. I wonder is Google is going to make this a spinoff company or just operate it within the original company. Buy Google.

Interesting. I wasn't aware.

bk

Google Power Meter

2009-06-03T01:20:00.003-06:00

Google Power Meter isn't out yet but, as with most things Google, there is already a lot of talk about the service.

I think this is a great tool to actualize power usage on a smaller scale and have a greater impact per household. I'd be willing to bet it doesn't take long before the resulting stats are the norm on home sale info flyers and energy usage becomes a much more significant selling point for both buyers and sellers.

The service is said to roll out by the end of the calendar year.

bk

What's wrong with this picture?

2009-05-06T21:29:00.003-06:00

Soooo...here's a picture I took about five minutes ago when I got home and pulled into my parking garage. It's a bucket catching water that's clearly dripping from a leaky pipe...in the garage...where all of the cars drive...after rain, snow etc...

Why?

More than one way to recycle

2009-05-04T07:30:00.002-06:00

Nothing like using someone else's billboard to make the point of yours: Canadian hardware store advertises paint recycling via Apple's existing ad.

The Google goats.

2009-05-01T18:53:00.003-06:00

Google has reported that it will no longer pay for a traditional lawn service at its Mountain View headquarters. Instead, it will opt for a greener option: goats. The goats will be "rented" from a local farmer and will be periodically allowed to graze in the fields in order to maintain the grass and prevent wild fires while reducing carbon emissions and gasoline consumption of mowers.

Photo: Google

i hope someone can get this app past apple.

2009-05-01T00:17:00.001-06:00

Of course they did...

If I saw this in a bar I would totally fall for it. No doubt in my mind.

Swine Flu Tracking

2009-04-29T00:46:00.003-06:00

Reason #4238 why I love Google = visual epidemic tracking.

The left panel of this search gives a brief synopsis of each balloon. I hadn't realized so many of the infected individuals are young (under 10) children.

Malcolm Gladwell on hard work.

2009-04-26T17:58:00.001-06:00

Excellent point by Malcolm Gladwell [via Daily Beast].

Can't be a pro-everything...

2009-04-25T16:32:00.006-06:00

and if you think you are, there's likely no one who agrees with you.

Seth has this to say...

I'm the first person to admit that compared to you, I have no idea what I'm talking about. You're there, doing what you do, and doing it with skill.
Let me be really clear: My job is not to tell you what to do. I don't know what to do. You do.
Not just me, of course. Everybody with a blog or a book or an interest in your success. Don't do what they say. Listen to their questions instead.
My job is provoke you into asking hard questions. Ask those questions to your boss and your co-workers and yourself. It's easy to show that self-aware decisions and thoughtful strategies outperform blind stumbling.
I don't have a lot of patience for this list of seven rules or that manual of how it's supposed to be or the step-by-step road map you can purchase today only. I think you'll do a lot better if you get optimistic about the future and cynical about pat answers at the same time instead.

-- Seth Godin
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

Whether it's your job to provoke me or my job to provoke you, do just that and you'll leave yourself with a lot more breath and happier, more empowered employees.

bk

Politics of Pirating

2009-04-24T15:23:00.003-06:00

Funny, but not by principle...

seth godin: this is broken

2009-04-22T18:42:00.003-06:00

Ross encouraged us to watch this Seth Godin video yesterday. I'm glad he did, because when I first came across the post myself, I pushed play and saw the 20-some-minute duration and navigated away. It turned out to be not only entertaining, but valid to just about anyone, on any given day, who actively participates in the real world.

I hate when I order water at a restaurant and, by default, it comes with a lemon. I didn't order lemon water, I ordered water. I bet you've never gotten a water that came with an iced tea bag in it simply by asking for a water. Iced tea is equally acceptable as a beverage, yet you'd have to ask for it. Why then, do restaurant managers / staff assume that you want the extras? Probably as Seth points out, because it's not their job to change the status quo; someone above them told them that at the specific establishment, we serve water with a lemon. It's the person's job to bring guests the product that management has created, not to challenge said product. On the other hand, when is the last time you ordered a lemonade and got that same lemon garnish without asking? Slim chance, if any. But why? I would be enthralled if my lemonade from a dispenser came with a fresh lemon. But it's not the server's job to develop the product, so instead you get the water with the lemon and the lemonade with nothing.

When you begin to look at things this way, it seems increasingly easier to stand out -- to be only marginally less broken, but less broken across the board translates into a much smoother operation overall.

bk

Microsoft's eighth try still sucks

2009-04-22T11:50:00.002-06:00

Despite the fact that Windows 7 has yet to hit the shelves [although if you're privy to some tech sites it is apparently available for download in its final beta stages, but I don't know for sure where because frankly I don't care], Microsoft is said to be hiring developers for Windows 8. The preview below is ironically similar to Mac's OS X [I run 10.5.2 and 10.5.6 on my machines and am most familiar with those] and even features stacks, a [crappy] dashboard, and Mac-like windows and interchangeable screens. Only thing is, Microsoft 8 is a concept that looks strangely similar to Mac's already-deployed OS. Hmmmm. Little behind?

Copenhagen User Experience from Copenhagen Concept on Vimeo.

Reporting Phishing Scams

2009-04-22T11:24:00.003-06:00

Here's a simple list on how to report phishing scams like the one above that I received today:

You can usually send a copy to abuse@DOMAIN.com where DOMAIN.com signifies the company to which you are directing the email. For example, abuse@suntrust.com is the email address for sending phishing emails purporting to be from SunTrust Bank.
If in the United States, you can also forward a copy to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) using the address spam@uce.gov.
If you aren't in the U.S. and the abuse@DOMAIN.com address bounces, you can visit the real website by using a pre-existing bookmark in your browser or typing the known good URL (link) into your browser. Do not use the link included in the phishing email! Once on the site, look for a viable contact resource. For example, at the very bottom of the page on the eBay website is a link titled "Security & Resource Center". Following that link takes you to a page that instructs you on how to submit "suspicious-looking email that appears to be from eBay or PayPal and you want eBay to take action." If you can't find a specific security resource, try looking for general contact or support contact details on the website.
If you still can't find suitable contact details and you're not ready to give up, you can always do a domain name lookup, referred to as a whois, and get the contact details that way. Keep in mind that whois information is often grossly out-of-date and the email addresses listed therein are frequently unmonitored accounts. Still, it's worth a shot. Popular whois servers include APNIC, ARIN, and Network Solutions.

Whichever method you choose, be sure to forward the email as an attachment so that the HTML encoding and header information is preserved; otherwise the email will be of little use for investigative purposes.

[about.com]

What if technology didn't shrink? Visa ad.

2009-04-21T14:05:00.002-06:00

Visa's latest ad for Australia and New Zealand: What if technology didn't shrink?

created by TBWA\Whybin

Shot in the Back of the Head by Moby

2009-04-16T21:10:00.001-06:00

Moby's 'Shot in the Back of the Head' video. Love it.

24 Hour Fitness: Ancillary Revenue Streams vs. Your Business Model

2009-04-16T17:16:00.004-06:00

Installing ancillary revenue streams is a potentially outstanding way to increase your company's annual gross, but be mindful of where you focus your attention, especially if it tends to be primarily on the bottom line. By definition, ancillary revenue streams are not your company's primary source of income; they do, however, affect your business model, and not always in the way you would like.

I belong to 24 Hour Fitness and I love their gyms. With more than 20 clubs in the Denver Metro area, I can almost always find a location that conveniently fits into my day. The employees are polite and helpful and they greet you by name every morning [by design, I'm sure], the equipment is well-maintained and there's lots of it, and the price isn't too bad either. Since I'm there every day and because I'm in my brother's wedding soon, I decided to try their tanning package so I'm not blindingly pale in my dress. Despite being a huge fan of the brand, here's what I found with their a la carte tanning option:

In order to purchase an unlimited monthly package I have to sit down with a sales rep and complete the process, which I was told consists of a few forms and "first and last month's payment." When I asked how you pay the first and the last month of a one-month tanning package, the down-to-earth front desk employee laughed and said he wasn't really sure.
Because I don't have an extra 45-minutes to tool around with a sales rep before work in the morning I decided to go with the 10-tan package which required only my credit card and a short health release form.
There are 4 stand-up tanning beds at the location by my house. Apparently only one of them is functional because when I finished my workout and went to the desk to request a tanning session I was told that it would be an 8-10 minute wait because someone was in it.
The beds are located along the wall next to a bunch of machines. So, once I finish my workout and get undressed, I have to tan and then put my sweaty workout clothes back on to walk to the locker room. A smarter set-up would have been to enclose the small area and include walkways on either end so that you could get to the lockers without having to go back through the gym, and you wouldn't need to get fully dressed again.
The first time I went I stayed in for the max 12 minutes. It seemed very quick, so the second time I set my stopwatch. The 12 minute tanning session is actually only a few seconds over 8 minutes, which is why I found the bed to be largely ineffective. When I asked the employee why the beds turn off two-thirds of the way through the session he told me that they know the timers don't work. Really?

24 Hour Fitness is a gym that has tanning beds, and not a tanning salon. However, if your business model includes supplementary income from ancillary revenue streams, then those revenue streams should be aligned with your primary business model and should meet or exceed the standards you've set for it. Not doing so can not only negatively affect your overall goals but will almost certainly eliminate the potential to make your additional revenue streams successful.

bk

Reality Show "Someone's Gotta Go" -- humor in layoffs? Doubt it.

2009-04-15T14:03:00.003-06:00

Fox has apparently developed its latest classless reality show, "Someone's Gotta Go". The basis of the show is layoffs and will feature small companies having to make a decision on whose job will be cut as a result of the economic state. The decision will be placed in the hands of the employees who will have full access to the company's books, etc. I find it hard to believe that a group of intellectuals sitting in a conference room absorbed this pitch and applauded the effort. Sort of sickening.

I must say, the best end result I could imagine is if this show fails miserably and whoever's idea it was is the one to lose his / her job.

bk

It's a PC...

2009-04-14T16:23:00.003-06:00

Homeless Frank gets a PC. I love this.

...a response to Lauren getting a PC...

<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-US&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:0bb6a07c-c829-4562-8375-49e6693810c7&showPlaylist=true&from=shared" target="_new" title="Laptop Hunters $1000 – Lauren Gets an HP Pavilion">Video: Laptop Hunters $1000 – Lauren Gets an HP Pavilion</a>

bk

Honda Element becomes "dog friendly"

2009-04-10T17:29:00.002-06:00

According to PSFK, the new Element was developed with dogs in mind. It [seriously] has:

a cushioned pet bed in the cargo area with an elevated platform;
second row and cargo area pet restraint systems;
an extendable cargo area load-in ramp;
a 12V DC rear ventilation fan;
second-row seat covers with a dog pattern design (matches the bed fabric);
all-season rubber floor mats with a toy bone pattern;
a spill-resistant water bowl; and
dog-friendly exterior emblems