Oct 2006
Life without T.V.
Saturday the 28 of October, 2006 Filed in:
Productivity
I do not own a T.V.—never have. In all my time in
front of a T.V. I have never felt like a better
person, and occasionally I have felt worse. I
think it boils down to the lack of quality
content & large percentage of bad advertising
that give me such an aversion to it. What T.V.
attempts to provide us—news, entertainment, and
education—can all be had elsewhere.
News
Owning my own business naturally taxes my time and spending an hour watching news on T.V. to get 10 minutes of filtered data is ludicrous. So for the past few years I have been slowly building a workflow of alternative sources & tools for news. Here is what I use on a daily basis:
NewsFire allows me to receive news from all my favorite sites that support RSS—articles are delivered to me just like email. Any articles of interest are bookmarked to my del.icio.us account via Cocoalicious, which has integrated support in NewsFire. Lastly I use Safari to view the full news articles because it has full integration with Apple's Mail—I can email the entire contents of the web page if I want to share it with anyone.
Entertainment
Thanks to the world of legally downloadable movies, T.V. shows, and music there is no need to tune into the networks—just buy it off the iTunes store, or search for it on YouTube.com.
Education
This is the most fascinating (and scary) change that the internet has brought to life. I am old enough to remember a childhood without a computer, and schooling without the internet—I used to have to go to the library to look up information! But as a college freshman I got a Bondi-blue iMac and my life changed forever. My regularly used sources when searching are:
But even more valuable than the ease of searching is the ease of networking—the internet has enabled rapid communications so I can ask a specific question on some appropriate message board and get an answer from half way across the globe in a matter of seconds. These chance encounters can lead to great opportunities for information-sharing.
News
Owning my own business naturally taxes my time and spending an hour watching news on T.V. to get 10 minutes of filtered data is ludicrous. So for the past few years I have been slowly building a workflow of alternative sources & tools for news. Here is what I use on a daily basis:
- NewsFire—the ultimate RSS experience for the Mac.
- del.icio.us—online bookmarking
- Cocoalicious—a Mac App to access del.icio.us
- Safari—web browsing with email integration
NewsFire allows me to receive news from all my favorite sites that support RSS—articles are delivered to me just like email. Any articles of interest are bookmarked to my del.icio.us account via Cocoalicious, which has integrated support in NewsFire. Lastly I use Safari to view the full news articles because it has full integration with Apple's Mail—I can email the entire contents of the web page if I want to share it with anyone.
Entertainment
Thanks to the world of legally downloadable movies, T.V. shows, and music there is no need to tune into the networks—just buy it off the iTunes store, or search for it on YouTube.com.
Education
This is the most fascinating (and scary) change that the internet has brought to life. I am old enough to remember a childhood without a computer, and schooling without the internet—I used to have to go to the library to look up information! But as a college freshman I got a Bondi-blue iMac and my life changed forever. My regularly used sources when searching are:
- Google—a blanket search tool
- AskJeeves—an alternative view of what's on the web
- Wikipedia—taken with a grain of salt and some good cross-referencing
- News archives (NewsFire & del.icio.us)—interesting things I have saved
But even more valuable than the ease of searching is the ease of networking—the internet has enabled rapid communications so I can ask a specific question on some appropriate message board and get an answer from half way across the globe in a matter of seconds. These chance encounters can lead to great opportunities for information-sharing.
Symptoms vs Causes
Sunday the 08 of October, 2006 Filed in:
Politics
The Race for California's Governor
I read an article today that typifies the political arguments fed to us during political campaigns. Would-be-governor Phil Angelides said about our education system “I believe we have to make this our No. 1 priority. … I'm going to set a goal to … reduce our dropout rate by 25% …” Statements like this make me cringe and I hope my fellow Californian's can see how this goal will accomplish nothing. It would be like coming down with a cold (you know: the cough, sniffles, stuffy head) and setting a goal of "…curing myself by getting rid of the sniffles!" Sure, your nose might feel better, but the cough & congestion are still ever-present, and the bug that got you sick in the first place is still inside you. You have accomplished nothing towards making yourself not sick.
Our current governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was quoted as saying “Right now the state is paying a lot of attention to how much money we spend, but not enough on accountability. We must be accountable …” This makes more sense. At least it will help us track down the root cause(s) of our failing education system. I appreciate that, while this is not what most Californians would want to hear, Arnold Schwarzenegger is not making ineffective goals.
So what does this have to do with being an entrepreneur? One of the lessons I have learned along the way is that I do not have the time or money to chase down symptoms. If I encounter a problem I must quickly and accurately identify the root cause of the symptom(s). Any effort before the root cause is identified will waste resources. Success is dependent on identifying the root cause and making its solution the goal. Curing the symptom(s) is the benefit of, or the natural outcome of, successfully solving the root problem. Like the cold we discussed earlier—when you get rid of the bug causing the cold then the symptoms will also disappear.
Source of quotes:
“Issues in the Governor's Race: Education.” The Tribune, San Luis Obispo. 28 October, 2006. A6.
I read an article today that typifies the political arguments fed to us during political campaigns. Would-be-governor Phil Angelides said about our education system “I believe we have to make this our No. 1 priority. … I'm going to set a goal to … reduce our dropout rate by 25% …” Statements like this make me cringe and I hope my fellow Californian's can see how this goal will accomplish nothing. It would be like coming down with a cold (you know: the cough, sniffles, stuffy head) and setting a goal of "…curing myself by getting rid of the sniffles!" Sure, your nose might feel better, but the cough & congestion are still ever-present, and the bug that got you sick in the first place is still inside you. You have accomplished nothing towards making yourself not sick.
Our current governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was quoted as saying “Right now the state is paying a lot of attention to how much money we spend, but not enough on accountability. We must be accountable …” This makes more sense. At least it will help us track down the root cause(s) of our failing education system. I appreciate that, while this is not what most Californians would want to hear, Arnold Schwarzenegger is not making ineffective goals.
So what does this have to do with being an entrepreneur? One of the lessons I have learned along the way is that I do not have the time or money to chase down symptoms. If I encounter a problem I must quickly and accurately identify the root cause of the symptom(s). Any effort before the root cause is identified will waste resources. Success is dependent on identifying the root cause and making its solution the goal. Curing the symptom(s) is the benefit of, or the natural outcome of, successfully solving the root problem. Like the cold we discussed earlier—when you get rid of the bug causing the cold then the symptoms will also disappear.
Source of quotes:
“Issues in the Governor's Race: Education.” The Tribune, San Luis Obispo. 28 October, 2006. A6.
Digital Content: to pirate or buy or…?
Friday the 06 of October, 2006 Filed in:
Business
Until very recently there were two ways a company
like BIG Images could get the software it needed.
It could pirate the software. It could buy the
software.
Pirating digital media like software is getting easier and easier with every passing day—the world of the torrent & gnuttela networks has seen to that.
Buying digital media like software is getting harder and harder—all the different serial numbers, registration systems, and rights-management systems have seen to that.
BIG Images buys all the software it uses. Managing the serial numbers & registration systems is becoming more and more of a logistical burden. On my laptop alone I have about 30 applications that require serial-numbers, many of which are part of site licenses, so I must manage the serial numbers per application, per machine.
There must be something better…
And there is! My third option for obtaining digital content: Open Source.
Why is this a big deal for a small business like BIG Images? Besides the obvious like complete customizability, scaleability, and rapid development and advancement (often faster than their commercial counterparts), there are NO serial numbers and rights-management systems—a complete lack of piracy control! Distribution & maintenance on a business-wide system is easier, faster, and less expensive.
Pirating digital media like software is getting easier and easier with every passing day—the world of the torrent & gnuttela networks has seen to that.
Buying digital media like software is getting harder and harder—all the different serial numbers, registration systems, and rights-management systems have seen to that.
BIG Images buys all the software it uses. Managing the serial numbers & registration systems is becoming more and more of a logistical burden. On my laptop alone I have about 30 applications that require serial-numbers, many of which are part of site licenses, so I must manage the serial numbers per application, per machine.
There must be something better…
And there is! My third option for obtaining digital content: Open Source.
Why is this a big deal for a small business like BIG Images? Besides the obvious like complete customizability, scaleability, and rapid development and advancement (often faster than their commercial counterparts), there are NO serial numbers and rights-management systems—a complete lack of piracy control! Distribution & maintenance on a business-wide system is easier, faster, and less expensive.