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I'm NOT Partial

September 30, 2007 Techie Junk
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What is with all these partial article feeds? I know the discussion has been beat to death and nobody really has a definitive answer of whats better. Honestly though, isn’t that definitive in itself? The fact that it doesn’t really matter either way and people (LIKE ME) get irritated at having to leave their reader of choice (see Google Reader) would make any sane person just use full article feeds. Don’t you want to make your readers happy after all?

I’m sick and tired of having to navigate to the article in order to get the full benefit. I already subscribe, I comment when I deem appropriate, I contribute where I can, Is it really necessary to force me to your site? The thing that bugs me the most about it is the reason you’re doing it is most likely ad driven. Do you get that many more clicks? I doubt it. I bet the same people that are savvy enough to be subscribed to your feed are savvy enough to utilize the Adblock Plus extension.

I would just like to proclaim that

No blog I maintain will EVER have a partial article feed.

I have noticed this more and more as of late and it MUST STOP!

It's your content

September 29, 2007 Thoughts
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If you’re on the web you’re creating something whether you like it or not. If you’re watching a youtube video, enjoying a post by Matthew Mullenweg, letting your friends know what you’re up to on facebook or just doing a search for some needed info your actions are likely recorded somewhere and this becomes part of the giant repository of information that is the Internet.

There are basically 3 types of information about you available on the Internet.

  1. Your Content. This includes things like comments on a video, Blog posts, uploaded photos and forum topics that you replied to.
  2. Your Status. Things like your away message, your facebook status and Twitter let people know what you’re up to and where you’re at.
  3. What You’re Reading. You can intentionally share what you find interesting via tools like Digg, Del.icio.us or Google Reader shared items or you can let general web trends speak for you.

Different people are probably interested in different information about you. Luckily we live in a world that includes syndication feeds. This means that if you’re interested in a person’s contributions to the Internet, and they’re savvy enough to help you, you can subscribe to ‘groups’ if Information about them.

So, If you’re interested in what I have to contribute to the Internet I’ve created the following feeds to help you.

My Content

My Status

My Shared Items

Apple admits to thievery

September 26, 2007 Current Events
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AppleOn Monday Apple came out with the following statement:

many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone’s software, which will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed

Isn’t this just admitting guilt? If you updated your iPhone post-modification and it ceased working nobody would question it, you screwed something up during modification and the latest update is affected. Apple doesn’t have to accommodate modifiers because their warranty is voided as soon as they (according to apple’s iPhone contract) use the device for something it was not initially intended. By openly saying that an update may brick the device Apple is saying

Whether you bought it or not that device is ours. You can only do with it what we want.

This philosophy makes perfect sense if Apple was charging rent for the iPhone but they’re not. They charge a single flat rate fee for the DEVICE not the service it provides. Once you pay for an item regardless of what it is, that item is yours to do with what you wish. The only right Apple has in the case that you modify it from its original purchase is not to honor their original warranty. They have no right to intentionally stop the device from operating because they think you’re doing something you shouldn’t be.

We don’t live in Minority Report. We can’t be charged with crimes we haven’t committed yet. Just because the phone itself is modified, or unlocked as the term may be, does not in and of itself mean we’re doing anything wrong. We could have unlocked the phone simply because we don’t like the idea of our every move and feature being dictated by the super-companies of the world. And how about innovation? Innovation is born of change. If we can’t change what we have then nothing new will ever be created.

Once we start down the road of implementing a DRM for real world objects there is no end in sight. Can Ford take back the brand new Ford 500 you bought just because you installed an after-market stereo system? What if you add a patio to your house? Nobody would put up with these scenarios so why are we putting up with this from Apple?

The latest iPhone development coupled with the fact that Apple charges more for its DRM free music than anyone else and their recent debacle over ring tones just makes me realize how truly evil Apple is regardless of how awesome their products are.

Another Ps3 Flop

September 24, 2007 Reviews
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Nariko - Heavenly SwordSunday Charles and I killed a few hours playing Heavenly Sword. I say a few hours because that’s all it took. About 6 hrs in all which is pretty sad for a game that was supposed to be the turning point for the Ps3.

The combat system was awesome, a 9/10. The graphics an easy 11/10, the storyline a 5 and the length well… lets say it averages the game out to a solid rental and not much more.

I think the Ps3 might be doomed to less than glorious exclusive titles forever. They’ve lost so many exclusives that it makes me sick. Even the new exclusive game I heard about today, Project Offset, is now rumored to be released for the 360 as well.

What are we Ps3 owners going to do in the face of such games as BioShock and Halo 3? We need a game Sony!!!

In other news I just checked and everything up to halo21.com is taken. Anyone interested in investing in halo22.com with me?

GENI can't be pushed back in the bottle

September 23, 2007 Found on the Intarwebs
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Friday some friends from work and I went to RIT‘s first Dean’s Lecture Series talk of the year by Peter Freeman. This talk, about GENI (Global Environment for Network Innovation), was informative but a lot less interesting than I imagined. I thought there would be discussion about their thoughts for the next internet and where we might be going. Instead we were inundated with boring generic statements of how GENI will be a testing bed for experiments dealing with the next internet. All of this is available at their website but to summarize, GENI’s primary objectives are:

  • To develop and evaluate ideas for future network design
  • To encourage related research

Some things that struck me during the talk:

  1. The importance of a comprehensive coordinated effort in order to avoid the same defects existing in today’s solution was one of their key points. In almost in the same breath they mentioned the different approaches by Japan, The European Union and The United States.
  2. Their basic architecture included devices named super routers. If these are like today’s routers they’re already building some very blatant similarities into what’s supposed to be a test bed for a new architecture. One of the things they mentioned was changing the TCP/IP stack. Routers are level 3 devices and as such currently utilize the TCP/IP stack. If these new devices are different than today’s routers they should have a different name.
  3. It seemed to me they were concentrating purely on the hardware networking part of things. Isn’t our hardware pretty solid? Can’t we already have 5×1028 addresses for each of the estimated 6.5 billion people alive today with IPv6 (wikipedia)? Can’t we already handle that bandwidth with the existing broadband technology? I would think the bigger concern is archaic protocols such as FTP and HTTP and their underlying stacks like TCP/IP, which have been hacked together over the years. DZone recently posted an article about why FTP Must Die and its definitely worth a read.
  4. If the hardware is redefined but the software and protocols are not, won’t we just end up with one giant hack which fits all of today’s technology into tomorrows architecture? This just seems like adding an extra layer to me.

GENI has a good idea with their general principle. We do need to be looking to the future, some of our current internet practices simply wont be able to hold up when

Every Light switch has an IP address.

However; they’re going down the wrong path and it seems like they’re creating too much (hardware) infrastructure to really inspire the creation of a new and unique solution.

Replacing Feed43

September 21, 2007 Found on the Intarwebs
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I happened across Kathleen Connally’s Photostream this morning and couldn’t find a feed for it through Google Reader or Firefox. Eventually I did find the RSS 2.0 button at the bottom, but before I found that I thought I’d create a quick (should take less than a minute) feed using Feed43. Unfortunately it appears Feed43 is down this morning. This is not good as I have several feeds created with the service that I read regularly. I’m hoping this is just a temporary hiccup and that they’ll be back but we’ll see.

If you’re looking for a replacement for Feed43 here are some options:

I’ll probably try them all in the next few days (especially if feed43 remains down) and offer my impressions of each.

Don't goto bed mad. Stay up and fight

September 20, 2007 Found on the Intarwebs
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An old but excellent stick figure fight animation I stole from Greg.

Rushing your Blog

September 18, 2007 Found on the Intarwebs
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Blogrush logo
BlogRush caught my eye today. Essentially it’s a way to increase traffic to your website. However, something else it does for you gave me a thought. For a while now I’ve been using my Google Reader Shared Items to let people know what I think is interesting and relevant. BlogRush has the unique ability to let my readers know what IS interesting and relevant. What’s even cooler is the more people that use my link the more interesting and relevant my content will be!

Instead of Burning try Converting

September 17, 2007 Found on the Intarwebs
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A few days ago I downloaded some software that came as a .UIF file. Assuming it was a disc Image I attempted using Roxio, Nero and even an ISO mounting software I use called Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel to open it with no luck. I then did some searching on the net and found out that UIF is a proprietary extension for a program called Magic ISO. Essentially it’s just a compressed ISO.

Magic ISO allows you to make Images and Burn them, however their free trial version only allows you to burn (or create) up to a 300mb image. My Image was slightly over at 430mb so I was out of luck (or so I thought).

I quickly did some searching and came across a handy little tutorial on how to convert UIF files. As it so happens Magic ISO also has the ability to convert the UIF files (basically extract them) into an ISO instead. This feature is actually enabled for any size file in the trial version so I was in luck.

In case the link ever goes dead all you need to do is:

  1. start Magic ISO
  2. click tools -> convert
  3. select the UIF file
  4. choose the output file name and location
  5. click ‘Convert!’

To Serve or Not to Serve (The Customer)

September 10, 2007 Thoughts
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He who wishes to secure the good of others, has already secured his own. ~Confucius

We are affected by Customer Service more than once every day. It makes a difference when you get your coffee in the morning, it matters when you fill your gas tank on your way home and when you buy your weekly groceries. The way in which you are served leaves a lasting impression on you. To that end it is my belief that Customer service should be the most important part of any business regardless of its particular niche. This week two companies left their impression on me and I’d like to outline those impressions below.

The Good News

Sometimes when you’re at the brink of never shopping somewhere again they can unexpectedly surprise you. That was the case with Circuit City this week. I live approximately 5 miles from the nearest Circuit City and rather than go there and find out they didn’t have what I wanted in stock i decided to give them a call. Literally 20 minutes after being on hold, being transferred 10 times, calling back twice and complaining, I finally got in touch with a manager who then instructed me she’d check the inventory and call me back. All this for a simple inventory check?

She called me back to let me know what I needed was in stock and that she’d have it held at the desk. Perfect. I headed over picked up what was held at the desk for me and went home. The problem arose when I tried to use it. The item I picked up turned out not to be the item I had asked for. Furious, I stormed back to Circuit City the next morning expecting a fight since I had already opened the package. When I arrived back at the store the same person was working the counter and instantly recognized me (it was also the Manager who I had talked to on the phone the previous day) and said:

You’re just not having any luck with this are you?

I said “no I’m not” in a gruff early-morning voice and she then proceeded to do the exchange without any more complaints. At the end of the transaction she explained that she had also credited my card for $8.50 (when there was no price difference) simply for the ‘inconvenience.’ Instantly she transformed my frustration into acceptance and even happiness. Not only did she fix my original problem but went above and beyond to simply make sure I wasn’t frustrated with their service.

The Bad News

My wife Rachel and I are planning on going to the Brian Regan show with some friends in our hometown in a few weeks. Since I sent out the notice to let people know about the show I offered to buy tickets for everyone so that we would be seated together. Originally I priced the tickets on TicketMaster at $30 a piece. This is what I told everyone and what I collected.

When I actually ordered the tickets The real bill included $2.50 (per ticket) for a facility charge, $7.50 for a convenience charge(per ticket) and a $3.60 service tax(total). That’s $10 per ticket more than advertised and an additional $3.60! After giving them a call I found out that the facility fee is actually charged by the venue so there’s nothing we can do about that however the tax and convenience charge is something Ticketmaster applies on top of the ticket price. Also I found out they only charge this convenience charge on the phone or on the Internet. If you go to the Ticketmaster counter the fee is waived.

How in the world does this make sense? Because it’s more convenient for me order my tickets from the comfort of my home you get to charge me more money? I say shenanigans! When I order from home especially over the Internet, I’m not distracting your customer service people from their real jobs, serving people who really need their help. It costs you no additional money to let me buy over the Internet. In fact I say it costs you less because you don’t need to have someone standing at a counter.

So what did I end up doing? Going to the actual venue and buying them direct. I had to leave work early just to get there while the box office was open. Such a complete inconvenience and utter customer service failure.

In Summary

The age old statement

The Customer is always right

Shouldn’t just be a saying on some old warn out poster behind your counter. Make it your policy, your goal, your JOB. After all, who pays your salary? What’s the best type of advertising?

That’s right Customers.

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