Neopawn

Moving back to Apple's iPhone with the release of the iPhone 4, notes and comments on day one

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 07:12:00 +0000

Today, 24th June 2010, I am once again a AT&T mobile phone customer after 18 months as customer of t-Mobile. I am the owner once again of an Apple iPhone, make that two Apple iPhone 4's... gosh I've spend a lot of money on mobile phones and service over the years!

So I'm going to record my first day experience of the new iPhone 4 and some of my overall points of experience with 'smart phones' over the years.

iPhone 4: iPhone 4 is an amazing piece of technology. Two months ago, the iPad was the amazing device, still is in a different space, however the hype, actual interest in the device and the technology makes the iPhone 4 even a bigger event than the iPad introduction. I do think the tablet size device like the iPad is going to change how we do computing more over the next two years than the iPhone 4, however the 'human' interest in the iPhone 4 makes it the news event of 2010.
Mobile history: Somewhere around 1996 I became one of the first GSM mobile phone customers on the west coast of the USA, when Pacific Bell PCS introduced service in Los Angeles. There was another company offering GSM service in New York city prior to Pacific Bell making the commitment to GSM, however Pac Bell's entry was the first of the big 'Ma Bell' operating company named companies to adopt this technology. This was during the conversion from analog mobile technology to digital, AMPS was the analog stuff. GSM was already well established in ten's of countries around the world, but USA was in our 'let the competition decide the mode as usual. I'm not sure I'm saying that is a bad thing, however in the USA, the choice of CDMA and GSM is fairly unique, few other countries have allowed the growth of two wireless technologies and none with as large a customer base [I will admit that China does have both, so I do know that but as with USA, a unique economic model there].
Pickup and phone number porting: Back to the current, enough history for now. I picked up two iPhone 4 32 GB units at the Goleta AT&T store this afternoon about 2:30 pm PDT. No line. Ian, the the AT&T rep was able to get me up and running with both phone in about 20 minutes. I moved my existing mobile number over from t-Mobile as part of the purchase. The operational side of this was completed quickly, however the new iPhone that was targeted for the ported number did not received or make calls using my existing number as I left the store, Ian indicated it would take about 30 minutes for the transfer to occur. And in fact this was the case. This occurred very smoothly as compared to my experience of moving my existing number 3 years ago to the 1st generation iPhone. On that transfer, it took about 8 hours for the transfer to occur, even though at that time I was porting from any existing AT&T phone to the iPhone. Clearly a big improvement in the number portability process since 27th of June 2007, almost exactly 3 years since my 1st iPhone experience. I do note that I have done two 'between carrier' transfers since this first number portability experience and both have happened in less than an hour and have been trouble free. So the process of moving number between mobile carriers is a non issue for me for the last two years. I sense that there are still issues for folks in this area today and I am guessing it is around billing, contract and not knowing your account number/password issues. But if you get your arms around these before you do a number transfer, it is will happen quickly and stress free.
iPhone 4: One of the two units I purchased had a defective display. Ian at the AT&T store pointed out to me that the display on one of the units had a series of 'bright spots' arcing across the screen. It was nothing that made the unit unusable, but was clearly a defect of some type. He said that he did not have any replacement units and his recommendation was to take the unit and in a couple days go to the Apple store in downtown Santa Barbara and get it exchanged.
iPhone accessories: I asked about cases for the iPhone 4 at the AT&T store and they said they had received one box of cases and they were sold out. Expecting more the next day. If I were product manager at AT&T, I would sell my soul to the devil to make sure I had accessories all over the place on first day, pure profit. More on the Best Buy aspect of this later. AT&T had very few iPhone 4 specific accessories today, a real miss. I am guessing their profit margin on the initial iPhone and contract is 'okay', but to augment this with a set of USD 100 'impulse' buys for almost every iPhone 4 picked up is very dumb to not be ready for. I talk about going over to a close by Best Buy store below. It was clear that Best Buy, at least this store, received very few iPhone 4's on opening day, however they had a better selection of iPhone 4 specific cases and accessories than either the Santa Barbara Apple store or either of the AT&T stores I visited on 'first day'. Best Buy does seems to understand the accessory impulse buy much more than either Apple or AT&T.
iPhone 4 cases: As I stated eariler, the AT&T store where I picked up my pre-ordered iPhone 4 ran out of the limited cases they received eariler in the day, they had one purple and black two-tone hard case left when I was there, clearly the last of the barrel. As I had written a couple a months ago about the case accessories for the iPad, the 3rd best business to be in, after Apple selling iPhone/iPads and creating software apps for these products is to be in the case/accessory business for the iPad/iPhone. What a GREAT racket! Back when I got the iPad, I purchased both a Apple case and a Belkin case. These cases cost me, USD 39.00 and USD 49.99 while I am pretty sure cost Apple and Belkin on the order of less than fifty cents to manufacture, WHAT A GREAT PRODUCT TO SELL! And now with the iPhone 4, a completely different form factor which none of the existing cases fit, another GREAT business opportunity! The AT&T store where I picked up my iPhone 4's is about 50 meters from a Best Buy in Goleta. So a put my new iPhone's in my car and wandered over to the Best Buy to see if they had had any cases in stock. Sure enough they had a number of the third party case on their display rack. No one, including the Apple store I visited later had the office Apple 'rubber band' case in stock. Best Buy had two versions of a hard metal case in several colors and a Griffin Reveal Slim Fit case in white. Nothing in black or grey color to match the black color of the iPhone 4. I purchase for USD 25 one of the white Griffin slimfit cases. What a GREAT market to be in as I said before, this 'case' is NOTHING more than a three eights inch wide rubber band for twenty five dollars! Crap! costs Griffin fifty cents to make this and I bought it! I had been reading the blogs all day about the 'lefty' problem with shorting out the wifi and cellular antenna's, so I figured I should get one case to see the effect. Good news, Best Buy has a 30 day return policy and the Griffen SlimFit case packaging is very easy to open and get the case out with causing damage to the packaging! Easy to return for full cash refund! But, I doubt there will be a much better case at a significantly lower price in 30 days, so I will most likely suck it up and keep this 25 rubber band! More on my experience with the antenna and the value of case later.
Android G1 bye bye: I purchase one of the Google G1 Android phones from t-Mobile 18 months ago when it first came out. Google has some amazingly great things in their Android platform, in comparing generation 1 of the Apple iPhone and Android G1, the G1 came out on top. Not by a knock down amount, and granted that the G1 was almost one and a half years after the generation one iPhone, but I would rate the G1 above the Apple products for a six to twelve month period from when I first bought the G1. However, after that due mostly to the rapid increase in hardware capability, the G1 quickly fell behind both other Android phone and the iPhone 3 GS.
Mobile carrier: They all SUCK! I ate USD 100 on my t-Mobile contract today to move to AT&T. I think if I could remove the data and voice connect issues away from all of the smart phones I have owned, their would be less emotional and real difference between the product and also a clearer timeline of technology progress. As I start to play with the iPad and iPhone 4 more and more on the AT&T wireless service it clear that when these devices are connected via this mobile network as opposed to a WiFi network the amazing abilities of this hardware are muted to a large amount. I've use all four of the major USA carriers for data in the last four years and for a basic rating I will says that my experience using Sprint was the best over all; speed, availability and reliability. That said, this landscape is changing in the next 18 month very dramatically, so what was the best 18 to 24 months ago may well be fourth place in the next 18 to 24 months. It does seems as though there is a convergence on the next generation technologies to two from three. Basically 4G LTE and WiMax, with CDMA and GSM converging to LTE, this is a very non-pro view of these technologies however. But bottom line today, as GREAT as the iPhone 4 is, it runs on a 3G wireless network that does more often than not limit the abilities of the hardware and software in the phone.
Mobile history: One of the most painful memories I had today as part of the exciting fun of getting the iPhone 4 occurred when I went to connect the iPhone to my Toyota Prius handsfree function. I've owned this 2004 Prius for about 5 years now. When I went to bluetooth associate the iPhone 4 with the car, the car told me I did not have any available phone slots. The picture below says it all, in the 5 years of owning the car, I have had four smart phones linked to it. If you assume I have spend USD 2,000 per smart phone's life on hardware, apps and service that amount to USD 8,000. That is about one fifth the cost of the car and its operation over the car's life, OUCH! Running down the phones; Windows CE smart phone on Cingular, 1st Generation iPhone on AT&T, Blackberry on Sprint and Android G1 on t-Mobile. By the way, this is the last picture I took on the Android G1. I also took the same picture on the new iPhone 4, and while the picture was six time larger in file size and of better quality, it did not do any better in showing the sad history of Dave's smart phones. Oh, and yes, I have owned two smart phone before I got the Prius, so my history of smart phones is even longer and more expensive!

AT&T Microcell and AT&T coverage:I knew going into the move to the iPhone 4 and AT&T, that the coverage here in the area of Santa Barbara that I am currently spending a lot of my time is not 'the best'. I have gone through a lot of pain with the speed, reliability and coverage of mobile data networks as I have owned the last six smart phones. I've been on all four major carriers for data and here again is a plug for the pre-WiMax 3G Sprint coverage, I think it has been the best on all three scales. So, going to the iPhone 4, I have had two Kindles, one on the Sprint data network and one on the AT&T data network. As well I have one of the Apple iPad's on the AT&T data network. So, in combination with reviewing the coverage map for AT&T [see picture below] I was pretty sure I was going to have marginal coverage for both voice and data at my main location. So, along with the iPhone 4's, I purchased one of AT&T's femtocell devices. I will not go into the pricing option choices in this post, but will leave it to say that I just outright purchased the device for USD150. It comes with the standard 30 day return policy so I may consider returning and then 'rebuying' one at lower cash outlay cost but with a monthly cost. We shall see. Bottom line, the device does work, if you have crappy coverage it will fix that. Here are the basic stats for three AT&T devices: 5 BARS - iPhone 4 connected to AT&T Microcell 1 BAR - iPhone 4 connected to standard AT&T mobile tower in the area 3 BARS - iPad 3G connected to same standard AT&T mobile tower in the area
So what are lessons here for me? From the map and legend below, what AT&T calls 'moderate' service, I call NO service! Buyer beware! Different between iPad and iPhone 4G, basically having BIG honking case and antenna make RAW mobile coverage significantly different. My iPad 3G get much better 'BARS' coverage than either the iPhone 4G or the Kindle. HOWEVER, a larger number of bars does not necessarly translate to better data throughput. Loading the full iGoogle home page with no Flash on the Microcell connected iPhone took 35 seconds, Same page on the AT&T 2 to 4 bars iPad took 45 seconds, page on a AT&T 1 bar iPhone 4 took 15 seconds to load. So bottom line is that number of bars does not equate to speed of web page loading, there is very little correlation. But, getting the most bars is be best strategy for reducing dropped calls and getting better download speed. I have made several extended voice calls via the Microcell today and found no drops and overall superior voice quality. There were still a couple of times when heard some digital noise generated noise, but if you allow for this the voice experience on the Microcell appears to be very close to a five bar full mobile tower near by.

Apple store: The guy at the AT&T store pretty much washed his hands of the display problem I having, it's not that he was unhelpful, just that you could really sense a lack of energy. The AT&T guy said to go to the Apple store in 3 days or so, to wait for the crowds to go down. But I left the AT&T store with some concern that I might get stuck a phone that Apple would say had 'user caused problems'. So after I picked up the femtocell at AT&T I decided to head down to the Apple store in downtown Santa Barbara and at minimum see if could a Apple Genus to see the problem and queue me up for a replacement. I was assuming they would be zero replacement parts for a day or two. But that proved wrong. First off, as I arrived at the Apple store about 5 pm, there were STILL two lines of 40 people waiting to either order or pickup their phones, WOW! A asked a Apple employee and she said it had been that way all day. I walked up to front door hoping to just go the Genius bar, but was stopped by a Apple person who said that the store was basically closed except for people picking up or ordering iPhone 4's. I explained [and showed] the problem I was having with the phone and wonderfully he said that I could go to the service desk. Which I did, after the Apple Genius showed the display problem to three or four other Geniuses and took it in back to do the 'has this Apple product been subject to moisture damage' test, always a scary event for everyone, he came back and said they would swap out the phone right there. Yea! it took about 20 minutes of paperwork and reconfiguration, but I walked out of the store with a replacement 32 GB iPhone 4. Crowds were still there, store was packed.

Apple, AT&T and Best Buy customer service: I cannot leave this tale without saying that everyone at all four stores I visited today were very helpful, friendly and enjoyable to associate with. There is no doubt these folks had a long day and appear to get no more money on a chaotic day like today vs. a normal traffic day, but all showed very good customer service. Good job to all!

Gumption and Gumption traps - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert M. Pirsig

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:46:00 +0000

I recently re-read Robert Pirsig's book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It is a excellent book, I wish when I read it the first time in high school I would have better understood how applicable it would be to my life direction and ways of thinking.

Rereading his writing on 'gumption' and specifically 'gumption traps' was especially useful to me right now. Pirsig's definitions:

Gumption

—n. Informal.
1. initiative; aggressiveness; resourcefulness: With his gumption he'll make a success of himself.
2. courage; spunk; guts: It takes gumption to quit a high-paying job.
3. common sense; shrewdness.

Courage, also known as bravery, fortitude, will, balls, and intrepidity, is the ability to confront fear, pain, risk/danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. "Physical courage" is courage in the face of physical pain, hardship, death, or threat of death, while "moral courage" is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, or discouragement.

Gumption is enthusiasm, our psychic gasoline, a reservoir of good spirits that can be added to or subtracted from.

If you haven't got Gumption you might as well gather up all the other tools and put them away.

Gumption Traps: - anything that causes one to lose sight of quality and thus enthusiasm for what one is doing.

Setback - thrown off the quality track by conditions that arise, external circumstances.

Hangup - thrown off the quality track by conditions that are primarily within yourself.

His writing on gumption and gumption traps start on page 472 or Kindle location 4900. As Pirsig says, gumption is a wonderful old Scottish word.

'The gumption-filling process occurs when one is quiet long enough to see and hear and feel the real universe, not just one's own stale opinions about it.'

'Gumption is the psychic gasoline that keeps the whole thing going. If you haven't got it there's no way the motorcycle can possibly be fixed.'

'Therefore the thing that must be monitored at all times and preserved before anything else is the gumption.'

'Throughout the process of fixing the machine things always come up, low-quality things,… These drain off gumption, destroy enthusiasm and leave you so discouraged you want to forget the whole business. I call these things "gumption traps".'

'… there are two main types of gumption traps. The first type is those in which you're thrown off the Quality track by conditions that arise from external circumstances, and I call these "setbacks." The second type is traps in which you're thrown off the Quality track by conditions that are primarily within yourself.'

Do you have gumption? What gumption traps are draining you?

Google gets into the QRCode barcoding arena

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 04:56:00 +0000

Google added a feature on to their URL shorting system, Goo.gl , that will create a QRCode barcode out of a shortened URL's by added the suffix .qr to the end of the URL. For example:

Use Goog.ly to shorten the url for my first post on QRCodes:

http://www.neopawn.com/2010/03/qrcode-barcoding-as-way-to-connect-with.html

this original url becomes:

http://goo.gl/Y8kC

using goog.ly.

Then add the suffix .qr to the end of this shortened url:

http://goo.gl/Y8kC.qr

and Google will generate the follow QRCode for the shortened URL:

Here is an article about it in TechCrunch: Google Continues To Embrace QR Codes, Integrates Them Into Its URL Shortener

Currently using the Google url shorting service, Goog.ly, is not as easy as bit.ly or the others. Hopefully Google will make this easier to use in the near future.

QRCodes and others continue to look to be a useful information exchange method.

More on QRCodes and barcodes. Segment on CBS Early Show

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 20:25:00 +0000

Follow up to my earlier entry on exploring QRCodes for Tweetups.

There was a nice segment on the CBS Early Show yesterday with CNet's Natali Del Conte and CBS's Jeff Glor about QRCodes.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Advertising with QR Codes
March 31, 2010 6:26 AM

CNET's Natali Del Conte showed how QR codes may change the future of advertising. Customers scan the codes with their cell phones to receive information.

What has happened to the customer/citizen being #1?

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 19:07:00 +0000

This quote by the acting general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power:

"Our obligation must first and foremost be the fiscal health and stability of this agency," said Raman Raj, the DWP's acting general manager.

sums up why we are in such a financial/environmental/social mess in the world. I really want to believe that statement makers like the above are intelligent enough to indirectly map these beliefs back to customers and citizens, but I think I have finally gotten the wake up call that that is believing far too much in the parties that we customers/citizens are putting in charge. Part of this painful wakeup for me is watching the group in the executive branch that I did not vote for deliver the only positive actions I can see for we customers/citizens. Kudos to Obama and his team! He does seem to be one of the few that consistently replaces the above statement with ones along the line of:

our obligation must first and foremost be the well being of the citizens......

QRCode barcoding as a way to connect with Twitter users at Tweetups and conferences

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 08:17:00 +0000

I noted that Facebook is now integrating the QR Code barcoding technology into its web site: TechCrunch: Facebook Kicks Off Implementation Of QR Codes.

I was at the Santa Barbara Tweetup Tuesday [great group BTW!] and though that there must be an easy way for Twitter users to exchange Twitter ids at events like this. I know there are apps, Bump for example, that exchange vCard/contact info via proximity technologies like Bluetooth and similar. I think these type apps and tech are the future, but in the interim apps like Bump seem a bit cumbersome and perhaps scary from the identity control standpoint.

What I see at the Tweetup and similar events is most everyone is willing to wear the tried and true name tag. Pretty easy to read by our eyes. But it is difficult to quickly and easily get someones Twitter id in order to start following them and see what their background and interests are. Yes, I can write it down or exchange a business card and later go back and search for the person in Twitter, but why not make this easier? Twitter is great way to exchange a limited amount of information and then either make a closer connection with a person or unfollow them with little baggage.

So in light of what Facebook is doing, with the right hardware/software and lighting maybe there is a way to improve the Tweetup experience.

So I've been looking at bar code trends for a couple months now, there is a lot of activity in this area of technology in the last year. Microsoft has jumped in and there were a number of other announcements at the SXSW 2010 conference last week, some positive [stickybits] and some negative [SXSW 2D bar code badge system confuses many] around barcoding technologies.

The two enablers have been the rapid increase in smartphones with cameras and more apps on the smartphones that can handle the various barcode formats in ways that does not frustrate the user. As was noted in the article about SXSW's attempt to use QRcodes in their badges, they seems to have made it too difficult to capture the info [by requiring a login]. I suspect they did this to capture statistics about usage. Anyone that knows a little about quantum mechanics, knows the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Basically they got in the way of their experiment by trying to measure it.

This highlights what seems like a simple rule #1 for these information exchange apps: The exchange of data MUST be directly between the two parties with NO intermediary and occur with the minimum of effort.

There are are several hurdles that need to be addressed or accepted as part of using barcodes. Specifically around the use of the QRCode technology, I took a look and found the following:

Easy and ideally with no added cost, a method to print the Hello tags with a QRCode

Lighting conditions that allow the barcode to be successfully scanned

Software on smartphones that allows the receiver to add the user to their twitter 'following' list easily

and I am guessing some more that I've yet to think of....

I did a little research on each of the three above and here is what I've discovered so far.

Point 1: I found that of the low cost or free software and hardware possibilities for basic Hello Tag labels, or even just plan white Avery or similar stick on labels, only Brother seems to offer anything close to a off the shelf solution at the under USD 100 price point. In a quick review of the software manual for the Brother QL-570, it looks like you can create barcodes, including the QRCode format, from a Excel or comma delimited data source. You can buy commercial software that generate the QRCode barcodes, but most of these seem to be USD 250 and up. The free Avery software for Windows does not appear to support the QRCode format and their Macintosh version does not appear to support any barcoding. The Dymo label printer software does not appear to support the QRCode format on either platform. So printing the QRCode's does not seem to be something that is yet incorporated into low cost desktop Windows or Macintosh applications, other than Brother [hats off to them!]. For USD 60 for the Brother QL-570, a laptop and power strip, it looks like you could print Hello labels at the door with minimum fuss.

Other than 'Brother', the bright spot in this is that the owner, DENSO WAVE, of the QRCode patent has published the instruction for how to create a QRCode and they are not requiring any financial payment for the creation or use of the QRCode. As a result, I found open source QRCode creation source code for both Windows and Unix/Linux/OSX platforms. There are other libraries as well, but most seem based on these two core sets of code. The example label that I've included in this blog post was generated using the C# libraries on Windows, so creating a open source free app for Tweetups should not be a hard bit of work. Perhaps something I will spend a little time on.

Point 2: Since the exchange of information is dependent on the camera in the receiving parties mobile phone being able to capture a image that can be decoded, lighting of the QRCode is very important. In a conference setting this should not be an issue, but in lower light bars and similar venues where Tweetups occur this will be a challenge. Only a few of the latest smartphone cameras have LED strobe lights for their cameras, so getting a good image under low light conditions will clearly require a rather interesting dance between two people. Ha Ha, maybe this might become as popular as the Macarena Dance. I did some testing on my Android G1 and found that the Google Goggles application I was capturing with was right on the edge of being successful in lighting conditions I judged to be 'average bar light levels'.

Point 3: As was highlighted in the article about the test at the SXSW 2010 conference about the difficulty in using the QRCode to get the information exchanged. A simple fast, free way to either directly follow someone on Twitter or add them to a queue of 'to be reviewed for following' is key. It looks like there are QRCode readers for all of the smartphone platforms with some level of this functionality. Here is one broad list: http://www.qrstuff.com/qr_phone_software.html. These apps do not appear to try to collect data about the use of QRCodes, or at least do it in a minimally invasive way.

Specific to the Apple iPhone platform here is a good article [CNET: QR code readers for your iPhone] reviewing four applications that seem to fit the requirements.

On the Google Android platform, I am using the Google Goggles application on the oldest and slowest Android phone, the T-Mobile G1, with very good success. Goggles is a far more powerful application designed to suck in all kinds of data via the smartphone's camera. For example it can read and OCR a business card directly into a contact application. However, this might be doing too much. Maybe I want to follow you on Twitter for a while before I add you to my contacts, the layer of 'not all my' information that Twitter allows us to share is a nice firewall in our less than trusting world today. So Goggles with QRCodes allowed me to simply launch the Twitter mobile home page for the Twitter id I scanned, and since the Google browser stores my Twitter login credentials I was presented with a button to 'Follow' this person. [Yes, I did need to login to my Twitter account once, but unlike the above mentioned SXSW experience, I should be familiar with my Twitter login information].

In summary of the three challenges I have found so far, it appear that getting good lighting for the camera will be the biggest challenge to using QRCodes as an easy way to connect with people. It would be interesting to see if this technology would work in a live Tweetup.

Multitasking points on Android and iPhone platforms

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 20:02:00 +0000

Jeff Lamarche has some interesting and valid points on the debate about the pros of Android phones multitasking ability vs. the iPhones current exclusion of this feature in this blog entry.

Mr. Lamarche is clearly a iPhone focused developer but does a very balanced look at this important topic.

'What people mean when they misuse this term is the ability to run more than one GUI application at a time, the way we do on our regular computers.' ..... 'but the user experience issues around presenting multiple GUI applications on a small screen have not yet been adequately resolved.'

The implementation of low power consuming background tasks on mobile devices is something that will make these devices so much more useful. Location based and proximity based [as sensors on mobile devices evolve] are the biggest opportunity. But I am sure there are many more to be discovered.

Mobile devices are going to be a big part of our lives as 'memory/brain augmentation devices' going forward. The massive amount of inputs and data that we need to process will dictate us carrying one of these devices. This will be a huge opportunity for the boomer/aging in place population as we age and want to continue to have productive lives. I am interesting in products in this area at my other blog.

So I concur with Mr. Lamarche that the current debate about 'multitasking' on smart phones is a red herring, however the evolution of apps that usefully alert us as we go about our daily lives are the real opportunity.

The closest USA has gotten to "Prime Minister's Question Time", a must watch exchange

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:08:00 +0000

The Atlantic magazine's James Fallows talks about a excellent exchange between President Obama and the GOP members of the House of Representatives. This exchange between Obama and House members is an exchange that should occur on a regular basis. Every American family should watch it and send their feedback to their legislators. Give this a watch and demand it happen regularly going forward.

The most wonderful and least appreciated feature of the new Apple iPad

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:31:00 +0000

It was a lots of fun to hear all of the pundits before, during and after the announcement of the Apple iPad today. Seeing them fib about their prerelease information, back peddle and Monday morning quarterback is fun and interesting.

But on to the important item, the iPad. I think it is going to be a real game changer for both the personal computer industry and the mobile phone industry.

And without further ado, the most wonderful thing about purchasing a iPad..... it means we can all go out and buy the simplest, cheapest and most reliable mobile phone that JUST DOES PHONE CALLS WELL!!!!! Hooray!!!!

iPad is NOT a phone. Yes, I know than in no time at all, innovated developers will figure out how to make Skype and other voice over data applications work on the iPad. It will be interesting to see how AT&T works to slow this and how the likes of Google work to speed it. Talk about an epic sea battle about to unfold.

That battle will be fun entertainment for all of us simpletons that just want a damn mobile phone to make and receive phone calls. Because the purchase of a iPad means we can all recycle our iPhones, Android phones, Palm phones, Window phones and every other lack of battery life and unreliable 'smart super phone' we own and go back to our drawer full of discarded technology and pull out, recharge and reenable the last mobile phone we owned that actually half way decently made phone calls AND NOTHING ELSE!

And went we want to use all of the cool data and information features of the iPad, well it looks like we will be able to do that and for only USD 30 per month.

I look forward to all of the up coming innovative accessories that will make the iPad easily to carry and quick to use. I think I would love to be a purse designer right now. And I look forward to version 2 of the devices shown below in an upcoming SkyMall catalog.

So rejoice, we can all go out and buy a Jitterbug mobile phone and quit wasting so much time trying make our phones do things they should not do. This might be such a great stress reducer, that the iPad might just live up the the hype that it is the holy grail for improving health care, not because it might be a good device for electronic medical records, but because it will reduce stress from technology medical problems.

I'm looking forward to much innovation and simplification based on the iPad. Congratulations Apple!

PBS Digital_nation : life on the virtual frontier 2-Feb-2010

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:41:00 +0000

This looks like it will be a good view into this very rapidly embracing new reality that we are living in:
Frontline Digital Nation Feb 2, 2010 on PBS:

Must have utility for all Kindle users, Instapaper.com

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 08:38:00 +0000

Instapaper is a web site and set of web API's that let you collect web pages that you are interesting in reading but would rather read at a later time then when you run across them. Developed by a smart guy, Marco Arment, the lead developer of useful blogging web app, tumblr.com .

The basic concept of this web app is not new, that being to grab the content of a web page and format it for easy reading at a later time. What makes Instapaper a real winner for Kindle owners, is its ability to let you collect a set of web pages and create a Kindle subscription that can either be wireless sent to your Kindle [note: Amazon will charge a small fee to the Kindle owner for this delivery] or the Instapaper web site has a function that will create the Kindle subscription and allow you to download it in an ebook format [mobi] that you can transfer to your kindle using the USB connection to your computer, saving you from the Amazon transfer charge.

Instapaper has a number of other features both for collecting web, RSS, Twitter and other sources of stuff you want to read and for reading the content. There is an iPhone reader application for example.

Circling back to Kindle users, I purchased my Kindle DX as much to read PDF and other content that I am overwhelmed with as for its ability to store books. And Instapaper is fantastic extension that allows me to use the excellent Kindle content display features for a broader range of things that I would like to read.

Instapaper is still a new project and is evolving rapidly. And I am sure the possible big Apple tablet announcement next week will shape the landscape for this type of application considerably. But so far in my initials tests of sending web pages to my Kindle, it has performed very solidly. There is not cost for the Instapaper service at this time. Other than the Amazon fees noted above, of which I do not believe Mr. Arment received any part.

The application uses intelligent web server logic to figure out what is the primary content that you want to read and removes the other content that is on most web pages. An interesting aspect of this applications are web ads. It does bring along some web ads to the Kindle. And I do not think that is a bad thing, content creators need to get paid for their work and the ad model is clearly one way that can happen. I've been reading magazines and newspapers with ads in them all my life, it is part of the deal. This aspect of Marco's application might be a real benefit for him to increase the functions of Instapaper and make some money doing it. As well to get content creators happy with Instapaper scraping together their articles.

I am certain there are going to be a number of interesting applications on the Kindle in the next months as Amazon opens up its architecture to make it competitive with the higher function tablet computers like the rumored Apple tablet. The Kindle is a wonderful targeted product and applications like Instapaper that extend its ability to do it core function are the really must have apps.

Give Instapaper.com a try, I think you will like it.

The multiple issues of privacy on the internet and the Google Toilet

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:08:00 +0000

I was sitting in on a talk about Personal Health Records (PHR) at the CES 2010 show two weekends ago. I know that might sound like a odd topic at the Consumer Electronics Show, but electronic in medical devices and medicine in general is a big market that have many of the electronics and software companies salivating.

One of the big perceived roadblocks to getting people to put their health records online is the concern that without good security, people's health info will be stolen by identity thieves. I do not want to minimize this concern, it is real. However, there is a second privacy issue around the internet and with fine grained information about our lives [whether we post it first hand on the internet or not] that I think is far less understood [which make it even worse, considering how little it appears most people understand about identity theft]. The issue is around corporate access to this information. I put government access somewhat in this same area, but I think that government access deserves it own analysis. I think that we have a number of good watchdogs of government, but do we have enough groups watching corporate ethics?

I do not think that we understand how much of our personal data and rights we are giving up to corporations and how they can use this 'against us'. Back to the electronic health records, I think the real concern we should have is about electronic access to our health information by insurance companies, hospitals, drug companies and others that might might be motivated to use this information for their betterment at the cost of the owner of the information.

I think what is needed is a requirement that every company or other entity that we grant access to our private information be required to show us at any time what other entities have been given this information via the specific company we are give our data to. And allow us to revoke this access to the information at any time. It would appear that getting this control would require new additions to privacy laws. Additionally, it is a complex software and record keeping challenge. However both issues are solvable today, if we decide they are important.

A growing part of the internet, called 'the internet of things', will make it even more important that we have a better top down and easy to manage control of information about us and who gets it. My brother recently shared that the car pool payment sensor in his car now posts the speed at which the vehicle is traveling when it passes the billing sensors on the highways. If his insurance company were to make an agreement with the for profit company that builds these car pool lanes to get speed information about people that it insures, would he know this arrangement was in place when he agreed to put this sensor in his car? Could he revoke it at anytime and be apprised of the consequences? Insurance companies know your home address, the kind of car you drive, your age, driving record from the motor vehicle department. Knowing information about how fast your car is driven does seem like a bit data that the insurance company would want to having.

This funny but a little graphic video create by SuperNews at Current.com brings it 'home'.

Marko, the 9 yr old MCSE in Macedonia

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:31:00 +0000

I found Macedonia a wonderful place with very nice people when I visited there a couple years ago. At that time, I was impressed with the amount of effort they were putting toward educating their youth on technology and implementing leading edge technology projects. This story about Marko a young man who got his Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer at age 6 is grand!

I could have used his help in Skopje to get better bandwidth....

White House organic garden polluted with sludge

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:55:00 +0000

I'm not sure how I missed this article last year on finding that the new food victory garden at the White House is polluted. I guess we all should do soil studies.... you never know who lived here before you. There are so many jokes in is, how did I miss it.

The Clinton White House apparently used a sludge-based product to fertilize the lawn during the 1990s!

Article in the NewScientist on the bad use of crowdsourcing, more on DARPA's Network Challenge test

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:08:00 +0000

This article, 'Innovation: The sinister powers of crowdsourcing' , talks about how the power of a crowd of people via communications on the internet or mobile network can be used for bad things. The article does a good job of highlighting some of the reasons government agencies find the power of people interesting and in a way that could work against peoples basic rights.

The points made in this article about leveraging a service like 'Amazon's Mechanical Turks' or a simple online game, show that it is easy to lure people into contributing to a crowdsource effort without properly evaluating the implication of their actions. Might be a good iPhone app, something that would help people quickly get a 'crowdsourced' opinion on whether to participate in a crowdsource effort....

This is a follow up to some of my earlier interest in the Network Challenge.

Jim Lehrer of PBS on journalism

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:22:00 +0000

Jim Lehrer is stepping back at PBS's News Hour. MacNeil and Lehrer and Walter Cronkite are key people for defining journalism for me. Chronkite's passing and Lehrer stepping back are important to me to remember what journalism means. Here are couple points from Jim Lehrer on what it means to be a journalist:

Do nothing I cannot defend.

Cover, write and present every story with the care I would want if the story were about me.

Assume there is at least one other side or version to every story.

Assume the viewer is as smart and as caring and as good a person as I am.

Assume the same about all people on whom I report.

Assume personal lives are a private matter, until a legitimate turn in the story absolutely mandates otherwise.

Carefully separate opinion and analysis from straight news stories, and clearly label everything.

Do not use anonymous sources or blind quotes, except on rare and monumental occasions.

No one should ever be allowed to attack another anonymously.

And, finally, I am not in the entertainment business.

Some of the lessons learned in the DARPA Network Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:23:00 +0000

Balloons did turn out to be a real interesting research project for DARPA, better that the government feeding LSD or Biological Weapons on unsuspecting citizens [netizens?] but this did feel like some type of lab experiment. Probably no worse than a Nielsen Rating.

Here are three blogs that did a post balloon analysis:

Lessons Learned From DARPA Balloon Challenge

The Day Google Didn't Matter

After the Challenge, What Have We Learned?

Here are some of the top points I read in these reviews:

Geocachers are a group of folks that do this type search as a hobby and they jumped on the challenge
Social Engineering to confirm information
Microsoft Excel for keeping track of data
Google didn't matter because Google is a file cabinet of the past.
Make it easy for more people to participate
Give people multiple reasons to participate
Give people a reason to get others involved
Align incentives properly
Look beyond your immediate "group"

And in a nutshell, it looks like MIT's use of the basic Multi-Level-Marketing incentives was the key thing that got them the win....

Team MIT wins DARPA Network Challenge and one of the balloons was right under my nose

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 04:41:00 +0000

My rat like nose seemed to tell me that I could be a lab rat in the DARPA Network Challenge and sure enough one of the ten balloons was right here in Santa Barbara. But darn it I missed it! For some reason I think there is some 'Who Move My Cheese' related lesson in this for me.....

It will be interesting to read about how the winner, MIT, and the other teams approached their solutions. And what DARPA learns about social networking and how it might be part of their future plans.

Dan Bricklin's new iPhone app, Note Taker

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:29:00 +0000

Dan Bricklin is one of the original authors of VisiCalc and created a number of other very useful applications at his follow on company Software Garden. I am glad to see him back in the code slinging mode and out with what looks like a very interesting application for the iPhone/iPod Touch [and hopefully soon for my Android phone] called Note Taker. I use email on my G1 phone as my note taking app and have defaulted to this on my prior Nokia, WinCE, Blackberry, and iPhone phones after trying many note taking applications. None of the quick note taking apps hit the mark for ease of use and usefulness. Note Taker looks like a good shot at getting it right. Have a look at Dan's video of the application here, and give it a try and let me know your thoughts. Here, at his blog, is his write up on creating the application.

DARPA Network Challenge, we are all lab rats and smoke signals have come a long way

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:31:00 +0000

It is going to be interesting to watch the progress of DARPA's Network Challenge, celebrating the 40th year of the internet. It does look like it will be an interest study for DARPA to see how the population of the country can be used as a human sensor network. We are all lab rats after all..

Personal Helicopter, how about this for a solution to transportation issues

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:15:00 +0000

I ran across this video at the Make web site. How about Los Angeles full of these, ha ha. Pretty neat Christmas toy of nothing else....

LA Times celebrates John Wooden's 99th Birthday 14-Oct-09

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:01:00 +0000

Mike Penner at the LA Times has collected 99 facts about Coach Wooden in this article celebrating his 99th birthday today on. I've had the opportunity to hear him speak, read his books and see him save a man's life at UCLA while I was a student there. He is a very inspiring human that has been positive influence on so many people. We are lucky to have people like him and to learn from his teaching.

Here is his web site: Coach Wooden

Happy Birthday Coach!

CNN discusses 'Public' option of Healthcare: How we glass over the bad outcomes

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 04:36:00 +0000

I was watching this CNN report by Elizabeth Cohen, their Senior Medical Correspondent, on the 'Public Option' for healthcare.

She compares whether it is a good options for two people and determines it is for one and not for the other. The one that it is a good options is the one with a condition that allows a private insurance company to NOT cover this person. SO WHAT DOES THE PERSON DO WHEN THEY ARE NOT COVERED? Betty fails to address this MINOR point. Ah, Ms. Cohen, do you not think that many people end up on the public dole when this occurs? Might want to point that out as part of the value of the options.

It is very interesting how we can spend so much time, money and CO2 debating issues that are not central. Clearly our avoidance radar is operating at top power.

RAM - Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corp - treats 8,000 in Los Angeles (a remote village)

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:25:00 +0000

I had not heard of this group, RAM, until this article about the free clinic their are doing in Los Angeles this week hit the news. The founder, Stan Brock, used to host the Wild Kingdom television show a number of years ago.

I hear far too many people saying that US has the best healthcare system in the world, and there is nothing wrong with the healthcare that Americans are receiving. I think these folks are really missing the changes that have been and are occurring in our medical delivery system. It seems very similar to the ignorance we have had to the global climate change and energy issues.

It's good to Mr. Brock and his group Remote Area Medical Volunteers looking after such a remote tribe as is found in Los Angeles California. However, I think we need to wake up very quickly to fact that we are a third world country when it comes to healthcare.

INGLEWOOD, California (Reuters) – Inside an aging sports arena, where rows of dental chairs and a hospital smell have replaced the former Los Angeles Lakers basketball court, thousands of Americans are seeking free healthcare.

Hundreds were turned away just on Tuesday, the first day of a weeklong clinic run by the nonprofit Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corp as part of its mission to provide free health, dental and eye care in needy spots around the world.

It marks the first time in RAM's 25 years that it has gone to a major U.S. metropolitan area -- a reminder that even in Los Angeles, with world-class doctors and hospitals, many do not have access to affordable healthcare.

RAM is apolitical, but its mobile medical center has sprung up in the working-class LA suburb of Inglewood against the backdrop of an increasingly bitter public debate over President Barack Obama's proposed overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system.

A GLIMPSE INTO THE PROBLEM

Its organizers, including founder Stan Brock, have steered clear of the healthcare battle in Washington, which centers on Obama's pledge to provide for the nearly 46 million uninsured Americans and charges by conservatives that he will only make the situation worse by "socializing" medicine.

Brock said he started RAM, which is best-known for its work in Third World countries, to provide healthcare in remote parts of the world where people have no access to doctors and medical supplies.

His mobile clinics are not seen as a solution to America's complex healthcare issues but the turnout in Inglewood has offered a glimpse into the depth of the problem.

Obama's political allies, who have seen his fellow Democrats confronted by angry constituents at "town hall" meetings, seized on the RAM event as an opportunity to plug the president's $1 trillion plan.

"There are a lot of town halls going on across America but you know, I'm going to have another story to tell when I get back to Washington, D.C. It will be about what happened here in Inglewood," Congresswoman Maxine Waters, a Democrat who has pushed hard for Obama's reforms, told a news conference on the sidelines of the opening day.

Some 8,000 people were expected to file through the Forum sports arena for everything from Pap smears toacupuncture to eyeglass fittings.

"It certainly proves that here in the inner city healthcare is needed in the worst way," Inglewood Mayor Roosevelt Dorn said. "If that doesn't send a message across America, I don't know what will."

"A MIRACLE"

Ayana Kleckner, 15, was chipper despite spending the night in line outside to get one of the 1,500 appointments available on Tuesday. She managed only two hours of sleep in a sleeping bag on the cold sidewalk.

Ayana saw her mother Elon Kleckner have a painful abscessed tooth removed during surgery in a dental chair. The high-school student was cheerfully eating an apple after her first teeth cleaning in five years.

"This is a miracle, but people shouldn't have to sleep on the street to get medical care," Ayana said while waiting for an eye exam. "It was adventurous, if you could put it that way, but I don't think I should have to go through that to make sure I'm healthy."

Elon Kleckner, who declined to give her age, said she had lost her sales job several months ago but did not have medical insurance even when she was working and had not been to a doctor in years.

"If everybody in this country were in the situation my daughter and I are in, they would have a whole different view of (the healthcare debate)," Kleckner said, speaking through a sore mouth stuffed with cotton.

On the other side of the hall, 83-year-old Ethel Nabors, who has been without teeth for some five years, had just been told after a nine-hour wait that the clinic could not provide her with a new set of false teeth.

But Nabors shrugged off the bad luck as she sat in an old Lakers chair to see if a volunteer could realign her dentures, which she had brought with her in a paper sack.

"I didn't live this long by fretting about everything," she said. "I pray for patience. I've made it this far. If it's meant for me to have a new pair of teeth then I'll get them one way or the other."

Edward Tufte Sparklines come to Microsoft Excel 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Proffer) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:30:00 +0000

Sparklines are a wonderful data presentation tool that Edward Tufte [if not created] has refined and shown how they can present large amounts of data in a form that is easy and fast to correctly interpret. I do not yet see any comments in Tufte's forums on what he things of the Office 2010 implementation. He has Edward Tufte never been a big fan of Microsoft products, but perhaps this will be a positive direction.

The Excel program manager, Sam Radakovitz, has a series of posts on how they will work in Excel 2010. All the Mac Office users will have a bit of wait to catchup.

Update: There are a couple of posts about the Microsoft Excel Sparkline implementation, however no comments as yet by Mr. Tufte.