Category Archives: Business and Technology

Book review: The Everything Store – Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon

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The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad StoneA few months ago, I discovered a new blog via Seth Godin called A Learning a Day. It’s a great blog to follow, and I particularly liked a recent post on the site titled Being Human. There was one particular passage that resonated with me:

In the really long run (i.e. generations later), almost no one will remember us or know we existed anyway. What really matters is that we live a life that means something to us and brings us happiness. There’s nobody else we really need to please. So, let’s be ourselves, and always remember… to be human.

The passage had more impact than normal since I had just watched The Men Who Built America and was in the middle of reading The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone. It’s a passage that applies to all of these entrepreneurs, or capitalists if you prefer that term. They all have (or had) a desire to live a life that means something and to build something that is greater than themselves. They want(ed) to leave their mark on the world.

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Fire TV, Fire TV Sitck, or Chromecast

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Don’t ask why, but somehow through the month of December I ended up buying a Fire TV Stick and a Fire TV. What makes it even more baffling is that I already own a Chromecast. Ok, I’ll admit it, they were impulse purchases.

Now that I have all three devices, I’ve been able to do a little comparison of the pros and cons of each device. Here’s what I like about each, what isn’t so great, and some recommendations.
(Clicking any image will take you to the description for that device)

ChromecastChromecast by GoogleFire TV stickAmazon’s Fire TV stickFire-TVAmazon’s Fire TV

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Please, please stop the TV integrations

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I look forward to CES every year. I’ve been to a few shows in the past, but even when I don’t go, I like seeing and hearing about the new products that are in the works.

I didn’t attend this year’s event, and I’m kind of glad I didn’t. I wasn’t very impressed by what was announced or demonstrated. Maybe I’m getting older, or maybe my “impress me” bar is set a little too high. Either way, I didn’t see anything that got me excited (here’s a quick rundown of some of the top products as covered by Wired).

There was one disturbing trend that continued from last year’s show – the continued emergence of smart TVs. For example, Google, with partners Sony, Sharp and TP Vision (Philips), announced the integration of Android TV into televisions. As I wrote after last year’s CES, I don’t want a smart TV. I want a 4K television that provides the clearest and sharpest picture at a reasonable price. I don’t want it to be smart. I can provide that on my own.

Sony Android TV

There was a great article written by Darren Orf at Gizmodo titled “3D TV Is Dead. Let’s Hope Smart TV Is Next.” It’s worth the read, and he’s right on. In case you don’t have time to read it, here are a few high points from the article:
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Book review(s): User Stories

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Running a software development business, I am always looking for ways that we can improve. We use agile development concepts to manage our projects, but I felt like we weren’t getting the most out of the agile methodology. In an attempt to get better , I decided to pick-up a book on user stories. It’s one of the basic philosophies of agile development that makes it different from other development methodologies such as classic waterfall and requirements method.

My quest to read one book turned into reading three. In this post, I’m going to do a brief review of each book, and at the end, I’ll share what I learned about user stories and the agile development methodology by reading all three books.
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Kicking off Startup Lessons

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One of my blogging goals for this year is to start a new category about business, startup and bootstrapping lessons I’ve learned while running my own business over the past ten years. I realize that there are many sites out there that cover business and startups. I’m sure I’ll repeat some lessons learned, but I may also share a few new ones. In short, I’m doing it to share my experience and as a way to collect all of the things I’ve learned in one place.

For the first entry, I want to review “The Men Who Built America“, an 8-epsiode mini-series that was on The History Channel recently. It is the story of the first American capitalists who built businesses in the aftermath of the Civil War. It chronicles the rise of railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt, oil magnate John Rockefeller, steel mogul Andrew Carnegie, financier J.P. Morgan, inventor Thomas Edison, and auto pioneer Henry Ford.

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Installing DD-WRT on the TP-LINK TL-WR841N

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I finally got frustrated with the wireless coverage in my house last year. I have my FiOS wireless router in the garage, because that’s where the cable comes into the house. Plus, my house is wired, so I can keep my switches, NAS, and other networking gear out of sight there. I also got frustrated that the Chromecast I have kept getting dropped from the network. Since the wireless router was over 6 years old, it was time for an upgrade.

Now I love the Verizon FiOS service, but their equipment policies stink. They want $100 to upgrade to the latest router, which uses wireless-N technology and supposedly extends the range of the wireless network. I figured there had to be a cheaper, and possibly better way.

TP-LINK TL-WR841NA friend of mine recently extended his network with a TP-LINK TL-WR841N router. He suggested loading on the open source router firmware, DD-WRT. The router is $20 on Amazon, and since I like working on tech projects, I figured it was worth a shot.

I found plenty of information that helped with the loading of the firmware, but the rest of this post will detail my experience setting up the router. Below are instructions and a few photos should you want to put DD-WRT on a TP-LINK TL-WR-841N router.

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Is skirting regulation innovation?

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Two current darlings of the tech industry are Uber and Airbnb. For those unfamiliar with these companies, Uber is a ride-sharing service that provides drivers with an application that allows them to use their personal vehicles to provide rides to passengers who use the Uber app. Airbnb allows people to provide rooms within their house, or entire properties, for rent to individuals who can book these rooms over the internet or through the Airbnb mobile app. In the past year, both companies have raised massive amounts of financing that have valued the companies at well over $10B.

I question whether these companies are really pursuing innovation or whether they are making money by exploiting loopholes in the regulatory system.

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A use case for wearables

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I’m not a big fan of wearable technology such as smartwatches or Google Glass. Maybe I don’t understand the technology well enough, or I’m having a hard time seeing past today to imagine the possibilities. I’ve written about my reservations regarding wearables in the past (click here to read the article), and blogger Seth Godin wrote a great summary on why smartwatches could face significant adoption headwinds. I’d highly recommend reading the article (click here to view), but the short summary questions whether people wear watches for function or as a reflection of their taste in style.

Thankfully, I’m not the one driving the future of the technology. Otherwise, a use case I saw this week wouldn’t be possible.

Google Glass

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