Category Archives: Business and Technology

My first Kickstarter project – it’s here!

Leave a reply

Pressy PackageLast August, I funded my first Kickstarter project – Pressy, the Almighty Android Button. At the end of June (June 24 to be exact), my Pressy finally arrived. It took about 10 months from the funded date of August 30, 2013. To be honest, I had basically given up on the project since the updates, which started out fast and furious, had slowed to a trickle once they announced they were having quality problems during manufacturing. A couple of visits to their Kickstarter page revealed lots of frustrated backers that, like me, had given up hope on receiving their Pressy. Since I hadn’t received an update in some time, I was surprised to see the package on my desk when I came home from work.

Continue reading →

The evolution of Facebook

Leave a reply

Facebook Thumbs UpIt’s no secret that I’m not a big fan of Facebook and their business practices. While I still have a Facebook account, I use it primarily to manage my business pages and rarely, if ever, post anything on it. I’ve also written numerous articles about my issues with Facebook and why I think they won’t last (see here, here and here). However, their decision earlier this year to break apart the mobile experience into separate apps may be the strategic decision that saves them, or at least prolongs the agony of decline.

Continue reading →

Migrating away from Rackspace

Leave a reply

It’s been a slow month or so for keeping things updated on the site. There’s been a couple of reasons. First, my son’s high school graduation involved attending numerous events and entertaining a house full of out-of-town guests. Second, I decided it was time to make the move away from Rackspace and migrate the blog to Amazon’s EC2 service. Here’s why I decided to make the switch and some lessons learned in the process.

Continue reading →

Should Apple support multiple platforms?

Leave a reply

As we approach Apple’s WWDC event for this year, I am reminded of an article I saw on Engadget earlier this year titled, “Apple reportedly considering iTunes store for Android phones“.  It was a surprising article given how Apple likes to lock customers into both its hardware and software ecosystem. However, it was one the of the smartest and boldest moves I’ve seen Apple consider in some time. While it’s possible that Apple could announce this at WWDC, it’s highly unlikely.

Continue reading →

Paying college athletes isn’t the answer

4 Replies

The-Big-HouseI had a chance to visit The Big House in Ann Arbor recently. I was visiting colleges with my son, Brad, and couldn’t resist checking it out since it was my first time in the area. To say I was blown away is an understatement. It’s a mammoth structure that is nice, really nice. It’s puts most professional stadiums I’ve been in to shame. As Brad and I walked around the outside of the facility, I couldn’t help but think about all of the noise about college athletics and whether or not the athletes should be paid. After seeing the sight of the Big House, it hit me. Universities have lost touch with their core mission.
 
Continue reading →

Why aren’t we using mobile to solve credit card fraud?

Leave a reply

Whenever I want to access my Dropbox account using their website, I have to use two-factor authentication to login. Two-factor authentication means that in addition to using my username and password, I have to enter a code that comes from my mobile phone. The code is either sent to me via text, or I can use a token generating application such as Google Authenticator. I also use two-factor authentication to access a number of other online accounts – some sensitive, some not. Anyway, it got me thinking, why aren’t we using two-factor authentication to solve credit card fraud?
 
Continue reading →

Why Google wins

Leave a reply

There has been a massive shift in the balance of power in the technology industry. In a space that was dominated by the likes of Microsoft, Dell and HP, the emergence of mobile as a computing platform has allowed Apple, Google, Samsung and Facebook to challenge the incumbents’ leadership position. While Apple has claimed the top spot for now, Google has been gaining ground, and there are some key reasons why I feel Google wins in the marketplace and will soon challenge Apple for the title of most valuable tech company.

Continue reading →

The insanity of surveys

1 Reply

Recently, I took a trip to Salem, OR, and chose to stay at a La Quinta Inn. I didn’t choose it for any reason in particular. It was priced right, and the reviews online through Expedia and Trip Advisor were reasonable.

After completing my stay, I received the typical follow-up survey to rate the hotel. I figured I’d go ahead and complete the survey since things went fairly well during the visit. The rating scale was 1-10, and knowing that companies use these surveys for evaluation, I’m pretty liberal in my grading scale unless some egregious event occurs. Nearly all of my responses on the survey were between 8 and 10.

After completing the survey, I received the following email:

Continue reading →

The power of leaks

Leave a reply

In prior days, I would have believed that iPhone 6 rumors and images were true leaks. In other words, someone involved in iPhone 6 design, prototyping or production builds provided unauthorized information to a blog. After reading the Ryan Holiday book, Trust Me I’m Lying, I don’t buy that these are leaks. I believe that Apple coordinates the release of such information.

Why would a company that is supposedly so secretive and protective of their new products do such a thing? I believe there are two valuable reasons that Apple would leak information to the media.

Continue reading →