You’ve undoubtedly heard the story from yesterday about the air traffic controller at JFK who is in hot water for letting his child direct some planes last month. It’s amazing to me to see such a big stink being raised about this because I’ve seen a group of professional air traffic controllers bringing children into the control tower to do just that – and at no time were they ever not in complete control.

These photos are from a Cub Scout outing from a few years ago when my son was 10, the same age as the boy in these stories: Wall Street Journal – Air Controller Accused of Letting Kids Talk With Jets, CBS News – Air Traffic Controller Hands Reins to Kids, Chicago Tribune – Child air traffic controller and The Washington Post – Child in control tower just to name a few.

Every kid who wanted to got a chance to give instructions to a plane, but only after the air traffic controllers working with the kids found some appropriate situations where I am sure appropriate meant they had time to calmly write easily understood instructions to the kids. Here is a closeup of the one my son got to call:

It reads “5614 cleared to push A10″ if I am reading it right. A few of the kids got to talk to pilots who weren’t already on the ground like this one was. Some of the kids were matched with pilots who didn’t skip a beat when being instructed by a child and some made witty observations about it. At no time did anyone remotely think anyone was in danger. And they weren’t.

I can’t say the same for the people on the recieving end of this de-icer spraygun that they also got to shoot.

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Post from: John's Jottings

Child in Control Tower Story Is Old News

If you sell any sort of product or service these days and you are not actively monitoring the Internets (invented by Al Gore) for mentions of your product then you are going to go the way of the Dodo bird or at least not do as well as you could be doing. There is no excuse not to do this as it is so easy to setup Google alerts and other monitoring vehicles to keep tabs on what is being said about you on social media.

Here are a couple of recent examples for me.

First, last night I noticed my T-Mobile phone didn’t have service. Then I noticed that all four T-Mobile phones in our household didn’t have service. Rather than search on Google I went to Twitter and did a search to see if anyone was talking about a T-Mobile outage on Twitter. And boy were they ever:

On Wednesday, #T-Mobile was again a trending topic on Twitter, where customers expressed their frustration. “I talked to T-Mobile reps more than I did to anyone else,” joeldreamweaver said. “They overcharged me. I’ll never do business with them again.”

Wouldn’t surprise me if the person at T-Mobile monitoring the Internets for mentions of T-Mobile was notified of the outage before their engineers were.

Now given the size and scope of T-Mobile there isn’t much someone monitoring Twitter could have done here – pretty hard to respond to tens of thousands of Tweets – but it does go to show how quickly people will share their thoughts about your service, usually when there is a problem.

Another example is my recent review of Quicken 2010 – the same day I wrote the post I got a comment from Chelsea at Quicken who clearly has as part of her job to engage with bloggers who write about Quicken. Search Google for “Chelsea at Quicken” to see her at work.

Here was her comment to me:

Thanks for sharing your observations about Quicken 2010. I’m glad you’ve decided to stick with us after 16 years of commitment -that’s fabulous. If you’re still having any trouble, feel free to reach out – I am happy to get you some help so you can get going on our much easier-to-use Quicken 2010.

A very simple “welcome to the neighborhood” kind of a message – but welcoming nonetheless.

My final example is from my iPodMeister review. Now when I wrote my positive review nobody from the company stopped by but I did have a customer write about his disatisfaction in a couple of comments on that entry:

Attention: iPodMeister is easy to fool you when it comes to claiming your prize. “its to good to be true”. they claim some of my cds were damaged and covers missing and damaged cds do to shipping.. they irritate me when it come to communicating to them, i rather throw away the remainder of my cds then give them anything else.

Kris from iPodMeister left a comment in rebutal, less than a week later (why not same day Kris – come on!):

Kevin,
there is no reason why you should be angry. We stated clearly on our website (http://www.ipodmeister.com/eligiblecds.htm) and in the detailed e-mail you received that we do NOT accept CDs with incomplete cover art or radio edits, promos, or singles. We also stated clearly that we do NOT accept CDs that are severly scratched or boxsets that are incomplete. You sent over 100 (!) items that fell into these categories. Why are you surprised that we did accept CDs that were clearly described as unacceptable. Common sense tells you that these CDs couldn’t have any value for anybody. We don’t “fool” anybody. We made clear -both on our website and in the detailed e-mail sent to you- that damaged, incomplete, worthless CDs are … well, wortless and that we don’t accept them. Sorry, but there is absolutely no basis for your complaint.

Now the interesting thing in this case is that while I do side with Kris having been a happy customer, I do think you can get yourself into trouble by having such an argument with a customer out in public. So I am a little torn on this example – perhaps a better approach would be for Kris to ask me for the private contact information for the commenter so I could put the two together privately? Or maybe right out there in public is fine if you know you are right, I’m not sure. I do know that iPodMeister got a few more mentions and backlinks, and that isn’t a bad thing for them.

In any case, I thought these were interesting recent examples of the relationship between product and service companies and the Internets/Social media.

I suspect companies will respond quicker and quicker to what gets written about them. And I think that’s a good thing for everyone.

UPDATE: Interesting article on Social Media Monitoring that I found by looking at my referrer logs – somebody at Intuit uses SM2 for this very thing.

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Post from: John's Jottings

Watch the Internets – Listen to Your Customers

I love to be surprised by great service and that’s exactly what happened to me today when I stopped in at the Southdale Sinclair & Tire gas station on France Avenue. I’ve never been to this gas station before but I decided to stop in on my way to lunch so that I was fully fueled up for the later rush hour.

When I pulled into the station I noticed the first set of pumps appeared to be full-service pumps as it was clear that someone who worked there was fueling the vehicle. Not wanting to pay to have someone do something I am more than capable of doing myself I drove over to the second set of pumps, thinking that would be the self-service aisle.

Nope. “Full Service at Self Service Prices” the sign at the pumps advertised.

OK, good enough for me – I’m not used to people pumping my gas for me but I decided to give it a try. A worker came over and automatically offered premium, which I suspect he knew my car requires. I agreed. Took me a minute before I realized I still had my car idling but he didn’t say anything and I turned it off right as he started pumping.

When it came time to pay I gave him my credit card and he came back with a clipboard and a pen for me to use to sign the receipt. I was pleasantly surprised that there wasn’t a “Tip” line on the receipt – I wasn’t 100% sure what the standard is but not having that on the credit card slip made my decision less pressure-filled and easy. “Keep the pen!” the guy cheerfully said.

Yep, I said cheerfully. Not used to that these days. He asked if he could wash my windows and after I said yes I engaged him in conversation, asking him how long they had been offering this full service.

“Since 1957,” he said.

Well then! Apparently this isn’t a Sinclair thing, just this one gas station. This guy was so upbeat, full of information, non-pressuring, etc. Part of me thinks there is a strong possibility he was the owner of the gas station. Is it possible for an employee to be so engaged?

Service with a smile and a free pen – next time I’m in the area I’ll go out of my way to stop by and spend more money with them.

And I guess that is the point. Bravo to Southdale Sinclair & Tire for knowing how to WOW their customers with outstanding service.

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Post from: John's Jottings

Southdale Sinclair & Tire

My 10 year old daughter said something interesting to me this morning. She wanted to type up a report she had done and she needed my help getting started. “What web page do I go to?” she asked. She had seen her brother type his reports on that computer and she just assumed it was a web based application. In fact what her brother was using is Star Office, but to her 10 year old mind she doesn’t think about applications because nearly everything she does on the computer is through the browser. She goes to YouTube to watch funny videos and plays games at places like Webkinz and Disney’s Toontown.

I’ve also embraced the web as more of my work is being done online rather than in fat client applications. I’m really starting to use Google Apps a lot now – mostly Gmail and Spreadsheet but I’ve done some things in Document and toyed with Presentation. Despite having Office 2007 on my primary computer if I need to put together a spreadsheet I’ve almost converted 100% to using Google. I’m not there yet with Document and Presentation but I think I will be this year.

Looking at my computer right now the primary fat client applications I am still using are Quicken, QuickBooks and Paintshop Pro. The first two offer browser-based solutions that I could easily switch to and probably will at some point (if I don’t go to Mint). I’m not aware of any browser based image editing programs but it wouldn’t surprise me if they exist. It certainly is more comforting as more of my data and applications go into the cloud – it offers added flexibility (I can use my Dell Mini 9 netbook anywhere) and I don’t have to worry about a local computer failure taking me down. I’m sold on the browser!

I know this isn’t a groundbreaking observation but I thought it interesting nonetheless.

Want to know the future of computing? Check out your kids.

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Post from: John's Jottings

The Web IS The Application

photo credit: Chesi – Fotos CC

It’s funny but I feel like before I even get into a political post that I have to make clear my position, lest the right or left pigeonhole me and complain. Not that they won’t anyway, but let the record state I voted for Bush. The first time, anyway. I go with what works and yes, this year, I happen to think what works is Obama/Biden. But this is not a slam against McCain/Palin just for the sake of making slams or ragging on the right. It’s just an observation. Chill out.

One of the things that concerns me about Sarah Palin is that I really and truly feel as though John McCain is just using her (moreso than most) to punch his own ticket. He wanted his friend Joe Lieberman but the party wouldn’t let that happen so he put Palin on the team. But that doesn’t mean he can be forced to work with her. And that’s what I fear – that if McCain wins he’s going to put Palin in charge of energy and tell her to go “to the battleground” of Alaska and report in. And meanwhile he’ll get the work done in Washington. That wouldn’t be good experience for someone a “heartbeat away” from the presidency. But I really think that is what will happen.

So I was not entirely surprised when I read this article from the AP that indicated that Palin was questioning McCain’s decision to abandon Michigan:

In an interview with Fox News Channel Friday, the Alaska governor said she was disappointed that the McCain campaign decided to stop competing in Michigan. In an indication that the vice presidential candidate had not been part of the decision, she said she had “read that this morning and I fired off a quick e-mail” questioning the move.

So much for being part of the team.

I thought the “fired off a quick e-mail” comment was interesting for two reasons. First, she’s already been in a little hot water for using public email accounts for government business, presumably to hide something. Second, John McCain doesn’t use email! Now let’s be clear, from what I understand he doesn’t use email because he has war injuries that prevent him from using the keyboard (and maybe he has never heard of Dragon Naturally Speaking) not that he is old fashioned or dumb.

But no matter the reason for him not using email that fact is he doesn’t use it and Sarah Palin is sending him email.

Talk about the ultimate bridge to nowhere!

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Post from: John's Jottings

Sarah Palin Doesn’t Know John McCain Can’t Use Email

photo credit: CoreForce

Haven’t felt the need to write a rant for awhile but damnit, I do this morning. It’s not really email etiquette but I don’t know what else to call it. Basic etiquette, really.

I’ve been head-coach or assistant coach for my kid’s soccer teams over the last few years and in doing so I get the pleasure of working with the local soccer coordinator who quite frankly is just a nightmare to deal with. I can’t pinpoint anything major really but it’s just all these little things that just drive me crazy.

As an example, I have been emailing with her about the possibility of me coaching both teams this year. After a few emails back and forth regarding practice times, etc, I wrote back to her letting her know that I would coach both teams and the times I wanted.

The next day she sent out a note to all the parents of each league indicating that she only had a couple of head coaches for each league and that she needed more volunteers.

But since she never responded back to me when I signed up I am not 100% sure that I am one of those coaches who she already has signed up. I think I am, but I really don’t know. So it causes me to have to send her a confirmation email.

I just HATE having to do that.

Am I being unreasonable?

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Post from: John's Jottings

Email Etiquette

Anyone who was a high tech investor in the late 90s surely recalls seeing comparisons between the stock market at the time and the Tulip Craze of the Sixteenth Century. Everyone knew prices were too high but as long as another sucker would show up to buy for more than you paid it really didn’t matter what you paid – there were profits to be had! In the end the last suckers were left holding the bag.

Jason points to a web site that documents in vivid detail that we’ve reached that point in the housing market, it least in the market documented by the site.

Check out the last sale date of these houses or, in the case of the house here, the last two sale dates. Clearly these flippers didn’t care what they paid for a house because they knew they could sell it to someone else at a profit. Maybe no more.

Million Dollar Listing, Flip This House, Flip That House are all new shows prominently feature flipping. They haven’t been on long but nonetheless they’ve Jumped The Shark and signaled the end of the big time flippers.

While I don’t live in a market like that one I do have some experience with how housing prices can get so out of whack. When I last refinanced to consolidate some basement finishing expenses and an adjustable rate second I was shocked at what I saw in my appraisal. First, it should come at no surprise that my appraisal came in at exactly what I needed to avoid paying PMI (80% loan to value). What was astonishing is that the comparables using in the appraisal were not actual recent sales but actual recent appraisals. The whole point of using comparables in an appraisal is to show that “hey someone else bought a recent house for this, so this must be what your house is worth too” – which is actually a pretty reasonable assumption when it is based on actual sales. But who knows for how long they have been allowing appraisals to be based on other appraisals only?

What a house of cards. Buckle up. If you own a house you need to sell, sell it now for whatever it takes. And if you own a house hope you don’t have to move.

topchannel=6351972232
midchannel=9101459594
rightchannel=2219237837

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House Flipping a Dying Art

Having upgraded my phone today I consider myself a newly minted expert in the art of cell phone upgrading – especially a Sprint upgrade. Here is my easy nine step plan for performing a Sprint phone upgrade:

1. Be a long standing customer (over 5 years is preferred) and be sure that you always pay your bills on time and have too many minutes in your plan, to be sure they are making a good margin on you.
2. First go to their website, http://www.sprintpcs.com because of course that would be a good place to start for something as simple as a phone upgrade, particularly when you have had the same phone for 5 years (see step 1). Here you will click on the very convenient option for checking whether your phone is eligible for a discounted upgrade and you will find your are in fact eligible, hurrah. It suggests you visit your friendly local Sprint store to get said upgrade, but you want to take care of it this morning and you are stuck at home so you go back to the web store.
3. After seeing the web store you will note that new customers can get the same phone you wanted to upgrade to for free, after instant savings and web savings. Plus no shipping. Cool. But after looking around you’ll realize you can only buy new phones on the website, you can’t upgrade, so you go to the next step.
4. Being a progressive technology professional you use Skype (free Skypeout until the end of the year!) to call the Sprint customer service line. After spending 2 minutes completing various prompts you will get hung up on. Try it again to verify the same thing happens. Then try again on a landline to once again verify the calls are just dumping out the backend.
5. Being a progressive technology professional you notice they have online chat so you will try that. Nobody will answer. Ah, you notice that their hours of operation are posted and they aren’t open until 9:00 CST. Well that explains the calls just being hung up – nobody there to answer them. Very nice.
6. So now you webchat again during working hours and you learn that while you are in fact chatting with a customer service rep they can only help you with tasks that you can accomplish on the web, and upgrading a phone isn’t one of those tasks, so they can’t help.  You need to call customer service.
7. So you call customer service, and you are pleased to see that now that they are open the calls don’t just hang up they actually get answered. By someone who tells you she can absolutely help you upgrade your phone. Here is what we need to do – I will sell you a phone at full price, including tax, and then you call another person to extend the contract and they will give you your money back. Isn’t that convenient?
8. At this point you ask whether it makes sense that as a long standing customer (see step 1) it is very difficult for you to do a simple task like upgrade your phone, whereas if you were a new customer you could get it all taken care of by now. You will receive no apology and when you complain about this again you will be told goodbye.
9. So here is how you get your phone upgraded at Sprint. You call customer service again but this time you tell them to cancel your service as you are moving to Verizon. At this point you will get a very helpful person (Thanks Beth!) who will not only give you the phone upgrade for free, no shipping, no tax, she’ll help you optimize your minute plan, she’ll make sure the phone gets there in 2 days, she’ll clean up your account record of all the old bad data they have in there and she will be a very friendly and empowered customer service professional who will really make you feel good about doing business with Sprint.

Or, you could just skip to step nine. That’s what I’ll do next time.

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Post from: John's Jottings

How To Upgrade Your Sprint PCS Phone In Nine Easy Steps

When I read Joe’s “STFU, Cindy Sheehan”:http://www.joegrossberg.com/archives/002220.html it reminded me a lot of my own “Someone Tell Coleen Rowley To Shut Up”:http://www.johnsjottings.com/archives/2003/03/08/someone_tell_coleen_rowley_to_shut_up.html (in hindsight I prefer Joe’s brevity).

And then what do I read today? “Coleen Rowley to Join Cindy Sheehan Protest”:http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/11685

What I wrote then stands all the truer today:

bq(quote). Going from an unknown FBI agent of 22 years in the Gulag that is the Minneapolis bureau, Rowley has transformed her position and has crossed the line from honest whistle-blower hoping to make change to a publicity-grubbing agent who has let fame go to her head.

What a poser. STFU.

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Post from: John's Jottings

STFU, Coleen Rowley

Political Correctness has run amuck. First it was the kids’ Science Fair where ribbons were awarded for “participation” but that was it. But that was subjective judging so part of me can rationalize it.

But today was Connor’s Pinewood Derby contest for Cub Scouts, his first time. He had a lightning fast car, finishing 1st in every heat but one where he finished second, taking second place in his Den and overall finishing 4th in the Pack of about 55 racers. Really a day to be proud of. He also won a trophy for “most patriotic.” Each participant won a design trophy.

Interestingly one of the other kids in his pack had an even faster car, finishing 1st in the Den and 2nd in the Pack. As they called the awards for Connor’s Den I expected to hear his name called for 2nd place but it wasn’t – they gave him the 1st place trophy instead!

Why? Because they have a rule that no kid can get three trophies – so the top three finishers in the Pack did not receive a Den trophy, meaning everyone below them was moved up a notch.

Connor is very happy with his 1st place trophy although he is a bit puzzled by it since he knows one of his den-mates had a faster car. They are kids. They compete. Of course they know this, just like they keep score in team sports even if the coaches don’t.

Drives me nuts. 2nd place in the Den and 4th in the Pack is in incredible achievement. And he has the 1st place trophy to prove it.

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Post from: John's Jottings

Creeping P.C.

Kerry vs. Bush. I despise them both. Not as people but as failed leaders. Nothing they are saying is resonating with what matters to me and thanks to “Cameron Marlow’s”:http://overstated.net/about.asp cool “Debate Spotter”:http://overstated.net/projects/debates/ program I now know why. Here is a sample of word frequency for various topics from the recent debate:

||Bush|Kerry|
|”War”:http://overstated.net/projects/debates/index.asp?p=war&s=|27|46|
|”Saddam”:http://overstated.net/projects/debates/index.asp?p=saddam&s=|16|12|
|”Osama”:http://overstated.net/projects/debates/index.asp?p=osama&s=|4|9|
|”Weapons”:http://overstated.net/projects/debates/index.asp?p=weapons&s=|11|19|
|”Economy”:http://overstated.net/projects/debates/index.asp?p=economy&s=|0|1|
|”Budget”:http://overstated.net/projects/debates/index.asp?p=budget&s=|0|0|
|”Deficit”:http://overstated.net/projects/debates/index.asp?p=deficit&s=|0|0|

Thanks a lot guys. Nice job.

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Post from: John's Jottings

It’s The Economy, Stupids

I can relate to the article The Lure of Data: Is It Addictive? [via Gadgetopia]. The article talks about how in today’s Always On culture multitasking rules supreme and although the author doesn’t come to a conclusion on either side of the argument it’s clear that this could be viewed as either positive or negative.

For me the key is making sure you are managing your multitasking rather than it managing you. An example of the former is using AIM to have relevant side conversations during a telephone conference call. An example of the latter would be to jump to email every time a new email comes in, effectively distracting you from what you had been doing.

When I really need to focus it is not enough to ignore AIM or email – I must shut them down completely. That goes for my cell phone too.

Multitasking has seeped into my home life as well. I very rarely just watch TV anymore – the only time I really do so is if I’m watching something with the kids or my wife. Otherwise I’ll be reading a book or working on the computer and the television usually becomes a background distraction. The last few times I did actually sit down to watch something without multitasking I recognized it as being a relaxing treat. This is also one of the reasons I haven’t yet sprung for a Tivo – although other Tivo owners tell me that’s exactly why I need one.

We’re Always On and we multitask – that’s just the way it is these days. Manage it effectively and benefit.

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Post from: John's Jottings

The Lure of Data

Back in December in No Call = No Sense I opined that the Minnesota “Do Not Call” legislation that had recently been signed by then Governor Venture made no sense and I went so far as to suggest you would be a sucker to sign up.

With the national registry now a real deal others are saying similar things:

Don’t call the Do Not Call Registry – I’m all for ending the obnoxious practice of electronically barging into the homes of strangers to get at their money. But, intentionally or not, the National Do Not Call Registry smells more like an anti-small business move than consumer protection.

Do Not Call – The FTC’s Do Not Call list has to be one of the silliest exercises that I’ve seen in a long time.

National Do Not Call Registry: Not all its cracked up to be – Thank you government, for yet again appearing to do something without doing anything at all.

do-not-call registry: useless. – Well, even if you buy that story, it’s still useless…

According to Feedster it appears as though most webloggers actually do view this as a good thing. Ah the innocence of youth.

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National Do Not Call Registry

photo credit: Sebastian Fritzon

Coleen Rowley was named one of Time Magazine’s Persons of the Year for 2002 thanks to her whistle-blowing on the FBI following the mishandling of the Zacharias Moussaoui case, which could have possibly prevented the tragedy of September 11th. Going from an unknown FBI agent of 22 years in the Gulag that is the Minneapolis bureau, Rowley has transformed her position and has crossed the line from honest whistle-blower hoping to make change to a publicity-grubbing agent who has let fame go to her head.

Her most recent move was to send a seven page letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller expressing her concern that the FBI could not handle the terrorism sure to be an outcome of the war with Iraq. As she states at the beginning of the letter, “you told me that you appreciate constructive criticism and that FBI agents should feel free to voice serious concerns they may have about senior-level FBI actions.” I’m sure he did say that Coleen, and he may even have meant it, but surely he did not mean you also needed to give a copy of your letter to the New York Times and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune like you did. That’s called crossing the line.

Don’t call Coleen Rowley a whistle-blower any more. To do so lessens the people who truly act as whistle-blowers, those who make a personal sacrifice for the greater good, usually to expose something in their business for which they have supreme knowledge including the knowledge that it is wrong.

Coleen Rowley has an opinion on this as any of us do and you may be fooled into thinking that because she is a field agent in the FBI that her opinion is somehow more informed than yours but you would be wrong. Is Rowley an expert on war? No. Terrorism? No. Rowley is the chief lawyer of the FBI’s Minneapolis office. This makes her an expert on writing page after page of drivel, but nothing more.

Coleen – shut up already.

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Post from: John's Jottings

Someone Tell Coleen Rowley To Shut Up

So Joe Millionaire fans listen up, I’ve found a great resource for buying interesting Joe Millionaire related items including mint condition Playboy magazines featuring former Joe girls. Wow, imagine that!

Check out the Joe Millionaire auctions on Amazon.com!

Now back to our regular program…

Like adding fuel to the fire, I will post my thought’s on the winner of Joe Millionaire. I’ve never watched Joe Millionaire but I’ve been like a voyeur watching from the sidelines as I get wave after wave of people coming to my site to learn who did actually win, seeing as I’m the #1 hit on Google for joe millionaire winner 3200 hits on that search this month alone, plus another 1000 or so on variants. That’s a lot for me. More than a lot – my next non-Joe search brought in 50 hits. And tonight is the night we learn who wins, so I’m preparing for the onslaught later this evening.

Keeping in mind I’ve never watched the show – the winner will be Joe himself. He’ll also be shown for the money grubbing fool he is. Because all along we’ve (well, you’ve) assumed the ladies were the gold-diggers out for his money, but in the end you’ll see that when torn between his new found love and the offer of $1,000,000 in cold, hard cash, our hero will choose the money.

You heard it here first.

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Joe Millionaire Winner

I’ve been a big Amazon user for many years now. I buy many of my books through Amazon, and am buying other things there now as well. I carry an Amazon Visa card. My wish-lists get heavily picked over by my technology-savvy family. Amazon has sent me gifts out of the blue just for being me. Really. No doubt I spend too much with them.

If there is one area of Amazon that I’ve heard people criticize the most it is in how they use their recommendation engine to suggest possible purchases. You know what I mean – buy a John Sandford book like Mind Prey and next month, when he comes out with another in the series, you’ll get an email from Amazon starting with “As someone who has previously purchased a book by John Sandford…”

From what I can tell their recommendation engine technology is pretty basic, or at least their use of it is. But it’s getting better. And I one for one appreciate getting those emails, and certainly don’t view them as spam or an invasion of privacy. Robert K. Brown agrees, as he writes in Why Amazon Continues to Get My Money:

Of course I don’t need these things, but if Amazon is proactive enough to recognize a relationship between some of my past purchases and some upcoming new releases, then send me a couple of e-mails, well, all I can say is that a fan and his fifty dollars are soon parted.

I’ve fallen for that one myself.

The complaints about this seem to fall into two categories: privacy issues and the impact of buying gifts through Amazon on future recommendations.

The latter has an easy answer. If you don’t want a suggestion from Amazon to buy the next Phyllis Schlafly book that you bought for your sister, simply go to their “Improve Your Recommendations” section and un-check the checkbox next to that book which says “Used to make recommendations” Problem solved.

The point of privacy is a personal one with each person needing to decide how much the are willing to give up in order to receive some rewards. For myself, I really don’t care so much about privacy and am happy to provide information if it results in a better experience for me or helps me down the road. Others get nervous to think about Amazon having a history of their buying and browsing habits and what they might do with it.

So imagine this, privacy zealots. Amazon buys Tivo today. Tomorrow morning you get an email from them: “As someone who watched the Twilight Zone last night you might be interested in The Twilight Zone Companion…”

Now I think that would rock.

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Post from: John's Jottings

Amazon Recommends

Which OS are You?

Amiga OS. Well I guess it could have been worse.

SQL Server worm hits Microsoft. No doubt some heads rolled.

Opera 7 is out.

A couple of new high profile bloggers: Dave Barry and William Gibson. Gibson is a writer so he writes. Barry is a humorist so he doesn’t. Go with Gibson.

Also 17th century blogger Samuel Pepys.

I had the chance to buy 100 shares of EBAY at their IPO offering price of $18. Didn’t do it. I won’t make that mistake again with Google if given the chance. Simple example of why they kick ass.

Had drinks last night with a guy from work who ordered a Blue Monday – 2 vodka, 1 Courvoisier, 1 Blue Curacao – served as a martini. Pretty good but bartender thought it was too sweet so he went with 2 vodka, 1/2 sour 1/2 simple syrup, 1 Blue Curacao. I liked that one – I dubbed it the “Whiskey Blue” for the bar we were in.

Sure it’s just on paper, but losing $100,000,000,000 in a year? WOW. AOL. AWOL.

Working in Cincinnati was weird – airport in Kentucky, work in Cincinnati, play in Indiana.

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Jabberings #2

photo credit: jepoirrier

I’m now #1 on Google for joe millionaire winner. I just find this so funny. I mentioned the show in one article, made a couple of comments, and the next thing you know I’m 1/15,100 and getting a ton of hits (at least for me) for people trying to get a jump on the viewing audience.

I can’t help but think Larry and Sergey would have been failed at Stanford had blogging been big back then. I think blogs muck up the Googlerythms.

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Post from: John's Jottings

I’m #1!

I’m #5 in Google for joe millionaire winner – so weird. But I’m getting a lot of hits for people looking for the winner, and sorry, I can’t help.

I spent some time on the L coming in from Midway trying out access to my website on my Nextel phone. Was pleased to see how fast it loaded. Not pleased to notice that my content is last and requires paging page after page before actually seeing anything in the phone browser. Noticed that about half the blog links did not work at all, I’m suspecting a doctype issue.

From Phil I got a great link to some Phoenix extensions. I’m partial to Tabbed Browsing Extensions.

The last few airports I have been in have stopped doing random inspections at the gate and have stopped requiring ID at the gate. I’ve been pleased with the professionalism of the screeners, unlike the experience of one Penn Jillette.

If you are ever in Chicago you can’t go wrong having dinner at Nick’s Fishmarket.

Absorbed Prey, review will have to wait. Good read though.

Just remembered that it’s 2003. Damn.

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Post from: John's Jottings

Jabberings #1

And now the obligatory New Years Resolutions post.

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New Years Resolutions