tonygoodson

Passwords

I’ve just published another Productivity Show.  This time it’s with David Freer of Symantec, Norton Internet Security and all that.  I’m going to give Norton another go, and see if it really is less bloated, runs faster, and does virus checks quicker.

Our talk, set me thinking about my passwords.  The passwords I have are fairly robust, it’s just that with so many websites, I use so few passwords, so one password may unlock several of my website accesses.  My greatest fear, is human access to servers containing my passwords, and one known password could lead to several websites I use.

I don’t know what to do.  If I move some of my mid level secure accesses up to a different password, then the same password will crack all my mid level secure accesses!!  Maybe mix the website word into my password.

Here’s a good article on levels of passwords.

And I think I’m going to try a some password software for looking after passwords. Looks like there are Firefox extensions, and open source software such Password Safe, just for this type of thing.

Typepad - Fail on Audio and Design

I've been trying to put an audio player in Typepad.
This Typepad recommended player works.  Just one problem, if you open this blog page or the front page of the blog which has the player, all the links in the players start to open.  In other words, every time you go to this blog page, if I have a 40MB file I want you to listen to, it starts to download when you go to the page.  That's a lot of downloads and bandwidth, which neither you nor I can switch off.  The song file I've enclosed is only 500KB but even that's quite a load.
Typepad just seem to shrug their shoulders and say that's how it is or suggest a third party player.

And yet how come in WordPress there's a flash player which only starts to download if you click on the play button.  Here it is.

The bonus is that it doesn't create an enclosure, which is best left to having a download link "Click here to download"

All it took was a Google search to find Mr Black and White's Audio Test, a link to Mindy McAdams at Macloo for the instructions, and a download of the flash player from 1 Pixel Out.  Thanks for nothing Typepad.

I've been a Typepad user almost from the start in 2003.  Maybe I'm getting itchy feet.  Trying to set up and design a new blog/website in Typepad is very easy.  There's a good reason for that.  The templates are very basic and a variation in 1,2, or 3 columns.  And don't shrug us off with claiming an amazing number of templates, which are just a variation in colours and font, and maybe a banner, but what about something a bit more flexible like Laurel Papworth's wordpress blog, which has 3 x blog entries and then a change in column width.  Too much for us Typepad users to code, but why not have some templates like that.  Gone are the days of serial long blogs.  We need to fit more onto a single page in a magazine style.

Come on Typepad.  Market leader.  You'll lose that soon.

Another Cluetrain Podcast, and more Podcasts

Just put up another podcast interview, this time with Rick Levine, another co-author of Cluetrain.  So that’s 2 podcast interviews in a week, with Cluetrain authors, first Chris Locke, and now Rick Levine. 

I’ve also added a sidebar list of New and Old podcasts (Look right now!)

It’s late at night, and I’m hooked on improving my websites, and publicising on Twitter, Facebook, and Linked In.  I don’t want to be a pain in the arse and overdo it with the self-publicising, but it’s interesting to see what it takes to make something go exponential and viral.

Cluetrain and Dreams Coming True

The one thing I forgot to ask Chris Locke about was Bricolage.  He wrote about it in his follow up book to Cluetrain, Gonzo Marketing.  I was reminded of that, because I bust a gut all day to get the interview I’d done with Chris, out.  Which meant adding some music.  And I’d been sitting on some music for over 2 years, Stereophile’s “That’s The Shit” I thought it was called Bass, oh well!

It’s great to collect something, and then use it 2 years later.  And I’ve had a dream to interview Chris Locke since podcasting started, so great to get it together and do it.  Who’s next?  I have a few on the list, and I added another person over the weekend, Neil Young (Man Citeh footballer).  Are you out there Neil Young?

What I’ve done over the last few months, is bring my big dreams forward.  Oh yeah, we’ve all learnt about goal setting and all that.  Have a dream and then put actions to achieve that dream.  Well it doesn’t quite work out, does it.  I’ll tell you why.  We keep doing all the short term stuff before we allow ourselves to do the big stuff we’d love to do.  Except there’s always small stuff that keeps on coming in.  So I switched things around.  I looked at what my big long term things are and made sure they’re the first on my list every day and every week.

In fact, I’ve not been very productive recently, but the big ones are happening. Someone told me recently that they can see a lot of the colour orange in my life.  So I used Orange as the main them for The 3 Moments website, and blow me down if the main colour for Cluetrain isn’t orange, and the RSS Feed logo is orange.

What are the big things you want to do in life?  That doesn’t necessarily mean a big house, Ferrari, and lots of money!! 

When you’ve cracked a big dream, it’s a bit like that time after the wedding, and all the guests have gone.  What now!  I dunno!!  Next guest to interview for a podcast.  Next project! Actually, come to think of it, there’s a few other shows I’ve been wanting to do, and now I have the platform. 

All Time Teams, I talk with people who name their all time sport teams based on how long they’ve followed their team.  I ran a pilot show in 2005 for an All Time Manchester United Team, so it’s a bit out of date now, but just have a listen, and if you’re a keen Man Yoo football fan it sounds great! Click here to download The All Time Manchester United Team 1968 to 2005.

Madman Across The Street, interview the people who are on our city streets.  Instead of stepping over them, find out what their story is, how they got there…3 Moments! 

Sustainability and Green stuff, still a subject we all know we should contribute to, but we can’t be bothered!  I have two pilot shows from the last 18 months that I must upload.

Thanks Cluetrain.

Guest Interviews - The 3 Moments

Ever since I was a kid watching Parky, then Russell Harty, and now Andrew Denton and Larry King, I’ve loved interviews.  Interesting people with interesting things to say.  Inspirations.  I like the Parky interview style.  The guests don’t have to be grilled or caught off their guard, or sensationalised.  Just conversations.  Interest and curiosity in the guest, and what they have to tell and teach us.

And not just the famous and the stars, but some of my favourites were Barbara Castle, Jonathan Miller, Peter Ustinov, Michael Caine, Bette Midler, and latterly, Paul McCartney talking about his ego.  That was Part 1.

Part 2 for me, came just before the start of podcasting, and in fact partly created podcasting.  The Chris Lydon interviews. Wonderful political and technological conversations published as mp3 files to download and listen to.  This coupled with Doug Kaye’s I.T Conversations, led to a world of mp3 downloads for me.  And still to this day, I manually download mp3s to listen to instead of using podcast software to automatically download to my laptop or mp3 player.

Since 2003 I’ve pondered who I’d like to interview.  I’ve never had the platform to interview anyone.  Sure I’ve podcast on The Productivity Show, dabbled, had some great guests, but I realise I want to go beyond productivity.  And I’ve feared and procrastinated for 5 years.  No longer.

It’s simple really. All I have to do is list the 100 people I’d most like to interview in the world, and invite them!!  Yeah sure, most won’t reply, or will say no, or it will become too difficult.  But you know what?  At least 5 will say yes, and it will be magnificent.

So I’m starting with a simple website, a banner, and name…The 3 Moments.  Why “The 3 Moments”?  Well, when I look at the people I’d like to interview, it’s about their journey, their highs, their lows, the ending of something and that “Oh Shit” moment, the Harrison Owen (Open Space Technology) writes about in his book Wave Rider, and how people deal with set-back and grief.  If you ask someone to draw a timeline of their life from birth to now, the chances are there will be two or three peaks/troughs, so let’s hear about those things, The Hero/Heroine’s Journey.

Build it and let them come.  So let’s see what happens. 

Cluetrain – No 69 Maybe You’re Impressing Your Investors

69.  Maybe you’re impressing your investors.  Maybe you’re impressing Wall Street. You’re not impressing us. (The Cluetrain 95 Theses - No69)

This is my blog entry for Cluetrain Thesis #69 for the Cluetrainplus10 commemoration of the 10th anniversary of The Cluetrain Manifesto.

In 2001, William Pilder sent me an email suggesting I might like this Cluetrain book thing.  I loved it.  Loved the 95 Theses, they spoke to me.  The book spoke to me.  I started following the guys.  Chris Locke, Doc Searls, David Weinberger (and who is Rick Levine!!)

I picked up this “weblog”/”blog” word on the Cluetrain email discussion list which ran on Topica.  What the hell was a blog?  Ahh, got it.  I’ve blogged ever since 2001.

So No 69.  10 years on.  Erm you did try to impress your investors.  You did try to impress Wall Street, and you almost succeeded, but it all came crashing down.  And not only did you not impress us, you took our money, and crashed your company, and your economy and the world economy.  Nice one. Thanks a lot.

But come on, why would you behave any differently?  Because it worked and you could get away with it.  Very few players came into your markets over the last 10 years, using Cluetrain principles, to give your arse a good kicking.  That’s been really disappointing.  The last 10 years has largely has been business as usual.  In fact you’ve often dressed up business as usual, as something different using this Internet thing, and you’ve mostly got away with it. 

We overestimate in the short term, and underestimate in the long term.  - Paul Saffo

I got that quote from Doc Searls, quoting Paul Saffo.  That’s what’s stuck with me the most in the last 10 years of Cluetrain. It hasn’t come true yet, but it will, and we probably won’t recognise it when it has changed, because it was always that way wasn’t it?  Some things have moved a lot over the last decade.  Think Apple.  Think Google (and YouTube).  Think Bandwidth.  Think online business and banking. Think mobile handsets and mobile computing.  The technology has moved rapidly, but that “conversation” still has a way to go.

I predicted the demise of Sun Microsystems.  I predicted the demise of Apple.  I predicted the demise of Google.  I’m not doing well with my predictions….yet.  Well once you’re a public company, you have to impress your investors, and you have to impress Wall Street, so by logic, you’re not impressing us!!  When you have to make quarterly and weekly and daily reports for your investors and Wall Street, it doesn’t bode well for the long term, if you follow and believe in Cluetrain No 69.

Great companies that survive the decades and centuries put their employees first, and I don’t mean the guys at the top. In the long term, how you treat your employees, is a reflection of how you treat your clients and customers, which in turn will impress Wall Street, or not.  We mostly try to impress Wall Street first until the money runs out.

It’s going to be very difficult to let go of this Wall Street dependency.  It’s worked reasonably well for centuries, but some of us believe there has to be a better way.  Yes, reward innovation and entrepreneurship.  Yes, find ways to seek large capital investment, yes reward stakeholders.  Aren’t we ready for a new way to build community and businesses?  I don’t have the answers, but In the short term we overestimate and in the long term we underestimate.

And finally, my favourite part of the Cluetrain book is near the end.

The Cluetrain Hit-One-Outta-the-Park Twelve-Step Program for Internet Business Success (p170)

1. Relax
2. Have a sense of humour.
3. Find your voice and use it.
4. Tell the truth.
5. Don’t panic.
6. Enjoy yourself.
7. Be brave.
8. Be curious.
9. Play More.
10. Dream Always.
11. Listen Up.
12. Rap On.

Latest Productivity Show podcasts

Two recent podcasts by me, for The Productivity Show, Peter Mahoney of Nuance Dragon Speaking, on Voice Recognition, and Michael Deutch from Mindjet MindManager on MindMapping and Productivity.

I love doing these podcasts.  I love being a podcaster, and I want to do more, with plans for more, not just The Productivity Show.  I love fiddling with sound, and believe me, nothing ever runs perfectly. 

This time round, I’ve really been struggling to save my edited shows as MP3s at the right frequency and bitrate.  Audacity seems sometimes to have a mind of its own with what bitrate and frequency it saves at, in spite of the settings I set.  And even when I get it to save at the right frequency, the sound quality has reduced because it’s changed the frequency from the original recording. 

At least I’m starting to learn about the multi-tracks, moving them around, and starting to edit the sound quality.  Almost time for some music intros.

One of my long term dreams is to edit podcasts live just like a real live DJ, you know, with all those cow bells!! Just 9,900 hours to go to be a genius with sound editing.

Productivity Podcast with Sue Knight

My latest Productivity Show podcast is up on The Podcast Network website,  it’s a discussion with Sue Knight, author of NLP at Work, on Alignment and Purpose, plus a lot of other good stuff.

Check it out, and enjoy.

Learning to be a Creative Genius

Déjà Vu, I come here to write about 10,000 Hours to Become a Genius, and realised I’d already used exactly the same title when writing about exactly the same subject last November.

So let’s call this Part II.  I’ve realised recently that for 42 years I’ve been struggling.  Struggling to fit into an education and white collar working system that has a very narrow confine on what is intelligence.  And I’ve fitted in, I’ve had to, but at great cost to myself and talents.

At aged 6, I was highly mathematical, spatial, chess, sporty, but I couldn’t handwrite properly, struggled to spell, couldn’t draw well, struggled with English comprehension.  I was a classic geek, shy of girls (but loved them really), crap dancer.

My 10,000 hours of genius, didn’t go into a single subject but across a number of subjects.  Sport, Man United, Chess, Maths, Sport, Current Affairs, TV, General Knowledge, Newspapers, Encyclopaedias, Science.

That inability to write and draw, and remember language, has been a blight on me ever since.  I’ve been blessed with enough intelligence to survive it, but I shouldn’t have to survive life.

So now my oldest child has just come through being 6, and my youngest is fast approaching 6, I’m really attuned to what’s expected of them in education, and what they can and can’t do.  But here’s my own breakthrough and realisation.  Genius may not be nature.  It might be nurture.  We find our talents out early on for ourselves, or someone helps us.

I say this because, I’m noticing some things my kids aren’t learning for themselves.  That doesn’t mean they can’t do something, just that they don’t know how to.  Jay’s reading is great now he’s started school, and I should know, I taught him (proud Dad), but his handwriting and drawing are behind many of the kids in his class.  Mmm funny, but that’s me at school all over again.

Now, for the last few years, I’ve been looking for a cartooning book to help me learn to draw for when I’m training and writing on boards and flipcharts.  I made a concerted effort to find a book this week, for my sake and now for Jay’s.  And hallelujah, I’ve found it. 1001 Awesome Things To Draw.  A fantastic book.  Suddenly I’m a genius cartoonist (and so is Jay) just by following the rules.  Neither of us can naturally draw, but who can.  The untold secret is that many children and adults, learn to draw using the rules, without telling the rest of us, what the rules are.

It’s the same with Improv.  You may look at Who’s Line is it Anyway and Thank God You’re Here, and watch in wonderment at how those performers and comedians take on random situations and be so funny.  It’s rules based.  There are basic Improv rules, which if you follow with a few hours of practice, I’ll guarantee most people can get up there and perform very well.

 

And I’ve just bought a book on design and layout, How to Understand and Use Design and Layout. It’s rules based again, along with some artistic genius!  It’s taken me years to find a good book on Design and a good book on Cartooning, and now I can be an Artistic genius like the rest of you.  Now I just need to find those 10,000 hours!

A Mind Like Water

Listening to Dave Allen of Getting Things Done fame, on Leo Laporte's TWIT Net at Night show, I was reminded of a Mind Like Water.  It's a concept in Getting Things Done, of emptying and capturing everything from your mind, so that you're in the Zen like state of having a "Mind Like Water" so calm you can deal with anything, and a system that captures and deals with anything that comes your way, keeping you in the Mind Like Water state.

Once you've captured everything, you put the Projects/Actions into the context of when you can do the action; @Home @Laptop @Airport.  As Dave Allen points out, you wake up in the middle of the night worrying about something, which is the place you can least do something about what you're worrying about.  He reckons if you capture the thing that's worrying you, into your Getting Things Done system, and put it into a context and time when you can do something, your mind will let go and let you sleep!

I'd forgotten that a Mind Like Water is really the aim of Getting Things Done.  So on Monday, I gave it a go.  Instead of re-setting the Getting Things Done system from the bottom upwards, I kept asking myself all day, if I have a Mind Like Water.  I created a gap for where I was and getting to a Mind Like Water.  Even when I thought I'd filed everything, captured everything, I checked if my mind was like water.  It wasn't.  So I kept on working out why not, until I got to a point, maybe temporarily, of A Mind Like Water.  Yippee.

It's funny, but you get there, it may be temporary and brittle, but what now?  Do I actually have to do some of these actions!!  What I found, is once my mind was totally clear, I was doing actions that I've been putting off for weeks and months.  So whilst not perfect, the system and Mind Like Water is re-generating long term projects which you could say are Non-Urgent but Important.

Let's see how I go, and how my state and system handles something urgent or hassling.  I'll Handle It and What is the next action!