tonygoodson

2009 Purchases of the year!

Just got a Sansa Clip+ 4GB mp3 player via eBay, and it set me thinking what my favourite purchases of 2009 are.  I’m not a big consumer of goods, not a big shopper, brick or online, so there’s not much to choose from.  I tend to choose well, and hence my goods last a long time, if I use them!

1. Hush Puppies – Zinc classic formal shoes

You wouldn’t think there would be a pair of formal shoes I’d actually look forward to wearing.  Given that I’m on my feet, training groups a lot, I thought I’d treat myself and spend a bit more. Well worth it.  Comfortable, “Extra Wide”, “Bounce Technology”.

2. Apple iPhone 3GS

So, I claim I’m not a typical consumer!  Well I am with this one.  Never fallen for the Apple hype, but I have to say, the iPhone is fantastic.  Easy to use, beautiful usability, great as a phone, and of course the Apps.

pUniverse – See the stars as you move around the night sky, find the planets.

AlarmT Lite – Alarm Clock which enables me to wake to my MP3s

Games – FreeCell, Sudoku, Action Blox, Touch4, Labyrinth 3D, Racer Free

tramTracker and Metlink for Melbourne transport

Getting Things Done – Notes, Google Apps (inc Gmail), Guitar Tuner, Laptop Cafe, Evernote, Note Taker (finger write), iThoughts (MindMaps)

3. Sansa Clip+ MP3 player

See, I don’t fall for the Apple hype.  I’m sure iPods are fantastic, but are they value for money?  I reckon the Sansa Clip+ is the best player, depending on how you use an MP3 player.  It’s small and it clips on!  If you cycle, walk around a lot, and go on public transport, it fantastic.  Also the Clip+ has more sound options than the Clip.  Volume/Equalizer adjustments, Audio Book options for double play speed, and micro SD slot for an extra 16GB.

4. Audible Audio Books

I’ve been an Audible user since 2006 for the Ricky Gervais podcasts, but only recently started listening to audio books.  My first book was Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which was a bit dire as a book, but I persisted, and Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers read by Malcolm Gladwell, is unbelievably good.  Just listened to some other Ricky Gervais podcasts and more to come.  I was crying with laughter.  And currently listening to Scott Adams’ (Dilbert) God’s Debris.

Just one product I wouldn’t buy again, the Dell Mini Netbook, on the Vodafone plan.  The keyboard is too small to enjoy using and they’ve moved the apostrophe ‘ key and made the right hand shift key smaller, which makes it a pain in the arse to try typing with.  It’s still a good data plan, but would I buy this netbook again?  I don’t think so.  I’ve seen better netbook keyboards.

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.

10,000 Hours to become a genius

An interesting article by Malcolm Gladwell (Tipping Point and Blink) on talent and successful people, A Gift or Graft?

This idea - that excellence at a complex task requires a critical, minimum level of practice - surfaces again and again in studies of expertise. In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is a magic number for true expertise: 10,000 hours.

The article and Gladwell’s forthcoming book suggests that a minimum of 10,000 hours practise and the opportunity of being around in the right place at the right time in history will create giftedness, genius, and riches.

Bill Joy (Sun Systems), Bill Gates, The Beatles, all had the opportunity to practise for many years.  The source of their giftedness.

It’s a Nature v Nurture argument, and I would tend towards the Nurture.  It takes over 10 years practise at 3-4 hours a day to turn my kids into sports and academic stars!

Luna Park - Fun to Queue!

And today's whinge.....I took the kids to Luna Park yesterday.  The spring holidays, and Melbourne's iconic amusement park.  Got there at 10-45am.  There are 50 people waiting outside, for the gates to open at 11-00am  My first whinge is opening at 11-00am during the school holidays seems a bit late.  Oh well.  Took the kids for a drink on Acland St, whilst we were waiting.  Got back to Luna Park at 11-15am, and there's now a 1 hour queue to get in!!

I took the kids to the front of the queue and realised that the queue wasn't to get in, but to buy tickets from the box office to go on the rides!!  I asked if I could take the kids in without buying the tickets for the rides, and so we jumped the queue, but with no rides!  The rides were mostly empty, because people were queuing to buy tickets.  The bottleneck is a ticket office with probably only 3 booths open, and 1000 people buying tickets.  You'd think that with running a business, getting people to pay shouldn't be the main bottleneck!  Surely, there could be a better and not too expensive way of 1000 people buying ticket rides, quickly!

I took the kids around Luna Park, fed them, let them go on the amusement arcade rides (not the ticketed rides), and left 45mins later.  Leaving Luna Park, I noticed the guys who were in front of us when we arrived at the back of the queue, still queuing, with 30mins more queuing to go!

And the bonus whinge....flew up to Brisbane last night, and whilst landing at Brisbane, the air attendant suggested that best way to get the 2km from the domestic terminal to the "International" terminal is, "hire a taxi".  Eh?  You have to hire a taxi to get from one terminal to another!!  Is this a permanent thing at Brisbane?  Are there alternative plans?  Was it because the plane landed after 9-00pm.  No buses?

Oh and if you have an Inner City Bypass (in Brisbane), do you think you could sign-post it so I can find it, instead of signposting it "Northern Suburbs".

I Hate Telstra

All my other "I Hate..." attract search traffic, so why not hate Telstra!  I don't hate everything about Telstra, or most of the people in Telstra, who are good human beings, I assume.

Firstly, I see and read about Sol Trujillo.  Purely my subjective view, but he doesn't look like the sort of person I like, or cares about me as a consumer or small business user.  So I think it comes from the top.  Shareholder value doesn't help me.

Secondly, I believe that Australia's infrastructure is too valuable to be open and let loose on pure market forces.  I'd keep all infrastructure non-commercial, independent or government owned, in spite of the inefficiencies of that, and by all means, sell phones, trains, water, across that infrastructure.

Thirdly, it's taken Telstra 15 days to repair my cable internet.  The job took 10mins to actually complete.  I have been a Telstra cable customer for over 6 years, paying a fairly high premium for that honour.

It started on the 16th Dec, I called on the 17th, they sent someone on 20th.  He identified the problem as a damaged cable up the pole.  But claimed it was too wet to repair.  So did the next guy on 22nd.  On the 24th, fearing it was "too wet" again, I called to arrange a provisional date for 27th Dec and was assured the 24th was still ok, and the 27th was booked.  I called back later, the 24th had been cancelled, and the 27th was wrongly booked, so the 28th was assured.  No show on 28th and no record of the booking, so today on 31st it was repaired, by contractors who reckon it could have been repaired by the previous contractors and it wasn't "too wet".

Here's the thing about Telstra.  Money talks!  All Telstra can do is credit me.  All I want is a repaired internet.  I don't care about the money.  I would willingly have forgone the credits to pay the contractors direct on call to repair my internet sooner.  Telstra several times claimed they couldn't escalate or prioritise my call.  Is this true or are they lying?  Several times they claimed no record of my bookings, and yet I have some proof of the bookings.

Where do I go from here?  In the past 2 weeks both Telstra and Westpac ( I Hate Westpac ) have badly let me down, and they simply don't care in terms of service, some individuals within those organisations may care, but seem powerless to do anything about it.

So what am I to do about these two organisations.  Do they really care about me?  Why should they?  It's just me.  If I leave them, others will join them leaving the companies they're dissatisfied with.  How do we make it hurt when we get shit service?

2008 is my year of Simplicity.  I'm also going to look at price and service.  Telstra and Westpac don't come anywhere near on either price or service, do they?

Broadband Access in Australian Hotels

I have been on the road for 5 weeks, and it really pisses me off the price I pay to use Broadband in Australian Hotels.  I don't mind paying a bit, it doesn't have to be free, but $13 for an hour and $25 for 24 hours is a total rip-off when I'm away for a few days.

The alternative is an Internet Cafe, but I want to work from my hotel room.  Funnily enough, the broadband in regional New South Wales is free!!  Yes, in Armidale NSW, the hotels are competing with each other, so many of them are offering broadband for free.  And when are McDonalds and co going to offer free broadband here in Australia.  I've been out of circulation for nearly 10 weeks.  5 weeks in Melbourne, and 5 weeks traveling.  It still ain't easy to get low cost high speed access here in Australia.

Anger at Prince free CD giveaway

This is funny, listening to the squealing of the old music industry grab on for every penny to an old model that doesn't serve the consumers anymore.

 Anger at Prince free CD giveaway

It is yet another example of the damaging covermount culture which is destroying any perception of value around recorded music

They seem to be saying that if they make music a difficult rare commodity they can make money!!  A bit like the diamond trade dealing with gem quality synthetic diamonds!!

Funny, but the first album I ever bought was Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, which was a recent giveaway at The Mail on Sunday, as well.  Under what circumstances does the record industry think I will pay full whack for yet another copy of a long lost album I bought over 30 years ago?  Or are they relying on a new generation of Tubular Bells listeners, and stuff me.  Either way, the message is Stuff Me!

I feel sorry for the record store holders, if their industry is dying, but isn't that because consumer demand is changing?  Shouldn't record stores and recording companies be offering something to me that I want!!

Ampires!

What do you call the people who wander through airline terminals, looking at the bases of walls, hunting for a previous power outlet into which they can sink their electric teeth?  Brilliant, David Weinberger!

It is so true,  you have to have experienced that desperate hunt for power at an airport, to understand what he's describing.  At first I thought it was thoughtlessness by the airport, and then I wandered into the Qantas Club lounge with hundreds of power outlets.  It's deliberate.  If you want power, then join the Qantas monopoly.

Australia left for dead, says net guru - Wireless & BroadBand - Connectivity

Australia left for dead, says net guru - Wireless & BroadBand - Connectivity

I am concerned about Australia," Professor Smarr told the Herald yesterday from his home in San Diego. "We are in a once-in-30-year transition, and if you are not serious about real broadband you will be gradually left out of more and more of the emerging business opportunities, and challenged for the ones you thought you had. Australia is great in terms of the old infrastructure ... so you think of yourselves as a modern country", but on internet infrastructure, "Australia ranks 42nd in the world in the cost of internet service, 38th in mobile phone costs, 40th on the availability of skilled labour and engineers, and 20th on scientific infrastructure. If you want your living standard to remain ... one of the best in the world, it's going to have to be by adding value in a globally interconnected economy.

Just as we've all suspected.  What I really like is we're 38th in mobile phone costs, and we have to start by adding value!!  Are you listening Government and Telstra?

Crude Awakening - The Oil is running out

I went to see Crude Awakening tonight, a film about our dependency on oil, and how quickly oil is running out, which will be in the next few decades.  Honestly.  It's not a scare thing or some green thing, and it's not about conserving oil, because that will prolong the pain for a just a bit longer.

There was a panel discussion afterwards with;

Elliot Fishman, Phil Hart, and Ken Davidson of The Age

The implications for me, fall into a number or micro and macro areas.

1. Wars will increase to protect the remaining oil

2. Economic decline as we use up the remaining oil but bury our heads in the sand

3. Local change.  Cars will be too expensive to drive, and plastics become too expensive to use.

4. Food will need to be transported locally

5. No more air travel!!

What can we do locally? 

Support public transport, especially more trains and more train infrastructure.  Campaign for a faster broadband infrastructure so less people have to travel to work.  Make more people aware of Peak Oil

I really am having a deep think about what car or cars to own, what investments to have, and what things are going to decline, and where the growth areas are.  Where to live relative to public transport and local schools.

The country with the greatest problem is America, which is totally oil and car dependent.  America will economically crash,unless they start to do something radical over the next 5 years. Ken pointed out that European cities have a public transport infrastructure built before the age of the car.  I wonder how China and India will be able to grow if they can't supply themselves with energy.

In the short term, the price of petrol will go up. What will this mean, over the next few years?  At what point does the cost of running a car cease to be viable?  When does the very high price of petrol begin to impact on the infrastructure and transport, as well as the local and world economy?

What's most interesting here in Australia, is what role coal is going to play in all of this.  The film didn't mention coal!!  it seems to me, that in the short-term, a vast increase in coal usage together with Five Ways to Save the World, is going to be the way forward!!