Unpredictable. Unfocused. Just like life.

No that is not a rhetorical question.

I received some email purporting to be from Bank of America. It is my bank, so it is possible. The email said that some customers had received a fraudulent email claiming to be from Bank of America asking them to update their Online Banking details.

The email then proceeded to introduce their new secure SSL server and asked you to - you guessed it - click a link to update your Online Banking details. Now would you have noticed that this was phishing attempt?

A recent study at Harvard and Berkeley entitled Why phishing attacks work (PDF) found that 23% of people would not have noticed:

"We found that 23 per cent of the participants did not look at browser-based cues such as the address bar, status bar and the security indicators, leading to incorrect choices 40 per cent of the time," the researchers reports. "We also found that some visual deception attacks can fool even the most sophisticated users."

I tend to look at these things pretty carefully, and beside the fact that the link didn't go to Bank of America, this paragraph was a dead giveaway:

We have asked few additional information which is going to be the part of secure login process. These additional information will be asked during your future login security so, please provide all these info completely and correctly otherwise due to security reasons we may have to close your account temporarily.

There is good reason to worry. If these people ever take a grammar course we could all be in trouble.

I feel pretty safe though because I generally don't trust email. The other day I received an email from American Express about some suspicious activity on my card. When I called the number in the email I asked how I could be sure it was American Express. The young lady suggested I call the number on the back of my card. I did and was directed to the fraud department, who had already resolved the problem and were just letting me know, and would overnight me a new card. As an aside, how is it that American Express can always answer on the first ring and I never have to wait? It's always a pleasure calling them.

So where email is concerned I find that it is always better to be a little skeptical.

Some time ago I worked with Walter Cronkite. The first time I met him we were talking about finding information with search engines, and I suggested that they were more efficient than looking for something in the newspaper. He told me that he read the newspaper because he learned things he didn't know he wanted to know.

Steve Rubel says that the BlackBerry and the iPod now far outnumber newspapers on his daily train ride:

New York is a big newspaper town. We have four majors, two freebies plus of course two nationals. During my seven years of commuting to work on the Long Island Railroad, the country's largest commuter rail, I have watched the newspaper to gadget ratio slide heavily in favor of the gizmos. The machines have won. People spend far more time fiddling with their iPods and Blackberries than they do reading print. It even cuts across all generations.

While newspapers have their problems, they have one great benefit, that serendipitous discovery of new information. I fear that to compensate for tiny screens we will have to narrow our information focus. We'll have more, newer, and better information available to us, but on fewer and fewer topics.

I love my iPod, and I couldn't live without the tremendous access to information afforded by the internet. But if you see me on a plane or a train, I can guarantee you that I'll have at least one newspaper beside me. I read at least two every day, and I read them from front to back. I learn at least one new and random thing every day. And I can't tell you how many times those random thoughts have become incredibly useful.

Every day I learn something I didn't know I wanted to know.

Two companies called me for interviews for open positions this past week. I'm not looking right now so I called them both up and thanked them but said I wasn't interested.

I live in a medium size town with a few tech companies, and those companies (including these two) frequently complain that they just can't find people to hire. Both of these companies had a number of open postings on their website, postings that had been there for quite some time. I had sent resumes to both of these companies for open positions. For one of the companies, I had emailed AND faxed the resume to both the HR Manager AND the CEO.

And they contacted me, so it's all good, right? Funny thing though, I had actually sent the resumes for those open positions about three months earlier. I guess the chances of hiring good people go up dramatically if you actually call them back in a reasonable timeframe. As it is, these companies were too late to hire me.

Throughout my career I've ended up working with folks that saw something they liked and acted very quickly to hire me. I've never worked with a company that took more than two weeks to interview me and make me an offer.

Om Malik is trying Hive7, a virtual online community:

I think, Hive7 is in the same place. It will be sometime before the world catches on to its true potential. Skibinsky says that his big breakthrough was in 2004, when he realized that “instead of building a closed online game it’s possible to do the reverse.” In other words, he had an epiphany that web is the ultimate API. He put together a virtual universe which has rooms where folks can meet, meet, chat, exchange resources and items. What got me excited about Hive7 was that it allows anyone to customize the whole experience. You can take the code, and tweak it.

Looking at what Hive7 has built, I have just realized that the web has now gone 3D. Virtual worlds have a new meaning, and collaboration just got easier. I would let you figure it out for yourself, but I think this is the first step in realizing Ajax’s full potential. (I have some screen shots in the extended entry. Check out the one where Max and I are doing collaborative browsing. A browser inside a browser - now that’s cool!)

While the AJAX version may be new, the concept isn't. Almost 10 years ago, back when VRML was in vogue, there were 3D chat programs. You got yourself an avatar, and you could wander around the place chatting with people around you. And frankly, even on those archaic machines, it was a little faster than Hive7 is. Mind you, you couldn't really tweak it at all. But you got the same general sense.

While I think this stuff is cool, and will get even more impressive in the future, I can't help but agree a little bit with Halley Suitt in her comment on Second Life:

So the question is, do the people who are all excited about Second Life actually have a first life, or any life at all?

While it is nice that Apple of providing new features for the iPod, I'm amazed that they found it necessary to add a volume limit setting.

From what I can see this addresses two markets; parents who want to control everything their kids do, and people who lack the common sense to turn down the volume.

This is of course a response to a class action lawsuit brought by somebody who clearly doesn't get the concept of personal responsibility. If the music on your iPod is too loud, just how much intelligence does it take to turn the volume down? No, it's far better to blame the company that makes the device.

If proposed legislation continues, January 6, 2008 is the day that Net Neutrality ceases to exist in the United States:

Absent network neutrality, network operators could dictate to customers which Internet services they could access, and at what quality. Customers of Apple's iTunes music store, say, might find their downloads slowed down, or blocked completely, if Apple refuses to pay a transaction fee to their ISP. Users of the Vonage Internet phone service might lose their dial tones if their Internet provider wants to sell its own brand of phone service. The Internet might become more profitable for network providers, and less useful for everybody else.

If this legislation continues, that is also the day the open communication and collaboration of the internet stops.

Yes plenty of people will yell you that the telecom companies have to pay for their network somehow. Even though we are all paying already they want some of us to pay twice. Or many times.

These operators sat back while companies like Google made the internet valuable. Then they jumped in with a little blackmail:

Pay us to use our pipes or else.

So how are they different than the so called "patent trolls"? Actually they sounds like racketeers.

Is it really too late to stop the insanity?

Steve Ballmer quote of the day:

My children--in many dimensions they're as poorly behaved as many other children, but at least on this dimension I've got my kids brainwashed: You don't use Google, and you don't use an iPod.

Making your kids use Microsoft products. Wouldn't that be classified as abuse?

After 20 years of using PCs I switched to a Macintosh a few months ago. A couple of weeks ago I bought a new Sony Vaio laptop for some work I'm doing. Now I have no intention to switch back to me, but if I ever needed a refresher on why I switched to Mac I got it tonight.

The laptop came with a copy of Norton Anti-Virus, which I hadn't activated. I thought that the anti-virus software was causing a problem with something I was working, but I couldn't seem to turn it off because I hadn't activated it. I started to activate it and didn't like the terms of the license agreement, so I decided to just remove it. That was my mistake.

Apparently I couldn't install it without upgrading my Microsoft Windows Installer. That's right, my two week laptop was so out of date that I couldn't REMOVE a piece of software. Yet somehow Norton got on the machine in the first place.

So I was forced to go to Microsoft and figure out what installer to get. And it wasn't as if there was some simple search for it. After four different attempts I found a version 3.1 that seemed to work on XP SP2. So I decided to download it.

Not so fast folks. First I had to download some software to determine if I had Genuine Windows XP. That's right, Microsoft needed to ensure that they had gotten their money from my two weeks ago laptop purchase, so that I could install software that they hadn't, so that I could remove software that I didn't want.

So I had to download a program to check my PC. After the program decided I was for real, I was then allowed to download the installer software. I installed that software, and then as quickly as I possibly could, I installed every last bit of Norton Anti-Virus.

So what have we learned? To be allowed to remove software that I didn't want in the first place, I had to prove that I paid money to Microsoft, so that I could download the installer for Microsoft products. The installer that wouldn't actually install anything I hadn't paid for in the first place.

Now I remember why I switched to Macintosh.

For the first time in days Microsoft is not at the top of memeorandum. First they announced that Vista would be delayed. Then there was a report that 60% of Vista had to be rewritten. Then Robert Scoble noted that this was hogwash, and became a flashpoint for all kinds of positive and negative sentiment.

It's been a few days and now Robert is begging people to insult him. Rick Segal thinks Robert should be fired. And the Head Lemur thinks that Robert needs an intervention.

I hope everyone has gotten this out of their system and we can all go back to business as usual. I've seen a lot of energy wasted on a piece of software. And a week of free PR for Microsoft.

American Express sent me an email today about possible fraudulent activity on my card. Someone had tried to use my card. Reading the email I just assumed that I was in for a hassle trying to take care of the charges and getting a new card.

I called American Express, and they informed me that they were just warning me of the problem. They had declined the charge, and after confirming my identity, they said they would flag the account and overnight me a new card.

Easiest credit card experience. Ever.

There's one heck of an argument happening in the blog world today. An Australian publication, SmartHouse Magazine, published an article stating that 60% of Windows Vista code needed to be rewritten before it could be shipped. Now that is just ludicrous, and most people figured that out. But SmartHouse stuck to their story, and produced a source. Even still, the story is more likely misunderstanding than fact.

But rather than just post a correction and leave it at that, Robert Scoble, normally a of open conversation, suggested that the editor and journalist involved with the story be fired. And he went a lot further today:

But, we should now start deriding people who link to non-credible sources. I will. Anyone who links to that jerk down in Australia anymore is simply not doing bloggers any favors. Same for anyone who links to the Register. I don't believe a word they write. At least not while Andrew Orlowski works there.

Robert is entitled to his opinion, but so is everyone else, even if they don't share his.

This story doesn't seem all that likely, and as I said may simply be the result of a misunderstanding. But I think that persistent denials and vitriolic blog posts have only served to raise its profile. Most people are capable of applying rational common sense when they read stories like this. Others will believe whatever they want to, and there's really nothing you can do about it.

I suppose the last word belongs to Shelley at Burningbird, who demonstrates that she will link to whoever she darn well pleases thank you very much.And that's fine with me, because I really want a balanced blogosphere. I want to know both the correct story and the inaccurate story so that I can tell the difference.

In the Op-Ed section of today's New York Times, Edward Tenner asks:

Are search engines making today's students dumber?

The premise of his piece is that Google (and other search engines presumably) make it so easy to find information that people disregard the quality of the information, but assuming they have an answer they dig no deeper. And if this is acceptable by their school for whatever they are working on, then is it the fault of the search engine?

I believe that this would make them lazy, but I can't see how it makes them dumber. Even if the information is completely incorrect, that just makes them misinformed.

Mr. Tenner suggests that this may be partially the fault of the content owners:

More owners of free high-quality content should learn the tradecraft of tweaking their sites to improve search engine rankings.

And Google can do more to educate users about the power — and frequent advisability — of its advanced search options.

Suddenly we are depending on free content to educate us. Wouldn't we prefer to be educated by high quality content? Google wants to make that available to us, but book publishers aren't interested in helping.So Google can only deliver what it has access to. And even with incredible algorithms, if can still only make a best guess of what is most relevant.

And blaming the tool because people don't use it correctly is just silly. If they are motivated to do so people will make more use of the tool. It isn't Google's fault if they don't. I use the advanced features of Google every day because I want to find more in depth information.

Yesterday I was at the library, using their online card catalog to help him find books for a project. We could have stopped looking after we found the first book. But he wanted more in-depth information so we searched further, and into related areas. If I stopped at the first match I found in the card catalog, does that make me dumber?

A couple of weeks ago, well before the start of spring, there was a release about 2005-2006 being Canada's warmest winter on record. Of course the release said that global warming was being investigated as the cause.

Given that this happened a full week before spring actually started I wondered how a government bureaucracy, not known for any kind of speed, could possibly decide something so quickly, even before the period of note had ended. I also felt that this would be tempting fate.

Indeed this morning, a few days into spring, I awoke to a blanket of pure white snow covering everything. So I fullly expect an announcement in a couple of weeks that this is the coldest, snowiest, spring on record.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin says that the FCC has the power to enforce network neutrality, and will do so if necessary:

In a question-and-answer period in front of the keynote audience, Martin said that "I do think the commission has the authority necessary" to enforce network neutrality violations, noting that the FCC had in fact done so in the case last year involving Madison River's blocking of Vonage's VoIP service.

Or maybe they won't:

However, Martin also added that he supports network operators' desires to offer different levels of broadband service at different speeds, and at different pricing -- a so-called "tiered" Internet service structure that opponents say could give a market advantage to deep-pocket companies who can afford to pay service providers for preferential treatment.

And how will the FCC ensure that customers get what they pay for?

When asked how consumers could measure service performance levels, Martin said that public Web sites already exist that let users measure their connection speeds.

Yes such web sites exist, but they typically measure speed by determining how long it takes to download a file of known size, which is really no test at all. For example, right now a speed test (the only network access my machine is currently doing) shows I'm getting 4640 kbps download speed and 381 kbps upload speed. But in the past hour I've also waited as long as 30 seconds for a simple domain name resolution.

Now if I were using Bittorrent my performance would be substantially lower. Why? Because Rogers - my ISP - throttles Bittorrent traffic. If you ask them if they do this they won't tell you - but they do. Bittorrent is not illegal, and clearly you are paying for service you are not getting, but they cut your bandwidth anyway. And so do several other ISPs. The same is probably true of MP3 downloads. And Shaw charges a $10 fee if you a VoIP solution that isn't theirs. So the result of a speed test tells you nothing.

And I'll reserve judgement on Ed Whitacre's sudden reversal on charging companies more for access:

Reversing his rhetorical field a bit, AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre on Tuesday declared that his company won't try to block or degrade customers' access to Internet applications or content, a marked change of tone from his previous statements on the issue of network neutrality.

After all, he never said he would block or degrade customer access; he said he would better access for customers that paid for it. That just has the unfortunate side effect of leaving less bandwidth for everyone else. The term "weasel words" comes to mind here. After all, if he has his way, there simply won't be any competition to go to.

Tip of the hat to Furdlog.

I noticed an item today on how Continental Airlines had implemented a paperless recruiting system. They were trumpeting this as a huge accomplishment, even though web-based "paperless" systems are common these days.

Fifteen years ago I was marketing and selling the concept of the "paperless office" to large enterprises, primarily focused on records management. Back then it was all about document management, and scanning paper in and storing it electronically.

Funny thing is that in all these paperless years, I've never actually noticed a decrease in paper.

I'm just watching the new TV show The Loop and a character said this:

There's even a guy with a list named Craig.

And then the went on to talk about their new youth-oriented airline concept - Jack. The tagline for their tie in with AOL?

Jack it with your entire buddy list for one low price.

Mark Evans brought up an interesting point on net neutrality the other day:

Just to be clear, I don't believe the net neutrality argument is cut and dry because the network operators need ways to get a return on their investment so they can innovate and make the "pipes" bigger and faster. The question is how do they do it in a way that still encourages innovation and competition.

Yes they need to be able to get a return on investment, but that doesn't have to be there on day one. Any investment is a risk. When the internet was new these companies were slow to invest in infrastructure until there was a market, and they have been relatively slow to provide broadband access, even though customers are willing to pay for it. But they haven't exactly provided exceptional service, and if a customer has a problem the operators are slow to admit fault.

As for bigger and faster pipes, the operators may be putting the infrastructure in place, but they haven't shown any particular application that would make a customer want to pay more. If as in Verizon's case, they want to put infrastructure in place so that they can provide IPTV, customers and companies shouldn't be on the hook to pay for that infrastructure because it doesn't benefit them the way they currently use the net.

If operators want to provide better infrastucture then they should be willing to take the risk based on their own revenue projections, not on the ability to charge customers lots more for exactly the same service as they already receive - and pay for.

And by the way, I see plenty of whining from the operators about their need to make a profit (beyond the estimated $200 billion in cash and guarantees from the government for improved broadband service that never happened), I NEVER see any comments about providing customers guaranteed service levels. We would never tolerate the lack of a dialtone on our phones, but we tolerate spotty service, arbitrary bandwidth throttling, and inconsistent bandwidth with no recourse.

danah boyd attempts to answer the question " Friendster lost steam. Is MySpace just a fad?" and ends up writing a whole essay about it.

She makes some excllent points about the problems of growth that MySpace is experiencing, and details the potential moral issues that might cause problems for MySpace and other services by association. But she only briefly touches on the possibility that MySpace might cease to be "cool".

Now having raised two sons through their teenage years, knowing their friends, and having been a teenager myself, I understand that teens operate in a different moral zone, even if adults seem to think themselves always moral. I think we actually operate on a moral continuum, so I hate to see some frightened adults resort to the same ridiculous actions that their parents might have taken when Elvis gyrated his hips. Folks need to calm down and realize that this is what entertains the next generation. The problems that may exist on MySpace also exist in the real world; they aren't unique to the internet. So stop being helicopter parents and cut your kids some slack. Otherwise they'll never learn to think for themselves.

I do think that MySpace is just a fad though, for the simple reason that where teens are concerned, pretty much everything is a fad. Something new and different and cooler will come along and kids with move to that. It's just a fact of life.

When I was six or seven years old my parents bought me my first record (yes kids, I'm that old). It was a sountrack of songs from the first Batman movie back in 1966. The one with Adam West. Not too long after that they bought me the Fifth Dimension album with The Age of Aquarius on it. I still have both records.

As a teenager I started to buy a lot of records. While may favorite band was The Beach Boys, I also listened to everything from the Beatles to Genesis, from the Who to Black Sabbath, from Kiss to Heart, and so much more. I had thousands of records, which I have faithfully moved from house to house as I got older.

My mom used to say that I would grow out of my fascination with music, and eventually get rid of those records. Now my mom isn't wrong very often. Except when she told me that if I didn't put on a sweater I would get a cold anyway. As an aside, I've raised two sons who wear shorts year round even in sub-zero temperatures. But she was wrong about the music thing. Sorry Mom, but I never got over the music thing.

As I've gotten older I've switched from records to CDs, and then again to digital music and iPods. My kids have also accumulated their own collections, and they've exposed me to lots of new music which I now enjoy as well. For years I've tried to figure out a way that I could make music part of my career as well; some way to connect music and technology. And I've been successful.

I'm working with a company called MusicIP; I've mentioned them before. I'm working on tools that let you look at your music collection in new ways, and help you find new music that you might like. I love the tools and I use them everyday, and they've helped me to find music I didn't even remember I had. I'm just starting to use the discovery stuff.

The cool thing is that I get to work with music and technology everyday. How many people can sit in their office with tunes pounding out, because that's their job? I get to do that every day. And I get paid for it. And if we do a good job, millions of people will be able to enjoy their music more. And they'll get to listen to thousands of artists they might never have heard of otherwise.

So sorry Mom. You might have been wrong on this one, but think of all the people that will be happier because I just couldn't give up that record collection.

I just saw an ad for OnStar that has your car sending email to you to let you know its status. I'm not sure what the value of sending an email to me is, but I think it would be really useful if the car could notify the dealership of a problem and book an appointment for service, and then just email you the details of the appointment.

And then GM could generate some much needed revenue by selling targeted advertising delivered to you via email from your car. Imagine if your car let you know that there was a special on oil changes or car detailing, especially if it knew it needed it.

If cars are smart enough to email you, they should be smart enough to do more than just that.

When I was a kid I remember hearing about how in the future we would work less and have a lot more time to relax. Of course that didn't actually come to pass. The world now moves much faster and we have less time to relax. In fact it has become a badge of honor to tell people how hard you work, how many emails you get a day, how many hours you spend at the office, and how you never take a vacation.

I also remember reading Talking Straight by Lee Iacocca when I was younger, and he said how could you call yourself a good manager if you couldn't manage to take two weeks off. So I do my best to balance my life. I work hard when I need to, but I also relax when I need to. But I get the feeling that I am among the minority.

It was interesting to read a comment by Sand Hill Slave about her disdain for the BlackBerry:

I cannot stand executive assistants that think they are cool because they have a Blackberry supplied to them. What better fucking way to have a ball and chain tied to you? You might as well have one of those electronic bracelets on to track your movements. I make it a point to avoid Blackberries. Bosses in the past have asked me if I wanted a Blackberry to help “enhance” my work. They might as well have asked me “Hey Wendy, can I give you gonorrhea so it can ‘enhance’ the burning sensation when you pee?” Of course, I’d kindly decline the Blackberry by saying, “I tend to lose everything so it’s best not to have the firm spend that kind of money on me.” I come out looking fabulous because I’m so concerned about the firm. I’m far more concerned about interruptions to my weekend nights. I’d rather have my mother catch me getting off than my Blackberry going off. Besides, if I’m gonna have something vibrating in my purse or pocket, it better be discreetly shaped like my luscious Chanel lipstick and have multiple speeds…

While I do recognize the value of the BlackBerry and Treo devices for some people where time is critical, I also believe that on the whole these devices have been the biggest killers of relaxation even invented. Of course they do allow you to answer email from the golf course, but what ever happened to that four day work week?

I made a comment a few days ago about having switched to a Mac, but still using Microsoft Office. My friend Andrew Anderson (of the brilliant Bound By Gravity) immediately asked my why I wasn't using Open Office. I didn't really have a good answer, because I had used Microsoft Office for quite some time and I was used to it.

The other day I bought a new Sony Vaio PC. Since my company has an MSDN subscription I figured it would be no problem to install a working set of software including XP Professional and MS Office. I got a product key for each item, and set out to install them.

I went about doing an upgrade from the XP Home that the Vaio came with. The Vaio, right out of the box, had insisted that I activate my copy of Windows with Microsoft, something I'd never had to do before, and couldn't understand why I would have to do for a PC I had just purchased. When the upgrade was complete, it still insisted that I had to activate the product, so I gave up and just did it. I was under the impression that purchasing an MSDN subscription freed me from that kind of crap, but I guess Microsoft just assumes that all customers are criminals.

I wasn't so lucky with Office though. I tried to install it twice, but both times it insisted that my product key was invalid. Now I only use this PC for development, and frankly I don't have time for this stupidity. So I decided that if Microsoft wanted to make it that hard for me to install Office, then maybe it just wasn't worth my time. So at that moment I decided to switch to Open Office, and I downloaded the product.

So not only has the pain of dealing with Microsoft Windows driven me to use the Mac as my primary computer, the pain of trying to install Office had now driven me to Open Office.

And it looks like the pain of using Visual Studio 2005 may drive me back to Visual Studio 6.0, a much older tool that works much better. And I hear that Netbeans is working on a C++ version, so who knows.

Of course I'm just one customer. Maybe nobody else in the world is experiencing the problems I am. But I doubt it.

The Head Lemur hits the nail right on the head:

Let me share something with you that I haven't told anybody else..... My dirty little blogging secret is this; I blog to have stuff available to me from whatever connected computer I happen to be working on. There it is, In type on your screen. Blogging is a internet scratchpad/notebook/pda for when I am somewhere else. Anybody who proclaims themselves as a mediator, enabler, or net nanny is somebody who is reaching for your wallet.

I know exactly what he means. I blog to remember things, and what I thought of those things at the time.

My blog is just me talking to myself.

If some people happen to enjoy it or identify with the thoughts, then that's great too.

And it would have to be if you wanted to tell someone "in all my life I've never met anyone as beautiful as you", and you used a rubber stamp to do so.

The New York Times notes that Dominic Wilcox has come up with a line of stamps to convey those once in a lifetime sentiments. Which I suppose proves that people will buy anything.

It seems that it may be the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) that becomes the catalyst required to get the government to act on the net neutrality issue:

The group that represents older Americans is not, at first blush, a prime constituency for this issue. Still, the AARP believes it has a stake in keeping the Internet open and free of potential broadband provider interference.

Robert Scoble tries to answer the question that some folks are asking, Why is Vista better than XP?:

I thought “hmm, that’s a good place for a Wiki.” Why? Cause there’s too many reasons to cover in one blog post or even a one-hour conversation. When Chris Pirillo and I gave a little tour at Northern Voice we only were able to cover about 1/100th of what makes it better in 30 minutes.

But I've seen this "answer" constantly - that there is just too much to cover. It seems that with all of the resources at Microsoft, especially the marketing folks, somebody should be able to come up with a succinct answer as to why they think Vista is better than XP. They've already experienced this problem trying to get people to upgrade Office, leading to a ridiculous ad campaign that calls their customers dinosaurs because they won't upgrade to a product that they see no benefit in just because Microsoft tells them to.

People don't need hours of Channel 9 video. They need a simple one page description, or 30 second elevator pitch, that tells them why their lives will be easier and more productive with Vista than they are with XP, and the cost in upgrades for them to attain that goal.

And Robert, you get your hardware and software for free from Microsoft. Unlike you, other people and companies have to commit their hard earned cash to upgrading, so they need a good reason to do so. It just isn't good enough to tell them to try Vista, unless you give them that reason.

I did take the test though. I bought a Mac, used it for a month, and now I can't switch back to XP. I still use Microsoft Office though.

George Clooney is donating his Oscar gift bag to the United Way:

The swag will be sold in an online auction to benefit the United Way Hurricane Response and Relief Recovery Fund, said spokeswoman Sheila Consaul. Clooney is a member of the charity's board of trustees, she said.

"This refocuses people back to the long-term nature of hurricane recovery efforts," she said.

Clooney is definitely a class act. So why aren't more of his co-presenters following suit?

"Everything that can be invented has been invented."

Charles Duell, US Patent Office, 1899

"If you're looking for the next big thing, stop looking. There's no such thing as the next big thing."

Nicholas Donofrio, IBM executive vice president of innovation and technology, 2006

Charles Duell likely never uttered that statement. But Donofrio did. And what does he base this reasoning on?

Donofrio added that innovation today is more about services, process, business models or cultural innovation than just product innovation.

"People all around the world are telling us the same thing," Donofrio said. "IBM did a survey of 750 (chief information officers), and all of them listed innovation as a top priority. This is what I spend my time on, what I worry about."

No offense intended, but when was the last time a CIO discovered the next big thing? The next big thing is a disruption, and their job is to minimize disruption at any cost. Perhaps Donofrio should spend an afternoon with some teenagers.

To improve innovation, IBM looks for employee suggestions:

According to Donofrio, IBM employees have contributed close to 5,000 ideas to date, and about 100 of those are being evaluated. The ideas cover products, processes and services.

And while those 100 ideas are being evaluated, smart people are creating thousands of companies, and some of those companies are already changing the world. Maybe I'm crazy, but I'll keep looking for the next big thing. And I'm willing to bet that 100 years from now somebody will be quoting Mr. Donofrio, and not in a complimentary way.

Everyday I pass a college, usually assumed to be a place of higher learning. But for the past couple of weeks it is the place where striking teachers parade around out front with picket signs. They are striking for more money, less workload, increased faculty hiring, and smaller class sizes.

Of course they trot out what has become a standard line:

We're doing it for the students.

I'm sure that they would call themselves professionals, but they seem no different than striking plant workers, who are at least honest about the reasons they are on strike.

Those students are in danger of losing their year, being unable to graduate, or being unable to obtain either part-time or full-time employment. All because of this strike - for the students.

It's pretty clear to all including the students that they are just being used as pawns in this game. But they are still learning a lesson. Will they learn that they can get whatever they want by withholding their services? Or will they learn to lose respect for their teachers?

As if in answer to my post yesterday, alarm:clock explains why VCs must blog:

Vast's technology might be beautiful, but it needs evangelism. If nothing else, VCs should be evangelists for their portfolio. How are they going to do that with static Web pages showing off the logos of their portfolio companies?

I awoke to an article in my local paper saying that this had been the warmest winter in Canada in recorded history, just as the temperature dropped like a rock and the snow began to fly in whiteout conditions. Of course the article reported that experts stated this was more proof of man-made global warming.

So I'm wondering if the papers will print this item:

According to Vladimir Shaidurov of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the apparent rise in average global temperature recorded by scientists over the last hundred years or so could be due to atmospheric changes that are not connected to human emissions of carbon dioxide from the burning of natural gas and oil. Shaidurov explained how changes in the amount of ice crystals at high altitude could damage the layer of thin, high altitude clouds found in the mesosphere that reduce the amount of warming solar radiation reaching the earth's surface.

Shaidurov has used a detailed analysis of the mean temperature change by year for the last 140 years and explains that there was a slight decrease in temperature until the early twentieth century. This flies in the face of current global warming theories that blame a rise in temperature on rising carbon dioxide emissions since the start of the industrial revolution. Shaidurov, however, suggests that the rise, which began between 1906 and 1909, could have had a very different cause, which he believes was the massive Tunguska Event, which rocked a remote part of Siberia, northwest of Lake Baikal on the 30th June 1908.

Pop quiz time kids. Who said this?

The music market is down not due to P2P "piracy," but for four simple reasons: a) stiff competition for the entertainment dollar with formats like video games and movies, both have much larger marketing spends; b) the replacement cycle is over-digital music does not scratch or wear out like past formats; c) one now has the ability to purchase and listen only to the great songs without filler; and d) mass-merchant retailers today carry only the current hits, with little to no catalog.

Give up? It was Terry McBride, CEO of Nettwerk Music Group, a record company, at savethemusicfan.com. And he doesn't agree with the RIAA suing fans. As he says:

I cannot envision any artist who I have the privilege of representing suing a fan for sharing their music.

Tip of the hat to Digital Copyright Canada.

I attended a presentation on the Venture Capital process. I asked the VCs presenting why they didn't blog like Fred Wilson, Brad Feld, or Rick Segal. They suggested that those guys only blogged because they had portfolio companies in the blogging and media space. While that may be true, I can't help but feel that each of those gentlemen go a lot farther that just promoting technology they have a vested interest in; they share a piece of themselves and they give me a sense of what catches their attention.

The person I was speaking to also suggested that many VCs were concerned about what kind of information might be made available on their blog. I thought that was a bit of an odd comment from they type of person that makes their living taking calculated risks.

For me, the value of blogging is making a connection. And to do that you need to take the risk of sharing a piece of yourself, and sharing what you know with others. Even if there is no immediate return.

From personal experience I can tell you there will be a return. It's like karma. The more you give the more you get.

I went a little further and wrote some software I thought people could use. The value of that is huge. I've had compliments and thank you's like crazy, lots of excellent suggestions, and not one negative comment. I've met a bunch of very interesting people. I've had a VC call me, and take a big chance on me.

Back to my original discussion though, when somebody gets a great idea and needs funding, don't you think they'd be more likely to talk to Fred, Brad, or Rick - folks they feel they have a connection with - or somebody they don't know?

Google held an open house today in Waterloo, Canada, in search of a few good employees. Not too long ago Google bought a local company named Reqwireless that created wireless mobile applications, and they now appear to be looking for at least one employee for that office.

Thousands were expected to show up, if only for the free t-shirts.

I was interviewed by a Canadian IT magazine earlier in the day asking if I felt that they would be able to find anybody locally. Having recently worked for another mobile applications company, Redknee, I said I was pretty sure there were some folks available in the area.

News 8 Austin interviewed Matthew Dunn, CEO of MusicIP, about the decision to debut the new products at SXSW. You can see the video here.

As Matthew says:

Think of it as a search engine with ears.

Ok, the wraps are off and I can tell you what I've been working on for the past couple of weeks.

MusicIP. The Global Music Relationship Engine.

If you like to listen to music, MusicIP provides tools that will analyze your music - whether you listen to popular, indie, classical, or anything else - and help you to rediscover your own collection, as well as to find new music that you will like, based on your existing music choices.

If you are a musician, MusicIp can help you connect directly with new fans worldwide, by allowing you to be "found for your sound", breaking the barrier of genre. Tracks registered with SongShare are exposed to millions of listeners, and even allows for Creative Commons track sharing and distribution. And you'll know where and when your music is being played. allowing you to focus your marketing efforts.

And if you are in the industry building tools to help people enjoy their music, you can take advantage of the MusicIP framework for music identification and discovery. And their low-cost MusicDNS service introduces Open Source, Open Data music identification and metadata with a distributed database of over 15 million fingerprinted and analyzed songs so far.

And best of all, while MusicIP is committed to improving the experience of listening to your music and discovering new music that you will enjoy, they are committed to your complete privacy and neither require nor collect any personally identifiable information.

And my contribution? A little player on Windows that lets y