2007 December

My Digidesign paper weight…

December 16, 2007 By Steve Borsch 5 Comments

A cautionary tale for those of you who rely on vendors of product upon which you depend for your livelihood.

This morning I sat down in front of my three month old audio setup: a Digidesign MBox2Pro ($800); Shure SM7B microphone ($350); and my Macbook Pro loaded with all sorts of software (~$300); (all worth roughly $1,400-$1,600 in order to do a voiceover for a product I’m shipping this coming week.

When booting the software (ProTools LE) I got an error message that it couldn’t find the Digidesign hardware. "No worries, it’s a driver issue probably due to a Leopard incompatibitlity, and they’ll surely have an update on their site" I thought since it had been about two months since I used the Digidesign hardware and about seven weeks since I installed Leopard on all of my machines, including the Macbook Pro I use for audio work.

Digidesign still doesn’t support Leopard, seven weeks after it shipped. Since so many of my other applications have been upgraded, I can’t downgrade Mac OS X just because Digidesign doesn’t have their act together, so I’ve got a big, expensive blue-faced paperweight.

If audio was my main business or completely mission-critical, I’d have a dedicated machine for it and would’ve waited on upgrading to Leopard. But since every other vendor I rely on (e.g., Adobe with the Creative Suite) and even scanners and other devices already supported, I assumed (wrongly) that a vendor upon which so many have invested large sums and rely upon would have their act together.

I won’t even get into the issues with hosted applications (e.g., Twitter’s outage yesterday or Skype’s recent multi-day meltdown) and the trepidation many of my clients, family and friends experience. Today’s experience of mine is but one more reason to tread cautiously with any technology you’ve bet your business or product on and make no assumptions about support.

UPDATE on next page…

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Filed Under: Technology

Push-Pull with Google Knol

December 14, 2007 By Steve Borsch 4 Comments

The moment I read this announcement of Google’s Knol initiative, I thought, "Oh no! They’re going to kill Wikipedia" and felt a real push-pull. Push as in pushing it away ’cause I love Wikipedia, pull since Google "gets it" on such a massive scale.

Then I paused, let it sink in for a moment and next realized this initiative fits in perfectly with where I believe blogging, social networks, Twitter communications, Skype Prime and all this new webby goodness is headed: more and more ‘containers’ and ‘methods’ for our personal value propositions, knowledge and insight to be created and delivered and upon which others can build (and we can monetize!).

Though I don’t believe experts exist (experts are usually the few of us who have more information and a wealth of experience at some point in time), nothing of any import or relevance happens without building upon what’s come before and the people who’ve gathered that information, have the experiences and the gained insights we need. This is especially true in science and medicine, but the value people place into the world with their work, their insights and their knowledge informs and provides the building blocks upon which ever-increasing value is created. You know, the old "they stood on the shoulders of giants" axiom.

With more of us carving out areas of focus that allow us to consult, publish and provide our intrinsic value in specific niches, I can easily visualize people (Google uses ‘authors’) who have high value being ones who create and deliver these knol’s, or units of knowledge, upon which others can discover and see patterns. New value will be created by the insights and knowledge provided while the cycle times necessary for knowledge to move around the world will compress and shorten dramatically.

Though I won’t really be able to form an opinion until I see Google’s Knol in action, I don’t think it will, in any way-shape-or-form, obviate Wikipedia since they’re two different focuses.

A form (like a book, a TV show, a movie, a video, a Facebook Wall, a web site, a blog) sets expectations in the reader/viewer/user so one can quickly discover and extract the value delivered within the container and know where to find that value. Knol may be just such a container and could become real stand-alone value (probably from academics), but for others a new teaser, loss-leader, all intended to be a player in the labor game of the future. Maybe, just maybe, publishing in Krol will become table-stakes to be in the world’s labor force game.

Filed Under: Innovation

Adding a forum? Consider phpBB 3.0

December 13, 2007 By Steve Borsch 2 Comments

Many
of my clients, other business owners I know and even me are either implementing, or considering deploying, discussion forums. Engaging the participation culture means that you need to empower those using your products and services so that the community can help one another.

I was at Apple in the 1990′s when the company had essentially unlimited 800# free support calls and the Austin, TX call-center exploded with humans answering phones. It was easier to pick up the phone and call Apple than it was to look something up in a manual or go online and seek an answer (and, of course, online support hadn’t yet reached any sort of critical mass and slow dialup connections made it tough to do much regardless).

When Steve Jobs returned in 1996 (the year I joined Apple), within moments it seemed that there were a lot of layoffs in Austin and a focus online as well as new policies to handle support. Apple invested in Jive Software‘s world-class forum software and the discussion groups you see at Apple today run on Jive. The result? Users and moderators can help one another rather than pick up the phone and call Apple with easily answered questions (as an example, my staff first searches discussions and 90% of the time we get answers from Apple, Adobe and other vendors we use).

One of my favorite open source discussion/forum software is phpBBâ„¢ and they’re releasing their version 3.0 today: phpBB, the leading open source forum and online collaboration system announced today the availability of phpBB Version 3.0. This release includes enhanced collaboration features, better security and delegated administration features, extended support for open source and commercial database management systems, and optimisation for mobile devices and search engines. phpBB is available at no cost, released under the GNU General Public License.

While the underlying technical capability has been upgraded which is vitally important, it’s the new look-n-feel features that intrigue me (e.g., themes). Why? As I’ve pointed out here and here, design matters. Too often developers forget that there are people using the underpinnings of a site or application and ~~they~~ we like it when layout is intuitive, functionality obvious and the eye candy integral to the overall experience.

I suspect that we’ll see new focus on look-n-feel options that make it easier to integrate phpBB in to existing web sites, blogs and within other themes. This is a really well done open source application and worthy of serious review if you’d like to engage your community, employees or foster digital conversations in new ways…or just significantly enhance your the support of your customers and community.

Filed Under: Blogosphere, Open Source

Digg + Techmeme/Blogrunner + Newsvine = Wikio

December 11, 2007 By Steve Borsch 2 Comments

Grabbed lunch in a coffee shop so I could followup on some emails and surf Google Reader and ~~leech~~ ~~off~~ use their free wifi. Like you probably do as well, I use tabs in Firefox to create "tabbed workspaces" that let me use different browser windows to load my oft-used sites so they’re at my fingertips just a tab-click away.

Four I check constantly are Google Reader (GR), Newsvine as well as the memetrackers (probably THE most powerful automated conversation tracking mechanism on the Web) TechMeme and Blogrunner. With the 1,000 or so articles popping up in GR that I skim/read each day — cross-referenced in the memetrackers so I make certain I’ve seen all the hot stuff of the day bloggers are "conversing" about by linking to one another — I really have a handle on what I need to stay appraised of daily.

While reading Mashable just now I came across this breaking news on the US launch of Wikio, an offering that I describe as sort of a Digg, Techmeme, Blogrunner and Newsvine combined. I dropped my sandwich as I realized that maybe, just maybe, I might be able to combine my use of these four sites within just this one!

As Mashable’s Adam Ostrow states in his opening, "Wikio, which already claims 5 million unique users in Europe, is officially launching their memetracker in the US today. â€œMemetrackerâ€ is probably too narrow a description for Wikio, as it attempts to be much more than services like TechMeme, BlogRunner, and the new Technorati."

Wikio describes their site like this: Wikio is a personalised page of news, including a news search engine that searches media sites, blogs and member publications. Even without signing up or personalizing Wikio for myself and my own interests — which I just did — I can really see the potential here.

You can vote and promote articles you find interesting ala Digg. It acts as a memetracker, like TechMeme and Blogrunner (though I think that capability looks weak….but I haven’t yet formed an opinion). It allows submission like Digg does — and Newsvine before Digg appeared — but with a twist: since you can complete a profile like a social network, it allows someone who is willing to invest in article submission with the capability to build a reputation on the site which Newsvine pioneered with news gathering.

The bad news? I can’t export my OPML file from Google Reader (which I’ve painstakingly invested in categorizing over a couple of years) and then import it into Wikio. Maybe I’m missing something and I can do this, but if not it’s a deal-killer for me using Wikio as my primary hub.

The good news? I’ve broken into huge grins several times as I’ve bumped across articles and blog posts that I’ve *never* seen before. THAT sort of experience will be the acid-test for acceptance of this tool: if the value delivered by Wikio is higher than figuring out how to really use it effectively (which isn’t too tough) and if it provides more of us with the ability to consume and parse high volumes of information, than Wikio is a winner which it already looks to be.

Filed Under: Blogosphere, Current Affairs, Innovation, Technology, Web 2.0

Why I’ve Become a WordPress Fanboy

December 10, 2007 By Steve Borsch 7 Comments

When I began blogging in 2004, Movable Type (MT) was the only real option if one wanted to download software and build a blog/site (MT became company Six Apart and MT is what their hosted blogging service I’m using, Typepad, leverages). The success and momentum of MT and the cheap and great features of Typepad turned my head and the latter was my choice.

At that time, my analysis showed that WordPress wasn’t quite ready for prime-time and I wasn’t willing to bet my blogging future on it. I’ve gotta tell ya though, things have changed!

WordPress has their own free blog hosting service, downloadable software to install on your own server(s), hundreds of templates, and something that surprised and delighted me: incredibly clean and easy to understand code.

I need to say right up front that I am not a coder or developer (I’m a “suit”, a sales/marketing/alliances exec-type) but am a halfway decent “mechanic” and can goof around with PHP and CSS to fix and tweak stuff all day long until I get to the end-state desired. Of course, it doesn’t take long for me to scream out in pain and beg for help, but I’m getting better at this coding stuff and the accessibility of WordPress code lessens my painful struggles.

In the past couple of years I’ve been involved in installing, developing and deploying a wide range of open source solutions like Drupal, Joomla, phpBB, ZenCart and several more. I’ve personally experienced many disparate approaches and conceptual paradigms; various administration interfaces; install procedures both easy and made just for geeks; and the strength or weaknesses of the ecosystems that have popped up around these various packages.

Here’s the primary reason I’m now a WordPress fanboy: I’m involved in a brand new blog/site launching Q1 and have realized during my mucking around in the guts of WordPress (and the theme I bought) that from WordPress itself to the ecosystem surrounding it, this is the easiest to use and most robust open source platform out there and the ecosystem is delivering an amazing amount of innovation around it.

If you require a commercial platform with all the requisite support options demanded by today’s enterprises, then I’d choose one of the Movable Type Publishing Platform options. If you’re considering a personal or small business blogging platform, WordPress is it. You can even consider building your own blogging network with WordPress Multi-User (MU). Any way you look at it, WordPress is one amazing (and free) chunk of value that I’m pleased to gush about like any good fanboy should.

Filed Under: Blogosphere

Marc Orchant, R.I.P.

December 9, 2007 By Steve Borsch Leave a Comment

From Oliver Starr here:

Update: 2:56PM Pacific Time December 9th, 2007:

It is with great sadness that I report that Marc Orchant, Husband to Sue, Father to Rebecca and Jason, and friend to so many passed away just a short time ago. I was notified by Marcâ€™s brother Craig.

His family and closest friends were at his side and his favorite music was playing. Craig said that Marcâ€™s passing was as peaceful and easy as anyone could have hoped and he left this world surrounded by love from so many people that he couldnâ€™t possibly have failed to know how many people cared for, appreciated and respected him.

Anyone that knew Marc also knew how much he loved music; especially the Grateful Dead. The excerpt below is from one of the songs that helped the family say goodbye to Marc and helped Marc move on to the next world. I talked to Marc almost every single day for the past couple of years. Iâ€™m sure that Iâ€™m not alone when I say that I am going to miss him so, so much.

To allow for people that may need to travel and take time of work, services are most likely going to be held this coming Wednesday afternoon at the Temple where the Orchants are members. I will provide more specific details as soon as they have been provided to me. Marcâ€™s family expressed once again their gratitude for the outpouring of love and support that the technology community has shown in this very difficult time. Your warmth, concern and friendship will not be forgotten.

I’ll miss ya buddy.

Filed Under: Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness

3 Strategies to Think. Consider. Mull it over. Breathe…

December 6, 2007 By Steve Borsch 1 Comment

Do you take the time to absorb new information and let it percolate in your brain awhile before rushing to judgement, making a decision or throwing together a blog post, a tweet, an SMS or comment somewhere?

At breakfast this morning my wife, 13 year old son and I were in a conversation about television. In a poor attempt at grabbing his attention, I tried to set context for him on what is was like for me at 13 — three networks, one independent TV channel, no recorded media — and what it was like for him now.

We have DVD’s, DirecTV with hundreds of channels, game systems, books galore, two daily newspapers, and an Internet with essentially "millions" of channels. He smiled and said, "Whatever Dad" and went on with conversations about his skiing adventure this weekend! He made it clear that he LOVES all the choice and ENJOYS the constant interruptions his mobile phone, IM, Skype, XBox Live teams give him.

I submit that it is VERY hard right now to turn off the river of news, shut out the Twitter’s, the social network alerts, SMS, IM, Skype calls, emails, and all the other interruptions and make 100% certain that you have the time to think, to consider, mull stuff over and just breathe.

What I try hard to do with this blog — and life in general — is to ferret out the meaning behind a person’s incentives, company/product direction or strategic announcement before going off half-cocked to write about it and/or get involved in conversations. Connecting the dots, if you will.

I frequently turn off every possible interruption in order to buffer myself against intrusions that are accelerating and demanding ever higher levels of my attention. It’s the only way I can be assured that I’ll be able to place myself in a position of contemplation before taking action.

Here are three strategies that you can do right now to set yourself up to be more contemplative. It will pay off and I guarantee it (or your money will be cheerfully refunded):

Marc, Blogger Conflict and TechMeme

December 5, 2007 By Steve Borsch Leave a Comment

marcmarc1

(left) The Google cache of the blognation post and (right) Oliver Starr’s
repost with more detail (including a note from Marc’s wife, Sue) on his own blog

Quite early this morning I awoke and headed to my computer to check email. Before doing so I hit “refresh” on the Web page I had open that Oliver Starr had created at blognation about Marc Orchant’s massive coronary. The guy has rarely been out of my thoughts and prayers since I learned what happened thanks to Oliver and his post appearance on TechMeme, and I wanted to read any updates.

I got back “Error 404 — Not Found“. Confused, I set about trying to find the post (maybe they moved it to a more prominent position?) to no avail except I did discover this Google cache on the page. I didn’t have an email for Oliver Starr but I did find an OpenID page with one for the head of blognation, Sam Sethi.

So I sent Sam an email and what he told me both really bothered me and is just flat wrong when it comes to the hundreds of people who care about the status of Marc Orchant.

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Filed Under: Blogosphere

Marc Orchant needs your thoughts & prayers…

December 3, 2007 By Steve Borsch 1 Comment

You know how you meet someone and the connection is so strong that you feel like you’ve been their friend always? That’s how I feel about Marc Orchant and was absolutely stunned to learn that he just had a massive coronary Sunday morning.

Marc is one of the good guys. I can count on one hand friends of mine who I quietly am in awe of as I admire their brainpower, their interview and writing skills as well as their intuitive grasp of markets and technologies. That’s Marc in spades.

In this photo taken at the most recent Etech conference in San Diego, Marc is on the right along with my friend and Minnesota blogger, Graeme Thickins (another guy in the same connection status with me as Marc, by the way).

Another of Marc’s friends and colleagues, Oliver Starr, thankfully posted about it and asked for others to please repost which I’ve done after the jump (and have posted it in its entirety).

I love you man….get better and I’ll stay alerted to your progress. Best wishes to Sue and your family and now for certain we’ll have to connect up you, me and our brides when we collide in some miscellaneous city again!

Schwarzenegger and Broadband: Is this leadership?

December 3, 2007 By Steve Borsch 2 Comments

No question that California has a lot at stake with respect to broadband (major Internet players like eBay, Google, and others are there), movie and (much of the) television industry, infrastructure companies (like Cisco) but then so does the United States overall. There seems to me to be a woeful lack of leadership when it comes to this economic catalyst both at the Federal and at the State level and Governor Schwarzenegger just demonstrated his lack of leadership on this matter.

At least the Governator has some level of awareness as he exhibited weakly at last Tuesday’s talk to a broadband conference, though according to this CNet article he’s a proponent of letting the free market take care of making broadband ubiquitous, affordable and faster.

Hmmm…let’s see: The Internet wouldn’t exist had it not been for the Defense Advanced Research Programs Agency (DARPA) creating it; the "free market" is traffic shaping on their networks dictating what can-and-cannot run on their networks; and US broadband speeds are laughingly slow compared to the rest of the world.

In the same way I don’t need a meteorologist to tell me the sun is shining, I don’t require someone to inform me as to why the US needs faster broadband speeds (both download and, most importantly, upload speeds so we can serve from our homes and businesses if we choose). If you, like me, use the Internet in any meaningful way you feel it and understand it down-to-your-toes.

The Sacramento Regional Research Institute, like a good meteorologist, looked at the concept strategically from several miles up and Schwarzenegger referenced the study in his talk:

An increase in Californiaâ€™s broadband Internet usage could lead to significantly higher levels of employment and payroll in the state, according to a new study by the Sacramento Regional Research Institute (SRRI). The Economic Effects of Increased Broadband Use in California shows that with a 3.8 annual percentage point increase in the proportion of the adult population using broadband, California could see a net cumulative gain of 1.8 million jobs and $132 billion of payroll over the next 10 years. (Study PDF press release here).

An earlier (Jan 2006) study (PDF) by MIT/Carnegie Mellon also reinforces the economic impact of broadband:

"We find that between 1998 and 2002, communities in which mass-market broadband became available by December 1999 experienced more rapid growth in (1) employment, (2) the number of businesses overall, and (3) businesses in IT-intensive sectors."

So it’s not just me that sees the sun is shining, so where do we go from here?

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Filed Under: Technology