2010 September

Your Mileage May Vary

September 26, 2010 By Steve Borsch 2 Comments

Technologists, “greenies” and (hopefully) mainstream consumers are anticipating the release of many new hybrid and electric cars, none the least of which is the soon-to-be-shipped Chevrolet Volt. The issue I see coming is one of potentially profound disappointment by the general masses due to the current state of energy storage in batteries.

I am a somewhat disappointed owner of a Neuton rechargeable lawnmower with nickel metal hydride (NiMh) batteries (I bought an extra battery for $99). After the first season the batteries weren’t holding a charge so I couldn’t finish my relatively small lawn with both batteries. Neuton agreed I’d “conditioned” them properly over the winter by storing them inside and charging ‘em once per month, so they gave me two new ones. They’ve also have recognized the initial failings of these first batteries and have since done a deal with Duracell for newer technology they ship with the current generation of mowers, but reviews I’ve read show people still disappointed with the lower-than-gas-mower power and how as the stored energy drains, the mower’s power weakens right alongside it.

Since I have a Toyota Prius in the garage—a car I may still upgrade to a plugin hybrid (PHEV) using Minneapolis-based ReGo‘s technology for $5,000—I am trying to keep up on the current state of electric storage technology (i.e., batteries) and how far we have to go. No question I see that it’s closer to mainstream but the jury is still out on whether or not it’s yet commercially viable.

That’s what General Motors thinks too.

On page 154 in their most recent SEC Form S1 filing (PDF) they state, “On a fully charged battery and tank of gas, the Chevrolet Volt has a driving range of hundreds of miles. When powered only from electricity stored in its 16-kWh lithium-ion battery; the Chevrolet Volt has a typical range of 25-50 miles depending on terrain, driving technique, temperature and battery age. Advanced lithium-ion battery technology is the key enabling technology for the Chevrolet Volt, although this technology is new and has not been proven to be commercially viable.”

All that said, I do believe in the brilliance of GM’s approach by leveraging battery storage along with a small internal combustion engine that will do nothing but charge the batteries when they fall below a threshold. It means that I could hop in the Volt and drive to Chicago…something I would never do in a purely electrical vehicle like the widely anticipated Nissan Leaf which this New York Times article states, “…has a range of about 100 miles before it needs recharging. But that range can vary a lot — to as little as 62 miles to as much as 138 — depending upon factors like weather, traffic, accessory use, load and driving style.” I’d be very nervous driving a Leaf for a full weekend day…let alone out of the Twin Cities metro area.

If you’d like to watch a video that gives a solid overview of the current state of the marketplace, this one from the recent World Energy Expo in Austin, TX will give you a good sense of what’s going on right now. When it comes to vehicle energy storage, I anticipate that consumers will become disillusioned unless they completely and totally understand the limitations and the variables that comprise the statement, “…and your mileage may vary.“

Filed Under: GreenTech, Technology

How to Dial a Rotary Telephone

September 22, 2010 By Steve Borsch 3 Comments

While on the hunt for something completely different I came across this video on YouTube and offer it up as a public service. Just in case you are befuddled by that new dial on your telephone:

We can laugh about this all we want now, but I remember my grandparents talking about having party lines out in North and South Dakota and what a big deal it was when the rotary dial came in to being and they had an actual phone number they could give out to people, “Hey! You can now ‘direct dial’ me?“

Filed Under: Technology

SixApart Lost Its Way

September 21, 2010 By Steve Borsch Leave a Comment

VideoEgg is acquiring SixApart, maker of Movable Type and the hosted service TypePad. Normally I wouldn’t care about a small time buy like this one, if it wasn’t for the fact that TypePad was where I started blogging in 2004.

The TypePad hosted service was the best out there in 2004. Great features, good themes, and a rock solid infrastructure. But in most ways they didn’t keep pace with the capabilities of WordPress, the emergence of microblogging platforms like Tumblr and Posterous, and I know I often hammered on them to add features and even got engaged in emails with CEO Chris Alden, who promised many new things that never materialized. As an aside, Alden’s joining SixApart was announced by co-founder Mena Trott in this blog post—her most recent—from three years ago.

The original iPod

In my view, SixApart lost their way. TypePad was the service as blogging was exploding and they rested on their laurels and didn’t do much while others were innovating all around them. I got so fed up I exported all my content in 2009 and, with great effort to fix their goofy attempts to keep people from migrating away, did so with great delight since I was finally on a platform (WordPress) that gave me great flexibility (and yes, I see the irony with yesterday’s post).

As an analogy, imagine if Apple had introduced the first iPod and then didn’t make any material changes for several years. Or, like Alden pointed out to me many times when he mentioned how many wonderful things they’d introduced, it was if Apple added a bunch of features to an iPod that no one cared about (“Look at our new Notes functionality! Now you can listen to music and twirl your click wheel to select letters and type notes!“).

The other thing that always bugged me about SixApart was how opaque they were when they were in the business of transparency (i.e., blogging). When they had service outages they never talked to their customers publicly. When the heat got turned up they appeared to hide from view. Alden, the chief evangelist Anil Dash, Mena Trott (with whom I talked at Web 2.0 Summit) and others with whom I interacted over the years would initially engage and then shut down and go radio silent.

This behavior was polar opposite from other interactions I’ve had with companies whose leadership embrace and appreciate a customer trying to help and suggest ways to make their product better. SixApart folks always seemed to take customer feedback as a personal affront and go in to defensive mode instantly vs. seeing it as an opportunity to improve.

It’s no wonder they failed.

Filed Under: Blogosphere, Web/Tech

Why WordPress is in Danger of Dying

September 20, 2010 By Steve Borsch 9 Comments

Though I’m sure I’ll hear from one guy in particular rolling his eyes and giving me a bad time about yet another WordPress attack, this time I metaphorically left one of my car doors open with the keys in the ignition (you know who you are PXLated!). Even so, this constant hacking is getting tiring and, in my opinion, will kill WordPress unless measures are taken to step up its security.

Today I awoke to an email from an social media acquaintance, David Erickson, kindly giving me a heads-up that my site had been hacked. Seconds after his email arrived I received another email notification from WordPress File Monitor that several core WordPress files had been changed on my server along with a beta “designer” plugin I was running.

I’ve fixed everything but, in addition to the faux pas of running a beta plugin, I discovered another embarrassing snafu: The WordPress Database Backup I was running was sending me backups for the last several weeks and—when I went to download a recent one prior to the attack in order to restore—I discovered that each file contained “0″ kilobytes of data. So did the ones on my server (face turning beet red).

I’ve ultra-hardened WordPress, my databases, use highly secure passwords, and SFTP everywhere. Even with all of that I left a door ajar and somebody slipped in and wreaked havoc. I know so many others who are far less technical or experienced with WordPress than I am and there is no way they’d be able to recover by themselves.

So why in the world would I say WordPress is in danger of dying? Because of the volume of people who are running this open source package and the free hosted options available that—while being insecure like any computer or software exposed to outside entry from the internet—are managed, patched and monitored in ways the typical self-hosted user cannot be.

When I began blogging in 2004 I opted to go with the hosted Typepad since I knew myself well enough that if I’d chosen Movable Type (the software on which Typepad is based) and installed it myself, I’d have invested much of my energy in keeping the software up to date and running. Instead, I simply focused on blogging.

Though Typepad basically hasn’t added worthwhile features for several years in my opinion, WordPress.com, Tumblr, Posterous and many other options have exploded on to the scene offering free blogging platforms with amazing features. THAT is why I say WordPress is in danger of dying: if more people like me figure the payoff from self-hosting WordPress isn’t worth the power and control one gets from that and instead move toward a hosted option, I fear the momentum for WordPress will slow dramatically.

Filed Under: Web/Tech