Connecting the Dots

My Valentine

February 14, 2012 By Steve Borsch Leave a Comment

I am officially the “luckiest guy in the world” that this woman agreed to marry me and be my partner in life. She bore our children, has put up with my idiosyncracies, and been incredibly supportive of me no matter what. Her seeking nature has opened up my mind in ways I never expected.

This is my favorite photo from our wedding, standing outside Westminster Presbyterian in downtown Minneapolis moments after we got hitched (is the pressure-release evident? Was to us!).

My pal, Pete Gisselbeck, not only drove our “limo” (his Dad’s Lincoln Town Car) but he was an accomplished amateur photographer and grabbed lots of keeper shots that night…like this one. He also took a bunch of pictures, made a little photo album, and placed hilarious (but sometimes derogatory and nasty) captions underneath them. Therefore I couldn’t show them to my tiny, petite and darlingly straight-laced Grandma afterwards!

Happy Valentine’s Day Michelle Lamb.

Filed Under: Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness

The Bedtime Nooz

January 30, 2012 By Steve Borsch Leave a Comment

For anyone outside of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis & St. Paul Minnesota, the name of the anchor of WCCO-TV, Dave Moore, and the “Bedtime Nooz” has no meaning. Add to that people born after 1960 or so either missed it or were too young to stay up late on a Saturday night. My Mom would go to bed about 10pm, even on the weekends. My Dad would stay up so my older sister and I would stay awake and watch the Bedtime Nooz with Dave Moore. Our Dad would make a pizza about midnight which always seemed like some sort of shared secret treat.

WCCO-TV was the leader in the Twin Cities market and Dave Moore was a very serious, accomplished and trusted news anchor. This was in the day when the evening TV news — both national and local — were must-watch TV and just about everyone did. As such, someone like Dave Moore had quite a stature in the Twin Cities so having him perform such a loose, goofy and humorous rendition of TV news was amazing and a magnet for all ages.

Here is a special which WCCO’s heir to the Dave Moore throne, the now retired Don Shelby, hosts and is a fun look at the Bedtime Nooz. Worth a watch if you’re old enough and even if you never saw it:

Filed Under: Media Shift, Television

Too Many Don’t ‘Get’ iBooks Author

January 20, 2012 By Steve Borsch 2 Comments

I’m stumped as to why smart people like this, this and this are surprised that Apple delivered a high level tool to support Apple and have a EULA that says as much?

Apple is not Adobe, a company making generic authoring tools. Apple did not announce “iBooks/Android/EPUB3 Author“. If a content creator or publisher wants to create and ship a generic EPUB book — and have it delivered on multiple platforms — there are plenty of other tools to enable them to accomplish it.

With respect to the bullshit about Apple’s “walled garden” and how iBooks Author “locks in” people, I also push back on that too:

Did these same people notice that iOS development tools (i.e., XCode) won’t compile Android apps? Gee…wouldn’t that be nice if their great mobile tools enabled a code-once, deliver-anywhere scenario for app developers?
Did they notice a decade ago that iTunes wasn’t created to manage music for all MP3 players on the market?

Apple’s tools support their hardware…just like Amazon’s “near-forking” of Android does to optimize and position the Kindle Fire as a front-end to Amazon’s store (and I don’t hear any cries from these same people that they can’t buy from the iBooks store on their Kindles or Kindle Fire).

So to suggest Apple is somehow “locking in” publishers or subverting EPUB3 standards is ludicrous. One can still opt to use generic EPUB tools and publish everywhere, including the iBooks store, or use this optimized-for-iPad tool and publish to the overwhelmingly dominant tablet on the market.

Filed Under: Web/Tech

Will Today’s Announcement be Apple’s Pages ’12

January 19, 2012 By Steve Borsch Leave a Comment

Had an interesting conversation last evening at Minnedemo, the local Minnesota startup showcase. The focus of the conversation was around high level tools for web app development, mobile app development and, specifically, around iPad publishing.

My analogy was to the *explosion* in activity when Desktop Publishing (DTP) hit. My wife and I started a business to publish her IP since at the time we owned a Mac SE/30, Laserwriter and a copy of Pagemaker. I bought all the books I could on type, layout, graphic design, and here we are, more than 25 years later, with a thriving consulting/publishing business.

We (and many others) want to play in the iPad (and later Android tablet) space and no, delivering just a PDF won’t cut it. We want to participate with fully interactive and rich media content, and we need tools that do for mobile publishing what DTP tools did for print publishing.

One argument I made last night for today’s Apple announcement today is that it will be Pages ’12 and better, easier distribution for any publisher, large or small, to deliver in to iBooks. Makes complete sense because many have touted the current Pages product as arguably the best EPUB product on the market. The argument for Pages ’12 is that it will take advantage of EPUB3, a new standard with many more features (view the links in the righthand menu on this EPUB3 page).

In a nutshell, EPUB3 will enable many of the new bells-and-whistles in HTML5, layered publications (which many of the standalone ebooks display), and delivery of media types like video and audio in a much better way.

Why did I, with confidence, make a second argument that Apple will nail the high level tools piece for publication creation? Besides owning the dominant tablet platform by a long shot, I’ve used all sorts of high level tools. Apple’s Pages, Keynote, and even the oft-maligned and soon-to-be-not-supported iWeb, were the simplest and easiest tools for their tasks that I’ve ever used! I know, I know…there were severe limitations to these tools and there were issues often with bloated code and items that weren’t displayed properly (e.g., with iWeb: it turned all images in to .PNGs which made it tough for some who *had* to deliver webpages to Internet Explorer 6 users that couldn’t read .PNGs) but the ability to achieve awesome results made figuring out how to workaround using them worth it.

Stay tuned…today’s announcement will undoubtedly be interesting!

Filed Under: Web/Tech Tagged With: #Minnedemo

StarTribune Doesn’t Get the Internet

December 24, 2011 By Steve Borsch Leave a Comment

Two weeks ago our print edition of the StarTribune wasn’t delivered to our house and I looked online to figure out the login info so I could use the StarTribune app on my iPad. We weren’t registered and couldn’t on their website, so was told to contact customer service.

It was 6:30am and customer service won’t open until 8am (really?) so I sent them an email. This was December 12th and I’ve had no response. That same morning I tweeted to @StarTribune and, after finally acknowledging the tweet that afternoon, asked if the situation had been resolved. I tweeted a reply that no, I’d heard nothing and their subsequent Twitter follow up was zero too.

I’m at a family member’s house Christmas eve morning and didn’t have time to read the paper so thought I’d use the app. I forgot that the StarTribune folks dropped the ball and I’m not going to chase them down on the telephone…

…and newspapers wonder why the digital generation could give a shit if they go out of business? I am in my 50′s and see them as their own worst enemy and increasingly don’t care if most of them fold either.

UPDATE 12/30/11: Just received an email from a StarTribune web developer — 18 days after connecting with them initially – and it’s resolved and I’m able to use the iPad app. While I am very appreciative of his assistance, I’m still stunned it took this long.

Filed Under: Current Affairs, Internet

Steve Jobs – Billion Dollar Hippy (BBC Documentary)

December 18, 2011 By Steve Borsch Leave a Comment

Watched this on our AppleTV last night and it’s well worth a view. As always, the BBC does a fantastic job:

Filed Under: Technology

GOP goes “Back to the Past” with Light Bulbs

December 17, 2011 By Steve Borsch 4 Comments

The lowest-of-the-low-hanging-fruit in energy savings is replacing the horrifically wasteful incandescent light bulbs in this nation. Unfortunately our Republican congressional participants see the incandescent light bulb as somehow “taking away choice” from consumers.

Really? I know that joking about Republicans anti-science stance is fodder for comedians, but this is the simplest means we have to radically reduce energy consumption in our nation so why are they pushing-back on this initiative? It is a lot harder to fund nuclear plants, changeover our electrical grid to a “smart” one, and shift away from liquid fuels to U.S. abundant natural gas, so I just don’t get why the GOP insists on fighting the phasing out of incandescent bulbs the Republican president (GWBush) signed in to law.

What is the GOP’s agenda here? It can’t just be anti-energy. Nor does it make sense that this is all about being anti-global warming. Or it couldn’t just be about continuing to burn fossil fuels at all costs, including war and Imperialism, can it? Lord knows it’s not about helping out the 99% with their household budgets.

Perhaps this is pre-election, political theater and the GOP knows it. According to many reports, like this one from ABCNews, “Congress Defunds Ban on Incandescent Light Bulbs but Doesn’t Quite Save Them“:

“But what many Republicans are celebrating as a win for individuals’ light-bulb-choosing freedom will probably not save the energy-guzzling bulbs from disappearing off store shelves.

“The industry has moved on,” said Larry Lauck, a spokesman for the American Lighting Association.

Lauck said U.S. light bulb manufacturers have already “retooled” their production lines to build more efficient bulbs, he said.”

Ms. Political Theater herself, Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann, has famously harped on it by saying, ““The American people want less government intrusion into their lives, not more, and that includes staying out of their personal light bulb choices.” Bachmann, who, as a member of the House, introduced a bill to roll back the incandescent ban. Of course, she did so without acknowledgement of her anti-stance on a woman’s right to choose something a lot more important than an energy wasting light bulb.

The U.S. Dept of Energy clearly spells out the energy savings if we get off incandescent bulbs. It’s such a no-brainer that even the political theater aspect can’t be all there is to an “official” Republican effort to stop it.

Or maybe they’re just old and want to go back to the past.

Filed Under: Current Affairs

About Comcast’s 250GB Data Use “Cap”

December 8, 2011 By Steve Borsch Leave a Comment

My household's last three month data usage. We are a family of four with only three of us infrequently streaming TV (click for larger view)

Much has been written about Comcast’s 250GB data use “cap” and what it means for the future of internet-based TV. My biggest concern, expressed here in my post “Will Comcast crush internet innovation?“, is that their moves are intended solely to put up obstacles and barriers in front of any organization threatening their cable TV franchise.

Can’t blame them really. But the control they enjoy is far beyond what is reasonable. Of course, with the government pushing the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA), a measure opposed by numerous organizations including virtually every major technology company in the U.S. (with the glaring exception of any wireless carrier or ISP like Comcast or Time Warner), Comcast is less likely to do anything about their data usage caps.

Based on our family use of the internet — and that our streaming music and TV is only increasing — it is highly likely that we’ll bust through that artificial data usage ceiling in 2012. Then it will be interesting to see what we are forced to do to stay in compliance (probably just pay more?).

The prospect of SOPA passing only emboldens a Comcast since their control will only accelerate. Do anything even remotely infringing under a SOPA law and Comcast could just cut off your internet account with only suspicion (and no due process) being their justification.

Like everyone implores you often, oppose this SOPA “blacklist” by standing up and pushing back. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has this simple and fast way to tell you whom to contact in Congress.

Filed Under: Internet, Media Shift, Television

Android Smartphone? Then You Are Naked

November 30, 2011 By Steve Borsch Leave a Comment

Do you ever do anything on your Android smartphone that you would like to be secure and private? You know, like banking, sending a text message to a friend or loved one, accessing secure web pages, or calling someone? If you do any of that, the U.S. mobile carriers have embedded software on Android devices that can grab every keystroke, see every app you launch, and even view the content of the secure web pages you access even when you are in Wifi mode with mobile 3G/4G turned off!

Though I’d been peripherally aware of a kid named Trevor Eckhart who’d come across what he calls a “rootkit” on Android phones, I was stunned to see this Wired article explaining it and was even more appalled when I watched Trevor’s 17 minute video (embedded below).

I’ve been observing the continuing acceleration in governmental intelligence gathering since 2006 (see, “Massive, sweeping surveillance on *all* you do“) and the U.S. National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping, but watching this video gave me one of those “Oh. My. God.” moments this morning.

Wired said this at the start of their article:

The Android developer who raised the ire of a mobile-phone monitoring company last week is on the attack again, producing a video of how the Carrier IQ software secretly installed on millions of mobile phones reports most everything a user does on a phone.

Though the software is installed on most modern Android, BlackBerry and Nokia phones, Carrier IQ was virtually unknown until 25-year-old Trevor Eckhart of Connecticut analyzed its workings, revealing that the software secretly chronicles a user’s phone experience — ostensibly so carriers and phone manufacturers can do quality control.

But now he’s released a video actually showing the logging of text messages, encrypted web searches and, well, you name it.

CarrierIQ, now busted, has backed off of their cease-and-desist (PDF) and pointed out that they’re not really doing anything with the data. It’s all to help out the carriers managing their networks. Aha…that’s what the guy said when the cops popped his trunk and found lockpicking and glass cutting apparatus along with a black ski mask and latex gloves. “Really officers, I don’t use that stuff for breaking and entering.”

The Register also wrote about this and it’s a great read…but do that and make sure you also watch the video below. Yes, it’s a bit geeky and long, but the first few minutes explains the issue and about the 15 minute mark he shows what’s happening.

Action? Raise a stink by contacting your Congressperson. Join what continues to prove is our only tech-savvy defense against the assault on our Constitution and Bill of Rights when it comes to technology: the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Tweet about it using the hashtag: #CIQ.

Glad I have an iPhone 4S since it doesn’t have this embedded software on it…until we find out otherwise.

httpvh://youtu.be/T17XQI_AYNo

Filed Under: Surveillance

Is Walgreens anti-health?

November 21, 2011 By Steve Borsch 3 Comments

17 years ago my Mom died of lung cancer at 62 years of age after a lifetime of smoking. My Dad, 85 years old, has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) which has slowly robbed him of his breath. So to say that I’m biased against smoking, I’d have to agree but also point out that I side with virtually every health professional and medical organization in the world who looks at the science of smoking-related illness and sees it as the #1 most detrimental-to-health addiction known.

To say smoking is anti-health is an understatement. To consider a retailer with health at its core making that #1 anti-health product widely available in their stores, is unconscionable.

A few weeks after my Mom died I happened to be in a Walgreens where I was acquainted with the manager. “Why do you sell health as an organization and yet sell cigarettes?” He had no answer other than to lean forward and whisper, “Because we make A LOT of money off of them.“

A cool smartphone user smoking. She'll look like 10-miles-of-bad-road in just a few years (like most smokers do)

Stopping off this past week at a Walgreens near my Dad’s house to pick up a few things for him, I saw a young man in front of me buy two packs of Kool menthol cigarettes. When it was my turn I asked the older woman cashier, “Why does Walgreens promote health and yet sell cigarettes?” Sheepishly she averted her gaze and in a low voice said, “I know its wrong…but I just work here and we sell alot of them.“

To Walgreens leadership I say: Be a leader in health and get rid of the cigarettes or don’t bullshit us with stuff like this on your website in your ”health encyclopedia” about the hazards of smoking and how to quit which, ironically, contains solid information about smoking’s detrimental impact on health which you published.

It’s been 17 years since my Mom died and I haven’t become an anti-smoking crusader by any means, but I like and shop at Walgreens so want to see you take a position for health!

I’m sure you make money on supplying tobacco, a clearly addictive, health destructive product. Walgreens also has a Respiratory Services group for which, I’m fairly certain, helps people who’ve damaged their lungs through smoking. But if all you want to do is make money, why not sell porn? Malt liquor? Some constantly morphing designer drug brand just one-step ahead of the Drug Enforcement Agency?

There is absolutely zero argument that a leader of a 7,500 store “health” chain could make to justify carrying a highly addictive, irrefutable cancer-causing product like tobacco. Unless Walgreens thinks that selling cigarettes might ensure long term growth in Respiratory Services and other products? Even a sometimes cynical guy like me would have a hard time believing that so to Gregory Wasson, CEO of Walgreens, I say, “Show some leadership and get cigarettes and other tobacco products OUT of your stores…now.“

Filed Under: Current Affairs, Science