Leap Frogs: Mobile Infrastructure

October 26, 2010 Leave a comment

This one is obvious.

Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but the facts have been out there for some time, for those who wanted to look.

In some countries (and some areas in the United States .. have you ever read the details on the Universal Service Charge / Universal Connectivity Fee?), getting a telephone land line can be a challenge. It can take YEARS (and political connections) to get.

There is a technology that makes this a totally irrelevant discussion, and it’s right in the palm of your hand: your mobile phone. Wireless infrastructure can be built out at a tiny fraction of the cost of dragging cable. This technology creates market opportunities .. for the cost of a “few” antennas and repeaters (instead of miles and miles of wire), entire markets can be opened.

Costs can be defrayed too: a Washington Times editorial (from 02/2010) argues to “Kill the Universal Service Fund” as it tends to provide too much money to too few (and potentially inappropriate) recipients. From the editorial:

Rural phone companies see the greatest benefit. In 2008, the USF gave the Oregon Telephone Corporation $16,834 federal subsidy for each of the company’s subscribers in Beaver Creek, Wash. Such largess is especially absurd now that satellite phones can provide service anywhere in the country where one has a clear view of the sky at a fraction of the cost.

The evidence is clear: consider India, where pay-as-you-go mobile phone providers emerge on a moments’ notice .. but with the creative use of SIM cards, you can acquire PAYG coverage wherever you find yourself. If you found that sentence confusing, drop me a line and I’ll point you to resources that will help.

Let’s extend to broadband. There are unlimited providers who offer pay-as-you-go service in a number of countries. Take care with your credit card, though: there are a number of shady folks keen to balance their checkbooks with your cash.

There are heroes too: this chap keeps an eye out for potential villains: suggest you consult him before you consider an provider outside your country.

Filed under Architecture, Leap Frogs, Mobile Tagged with

Leap Frogs: Wi-Fi Detector

October 25, 2010 Leave a comment

Kind of a funny story.
Kensington Wi-Fi Finder Plus
I found this item the other day whilst tidying up a drawer in my home office. It’s a Kensington Wi-Fi Detector, designed to detect wireless signals.

You’ll note the package has never been opened.

Why you might ask? I’m not sure I recall. I bought it a few years ago from Amazon, and I just never needed it.

It may have been the ubiquity of Wi-Fi, the speed at which my laptop awakens from sleep (making it easy to check), or being in too many known Wi-Fi environments.

It seemed a good idea at the time, however the speed of technology leapt over it’s practical use case.

The speed of technology must be considered. By the time you’ve finished a drawing, your business opportunity may have passed you by.

Filed under Leap Frogs

Buy a Friend a Starbucks .. Remotely (on Facebook)

October 21, 2010 Leave a comment

Funny how this launched on my birthday, and I missed it. I guess was pretty heads-down on this project.

Still pretty heads-down (Microsoft PDC is less than a week), actually. Even though, I could not resist posting about this: think E-Coffee, at it’s finest.

You can learn more on the Starbucks Card Page on Facebook. It lets you manage your Starbucks card or add value to a friend’s.

You can find more details on the idea on the My Starbucks Idea blog: “Launching Today – Buy a Friend a Drink Remotely”.

Filed under Fun and Games

Starcraft II: Workaround for the “48%” Error During Installation

October 10, 2010 Leave a comment

I’m a huge fan of the original Starcraft game and couldn’t wait until Starcraft II. Even though I got to the party (years) late the first time around, it is an absolute gem. I still play it, when I can (haven’t finished the last mission in the Brood War expansion scenario). Thumbs-up to the whole gang at Blizzard.

Quite busy writing these days, so you imagine the bit of frustration I felt this weekend when I set aside time to install the game and learn about the new units. It started all right; insert the DVD, run the installer but no dice. My symptoms:

  • Installation halted at 48%.
  • When halted, I could no longer browse the DVD.
  • Windows Explorer (not IE) locks solid.
    Bollocks. I wanted to play, NOT another project this weekend.

:: mutter :: fret :: fume ::

All that said, I sorted it. So you don’t waste your time, here’s what I tried:

  • Copy the files to a local directory structure. Nope. The main installation content file is hidden; a size check shows you’re missing something..
  • Un-hide the files (change settings in Windows Explorer: Tools, Folder Options, View Tab, Show hidden files and folders). Try copying the folder structure again. Nope. The copy fails.
  • Go into a command prompt (running as Administrator). Attrib the directory and you’ll see the hidden files therein. XCOPY with –h (-h includes the hidden files). Nope. The copy fails. Without notification (annoying).
  • Ditto, ditto and ditto with removable media, btw. I even get sizing errors .. even with a 16GB drive. Bleh.

My solution: create an image of the DVD, mount the image as a virtual DVD and install. Worked like a charm and was very fast .. even when including the prep time. If you already use a CD/DVD image maker, you can sort this.

If you don’t, here are the steps (for Windows):

  • Download MagicDisc. Be sure to scan the .exe file with your virus scanner (always better to be safe than sorry).
  • Install. As above, watch an installation carefully and make sure you’re not agreeing to anything untoward. If you acquire the installation files from a third party, you’re at the risk of toolbars and other naughty bits and pieces.
  • Create an image of the DVD (run MagicDisc and click ‘Make CD/DVD Image’ on the shortcut menu).
  • Once you’ve created the image, use MagicDisc to mount the newly-created image (it’s under ‘Virtual CD/DVD-ROM’ on the shortcut menu).

Once mounted, Auto play should kick in; if it doesn’t, explore to the DVD and start the installation. It should now run with better results.

Always happy to tinker. Please write if I may assist.

Filed under Fun and Games

Do we need a Facebook Phone?

September 24, 2010 Leave a comment

Facebook is building a phone! My commentary follows, but here are some quick bits of the sordid tale:

Whiplash anyone? In the news:

My phone (the HTC Aria with with Android 2.1) has a Facebook application that ships with the handset. In fact, it has two: a decent native Facebook application (© Facebook 2010) for starts, and an HTC product called Friend Stream; essentially a Facebook and Twitter status aggregator / updater. It’s a bit underpowered, but aggregation is always handy, if baseline functionality is met.

When baseline functionality is not met, it’s a shame to have to run two applications to complete a task. As a result, I ignore Friend Stream and interact with the native applications. This further underscores the value of having a non-dedicated device: you can do what you want to do; load and run the applications you want, comment and update when you want. After all, you are the common denominator of your work, private and social lives.

Do we need a Facebook phone? I sure don’t. Do you?

Filed under Mobile

IQ and Cholesterol, Part 7

September 20, 2010 2 Comments

I (sort of) joke about having an IQ that’s higher than my cholesterol level. For the past few sequences, even my body weight is less than my cholesterol. 🙂

The latest numbers, and some comparisons from the last tests (6 months prior):

I’ve posted these over time:

Better, never perfect.

Filed under Weights and Measures

I’ve had this itch ..

September 16, 2010 1 Comment

.. and I definitely need it scratched!

You notice a new theme and format, and a bunch of content that no longer exists. You’ll also notice that after nearly six months, I am posting to this blog again (note that I didn’t say ‘writing’ .. I’ve been doing TONS of writing .. just not here).

Let’s catch up:

  • This blog is now hosted with my good friends on WordPress .. while .Text served me for five years, I don’t want to maintain the server any longer .. a hosted solution is the right thing for me to do.
  • Old OpsanBlog content is still available (for now). Note that internal link references may break until I re-address them .. working on that over the coming weekend.
  • I am no longer the “Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist”. I am simply the “Pragmatic Evangelist”. This lets me comment with or without a Microsoft spin; I’ve had a lot of fun testing new devices and programs.
  • I am no longer the “Microsoft” anything .. we parted ways back in April. I’ve had a nice summer (semi-) off.
  • I do not expect to contain my wicked sense of humor.

I am still tinkering with the WordPress themes .. looking for the right bits to complete the brand. Don’t be surprised if icons, colors or content bounce about.

As always, thanks for reading .. I look forward to reconnecting.

Filed under Fun and Games

How to NOT spend $2.5 MILLION on a Super Bowl Ad ..

January 30, 2010 Leave a comment

.. and get lots of exposure anyway. Here’s how ManCrunch (a gay men’s dating site) did it:

Just look at all the money they saved. But what did they get?

  • Publicity. Lots of it. Cannot swing a dead cat on the video sites without running across this. Note that we’ve seen guys kiss on super bowl commercials before .. remember the Snickers ad from 2007?
  • Impressions. Lots of them, and well before the game. 207,000 on YouTube so far and thousands more scattered around the video sites.
  • News. Bing gives us these answers to the search.

Folks get nuts about these commercials. They talk about them for weeks prior, ensure they’re in their seats at the appropriate (and publicized time) to see them during the game and then go to aggregation sites to watch the line-up of what they’ve missed. That rate them, trash them, discuss them at the water cooler and espresso bars for days.

It’s bigger than this though. Is this a hoax, or very clever marketing? I’m guessing the latter, and I applaud the chaps who put it together.

We’ve seen eHarmony and Match.com ads on the television .. these sites position themselves more as ‘relationship’ (versus ‘hookup’) sites. I cannot tell from the limited information thus far, where ManCrunch site on that scale.

I suspect we’ll all know more in the coming weeks. Will be fun to watch. Thanks to Jessi for the referral.

Filed under Leap Frogs, Reference Posts

IQ and Cholesterol, Part 6

January 18, 2010 Leave a comment

The latest numbers, and some comparisons from the last tests (15 months prior):

I’ve posted these over time:

I need to do some dietary review .. the cholesterol numbers are all going the wrong way. Other stuff is good though .. will test again in July.

Filed under Reference Posts, Weights and Measures

Social Networking: The “Third Wave” Explained

January 13, 2010 1 Comment

I’ve been quoting this (a bunch) of late and promised to write a post.  This puts me into dangerous territory .. I am wearing a fireproof suit.

This is as best that I can explain Social Networking technology adoption (purely from observations) at the 200,000-foot level.

The first wave included geeks, techies and an enlightened mouthpiece or three (I’m in the third batch, with smatterings of the first two).

The second wave included the ‘cool kids’: folks who could use ‘it’, base (or extend) their careers on ‘it’ and famous folks (celebrities and celebutards), politicians and social lights with great PR staffs.  Enlightened mouthpieces were here as well, riding the wave and advising.

The third wave (here’s the pain .. for them, and for us) includes:

  • Your mom.
  • Your dad.
  • Your non-technical friends.
  • Your butcher, your baker and your candlestick maker.
  • Your bartender (the guy / gal with the Acer netbook from CostCo).  Keep these kids close: they know the WiFi codes at your watering hole.
  • The rest of your kids (your hipsters adopted in the second wave).
  • Most everyone else.

How did these waves behave?

  • The first wave was paranoid .. but for technical reasons.  These folks wanted to play in the new sandbox, but were careful of what they said, posted, shared, etc.  Without this group, we’d never have worked out the bugs.
  • The second wave was paranoid .. but for PR reasons.  They accepted the system had flaws, and chose to share only what they wanted to appear .. in carefully-worded statements (with the exception of the celebutards, who posted not-so-carefully-worded statements themselves .. PR handlers hate the iPhone).
  • The third wave appears to have no clue.  Pictures of crazy activities (silly hats and drunken poses), posts of “I’m on vacation this week and I love it” (meaning their house .. the address of which they shared somewhere, is unoccupied), “I’m eating a bagel for breakfast”, and the like.

Apply this to Twitter and Facebook (both of whom who reached heights in roughly the same timeframe), but not so much to MySpace .. they reached the second wave early, but did not go as mainstream, for any number of reasons.  Windows Live?  In the game, and with huge worldwide numbers, but not exactly critical mass in cocktail conversation.

What do you think? 

(originally posted 1/13/2010)

Filed under Reference Posts, Social

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