OpsanBlog

In an attention-starved world ..

.. shorten your name by reducing it to one syllable(?).

Case in point: “Windows Live Search” becomes “Bing”. I get this: with Google appearing as a verb in popular culture, it’s easier to “Google it” than it was to “Live Search it”.

The branding folks get it.

Now, if for attention starvation or because they sell much more than pizza, Pizza Hut is shortening their name to “the Hut”.

I notice a domain squatter is holding www.hut.com hostage at the moment .. perhaps there are some negotiations in progress. http://www.thehut.com is taken too (at the time of this posting; there is now a legitimate ‘the hut’ that sells stuff).

Note that Yum Brands (the world’s largest restaurant company) also owns the chicken place formerly known as “Kentucky Fried Chicken”.

Yum renamed the chicken franchise to KFC a few years back, and is now adding references to the brand to highlight their grilled offerings (“KGC”). This is all part of their “unthink” marketing campaign (URL removed as out-of-date) that includes a $9.99 bucket of grilled chicken. Not a bad option, actually.

Anyhow, back to shorter and shorter names. MSN Money posts: “Pizza Hut to change its name?”.

(the original story of this post: the rename is out of date. However, I’m keeping the reference post as other bits are relevant).

How Much Does a Troubled IT Project Cost?

Added costs, sure .. but it’s more than dollars. There are also human costs that are hard to estimate:

• Wear and tear on your employees; those working on the project, as well as those in the organizations into which the project is upgrading / integrating.
• Friction between managers, through escalations, downtime and defects.
• Added stress to YOU .. even if you’re not hands on, or in the line of fire.

What happens?

• Lack of QC at the project level.
• Project management that, well, doesn’t.
• Runaway scope (aka ‘feature creep’) or increasing complexity within projects.

What can you do?

• Focus on project management: this is critical to completing projects on time and within budget .. it’s important to spot (and early) if things are going wrong.
• Stress requirements and collecting use cases collection prior to cutting code.
• Engage your integration teams early in the project; ensure that your output reflects the required input for current systems and that your required inputs can be acquired without disrupting existing systems beyond reason.

Yes: I used to do big projects. Now, I just remember the good old days.

Baseline provides us a great look into challenges like these in “The Cost of Troubled IT Projects”.

When is 3G, like No-G?

When you have a weak signal, caused by being in the wrong place, electrical interference or a downed nearby tower.

I am an AT&T subscriber, and am deliriously happy with the AT&T AirCard I’ve been testing:

• Plug-and-play operation (the software to connect is stored on a flash drive in the device).
• Immediate access to either Wi-Fi or GSM (cell) with no login (the card identifies itself to the networks).
• Reasonable management of Wi-Fi configurations (you know .. those painful WEP and WPA keys).
• Cool feature: you can stuff a MicroSD into the device and store connectivity goo (configurations and files) directly on the device).

However .. it doesn’t quite have the stones to say: “I have an incredibly weak signal .. you should stop trying to get to the InterWebs using me”.

I’m certain the bandwidth is (on average) 1.5mbps .. however, if if packet failures (due to connection or interference errors) exist, they must be re-sent:

• If half of the packets fail, you’re at an effective download / transfer rate of 750 mbps (not too shabby).
• If three-quarters of the packets fail, you’re at an effective download / transfer rate of 375 mbps (decent).
• If 90% of the packets fail, you’re at an effective download / transfer rate of 135mbps (reasonable .. back in the stone age, we called this DSL).

So, when is 3G really 3G? Well, it depends:

• You have good cell coverage (more ‘bars’).
• You’re in a low-traffic area (the more folks who log onto a tower the more folks .. which can include you .. get kicked off).
• The algorithm on the wireless card seamlessly reconnects you should you get bumped (on a call, you get dropped .. but for Internet browsing and email synching, Nirvana is only a retry away).

Ready to try it? I was (and am glad). Is it worth the cost? Do the math. Consider:

• Hotel rooms that charge $10 (or more) for a 24-hour period of Internet access. Three or four nights, and you’re even.
• Coffee shops or wireless providers that charge $30 (less, or more) per month for the service .. then you have to find one of those providers (it’s not impossible, but when in a pinch, delays are significant stressors). Pay for one month .. you’re halfway there.
• The inherent security risks of Wi-Fi Roguing (how do you know you didn’t just connect to a hacker-controlled honey pot? Pick up just one virus ..

Last but not least .. most important, actually: productivity losses when you’re offline. Yes: we can all survive when we’re disconnected. We can work offline, or send bits from our mobiles. However, I have encountered enough times where I needed to send something .. having connectivity would just have been easier.

I reference AT&T herein. They were the folks smart enough to loan me the card. With their return policy (read the fine print carefully), an AirCard is worth a try, especially since it’s on their dime. Other carriers provide the same services .. consider the deals .. read the fine print .. you know the drill.

I Just HAD to Have This Hat

While visiting the University Street Fair, I noticed the unusual May sun building to a bit more heat on my pate than I’d have liked .. having just sunburned there whilst overseas a few months back (generating dandruff-type leavings that clogged my keyboard), I thought it best to cover up.

I started looking around for a frugally-priced baseball cap (well, there is an economic ‘reset’ going on) .. I would have accepted something emblazoned with the word “Mariners”.

No dice.

Then I passed the stand with these .. looked at one price and kept walking.

On the way back, I passed the stand again. Picked one up, held it over my head and looked in the mirror.

I put it back and kept walking.

I actually backtracked after a half-block, returning to the stand. I asked for help to find the right size. The vendor obliged, going to the trouble to find the hat with just the right tilt for “attitude” (like I need any more of that).

Had to have it.

I was briefed: “never pinch” and “always handle the hat by the brim”.

Sending some snaps around, I was able to collect the most fun comments:

• “You’re finally old enough to wear that”.
• “You remind me of my dad” .. and “You look like a dad” (the latter from my son, no less).
• “Pimping” (the woman who cut my hair shortly after the purchase). Piece of work, that one.
• “Just tell them your Jerrold” (one of the snaps was in front of a Subway sign .. I fixed the exposure on one of the images for this post, intended to remove that bit of the corporate-ness of the other image.
• “Dapper” (talking to myself on the walk back home .. followed by “damn it”).

What do you think? Don’t be shy: I need a way to ensure I’ll stay humble.

When Will Credit Card Issuers Learn About Online Fraud?

I have my doubts if ever.

Back in 2007, I posted “Subjunctive Identity Theft .. From American Express?”, citing a real-world case where American Express had identified suspicious activity on my account and left me a voice mail message with an 800 number to call.

Upon calling, the first thing the operator requests is my account number. Are you kidding me?

Seems Bank of America hasn’t learned either. I traveled abroad recently and used my Visa for a purchase. This triggered a ‘suspicious activity’ alert (reasonable, as I was obviously out of country). I get a nice email, the gist of which is:

We detected irregular activity on your Bank of America Credit Card on 05/14/2009. For your protection, you must verify this activity before you can continue using your card.

What can I do? Well, I can call a US 800 number (collect .. but would still cost airtime or hotel surcharges), or I can visit a web site:

http://www.bankofamerica.com/myfraudprotection

Where the first thing they ask of you is to provide your credit card number:

Wake up, gang .. you didn’t fool me, but you’ll get some folks.

Elsewhere in the email, they say:

Want to confirm this email is from Bank of America? Sign in to Online Banking and select Alerts History to verify this alert.

Then, I notice their last time login beacon for me is incorrect (it’s over six months old .. kids, I pay bills with Bank of America .. and I’m not six months late on any bills). So, is it the real site, or not? One last check. I open my account, and voila: no alerts when I log in and no alert history link to click.

So, what’s going on? Both Firefox and IE display a tidy green fill when the real Bank of America site is opened:

But, not so much on the http://www.bankofamerica.com/myfraudprotection site .. first of all, it redirects to https://myfraudprotection.bankofamerica.com/Welcome.aspx (redirects are always suspicious), and notice how there’s no green flood anymore?

Further, when you mouse over the security icon in Firefox, you get:

The site is verified by VeriSign and your connection is encrypted. But is it really Bank of America? See the “(unknown)”? Is this an unknown (to VeriSign) web hosting company, or has Bank of America simply not verified the site with VeriSign through proper channels? Sure the connection is encrypted, but a certificate for connection encryption isn’t that hard to get.

If you started reading this post thinking it was a statement of insecurity on the Internet, please understand: that’s how I intended it. However, either Bank of America has done something really, really stupid in the eyes of the non-trusting public, or the site is bogus, pointing to a server within their firewall that has been compromised.

I think I’ll watch the papers for a few days .. in the interim, I’m going to sit on hold for a while tomorrow when I get to the office .. will let you know what I learn.