Jake Ludington’s Digital Lifestyle

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I found an old post I wrote back in 2004 stating that I’d never buy a device that was just for ebooks. My rationale at the time was that Pocket PC devices and others like them had gotten to the point where the screens were great for reading. Now I tell everyone I know why I love the Amazon Kindle. If E-ink had existed in 2004, I think my opinion then might have been different. At the time, everyone was touting screens that were special purpose LCD, which made no sense then and still makes no sense now. E-ink is easier on the eyes because unlike reading an LCD screen, you’re not staring into a light bulb while you read.

I find I’m reading more now that I have a Kindle because its more convenient than carrying a book around. For many types of information, like the morning newspaper, I like the format better because the text I want is unencumbered by all the ads. Not everything works on the Kindle. I don’t like reading magazines on a Kindle even though the content is largely the same. The difference is magazines have specialized in combining imagery with their text content to create something that’s better than the printed word alone. On a Kindle, the images are either gone or muted by the limitation of a monochromatic display. I don’t like these same magazines on the Web because they’ve gone to great lengths to make advertising more important than the content, so I find myself continuing to subscribe to several of the print editions.

If I were to gaze into a crystal ball and look for the device I’d really want to read this stuff on, I think my 2004 desire holds up, because I really want a multi-function tool like an iPhone or my T-Mobile G1, with all the applications that includes, plus the ability to get an E-ink experience when I simply want to read. Will we see that anytime soon? Hard to say. In the meantime, the number of books I purchased for Kindle in 2009 is close to double my book purchases for the 2 previous years. How about you? Are your reading habits changing because of technology? If so, how?

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Exporting data from Wordpress to take it almost anywhere else is a crapshoot as to how well the data will migrate. The extensible nature of Wordpress via plugins means you get an unknown assortment of data coming along with the base contents of your post, tags, and comments. If you didn’t delete spam comments before your export, you get to bring your spam with you. The awesome Wordpress revision feature hobbles your export file with every revision and autosave you ever made. Depending on where you choose to move your data (I know, who would ever leave Wordpress, right?) you may be stuck cleaning the Export file in order to get your content properly installed anywhere else. I’ve even had the misfortune of having another Wordpress install barf on content importing because a plugin from the old install wasn’t on the new install, which meant that the new WP install didn’t know what to do with some improperly handled metadata.

Instead of just giving me a dump of all data when I click the Export tab, WordPress should walk through a little wizard asking me what I want to keep. Let me choose to leave spam and revisions behind. Let me choose to leave all comments behind (without deleting them from the database). Maybe my tagging skills we lousy in a past life and I want to make a fresh start, so give me the option to exclude tags. These are all easy features to include. Maybe that’s asking for too much usability out of a free solution, but if it’s really the ultimate content management solution (it’s not), WordPress should be making it easier to work with data.

I know I’m going to hear that I should use plugins or develop these features myself. After all, WordPress is infinitely extensible. There is a plugin to delete revisions from WordPress. I don’t want to need a plugin to get clean data out, because I have no way of knowing whether that plugin will actually be stable. This is core functionality that would make Wordpress more useful to me and anyone else who ever moves their data around. I just wish they would fix it!

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We’ve all been on the receiving end of an employee following company policy at one time or another. For me, the instance that sticks out as most obvious to me was an occasion when I went to cash a check at the bank I visited every week, only to discover I’d left my driver’s license back at the office. The teller recognized me, but because it was bank policy not to cash a check without proper identification, I was out of luck. My lunch hour schedule prevented me from having time to go back and get my ID. Sure it was my fault for not having my ID with me, but I was no stranger to the people who worked at the bank. I was left with a bad feeling that I remember many years later.

Falling into the company policy trap can be even worse for small companies, because the the stakes are much higher. To use a hypothetical company as an example, lets say I own a video hosting service that competes with YouTube. My service charges a monthly subscription fee for a bunch of advanced features you can’t get from YouTube. Because of some exclusive distribution partnerships we worked out, our service also requires you to launch your video channel with at least 5 video segments. The 5 video policy was put in place because our distribution partners are concerned that too many video publishers launch with one video, realize it’s too much work, and abandon posting videos, which makes their network look bad. Your channel won’t be visible to the world until you have 5 video segments uploaded, although we will do the necessary configuration so that you’re live as soon as the 5 videos are ready to go.

To continue with my hypothetical example, lets say you are an artist who uses video as your medium. For your current project, you want to shoot a three minute video at exactly the same location, starting at the exact same time every day for an entire year. You want your video channel to go live starting on January 1 and continue throughout the year. Part of the experience of your project is that you need people to view videos from day 1. You can’t launch with the 5 videos I require, because our requirements do not match your vision. While we clearly spell out the requirements to everyone who joins our service, you contact customer support and request that we make your video channel live on January 1 with only 1 video.

There are two ways my video company could proceed. Customer support could respond that our policy is to require 5 videos and we refuse to make an exception. As a result you might take your business elsewhere and tell other artists that we aren’t a viable option for creative people. The other thing we could do is engage with you more directly, clarify what our concerns are about why we require 5 videos, and recognize that your goals are sound even though they don’t match up with our policy. Choosing the later course probably means you’re going to tell more people what a great service our company offers because we empowered you to succeed with your vision./p pBy being flexible in company policy when it makes sense, you can build a stronger company with rabidly loyal customers. In the hypothetical example I use, the 5 video policy exists to create a better experience for distribution partnerships, however, in the case of your art project, our company can have reasonable confidence that you will follow through because you have a track record for doing interesting art projects.

What about situations where an exception is made and the customer fails to live up to their end? There’s always that risk, but every business decision involves some risk, it’s a matter of assessing which ones will get the company closer to its goals.

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pSocial Media school is almost in session. If you’re still trying to get your head around how to use Twitter, want to know why you need to blog, need to attract high quality employees to your company or simply want to know how to connect the dots with local social media opportunities, you should join me at the Social Media 101 conference on September 25, 2009 at the Executive Briefing Center on Microsoft’s Redmond Campus./p pI’m specifically speaking on a panel about blogging and there’s also a ton of great information on how to use Twitter for your business, along with using social media to attract talented people to your company. The event starts at Noon, so you can even get some work done in the morning before sliding out of the office for an afternoon of social media education. See the full a href=”http://eastsidebusinesstechnology.com/2009/08/17/agenda/”Social Media 101 agenda/a for more details. Tickets are reasonably priced at $60 for an afternoon of social media education – a href=”http://sm101.eventbrite.com/”register now/a./p

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If your current password management solution looks something like the picture here, it’s quite possible anyone could steal your passwords. The person next to you at Starbucks may appear to be smiling politely in your direction, but they could be using the eye contact to distract you from their effort to copy down your user account information.

I see sticky notes with user data plastered on laptop cases all over the place. Coffee shops and airport gate areas, and the Seattle to Bainbridge ferry are just a few of the places where I see this general lack of security.

Dramatically increasing your password security takes minimal effort. Firefox includes a great password management solution if you only have a few passwords to remember, just be sure to enable the encryption option and protect your passwords with a master password so you aren’t exposing them. I use Roboform for my own password management. If you’re on a Mac keeping your passwords in the Key Chain will do the same service, which might be why I almost never see sticky notes on a Mac. Those are just a few of the options, there are literally dozens of password managers.

Posting your passwords in a public way will get your data stolen. This post was most recently inspired by the woman sitting next to me in coach on my BOS to SEA flight Sunday. Her sticky note password solution looked just like this. My other favorite is the sticky note under the keyboard trick used by several of my co-workers at an insurance company I worked for over 10 years ago. If the goal is to keep administrative level access to those with the appropriate clearance, a sticky note is a lousy security plan.

And while I’d never consider stealing a password from anyone, I do occasionally point out that there might be a safer alternative. How about you? Ever recommend a password manager to replace the sticky note solution?

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When I review new computer hardware, I try to first use it “as is” and then make configuration changes based on the way I’d use a computer if it were actually mine. One of the key components of “as is” configuration is the software that comes pre-installed. For instance, on the HP dv2 I received from HP for testing some of the pre-installed software includes a Norton Internet Security trial, a Microsoft Office trial, Slingbox Sling Player, and muvee reveal. Then there are the paid links to services like ebay, a Quicken and Quickbooks trial download, NetZero, and Juno.

Some of these pre-installed features are actually useful and some of them are downright annoying. Take Norton Internet Security for instance. While I’m all for a secure computing experience, I don’t particularly want to use Norton’s products. Everytime I power on the HP dv2, I get nagged to activate the Norton trial. Once I get past the “as-is” experience, Norton will be the first thing on the list to get uninstalled.

Other software I might actually want to try if I knew what to do with it doesn’t ever make itself known. The Microsoft Office trial doesn’t ever do anything unless you open one of the applications. Since I’m not informed of a situation when I’d want to use Office, I don’t ever have a reason to try it out. Of course, I already know what Microsoft Office is for, but that doesn’t mean everyone who gets a new computer does. muvee reveal is a fun application for making quick movies from your video recordings. If I wasn’t already aware of muvee’s software, I would never know that it’s for video from the information provided on by this HP dv2. The Slingbox Sling Player is definitely an advertisement for buying a Slingbox, but it also sits quietly on your computer, so if you never bother to look at it you won’t ever know why you would or wouldn’t want to use it. If you already have a Slingbox, it is nice to already have the software ready to go.

Presumably either the software companies are paying to put this stuff on new computers or HP is paying to have access to the software. In either case, if I never use the software, the financial transaction involved is a waste. Even worse for me as a customer, at retail places like Best Buy encourage me to pay for an optimization service that removes trial software so I lose and so do the software companies. In a better customer experience, I’d get some education about the benefits of the software so that I might make an informed decision about what I want or need.

But my real question is, what do you do with the software that’s pre-installed on your new computer? Do you use it? Do you uninstall it? Is there software listed in your start menu that you’ve never tried? Would you use more of the software on your computer if you knew what it was for?

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I keep thinking about ditching cable altogether and using something like PlayOn to get television from the Internet back to my HDTV. So far the steps are still too many to completely kill my cable television service. Couple that with Comcast offering the best high speed data option where I live and I remain a customer. That doesn’t mean I like paying for it. So I called customer service to see what I could do to lower the price.

Most of the Comcast advertisements are for deals aimed at new customers. If you’ve been with them a long time, you generally don’t qualify. That doesn’t mean you can’t lower your cable bill. I had several components of my bill that were more expensive due to the length of time I’d been a customer. The cost of DVR service dropped in the 4+ years since I subscribed. The level of high speed Internet I currently subscribe to was on sale. New channel bundling drove down the price. By the end of the phone call, my cable television plus Internet bill was less than 50% of what it was before the call.

A couple of the price drops are only for a few months, so I’ll be closer to 50% in about 6 months, but I may call in again and see if there are any other specials. Bottom line here is Comcast will offer you deals on service, but only if you take the time to call and ask.

How about you? Got any tips on lowering your cable bill?

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Somewhere in the midst of all the excitement around having a new baby arrive, I missed the memo that I was supposed to be announcing another giveaway yesterday. This time around the giveaway is a brand new Pantech Matrix Pro cell phone (pictured below) paired with a $100 gift card to ATT Wireless, which happens to be the carrier associated with the phone. If you live outside the U.S., you’ll likely want to skip this one, since the phone is locked and the gift card won’t be particularly useful to you either.

I’ve had a review unit of the Pantech Matrix Pro at my house for a couple of months and found the dual slide keyboard to be quite handy. The Matrix Pro does not have a touch screen, but I honestly didn’t miss it, which could be due to my years of using other Windows Mobile phones. I definitely find it easier to enter phone numbers (especially alphanumeric ones) on a traditional telephone keypad rather than attempting to dial from a QWERTY keyboard.

How to enter the giveaway? I’ll keep this one simple – all you have to do is be a fan of my Facebook page (which is different than being a friend on Facebook). I’m doing a talk on Facebook for businesses on May 15 and this will help me with some additional research. The recipient of the phone will be selected at random from all fans (which are listed in the sidebar on the Facebook page) who live in the United States. Be a fan to qualify.

I was originally supposed to announce the conclusion of the giveaway on 1 May 2009, but I’m extending it by 24 hours since I got a late start. You have until 7pm Pacific on 2 May 2009 to qualify. The lucky person who gets the phone will be announced on Facebook, on my blog, on Twitter and in my email newsletter shortly after that.

If you aren’t lucky enough to get the Pantech Matrix Pro I’m giving away, Smart Phone Thoughts, Mobility Minded, The Gadgeteer, Geekzone, Techie Diva, Boston Pocket PC, Gear Diary, MobilitySite, Absolute Windows, Mobilejaw, Experience Mobility, Hack College, and Gear Live will be announcing a new contest each day (in that order) starting today as well.

As part of the promotion, there’s also some special pricing on a Jabra BT4051 headset package not available anywhere else.

UPDATE: Katie Yang was announced to all Facebook fan participants on May 2, 2009

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I placed a 911 call from my house last week (don’t worry, everything is fine now). Nothing unusual about that except that I’m in my 5th year as a Vonage customer. As a VoIP service, Vonage has the advantage of allowing me to connect the hardware to any broadband Internet connection and place or receive calls to the same number. In theory, I could take my Vonage hardware to China, connect it, and receive local Seattle area calls with no one on the other end being wise to my location. The downside to this mobility is needing to manually enter your location into the Vonage system for the purpose of 911 call routing. I had entered the correct address for our old residence, back when 911 support first became available, but hadn’t updated it when we moved to Bainbridge Island in 2008.

This illustrates an important difference between landline phone service and VoIP. With the landline service, the phone carrier knows the exact physical location of call routing because the phone carrier owns the network from their central office all the way up to the point of demarcation on the side of your residence. With a VoIP service like Vonage, all they know is that somewhere out on the Internet there’s a box with a specific IP address and MAC address combination associated with your phone number. When a call comes in to Vonage for your, it routes that call out to your box.

For purposes of 911 service, the phone company provides location information for phone numbers, so the 911 operator can use caller ID functions to identify your location. I believe they still verify this data when you call them, but it is seldom wrong for traditional phone service. With VoIP, the providers rely on you to keep accurate data in the system. Failure to provide accurate data may slow down the ability of the emergency services to respond to your call.

In my case, this simply meant a transfer I barely noticed while on the phone to the Bainbridge Island 911 operator, which translated to quick service in a small community setting. For places with traffic congestion and greater geographic spread, it could be more serious.

Bottom line: take my failure to update the 911 address in my Vonage service as an opportunity to make sure your VoIP phone service is updated with the correct physical address for your location, so that when you need to call 911 they know where to find you.

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Since I’m mentioning my love of the RoboForm password manager again, I thought I’d take a moment and talk about why I don’t use a couple of free alternatives. I don’t pretend to be the world’s leading expert on password security. I do have over 100 passwords I keep track of and I some strong opinions about the most convenient way to manage them.

Each time I mention RoboForm I usually get several emails from people asking why I don’t use the password manager in Firefox or the extremely popular password manager LastPass. Both are free, both use encryption, so why aren’t either of them good enough for me?

Firefox has a solid password manager. I like it in situations where you have less than 20 online passwords to keep track of. I hit a point where I felt like there were too many situations where the Firefox password manager simply didn’t work effectively for my needs. If you use Firefox as your password manager and are happy with it, keep using it! The one thing you should do is set a master password to protect all your Firefox passwords. Not because someone might discover them, but because they aren’t protected with any kind of encryption if you don’t set a master password. If your computer is ever compromised, by a virus or a person, not using the Firefox master password feature means anyone or any software can read your Firefox passwords. The

LastPass is a tougher one for me to defend against. It has features very similar to RoboForm. LastPass works great. LastPass is free! And if you use their online password synchronization feature, you can access your passwords from Mac OS X, Windows, or Linux. Many people I respect use LastPass. The one thing I don’t trust about LastPass is the thing that makes it great – online synchronization. I don’t like the idea of storing my bank password on someone else’s server. The data is encrypted on the LastPass server, so in theory it’s safe, but my credit card account is also supposed to be encrypted and that hasn’t prevented employee theft issues being reported at several banking institutions. The human wildcard of someone possibly accessing and using my data makes the convenience of LastPass to risky in my book. Paranoid? Maybe. For the record, I won’t use the new online version of RoboForm for the same reason.

For the time being, I’m sticking with RoboForm, storing data on a local drive I keep in my possession at all times.

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