Scum are everywhere. Agreeing with Twenty.

Twenty Major on the problems with kids today. They shoplifted, they drank cider, they smoked John Player blue, they wore pants too short from them and those squiggly jumpers you used to see in Dunnes Stores and they got up to no good. They sniffed glue and generally made a nuisance of themselves rather than … Continue reading “Scum are everywhere. Agreeing with Twenty.”

Twenty Major on the problems with kids today.

They shoplifted, they drank cider, they smoked John Player blue, they wore pants too short from them and those squiggly jumpers you used to see in Dunnes Stores and they got up to no good. They sniffed glue and generally made a nuisance of themselves rather than being a serious threat. And remember, none of these lads had much to do. It was a time of four channel (if you were lucky) TV and days and nights spent out of the house because going out was all there was to do.

Kids today do have it easy. I am a grumpy old sod but I wasn’t allowed to monopolise the TV with my videogames (and yes, I had an Atari 2600), I didn’t get a computer until I was 11 (and yes, I was one of the lucky ones) and I got more than one lecture about spending too much time in my room. If I threw a tantrum, you can be pretty sure I’d have my butt tanned.

I’ve seen screaming tantrums from children (my own, others) because they were told to turn the TV off or because we’ve arrived at some childrens entertainment venue and they’re closed for lunch. My daughter has a whining moan noise when she doesn’t get her way but that can usually be cured by telling her to stop making that noise. My son can be boisterous and violent but he’s a young lad, there’s no actual malice in there. Compare this to others: I spotted some little gobshite entreating other kids to kick a cat outside a school while his parents watched. In Tesco, I saw a kid who must have been 10 years old punch his mother in the face because she said No. On the Lisburn road, two young lads walked down the road and picked fruit from the front of a greengrocer and walked on. The grocer ran out and the two, in broad daylight, challenged him. What could he do? Him against two young aggressive lads? By the time the rozzers got there they’d be long gone.

Now I understand that Twenty Major is a comedy satire. But there’s realism in them comedies. So buy the book but don’t read it until you know where your kids are.

iPhone SDK. 6th March 2008

According to Macrumors, the iPhone SDK will be announced on March 6th. “Please join us to learn about the iPhone software roadmap, including the iPhone SDK and some exciting new enterprise features,” Apple said in an invitation sent to reporters. Are we to assume Apple has licensed ActiveSync? Are we going to see a demo … Continue reading “iPhone SDK. 6th March 2008”

According to Macrumors, the iPhone SDK will be announced on March 6th.

“Please join us to learn about the iPhone software roadmap, including the iPhone SDK and some exciting new enterprise features,” Apple said in an invitation sent to reporters.

Are we to assume Apple has licensed ActiveSync?

Are we going to see a demo of SAP’s iPhone client?

What about Sling? iChat? iPlayer? Over-the-air Calendar syncing? Push email? PDF Reader? File Manager? Skype?

mobile Learning

Abilene Christian University is investing in mobile learning. What might a university look like with a fully deployed program of converged devices like the iPhone? Connected is one possible vision. This fictional day-in-the-life account highlights some of the potential benefits in a higher education setting when every student, faculty, and staff member is “connected.” Though … Continue reading “mobile Learning”

Abilene Christian University is investing in mobile learning.

What might a university look like with a fully deployed program of converged devices like the iPhone? Connected is one possible vision. This fictional day-in-the-life account highlights some of the potential benefits in a higher education setting when every student, faculty, and staff member is “connected.” Though the applications and functions portrayed in the film are purely speculative, they’re based on needs and ideas uncovered by our research – and we’ve already been making strides to transform this vision of mobile learning (mLearning) into reality.

Insanity

doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. – Albert Einstein Related posts: 9/100 How I Find Blogging Ideas iPhone vs Android: software lock-in and halo effect Milestone… Developing for iPhone?


doing the same thing over
and over again and
expecting different results.
– Albert Einstein

37Signals in Wired.

As complexity and confusion grows, simple tools become more and more valuable. And while sometimes it’s easy to think we need this that and the other to solve a problem, it’s often the simplest solution that actually gets the job done. Not everything has to be a Swiss Army Knife. Sometimes a screwdriver just needs … Continue reading “37Signals in Wired.”

As complexity and confusion grows, simple tools become more and more valuable. And while sometimes it’s easy to think we need this that and the other to solve a problem, it’s often the simplest solution that actually gets the job done. Not everything has to be a Swiss Army Knife. Sometimes a screwdriver just needs to be a screwdriver.

From “37Signals featred in Wired (March 2008)“.

As ever, read the comments too.

Like this exchange:

Writeboards are broken. Unlike all the other components in Basecamp, Writeboards do not trigger alerts when created, when changed, or when someone comments below.

Using the word “broken” to mean “I’d like to have” is such an unfortunate commonality in a lot of feature requests these days. Why the drama? What about just saying “I’d really like if Writeboards could send email notifications” (Writeboard already notifies people via the dashboard, project log, and RSS feeds). It would make the conversation a lot less antagonistic and probably more encouraging to work on.

I agree, people use ‘broken’ too much. It’s common geek speak now and should be stopped.

I hereby ban it from the internets.

You can’t please everyone.

Some things are an impossible mission. Like pleasing everyone all of the time. When repairing computers, especially Macs, you have to rely on the quality of the components you are provided and sometimes that means waiting a long time for parts that are in high demand. And sometimes they aren’t in the best quality (like … Continue reading “You can’t please everyone.”

Some things are an impossible mission. Like pleasing everyone all of the time.

When repairing computers, especially Macs, you have to rely on the quality of the components you are provided and sometimes that means waiting a long time for parts that are in high demand. And sometimes they aren’t in the best quality (like one logic board that absolutely reeked of orange juice and, yes indeed, was sticky) and if you catch them you can get them returned for another. Sometimes, however, you don’t catch them and that pisses people off.

Now, while I think there have been some extreme adverse reactions recently, I think it’s relatively healthy for businesses to be open and transparent as much as possible.

In this case, I think there’s misunderstandings and it pains me that the first recourse is to blog rather than talk, but that’s the Web 2.0 age.

All I can say is sorry and provide some advice.

  1. Apple is not perfect. They’re bloody good, but they’re not perfect. Sometimes they issue turkeys and lemons (G3 iBook anyone?) and it’s the rest of us who have to take the lumps for it.
  2. When your machine is damaged, it’s not under warranty. If you manage to slip this past your local AASP or Apple then count yourself lucky. Otherwise a laptop screen replacement is a few hundred pounds which usually means a home insurance claim.
  3. All machines are run though standardised tests which all machines have to be signed off against. Sometimes a problem isn’t immediately apparent and sometimes they can be missed (an intermittent N key for instance?)
  4. If you find a problem with a Mac, get it seen to. Pop onto NiMUG (which is paid for by Mac-Sys) and see if there’s free help there. If not, bring it to Mac-Sys. If it’s covered by the warranty then all you have to lose is ‘time’.
  5. Sometimes time is your most precious commodity so it’s worthwhile having a backup machine, even just a Mac mini or being able to borrow one. Mac-Sys have a couple of machines they use as loaners for this purpose but they’re usually booked up weeks and weeks in advance.
  6. If, after a repair, you find a problem then get it back to your AASP as soon as possible. Apple have very strict policies on repeat repairs. If you have an issue and don’t report it then it’s your own fault. Definitely do not wait until another more serious issue occurs before getting it sorted. Get it sorted as soon as possible. Mac-Sys treat any returns like this as the same repair if it comes back within 2 days. Apple’s policy is more strict than this.
  7. Some parts are sent as-is. They’re sealed units and we can’t do anything other than run tests to see if they’re okay. Some parts take a long time to arrive. Your AASP is not holding these back, they just haven’t arrived. Getting angry won’t help.
  8. If it’s a warranty repair, then you are covered by the terms of the warranty. and it’s unreasonable to expect more than that. Accidental damage, as mentioned, is not covered. Neither is software covered by the warranty. Why? Because end users can reload their own software but yet cannot be reasonably expected to take a screwdriver to a MacBook Pro.
  9. Apple have the best customer service results across the market. If you have a problem and your AASP cannot fix it in a reasonable time (either for technical reasons or contractual reasons), then they will likely suggest you call Apple Customer Services. They are not trying to fob you off, this is the route you have to take. If you have to talk to Customer Services, be polite, be firm and be nice about it. You catch more honeybees with sugar than vinegar.
  10. Lastly, and think about this whether you’re going to an Authorised Service Provider or to a Genius in an Apple Store: they are people too. They have feelings. Don’t shout at them. They don’t get paid to be your whipping boy.

I hope that helps clarify matters.

Flexibility

Because of my background I’m somewhat used to working in a flexible arrangement. When I was with Nortel, I’d pull 50 hour weeks with no sweat because there was flexibility. I took ownership of the work, of the sites, and sometimes that meant maybe 20 hours exra on the weekend or staying late to 10 … Continue reading “Flexibility”

Because of my background I’m somewhat used to working in a flexible arrangement.

When I was with Nortel, I’d pull 50 hour weeks with no sweat because there was flexibility. I took ownership of the work, of the sites, and sometimes that meant maybe 20 hours exra on the weekend or staying late to 10 pm. On the odd occasion it meant an overight which was accepted as part of the job. Nortel was very progressive with their flexibility – we had flexi days, I worked from home for 18 months and we always had decent remote access facilities, including mobiles and laptops.

When running my own business I had even more flexibility – that happens when you’re the boss though obviously you have work to get done. Likewise there were times that working until 2 am was completely necessary and considering the state of my first marriage, I’ve also pulled a couple of overnights there as well.

Last week, I arrived in the office every day at 7-7.20 am (with one exception) and I left the office usually between 4:00-5 pm (one evening was a 5:30). On top of this I worked on Sunday too. I don’t begrudge the extra hours I put in but today I found myself to annoyed to work for the last hour. My reason? The exception.

On Friday last I went to the dentist. I’ve had a lot of dental appointments as they replace old fillings and generally give me a cleanup but last Friday I arrived in at 11 am and got to work. At 3 pm was a talk about new VoIP technology being deployed into the company (which wouldn’t have been out of place in 1998) which I also attended (as the person tasked with being the pilot for teleworking in our group). At 4 pm I left in disgust due to the poor quality of the information provided.

Today I was criticised for “not being around” on Friday. That pisses me off that I can pull hours well over my contract, fulfill all of my obligations AND give two members of staff their goals settings for the coming year (putting me ahead of any other project leader in the group) and the response was a dressing down? There’s something not right there.

Flexibility is important to me, indeed to every parent.

Flexible working impacts on the bottom line – research shows that companies embracing it are seeing an increase of between 15% and 31% in productivity. It can also result in reduced overheads – in areas such as property. In fact, in some cases every full time home worker can save a company approximately £6,000-£9,000 per annum.

– Flexible Working at OpportunityWales

Why I have trouble collaborating sometimes…

John C Welch is a compelling read. Bynkii is both represented in my Google reader account as well as on my desktop RSS reader (which is the one I mainly use). It’s that good. Maybe it’s because he’s like the anti-Scoble or something and his liberal use of profanity means that he could, accent aside, … Continue reading “Why I have trouble collaborating sometimes…”

John C Welch is a compelling read. Bynkii is both represented in my Google reader account as well as on my desktop RSS reader (which is the one I mainly use). It’s that good. Maybe it’s because he’s like the anti-Scoble or something and his liberal use of profanity means that he could, accent aside, easily pass for a local here in Northern Ireland but it must also be because, like him or hate him, he’s usually right.

The latest tirade is all about online content theft as someone rips off YML wholesale and pushes it as their own. How can people think this is okay? Worse – how can they remotely think they’re going to get away with it.

A few years ago when I was writing, we attended conventions in order to get some copies sold that would hopefully pay for our tickets, take in some games, buy some new games from other exhibitors and generally try to enjoy ourselves. We’d set up a trade stall, lay out the games and have someone sitting behind the desk to rake in the pennies. It more or less meant we made books in order to have a reserved seat at a convention and have somewhere to put our stuff.

At the time, we got a lot of people coming to talk to us. Some people told us they were trying to get started in making games and I did my best to help their realism out. The reason I bought a round of drinks was because of the day job. It paid for the accommodation and the car. And the books I bought. The “writing roleplaying games thing” barely paid for itself even though none of us were salaried from it. As long as you accepted that, things were cool. We’d also get a stream of people wanting to tell us about the games they ran with our books or wanting us to run sessions. Great – I was always a little apprehensive but if you pried me out of the shadows, I enjoyed myself. And lastly there were a few people who wanted to get their books signed by the authors.

Now, it may be surprising to some but I’m actually a pretty shy and retiring kind of guy. Sure, I play the boisterous, loud idiot a lot but that’s not the real me. I usually had to be coaxed into signing books because, well, I was shy. The thing that angered me was how many other people who had not contributed a single word to the content, nor art, nor handed in proofreads, nor done any work on layout would be first in line to sign the books. More fool me for allowing my own work to be “shared” that way and for not speaking up at the time but then I’m not really into conflict that way (and I’m even less into direct conflict now than I was then).

It annoyed me to the extent that it was a primary factor in my ditching of Crucible Design and starting up LateGaming. I just could not justify writing another word which would be shared in that way around workshy slackers. And as the years went on, it seemed the number of slackers increased. I viewed it as people taking credit for the nights I slaved at the keyboard. Taking credit for the work I put in. And compounded by the fact that when the book was finished, printed and in the hands of the group, they were often first with their criticisms – criticisms that should have been aired long before the book went to print. In that way they failed to do their jobs (proof), managed to get what they wanted (the fame?) and managed to get a dig in too (look, you spelled that work wrong…)

I’ve relinquished my anger about it now but still retain some bitterness about the events. Changes in my life have meant that I no longer see the people involved in Crucible Design – some I miss, and some I don’t.

That’s my rant over.

John also writes:

Sidenote the second: He’s charging 50 fucking pounds sterling an hour to help set up a firewall!?! I hope there aren’t that many suckers in GB, but if there are, I’m emigrating!

It’s a very different market here in the UK, John, and while the exchange rate might indicate a brilliant return (due to the US Administration ruining their own economy so that dollar paper is worth less than quilted toilet paper, sheet for sheet), the cost of living here is much higher and the population is very small. C’mon over.

iPlayer on my iPhone

From TUAW: Hot on the heels of Auntie releasing a selection of videos for sale via the iTunes Store, we somehow missed yesterday’s sneaky revelation that the BBC is intending to release some form of the BBC iPlayer for iPod touch and iPhone ‘in the coming weeks.’ iPlayer is a mixed bag. For Windows users … Continue reading “iPlayer on my iPhone”

From TUAW:

Hot on the heels of Auntie releasing a selection of videos for sale via the iTunes Store, we somehow missed yesterday’s sneaky revelation that the BBC is intending to release some form of the BBC iPlayer for iPod touch and iPhone ‘in the coming weeks.’

iPlayer is a mixed bag. For Windows users you can stream Flash versions or download DRM-laden episodes of your favourite BBC content for offline viewing. For Mac users, there’s just the streaming option.

So what does this mean for iPhone/iPod touch users?

I reckon it means that they’ll do a Youtube and re-encode their iPlayer content into H.264 so that we can watch it over WiFi. I do not believe for a second that the BBC will re-encode and allow us to download content to our iPods. I’d certainly be more impressed with an iPlayer application for iPhone and would actually use it. In comparison, the Youtube player in my iPhone is seldom used because, frankly, Youtube is crap for anything other than showing people the “This is Karate” or “The Baron” sketches from Blunt.

Of course I don’t expect the BBC to do more than that but consider sitting anywhere there’s WiFi and catching up with last nights Eastenders or watching the so-far extremely compelling “Ashes to Ashes” (episode 2 expires today). This is why we pay our license fees, so we can have content on demand, over the t’internet, delivered to our desktops and handhelds.

The “booze epidemic”

I heard on the radio this morning that supermarkets are calling for new laws to prevent the sale of cut-price alcohol as a method of curbing the “booze epidemic”. Personally I feel that demonising drink has the effect of increasing focus on it. Making it more expensive will just mean that people will spend more … Continue reading “The “booze epidemic””

I heard on the radio this morning that supermarkets are calling for new laws to prevent the sale of cut-price alcohol as a method of curbing the “booze epidemic”.

Personally I feel that demonising drink has the effect of increasing focus on it. Making it more expensive will just mean that people will spend more of their hard-earned in order to get to the same drunken stupor.

The point of 24 hour opening for bars was to prevent the binge drinking where people buy 5 pints and a half dozen shots at last orders and then attempt to neck them all in the last half-hour before they get thrown out into the street.

If there’s no “time please, gentlemen” moment, then no-one should need to binge drink like that. It’s not going to happen overnight as we have decades of “get a last one in” culture to rid ourselves of. It’s going to be a generational change.

My first encounter with alcohol was on a school trip when I was eleven (it was 1983). One of the other kids, whom I shared a room with, had stolen a bottle of wine from his parents and hidden it in his luggage. Even at that early age, Damien and James (my two room-mates) were drinking illicitly. I didn’t drink it.

When I was at University, one of my friends complained that his ulcer was playing up – an ulcer caused by excessive alcohol consumption. Starting a night meant guzzling a few pints bought cheap from the off license and then heading out to a bar to get plastered. Being a non-drinker in a group of drinking friends has good points and bad points. Everyone gets home safe but you also have to put up with some people who are arseholes when they drink (but otherwise okay to know).

Her Indoors has expressed regret that I’m not a drinker. I think she’s embarrassed by it. The assumption seems to be that if you’re my age and you don’t drink then you must have had a “problem” with it when you were younger. Oddly it seems more socially acceptable than just being a non-drinker.

I don’t want to drink – though I do feel like I miss out somewhat. Not in the experience of being drunk, but in the cornucopia of different tastes and in the appreciation of “fine” beverages. I don’t really have the nose for wine though so I’m unlikely to become a connoisseur even if I did start drinking.

I feel pressure at the moment. More than I ever did as a teen.