to s or not

Published
by
philip
on June 19, 2009
in apple
. 0 Comments

I love my iPhone. I use it constantly. But I’ve been waiting for a number of things to be added before I update my 1st generation EDGE phone to a new phone – well that and the 2 year contract thing.

The new iPhone 3G S is compelling. It’s got the better camera I want, with the focus and auto exposure/metering built in, it’s got video which I like and the voice activation that I also wanted. The new os 3.0 supports MMS which I’d also like to have, but can’t because I’m on EDGE. It’s an update I’d normally jump at without thinking twice.

Except, I’m thinking twice. More then once. It’s not the iPhone I’m second guessing, it’s att. Their stupid attitude towards the phone – delaying MMS and tethering, slow upgrades to their network, their somewhat pricy plans and average to crappy network coverage. Let’s be honest, if the iPhone wasn’t compelling as a phone, most people (who would buy) probably won’t buy it because of att. And the ones that do buy, probably fall into two camps – love the phone and want the benefits of the phone and put up with att (that’s me) or don’t care because the cost isn’t an issue.

I want to believe that Apple is considering leaving att and they are close to a deal with Verizon. Moving to Verizon or at least adding Verizon would probably deal a serious blow to att and the smart phone market in general. Verizon’s clearly better network coverage and faster network would be a huge incentive for those still undecided or against purchasing and moving to att to take the plunge.

I want to believe it because att just hasn’t shown it has the desire to really own this. Improve their network, add features in a timely manner (like it’s international competitors!) and be competitive about it’s plan pricing. Which is frustrating, because I have to believe that if att really got it’s act together and got aggressive with they iPhone they could practically rule the wireless space in the US – at least when it comes to smart phones.

Get aggressive with plan pricing – out price the Pre and Blackberry. Make price another differentiator to add to the decision, and make it work in your favor. Stop gouging when you don’t have to.

Fix your network. att is clearly behind in upgrading the speed of the network and the capacity. It’s better then T-Mobile but that’s not saying a whole lot. Every time I’m at a football game, my data throughput is throttled to nothing. I can send SMS but that’s it. Even if I go to a large gathering of maybe 1000 people or so, I get nothing. It’s as if I’ve lost my data connection entirely. Yet I’m holding a device that is designed to move data and connect to the internet. I want speed yes, but I’m more concerned about getting the data when I need it – why else would I pay for a data plan?

And fix your coverage. It’s embarrassing how often I hear people lament att network coverage. Fix those two things and I imagine you start to fix the problems with feature delay.

I’m sure the decision is more complicated then that, but those things have to be fixed in order for att to get out from under the dark cloud.

So, I’m stuck lusting after the new iPhone and having a hard time pulling the trigger on an upgrade. Show the love, att, make this an easy decision.

socially inept

Published
by
philip
on April 27, 2009
in social networking and technology
. 0 Comments

I use it all – or have tried most of it. twitter, facebook, plurk, brightkite, loopt, ning, latitude, foursquare. whatever. all of them at one time or another. I’m amazed at how you can connect to people with these services. the integration of phones like the iPhone, G1 and Blackberry onto the web and into these services put the ability to be connected constantly and in a real and tangible way to people and services. ways that are profoundly changing the way business does business.

all of sudden (well over the last year or two) customers are now talking directly to companies. and companies are responding. the ones that are taking full advantage are reaping rewards. zappos – already an amazing service company – transforms they way they communicate with their customers and benefits in increased press, and proselytizing from satisfied customers. jetBlue actively communicates with customers about their flights as they’re going on, Southwest as well – giving them updates on weather and delays as they happen and often trying to troubleshoot problems. Comcast, suffering from bad PR and worse customer testimonials; starts chipping away at the negativity by answering directly customers complaints and troubleshooting problems it sees on twitter.

ultimately what’s important about this all is how the company chooses to use the medium. the lesson here is that it gives an opportunity for communication, engagement and  (if your customers aren’t too cynical) trust. a smart company will leverage the medium to engage their customers in conversation about products, topics, ideas and feedback. they’ll get them excited about upcoming events, and drive customers online and in person. customer’s can see the BS a mile away, so this has to be real and rewarding – you can’t ’spam’ them with non-specific topics or open ended questions. they’ll lose interest and walk away. using something like facebook or twitter requires a commitment in time and energy that’s hard to undertake, much less fathom when a company is already running 100% and everyone is busy. if it’s hard to get them to see value in the time to do a corporate blog where are they going to find the time to update twitter, facebook and the rest?

so when someone asks me what they need to do to make use of these things, the first thing i say is, who’s going to do it? what kind of time can they devote? and then we get to why. and unfortunately as i heard recently, they want to do it just because everyone else is doing it. i suppose that would be an fine reason if they were going to invest the time to do it right.

but they weren’t. and they aren’t going to. we’ll update twitter once a week, they said. are they doing any damage to their company? probably not.

but are they missing a big opportunity. most likely.

VIA

Published
by
philip
on April 14, 2009
in review
. 0 Comments

193590.jpgFinally had an opportunity to taste my free sample of VIA (thanks USPS for damaging the envelope and losing 2 of the 3 samples).

I only received a Colombian sample, but went for it.

When I spent time in the Philippines after college, I mostly had instant coffee. That’s where I learned the value of real, ground, brewed coffee. Even in the heat of Philippine summer.

The instant coffee we had there tended to be weak and uninteresting without any of the complexity or taste of the real thing. Plus it tended to be bitter and was often just gross. So I was pretty excited about the idea that Starbucks had figured out the mystery of instant coffee.

Well, I’m beginning to think it’s unatainable. Don’t get me wrong, Starbucks VIA is much better then any other instant I’ve tasted. But better then bad isn’t regular coffee either. It’s still somewhat plain in the taste profile and slightly bitter – but not terribly so. The packaging and whatnot is nice – typical Starbucks. Instructions are simple – add to boiling water. The coffee dissolves rapidly (the color is nice too) and you’re ready to go. There’s some residue at the end of the cup, which is to be expected and I imagine you can play with the amount of water to get a stronger or weaker cup as you like, although you might be added bitterness if you go too strong.

Overall, in a pinch it’s probably a good solution for fast, easy coffee. But I won’t be giving up my coffee machine or my whole beans or my fresh brewed coffee.

cox

Published
by
philip
on March 9, 2009
in general
. 0 Comments

honestly, is there any reason, any reason at all, why setting up cable tv should be so difficult. not only do they make it hard to understand online, but their people do an even worse job of explaining it.

however. their technical support is pretty good. and their internet service has always been excellent.

sushi. finally.

Published
by
philip
on February 27, 2009
in sushi
. 0 Comments

Had lunch the other day at Izakaya Wasa. It was my second trip.

I enjoy the restuarant, it’s a nice environment – I particularly love the dark wood everywhere – and the service is attentive and fast. I normally get an assorted sushi lunch set – especially when I haven’t had sushi in quite some time (it’s an efficient means of sushi delivery). Anyway, they’re selection is the normal, but it’s quite good (if a tad expensive).

This last time I was impressed with the surf clam, sweet and delicious. Next time I’m going to have to try the something off the ‘donburi’ section as it looked really good too.

Of note, apparently now and again they add a game for dinner service; winning means a complimentary meal. You play Rock, Paper, Scissors against four different employees – win four times and your meal is free. Fun idea and would probably draw me back just to check it out.

Sushi is pretty good, not the worst but not the best either.

One day I’ll return to the best. One day.

the search

Published
by
philip
on February 24, 2009
in general
. 0 Comments

perhaps the worst part of looking for a job is applying for a job you think is pretty darn awesome, then turning around a week later only to find another job opening that’s better then the first one.

obviously you apply for the second one.

then the anxiety starts, what if the first job makes an offer before the second job, which is the one i really want but haven’t even interviewed with yet?

i should be so lucky.

who took my hulu?

Published
by
philip
on February 19, 2009
in technology and tv
. 0 Comments

Twitter lit up yesterday after boxee posted an announcement on their blog -

two weeks ago Hulu called and told us their content partners were asking them to remove Hulu from boxee.

as i write this i’m watching a Arrested Development on my AppleTV via boxee from Hulu. unfortunately this will end tomorrow. and i, like tons of other boxee users are saddened by the end of Hulu on boxee.

i distrusted Hulu from the beginning, believing that even though they professed to running it differently and doing online video right, eventually the networks would screw it up somehow. however i came to actually find it a pleasing interface and convenient way to catch up on missed shows. it looked like i might have been wrong about my assumption. maybe i wasn’t so wrong after all.

on their own blog, Hulu writes -

Our content providers requested that we turn off access to our content via the Boxee product, and we are respecting their wishes.

and while i agree that without their content, none of what Hulu does would be possible, i have to believe that restricting the distribution of the content really isn’t what Hulu was supposed to be about. yes it was originally a browser interface for watching content on things like computers and portable computing devices. but they had to know inevitably there would be interfaces for a television – whether it be a hacked AppleTV or some IP-enabled television, or as many do, a computer/media center pc hooked up to the tv.

is this an issue of advertising? maybe, since they probably sell the ads at a different rate because it’s on the computer versus on the tv – smaller numbers of eyeballs watch?

or is it, as most of us think, a control issue from the content providers point of view. they control the content, they decide where we can see it, and we should be happy we have content at all online? is this a collusion between studios, networks and cable/satellite providers? online content, but only online – in a browser – not your tv.

it’s probably a combination of both. what’s unfortunate is that boxee isn’t quite mainstream yet, but its core users are the vocal minority who really push the rest to adopt new technology and ideas. how many are now left with a bitter Hulu taste in their mouth and will find the same content elsewhere (BitTorrent anyone?) and spread the word to stay away from Hulu? this could do serious long term damage to Hulu as a destination for online content and ultimately move backward the efforts to provide alternatives to BitTorrent, iTunes and even YouTube.

hopefully the content providers can see the shortsightedness of this decision and Hulu returns to boxee soon. until then, i guess i’ll be missing new episodes of Knight Rider.

in an, instant

Published
by
philip
on February 17, 2009
in general
. 0 Comments

That’s how fast it feels like Starbucks is throwing away their business. I’m not a huge fan of their coffee, but I drink it frequently – having a black card makes that easier and not being close enough to a Peets makes that definite. Seems like their trying everything under the sun now to help the business.

Instant coffee? Seriously?

Apparently they are. From their website:

We know you might be skeptical … but we hope you’ll give Starbucks VIA™ Ready Brew a chance. Try a free sample at home. The proof is in the cup!

I was. So I did.


drain

Published
by
philip
on February 16, 2009
in general and work
. 0 Comments

I recently left my job of four years and struck out on my own. Becoming a freelancer is exciting and frightening all at once. There’s a lot you don’t know and have to learn and it’s definitely a challenge. The decision to leave, though was made hastily and without much real strategy; except to realize that where I was, wasn’t moving me forward in my career. This was all precipitated when I proposed a new position that would address a weakness in the company and help to advance my career goals and provide a needed position and benefit for the company. Unfortunately they disagreed. Six months later I left.

Since then I’ve watched as they’ve let people leave or forced others out. None of these departures have anything to do with the economy or with any financial issues. Mostly it’s about consolidating control in one person – and most who have left have disagreed often and vocally about decisions and direction. These losses were preceded by a round of layoffs, and later a salary cut across the management group. It’s hard to watch this company basically bleed itself to death.

I’m not a management guru or a business scholar or anything like that. But it’s clear to me (as it is to most) that the most promising way to get out of the economic situation and the best way to prepare for the recovery, is to invest in your core competencies and research/development. Position your company to be ready for the economic ride back. Instead I’m watching as this company bleeds itself dry, letting talented, passionate people leave or force them out and implement a plan to ride out the downturn; positioning themselves to be weaker, not stronger, when the economic clouds clear.

The most recent departure was an example of the same shortsightedness. He asked for more resources for the product he was working on, not just himself. The company refused – either to benefit themselves with full control or for economic reasons (insufficient funds?) – and put the best performing product they have in a perilous situation. This was a product I worked on for some time, designing a lot of it’s brand identity and marketing pieces. It’s tough to see this move as a positive for the product and even though we continually ran into walls when proposing new ideas, it’s still hard to watch your work get trashed.

I’m watching the “movie” now, trying to understand the dizzying choices that are being made and wondering why it seems so obvious to us out here and so impossible to see it in there.


another app to ping

Published
by
philip
on February 4, 2009
in iphone and technology
. 0 Comments

I started out thinking Pinger Phone was going to be the app that really brought it all together. One place to check all my social network feeds, plus – call, SMS, IM, email.

And it does it all. Just like they said. Add in your Twitter feed and your Facebook feed (which I have) and voila – all of your contacts show up on the ‘Friend News’ page. From there you can see their updates from either service. Add in IM and associate them with your address book and now you can send instant messages, text messages, make phone calls and keep track of what you recently did as the application maintains a history of each.

Seems good right? And this is my conundrum – it seems like a pretty powerful application for maintaining a good overview of what’s going on in your digital world and being able to immediately choose a method of communication with a contact (SMS, IM, phone or Facebook, Twitter, etc) is an awesome enabling feature.

But there are some serious interface issues that make it difficult to use and some maddening functional problems with the application that needs to be fixed in order to make this application solid on my app rotation.

Continue reading ‘another app to ping’