Smarts

Business and Life

There is a widely overrated and misplaced saying, “money can’t buy you happiness” - how I loathe those words. They are for the poor of mind, giving some comfort where money or happiness is lacking.

With money we can help to improve the quality of life for other people. Money can buy food, water, warmth, shelter and vaccines. Giving - and that includes money - brings me happiness.

It’s important for us to remember, “money” and “happiness” are not for comparison. But unfortunately for some, placing both words together speaks of morality; that somehow money holds more bad than good. The truth is, there are bad people with money, there are good people with money.

And when it comes to love or friendship, there are people that positively run from money. They avoid people with money because it’s not romantic enough, it wouldn’t give them a Hollywood ending, where romance wins over money.

And then there’s the Great British love affair with Robin Hood; take from the rich to give to the poor - the romance lives on. A lot of people in the UK love to talk of the “filthy rich” - ah yes, bankers, let’s screw them all… they couldn’t possibly be giving people, right?

If we must use both words together - money and happiness - then maybe it’s better to say, “happiness is not gained from objects alone.. happiness can be gained by investing in people”.

The truth of money and people is respect for both. Understand that for many people, it goes easier than it comes. Take it, use it wisely, be kind to others - just don’t run from it.

Technology

How will Google’s purchase of Motorola Mobility affect other handset and STB (set-top box) makers? Some people argue that other handset makers will be more defensive and look to host other operating systems. I’m not so sure, it all comes down to execution; if google keeps Android open and maintains a level playing field, then all those newly acquired patents will bolster support. The biggest risk here is the money Google will have to pay out if the deal falls through e.g. anti-competition laws. Political intervention, however misaligned, can be a real killer.

Business and Technology

Finally the doors are opening to unlimited TLDs and I’m waiting for google to take the .g extension. At $185K to run your own TLD, plus $25K per year, it actually seems quite cheap.

When you run your own TLD, the second level names are allotted as you choose. In other words, you can sublet the second level to as few or as many people / organisations as you like.

Imagine the .red TLD and all the second level brands you could sublet; your very own virtual shopping mall.

Business

Are you looking for fresh ideas? Are you losing customers or looking to expand? One approach is to ask your existing customers what they want. But before you do, ask yourself, are you really prepared to act on the feedback?

My doctor’s surgery asked me for feedback, “Could you get an appointment within two days? Why not?” Good question, why not? I wish I knew the answer!

Another recent example, talking to a share broker that was looking for product ideas. When I said, “longer hours so that I can trade the US markets” the response was, “no sir, because then we would have to employ staff out of hours”. Well yes, whatever product you bring you’re going to have to work at it.

Feedback is critical to the process of change. If you’re going to be apathetic or to place unreasonable constraints - to close your mind - then you must question the strength of your conviction for change.

Asking for feedback is a great opportunity to reconnect with your customers. However, failing to adequately respond can have a significant negative effect on your customers.

Life and Net

As an online webcam operator, I am sometimes asked about the implications of privacy. For me the answer is simple, privacy in public is something of an oxymoron. What is it that someone could do in public that might also be considered private? - cheating on a partner or skipping work is not exactly the best of excuses. And I think it’s equally reasonable to ask, with 6 billion people on the planet, who is ever going to care or remember one person and one moment in time?

Don’t misunderstand me, there is another side which I very much appreciate. For example, if someone is using an ATM then I fully expect that someone else is not zooming in to see the PIN. This is a very good example where existing systems fail because they are closed; a few “trusted” people abusing their position. Conversely, I have always supported open systems, where everyone equally can see what is going on, transparency is an essential component of trust.

Business

“You can’t watch this movie anywhere else for weeks, GUARANTEED” - as a consumer I don’t like being told my hands are tied, but I’m told fear is an effective tool.

Domain Names

When asked to recommend a domain registrar, I will often throw GoDaddy into the mix. I don’t use them much but from time-to-time I do have to deal with them. Today I found that one of GoDaddy’s mail servers (68.178.232.28) is blacklisted with the SORBS RBL. This can be problematic for some users when doing important admin tasks requiring email verification.

After some further googling, it seems the same IP address has previously been associated with domain phishing scams; a long time ago true, but not particularly helpful. The moral of the story… where possible (and it’s not always possible), to keep your internal services separate from your customer services.

Business and Technology

Currently the market is split between LCD tablet style computers and e-ink type displays. The pros and cons are well documented; striking visuals with fast refresh versus exceptionally low power consumption and high readability.

Now that Kindle-like displays are mainstream, the future is clearly for faster, richer and more flexible displays. I’m sure people will move to these new technologies soon enough. But it seems to me, a lot of people are making binary this-or-that predictions; it’s not a war. It seems to me the future is convergence; passive e-ink type displays literally sitting on top of bright active displays (passive transparent backgrounds).

Imagine, you go to a web page and it’s automatically transferred from the active display to the passive display. Nothing new, it’s already available in dual display devices.

It seems to me, the upshot of all this is that people are rediscovering the joys of reading. So it seems to me, given the price crash for the likes of Barnes & Noble, seems to me they deserve a second look.