Obama/McCain debate Part X

Don't you hate it when one person says "He said that" and the other says "No he didn't" back and forth. They went on a tear there, McCain banging away about talking to Iran....do many people think it's that important either way?

Now onto Russia....how long is this debate again?

McCain hit a Russian/Goergia question out of the park stringing together a lot of different people, places and things together (yeah, I don't know what he said, but it sounded like he knew a lot of stuff!) Obama came across not quite as strongly, but pivoted nicely to talking about the importance of energy security.

We're at the last question!!! Are we safer than before 9/11?

I thought Obama's answer that wrapped by talking about America's standing in the world was powerful, and McCain's response about Reagan and missile defence and the end of the cold war was kind of off. But so far I'd say no clear winner or loser; but what will the media say, because you never know what you think until the media tells you?

And c$%p we're back to being in Iraq. haven't we beaten this dead horse enough yet?

Come on, please wrap it up!!

Obama/McCain debate Part IX

McCain made a strong appeal mentioning that he has the bracelet of a dead marine and the mother asked him not to let the death be in vain.
Obama came back with his own bracelet from a mother that asked that he make sure another mother doesn't go through the same thing. Not sure if it worked (sure it didn't for the righties, probably did for the lefties.)


Now into the threat of Iran. McCain: we can't allow another Holocaust. (What, they are rounding up Jews in Iran???) Let's all get together with the French and Russians and sanction them! Oh, and by the way, they are responsible for a lot of trouble in Iraq.
Obama: Hey, we took out Iran's main enemy Iraq, and they have benefited. Sanctions, but we also need to have deplomacy; not talking to people doesn't punish them.

Arguing about meeting people from Iran.

Obama "Meeting with them without preconditions doesn't mean inviting them over for tea"

Now it's hair splitting time!!! Can you talk to bad people or not?

Obama/McCain debate Part VIII

I'll say this, Obama knows a lot about Afghanistan; or sounds like he does.

Loke most people, my eyes glaze over after 15 minutes on Iraq and stuff. Does anyone not have opinion about this?

Ouch! McCain took shots at Obama for saying he'd attack parts of Pakistan, and Obama came back that coming from someone that's talked about invading North Korea and bombing Iran, he wasn't sure how credible that is.


We're an hour in! Woot!!! How much more?

Obama/McCain debate Part VII

McCain: "I have not been voted Ms Congeniality in the US Senate" - second time he's said that.

Lehrer: what's the lessons of Iraq?

McCain: Can't have a failed strategy. War badly misshandled, but now we are winning.
Obama: Fundamental difference; the first question is should we have even gone there? We are over stretched and distracted.
McCain: Next President is not going to have to decide whether we are going to invade Iraq.

I think they both make strong points that will appeal to their bases. Not sure they are changing anybodies mind.


You say Taliban, I say Tallyban.

Obama/McCain debate Part VI

Half an hour in and the people here are getting distracted....how much longer?

Lehrer is pissed that they aren't really answering his question about how the economic solution will impact their programs.

McCain: freeze spending on everthing but Department of Defense, and oh, create jobs by building nuclear plants!!

Lehrer: are you willing to acknowledge that this crises is going to effect how you run the country?

Obama: no doubt we'll have to make some tough decisions, and it's important about what our values.
McCain: I don't want to hand the health care system over to the Federal Government.

McCain: One of the reasons we're in this mess is because spending got out of control.
Obama: But John, it was your President that presided over this, and you voted with him 90% of the time.

Obama/McCain debate Part V

Now they are banging at each other about taxes on companies.

McCain: he voted to raise taxes on people
Obama: he voted to give money to oil companies

Lehrer: if we do the recovery, what you going to give up?
Obama: we have to do healtcare, energy and infrastructure. We'll have to put off some things (he doesn't list them though.)
McCain: we have to cut spending because it's gotten out of control. Opose Ethanol spending, do away with cost plus programs for department of defense. "I saved money and put people in prison over some Boeing contract."
Did McCain just say "we have to screw up every government department"???

Obama/McCain debate Part IV

Probably about now is where most people tune out. I know I am.

So far, they both seem okay. I think whoever you support, you're not going to change your mind on that. Maybe someone will trip up. That's what we have to hope for.

Obama/McCain debate Part III

Lehrer is trying to get Obama to ask McCain a question....but he seems disinclined to at the moment.

Lehrer says "say it to him" so Obama repeats it, and McCain says to Lehrer "You worried I didn't hear it?"

They are both talking, but I don't think either of them are saying "we need to do this and that."


McCain just said "we Republicans came to change Washington, and Washington changed us." He doesn't like earmarks. And now he's going after Obama for earmarks. Obama comes back and says he's suspended earmarks, and oh, by the way, earmarks are 18 billion, and McCain wants taxcuts totalling 300 billion. Is there a direct connection?

McCain is really getting excited about earmarks. I'll give him points for that.

Obama/McCain debate Part II

abcNews is telling us that this is the big one! They'll have nine minutes for each question??? OMG...I'll never survive.

Here we go. Jim Lehrer looks Presidentail.

Says it's going to be about forign affairs and security (and hehe economices)

The audience has promised to remain silent...no cheers or noise of any kind...we'll see if that survives.

Out they come. Shake hands. McCain looks very white.

Lehrer is beginning with a quote from Eisenhower about the importance of economic security...so where do you stand on the economic recovery package.

Obama: we at a defining moment in our history. Worst moment since the Great Depression. (Holy S&*t!!!)

He's saying we need oversight and chance to get money back and all the usual stuff. I think he looks Presidential....oh, and he just said this is the result of eight years of bad stuff by George Bush supported by McCain. Ouch!!!!

McCain: "got to fix the greatest problem I've seen...and I've been around a long time." This isn't the beginning of the end of the crises, it's the end of the beginning (have I heard that before somewhere.)

So they spoke, and I'm not sure exactly what either of them thinks the solution should be. Lehrer pushed Obama and he starts talking about how we got into this mess.

Then he asks McCain if he's going to vote for "this plan" and he said "I hope so." And is now talking about another Eisenhower story. He's talking about the loss of accountability...

I think they both avoided it.

Blogging the Obama/McCain debate

...because I have to have a reason for watching this thing.

It's 8:47pm and I'mn already here sitting in front of the TV waiting for the debate to start. They are playing The Colbert Show right now.

Go! Speed Racer

Yahoo posted the first seven minutes of the movie Speed Racer yesterday, and against my better judgment - and with a few minutes to kill - I decided to watch it. If you're looking to kill a few minutes, nothing will kill them more effectively than this movie. It did not look good.

But don't take my word for it. Salon.com has posted a review that has the tag line: You know a movie's heading nowhere fast when even its monkey doesn't make you laugh. It doesn't get better. Here's some choice lines:

• Every once in a while I'm hit with a movie whose existence I find impossible to comprehend.


• ..its alleged script was written by...


• ..the movie is filled with tedious video-game-style racing


• The filmmaking in "Speed Racer" lives down to the feebleness of the writing


• The effect is clever the first time it's used, tedious the following 999.


• [character] is so annoying I kept wishing he'd go play in traffic


• ...so arrogant about its so-called stylishness and energy that it feels like punishment


• Manic and multicolored, "Speed Racer" is an excess of nothingness.

With a review like that, you wonder if the movie could rival the play Moose Murders as the standard for awfulness?

Probably not.

Car UI Design

The article "Can this car save Ford?" from Fortune magazine's site, describes Ford's ongoing efforts to reinvent itself; and survive.

Most interesting for me was this snippet from a design meeting:

The question is, Should Ford offer drivers buttons on the steering wheel or racing-style paddles behind the steering-wheel spokes? It is a small detail - each component costs about $25 - yet it produces spirited discussion.

Mulally wants to know how the gear changes will be signaled to the driver. Mark Fields, who runs Ford's car business in the Americas, worries about durability and warranty costs. More fundamentally, he questions whether drivers even want to shift gears themselves. "I'm concerned we're going in the wrong direction," he says. Jim Farley, newly recruited from Toyota (TM) to oversee global sales and marketing, is thinking about how the action will feel: "If the paddle shifter is well done, it could be a big advantage for us."

Having spent many meetings teasing out the details of software design, it's telling to see that car companies do exactly the same thing. Of course they do! Yet somehow I just never thought about it.

Ford has recently identified 300 different characteristics - from the chirps on the electronic key fob to the clunk of a closing door - that define the personality of its vehicles. "There is great value for us in creating a Ford DNA," Mulally says.

Again, wow! I always thought expensive cars had a heavy sound to them (because they are heavy), but I never thought about a Ford having a distinctive sound. Do they really build a door and go "works great, but doesn't sound like a Ford!"? And how do they change that?...prerecord a sound and play it through the car's sound system to augment the actual sound??!

Create Your Story Contest

Crackle is running a Create Your Story contest.

- You know, create a video and win a contest! Sounds easy!

"Big deal!" - I hear you thinking.

Well, sure. Except if you win, then you get:

A Sony XDCAM EX™ Camcorder; a Sony VAIO® Computer; Vegas® 8 Editing Software; and; an offer to receive a development deal with Crackle Studios to develop material for Crackle distribution, including two (2) meetings with Crackle Studios executives, subject to the terms and conditions described below (the "Development Deal"). - Approximate Retail Value ("ARV"): $9,000.

At that value, I'm guessing the XDCAM is the PMW-EX1 - woot! (No, seriously, Woot! The PMW-EX1 would be worth winning.)

And of course, the meetings with Crackle Studio executives, let's not forget those. The value of those; priceless (hmmm....I wonder if they'd buy lunch?)

Except:

The Development Deal meetings may be conducted in person or via telephone, as determined by Sponsor, in its sole discretion.

"Paging Mr. Taz, Development deal on line 3!"

No, seriously. Really?! A phone call? Well, the camera would still be worth winning.

So, yeah, you have until May 31st to get an entry in. Just make sure you don't break any of the rules, particularly this one:

(b)[...] did not purchase the web cam, video camera, and/or other equipment used to create the video (the "Equipment") for purposes of entering the Contest;

Wait...You can't buy a camera to make a video to enter the contest, to win a camera? Can you rent a camera?! I really don't get that one. If anyone can explain it's significance, please let me know!

Boston Flex Group

...and if you're wondering why I bothered putting in a Flash/Flex announcement, well here's the other shoe. There's now a Boston Flex User Group:

FIRST MEETING: Tuesday April 8, 2008 7 pm, at Adobe's Newton Office
The Boston Flex User Group's first event will be held on the evening of Tues, April 8, 2008 at Adobe Systems' Newton office at 7 pm. Developer Peter Farland of Adobe Systems will be giving us the inside scoop on the new Open Source Flex SDK, which not only includes the Flex 3.0 Framework but also the entire set of SDK tools, exposing a lot of source code and internal tooling that has never been publicly released before. Did you ever want to change the Flex Framework and rebuild your own distribution? Do you ever wonder what the Flex compiler is up to when it's chugging away? Are you just plain curious? Please join us!

No, I'm not involved with the group, though I hope to get along to the meeting. Maybe there will be giveaways..

It seems like only a few years ago I was being - reluctantly - dragged from being a Director developer to a Flash one, and now - out of no where - everyone wants me to be using Flex. Sigh Change is the thing. The world keeps changing. Change with it, or be flattened by it.

Flash Player security update coming...

If you're using Flash or Flex, then you should be aware of an upcoming update to the Flash player that Adobe says will prevent Flash player apps being used to launch attacks against consumers, but could also break some apps.

Adobe's own announcement says that if the following situations apply to your Flash/Flex app then you might be impacted:

1. You use sockets or XMLSockets, regardless of the domain to which you are connecting


2. You use addRequestHeader or URLRequest.requestHeaders in any network API call when sending or loading data cross-domain
   
   OR


3. You provide access to content on remote domains as a web service provider


4. You have SWFs that are exported for Flash Player 7 (SWF7) or earlier that communicate with the hosting HTML by any means


5. You use "javascript:" through network APIs to communicate outside a SWF

You can read the article in detail here.

Careful what you blog about...

....cause the screens have eyes...

Cisco's legal trouble stems from a Blogspot-hosted blog called Patent Troll Tracker, which Rick Frenkel, who directs the company's intellectual property department, launched last May. His posts focused on patents and patent litigation--an issue that Cisco has pressed Congress to address by overhauling what it views as a broken U.S. patent system.

A few weeks ago, Frenkel revealed his identity, and two patent attorneys in Texas filed suit, accusing him of tarnishing their good names and disparaging a patent case their client had filed against Cisco--all the while allegedly concealing his affiliation with the company.

As a result of the suit, Cisco has added a rule to it's Internet Postings Policy (which it has evidently had for three years.) The addition reads:

"If you comment on any aspect of the company's business or any policy issue the company is involved in where you have responsibility for Cisco's engagement, you must clearly identify yourself as a Cisco employee in your postings or blog site(s) and include a disclaimer that the views are your own and not those of Cisco."

Cisco's policy makes good sense to me, but I wonder how many companies will simply issue edicts against employees blogging about anything to do with their work life - or even anything at all?

Profiling Customers

A year or so ago I heard from a Best Buy employee how Best Buy was categorizing it's shoppers into different demographic types. He said that they were setting up the stores to appeal to these segments.

Now Consumerist has posted "Best Buy's Internal Customer Profiling Document" which lists all these types, who they are, and what drives them. It's an interesting read, though you have to wonder what the average sales associate makes of this information. Can they really tell - just by looking at someone - which group they fall into? Is that middle-aged woman with a 10 year-old really married and living on a budget?


This blog entry Best Buy vs Circuit City:Customer Centric spilled the beans back in April 2007 about the different Best Buy segments and notes:

It empowered employees to focus on their angels ( high potential customers) so that they spend more and increase their share of wallet (SOW).

Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson is quoted as saying:

"In our world the way you win the game isn't the price of the TV - which is about the same for all retailers - but the experience you give customers once they are in our stores"

Maybe I'm not in any of the target demo's but neither Circuit City or Best Buy offer me a more compelling experience. Best Buy stores I'd rate slightly higher based on variety and quality of merchandise, though that might just be a perception based on the colors in the store. Frankly, I compare on price first, then convenience (oh, and I have a Best Buy card, which factors in when they have those interest free offers.)

Certainly, past experience dealing with sales associates wouldn't have me pick one over the other.

It's official; I'm an addict

News.com: MD says Net addiction really is a mental illness

[...] online fixation can be serious a problem--a compulsive-impulsive disorder whose sufferers endure gadget cravings, broadband-deprivation withdrawal, increasing tolerance for spending extraordinary amounts of time online, and no apparent embarrassment when they wake up in the morning with a keyboard imprint on their face.

...though no face imprints yet.

Paul Krugman tells it like it is...

Even if you only have a cursory interest in economic thinking you've probably heard of Paul Krugman. Krugman is an economist, author, and writes a regular Op-Ed for The New York Times and in an interview in Fortune, he gave the following answer to the question: Why [is this not going to be like] the Great Depression?

[...]I think we know more than we did then, and just the fact that we have a big federal government is a stabilizing factor. But the current problem is still pretty awesome.

the current problem is still pretty awesome

I don't know about you, but having become familiar with "pretty awesome" used to indicate something that's really good, I had a hard time wrapping my head around that sentence.