Carpooling is illegal in Canada
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Well, some kinds more than others. Who knew there were rules to carpooling. I have to admit to have broken the law a few times with my "giving rides to school" shenanigans.
This story feels like an
Onion story:
OHTB takes the side of the Bus Company. Sadly, it's not.
Stop carpooling; don't be a law breaker!
Oops. Virus scanner breaking your machine since...
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
AVG virus scanner removes critical Windows file.
Recession. What recession?
Saturday, November 08, 2008
There is such a thing as recession proof industries.
Wikipedia
lists the entertainment and weapons industries among them: whether the economy is good or bad, we need to be entertained and someone needs to be shot at (this says a lot about or society, if you think about it).
Computer hardware is not recession proof for various reasons. Though some manufactures want to prove us wrong, if current computer prices for top of the line machines are any indication: Lenovo
1 and Apple still sell ridiculously over-priced hardware.
I know that cost and price are relative and that value is not only about money, but I have a hard time looking at a $6,000 laptop and thinking to myself, "Hey, that's a reasonable price for my computing needs."
It's no secret I like ThinkPad notebooks: I own 3 of them, and will likely continue buying one every 2 years. Nevertheless, paying $6,000 for a laptop today is extreme, to say the least.
The target demographic for this laptop--the ThinkPad X301--seems to be "the mobile executive" who needs to have a light computing companion to read emails, surf the web, and dazzle investors with great presentations, but can't be seen with a pedestrian laptop. You see my point, though. Is the laptop really worth this much?
The answer to this question smashes onto the never ending wall of reason. On one side you have exquisite and expensive items; on the other you have utilitarian yet affordable products. The winning argument for luxury is simple to state: if you can afford it, why not? The winning argument for cheap is also simple to state: why pay more, when I can get the same function? Both arguments have their defenders, and you will make either of them, depending on the circumstances.
I want to point out that I'm making the price of the X301 to be so exuberantly high because of similar offerings in the market that costs less. But the price isn't really that high, when you put it in context and the cost gets lost in quarterly balance sheets as part of the "depreciating assets" umbrella--then the price doesn't seem that bad. There are far worst things on what executives can
spend shareholders money. What's more, portraying a winning image is part of the job--just ask
Sarah Palin ($6,000 for a computer is nothing compared to $150,000+ worth of shirts and pants). Just imagine the power executive in the next meeting: laying that marvelous X301 on the boardroom's table speaks volumes. It screams, "Trust me with your money!"
Let me state that I'm not bashing over-priced laptops. Specially, a Thinkpad. The X301 is a very well engineered machine, and it's thin as thin can be. I really like this laptop; however, it is grossly underpowered under the hood, with a low voltage CPU running at 1.4 GHz. This machine is all about portability and long battery life, because it assumes its target market is always on the go. Lugging a 5 lb laptop around O'hare is no laughing matter, but there are "cheaper" computers that weight less and have more computing power...but they are no X301s and don't look as good.
There is no questioning the fact that our workforce needs to remain productive everywhere, 24/7. We are a connected service oriented society and we depend in our connectivity to create value. Though, fiscally responsible shareholders will be looking at these expenses a bit more carefully. Unless, of course, you sell movies or guns or both, then there is no point of skimping on pennies here and there for cheaper, ungodly looking hardware. For these markets, things keep looking better and better, regardless of what economist say. Recession? What recession? Exactly...
1. I priced this machine this morning. I considered for a long time buying one of them, because I like thin laptops. The entry model is around $3,000, but the computer I quoted on Lenovo's site included the best combination of components money can buy. I didn't include anything I wouldn't use on a business trip (a 21" LCD); everything in my spec is about a single machine I can put in my laptop bag and just go. The spec included the biggest hard drive available, the most RAM I could put on it, the best warranty service I could get, the most bloated MS Office Lenovo offers, etc., etc. The price surprised me: $6,300 + 13% TAX. Yes, that's over $7,000.
Herman Miller, where are thou?
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
As I'm giddily awaiting the delivery of my new Herman Miller Mirra, I came across the new Miller creation: the
Embody. I think I made the right choice. This new chair is socially conscious (95% recyclable material), but it doesn't appeal to me just yet. Maybe I need to see one up close to have a better opinion. Though it maybe the orange color throwing me off, because the black version looks all right:
Maradona as the head coach of Argentina
Friday, October 31, 2008
People don't hold back when
giving their opinion about football:
Enough beatifying Maradona. My mother is the person I love the most in the world, but that?s no reason to make her coach of the national team or president of the republic.
Ouch.
It's an interesting choice for Argentina: he's been coach only once and had a "record of two wins, three losses and six draws before abandoning the post."
He was a great player, but I'm not sure he'll be a good coach. Either way, the world and I are waiting to be proved wrong.
It's cool, but so what?
Monday, October 27, 2008
Twitter is cool, but what's the
point? I mean, what is the point to keep paying the bill on its servers if the company has no real business model. I'm not the only one to wonder this, as there have been countless people writing about the
same thing. The magical future model seems to be, as usual, advertising or subscription fees. Are any of these feasible money makers for the company?
I'm skeptical on the success of either of these alternatives. On the one hand, we go to great lengths to avoid seeing advertising on web pages. So how would you feel if your twitter stream is full of contextual ads a la google? I know I wouldn't like it. On the other hand, would anyone pay for such a simple service? Twitter is a free service, with a very low barrier of entry, i.e., it's easy to create. I agree that the infrastructure is expensive, but only because of the volume: the technology to make this thing tick is not out of the reach of most of us.
The unknown variable in this reality equation, however, is if twitter has been able to create enough incumbency amongst its user. We as a crowd are fickle, and we move from trendy thing to trendy thing. Is twitter the next new new thing? It has been for a while, and seems to be more now. "A lot more people -- and businesses -- are finding new ways to tweet",
writes Jessica E. Vascellaro, from the Wall Street Journal, in her catchy tag line of her article
Twitter Goes Mainstream. (I won't go into the details of what mainstream means here, as I don't think the app has gone mainstream: how many of you use twitter?)
The success of twitter rests of the network effect (the network has more value depending on how many users there are): if companies are convinced that this short-message distribution system is worth a license, then it will become the standard; however, if there are no users using twitter, why would any sane CEO agree to pay for the service? We've seen this before, haven't we?
Regardless of corporate acceptance, twitter has another option to survive its success. It's the acquisition route, which is more realistic. Google or Yahoo are sure looking at it (I'm speculating, I don't know if they are). Facebook, on the other hand, is unlikely to look at it, as they should be able to create their own twitter-like platform in no time. I'm actually surprised it's not out there yet.
In the mean time, twitt away. I just recently started using it, so I'm not too sure of what it is or its use; and yes, I have heard all the descriptions that people want to give it. I agree, it's cool...but so what?
Brands gone wild
Sunday, October 26, 2008
As far as plastic sandals go, Crocs are all right. I had a pair that I wore to go to the beach or just to go get ice-cream: they were easy to wear, but not easy on the eyes. The shoes are kind of ugly and once everyone and their dog started wearing them the appeal was lost to me.
The makers of these rubber-molded sandals want to diversify their brand and have created an array of shoes that don't seem to have a defined market: Crocs boots, Crocs winter shoes, Crocs safety boots (I kid you not). Needless to say, these things should neither be worn during the winter nor while working with heavy machinery around: they are plastic molded sandals, enough said.