Way back in April 2008, Paul remarked that Web 2.0 had jumped the shark, at least for him. For the last six months or so, I’ve been feeling the same way about social, which is essentially analogous to Web 2.0, but more focused on applying social aspects to everything. I’m not alone in this belief;… Read More
Jim Marion’s PeopleTools Book
I should have posted this before, but better late than never. Friend of the ‘Lab, PeopleSoft guru and all around smart guy, Jim Marion is going to be in print. His book, titled PeopleSoft PeopleTools Tips & Techniques, should be going to press sometime next Summer, July-ish. You can preorder it now, if you’re so… Read More
Join the ORACLENERD Family
Chet, the ORACLENERD, dropped me a note yesterday. He’s thinking about expanding his empire to include more Oracle content. His plan is to reach out to people in the Oracle blogging community who don’t post very frequently (ahem, John P.) to see if they’d like to join his Nerd Herd. Sounds like a good idea.… Read More
A Computer for Your Parents
This post in Forbes today, “Apple’s Secret Weapon: Your Mom” came across Techmeme a little while ago. While the post centers around Apple’s financials and quarterly earnings report due this week, it interested me because I’m currently planning to bring my parents into the now with a Macbook Pro. A few months ago, they finally… Read More
Murphy’s Law of Demos
When I started at Oracle in 1996, I was a sales consultant, part of a college new hire bootcamp program. We got lots of training on technical stuff, mostly pertaining to how to install and demo the products. In addition, we had an equal part of soft skills training, how to conduct yourself, presentation skills,… Read More
Who is Scott Tiger?
I guess more accurately, who is Scott, since it’s really scott/tiger. If you’re not familiar, scott used to be one of the seeded users that came with a fresh Oracle DB install. His password was tiger. Here’s the story. Bruce Scott was one of the first employees at Oracle, and his daughter had a cat… Read More
What Kind of Advertising Works on You?
Admit it. Sometimes an advertisement catches your attention. That’s just one step away from buying the product. So, it’s kind of a big deal. We’re constantly inundated with advertising–on the TV, on the interwebs, in the car, walking on the street, in print. Everywhere. And it’s only going to get worse. The great promise of… Read More
IE6 Death Rattle
Last week, Digg became the first major web site to end support for IE6, or at least, support for certain functions in IE6. Today, it looks like YouTube may be the next. This should come as no surprise, since the anti-IE6 movement has been in full voice for quite some time. What’s interesting is the… Read More
Inertia and Separation Anxiety Drive Design
This article about reluctance among users to give up Outlook as their mail client of choice underscores an issue that everyone in product design/development faces. People hate change, especially at work. When it comes to computers, most people have a very low tolerance threshold for failure, even if the service or web app is free.… Read More
Everything is a Journey
The year I started with Oracle (1996) was the year the Network Computer (NC) was announced. The NC was about a decade ahead of its time due to a number of factors, and it’s funny to me that netbooks are the latest rage. The promise of netbooks is essentially the promise of the NC, i.e.… Read More
Why It Just Works
So John suggested I delve into why “it just works“. He suggests that Apple’s tight control of their products, from design to software and hardware development and third party components allows them to do what “open” systems cannot. I agree. Beyond control, this approach both limits the possible combinations software needs to support and allows… Read More
Comment with OpenID
Disqus announced today that its commenting widget finally supports OpenID. You may recall they’ve been quickly adding other ways to login and leave a comment, including Facebook Connect and Twitter. I applaud their support for multiple authentication mechanisms. I’ve enabled OpenID here, and as you probably know, I’m a proponent. So, if OpenID is your… Read More
You Know You Love Email
Everyone loves to complain about too much email. But face it, you know you love it, or at least, you have a love-hate relationship. Email is today’s busy meter. You know, that measuring stick that shows how busy you are. By the way, is it uniquely American to brag about how much work we do?… Read More
It Just Works, My New Mantra
Last week, I had one of those, “I’m so glad I have a Mac moments”. Stick with me, this isn’t another my O/S can beat up your O/S posts (although those are fun). There’s a point at the end. I don’t consider myself a fanboi, but I do like my Mac and will never willingly… Read More
Using the iPhone for Gaming?
I never expected my iPhone would be a gaming device. Earlier this week, as I did my civic duty, I found myself bored to tears in a jury room, waiting to be called. It was actually a bit funny. The day started with a video about jury service, including interviews where jurors said they were… Read More
On Product Management
I’ve been in software product management for about ten years now. Connect, my latest product, has reached a critical stage in its life. It’s the first product I’ve managed from its inception, so I’m getting interesting new experience as it grows. It’s pretty robust and has most of the big features people need in a… Read More
Sony Walkman Turns 30
Hard to believe it, but the Walkman will turn 30 on July 1. Thanks to the ‘tubes for reminding me of this, specifically to this 13-year-old kid’s review of the Walkman, compiled after using it in lieu of his iPod for a week. Well worth the read, if only for a laugh, and an interesting… Read More
Twitter for Reporting the News
The events surrounding the reporting of Michael Jackson’s death last week bring up issues with news reporting that I think are worth discussing. Granted, this discussion isn’t new, but it’s interesting, at least to me. Twitter offers a new channel to reporters, due to its immediacy and network effects, i.e. it’s very quick to publish… Read More
Citizen Journalism Gets a Test
Twitter has a pretty impressive list of news stories its users have broken and covered more accurately than mainstream news outlets. To name a few: Hudson River plane crash Iranian election riots Several earthquakes in multiple countries, e.g. Southern California, Mexico City Wildfires every year, e.g. Fall 2007 Terrorists attacks in Mumbai Virginia Tech shootings… Read More
An Interesting Trust Experiment Begins
I’ve been yammering on about trust as the key component to encouraging participation in online communities for a couple weeks. Today, Facebook opened its walls to allow search engines to index anything you publish, meaning the layer of trust can be removed, and all your updates *could* be released into the wild. The change has… Read More