Well, technically we’re meant to stay away from personal things, but I figured birthdays could be a decent exception. Besides, I got subscriptions to Wired and Fast Company today, so I’m sure they’ll pump me full of ideas of things to write about.
Expect at least one more personal announcement from me this month, as our new baby is due mid-July.
Also, I’ve started keeping a journal, which I’ll transfer online, about my thoughts for job searching. I currently have a very nice job, but have decided to move on before winter, so I’ll be relearning a lot of hard lessons, and hopefully posting them here… If I can remember.
Continuing on from this post, it seems there is a bit of backlash from the internet community because it seems that the rules are a bit too lenient (a lot of exemptions).
Most of the exempt industries are exempt because there are already regulations in place which limit who and what they can call. For instance airlines, I have never received a blind call from an airline.
Likewise, the telemarketing business won’t stop. It will simply change from cold telemarketing to warm telemarketing, ie: those who want to be called about a specific product.
What this legislation is doing is providing a blanket covering for those industries who aren’t currently regulated in this area and/or who are not obeying existing regulations.
It also takes care of 95% of the calls that currently happen nationwide in that it is telemarketing companies who are subject to this as well. This means that if a non-exempt (or exempt) company wants to call you, they can’t simply use a third party to make the call.
The legislation is fair in that it allows political campaigns and charities (who do have regulations on when and how they can call, as well as how many homes); regulates telemarketers, but promotes relationships.
A recent blog entry by Scott Rosenberg got my goat a little. I’ve been trying to figure out my stance on this Trusted Computing thing (here’s the article he was commenting on); and this response is the best I could come up with.
Continue reading “Trusted Computing”
A new article in Fast Company really got me thinking, and rather introspective.
It’s not easy to become as disastrous a boss as Dennis Kozlowski, Jean-Marie Messier, or Jill Barad — but you can, if you work at it. And here’s the best part: Each of the qualities that you need to be a spectacular failure is widely admired in today’s business world.
Great read, especially because the article realises the healthy and unhealthy aspect of each trait. Read it here.
I just discovered that one of my favourite marketers, Brendon Sinclair, has a blog! Go read it now, and make sure you go through the archives.
Also, someone has my last name spelled wrong on the right panel. It’s “Johansson”, mr Wrihgt.
Well, it’s now official. The US has just launched the National Do-Not Call Registry. News source: http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/06/27/do.not.call/index.html
Consumers can sign up online at http://www.donotcall.gov or by phone west of the Mississippi River — 1-888-382-1222 — for the registry, managed by the FTC. Nationwide registration by phone will be available next month.
I myself am making the switch. As soon as I get my network router I bought on ebay yesterday and I can quit using my main box as a firewall, I’ll be making the switch. I’ve been using Redhat 9 for a bit and before that 8. In fact, I’ve had a dual boot with every Redhat distro since 6.x but I rarely use it as a desktop. As I’m becoming more saavy I’m finding myself just plain enjoying Linux so much more. There’s some nagging issues I’d like to see resolved, but all in all, I think I’m ready to switch.
I just read an article – very balanced – written for Windows users looking to make The Big Switch. Entertaining and enlightening.
Source
Aaron
Well, the world has been abuzz ever since Apple accidentally released specs for the new Mac G5. It’s now official that the new Mac G5 will be the world’s fastest desktop.
Bravo is the best I can do. Now not only has Mac innovated with GUI and user experience, they’ve innovated drastically with speed as well. I recognize that Mac’s have always been faster than PC’s on a hertz:speed ratio, however this is truly unprecedented.
The G5 will have more raw power as well as more actual power. I’m a total PC guy, and won’t be switching to Mac for the same reason I won’t switch to xNix any time soon: I’m a creature of habit. But, hopefully this will be that kick Intel needs to bring out those next gen chips which are done, but they’ve been putting on the “profit cycle shelf” (ie: until someone does something better, they let each chip bring in maximum dollars).
I truly hope this breakthrough shakes the ground of the PC world.
Oh, and if I hear one PC guy say “it’s not the speed that matters, it’s what you do with it” there’ll be some serious beatings happening. Respect to the folk at Apple.
Just looking for people’s feedback. I’ve done some interviews with rather big-time tech folk, and I was thinking it might be fun to get them in and interview them on something other than what they are famous for.
As a for instance, I think it’d be useless to interview Jeffrey Zeldman on web standards. Everyone does it, and there’s only so many times you can ask “so, when is Microsoft going to get the picture” before it gets tiring.
It would be much more fun to interview him about, for instance Mac/PC, Open and Closed Source integration, paradigm of the web as an application, etc.
Likewise, it would be interesting to interview Steve Balmer on the user experience, Bernard Liautaud on media convergence, etc.
I’ll likely end up doing this anyways, because I think it’s fun, but it’s always good to gauge interest anyways. So, if you’re interested, comment. I’d like to have some fun!
