Jan 15
A funny video that considers how your “big boned” PC laptop will feel when the MacBook Air is getting all that attention.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Aug 27
I enjoyed Merlin Man’s recent podcast on inbox zero from his visit to Google. The basic idea of inbox zero is that the best way to manage email is to clean out your inbox at least every day. Those emails that can be deleted get deleted, those that need action either get immediate action or go onto into your GTD (getting things done) process. This generally seems like a good idea to me and I have been trying to implement that personally.
As I thought about Merlin’s podcast it occurred to me that one mechanism that I use in my process that I would argue for is contextual inboxes (for lack of a better name). The idea is this: when you are cooking in your kitchen and you realize you are using the last egg, you don’t immediately stop what you are doing and then run to the store because you know that you would have to go again in 15 minutes when you use the last of the juice and then again later on in the evening when you run out of ice cream. Instead you write what you need on your grocery list and get a number of things all at the same time. In part this is because the context switch of finding your car keys, driving to the store getting eggs takes too much time. I find as I manage my inbox that there are categories of email for me that are similar. So for instance, when I get someone who sends me an email about travel news I read it but immediately file it in a folder of travel news. When I am recording my podcast (Amateur Traveler) and get to the time where I need some travel news stories I process these stories at that time. I do this because the context switch involves breaking out the microphone, starting a podcast blog entry, etc.
I think when we can identify sets of task that are context appropriate, that we can to more efficiently if we wait and do them in a specific place or at a specific time then this is a great place to use a special inbox.
Popularity: 5% [?]
May 21
MacDailyNews points out in this article that not all CEOs are Steve Jobs and maybe some should just let someone else in the organization demo new products:
“Samsung Electronics, Intel and Microsoft have been promoting their joint project ‘Origami’ mini-laptop PC since they first showed it last month. In fact, the new PC proved to be too revolutionary, enough to baffle the three firms’ executive officers who publicly tried to demonstrate how to use it,” Cho Jin-seo reports for The Korea Times. “During Wednesday’s news conference at Grand InterContinental in southern Seoul, some 30 reporters gathered to watch the much-hyped product named Q1, or Ultra Mobile PC. Kim Hun-soo, vice president of Samsung’s PC division, first ascended to the podium as he tried to do the presentation in a Steve Jobs style _ which was not so successful. Kim first tried to start the Powerpoint presentation, which was saved in his Q1. But after introducing himself, he failed to turn to the second page while his staff nervously watched him.”
“After spending several nerve-racking minutes trying to solve the problem on his own, Kim was finally helped by one of his staff to get to the next page. ‘This kind of mistake happens in every presentation, even though you practice it all night,” he said. But that was not the end of his bad day. Several pages later, the large projection screen suddenly completely went black. Samsung’s staff again rushed to help the vice president, and found the Q1’s battery has run out,” Cho Jin-seo reports.
“Microsoft Korea’s president Yoo Jae-sung became the second victim of the day when he took over the turn after Kim wrapped up his presentation. Yoo also spent several minutes figuring out how to start the presentation file. Finally, a Samsung employee succeeded in turning it on. But then the Q1 suddenly flipped through every page of Yoo’s presentation file in a just few seconds. ‘Now you have seen all the contents in advance,’ Yoo said, and made a very brief presentation,” Cho Jin-seo reports. “Lastly, Lee Hee-sung, president of Intel Korea, had his turn. Going up to the podium, the energetic Intel Korea CEO pronounced that he would ‘do it in my own way as my predecessors have had a difficult time.’ But Lee also failed to kick off his presentation by himself, and had to be helped by the staff who looked as if they were expecting the same kind of problems to happen again.”
… and the black turtleneck has to go also.
Popularity: 7% [?]
Mar 22
Microsoft has delayed the release of its forthcoming Windows Vista operating system to 2007.
And this is why they stopped putting the year into the name of the version of Windows.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Mar 16
From Slashdot:
QuietLagoon writes ‘Reuters is reporting that Bill Gates is making fun of the one laptop per child initiative to revolutionize how the world’s children are educated. ‘The last thing you want to do for a shared use computer is have it be something without a disk … and with a tiny little screen,’ Gates said at the Microsoft Government Leaders Forum in suburban Washington. ‘Hardware is a small part of the cost’ of providing computing capabilities, he said, adding that the big costs come from network connectivity, applications and support. ‘If you are going to go have people share the computer, get a broadband connection and have somebody there who can help support the user, geez, get a decent computer where you can actually read the text and you’re not sitting there cranking the thing while you’re trying to type,’ Gates said.’
OK, what he means to say is “Hareware is a small part of the cost… if I have my way”.
Popularity: 4% [?]
