Archive for January, 2006
Post Too Big For Blogger?
For whatever reason, I wrote this huge post and Blogger wouldn’t publish it. I’m not sure what the glitch was. Whatever. I posted it on an alternate blog.
It’s basically a huge “what the hell should I do with my life” post, and it’s *really* just a bunch of personal ramblings. If, for whatever reason, a career-musing post is of interest to you, click here to check it out.
Blogger Acting Flaky?
Consider this a test. I can’t get this huge monster post to go through.
Using Your iPod WITHOUT iTunes
So yesterday I posted about the use of podcasts and audio content to help grow your capabilities. Today, Adam Pash over at Lifehacker has a great post about how to hack your iPod such that you don’t need iTunes to sustain it. Some folks get annoyed with using the iTunes interface, and feel that it limits their ability to control their media. Adam’s got a great article about the workaround hack. It’s insanely clever, and very useful to me (as I’m currently a little cranky about iTunes as an app.
Presentation Styles of Darth Vader and Yoda
I’m still smirking. The gang at Presentation Zen have a great post on comparing the presentation styles of Darth Vader versus Yoda. Darth uses Powerpoint, and he uses it like a blunt instrument. Yoda’s a little more nuanced. See for yourself .
Grou.ps : a n.ew soci.al si.te
I’ve gone and joined another web 2.0 project. Grou.ps is some kind of collaborative community. I threw my 2 cents into the ring and created Share: A Way to Share What You Know. It’s the kind of thing you can join and add content, if you’re so inclined. I haven’t done much with it yet, but might.
Check it out here.
Open Source Idea - Two Way Search
Open Source Ideas are ideas I come up with that I think would be really useful, but that I don’t know what I’d do with it. I’m throwing this out to folks like Michael Whitney and Larry and Serge and Bezos.
Two-Way Search: I ask Google. Google tells you I’m asking about you.
FIRST OFF: This would be opt-in/opt-out. You could still search 1-way. Read on…
Here’s the use case:
1.) I go into whatever search engine (amazon, for my example) and I type in something to look up (for instance, the book SMART MOBS by Howard Rheingold).
2.) The engine returns my information to me and I’m happy.
3.) The engine ALSO pings Howard Rheingold, fans of Howard, Howard’s publisher, and whoever the hell else wants to know that SOMEONE just sniffed around for the book.
4.) Howard (or whoever) could then contact me (opt-in/opt-out - you can request that your search remain anonymous) or at least be made aware that I’m out there looking at his book.
Maybe this is where they’re going with some of the discussions around two-way RSS. But can you see where I’m going with this? It opens up the story. Sticking with my example above, if I were Howard Rheingold sitting at home, and I get a little ping saying, “Chris Brogan just asked Amazon about your book. Chris Brogan just asked the local library for a copy of your book. Chris Brogan just blogged about your book. Technorati picked it up.” ETC. , then Howard would go… “Hmmm, I wonder if Chris wants to talk to me about Smart Mobs. Neat. I love talking about that. Maybe we’ll collaborate.” And so on.
Talk about customer feedback. You could have full-on POW! communication with your customers, consumers, fans, or what-not.
What do you think?
Reasons to Work Remotely: a Rant
One great reason to work remotely is commuting. Do you really like commuting? 
Imagine how much more time you save NOT going in to the office and spending that same time actually DOING something.
Another reason to work remotely is that it’s technically POSSIBLE to do it these days. In fact, businesses are at a unique crossroads where it’s actually more cost effective to have a portion of the workforce doing their thing from home.
Another reason to work remotely:
The atmosphere of the average workplace is to productivity what flames painted on the side of a car are to speed.
— Paul Graham, What Businesses Can Learn From Open Source.
Another reason to work remotely: the world is wired. We are all in one big network. There’s all kinds of precautions and protocols for being protected. Thus, if my primary blunt instrument of choice is a computer, I can use that computer ANYWHERE and connect to ANYONE whether they’re next to me or countries apart.
I’m working remotely 2 days a week at present. I will probably up this number by mid-year, once I get people more comfortable with the concept that content can be generated anywhere. (Mostly what I do is write/draw/learn/share.)
So, what would YOU add as good reasons to work remotely?
A few good books related to my rant:
Creating Passionate Users ROCKS!
Kathy Sierra from Creating Passionate Users has an amazing article entitled Death by Risk Aversion. It speaks to the breakdown between when someone at a company comes up with a POW! idea and what finally gets released to the world.
Of note in the article is all the incredible use of visual thinking. It really does a fine job of tying everything together. Check it out for yourself.
Here’s a book that this post reminds me of, in spirit:
Article Posted: Audit Yourself
I wrote an article for Fix My Finances on performing a self audit as the first step for getting one’s personal budget in check. If you’re interested in such matters, feel free to check it out. link.
Abe Lincoln’s Productivity Secret
Brad Isaac over at Achieve-IT has a great post called Abe Lincoln’s Productivity Secret. I like it for two reasons:
1.) It’s a really great reminder that sometimes the best way to really get to the end of a task or a project is to prepare yourself so that you can actually execute it at one go.
2.) It’s got a Stephen Covey remash of Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw. Covey’s take on that term was that one must do things to revitalize one’s self, or else they’d get worn down and dull and not be productive. Brad’s version is a little more “on task” and I like it for that reason (though I still love Covey’s version, too).
I urge you to check out Brad’s post here.
