Category: post

Most people that know me have never seen my face. Not most of my friends. Not even my wife. As I write this, I’m not even sure I remember what it looks like.
I have worn a beard since my mid twenties, I think. It’s been so long I’m not sure. I like the way I look with one. Not so much without. It is a part of me. As such, I feel it is as much a part of my face as my nose, or my eyes. Yet, because I wear my beard by choice and it can be easily shorn, it is not quite the same.
My beard also serves many functions. For most of the Minnesota year, it shields against the chill. It helps to hide imperfections. The scar I have on the underside of my chin from the falls I took as a child. Some of the splotches of Seborrhoeic dermatitis I quietly suffer. And, in this way, it is a mask that I use to disguise a face I feel ugly and scared and weathered.
Perhaps it is time to give those I love at least a glimpse of what hides beneath. So that I can say, “You have seen my face. All of it’s character and faults. Thus, you know me.”

Here is something that I only recently recognized about myself. I really enjoy having freshly washed hands. It’s not just about the cleanliness though. It’s the act of washing them. Especially with a really nice soap. I love the way they feel and the way they smell. It is one of the simplest things, on the face of it, but one that gives me a fair amount of joy and pleasure.
There are many other tiny things that give me joy and pleasure too. Writing with a really good pen. Walks with my little girl around my neighborhood. A clean car (both inside and out). Being smartly dressed.
I don’t feel any of us take enough time to identify these simple, often free, acts that give us pleasure and joy. Even those of us that do, often do not take enough time or give ourselves permission to indulge in them. Especially when it would benefit us the most.
Having a bad day? Feeling a little down? If you have some of these tiny pleasures already identified, see if acting on one can help turn things around. It likely wont solve the whole problem. But, at least for a moment, it may help you feel differently.
Even if things are just fine, it can never hurt to inject some happiness into your day. Relish the simple acts that bring joy.

I recently made a massive simplifying change to my RSS System following my experience while on, and after returning, from vacation. I’ve covered my system many other places before, but to summarize, I had things organized into a series of folders that helped me know what the read and what to ignore when things got busy.

Coming back after a long while away I found I had so much to “catch up” on. Even the little number indicating unread items in my a-list, must read, folder seemed daunting. I knew there had to be a better and simpler way. So I put some thought into it.

Things I read regularly fall into two categories, really…

Important – These are things I read and consistently derive a lot of value from. Whether that be personal value because I love the writer or am endlessly curious about the subject or actual value because it helps in my endeavors that produce income (writing for instance).

Unimportant – Anything that does not fit into the above.

Therefore, I have ditched my multiple folder based system for only two. On the busy days, or if I ignore my RSS for an extended period of time like a vacation or digital sabbatical, I know I can mark as read on the Unimportant folder and walk away knowing I likely have not missed, well, anything important.

Astute readers may already see the obvious conceit in this. If it’s not important, why read it at all? Well, that’s a great question. Let me try to explain…

For a while, I’m actually going to track how often and frequently I do mark as read on the unimportant things. I’m also going to see if I actually do derive value from some of the things in there. Everything, in either folder, will be under constant scrutiny as to which folder it belongs. I have already moved a couple of things from one to the other since making this change a couple of nights ago.

Then, after a while, I will know that what is in the Important folder really is and will unsubscribe from everything in the Unimportant folder. Yep. Gone.

Any new subscriptions will be added only under the criteria set for what is important. Which I welcome, of course. The goal here is to increase signal and reduce noise. If there is something I should be reading regularly that I’m not, I really do want to know about it. That said, I’m going to be very picky.

So, there you have it. Yet another crazy experiment by a guy with more questions than answers.

For our five year anniversary, my lovely wife got me quite a few important additions to my writing library:

• The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition
• The Elements of Style: 50th Anniversary Edition
• On Writing: 10th Anniversary Edition: A Memoir of the Craft – Stephen King
• On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction – William Zinsser
• The Little English Handbook: Choices and Conventions – Edward P.J. Corbett, Sheryl L. Finkle

I know there is a ton more I could post about Apple’s announcements coming out of WWDC. But I think while all of the details and features of iCloud, iOS 5, and Mac OS X Lion are interesting, there is an idea that these technologies surround and support that is far more so. In fact, it could be perhaps the most fundamental shift in the idea of what a computer is in many years.

The idea is this: Your data is the computer.

This is the new world that Apple is creating. Where your data resides, the device you use to access it, how it is saved, where it is saved, how to manipulate it, how to back it up, how to recover if you make changes to it that you did not intend, all will be things you don’t have to think about.

Your data will be available to you on any device you own. It will be left exactly as you last left it. You can open it in any application that it is able to open it. Should your computer crash, do not fear, your data is safe. And when you get a new machine, simply log into it and all of your data will be there in short order. Buy a new Mac, a new iPhone, and new iPad, simply log in and the data will be there too.

When the device does not matter, when it’s always as you left it, if it opens where you need it, and it is always backed up, we can concentrate on making, creating, doing, being.

Also, I think this is the fundamental difference between how Apple is approaching this idea and Google is doing so. To Google, as to John Gage ten years ago, the network is still the computer. To Apple, your data is. And this difference will define an era.

In fact, Steve Jobs hinted at this idea when he said during the keynote, “Some people think the cloud is just a big disk in the sky… We think it’s way more than that.”

It is not until I start thinking about these things that I realize that we are on the cusp of a shift in computing that is among the largest I may see in this lifetime.

I have a big voice. It’s deep. Resonating. Booming. I get loud, quickly, without realizing that I’m doing so. It’s often difficult to control. Especially when I get excited or passionate about what I’m saying. Many who know me will tell you that I get excited and passionate about a lot of things.
My dear wife, bless her heart, has taken to gently whispering “Inside voice…” when these times occur. Perhaps to some it may come off as a bit maternal, like she is speaking to a child. The truth is, I don’t mind it. In fact, I have slowly adopted it to mean more than just how she intends it – A gentle reminder to lower my voice to an acceptable tone for the situation.
Indeed, I am also using this as a reminder to myself. Not only using my inside voice more but also listening to my inside voice more. I am trying to be more conscious of being silent and really listening both to others in conversation and to my internal dialog when I am alone. To speak carefully and with purpose.
Far too often I don’t listen to my inside voice. I don’t listen to it when it is telling me I’m hungry. I don’t listen when it is telling me I need rest. I am too busy responding to the noise the world is making. My mind too involved with output to process the many inputs and interpret their meaning. My inside voice will tell me when something is an opportunity. It will also warn me when something is not quite right.
So, I have resolved to be more beholden to the voice inside and practice silence so I can hear it.

Like |itrhi|referrer|yzsez
many of the tech writers in my Twitter stream, I too am simply exhausted from all that there is to unpack in today’s WWDC 2011 Keynote. That said, let me try to break down a few highlights that I think are important to what we believe in here.

I’m going to start with the one I found most interesting:

iCloud

The funny thing is that iCloud is not any one thing but a host of things. Perhaps iCloud is not even “things” but an idea. The idea being that users should have the stuff that matters to them – music, photos, documents, contacts, calendars, etc. – available to all of their devices and backed up, offsite, in real time. The idea that the files system should not matter and, in fact, should become unimportant. The idea that if you buy something from Apple on one device it should be available to download (by choice or automatically) to all devices.

I think, for those of us purposefully working with limited space, there is a question of how all of this get stored and how much space it takes up. I purposefully did not install iLife on my Macbook Air, not only because I knew I would rarely use these apps there but also because of the additional space not having the app or the library would save me and allow for other things that mattered more. It was hard to get a sense from the “liveblogs” I followed how such things would be handled. For instance, I do have iWork (Pages, Keynote, Numbers) on the Macbook Air. Will it be possible to sync only the data pertinent to it and not iLife as well or will it be an all or nothing affair?

These are things I don’t quite know or understand yet and we will have to wait for Mac OS X Lion to check them out.

The one thing I want to point out is the iTunes in the Cloud feature. As I stated a couple of weeks ago, Apple knows what we have purchased and they know what is in our library, why not just make it available to all devices? If it’s available in the iTunes store, why not simply make it available for listening? Well, this is exactly what they did. It looks fantastic. The stuff you have bought through iTunes is there available for download today. If you have ripped music or, presumably, purchased it elsewhere, it will be available for same when the new iTunes Match service is released this Fall.

The only thing I got wrong was the streaming aspect of it. Not sure why this was not announced today. I still think, due to the decreased amount of storage available on some of Apple’s most popular devices (i.e. iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Macbook Air 11 inch), not to mention increasing bandwidth (I get a steady 19MB down as it stands right now), this would seem to me to be an important play. I don’t know the reasons but still believe it is coming sooner rather than later. Perhaps, that too, is waiting for Fall.

The Photo Stream feature will be a godsend to those of us who take lots of pictures and can never remember what the heck is where. I’m also hoping it will resolve a long standing issue of my wife and I which is the ability to have a central immediate photo storage that we each have access (i.e. “Can you email me that cute photo of Beatrix you just took so I have it too?).

It will also be interesting to see how this changes mine and my wife’s fairly complex and robust calendar sharing that we have thus far relied on BusyCal to do being able to handle all of this stuff with iCloud and have any changes instantly synced between our devices will be a godsend.

But these two things bring up an important (to me at least) question – how will iCloud handle this from an account perspective? Will we be able to say, for instance, both my wife’s devices and mine belong to the same iCloud account for some things but have separate accounts for others? For example, she currently has her own Apple ID and therefore her own music, app and other purchases. In the case of apps, she may not want to have to wade through all the stuff I purchased to get to the three things she has. Not to mention documents. I think we can see where this is going. I wonder how the complexities of a modern household where several devices exist and sharing would be good for some things but not others will be handled?

That said, it seems many of the questions will likely be answered in the coming months or for sure will be come Fall. Of all of the announcements made at the Keynote (and there were a ton), I foresee this being the most foundationaly disruptive in terms of the way we approach our data today.

Not long ago, at the mall, I found myself standing outside of the Microsoft Store which is strategically built directly across from the Apple Store. I stood at the window and watched the people playing in front of the Kinect demo. I made a point to look mostly at the players and the strange sort of pantomime they were doing as they manipulated the action on screen. One did not have to see the screen, that pantomime told the story. Pick up the ball from the rack, bring it up to the chest, swing it back behind, swing it forward and release. Roll. Strike! Bowling.

It really is an amazing and magical technology. Think about it. You are using natural real-world movement to mimic an action and it is happening in real time on a screen in front of you. No special gloves, wands, cables. Nothing. Just you. You pretend. It makes it real.

The problem is that Microsoft does not, can not, see it that way (and perhaps never will). They invented a device from the future yet could not untether themselves from the past and present. They could not see the potential to change the world with this device because they are too wedded to the idea that it had to work with the present. So, instead, it is just a toy, nothing more.

If they threw out the ideas and influences of the present, they could have seen that you could stand in front of a flat screen in your living room and manipulate objects on the screen like documents or pictures or folders or email – all through the same strange sort of pantomime. Perhaps it would understand your speech and respond to that as well.

“Open email from Steve.”

“Reply.”

“Steve, that time sounds perfect. Thanks”

“Send.”

That would change computing. It would set a bar leaving others to catch up. It would define a whole new category. That is disruptive. That is post PC. That is something I would buy. That is a platform I would invest a lot of money in. No matter the maker. I suspect I’m not alone.

Perhaps that is the most frustrating part to me. I see this future, and all the pieces to build it, sitting right there. We could have it, today, in every room in our house. Walk up to a screen and command it. Interact with the stuff you have there. Naturally. But, due to lack of vision, it’s not magic. It’s a game. As long as the blinders of the present and past remain, it will never be anything more.

There are those that believe that you need the experiences of the past and present to build the future. I’m calling bullshit. If you build on the past or present you simply extend the past and present. To build the future, you must let it stand alone. You must build it on top of a whole new platform. You must create whole new segments and spawn whole new eras.

The very act of invention involves forgetting everything you know. You can’t have a discussion about the future using the words and concepts of the past or present. You have to forget everything you know about the way people interact with a computer and reinvent it, as well, around this new future. Otherwise, you end up asking the wrong questions and trying to see where this new thing fits. And if the new thing does not fit you will find a way to make it fit.

In the case of the Kinect, Microsoft could not make it fit with Windows. They could not make it fit with Office. So, they found a way to make it fit with Xbox. They can’t see the Xbox platform beyond a gaming device. Therefore, naturally, they could not see the Kinect beyond just some cool peripheral to a game.

Contrast this with Apple and the iOS. They saw the future. They knew they had something nothing short of magic. To build it, they forgot everything they knew about the way one interacts with a computer. They did not find a way to make it fit. They redefined the very idea of computing around this new idea. They did not let the past or present inform them. They built the future. And, in doing so, they set a bar. It was disruptive. It caused everyone else to try to imitate. It changed the rules. They created a new era.

This is a heads up that I’m going to be changing the way I approach Twitter for the foreseeable future. Here is the new plan:

• I will be treating my stream more like a microblog. I will be posting updates mainly through Reeder, Quotebook, Birdhouse, etc. This is an attempt to improve the quality and the value of the stuff I’m sharing. I want to share things that I think will add value to your precious and limited time. My hope is that you will find it worth the interruption and I will evaluate what I post based on that criteria alone.
• I will only be dipping into my “stream” of folks I follow occasionally and will not be “catching up” by reading all the things I’ve missed. Therefore, I will likely miss some things. Which is OK. I need to reduce my fear of missing out by missing out. That said, if you feel that something requires my attention (i.e. Is it worth the interruption for me?) then I welcome your @reply, cc, or mention. I’ll be checking those for sure (see below).
• As I do with my email, I will be responding to @replies and Direct Messages in batches and only for a certain time period every day. Unlike my stream, I will be “catching up” and reading all of these. That said, only @replies and Direct Messages that I feel require a response will receive one.

My intention is not to be aloof, condescending, or out of touch. My intention is to try this on for a while and see if it improves the value and quality for all involved. Most of all, it allows me to turn my focus to what I feel is my mission here on this rock, writing and curating.

Those who follow me on Twitter saw me drop this idea last night in my stream so this may not be new to you.

I was just thinking aloud after reading the umpteenth rumor/speculation/claim-chowder post about the alleged Apple iCloud service and the possibly to stream music from some giant locker in the sky. In almost every one of these I have read, it is speculated that one would be able to upload or store purchased music in some sort of cloud based digital locker – similar to the way Google and Amazon are doing it.

Here are some thoughts on that:

• Why would Apple want to get into the upload game? Let those that don’t get it (see above) fail at that. All the reports I have read from those who have used the above similar services is that it sucks. Broadband speeds in America are slow, at best, on the upload stream. When was the last time Apple released anything that was slow, hard work, or difficult for, say, your Mom to understand.
• Why would Apple have to do that? Apple likely knows what is in your iTunes library already. How? Genius. To generate those nifty Genius results in iTunes, your entire library is scanned and that data is sent to Apple where they can compare it against those of others and their purchase history.
• Therefore, if they know what is in your library, and that info is connected to your AppleID, and that item is already on a server for sale on the iTunes store, why not just allow people to stream it? In other words, no upload needed.

This, I’m sure is bringing up a lot of questions. That’s OK. I’m here to help (which is especially easy with things I make up):

• “But what about that live concert rip I downloaded off of Pirate Bay?”. Sorry. Can’t stream it. Has to be something for sale in the iTunes Music Store.
• “But what about the stuff I bought from Amazon? Ripped from CD?” Buy it from Amazon? Rip it from CD? No matter. If iTunes sells it you can stream it.
• “But most of what I listen to is not on the iTunes store!” Then, this service is not for you.

Apple does not care about the outliers here. Why should they? What’s the business case for doing so? The sales numbers tell the tale. Most regular people, the vast majority, buy their music from the iTunes Store and have for years. Such a service will be built and tailored for them.

The reason is obvious – Apple wants to make it even easier to listen to that music anywhere you have an Apple device so you buy more music. From Apple. To play on Apple products. Have an Apple product? Great! Any music you can buy in iTunes will be available to stream over WiFi or 3G to any Apple device.

Here, buy some music!

If you ever want to figure out what Apple is going to do in any case, look for these things…

1) What is the easiest to explain to anyone and everyone (Hi, Mom!)?

2) What is the simplest way to achieve the goal with the resources they already have?

3) What directly feeds the bottom line which is to sell more Apple stuff?

If your answer to any of these sounds like anything less than magic, pixie dust, and unicorn tears you are likely wrong.

Feel free to mark this as yet another piece of claim chowder and call me on it when the facts come out.