Microsoft's iPod?
22/10/06 18:56 Filed in: Humour
The
Microsoft
Zune seems to be collecting a mythology all of its
own before it really starts to be available. Already
there are reports that in French speaking Canada that
"zune" seems to be an unsavory slang word
(see) and now "zune" is
similar in sound to the Hebrew for something as
even unsavory (see). Please
note that the referenced pages may contain words
or phrases unsuitable for children to view.
We'll no doubt see what happens, but it is surprising considering Microsoft's worldwide presence that it didn't see this one coming.
We'll no doubt see what happens, but it is surprising considering Microsoft's worldwide presence that it didn't see this one coming.
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Virtual Serendipity?
22/10/06 18:45 Filed in: Work
A thought
came to me the other as I was in the company office
talking on the phone to a colleague about an issue,
when another member of the team stuck his head over
the divider and said that he couldn't help but
overhear and he'd had to deal with the same issue
recently and had some knowledge he could share.
This triggered the thought that one of the things you miss when working in a virtual team, or remotely is the serendipity of conversations. I don't read up on research on collaboration but clearly it must be very difficult to do. This is why, despite the tools all being available from the home office (and sometimes better - another rant - another time), the lack of this discovery or bumping into people is something that I am making deliberate efforts to get into the office.
On another tack, but related - vaguely, is the development of social tools - such as del.icio.us that enable you to share things. But I have been using Last.fm for sometime letting iScrobbler send up my listening habits.For those of you unaware. Last.fm is a website that seeks to give you suggested other music to listen to, dependent on your listening habits. the iScrobbler sends up to your area on Last.fm the songs you play and Last.fm builds a picture and recommends other music. There is also Pandora which seeks to use an algorithmic approach instead to make recommendations. It might be interesting to take the approach and apply it to other things, It was interesting to see on the BBc's Dragons Den programme that someone was trying to do something very similar with books. Clearly none of the dragons were aware of either Last.fm or Pandora. One of the things about Last.fm is that it takes a more social view of providing groups to allow people to share, whereas Pandora can be used almost in isolation.
This triggered the thought that one of the things you miss when working in a virtual team, or remotely is the serendipity of conversations. I don't read up on research on collaboration but clearly it must be very difficult to do. This is why, despite the tools all being available from the home office (and sometimes better - another rant - another time), the lack of this discovery or bumping into people is something that I am making deliberate efforts to get into the office.
On another tack, but related - vaguely, is the development of social tools - such as del.icio.us that enable you to share things. But I have been using Last.fm for sometime letting iScrobbler send up my listening habits.For those of you unaware. Last.fm is a website that seeks to give you suggested other music to listen to, dependent on your listening habits. the iScrobbler sends up to your area on Last.fm the songs you play and Last.fm builds a picture and recommends other music. There is also Pandora which seeks to use an algorithmic approach instead to make recommendations. It might be interesting to take the approach and apply it to other things, It was interesting to see on the BBc's Dragons Den programme that someone was trying to do something very similar with books. Clearly none of the dragons were aware of either Last.fm or Pandora. One of the things about Last.fm is that it takes a more social view of providing groups to allow people to share, whereas Pandora can be used almost in isolation.
Initial impressions of Oslo
15/10/06 14:16 Filed in: Travel
Well. I
thought that Denmark was expensive, but Norway is
even more so. Beyond that, then my impression of Oslo
is that this is a lovely country with friendly and
relaxed people. The city is not crowded, cluttered
and not even much building - unusual for a main city
nowadays. The public transport is well-integrated and
punctual. Oslo, itself, is small and easy to get from
one side to the other - and so varied from the
dockside with ships, ferries and small boats to the
top of the hills overlooking the city with the Ski
Jump - it's not flat in many places.
More to come on Oslo. But check the photos.
More to come on Oslo. But check the photos.
The Importance of Pain
15/10/06 14:02 Filed in: Personal
Many years
ago I read a book written by a couple of people who
had spent a lot of time with people suffering from
leprosy. One of the significant things that I
remember from that book was the importance of pain.
One of the things that leprosy causes if that pain is
not felt at all. In the light of many recent medical
advances you might think that this was ideal.
However, it's not. The book describes a couple of
times that people had turned up at the centre having
walked a long way to get there. In one tale, they had
failed to realise that they have twisted their ankle
and continued to walk on it until it was completely
twisted. We often fail to appreciate the importance
of pain - both in terms of an early warning - like
nearly touching a hot item or changing the way we do
things - such as walking along and continually
altering our gait automatically to alleviate the
start of blisters.
Without pain, we fail to learn important lessons, and I'm concerned with a) the rampant health and safety risk assessments b) wrapping people in cotton wool c) the lack of adventure. I'm sure that there will return a balance point back towards acceptable risk but in this environment of allocating blame and suing - I cannot see it happening for while.
In another sense, pain of many sorts is the mechanism to force us to change. We say - no pain no gain. In a work sense, the pace of change is something we all struggle with, and often it is only the fact that doing things the old way is now more painful (ie more difficult, more expensive) than doing it the new way is what forces us to make the change.
Without pain, we fail to learn important lessons, and I'm concerned with a) the rampant health and safety risk assessments b) wrapping people in cotton wool c) the lack of adventure. I'm sure that there will return a balance point back towards acceptable risk but in this environment of allocating blame and suing - I cannot see it happening for while.
In another sense, pain of many sorts is the mechanism to force us to change. We say - no pain no gain. In a work sense, the pace of change is something we all struggle with, and often it is only the fact that doing things the old way is now more painful (ie more difficult, more expensive) than doing it the new way is what forces us to make the change.