Dave Enjoys » productivity http://www.daveenjoys.com Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:23:19 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Re: An Arab Spring for IT. http://www.daveenjoys.com/2012/02/06/re-an-arab-spring-for-it/ http://www.daveenjoys.com/2012/02/06/re-an-arab-spring-for-it/#comments Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:22:13 +0000 davemackey http://www.daveenjoys.com/?p=3305 Alan Cohen, VP of Marketing for Nicira, a disruptive startup focusing on altering the IT networking landscape, recently wrote a guest post for TechCrunch suggesting that an “Arab Spring” of sorts is occurring within IT. Reader comments have indicated [...]]]> Pictograms of Olympic sports - Boxing. This is...

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The Article…

Alan Cohen, VP of Marketing for Nicira, a disruptive startup focusing on altering the IT networking landscape, recently wrote a guest post for TechCrunch suggesting that an “Arab Spring” of sorts is occurring within IT. Reader comments have indicated a significant distaste for the analogous use of Arab Spring in comparison to IT – the one involving the loss of human lives, the other changes in business structure and Mr. Cohen has apologized for the offense some feel at the branding. I don’t think it was the best title for the post – but there has already been rampant discussion of that fact – and I would like to focus more on the content of Mr. Cohen’s post.

Cohen suggests we are seeing a seismic shift in the IT sector – similar to that which occurred in the 1970′s with the advent of the personal computer. He notes early innovators like the iPhone (antecedent to smartphones), VMWare (virtualization), and Salesforce (SaaS). While I agree with his historical evaluation of the situation and also that a seismic shift is occurring within the IT sector – I do not share his optimism about the nature of this change.

Cohen states, “If IT providers do not supply what the end users want, the latter, like
the brave individuals who took the streets of Cairo, Tunis, and Tripoli,
will take matters into their own hands.” He deems this “shadow IT:” “Bring your own device is shadow IT. Most SaaS applications start by
bypassing IT and going directly to functional groups (managing sales
through Salesforce or sharing through Box.net).”

Now, working outside the box with one’s own devices/services concerns me enough (e.g. smartphones, file sharing), but Cohen then suggests that it is time for revolutionary employees to step things up a notch – implementing their own infrastructure: “If IT does not provide the end user with the infrastructure they need,
the latter can rent it, by the hour or month from companies like
Rackspace or Amazon. All you need is a credit card and no approval from
IT.”

Cohen concludes by challenging those within the IT industry, “But if you are in IT, you have to ask yourself: What side of history will you wind up on?”

Problems with the Article…

I do work in IT. I’ve been a geek practically since I was born and have worked full-time in the industry for the past six years. But this isn’t about my IT credentials…and it shouldn’t be about defending IT as IT. Truth is we have our weaknesses. Many of us who work in IT are a bit antisocial, introverted, ADD, OCD, or (append acronyms here). We aren’t always the most flexible folks to work with and there is certainly room for growth in our lives and skills…That said, I do think there are some serious problems with the sort of revolution Cohen is endorsing here…and I think his IT guys probably grimaced reading this article as I much as I am now.

Lets talk for a few minutes about the dangers inherent in this sort of “revolution:”

Reduced Productivity – While using a device familiar to the end user may be a pleasure and expedite that individual’s productivity, it may result in a decrease to organizational productivity. For example, if one finds an Apple iPhone easier to utilize than the company provided Android or Blackberry devices (or whatever might be the standard) it is very likely that generally you will not require IT support in utilizing your phone…but then there come those times when you do…

  • When the device craps out and refuses to boot.
  • When you can’t get the company email/calendaring software to sync with your phone.
  • When someone steals your phone and you really, really need to have that sensitive business data remote wiped.
  • When you sell your phone on eBay and someone pulls sensitive data off the storage because deleting data isn’t enough.

At these times stress goes up and productivity goes down – for you and for the IT department. In time that could have been spent deploying five new computer systems only one thing is now accomplished – getting a non-standard piece of hardware working again (or wiped or whatever).

Reduced Security – There is significant danger in the use of non-standard equipment and services for achieving business goals. It is hard enough for IT to maintain complex password requirements on the variety of internal systems any organization utilizes, let alone managing password requirements on non-standard devices. This is especially true of file sharing services. A handy example would be the recent takedown of MegaUpload. While largely used for illegal purposes, numerous individuals used that site for personal or business purposes – to manage their files. It seemed “safe” – and now it isn’t. Doesn’t matter how hard your IT department tries – if you put your files on a system that is raided by the feds, say goodbye to that data – even if it is important financial info. for the management of your institution.

Reduced Effectiveness – Cohen greatly oversimplifies the simplicity of the services currently available to perform complex functions. Amazon, Rackspace, nor even Salesforce are “insert your credit card get your DVD rental” simple services. For the last few days I’ve been spending a decent number of hours pouring over books and documentation on Salesforce – and it isn’t a piece of cake. Do you want to set up Users? Roles? Profiles? Groups of Settings? Are you sure that the way you setup the permission inheritance will prevent Sally Jane from seeing everyone else’s social security numbers? Do you want to use Salesforce? Force? Heroku?

Valid Pain Points…

I understand there are real pain points for end users in organizations. Not being able to share files in a simple and efficient manner is frustrating. Using outdated and clumsy software to manage customer relationships is frustrating. Learning new technologies and devices outside your comfort zone is time consuming. These are real issues and IT needs to pay better attention to them…but…and this is a big BUT…looping around IT will not decrease but instead increase these pain points.

Sure, you might be able to happily use an iPhone even though IT says no and never have a single problem…but then again…and as the complexity of the device/service increases the issues exponentially increase.

Finding a Road Forward…

Now the real question is, what is a workable way forward? How can end users and IT cooperate to achieve optimal effectiveness, productivity, and security? Well, it isn’t an easy or short road…but then again, real revolutions never are. I’d suggest that the consumerization of IT is a short-term bandaid fix for the real needed change. Too often we take the easy way out rather than working through the difficult decisions that really need to be made.

  • Communication - IT needs to get better at communicating what they are doing in their little forests of IT solitude and why we aren’t really just sitting around playing video games and watching youtube. On the other hand, we need end users to get better to actually listening to IT. So frequently folks ask me, “How did you do that?” But they usually don’t want me to tell them…b/c as soon as I open my mouth their eyes glaze over and their fingers drum impatiently on the desk. Now, I know I’m using some technical terms – but I’m willing to explain them if you are willing to ask questions and listen. Maybe with time you’ll learn more about the tech terms I use and I’ll get better at describing technology in clearer terms.
  • Prioritization – One of the biggest challenges facing everyone everywhere is the constant call to do more simultaneously and faster. Oftentimes the issue for IT is not lack of desire to improve a given service to the end user, but lack of time. This means the organization as a whole and its individual departments need to determine what projects are most important – and what projects (in spite of being so important) are less important.
  • Consideration – IT needs to consider not only what is the best technology but also what will have the greatest net positive effect for end users. Meanwhile, I’d recommend instead of bringing in new devices and services to circumvent IT folks ask IT, “what can I do to have the greatest net positive effect for you?” By focusing on those areas you reduce time IT has to spend in them and free IT to focus up on working on those devices and systems you really want.
  • Forgiveness – We can all be nasty at times…and if you haven’t personally been nasty to someone, I guarantee someone else in your department has. A lot of us walk around with a heavy bundle of war wounds. You walk into an IT person’s office (or vice versa, into an end user’s office) and a single word, your position, or what happened earlier today may cause that person to dive underneath their desk as if someone just shouted that mortars were incoming. Getting along means letting bygones be bygones and when new items come up, dealing with grace and humility – for both sides.

What do you think? What is your experience working with IT folks? Or working with end users? Is consumerization of IT really the way forward? If not, what is the alternative?

 

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]]> http://www.daveenjoys.com/2012/02/06/re-an-arab-spring-for-it/feed/ 0 CreditKarma offers Free Credit Reports and Credit Monitoring, Oh My! http://www.daveenjoys.com/2012/01/05/creditkarma-offers-free-credit-reports-and-credit-monitoring-oh-my/ http://www.daveenjoys.com/2012/01/05/creditkarma-offers-free-credit-reports-and-credit-monitoring-oh-my/#comments Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:42:32 +0000 davemackey http://www.daveenjoys.com/?p=3119 Credit is a mysterious and oftentimes frustrating entity that exists out there and yet affects us.

If you don’t use credit you won’t have a credit score, which means you won’t be able to get credit when you need it. If you use credit but go through a tough patch [...]]]> Credit is a mysterious and oftentimes frustrating entity that exists out there and yet affects us.

Image representing Credit Karma as depicted in...

Image via CrunchBase

  • If you don’t use credit you won’t have a credit score, which means you won’t be able to get credit when you need it.
  • If you use credit but go through a tough patch or for whatever reason get some dings on your credit you’ll experience skyrocketing interest rates and a rampant tightening of available credit.
  • If someone happens to steal your credit card – physically or virtually – you may not know until significant funds have been expended.

For a long time it was very difficult to even know what your credit score was…sure you could send away for one in the mail, but it cost money. Only in recent years did government regulations require the credit agencies to provide consumers with a copy of their credit report for free annually (if they requested it).

Thankfully, as in so many other industries, a technology company has managed to turn the established industry on its head overnight…Yes, I’m talking about CreditKarma.

CreditKarma is a nifty little site I’ve been using since whenever they came out – ohh, might have been a year or two or three ago. I joined b/c they offered free credit scores. Now granted, this is a little different from a credit report. This tells you what your credit score is (numeric) but not all the nitty gritty on whom your lenders are, how much you owe them, and so on….but for most purposes this is plentiful and unlike Quizzle (owned by Intuit/Quicken) you can refresh your score as often as you want for free.

Now they have made available free credit monitoring. Used to be you had to pay between $5-$20/mo. to get credit monitoring to make sure someone wasn’t stealing your identity or that false charges weren’t being added to your report. Now CreditKarma has made it free.

CreditKarma has a bunch of other nifty features…but instead of me describing them all why not just go sign up and try it out for yourself? Its 100% free and it takes less than five minutes from start to “hey, that is my credit score and I’m getting free credit monitoring.”

 

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]]> http://www.daveenjoys.com/2012/01/05/creditkarma-offers-free-credit-reports-and-credit-monitoring-oh-my/feed/ 0 Is Asana The Task Management App We’ve All Been Waiting For? http://www.daveenjoys.com/2012/01/01/is-asana-the-task-management-app-weve-all-been-waiting-for/ http://www.daveenjoys.com/2012/01/01/is-asana-the-task-management-app-weve-all-been-waiting-for/#comments Sun, 01 Jan 2012 11:39:25 +0000 davemackey http://www.daveenjoys.com/?p=3109 For the last few months the buzz around Asana, a new task management application, has been increasing. But my Google Reader is pretty packed with blogs – oftentimes

hundreds of new stories in a single day – and task management posts are usually filed away [...]]]> For the last few months the buzz around Asana, a new task management application, has been increasing. But my Google Reader is pretty packed with blogs – oftentimes

Image representing Asana as depicted in CrunchBase

Image via CrunchBase

hundreds of new stories in a single day – and task management posts are usually filed away for review another day…when I eventually have time. I went back through most of my “for a later day” posts and found a number of task management related posts – including ones for Asana. I visited them all…expecting that none would offer the unique set of features I have been hoping for…but so far Asana is looking AMAZING. I’d like to take you along on my journey of exploration…

One’s initial visit to the Asana website shows an aesthetically pleasing design – but a little busy. Perhaps I’m different from most people[1], but I hate watching videos and prefer reading text.[2] The Asana homepage puts the emphasis on signing up or watching a video – bleck! Thankfully, if you scroll below the fold you’ll find “Learn More about Asana” and get a quicker view of the featureset.

Here is what impressed me at this point:

  • It is Free – For all intents and purposes, Asana is free. Sure they are interested in profiting from corporate sales, but for your general needs and for any small to medium sized business, Asana is free.
  • It is Team – A lot of great task management applications are out there, but many of them cost an arm and a leg or they don’t support teamwork…being weak in either of these areas really undermines the product…and those that are strong in these two areas then oftentimes demonstrate weakness in underlying features.
  • People Views - The ability to view what is going on by the person responsible is pretty sweet. Not entirely a new concept, and maybe just cooler b/c it is called “People Views” instead of “User Views” – it feels more Facebookey (umm, Facebookie, Facebookesque, someone help me out here!).
  • Calendar Sync – This is a pretty sweet feature, though it isn’t one I personally find essential.
  • Inbox Integration – One of the goals for Asana is to completely replace a diversity of workflows – ensuring data is recorded within Asana. Part of this involves automatically integrating email conversations into Asana threads. This is a simple feature many do, but Asana’s looks really slick.

Not to say that is all there is to see…there are numerous other neat features – those are just the ones that I really like – mainly b/c a lot of other task management applications are missing one or all of these features.

I do have one question at this juncture: Is thirty team members a firm number or does this reset for each workspace? I’m guessing it is the former, but hoping it is the latter. I suppose the latter option would open Asana up to abuse by its users – who could theoretically just create a new workspace whenever they ran out of users (but that would get extremely unwieldy). Reason I ask is b/c I’m involved in multiple venues – and thirty people is a lot when each venue can contain thirty, but not so many if thirty has to last over all my different venues.[3]

Next thing I did was explore their blog – from the beginning…and I was impressed. The frequency of posts is regular enough and the quality of the posts is quite deep. At the bottom of this article I’ve included links to additional reading, including a few by the folks at Asana. Take a read and you’ll quickly see that these posts reflect a depth of philosophy, clarity of communication, and quality of composition that exceed many technology blogs whose sole purpose is to cover technology – not sell a product.

One item that becomes very clear while reading the blog posts is that Asana is being utilized heavily by Asana – and this is always a good thing. Products suffer when the creators of the product do not have an investment in the product beyond monetary success. Asana will oftentimes provide its own most standing criteria for ongoing featureset.[4]

Okay, so I have some more stuff I like about Asana:

  • Company Culture – Some tech companies have really led the way in creating (again) a culture where the company cares about its employees. For a while employees were disposable assets – but some companies have moved back and forward at the same time – back in purely statistical financial analysis but forward in employee satisfaction, productivity, and longevity.[5] Asana seems to be following this tact with company-wide lunches and regular yoga sessions.
  • The Methods – It is obvious that David Allen‘s GTD methodology is widely utilized within Asana – but beyond this one sees numerous management innovations to streamline and increase productivity, reduce errors, allow rapid development, and so on. These models are impressive and could be copied elsewhere (and perhaps where copied from elsewhere).

On the other hand, and this is not uncommon in technology culture, I’m wondering how many hours the folks in Asana are putting in a week? In this post Jerry Phillips notes folks eating lunch and dinner together (at 7 p.m.) which makes me ask, “When did you start working?” Sure, sometimes long hours are required – especially in IT and especially during the startup phase – but this can become a dangerous, long-term practice…and usually does not involve overtime compensation for the employees.

Now, what about the team? The team behind a product is an important consideration. In general I like two types of teams: the teams where you don’t know anyone and the teams where you see everyone’s legacy. The teams I don’t like are ones with a lot of fluff and bravado without necessarily a lot of accomplishment or technical ability. So, I tend to prefer companies that are either lean, mean startup machines run by some guy in his basement or companies that have be-knighted geniuses on the workforce.

  • Dustin Moskovitz – “co-founder of Facebook” (yup, that is impressive), “CTO…VP of Engineering” (okay, that is much more impressive…not just an idea guy, this guy works with the tech…and Facebook has some pretty impressive tech). Last but not least, note that Moskovitz dropped out of Harvard[6] and didn’t major in the technical field yet excelled in it.[7]
  • Justin Rosenstein – Justin may not have been CTO or VP, but he did hold significant positions at both Facebook and Google – mecca[8] tech companies. Again, appears to have dropped out of college…not that I’m suggesting that is a good idea (I completed my degree and work for a higher ed institution), but it occasionally indicates someone just has such great ideas or ability for self-learning that they are able to “skip a step.”
  • Malcolm Handley – Worked for Google on several significant projects including Android, Google Earth, and Mobile Maps. All pretty sweet products.
  • Greg Slovacek – Again a Google guy – his work seems a little more from a niche, but this can be good as well – indicating a passion for deep understanding of particular topics and a willingness to slog through the mundane work it takes to make stuff happen.
  • Jerry Phillips – Okay, she gets a pass b/c she studied psychology and now is working in technology…I just think that is cool.
  • Jack Stahl – Stahl seems like an interesting character – and interesting characters oftentimes bring something unique and powerful to a team. Note Stahl attended Burning Man, and while that is kind of mainstream, its also like the outstream portion of mainstream…nothing I plan on attending. :) He also impressive technical experience from Yelp.
  • Avital Oliver – Wow. Look at this list: “started coding as a child”[9], “large-scale re-implementation of the Israeli Air Force tactical information system”[10], and “founded the School of Mathematics in Brooklyn, NY”[11]
  • Kris Rasmussen – Was “chief architect” at Aptana – an impressive company with impressive products. Don’t forget he co-founded RivalMap[12] and worked for numerous tech. companies including the (to some) tech mecca Microsoft.[13]
  • Theresa Singh – Okay, can we get Theresa to write some articles for us on Post Colonial Literature? That’d be sweet, thanks. :)
  • Yup, I’m getting tired of ooh’ing and ahh’ing over the team Asana has assembled…but there are still a lot more folks who stick out on the team: Donnie Thompson (gourmet chef), S. Alex Smith (machine learning at Facebook), Jackie Bavaro (Google and Microsoft[14]), David Braginsky (Facebook, Google, “numerous startups”), Andrew Watterson (Meebo), and Bella Kazwell (Gmail, Google+).[15]

Now, with such a great team I’ll admit I have some hesitation over Kenny Van Zant – but with the rest being so excellent – I imagine I am mistaken. Let me explain. My hesitation with Van Zant comes from his association with SolarWinds. I’ve used a number of their products – both free and trial – but always found them to be of that somewhat lumpy enterprise class that Asana is attempting to overcome. I also hate having to enter my contact information every time I want to download one of the products – free or trial…but I’m sure Van Zant is great and maybe he can put in a word to his friends at SolarWinds that the contact info. every download is annoying (maybe we could just create an account so we only have to enter the info. once…?) and provide some streamlining of the enterprise feature-set but sometimes clunky products (no, I haven’t actually used SolarWinds enough to give real feedback…I just know when I’ve tried them they haven’t been entirely intuitive or slim and I’ve found other options I like better).

Wow, this is a really long article…guess this is what happens when you can’t sleep from 4 a.m. till (now) 6:30 a.m. In any case, I’m going to sign off for the time being. I’m not 100% sold on Asana yet, I haven’t played with it enough – but I figured it might be helpful to compile the info. I’ve been compiling myself about Asana into one place…b/c I have OCD and do things like that. :P

The Problems:

Okay, so I’m working through Asana and I’m seeing a few issues. Here is what I’ve found so far:

  • Asana does not support recurring tasks – this is a killer for me! They are apparently working on it currently…
  • The new workspace setting is a bit buried, there seems to be plenty of real-estate on the lower left where it is nested to display it directly.
  • It isn’t clear that keyboard shortcuts such as new task work only when  one is already in an existing task.

Features I’d Like to See:

Here is my wishlist:

  • Support for recurring tasks. This functionality has been added, though they are doing a “roll-out” which will take several weeks.
  • Some form of chore assignment functionality similar to ChoreBuster.
  • A Windows desktop application that would feel similar to Notepad…I don’t like having to even open a browser.
  • Native Android application.
  • Granular Permissions for Workspaces so one can allow individuals to see one project but not another, without barring everyone from access to a project.

For those interested in some further reading…Here are some good articles/posts:

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  1. [1] Okay, okay, I know my friends are going to jovially reply, “Dave, of course you are, you are strange.” But what I mean here is, in this particular area am I strange? ↩
  2. [2] I think this has to do with my ADD, I have a hard time sitting still while videos meander about stuff I know or don’t care about when text allows me to jump in and out exactly as I desire. ↩
  3. [3] For example, I would want to do workspaces for work, for home, for church, for other projects…for any one of these thirty team members is enough – but if I have to have only thirty members between all the workspaces? Might be a little tight. ↩
  4. [4] For example, as I was reading Asana posts I thought to myself (and I don’t know what already exists at this juncture), “Boy, it seems great…but what if someone at Asana is slacking off? How do they track that?” I’m sure Asana will hit that bump (may have hit?) and will respond appropriately…this is the advantage of a company using their own software. ↩
  5. [5] Perhaps the tech industry innovated in part out of necessity. The technology sector requires specialists – the longer you stay at a job the better you are at it…picking up a n00b may save a few dollars, but there will be a huge learning curve and the lost experience and productivity are significant. ↩
  6. [6] I’m assuming since he only spent two years as an economics major. ↩
  7. [7] He was an economics major at Harvard…someone correct me if he had a technical background from elsewhere… ↩
  8. [8] Nope, not a spelling error, “pilgrimage” doesn’t connote the right sense here. ↩
  9. [9] This isn’t surprising, but it does indicate that technology runs in his blood…Something those who have it sometimes wish they could escape, but never can…the draw of tech. always calls them back when they attempt to pursue other ventures. ↩
  10. [10] This probably means he’s an algorithmic genius… ↩
  11. [11] Ummm…You don’t look this old dude. ↩
  12. [12] A company somewhat in the same arena as Asana. ↩
  13. [13] I think Microsoft is impressive, and a ‘mecca’ though I don’t know much about their corporate culture. Yeah, they have been a pain at times but they’ve moved in some really great directions over the last number of years with much more openness…though this whole Windows 8 / HTML5 push…I’m not sure about. ↩
  14. [14] Wait, is that allowed? Isn’t there some sort of “I will always be an enemy of (insert Google or Microsoft here) for as long as I am alive?” ↩
  15. [15] I apologize to those team members I didn’t mention explicitly – Stephanie Hornung, Tim Bavaro, Kenny Van Zant – I expect great things from you as well, I’m just not as personally familiar with your accomplishments. ↩
]]> http://www.daveenjoys.com/2012/01/01/is-asana-the-task-management-app-weve-all-been-waiting-for/feed/ 0 DIY Health Reform: Employers Solving Healthcare Crisis One Onsite Clinic At A Time | TechCrunch http://www.daveenjoys.com/2011/12/31/diy-health-reform-employers-solving-healthcare-crisis-one-onsite-clinic-at-a-time-techcrunch/ http://www.daveenjoys.com/2011/12/31/diy-health-reform-employers-solving-healthcare-crisis-one-onsite-clinic-at-a-time-techcrunch/#comments Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:08:28 +0000 davemackey http://www.daveenjoys.com/?p=3107 Dave Chase writes in a recent TechCrunch article, “Led by IBM’s study of their $2 billion annual health expenditure, the overwhelming evidence comes to a surprisingly simple conclusion: more primary care = healthier population = less money spent. Ben Franklin was right. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” He then notes [...]]]> Dave Chase writes in a recent TechCrunch article, “Led by IBM’s study of their $2 billion annual health expenditure, the overwhelming evidence comes to a surprisingly simple conclusion: more primary care = healthier population = less money spent. Ben Franklin was right. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” He then notes a growing trend amongst large companies – providing primary care in-house to assist in preventing health crises rather than simply managing or paying for them. Read the rest in DIY Health Reform: Employers Solving Healthcare Crisis One Onsite Clinic At A Time | TechCrunch.

]]> http://www.daveenjoys.com/2011/12/31/diy-health-reform-employers-solving-healthcare-crisis-one-onsite-clinic-at-a-time-techcrunch/feed/ 0 SugarSync – What is Missing? http://www.daveenjoys.com/2011/11/17/sugarsync-what-is-missing/ http://www.daveenjoys.com/2011/11/17/sugarsync-what-is-missing/#comments Fri, 18 Nov 2011 03:32:21 +0000 davemackey http://www.daveenjoys.com/?p=2977 I love being a fan of great products – and supporting those products with my finances. I’ve been a long-time fan and premium subscriber to SugarSync, a cloud-based backup, syncing, and web drive product. I like raving about them, and getting into arguments with folks like I love being a fan of great products – and supporting those products with my finances. I’ve been a long-time fan and premium subscriber to SugarSync, a cloud-based backup, syncing, and web drive product. I like raving about them, and getting into arguments with folks like Steve Weir about whether Dropbox is better (nope!).

That said, I’m also a fan of making a little noise when companies don’t always treat their customers with the utmost respect they deserve. Successful business involves a symbiotic relationship between the business and the consumer, neither side can demand too much nor give too little. SugarSync has a great product, but I’m concerned that they aren’t committing enough resources to shoring up some weak spots in their current offerings, instead focusing more on new client acquisitions and business partnerships (which, again, are all well and good, but there has to be a balance).

So, here are my *beefs* with SugarSync and what I’d *really* like to see implemented in the near-term future.

The Critical Missing Components.

Currently SugarSync doesn’t utilize Microsoft‘s Volume Shadow Service (VSS) and I can’t for the life of me understand why – it is built directly into Windows and is utilized by most backup software providers. Why? Because it offers numerous huge advantages with easy implementation. Including the ability to backup files while they are in-use

Image representing SugarSync as depicted in Cr...

Image via CrunchBase

. This means you don’t have to close out of Outlook, an accounting application, or anything else that is actively using a file before it can be backed up.

The other big no-no SugarSync engages in (that I can think of no practical reason to exist, and which should be a very simple config file change to implement) is finite versioning of files. SugarSync currently keeps a limited number of previous versions of a file – which becomes an issue if it is a transactional file (e.g. a database – including Microsoft Outlook or any email client, rss reader, etc.). These files change all the time – in a single day they may change hundreds or thousands of times! SugarSync needs to keep these versions for as long as the user desires them to be kept – not arbitrarily deleting them!

This is Important…

  • Ability to Pause/Resume Backups/Syncs – While everything in an ideal world would place nice with one another, the fact of the matter is that software oftentimes interfere with each other. It’d be great to have a way to pause backups/syncs by SugarSync. Again, I don’t run into any problems with this regularly – but it would still be a nice feature.

It’d Be Cool If…

I’m not particularly concerned about these features, but it would be cool if…

  • SugarSync integrated with Google Docs, backing up all Google Docs into SugarSync and vice versa (or a subset as so desired). This would also allow mobile editing of documents (of many types) via Google Docs without needing to download the documents from SugarSync (as one must do now before editing).
  • Backing Up Gmail is another useful feature. I’m not as concerned about this as the integration with Google Docs, but still, a nice freebie.
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]]> http://www.daveenjoys.com/2011/11/17/sugarsync-what-is-missing/feed/ 2 Thoughts on BankSimple. http://www.daveenjoys.com/2011/10/05/thoughts-on-banksimple/ http://www.daveenjoys.com/2011/10/05/thoughts-on-banksimple/#comments Thu, 06 Oct 2011 03:46:26 +0000 davemackey http://www.daveenjoys.com/?p=2885 The need for renovations in the banking industry is obvious – not just from a management and trust perspective but also from a consumer facing perspective. BankSimple is an upcoming web-based bank that hopes to offer just such a service. They aren’t even live yet, but [...]]]>
Image representing BankSimple as depicted in C...

Image via CrunchBase

The need for renovations in the banking industry is obvious – not just from a management and trust perspective but also from a consumer facing perspective. BankSimple is an upcoming web-based bank that hopes to offer just such a service. They aren’t even live yet, but have been garnering significant press. Here are the distinguishing features of their service they’ve revealed thus far:

Phones are Answered by Real People – No Automation.

This is a nice feature, though personally I don’t spend much time on the phone with my bank. I already do almost everything via the web-based interface…but automated menus are a pain in the behind, so this would be nice.

Terms are Explained in Simple English instead of Complex Legalese.

This is a nice feature, though I don’t really see the current terms from banks being too complex. They are annoyingly long – but I think they have simplified (due to new laws?) over the years and don’t generally sneak too much concerning into them.

No Hidden Fees (this includes overdraft and late fees).

This is nice, though I didn’t see any details on how BankSimple intends to handle when an individual overdrafts their account. I also wondered when a late fee issue would ever arise – since at this point it seems to be a checking/savings solution, not any sort of loan solution.

Deposit Checks via Phone.

I like this feature. This is one of the few remaining reasons I still go to a bank in-person – to deposit checks.

Mobile Based Banking Management.

This is another nice feature and if done right could offer some sweet abilities to manage financial information ala Mint.

Customers First.

Well, they all say this one, but the proof is in the pudding as they say.

Automatic Integration of Checking and Savings.

This feature is a no-brainer and hopefully will set a precedent for the rest of the banking industry. Essentially, BankSimple makes it as if one has only one single account – while transparently redistributing funds between interest bearing and regular checking accounts.

Advanced Financial Management Tools.

I wasn’t amazingly impressed – until I watched the video. Okay, the whole safe-to-spend concept looks well thought out and pretty sweet. The goals feature is awesome. The intelligence for natural language search of transactions is pretty cool as well…and I’m hoping this means that they won’t be providing us with limited access to our transactions – my bank currently provides a rolling two years (or something like that) of transactions, then makes then unavailable. How annoying!

Other Features.

Honestly, they’ve got a bunch more…but I’m not going to spend all day typing up all of their features, go look for yourself.

What Is Missing?

So, what is missing from BankSimple’s package? Well, there is one thing that I’m not sure if they offer that my bank doesn’t offer that I sure would like. What? I’m so glad you asked. :) Right now I can see scans of my checks that others have deposited but I can’t see scans of the checks I have deposited from others. Sometimes I see that I deposited x amount on x date and I want to figure out what checks exactly I deposited (yea, yea – I should just note them individually at time of entry) – but there is no option to view a scan of the checks!

Other than that, I’m drawing a blank at the moment…I mean, they are even working on an API. Who has ever heard of a bank having an API?

I wish BankSimple the best of luck and am hopeful that they will not stop innovating here but continue to press forward and revolutionize the banking industry. No-fee PayPal-esque transactions? Integrated microloans? P2P lending? Loans? Credit Cards?

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]]> http://www.daveenjoys.com/2011/10/05/thoughts-on-banksimple/feed/ 0 Magic Eraser – The Amazing Cleaner. http://www.daveenjoys.com/2011/10/02/magic-eraser-the-amazing-cleaner/ http://www.daveenjoys.com/2011/10/02/magic-eraser-the-amazing-cleaner/#comments Mon, 03 Oct 2011 04:13:15 +0000 davemackey http://www.daveenjoys.com/?p=2858 I’ve been using magic eraser’s for a few years now. Not sure how Charity and I originally discovered this product or why we decided to begin using it – but it was a great decision! If you haven’t ever used a magic eraser – its time to go buy some. I mean right now! [...]]]>
Eraser

Image via Wikipedia

I’ve been using magic eraser’s for a few years now. Not sure how Charity and I originally discovered this product or why we decided to begin using it – but it was a great decision! If you haven’t ever used a magic eraser – its time to go buy some. I mean right now! Magic Erasers take care of cleaning situations other cleaners just can’t handle – and without the smell or harsh chemicals that many other cleaners use.

Magic Erasers by Mr. Clean are just the best-known in a series of cleaning products made from melamine foam. Melamine foam was an insulant used in construction that was found incidentally to be extremely effective at removing stains. Take a look at this HowStuffWorks article to understand exactly how the magic eraser can be such a nifty and useful invention. You may have heard some rumors about the dangers of this cleaner, but Snopes has addressed them here.

If you have any other really great cleaning products you love please let me know about them in the comments!

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]]> http://www.daveenjoys.com/2011/10/02/magic-eraser-the-amazing-cleaner/feed/ 1 Zeo Announces New Product, Lower Prices. http://www.daveenjoys.com/2011/09/29/zeo-announces-new-product-lower-prices/ http://www.daveenjoys.com/2011/09/29/zeo-announces-new-product-lower-prices/#comments Fri, 30 Sep 2011 03:57:32 +0000 davemackey http://www.daveenjoys.com/?p=2851 “Zeo can now manage your sleep for just pennies a day. We have asked hundreds of consumers for pricing advice these last two years and we’re happy to report that prices are going down, which means more savings for you. Net result: new Zeo mobile will be $99 and our bedside will now retail for [...]]]> “Zeo can now manage your sleep for just pennies a day. We have asked hundreds of consumers for pricing advice these last two years and we’re happy to report that prices are going down, which means more savings for you. Net result: new Zeo mobile will be $99 and our bedside will now retail for $149. Win.”

via The Zeo® Revolution Goes Mobile & Global.

]]> http://www.daveenjoys.com/2011/09/29/zeo-announces-new-product-lower-prices/feed/ 0 Zeo: A Few Months Later. http://www.daveenjoys.com/2011/09/22/zeo-a-few-months-later/ http://www.daveenjoys.com/2011/09/22/zeo-a-few-months-later/#comments Fri, 23 Sep 2011 04:01:15 +0000 davemackey http://www.daveenjoys.com/?p=2803 Back in February I bought a Zeo. Its been around eight months now and I figured I should provide an update on how the Zeo has been going for me. I have both good and bad to report, but overall – I’d say it was a worthwhile investment.

First off, for those who aren’t [...]]]>

Alarm clock

Image via Wikipedia

Back in February I bought a Zeo. Its been around eight months now and I figured I should provide an update on how the Zeo has been going for me. I have both good and bad to report, but overall – I’d say it was a worthwhile investment.

First off, for those who aren’t familiar with the Zeo it is an alarm clock with some extra intelligence. It has a headband one wears which measures the quality and extent of one’s sleep. This information is aggregated and analyzed and allows for one to review and optimize one’s sleep schedule. It also can awake you during a period of light sweep, allowing you to wake up more refreshed.

I bought the Zeo because I have a hard time waking up in the morning and because I regularly experience significant daytime sleepiness. I also knew I was frequently tempted to stay up too late…so I figured the Zeo could help me get my sleep habits under control.

When I first began using the Zeo it seemed like a god-send. I was waking up 1 hour earlier than usual, feeling more refreshed, and forcing myself to go to bed at a better time. I was able to see the quality of my sleep and determine objectively whether I was getting enough sleep – rather than subjectively by how I felt or thought I’d slept.

At first I wasn’t doing very well, but as time went on I got better and began to sleep more appropriately regularly – thanks in large part to the Zeo. Unfortunately, the morning wake-up effects seemed to be declining simultaneously. I was having the same issues getting out of bed and I also was still feeling regularly fatigued during the day.

The headband was a bit of a nuisance to wear after its novelty wore off and it sometimes slipped off, it also tended to smell unpleasant as weeks of sweat accumulated on the sensor, and I did experience some very minor skin irritation and creases from wearing the headband – but nothing that would keep me from wearing it.

Still, the excessive fatigue didn’t go away and it was largely the knowledge that I was getting enough sleep but still feeling exhausted that pushed me to make the appointment with a new primary physician and begin what has now been going on two months of tests to determine what is causing the excessive fatigue. Thus far test results are indicating that I have some form of auto-immune disorder and this is likely liable for the fatigue as well as a host of other complaints.

I’m not sure whether the Zeo’s effectiveness for me decreased with time or whether the illness’ power increased with time. I suspect it was a combination of the two, with the latter being the more significant contributor. Other symptoms besides chronic fatigue have grown progressively worse over the last number of months (joint pain, chest pain, inflammation, etc.), so it seems likely that the fatigue also would worsen.

The Zeo was never made to be a medical device. I knew that when I purchased it. But I hoped that maybe there wasn’t something “deeper” wrong and that some better sleep hygiene and discipline would provide me with the extra energy boost I desired – it didn’t. So, in one sense, the Zeo didn’t provide me what I wanted – but on the other hand it did one better – it forced me to stop putting off seeing a doctor because, “I’m sure I just didn’t get enough sleep last night” and admit that there was something more wrong here and that I needed to take it seriously.

Now, setting aside my particulars, lets talk briefly about what I do and don’t like about the Zeo as a device and whether I think you should buy one.

First, the Zeo uses a memory card to store data which can then be transferred to a computer and uploaded to Zeo’s site via a USB flash drive. This is annoying in a day of ubiquitous wireless in the home. I’m not happy that I have to take the time to frequently upload my data, this should happen automatically.

Second, the headband is a bit of a nuisance. It isn’t overwhelmingly so, but I have to wonder if there aren’t better and smaller ways to track how well I’m sleeping. I know some other products are available – wristbands and so on. I know most are not of the same accuracy as the Zeo – but development in this area is really important, as the headband is awkward. Ideally I’d like something that was thin like a bandaid.

Overall, I’d say if you really want it – get one now…but if you can, wait for the next-generation. I would hope/expect that both of these issues will be eliminated (or at least significantly mitigated) with the release of a newer technology.

I’d also note that I’m not sure about Zeo’s long-term future with its current business strategy. Zeo is currently focused on sleep – they need to expand. The devices of the future will not be focused on one aspect of health but will cover a multitude – and numerous other vendors are making strides in this arena – oftentimes for a lower price tag than Zeo offers.

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]]> http://www.daveenjoys.com/2011/09/22/zeo-a-few-months-later/feed/ 2 The Future of Computers? http://www.daveenjoys.com/2011/09/07/the-future-of-computers/ http://www.daveenjoys.com/2011/09/07/the-future-of-computers/#comments Thu, 08 Sep 2011 03:50:10 +0000 davemackey http://www.daveenjoys.com/?p=2688 Right now we have a problem – the propagation of a number of essential smart devices. For example, at work I have a workstation with two LCD monitors. I also have a work laptop which I sometimes pair with a [...]]]> Right now we have a problem – the propagation of a number of essential smart devices. For example, at work I have a workstation with two LCD monitors. I also have a work laptop which I sometimes pair with a LCD monitor when I have it at home. Then there is my smartphone – currently a Verizon / Motorola Droid 2. Add onto this my Kindle eBook reader. Right there are four different devices between which I am constantly shuffling and synchronizing data.

Now, honestly, I’d also like to have a tablet. Yes, I have a Kindle – but a Kindle uses eInk technology and is great for reading books but a little obtuse for surfing the web. Truth be told I like to walk when I read (in circles, around the house) and a laptop is too large for this endeavor and a smartphone too small and difficult to navigate (maybe I just have big fingers).

I no longer carry a digital camera – my smartphone is perfectly capable and while I’ve never had a digital camcorder it seems this too is unnecessary, having been merged into my smartphone as well. But there is need for additional consolidation of electronic devices.

The problem arises when one considers that a single device cannot adequately fulfill all the needs of the user, for example:

  • My workstation is the most powerful machine by far and also the largest, it also has two large displays. This supports prolonged work, especially intensive processing such as application development and database management.
  • My laptop is more portable but gets sluggish when tasked when hefty tasks and still is too bulky for carrying around like a book.
  • My phone can fulfill a lot of tasks, but a screen large enough for my liking would never fit into my pocket (unless it is foldable).
  • My Kindle is wonderful on the eyes, but lacks the speed of any of my other devices.

And so on. The attempt to build one device that can fulfill all these roles is hopeless, unless….One builds the device and then creates a shell into which the device slides which allows it to fulfill a given purpose at any given time.

Unfortunately, while I had this idea several years ago, I didn’t have the means or motivation to bring it into reality….but fortunately Motorola has since taken the initiative and while still fairly limited in its implementation is moving towards this ideal device – a device which I hope Google will recognize as valuable and assist in making a commodity item.

The first such device was the Motorola Atrix 4G, soon to be succeeded by the Motorola Droid Bionic. These devices are primarily smartphones similar to so many other smartphones, but they are different in the accessories that are available for them.

Motorola sells a lapdock, which looks like a laptop computer and allows one to “plug in” one’s smartphone, thus powering the laptop off the smartphone. Motorola also offers several other accessories – including mounts for driving, alarm clock/weather, multimedia, and so on.

While the technology is impressive I have a few complaints/suggestions:

  • I’m not sure that the best idea is ramming a honking processor into a smartphone. My wife’s Atrix 4G always runs warm, and while she appreciates the extra heat generation I’m already warm enough without having a phone beaming heat waves into me. Instead, I’d recommend including a decent processor, but putting heavier processors into accessory devices that require it. The honking processors in smartphones are still puny compared to full workstations or even laptops and yet too much for a smartphone.
  • The process on the lapdock is too high – clocking in at $299. While cheaper than a laptop, its on equivalent grounds with a netbook. Why shouldn’t I just buy a netbook separate from my smartphone? It will have greater resale value in the long-run. Lapdocks need to be extremely inexpensive – I’m thinking $100 at the most and $50 would certainly speed adoption. Of course, if they include some additional abilities (such as more powerful processors) the price could go up a bit. But essentially, a lapdock should be just a plastic case with a basic interface, keyboard, mouse, and screen – nothing too fancy.
  • The Atrix lapdock is incompatible with Bionic devices and vice versa. This is a big no-no. If I drop $299 on a lapdock I better be able to use it when the next phone is released – or I’ll be one unhappy camper! If Motorola truly decides this is necessary they should offer free upgrades on lapdocks to early adopters.
  • The way the phone mounts to the lapdock is funky. Instead have the phone insert into the lapdock as if it was a hard disk. My lapdock should be indistinguishable from everyone else’s laptops.
  • There is no tablet accessory currently available. This is a huge minus. Getting my laptop and smartphone together is a plus, but to really make it worthwhile you have to consolidate at least three of my devices. While making the tablet accessory it just makes sense to make a similar eink device as well.
  • Of course, I’d like to see a workstation accessory as well, but I think this would be the least commercially successful, and I can understand if Motorola held off for a while on this component.

Nor have we in any ways fleshed out the limits of the roles this device could fulfill. For example:

  • GPS
  • Stereo
  • Digital Microphone
  • Personal Health Device
  • Thermostat

In the future I hope to carry one device around with me, this device I will then plug into other devices as needed. Eventually I can imagine there will be public dumb kiosks. Once inserts the smartphone and instantly has complete access to one’s files and settings. Sweet!

For those who are interested in learning more about these devices check out the following Motorola product information pages:

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