Spiders Attacking Sunnyvale
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Skin of a Living Thought
"A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged, it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and the time in which it is used." - Oliver Wendell Holmes
Making It Happen
Most folks know at least one or two people who inspire them through their example. My friend Carlos is one of those inspirations for me.
I met Carlos Pedraza in 1997, the year Great Britain handed control of Hong Kong to China and Microsoft gave Apple Computer a $150M lease on life. Carlos worked at the Corporation for National Service, ably slashing his way through the bureaucracy.
A few years later he started writing scripts for fan-produced Star Trek shows, including "Blood and Fire", an episode he co-wrote with famed original Star Trek writer David Gerrold. He also co-produced "World Enough and Time", the Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II episode that starred George Takei and was nominated for a Hugo Award.
In 2007, seeking to explore opportunities beyond fan film, he teamed up with his friend J.T. Tepnapa to create movies under the banner of Blue Seraph Productions. Last year I conducted a lengthy interview with Carlos and posted a transcript in three parts. He pointed out that fan productions are truly independent in a way that no studio can match:
Independent studios today aren't really that independent. They know that they have avenues through the traditional studios and their distribution capacity to have a venue for their work. We're not in that position. We have to create our own venue.
Fast forward fifteen months. Carlos and J.T. are now filming Judas Kiss, a feature film they co-wrote. They obtained seed funding, raised over $10,000 for equipment through Kickstarter.com, signed on actors who have appeared in TV and big screen projects, and created serious online buzz with everything from magazine interviews to a webcomic and a podcast. Their product placement manager (yes, they have a product placement manager) even pulled in Voss artesian water and Aqua VI clothing.
In that interview last year, Carlos said:
Once someone figures out a system that works, it helps all of us to expand that system. We may never make the kind of money that people in Hollywood make. But do you need to? There are plenty of people who are willing to earn the same amount of money they work for now, but doing something that's a lot more fun.
If you're going to talk the talk, you've got to walk the walk. Carlos is certainly doing that. It's inspiring to witness.
Prognostication Fail
I make fun of tech pundits all the time for their wildly inaccurate predictions, but it's tough to get the future right.
Since I do bash the pundits, I might as well call attention to my own wildly off-base call on Google Wave. Yep, back in June of '09, I penned this one: Why Google Wave is the Next Big Thing.
My prediction hinged on third-party developers jumping aboard the Google Wave bandwagon ("I expect to see a broad range of Google Wave applications not long after its official launch") but that obviously never happened.
I'll have to console myself with the thought that I nailed it with my iPad prediction.
I Love the Smell of Business Cards in the Afternoon
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How's This for A Visual?
Mac Law Students Reborn
When I started law school in the fall of 2005, there were no websites devoted to helping Mac users make it through the Windows-centric world of law school. So I started Mac Law Students. The blog caught on, and after a while other Mac-using law students were writing for the blog. I obtained my J.D. in 2008, and since then I've been trying to figure out how to keep the site going.
I'm happy to report that it's rolling again, under the astute guidance of Dennis Bishop, who runs IT at the University of Oregon School of Law. He's running MLS as a side project, but he brings up-to-the-minute expertise to the blog. If you're a Mac-using graduate student (or even undgrad) of any kind, you'll probably find something useful in the revived Mac Law Students.
Check out the welcome post from Dennis.
iTunes is Punishing Me
Earlier today I made a comment about iTunes being bloated.
The very next time I fired up iTunes, it vanished from my Dock. Coincidence? I think not.
Review of Rework: Be a curator
I'm posting observations and questions as I read Rework.
Be a curator
The authors point out the benefits of selectivity. If you provide a vast, undifferentiated menu of choices for your customers, are you really serving their needs? The premise here is that customers look to you, the subject matter expert, to select from all the available choices only those that are truly worthy. This applies to a deli's selection of olive oils or a the paintings a museum displays.
Observation: Curation is a hot meme. Wired, famous for promoting the latest tech Age of the moment (but never epoch – what's that about?), has declared that we now live in the Age of Curation. Though I love poking fun at Wired for their breathless trend-labeling, I think they have it right with this one. The act of intelligently and intentionally minimizing selections can show customers that you have a vested interest not just in selling something, but in selling something useful.
Review of Rework: Making the call is making progress
I'm posting observations and questions as I read Rework.
Making the call is making progress
Make decisions. Choose to do something rather than continue to search for the perfect solution. Sure, you'll make some bad decisions, but your projects will move faster, and most mistakes can be corrected. Get in the habit of making decisions daily.
Observation: This one is so important. Anyone who has served in the military can recite the mantra, "A poor plan executed vigorously beats a great plan that never gets executed." The point is that you never have enough time or information. There is no such thing as 100% certainty. This doesn't mean you make snap decisions about complex issues based solely on your gut feeling. But waiting in vain for some sort of magical green light to tell you that it is finally safe to make a decision is an invitation to disappointment and frustration.
Taking too long to make decisions also has the effect of magnifying their import. Undecided issues tend to grow, consuming your mental overhead, making you nervous, filling your head with what-if scenarios. It can be crippling, particularly when your inability to decide affects other people in your organization.
SugarSync: A Secret Weapon for iPad in the Enterprise
My friend Marke has written a detailed post on how he uses SugarSync to keep files synched between his iPad, Windows laptop, and home Mac. This isn't just an exercise in random geekery for Marke. He is a road warrior, and it's vital that he has all of his files within easy reach while traveling. He's tried several different approaches, so when he says SugarSync works great, I'm inclined to believe him. I'm a big fan of Dropbox, but after reading Marke's review I'm definitely going to give SugarSync a spin.
