*michael parekh on IT*

On Blogging Again

As former followers of this blog know, I stopped blogging on a regular basis in 2009, after having maintained a daily blog here for several years, with almost 1800 posts.

Since then, I've been consistently Twittering @MParekh, and enjoying the micr0-blogging experience.  Occasionally, I've been asked my friends and former readers if I'd start blogging again, to which I generally replied, maybe some day soon.

Lately though, I have been missing writing the longer pieces, and have been thinking of re-starting the blog sooner than later.

For the last week, I've been trying out the new Google+ Project, and think it may be a good way for me to re-start writing longer pieces. 

As my friend Loic Le Meur posted on his Google+ page earlier, "Do you really need a blog anymore?"  His point is that Google+ may be a light way to scratch the blogging itch, with a greater number of pros than cons for both writers and readers.

So instead of starting to blog here again, I think I'll try blogging again at my new Google+ public page.  As another Google+ adopter said earlier today, Google Plus feels like a "Tumblr for Adults".  

Sounds pretty apt.  

Initially my thought is to amplify some of my daily tweets, adding additional thoughts/color, and hoping to start conversations that are tougher to do on Twitter.  It may not be daily, but I hope to keep up a regular pace.

That may be followed by longer pieces, and who knows, may return to full-time blogging as well.  Of course, will continue to Twitter daily as usual.

In the meantime, please join me at Google+  if you'd like.  As always, appreciate any and all feedback.  Thanks.

Image source

 

ON A CHANGE OF PACE

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Regular readers of this blog may have noticed the absence of daily posts of late, something I've managed to keep up for over four years of writing this blog. 

A couple of reasons are behind this change of pace, starting with some projects of late that have taken up a lot more of my daily time.

The second reason is an my increasing use of Twitter as a publishing platform, which has taken more of my daily cycles over the past few months. 

As you can see from the Twitter posts column on the upper right, I've been fairly busy publishing items that interest me, and hopefully are interesting for readers.  Please feel free me to follow me at www.twitter.com/mparekh.  I look forward to following you back.

As a result of these two factors, I'm experimenting with a slower pace of publishing on this blog this summer.  The plan is to publish something several times a week, but not necessarily every day.  The posts on Twitter though should be at daily pace, barring scheduling and travel issues.

Thanks as always for your readership and comments.  Look forward to resuming a daily schedule on the blog fairly soon.
* Image source.

ON A COOL KINDLE FEATURE

ONE SMALL STEP

I've been an avid user and fan of Amazon's Kindle book reader since the original launch, having now bought and read hundreds of books on the Kindle and the excellent Kindle for iPhone (free) software App. 
One of the big differences between reading a book on the Kindle (either generation) and the iPhone App has been the ability to highlight the content of the book and write notes in the margin as it were (can't do all that on the Kindle App...yet).
But once the notes are in the Kindle, attached to a specific book, they're kind of trapped in there.  The opportunity around making this stuff available on the web is of course a no-brainer.  Today Amazon took a baby step in this regard, as this TechCrunch piece explains:

"Amazon opened up a new feature on the Kindle: the ability to read your notes and highlights on the Web. Readers have always been able to make notes and highlight text on the Kindle itself. Now those annotations appear on your account at http://kindle.amazon.com. Once you sign in, you can see all your notes.

While this opens up all sorts of possibilities, Amazon is taking a very conservative approach. You can’t share your notes with others. You can’t even edit them in your browser.

All you can do is read them. That makes the feature little more than a Web archive of your notes and highlighted text snippets. It is a convenient feature, but why not enable sharing?

Why can’t I share an excerpt with my friends on Facebook or Twitter (with the beginning of a quote and a short link)?

Amazon needs to connect the Kindle to the rest of the Web.  Hopefully, this is the first step in that direction."

Couldn't agree more.  Hope Amazon's listening.

ON A COOL HOT SAUCE

AGAINST ALL ODDS
Not too often does one see a full feature in the New York Times on something as prosaic as hot sauce.  Unless of course, the sauce in question happens to be Sriracha hot chili sauce, something that's been a staple for me for a long time.  For those not familiar what's special about the sauce and the company behind it, some background may be in order:

"Some American consumers believe sriracha (properly pronounced SIR-rotch-ah) to be a Thai sauce. Others think it is Vietnamese. The truth is that sriracha, as manufactured by Huy Fong Foods, may be best understood as an American sauce, a polyglot purée with roots in different places and peoples..."
"Sriracha has proved relevant beyond the epicurean realm. Wal-Mart sells the stuff.
So do mom-and-pop stores, from Bristol, Tenn., to Bisbee, Ariz. Sriracha is a key ingredient in street food: The two Kogi trucks that travel the streets of Los Angeles, vending kimchi-garnished tacos to the young, hip and hungry, provide customers with just one condiment, Huy Fong sriracha. "

Do read the article for the full flavor and history of this remarkable product, and the founder behind it.  And  of course try some if you haven't already. 
If you're already a fan, you may want to try a hot chili garlic sauce by Huy Fong that's also become a staple for me. 
One special feature of that sauce, is it's zero calories...but of course a ton of flavor and zest.

ON GOD MAKING A COMEBACK

BIGGER THAN EVER

"God is Back" has got to be one of the best titles ever for a new book.  The review of the book by the New York Times promises more between the covers as well:

"Not all that long ago, the great minds of Europe predicted a future with little or no religion. Science would make us highly skeptical of miracles. Psychiatry would direct all of our awe and wonder inward. Changing roles for women would weaken the patriarchal structure that props up clerics. Whatever script for modernity one followed, it had God playing a bit role.

As we all know, it didn’t happen that way. Modernity arrived and improvised new starring roles for God. The Americans led the way by becoming both “the quintessentially modern country” and a very devout one, John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge write in their new book, “God Is Back,” and most of the world has followed that model.

In rich countries and poorer ones, democratic and undemocratic, primarily Islamic and primarily Christian — everywhere, basically, except Europe — devotion to God has remained surprisingly robust.

“The very things that were supposed to destroy religion — democracy and markets, technology and reason — are combining to make it stronger,” write Mickle­thwait, editor in chief of The Economist, and Wooldridge, the magazine’s Washington bureau chief, who together have written previous books about globalization and American conservatism, two ­similarly sweeping topics."

Here's the bit that surprised me from the review:

"While fundamentalists of all kinds get most of the attention, the authors zero in on another phenomenon: the growth and global spread of the American megachurch. With no state-sanctioned religion, American churches began to operate like multinational corporations; pastors became “pastorpreneurs,” endlessly branding and expanding, treating the flock like customers and seeding franchises all over the world. The surge of religion was “driven by the same forces driving the success of market capitalism: competition and choice.”

Definitely a side of religious expansion that's not been in the mainstream view.  Just added "God is Back" to my Kindle reading list.

ON A PLAN B FOR SPACE TRAVEL

FINAL FRONTIER

There are a lot of questions of late as to what NASA should really be focused on over the next few years, especially under the new Obama administration.  This piece in the Orlando Sentinel recently reviewed some of the pragmatic options.

But reading this op-ed by Seth Shostak of the SETI Institute really got me thinking different about what our space efforts might be focused on.  First he takes us back to the reality of space that many of us might not have thought about since childhood:

"The fastest rocket ever launched, NASA’s New Horizons probe to Pluto, roared off its pad in 2006 at 10 miles per second. That pace would be impressive in the morning commute, and it’s passably adequate for traversing the solar system, something we’ve done and will continue to do.

Combustion rockets, like New Horizons, can deliver you to the Moon in a matter of days, Mars in a matter of months, and the outer planets in a matter of years. But a trip to Proxima Centauri, the nearest star beyond the Sun and 100 million times farther from us than the Moon, would consume a tedious 800 centuries or so. You’ll want to upgrade..."

The piece then goes into the technical, monetary and biological hurdles to take us to where we've really wanted to go ever since we first started to gaze at the stars.

And it gets depressing just like when we first found out there is no Santa Claus.

But he then starts to talk about the glass half full:

"But there’s another technology that’s developing at a breakneck clip, and with which our grandchildren could make virtual trips to other solar systems. It’s called telepresence — a collection of technologies that extends vision, hearing and touch far beyond the corporeal confines of our nervous system.

Consider that in 1965 the Mariner 4 spacecraft made the first fuzzy photos of Mars with a black-and-white TV camera boasting 40,000 pixels. The HiRISE camera now operating onboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter sports 200 million pixels. It can snap photos of objects just three feet across.

That’s resolution comparable to what’s on Google Earth, which many people use to examine remote parts of the globe or inspect cities known only from the nightly news. Google Mars takes advantage of the high-quality imagery being collected by our robotic orbiters, enabling armchair astronauts to peruse the red planet in considerable detail without the angst of transporting their delicate protoplasm 34 million miles into space.

Photography from the Mars Exploration Rover is so good that the data have been interpreted in an IMAX film, giving audiences a near-lifelike experience in strolling the red planet’s rusty, dusty desert. The Phoenix Mars lander has sent back pictures of individual sand grains. In other words, it’s already possible for anyone to make a rigorous reconnaissance of another planet — even though not a single human has yet stomped his boots in the Martian dust."

Almost like being there, no? 

The whole piece is worth reading.  And then maybe it may make sense for President Obama to think about this more pragmatic mission for NASA. 
Who knows, even Google may want to help.

ON MONSTROUS CHUTZPAH

STRETCHING IT

I've been a customer and fan of Monster Cable products since the 1980s, and so this article by the Wall Street Journal titled "The scariest Monster of  all sues for trademark infringement"  caught my attention:

"When Christina and Patrick Vitagliano dreamed up their Monster Mini Golf franchises -- 18-hole, indoor putting greens straddled by glow-in-the-dark statues of ghouls and gargoyles -- they never imagined that a California maker of high-end audio cables would object.

But Monster Cable Products Inc., which holds more than 70 trademarks on the word monster, challenged the Vitaglianos' trademark applications. It filed a federal lawsuit against their company in California and demanded the Rhode Island couple surrender the name and pay at least $80,000 for the right to use it."

The piece goes on to add:

"Over the years, it has gone after purveyors of monster-branded auto transmissions, slot machines, glue, carpet-cleaning machines and an energy drink, as well as a woman who sells "Junk Food Monster" kids' T-shirts that promote good eating habits.

It sued Monster.com over the job-hunting Web site's name and Walt Disney Co. over products tied to the film "Monsters Inc." It opposed the Boston Red Sox trademark applications for seats and hot dogs named for the Green Monster, the legendary left-field wall in Fenway Park. All in all, Monster Cable says it has fought about 190 monster battles at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and filed around 30 monster lawsuits in federal courts."

The company founder and CEO, Noel Lee, who founded the company in 1979 and carries the title "Head Monster", has been aggressive on this front to say the least:

"To a legal novice, it may seem odd that a common word like monster can be trademarked at all. But in the complex and sometimes murky world of trademark law, common words can be registered, provided they are associated with specific classes of goods. Apple Inc., for example, holds trademarks for the word apple when it's related to computer products, not fruit.

Sometimes, trademarks can obtain a higher order of protection, known as "famous marks." This category is supposed to be reserved for words that have become so entwined with a product and a company -- like the word visa and Visa Inc.'s credit card -- that the trademark owner can argue that no other product may use the word in its name.

David Tognotti, Monster Cable's general manager and an attorney, says the company considers "Monster" a famous mark -- on a par with Barbie dolls or Camel cigarettes. "We're protecting our mark as if it's a famous mark," he said in an interview in Monster Cable's headquarters, where the walls are lined with framed copies of the company's trademarks and patents.

Mr. Tognotti cited a chapter on famous marks in the law book "McCarthy on Trademarks and Unfair Competition" by J. Thomas McCarthy, a noted expert in the field.

But in an interview, Prof. McCarthy expressed doubt that Monster Cable possesses a famous mark. He said such determinations are made by courts. Mr. Tognotti acknowledges Monster Cable hasn't obtained such a court ruling."

It's perfectly reasonable for businesses to be aggressive about protecting their assets and business interests.  But this one seems to step over the line a tad, as this one piece of many found on the web indicate.  It might even be considered "Evil" by some estimates. 

Know this won't mean anything to a company with half a billion in revenues but I think I'm holding off buying Monster Cable products for now.

* Image source.

ON TRYING TO BE PRICELESS

FREAK AND FUNK

Visa keeps making headway in making TV commercials with broad appeal, as this latest "Super-Freak" ad illustrates:

Not quite the "Priceless" campaign by MasterCard, but not bad.  My favorite Priceless ad still is this "Back to School" ad from a year ago, played to "We Want the Funk":

Still don't get tired of watching that one.  Did you notice the Visa ad ends with the word "Funky"? Priceless.

ON FINANCIAL McCARTHYISM (Part II)

COLLATERAL DAMAGE

This letter titled "Dear AIG, I Quit", written by a senior executive at the AIG Financial Products Group at the center of the current national Bonus controversy, should be a must-read for anyone with an opinion either way on this issue.  As he explains, Mr. Jake DeSantis did not have anything to do with the products that ultimately caused the downfall of AIG.  Here are some salient excerpts:

"It is with deep regret that I submit my notice of resignation from A.I.G. Financial Products. I hope you take the time to read this entire letter. Before describing the details of my decision, I want to offer some context:

I am proud of everything I have done for the commodity and equity divisions of A.I.G.-F.P. I was in no way involved in — or responsible for — the credit default swap transactions that have hamstrung A.I.G. Nor were more than a handful of the 400 current employees of A.I.G.-F.P.

Most of those responsible have left the company and have conspicuously escaped the public outrage.

After 12 months of hard work dismantling the company — during which A.I.G. reassured us many times we would be rewarded in March 2009 — we in the financial products unit have been betrayed by A.I.G. and are being unfairly persecuted by elected officials. In response to this, I will now leave the company and donate my entire post-tax retention payment to those suffering from the global economic downturn. My intent is to keep none of the money myself.

I take this action after 11 years of dedicated, honorable service to A.I.G. I can no longer effectively perform my duties in this dysfunctional environment, nor am I being paid to do so. Like you, I was asked to work for an annual salary of $1, and I agreed out of a sense of duty to the company and to the public officials who have come to its aid. Having now been let down by both, I can no longer justify spending 10, 12, 14 hours a day away from my family for the benefit of those who have let me down."

Mr. DeSantis goes on to add:

"I have the utmost respect for the civic duty that you are now performing at A.I.G. You are as blameless for these credit default swap losses as I am. You answered your country’s call and you are taking a tremendous beating for it.

But you also are aware that most of the employees of your financial products unit had nothing to do with the large losses. And I am disappointed and frustrated over your lack of support for us. I and many others in the unit feel betrayed that you failed to stand up for us in the face of untrue and unfair accusations from certain members of Congress last Wednesday and from the press over our retention payments, and that you didn’t defend us against the baseless and reckless comments made by the attorneys general of New York and Connecticut. "

It's one thing for an outsider like me to talk about how our politician and the media are encouraging what amounts to Financial McCarthyism around this issue, and quite another to read the opinion on all this from someone in the middle of all this, through no fault of their own.
What's particularly poignant is the way he goes on to describe his decision process regarding the compensation these he and his peers were due for hard work done in good faith:

"You’ve now asked the current employees of A.I.G.-F.P. to repay these earnings. As you can imagine, there has been a tremendous amount of serious thought and heated discussion about how we should respond to this breach of trust.

As most of us have done nothing wrong, guilt is not a motivation to surrender our earnings. We have worked 12 long months under these contracts and now deserve to be paid as promised. None of us should be cheated of our payments any more than a plumber should be cheated after he has fixed the pipes but a careless electrician causes a fire that burns down the house.

Many of the employees have, in the past six months, turned down job offers from more stable employers, based on A.I.G.’s assurances that the contracts would be honored. They are now angry about having been misled by A.I.G.’s promises and are not inclined to return the money as a favor to you.

The only real motivation that anyone at A.I.G.-F.P. now has is fear.
Mr. Cuomo has threatened to “name and shame,” and his counterpart in Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal, has made similar threats — even though attorneys general are supposed to stand for due process, to conduct trials in courts and not the press."

He goes on to describe how he's donating what''ll be left of his bonus to people affected by the global downturn.
In yesterday's post, I described what was going on in the context of getting AIG employees to "return" their bonuses as "Reputational Waterboarding". 
It's clear from the comments by folks like Mr. DeSantis and others that are sure to follow, that we'll look back at this period in our history and feel the same national shame over how we're treating what's left of AIG and the financial industry at large (aka "Wall Street"), as we now do over our treatment of U.S. citizens of Japanese origin interned in camps during World War II, and the lives of thousands of Americans carelessly trampled during the McCarthy hysteria in the Fifties. 
This one hasn't been going that long and the collateral damage is not as bad as it could be. 

So it's not too late for us to all calm down a little bit, take a deep breath, and think some more about our misdirected rage. 

Oh, and let's not rush to cancel those AIG policies, unless of course we get a better deal.

Update:  Fred Wilson also had a post on this matter yesterday that's worth read, especially the comments from his readers on either side of this issue.

ON SELF-DESTRUCTIVE RAGE (Part 2)

FOLLOW THE LEADER...NOT

Joe Nocera of the New York Times more eloquently expresses the concerns I outlined yesterday with the efforts by Congress to apply a 90% tax on bonuses to employees of TARP recipients.  He captures exactly how I felt at the end of this unbelievable week with these words:

"By week’s end, I was more depressed about the financial crisis than I’ve been since last September. Back then, the issue was the disintegration of the financial system, as the Lehman bankruptcy set off a terrible chain reaction.

Now I’m worried that the political response is making the crisis worse. The Obama administration appears to have lost its grip on Congress, while the Treasury Department always seems caught off guard by bad news.

And Congress, with its howls of rage, its chaotic, episodic reaction to the crisis, and its shameless playing to the crowds, is out of control. This week, the body politic ran off the rails.

There are times when anger is cathartic. There are other times when anger makes a bad situation worse. “We need to stop committing economic arson,” Bert Ely, a banking consultant, said to me this week. That is what Congress committed: economic arson."

He goes on to make a thoughtful case why this path is very wrong for all our interests, regardless of how angry we may be at AIG executives.

The whole piece is recommended in it's entirety, even if you think Congress is doing the right thing. 

And if you think it makes any sense at all, please, please, write your representative in Congress, and tell them not to walk us all off a cliff.