scott willeke's personal log

Google+ Is and Isn't

2011-07-12T23:08:00.000-07:00

Google+ is a better facebook. It isn't twitter. Google+ is good for personal friends and family where you want to read just about everything they post. It is not good for following people like +Scoble, +Guy Kawasaki or +Hanselman where you want to want to read relatively little of what they post.

I think it is this misunderstanding that is causing so many of us to create "noisy" circles (or "Noisy Geeks" in my case).

Should Google+ change or should we use twitter for what it's good for and Google+ for what it's good for?

Or should we just stop using twitter? :)

Letter to Congressional Representative: VOTE NAY on H.R. 1540: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012

2011-05-22T18:26:00.000-07:00

A.S. Willeke

May 22, 2011

The Honorable Jay Inslee
2239 Rayburn House Office Building
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Representative Inslee:

As my representative in congress I ask you to VOTE NAY on H.R. 1540: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012. Some specific concerns I have about this proposed legislation:

1: The Fiscal Year 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) declares that the United States is in an armed conflict with not only al Qaeda and the Taliban, but "associated forces" and individuals, organizations and nations that support such forces. This loose language could authorize the president to engage in acts of war anywhere without constitutionally required Congressional authorization.
Reference: This is in Subtitle D--Counterterrorism, SEC. 1034 and can be seen directly by following this link: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h112-1540&version=rh&nid=t0%3Arh%3A3860

2: It imposes bans on the transfer of any detainee held at Guantanamo, including those who have been cleared of any charges. This bill not only allows the imprisonment of innocent people, but could mandate it.
Reference: This is in Subtitle D--Counterterrorism,Section 1036 and can be seen directly by following this link:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h112-1540&version=rh&nid=t0%3Arh%3A3882

3: The bill also prevents the use of Article III federal courts for the trial of most terrorism suspects. This circumvents our system of justice and our protections under the Constitution, showing a lack of faith in US law enforcement and courts which are the constitutional venues for stopping terrorism.
Reference: This is in Subtitle D--Counterterrorism,Section 1036 and can be seen directly by following this link:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h112-1540&version=rh&nid=t0%3Arh%3A3882

Sincerely,

A.S. Willeke

cc: US House Representative Jay Inslee (via email on his house.gov page)

Product Marketers Take Note: Social Networks Are a Waste

2011-03-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

Recently I was talking with a friend of mine who works at a company who sells software products to business customers. His company surveyed their customers with a variety of questions, some of which related to social media.

One of the questions asked: "How do you stay up to date on our products?" Half said they use the company's regular email newsletter, and more said via the company's website. About 1% said facebook, and 0% reported that they used twitter (the company is active in both places). Another question was "Would you like to see us have a greater presence on facebook?" Only 3% said yes. The same percentage of respondents wanted greater presence on twitter in a separate question.

So let me prod everyone here into a discussion with a provocative conclusion: Social media marketing is a waste of time and money if you’re selling products to business.

Globally Distributed Teams: Are Better Tools the Solution?

2011-02-10T17:01:00.000-08:00

Recently I have been speaking with lots of people in the community that work with high tech product teams that have team members all over the world. At ProductCamp I was invited to participate as a member of a panel to discuss this very topic. I wasn't sure what I could tell anyone. Sure, we do it every day and have for many years now, but it is hard.

My first thought was that I don't have the answers. I struggle with the challenges of working with globally distributed teams and I think I need to listen more than talk on the topic. I have learned we do a pretty good job in comparison to others, but still it is challenging and we can undoubtedly improve in many areas.

What I'm finding is that, from developers, to product managers to project managers to agile coaches to PMP-certified waterfall experts, nobody knows the right way. It is a huge challenge. Don't get me wrong. The benefits are undeniable. And if you think you will avoid working with a globally distributed team you're in denial. Wake up, because, being able to work with the pool of smart people from all over the world rather than in your own country (or city!) is a huge benefit.

A couple of agile coaches recently suggested to me that the problem is lack of tools to support it. Since we were just finished with an team collaboration exercise that involved pens and post-it notes as our only "tools" I have a suspicion lack of tools are not the problem.

The reason agile techniques such as using post it notes and simple user stories are so successful is they get people to collaborate and communicate and tell each other what they are really thinking:

Stop reading each other the requirements document we wrote and tell me right now, what is the most important thing to you.

And you: what things are we overlooking from your perspective?

The trick is not the tool -post it notes in this case- it is the deliberate removal of tools that interfere with face-to-face, instant, reactive, collaborative communication. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools, right? Right.

Condoleezza Rice: For 60 years The United States pursued stability, not democracy...

2011-02-04T17:01:00.000-08:00

For 60 years my country, The United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy in this region, here in the Middle East and we achieved neither. Now we are taking a different course. We are supporting the democratic aspirations of all people.

- Condoleezza Rice at her speech in Cairo in 2005

The Time for a New Beginning Between the Middle East is Upon Us

2011-01-31T22:24:00.000-08:00

Obama finds himself in the painful position of trying to align the United States with Egyptians' demands for democratic overhauls, while trying to encourage Mubarak to leave -- without actually saying so.

- Miami Herald

Why not say so? This is a defining moment for the US. Either we support democracy or we don't. If we cannot support the people actually fighting and dying for democracy and freedom with words, then how can you support democracy? All they want is the end of a 30 year dictator and genuine elections.

President Obama: Have you forgotten your Cairo speech? If there is ever going to be a real chance for a new beginning between the US and the Muslim world, this is it.

Lessmsi v1.0.8 Is Now Available

2010-12-05T23:48:00.000-08:00

A new release of Lessmsi is now available. It adds a handful of fixes and features requested by users. Full details are on the Releases page and you can download it from http://code.google.com/p/lessmsi/.

The life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth (by Thomas Jefferson)

2010-11-23T18:45:00.000-08:00

The below excerpt is from a letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Adams in response to Adams' request that Jefferson write his "view of the Christian System" which was to be a critique of the four gospels, of which, Jefferson was apparently a scholar of in several languages. Apparently, Jefferson considered the gospels as having much extraneous matter and that by careful pruning there could be selected out those sayings which were absolutely the words of Jesus himself.

We must reduce our volume to the simple Evangelists, select, even from them the very words only of Jesus paring off the amphiboligisms into which they have been led, by forgetting often, or not understanding, what had fallen from him, by giving their own misconceptions as his dicta, and expressing unintelligibly for others what they had not understood themselves. There will be found remaining the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man. I have performed this operation for my own use, by cutting verse by verse out of the printed book, and arranging the matter which is evidently his and which is as easily distinguished as diamonds in a dung-hill.

- http://books.google.com/books?id=RwAXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA15#v=onepage&q&f=false

Indeed, Thomas Jefferson believed that the "Evangelists" (the author of the gospels) unintentionally misrepresented Jesus' true message and Jefferson himself endeavored to extract Jesus' true teaching -not by adding his own words- but only by extracting some portions and rearranging the four gospels into a single book. The complete title of Jefferson's book was "The life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth: Extracted textually from the Gospels in Greek, Latin, French & English".

Jefferson wrote this book for himself. He never attempted to have it published, and it was not published during his lifetime. It was only in a private collection of his library.

One thing that stood out to me was the last sentence that Jefferson wrote in the quote above: "...arranging the matter which is evidently his (Jesus) and which is as easily distinguished as diamonds in a dung-hill." It immediately reminded me of what Yusha Evans said about the obvious changes one can detect in the Bible when reading it in Hebrew.

Jefferson's book is now in the public domain and can be read for free on Google Books here.

Another version that is more readable was revised by forgottenbooks.org and is also available in it's entirety here.

Looking for a High-Tech Job in the Seattle area? Find it at ProductCamp Seattle on October 23

2010-10-13T16:01:00.000-07:00

I'm working with the volunteer team to organize ProductCamp Seattle this year. I was just talking with a friend who said they're coming to ProductCamp Seattle this year because they're looking to change jobs and it will be a good event to network at. You bet it will be!

Last year the most common job title of attendees were "Product Manager / Marketer", "Product Planner / Strategist", "Program Manager", "Project Manager", "Business Analyst", "Market Researcher", "Product "Manager Architect", and "Business Development / Sales". So this is a good group to network with. Most are in managerial positions and they're usually involved in hiring.

This year we have a similar mix. You can click on the "Attendees" tab from the www.ProductCampSeattle.org website to see some of those attending this year. Unfortunately, not everyone shows their profile but those who have registered are usually representative of the larger group.

We also have a great location at Microsoft's Learning Center (building 92) this year. I little birdie told me there will be good food & drink and a nice after party so in addition to the attendee-nominated sessions, there are lots of good reasons to attend.

So if you're looking for work or considering a career change ProductCamp Seattle is a great event!

What: ProductCamp Seattle - You'll share real world experiences of designing, marketing and launching products and learn from each other about the latest trends, tools, and techniques in bringing innovative products to market.
When: October 23, 2010; 9am - 5pm
Where: Microsoft Campus, Building 92

Visit www.ProductCampSeattle.org for more information

Seattle from Downtown Kirkland

2010-09-30T19:33:00.000-07:00

Beautiful here tonight.

Shahada

2010-09-28T20:34:00.000-07:00

Bismillah. Peace be upon you all.

For my family and friends: On September 27, 2010, I officially took the Shahada. I decided I want all of you to know and I'm posting the note here since I can't think of a better way to communicate it to all of my friends and family spread around the world.

Chicago to Seattle with Grandma and Mom over 4 days.

2010-09-22T17:09:00.001-07:00

Home!

Headed out of Wallace Idaho

2010-09-22T14:32:00.000-07:00

We left Wallace Idaho this morning and will be in Seattle soon!

Planes on trains from automobiles

2010-09-22T09:22:00.000-07:00

We were driving in Montana. Planes headed west; apparently towards Boeing.

More Montana

2010-09-21T14:41:00.000-07:00

More pics as I drive through "Big Sky Country" with Grandma and Mom on the way from Chicago back to Seattle.

Montana!

2010-09-21T11:37:00.000-07:00

Blasting out of Buffalo Wyoming

2010-09-21T09:09:00.001-07:00

Billings Montana is next!

Wall Drug in Wall, South Dakota

2010-09-21T09:08:00.001-07:00

More of Wyoming

2010-09-21T09:08:00.000-07:00

Working our way out of Wyoming and heading for Billings Montana...

Wireless Keyboard with iPad

2010-09-18T22:18:00.001-07:00

It's Beautiful Start...

It is well worth the $69 at the Apple store to get the tiny wireless bluetooth keyboard. I immediately can see how I can leverage my touch-typist skills with iPad in meetings now. While I've used iPad in meetings and mostly it is okay, I usually keep a pen and paper handy because somethings ideas are flying around so fast that I can't move quickly enough with the on screen keyboard. This was never a problem with a laptop (and it's full-size keyboard) and now it will surely not be a problem with iPad!

Shortcuts

All of the most common editing keyboard shortcuts that are familiar on Mac OS X, such as Command, Option, and Shift with arrow keys to navigate and select text, work in iPad text editing applications. Cmd+A (select all), Cmd+C (copy), Cmd+V (paste), and Cmd+Z (undo) and Shift+Cmd+Z (redo) all work fine. This is quite enough to justify it IMHO, because taking notes in Evernote is every bit as fast on iPad as it is on Mac OS X now. However, there is room for improvement.

Needed Improvements

Basically you can use the keyboard once a textbox has been given input focus by touching on the screen in iPad normally, the keyboard is available and working. However, you cannot navigate within an application at all. For example, in Safari if you touch the address bar, the keyboard is active and useful. However, common shortcuts like Cmd+L (to put focus in the address bar) doesn't work in iPad-Safari. In Mail, Cmd+N won't create a new message and the arrow keys cannot be used to navigate within the message list.

I don't see any reason why full keyboard-only navigation like the OS X applications support can't be done with iPad, but apparently Apple hasn't got there yet. If they did, it would be a slam dunk feature and I think everyone would buy the keyboard. It would then seriously make iPad a strong competitor to replace notebooks.

So Apple, if you're listening please do it. Google, if you have half a brain get on it and add it to Android. Or does Android already support this?

FiOS vs Comcast in Kirkland WA

2010-08-12T15:01:00.000-07:00

Naturally, after my last post about switching from Comcast to FiOS I should tell you which one is better. See for yourself:

FiOS from Frontier for ~$69.99 /mo

Comcast for $64.95

I have run many speed tests with both services over the last couple weeks. I would say these are pretty representative of the average speed test results. As you can see the big difference is in upload speed. Everything else is pretty much the same.

I don't have the fastest available service from either - Comcast tells me the speed is 15Mb/s down and 4Mb/s up. Frontier FiOS tells me my speed is 25Mb/s down and 25Mb/s up. Comcast apparently sells a 50Mb/s down and "up to" 10MB/s up for $99.95/mo. Frontier FiOS offers 50Mb/s down and 20Mb/s down for $139.95.

Bandwidth Caps

Yeah, I didn't use comcast much lately :)

Comcast shows you explicitly your cap is 250GB per month on your account page. More than that and as I understand it, they cut you off.

FiOS doesn't mention it anywhere, and according to many FiOS users who monitor their staggering Internet usage apparently FiOS has no bandwidth cap.

Fiber to My Home with Verizon/Frontier FiOS

2010-08-05T15:01:00.000-07:00

Since I cannot post a reply to the How-to: make ActionTec MI424-WR a network bridge thread on dslreports.com I decided I should at least write the info down here for others.

A Free Router! Yea!
Verizon FiOS (now Frontier FiOS in Seattle Washington area) brings out a wireless router when they come out to install. They first install an Optical Network Terminal (what you'll read referred to as an "ONT", described by dslreports more here) which is a surprisingly large box for the Fiber from the street to go directly into. Out of this they will run a coaxial cable into their own router. The router in my case (and many others according to my reading) is a Actiontec MI424WR. It is a really nice router actually. It has 802.11g Wireless, DHCP, NAT, port forwarding, DynamicDNS, a flexible firewall and more. In short, Verizon/Frontier did a nice job in selecting the router. It's good.

Fiber from the street waiting for the tech to arrive

Except Geeks are Difficult
However, for us geeks we don't like someone else's router on our networks. We have our own stuff and don't ask why we can't use your router - we can't explain it, it just won't do. So the previously mentioned article explains how to put the Verizon/Frontier router into Bridge mode so you can use your own router instead. However, it is a damn shame because now you have this other router (now a bridge) that all those electrons have to jump through and that sucks more electricity all the time to run for absolutely no reason - since your own router does all the same stuff.

First of all, I am pretty sure that the DaDragon's explanation will work fine. I meticulously read the manual and scoured the settings of the Actiontec router and it should work fine. However, I found it is surprisingly easy to get ethernet directly out of the ONT working with my own router. Basically just called Frontier and asked for it.

The ONT

I called and got some unpleasent person that was adamant that I couldn't use my own router and only their router would work. I explained that this was hard for me to believe, and if this really is the case, I don't want FiOS at all. He eventually was willing -but whining and not happy- to call a "network technician" and ask if there were any options. Luckily the "network technician" was smart and told him that what I wanted to do was perfectly fine. All I had to do was power-down and unplug the Frontier/Verizon router and hook my router up to the ethernet port inside the ONT. Then the network tech at Verizon/Frontier could remotely switch the ONT's ports from coax to ethernet.

I did this and everything immediately started working fine with my router. I did take the liberty of releasing the IP from DHCP on the Actiontec router before I unplugged it, so maybe this helped.

Now I will return the Actiontec router to Frontier/Verizon and I have one less box in utility room and its all my own geek equipment so I can rest easily now :)

P.S. I called Frontier and they didn't want the router back. They just said it was completely free and I could keep it. Cool.

Now for some Nostalgia: The Original Flyer for ActiveReports

2010-08-02T03:01:00.000-07:00

Although we've been living in the Seattle area for about a year now, we left all of our stuff in Columbus. We literally threw what we could fit in our car and drove here in a mad rush to attend the first day of our Software Product Management class at the University of Washington. We had no where to go but a hotel, and only essential items we could fit in the car (uh, you know, laptops :)). It was a bit hectic, but I totally recommend that everyone do that. We've loved it and wouldn't change the journey one bit.

We decided to stay, so we've even settled in to a house here now. Just a couple weeks ago received our stuff shipped from Columbus. So we've been going through boxes and unpacking lately. One of the interesting things I found was the original flyer we created for the initial release of ActiveReports back in 1998.

I scanned it for fun and put it up here. This was the early days of Data Dynamics, if we had a garage it would have literally been the quintessential two and a half men in a garage (the half is me). We were working day and night, did everything between the two-and-a-half of us. From coding, documentation, testing, support, and marketing and flyers like this one:

Front cover of the original four-page ActiveReports flyer

Inside-left page

Inside-right page

Back page

Those were the days.
Ferhat had been writing the first versions of ActiveBar and ActiveReports nearly single-handedly while Issam and tested. I dealt with support and a bit of documentation and Issam did everything else. Tim Moffatt worked with us hand dealt with nearly everything business to make sure our lights were kept on and talking to the normal people :)

We were working extra hard at this time because we were preparing to release both ActiveReports and ActiveBar for VBITS 1998.

Incidentally, I went looking for a good link about VBITS and found some pictures from those days. You should definitely check them out. It was when Issam's hair was black, I was a hippy with hair on sholders, and Scoble was - well, he was pretty much the same, but I bet his kid was a lot smaller. Carl Franklin was the same too :) Funny that you can see Ferhat holding a picture of this very flyer. The bus trip we took to Yosemite with Scoble, Carl Franklin and friends that year was awesome. Definitely unforgettable, and I'm glad someone kept pictures around! Thanks to whoever did that (leave me a comment if you read this).

I remember a particularly funny story as we were getting up to the final stretch with ActiveReports. At the last minute, we realized it didn't print. We just hadn't tested printing in a long time.

Luckily it was an easy fix (or so Ferhat's incredible skills made it seem) and it was working in no time, but a funny thing we used to laugh about, especially considering we were originally going to call the product "ActivePrint" :)

That was a long time ago, and particularly rewarding since both of those two products are still used by thousands of people more than ten years later today. ActiveReports is going stronger than ever now at GrapeCity and I'm glad to be working with some of my old Data Dynamics comrades there.

Wait until you see what we have in store next for ActiveReports. I promise you a big surprise and another "Next Generation" in reporting!

Changes in The Text

2010-07-30T03:01:00.000-07:00

While studying in preparation for the entering the textual criticism of the Bible program at Bob Jones University, the speaker, Yusha Evans, read the bible 6-7 times straight through and in Hebrew and Greek. In this YouTube video he is speaking about his experience reading beyond the four canonical gospels of the New Testament and making it into the writings of Paul:

Not only did I notice changes in the text, but changes in the way the language was spoken. Because you can tell in...in hebrew when God is speaking, because it is an extremely eloquent speech. A speech that is not like any human speech. You can tell the difference. And then you can see when it automatically changes to almost like slang. It changes to like, uneducated speech. And it goes back and forth, back and forth... and you can see this. Someone who knows languages will see this, you can see this. It's like having a person with a PhD in English speaking and when a fourth grader is speaking. You can tell which one is which. Even if they were behind a screen and they wrote it on a piece of paper. You would tell which one is which.

Grammar Tip: Punctuation with Interjections

2010-07-28T11:33:00.001-07:00

Every once in a while I obsess over grammatical correctness in some particular situation. Today I learned the following:

The position of the exclamation point is determined by the way the sentence is read: if the voice falls after the interjection, the exclamation point is used there; if there is a pause but no fall of the voice after the interjection, a comma is used there and the exclamation point comes at the end of the sentence.

- http://books.google.com/books?id=xPUAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA291#v=onepage&q&f=false