May 6, 2006 | Technology
One of the terms I hear often when people talk about search is relevance – which I interpret to mean the ability of the search engine to return the result you actually want. To be honest, I didn’t pay much attention to this. Like most everyone else, I’ve been using google for a while, and the results were quite acceptable.
When amazon.com launched a9.com, I switched to it immediately because I was able to get the best of both worlds -Â it was serving up google’s results, plus giving me a small additional discount on may amazon.com purchases.
Last week I noticed something funny though – the search results I was getting didn’t seem as helpful as I had come to expect. In some cases I would type in a search term that I knew should quickly bring me to a particular site whose URL I had forgotten, but it wasn’t on the first or even second page. I couldn’t figure out what might be wrong. Then I took a closer look at the a9.com page – the web search was now by live.com – which I guess is the beta for Microsoft’s new search. I then retried some of the searches that frustrated me on google, and sure enough – the sites I was looking for were right there near the top. Google also proved much more understanding of spelling mistakes than live.com – a good thing since spelling is not my strong suit.
I don’t know what the future will bring in the search engine wars, but this is the first time that I’ve really had my nose rubbed in the fact that not all search engines are equal – and Microsoft indeed has a long way to go.
May 1, 2006 | Technology
It’s not every day I see an ad on TV that makes me laugh out loud, but tonight I saw one by Apple that pulled it off. Two men appeared on screen. On the left, a Bill Gates look-alike suffering from a very bad cold (one of 114,000 known viruses that knocks him down – aka causes him to crash – before the commercial is done). On the right, an “I wish I still looked like that” Steve Jobs imitator who is, of course, naturally immune from such illnesses.
The irony of course, being that today is also the day that MAC OS appeared on the SANS top 20 vulnerability list, a fact that was picked up by many news services. Of course the MAC and Safari has always had vulnerabilities – just a lot fewer than Windows and IE. And the fact that today Apple got a lot of bad press because SANS released a new list has more to do with hype and marketing than security.
The new from SANS only served to make the ad even funnier, though I suspect the humor is a bit darker than Apple had in mind.
Feb 6, 2005 | Technology
I tend to be a skeptic of gadgets. Oh, I do get excited by the latest new gizmo (I’m too much a techie not to be), but the excitement is mitigated by the knowledge that buying it would mean having yet another gadget to learn to use and keep track of. Another source of worry with regards to breakage, crashes and loss of data. Another charger to match with it’s correct device. And, of course, another device to inevitably replace in just a few months when it becomes hopelessly obsolete.
In my experience the benefits of devices from cell phones to PDA’s are often outweighed by these hidden costs and hassles.
So it was with doubt and trepidation that I opened a box containing an IPod shuffle that was recently given to me.
Honestly, when I first heard about it I thought the Shuffle was a stupid idea. With minimal controls – just enough to skip forward or back in a play list (which is either the order you defined when you loaded it, or a randomly generated order), and a volume control, this is not a “feature rich” device by any means. Besides, I already have a very nice MP3 player – a 60GB Nomad Zen which, while not as cute as an IPod, is quite usable and benefits from having a replacable battery. On the other hand, I only use the Nomad on flights – it’s too much of a hassle to keep charged, carry around, etc.
So I was stunned – floored in fact – to discover that I really like the Shuffle. That in fact, it is the very simplicity that makes it so useful.
First there is the size. It is truly a “fit anywhere” device. I swear it’s just about weightless. And there’s no pocket it won’t fit in.
And it has no charger to lose. It charges right off the USB port.
But most important, once you have loaded it there is nothing to learn or configure. In a daily routine that has way too many decisions, the Shuffle offers none beyond turning it on or off. And with 100 or so of my favorite songs loaded, it turns out I really don’t care what order they play in.
So to my surprise I find myself carrying it with me often. And sometimes just turning it on when I feel like listening to music, even if just for a song or two.
All is not perfect though. Like the regular IPod, it’s battery is not replaceable, meaning it’s ultimate demise will be much earlier than it should be. And it uses ITunes software. Now, I’m sure ITunes is a very nice program for managing a full IPod. It has plenty of features and power and a suitably confusing user interface. But the feature rich UI is in total conflict with the sublime elegance and simplicity of the shuffle. It is far too easy to accidentally delete songs painstakingly selected and loaded. It’s basically awful.
But such imperfections aside, the Shuffle is a surprising treat, and for those of you who appreciate that more complexity is not always better, you may find it a pleasant and painless gadget to add to your collection.
(for the record, I do still own a small amount of Apple stock)
Dec 9, 2004 | Technology
Like many, I have very mixed feelings about IBM’s sale of their PC division to the Chinese company Lenovo. Like many professionals, IBM’s Thinkpad is my notebook of choice. And it’s not just the features, or quality of construction. Or the incredible compatibility with everything. Or great support web site. Or excellent reliability. The real amazing thing is their technical support. Whether it was replacing a forgotten custom power cable on a few hour’s notice in Chicago, or being able to get a real person on the phone late on a Sunday night to deal with milk spilt on a keyboard, IBM provides a level of support that few if any can match.
My first thought when I heard of the deal was – so long Thinkpad. Because I couldn’t imagine that anyone else could maintain the overall quality that the brand name “Thinkpad” has earned.
But then I read their press release. Yeah, it’s the usual marketing fluff, full of nice semi-promises that don’t really mean anything. But there were a few facts that surprised me. First, that the new PC division would be headquartered in NY. Second, that an IBM VP was becoming CEO of Lenovo. Third, that IBM is maintaining a pretty significant ownership stake in Lenovo.
In other words, this looks less like Lenovo just buying the PC division and more like them trying to, in effect, become a major multinational company, like Microsoft, Sony, and dozens of others including IBM itself.
You see, the one flaw with Thinkpads is that they aren’t cheap. So it occurred to me that it’s possible, just barely possible, that this new company might be able to keep all the things that make Thinkpads so great, and just maybe do it at a lower price. Ok, I know it’s a long shot, but one can hope.
I’m going to be due for a laptop upgrade next year, and I’d really hate to start shopping around again. However, just in case – if any of you believe that another laptop line is overall as good as Thinkpad has been, I’d love to hear about it.
Nov 26, 2004 | General, Technology
At our thanksgiving celebration we go around and everyone attending says something they are thankful for. In this pre-holiday shopping season, where we tend to get very excited about the latest high-tech toy, it occurred to me to take a moment and note a number of technological marvels that I personally am thankful for. No hype here – these are the things I use every day.
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Google
My main search engine and fount of all wisdom, it’s a rare technical problem for which I can’t find some guidance by following it’s paths.
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Amazon.com
More than a store, it helps me find new books and music, and provides a first pass at market pricing. Plus, it’s a great place for me to sell my own eBooks.
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Yahoo Calender
I don’t like PDA’s (yeah, old fashioned, but it’s just another thing to carry around, keep charged, and worry about losing). Yahoo’s online calender has all the features I need, is available everywhere, and is free if you have SBC DSL.
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Boston Acoustics & Plasma Displays
A great display and a fine set of speakers makes a home theatre shine. All the plasmas look great (mine happens to be Toshiba), but I hunted for months before settling on Boston Acoustics Micro 100x speakers.
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Wacky Voice Alarm Clock
You’d think I’d have gotten tired of this one, but it still works. Annoying enough to get me up when I must, funny enough so I haven’t (yet) taken a sledge hammer to it.
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Tivo
Once you start using a DVR, you can never go back.
More suggestions are welcome. Meanwhile, I wish you all a very succesful pre-holiday shopping season. May you always find an open parking space at the mall. May that gift you just have to get always be on sale.
Oct 27, 2004 | Software Development, Technology
Now that we have reached the home stretch of the political season, the chance to actually vote on something… and the prelude to what is likely to be an extended and painful period of lawsuits, recounts and recriminations for one side or the other, it’s time to look ahead at what we can do to occupy our spare time for the few months until the next election cycle begins.
Fortunately, there is an ongoing contest that is quickly becoming just as extreme, just as polarized, and just as lacking in honesty as any political contest we’ve seen yet. Yep, it’s the good old closed vs. open source debate.
This is prompted by a couple of friendly messages I’ve received lately. The first sent by a good friend is an presumably objective report in the Register comparing the security of the two systems.
The other, an email from my good friend Steve Ballmer (who I’ve never met, but have seen from a distance at a technical conference or two), containing six pages (2700+ words) extolling the benefits of Windows over Linux in every possible way (including, of course, security, with an indirect reference to a study by Forrester Research).
Now, the Register article seemed to me well researched, but it’s pretty easy to see that despite the innocuous title “Security Report: Windows vs. Linux”, the piece is clearly advocating the Linux side. Let’s face it, an objective report is unlikely to have it’s first couple of sections titled “Myth: There’s Safety In Small Numbers” and “Myth: Open Source is Inherently Dangerous.” Still, it makes for a fascinating read, and the author’s arguments are based both on technological reasoning and hard statistics – not the anecdotal evidence so common in white papers and political campaigns.
I’m afraid this time the “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” spam of the year award has to go to Ballmer’s letter. It was just too easy to see the spin. My first hint came with the name dropping – while reading the list of customer case studies I couldn’t help but see Kerry in his second debate name dropping an endless list of senators and generals. I also found Ballmer’s choose Windows because “being on the wrong end of a software patent lawsuit could cost a customer millions of dollars, and massively disrupt their business” argument comparable to Dick Cheney’s “if you choose Kerry the terrorists will attack us” tirade (as a technologist, the idea of choosing software to avoid lawsuits instead of based on cost represents a huge failure on the part of our industry and society).
Then there’s the security article itself. The MSDN page is headlined “Windows Users have Fewer Vulnerabilities.” Imagine my surprise when I found the actual title of the Forrester report was “Is Linux more Secure than Windows”
Ok, so maybe the MSDN page refers to the conclusion? No – the executive summary of the report concludes: “both Windows and four key Linux distributions can be deployed securely”.
Ok, so do Windows users actually have fewer vulnerabilities?
Well, Windows users do have fewer overall days of risk by their metrics – which might explain this quote. But the study also shows that Windows had the highest percentage of high-severity vulnerabilities.
I’m not going to try to guess which system is really more secure. I don’t have time to reconcile the methodology of these two reports (the Register report found that Windows had more vulnerabilities). Which brings me to my greatest frustration.
With technology advocacy and marketing becoming as polarized as a political campaign, who can we look towards to be honest brokers? Even non-sponsored objective reports are inevitably influenced by the biases and backgrounds of their authors, and their results spun by each side.
On one hand, I truly sympathize with anyone who actually has to make a choice between platforms. Between the lack of trustworthy information and the flood of marketing noise, the chances of being able to truly choose the best one for your situation are slim. On the other hand, perhaps there is good news after all. Both platforms work, and can be secured. Cost studies go both ways, but few of them seem to claim a real difference in total cost of more than 20%, which is probably well within the margin of error when calculating the cost of a large scale platform deployment anyway.
So if the two approaches really are comparable in cost, and security, maybe the right answer is to choose based on a more arbitrary standard, like which name you like, or which fits better with your personal politics, or maybe the roll of a dice. Who knows, the money you save by not studying and comparing and analyzing the choice may be more than the ultimate cost difference between Windows and Linux.