Keyhole
Keyhole was recently acquired by Google. They're a marvelous fee-based imaging service -- but they require Windows clients. If Google opens up their services I wonder if other clients will appear?
Thursday, October 28, 2004
WiebeTech white papers -- firewire 800
WiebeTech Micro Storage Solutions - MEDIA
Some pretty good white papers from WiebeTech, including a 10/04 document outlining why FW 800 won't go anywhere. The author predicts FW 400 will continue for the next 2-3 years, but it will be replaced by SATA II connectors. FW 800 will fade away within a year.
He claims FW 800 is a much better spec than FW 400, but it failed to acheive critical mass -- in part because the original claims were overblown and in part because of disastrous problems with an OS X release.
He doesn't discuss my experiences -- many firewire peripherals are plagued by sleep/wake problems with some versions of OS X and some Apple hardware.
Interestingly he says FW 400 ports are very vulnerable to being shorted. It's apparently a basic design flaw. Seems related to power-up drains -- from now on I'll power-up my drive before I connect it to my iBook.
Some pretty good white papers from WiebeTech, including a 10/04 document outlining why FW 800 won't go anywhere. The author predicts FW 400 will continue for the next 2-3 years, but it will be replaced by SATA II connectors. FW 800 will fade away within a year.
He claims FW 800 is a much better spec than FW 400, but it failed to acheive critical mass -- in part because the original claims were overblown and in part because of disastrous problems with an OS X release.
He doesn't discuss my experiences -- many firewire peripherals are plagued by sleep/wake problems with some versions of OS X and some Apple hardware.
Interestingly he says FW 400 ports are very vulnerable to being shorted. It's apparently a basic design flaw. Seems related to power-up drains -- from now on I'll power-up my drive before I connect it to my iBook.
AMD launches Personal Internet Communicator - $185 for the world
Geekzone, mobile forums
A sealed WinCE PC with XP extensions. Ships with browser, spreadsheet. Sealed, fanless, robust. $185 price point.
A sealed WinCE PC with XP extensions. Ships with browser, spreadsheet. Sealed, fanless, robust. $185 price point.
Dell aphorisms
PalmInfocenter.com: IDC: Handheld Market Declines 3rd Consecutive Quarter
I think Dell makes fairly lousy products that cost too much. Their web services are poor and their customer support worse.
Dell is worth billions, I'm worth .... ummm.
Anyway, here's a list of (somewhat repetitive) alleged Dell aphorisms, taken from comments to the above story. Keep in mind that these may be more what the Dell company "says" than what it "does". Emphases mine.
I think Dell makes fairly lousy products that cost too much. Their web services are poor and their customer support worse.
Dell is worth billions, I'm worth .... ummm.
Anyway, here's a list of (somewhat repetitive) alleged Dell aphorisms, taken from comments to the above story. Keep in mind that these may be more what the Dell company "says" than what it "does". Emphases mine.
Between 1984-87, Michael Dell managed to take his company from a $1,000 hobby to a $160 million business. In 1999, it was worth $18 billion and had experienced a 36,000 percent growth. Dell is a 'Good to Great' company. Michael Dell exhibits the type of leadership that a 'Good to Great' company should have.
Dell's Big Picture:
1. Build a business on what people want instead of what you think they want:
A. Listen to the customer.
B. Respond to the customer.
C. Deliver what they want.
2. Success is a matter of learning and identifying core strengths.
3. Every new growth opportunity has a level of risk.
4. Try to identify potential problems early and fix them.
5. Pace investment to match progress.
6. If there is a way to get something done more quickly and easily, try it.
7. Eliminate the middle man.
8. Opportunity is part immersion and part instinct.
Dell's Competitive Strategies:
1. Faster speed to market.
2. Superior customer service.
3. Commitment to produce high quality and high performance product.
4. Rapid entry to the internet. The PC was going to be the business choice for the future.
5. Surround yourself with smart advisors. If you hire good people they will bring other good people to the organization.
6. Dell's Two Golden Rules:
A. Disdain inventory.
B. Always listen to the customer.
7. Always sell direct.
8. Build your infrastructure as you grow. Slow and steady growth with a focus on liquidity.
9. Communication is the most important tool in recovering from mistakes.
10. Interject functional excellence and maintain accountability.
11. Segment by customer. Segmentation offers the solution to rapid growth.
12. Maximize strengths to improve profit.
13. The quality of information is proportional to the amount inventory. Focus on getting quality information and decreasing inventory.
14. Information Technology must reduce obstacles to the origin and flow of information.
15. Achieve velocity by selecting the minimum number of parts that will cover the largest portion of the market sector.
Dell's view on company culture:
1. Mobilize around a common goal.
2. Invest in long term goals
3. Don't leave the talent search to human resources.
4. Cultivate commitment to personal growth.
5. Get involved.
Dell's list of Don'ts:
1. Don't be satisfied.
2. Don't waste precious resources.
3. Don't play hard to get.
4. Marry high tech and high touch.
5. Don't forget that customers have different fears, questions, and sensitivities.
Dell's beliefs about the customer:
1. See the big picture.
2. Run with suggestions from the customer.
3. Always think bottom line (find ways to help the customer cut costs).
4. Make yourself valuable to the customer.
5. Be a student.
Dell's guidelines for communication:
1. Don't underestimate the value of information.
2. Communicate directly with the customer.
3. Work toward increasing demand verses supply.
4. Think real time.
5. R&D must deliver value-added stuff for the customer.
6. Get online and learn from the customer.
7. Focus on the customer and not the competition.
Opener worm for OS X
McAfee Inc.
The first significant OS X security threat found in the wild. It's not yet clear how it spreads. I should probably stop running OS X as admin and switch to running as a regular user.
Macintouch suggests some fixes. I'm waiting a few days on implementing those.
Update: One of the preventive measures for this class of worm is to change the privileges on library/StartupItems. I'm waiting for word from Apple on that one. The other measure is not to run as admin. That means if something tries to install, you get a pw request. I set up a new admin account and made my regular account non-admin. My new admin account has a very short username, so it's fast to type it when authenticating.
I have to authenticate to delete or install apps, but it only takes a minute. OS X Panther works very well this way, much smoother than Jaguar. I did notice some operations seem slower, but that might be my imagination.
The first significant OS X security threat found in the wild. It's not yet clear how it spreads. I should probably stop running OS X as admin and switch to running as a regular user.
Macintouch suggests some fixes. I'm waiting a few days on implementing those.
Update: One of the preventive measures for this class of worm is to change the privileges on library/StartupItems. I'm waiting for word from Apple on that one. The other measure is not to run as admin. That means if something tries to install, you get a pw request. I set up a new admin account and made my regular account non-admin. My new admin account has a very short username, so it's fast to type it when authenticating.
I have to authenticate to delete or install apps, but it only takes a minute. OS X Panther works very well this way, much smoother than Jaguar. I did notice some operations seem slower, but that might be my imagination.
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