Rounders vs. Accumulators

Posted on July 8, 2007 by Steve Mays

“Most people have at least a few big problems in their life. But the vast majority of life’s problems are the little kind. There are two ways to deal with the little problems.

ROUNDERS: This group rounds things off. A problem that’s a two on a scale of one to ten gets rounded to zero. If a rounder has five problems that are all about a two on a scale of one to ten, he’ll tell you he has no problems.

ACCUMULATORS: Accumulators add up all the little problems until they equal one big problem. If an accumulator has five problems that are each a two on a scale of one to ten, that feels like having one problem that’s a ten.

At the end of this thought-provoking post, Mr. Adams gives his readers an assignment: Describe your own job in one sentence. For example: “I help people hate each other.” (Divorce Lawyer)

That “in one sentence” part makes it very difficult. The best I could come up with is: “I drive one of the Sunday School buses for the Church of the Web.”

A new media model?

Posted on July 7, 2007 by Steve Mays

“The business of news is changing in ways that reduce traditional newsroom career opportunities, while opening more options for journalists who are willing and able to do more than simply report for someone else’s venue. I suspect we’ll start seeing some major news brands morph into alliances between scaled-back in-house newsrooms and independent, online-focused news and content operations – including more hyper-local and niche news.”

[E-Media Tidbits/Poynteronline]

iPhone Confessions: Tom Piper (Week One)

Posted on July 6, 2007 by Steve Mays

If the hype surrounding the iPhone hasn’t subsided yet, it will soon. Then what? Once the new has worn off this Next New Thing, will users still love ’em, or will they –like your mom’s cooking– be taken for granted. Or, worse yet, will the shortcomings (so well chronicled) become annoying and tiresome?

Tom Piper Those are some of the questions I hope to answer with a series of interviews I’m calling The iPhone Confessions. Brief visits with a few friends who took the iPhone plunge. Are they still gushing at the end of Week One? Or grumbling?

We’ll start with a visit with Tom Piper, a looonnnggg time Mac enthusiast and Early Adopter (LTMEEA). He was there when the iPhone was announced and in line to buy one of the first batch. The interview runs about 12 minutes.

Download/Listen: 12 min MP3

iPhone: The Music Video

Posted on July 5, 2007 by Steve Mays

This little ditty –by NYT tech writer David Pogue (and friends)– was posted sometime earlier today and (as I type this) has been viewed 3,772 times. I found it on the digg home page so we can assume it will be seen many more times.

I have to wonder if anyone has felt moved to this kind of hijinx by any previous cell phone? Maybe. I just missed it.

The Dip: Knowing when to quit, and when to stick

Posted on July 4, 2007 by Steve Mays

The Dip

“Every new project (or job, or hobby, or company) starts out exciting and fun. Then it gets harder and less fun, until it hits a low point-really hard, and not much fun at all. And then you find yourself asking if the goal is even worth the hassle. Maybe you’re in a Dip — a temporary setback that will get better if you keep pushing. But maybe it’s really a Cul-de-Sac, which will never get better, no matter how hard you try.

What really sets superstars apart from everyone else is the ability to escape dead ends quickly, while staying focused and motivated when it really counts.

Winners quit fast, quit often, and quit without guilt — until they commit to beating the right Dip for the right reasons.

Losers, on the other hand, fall into two basic traps. Either they fail to stick out the Dip-they get to the moment of truth and then give up — or they never even find the right Dip to conquer.” [Squidoo]

I don’t blame Mr. Godin for wanting to make a buck, but this little “book” (about 70 tiny pages) should have been an eBook. Which I probably would not have bought, so… there you go.

But it brought back some memories.

It only took me about 3 months (in 1970) to decide I did not want to be a lawyer. I quit and I quit early. I then spent about a year as a Postal Inspector before calling it quits. I remember my boss urging me to stick it out.

I’m a Seth fan and found The Dip worth the hour it took to read. A few quotes after the jump.

Continue reading →

Playing with George’s iPhone

Posted on July 3, 2007 by Steve Mays

“The iPhone will flop because it doesn’t work with corporate email.” Yep, that’s a problem. For some folks, not for me. I don’t use Outlook outside of the office. If I want to check my corporate email from home or on the road, I log in to our Exchange server from a web browser. At tonight’s Mac user group, George logged me in from his iPhone and –while you can’t sync– you can check your corporate email from the iPhone.

Should we call it iHD?

Posted on July 3, 2007 by Steve Mays

“Apple moved more iPhones in three days than the radio industry has moved HD Radios in three years. Now, strictly speaking it’s not fair to compare a tech phenomenon to the many that are not. Then again, very few tech gadgets have hundreds of millions of dollars of complimentary on-air support and the power of the radio industry behind them.

The consumer is speaking volumes with numbers like these. Are you listening to what he’s telling you? Sure, HD Radio chips will be tiny and efficient enough to slip into mp3 players and mobile phones by 2008. But has anyone asked whether or not consumers will want them there?”

– Mark Ramsey

Ripley: The Princess and the Pea

Posted on July 1, 2007 by Steve Mays

I haven’t posted photos of Ripley and Lucy for a while. Lots of reasons, none of them good ones. So here is Ripley in all her majesty. From this position, she can direct low growls and death rays at the squirrels that dare to come into her yard.

Ripley

iPhone goes on sale: Curly Howard alive and well!

Posted on June 30, 2007 by Steve Mays

Curly Lives! The local media were on hand for the Big iPhone Event yesterday. I was stunned to learn that one of my childhood idols, Curly Howard, is not only alive… but working as a videographer for one of our local TV stations. AgWired’s Chuck Zimmerman did a touch-and-go and took this photo (which I consider very flattering).

I’m embarrassed that I didn’t introduce myself, but I did watch the voice-over package that aired on the 10 o’clock news. About 40 seconds.

There was a photographer from the local newspaper on hand. A rather stern looking woman who didn’t seem to be having any fun. Her paper ran the iPhone story on page one (above the fold) this morning. With a couple of her photos.

All of which reminds me of the wonderful freedom of blogging. I can post what I want (video, stills), when I want, with no pesky editors looking over my shoulder. I wouldn’t suggest for a second that my amateur efforts are on par with these pros. I would argue that I had more fun than they did and maybe some of that comes through in my posts.

And one more thing. The video that aired on the local TV station and the front page newspaper story –unless posted to their websites– is gone forever. With any luck, in a month or two, a Google search for “iPhone+jefferson city” will get you to smays.com.

MiPhone