Newest Learfield blogger (the Ramblings of Rick)

Posted on by

Say howdy to the newest Learfield blogger (the Ramblings of Rick), Rick Kennedy. I normally give newbies a few days to get their feet under them, as it were. But I have a feeling Rick will stick. His first post is a gracious nod to a few of the the other Learfield bloggers, including smays:

Perhaps the most diligent blogger I’ve ever known is Steve Mays. He’s not an “old guy”, but is an older gentleman. He’s of an age from which one wouldn’t expect much computer savvy, let alone tight, quality blogging. He blogs every day, lets loose his conviction, political views and general moral fibre (or lack thereof) and packages it all in very entertaining and informative prose.

Older gentleman? Let’s face it…from 58 you can throw your walker and hit 60. But it’s tough to see in print, even in the middle of some very kind words. Colonel Sanders is an “older gentleman.” Mark Twain is an “older gentleman.” (Okay, they’re dead, but you get my drift) I want to be your Funky Web Monkey. Or, your Pile Drivin’ Digital Daddy. Almost anything but an “older gentleman.” (Sigh)

But let’s not make this about me. Let’s keep an eye on The Ramblings of Rick and encourage our new Brother in Blogging.

Update: I couldn’t sleep, worrying about “Ramblings of Rick” as a blog title. I humbly offer the following as alternatives:

 

Ricky, Ricky bo Bicky Bonana fanna fo Ficky Fee fy mo Mickey, Ricky! Dot Com
Brother Rick’s Traveling Blogathon
Rick Shaw, Kung Fu Blogger
Rick’s Place
Rickaford Nation

Where are the transistor radios?

Posted on by

I’ve come across Zing a couple of times this weekend. I gather this little gizmo is still in prototype but it sounds interesting. For lack of a better word, they’re little radios that have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radios built in. The radios are used to download music and to upload data about what you are listening to. If you have one of these players, you can do cool things, like see what your friends are listening to, then play samples of those tracks, or buy songs and albums directly from the player. The first Zing-powered players should ship this year, carrying the Sirius brand.

radioAs I read about this I mentally pictured all the people I see listening to iPods. Which begs a question: Why don’t I see anyone walking around with a transistor (do they call them that?) radio? I mean, there are some really great radio programs…are we only listening to them in the car or at the office? Why? If I’m willing to stand in line at Subway with nano earbuds hanging down my face…why not listen to my local radio station?

After all, what could be easier? No iTunes to futz with and sync. Just drop your little transitor radio in your pocket and go. I’m missing something here, aren’t I?

Keeping customer data secure

Posted on by

Some dumb-ass working for the government takes a laptop full of veterans’ records home and it gets stolen. Naw, that doesn’t surprise me. Big accounting firm like Ernst & Young pulls a similar stunt and loses 230,000 records belonging to one of their big clients. Okay, that’s a little hard to imagine… but it happened. Could it happen at a company like Amazon? Not if we can belive Werner Vogels, the company’s chief technology officer:

“…to get to Amazon customer credit cards you will need a small army of Marines. Although recently we have been discussing (how) to place physical and electronic booby-traps such that the servers will self-destruct when compromised, to deal with such full physically attack …”

Now that’s what I call contingency planning. I always to try buy from/through Amazon. Mr. Vogels is one of the discussion leaders at Gnomedex.

If you can’t recall my name…

Posted on by

One of our affiliate relations reps was calling on a station manager in Burlington, Iowa. The manager –whom I knew many years ago– asked about me but couldn’t remember my name. The best he could come up with was:

“He’s a great guy… he is nuts!”

Our rep immediately responded: Steve Mays

There are a lot of “great guys” at Learfield and many of them are a little nutty. I’m flattered beyond words to think I might be near the top of that list (in anyone’s mind). And of all the ways I might be remembered, I can think of none better.