November 2008 Archives

Where are all the 30" LCD HDTVs?

By
Dave Cortright
on November 30, 2008 9:00 AM | | Comments (0)
30 inch cinema display.jpgI heard about how there is both a glut of LCDs on the market, and how the down economy is going to make for some killer deals on LCD HDTVs. That may be true, but I'm still constrained by my beautiful cherry wood entertainment center. I'm not willing to give it up, so I can only get a TV that is no wider than 29.5" horizontally. And that leaves me with some pretty slim pickings.

Who in the industry decided that screen size should jump from 26" to 32"? I have no desire to get a 26" TV. None. I won't do it. And yet all of the 32" TVs are simply too wide to fit in my cabinet.

I'm half tempted to just buy a 30" computer monitor and use that as my TV. The sad thing is, these cost 2-3× what a TV would. and of course I'll need a separate tuner. But I'll probably want to get a Tivo anyway, so maybe this is the way to go after all.

I want to be CEO of Yahoo

By
Dave Cortright
on November 28, 2008 7:01 PM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)
new_yahoo_logo.gif
I know it's crazy, but I want to be CEO of Yahoo. I think I could be the perfect guy to help focus the company and turn things around. And serendipitously, I happen to be looking for a new job right now. It's perfect.

I recently read a book called Do You Matter? which outlines how the design thinking process really needs to be embedded throughout all aspects of a company in order for it to really succeed these days. I definitely have a strong talent for doing this, having done it at both large and small companies over the last 15 years in areas as diverse as product definition, product development, customer support, and yes even operations and facilities. While I don't have an MBA, I have a lot of other things going for me.

I'm tall (6'3"), white, and I have great hair. I'm reasonably attractive, and while I don't currently play golf, I'd be more than willing to take it up. Plus, my compensation requirements are pretty reasonable. $250k base salary and no bonus. Options for 1% of the company. Oh, and I'd love a Tesla company car. That's it.

I have the distinct advantage of having worked at Yahoo for nearly three years, so I have good insight into how the company is run, and what needs to be fixed. It's no secret. I'll lay it all out here.

Yahoo is an advertising company first and foremost. It needs to focus on becoming the best damn internet advertising company out there. Period. Consumer sites and services are nice, and Yahoo has done them well, but they are secondary. Cut back to just the bare essentials that are both really popular and really profitable. This probably means divesting the search business. That's OK. Yahoo's been at it for many years now and is simply not making any progress here. Cut the losses and focus on something else. There is massive opportunity cost to continuing pouring money down that hole.

I can do this. I know what my strengths are. And I know where I'll need to surround myself with others who can help me with my weaknesses (finance, legal, etc). I really love the company and I want to see it succeed. So if you're on the CEO search team, give me a call. Give me a chance.

iPhone: the perfect job interview tool

By
Dave Cortright
on November 15, 2008 7:00 AM | | Comments (2)
iphone_map_starbucks.jpgI'm deep in the job interview process, and I have been driving up to San Francisco nearly every day for the past 3 weeks for interviews. The iPhone has become the perfect and indispensable tool.

I don't use many of the features on it, but those that I do use are critically valuable. The phone, obviously, to make and receive calls. Email, to check for new missives on the go, and to respond to anything time critical, SMS for last-minute syncing with interviewers. And the maps. Oh my god, the maps.

Mapping is the killer feature for me. I use it all the time. Obviously I use it to find destinations and get driving directions to them. But I also use it to find parking, look for local vegetarian restaurants, find nearby shopping and just seeing where the hell I am while traveling. (Tip: double-tap to zoom in, tap once with 2 fingers to zoom out. Yeah, totally non-obvious. Maps needs better single-handed zooming.)

I have the original iPhone, so my current location isn't as good as with a GPS. But it's good enough, and that's all that matters. Using my iPhone, I found the Portsmith parking garage, just 1 block away from my meeting at the TransAmerica tower. I got to the meeting on time and only paid $7.50 for 3 hours of parking.

Because of my iPhone, I no longer need to plan before leaving the house. I can do everything just-in-time while I'm out and about. I've even had several phone interviews in the car with one company while driving up for an on-site interview with a second company. Now that's multi-tasking.

And when I'm done with all of my job-seeking tasks, I switch over to the iPod app and groove to Death Cab, Ben Folds, and Dr. Horrible.

I have seen the future of mobile computing, and I am living it today with my iPhone.

Ben Folds: rocking the Warfield

By
Dave Cortright
on November 14, 2008 8:00 AM | | Comments (1)
benfolds.jpgI had the pleasure of attending the Ben Folds concert last night (11/13/08) at the Warfield in San Francisco. The guy is simply amazing. So talented. The great thing is, he basically admitted that the "fake" songs that he and the band wrote and recorded in a day are in many ways better than the ones on the real album. He played all the fake songs.

He voice was a bit shot. He had a hard time hitting some of the notes. And it was freaking loud. Why do they do that at concerts? Thankfully I remembered to buy earplugs at a Walgreen's before I went. But overall, an amazing show.

Even the song I liked the least (Free Coffee) was interesting. I had no idea the main keyboard in it was a "prepared" piano: Altoid tins placed on the strings and amplifying the whole thing through a distortion box. Cool.

I want to be just like Ben Folds when I grow up.

(The photo is from this amazing set by DrFindley.)

Great customer experience: Topeak

By
Dave Cortright
on November 13, 2008 7:00 AM | | Comments (0)
topeak joe blow pro 06.jpgI bought a Joe Blow floor pump for my bike several years ago. It was a bit more than I had hoped to spend, but I really liked the ergonomic handle, the dual head design (it works with both presta and schrader valves), and the easy-to-read gauge.

About a month ago I went to top off my tire pressure, and the pump wasn't working. Closer inspection showed a key piece of the head was somehow missing, preventing the system from pressurizing.

I thought about trying to fix it myself, and then considered just dumping it and buying a new one. But then I thought, in this new era of closer company/customer relations, why not try the interwebs and see what sort of support presence Topeak has?

A pretty damn good one, as it turns out. It took me a few minutes digging through their site to find it under the FAQ section, but you can register and then open customer support tickets. (Email or a simple web form might have been nicer, but that's a minor point.)

I posted my issue, asking for a new part to fix my pump, or offering to send it in if they wanted to take a look at it. Less than a day later, I got an email saying they were sending me a replacement head for the pump. Two days later, it came in the mail. It took less than a minute to swap in the new head. And now the pump is working perfectly.

Absolutely great customer experience here. No hassle asking me to dig up proof of purchase or anything like that. They didn't ask for money to cover the part (though I gladly would have paid), and the turnaround time far exceeded my expectations. Topeak is now a premium brand in my mind, and I'm definitely going to gravitate towards them for future bike accessories.

The power of blogger influence

By
Dave Cortright
on November 11, 2008 7:00 AM | | Comments (1)
I recently had a bad experience with a technical recruiting company, which I documented here and here. The second article is now the #9 search result when googling "toptech ventures". Even better, that same article shows up as the first 3 results when googling "toptech ventures sucks".

This sort of power of individuals like me to significantly influence the perception of any company's (or person's) brand has pretty profound implications. First, it means that company's need to be a lot more cognizant of ensuring a good experience for every person they interact with. Like an army of secret shoppers, we are constantly evaluating and scoring your brand. Any one of us could be the blogger that exposes the truth.

Of course it works both ways. Bloggers have the power to define the brand positively from their positive experiences, such as this one.

The second implication is that everyone (both organizations and people) is going to need to take a much more active role in managing their brand. There's not much you can do about the stray negative datapoint. But what you can do is ensure there is a variety of positive data points out there, which will more than offset any negative influence.

Individuals, get started today. Get your own page on the web and own the positive message that people see when they google you.

MacBook better than MacBook Pro

By
Dave Cortright
on November 8, 2008 6:00 PM | | Comments (0)
macbook-white.jpgI just switched over from my MacBook Pro work computer to a new MacBook I personally bought to replace it. It's the older model in white, which I got brand new from Best Buy for the low price of $850. (Thanks DealMac!) And after using it for a few hours, I'm convinced this is the better of the two computers.

I really like the look and feel of the white plastic better than the metal and plastic on the Pro. After a year's worth of wear and tear, the Pro is starting to come apart at the seams. The latch to close and open the computer isn't working as well as it used to. Plus the keyboard and the trackpad on the MacBook feel so much nicer.

It does have a smaller screen, but I can deal with that. I'll hook it up to an external monitor when I need more real estate. The built-in one works fine for basic web and communications tasks.

And the other thing that's better about the MacBook: the design for upgradability. I recently went through this horrendous process to upgrade the hard drive in my Pro. I had to remove 23 screws some philips, some torx. (Why not choose one and use it everywhere, Apple?) I also had to remove the battery, a faceplace, RAM, keyboard, and a stablizing bracket before finally getting to the hard drive itself. nd even then, I had to carefully unplug the data connector and sliding the hard drive out sideways being careful not to damage the fragile data ribbon spanning the top of the hard drive.

Contrast this with the steps to remove a MacBook hard drive: remove the battery, remove 3 screws and a faceplate, pull the tab on the hard drive.

It feels like Apple had their A team on the low-end model, and their B team on the higher-end one. I wonder if that's still the case with the new line of laptops they just released? At any rate, I love my new MacBook, and actually prefer the styling to that of the new one.

If you want to get one, Amazon has them for $944.

On gathering usage data

By
Dave Cortright
on November 7, 2008 5:00 PM | | Comments (0)

People are masters of saying one thing and doing another, particularly when it comes to nearly automatic behavior. We find that searchers often turn so quickly to Google that they don't really think too much about what they're actually searching for. It's surprising, but often we'll see people trying to find out something about a topic, but then never actually mention the topic itself. That is, there's often a big discrepancy between what they'll tell me (the human observer) they're trying to do, and the search terms they enter into Google.

...

Asking someone about their emotional response to a web page just isn't a useful way to get that data. But watching them in situ, as they actually use Google to go about their daily search lives can reveal all kinds of remarkable, otherwise undiscoverable, and actionable insights into searcher behavior.


From The Official Google Blog.

TopTech Ventures sucks; they are harassing me

By
Dave Cortright
on November 6, 2008 12:00 AM | | Comments (0)
I am now up to literally 12 unsolicited phone calls from at least 3 different people from the most cluelessly aggressive headhunter firm in the world: TopTech Ventures. I am purposefully not linking to their web site as I don't want to give any of this blog's Google juice to them.

How have you annoyed me? Let me count the ways:
  1. Unsolicited calls. If you're going to reach out to me, start with an email.
  2. Calls from multiple people at the same firm. Get your act together and have one single point of contact.
  3. Caller ID appears from ever-changing 800 numbers, or worse as Blocked. This makes you look like a shady org that's trying to hide something.
  4. Not getting the hint. When I don't respond to the first 2 or 3 voice messages, stop calling and leaving them.
  5. Not getting the hint, part 2. When I forward you the link to my initial rant on your bad behavior, don't take that as a sign to re-double your efforts to woo me. It's over. You lost. Move on.
I only hope that this post will be used as evidence in the inevitable BBB or FTC investigation against them and their boiler room business tactics.

Protect marriage; outlaw divorce

By
Dave Cortright
on November 5, 2008 7:00 AM | | Comments (6)
Update: Sign the petition to outlaw divorce in CA!

I'm overall happy with the results of the election. I, for one, was convinced Obama was presidential from the time I heard him speak at the Democratic convention a few years back.

But this whole proposition 8, banning gay marriage thing is just puzzling. Their tag line is Protect Marriage. But from what? Proponents claim "It protects children from being taught in public schools that same-sex marriage is the same as traditional marriage...", but it doesn't shield anyone from the fact that gays are fellow citizens and live their lives in the same ways that straights do. Even if gays can't legally marry, they can still love, and live together, and yes even have & raise children.

So it appears there is a majority of people in California in favor of "protecting marriage". Great, then let's do it right. I propose we put another proposition on the next ballot that outlaws divorce. Divorce only serves to weaken the sanctity of marriage. Marriage is meaningless if you can enter and leave it on a whim as you would a boutique at the mall.

I haven't thought too much about the specific language of the bill yet, but here's a first draft. Please help me refine it in the comments.
  1. People may only marry once. Once married you may not divorce. Once married, you may not marry again.
  2. Divorces granted in other states will not be recognized.
  3. The courts will not get involved with "custody" for married couples who choose to live apart for whatever reason. It is up to them to figure things out.
  4. If you are married and have kids (minors), you are responsible for them until they reach adulthood, no matter where you live and what your financial situation. You will be held accountable, including being convicted of child neglect.
  5. The same goes for your spouse. By entering into marriage, you are legally bound to them to support them for the rest of your life. And you will be held accountable to this.
Who's with me? Help me really restore the sanctity of marriage. Sign the petition.

Pete rates the CA propositions; yes on 2

By
Dave Cortright
on November 4, 2008 8:00 AM | | Comments (0)
factory-farming-chickens.jpgNot sure how to vote this year on the California propositions? Do you just want a bit more data to make you feel more sure of your decisions? Then head on over to PeteRates.com and read Pete's simple, straightforward reasoning on each one.

Or you can use my technique: when in doubt, vote no. The exception this year is Prop 2. Please vote yes on 2. Because you know just by looking at this picture that the current treatment of factory farmed animals is cruel, inhumane, and quite simply wrong.

Never, ever post your resume to HotJobs. Never.

By
Dave Cortright
on November 3, 2008 5:00 PM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)
I made the mistake of applying for a job via HotJobs. It was a start-up that looked like a good fit for me, but the company description was sufficiently masked by the recruiter. I couldn't track them down independently via search. Against my better judgment, I applied.

HotJobs asked for a resume during the application process (and they wouldn't take a PDF, so I had to spend 15 minutes reformatting it as HTML. Come on, get with the times here!) And in applying for that one job, apparently HotJobs took that as a sign that I was desperate for anyone to contact me with job offers. They happily posted my resume publicly for the world to see -- not just to the listing I applied for. And that's when the recruiting vultures got their hands on it.

I've gotten maybe 8 unsolicited calls from recruiters since that. I pulled my resume down immediately after the first call, but by that point the damage had been done. I got two calls within the space of 5 minutes from the same boiler room, some place called TopTech Ventures headed up by douchebag supreme, Matthew Strassberg. These guys are shysters. One of them actually said in his voice message, "I'm looking at your resume here, and I think I can really help you. I'm not exactly sure what you're looking for so give me a call and let's talk..." Not sure what I'm looking for?! Are you serious?! Did you even read my freaking resume? You know, the part right below the phone number where it says:

OBJECTIVE: To be the lead designer creating simple, useful, and usable user experiences that delight customers and drive product success...
So, on posting a resume to HotJobs... don't do it. And as for me -- never again.

Update: The TopTech asshats keep emailing and calling me, despite my clear signals that I'm not interested in their services. Way to destroy your brand there, guys. You're doing a heck of a job.
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