Posts Tagged ‘service’
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You’ve been working at your job for years. You’ve made lots of money for the company and are the most loyal employee they know of. Yet, tough times are ahead and the company decides you are one of the 10% they have to let go to stay afloat. It’s a frustrating thing to have happen, but what are you gonna do?
Now let’s flip that: You are at your job and survive the cut, but now you are in the position to take up a part of that person who was laid off.
As companies like Intel and Google are looking at trimming the fat, it makes the average consumer wonder – what will our customer experience be without 10% of the workforce?
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No Comments »Wow. It was about a year ago I asked for people to send in thoughts as to what to expect in 2008. I also made some Technology predictions. But the real question was – How far off was I?
This is actually part 1 of a 2-part story. This first part reviews the predictions I made last year and how far off I was. Part 2 will have this years predictions, including predictions from CEO’s CTO’s TechPodcasters and even a Psychic.
So without any further ado, let’s pick apart my idiocy from last year:
OLPC will have some growing pains. The first part of OLPC will be the easiest. Maintaining the machines will be the trick. Microsoft coming onboard will muddy the water, but they might be able to do things like offer a better support network to third world countries.
No Comments »It has been a long day. It all started yesterday when we began the process of moving a website to a different server so I could put up the new version of said site. All heck seemed to happen after that.
We’ll leave the water heater out of this story, let’s just say I have taken 3 cold showers in the last 3 days. YAY!
I have found I not only hit the limit on my website, I went WAYYYY past it. I had to remove 2/3rds of the podcasts just to get under quota. I am not sure what happened – but now I am on the hunt for a service to store the data. Once it finds a new home, I will make all adjustments. For now – Episodes 1-52 of the weekly podcast and the first 24 Quickcasts / 5 min show. are down.
So in momentus fashion, I offer this week’s Bitstrips to use part of an old favorite Edgar Allen Poe poem to create the scene and this week’s comic. Enjoy. (BTW – no Week in Tech History for the weekend due to the podcast space problem. Sorry).
Happy Halloween!!
No Comments »As a consultant, I use my own equipment all the time. When I get to a specific client, sometimes I am asked to sign a waiver that states I will not take company data. I sign it because I am not going to ruin any relationship by walking out with secrets or customer lists.
Data nowadays can be controlled. We at the Quickcast have talked about how that can happen many a time. However, the most important thing in a work environment is to make sure the data stays within the company – even after a person has left. Citrix Systems has given Employees a bonus payment to buy their own laptop for corporate use. While it does give advantage, could the company lose control of the data?
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Comcast has been riddled in the news lately. Bandwidth caps, overage fees all for simply surfing the internet. However they simultaneously opened Fancast – a Video Download site which won’t go against that cap. They also have Comcast.net, Disney Connection and Rhapsody Player Plus – All within their community.
There was another company that tried to keep their members contained within their virtual fence. That company was AOL. However, AOL has been opening up for all to use. Still, I have to ask the question: Is Comcast becoming the next AOL?
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No Comments »Open Source seems to be a growing movement. Not everything is part of the “GNU General Public License” though. Some have even gone as far to make their own Public License standard.
Microsoft does have some Open Source to them, but what would happen if they took their Operating System to that standard? Would people accept the Microsoft OS, or would they finally make the switch to Linux?
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No Comments »Interview with John Hartman – Coffee and customer service – Good websites for News – Looking for a Flip Video Camera – Leaves are turning brown…
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1 Comment »Digg grew to a powerhouse site in a very short time. The Popular News Aggregator service continues to be a great place for people to not only read news, but also contribute to what they think is news. Alexa reports that Digg has been fluctuating around the top 100 to 150 sites being viewed. 52.5% of those viewers are in the US.
The rumor mill is stirring up again that Google has put interest in buying Digg. TechCrunch reports that the “Rumor” is Digg will be selling for $200 million although CEO Jay Adelson denies it. Will this be a good deal for Digg, or can they grow and survive on their own?
Digg started in 2004 by Kevin Rose, Own Byrne, Ron Gorodetzky and Jay Adelson. The idea was to aggregate news items and put popularity to it. People would place a “Digg it” icon on their site in which you could easily send the article to Diggs news feed. If another person liked the site, they would Digg it. Others could just as easily Bury it. Some sites get Dugg so much so quickly, the flooding of viewers takes down the web page. It’s a very powerful medium, and definitely something that Google could use.
There are other sites like this. Fark is one of the oldest in which we talked about in a previous article on Geekazine. Yahoo has their “Buzz”, which is awfully similar to Digg. Reddit, Technorati, Del.icio.us and StumbleUpon all have similar popularity systems. However, Digg seems to be more popular in the US. According to Alexa Del.icio.us, for example, actually has a decent popularity in Germany.
Why would Google want Digg?
Two things here. First is the voting system. It’s not only very sound but also comes with a ton of analytical widgets that can spot trends and keywords. Even more, a large number of people actually have the “Digg” widget located on their sites, some of them have multiple widgets just on one page.
Second, it’s the community. Digg has a lot of members that contribute countless numbers of articles. When a new article is submitted, it must first be verified so it’s not a duplicate. After agreeing it’s not and a quick CAPTCHA verification, it gets put into the Queue. Of course that is where the members really shine. They can rise that article up to the top, or drop it like a mobster in Cement shoes off the East River.
Loading ...What does Google gain in this?
Like I said, Digg has some cool systems in place to view trends and keywords. Their “Digg Labs” shows statistics as they happen in cool little flash pages. Trends and Keywords are big for marketing. Specializing ads, pitching companies with almost picture perfect statistics – All can give Google a better advantage in the market today.
It also can be great to see in search results. Maybe an “Article Trends” chart could be called up to find out when that information was most popular. It could definitely be put to use in their Webmaster Tools, Adsense and DoubleClick ventures.
What would that mean to Digg?
One of two things. The Digg Staff would either be incorporated into operations at Google – basically be called Google Digg or DigGoogle: or Google would let Digg look like a separate being and cross platform with them. I would guess the latter is going to happen. Sometime full incorporation means job exodus and loss of creativity. Not to mention members jumping ship to other competitors.
On another front of this, Microsoft put in 11.3 Million in a 3 year advertising deal to Digg. If this acquisition happens, this contract could be axed overnight. If that happens, hey Microsoft – we at Geekazine have some ad spots you can purchase for considerably less. Give me a call.
Of course it won’t be the end of the world for Microsoft. Like I said before, there are other sites that are very similar. Digg will always have competition via Yahoo, Reddit, Technorati, Del.icio.us or on any of the other sites.
Bottom line, this merge would be great for both. Kevin Rose and the gang would get a boost for all the work put into Digg and maybe a shiny new title. Google would get a ranking system and analytical tools which in turn would also be bestowed upon the community of webmasters for their sites. It looks like a good Win Win situation for everyone.
That is, if it’s true…
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3 Comments »Drum work – New 5 min segment – Thanks to Slashdot Review for the Plug – Email
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Fakes. Throughout time we’ve had to deal with those who want to pass something off as an original. Sometimes we are not fooled. Other times we go years thinking that it’s the real thing until some new technology tells us different.
In the last week I’ve seen many fake photos of different items – most notably the Large GPS picture and Windows 7 screenshots. There is even a video out there that supposedly displays Windows 7 functionality. While impressive, it makes me wonder if someone is trying to pass these off to make a quick buck?
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No Comments »That’s great, it started with video tapes, movies in the home at 8, Lenny Bruce is still not afraid. I remember when we got our first VCR. It was a Betamax and we had some of the coolest movies. Of course, the Beta went the way of the do do bird. Then it was VHS. Come and almost gone.
Now it’s the DVDs turn. Earlier in the year the big question was “Who was going to replace DVD’s: HD DVD or Blu-Ray?” Now we know that answer – but does it matter? Blu-Ray players really haven’t been selling like hotcakes and if you have one, you know that it’s not the fastest thing on the planet. The ultimate irony is that Sony owned Beta and lost to VHS. Now Sony won with Blu-Ray, but will that only be a small win as alternate formats are entering into the market?
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