Cold Storage

So teamwork, it’s pretty obvious that working together is...

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:56:08 -0400

So teamwork, it’s pretty obvious that working together is more valuable than working apart in a business environment but it’s not quite as intuitive why.

Everyone you know is more clever than you at something.

It’s a part of being human. We tend to build up certain skills and trade off others that we don’t think are important. Everyone does it. The result is that by mid-career you are filled with existential “holes” in your ability sets. There are two ways to fill those gaps, burn an obscene amount of time picking up one-off skills or find someone else that is better than you at it and let them do it.

Effective leaders know when to delegate tasks to people who would do them better. When you’re busy fighting with someone it’s hard to separate their strengths from all those nagging flaws you keep going on and on about. You become myopic. Myopia leads to a lot of bruised knees that brings down the productivity of everyone around you.

How much time do you spend thinking about that co-working that annoys you? Couldn’t you be doing something else with that time.

How often has office politics lead to the wrong people being assigned to the wrong tasks when a clear head could have easily fixed the problem?

Getting over yourself and learning to work together despite differences will help you earn back all this lost time, and help undo all of these useless mistakes.

(credit)

My Guide Of Guides

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:27:51 -0400

If you’re seeing this, you’re coming from Episode One of my new HTSAA project. Here is some reading material to get you started. Feel free to stop back here for whatever other bits of meta-information I decide to put into the ether.

Internet Bootcamp - I am really happy with how this turned out. It’s extremely heavy on search-related tips but if you are new to the web, that’s what you really need to know.

What Is Web 2.0? - Defining Web 2.0, hm … I give myself a 7.0 for the dismount.

HTSAA’s Guide To Blogging - Written when I had more time than wisdom, but it was well researched and I managed to hit some solid points.

The Five Roles Of Bloggers - A surprisingly clever look at all the roles that bloggers play.

Are You Ready To Start A Business? - Read it and tell me.

Startup Resources - Probably the most useful post I’ve ever put together.

Entrepreneurs Checklist - Followed by its almost as useful but snarky cousin.

Isn’t Everyone A Consultant These Days? - As true a year ago as it is today.

Ideas Are A Dime A Dozen - As it turns out, I’ve written three of these but this is my favorite.

My Next Ten Posts

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 22:50:37 -0400

I am really looking forward to my next ten blog posts on HTSAA. It’s the type of stuff I wish I had been clever enough to write two years ago. I hope you folks like them.

Also, I want to thank all my columnists who have worked really hard to give me the space to work on all the less fun stuff.

I’m not sure how this is relevant, but I have 30 days to...

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 04:17:00 -0400

I’m not sure how this is relevant, but I have 30 days to come up with 93 good ideas. So it begins, like all great human endeavors, with the cast of Farscape.

"Nomophobia is the fear of being out of mobile phone contact. The term was coined during a study by..."

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 04:08:13 -0400

“Nomophobia is the fear of being out of mobile phone contact. The term was coined during a study by the UK Post Office who commissioned YouGov, a UK-based research organisation to look at anxieties suffered by mobile phone users. The study found that nearly 53 percent of mobile phone users in Britain tend to be anxious when they “lose their mobile phone, run out of battery or credit, or have no network coverage”

- Wikiality - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomophobia

“Less than two months after his celebrating his 18th...

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:03:40 -0400

“Less than two months after his celebrating his 18th birthday, a blind, East Boston-based phone hacker has been arrested for paying a Sunday afternoon visit to the Verizon security officer who’d been chasing him.”

Fluid - An interesting new way to lock at web browsing.

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 02:35:30 -0400

Fluid - An interesting new way to lock at web browsing.

fred-wilson: how twitter came to be

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:33:22 -0400

fred-wilson:

how twitter came to be

“Among a fringe community of paranoids, aluminum helmets...

Thu, 29 May 2008 17:52:48 -0400

“Among a fringe community of paranoids, aluminum helmets serve as the protective measure of choice against invasive radio signals. We investigate the efficacy of three aluminum helmet designs on a sample group of four individuals. Using a $250,000 network analyser, we find that although on average all helmets attenuate invasive radio frequencies in either directions (either emanating from an outside source, or emanating from the cranium of the subject), certain frequencies are in fact greatly amplified. These amplified frequencies coincide with radio bands reserved for government use according to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). Statistical evidence suggests the use of helmets may in fact enhance the government’s invasive abilities. We speculate that the government may in fact have started the helmet craze for this reason.” — MIT

“Accounts vary on the origins of this complex, and indeed,...

Tue, 27 May 2008 01:48:15 -0400

“Accounts vary on the origins of this complex, and indeed, as to whether it was meant to be a hotel development or a housing development. Apparently, it was constructed in the 1960s and included/was to include a dam to protect it against sea surges, floors and stairs made of marble and a small amusement park. The site was commissioned by the government and local firms and there is no named architect.”

Lets play a game of “count the memes.” From Boing...

Fri, 23 May 2008 15:39:26 -0400

Lets play a game of “count the memes.” From Boing Boing.

"Person1: “When we build AI, why not just keep it in sealed hardware that can’t affect..."

Thu, 22 May 2008 13:54:28 -0400

“

Person1: “When we build AI, why not just keep it in sealed hardware that can’t affect the outside world in any way except through one communications channel with the original programmers? That way it couldn’t get out until we were convinced it was safe.”

Person2: “That might work if you were talking about dumber-than-human AI, but a transhuman AI would just convince you to let it out. It doesn’t matter how much security you put on the box. Humans are not secure.”

Person1: “I don’t see how even a transhuman AI could make me let it out, if I didn’t want to, just by talking to me.”

Person2: “It would make you want to let it out. This is a transhuman mind we’re talking about. If it thinks both faster and better than a human, it can probably take over a human mind through a text-only terminal.”

Person1: “There is no chance I could be persuaded to let the AI out. No matter what it says, I can always just say no. I can’t imagine anything that even a transhuman could say to me which would change that.”

Person2: “Okay, let’s run the experiment. We’ll meet in a private chat channel. I’ll be the AI. You be the gatekeeper. You can resolve to believe whatever you like, as strongly as you like, as far in advance as you like. We’ll talk for at least two hours. If I can’t convince you to let me out, I’ll Paypal you $10.”

”

- AI Box Experiment

New Yorker

Wed, 21 May 2008 16:06:02 -0400

New Yorker

“Hubris (sometimes spelled hybris; Greek: ὕβρις) is a term...

Tue, 20 May 2008 13:24:00 -0400

“Hubris (sometimes spelled hybris; Greek: ὕβρις) is a term currently used to indicate overweening pride, self-confidence or arrogance, often resulting in fatal retribution. In Ancient Greece, “hubris” referred to actions which, intentionally or not, shamed and humiliated the victim, and frequently the perpetrator as well. It was most evident in the public and private actions of the powerful and rich. The word was also used to describe those who considered themselves more important than the gods themselves.”

“Web 2.0 is a term describing the trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users.”

—Wiki pedia

How The Valley Is Blowing It

Mon, 19 May 2008 16:34:52 -0400

How The Valley Is Blowing It:

“Omphaloskepsis is the contemplation of one’s navel as an aid to meditation. It is well known in the usually jocular phrase directed towards self-absorbed pursuits: “contemplating one’s navel” or “navel-gazers”. This criticism is also often leveled at professions which are interested in themselves: movies about Hollywood, for example, or television shows about television writers.

From the Greek: omphalos (navel) + skepsis. The word has several other forms, such as omphaloskeptic, for someone who engages in navel-gazing, and omphaloskeptical, meaning to be in a self-absorbed state.” —Wikipedia

TV Shack

Mon, 19 May 2008 15:07:20 -0400

TV Shack: Something tells me that this won’t be around for all that long. Enjoy it while it lasts.

“New limited edition hi def projector, dvd player, ipod...

Mon, 19 May 2008 01:14:14 -0400

“New limited edition hi def projector, dvd player, ipod dock, sound system, card reader and entertainment system in an authentic R2D2 that you can control. He has hook ups for computer, gaming systems, sattelite, cable. Can even plug in your ipod to play movies up to 260” diagonally on wall or ceiling.”

“Fear mongering is often used in a time of war as a...

Sat, 17 May 2008 03:21:36 -0400

“Fear mongering is often used in a time of war as a political tactic to frighten citizens and influence their political views. Fear mongering in the United States surfaced most prominently during the era of McCarthyism, when the nation first faced the threat of nuclear attack. Since then politicians and pundits alike have realized and utilized the powerful influential impact that fear can have on American voters. Fear of terrorism born from the September 11th attacks has been arguably exploited by incumbent politicians to maintain their control of the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate, and Executive branch of the government.” —Wikipedia

For all the Twitter-addicts out there.

Thu, 15 May 2008 15:14:00 -0400

For all the Twitter-addicts out there.

Remember The Milk

Thu, 15 May 2008 14:14:22 -0400

Remember The Milk:

Student syndrome refers to the phenomenon that many students will begin to fully apply themselves to a task only just before a deadline. This leads to wasting any buffers built into individual task duration estimates. The term originated in Eliyahu M. Goldratt’s novel-style book[not specific enough to verify] Critical Chain. The principle is also addressed in Agile Software Development[not specific enough to verify]. For example, if a group of students goes to a professor and asks for an extension to a deadline, they will usually defend their request by noting how much better their project will be if they are given more time to work on it; they request this with the intent to distribute their work time across the remainder of the time until the deadline. In reality, however, most students will have other tasks or events that place demands on their time. They will often end up close to the same situation they started with, wishing they had more time as the new delayed deadline approaches.

This same behaviour is seen in businesses; in project and task estimating, a time- or resource-buffer is applied to the task to allow for overrun or other scheduling problems. However, with student syndrome the latest possible start of tasks causes the buffer for any given task to be wasted beforehand, rather than kept in reserve. Like students, many workers do not complete assignments early, but wait until the last minute before starting, often having to rush to submit their assignment minutes before the deadline. A similar phenomenon is seen every year in the United States and Mexico when personal tax returns are due, as large numbers of people queue until their post office closes, in order to get their tax return postmarked.