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Skype is not Only VOIP: It Reigns in IM But How Long?

exochartwidget.aspx Nowadays the only context we hear about Skype is the legal fight (care to bet how long it will take for the previous Net Celebs to become the Hated Greedy Ones who try to sc**w all of us?) – I would much rather read about new features, improvements.

After all, Skype is the single most popular voice and video calling application.  But let’s not forget it’s also an IM system – in fact as this Infoworld article points out, it has become the reigning IM system.

And therein lies the rub: it is less and less suitable for text chat.

Remember the early Skype 4 Beta?  The forced full-screen may have been great for video, but made it a nightmare trying to maintain simultaneous chat sessions with 5-6 or more people.  It clearly showed where Skype’s focus is: follow the money, that is voice and video, and ignore IM-ers.  Finally they listened to the user revolt, and gave our resizable screens back, but there are still issues with multiple chat windows, notifications..etc – purely for IM the “old” Skype 3.8 was better.

If you want to sit in a comfy chair and video-chat with Grandma, the kids while on a business trip, or even conduct business with one person at a time, video calls are great.  If you are a web-worker, work with distributed teams (don’t we all?), and are the multi-tasker type (aren’t we all?), nothing beats text – and let’s not forget IM sessions also generate a searchable archive.  Or do they?

You can search – but will you find?  If you use Skype from more then one computer, fragments of your IM history are spread around between those machines.  In the age of Cloud Computing, Skype still stores history locally on your computer – years ago we had the same problem with contacts, and they fixed it, why not do the same with log files?

The way we use computers has changed, and Skype is left in the dust. I often write about situational computing, and it appears I am not alone – a recent TechRepublic study confirms that 74% of tech professionals use 3 computers or more during their work-week.  If you’re like them you would need history stored on the Web.  Ironically, while the ongoing legal battle is all about billions of dollars, one potential workaround to bypass the Skype founders appears to be web-ifying Skype, which could bring resolution to the IM problem, too.

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve )

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Here’s How Not to Use CRM: Dumb Campaigns

The best CRM system can’t help you if your sales / marketing team is clueless.  Here’s a ridiculous email I’ve just received.  Name removed to protect the (not-so) innocent

X. Y. kindly requests a meeting

Hi Zoli,

In celebrating our 40th anniversary, I’ve been given the privilege to manage the relationship between your organization and Communispond. When you have a moment, please take a look at the information below. Kindly let me know if it’s out of date, and the best way to reach you. I wish to be respectful of your time and patience.

Campaign

Is your organization prepared with the communication tools and behaviors (presenting, selling, coaching, persuading, etc) to achieve greater success in 2010? I would like to hear your thoughts and ideas on any communication challenges you anticipate, and see if we can help. Please let me know if you’d be willing to meet with me – either conference call or face to face. l greatly appreciate your consideration.

Warm Regards,
X. Y.

What’s wrong with this email campaign?  A few things… where should I even start?

Obsolete data: we all know this is a disease that plagues many (CRM) systems, but this one is extreme.  The data shown on this business card never existed in such combination, but bits and pieces did.  Yes, I participated in SAP’s International Consultant Training – exactly 20 years ago, so they must have picked it up from a very-very ancient resume. (It also means I understand Charlie’s joke…).  Yes, I did work at SAP America, when they were a tiny outfit with 70+ employees, and the Newton Square HQ listed above was not even a dream.

Data errors do happen – but how on Earth could they dump 20-year old, pre-CRM, pre-ERP, pre-everything data into a CRM system?

Now let’s focus on content.  The title, specifically.  That’s the marketer’s opportunity to grab attention – or lose it.  Time is money, and most of us don’t have a lot to waste – why on Earth would I want to meet a stranger without any previous contact or knowing the intent?

You just don’t send out an initial contact request asking for a purpose-less meeting.

Anyway – this email is in its well-deserved place in my Spam folder and Communispond is flagged as mindless marketers. But hey, it was good for a rant.  In return, free advice to them: you don’t need Salesforce.com.  It won’t help you.

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve )

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Windows Update Sent Me on a Wild Goose Chase

hpdisplay It all started like a routine WinUpdate: downlod 6 updates, install them, then surrender the persistent nuisance and reboot to let Vista do its thing.. then wait .. wait.. coffee .. back.

However, after the successful reboot the system wanted to install a device driver to my monitor.  I thought it was a bit weird (has it not just done it?), but clicked OK, let it search for the driver.  Searching in Windows Update, that is… WTF?

After  a few minutes I decided to check Vista update history: it turns out that the driver update for my HP w2207 display failed to install.  Clicking on all the “help” links led to generic useless nonsense – business as usual…

Continue reading

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve )

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Your Honor, You’re Clueless. (Judge Orders Google to Shut Down Email Account)

Rocky Mountain Bank might as well be called Royal Sc***up Bank.  An employee emailed loan documentation to the wrong email address.  Bad, but not unseen mistake. However, he also mistakenly attached documents that should not have been sent to anyone in the first place:

The attachment contained confidential information on 1,325 individual and business customers that included their names, addresses, tax identification or Social Security numbers and loan information.

After unsuccessful attempts at contacting the recipient, the Bank asked Google to reveal the account holder’s identity, only to learn Google will not do so without a court order (as per Privacy rules).

On Wednesday U.S. District Court Judge James Ware in California issued an order that requires Google to reveal the user’s identity.  But he did not stop there: he also ordered Google to inactivate the Gmail account in question.  Let’s just say at this point nobody knows if the account is even active (the owner did not respond to bank emails).  It could be dormant, a black hole where all the mistakenly sent bank documents disappeared.

Or it could be a real live email account, one that the owner’s every day life, business depends on.  Losing one’s email account is a serious disruption.

“It’s outrageous that the bank asked for this, and it’s outrageous that the court granted it,” says John Morris, general counsel at the Center for Democracy & Technology. “What right does the bank have and go suspend the email account of a completely innocent person?”

I wonder if the judge realized what he just did.  You see, I meet people day by day in good old-fashioned professions whose life does not depend on email access.  To them email is still a once-a-week affair to communicate with remote friends and relatives. Sadly, most physicians fall in this category.  Oh, and I knew a high-tech VP who had his email printed by his assistant…   Perhaps His Honor belongs in this group, too, and really had no clue about the harsh consequences of shutting down one’s email unknown?

By the way, what exactly is being protected by killing that email account?  If the account owner intended to use the information in any way, it could have been downloaded by now.

But most likely, it’s just an innocent and busy person with heavy email traffic (like yours truly), who sometimes does not get to open unsolicited email from unknown persons for days or weeks.

20th century justice in action – again.

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve )

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Amazing Sand Drawing Art

From the Youtube description:

Kseniya Simonova is a Ukrainian artist who just won Ukraine’s version of “America’s Got Talent.” She uses a giant light box, dramatic music, imagination and “sand painting” skills to interpret Germany’s invasion and occupation of Ukraine during WWII.

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Best Intention Derailed: Using Photos Out of Context Amounts to Abuse

Ed Yourdon’s tweet drew my attention to a rather disturbing article: Children Are Sold for Sex in America’s Capitol:

Guest blogger Melissa Snow of Shared Hope International discusses their new public awareness campaign to address child trafficking in street prostitution in Washington, DC.  Child sex trafficking happens all over our nation’s capitol, sometimes only steps from the White House and blocks from a symbol of the end of slavery — the Lincoln Memorial

It is a shocking article, and if indeed is true, then raising awareness is the right thing to do.  But the author stepped over the line with the photo she is using for illustration:

Photo by Ed Yourdon via Flickr

There is nothing wrong in using Flickr images with a Creative Commons licence, and the owner of the photo, Ed Yourdon is properly accredited.

But this is not just an image.  It’s a real girl, a living person with a face and name, who is quite recognizable by her family, friends, adversaries.  Using her in this article places her in the wrong context, implying that she is an (unwilling) child prostitute.   The author has no information about her, and Ed, who took the picture makes it clear he thinks it is the wrong context in a comment to the article.

The sad irony of the matter is that the author is clearly passionate about fighting childrens’ abuse – yet using this image in this context is a case of abuse in itself.

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Cancer Dude’s Last Battle. Good Bye, Jeffrey

Damn. Damn. Damn.  Cancer s**ks.  And here I am, the blogger who thinks can write about everything, yet I am speechless.

Yes, Cancer Dude, Jeffrey Walker, businessman, musician, artist, family-man @radiowalker who fought and beat cancer so many times had one too many battles to fight, and he lost this last one.  Last night he passed away.

I can’t find words to write. Bloggers’ block, big time.  But he described his battle and inspired so many in his own posts:

Cancer 2.0: the Killer App

What I learned from Cancer 2.0

Living with Cancer in Silicon Valley

Living with Cancer in Silicon Valley II: Survival Tips from a Hardened Cancer Dude

and some of my earlier posts:

Cancer Dude Will Win Again

Jeffrey’s Seven: Cancer Dude Back Online

Jeffrey’s gone. Here’s an excerpt from his wife, Jessy’s email, very much in Jeffrey’s spirit:

Jeffrey loved blogging and he loved reading the responses even more. He was awed by the outpouring of love.  Going in to his surgeries, he read all the postings written and it gave him strength.

Let’s give him strength again. I know that somehow, he will see your comments on his blog.  Its a wonderful way to reach out to us too, his family.

Let’s say our final Good Bye to Jeffrey over on his blog.

And listen to him play one more time. During the last struggle, between two chemo treatments he played guitar at the  Stanford University Relay for Life:

Update:  I thought I’d let another guitar player say the final Good Bye: Only the Good Ones Die Young.

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And Now, Here They Are: The Beatles

I grew up with them. Well, sort of.  They were already considered “Oldies” by the time I was an early teenager. But I guess I always liked oldies.  Just like so many others.. so The Beatles remained classics, for half a century.

And now, here they are again – at least in the form of an interactive game, due out next month.

 

The preview does not do justice to it, after all you can only passively watch it, while the real The Beatles: Rock Band will allow players to sing and play interactively with the Fab Four.  The game was developed by Apple Corp, which is not to be confused with that other entity in the business of making of iPods and iPhones and all sorts of Mac-things.

Read more @ Nick Carr’s  Rough Type, Crave and The New York Times.

And now, here’s your  Ticket To Ride.

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Livermore Fire Update: Now 15,000 Acres

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Livermore Fire Update: Now 10,000 Acres