Connecting the dots ...
Check your FeedBurner stats, but don’t worry too much: no, there was no mass exodus, you did not lose more than half your subscribers overnight.
There’s a simple explanation: FeedBurner is missing Google FeedFetcher stats- that’s the number of users who read your blog in Google Reader. Last time I reported the same, Google Reader represented about 40% of my readership- apparently now it’s about 60%.
Ironically it happens on the day when FeedBurner is in the news for launching AdSense for feeds.
I’ve never made a secret of the fact that my spreadsheet skills are somewhere at the level of what I learned using Lotus 1-2-3🙂 so the recent addition of Macros and Pivot tables to Zoho Sheet was really not my piece of cake. Not that I would not recognize the techological feat when both Google and Editgrid said they couldn’t / wouldn’t do it…
Now I have to admit I occasionally tinkered around with Excel macros: not that I know Visual Basic, all I ever did was record the sequence I needed, then tinker with the resulting VB code. That’s the capability Zoho just announced today: with a few clicks record, edit, re-run your macros, in the original Zoho Sheet or in any others you have access to. Finally, Macros For Dummies like me 🙂 Here’s a summary video:
To the best of my knowledge no other spreadsheet can do it (other than GrandDaddy Excel)
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So you thought turning off all those TV’s using TV-B-Gone at CES was a stupid prank by Gizmodo? Me, too, but as it turn it, it was really harmless compared to the Polish boy, who converted a TV remote and derailed a tram, causing 12 injuries.
But in hindsight, that was just a benign trick, too. VentureBeat reports of a “collaborative academic effort where medical device security researchers have figured out how to turn off someone’s pacemaker via remote control.”
Academic effort by medical researchers. They spend two years on this research. And they mean good, they just want to raise awareness of a potential vulnerability. Here’s the full paper on it.
If this is not a Killer App, I don’t know what is…
First I really could not imagine how PR Maven Brian Solis came up with the Conversation Prism: Chrysanthemum: (clarification by Susan Scrupski)
But then I got enlightened by fellow Enterprise Irregular Brian Sommer, who introduced me to the creative process:
Creating A Stop Sign – Watch more free videos
The debate du jour: should you pay twice as much for a Mac than you’d have to pay for a Windows PC?
(Data source: NPD)
Just about everyone attributes the price difference to Apple’s marketing, Brand Power. But I think by focusing on out-of-the box prices, they all miss the boat: it’s all about TCO. Total Cost of Ownership.
I started to chronicle the hassle of just running a Vista PC and dealing with random, unexplainable failures, but more or less gave up. Compare this to the anecdotal evidence of my Mac-user friends, who, despite occasional hiccups all agree: it just works.
I don’t know how you value your time (heck, sometimes I wonder about mine), but most computer users probably are not in the minimum wage bracket. Considering the days and nights I spent trying to fix this Vista monster, I’m quite sure I would have been better off paying more upfront for a Mac. My TCO would have been lower. And not even my Virtual Invoices can make up for that.
See today’s debate on: Apple Watch, DailyTech, TechBlog, Mark Evans, Microsoft Watch, Technovia , jkOnTheRun, The Digital Home, Hardware 2.0,
Update: Finally, some sanity – here’s Jake:
Focusing on out-the-door pricing seems too narrow to ask such a broad question. It would be very interesting to see a comparison of expected full costs (not just OOTB) for each of the major O/S.
The first time I wrote about Zoho – the “Safer Office” they had less than 50 thousand users – not a lot for a web service. Today they announced having a million users – and that’s just direct Zoho users, not including those served by Baihui in China, or any other white label providers. Back then they had 3 products: Writer, Sheet and CRM – today the list includes 17 Applications, 5 Add-ons and 4 Utilities.
The chart below shows steady growth in monthly new registrations – the sudden spike in May is the effect of opening Zoho Apps to users with Google and Yahoo accounts.
Now, you may ask, what are a million users worth in the world of freebies? Web startups do go out of business not being able to monetize their popularity. Zoho’s story has been that Adventnet, the parent company with “boring” but reliable, cash-cow network management products is financing the “Zoho experience”. Well, here’s an update to that story: the Zoho brand itself has been self-sustaining for a while now.
While Zoho does not disclose numbers – it’s their prerogative, being a closely held private company – they apparently have paying users. The number one revenue generator is Zoho CRM, that they were asked to abandon in order to be allowed to join Salesforce.com’s Appexchange. Apparently they made the right decision, and instead of being relegated to providing an Office Suite only, they keep on adding business applications like Projects, Invoice, People, Meeting..etc. Incidentally, these apps are where Zoho makes their money.
The free Office and other apps with the million-or-so users are Zoho’s main marketing vehicle. As we often discussed here, they don’t have a Sales force, in fact they don’t “sell” as such: the products sell themselves. This trend will likely increase as Zoho now increasingly focuses on integrating existing services rather then just pumping out new ones.
That is not to say that the Office Suite can’t became a source of significant revenue, but perhaps from a less expected source: while Zoho strives to become the outsourced IT department for small businesses (SMB) they have seen a flurry of large enterprise inquiries recently. I am aware of ongoing projects with customers that even enterprise software giants SAP or Oracle would consider strategic, key accounts – let alone Microsoft. 
As for the one millionth user: Zoho CRM user Dean Detton of Prestige Automation Inc has been invited to celebrate at the Zoho Party during the Office 2.0 Conference on September 4th.
The address for the party is: 1 Cloud Avenue. See you there! 
(Disclaimer: I am an Advisor to Zoho)
It’s raining outside. This is probably not newsworthy – unless yo know I live in Northern California, where it NEVER rains in August. Here’s a quick Twitter reaction:
less than a minute ago · Reply · View Tweet
paglo: People – it’s raining in Nor Cal in August – it’s raining!
1 minute ago · Reply · View Tweet
zolierdos: Wow, it’s raining in the East Bay (N. CA)
2 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
zamikazi: its raining, i dont get why it always rains at night here in phoenix.
2 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
soul4real: WhooHoo! It’s raining in #Phx! Keep it coming.
3 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
mollycyr: is it… Raining??
5 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
freshelectrons: listening to the sound of rain. after the rainbow. it’s raining. in august.
5 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
Ms_Kayakor: Raining!!! Love the weather cold, dark, and wet.
5 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
omnivector: Raining in California in the summer? This weather frightens and conufuses me!
7 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
kahne4cup: It’s raining in San Jose.
8 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
ndtp: total disbelief that it is raining for the first time in 6 months just when my kids go to camp.
8 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
mcjames: wow-can’t beleve it’s raining…
10 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
will_k: Geez. It’s raining!
10 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
reiko516: Raining in August. California has the weirdest weather.
11 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
jgrafton: it’s raining. WTF?
15 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
Gitonyerhorse: It’s raining in Cupertino.
19 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
evq: @chuckreynolds That reminds me of Mean Girls. The blonde one grabs her boobs and says “there’s a 30% chance it’s already raining”
19 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
zmorton: It is raining? What the heck?
21 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
benso87: Well, I guess I’ll go to bed now, and hope it’s raining when I wake up in the morning so I don’t have to work.
21 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
akisan: Wow – it’s raining!
22 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
jonk: @wintersweet hooray! *barely* raining in our neck of the woods, but i hope it strengthens so the big bird poopie on car will be washed away
24 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet · 
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makinyoumelt: WTF?? Its raining right now?!? Waitin at friends pad. Bout to go to walmart and target….
25 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
roudi: it;s raining men! http://tinyurl.com/6nkgn2 (expand
)
28 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
Selfjourney: Raining downtown.
29 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
aimeedars: It’s raining; it’s pouring. The old man is snoring.
30 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
JustaSunGod: Its finally Raining!
30 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
chuckreynolds: My knees were right, it’s now raining. They always know lol.
32 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
wintersweet: HOLY CRAP IT’S RAINING WTF END OF THE WORLD!
33 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
arewhyen: it’s raining big fat raindrops. I am standing under bus shelter still getting wet
37 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
kdubjackson: http://twitpic.com/6pbh – Crazy rainbow off the 101… its not even raining! Beautiful evening…
42 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
Armano: @peterkim I confess. It was raining men. 😉
about 1 hour ago · Reply · View Tweet · Show ConversationHide Conversation
McDougal: Laying in bed, wishing it was still raining.
about 1 hour ago · Reply · View Tweet
bevbarnett: Its raining in the pool
about 1 hour ago · Reply · View Tweet
Ealasaid: It’s raining. In August. In San Jose. WTF?
about 1 hour ago · Reply · View Tweet
Nothing new, I’ve seen this movie before, albeit in a different world: border crossing a painful, sometimes fearful event.
We had no laptops, or any form of electronic media back then (the 80’s), but the armed customs agents searched through bags, and if you brought any form of printed material from the “West”, it likely got confiscated.
It was the 80’s, then-communist (sort of) Hungary.
Fast forward to 2008, the United Sates:
Federal agents may take a traveler’s laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed…
The policies state that officers may “detain” laptops “for a reasonable period of time” to “review and analyze information.” This may take place “absent individualized suspicion.”
The policies cover “any device capable of storing information in digital or analog form,” including hard drives, flash drives, cell phones, iPods, pagers, beepers, and video and audio tapes. They also cover “all papers and other written documentation,” including books, pamphlets and “written materials commonly referred to as ‘pocket trash’ or ‘pocket litter.’ ”
(source: The Washington Post)
Welcome to … 1984. 
Update: Oh, how could I missed this angle: this is a Grand Promotion run by Apple. As the Register points out:
But officers cannot read, or allow others to read, “correspondence contained in a sealed letter class mail (the international equivalent of First Class) without an appropriate search warrant or consent”
Now, as we know, the Macbook Air fits into an evnelope, all you have to do is carry your laptop Air in a sealed envelope to avoid search. 
(But don’t blame me if the advice fails…)
Update #2: At the risk of sounding like a broken record, this is one more argument to travel “data-light”: keep your stuff in the cloud, don’t risk customs agents sniffing through it all. Still, nothing protects you from the inconvenience (and potential business loss) of not having your laptop, or even mobile phone for a few days, or more.
Bernard’s title @ ReadWriteWeb, Breaking Free of Outlook perfectly matches my own sentiment: in fact I called the MS Client Outlook-prison repeatedly.
Unlike Bernard, I escaped from prison in stages:
I’ve never looked back, and am definitely more productive than in my desktop-bound life. I could see first-hand a lot of people move in the same direction: my How to Import All Your Archive Email Into Gmail guide become an all-time classic, probably approaching 100,000 hits by now. Gmail’s IMAP support changed everything, so I issued a Simplified Guide to Importing All Your Archive Email Into Gmail. A while later Google woke up, and started to offer a migration tool to subscribers of the paid Google Apps version. (Oh, and they are being sued by LimitNone, who claims Google basically stole their gMove product).
But the love-affair with Gmail was not without trouble: I first documented some glitches last spring: Gmail, I Love You – Don’t Let Me Down, then real trouble started a month ort so ago.
Formerly rock-solid Gmail has been ill a lot lately. The “Oops…the system encountered a problem (#500) – Retrying in 1:30” error message has became a daily occurance… in fact several times a day.
I somewhat jokingly called “retry now” Gmail’s Penalty Button, when I noticed every time I hit it the wait counter increased by a minute.
Now I have an update: you don’t need the penalty button, the counter increases by itself. Every time, “reliably”. Basically as soon as you see the Oops error, you might as well close the browser tab (or browser itself), as it won’t recover on its own. This annoying error has become the most frequent “feature” of Gmail, to the extent that it really undermines productivity.
I hope Google will fix it. They MUST. It’s the crown jewel of Google Apps. In fact without Gmail and Calendar there wouldn’t be Google Apps at all.
Update: Oops: apparently there’s a real service by the name of Oopsmail. Obviously I am not referrring to them in the title. (Although… ? 🙂 )
Google thinks I am an earthquake expert simply because I pointed out Twitter was the first to report the recent earthquakes in Japan and China.
Today the same happened: Twitter was on fire with user reports of the Los Angeles earthquake 9 minutes before the first AP wire came out.
It’s an undeniable trend – but is it important?
I received some flak in comments to the previous two posts, for neglecting to mention that I was comparing apples to oranges. New agencies have the responsibility to verify information and it takes time. Reliability over Speed. Fair enough. ReadWriteWeb asked the question: Did Twitter Really ‘Outshine’ the Mainstream Press?
The only thing Twitter does better than the traditional news is speed. It doesn’t do depth, it doesn’t do fact-checking, it doesn’t do real reporting. It does breaking news, and it does that very well — in many cases these days better than the mainstream press (in terms of how fast it breaks news).
Very well said, and I think we need both: speed and depth. Ironically, MG Siegler’s post @ VentureBeat describing twitter’s power in such situations provided an example for the opposite by including what appeared to be the very first video footage of the LA quake.
I watched it without sound first, but was immediately suspicious:
I wonder what this video shows. It’s NOT the building shaking. The movement is too fast, and it’s inside the room, relative to the window frames we see. It looks more like a camera quickly moved left and right.
If this was an indication of how the building moved, we’d see a lot less movement behind the window (inside) and a lot more outside.
It did not take long to get confirmation on Venturebeat:
Update 2: The 12seconds vid was fake, posted after the fact, a co-founder of 12seconds confirmed.
So there you have it. People do take advantage of the relative naivete of social media and don’t hesitate to post fake news to gain 5 minutes of fame. But that doesn’t undermine the importance of speed, which in some cases can provide early alerts and potentially save lives. We need both.
Related posts: CNET News.com, Twitter Blog, Valleywag, Brij’s One More Idea , RexBlog.com, LA Times blog, Live Digitally.
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