Just a quick note here for all the people saying things like:

“The cab driver in Halifax is telling me how he had a hip & a shoulder replaced & open heart surgery. Guess how much that all cost him.. $0!”

That’s great…but who paid for it? Did Canada invent some sort of magic machine where nothing costs anything?

The reality is that he did pay for it. And so did everyone else in his country. Now, if someone asked me “Well hey—wouldn’t you help someone like that by chipping in a few dollars? Or are you just a cold, heartless jerk?” I’d say “Sure, I’d be more than happy to donate a few dollars to help out someone like that.”

I bet most of us would respond the same way. Especially if we knew the person. So why not nationalize health care then?

It’s the being forced to help out ALL the people like that that rubs me the wrong way. It kinda adds up, you know? And when someone is suddenly entitled to your service (or your pocketbook), doesn’t that take a big chunk of the joy out of service? Can compulsory service actually be called service anymore?

I got back from a trip to Europe last week traveling on trains, staying in hostels and at friend’s houses. Most of them liked to talk a little politics, and they were surprisingly on the same page in their opinions. Almost all said they like President Obama. But universally, they said they would rather have America’s health care system than their own.

So who would you trust? Someone who’s lived with nationalized health care and it’s consequences (and wishes they didn’t), or someone who wants national health care because the idea of free health care for everyone sounds like an awesome idea?

Yes—we need health care reform. But before you go holding up Canada or the UK or France or any other country with government-run health care as some banner of an ideal health care system, consider the big picture.

I realize I’m simplifying a bit. But what would be great would be to take a deep breath (+ enough time to look at a variety of options and their intended and unintended consequences) and form a solution that actually moves our health care system forward.

Because I’d rather not be covered than be covered in crap.

This (I assume temporary) job posting for “Humor In The Workplace” is exactly what the Department of the Treasury and Bureau of the Public Debt need. Forget auditing the Fed, accountability, or common sense. What we need around here is more HUMOR!

Someone who can:

• “Create cartoons on the spot about BPD jobs,”
• Demonstrate why “humor is one of the most important ways that we communicate in business and office life,”
• But who will “refrain from using any foul language during the presentation.”

If you’re planning on applying, you should note: “Responses to this request must be submitted no later than 2:00 p.m. ET on July 6, 2009.” It’s a shame this was posted on July 9th—they might have had more applicants if they would have advertised the job before their application deadline.

Folks, this is your tax dollars hard at work. Money you are actually paying to the government.

Do people realize we go to work every day—not just to provide food and clothing and other things we want and/or need—but for incredibly useful stuff like this? No wonder we also have the awesome idea that allowing the government to run our health care would be the greatest thing ever. I mean just look at the awesome schools we have. Our effective prisons. The wonderfully efficient Medicare/aid programs. And all the free money we’re going to get never going to see from Social Security when we retire!

It seems to me that rather than hiring a Humor in the Worlplace Czar, we could just sit back and enjoy the biggest joke in the country: our government spending programs.

Image courtesy of here

UPDATED BELOW

When you’re hot, you’re hot—but when it comes to technology, don’t expect the honeymoon to last.

Twitter and Facebook should take a lesson from MySpace: Sell when you’re hot. The media spotlight and the technological/interfacical advantage won’t last forever.

A couple cases to back me up on that:

• Remember eBay? I know GM wants to start selling cars on there…but traffic (no pun intended) to the site keeps falling. In fact, it’s dropped 32% over a year ago. Part of that is probably due to the economy, but when was the last time you found a good deal—and bought something worth more than a few dollars on the site? When I thought I had, I found out I’d been had.
• Remember when MySapce was the coolest thing ever? Then Facebook came along. Now MySpace usership has capped off at ~125 million and Facebook doubled to 200 million in one year. Then there’s the fact that they just laid off 30% of their workforce. And while MySpace is still bringing in more advertising dollars than Facebook, their revenue is expected to drop this year as Facebook’s climbs. How long will MySpace hang around? I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure it’s no longer an appreciating asset.

Remember when Facebook was offered $1.6 billion by Yahoo? They should have taken it. Facebook isn’t going to be the latest and greatest forever, and when that’s discovered, they won’t get that 20 billion or whatever it was Mark was looking for (latest I saw was a 3.75 billion valuation).

So what I’m saying is Facebook is great, Twitter is awesome. But when someone offers you billions of dollars for a few years of work…you’re usually the one getting the good deal. Take the money and move on to the next project. It’ll probably end up being the next big thing that overtakes your last big thing.

Agree? Disagree?

UPDATE:
The New York Times reported today that Facebook investor Digital Sky Technologies is offering to buy shares at $14.77, valuing the company at $6.5 Billion. Adam Ostrow pointed out on Mashable that the valuation puts Facebook ahead of CBS in value. If that’s what people believe, now seems like the perfect time to sell.

FixOutlook.org, a service provided by Campaign Monitor / the Email Standards Project, is the best use of Twitter I’ve ever seen in my life. The site has only been up a few hours and already over 4,000 people have tweeted to let Microsoft know they’re disappointed.

A little background: Microsoft have confirmed they plan on using the Word rendering engine to display HTML emails in Outlook 2010.

This means for the next 5 or so years email designs will need tables for layout, have no real support for CSS and lots more ugly technical stuff. Want to see why it makes web designers cringe? Here’s the same email in Outlook 2000 & 2010:

Basically, the purpose of fixoutlook.org is to tell Microsoft (since they’ve apparently been living under a rock for the last 10 years) that the design community knows they’ve been living under a rock for the past 10 years. And maybe if they know that we know, they’ll come out and see the light.

It’s a long shot…but if there’s even a chance that someone at Microsoft will just realize that they’re really making themselves look bad, it’s worth the shot. And if they actually make the logical changes to Outlook 2010 that will allow for email styling to begin moving beyond tables etc., I’ll buy you all a PC with Windows 7 and Office 2010.

So. Even if you’re not a designer, do what you can to help the rest of us out. You’ll get your twitter avatar on the page, and you’ll get to see a really cool Twitter integration—all you have to do is visit the site and click the nice big orange button.

Just a quick note about a little business I’m a fan of*. One of my new favorite hobbies is checking out lesser-known sodas. I’ve mentioned www.sodasamurai.com a few times and some have asked what it’s all about, so here’s a quick rundown.

The site offers a huge variety of specialty sodas that you won’t find at your local grocery store. Drinks like birch beer, ginger beer (for people who are either crazy or Bermudian and like that sort of thing), various creme sodas (including blue, vanilla, orange, etc.), some great grape sodas, and of course root beer. The shipping is very fast (mine only took two days)—and there’s nothing like a big box of liquid refreshment sitting on your porch when you get home after a long day at work.

Due to the fact that they sell specialty drinks, and that the safe shipping of liquids in glass bottles is a long ways from “media mail,” the sodas are a bit more expensive than what you’d find in the grocery store—but about the same as you’d pay at a vending machine. And it’s worth mentioning that SodaSamurai has the best prices you’ll find anywhere online.

So for the summer BBQ, friendly gathering, or other special event—it’s well worth it to stock up on some of the good stuff.

*In the interest of full disclosure: The owner of SodaSamurai is a friend of mine and I helped him with some of the site design. But even if I hated the guy, I gotta say he carries some awesome drinks. I recommend checking out the RootBeer Sampler. Just be sure to watch out for that dreaded root beer belly.

Oh, the glare.

Earlier on Twitter, I mentioned that “I just laid the smack down on an Apple Macbook Pro product survey.” Since then, a few people have asked for the details. Despite my best efforts to keep this blog free of any fresh content, 140 characters just wasn’t going to cut it.

First I have to say that I do love this lappy and would buy it again if I had it to do all over again. But having spent a couple of years on the old MacBook Pro, the new one seems like a small step back to me.

Here were my gripes:

1. The Screen: It’s floppy. As in: it nearly closes if moved around or used at an incline (on your lap if your legs aren’t straight out, in bed, etc). At first I thought this might be a problem with my specific unit, but after checking out others, it seems to be a weak hinge used on all new MacBook Pros. It’s not a huge deal, but makes the product feel quite a bit cheaper than the older model.
2. The Trackpad:  While I liked it at first, it takes too much pressure to click, is too loud when clicked, and is a little tricky if you don’t pay close attention to where you let your fingers rest on the lappy. With all the sliding, pinching, flipping and clicking, chances are good you’ll have your fair share of what I call the “Phantom Tap^tm” Again, not a huge deal here and I like the concept, but it needs some refinement. A better option might be to keep the button (sensitive only to a click and not merely touch) and and add a clickable track pad.
3. The Power Adapter: The magnet in the MagSafe power adapter isn’t as strong as on the older model. At first I thought it was in my head, so I did a side-by-side test with my old model. I’d say the new magnet is about 2/3 as strong as the old one. It’s not a big difference, but it is noticeable and if you’ve enjoyed the old MacBook Pro, you might feel like Apple is beginning to skimp on the details.
4. Mini Display Port: Then there’s the issue of using an external monitor. They got rid of the DVI output port, and replaced it with a Mini DisplayPort. I didn’t even think to check that in the purchase process, so I was surprised when I went to hook up to an external monitor and couldn’t. Gotta buy an adapter for that. Also, if you’ve got a 30″ Apple Cinema Display, don’t expect your new MacBook Pro to power it. Gotta buy a $99 adapter for that, too.
5. And finally my biggest beef: The Screen. The 15 Inch model “features” a glossy display with no option for matte. What a huge mistake. Don’t believe the salesgeeks when they say “It’s really not an issue—the screen is so bright that you won’t have a problem with glare unless you happen to use it sitting out in the sun.” Ok…but most people who buy a laptop WILL use it while they’re sitting out in the sun. For many, the reason we buy a laptop is so that we can move the computer out of the dark cube or office we normally work in to somewhere where there’s some natural, healthy light.Notice the glare on my screen in the photo at the beginning of this post. I didn’t take the shot to with this intent, but realized after the fact that it does a good job illustrating my point.

   There’s a lot of glare—and I’m indoors. Yes, the blinds are open, but it’s around 6PM and the sun is completely on the other side of the house. Similar problems with glare occur if you happen to be in a room where there’s a light on (which yes, if you’re a computer geek is probably so rare an occasion that you’ll never have to worry about pesky glare on your shiny new screen).

   Honestly—this is a huge deal for me. If you’re a designer, you’re probably going to be frustrated by glare on more than just the odd occasion.

So. Those are my complaints. In all, probably no deal breakers. Like I said—I’d buy it again if I had to—but does this feel like progress? Not to me. Issues like this might be excusable in a regular MacBook, but we’re talking about the “Pro” model here, and it seems to be missing some key features you’d expect in the professional field (not to mention this price range).

The good news is they sent out a survey, so it looks like they really are trying. I just hope the people who take the survey don’t look past the fact that Apple took a step back (despite making the new product even shinier than the last).

In the end, if you’re smart you’ll probably wait until the first update before buying a new MacBook Pro. By then I’m guessing some of these kinks will be worked out.

If you have any questions or comments, please let me know, I’d love to answer them.

One more note. I love Apple’s design from their products to their ads to their website. They definitely subscribe to the popular minimalist design notion that “less is more,” and it generally serves them well. But if I had one message for them (apart from a nastygram about their glossy screens), it would be to take a page out of Milton Glaser’s book when he says “Just enough is more.”

See, when you start taking out useful or even necessary features for the sake of minimalism or simplicity, you instead end up with complexity. An adapter for this, a cable for that, and an external component for this. “Simplicity” stops being simple and becomes burdensome. For a great article on the topic, see Brent Barson’s “Simplicity is Overrated.”

Oh- one more thing. The good news is that although they got rid of that pesky DVI port, they kept the Kensington security slot for the 3 people who would die without it.

*UPDATE: I’m finishing this post the next morning. Now that the sun is up on this side of the house, the glare is so bad I can hardly see what I’m typing. But that gives me an idea for a new Apple product. As an accessory to the glossy screen on the MBP, they should sell iBlinds for people who live in houses with windows, but still want to be able to see their monitor.

*UPDATE 8/10/09: Apple listened. The 15″ Macbook Pro is finally available with matte screen again. It’s an upgrade though—yours for the low price of only $50. Seriously, it will be WELL worth the money.

Whittney somehow found the coasters that I’ve been wanting and bought them to celebrate the fact that we’re both employed again. Love these things. And the story of how they were made is also pretty cool: From concept to finished product in 24 days by an 18-yr old graphic design student. Then they were picked up by Veer.

Northern Trust bank, who recently took about 1.6 BILLION dollars in bailout money, was caught throwing a party with Chicago and Sheryl Crow performing on stage over the weekend.

In response, members of Congress wrote the bank a letter asking for the equivalent of the money spent on the event to be returned.

Can you guess what Northern Trust SVP Douglas Holt said?

“We paid for these events ourselves.”

Oh really Mr. Holt? That was your own money?

Look, It doesn’t matter that you “didn’t ask” for the bailout money. The fact is, you took it. Enough of it, in fact, to pay off the mortgages of 6,400 homes valued at 250K each. Not only that, but due to the fact that you did indeed take the money, you are and should be held to a higher standard. Once the money is in your possession, there is no material difference between that money and the cash you already had.

In your statements, you pretended that you didn’t even want to take it in the first place…but now you’re refusing to give it back. How do you explain something like that? And how do you reconcile your statement with the fact that in December, you laid off 450 people?

Look, you were really let off the hook when Congress only asked for the money you spent on this affair to be repaid. In reality Congress should be demanding all 1.6 billion back. Any Congress worth it’s salt would write a letter sounding more like this:

Dear Mr. Holt et. al.,

It is apparent that you understand neither the gravity of this country’s financial situation nor the purpose of the Capital Purchase Program monies (always wanted to use the word “monies”) you accepted. In consideration of your obvious lack of intelligence and tact, we hereby order that you return all of the money provided to you under the CPP exchange.

Congress as well as the American people refuse to invest in companies who show poor management of scarce investment dollars and certainly expect executives who have received taxpayer money to:

1. Exercise sound stewardship and decision making,
2. to use common sense,
3. to set a fiscally responsible example,
4. and own up to their mistakes where they have been made.

Mr Holt, you have failed in all aspects of these expectations, and we now demand full repayment in lump sum, including interest. Please find wire instructions attached.

And please…grow up.

Sincerely,
The Guvermint

For all the details on the story, read here (ABCNews).

We launched the site for The Magnificent Cooly-T today. Judging a book (or a movie) by it’s cover, looks like it will be a good film, even if I do say so myself.

Every once in a while, I have an idea for a business and I buy a domain name for it. Since the price to register it is about the same as lunch, I don’t think much about it. Until I get the bill. So I went in and made a list of those I was going to keep, those that I wanted to sell, and those that I was just going to let go of.

If anybody wants any of these, let me know. They have awesome business ideas behind them.

adverbowl.com
nobuffering.com
creativeuncommons.com
paragonexpress.com
provoparties.com (this site used to totally rock)
salesprompt.com