Tony Dye

CLEAR Performance Update

Now that I've had a few days of using CLEAR in a mobile environment, I've learned something that's a bit too simple: Performance is based almost entirely on signal strength.  When I have all bars green ("Perfect Signal"), I consistently get 9.5-10 MBit downloads.  When signal strength drops down to just 2 or 3 bars (of 10), then speed also drops down to 2-3 MBit.

The good news: most of the places I frequent have something very close to that "Perfect" signal.  And, of course, even a 2-3 MBit data rate is not bad when sitting in a coffee shop.

Yup, I'm happy! :-)

Are You Going to Believe Your Eyes?

I've had a few too many "nobody will believe" this type of experiences of late.  Right now I can't think of a single one of them, but somehow I'm reminded of an old story.  Way back in my early days, I worked for a radio station, and occasionally produced/directed for Ludlow Porch.

I don't have any idea why I remember this particular story, and I probably don't even remember it correctly, but I've always loved the punch line.  The story goes something like this.  There was this singer (probably a country singer) who was known by his friends to be a bit of a womanizer, but somehow his wife had stuck by him through the years.  One time, while he was on the road, his wife decided to surprise him by showing up at his hotel.  She knocked on the door a while, and he arrived at the door, barely dressed, and clearly there was a woman in the bed behind him.  Without a pause, he looked at his wife and said, "Now, are you going to believe your eyes or are you going to believe the story I'm about to tell you?"  It's possible there was more to the story, but that's the only line I ever cared about...

Probably not a good idea to use the line in that same context, but otherwise, it's amazing how useful that line is

No Need to Involve the IT Department

Saw this on a website the other day.  “Because {product} is easy to setup and use, there’s no need to involve the IT department or install any extra software on the PC.”

This sounds great from a user or customer service perspective.  Why does it cause the hair on the back of my neck to stand up?  I don't think it's a control thing...

Up and Running on CLEAR

I believe my world changed today.  I'm now living on a Wi-MAX Internet connection from Clear.  Clear, aka ClearWire, aka Clear Wireless, has introduced Wi-MAX into a few cities, with Atlanta being one of them.  The coverage map is great for almost all of my usual hangouts.  I did a little experimenting on the edge of the coverage area earlier this evening, with respectable results, but then I did a little testing at a spot with very good coverage.  Now remember, this is wireless from a glorified cell tower.  Here are the quick results:

 

OK, the upload isn't all that exciting, but quite adequate for 99% of my needs.  For those rare times I need something faster, there are plenty of free WiFi hotspots around.  However, given these results, if nothing changes over the next few days, I'm done with DSL, done with Cable.  The price is quite competitive too!

If you're in Atlanta, Portland, or Las Vegas, and have an interest in this service, please let me know before you buy.

Would I Want to be a LION?

I've been a reasonably happy user of LinkedInfor a few years, and have benefited from the network of over 5 million connections from my 400-ish direct connections.  When I've looked for information on businesses, or tried to find old friends, usually that connection base has worked.  But I keep noticing people who are LIONS, the LinkedIn Open Networkers, and I have to wonder about the value of connecting with just about anyone.  I think I'd rather be a semi-Open networker, if there can be such a thing.

Anyone have any wisdom, for or against, the idea of being an open networker?

 

House for Sale in Suwanee GA

Yup, my house is officially on the market.  If you know anybody looking for a modest home in Suwanee, I'd love to hear from them.

Jeopardy Software Concept

I had an opportunity to look at some prototype software yesterday that had what the developer calls his “Jeopardy” feature.  He’s looked at the database he’s working from, and it’s many different views, and for each views he’s extracted numerical info and created all kinds of charts from them.  Basically, he’s tried to automatically chart anything that’s chartable.  In other words, he’s providing answers to questions that users may not have thought of yet, and sometimes, people find those answers to be so valuable they find lots of questions that can be answered.  How often do you stumble across such things, and then realize it’s just what you needed and you don’t know how you ever lived without it?

Does your software help answer questions (GOOD questions) you didn’t know you had?  Easily?  Hopefully we’ll see more of this kind of idea in the future.

I Love this Marker

 

I've had this marker for Twenty-Two years!  Really, I've had it since at least 1987.  Actually, I still have two of them.  And they both still work.  Sanford Transport Marker.  I don't think markers like this are still made, but if they were, I'd buy a couple more -- that would probably last me the rest of my life.

Bottleneck Breaker

What’s the opposite of a bottleneck? 

I'm of the opinion that many leadership bottlenecks are self-imposed, at least to some degree.  When a leader doesn't have a trusted resource, or a whole team of resources, he's stuck with doing things himself.  He can't do it all, so things get set aside, or given less than full attention.

Is the problem that the leader is afraid to let go of things?  Or that there's nobody capable to hand task off to?  Or is it something else?

There are certainly plenty of cases where a leader is afraid to delegate for fear of giving up control.  Or sometimes its a matter of not being able to trust others enough.  Those are real problems and some people sove them well, others never do.

Good hiring processes can help solve this challenge, but what if you have a task that doesn't warrant hiring a full time (or even part time) person?  Is there another solution for finding a competent, trusted, resource?  How about outsourcing?

What does it take to develop trust, quickly, in a consultant, or a services company?  Once trust is gained, can the bottleneck be broken by delegating to an outsourced resource?  I've seen cases where very expensive consultants did a terrible job, and where inexpensive (even free) consultants did a great job.  What's the qualifier?  How can you tell?

What would you be willing to outsource if you knew the resource was completley capable?

Goodbye Old Friends

Saturday was a big cleanup day.  I pulled all the old stuff from my attic and reviewed it.  Things that I've stored for years.  It was time for a decision, a hard decision, a decision to say goodbye.

I've kept a lot of books I had from former jobs.  I have quite a few books that date back to college.  I have a few that go all the way back to high school, maybe even before!  And what have I been doing with those books?  Nothing!  So, it was time to say goodbye.  This wasn't a fast goodbye.  I lovingly looked through each box, remembered each book, and somewhat relived the memories of when I'd last read each one.  There were a few other things in with the books.  Old data tapes, old floppies, I even found a few 80-column punch cards!  Some old software, a few old parallel printer cables, some mouse pads, and other random memorabilia.  Good reminiscing time.

A few things met the "too precious" requirement and were moved into other boxes to be saved for later.  The great majority, however, ended up being repacked, sealed, and prepared for the garbage man.

 

 

 

8" floppies, and 80-column cards

An original, Windows NT, Software Development Kit:
 

All ready for the garbage man.  Goodbye my friends.