Oh no! There's a YouTube video (http://wickedstageact2.typepad.com/life_on_the_wicked_stage_/2010/04/even-cats-can-figure-out-the-ipad.html) of a cat using an iPad and it's neither me nor one of my cats! Makes me want to see Homer play with an iPad. Pressure building. Resistance to iPad weakening. Thanks Warner (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9NP-AeKX40&feature=player_embedded). [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
My long-standing tradition of celebrating [Pi] Day (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/search/label/%CF%80%20day) and cursing the clock-shifting of Daylight Saving Time (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/search?q=DST) happened to coincide on the same day this year, which no doubt would have led to an interesting crossover blog entry. Alas. I was preoccupied and missed it, so here's a belated jab. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Time shifting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_shifting), the practice of watching shows at a more convenient time after their initial broadcast, is awesome. I'm enjoying that quite a bit on my new media PC, both recording TV shows and streaming from Hulu. On the other hand, clock shifting, the practice of flipping clocks back an hour to "save daylight," sucks hard.
Yes, it's time once again for me to rant against Daylight Saving Time (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time) and the absurd notion that anyone in the modern world needs this arbitrary construct. We have ample artificial light. People can work productively any time of day. We don't need to rely on the sun to tell us when to work, and those who do can just work different hours. Why we all must suffer a clock shift is beyond me. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Been watching The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on Hulu (http://www.hulu.com/the-tonight-show-with-conan-obrien) pretty regularly (okay, every night), and while I'm still really enjoying it, I have also noticed a number of jokes getting recycled. Happens often enough that I've turned it into a drinking game (without the drinking). Drink when one of the following punchlines are used:
Kirstie Alley is fat or likes to eat Larry King is old, really old Paris Hilton has sex with a lot of dudes Bill Clinton hooks up with a lot of ladies Oprah Winfrey is really rich
As I stated previously (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2009/01/ballmer-wimps-out-in-first-challenge.html), I find it incredibly distasteful when highly profitable companies lay off workers into weak job markets, further weakening the economy. Thus, I was quite upset to read that Apple laid off 1,600 (http://i.gizmodo.com/5225825/apple-removes-baby-shaking-app-1600-employees-from-app-store-actual-stores)retail workers (http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/apple/apple-lays-off-1600-geniuses--594321), despite booming profits and a claim by coo Tim Cook that they would "invest [their] way through this downturn." (http://tech.yahoo.com/news/afp/20090122/tc_afp/usitinternetcompanyearningsapple) For a moment, I feared my rage would take over, but then I read through to the original report on CNET (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10226486-37.html) and discovered a lot of people don't knew what "Full-time Equivalent" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full-time_equivalent) means.
Basically, FTE in this case means working 40 hours in a week. Two guys working 20 hours each is one FTE. One guy working 60 hours is 1.75 FTE, assuming 1.5 overtime. Thus, a report that Apple's retail workforce was cut by 1,600 FTE, roughly 10%, compared to the previous quarter does not mean 1,600 full-time workers lost their jobs.
Furthermore, the cut in FTE is between their first and second fiscal quarters, and Apple's Q1 ends two days after Christmas (http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/21/apple-iphone-jobs-markets-equity-cx_mlm_0121markets36.html). In other words, Apple cut 10% FTE from their retail stores after the holiday sales season ended. You know what other retailers cut FTE after the holidays? All of them! Every year! Between saying good-bye to seasonal staff and no longer needing regulars to work overtime, a drop in FTE is practically unavoidable, and a drop of only 10% could be explained by cutting overtime alone (time and a half, remember?)
Regardless, 1,600 full-time equivalent workers is not actually 1,600 full-time workers. While CNET did use the correct terminology in their report, their headline and photo tagline are misleadingly inaccurate. They also fail to recognize the holiday season as a factor, if not the factor, for the drop. In my opinion, that's lazy reporting on their end. As for the idiots who picked up the story without bothering to understand the content, I am reminded of the wisdom of old Obi-wan Kenobi, "Who's the more foolish: the fool or the fool who follows him?" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/quotes) And no, that does not refer to "foolish" in the Motley (http://www.fool.com/) sense.
Tech bloggers, you need to either stop reporting on the business aspects of tech companies, or look up terms you don't understand. Maybe you haven't heard, but there's a great service that helps you look up stuff called "Google." (http://www.google.com/) Try it some time. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
GottaBeMobile.com (http://www.gottabemobile.com/) added this guy, Hilton Locke (http://www.gottabemobile.com/2009/03/27/gbm-podcast-68-introducing-new-gbm-team-member-hilton-locke/), to their team, and I gotta admit, he's one handsome S.O.B. Apparently he was also a design engineer at Microsoft working on touch input technology, but really I think GBM just wanted to up their attractiveness quotient. I don't know. Something about this guy I like. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Not only has Warner "what's 'sleep'?" Crocker given us the Ink Blot Awards (http://wickedstageact2.typepad.com/life_on_the_wicked_stage_/2008/12/the-fourth-annual-life-on-the-wicked-stage-ink-blot-awards.html) today, but he's introduced me to a fun new game: "Misleading Google Headline."
The wall Street Journal published a headline that reads: Google Gears Down for Tougher Times (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122826503489174369.html). Most people would take that to mean they're trimming the fat. But folks who use or know of the service "Google Gears" (http://gears.google.com/) could and have read that to mean that service is down. Warner called it a stupid headline (http://www.gottabemobile.com/2008/12/03/stupid-headline-writing-101-wall-st-journal-and-google-gears/). I say Google sticks their name in front of so many services that such missteps are unavoidable, which leads us to our game of creating Misleading Google Headlines.
Google Maps Dead -- Google creating comprehensive map of all the cemeteries in the world.
Google Docs on Life Support -- Doctors working with Google's charitable arm discuss emerging life support technologies.
Schmidt: No More Google Talk -- Google CEO Eric Schmidt asks journalists to refrain from asking about Google when interviewing him about his personal support of Barack Obama.
Google Blogger Suspended -- A blogger working for Google has been suspended for endorsing Yahoo!
Google Checkout GONE -- Dear Google, please checkout GONE, a new data recovery service designed for larger server farms.
Yes, it's true: everyone and their brother has entered the netbook (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netbook) market. Even my cats are working on one that can be operated without the use of opposable thumbs to be released under the Cat3 brand. Just one of the many new brands that wave sprung into existence.
No seriously, yesterday ARM (http://www.gottabemobile.com/2008/11/13/arm-to-enter-netbook-chip-market/) announced their interest in the market. Today AMD (http://www.gottabemobile.com/2008/11/13/amd-talks-about-netbook-mobility-strategy-yukon-coming/) made an announcement. Tomorrow we'll probably hear from NVIDIA about their netbook strategy followed by a press conference with Texas Instruments.
And who are these guys building all these netbooks? The vendor list (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_netbooks) is a who's who of "who the hell is that?" I think half these guys were making toasters two years ago. At this rate, Sumocat Computers (http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Sumocat+Computers%22) will enter the market by Q4 2009. (And yes, that company does exist. No relation.) [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Lot of noise today over the RNC spending $150k on their VP candidate's wardrobe (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/21/rnc-has-spent-over-150000_n_136736.html). If it diverts funds from telecampaigning, I hope they spend more, and it's not my money so what do I care?
More importantly, the McCain camp also dropped some coin on a voice coach (http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1008/Get_Out_The_What.html?showall) to fix, among other things, her pronunciation of the word "nuclear". Even before I started working for The Society of Nuclear Medicine, the sound of someone saying "nook-u-ler" was fingernails across a chalkboard to me. Thus, I'm glad to hear they're fixing that.
Update! Oh crap. I just noticed the coaching took place before the convention, yet she slipped right back into "nook-u-ler" during the debate. Guess that money wasn't as well spent as I thought. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Wound up burning a chunk of time arguing against, of all people, Warner Crocker (http://www.gottabemobile.com/Strangling+The+Golden+Goose.aspx) about an issue I care nothing about. Part of it was iPhone-related, so it's fair to say I have an interest there, especially since I know and have publicly supported an iPhone app developer (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2008/09/incredible-iphone-app-under-pressure.html), but T-Mobile's new 3G data plan? I really need to focus on issues I care about and skip those where I just disagree.
Update! Bigger waste than I thought. T-Mobile just lifted the limit (http://gizmodo.com/5054473/t+mobile-removes-1gb-3g-data-cap-for-g1-android-phone) (and explained the need for the limit the same way I did). [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
