Speedymac - Home

Taking the bull by the horns

2008-05-23T07:46:00Z

Blues night in downtown Durham, originally uploaded by lonb.

Over the years my main project became my full-time job. MailTank, which is nearing release 4.0 this summer.

After the launch I have decided to spend some time working one a new web service.

I have learned a lot building MailTank, the business, the technology and honing my entrepreneurial skills.

In late July I will announce the home for the new business, after which Speedymac will be no more.

It has been a good ride running Speedymac LLC. I founded the business upon moving to North Carolina in 2001.

Thanks to everyone that has written comments, linked to me and more important written me e-mail over the years (i answer every email).

In the mean time you can follow me on Twitter, FriendFeed and Flickr at @lonbaker.

Should blog comments be set free?

2008-05-23T05:50:40Z

I have been experimenting with Tumblr and Disqus, over at Silicon State.

Combining different services to power a blog has been on my mind lately.

This blog runs on Mephisto, a Rails application, and it actually manages a number of web sites in one install.

I love Mephisto!

But. (<- inevitable for a developer)

There are things I want to try without writing code.

For example, automatically pull Flickr, Del.icio.us and Twitter items in as blog posts, not sidebar items.

This experimentation lead me to Tumblr, which is mainly used for tumblelogs.

It lacks searching and comments, but has most everything else I want.

Search can be hacked in using Google’s customer search boxes.

Comments can be integrated through Disqus, using a simple javascript.

This has me thinking.

Is Disqus doomed to be a “feature” or will it thrive as a full blown service?

Should commenting be portable and searchable independent of a blog?

Would that encourage richer conversations?

Just thinking. Always thinking.

Mobile VoIP: Skype on the Nokia N95

2008-05-21T04:57:00Z

Having used Skype for a few years, I love it.

However, I recently tried the Skype for Mobile beta on a Nokia phone and was stunned to find a product so unlike the desktop version.

Initiating a call, something that can only be done over WiFi, Skype forces the phone to conduct the call over the regular cellular network after which it complete the route over the internet.

Epic failure!

Who want to use a VoIP client on a WiFi enabled phone only to be forced to make a cellular call and get double billed?

Hopefully they come to their senses and achieve the comparatively minor technical achievement that Gizmo and TruPhone have as a standard feature.

When will Clouds partner efficiently?

2008-05-20T04:56:00Z

When will the clouds begin to partner in ways that accelerate adoption?

For example, if you use Amazon S3 for storage, unless you are running on EC2, the roundtrip to and from that cloud can be slow and costly.

If another cloud service were to create a direct connection into that cloud, it would be a huge value add when evaluating doing business with these “partner” services.

Why do I ask?

I have used Amazon EC2 and S3, am running hosting accounts, virtual servers and a complete rack of owned servers.

I get the bills, see the latency and believe there is a huge opportunity for middle tier vendors to differentiate their offerings.

Few other companies are going to build an S3 competitor. The rest of the infrastructure pie will be grabbed by making smart partnerships to connect efficiently and cost effectively to these cloud services.

Ownyouridentity.com and Chi.mp a good start?

2008-05-19T04:56:00Z

This guys may be building the new social architecture I envision to compete with the walled services trend in social sites.

Chi.mp is building a flexible, permanent home for your online identity on your own domain. You own and are in control of the facets of your digital life, not any one service provider.

One place for your profile, your contacts & content, where you have control over who gets to see what.

Chi.mp is as open as you are.

They seem to be advancing the discussion in a constructive way at Ownyouridentity.com.

Where comments go to die?

2008-05-19T04:56:00Z

Comments on blogs are a foundational element for building a community.

With twitter-spawn friendfeed, adding comments to tweets, the question is, could friendfeed and something like Disqus merge to offer cross community comment streams?

Right now, some think comments on Disqus or friendfeed are heading for a black hole.

But, imagine if a blog post linked to in a tweet displayed the comment thread from disqus in the friendfeed stream, and if comments on friendfeed would show up in the Disqus thread on the blog post.

That would spawn some very very interesting communities and discussions.

Twitter's value rising in others ways

2008-05-18T04:55:00Z

A good sign in any emerging market, squatters.

It happened during the original gold rush for domain names and now Twitter is generating the same behavior.

While looking for streams of interest to follow, I ran across .

pcmag for sale. email me at twitterforsale@gmail.com

Will Twitter take a side on this behavior? Or allow the community or market for such practices handle it naturally?

It will be interesting to see how it unfolds.

Missing data portability is a feature, not a bug

2008-05-18T04:53:00Z

The discussion about Google vs. Facebook and making user data portable validates my opinion.

Since the day MySpace was the place to be, it was obvious to me that MySpace and subsequent services were repeating the original AOL business model.

A carefully camouflaged wall has been under construction since the moment VCs smelled the payday in the social web.

Until Goggle made their play this week, it was a well kept secret. But Google’s move forced Facebook to publicly reveal the wall and their intentions.

Suddenly, people are noticing this issue.

The side affect of data portability is an all but guaranteed lower valuation for these service. If users come and go as they like, vendors have far less ability to protect shareholder value.

There is a new service architecture I can envision to solve the portability issue, one that turns the tables on the vendors of these walled services and give users full control, both in portability and privacy.

But that is for another post.

Is Web 2.0 unreliable? Bullshit.

2008-05-18T04:35:00Z

Dan Farber makes the following point.

These recurring problems once again demonstrate that the much loved Web 2.0, consisting of many start-ups lacking adequate infrastructure and stable code, is unreliable.

(Via News flash: Web 2.0 is unreliable | Outside the Lines - CNET News.com.)

I almost let this go, but on further thought, I have to call bullshit.

Yes. Many internet services do not deliver 100% availability.

Scratch that - MOST internet services do NOT deliver 100% availability.

Here is a news flash:

That makes them like is every other business on the planet!

Twitters down! So is power in New York.

Seesmic locked up! Hmm. So has my mobile phone, computer, car and washing machine.

Every single system in our society, from the plumbing to the computers on the space shuttle, will and do fail - some of the time. It is a certainty.

Just like you or I getting up tomorrow and not going to work.

Get over it, move on or do something more than whining.

Dan Farber makes the following point.

These recurring problems once again demonstrate that the much loved Web 2.0, consisting of many start-ups lacking adequate infrastructure and stable code, is unreliable.

(Via News flash: Web 2.0 is unreliable | Outside the Lines - CNET News.com.)

I almost let this go, but on further thought, I have to call bullshit.

Yes. Many internet services do not deliver 100% availability.

Scratch that - MOST internet services do NOT deliver 100% availability.

Here is a news flash:

That makes them like is every other business on the planet!

Twitters down! So is power in New York.

Seesmic locked up! Hmm. So has my mobile phone, computer, car and washing machine.

Every single system in our society, from the plumbing to the computers on the space shuttle, will and do fail - some of the time. It is a certainty.

Just like you or I getting up tomorrow and not going to work.

Get over it, move on or do something more than whining.

Why podcasting is (not) failing

2008-04-12T12:17:26Z

Repurposed radio programs and a number of innovative niche audio and video podcasts such as TWiT have loyal followings. But these are exceptions. Tellingly, 22 of the 25 “Top Podcasts” on the front page of iTunes podcast directory are established brands from the mainstream media world, including HBO, NPR, the BBC, ESPN, The Onion, and Oprah Winfrey. In this environment, most new and smaller podcasts have to struggle to be heard. Until the technologies surrounding podcasting are able to improve the user experience and better serve advertisers, podcasting will remain on the fringes.

(Via Why podcasting is failing | The Industry Standard.)

I have been listening to podcasts since I ran across Adam Curry’s original applescript for downloading them and still listen to them daily.

The points this article makes may be valid from author’s perspective, but I think he is missing the point.

First, just because you make a podcast, no matter how well produced or content rich, doesn’t mean anyone will find or listen to it.

Second, the barrier to entry for podcasting is so low, more of them are produced. This means more of them fail.

I think old school media people, coming from print, radio or television will be disappointed. They are used to a built-in success factor those established mediums offer and trapped to some extent by their habits.

The more you have, the less you do?

2008-03-21T12:37:14Z

There is a common requests I get from users all the time - I need to see more information!

A lesson I learned years ago was that users can only process so much information before becoming unproductive - in spite of what they think.

Can a user process 100 records on a page? Sure. How about a 1000? Maybe. But, how about 5,000 records per page, across 700 pages? Never.

It is why searching, tagging and other organizational techniques exist.

One of the secrets to providing any product or service, is understanding how people will use it and more importantly if a feature request really reveals a use case OR a behavioral roadblock.

In my various careers, I have observed a range of fascinating behaviors when it comes to managing large quantities of information or work.

There are five behavioral types in my opinion.

The Worker Bee, takes the information as it arrives, processes it and then goes back for more, over and over until they are done.
The Batcher, grabs a chunk of information, processes it and then may or may not grab a new batch.
The Cherry Picker, spends an inordinate amount of effort skimming information for the bits they feel warrant their attention, before processing any of it.
The Procrastinator, who will spend a lot of time contemplating and trying to understand the scope of information presented to them, before devising a plan for how best to process it.
The Buried, who get way too much information, usually because they got what they asked for and haven’t realized they need help or to restrict what they ask for.

These are the core groups I have observed in my years of managing workflow processes in hugely different environments.

Regardless of environment the only highly productive type, that is universal, is the Work Bee.

Worker Bee behavior is the predecessor to agile development trends. Its what previous generations called “having a good work ethic”.

What type are you?

Report: 95% of Internet video stuck looking longingly at TV

2008-03-21T12:06:24Z

Only five percent of those surveyed said that they watch video on a TV or other video-playing device regularly. Downloading from places like the iTunes Store or Xbox Live Video to the Apple TV or an Xbox 360 make this possible without having to use an HTPC. Still, even though these solutions make it easier to watch downloaded content on the big(ger) screen, they clearly have yet to hit it big with the general public.

(Via Report: 95% of Internet video stuck looking longingly at TV.)

I always wonder about reports like these. What us the real agenda behind this one?

After all, 5 years ago it would have read “100% of Internet video stuck looking longingly at TV” or “0% of those surveyed said they watched video on a TV or other video-playing device”.

In my case, Amy and I watch the vast majority of our video using a $500 video projector in our living room. In the neighborhood of 75-85% of our video content comes from online sources, including iTunes, Hulu.com, ABC.com and Podcasts.

5% penetration in the 2-3 years that online video content has really taken off is not bad.

MacBook Air aflutter: demand stays strong, sold out often

2008-03-03T05:59:48Z

Having owned virtually every Apple laptop since the Duo 230c, I believe this shortage is being created by demand, not an artificial manipulation.

It might not be the iPhone, but the MacBook Air is selling much stronger than many of us would have guessed. After a full month of being on the market, the MacBook Air is still a difficult commodity to obtain in some markets…

(Via MacBook Air aflutter: demand stays strong, sold out often.)

Remember, most users consume probably 10% of the capabilities of any modern Intel-based computer.

Graphics professionals, videographers and gamers may push beyond its capabilities, but literally everyone else would be more than satisfied with the Air’s capabilities.

Think about it, 2 gigs a ram, intel processor more powerful than one a mere 2 years ago and enough storage for most normal uses.

I think quality vs. kitchen sink feature list is winning out in this case.

Pownce, Twitter, Walled Gardens...oops nevermind

2008-03-03T04:28:04Z

Was going to post about how odd it seemed to hear that e-mail is dead and Twitter, Pownce or Facebooks are the solution to everything.

At least that came out of the Future of Web Applications conference.

Why not post the thought it triggered?

In its place a brainstorm erupted that is worth millions.

Seriously.

Time to hunker down in the bat cave to prototype the idea.

Should take 90 days with any luck.

Send water, food and angle funding.

Trust your employees to succeed

2008-02-23T05:38:46Z

In my ongoing effort to wrangle various hosting vendors into a coherent strategy, I have come across a common problem.

Businesses don’t trust their employees.

I am not talking about clocking in and out, blocking web sites or inventorying each paper clip allotted to the cogs in the vast corporate machine.

How many times have you been told I have to check my manager?

When I call or email with a question, I do not want to hear that someone has to check with higher management.

I want an answer.

If an employee cannot answer the question or make a commitment that will secure my business, then I do not want to talk to them ever again.

Small businesses require direct communication with authentic and authoritative people.

You will fail if you put a layer of “filter” employees between customers and decisions makers.

From the janitor to the CEO, everyone in your company makes or breaks it, every single day.