I was interviewed by the Ganett Papers over the weekend about Google Glass.  Mainly it was to discuss, the basics.

Read more here:

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20130507/NJBIZ/305080012

source: Nobel Ackerson

If you know me personally, you know that I’m a very public person. I am also a very private person when it comes to certain things. Having the right to privacy, whether you choose so or not, is something I want to always have regardless if I choose to or not. If I choose to be engaged in social media, it is my choice, but I have to make sure that I only invoke my right (or lack) of privacy, and not anyone else’s.

When I take photos, I NEVER tag people in the shared album. I always ask the people, even if I can share the album. While, I assume, I’m in my right to tag someone, out of respect I don’t. What I assume is safe to post, may not be for everyone.

There is a very legitimate privacy concern over glass, when it comes to being in a place where cameras and recording devices are prohibited. In these places recording devices are banned. you don’t need to make another law specifically for glass. it is assumed that any recording device will be prohibited. The goal of Glass is to push the limits of technology. It is not a new way to spy on people. if Google didn’t put a camera, people would complain that it didn’t have a recording element.I believe that Google Glass is a huge milestone in technology. I believe that is a net positive gain for convenience. Remember Google’s mission statement / company policy is “do not evil.”

I will say that people are not paying the all this money to show us the very worst part of Google Glass. They have a vested interest in making a positive impact. I bet all the Glass toting population are very nice people who want to see this technology become mainstream. If the rumored iWatch has Siri that must mean it could also be a recording device. Are we banning watches?

The violation of one person’s privacy rights (implicit or implied) is a huge concern. The underlying issue is that the technology has already been given a stigma of being something that it is not. I am not going to walk around recording everyone. Just because I have a recording device doesn’t mean I’m going to use it for nefarious purposes. Those same devices have existed for years, but somehow we trust the user. We trust the user because we have the same technology, and understand how it works.

When you talk to someone who doesn’t understand what Facebook is, we hear the same privacy invading rhetoric. “I don’t like ‘the Facebook’ because it [Facebook] steals our information.” It very well could be true, but the evidence used, is not based on fact, but on rumor that someone told them. This argument also comes from the same people who won’t give you their address or phone number out of privacy concerns, but will friend you on Facebook ten minutes later.

People are already trying to pigeonhole Glass into a category of spying and video recording mainly because that is all they know.  We don’t ban pencils because someone can stab someone with it.  The fear of the unknown, has been led to the forefront. Just like any new technology, without real analysis, the cynics are going to complain about everything. How about we focus on real privacy concerns rather than potential recording in public places. I don’t hear complaints that your ISP just hands over browser history with only a governmental request. What about the data leakage that occurs when your friends play FarmVille?  You do know, Zynga, by virtue of your friends playing the games, has access to your Facebook account?

Let’s address the problem when it comes up.  Until then, let us all marvel in the new technology.  We have much bigger problems than some people looking funny who may want to take your picture in public without your consent.

Whether you like Facebook or not, you have got to give it to Facebook for making an amazing purchase with Beluga, a group messaging service that competed with GroupMe at SXSWi in 2010.

The key to a group messaging app is market share. SMS always wins out because it is ubiquitous to all platforms. The problem is that SMS costs money (and a lot of it), and only works on phones. iMessage was supposed to take over SMS, and got close, but it only works with iOS devices.

I’m hoping that Google Babble (or whatever they will call it) meets the cross platform, reliable, feature rich, and ease of use requirements that I want and Facebook messenger has.

Facebook messenger is everything it needs to be. 1 billion people use facebook. They can see the message on their phone or their computer. They can choose to receive the messages as SMS, or use data. You have have large groups. You can have read receipts. You can send photos, You can send links. You can send videos.

The only downfall is that you have to use Facebook, and I only say that liberally. You have to have an account. TechCrunch reports that you don’t need an account, and can sign up with SMS only. http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/04/messenger-no-facebook-account/ In reality it is simpler to make an account, with nothing in it.

Just make a simple Facebook account.

Everyone then tells me, that what is the purpose, just use SMS, GroupMe, WhatsApp, or any other messaging program. The simple answer is that other people won’t use them. I’ve learned that people will only do what is convenient for them. I’ve long extolled how great Google+ is, but I still get bullied that it is a ghost town.

Even if you don’t use facebook, just have the account. Don’t use it for anything except messenger. Facebook can’t steal or use your data for nefarious purposes if there is no data there.

I also love facebook for oAuth. It allows one click login instead of typing some crazy long password on a mobile phone.

1) Edit your profile to just your name and photo. I like putting my email and Google Voice number there so people have them quickly accessible. I keep slightly more information there. I figure it is all so public at this point that who cares if my birthday gets leaked (I actually changed it by one day to see who really knew my birthday).

2) Go to preferences and disable your wall. Remember you aren’t there to socially network, but rather to use Facebook messenger. Your wall is no longer relevant.

3) Delete your wall posts.  Obviously, you don’t want old posts of you lingering around.  They will never go away, but it will be much harder to dig up.

4) Delete the people you will probably never really speak to. (I‘ve complained about this before). I thought that having friends, even remote ones, will be beneficial later on when I need a favor, but people can’t even wish you a happy birthday when told to.

5) Delete all pictures that you don’t want public, including tagged photos. While you are at it, turn on the setting that forces you to approve it).

6) Delete all the apps that you don’t use. The ones you do use, check their extra permissions so that they don’t post on your behalf.  http://mypermissions.org is great for this.

Google+ comment page:

https://plus.google.com/107779029598075532555/posts/7Ui4LEQuxHQ

Obviously last week was a terrible week to be a Google fan boy  You probably didn’t get into I/O, but more importantly, you heard of the demise of Google reader.

People are saying this is good because it will breed innovation, something that Google destroyed when it released its product 8 years ago. The problem is that I don’t want some gorgeous app. I want to quickly read the headlines of my feed with or without a blurb, and to move on. I also want it synced to all my devices.

Why Google killed reader has conspiracy nuts going.  It probably came down to 1) not being able to monetize the product, and 2) Resources they need are going to the wrong place.  The Reader team was basically on borrowed time.  Now what Google does with Reader is a different story.  My hope is that it gets merged with Google+ in a way that makes everyone happy (or at least appeases them).

The stated reason was that nobody uses RSS.  My mother doesn’t use RSS.  Most people can’t spell or elaborate on RSS.  RSS is used in the back rooms giving people things to read.  Someone chose today’s story of the day, and it went viral.  The problem is we are giving power to a select few to curate content for us. The social sharing is not what I want.  I don’t want other people telling me what to read.  On some level I want that granularity.  For a long time, and still am, a Fark.com follower.  Their idea was get editor approved content, or pay $5/month and see EVERYTHING.  Everything was so much with too little time, I ended up trusted the editors.  Trusting the editors was after years of making sure they chose articles relevant to my interest.  90% of the time they were spot on.

As the Internet gets more ingrained in our lives, and our attention span becomes shorter, people want the best news of the day.  Well, I don’t… I want to be known for knowing as much as I can on technology.  I want people to ask me.

I do like Flipboard, Pulse, Current, Zite, and others.  I do like that they give you a magazine layout.  The issue is that I parse articles, I don’t read them.  When I do read them, I do want something like those mentioned above.

Here is Flipboard, my current favorite, catch up on The Economist, magazine reader:

For that style app, it is one of the best.  I highly recommend it.  As an aggregator  however, it is terrible.

As a contrast, here is my Google Reader:

Notice how many articles I have to go through.  At the time of this writing it is 760 articles.  Of those articles maybe I’ll look at 100.  250 of these articles are cat pictures.

I have on my list, The Verge, Gizmodo, and Engadget.  Most of the time those sites duplicate articles.  The Verge alone posts 75 articles a day, most of them have little interest for more than a headline.  I really don’t want to flip through a gorgeous UI for that.  I want in, get the information, than leave.

So what exactly do I want?

If we are starting from scratch, then here are my choices for a good application that I would pay money for.

Must Haves (Deal-breakers)

Quick access to feeds.  This is the most important thing.  I must be able to quickly access feeds, mark as read, and navigate.  Like I said, my workflow is such that I need to quickly read articles.  I need quick access to those that interest me, and a quick way to skip over those who don’t.

Provide a web interface AND access to an app, or allow an API so others can access it.  Most of the current iOS/Android apps hook into Google Reader API.  I need to have access on any device I use.  It doesn’t have to be a standalone app, but it should allow others to integrate it (paid if need be).

The ability to sync across devices.  I use many devices during the day.  I need access to news where ever I am.  I need to also keep my spot in line.  I may be a power user, but I need to know that I’m not reading duplicate entries all throughout the day.

Good to have:

Different Views:  Allow me to set headlines only, blurb form, or full article form.  Actually have it laid out based on screen size.

oAuth:  I do not want separate account information unless needed.  Find a way that I can log in with the social networks, mainly Google+.

Social Sharing: Be able to at least email a post to someone.  It would be good if the major sharing sites (including Google+) is there

Read it Later:  Same as social sharing.  Allow access to the read it later sites like Instapaper.  If you could “send to Kindle” I would pay for that.

Local Storage/Offline Access: Most of the aggregators already do this.  Harness HTML5 for data storage.

Paid (Ad Free Service):  I have no problem paying server costs.  Allow ads, or allow people to pay for the service and make it advertising free.

Algorithmically generated stories:  If I subscribe to blogs, try to suggest others that I may like. Even better, have a local section based on location that will populate a folder called “local news.”

Subscribe to Bundles:  Since data mining should be done, find out the most popular news feeds, and allow people to subscribe to them in themes.

Extensions for media:  If the RSS feed is a podcast, I want the ability to hit play.

—–

As you can see, your favorite application for reading RSS probably has this built in.  Hopefully Google gave them long enough to figure out a back end to allow hosting.

I’m disabling comments.  If you would like to comment, follow the Google+ link.  https://plus.google.com/107779029598075532555/posts/1wVjCMWJqWs

Never in history has one facet of life changed so much day to day that people are actively engaged in it, or are completed disgusted and refuse to learn.  People who refuse to learn technology is growing (contrary to opinion), and require more assistance.  As devices get more technical, the knowledge base to educate them grows and grows.  It is overwhelming to sit someone down and explain to them how to use Windows or OS X when they have never used it before.

Growing up as an Internet denizen, I progressed through all the technological advances that came (and gone) through the years.  My friends comically laugh that I have used every single operating system (desktop and mobile).  People often ask me for advice on what to get, to which I do share it.

When giving tech advice to people, what you are saying is that you are knowledgeable enough to help them, any time they need.  The keyword is ANYTIME and THEY, not YOUR TIME, and YOUR AVAILABILITY.

What you think is better may not necessarily  be better.  The first question I reply with when asked on which smartphone to get is will you have 45 minutes to sit there and learn it.   If they are willing, and can navigate YouTube, I will generally recommend Android.  If they hesitate, I immediately gravitate to iOS.  That isn’t saying that iOS is better or worse, that is saying that iOS has a store with “knowledgeable” people, a place to actually go to, and a lot of other people that because of standard feature set are able to help. Also iOS is more simple as a whole. If they seem interested in learning their product to its full use, I generally recommend Android.  The thought process in using Android has some foibles, but usually it is pretty robust and standardized in the newest versions.

If you want a true discussion between iOS and Android on the extreme power user side, listen to the latest podcast on inThirty here. http://30.inthirty.net/YQI32C

All of this has a point.  If you are the technological person for many people, be ready to help.  This story, made up, I’m sure exists on many levels.

The background is that a parent wants to play a streaming 3D movie.  I was yelled at because I suggest to my parents to just buy a Blu-Ray player, rather than using Netflix/Amazon Prime.

Here is what is needed to troubleshoot buying something online:

This is how buying an online movie works.

Parent: How do I buy a movie?
Child: Log into the amazon account.
Parent What is the username?
Child: I don’t remember, what does lastpass say?
Parent Oh, since I forgot the password, I’ve created a bunch
Child: Doesn’t laura have one?
Parent Yeah, but I don’t remember the password.
Parent Hold on someone is calling
….. 5 Minutes later….
Child: The password is [password].  What movie do you want to to watch?
Parent I don’t know, can’t Amazon recommend me one?
Child: Well go to the movie section and find one.
Parent We will look at call you back.
….10 minutes later….
Parent We found this movie
Child: So click rent
Parent It doesn’t have rent
Child: You can buy it
Parent I don’t want to buy it. I thought movies were free.  I thought that is why I pay for prime membership
Child: Those movies say Prime instant.
Parent Where is that section?
Child: There isn’t a section, it just says Prime next to it.
Parent This is getting difficult.  I just wanted to watch a movie.  Fine, I’ll get this movie.
Child: Ok, now click Living room blu ray to stream it there.
Parent Where is that?
Child: On the bottom left corner
Parent There is no bottom left corner
Child: Your other left corner
Parent I’m looking at all corners
Child: Read me everything
Parent Hold on someone is calling
…. 5 minutes later…..
Parent I see it now, it wasn’t the absolute corner but slightly towards the center.
Child: Ok, now you have to go to the DVD player and log in.
Parent How do I do that.
Child: Switch the input
Parent Which remote do I use
Child: The verizon one.  Look for an input button.  I think it is on the top.
Parent The buttons are too small.  Ok I found it.
Child: In the menu find amazon streaming
Parent I don’t see a menu
Child: Then hit input again
Parent I’m back at the tv
Child: Then you went to far.  Is the DVD player on?
Parent No, you never told me to put the DVD player on.
Phone call…. 5 minutes
Parent Dvd player is on, what do I do again.
Parent Amazon wants me to log in.
Child: So log in
Parent What is the password?
Child: The same as before
Parent I don’t remember it.  Do you expect me to enter it using the on screen keyboard.
Child: You only have to do it once.
Parent This is too hard.  Hold on, the phone is ringing.
…….5 minutes later…….
Parent Ok, I did it. Now what?
Child: The movie should be in your queue.
Parent Where is that?
Child: Look for something that says queue.
Parent I don’t see anything
Child: Is there something that shows some sort of repository?
Parent No
Child: Does it say wishlist/save for later/watching now/purchased
Parent No
Child: Are you sure?
Parent There is something called Stream?
Child: Ok, click that
Parent How?
Child: Use the arrow keys on the remote
Parent Ok, Now what
Child: Hit enter on the remote
Parent Where is that?
Child: I don’t know, I don’t have a FiOS remote.  Look for a positive affirmation.
Parent Now what.
Child: Watch the movie
Parent It looks blurred
Child: Put on your 3d glasses
Parent I don’t know where we put them.
Child: You need to wear them in order to see it in 3d
Parent I don’t like glasses
Child: Then you should have ordered the 2d ones
Parent Still can’t find the glasses.
Child: I can’t help you then.

Now the same conversation using a video kiosk

Parent: Where is the video kiosk ? What do I do?
Child: It is a big red box.  Go there, put your credit card in, and pick your movie.  Think of it as a vending machine.
Parent: Then what, how do I play it.
Child: Go home, Turn on the TV, Turn on the Blu-Ray, Stick the Blu-Ray in, and sit back.

After my last post asking for a way to contact you, I thought about what friendship is.  Recently my friends have been moving away, and I’m left looking to add to my core set of friends.  It got me thinking about what I want in a friendship.

To be honest, there isn’t a checklist to be my friend, but rather a mantra:  ’Just Be Friendly!”  All I want is someone who understands what friendship is, and acts friendly.  If someone calls, return their calls in a timely matter.  If they ask for your opinion, give it to them.  If they want to hang out, hang out with them.  I understand we are all busy, or have other obligations, but a good friend will explain to them, rather than hide behind the dreaded “I’m busy.”

My good friend and I discuss all the ways that people are trying to be un-friendly.  I’ve already spoken about finding a way to get in touch.  The next thing are veiled excuses to avoid social interaction.  When I go out, I’m not going to the most expensive restaurants.  I’m going to the local bar for happy hour, or half prize appetizers.  As a friend, you should know that.  When I throw a party and ask for your presence, I’m not extending a courtesy invitation.  I am asking you because I want you there.  The phrase “Who else is going to be there?” is the most unfriendly thing you can say.

Being busy should not be an excuse.  Honestly, how busy can you be?  I’m not stupid to ask you to go out at 4pm, when I’m finished with work.  That is selfish on my part, and ‘not friendly.’  However, you can’t be busy every night.  You also can’t be filled with such high level functions that means you can’t move something. If we are friends, we should be on terms that you can say, “Sorry, I’m busy on Saturdays because I met a girl.”  For the first few months that is acceptable, but a real friend will eventually let you meet this girl.  I’ve had people who’ve lost their job, but instead of saying so, just hid behind the “I’m busy” excuse.  A real friend will take you out for a tasty beverage, and help you find a new job.

A friend doesn’t make fun of you.  A friend helps you with problems.  A friend is someone who can you share information with.  If you do not want that, then do not hold that friendship.  Friendship takes work, but it should not be work if you are friendly with them. friends can not talk to each other for months on end.  A simple get together is all they need to keep the friendship going.  

Making things Good hard strains friendships.  I truly believe Facebook strains friendships.  The lack of real interaction is terrible.  You are on the same level as EVERYONE else, when friends should be higher.  Friends should get priority.

</rant>

I want to preface this with, I don’t play games.  My attention span is so short that the loading screen loses my interest, yet, Ingress has one of the longest loading intro screens I have come across.  Ingress requires you to actually go outside, and walk around.  It requires you to talk to others and coordinate to strategize.  There are no in app purchases.  The app is a huge battery hog, and has a pretty lousy UI/UX (the graphics are awesome though).  With all these negatives, I am addicted to it.

Why haven’t you heard of it?

Currently this is beta, invite only, and only on Android.  Once you play, you can see why you need to really beta test this out slowly.  I can tell you that you can’t avoid Ingress if you are on Google Plus.  Everyone is clamoring for invites.  If you go on Twitter or Facebook, this is all non existent.

Why am I still reading?

There are such little details that it boggles the mind on why anyone would start.  This isn’t Tetris where this is no winning, nor is this Mario where there is a princess to save at the end.   All you do, as I can tell right now, is walk around outside and “hack portals.”  How could this seem fun. Well, that is only one small portion of the game.

If you are interested you first head to http://ingress.com.  Assuming you have an invite code, you can start playing.  After watching the intro video, which looks like a trailer for a Michael Bay movie, you learn that this is some experiment, and you have to start looking at the world differently.  You constantly hear about the Niantic Project.  Searching for the Niantic project you come across a back story, and a damn good one at that.  Here is the best synopsis I could find.

 http://ingressfieldguide.com/content/what-ingress-niantic-project

I’ve now seen that video twice, and I still don’t understand what is going on.  What I do know, is that the whole idea is interesting.  Did the game makers actually spend the time to make all these events happen (at least do a good job faking it)?

Searching for the Niantic Project, this is what you find: http://www.nianticproject.com/.  This is obviously part of the game (more on that later).  So what is (in real life) Niantic Labs?

Four people at Google, created a startup within Google called Niantic Labs.  We know from the app Fieldtrip that they do work for Google.  Unless you knew that little tidbit of knowledge, you would have no idea this is a Google entity. It feels completely independent of Google, except you need Google credentials to log in, and the app is Android only.

I’m assuming you are still lost!

The fun comes in knowing that the map and gameplay takes place outside.  Your town is filled with portals that your faction must hack to control.  You have to go outside, walk/run/drive to a specific portal and hack it (press the button on the app).  The map is not imaginary, but the entire world.  You can see your house on the map.  Your goal is to take control of as many portals as you can, and create control fields.  The more control fields you create, the more of the “Mind Units” you control.  Again, we still don’t know exactly what is going on, but that is the second part of the game.  Going to http://www.nianticproject.com/ you are given daily clues on what is going on.  Your job is to aggregate this and try to decipher it.

Whether the second part makes sense to you, the act of going outside, visiting specific esoteric public places, and learning something really intrigues me.  There are so many statues, and out of the ordinary spots, that I have discovered by just walking around town.  Combine this with a fitness challenge, and now you have an actual reason to get out of the house.  Instead of paying $8 for Zombie Run, you can get this free, and have some real fun.

I walk around the park all the time, and passed this statue hundreds of times.  Now that is a portal, I stopped to read it:

New Brunswick Sailors Statue

Once you start understanding the game, you quickly realize that you can’t go at it alone.  You need help from other team members.  You quickly end up on Google+ trying to recruit players for meetups to go “portal hacking.”

Here is Rutgers University (Queens Campus)

I’ve gone to Rutgers, live near Rutgers, walk through Rutgers, and I’ve never been to this part of the campus.  I now try to take a quick lap around the block as many times as I can.

Here is an instant way of creating new routes to walk.  Pick a town (or part of a city), and find the portals.  I guarantee you, you will learn something.  I included some major campuses to show that there are in fact things to do:

The Conspiracy Theory:

Since this is Google, we know that they are altruistic to a point.  1-888-GOOG-411 didn’t get you free business information because Google wanted to be nice.  They did it for voice transcription.  You can tell this from how great the voice recognition is using voice search.  We also know that maps is going to be the next battleground that Google is winning.  What I can see happening, is that Google wants better walking and navigation directions.  Better navigation and more Points of Interest is always welcomed.  Here you have an army of people volunteering to get out and go to these places.  In time they will have to start taking pictures.

Currently you can submit portal categories by taking pictures of interesting, public places, and sending it to the game.  Free labor, and images.  Add to it (in the future) of having to take a photosphere of the inside for an indoor street view.

Add Google Glass to the mix, and you can see where I’m going.

If I can get any invites, I will pass them along.

I know this sounds cliché, but 2013 NEEDS to be one of looking to the future.  We talked on the podcast about our resolutions, and mine once again was to lose weight.    It is true that I didn’t achieve the weight loss I desired, but I did achieve other milestones, notably, running a 5 mile race, completing a tough mudder.

So why did I fail, and why is this year different?  Well the first answer is easy, I got lazy.  I did so well the year before, I thought in my hubris ways that I can eyeball weights and portion sizes of food.  I always found an excuse for something.  I walk everyday, but I don’t push myself.  I drink 8 cups of water, and say I’m doing well, however I should be drinking more water.  I gave up (diet) soda, but replaced it with more sweets.  I did everything right, except I sabotaged myself.

So why is this year different?  It isn’t different in the sense that I think I’m finally ready to really try.  I know what to do, it is just a matter of executing the plan.  That starts with accountability, paired with small goals to show progress.

If you want to follow along with some or all, this is what I’ll be doing to become more healthier:

30 Day Challenges:  You can click the link to read about what it is, and how it got me to stop drinking (diet) soda.  Each month, I want to make some healthy goal. I’m stealing this idea from someone in my Google+ Stream.  He wants to do 100 push-ups and sit-ups everyday.  I know I will fail, so I want to modify it to, just do as many push-up/sit-ups as I can daily.

Logging Food:  I currently use http://myfitnesspal.com to log my food.  They have the best food database that I have seen.  While their aesthetics won’t win any awards, the goal is simple, log your food. They have community forums, and other discussion sections.  The majority of their users are nice people who are helpful.   I can vouch, that when you follow the program it does work.   I welcome friends to follow me at: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/chaimtime

Exercise:  Going back to the 30 day challenge, I want exercise to be a challenge. I’ve gotten into a routine of just doing the bare minimum.  I need to exert myself.  Instead of walking at 3.5 mph (very fast), I should be at an incline and at 4.0mph (extremely fast).  I may start-up Insanity again.

Step Goal:  I currently have a Fitbit  and it rocks.  It really works in forcing you to get moving.  It has all the gamification that you want, including competing against your friends.  I want to up my daily average to 12k steps a day, with 77k steps a week.  I also want to walk on the weekends, even for 10 minutes.  You can be my friend on Fitbit: https://www.fitbit.com/user/22Q26S. If you don’t want both MyFitnessPal and Fitbit, then stick with Fitbit, however you can set it up to sync between the two.

Eating Out:  My December 30 day challenge was not to eat out because of laziness.  While I didn’t lose weight, we did save a TON of money.  I want to continue that into the new year.  Making your own food puts you in full control.  Portion sizes are what kills me.  I need to make the food, then pre-portion it out correctly.

Overall, accountability is going to be the issue.  If you are with me, then I ask you to help me by being my friend on one or both websites.  I want you to ask how I’m doing.  You can obviously see that I know what I’m doing, I just have to execute the plan.

The image says it all, albeit in the exact opposite context that I want.  There are eight ways I can contact you, but you choose to ignore all of them.

I’m upset that all these ways of contacting someone, leads to another full, or ignored inbox that still doesn’t get a response.

A few years ago friend of mine, let’s call him V, told his mobile phone carrier to turn off text messaging on his phone.  Not he won’t respond to text messages, but you get a response that the message did not go through.  I asked him why, and the simple [paraphrased] response was, “I don’t want to indirectly interact with someone. If they want to be my friend they will call to engage me in a conversation.”  I thought it was stupid at first, but over the years, the lack of responses, or useless, days late responses made me believe in his idea.  He continues by saying he is always available by the phone.  I have confirmed that this is in fact true.  Most of the time, he will pick up.  When he doesn’t pick up, no message is necessary, he will call back when he becomes available. While I won’t go so far as to block SMS, and all other forms of communication, it brings up an interesting point.

When I want to actually communicate with someone, I do want have a conversation.  I don’t want to wait and hope for a response.  If I’m directly trying to reach you, either with a phone call, email, or another form of private message, it isn’t because I want to ask how the Mets are doing, but rather because I have something I need to talk to you about.  I obviously know all the other ways to get a hold of you.  I am now asking for the way, to guarantee a way.

We all used to have those friends that wouldn’t answer the phone, and force you to leave a message.  Then when they called back, they were the most urgent phone call.  Notice how I didn’t say important, I said urgent.  I would have to end conversations with others, so I can talk to said person because otherwise this game of phone tag would not end.  This action is their way of saying, I’ll contact you when I feel like, and inconvenience you on my time.  If you do not pick up, then I will assume it was not as important, and you can call me back and leave a message.

Here is an example of a friend that I have, who is on every social media network known to man, however when we make plans to do something, this friend is unreachable.

So I can call him,
or I can send a text message,
or I can email him,
or I can tweet him.
or I can Facebook message him,
or I can Google plus him,
or I can private message him on Linked In,
or I can comment on his foursquare checkin,
or comment on his Youtube video,
or I can take a photo of text and tag him in Instagram,
or comment on his tumbler,
or comment on his blogger,
or comment on his WordPress,
or [insert what you do on last.fm],
or comment on his Flickr,
or give him a +k on Klout,
or send him a Snapchat,
or use google talk,
or use AIM,
or use Skype,
or use Kik,
or send him an iMessage,
or send him a BBM,
or anything else I forgot….

After doing all of this, said friend says either, I never got your message, or I was busy, and never calls.  I express my frustration, that my call was to find out why, he was late, and should I start ordering.  You couldn’t have not gotten my message, or have been busy.  You were supposed to be with me.  Now I’m stuck in the cold waiting for you.

Going back to what V said about engagement, people hide behind non timely ways of communication.  There are just too many legitimate excuses that one can use when dealing with non verbal ways of communication.  All of which show that a friendship is not worth your time.  If someone wanted to hire you, and tried even the most mundane method listed above, you would have immediately responded.

I would like to present a solution, or at least an idea.  Contact cards should have a “Best way to reach me: ” section.  I am not looking for a guarantee, but a way that I know, you will see a message I send you, and respond.  If that is snail mail, or tin can, then so be it.  At least I know, if I send snail mail, I’ll get a response.  This is not a “How are you doing” conversation, but rather, I have something I NEED to engage with you.

I’m not saying you have to give this information out every time you meet someone.  This is not a piece of information that needs to get out.  It should be a way for someone you want to associate with to get a hold of you.

Maybe this idea can catch on, if enough people think like I do.

With the ton of driving that I have been doing recently, an idea popped into my head.  What if there was a horizontal line x feet before a red light that signifies whether you have a reasonable expectation to make the yellow light, or not. Let me explain:

Obviously running a red light is dangerous, as well as illegal.  When you see a yellow light, a split second decision needs to be made on whether you will have enough time to make it through [safely], or stop.  Both involve an unsafe decision if you are wrong.  Stopping with time, can get you rear ended.  Speeding up through the light can cause you to run the red light (and all the dangers associated with it).  Imagine if there was a line in the road stating:  In front of this line, going the correct speed limit, you will make the light.  Behind this line, you will not make the light.  Again, assuming you don’t go below the current speed limit.

The timing of a light has been legislated.  The duration of a yellow light should be one second per ten miles per hour.  On state roads, going fifty miles an hour, the yellow light should be five seconds.  Some simple math shows that at fifty miles an hour, you are traveling 73.3 feet per second.  In five seconds, you will travel 366.5 feet or the complete length (including endzones) of a football or soccer field.  That is a huge distance.  That is also a huge guess to chance.

Integrating such a line or method can not be that costly.  They already put the sensors close to the light for traffic monitoring.  They spray pain the lines once or so a year, so to add either a yellow sign or a horizontal line should be trivial.  There are only so many different speed limits to worry about, so the calculations are trivial   Comment if you see a glaring error.

Someone has explained to me that that the car or vehicle is important to note.  I claim that displacement is displacement.  Fifty miles per hour is standard regardless of vehicle.  This signal should be very conservative.  Put it fifty-three feet closer for the single axle trucks if you want.

The hardest obstacle is the not falling below the posted speed limit.  Like I said, you can be very conservative.  Remember this is not a safety zone, but rather an estimate.  With all this said, if you do then run the red light, it should be harder to prove your innocence.  You had a signal that told you when to stop.