Rahul Sood's Weblog

One of the most amazing Autism stories you'll watch...

2011-10-17T20:46:00.001-07:00

I saw this when it first came out, it's truly amazing...!

Ford Raptor Outcome

2011-10-17T17:38:00.020-07:00

Ford Raptor in Satin Black...

Ford came through which is probably a good thing since they not only saved us from buying from a competitor, but the final result seems to be generating some excitement in various truck enthusiast communities. Yes, is such a thing, there are people who are super passionate about this stuff, people just love their trucks!

I normally wouldn't blog about this, but I wanted to follow up on the previous blog about our experience with Ford. Not only did they save a customer, but they retained a fan in me --- and they are generating a bunch of free viral marketing from various forums in the process.

We spent a week or so planning on the final design of the truck, and here is the finished product. The following people deserve props for helping us get to the final outcome;

Jim Walen of Ford of Kirkland
Craig Daitch & Scott Monty of Ford Corporation
Micah Adams from Addictive Desert Designs
Bill Mann from Manns Hitch & Trailer
Blake Siebe from Northwest Auto Salon (check their blog here on the wrap)

I'm also working on plans for an Xbox entertainment system, but I'm not there yet, I need to find some good displays that don't get in the way.

...and here it is!

...and a little video I created...

RIP Steve Jobs

2011-10-05T17:38:00.003-07:00

We lost a great innovator today, one of the greatest innovators of our time. Steve Jobs inspired many, and his work helped to create a ripple effect that will last generations. RIP Steve Jobs, you'll be missed!

Voodoo Lego

2011-10-05T10:19:00.005-07:00

My good friend Mark send me his portfolio of Voodoo products. I love this lego stuff, I wanted to share it with you all. I think he's pretty awesome -

Check out some of his work here!

XBIT Labs Interview

2011-09-06T09:07:00.002-07:00

Xbit Labs did an interview with me the other day. It was a pretty deep Q&A about Voodoo, HP, Palm, webOS, etc.

Rahul Sood: Computing Devices of the New Era Need a Soul

by Anton Shilov

HP's plan to spin off its personal systems group caught everyone by surprise and results of such a move are hard to overestimate. Today we are talking to Rahul Sood, a co-founder of the legendary VoodooPC boutique PC maker and a former employee of HP. We will discuss Voodoo, HP in the past and now as well as the personal computer industry in general.

Our today's interlocutor - Rahul Sood - is a pretty legendary man from the PC industry. Mr. Sood founded VoodooPC, one of the first boutique PC brands in the world, back in 1991, years before many of today's companies that produce high-end hardware or PCs were established.

VoodooPC focused on creation of ultra high-end desktops for gaming or working, but eventually the company started to offer more affordable systems for multimedia to increase its footprint. The firm got acquired back in 2006 by Hewlett-Packard with the aim to leverage the DNA of high-quality Voodoo-branded products onto a wide range of PCs and peripherals.

Unfortunately, not everything went as planned, VoodooPC got dissolved in HP and Mr. Sood decided to leave the company to become a Microsoft employee. But, apparently, HP not only "managed" to absorb Voodoo without leaving a trace, but is also looking forward spinning off its personal systems group (PSG) as a whole. So, today we decided to talk to Rahul Sood to find out, what went wrong with VoodooPC within HP, what problems do PC makers face today and what should a PC company of the new era be like.

Click here for the rest!

Really great article in the WSJ on HP

2011-08-29T10:08:00.004-07:00

I read this great article in the Wall Street Journal, I thought it was worth saving. The situation is truly sad --- but I suppose it's not as sad as a massive Tsunami or natural disaster. Point being, there are more important things in life than money.

"Let's say you were given a year to kill Hewlett-Packard. Here's how you do it:

Fire well-performing CEO Mark Hurd over expense-report irregularities and a juicy sexual-harassment claim that you admit has no merit. Fire four board members, as publicly as possible. Foment a mass exodus of key executives who actually know how to run the giant computer company.

Hire new a CEO from German competitor, SAP, which sells business software, not consumer products. Tell the new CEO, Leo Apotheker, that Mr. Hurd "left H-P in great shape."

Draw public criticism from a major corporate-governance advisory firm, alleging Mr. Apotheker filled board openings with cronies."

click here for the rest...

Former HP Global Gaming Head Rahul Sood Talks About Acquisitions, Brands, And Palm

2011-08-23T20:08:00.004-07:00

This interview was published in TechCrunch today.

Curious to find out the possible thinking behind HP’s recent actions, we began to look at the parallels in past behavior by tech giant HP. The most interesting example comes from VoodooPC, one of the first high-end gaming PCs for the mass market. Led by Rahul Sood, HP bought VoodooPC in 2006 and the last product to come out of that branch was launched in 2009.

In short, we wanted to know if HP really was where good ideas go to die.

Mr. Sood was kind enough to answer a few questions.

My Thoughts on HP Part 1

2011-08-22T14:45:00.013-07:00

When you think of Apple think of the first person that comes to mind. For me it’s Steve Jobs, or perhaps even Jony Ive.

When I think of Microsoft I think of Bill Gates & Steve Ballmer.

When I think of Starbucks, the name Howard Schultz comes to mind.

Amazon, Jeff Bezos…Facebook, Mark Zuckerburg… Ford, Allan Mulally… Dell, Michael Dell…. Google, Larry Page & Sergey Brin…. Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban.... KFC, Col. Sanders... McDonalds, Ronald.... you get the idea.

You can talk about strategy and brand all you want, but unless there is a visible face to the company it’ll be hard to find your soul and establish a vision that everyone can rally around.

Sure not all companies with “faces” are on the right track, but in this day and age having a face is one of the most important ingredients to building any successful business. This is why all the new start-ups you see are all about people, being social, and being open.

Before I left HP I asked myself this question. Who is the face of HP? Is it William Hewlett and David Packard? Yes. …but they’re not here anymore. Who is left representing their ideals?

I remember Mark Hurd put it well when he said “HP is really their company (Bill & Dave’s) and I’ve been put here to run it for a while.”

Mark made a point of removing all the pictures of Carly Fiorina from the lobby of each building and left Bill & Dave’s up there. He did not hang his own picture up, which was a sign of humility that many of us appreciated. In fact, I remember Mark discouraged any stories about him in the press at the beginning.

Instead Mark embraced the idea that we could tune HP and live up to the ideals that Bill & Dave believed in. Unfortunately it felt like we got lost somewhere along the way. The “HP Way”, which is a book I read cover to cover, was nowhere to be seen after a few years of cost cutting and restructuring. …but I had to believe that Mark was planning on bringing it back at some point, perhaps it was almost too late.

Whatever the case, no matter how he went down, Mark Hurd believed that Hewlett-Packard needed to remain Hewlett-Packard as one company and should not be broken up. Mark saw the symbiotic connections between the businesses, and believed if we were to optimize them we would ultimately be successful.

HP treated me with the utmost respect, I love the company. There are good people there with good ideas. However, there were times I felt frustrated. HP was a place where if you weren't careful, good ideas would get killed quickly. Ideas that could have changed the company for the better died because of a lack of patience and a lack of vision...and a lack of patience. Did I mention a lack of patience? It got to a point where I felt I was becoming unproductive.

I remember going to an executive retreat, a motivational event, where I stood up and asked a question about brand and experiences --- basically challenging the notion that the HP brand had enough brand elasticity to be all things to everyone. Our leader got up out of his chair, walked on stage, grabbed the microphone from the person I was questioning and he said “you Voodoo guys are too obsessed about brand and experiences. I’ll sell millions of PCs this month regardless of brand…” There were gasps in the room --- and some embarrassing stares afterwards. Totally the wrong venue for this type of question, my bad I guess --- I basically got shot down in public by the man! Oops.

It was then that I realized this might not be the right place for me. I was sort of humiliated, but when I think back I realize – he was 100% right. I was obsessed about brand and experiences. I still am… Of course brand is just a piece of it -- but you need a clear vision that people can rally around, a great product, a sound business model... and the rest will come... and it’s truly unfortunate that they haven’t figured out such fundamental challenges at HP.

Everyone on the outside is bashing Leo and the board for the most recent move. Though I’m not sure it was an easy decision for them. I understand that sometimes to fix a disease you need to cut off a limb. Unfortunately I think they’re cutting off more than one limb, and they are missing the synergies required to successfully operate a profitable enterprise + consumer model. Though HP has separate divisions, the company is very much dependent on each other.

You can’t simply cut off one head and grow another, you’ll bleed out.

You can absolutely fix dysfunctional organizations without breaking them apart. Such a move requires strong leadership (empowered leaders), a believable vision, and a strategy that resonates.

I’m going to write a follow up article on the idea of a spinoff, what it means. I’ll also share what I believe HP needs to do to bring back the soul that Bill & Dave created, bring back real innovation, and command the respect they once had. Lest we forget that HP was an icon in the valley, they still are. Bill & Dave were like royalty back in the day!

I will close by saying this… It’s 2011… If I was running PSG I’d check my suit and tie at the door – and roll up my sleeves. PSG desperately needs to empower vision at the top. They should think about installing creative design principles and Big D design thinking into the organization. There’s plenty of vision at HP, they just need to pull it together in a way that doesn’t solely involve rows and columns.

HP still has a chance to transform the organization into something great again.I really wish them well as they attempt to figure out this incredibly complex problem.

Ford Customer Service is Awesome...

2011-08-19T19:15:00.006-07:00

A few days ago I wrote a blog on my weird experience buying a truck.

I went to Ford's website and configured the truck I wanted and printed the config with the MSRP. I then proceeded to call a couple of dealers since I have zero time to go shopping for cars. Well the rest of the story is here, needless to say I wasn't happy with the outcome.

In any case, after Twittering that I offered to buy a Ford at MSRP and the dealer declined I received a number of messages from multiple people from Ford. They all seemed genuinely concerned, and they immediately put together a plan of action to help me.

Ford put me in touch with the person in charge of the Northwest, and followed up along the way. They asked for a couple of days before I made any decisions and I agreed. In the meantime a GM dealer in my area contacted me with an offer on a really nice GM truck.

I received an email from Jim Walen, owner of Ford of Kirkland, followed by a personal phone call last night. He's a great guy, and he spent a good hour going over the differences between the GM and the Ford. He offered to get back to me in the morning with a couple of options.

Today he called after sending the email with the details and I was just about to go to the GM dealer to check out their truck, and he convinced me otherwise. I got a Ford Raptor exactly as I wanted.

So the bottom line is Ford came through. Craig Daitch, Scott Monty, and Christie Chornoma all from Ford corporate went way beyond my expectations to help out. Jim Walen and Raleigh Fouch from Ford of Kirkland were quick to respond and very reasonable.

Funny enough the dealer who offered to sell me the car at 5k over MSRP texted me this morning and offered to sell me one at MSRP. I'm not sure where that came from, but it was too late - and really too bad. A solvable error could lead to someone going to a completely different brand.

So yes I'm happy -- and very pleased that Ford and Ford of Kirkland came through. I hope to see the truck in 3-5 weeks, crossing my fingers. Thank you all!

Fumbling the Football

2011-08-18T21:30:00.013-07:00

Abercrombe & Sitch

There is an art to public relations. Abercrombe & Fitch demonstrated what you shouldn't do in PR this week when they apparently paid "The Situation" from the show "Jersey Shore" to NOT wear their clothes since they felt it didn't align with their brand image. Abercrombe put out a press release that seemed like they were laughing and pointing their fingers at the cast of Jersey Shore, almost bragging that they offered a "substantial amount of money" to the cast to just not wear their brand on the show.

Talk about a "situation", the stock dropped approximately 20% in the past two days, roughly 1 billion of market cap! Whoever made that decision just cost their shareholders and staff 1 billion dollars all over the Jersey Shore.

HP's Big Day of Mixed Emotions

So let's talk about the HP press release today. My phone has been ringing off the hook -- and I'm somewhat beside myself over the whole thing.

I appreciate the potential of webOS and the idea of licensing it to a company who has good relationships with major carriers makes sense... so good on them if they are actually thinking about it, however if they wanted to license webOS, why didn't they wait until they had a deal in place before announcing the cancellation of their hardware?
They totally risk alienating the loyal webOS community and even their team. They need to address this quickly, the messaging was poorly developed -- and you can bet that the sharks are swimming looking for some talent to poach.
They drop a bombshell that they're looking to spin off the PC business or sell it. Now this is amazing to me. It's completely counter to what HP is all about, certainly not something Mark Hurd wanted. I don't quite understand this decision, not sure I can see the positive here.
They acquired a 10 billion dollar software company that "no one" has heard of in a shaky economy - they are paying 10X sales! Clearly a move towards the enterprise and away from the consumer?
Just an observation: HP's stock was $46.30 the day before Mark Hurd left, the next day it went down on massive volume -- the largest volume day in the last year was the day after Hurd left. In fairness over the last year the stock climbed back up slowly and has fluctuated, however today it hit $26.61 after hours, which is near the 2009 crash lows.

I really love HP. The company is an icon in the Valley, and has been one of the most respected technology companies for decades. People like Steve Wozniak started their careers at HP, and Bill & Dave put Palo Alto & Cupertino on the map. This content of the conference call seems poorly timed & scripted.

I don't believe the intent is to kill webOS software, but it "feels" like it is.

I don't know what to say about the spin-off of the PC business. Seems like a missed opportunity. I can't say it's a "tap-out" because the company is very competitive overall, but maybe there's a lack of vision.

I hope they think about the messaging and the broader impact that it has on their people, the community, the market, etc. It feels like it was taken lightly.

Is "The HP Way" gone for good?

Bill & Dave are probably wondering what the heck is going on with their company. I know I'm disappointed... and as a living founder of a brand that was once considered a major part of the company - I feel their pain.

So back to the topic of PR

I think HP could have done a better job of messaging this;

wait until they had a deal to license webOS on the table
announce the deal in fabulous fashion, while quietly mentioning they killed webOS hardware.
as far as the rest goes, who knows, the acquisition and the pc spin-off thing have my head rumbling.

Good Luck HP!

I wish all my friends and ex-colleagues nothing but the best.... you know I have mad love for you --- and what's meant to be is meant to be. HP will still be here for a very long time, it'll just be a different HP, and one that we all hope comes back stronger and better than ever.

I really hope this is the case.

Tech Icons Reflect on PC's 30th Anniversary

2011-08-17T19:14:00.005-07:00

It's pretty cool to be in the same company of these people in the article. I do miss the PC industry, but not as much as I thought I would. Working at Microsoft and living in Seattle has expanded my horizon, and there are plenty of great things I'm working on now and preparing for the future.

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the PC, and the industry speaks. From Bill Gates to Meg Whitman, PCMag asked tech leaders, icons, and innovators about what the PC has meant to the world.

I offered to buy a Ford Raptor at MSRP and Ford declined my offer

2011-08-17T11:13:00.009-07:00

Many months ago I had issues with Nissan when we moved to the U.S. -- where they refused to transfer warranty on my car. Luckily my neighbor bought a Nissan dealership (Magic Nissan in Everett) and their service totally blew me away. I still have my car, which I still really like. They serviced the car and added a new exhaust for me, and they were very reasonable. Their GTR tech is amazing. I was so impressed with their service and I recommend them to anyone who has a Nissan looking for amazing service.

I need to buy a truck for random stuff, so I was looking at a Ford Raptor based on the fact that I'm a fan of Ford, and my neighbor has one and he really likes it.

I did a bunch of research on the Ford Raptor vs GMC Sierra Denali --- I like both, but the Ford won for my needs. I contacted a nearby Ford dealer and the salesman said he had two incoming and he would get back to me "immediately". That was last night, he hasn't contacted me since. I internet searched the dealership and it seems they have some pretty bad reviews, so I thought I would try another.

I did, I contacted another dealer nearby and they mentioned they have a 2011 Raptor with 1900 miles (used) that they would sell to me for $2000 over the manufacturers suggested retail price. How nice of them, I thought.

I promptly laughed, and told the guy "No, I'm not interested in paying over retail for a used truck, any other options?" and he said not really, the truck would not work for me so I should look elsewhere --- and we disconnected.

Then he instantly called back --- I thought it was one of those "auto call backs" where the phone doesn't properly hang up, but not the case.

He said "Oh hang on, someone just told me there is a brand new one (fancy that) on the lot that just came in"... The exact same truck I'm looking for. We went over the sticker, he sent it to me -- and sure enough it's *exactly* what I want.

Since I'm an employee of Microsoft I believe we get special pricing from the factory on Ford vehicles. This salesman told me there were no deals on the Raptor ever. So I then I just said "Okay, I'll pay MSRP, I want it by Friday..." --- Now normally I would try to negotiate, I like to feel like I'm getting a good deal, but instead I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Sure they have no stock, the allocation is tight, blah blah blah. I told him I'm a fan of Ford, I really respect his CEO Alan Mulally, and I emailed him a written offer for the truck at full MSRP. He said he'd get back to me....

He emailed me back saying they needed $5000 over list and asked if I was "flexible" on the price. Does that seem odd that the dealer is asking me if I'm "flexible" on the price when I'm already paying the suggested retail price for the car?

I don't get it. Ford, you disappoint me, really. That's two dealers and two strikes.

I am a Ford fan (search my blog for some of the history). I have owned and own Ford cars. ..but after this experience I'm not sure I want to do business with these guys since they'll probably charge me 25% "over" shop rates for service.

So is this normal practice? Is this another reason why American car companies are in trouble? What do you guys think?

BTW Ford PR did contact me last night on Twitter --- not sure how they plan to help, but they are obviously using social media. Good on them.

Congratulations to Brightsquid Medical

2011-05-18T11:07:00.016-07:00

Many years ago my father died of brain cancer. He was diagnosed in November and he died 3 months later. It was on his death bed that we shared with him the first major review Voodoo had in Maximum PC magazine and PC Gamer. He was super proud of us... He didn't get to see us grow into the great company we became as we were merged into HP.

It was then that I swore to myself if ever given the opportunity I would try to do something great for the healthcare industry. My good friend Dr. Deepak Kaura had a vision he developed while he was in med school. It was a teaching software he used to archive interesting cases, he was studying to be a Radiologist. The purpose of this software was really to help him become a better Radiologist while he shared interesting cases with other students and people in the field.

Deepak and I saw a business opportunity to turn BrightSquid into something great, so we approached another friend of ours Jeff Natland, a successful entrepreneur with several exits under his belt. The three of us got together and we developed a plan to fund and develop Brightsquid Medical into something amazing... and over the years the team created another division called Brightsquid Dental for the dental industry.

I blogged about Brightsquid many months ago. Check this out if you're interested in more of the back story.

Well, I'd like to take a moment to congratulate the team at Brightsquid medical as it looks like it got acquired into a major joint venture lead by the leading pharmaceutical commercialization services company in Asia Pacific. Based in Singapore, this company will change healthcare forever, I have zero doubt.

We started Brightsquid many years ago to help tear down silos between institutions and borders, and give all medical professionals a way to share interesting cases, annotations, and learn from one another while advancing healthcare.. all of this was implemented without affecting their existing workflow! Ultimately our goal is to see patients become the stewards of their own medical data, and we fully believe this will be achievable in our lifetimes.

If you're interested in learning more about Brightsquid Dental, which remains independent from Brightsquid Medical, check out www.brightsquid.com. I believe Brightsquid Dental has an incredible future in the dental industry.

No time to blog

2011-04-13T13:54:00.002-07:00

No time to blog at the moment - follow me on Twitter @rahulsood....!

Snow Day in Seattle

2011-02-24T15:51:00.002-07:00

What is Multitasking? What are we trying to do?

2011-02-14T11:05:00.008-07:00

yeah this picture is old, I know, but the concept of human multitasking remains the same

The typical definition of multitasking refers to the ability of a microprocessor to apparently process several tasks simultaneously.

As multi-core CPUs entered the market, the "shared computing" of a single processor was then set free to allow for multiple programs to be operating and running applications at the same time. By definition multi-tasking makes computing better, especially if you're a power user. If you are just a regular user, like most people, multitasking should just blend into your work stream in a meaningful way.

It's interesting to note that the human brain cannot fully focus when multitasking, people take longer to complete tasks and are predisposed to error.

Although being able to run multiple programs on any device is a huge productivity win. I love the ability to check my calendar, quickly switch to a browser, go to an email, then go back to the same browser window or calendar without waiting for it to re-load. This to me is the most natural transition from human multitasking to computed multitasking.

So why are so many people fixated on "the true definition" of multitasking on a phone? These are the same people who are constantly closing apps that are running to save battery life. Why should you have to do this anyways? Doesn't it seem insane that you are manually flipping apps on and off to save battery?

Shouldn't that just be automatic without actually shutting down the app thus giving you more battery life? Shouldn't apps that need a running feature (such as an instant messenger) have APIs that allow it to run certain functions in the background seamless to the user?

Someone just messaged me saying they would like the load/sign in/process of one app running in the background while he or she is doing something else on their phone. Another way of looking at this is, why not make the load/sign in/process faster instead?

I've come up with two perspectives to think about multitasking, one from the user experience, the other from an engineer;

A Engineers definition of Multitasking; The ability to run multiple tasks simultaneously or in the background while focussing on something completely different.

An Experience definition of Multitasking: The ability to switch between tasks instantly so I can bridge what I'm working on across multiple app streams or simply focus on something different.

...and while developers may not like the added baggage of complex APIs, maybe they should focus on the user rather than their own time constraints. Think of your customer man, charge more for your software if you feel you're adding a value that is beyond your call of duty!

When you're creating a new device, experience, anything - think about what problem you're trying to solve.

User Experience FTW.. let the flaming begin! You can bash me on twitter @rahulsood, or comment here instead.

Hardware Jobs at Microsoft

2011-01-21T22:50:00.005-07:00

As per my blog from last week the hiring team at Microsoft pulled together a landing page for our hardware positions here.

For the event on January 26^th – We only have room for 17 more attendees:

Networking and Product Show

Keynote: Microsoft: What’s Next

Speaker: Brian Tobey, CVP Microsoft Manufacturing and Supply Chain

Description: There are a number of important and specific technology trends in which Microsoft – whether it be through our product and engineering teams, incubation labs or our Microsoft Research and/or university partnerships is deeply involved in supporting and/or advancing the state of the art in ways that will fundamentally transform people’s lives and society as a whole. Join us and learn how we think about the future.

There is also a cocktail hour @ Designcon Feb 1^st

Bottom line, yeah there are some great hardware jobs at Microsoft, and we're looking for some amazing talent to join the team in various areas of the business.

Multiply Increase and Speed up your Internet Speeds!

2011-01-15T21:46:00.009-07:00

I'm a nut about performance and simplicity. Like you, I want things to work, all the time, and I want them to work at their optimal condition. I had some time after moving to Seattle to get my internet setup just right. I did something similar in Canada, and though Shaw wasn't nearly as good as Comcast, I still had some of the fastest internet speeds in Calgary.

Bringing some VoodooDNA to your Internet: Speed Up Your Home Internet Connection, crank it up to ludicrous speed!

I currently use Comcast Cable. I pay $30/month for guaranteed speeds of up to 20Mbps down and 4Mbps up. Below is an image of my Internet speeds. Ever since I posted this on Twitter I’ve been nailed with requests on how I did it.

Just to be sure, I’ve been measuring it over the last month and my speed has not dropped.

I must say, the service at Comcast has been pretty awesome. In fact, two weeks after Comcast installed my service the Internet stopped working, but they were more than accommodating. They spent hours with me on the phone, they even offered to send a tech out on New Years Eve to fix it. They were so nice on the phone, it was hard to be upset... I finally figured out that the first modem I purchased failed, and I quickly replaced it with a much better model.

I started with the standard modem that comes with the service, and a Belkin all-in-one router. My speeds were roughly 8-9Mbps down, and roughly 1Mbps up (or a little less). Since I had a couple of weeks off I decided to mess around with ways of speeding this up.

So just how did I multiply my Internet speeds by over 5x with some simple changes? It was much easier than you think. It required no hacks, no mods, nothing illegal. I worked within the rules of Comcast, allowed them to provision my modem, and I just bought the right hardware and installed it properly.

You ever heard the saying “you can’t be all things to everybody?” --- well that saying goes with technology as well. The first thing I did was pitch out the standard all in one router. Quite honestly there is no better alternative than to separate all the functions: dmark>modem>router+dhcp>wireless

I picked up a Motorola Surfboard Extreme Cable Modem (JUST the modem, no wireless built in). Do not order the all in one modem, it's hard to configure, and the wireless tends to conflict with other wireless access points in the home. It's also the same modem that failed on me two weeks after I installed it.

I then ordered a Cisco RV016 since my house is all wired. You don’t need a 16 port, you can always get an 8 port. Trust me, you will get much faster speeds through wired connections than through wireless, although my wireless is pretty awesome as well.

I ordered a couple of the Apple Airport Express’s, I may change those to the Cisco wireless Access Points instead, but the Airport Express works pretty well, and it allows me to stream music to my whole home audio system.

I upgraded the firmware on the Cisco RV016 from 2.X to 3.X, it made a significant difference. I increased the DHCP pool to 150 devices since I installed Direct TV in every room, we have Windows Phones, gaming consoles, a bunch of PCs, printer, etc. I just wanted a big pool of devices with no conflicts.

I made sure that all cable runs were as short as possible from the DMARK to the cable modem. I used the best quality cable I could find. I used a quality Monster gold splitter from the DMARK to separate the Internet from the home cable system. Although I’m running DirectTV instead for television, I also have the house wired for cable just incase (two coax in every room).

Every cable was short and clean, from the modem to the router, and from each point on the router to the junction box for the whole home distribution system. The shorter, tighter, and neater the cabling the better your overall installation will be (and the better it will look). Just to be clear on how it's wired up:

DMARK>MOTOROLA>ROUTER>WIRELESS ..make sure you mesh both Airport Express's (if you need two) to one network.

My best advice: don’t take short cuts, focus on the details, make the right investment in time & money and you’ll be surfing at 5x+ speeds in no time!

Looking for a Job with Microsoft?

2011-01-10T18:11:00.004-07:00

Looking for a job with Microsoft? We need to hire a pile of talented people across multiple hardware disciplines for our Mountain View and Redmond locations.

To introduce you to this opportunity and to Microsoft, we'll be hosting an event on January 26th in Santa Clara at the Hyatt.

We are going to have open networking sessions with our hiring teams, and we'll have a good representation from all of our hardware businesses there to talk about their discipline, and what it’s like to work in hardware @ Microsoft.

There will be plenty of hardware for you to play with, not to mention a few door prizes.

This is your chance for a serious career move. If you think you have what it takes to join Microsoft, then bring your A-Game, and remember opportunities sometimes come out of nowhere, it's up to you to take advantage of them!

RSVP and get event details here...

Great Customer Experience

2011-01-09T11:12:00.012-07:00

Since moving to the U.S. we've experienced some of the things that most people may not appreciate quite as much. Although I had a horrible experience at the local Nissan dealership, Nissan USA has been pretty good about dealing with the issue. That said, we've had more positive experiences than negative, I wanted to take a moment to talk about some of the companies who have made our lives easier since we got here.

Online Shopping

I cannot believe how easy it is to get things shipped to your home. No dealing with customs, no additional duties or taxes, and way fewer delays. I ordered six garbage cans and a vacuum filter from Amazon.com the other day and our shipment arrived the next day. Obviously if you've lived in the U.S. you're probably wondering why I'm so elated with this... but believe me, ordering stuff online from Canada is nowhere near as seamless.

We have ordered so much from Amazon lately that we decided to join Amazon Prime, where we pay a low yearly membership fee and we get free 2 day shipping on quite a few of their items.

I received a defective IR repeater from Amazon the other day (it started to smoke when I plugged in it). It took me five minutes to go online, report the defect, get a return FREE shipping label and drop it in the mail. In the meantime Amazon sent out a replacement which arrived the next day. How awesome is their service?

I ordered a washer and dryer from a company in New York called Abes of Maine. I received a quote in Canada for this same washer and dryer for a little over $7000. I paid $3500 for this washer & dryer, they delivered and installed them within a week. The service was unbelievable. I would highly recommend anyone buying appliances or TVs to try these guys out.

We can't believe you can order wine online. I joined a service at www.lot18.com. This is such a cool site, it's like Groupon for wine. They charge 1 cent for shipping, you can order limited edition wines at discounted prices delivered to your door. I've ordered a few bottles from them, so far so good. Their service is great, the process is easy, and it arrives at your door within a week.

So we've had amazing online shopping experiences with Amazon, Abes of Maine, and Lot18.com!

Direct TV & Comcast

We were paying about $300 a month for cable TV and internet in Canada. The internet was much slower, and we had very few HD channels. It seems every channel on Direct TV is HD. We got "whole home DVR" installed where we have 2 DVRs and a bunch of receivers scattered throughout the house. We can record and watch TV shows & movies from any room in the house. We can also use the DirectTV app for Windows Phone 7 and set shows to record remotely.

For Comcast I had a few problems getting it off the ground, but I believe that was because I was using a modem with too many features. Instead I went out and bought a Motorola Docsys 3 modem, a separate router, and separate wireless access points. Our internet speed is unbelievable, roughly 50 megs down and 3+ megs up using www.speedtest.net.

In total, for DirectTV & Comcast we're paying roughly $170 a month. The service from both companies has been great - although DirectTV service is absolutely awesome.

Cellular

I don't even want to get into the trouble I had trying to cancel my Canadian phone when we moved to the U.S... what's the point? What I will say is we were paying $500/month for my daughter and wife. My phone was roughly $500-$1300 a month depending on what I was doing. Yeah crazy, I know. My daughter is 13, she barely used it - but the data plans are insane in Canada.

Thank goodness for T-Mobile. This company has offered the best service I've ever experienced from a mobile provider. They have great family plans, we pay $250/month for 4 phones with unlimited data. They provided us with four Windows Phone 7 (HD7s) and service even though I don't have a social security number. I was really impressed with these guys, I hope they continue to maintain this level of service as they grow.

FWIW we tried to go on AT&T but they wouldn't let us buy the phones without a $500 deposit on each phone since I don't have an SSN. That's understandable, but odd that T-Mobile would allow us with just a passport. Either way I'm glad we went with T-Mobile, the plans are really good.

So that's it for now. There are lots of other cool things we notice and appreciate around here, like inexpensive groceries, great tax incentives, etc.

We're pretty happy with our decision to move to the U.S. so far, though we still miss our friends, Skype has changed the way we communicate, and in many ways we feel as if we're not that far away.

My Nissan GTR Service Experience Part 2

2011-01-08T11:05:00.008-07:00

I wanted to provide an update on the NISSAN GTR issue I had. Hours after I posted this blog it made it to the #1 position on Google when you search for "Nissan GTR Service". It's also high on the first page when you search "Nissan of the Eastside". It's pretty amazing how quickly the message caught on, you'd think by now the service manager of "Nissan of the Eastside" would have called and apologized. Not so, in fact the service department seems to have ignored my email.

In this day and age where unemployment is high and good jobs are hard to find I think the customer experience is of the utmost importance. I don't care how much the car cost or what kind of car it is --- if you buy a car you should expect good service regardless of the price.

So I emailed Nissan a link to my blog and cc'd the general manager of the dealership in hopes that maybe they would not let something like this happen to another customer.

The GM of "Nissan of the Eastside" emailed me back, he offered to get the car looked at and apologized for their abysmal service. Being an experience guy my intention wasn't to get them to service my car --- rather I wanted to share my experience in hopes they would make much needed changes there for future customers.

After reading the 100 or so Google reviews on "Nissan of the Eastside" I noticed they're barely holding onto 2 out of 5 stars. There are also a whack of complaints, I have to wonder how Nissan approved them to service GTRs (or any car for that matter). On the bright side, Sunridge Nissan from Calgary offered to help almost immediately, posting a couple of messages on my blog the day it happened, I imagine they also spoke with Nissan.

So rather than depend on the local dealership I took matters into my own hands and called Nissan directly. I spoke with a person on the GTR hotline who seemed genuinely disappointed at my experience. She also mentioned that she received a copy of my blog, so obviously the communication works there.

The lady on the Nissan GTR Hotline mentioned there was NOT 4 recalls on the car. In fact, had the service manager for "Nissan of the Eastside" just taken a moment to call Nissan they would have found that there is nothing wrong with the car. The 4 "recalls" were actually coming up as 4 missed services, which is also completely inaccurate. I didn't quite understand the explanation, but whatever the case Nissan offered to provide the letter I needed to get the car registered in Washington State.

My big problem now is finding a dealer who is authorized to service this car. I'm also waiting to hear if the car is covered under warranty in the U.S., I'm sure it will be --- I just need Nissan to confirm it.

I would encourage anyone who works in customer service to consider the cost of acquiring a new customer. "Nissan of the Eastside" didn't pay a penny to earn my business, in fact I walked in with a credit card. Instead of taking it they blew up the relationship before it even started. Bravo guys, bravo.

After this situation I'm not sure if I'd purchase another Nissan, even though the car is simply awesome. It's a tough call, I mean the company made one of the coolest sports cars ever, but if I can't get it serviced with a place I trust, what's the point?

My Nissan GTR Service Experience...

2011-01-06T10:07:00.008-07:00

Dear Nissan,

I was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta Canada and I’ve been a car guy for as long as I can remember. I currently own a few cars, one of which is a 2010 Nissan GTR which I purchased brand new from Sunridge Nissan in Calgary.

I had the car service in Calgary twice (just basic service). I've had no problems at all with it. In fact when I took it in for the last service the tech said it was one of the cleanest GTR's he'd ever seen, he said I drive it well.

Recently I was recruited to join a company near in Seattle. This meant I had to leave Canada and buy a place in Washington State, living near Bellevue.

So we sold my wife’s GL320, and a couple of my personal cars. I decided to drive my GTR to Seattle because I love it so much. As Nissan should know, only fans buy these cars. I am an owner evangelist. I drove my GTR through the rocky mountains, I had an amazing time on the drive.

...everything was going great up until I visited your dealership in Bellevue Washington, “Nissan of the Eastside” to get it serviced.

Where do I begin?

I was told by Washington State that I need to get a letter of compliance from Nissan in order to register it in the U.S.. Not a problem, I get it, I had to do the same with another car of ours.

I called “NISSAN OF THE EASTSIDE” in Bellevue, told them I needed a letter of compliance and how do I go about getting it done. The service guy said to bring it in for a service and we’ll get it done. He seemed really friendly on the phone... Fine, I booked an appointment, a week later I arrived (this morning).

Upon arrival the service manager wasn’t quite as nice about it. In fact, he was downright abrasive. The conversation went like this:

Me: Hi guys, I think I needed some sort of emissions test or letter or something to register it? (what do I know, I don’t know this stuff).

Nissan Service Manager: We can’t provide you that... (in a very aggressive tone).

Me: Sorry, what I mean is whatever I needed to register in Washington State, as I requested on the phone, I needed that letter of compliance.

Nissan Service Manager: We don’t know what you need, never been asked this before.. so we can’t really do anything for you...

Then I paused... thought about what he said. Hang on, I paid 100k for this car, which I love, and evangelized since I bought it - and you’re saying you can’t do anything for me?

Nissan Service Manger: We’ll give you a document of no recalls or something like that and maybe they’ll accept it.

Me: Okay I guess that sounds fine, please go ahead and do an oil change and provide me whatever documents you can to get it registered.

At this point another guy went outside, walked around the car, started it up, turned it off, came back inside and started typing things on the computer.

Nissan Service Guy #2: Oh, they probably won’t even let you register it here...

Me: Oh? Why is that?

Nissan Service Guy #2: It looks like it has 4 recalls on it...

Me: okay, can you go through it please?

Nissan: Nope, I don’t even know what they are, I can’t look them up.

Me: Can you call Sunridge Nissan in Calgary and get it looked at?

Nissan: Nope, we won’t even be authorized to do the work. Looks like you’ll have to take it back to Canada and get the work done.

Me: Seriously? Guys I bought this car new, I just moved here, can you at least pick up the phone and call?

Nissan: Nope, sorry. Not much we can do from here. By the way, the oil change will be $220.

Me: Give me back my keys, I’m leaving.

Nissan: Okay.

So I guess if you buy a Nissan GTR this is the service you will come to expect. It's seriously a mixed bag. Most of the dealers I've come across stare at the car like it's from outer space. The good news is Nissan does have "GTR Approved" dealerships.

Unfortunately "NISSAN OF THE EASTSIDE" is certified GTR Approved, so clearly there is no screening to the "level of experience" customers should expect. As a matter of fact no customer, regardless of the car, should be treated like this.

Upon further review it seems as if "NISSAN OF THE EASTSIDE" has a horrible Google rating, under 2 stars.. and these guys are certified to sell and service the GTR? Come on Nissan, you can do better than this. You built one of the best cars in the world, but you don't have the DNA to service it appropriately.

So instead of offering to pick up the phone, to call Nissan on my behalf, to call Calgary -- they just basically brushed me off completely. They blew up a customer relationship before it even began... and to think I was going to buy another GTR Premium Edition for the track. Will I buy it now? Not a chance in hell.

What's even worse is I mentioned to the tech that I normally like to get my books stamped when I get it serviced. I asked him to stamp the books when the oil change is complete, he said "our techs won't go get the books from your car and stamp them, you'll have to bring them in yourself to get them stamped..." --- this alone should have been a red flag that these guys just don't get it...

So what next? I’ll probably ship this car to Canada, get it serviced, and sell it there. I’ll end up losing a great deal of money, but I guess I may learn a hard lesson from this. I’m just trying to figure out what that lesson is.

Nissan you got any ideas?

Blogging Less, Twitting More

2011-01-04T21:08:00.003-07:00

Since I've moved to Seattle things have been a little busy. I'm blogging much less (as you an see) - though I will continue to contribute to my blog when I feel it's needed... you can find me on Twitter @rahulsood. Make sure you follow me there!

Hello from Seattle

2010-12-21T20:34:00.003-07:00

Well, it's probably time I let the cat out of the bag. I am happy to announce that I’ll be joining Microsoft as the GM for System Experience in the Interactive Entertainment Business.

I’ll be working on some really....really...really cool stuff come January 2011. If you need to get in touch with me feel free to find me on Facebook or Twitter. I may or may not attend CES, but if you have something really cool to show let me know soon!

Bye Canada

2010-11-20T16:46:00.015-07:00

I was born in Calgary Canada some 38 years ago

I never thought we'd move

We love Canada

We love the weather (okay no we don't)

We love the taxes (okay, not really)

We love the federal government and how um.... (uhh okay nevermind)

Celine Dion?

We love the healthcare (maybe that's because we know like 30+ doctors and medical professionals, otherwise probably not so much)

Really, when you look at the above list some may wonder what we really love about living here

I can't explain it, there are many things

We love feeling safe

We love breathing clean air

We love the long list of memories we've built

We love the schools

We love Banff and Lake Louise

The people are friendly

The streets are clean

The new mayor of Calgary, Naheed Nenshi, is awesome

Canada is simply beautiful

If you asked me two months ago if we'd leave Canada I would have told you there's no way we're moving...

We love our friends and family

We love my mother

Our friends are something special

We're going to miss them dearly

I don't know what it's going to be like without them

We'll figure it out

This was a very difficult decision

I've been working from home for almost two years now

It's impossible to be a change agent from home

So, we'll miss you Canada

We'll still watch hockey I promise

In fact, I promise to jump on the Flames bandwagon whenever they make the playoffs

Maybe one day I'll buy a hockey team down south

Yeah seriously

We might come back eventually

Who knows

Maybe not

Time to pack

Anyone got a truck I can borrow? jk.