Two book-related items for this week's The Friday Special...
Seth Godin, founder of The Domino Project, an e-book publishing venture powered by Amazon, looks back fondly at the hundreds of paperback books in his basement and why he loves them.
The big pile of books
NY Times tech writer Nick Bilton tackles reading a book in electronic and paperback form at the same time.
Deciding on a Book, and How to Read It
Follow me on Twitter... @rnolan1087
Friday, August 26, 2011
The Friday Special: The Annual Futures at Fenway Doublheader and The HP TouchPad
Here's a recent post from my other blog...
My TouchPad Today: My TP at Fenway Park
I tested two camera apps on my HP TouchPad tablet computer on a visit to Fenway Park in Boston for the Futures at Fenway annual minor league doubleheader last Saturday.
(The Red Sox were on the road facing the Kansas City Royals.)
Follow me on Twitter... @rnolan1087
My TouchPad Today: My TP at Fenway Park
I tested two camera apps on my HP TouchPad tablet computer on a visit to Fenway Park in Boston for the Futures at Fenway annual minor league doubleheader last Saturday.
(The Red Sox were on the road facing the Kansas City Royals.)
Follow me on Twitter... @rnolan1087
The Friday Special: My Entry in the boston.com August RAW Photo Contest
Boston.com's RAW photo blog conducts a monthly digital photo contest.
Each month has a theme or a challenge. For August, the theme is The Rule of Thirds.
Here's my entry...
See all of this month's entries on boston.com.
Learn more here about the Rule of Thirds.
Follow me on Twitter... @rnolan1087
Each month has a theme or a challenge. For August, the theme is The Rule of Thirds.
Here's my entry...
See all of this month's entries on boston.com.
Learn more here about the Rule of Thirds.
Follow me on Twitter... @rnolan1087
Friday, August 19, 2011
The Friday Special: Flawed CEO Vision - Optometrists Needed
Here's a link to a good blog post about the vision of IBM CEO (from 1952 - 1971) Tom Watson... A Leader's Perspective. He was a business visionary, but also had good vision when it came to people.
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Thinking a bit more about CEO's who are great visionaries...
The news of the past couple of days has given us stories about a couple of big-time CEO's who desperately need to get a vision check.
One is caught up in the US and world financial crisis. The other wiped out 25% of his firm's stock value in one day by discontinuing a product line.
Their stocks are tanking, They're flailing around making bad decisions about the future course and survival of their firms.
Flawed vision is killing their stockholders, customers and employees.
Follow me on Twitter... @rnolan1087
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Thinking a bit more about CEO's who are great visionaries...
The news of the past couple of days has given us stories about a couple of big-time CEO's who desperately need to get a vision check.
One is caught up in the US and world financial crisis. The other wiped out 25% of his firm's stock value in one day by discontinuing a product line.
Their stocks are tanking, They're flailing around making bad decisions about the future course and survival of their firms.
Flawed vision is killing their stockholders, customers and employees.
Follow me on Twitter... @rnolan1087
Friday, August 12, 2011
The Friday Special: What About All of Those Books?
Tech writer Nick Bilton shared his recent dilemma about how to handle 15 years of collected print books as he prepped to move from New York to San Francisco in Should They Stay or Should They Go?
My wife and I haven't moved in 15 years, but we've been slowly dealing with our printed books (and LP's, tapes, CD's, VHS tapes, and DVD's) in a fashion similar to Bilton's solution.
What's happening on this front in your household?
My wife and I haven't moved in 15 years, but we've been slowly dealing with our printed books (and LP's, tapes, CD's, VHS tapes, and DVD's) in a fashion similar to Bilton's solution.
What's happening on this front in your household?
The Friday Special: Video Mini-Review of Poke the Box
Here's a recent post from my other blog, My TouchPad Today...
Poke the Box (Video Mini-Review)
In Poke the Box, author Seth Godin promotes why we all, like a baby playing with a a box or toy, should poke the world around us... to see what happens when we poke.
Poke the Box (Video Mini-Review)
In Poke the Box, author Seth Godin promotes why we all, like a baby playing with a a box or toy, should poke the world around us... to see what happens when we poke.
The Friday Special: A Roundup of Recent Stories and Blog Posts
Here's a roundup of some recent stories and blog posts found out on the web...
Friday, August 5, 2011
The Friday Special: Paper or Electronic Calendars?
A recent news story (click here) touched on something I've been talking about with people for about the past ten years... What type of calendar do you use these days -- paper or electronic?
For me the answer is easy, though not really decisive-sounding... both.
For a long time (1970's - 1990's), I used an 8" x 10" book that showed each month spread out conveniently across two pages. It easily held the events/activities I had to keep in mind, and, more importantly, it was a great "canvas" that gave me a picture of a whole month in one quick glance.
During the 90's my world changed bit and I moved to a book that showed one week spread across two pages. I needed more space everyday, but it was still a good canvas that gave me a good picture of multiple days in one glance.
In the mid-90's electronic calendars starting coming into my world. First, on pocket-sized devices and then they appeared on the PC.
As the novelty phase of using electronic calendars wore off, It was becoming clear to me that the electronic format (despite some clear virtues) was a lousy canvas for getting a quick and deep picture of my week or month. It was kind of a situation of too many clicks and still not getting the same level of info provided by flipping open a nearby book to a spread of two pages.
My calendar book was almost always at hand (or really close by), whereas the electronic version might not be there, or could not be accessed as quickly.
It was -- and continues to be -- an interesting situation for someone who is known as an advocate and evangelist for most things electronic. The result has been something -- essentially keeping two sets of books -- that would land me in jail if we were talking about bookkeeping rather than calendars. My paper calendar has been the place for all of my business and personal items. The electronic calendar has been for business, with just a smattering of the personal stuff.
Messy and complicated, huh? The workplace doesn't allow you to just ignore the electronic calendar, but, for me, it continues to be a lousy canvas for getting a good sense of what's coming up.
Right now, I'm on a bit of a work hiatus, so I'm not making calendar entries in Outlook on a employer/work system, but I am using the calendar function on my smartphone -- to a small degree -- while I also use my traditional calendar book.
So, what's the bottom line to all of this?... I guess it comes down to the same thing I preach to both techie and non-techies types on other topics: Know and explore the available options and then make an honest choice/decision about what will work best for you.
For me the answer is easy, though not really decisive-sounding... both.
For a long time (1970's - 1990's), I used an 8" x 10" book that showed each month spread out conveniently across two pages. It easily held the events/activities I had to keep in mind, and, more importantly, it was a great "canvas" that gave me a picture of a whole month in one quick glance.
During the 90's my world changed bit and I moved to a book that showed one week spread across two pages. I needed more space everyday, but it was still a good canvas that gave me a good picture of multiple days in one glance.
In the mid-90's electronic calendars starting coming into my world. First, on pocket-sized devices and then they appeared on the PC.
As the novelty phase of using electronic calendars wore off, It was becoming clear to me that the electronic format (despite some clear virtues) was a lousy canvas for getting a quick and deep picture of my week or month. It was kind of a situation of too many clicks and still not getting the same level of info provided by flipping open a nearby book to a spread of two pages.
My calendar book was almost always at hand (or really close by), whereas the electronic version might not be there, or could not be accessed as quickly.
It was -- and continues to be -- an interesting situation for someone who is known as an advocate and evangelist for most things electronic. The result has been something -- essentially keeping two sets of books -- that would land me in jail if we were talking about bookkeeping rather than calendars. My paper calendar has been the place for all of my business and personal items. The electronic calendar has been for business, with just a smattering of the personal stuff.
Messy and complicated, huh? The workplace doesn't allow you to just ignore the electronic calendar, but, for me, it continues to be a lousy canvas for getting a good sense of what's coming up.
Right now, I'm on a bit of a work hiatus, so I'm not making calendar entries in Outlook on a employer/work system, but I am using the calendar function on my smartphone -- to a small degree -- while I also use my traditional calendar book.
So, what's the bottom line to all of this?... I guess it comes down to the same thing I preach to both techie and non-techies types on other topics: Know and explore the available options and then make an honest choice/decision about what will work best for you.
The Friday Special: A Video from "My TouchPad Today"
The following is an 8/3/11 post -- which includes a link to a YouTube clip -- from my other blog (My TouchPad Today) about the new HP TouchPad tablet computer.
In my post yesterday I mentioned that I had purchased a CE Compass case for my HP TouchPad and found -- somewhat understandably -- that the unit drifted around a bit in it.
It may not seem like a lot, but when reaching for a button, or when trying to make a quick adjustment, that drift is significant.
See my video mini-review about this drift on YouTube.
In my post yesterday I mentioned that I had purchased a CE Compass case for my HP TouchPad and found -- somewhat understandably -- that the unit drifted around a bit in it.
It may not seem like a lot, but when reaching for a button, or when trying to make a quick adjustment, that drift is significant.
See my video mini-review about this drift on YouTube.
The Friday Special: Ansel Adams and Kodachrome?
The following is an updated re-post of an item I placed another blog back in 2009.
Ansel Adams and Kodachrome color film seem like an odd combination given that he is known for classic black and white landscape photography, but Kodak's announcement that it will no longer manufacture the historic film led Fortune magazine to reveal another part of Adams' work.
Click below to see a "different" type of Adams photograph and a number of other Kodachromes from the Fortune archives...
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/fortune/0906/gallery.kodak_kodachrome.fortune/8.html
Click below to see the familiar Adams works...
http://www.anseladams.org/ansel-adams-posters.html
Ansel Adams and Kodachrome color film seem like an odd combination given that he is known for classic black and white landscape photography, but Kodak's announcement that it will no longer manufacture the historic film led Fortune magazine to reveal another part of Adams' work.
Click below to see a "different" type of Adams photograph and a number of other Kodachromes from the Fortune archives...
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/fortune/0906/gallery.kodak_kodachrome.fortune/8.html
Click below to see the familiar Adams works...
http://www.anseladams.org/ansel-adams-posters.html
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