by Rodney on January 25, 2010
The city of Boston recently placed a ban on “texting while driving”. As of Jan 1, more than a dozen states also have bans on sending texts while driving. What about reading texts or emails, surfing the web, typing a URL, do I need to continue. According to reports, provisions allow for entering a name or phone number. This type of reaction is short-sighted and, given the difficulty to enforce, absolutely useless. Legislators are simply following suit of earlier efforts to restrict GPS operation to placate their constituents without really fixing the problem.
Prevention vs Restriction
How fast can you run? If you are average like me, your top speed is between 13 and 20 miles per hour. Mind you, for very short distances. As a point of reference, multiple world record holder Usain Bolt’s speed over 200m is roughly 23+ MPH. He is said to top out at 27+ MPH.
Have you ever tried to type, dial or use your phone while sprinting? Probably not since you’d undoubtedly take a header before you pressed send. Rightly so, I might add. So, considering the proliferation of cell phones with GPS, features of the technology can be disabled if the phone is traveling faster than, say, Usain Bolt’s average speed. In fact, software applications exist that disable texting if the phone is traveling over 10 miles per hour.
The prudent thing to do here is to require that cell phone (and GPS) manufacturers disable certain features of the phone if it can be detected that the phone is traveling at a rate of speed faster than the average human can travel.
In-dash GPS, as well as future In-car WIFI, restrict usage while driving, so why not cell phones?
by Rodney on December 24, 2009
More like the season of buying stuff that you don’t want in order to appear charitable. But is it generosity, guilt or something else that drives this giving? Did you really need that 3lb tub of cookie dough or gallon size tin of kettle corn that your coworkers were selling for their kid’s school fundraiser? Did you buy out of obligation or to invest social capital which you’ll redeem for your kid’s soccer team’s candy bar sale next month?
This and NPR’s story, ‘Selfish’ Giving: Does It Count If You Get In Return?, are the impetus for this post.
I would love to help your kid’s school buy new textbooks, offset the costs of a trip to Washington, DC or provide the soccer team with new uniforms. Since I don’t want anything in return, I am not willing to buy something that I don’t want. I’d be happier to just give you the portion of the proceeds of the purchase designated to the cause. What could it be, $1, $2, or even $3? I have a better idea.
Affiliate Aggregation
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by Rodney on December 18, 2009
Group buying has been all the rage for quite some time. Evidenced by the $250 million valuation for “Collective Buying Site”, Groupon. If you are still one of the uninitiated, like I was this past spring, the idea behind group buying sites is quite simple. Each day the site presents an unbeatable offer if you and a few hundred of your closest friends go in on the deal. OK, you don’t even need to know these people as long as the minimum threshold is reached. Brilliant idea, in fact. I love it. However, I have yet to find anything that tickles my fancy. Spa treatments are nice but don’t qualify for my lax list of needs. I don’t necessarily care how much I’m saving if it’s for something that I wasn’t necessarily looking for in the first place.
Which brings me to something that I am passionate about, buy often and frequently share my purchases with friends.
Wine!
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by Rodney on December 16, 2009
Over the summer, I read Seth Godin’s latest book Tribes. Tribes makes the case that it has never been easier to create and lead a tribe around a product, a cause, or in the case that I would like to make here, music. In it, Mr Godin references Kevin Kelly’s blog post on The Technium, 1,000 True Fans, where Mr Kelly argues that an individual artist only needs 1,000 fans to make a living as a full time musician. He cites strategies musicians like Jill Sobule employ to “underwrite” their music production. This is analogous to technology startups conducting market research before spending millions creating a product that nobody wants.
But, what if you’re name is not Jill Sobule and you haven’t invested years (with the aid of the old establishment) building your brand? This begs more to Mr Godin’s premise that with social media this becomes a much easier task than ever before. However true this is, every musician would need to employ the same, or largely similar, tactics. And then convert casual admirers into “true fans” that will presumably plunk down $100 a year for whatever they produce. Let’s hope that they are prolific creators because a $100 is not exactly milk money. And, an effective social media (self-promotion) strategy demands a considerable time investment leaving little time for the plethora of content that I’ll expect for my $100.
This model is very difficult to sustain and to scale for an individual artist.
Idea: Coopetition
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by Rodney on December 12, 2009
I was recently chided for reading “nothing but self-help” books. Even though I wouldn’t be able to find the Self-Help section in the bookstore if you paid me. I am guilty of primarily reading non-fictional books on entrepreneurism, leadership and self-actualization, but I wouldn’t think to classify them as “self-help”. I am perpetually seeding my mind with inspiration in the form of books and film like today.
I just watched Clint Eastwood’s latest film, Invictus, about how Nelson Mandela boldly unified his country through sport and inspired a team to achieve more than they ever thought that they could. He gave them motivation through a greater purpose than simply winning Rugby’s World Cup. If this type of experience is considered by some as self-help, so be it. I’m inspired and motivated into action.
No matter where you find it, we all need to be inspired to be more than we are now and to create something bigger than we ever thought we could. If you are inspired by Twilight or Harry Potter, who am I to criticize you. I only care that you find your own inspiration and dare to be great.
If you are more of an Invictus kind of person like me, I’ll leave you here with William Ernest Henry’s poem:
Invictus
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
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