For students of the Innovator’s Dilemma you can really see it at work in the reaction to the iPad. Matt’s comment:

If you’re going to put a desktop operating system onto a tablet device, you’re going to immediately alienate the vast majority of your potential customers. Note the word “potential”. Paradoxically, you may temporarily placate most of your existing customers, but you’re not innovating and you’re certainly leaving a lot of money on the table.

The iPad is really interesting, both as a device in its own right and also in how it will change our perception of how people interact with the computing world. I’ll also be interested in how other manufacturers react – I fear it’ll be rather similar to their reaction to the iPhone which is pretty much “Look, we know you think the iPhone is cool but it really isn’t because it is so limited. Here’s our phone which has all the features and complexities of our normal phones, with a few choice bits from the iPhone, and a load more stuff squidged on top”.

And of course, we all keep buying iPhones.

As an aside, the first views of Microsoft’s “Courier” Booklet have appeared. My initial impressions are:

• By the time it gets to market, the iPad will have set our expectations for this category of device.
• Wow, it looks powerful/complex – but in a way that I don’t really care about. If I want that power, I’ll use my Laptop.
• A pen! Wow that feels old fashioned now… (I know there are lots of good uses for a stylus, but…)
• Microsoft and their partners have a history of making a mess of this space.

The next 18 months will be interesting, both from the perspective of the cool tools we’ll all have at the end of it, but also watching the market dynamics play out. I’m sure there’s plenty of MBA case study material that will come out of this phase of the market.

A&A’s back end web site looks like it was designed by geeks but that does mean it gives you everything you need even if the presentation is a little rough. I’ll forgive them that! And you get a Static IP address (or range) – very very very useful if you have a loft full of servers. Plus their office is about 5 mins drive away from here so we can pick up a configured router rather than have to wait for the post which is helpful.

Anyway, they’ve started offering lines with Be rather than BT and I thought I’d give it a go for the work ADSL line we have back to our house (personal stuff goes over Virgin, work stuff over the A&A ADSL line).

On Sunday using http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/ I was getting about 2,800 kb/s down and 600 kb/s up on our ADSL line which I think was going over the BT 21CN network. It switched to Be this afternoon and I’m now getting 6,000 kb/s down and 950 kb/s up.

That is an amazing difference. Same line, just different network in the back. Same price, and the changeover was just the matter of a different router (which cost £30 but was easier than reprogramming my old one).

I wasn’t going to blog about it because hey, it’s just ADSL and A&A are one ISP amongst many. But they are one of the better ones (IMHO) and the speed difference in the Be line is quite a shock.

Andrews & Arnold – Highly recommended. Be lines – if you can have one on your exchange, go for it.

When I got an iPod, I could Rip all my CDs to MP3 and later AAC. So I could easily fill my iPod up with the music I already had, I didn’t need to shell out for a device and a load more content.

When I got an Apple TV, it took everything I already had on iTunes. Apparently using tools like MacTheRipper you can also backup the DVDs you legally own, so you can play them on your Apple TV. Again, I bought the device but I didn’t need to get a load more content.

But with an eBook reader, I can’t really Rip a book can I? If I want to read a book on my iPad or Sony eReader I have to buy it – even if I already have a physical copy. Which kind of sucks.

I wonder if that has slowed the adoption of eBook readers. Of course, the iPad isn’t just an eReader so it shouldn’t matter too much to Apple.

Now, if someone would come up with a scheme where I can trade in my physical books for an eBook copy….

I know I have and I am sure I am not alone. Now I just walk through book stores taking photos of interesting books so I can get them on my iPad later.

I’m a bit worried about long term availability but upon reflection how many books do I read more than once? As well as the convenience of being to take stuff on trips, imagine how much shelf space I’ll save at home and work!

Anyway, here’s the video

Anyway, I loved this video:

It’s a good example of what happens when people can remix existing creative work.

Anyway, Clay Shirky posted this rant on how women rarely put themselves forward. He ends with:

What I do know is this: it would be good if more women see interesting opportunities that they might not be qualified for, opportunities which they might in fact fuck up if they try to take them on, and then try to take them on. It would be good if more women got in the habit of raising their hands and saying “I can do that. Sign me up. My work is awesome,” no matter how many people that behavior upsets.

Very much so!

I find it interesting how men can often over-exagerate their abilities and contributions (and need a dose of unwelcome reality), where as most women actually need to be told explicitly that they really are quite capable and even good at what they do.

There are few things that I view as being crucial to Amphora’s competitive advantage, which are blindingly obvious to us but seem to be totally uncopyable by so many other companies:

• Hire the right people, and treat them like adults. Don’t employ people you have to treat like children.
• Most “Working Mums” would jump at a fulfilling responsible job, as long as you take the relatively easy steps to make sure they can work around their childcare responsibilities.
• Apple Macs are really so much better and cheaper to own than Windows machines – and people enjoy using them more too.

The only problem we consistently get is that a lot of working Mums won’t apply for jobs because they don’t think any employer would be able to accommodate them. So they search Monster for tedious part-time admin jobs and never even see our jobs even though they’ve got “Mum friendly” pasted all over them. Which is similar to Clay’s underlying point.

The boys are getting older, and there’s now an element of self-service going on. After a few near misses, parental controls are in order.

Turns out the AppleTV has parental controls, which is great. But… you type in the PIN in a way which means it is displayed on the TV, so if you’re looking at the TV they’re going to see it. And of course, because it’s a secret there’s lots of child effort being put into finding out what it is, and great delight in remembering it.

I’ve probably only got a few months before the whole “Close your eyes, Daddy’s typing in a secret” will continue to work…

Ideally Apple will come up with a better way….? Because the current one sucks.

Alternatively I’ll need to setup a separate “Mum & Dad” iTunes install and stream anything rated stronger than PG off that.

This makes me cross.

Let me get this straight:

• My parents paid tax, and part of this is meant to pay for education
• They decide they want the best for their children
• So they pay for a better education for their children (Mum was a teacher herself- this was an informed decision)
• Their children don’t take up the state-provided place (thus presumably saving the state money)

And because of this, I should be discriminated against!

There’s a whole bunch of people popping out of private schools, who’ve had a better education than that can be provided by the State, and we don’t want to utilise all that human capital – all that potential – for the good of the country – just because their parents paid extra for their education????

If that’s the case, we’re all screwed. Because we’ve created a country where the parents who invest in their child’s future causes their child to be punished, and the parent who pisses away their money is given a helping hand.

I’m really sorry – my parents sacrificed a huge amount to make sure their children got a good education. Apparently that’s something to be apologised for, and I shouldn’t do for my children?

Surely the solution is to figure out what makes Private Schools better, and replicate that in the State sector??

Surely there’s a big hint that parents are more willing to invest in their childrens’ future – if they feel they are getting something back??

Why can’t we all do better, rather than dragging everyone down to a level of mediocrity??

We should judge people on their merits, not on where they came from. Discriminating against applicants just on the basis who paid for their education is just as idiotic as judging them by gender or age.

Ludicrous, absolutely ludicrous.

I read something about the big freeze in 1962/63  - it didn’t thaw until March! Here’s some more info:

• Wikipedia Page
• A film on YouTube
• A page on the BBC

Of course, in those days they didn’t have:

• Cars with funky electronics to stop us sliding around so much
• The Internet (imagine how isolated you’d feel now without it?)
• Multi-channel TV to keep us sane
• The Wii, to keep us fit

And now I shall go back to work, counting my lucky stars…

Is there any question what Google is doing here? They’re taking the traditional mobile model in this country, where you first choose your carrier, and then choose your phone, and turning it upside down. It’s what Apple started with the iPhone.

The networks have always been used to being “The Brand” – traditionally you picked your network and then saw what phones you could get. Yet in essence they’re just providing a commodity (the connectivity) and most of the user experience is dictated by the phone the user holds in their hand.

Sadly the carriers seem completely unable to adapt to this changing world, and are still stuck in an old mindset of:

• Long term contracts with punishing penalties even if you want to upgrade your phone but stay with them.
• Completely opaque pricing so you can’t actually compare them properly.
• Bills which seem to bear no relation to what you were expecting to pay looking at their price list (which seems to be a Vodafone speciality in particular, but they’re all bad).
• Usurious roaming rates.
• Very restrictive conditions around data use (although this got better when Apple forced o2 to do the right thing for the iPhone)

Hopefully someone deep inside one of the carriers will realise there’s a competitive advantage to be had by stepping away from the old outdated model, and come up with a plan that:

• Has reasonable lock in period
• Allows you to upgrade as you wish for reasonable rates
• Transparent pricing
• Reasonable roaming rates (e.g. almost the same as normal domestic use)

It has got to happen at some point, surely?

No hope of getting in to the office today and even if we did I suspect it would be lonely!

Therefore, the odds of being on given departure which is the subject of a terrorist incident have been 1 in 10,408,947 over the past decade. By contrast, the odds of being struck by lightning in a given year are about 1 in 500,000. This means that you could board 20 flights per year and still be less likely to be the subject of an attempted terrorist attack than to be struck by lightning.

Think about the people you see on airplanes.  Then imagine what they would look like naked.  Eeeew. That’s right, fat, old, wrinkled, smelly bodies surrounding you.  Not a muscle would flex on board, fearing that they might touch someone’s sagging fleshiness.  Every muscle would go limp.  Minds would shut down.  Aside from the occasional retching, there would be utter silence as people froze in place to avoid any possibility of human contact.  You can’t bring down an airplane with your eyes tightly shut.

Very insightful!

As far as I can see, O2 and Orange are nearly the same except for the lowest pay monthly plan, which is slightly more generous from Orange, for the same price.

Vodafone is less generous in their monthly plans, unless you are seriously addicted to texting.

But then when you get into the additional stuff, it all becomes as clear as mud. For example, the o2 bolt ons mean you can get unlimited texting just as you can from Vodafone, for no extra charge.

And then there’s Tesco’s iPhone plan which is apparently provided by o2.

Of course, it is all so complex that no one really takes advantage of their cellphone plan, do they?

For work, what I really care about is the International Roaming charges, which again are as clear as mud.

I suspect this is one of those decisions where you could spend hours analysing it to save the grand total of 10p in the year. But you’ll never know.

So it’s down to an emotional decision – I’ve always had a bad customer experience with Vodafone (although their network is apparently better), O2’s been ok although they’ve been a bit cynical in their exploitation of iPhone users and their network is apparently not as good as the rest, and then Orange – my first phone was with Orange, and I’ve had no complaints, but that was years ago.

Shouldn’t this be easier?

Apparently it’s now doing to be down to each pilot (I assume the Captain) to decide the security restrictions in flight:

The TSA confirmed Monday that pilots can now decide whether to allow passengers to keep items in their laps or require them to be seated during portions of the flight.

The agency also will let pilots and airlines determine whether in-flight entertainment systems that show a plane’s location should be turned off to avoid a security risk, an agency spokeswoman said.

How’s this going to work out? Whenever there have been restrictions placed on passengers it has always been presented as “The authorities require us to xxx” which means there’s a higher authority involved, and the people in front of you enforcing the rules can’t be blamed, or argued with.

Now we will all know it was the guy at the front of the plane that made us all sit like naughty school children – or not, as the case maybe. All sorts of considerations are going to come into play aside from security, and every single thoughtful passenger is going to be second-guessing the decision of the pilots.

Of course, not only will there be an emotional reaction for each individual flight, but people who travel a lot are quickly going to start to inform their travel choices based on what’s likely to happen between different airlines. If one airline routinely inconveniences you in the name of security and another is more pragmatic, which one is a business traveller likely to choose?

Seems to me that the security breach was way before anyone got on the plane, the restrictions imposed over the past week are of little use but meant the authorities are seen to “be doing something”. And now they’re going to take the whole hot potato and throw it at the flight crew, who will take all the blame either way.

Deeply unimpressive. Perhaps it is time to Fire the TSA.

This article on The Economist’s Gulliver blog is the best I’ve seen so far – good summary of what’s happening with some decent analysis.

Just found via Twitter  - here’s the TSA regulation with some commentary.

This is completely nuts – I am struck by the difference between the UK and the US in response to Terrorism. I recall when the IRA bombed the London commuter rail network, we all went in as normal the next day because to do otherwise would have meant the Terrorists would win.

In contrast, the US Authorities seem intent on “being seen to do something” and if that means something massively disruptive but totally ineffective (“Security Theatre“) well so be it.

Come on guys, get a grip. The latest incident was a failure of your existing processes. Fix that, don’t shove more inconvenience in the way of the public – otherwise we’ll turn into a Police State and then the Terrorists will have won.

There’s risk in every day life, let’s keep things in perspective – otherwise the baddies will get exactly what they want.

A little known fact is that Herman lives on Gin & Tonic and all good Children will leave a G&T alongside the Sherry & Mince Pie (for Father Christmas) and Carrot (for Rudolph).

There is currently a lively debate ongoing chez Coles about the existence of Herman and how it all works out. However we believe we have spied him on some of the NORAD Santa Tracking videos.

Happy Christmas everyone….