Twitter Tools, Tweaks and Theories is a great collection of observations about how Twitter works and how it can be built upon. I’ll be running through these over the next week or so and commenting. Or not.
Appearing on 2 Web Crew
Duncan Riley asked me to appear on the 2 Web Crew podcast this week, which will be recorded at 1300 this afternoon Sydney time. You’ll be able to listen to it live as it’s being recorded (and chat back to us) and then the edited version will appear in a few days. Meanwhile I’m trying to find my best options for setting up Skype — I’ve never really bothered with it until now.
There ain’t no shortcuts to professionally-managed IT
My business Prussia.Net always has clients who resist any long-term IT planning. While researching potential suppliers to handle our increasing workload, I stumbled across the best explanation I’ve ever seen for how the process should work.
Many SOHO and very small business seem to have no plan for their IT at all. Most, actually. They just call for help when something breaks, and only replace computers and other equipment when it’s completely dead. They complain that their computers are slow or unreliable, and yet resist spending anything on preventative maintenance or minor upgrades which could deliver substantial improvements.
Zern Liew and I have discussed the causes of this before. However the two key elements are, I think, a lack of understanding of IT issues and the perception that doing things professionally will be expensive.
Last year Australian IT services company First Focus‘s website presented a 3-phase model for developing professionally-managed IT. They removed it when they renovated the site, which I think was a mistake. But here it is anyway, thanks to The Wayback Machine…
Continue reading “There ain’t no shortcuts to professionally-managed IT”
Facebook finally understands politics (kind of)
Are you frustrated with Facebook because your profile only lists “Political Views” chosen from an American list (as opposed to being frustrated by all the other Facebook annoyances)? Be frustrated no more! “Political Views” is now a write-in field. Hat-tip to Mushroom and Rooster via Lavartus Prodeo‘s Facebook group.
Remember 20 megabyte hard drives?
I just found this while cleaning up the office: the start-up disc for Apple’s Hard Disk 20 from 1985.
This was the first hard drive for the then-new Macintosh. My beloved Fat Mac — “Fat” because it came with 512k RAM, not the original 128K — had two 800kB 400kB 3.5-inch floppies, one of which held the operating system
So this drive extended my data storage from under 1MB half a megabyte to a gargantuan 20MB. I was in heaven!
Later that year, a legal settlement from a traffic accident provided the funds for the other cool tool for geeks: the original Apple LaserWriter printer. I remember being extremely chuffed because it was on special: marked down from the list price of AUD$10k to a mere $7.7k
Yes, seven thousand dollars! In 1985 money!
This was the desktop publishing revolution!
Everyone — simple everyone — wanted to look at the glorious 300dpi print quality. And because I’d gotten hold of JustText, a code-based tool for professional typesetting, I could pass raw PostScript commands through to the printer and do complex layouts. TAFE offered me a job on the spot — which I declined.
It all seems so passé now…
This disc looks in pretty good condition. I wonder if it still works? Anyone got the hardware?
Throwing new tools at the communication problem
If you think some fancy new communications tool will solve your problems, think again. According to one commenter at 43 Folders, “Reality was that the same bad habits were then applied to the new tool just like the old tools. And soon the new tool was just as cumbersome and inefficient as the old ones.” I’ll come back to this post next week, because some good lessons are accumulating — and it relates directly to some work I’m doing with clients.