Comp. problems

Well I have been fighting to keep my current computer alive without reformating it. I haven't been posting because most of my effort on this computer is spent keeping it running.

But that will change soon, because I'm getting my new laptop this Friday. Hopefully I'll be posting more regularly then. Have a great week everyone.

How do some people do it?

Computers can be extremely frustrating. And with little in-depth experience with them, it can be easy to mess things up.

How some people don't blow up their computers is beyond me. Maybe they don't attempt the same complex tasks that I do, but many day to day activities can easily mess up a computer. Hopefully most people have someone helpful to contact in the case of computer error.

If they don't many times people have to turn to insanely over priced services like the Geek Squad. Poor people (literally and figuratively).

Allan Sloan makes a great point.

In a recent issue of Fortune Magazine Allan Sloan takes on the topic of Social Security. The article is a great read, and Allan uses himself as an example. Social Security is intended to be a small safety net. It has become, for many people, the only source of income in retirement.

Allan explains that Social Security will need a large bailout soon, even with Social Security running cash flow positive. The money Social Security takes in, it "invests" in U.S. Treasury Bonds. But thats great! U.S. Bonds are among the safest investments in the world.

Well it doesn't quite work that way. When Social Security buys treasury bonds, it is essentially handed an I.O.U. by the Treasury. The Government is funding its operations with Social Security's surplus money. This is a big problem.

When Social Security goes into the red (spends more money then it takes in), it will redeem some of those Treasury bonds. But the Treasury doesn't sit on a huge pile of cash to just hand out when bonds are due, the Treasury sells new bonds. These new bonds will have to be sold at public auction, increasing our national debt. Something investors the world over take very seriously.

Allan presents some solutions at the end of his article and I recommend everyone read it. Social Security is becoming too big. We need to wind it down and set up programs that help people achieve independence in retirement.

The next great bailout: Social Security

Cool phone.

How I wish this wasn't a concept phone.



The Window Phone has weather effects in its UI. It looks simply amazing. Sadly I don't see how a phone like this will be possible in my lifetime. There is no power source or viewable circuitry. Still it is nice to dream.

Window Phone.

Yay Monday.

I've never really liked Monday. Starting an entire new week seems like such a task.

Well I've been visiting family today and just sat down to the computer to catch up on my RSS feeds. Lets see if I can find something interesting to blog about...

Okay, nothing really jumped at me. But one story did catch my eye. The iPhone 3GS was the best selling phone in Japan for the month of July. This is surprising because Japanese phones have been light years ahead of American phones for some time now. The iPhone is also missing some features that seem very basic to the Japanese consumer, perhaps Apple has made a phone that is just too cool to ignore, in any culture.

Now I'm trying to get back into updating daily during the business week. Forgive me if it takes some time to get rolling again. I'm still planning on starting a web show, I just want a decent webcam before I try. Hope everyone has a great week.

iPhone is best selling phone in Japan for July.

Google killing competition?

What would be the best online advertisement possibility for anyone out there? First on any Google search result might just do the trick.

A competitive advantage gives one company an upper hand when competing against others. In online advertising nothing beats results that top the list on Google. Sure Microsoft and Yahoo! are now partners but they still control less then a fifth of total search results (some sources sight Google as having less web search share but none, that I've found, believe Google is under 60%).

Now Google is in the market of software production. And people are starting to notice. College kids are writing papers with Google Docs, people are making purchases with Google Checkout, people print directions with Google Maps and millions are uploading video to Youtube every day.

How did these Google programs become so popular? Because Google can simply add them to the top of their search result lists. This is a huge competitive advantage. Google Maps was hardly used when it was first introduced, since Google has included it at the top of results when you search "Maps" it has become the most popular map site on the net.

What is the problem? Well I believe Google can include whatever results it desires on its search engine, so when they choose to include their products ahead of the competition, more power to them.

The problem takes a little more critical thinking. If Google starts making products that compete with other companies, and Google puts it's products at the top of search results, what is the incentive for companies to bid on paid search results? Most of Google's products are free and ad supported. But if Google starts competing with companies that would have otherwise bid on ad space, Google starts creating a little less revenue. I don't believe that this will stop the $22 billion ad giant but the idea of Google offering products that have, at least some, negative impact on revenue is interesting. Especially because Google's products are ad supported.

Here is an interesting article debating how Google is looking more and more like Microsoft from the early 1990s.
New Google is the old Microsoft.

Zune HD details abound

Well the cat is out of the bag, Microsoft's Zune HD details have been confirmed. Pre-orders are being taken. And sadly no phone calls can be made from the device.

Take a look at this cool hands on preview of the Zune HD and hit the link for all the details. I might just end up buying one even if it isn't a phone. Yeah it looks that cool.



Zune HD details

Google a good roommate?

I came across a funny Youtube show about Google moving in as a roommate. The show has some clever humor on how Google uses a lot of our personal information.

This got me thinking about how much of our lives are now public knowledge. Not only as data points on an anonymous data bank but as pictures, stories, videos, etc. on Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, Orkut, Myspace, Twitter, and many other social network sites. What does this mean? Is an online social movement good news or bad?

More of our lives are available to more and more people. I don't believe this is inherently bad. More connections in different social networks can help us live more productive lives. But the information is also available to strangers. Information can be used for good or bad, hopefully the good situations from online networking outweigh the bad.

I'm still alive.

Well it has been some time since I've posted regularly on the blog. One of my close relatives recently passed away. She will be loved and missed.

But now I'm trying to be back to posting news updates during the week.... Starting tomorrow. I'm also toying with the idea of starting a web show again. I will be finishing my accounting course tomorrow as well. This will free up a lot of my time. At least until my next course starts. Hope everyone has had a great two weeks. I'm looking forward to starting up posts again.

Business in the cloud.

Productivity software is a big deal. Microsoft makes billions each year from its office division. Businesses need access to all kinds of information. Software makes sharing information easy and, most importantly, fast. Email a document over to a co-worker, set up a power-point presentation, print out fliers, etc. Getting information from person to person is big business.

The easiest way, that I can think of, to share information is to upload it to the cloud. The cloud is, very basically, the Internet. Documents, presentations, emails, spreadsheets, all of it hosted online. As long as you have Internet access you can get to all the collaborative projects you could be working on. This has many advantages over saving information on a local hard-drive. Work is more efficient, no more looking for the latest revision to a document, it is saved in the cloud.

Google has been offering cloud computing for some time now and their offerings keep getting better and better. Now Google is making an effort to lure businesses from the traditional Microsoft set up and get them in the cloud. I believe that cloud computing is the future of the way people do business. The need for centralized headquarters will be diminished and workers will be able to collaborate from across the globe.

And with Google entering Microsoft's most profitable arena, Microsoft has announced some changes to business as usual. For starters Microsoft will be hosting free online applications of its popular Office suite. I hope Microsoft can build an entire online platform for businesses. Google has lightweight apps that are usable, but not game changing. Microsoft has a real opportunity to make THE online business platform, an opportunity it probably wont get back.

Going Google.

Microsoft 2010 Online.