Thursday, March 25, 2010

The World Is Smaller Now

Twitter has released an option to translate the language of tweets around the world to your native language. At first thought, this isn't really a big deal. We've been able to translate web pages for years, why does this matter?

The people who publish the web sites we can translate are, for the most part, professionals in a particular field. This means the site performs a very specific task, and shares very specific information.

Having automatically translated twitter feeds brings the world closer yet to full globalization. We can't think of this as a change that means you know what someone in France is eating for breakfast. This is interesting at first, but wears quickly. What's far more interesting is that we know what information people around the world are spreading. News will be spread faster than ever before, and from anywhere. Twitter has become, more than ever before, a global news feed.

No longer will we have to rely on CNN, the BBC, the Associated Press, or any other worldwide news network to know what's going on in the world. What we had before from English speaking countries will now be received from everywhere. We won't be viewing world events from the eyes of organizations that may have biased spins (intentionally or unintentionally) anymore, but a vast amount of personal accounts with which we can form our own opinions.

Of course, there are going to be issues. Twitter users in Italy misspell words and use slang as often as those of us in the US. That said, it's still a start, and an exciting one.

Monday, March 22, 2010

To Tech or Not To Tech...




That seems to be the question that everyone is trying to answer. Well, maybe the question really is how tech is too tech but that isn't a one-off of Shakespeare and therefore not worthy of a blog title.

But back to the premise.

As someone who has sites like Engadget, the Boy Genius Report, and CNET bookmarked in their multi-browser synced toolbar, I have been asking myself that question a lot lately. Don't get me wrong, I have accepted my geekdom. Heck, I even try to embrace it in a Rivers Cuomo horn rimmed rocker kind of way. But just when I feel like I have all of my technology firing on all processors, a new piece of hardware or web service comes along that makes me want to forsake everything and start all over as just a 31 year-old boy with an iPad and a dream.

Well my friends, and I call you my friends because that is pretty much the only people who follow my blog, that ends today.



As amazing as it sounds, I think I have finally formulated a new rule as it pertains to the pursuit of technology (Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Technology would have been a much better blog title, well, too late). And like any good rule or instructions for assembling furniture from IKEA, it's pretty simple. Don't be first.

I know...I know...I know...In our culture, telling someone not to be first is as ridiculous as informing them that Mountain Dew is not actually part of a balanced diet. But as a life long early adapter to just about everything that I thought would make girls like me more, I have come to the conclusion that the first generation of most technology stinks.

Overpriced, underpowered, incompatible, and usually replaced by 2.0 in a few short months, I have received far fewer longing glances from impressed passer-byes than I have "How do you turn this (explative) thing on?" from my wife.

Two acronyms, kids: HD DVD.

As a conferencing service provider, I have sat in on countless sales calls where someone from my team refers to our committment to advancing technologies, points at me, and then just keeps going like I was a 7th ballot inductee to a hall of fame there for the appearance fee and a free buffet. Because in the corporate environment, things just need to work properly. We've reached an era of technology in which I have actually heard a mother form a decent justification for giving her 10 year-old an iPhone. Wireless signals started at A, slid to B, hopped to G and has now hightailed itself to N. However, when a conference call has to go right, you'll find me on my landlocked office phone line and an ethernet cable nestled into my beta-less HP desktop replacement. Oh, and huge props to the ad exec who coined that phrased when asked "What the heck do we call an 8lb laptop?"

Now, there's no need to pass this blog along onto anyone you think might be pitching their tents to get in line for an iPad. However, if you know of any fence sitters, please send this their way. Hopefully, I can clear out a few weak willed suckers who might be in the line in front of me.

Just kidding.

But no, really, forward this to them. Now.

Have I Reached The Party To Whom I Am Speaking?




There is no disputing that a company can save megabucks by outsourcing their tech support to Asia where wages and operating expenses are cheaper. What does bear looking at is the non-monetary, difficult to define “impression” that Americans are left with after they experience talking to one of the multiple offshore locations that are serving up consumer phone technical support today.

The typical American caller isn’t a candidate for the Geek Squad. They use technology terms incorrectly and refer to their devices (and their various pieces and parts) by slang or even profane euphemisms. By the time this typical caller attempts to reach tech support, they are frustrated and angry. I believe when they hear a foreign accent answer their call, that anger connects with something deeper in their gut that isn’t associated with their current technological problem.

According to the Washington Post, “The customer satisfaction score for overseas PC call centers was 23 percent lower than for U.S. call centers.” and consumers reported that the agent they were talking to either didn’t seem to understand them or they couldn’t understand the foreign accent. While I’m sure there are often miscommunication issues that arise (American English can be a quirky language) perhaps some of the “misunderstanding” that happens generates from a knee-jerk reaction that the middle-class consumer has as soon as they hear that foreign voice over the phone. It’s not bigotry or prejudice, it’s something more difficult to define that many of us might not even realize we are experiencing.

In today’s weakened economy, where the middle class is taking a particularly brutal and sustained hit to their overall net worth, talking to a foreign voice only slaps us in the face with one of the realities of the current recession: Americans have lost jobs and this foreign voice HAS a job working for an American company. Most of us couldn’t carry on an intelligent debate about why the economy is suffering but we know our 401Ks have dwindled in front of our eyes. We write letters to our congressman asking why we are bailing out banks and insurance companies who continue to hand out ludicrous bonuses to the bad guys that we are told are partially responsible for this mess in the first place. We feel helpless and out of control and we are angry. Deep in our American psyche, we are angry.

The majority of Americans personally know several and maybe many people who are currently unemployed. Regardless of the reasons why a tech support operation is located overseas, the average American can’t help but wonder if the “foreigner” they are talking to is a person who stole a job from their unemployed son, daughter, brother-in-law or neighbor.

In June 2009, MediaPost News reported that, “Domestic (tech support) reps were rated 84 out of 100, while offshore reps were rated just 62. And respondents say that call centers in the U.S. resolved their problems on the first call 68% of the time, versus 42% for offshore.

I believe that given equal circumstances, the vast majority of foreign technicians can resolve a tech support issue equally well as their American counterparts but as long as Americans are scared and angry about their future and the economy, they will think more with their gut and their gut tells them that they hate talking to an offshore call center. No matter how good a technician might be, they will never be able to be good enough and offshore call centers will continue to be an annoyance that we can't quite put our fingers on.

It’s a perception that tech companies might consider paying attention to as the viral negative fall-out might last long after the recession is over. Perception is a powerful thing with us angry Americans and it will be interesting to watch and see if those companies that offer American tech support come out the winner in the end.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Internet For World Peace

CNN has an article up concerning the nomination of the internet for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Because the internet is inanimate, I think the chances of it winning are extremely small. Also on that list of nominees are many of the great minds responsible for the creation of the internet, I find it more likely that one of them will get it instead if the internet is deemed worthy of such a prize.

That said, let's entertain the scenario where the internet does win. Why would the internet win? What would that mean?

Let's think about all the good things the internet is currently responsible for. Instant access to worldwide news, shopping for anything from any location, video chat, keeping in contact with friends, spreading ideas across the world, sending aid to countries/organizations/people located anywhere, job searching, online gaming, having music and videos from anywhere in front of you in seconds, the list could go on for a very long time.

Now what about the bad? Child pornography, software/entertainment piracy, easy identity theft, easy stalking, degradation of face-to-face social interaction, increased laziness, false information proliferation, easy access to material unsuitable for minors...this list too could go on for a long time.

The internet is neutral to everything. Summed up, it's purpose is to allow worldwide interaction for better or for worse. We're talking about a technology that has single handedly connected one out of every 4 people in the world, and that's only growing. Even if it can be used for bad just as easily as for good, surely that single accomplishment is worthy of the award.

What would that mean for us if a technology won an award historically, with no exceptions, given to human beings? Maybe nothing. Perhaps we accept that, at this point in humanity, technology is just as prevalent in securing world peace as any person can be.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Deadly Status Updates

The Associated Press recently posted an article about an Israeli raid being called off when a soldier involved in the raid leaked information. He named the time and location on his Facebook status, saying they were "cleaning up" the village.

Currently, Facebook has over 400 million active users. That means one out of every seventeen people on the planet regularly checks it. Now, this blog post isn't another story about why you should be on Facebook because it exposes your company to one out of every seventeen people in the world. Instead, it's about how public your personal information is, not just your company's.

We've all heard stories about employees who talk bad about their jobs or their bosses in their status updates on Facebook, only to be fired the next day because a friended co-worker rats them out, or the employee forgot they were friended by their boss. What users don't typically think about is that their social media content is open to far more than just other users. In the case of the Israeli soldier, it was enemy intelligence.

There are entire sites dedicated to posting embarrassing, unintelligent photos, statuses, and comments from various social media sites. These sites try to keep anonymity by blurring out last names from comments and statuses as well as blurring eyes from photos, but if there are sites willing to jeopardize even a little bit of that anonymity, there are certainly sites that would offer full disclosure. It doesn't stop with social media either, even embarassing text messages can be submitted and posted online with an area code attached to them.

My point is, if you have any information surfing the air waves or cables there is no guarantee whatsoever that only your "friends" will be able to find it. What's worse, once it's out there it's there for good, and who knows who will see it? With one out of seventeen people on the planet checking Facebook, it could be found anywhere.

Does this mean you should cut yourself off from social media? Absolutely not. It's a great tool to keep in touch, collaborate, and promote yourself. Just keep in mind that if you can promote yourself, you can just as easily condemn yourself. While we may not like that nothing online is truly private, it's the world we live in and to ignore it (while it may not be as fatal as leaking military intelligence to the enemy) could have terrible consequences. Be careful with what you put online.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Technological Travesties

Microsoft Windows has come a long way since its release in November of 1985. Under the leadership of William Henry Gates III, Microsoft grew at a phenomenal rate. By 1998 Windows was the default OS of all x86 PCs. From there, Microsoft continued on to become the Belphegor it is today. As of October 2009, Microsoft had consumed 91% of the market share.

It seems that, after being a market leader for so long, Windows has lost its impetus and tenacity. It almost feels like Microsoft has become complacent. For instance, after the release of Microsoft Office 07, Microsoft didn't update their software, even after major defects were identified. Microsoft instead, waited for a 3rd party programmer to fix the afore mentioned Office 07 issues with an unsupported patch. Microsoft did eventually release a similar patch, albeit conveniently after someone else had already solved the Office 07 problems.

Recently, I was assaulted; again made a victim by Microsoft's supine and lassitude nature. Microsoft has found itself the center of controversy before; but, this latest offense committed by Microsoft is inexcusable. This insult goes far beyond Microsoft's secret anti-Semitism, their pact with the devil, or even when they rewrote the Metric system. This has to do with a basic program that has been available on all Widows OS since the early 90s.

While I was enjoying a relaxing game of FreeCell, this happened to me:



Now glitches happen, I understand this. While it does bother me that glitches still occur in a program that's been around since 1978, the travesty Iím referring to struck once I clicked on the help button.



Apparently, Windows couldn't be bothered to actually make help software that recognized itself. But as you can see, Windows does offer a patch. (I am a little curious who wrote it for them) But if Windows wants to stay a market leader, this ready, fire, aim twaddle has got to go.

~ Kyle Jackson