Post from: All in a day's work...

My Google ID card

Anyway, I struck up a conversation with some dude that turned out to be in sales – I still don’t know what he was doing there besides handing out his card to everybody, but at least he knew all the catch phrases I find oh so dear… He kept my attention for a solid 30 seconds until he started talking about Flash this, and Flash that – at which point I knew it was time for a refill or I was just gonna have to get out of this waste of time get-together.

Knowing me, I opted for one more drink, which meant that now I have to talk to one more potential idiot in the room. Hmm, which one will it be? Ah there’s somebody over by the sliced bread and pate. We had the usual initial banter that so many people love to waste time doing, and then I made the comment that I had seen some of his company’s work out on the net – oh, he loved hearing that. What he didn’t know is that I use Firefox and saw that big fat red X pop up on my status bar when I landed on his work before – meaning his site didn’t validate. How do I remember that? Easy: there are only two other companies in town that produce error free websites, and they both don’t set a meeting without the understanding that the fee will be at least $2,000 going forward. Highway robbery I tell ya!

I did say something about asking less for web projects than what others in the area have been doing and that my websites never have any coding errors, and that’s when he let the cat out the bag: “Errors? What’s errors? I’m sure we have errors, it’s all about presentation!” AGHHH! Of course, that immediately had me thinking of the earlier guy and his Flash fetish, so I knew I was in the wrong crowd and just split.

So, in my first meeting with other local web guys, I realized right away that they have no idea what standards or error control are all about.

After checking out a Meetup group just now from another person I met there, I figured this would be a great chance to start my own group of fellow standardistas, but Meetup wanted me to pay them for it – screw that! I’ll just blog about it via one of my other ‘local’ blogs and see where it goes…

Post from: All in a day's work...

Clueless techies

Today I’m just gonna add on to that discussion with a quick reference to Facebook, where users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people.

After 13K+ saves to Delicious.com – the granddaddy of web2.0 sites IMO – I can honestly say the whole movement is a load of crap for the little guy, and just works out for advertisers and the few that do make it big – which I honestly do admire.

All of these services feed off of hype. A hype cycle is a way of describing the various stages of public response to certain digital technologies.

There are five phases in a hype cycle:

1. Technology Trigger. This is when the technology is first ballyhooed by the media. It could happen at the moment of breakthrough or via an orchestrated product launch.
2. Peak of Inflated Expectations. There is a widespread explosion of publicity that leads to giddiness and overexpectations.
3. Trough of Disillusionment. The technology doesn’t live up to expectations and amid the disappointment, it falls out of favor.
4. Slope of Enlightenment. This is the period during which the true worth, and best use, of the technology is explored.
5. Plateau of Productivity. The technology finds its form. Its benefits are widely recognized. It becomes more reliable and finds an audience — maybe huge; maybe small.

The trick is figuring out whether all your time being spent in front of the computer monitor – like I’m doing right now typing this – is worth what you’re getting out of it. Sure, I can speak exotic languages nobody else I (personally) know can, but big deal – it sure ain’t paying the bills!

Post from: All in a day's work...

Hype cycles cause e-fatigue

“The release of the memos today appears to be a tacit admission that many of the legal findings made by the Justice Department in weeks and months after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, giving Bush extradordinary executive power, were flawed.”

Post from: All in a day's work...

We knew it all along Bush

He actually said that in an interview! Anyway, just off YouTube from their recent ‘sales’ no doubt:

Post from: All in a day's work...

Why Circuit City always sucked

As is the case with many companies that maintain large databases of information, Monster is the target of illegal attempts to access and extract information from its database. We recently learned our database was illegally accessed and certain contact and account data were taken, including Monster user IDs and passwords, email addresses, names, phone numbers, and some basic demographic data. The information accessed does not include resumes. Monster does not generally collect – and the accessed information does not include – sensitive data such as social security numbers or personal financial data.

That’s what they have to say about the latest Monster.com screwup, but in case, you forgot, it isn’t the 1st Monster data leak we’ve seen!

And get this, government job searches aren’t safe either – they host USAJobs.com too.

Thanks Monster – you da’ bomb!

Post from: All in a day's work...

You Search, Monster.com Leaks!

Students at Waterford Kettering High School in Michigan have been going on field trips to the Oakland County’s Medical Examiner’s office for almost 10 years.

Whether students were thinking about a medical career, or just imagining they were on TV’s CSI, in the end, the trips were canceled when several students complained after viewing an autopsy of their classmate.

Citing ‘no legal obligation’ to inform parents, it’s amazing they went on at all. Obviously the auto industry isn’t Michigan’s only problem!

Post from: All in a day's work...

Students View Classmate’s Autopsy