LINKEDIN: like the aboriginal contemplating the Coke bottle that fell from a plane

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

FROM AN EMAIL EXCHANGE ABOUT “LIVELINESS”

Thanks for your insight. I’m not so sure what LinkedIn is, or isn’t.

In it’s public professions, it tries to be a “silver bullet”. Being wise old far … individuals we KNOW that the Lone Ranger took Silver and the bullets with him. I went into LinkedIn many moons ago with really no expectations. I didn’t discontinue any of my other activities, projects, processes, or methods — just squoze in LinkedIn.

Over the years, in my blog, I have wrestled with it. It more of a Yellow Pages than the Phone Book — or books. It doesn’t update my address book like Plaxo used to do very well. It doesn’t have lots of kids on it like MySpace or Facebook. It’s not Lucht style face 2 face networking. It’s not “job search” a la Monster, or “What Color Is Your Parachute”.

So, while it may be a “tool”, like the aboriginal contemplating the Coke bottle that fell from a plane, I’m left wondering what it is. :-)

Part, of figuring what it is or is not, is assessing it usability as a “networking tool”. (Some call it “not working”! Which I thought was clever. Of the measurements, that I have heard one claimed a 90% response rate and two said it was too much trouble to measure.)

Lord Kelvin said something like “If you can’t measure it, you don’t understand it”.

I also admit that on the rare occasions when I sing I am “off key” so why should this be different?

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TECHNOLOGY: Send Very Large Files Across The Web

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

http://www.masternewmedia.org/online_collaboration/send-large-files/how-to-send-large-huge-files-across-the-web-Eatlime-review-20071129.htm

November 29, 2007
How To Send Very Large Files Across The Web: Eatlime Does It
Robin Good
Master New Media Association
via P. Giannone, 10 B5
00195
Rome, Italy
Edited by: Luigi Canali De Rossi

***Begin Quote***

Eatlime Overview

Founded by Mohammad Al Adham and Adil Lalani, Eatlime is a new web-based (plus desktop version) file sharing and sending service utilizing some new key solutions and features. These are:

* Free sending and sharing of large files up to 1GB in size (for free registered users)

* Files to be shared can be sent by simply selecting them and pressing Ctrl-T

* Multiple files can be sent at once

* Receiving partners can start downloading files as soon as the sender starts uploading them

* Shared files are kept and archived inside each registered user profile

* No maximum limit of files that can be shared/ sent via Eatlime

* Track your shared file download links

* Import all of your email contacts directly from your Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, or AOL contact lists

Registration is free but it is not required.

***End Quote***

Always can count on these folks finding great stuff.

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TECH SERVICE: COLLANOSWORKPLACE from behind firewalls transparently?

Monday, December 3, 2007

http://www.collanos.com/en/products/workplace/how_it_works

***Begin Quote***

How it Works

Collanos Workplace is built on peer-to-peer technology, similar to Skype™ internet telephony and popular music sharing networks. The solution stores the data of shared workspaces securely on the computers of all participating team members. Members can even work from behind firewalls thanks to a special Relay service that helps routing traffic in these situations. All the communication between users is encrypted and transmitted securely.

***End Quote***

Interesting?!!

We’ll see.

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TECHNOLOGY: Ron Paul is a baby elephant

Monday, December 3, 2007

Ron Paul is a baby elephant
From around the country, Ron Paul’s followers are descending on New Hampshire to go door-to-door for their man. But what do they really want?
By Michael Scherer
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/12/03/ron_paul/index.html

***Begin Quote***

A Web site Lyman built raised $4.2 million for Paul from more than 38,000 Americans in a single day, Nov. 5, which was chosen because it was the day Guy Fawkes, a 17th century British revolutionary, had attempted to blow up parliament with gunpowder. Until Saturday night at Murphy’s, Lyman had never met Paul, and to this day, Paul has never seen “V for Vendetta,” the 2005 cinematic thriller that familiarized Lyman with the Fawkes story. But none of that matters to either Paul or Lyman. For most of this year, Paul has effectively given up control of his campaign effort to his supporters, who organize online, through Meetup groups and Web sites like Operationlivefreeordie.com. At his own volition, Lyman is now organizing another major fundraising day, Dec. 16, a date commemorating the Boston Tea Party in 1773. “I would bet almost anything that we will beat $4.2 million,” Lyman tells me at Murphy’s. Already, he adds, 23,000 people have pledged to donate on that day.

***End Quote***

It seems that TECHNOLOGY has “rEVOLutionized” politics.

One can’t imagine this happening without the internet.

Three questions — all scary — come to mind: (1) What if he wins? (2) What if he doesn’t? (3) And, what if the next politician to discover the inet isn’t about freedom & liberty with peace and love?

If he wins, buy the S&P500 and the Wilshire5000 because the economy is going to have a bull market that will make every other one look tame. If the analogy of the free market is an engine delivering wealth to every one — and he’s going to remove the friction place on the economy by the excessive taxes and regulation — then get ready for a global boom that will light up the world. Nuke the department of Agriculture and the poorest folks in the world will be fed by the American Farmer. You ain’t seen productivity like this since the Mayflower folks decided to privitize the common grainery. We’ll be using the Air Force to parachute food into starving regions just to unload it.

If he loses, buy gold. There will be a revolution. All these productive folks will see the handwriting on the wall and adapt. Think the underground economy is big now. Just wait.

If the politicians figure out how to use propaganda on the inet, then this might be the “passions of democracy” that our Founding Fathers were so afraid of.

One can only hope that this old gent is the Third American Revolution. If not, I think it will be very painful when it does come. You can only sheer sheep so much before they become annoyed at you. Men always figure out when “enough is enough’!

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TECHNOLOGY: TSA plan to gather more data … how risky versus how valuable?

Sunday, December 2, 2007

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2007-11-29-secure-flights_N.htm

TSA plan to gather more data protested
By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY

***Begin Quote***

WASHINGTON — A government proposal to start collecting birth dates and genders of people reserving airline flights is drawing protests from major airlines and travel agencies that say it would be invasive, confusing and “useless.”

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) wants passengers to give the additional personal information — as well as their full names — so it can do more precise background checks that it says will result in fewer travelers being mistaken for terrorists. Travelers currently must provide only a last name and a first initial.

***End Quote***

Well, instead of just admitting failure and going out of business like any normal failure. They’re going to do an Avis.

(shaking my head in disgust)

From a technology pov, this thing is just fraught with flubs.

OK, instead of me being “Public, John Q.”, how does adding “YYYYMMDD” add to the accuracy?

Please don’t tell me that you are using name as an identifier? How inaccurate is that mathematically. That assumes that everyone tell you the truth. Ditto for adding bday.

What makes you think I’m going to tell you my REAL birthday? You know the one that people use to prevent identity theft on their credit accounts. Like I trust the gooferment to keep my info safe! Note VA and the many other flubs.

(If I was credit reporting agency, I’d be jumping for glee. When they lose the files, how many people will have to buy my “credit protection service”? Ya have to love it.)

And, like Abdul, the local terrorist, won’t know to buy his ticket as “Public, John Q. YYYYMMDD”!

Please, gimme a break. Please TSA just go away.

Storing 20M birthdates is going to cost at least 20 grazillion dollars, and unless you’re getting it from Google, it’s going to cost more for programming. And, it’s going to be wrong.

Just go away.

Great concept — government should protect its citizens — lousy idea. It can’t. Stop hi jackings? Give the pilot a gun. End of problem. Net cost — nearer to zero than grazillions. Certainly nothing close the overt and hidden costs we are enduring now.

Make the airlines responsible security. Make them have insurance should their plane hit a building. Ever seen an insurance company do risk mitigation. No, imagine an organizational colonoscopy.

Just go away!

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LINKEDIN: Results of my one month test on “liveliness” — 37%! I’m disappointed

Saturday, December 1, 2007

On November 1st, I hit upon the idea of “Liveliness” testing of my LinkedIn “network”.

(We can chat why my “LinkedIn network” is NOT my “network”. And, if what one does with LinkedIn is “networking”. It’s not Lucht’s version of face to face networking. But, it is doing “something”. Just don’t know if it should be called “networking” except in the loosest sense of the word.)

This test was aimed at all contacts older than one month. And, folk who LinkedIn with me — based on old invites — one was a year old — during the test are excluded from the results.

My LinkedIn network is a disappointing 37%!

My original focus was on “breakage”. That was 6%! I had, from LinkedIn, a bad email address, then that clearly that was not going to work very well!

While I was doing it, I became concerned that perhaps I was too heavy on:

* >1% SuperConnectors (little value in the traditional networking sense) ;

* 11% my Current Employer (little value if you get nuked); and

* 2% Hunters (little value in accessing the hidden job market).

During the test, I had the concept of “reaching around” the breaks. That’s how I describe sending an InMail directly to a contact of the “broken contact”. I was able to “repair” seven breaks.

Also, during the test, I was able to give some help: identifying in one case a inadvertent DUPLICATE; in several cases “unpersonalized” urls; a slew of typos; and some “broken” profiles (i.e., profiles with an obsolete email). So, it wasn’t just me bothering people; patheticly begging for a response.

Since my first formal try only got one third to respond, I’ll have to figure out a better approach. Clearly, if this is to be useful, it’s going to need MORE care and feeding.

Sigh. Always more to do!

I feel sorry for anyone, blithely sailing along, thinking that they are “networking” with LinkedIn, and then need that “network” for something, and get these type of results.

Note, that I am NOT an open networker, but have only added contacts that had a perceived value. Maybe, this is a very telling about the value of LinkedIn. AND, social networking in general.

Maybe Lucht is more right than I used to think?

Anyone else studying this?

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TECH SERVICE: KODAKGALLERY recommended for “instant image fix”

Saturday, December 1, 2007

http://www.kodakgallery.com

***Begin Quote***

The Kodak Gallery provides you with free online storage for an initial period of 12 months from the date that you first upload an image to your account. To maintain free storage, you need to make at least one purchase from the Gallery every 12 months (the 12 month period will restart with each purchase). If you do not purchase any product or service from us during a 12-month period, we may delete the images stored in your account. In addition, if your account becomes inactive for a period of 60 months, we may terminate access to your account altogether (including deletion of any account information held by the Gallery).

***End Quote***

I had some snaps from a party that were pretty good. And, as usual, I put them up here to order some prints. Just before I pressed the order button, I noticed a new (new? new to me) option by the edit button. (I was there to crop one pic.) So, hey, I tried it.

Wow.

It did a fantastic job. So I tried it on all the “roll”. It was a minor miracle. Shots that I had written off as too dark were magically transformed into better than the event in real life.

So, I’m punching this one with the RECOMMENDED button. Right after I blow the cobwebs off of it.

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LINKEDIN: What does LinkedIn do with “ghosts”?

Friday, November 30, 2007

FROM AN EMAIL EXCHANGE ABOUT LINKEDIN AND A DEATH

> Re: Interesting what does LinkedIn do … …
>Posted by: “WashingtonDCLobbyist”
>Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:57 am (PST)
>LI has clearly thought this through – and they have a well-used
>policy in place. Sadly, with the numbers were talking about on LI,

Well they clearly have something in place. It just doesn’t meet my needs. Not that it has too. Not that they have ever been overly concerned with my suggestions.

I’d call it the “your call is very important to us (Yeah, right!)” thinking. Like the resume writer who foolishly thinks that the objective section on a resume refers to HIS objective and not that of the reader. Or, the “post office – dmv – take a number move along” service attitude.

Instead of LinkedIn using it as an opportunity to make LinkedIn less like a recruiter’s phone book and more like a true community, they have “a well-used policy in place”.

It’s far too easy to just say that “LI has clearly thought this through”, when fmpov it’s not “thought through” the eyes of this end user.

That’s why I say that LinkedIn is at risk to competition. (If I was the rumored buyer of LinkedIn, I’d take off a few points or a few grazillion bucks because it’s very vulnerable.) And, it’s not MySpace / Facebook / Plaxo / Ryze or such. It’s the new disruptive upstart who figures out that what the Universe needs is a true business social network community site. And, then delivers it flawlessly. :-)

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TECH SOFTWARE: Copy protection is doomed imho

Friday, November 30, 2007

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20071125/D8T4S5FG0.html

Anti-Copying Programs May Slow Piracy
Nov 25, 1:43 PM (ET)
By BRIAN BERGSTEIN

***Begin Quote***

If the experience of the world’s largest software vendor is any guide, the industry’s best hope for reducing piracy rests with anti-copying technologies rather than in policing the legalistic user agreements that restrict how software can be used.

While a copyright crackdown by the Business Software Alliance and other industry players has been in force for years, piracy rates – as measured by BSA-commissioned studies – have stopped falling. So a few years ago, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) began concentrating harder on locking software down through a program it calls its Genuine Software Initiative.

The technology has provoked some hostility, because it enables Microsoft to remotely examine user computers. After analyzing such information as the computer’s manufacturer, hard drive serial number and Windows product identification, Microsoft can block access to certain software functions if it suspects the product was illegally copied.

***End Quote***

Well, I would disagree.

MSFT excludes big businesses from their copyright checking. And, as yet, their self-help has NOT been challenged in court. In the marketplace, I’d suggest you see and out and out revolt.

Do you think the non adoption of Vista except on new hardware is surprising. Or the trend of people to retreat to XP on new hardware when faced with one of Vista’s “features”. Of the cutting edge folks moving to Linux or Mac.

No, I think this is gasps and flings of a dying behemoth.

We haven’t even begun to strike the surface of the WebOS and Google Apps.

Look at the new appliance tops that run Linux and cost under 300$!

No, I’d say that MSFT, and it’s buddy INTEL, have finally let the rodents escape the wheel of hardware / software upgrades. Instead of focusing on making the user experience flawlessly transparent, MSFT treats its Customers as criminals.

It, like the RIAA, will find itself voted off the island.

imho

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LINKEDIN: Updated taxonomy of LinkedIn “identities”

Thursday, November 29, 2007

My taxonomy of things you might see on LinkedIn

===beginning of list===

ABILLGATES – high value contact, who may or may not have authorized it, guarded by a troll, who doesn’t permit access to the contact except by preapproval.

ALTEREGO – a second profile of an individual to feature a different persona; seen by a doctor musician or was that a musician doctor.

BEAUTY – recruiter creates an identity, with all the characteristic of someone they wished they represented. When people connect, they then try to form up a solid opportunity with the person so they can represent to the real person.

CLONES – recruiting troll takes a profile that is liked and “replicates” it into his geographic hunting zone for the purpose of finding “buyers” and like minded “sellers”.

DUPLICATE – a second profile to segregate their “open” and “regular” networking. Or, created in order to “start over” with LinkedIn from a clear slate. Or, a just blunder.

EMPTYSUIT – just abandoned

GHOSTS – really deceased, like my high school chum

PRANKS – people set up profiles of people for hahas responding or not as the spirit moves them.

PSUEDOS – I’ve seen no degree candidates create a virtual “clone” of themselves and add a degree. Then, control access to the “psuedo” and, when approached, they will try to sell into the opportunity.

RECRUITER – executive search, retained, contingency

SCARECROW – recruiting troll creates a mythical person as “bait” with the characteristics they see in “their” candidate. They do this to encourage connections from inside or outside recruiters where they can then “switch” in their candidate.

STRAWMAN – owned by a recruiting troll, advertising a real someone, and who will “toll booth” you to make contact)

ZOMBIE – an identity of potentially a real person setup by someone else for other purposes like expanding their contact list, looking more popular, or writing their own recommendations)

===end of list===

One characteristic to look for is a single, or sparse, contact list.

Another is there are several “stubs” found “close by” a single recruiter:

I only tumbled to this “barbara streisand” when I tried to reach an old College friend and hit a toll boother.

Another time I found my “credentials” on LinkedIn copied to someone in Kansas City. Exactly; my babblings are pretty distinctive, so they do show on searches. So my curiosity was piqued, I pinged, and never heard anything again. I deemed that was a “clone”, designed to flush out a buyer in that area?

This is posted not to give you ideas, but to give you an insight as to what you might find.

Remember, on the net, no one knows your a dog!

I’m just an injineer; not a hunter, nor a seeker, and I haven’t stayed in a Holiday Inn Express lately.

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20071215 Found a new type of troll — POLITICIAN — like a “doll”?

There’s a “Hillary Clinton” and a “Ron Paul”!

Those have to be a violation of the LinkedIn TOS, contrary to the spirit of LinkedIn, and injecting your politics into an inappropriate venue.  IMHO.

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