Author: Carl Setzer

Both Sides : A Project Idea

Carl Setzer

Gaza is erupting into conflict, and my Twitter feed rolls along, snippets hitting every second. I have connections on both sides. One twitter friend in particular is making a point to retweet both sides of this conflict. That morphed into an idea.

This idea: a project capturing the myriad sides to a conflict, whether violent, political or cultural. First notion was to actively research, tweeting to the hashtag
#AllSides____ (adding the issue in the blank. i.e.: #AllSidesGaza. Spend, say, an hour of focused time just tweeting every article, RTing personal perspective, all into this one stream. My goal? Capturing as many perspectives on that issue as possible in one place. Collating/curating perspectives personal and analytical.

I feel a simple hashtag feed, though, isn’t enough. Yet I’m unsure what to add. Build some kind of analytic tool? Infographics? Probably would be something to consider after to curation is complete.

Or maybe not. If done right, this would become continuous, organic. Then an analytic tool that continuously analyzed and restructured the report would be fascinating. I think grabbing snapshots at specific moments would be grand.

So, any thoughts? I’d love to hear your ideas.

Texting & Driving, & …

Carl Setzer2 Comments

I’ve heard so much discussion about texting and driving. Mostly angry rhetoric about “those guys”, and how terrible they are. But the real culprit here is our lack of taking driving seriously.

Operating cars is a core part of American culture, a rite of passage, cultural status symbol (what you drive says so very much about who you are), etc. We drive so much (we invented the ‘Sunday Drive), and from such a young age, it’s hard to remember how dangerous this is.

Thousands of pounds of mass hurtling through space, bearing an amazing amount of force. And yet we eat, apply makeup, text, talk…rarely do we fully focus on driving. Funny, really, that we minimize the power of driving. Such a powerful act, controlling amazingly powerful forces, keeping everyone around you (as well as yourself) safe. That wound be worthy of adding to your resume for anything less mundane.

The solution requires a more rudimentary cultural-psyche change than many realize. We must elevate driving from the mundane to the serious. Or, I guess we can automate it. Acquiesce another thing to our machine overlords at Google. Taking the human out of the equation might be for the best.

Swimming in Contacts

Carl Setzer

A self-observation: I have several hundred contacts in my addressbook. Synced automatically with the cloud, my laptop, and OTA with my iPhone, I just haven’t thought about them. I can search for who I want. Or, even better, when I’m typing an email, boom, it pops up. Done!

However, I’m certain I have duplicate info, and, worse for a data-driven geek like myself, bad data . I know I have expired email accounts, old phone numbers, and worthless addresses. A quick skim shows people I haven’t talked to in years, as well as people I don’t know. (I’ve long had the habit of making sure key project contacts were in there “just in case”. Some never needed calling, and, thus, their relevance to me has faded form memory.)

Cheap storage and good search tools have made this something of a non-issue. But I like my data clean and accurate. Plus, this does provide opportunities for confusion. I have a few folks I infrequently email, and have with multiple email addresses. I’m sure only one is accurate or active. So when I email I send it to all, then clean out based and bounce-backs. Not efficient, but effective.

I’ve thought about tools like Plaxo, but have found many folks won’t respond. Facebook solves many of these problems. Most of my friendly contacts are on FB, so I don’t need a contact at all.

So, I’ve identified a problem, but not a solution. Or even if its worth the time to repair. But it nags at me.

What I’ve learned from migraines

Carl Setzer

One thing I’ve learned from my migraines: limits. I can’t do it all. My system stops me too often, and too completely. I’m completely ineffectual once a migraine sets in. Intense pain, light sensitivity, and an inability to focus collude to stop me cold. Sleep is the only way forward. Though my meds work amazingly well, they aren’t perfect.

The scattered foci of my life can’t flourish anymore. One main drive, with my other interests secondary. That’s all I really can muster anymore.

Though part of me is saddened by this realization, mainly I feel relief. I don’t need to save the world. Just do as much good in my place. Go in piece, I guess.

iOS & Gmail : Failing Flags

Carl Setzer

After I upgraded my iPhone 4S to iOS 6, one of the big issues I was faced with was flagging emails in my personal domain (which is hosted by google apps). This is set-up via Exchange. Turns out the problem is manically simple: the optional domain setting. Under Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > “account name” > Account, after “Email” (which is how you name this guy) & “Server” is “Domain”. After changing this from blank to “google”, the ability to flag in this account came right back.

iPhone on good health! I’ll add more about my iOS 6 update journey soon.

Some additional thoughts on tablets…what about Microsoft?

Carl Setzer

This week’s news about the Kindle updates has me wondering about MSFT. Something not talked about much, but strikes me as critical:  Amazon’s line-up and array of price-points. Allow people of “lesser means” get into this ecosystem. People will iterate up.

Google Android and Kindle understand this. Get us in, get us great content (which we happily (?) buy), let folks iteratively (I guess that is a word) upgrade; long-term, sustainable growth. Looking back at Microsoft, I worry they won’t get this. They didn’t with the Zune. Every Zune came with premium pricing. Perhaps now with tablets?

Plenty of MSFT devices are coming down the pike (here’s a big run-down of different MSFT Windows 8 tablets & the Surface) and that gives me some hope. Right now, though, there are several Android-eque tablets out there for < $100…(really) and even more for < $200. Without something in this price range, I worry that MSFT will not even be close to relevant.

Well, reckoning time comes soon. Apple’s announcement next week might well add to this. Answers arrive soon, ready or not.

Fund A Triathalete

Carl Setzer

Hey gang,

A good friend of mine, Daniel Flahiff, has qualified for the World Triathlon Grand Final Auckland this October. As you can imagine, raising the ~$4,000 for travel is out of reach. However, through the power of the internet, all of us have the opportunity to lend a hand. Via his Go Fund Me site, we all have the chance to share in funding this dream.

Besides have the vested interest in seeing a chum do something great and once-in-a-lifetime, I’m also pleased that the internet offers up ways to crowdsource solutions like this. Perhaps, pre-internet, a bunch of us would hold a car-wash, maybe engage a local tv or radio station, and have a small scale crowdsource through a local bank.

So, yay to www.gofundme.com for offering up such tools, the internet (Twitter, Facebook, et al) to broadcast this sort of thing out, and, of course, the generosity of strangers…which is, ultimately, what makes these sorts of things work.

Here’s a video about the event:

Foursquare Thoughts

Carl Setzer

I finally dove in and tried Foursquare. For a few months I tried remembering to check in everywhere I went. Once or twice, a coupon came through and I saves a few bucks. Ultimately, it was about maintaining connection with friends. However, few friends where active and fewer still significantly engaged. Additionally, becoming “friends” with a true stranger was quite uncomfortable; even for me (who is quite comfortable being public facing). The graph of Foursquare activity is quite intimate.

Summing up: keeping up with check-ins always felt tedious. There were a few fun exchanges with friends, but mostly nothing. For me, the experience was really devoid of value. I pretty much have abandoned the platform.

I’d love to heat what you think. Live the thing, hate it, think I was crazy to even try it? Drop a comment and let me know.

Cheers, all!