No updates today. I’ll be in Detroit this afternoon taking the Jeopardy tests to try to get on Jeopardy, the game show. What is “wish me luck,” Alex?
Let me know if you’ll be in New York next month for MacWorld. Maybe we can hook up. Coming soon: CamWorld T-Shirts, possibly free. Details to follow, stay tuned….
Cool….www.camworld.org.br. Can someone tell me what they do?
Posted by Cameron Barrett at June 26, 1998 04:37 PM
Very few updates today…I’m REALLY busy and might not have time. But check back later. If I run across some good links during my normal info gathering/surfing daily routine, I’ll definitely post them.
My brother, knowing how busy a guy I am, sent me the following links from his bookmark collection:
We have a book of this guy’s cartoons floating around the office. It came in on a promo deal or something. Pretty sick and funny stuff.
Posted by Cameron Barrett at June 25, 1998 04:36 PM
Email to me is like writing a journal. Whenever I feel like I need to say something. I log-on, sit down, and start to type. It doesn’t really matter to me who I’m writing to, in fact many times, my writings turn into something I want to publish online.
It’s clear to me that I enjoy writing and I especially enjoy communicating with people through CMC (computer-mediated communication). I’ve been a huge advocate of this for years. Some of my classes in college were partially taught using CMC. This concept, which started in universities, spread to the web (and email) and is gaining momentum very fast. Some of the best mailing lists (email) I’m subscribed to are made up of smart people who like to talk about very interesting things. People who can write eloquently and convincingly. Some of the debates get very very good. This type of information exchange is what sets our generation apart from our parent’s generation. Because we’re accustomed to the integration of technology into our everyday lives, we easily embrace the new ways there are to communicate.
These days, my brother the high school teacher tells me that most of his students have pagers, cell phones or both. A few years ago this would have been seen as ludicrous, and still is by some of the older generations. Technology devices have become social vices for the younger generation (and the geek generation). Remember that great Dilbert cartoon about Dilbert and his co-workers having a contest to see how many portable technology devices they could own? Very funny, but sadly true. Beepers and phones that ring in church, at funerals, in grocery stores, and yes, even during sex, we are the early adopters of communications technology. Just this evening I read about electronic book devices that can replace paper-based books. Not a new concept, but one that is expected to come into fruition sometime later this year.
One of my best friends started a successful ISP (Internet Service Provider) solely as a way to get a T1 (high-speed data bandwidth line) into his living room. Fortunately for him, he’s a geek enough to figure out the technology as it rapidly progresses. Meanwhile, the larger corporations that make up the global business industry feel like they were caught sleeping. Do the advances in technology move too fast for these goliaths to respond? Many people would say yes. Microsoft’s answer to this problem is to “embrace and extend,” buying up the competition or reverse-engineering the cooler software being developed my the kids in the garages all around the world.
I’ve been reading a great book. Marketing Warfare by Al Reis and Jack Trout, two very smart advertising executives. The concept of the book simple: the apparent and useful correlations between advertising and warfare. Competitiors are the enemies, focus on the competition’s weak spots, etc. Atack! For anyone in a competitive situation, I highly recommend this book. Especially if you’re the underdog.
Someone once told me that knowledge is power. I didn’t believe them then, but I sure do now.
Posted by Cameron Barrett at June 24, 1998 11:59 PM
CamRant: Übergeek
Ten Design-less Rules for Successful Web Design and A Web Design Curriculum
“Ever wonder why you don’t learn anything by watching Ann Arbor Public TV? Because it is owned by the government to harass the public. Production facilities provided by Community Television Network.” – on a piece of paper taped to the front of a television camera. There was an entire half hour of this. Reminds me of what Ben told me about the guy who films himself sleeping and then airs in on Public TV. Kinda strange what some people will do just to make themselves think they’re being funny.
Upside: Set-Top Nonsense. I think she’s dead-on, correcto-mundo, absolutely right in her assessment.
Posted by Cameron Barrett at June 24, 1998 04:35 PM
My archives section is finally in a presentable form. Let me know if you find any problems, like broken links and whatnot. I will slowly update this design for the first 3 months of 1998 and all of 1997.
Debunking Kentucky Fried Rat.
Do you have recurring dreams about animals.
Can dreams tell the future? Here’s one person’s notes.
Posted by Cameron Barrett at June 23, 1998 04:34 PM
It’s Research Day here at CamWorld:
Christian Ørsted’s Micromarketing Thesis. One-to-one marketing, it’s all the rage.
HP’s E-Business:Mass Customization Meets the Web.
“Clinton Sells Lewinsky Sex Tapes on the Web!” Well, no, but this made me think of it.
The Impact of Interorganizational Networks on Buyer-Seller Relationships. From 1995.
What is Social Hypertext. Ah yes, that explains it.
Locating International and Interdisciplinary Environmental Data Using Internet and World Wide Web Databse Access Methods. Big words are coming out my ears!
And some great books: Design of Everyday Things, The Things That Make Us Smart: Defending Human Attributes in the Age of the Machine, and Turn Signals Are the Facial Expressions of Automobiles. All three by Donald A. Norman, who just happens to be an Apple Fellow. No surprise here.
Posted by Cameron Barrett at June 21, 1998 04:31 PM
CTHEORY: Dreams Engineers Have.
Yeah baby, who says I don’t do my research: Guess who she’s working for? For more ways to outsmart your competition, click and buy.
FlabJab Profile: cameron.
Hooking a computer up to your electric bug zapper? Want to control your fridge from the office? On vacation, but need to let someone in the house via your digital security system? A few years down the road…you say? Nonsense. Just visit SHED and download their free software. There must be a catch, you say. Ah yes, you must first have a Mac.
WebFreekz: British Invasion. Again, again!
BayCHI SIG: Bay Area Computer-Human Interaction Special Interest Group
Posted by Cameron Barrett at June 20, 1998 04:30 PM
Why is it that many people working for large corporations never seem to participate much in some of the better mailing lists? Here’s why.
X-Files Phenomenon: FBI releases 1600 pages of unusual phenomenon. Cool!
Industry Standard: IBM to Announce Apache as PreferredWeb Server. Whoah, what about Net.Commerce and Lotus Domino Go?
Posted by Cameron Barrett at June 19, 1998 04:29 PM
So, the Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup again a few days ago. I salute the Red Wings, the coaches and the owner on another fine win. They worked hard to get where they are and they earned it.
But, enough is enough, people. For three straight days now, the damn television has been bleeding WingNut red. I can’t even change the freaking channel without seeing or hearing about these hockey players and how they swept the play-offs.
Today, for instance, half the city of Detroit was skipping work to watch a parade. A parade! C’mon people, you’re going to risk losing your job over some hockey team and your “fanatical” devotion to a sport? It’s gotten rather absurd.
I’m tired of the hockeymania and I want it over soon. If one more person comes up to me and starts jabbering about hockey or the Red Wings, I might just have to vomit. It’s not that I hate hockey. And I certainly don’t hate the Red Wings. (In fact I was at the Red Wings/Avalanche inaugural game in Denver in 1995). What I do hate is the endless water-cooler discussions about hockey and the cheesy news specials about hockey.
The Red Wings hockeymania is very much like what people in Wisonsin refer to as PackerMania. Denounce the Packers anywhere in Wisconsin and you’re likely to find yourself alienated from society, shot at, or publicly stoned.
It bothers me immensely that so many people can get caught up in a sport. I understand their enthusiam and I understand why people want to feel as if they’re part of a “winning team” city. But, I also feel that a lot of people take their fanaticism too far.
Last year, after the Red Wings won their first Stanley Cup, two of the hockey players were seriously hurt in a car crash after a long night of drinking and partying. I’ve heard that alcohol was responsible for the crash, but I can’t confirm it, nor do I know the final ruling of it. But it makes sense that alcohol was involved. And it makes me wonder how many other people have been out drinking and partying, celebrating the Wing’s victory. After watching the crowds in downtown Detroit, I can guess that literally hundreds of thousands of people were getting drunk. The law of averages tells us that more than a few of these people are going to drive after they drink. And this, my friends, is bad news. There’s no one to point blame at for drunk driving except the people doing the drinking and driving. But, it’s hard for me to not also point some of the blame at these fan’s incessant and fanatical following.
Posted by Cameron Barrett at June 18, 1998 11:59 PM
