Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

The BA lounge at Terminal 5, Heathrow, returns us to the days when "jet-set" really meant something.

It's reason enough for me to ensure that my status in the oneworld alliance continues

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

The challenges of handling and serving media online across all device types have been practically eliminated by a veritable host (pardon the expression) of SaaS media conversion and presentation services.

I never thought I'd live to see the day!

As with anything technological, over time a handful-to-a-dozen of different file formats each designed to do basically the same thing need to become rationalized down to a single dominant fomat, or at least a pair of major players. The rest are "performance-managed" out of the digital food chain.

With so many SaaS media management services available now, we may see an explosion of new file formats, each of which has a very specific benefit designed to enhance a limited number of use cases. This - perhaps counter-intuitively - would be a good thing: So long as the pack of SaaS media handling services are able to deliver the goods, we can experience perhaps an optimized input, which can result in an improved output.

Keep a close eye on continued developments with online media management; it's starting to render conflicts like that between iOS and Flash obsolete.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

First, let me say that I love each and every one of you. Really!

So please understand: unless you're working on a retained or exclusive search, nobody truly worth it will want to talk to you about a senior-level position. It's been a very heavy week for technical recruiters calling me (me, of all people!) about the same 2 opportunities that I am not interested in.

I don't mind the calls and I am a huge believer in networking. But there is a better way to attract and retain a candidate's attention.

A really, really good executive search consultant in NYC once told me that the most desirable candidates won't waste their time with someone who is fishing. The top people in any field curate their careers, and as such they are selective about those with whom they deal. If you want to build your Rolodex of top potential candidates, try to establish rapport before you need them, and reach out to them when you are sure that you are the only one on the prowl for this position.

Looking for a basic web developer? Very few agencies will pay a retainer for this, and we all understand. Go ahead and scrape those LinkedIn listings and take your best shot. Mazel Tov! If it's the bigger, meatier fish you're after, it takes more than the same cold call everybody else is making.

Otherwise, you're just competing for a set of steak knives.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Then I looked at my iPad and wondered why I would ever want to - or need to - author a DVD again?

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

So, this morning while I was eyevesdropping on my neighbor on the bus I was seeing things I clearly should not have been seeing. Things I did not want to see. Today's seat-mate was a hygienically challenged man. Middle aged, Caucasian, rumpled, thinning hair. Too unkemp to be academic but not homeless.

He was engaged in a rather hot-n-heavy chat room exchange with someone whose name is not dissimilar to "Miss Naughty". It was positively filthy. Impressive in its range and baseness. If they had a safe word neither one was getting ready to use it.

Sex can be had in many different ways, so I don't begrudge my fellow citizens their fair share of legal pleasure between consenting adults...or even as a part of a transaction. Just so we're clear.

But I did want to remind you of the dangers of eyevesdropping because now I am crippled for the rest of my day by the mental image of Herbert (as I imagine his mother calling him) and his nervous, sweaty hands poking away at his iPhone.

I have been duly punished.

Eyevesdropping...don't do it.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Does the despot not know that the end is nigh?

Does the swindler not wonder how hard the fall will be?

Do the mid-level players in a street gang not see that the end is near, and that the end is (probably) dead?

Does the Congress not know that we know?

It's a historical footnote, but more than ever I feel like the whole world's watching.

This is no time to pretend you're invisible.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Tabletry (n)

1. The pasttime that refers to streaming, viewing or listening to media for entertainment or to occupy spans of time.
2. The use of tablet computer devices.

Tableture (n)

1. A form of free-hand note-taking using a stylus, and thus is not spelling-corrected and not easily transferrable to another medium.
2. Handwriting on a tablet computer.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

You Need To Be Nicer To Me

Perhaps a long-lost "cousin" will contact me, or maybe I will be inundated with proposals of marriage from some gold-digging twenty-something.

Why? Because the following just landed in my inbox.

GOOD NEWS
US AMBASSADOR TO NIGERIA
11 GARIK ROAD ABUJA
ABUJA, NIGERIA

I SHALL BE COMING TO YOUR COUNTRY FOR AN OFFICIAL MEETING ON THURSDAY AND
I WILL BE BRINGING YOUR FUNDS OF $18.5M ALONG WITH ME BUT THIS TIME I WILL
NOT GO THROUGH CUSTOMS BECAUSE AS AN AMBASSADOR TO NIGERIA, I AM A US
GOVERNMENT AGENT AND I HAVE THE VETO POWER TO GO THROUGH CUSTOMS.

AS SOON AS I AM THROUGH WITH THE MEETING I SHALL THEN PROCEED TO YOUR
ADDRESS. (SEND YOUR CELL PHONE NUMBER AND THE ADDRESS WHERE YOU WANT ME TO BRING THE PACKAGE).YOU HAVE REALLY PAID SO MUCH IN THIS DELIVERY THAT
MAKES ME WONDER. YOU ARE A VERY LUCKY PERSON BECAUSE I SHALL BE BRINGING
IT MYSELF AND THERE IS NOTHING ANYONE CAN DO ABOUT IT.YOUR PACKAGE OF
($18.5M) MUST BE REGISTERED AS AN AMBASSADORIAL PACKAGE FOR ME TO DEFEAT
ALL ODDS AND THE COST OF REGISTERING IT IS $155.THE FEE MUST BE PAID IN
THE NEXT 50 HOURS VIA WESTERN UNION SO THAT ALL NECESSARY ARRANGEMENT CAN BE MADE BEFORE TIME WILL BE AGAINST US.

SEND THE FEE VIA MONEY GRAM OR WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER

PAYMENT INFORMATION STATED BELOW:

RECEIVER'S NAME: TONY IBE,
ADDRESS: LAGOS, NIGERIA
TEXT QUESTION: IN GOD?
ANSWER: WE TRUST
AMOUNT:$155.

AS SOON AS YOU SEND THE FEE MAKE SURE YOU SEND ME THE PAYMENT INFORMATION.
MY FLIGHT IS THURSDAY AND I EXPECT YOU TO COMPLY BEFORE THEN SO THAT THE
DELIVERY CAN BE COMPLETED.

IF YOU DO NOT COMPLY, THEN IT WILL NOT BE MY FAULT IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE
YOUR PACKAGE.
REGARDS,
AMBASSADOR ROBIN RENEE.

All punctuation, selection of capitalization and apparent malapropisms are presented here as they have been received by me. I would never, ever tamper with the official communiqué of someone who possesses "VETO POWER TO GO THROUGH CUSTOMS"...

Rest assured that realizing this sudden extraordinary profit of $18.4845 million will not change with me, I'll still come to work and be my usual humble, unassuming self. I mean, I'll still talk to you as though we are equals, if that's what you're asking.

Please excuse me, I'm off to Western Union!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Like many of you, I'm generally in favor of very harsh punishment for those who torture or abuse children. Really.

But there must be some accommodation made in the law to account for those times when your child plants a horrible song in your head that simply will not go away.

Then I would be just as guilty.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Enough said.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »