markwilson.it

Category: Waffle and randomness

  • Why paper.li is just plain wrong

    When I first saw paper.lilast year, I thought it was an interesting concept. Kind of like the Flipboard app on my iPad, although nowhere near as attractive, but universally available, picking the most popular updates from my Twitter and Facebook “friends” and presenting them to me in a newspaper format. I quickly grew tired of the format though along with the increasing number of tweets telling me that “The Daily<insert name of person> is out” – I can see the value for an individual but tweeting about it just seems a bit spammy. (Sorry if you’re one of the people that does this – if you think there is some real value, I’d be pleased to hear your view.)

    More worrying though is the way that paper.li seems to misrepresent my views and opinions when it “retweets” me…

    I work for a Japanese company and spent a lot of Friday and the weekend thinking of colleagues whose friends and family might be affected by the recent events in Japan. For that reason, I was appalled to see a ZD Net article last Friday questioning whether the iPad 2 would be hit by supply problems as a consequence.

    I can see why the writer/publisher put this out (perhaps it is a legitimate concern for some) but really, in the big scheme of things, does a shortage of NAND memory matter that much, given the scale of the human disaster in Japan?  Any iPad 2 supply chain issues strike me as a “first world problem” and, even though the earthquake/tsunami did strike on iPad 2 launch day (presumably why this was newsworthy to ZD Net), couldn’t the publisher have held back, if only for reasons of taste and decency? I tweeted:

    RT @ZDNet: Will the earthquake in Japan ding Apple’s iPad 2 rollout? http://zd.net/ibvmgp ^MW FFS get a grip. Bigger issues at stake here!

    (If you’re not familiar with the FFS acronym, don’t worry, I was just expressing my frustration.)

    I think that tweet is pretty clear, I’m RT (retweeting) ZD Net’s tweet about their article, with a comment – in the socially-acceptable manner for the Twitter community (the “new-style” RT built into Twitter misses the ability/potential added value of a comment).

    Unfortunately, when I saw paper.li’s version, it was completely out of context:

    Paper.li appearing to credit me with a ZDNet article about iPad 2 delays following the Japanese earthquake/tsunami (and with which I disagree!)

    It simply grabs the title and first few lines from the link and credits the person who retweeted it (me) as the source. Not only does this appear to be crediting me as the author of the article, which I would be uncomfortable with, even if I did approve of the content but, in this case, I fundamentally disagree with the article and would certainly not want to be associated with it. 

    Paper.li does include the ability to stop mentions, but that misses the point – by all means mention my tweets but they should really make it clear who the original source of an article is and, where that’s not possible, include the whole tweet to ensure that it remains in context.

    And it seems I’m not the only one to see issues with the way in which Paper.li uses the Twitter API, disregarding the social networking element of Twitter. Then there’s the fact that some people thank others for mentioning them in their paper.li edition (which, of course, was entirely automated).

    Indeed, I’d go as far as to say that the way paper.li handles retweets is sloppy and demonstrates a lack of knowledge/understanding on how platforms like Twitter really work – they are (or should be) about conversation, not broadcast – and that’s why the newspaper format is really not a good fit.

  • With hindsight, it’s probably not a good idea to stand in front of a lorry…

    Imagine the situation: you’re just stepping out onto a Zebra crossing (you have right of way) and you see a seven-and-a-half-ton truck, 10 or 20 metres away, still moving at around 30mph with the driver looking down as if he is reading a newspaper, a text message on his phone, or something similar; you shout a warning (“Oy!”) and step back, slapping your hand on the side of the truck as it drives past but it continues its journey, as if nothing had happened.

    That’s what happened to me this morning and it made me angry. I’ve spent enough years driving cars (and developing a sixth sense when I was a motorcyclist) to watch out for things like this, but imagine if I had been an elderly person crossing the road, or a child. I wouldn’t be here to tell the tale.

    A few seconds later, the truck stopped at a set of traffic lights so I ran down the road and challenged the driver. I may have used a few choice words (I almost certainly did) but he denied that I was on the crossing as he approached (how would he know – he wasn’t even looking ahead!). Standing in front of the truck, I got my phone out to take a picture of the registration plate and the driver actually drove the truck at me as if to push me out of the way! There was no way he would deliberately run me over but he jumped out of his cab and grabbed my phone, telling me he would give it back (throw it under the truck more like) when I moved. For the next few minutes he refused to give it back to me, driving the truck at me once more as I protested to get my phone back. At one point he got out of the cab again and grabbed me by my jacket collar to move me out of the way (I’m seventeen and a half stone – but he was taller than me, stronger than me, and bloody annoyed with me). Eventually, after calming down and noticing I was shaking (showing some humility at least) the truck driver returned my mobile phone and we agreed that we would go our separate ways. I was still shaking, and I didn’t manage to record the registration number of the truck but it belongs to Biffa, a waste management and recycling company, and I’m sure they will be able to track it, should they so desire…

    Throughout the incident, which probably lasted at least five minutes and was right outside a busy London railway station, during the rush hour, people stood and watched. Some took pictures with their mobile phones but no-one called the police when I called out and asked them to, on at least two occasions. I may have been stupid to pick an argument with someone who was prepared to drive a lorry at me but really, London commuters, are you really that self-absorbed that you won’t help someone out after seeing them being subjected to threatening behaviour bordering on physical assault?  Even if you didn’t want to “get involved”, you could have asked me if I was alright after the truck was driven away.

    After travelling a couple of stops on the tube, I saw some British Transport Police officers and I asked for advice. The officer I spoke to was very helpful, including giving me the number for the Metropolitan Police but, I honestly think that reporting the incident will be a waste of my time and theirs. I have no evidence (only a blurred, shaky camera phone picture of the truck driving away, in which there are no identifiable markings) and, despite the city being littered with CCTV, the police have much bigger priorities.

    Looking back, with slightly less adrenalin being pumped around my system, I can see it was not wise to put myself in a dangerous position but there is no excuse for deliberately driving a lorry at me. I’m sure the driver is a decent guy, just as pumped up by the situation as I was but, more to the point, if Biffa’s operatives are driving without due care and attention, the next person to cross the road in front of them might not be so lucky. As one of my (female – i.e. not testosterone-fuelled) colleagues observed, hopefully the incident will make this truck driver think more carefully about his actions, even if he won’t openly admit that he made a mistake. And I should be grateful that the worst thing to come out of this for me, was needing to replace my damaged iPhone headphones.

  • Movember

    I’ve written previously about my personal links to Prostate Cancer and November is an important month on the fund-raising calendar.  For those who have not heard of it November becomes Movember, with men across the world sporting unfashionable facial hair with the aim of raising awareness and, importantly, funds to fight male cancers.

    Movember started out down under but has spread to the UK and elsewhere, where the Movember Foundation works with local charities (over here it’s The Prostate Cancer Charity).

    Movember, day 28: the 'tache is unleashedI wanted to take part in Movember this year but had a number of professional and family commitments for which a half-grown moustache would have been inappropriate (or at least embarrassing to family members). So, my mo’ has been hiding under a beard all month, until last night when it was unleashed to the world.

    Please support the fight against Prostate Cancer, by donating to Movember.

  • Daylight saving – a complete waste of time?

    As I made my way onto the platform at the railway station this morning, I looked across and noticed the sky. Pink and blue. Red sky at morning… shepherd’s warning… I haven’t seen that for a few weeks, but the clocks changed last weekend, so my 06:52 train into London runs at what would have been 07:52 last week.

    “So what?”, I hear you ask. “So the dawn came earlier – what difference does that really make?”. And my response would be absolutely none at all.

    Whilst some are calling for UK timezones to be harmonised with Western Europe, I’d question the need to change the clocks at all. Twice a year, we switch to/from daylight saving time but, in our 24 hour society, what relevance does that really have?

    The BBC has reported that, the Federation of Small Businesses are claiming a potential £1bn increase in revenues if we moved the clocks forward another hour to sync with our mainland European colleagues but I fail to see how that changes anything… are they suggesting that they only work “office hours”? So, do those who work with Chinese, or Indian, or American companies switch onto those timezones? (I suggest not – instead, we get up early, work late, or use alternative methods of communication that do not require synchronicity.)

    Others suggest that there are green benefits to be had by staying on British Summer Time – doubtful, given that many offices and public buildings have their lights on all day anyway!

    Campaigners in Scotland say that to change Britain’s timezone would be unacceptable in a country where winter days are already short enough (it was previously tried between 1968 and 1972). Well fine – Scotland has a devolved government – why not work on your own timeline too! When I lived in Australia, people were used to various states operating in different timezones and Europe is no different. But “daylight saving time” doesn’t give you a longer day… it just shifts the start and end times of daylight.

    And that was the real reason for it’s introduction here in the UK, when we were a nation of farmers and factory workers. Today though, we have electric lights to see by on our way to work/school and, in any case, in a few more weeks it will be dark again in the mornings – and on the way home too.

    The whole concept of changing the clocks is outdated so, now that London (including Greenwich) is on Greenwich Mean Time (and Cordinated Universal Time), let’s leave it there!

  • What’s the real worth of a photographic image?

    A few months back, I was listening to a podcast on my way home from work. There’s nothing unusual about that – but this one was episode 125 of This Week in Photography, featuring an interview with Michael Corsentino, who is a California-based lifestyle photographer.

    Listening to the interview, it was clear to me that Michael has made some hard business decisions about the way he packages his art (which is the way he refers to his photographic works) and the options he gives (or doesn’t give) his clients in order to ensure that he is able to cover the time and effort he puts into them. That’s fair enough when someone does do the best they can to turn images into art but now I’d like to put forward an alternative view.

    Photography is one of my great passions and I like to think that I’m someone who appreciates great photographic images but is not prepared to be taken for a ride. When my wife and I got married, our photographers did not charge us an extortionate fee for a “wedding package”. Instead we paid for the (fantastic) images, both formal and journalistic, on a time and materials basis. Our lead photographer, the late Brett Williams, brought in one of his associates to assist on the day and I have all of the prints and most of the negatives for safe keeping.

    On the other end of the scale are two examples that I experienced through my eldest son’s school.

    The first was a school portrait, captured by H Tempest. As proud parents, of course we paid for some prints but I also looked into the quality of the images that I could have bought digitally. I don’t know what cameras were used to capture the image, but when I called Tempest to see what quality the image they were selling for unlimited printing was, the answer I got suggested it was a a fairly low resolution (2304x1536px) JPEG image. As that image is unlikely to be suitable for quality reproduction at any larger than 8″x10″, it’s not what I call unlimited, so I decided not to spend the (I seem to recall quite large) sum of money that they were looking for, opting for a few small prints instead (I have my own “first day at school” images anyway).

    Then there was the case of Richard Kerber Photography. Richard came into the school to create family portraits and we attended, as did many other families, one weekend last November. The images he created in our short session were great – and we did buy several prints; however I was still disappointed by the lack of flexibility and attention to detail. In common with many photographers, the packages offered were intended to encourage us to buy sets of photos but, in these days of digital SLR capture, I see no technical reasons (only some commercial ones) to restrict the ability to mix colour and monochrome images. There was also a hefty fee if we wanted to pay for the images on CD (with printing rights, but copyright retained by the photographer); and, apparently, no post-production effort at all.

    No post-production? Well, I know nothing of Mr Kerber’s workflow – I’m sure there was some post-production – but, in one of the images, part of my foot is missing from the smaller prints, despite being visible in a larger version (albeit a little too close to the edge of the frame – given the amount of white space, some basic editing may have been in order to balance up the shot).

    It seems to me that what we have here is a photographer who clearly has the talent to create lovely images of my family (no mean feat with two “active” boys and two tired parents!) but who, for the lack of a little care and attention in his workflow, is not delivering the standard of work that warrants the pricing. Furthermore, whilst I can see that photographers need to set digital image pricing so as not to cannibalise their print sales, the prices charged for a CD with a license are extreme. £295 is a lot of money for a few minutes in a school hall (remember, there are still print costs to consider)… oh yes, and he used a portrait of at least one family on his website without permission (as far as I can tell, no model release was signed, and whilst the copyright is his so there is no. Legal reason not to use the images, one might consider that he was morally and ethically bound to ask permission first).

    So, what’s the point of my rant? Well, I guess what I’m saying is that there’s money to be made by those who charge a fair price, without devaluing the overall effort involved (after all, it still has to be profitable – not everyone with an SLR is automatically capable of producing quality work). If you are a fine art photographer, then by all means charge a fee that reflects the value of the artwork but, if your approach is one of a production line, then your pricing should reflect that too – looking to make a fast buck from parents or newly-weds is just not on. If you want to charge me for something really special, then you need to put in the associated effort.

    [Incidentally, I originally wrote this post back in February but wasn’t sure whether to publish or not… after sitting on it for several months, I still think it makes some important points, so I’ve edited the original post and committed it to the web!]

  • So, where exactly is Silverstone?

    As I carried out the school run this morning (on foot), I noticed that there seemed to be a lot of extra traffic in town today.  Then I realised it was due to the British Grand Prix, which is taking place in Silverstone this weekend.  The A43 is closed for non-event traffic, which puts pressure on the M1, which in turn pushes traffic onto other roads in the area, including the main road through our town.

    It’s not really a problem – The A43 is only closed for 3 days a year and the knock-on effect of having the home of British Motor Racing on our doorstep is increased engineering jobs in the local area (it’s a shame that Aston Martin moved out of Newport Pagnell in favour of their new HQ at Gaydon) – indeed I’m pretty pleased that Donington Park couldn’t get it’s act together so the British Grand Prix has stayed at Silverstone!

    What was interesting though was a local BBC news story last night… BBC East was covering a (non-) story about whether Silverstone is in Northamptonshire, or in Buckinghamshire.  It’s simple – Silverstone village is in Northamptonshire, but the circuit spans the county boundary.  Why that’s the cause of such controversy is, frankly, a mystery but, then again, I know what a big deal crossing the county boundary is to some locals (for reference, I was born in Northamptonshire and now live within the Milton Keynes unitary authority, in what was once Buckinghamshire… and it will take 3 generations to be accepted as a true local in the town where I now live!).

    What amused me was one of the people that the BBC interviewed for its package on last night’s news – when asked which county Silverstone is in, one guy responded that it’s in Buckinghamshire because, when he googled for the weather, Buckingham was the nearest town!  I found it quite amusing that people today are happy to judge geographic boundaries by Google search results, rather than by a map…

    So, if you’re at the British Grand Prix this weekend (I’d love to be there but will be watching on a television instead) it seems that the Grand Prix circuit from Becketts Corner to somewhere near Village Corner is in Buckinghamshire, otherwise you’re in Northamptonshire (Rose of the Shires).

    Ordnance Survey Map showing Silverstone circuit spanning the county boundary between Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire

    Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.

  • Do it for Dad

    The Prostate Cancer CharityLast March, I blogged about The Prostate Cancer Charity’s Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.  Whilst my support is for personal reasons, it’s worth highlighting this disease (and supporting research) because it’s the most common cancer in men and it still kills one man in the UK every hour: find out more at hiddencancer.org.uk.

    With Father’s Day just around the corner (at least, it is in the UK – I think it varies around the world), why not join in with The Prostate Cancer Charity’s “Do It For Dad” campaign?

    You can send your Dad a Father’s Day card whilst supporting Dads (and all other men) who have been affected by Prostate Cancer and continuing to fund research by making a donation to The Prostate Cancer Charity.

    (markwilson.it is not affiliated with The Prostate Cancer Charity; however I do support its activities and invite readers of this blog to do so too)

  • New job/full disclosure

    For some time now, this site has carried a disclosure notice and I generally avoid talking about my work here (for reasons of confidentiality – but also to prevent potential conflicts of interest).  Today I’m going to make an exception, because it’s the first day of a new job for me.

    I’ve been a Senior Customer Solution Architect at Fujitsu since August 2005 and, in that time, I’ve worked on customer-facing project implementations; pre-sales consultancy and bid work; and, more recently, have carried out some internal roles evangelising technology, developing capability within our architect community and leading the technical strategy and direction for client device services, including the adoption of Windows 7 within our desktop managed service offering.  Whilst these roles have been interesting and varied, I was recently presented with an opportunity to join the Office of the CTO as a Strategy Consultant and today is my first day in that new role.

    I’m not going to say too much about what I’ll be doing in the new role except that I’ll be promoting Fujitsu brand and opinion on a variety of topics and that’s why I felt it appropriate to write this blog post.  Regardless of my professional activities at Fujitsu, this site will still concentrate on the technology issues that I find interesting and it’s not going to become a marketing channel for my employer!

    I’ve spent 6 years and many late nights building up this site, along with another year building a my reputation on Twitter and in other social media outlets – that’s my personal reputation as “Mark Wilson, Technologist” and not “Mark Wilson, Strategy Consultant at Fujitsu”.  So, just to make sure there’s no confusion: this site (markwilson.co.uk/markwilson.it or whatever domain name I might assign to it in the future) is my personal website;  the views and opinions here are personal and are not endorsed by my employer; if you see me commenting elsewhere on behalf of Fujitsu… well, that’s the day job – you know, the one that pays the bills!

  • March is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month

    The Prostate Cancer CharitySometimes, on the occasions that I wear a suit, I wear a lapel badge with a little blue man on it.  It does its job well as people often ask me what it represents – pink ribbons (in fact, pink in general) are well known in association with the Breast Cancer Campaign but The Prostate Cancer Charity‘s “blue man” logo is less well known.

    March 2010 marks Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.  Sadly, for my family, May will be the month when we’re most aware of this illness as it will be the anniversary of my Father’s death, after a mercifully short but nevertheless agonising battle with multiple secondary cancers when we all thought his prostate cancer was under control.  But, aside from my personal connections, why do we need to be aware of prostate cancer?  Well:

    • Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men.
    • One man dies every hour in the UK.

    ‘Don’t let prostate cancer hide’ is this year’s campaign to help get prostate cancer out in the open. It’s a hidden cancer because not enough people talk about it. We can’t see the prostate, and many people don’t even know what it is or what it does.

    Prostate cancer awareness month is all about changing that. The more we talk openly about prostate cancer, the more lives can be saved.

    Find out more at hiddencancer.org.uk

    (markwilson.it is not affiliated with The Prostate Cancer Charity; however I do support its activities and invite readers of this blog to do so too)

  • Recessions get rid of the idiots!

    Anthony Hilton at MPN 2009In my previous post about last week’s Microsoft Partner Network 2009 event, I mentioned that the London Evening Standard’s Anthony Hilton (who claims that he helped the BBC’s Robert Peston start his career and says that “he was an irritating little s*d even then”) gave a very interesting talk on why recession is not necessarily bad for business.

    I’m no economist but I found the talk fascinating – and highly relevant to the times in which we are living – so I thought I’d share some of Mr. Hilton’s comments a little further…

    I’m not sure what his original views on the current recession were but he claims to have changed his mind after the collapse of Lehmann Brothers.  The last downturn in the UK was in 1992-3, so no-one under 40 had really experienced the effects in their adult life but Hilton reckons more and more companies will be short-lived.  To put this into context, the FTSE 100 index, recognised as a list of the UK’s top 100 companies and frequently used as a measure of business prosperity, was created in 1984 and fewer than 20 of its constituents have stayed on the index throughout its life. Not all of the companies that have dropped off the index have disappeared but their businesses have changed.  It’s the same story for the Sunday Times Rich List – only 7 out of the original 200 featured individuals are still on it, proving that we all need to raise our game.

    Looking forward for the next few years in the UK economy, Hilton draws parallels with the 1970s where we saw 2 years of easy money and rising property prices before a crash, the doubling of the stock market in the first half of 1975 and then in 1976 the government’s finances collapsed, inflation took hold, and the IMF was called in.  This is the W-shaped recession that many commentators speak of and it’s not necessarily going to be the same this time around but the message is clear: don’t always believe what the stock market is telling you.

    So, will we have a double-dip (W-shaped) recession? Anthony Hilton argues that’s not really the point – what we can expect to see is a period of much tighter, slower growth.  For the first time, a credit crunch has been based on consumers, not businesses.  Until recently, we were all spending 105% of our income with the extra 5% sucked out of rising house prices so, for the next 10 years or so we need to spend 95% to redress that balance, leading to subdued consumption and a low growth rate in the economy of around 1.5% (i.e. not enough to remove unemployment).

    1.5% growth doesn’t sound too bad though but it’s worth considering it is an average.  Within that 1.5% are some dynamic parts of the economy and some that are pretty much dead – indeed a newspaper would be very happy for 1.5 growth but is more likely to shrink by 10% and the same is true for construction, the automotive industry and property, which will all contract.  On the other side of the balance are businesses growing at 10, 15, or even 20%.  Even if the overall position is flat, dull and depressing, there are still some opportunities and many really successful businesses have been launched in difficult times – if one believes in a business enough to invest in it during difficult times then that’s probably a good thing!

    Indeed, Hilton goes further as recessions can be good news because they get rid of the idiots!

    To explain that a little further, consider that peoples’ mindsets change.  When times are hard, they will generally try anything to get out of a sticky situation but, when things are a little easier, companies are reluctant to gamble.  Meanwhile, customers favour those who are willing to change.  But the real productivity and innovation is made up of a lot of small, incremental change, rather than a big bang – and these small changes add up to major changes across the board.

    Those businesses that are flexible, nimble, and open will prosper – saving money, driving innovation and getting more for less.

    To close, Anthony Hilton drew from Charles Darwin, born 200 years ago and whose ideas of natural selection are often described as “the survival of the fittest”.  This tells us that those species that are successful are not the biggest, strongest, or the best resourced… but are the most adaptable.  In business the same holds true: if your business can adapt then the opportunities presented should be well worth the effort.