Random Rants

Another iPad Review

2010-04-11T22:17:00.004-04:00

We ordered an iPad for the office so that we could begin testing our SpaBooker appointment and point-of-sale web application on it to make sure everything checks out. It was supposed to show up on Monday, April 12th, but due to the miracles of modern fulfillment it arrived Wednesday the 7th. After using it for a few days, I can sum up my review in one word, "meh".

I have to say, when I first saw the iPad, I really wanted to love it; for it to replace my laptop for casual media consumption, for it to be the savior of magazines everywhere. Basically for it to live up to the hype. And it is pretty cool, but it's just a toy. The fatal flaw is that it's straight up uncomfortable to use. As I write this, I am sitting on my couch with my feet propped up on my coffee table and 60 Minutes droning on in the background - supposedly the ideal scenario for iPad use - instead, I have my laptop open on my lap. Why? Because I don't have to hold the damn thing up. It sits on my lap with a screen I can tilt and a keyboard I can rest my hands on. The iPad has to be held.

Whereas the iPhone is easy and comfortable to hold in one hand, the iPad is not. It's awkward to hold to read on, it's just awful to type on, and without a stand, it's a pain to try and watch anything on. Here's what I do love, the multi-touch screen. My suggestion for Apple, take the iPad and the MacBook Air and make a love child. Keep the iPhone OS, the keyboard, and the multi-touch and you have a killer product - although, come to think of it, wouldn't that be a Netbook?

Cielo Bikes by Chris King

2009-10-20T18:56:00.001-04:00

Umm - Chris King is making (literally) new Cielo steel bikes. I just found my next ride.

NYC Public School Sense of Humor

2009-09-10T21:42:00.002-04:00

Some of you may know, but my daughter just started kindergarten yesterday at PS41 in NYC. Now everyone hears about NYC public schools, in fact local politicians have entire platforms around the NYC Public School system (with nearly 1,000,000 students in K-12 this year you can understand why). So I thought I would post an email from our school coordinator, it definitely makes entertaining reading:

Bing vs. Google - or why I'm switching

2009-08-06T11:46:00.002-04:00

So Twitter is down, Friendfeed is down and I wanted to find news on it. Bing's search as of 11:43AM EST on 8/6/09 shows:

Google's search at the same time shows:

And if you're interested, it looks like a DOS attack.

Content = Free

2009-04-10T23:32:00.002-04:00

More content (videos, articles, music, photos) is being generated than ever before. And some of it still makes money, however any content generation business that's based solely on advertising revenue, is going to zero.

For instance, the big 4 networks are seeing their advertising revenue collapse, and not just because of the recession. The newspaper industry is on its death bed, and even with continuing attempts to reinvent itself, it can't.

The 'next generation' models that are held up as superlative examples of Web 2.0 businesses aren't sustainable. And why am I so certain that any content business based on advertising revenue is going to zero? Because I just read an article in Google Reader, copied the the URL using a Firefox widget that instantly transformed it into a link with exactly 18 characters, and redistributed it to hundreds of my 'followers'. At no point did anyone visit a property that actually generated any content. Or put another way, even though I consumed and redistributed content, no advertising revenue was generated for any content producer.

What do the New York Times, NBC, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc. all have in common? They all attract huge audiences, they are all have very sticky content, and they all fail at the core task of a business, making money.

In each of these companies' respective industries (excepting Twitter), there is a smaller, subscription based competitor that is not only profitable, but growing.

Print: New York Times vs. The Economist
Television: NBC vs. HBO
Online Video: Youtube vs. iTunes
Social Networks: Facebook vs. Linked In
Photos: Flickr vs. SmugMug

Even with hosting and storage costs continuing to decline, bandwidth costs are not. Gigantic audiences drive brand recognition, huge valuations, and ballooning costs. At the end of the day, your cash in has to exceed your cash out, and if it doesn't, and there isn't a clear way to monetize your audience besides advertising, your business is not sustainable.

Hence, content generation businesses built solely on advertising revenue are going to zero.

The Old Hippie at it Again

2009-01-20T22:34:00.004-05:00

My dad made the trek down to DC to take part in today's historic inauguration. I thought I would share his thoughts.

<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Dear Friends and Family:

During the past week I received many phone calls, e-mails, voicemails and text messages wishing me well on my DC inauguration trip and expressing your optimism and hopes for the new administration in Washington; some asking me to communicate those good vibrations. Hopefully this e-mail will convey some of what I witnessed today.

Before the election I told friends that if Obama won I would take advantage of my good fortune and travel to DC for the inauguration; as my son Ezra is living within walking distance of the Mall.

Last week, as I got ready to begin the trek to the frigid East Coast; where temperatures have been in the single digits; I had second thoughts. Thankfully my enthusiasm prevailed.

Born and bred in New York City; I have been a part of countless crowds in my days; with attitudes ranging from jubilant to surly; from patient to demanding, from raucous to bored and from feisty to calm. I have been in sports crowds, movie line crowds, Times Square New Year’s Eve crowds, subway crowds, protest crowds, rock and roll crowds, traffic jam crowds and political rally crowds; to name a few. Never have I been part of a crowd to compare to the throng (1.5 million +) at the Obama inauguration.

Not surprisingly, there was a stunning mix of young and old; white, black, Asian, Latino and every imaginable combination, a true reflection of our cultural mix.

The patience and courtesy was striking as we stood butt to butt and belly to belly for hours starting at 5 a.m. in the dark and cold. We shared in demeanor and voice a reverence for the occasion and an appreciation for the privilege of participating in this moment in history.

While we were certainly there to witness history and be spectators; there was much more to our participation in this event. As we talked and shared during the 4 hours while we awaited the start of the ceremony it was evident that there was a hunger and anticipation for an opportunity to once again be shareholders in the governing of our union; not just disenchanted critics. Many of you have listened to me rant and rave; to the verge of being apoplectic; about the lack of inspiration from the Bush regime and the vacancy of any expectation that we as citizens of this country have a responsibility to be part and parcel of any of the solutions to our current crises.

I have listened to Barack Obama speak many times on TV and radio and now in person twice. It is thrilling to now have a president who understands the role of a leader to inspire the populace and expect participation, reflection and sacrifice from those citizens for the greater good; a concept that was not even on George Bush’s radar.

In his speech, Barack Obama observed that we have had presidents who have taken office during times of war and presidents who have taken office during times of economic crises; but rarely if ever during a time of both circumstances. He emphasized the importance of our participation in solving these problems and making sacrifices if necessary; rather than being observers from the sidelines. I walked away from this inauguration feeling refreshed and invigorated because we finally have a leader who is not afraid to challenge us to accept this responsibility and feeling ready to do so.

Roy Katzen
mailing address: P.O. Box 9956; San Diego, CA 92169

To Single Speed or Not to Single Speed

2008-10-06T15:32:00.004-04:00

What makes an ideal commuter bike? For years I have been sporting what could be called the classic geared setup. It's ingredients include:

Road frame
Geared rear end
Inexpensive Shimano rear derailleur
Single ring front
25-28mm tires
Front and rear brakes
MTB bars

Over the years I have come to refine these requirements a little:

Must be a steel or titanium frame - I haven't found a aluminum road frame that has lasted me more than 4 months without the bottom bracket failing (yes I'm a Clydesdale)
I like Shimano 8 speed stuff, but it's getting hard to find
Chris King headset (set it and forget it)
Selle Italia Flite Classic saddle - I'm not sure if it's the perfect shape, or if my ass just thinks it is since I've been riding one for 17 years.

With the general popularity of singlespeeds (fixies will be the topic of another post) these days, I thought I would give it a try. So I ebay'd up a nice Titus FCR singlespeed that came equipped with the aforementioned King headset, King hubs, and disk brakes. Not to mention a Flite saddle and a pair of carbon bars. I chucked the suspension fork in favor of a carbon 700c disk fork and added some slick tires and away I went.

Does anyone want to guess what I forgot - yep - gear ratio. Being a singlespeed newbie, I didn't change the mountain bike ratio which was 34-18, giving my legs a nausea inducing ratio of 1.89. My cadence was north of 100 and I hadn't even hit 15MPH. I ordered up a 14 tooth rear stainless ring and tried the bike out again with it's new improved 2.43 ratio. It's much better, but I still don't like it.

I do think I've given the bike a fair shake, riding it for about 4 months of commuting, and you know what, I still think gears are the way to go. I'll put the for sale add from Craigslist up as soon as I get my new commuter built up.

OMG - Chris King Finally Makes a Bottom Bracket

2008-09-22T13:46:00.000-04:00

We've been hearing about this for years, and now, the time has finally come - Chris King is officially making a bottom bracket.

I have King headsets on every single one of my bikes (except for that one ride with an old Record headset...). In fact, on my daily commuter - the same headset has been installed on no fewer than 4 frames over the last 12 years (yep - twelve years). All I do is grease the bearings. So you can imagine my excitement now that I can now get a bottom bracket that will work as well.

Pseudo Review: Vittoria Courier TT25 Kevlar 3D Compound Tires

2008-08-18T15:34:00.001-04:00

Back in 1994 I was introduced to the Vittoria Courier 3D line of tires. I only rode them with a wire bead, and they have never been the most supple tires out there, but they were pretty flat proof

Well now I only have one left, and it's been on its last legs for over two years. I have had a new 28mm Continental Gatorskin hanging in my bike closet, ready to be installed as soon as I get a front flat. This post might jinx it, but I haven't had a front flat in over four years on this last Courier 3D. I literally have over 7,000 miles on this tire, and it refuses to die.

What remains of the rubber is hard and cracked, there are divots that leave the threads showing, and still, the tire won't die. So long live one of the best urban tires ever manufactured - whether you loved them in orange or green.

Preventing Parts Scavenging

2008-08-11T11:55:00.003-04:00

Having been a bicycle commuter in Portland, then NYC, then San Fran and now back in NYC for over 25 years I unfortunately have some experience with parts theft. Here are my tips:

File off the stupid lawyer (i.e. safety) tabs on your front fork, they're for morons that can't figure out how to use a quick release. This allows you to pop your front wheel off in under 5 seconds (if I can do it a thief can too) and lock it to your frame.
Use a crappy looking seat and seat post. I put a new seat on last year, it was stolen the same day, and it was a $15 seat. So I'm back to my 18 year old Flite with no leather, just a plastic seat at this point, still pretty comfortable though.
I have had my handlebars stolen twice, really sucks. Now I fill up my stem bolt(s) with Elmer's wood glue. It makes it a pain in the butt to change your handlebars, but really, how often do you do that?

Other little things, don't use nice quick release skewers, thieves will take those too. Get the smallest U lock that will fit through your front wheel, rear wheel, frame and a post. The bigger the U lock, the more places a thief can put a leverage bar and pop your lock. I'm sure you've seen those mangled looking locks all over the place? A 6' 2x4 will pop pretty much any U lock if it can be inserted between the post and the lock.

So what does all this experience mean? I commute on a sweet Titus Titanium frame (love titanium, no rust) frame with Ultegra components, a Chris King headset and custom wheels without fear of some moron crippling my ride home.

Headphones on Bikes

2008-08-04T14:40:00.000-04:00

I have been meaning to write a rant about this for some time, so it will make a good first entry.

My commute by bike began in Kindergarten at age 5. I continued to ride my bike to school pretty much every day unless it was raining hard. Growing up in Portland, this meant a lot of drizzly commutes. Since moving to NYC 14 years ago this month, I have been riding here on pretty much a daily basis.

I am happy to report that there are now MORE people cycling for one reason or another in NYC on a daily basis than ever. I am unhappy to report that the vast majority of these people appear to be complete idiots.

When I first moved to NYC I was a broke, beans and rice eating student and one of my first jobs was working for Breakaway Courier Systems. Then, as now, you could easily tell the difference between the hard core couriers and the poseurs. The guys (mostly) out in February in the 20 degree weather were the ones who did it for a living, and who made good money (by messenger standards). Not a single one of them sported Walkman (no iPods back then). Most of the pros wore helmets and ran geared bikes with brakes (I'll save the fixed gear city riding rant for another time).

For some reason it now appears to be de rigueur to ride around town not only on a shiny track bike, but wearing some type of headphones too. Don't get me wrong, I love music, I love listening to music - but never on a bike riding through traffic. We've all seen morons walking into the street wearing headphones and mashing away on a Blackberry and thought to ourselves:

You oblivious fu#$ing idiot, you're going to get hit, but that's probably not a bad thing...

Now tons of people that I would very much like to like, are doing something just as stupid. I am shaking my head in disbelief that I even have to describe why riding in a city with music - or even your Fresh Air podcast - going in your ears is a bad idea, but here goes:

You can't hear sh1t if you have headphones on

Clear enough? Last time I checked, we each get five senses - if we're lucky. And in the case of cycling in traffic, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that taste and smell don't matter. So if you are artificially crippling one of your senses (I am purposefully ignoring everyone saying "but I don't have the sound up loud at all") you are cutting off at least 33% of your environmental input.

I can't tell you how many times I have heard a car coming up behind me, or a horn, or... and quickly faded over to the side as a vehicle came whizzing past. Without this input, imagine your surprise when some asshole passes you 2 inches from your handlebar when you had no idea they were approaching because you were humming along to your Raconteurs.

Please ride a bike. Please don't be a moron and ride in the city with headphones.