The Gadgeteer

I have been following the various reviews and articles of The Gadgeteer website for many years. Back in the waning years of the last century, I found out about new Newton and Palm cases, software, and accessories from their many posts. At one point, I responded to a call for those interested in an iPod battery replacement, and won the right to attempt it. The first review I wrote was about an experience of irritated failure. Several years went by, and in early 2009, I again approached Julie about reviewing several iPhone apps that I loved and used quite frequently.

After completing the reviews, Julie asked if I'd like to be on her staff of writers, and I eagerly accepted. It's quite a range of personalities, and I'm enjoying getting to know them. Most of us have never met face-to-face, but in the true spirit of Web 2.0-ness, message and email each other about things both important and inane. So, if you think I've not posted often enough here, you may want to check out the list of articles I have posted on that site. I'll try to link here, but don't expect miracles.

Could Good Service beat Marketing?

Mobile phone carriers, especially those in the 3G arena, are marketing on every medium they can think of, trying to convince us – the weary, wary consumer of phone service – that they are the best around and we should use them for our roaming phone needs. But when you get their service, there's always something that comes back to bite you, and then there's the long contract and penalties involved if you don't want to stay.

Hey phone carriers, here's a novel idea: take all that money you spend on ads - making commercials with crowds of people representing "our network" hiding behind buildings and trees who pop out at the last minute, or those sappy "trap your friends into switching to your carrier" ads, billboards, truck wrapping, the works - take all that money and put it into the actual business of mobile telephony. Build towers. Innovate. Hire and train and pay a crackshot customer service team. In short, build a company that will beat the living daylights out of your competition. Then, fire all the lawyers and collection agents and phone-threat agents you have. Replace your two-year, iron-clad, you'll-never-get-out-of-this-alive contract, and replace it with this little paragraph above the signature line on new contracts:

"We are intent on being the best mobile service provider on the planet, and are happy to have you as part of this endeavor. If you find, at any time, that our service does not meet your standards, we will try to work things out to your satisfaction. Failing that, we'll agree to part friends, and you can move your phone service to a supplier who will better meet your needs."

Signing most phone contracts is similar to signing a pre-nuptial agreement. It's like saying "I know I'm hard to live with, and you're probably a creep who is just marrying me for my cash value. But if you ever try to leave, I'm going to make it hard for you - so hard, that you'll really, really think long and hard before you do. But you aren't going to want to stay, because all you're going to get out of me is a quick hello between my morning paper and me leaving for my job."

Come on, phone companies, woo me! Make me want to love you! Treat me so well that nothing any other phone company can promise will be the slightest temptation! Flashy service? Pfft! My current company has more service in more areas than anyone else. Neat new features? You ain't got nuthin' on my company, baby! Great customer service? Hah! Customer service at my company thinks of what I'm going to ask before I even call, and preemptively calls me to say "You know, we noticed you haven't been out of the country for 3 months. If you turn off International roaming and texting, you can save $50/month. Would that be OK? I can pro-rate that starting right now, if you'd like. But be sure to call us when you're planning your next trip, OK? But if we notice that you make a call from another country, we'll just turn it back on starting that day." Who in their right mind would leave a company like that???? And who would complain about whatever they wanted to charge? I sure wouldn't. And I'd be lobbying for my company to switch to them as well. I'd be buying their stock. I'd be talking them up to all my friends. I'd be putting videos of my conversations with customer service up on YouTube to prove to people how scary-good you were.

Don't just promise a good life and then turn into a pot-bellied couch potato who never buys flowers or helps around the house. If I've just come in from a hard day in the salt mines, have quiet music on, a glass of wine poured as soon as you hear my car in the drive, and the grill ready to touch off for that juicy steak you bought. And you know what will happen? If you act like you love your customers and treat them like valued partners, rather than villagers to be raped and pillaged, they will stand behind you through any tough, crazy, unfortunate event in your company's history, no questions asked. They will brag about you to everyone within ear shot. They will Twitter about you, blog about you, and laugh your competition to derision. And you may even find that, as time goes on, you actually do love your customers! After all, marriage is a two way street.

Generation Gap

Overheard on Twitter:

• High temperature of 27 degrees on Friday. Which means some teenage snotrag is gonna be walking around in shorts and a t-shirt.

* Thanks for reminding me! Gotta do laundry so I'll have clean shorts for Friday.

• Get off my lawn! ;-)

I love having a wide, diverse Twitter group. It's like wandering around at the end-of-the-season pool party, where families of all ages sit around and chat and the conversations intertwine.

Big Three Ad Campaign... you wouldn't buy our cars, so...

Big Three Ad Campaign... you wouldn't buy our cars, so...
Originally uploaded by jasoncalacanis

I wish this was not true. It's too bad this is so small that you can't read the copy, but it's very funny, except that it will negatively affect the economy longer than just letting them fail. Didn't we learn anything at all from British Leyland?

As the U.S. authorities contemplate how to respond to pleas for help from the "Big Three" -- GM, Ford and Chrysler-- they might pause to reflect on the experiences of past British governments when they tried to help the troubled British Leyland group in its various historical forms.

On Hold mute

You know what would be a huge feature of a phone system that could change people's attitudes on a phone call? Having the ability of toggling the on-hold message on or off. Half of the times when I'm on hold, the message is either loud and annoying, or so repetitive that I want to have a running fit. If I could punch it off, I'd prefer just hanging on the phone silently while I wait, and punching back on occasion to make sure I'm still connected. What I don't need is some peppy spokesperson with swingin' background music up-selling me. Or really bad muzac. Or the local traffic and weather of the place I'm calling. (However, I'm always thankful not to be in Chicago in winter, CDW!)

What an idea - put in a feature that enhances the happiness of the people who will call into your new phone system, so that they like calling you! Radical!

Living life and pondering

Sometimes, life moves too quickly, and you can't sit back and consider some of the options you have before you. Other times, reflection is mandatory, even if there is no time. A friend recently posted a great short snippet of thought that made me once again realize this fact: doing stuff takes doing. While the ready, fire, aim approach can sometimes lead to mistakes and having to smooth some ruffled feathers, getting something out there - out of your mind, out of the realm of maybe - is the only way to see it for yourself and show it to those you care about. If you don't write that story, it will never be read by others. If you never send it to a publication, it will never published. If you don't play that inner song, it will soon go away and be forever unheard.

Years ago, I read a post (in an AOL forum, of all places!) about three friends having a meal together. One was a successful self-employed business consultant. The second (the author of the post) was newly self-employed, struggling, but getting there as a computer consultant. The third was unhappy in his corporate job, wanted to be independent, but kept bringing up countless obstacles that prevented him going out on his on. Finally, the first diner said, "Tell you what. If you agree to follow my directions and to stop complaining about the problems, I will give you the secret to success as a self-employed person." The other two gaped in disbelief, but the complainer said, "Sure." The first removed a business card from his wallet, wrote something on the back of it, and handed it across. While the complainer was reading, the author said, "Wait a minute! You never offered me the secret to success!" The first man smiled, and motioned for the card to be passed to the author. Written in bold strokes was this - "Just Do It." (This was in the 90's - well before Nike appropriated that slogan as a service mark for selling their footwear.) "There will always be problems, roadblocks, excuses, and drawbacks to any business venture. You'll never get past any of them unless you decide to stop analysing, take the plunge and actually do what you're considering."

So, as of now, I'm going to start doing more, rather than just thinking about doing. Like Manton and his trees, results may be slow, but think how long it would take to get results if I never start! I will fail some, but will ultimately succeed more than if I never tried, right?

For those who are addicted to black notebooks......

....or are searching for the perfect one. I've only been journaling for the past few months using a Moleskine, but there are those out there who believe that this type notebook is the Holy Grail of design. There are others who think it is the ultimate status symbol. Others think it's a good design, burdened by hype that rises above it's true value. Others could care less, and just write on scratch paper pulled out of the wastebasket.

There are groups on flicker, mailing lists, and entire websites dedicated to finding just the right combination of good paper, binding, and usability. The perfect Black Notebook. One such site is reviewing every contender in an effort to find the champion. Their most recent review, the Piccadilly line, is surprising some, because it's half the price of the name brand, yet has a better binding. If you want to join in the search, check out Black Cover. They are in the process of cataloging all the Moleskine alternatives that they have reviewed. Plus, if you just send them an email, you can get an entry into a drawing for three Piccadilly notebooks!

What's your holding your notes?