AgilePooch Diaries

Super Pooper Scooper

May 23, 2010

I’ve been through a wide variety, and I finally found one that works and holds up over time. I don’t coddle my pooper-scoopers – I leave them outside in the rain, the dogs have full access to them for their destructive pleasure, and I still expect them to work perfectly and easily every time I go for my half-acre poop hunts.

Here are some of the ones that have failed:

One-piece-but-still-two-handed-pivoting rake-into-shovel or shovel-into-shovel devices

Rake-like devices

: Two-piece rake-into-shovel devices

All of these have fundamental flaws. Two-handed operation means I have to put the bucket down to use the device. The 90-degree rakes and shovels require that you tip the scooper at the same awkward 90-degree angle to release the contents, which means you still have to put the bucket down to get the handle out of the way. Many have wooden handles, which don’t survive being left outside. The rake-style has the most flaws – the tines bend, causing pieces to fall through, they tend to stab, making the release phase more difficult, and if the consistency isn’t perfect, well, use your imagination.

Finally, thanks to my cousins Bruce and Jill, I found the pooper-scooper that actually works. Let me introduce you to the Four Paws Allen’s Spring Action Scooper. I had seen it in stores, but it looked clunky and over-engineered (read doomed to fail). When I saw it work at their house, I decided to give it a try. Turns out it’s a plastic spring-loaded design wonder that meets all of my criteria.

One-handed operation
Works on all surfaces (there’s a special model with teeth for grass, but I haven’t found that necessary)
Effective on all consistencies
No bending
Ecologically sound (bagless)
Simple and complete release into the bucket in my other hand.

It comes in several sizes and models, and is widely available online and at pet stores. There are other brands out there with similar designs, and I have no reason to believe they don’t work just as well. But this is the one I have used and can vouch for.

Happy Poop-Hunting!!!

1 Comment | Dog Gadgets | Permalink
Posted by agilepooch

Essential Tools for Dog Lovers

May 22, 2010

Hi, my name is Holly and I’m a gadget-freak. Oops, wrong meeting. Hi, my name is Holly and I’m a dog-lover. Wait, still not right. Hi, my name is Holly and I’m a dog-loving gadget-freak. Yeah, that’s the one.

I’m not afraid to admit it publicly. I love to explore gadgets, and my dogs have provided me with a whole new world of opportunities. Some work, some don’t. I figured the least I could do to redeem myself is to blog about it and save you all the trouble. After all, why should we both throw money at the bad experiments?

I already have a couple of terrific items to catch up on. I’ll post the good, the bad, and maybe even the ugly. If you have a fantastic dog gadget that I need to know about, please let me know.

3 Comments | Dog Gadgets | Permalink
Posted by agilepooch

iPad for me? Not quite ready yet.

May 6, 2010

When the iPad was announced, my response was “bulky sorta iPhone/sorta iPod Touch, lotta money, why bother?” But when our company President recently wandered in with his and enthusiastically gave me a demo, I completely changed my tune – I was ready to gulp the entire pitcher of Kool-aid and pull out my credit card….

Fortunately…

I took a moment to do the math:

$829 for the 64gb 3G model (why settle for anything less?)
$39 for a case (don’t kid yourself, anything with a touchscreen needs a decent case)
$69 for a Bluetooth keyboard (I’ve already established that I can’t survive with on-screen keyboard alone…)
$99 for an extra year of Apple Care (like the iPhone, it still doesn’t have a user-serviceable battery)

Grand Total: $1,036, plus tax. PLUS $30/month for the 3G data service. Hmmm, this definitely exceeds my gotta-have-it-right-this-second threshold. So in a rather uncharacteristic display of self-restraint, I resisted my initial impulse to buy the shiny toy and sat down to consider …

How Exactly Will I Use It?

I came up with the following use cases, the first two based on the big boss’s demo:

Media-rich newspapers. Wow, this is dramatic – color photos, tap here and there to see what’s behind it, slide over here to get a searchable, tappable index. Snazzy. But wait, I don’t read national newspapers now, and having a fancy colorful device isn’t going to change that (any more than joining a gym is going to make me work out). I have no idea when local papers like the Press Democrat will be producing this content (if ever).

Media-rich magazines. Again with the colors and tapping and sliding (or is it ‘gesturing’?). More pizazz. But wait again, what magazines do we read at our house? Time and The Economist? Nope. Clean Run, American Rifleman, Rider, and <insert equally obscure and niche-y magazine name here>. Clean Run has already stated that their small circulation (and even smaller number of iDevice customers) can’t possibly support the investment in ‘rich’ iDevice-ready content.

Watching videos. Yep, I thought this would be the winner. I do watch videos on mobile devices, mostly when I’m traveling in the trailer with the dogs. Currently, I use my MacBook Pro to watch Netflix movies on DVD, and my iPod Nano or MacBook to watch training DVDs that I’ve Handbrake‘d into iTunes. The iPad will clearly excel at the latter, but really, we’re talking about training videos – quality and size aren’t that important and they work quite nicely on the Nano. And what about movies? Oops, no DVD player on the iPad. Streaming? According to reviews I’ve read, streaming only works on Wi-Fi, not worth a hoot on 3G. I’m not surprised, given that the cell networks are already completely overwhelmed by the streaming that is happening now. And in most of the places I travel, there’s no Wi-Fi. Next?

Kindle backup. Rich and I share a Kindle and we both love it. So far, we haven’t had too much usage contention so it’s working out fine. When there is a conflict, I’ve discovered that the Kindle app works very well on my laptop and is even serviceable on my Blackberry. But the iPad was really compelling on this one, with its big screen and longer battery life. However, it won’t replace a second Kindle (which I’m pretty sure is in our future) for two important reasons: even the 10-hour battery life isn’t nearly enough to survive a week at the lake where there is no power source; and because the screen is backlit, it doesn’t work well outside in the sun. Um, never mind.

As It Turns Out, I’m Not Alone

I’m not the first one to take a closer look at personal use cases and reach this conclusion. Here’s a great article I found when I googled “ipad use cases” – The iPad Literally Breaks Every Use Case I Had For It. If you are reading this blog with any interest at all, please, please, take a moment to read Mr. Wilhelm’s article. He reminded me of something I hadn’t even thought of – this fancy device can only run one app at a time and has no tabbed browser capability. Are you kidding me? No multi-tasking? Even Palm switched from the Treo to the Pre. No tabbed browsers? Even the luddites amongst us finally abandoned IE6 for Firefox and (at least) IE7. (Obviously I don’t use an iPhone or I wouldn’t even find this surprising.)

Conclusion (for now, anyway . . . )

Many geek pundits are heralding the iPad as a game-changer and a laptop/netbook-killer. I’m inclined to agree, long term. But it’s not even close to being there yet, at least for me. Time will tell. Perhaps an app will show up that I simply must have. Perhaps the cell carriers will finally beef up their infrastructure to meet the demand. Perhaps the price will fall below my gotta-have-it-right-this-second threshold. Perhaps they’ll introduce a multi-tasking version of the OS, or at least a tabbed browser. I’ll wait and see. And when my friends approach me for my geek opinion, my answer will be “Validate your actual use cases before you decide and don’t get sucked in by the ‘Shiny!’ factor alone.”

1 Comment | Computing and eReaders | Permalink
Posted by agilepooch

PG&E gets to send ME money!

April 29, 2010

I am eternally indebted to Assemblyman Jared Huffman, who just happens to represent my district (Marin and Southern Sonoma County). I don’t honestly remember if I voted for him in the last election, but I guarantee I will vote for him if he runs for reelection. Why? Because he sponsored AB 920: the California Solar Surplus Act of 2009. If you don’t have solar power in California and never intend to, you can stop reading now. But if you are thinking about installing or expanding a system, or if you think you might have overbuilt the one you have, Mr. Huffman is your hero.

Thanks to AB920, people in California will have even more incentive to install significant solar power systems on their homes, because they will be compensated fairly (instead of not at all) for net excess generation over a 12-month period. This bill eliminates a perverse feeling (one that I have felt) that we’d rather waste electricity than to give any away to PG&E (for them to sell).

Until AB920 came along, private solar generation remained a hard sell and somewhat of a balancing act. There are significant incentives to help offset the cost of installation – rebates from the state, substantial (30%, no cap) income tax credits from the Feds (thanks to Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009), unsecured loans from Sonoma County (although I opted for the home equity avenue because I’m one of the lucky ones that still has some – equity, that is). The sticking point was the mathematics game of designing a system that would generate “just enough” electrons. In our case, that was complicated by the fact that we were doing energy-saving home improvements at the same time, which made our historical data fairly worthless. With this new law (which was signed by Governor Schwarzenegger in October), that is no longer as much of an issue.

Under the previous rules, if I overbuild my system (which I probably did, and not at a trivial cost) and generate more than I use (which I probably will), PG&E would just take the excess for free (thank you very much) and then turn around and sell it at retail rates to other customers (like you!).

I have a sense of responsibility to the earth, but not to PG&E’s bottom line. I was already trying to figure out ways to use up my projected excess – perhaps buying a plug-in car (like the Chevy Volt or Nissan Leaf), which don’t exist yet. But in the meantime, I had stopped worrying about leaving lights on. This bill will bring me back to a more responsible position of conservation because I will be fairly compensated for my excess electrons.

The amount is still to be determined by the CPUC, but in a recent letter I received from PG&E, they’re proposing 8.1 cents per kWh. They claim that “represents a proxy for the market value of the power”. I figure that is a low water mark, and the CPUC will probably negotiate it up. Either way, anything more than zero cents per kWh is better than what we had before.

Leave a Comment » | Energy Notes | Permalink
Posted by agilepooch

Wackronyms – Time for USDAA to join us

April 26, 2010

What are Wackronyms? The absurd agility title acronyms perpetuated by USDAA’s inexplicable resistance to make the final logical change that would truly bring the Championship and Performance programs into alignment.

Examples:

MAD (Masters Agility Dog) = PD3 (Performance Dog 3) – should be P-MAD or MAD-P
ADCH (Agility Dog Champion) = APD (Accomplished Performance Dog) – should be P-ADCH or ADCH-P
And my personal favorite, SCH (Snooker Champion) = AKD (Accomplished … um … Knooker Dog?) – should be P-SCH or SCH-P

It has taken a few years, but with various changes in the titling requirements, USDAA has finally brought the Performance program into line with the Championship program. It is no longer the inferior red-headed stepchild of the “real” agility program. The only difference now is that handlers can choose to allow their dogs to jump and climb a little lower. Requirements for top titles in both programs include Super-Qs, Pairs, and all three Tournament classes.

In January 2008, USDAA further legitimized the Performance program by removing the requirement that the titling class minimums for LAA awards had to be earned in Championship – handlers can now earn LAA awards without ever running the dog in a Championship-height ring. That single move completely changed my agility goals with Jasmine, and allowed me to finish her LAA-Silver yesterday.

Handlers have many reasons for choosing the Performance program – the dogs may be older, bulkier, slower, recovering from injury, or maybe it’s just to avoid confusion for the dog who competes in another venue with lower height requirements. Whatever the reason, the Performance dogs deserve the same respect as their Championship brethren, and because the two programs are now truly on par, they finally have it.

Except for the silly acronyms.

Please, USDAA, fix this problem, so we can avoid the following conversation, which occurs every weekend at agility trials throughout the country:

Handler 1 (filled with excitement and celebration): “Fluffy just earned her APD!!!!!”

Handler 2 (looking puzzled): “What’s an APD?”

Handler 1 (feeling disheartened, and perhaps a little defensive/apologetic): “It’s a Performance ADCH…”

Handler 2 (trying to rise to the occasion but still puzzled by the stupid Wacronym): “Oh . . . congratulations . . . what does APD stand for?”

And yes, even this – Handler 1 (now puzzled instead of elated): “I’m not really sure … I just know it’s a Performance ADCH.”

Really? Is it that hard to make the change? Everybody is calling them that anyway…

5 Comments | Dog Agility | Tagged: Dog Agility | Permalink
Posted by agilepooch

My Favorite Agility Things

April 19, 2010

(to the tune of “My Favorite Things”)

Paws on the contacts and down on the table
Running as fast as these old legs are able
Being lined up when the Gamble bell rings
These are my favorite Agility things
♫ ♪♫ ♪♫ ♪♫ ♪

Bars in their keepers and weaves that are flawless
Stays at the start line and timely front crosses
When the dog soars as though fitted with wings
These are my favorite Agility things
♫ ♪♫ ♪♫ ♪♫ ♪

Sailing through Jumpers without a refusal
Handlers obsess over course map perusal
Great Snooker strategy, Super Qs bring
These are my favorite Agility things
♫ ♪♫ ♪♫ ♪♫ ♪

Running the course like I know where I’m going
Getting through Snooker with no whistle blowing
Loving my canine with no attached strings
These are my favorite Agility things

When the bar drops
When the dog balks
When I’m running slow
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don’t fe-e-e-e-e-el so low

Leave a Comment » | Just For Fun | Permalink
Posted by agilepooch

BrainShare 2010

March 27, 2010

What is BrainShare?

BrainShare, Novell‘s annual expo in Salt Lake City, has been lauded as one of the premier technical conferences in the IT industry for more than 20 years. Over the years, it has grown both in numbers and scope, and had morphed to the point where it had become as famous for the over-the-top concerts (including Earth, Wind and Fire, Train, Huey Lewis and the News, and Styx) as for the technical content. In 2009, for the first time in the history of the event, Novell announced that they were canceling BrainShare, citing industry-wide budget tightening and a generally sluggish economy.

In response to that unprecedented decision, Novell formed a BrainShare advisory council, composed of company representatives, key vendors, and selected customers to consider how best to reformat and bring back the conference for 2010.

The transformation was nothing short of miraculous. They listened to the feedback, which overwhelmingly favored the technical excellence, and produced a reborn BrainShare conference that (to quote John Dragoon, SVP and CMO) went back to its roots as a technical conference for technical people. The result was arguably the best BrainShare I’ve attended, and this was my 13th. It was shorter (4 days instead of 5), more focused (less redundancy) and had minimal distractions (e.g. parties). The technical content was superb, with dozens of Advanced Technical Training (ATT) hands-on classes, 200+ product-focused technical sessions, and 20+ hands-on installation/migration labs.

What did I learn

Here are my key takeaways from BS 2010:

After 3+ years of stumbling with a premature release, ZENworks Configuration Management (ZCM) is finally ready for prime time with v10.2 (and the upcoming v10.3). Because implementation of ZCM is essentially a rip-and-replace of our very stable ZENworks Desktop Management v7 environment, I had been dragging my feet. Now, both the product and the migration tools have evolved so I’m ready to proceed.
Similarly, iFolder v3.8 has finally re-introduced the administrative controls that had been stripped when they moved from v2.1 (NetWare) to v3.x (Linux/Mono). The open-source community rejoiced that move, but the corporate community rebelled. Novell listened, and they have now released a version that is easily managed by policy, and involves an upgrade from the client side, rather than a cumbersome migration process.
ZENworks Application Virtualization (ZAV) has some very interesting real-world use cases. For instance, I can see the value of delivering IE6 to workstations running IE7 or IE8 (especially Vista or Windows 7, which won’t even run IE6), specifically for backwards compatibility with old web apps.
In the Futures department, I was most excited by Novell’s Cloud Security Service. This product features Single Sign-on and Provisioning (and more importantly, De-Provisioning) for all of our Cloud (SaaS) applications from one console, using our existing LDAP directory. We already have at least five SaaS services in our enterprise (with more to come), each with different credentials and identity management – in some cases, I don’t even know who handles them. This would pull them all together into our current identity management process.
I would love to bring up Teaming and begin generating some grass roots interest. And I’ll do just that with the free 20-user Starter Pack license that Novell is offering. But I’m not sure it will go much farther than that because of the pricing. Hey Novell, Teaming costs too much.
I don’t ‘get’ Pulse. But I don’t ‘get’ Google Wave either, and I didn’t ‘get’ Facebook until just over a year ago. I imagine that I will eventually begin to understand Google Wave (as it evolves), and when that happens, I’ll be glad that Pulse is around to provide a secure corporate integration with Wave.

No, it wasn’t just a total geek-fest

In addition to the technical excellence, the evening events were still fun, just not as numerous or crazily as over-the-top as previous years.

Upon arrival on Sunday night, I headed over to the Gateway Theater for GWAVA‘s annual private movie for the GroupWise community. This year was The Bounty Hunter – a cute chick flick with just enough humor and action to make it fun for the guys too.
Monday night was a fundraiser party for Bikers Against Child Abuse (BACA). They have had smaller benefit functions at two previous BrainShares, but this one was conference-wide and featured a decent rock-and-roll cover band. Through tattoo parlors (temp, of course), photo booths, shirt sales, and an HP NetBook raffle, they raised over $25,000 for their cause from the participants. In addition, Novell threw in a donation for $10,000 at the end.
Tuesday was vendor night. In previous years, this has been a total geek-frenzy best avoided by the sane, with 5000+ attendees fighting tooth-and-nail for the last t-shirt or the most insignificant piece of throwaway SWAG. But this year, it was a much more subdued opportunity to actually talk to the vendors about their products without having to miss any of the technical sessions during the day.
Wednesday was IT Tech Talk, or as it was more-often called, The Event Formerly Known As Meet The Experts. At this feature event, attendees get to speak directly to the development teams and other product engineers about individual products, both current and future. As with vendor night, this opportunity is available all week, but this event adds value because it doesn’t conflict with other training.

SWAG Report

Even a scaled-back BrainShare would not be complete without toting home a suitcase full of SWAG (Stuff We All Get). I long ago learned to pack an empty (and strong) duffle in my suitcase, so I can fill it with SWAG and check it on the way home. Fortunately, 2 bags fly free on Southwest, so that is still a legitimate (and necessary) strategy. Here is the final inventory of my SWAG (and pseudo-SWAG) haul:

True SWAG (things I didn’t buy, earn, or win):

3 fleece jackets, 15 T-shirts, 2 ball caps
4 thumb drives (totaling 9 gb) containing various product demos and evals, 3 mini-mice, 2 USB VOIP handsets with integrated sound cards
Over a dozen pens, several hand-squeezy things, and various and sundry other things to clutter my desk
Over an inch of vendor collateral materials and demo CDs

Pseudo-SWAG (things I earned or won):

Nikon Coolpix 10mp camera kit (with 2gb memory card)
ZCM v10 Self-Study kit (included with registration)

In addition, I had to find room for the following Non-SWAG items: 8 additional T-shirts (on sale or fund-raisers for BACA), 4 technical books (all half-price), 1 windbreaker and 1 long-sleeve shirt (both half-price).

Conclusion

I went to Salt Lake City this year wondering if this would be the final BrainShare. After all, they had canceled last year, this year was an untested new format, and just to make it even more iffy, Novell had recently received (and rejected) an unsolicited buy-out offer from their majority shareholder, Elliott Associates.

I came home with renewed confidence in both the quality, vision, and future of Novell and their products, and I am now looking forward to BrainShare 2011.

Well done, Novell – kudos to John Dragoon and Mike Morgan and the rest of the BrainShare staff, as well as the development teams who are putting together such great products.

Leave a Comment » | Other Geekiness | Permalink
Posted by agilepooch

The Irony of Energy

January 20, 2010

We are all doing our best to endure the great storm of 2010, as evidenced by Facebook posts that refer to monstrous wind, grape-sized hail, nearby condo fires caused by lightning strikes, flooded yards and outbuildings, highway closures all over the state, tornado warnings (huh?), filling sandbags, and record lows in barometric pressure. We’ve done remarkably well on our little hill in northwest Petaluma – so far, all I have to complain about is bored dogs, muddy carpets, and a fairly tense commute to work this morning.

So I thought I’d reach a little farther and ponder the Irony of Energy. We have been affected by this phenomenon in two ways – too much gas and too little sun. Our Energy story over the past 8 years is Murphy’s Law exemplified.

The Propane Paradox

The first year we moved to the country, a storm like this knocked out our power for well over a week. Our house is 100% electrically-powered, so this was a pretty big deal. For you city folks, when one depends on a well as one’s water source, electricity to run the well is a fundamental requirement (or the toilets don’t get flushed). Thus, we were smugly delighted that the house had come equipped with a stand-by generator. The secondary benefit was that the refrigerator and a few lights/outlets are also wired into the bypass circuit panel, so the food doesn’t spoil and the TV and computer can easily be powered by an extension cord to the bathroom.

However, the previous owner apparently did not see the value of a permanent propane supply, instead relying on an ancient 25-gallon portable tank as the fuel source. During that extended outage, we quickly learned the truth about the three adjectives describing that tank:

25-gallons of propane lasts about 18 hours when powering a house generator 24/7.
Said ‘portable’ tank weighs about 150 pounds, and is thus quite challenging to transport to the local filling station, especially in a storm.
By ‘ancient’, I mean equipped with a no-longer-legal filler valve, which meant we had to (a) choose a filling station where we were personal friends with the CFO, and (b) slip an extra bill to the guy doing the filling.

I lost track of how many times we loaded that damned tank into the truck in the rain, headed out to the [to-remain-nameless] filling station, bribed the guy to fill it, and dragged it out of the truck and across the yard to hook it back up. But it was enough that when we repaved the driveway, we also had the contractor dig and plumb a trench and pour a concrete slab, all in hopes of installing a more permanent solution.

We quickly learned that a permanent propane tank was a considerable extravagance for our house because the stand-by generator was the ONLY consumer of gas on the property. Here’s how the propane companies work: if you can demonstrate consistent usage with a one or more ‘systems’ (stove, water heater, central heating, dryer, etc.), they will rent you the tank for a nominal annual fee and rely on the refills for their profit. Not us, we were stuck buying the big ugly thing outright. So when my mother asked me a few years later, “What do you want for your birthday?”, the answer was immediate – a propane tank! Thanks, Mom!

The 250-gallon tank was installed and filled exactly four years ago in January 2006. Since then, I doubt that our combined power outages have exceeded 24 hours. At this point, the tank exists to support the weekly automated generator self-tests, and the occasional power outage when some fool takes out a power pole on Stony Point Road. At last check, the gauge still showed 80% from the initial filling.

So this is my first 2010 offering to Murphy’s Law. I shudder to think what meteorological nightmares might have occurred had we not installed this tank. All of you in Southern Sonoma County, indeed perhaps all of Northern California, should thank me now. But I can’t help wishing that this 2010 storm of the century had caused more of an electrical impact on my house so I could feel justified about installing that tank.

The Photo-Voltaic Puzzle

Late in 2009, we decided to install a significant solar-energy system. We were motivated by our electrical usage (remember, our house is 100% electrically-powered – bad for the propane but good for the PV system), and we were further pushed by the alternative energy incentives included in Obama’s Economic Stimulus Package of 2009. Seriously, a 30% tax credit against the cost? How do we ignore that?

We spent much of the fall researching options, getting bids, selecting a contractor, getting a new roof, watching panels get installed. Fast-forward to January 5, the date the system went live. We were SO excited! We have 44-235W panels, two 5000W inverters, our entire roof faces the south, and we live in California, for gawd’s sake. Now’s the time for the meter to begin spinning backwards, right?

And so we move to our second 2010 offering to Murphy’s Law. Because in the two weeks since the system was officially turned on, we have had nothing but inland tulle fog that was pushed west by a freakish pressure inversion on the coast, and now the worst winter storm the area has seen since the invention of the wheel (or thereabouts). By our latest calculations, I think we have generated enough energy to power our house for about a nano-second.

So that is my current storm story – the Irony of Energy in my little microcosm of the world – too much of what I don’t need and not enough of what I want. I’m trying to do the right thing for my carbon footprint, but so far, it isn’t quite working out as I’d planned.

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Posted by agilepooch

Kindling a new reading option

January 5, 2010

After months and months of deliberation, I recently decided to take the plunge and buy a Kindle. Or as Amazon calls it, a “Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6″ Display, Global Wireless, Latest Generation)”.

The decision to buy an eReader at all was not an easy one. Because unlike many of my friends, I have not completely swallowed the kool-aid. I like licking my fingers and turning the paper pages. I’m an enthusiastic participant in the secondary book market. I have an immature Border Collie who chews expensive plastic things. And there are places where eReaders just don’t work – like the hot tub.

But my last stay at the lake really got me thinking. I was headed up for 3 weeks and I generally average a book a day. Having accepted that large-format paperbacks are here to stay (at least at Costco, and my aging eyes aren’t complaining), and having purchased sufficient variety to keep my interest piqued, and having included an appropriate number of (thick, heavy) technical reference books, I found myself boxing up and shlepping 25+ lbs of books into the car, into the boat, up the mountain, back down the mountain, back into the boat, and back into the car. Suddenly, that 10 oz. option was looking pretty good.

Once I decided to pursue the idea, I was faced with the choice of three incompatible devices: Kindle/Nook/Sony. I was actually hoping to let it all shake down to a de facto standard before I jumped into the market, so as to avoid making the wrong decision – a la VHS/Betamax (I chose wrong) and Blu-Ray/HD-DVD (I’m still happy with good old progressive-scan). But I’m not sure we’re there yet. And as it turns out, competition is good for technology – so I embrace the battle.

The final barrier was lifted when Rich and I were fortuitously seated with a delightful young couple from Texas on a recent scenic train ride through the Royal Gorge in Colorado. Somehow during the course of our visit, it was revealed that they each have an eReader – hers a Kindle and his a Nook. I confess that I hadn’t heard of the Nook before. Much conversation and questioning ensued, followed by feverish Googling upon our return to the land of broadband.

The upshot is this: I first settled on the Nook, and went so far as to order one. But driven by buyer’s remorse and my propensity to over-think and over-research all decisions, I actually reversed my position and went for the Kindle. Fortunately for me, the Nook is back-ordered by 2 months so the switch was easy and not subject to the 10% Barnes and Noble restocking fee (which incidentally, Amazon doesn’t impose for the Kindle).

My reversal was facilitated by the following reviews, which were written by someone who meets my stringent criteria for internet postings: if you are going to review something and post it on the internet, it had better be comprehensive and organized. I quote: “To be on the safe side -> Please assign points to the listed advantages of each eReader according to what features you value and figure out what is better for you.” To “switch11”, whoever you are, you are my hero. Be sure to read the comments – they add tremendous value to an already comprehensive review.

Review of the eReader experience: http://ireaderreview.com/2009/09/04/kindle-2-review/

Kindle vs. Nook, Take 1: http://ireaderreview.com/2009/10/20/kindle-nook-comparison/

Kindle vs. Nook, Take 2: http://ireaderreview.com/2009/11/24/nook-vs-kindle-review/

As I pondered these write-ups, I concluded that the best thing about the Nook is that it got the Kindle developers off their butts – price went down, battery life went up, and PDF support appeared, all not long after the announcement of the Nook features. As I’ve already mentioned, competition (in technology) is good.

So the decision is made. I like that I can bookmark or stop reading on one device and have it carry over to another. I’m thrilled that with the Kindle, I can charge through a USB cable from a 12V power source (the Nook requires AC power). I’ll be able to instantly look up words/names on Wikipedia, and really, what’s the point of built-in WiFi (Nook) without any sort of browser? And as much as I was compelled by the memory micro-SD expansion slot on the Nook, I have to agree with one commenter – I’m not buying it to be an MP3 player, and isn’t 1500 books enough?

Now, on to Facebook, where I learned things about eReaders that I had not considered. For instance:

“Another downside for the Kindle: If you step on a book, you might rip the cover off. If you step on your Kindle you’re out $300 :(” Followed shortly thereafter (by the same poster) with: “Kindle support rocks! They’re sending me a new kindle by tomorrow! :o”

Seriously? You step on your Kindle and they send you a new one? Her response to that: “Well it MIGHT be possible that I forgot to mention foot involvement when I called them….”

Several other commentors echoed the same sentiments about Amazon’s customer service regarding damaged units (which seem most commonly to involve crushing, flinging, and drowning – I hope chewing is also covered), leading me to conclude that the hardware is actually just a loss-leader – the true revenue stems from the ease of buying content. Or as another friend puts it, “I really like my Kindle, particularly when I’m travelling. The only drawback is that it’s too easy to purchase books!” Yes, registration of the Kindle automatically ties to your Amazon account / credit card. At $6-$10 per title with easy search and instant download, I can only say this: Cha-ching. Makes iTunes look like pocket change.

I don’t expect the Kindle to replace our current reading habits, merely to supplement and provide options, primarily for traveling. Reference and non-fiction books with extensive photos and maps will still have their place on the bookshelf. And until they sort out the search features, we’ll still need indexes and Google.

As we continue down this path, I also think that Amazon may have to consider creative pricing opportunities. For instance (and these are just off the top of my head):

Buy the Kindle version and get the print version for 25% more (or vice versa).
Provide subscription options (modeled after Rhapsody-To-Go) – i.e. 30 day ‘rental’ period for some percentage of the purchase price. DRM is already built-in so this shouldn’t be too difficult.
Allow your friends with Kindles to “Buy” (i.e. Transfer) your purchases to their own devices for a discounted rate (which would put Amazon back into the secondary book market).

I should clarify that I haven’t actually touched my new Kindle. It is being shipped to Rich in Colorado, so that he might enjoy the benefits on his Amtrak ride home next weekend. But we have already purchased three books that are queued up for download the second he turns it on and registers it. I’ll let you know how it goes.

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Posted by agilepooch

SPOT Tracker: Why you should have one

December 15, 2009

Everybody who is involved in a high-risk activity should have a SPOT Satellite Tracker. In this context, how do I define high-risk activity? Any or all of the following criteria:

1) You are in an environment where it’s not exactly clear where you might be if you get into trouble. (Mountain climbers, back-country hikers and snowmobilers, yes; bungee jumpers, no.)

2) You are moving at a relatively high rate of speed and might end up out of sight of passers by. (Motorcycle rallyists, take note.)

3) Your route might vary as the day(s) goes on. (Again, this is for you, motorcycle rallyists.)

4) You have passengers on-board who didn’t necessarily sign up for the ride and might not be as well-equipped as you to fend for themselves. (This is for my dog friends.)

5) You have loved ones at home who might be interested in your progress, no matter what adventure you are on. (If you don’t fit into this category, I’m sorry for you.)

My friend, Ellen Clary recently posted a blog entry regarding what role electronic devices might or might not have played in the current Mt. Hood rescue effort involving experienced climbers who have gone missing. http://www.frap.org/Blog/2009/12/avalanche-locater-beacons-not-perfect.html

As I read this blog entry, I found myself surprisingly passionate in my response. Here is a transcript of the subsequent Facebook ‘conversation’:

“Ellen – I agree with you about the limited efficacy of MLUs. However, there is a much more effective solution that is designed for exactly this scenario – SPOT (www.findmespot.com). As you may have seen on previous posts of mine, we bought one for Rich’s motorcycle rallies and other adventures. It isn’t cheap ($150 + $200/yr for full service, including tracking and search-and-rescue coverage), but for this type of activity I not only think it’s essential, it should be mandated. If nothing else, it gives the concerned loved ones back home some well-deserved peace of mind.”

Ellen’s response:

“I’ve seen you mention it but hadn’t really understood it very well. That is intriguing as I often will go off by myself and the locators are silly. But I only go to places with lots of people around (having people around is not really a bad thing at all in my book.) I’ll check out the Spot locator but it’s not really affordable yet. You must have the tracker service as the basic lists as 99/year which is vaguely tempting. Though what I do is go with a guide service to place I don’t know. This brings up the also huge debate about those who press the rescue me button for the silliest of reasons.”

Me:

“Yep. The basic service would have sufficed if either (a) they were able to press the 911 button when things went bad, or (b) they had bothered to press the OK button at regular intervals during their trek. But IMHO, the Tracker service is essential if you are involved in a high risk activity during which you are too busy to press the OK button at regular intervals. If these three climbers had had that service, the searchers would have known exactly where they were when they stopped making progress. Somehow, I find it hard to believe that wouldn’t have been worth $200/year to their loved ones right about now.”

“I’m passionate about this issue because several years ago, Rich and I were intimately involved with a search-and-rescue effort for a motorcyclist who went missing during a rally – a road rally, not a desert rally. Rich was one of many searchers and I was the computer ‘base camp’. It took us 10 days and roughly $10,000 of donated money to find his body (he died instantly), which was about 30 feet over an embankment on a state highway. If he had had a SPOT, we would have found him in hours, not days. Many rallymasters are now requiring that participants use the SPOT. ”

“And yes, there are two ongoing debates: (1) the goobers who use it because they ran out of Power Bars, and (2) the paranoids who think that the government will use the data to prove they were speeding/exhausted/liable/etc. ”

“Rich and I weighed the pros/cons and almost instantly chose the obvious. Interestingly, it has reduced his stress as much as mine, because he no longer feels the pressure to check in during rallies or rides because he knows that I can monitor his progress.”

I stand by my original statement: if you meet any of the above criteria, you owe it to yourself and/or your loved ones and/or the taxpayers who support the search-and-rescue organizations to buy a SPOT and sign up for at least the basic service, and preferably the tracking service.

http://www.findmespot.com