The LAST Netbook Back-to-school Promotion EVER! (Dell's 10v Netbook Revisited)

Well you can’t fault Dell for putting their heart into the netbook fiasco.

A quick check of Dell.com still reveals no fewer than 5 Netbooks in the Dell line.

1. Mini 12
2. Mini 10
3. Mini 10v.
4. Vostro A90 (the Mini 9 in disguise, perhaps they still had more to unload)
5. Latitude 2100 Netbook (a new low for Latitude branding)

Not sure how the Mini 10 is “New” but okay.

The problem is this…

The LOWEST POSSIBLE PRICE on a netbook from Dell is $299 for a Mini 10v. Here’s the scoop on that underwhelming package.

• 10.1″ screen
• 1 gig of ram
• 1.6 GHz Atom processor (designed for smart phones and that’s about the performance to expect)
• Ubuntu (okay, but Dell has done something wonky to it so you can’t update it like a normal Ubuntu load)
• 8 gig Solid State Drive (wow, I think an MS Office is bigger than that by itself)
• 3-cell battery (you could add a 6-cell battery for $35, but who knows what that means?)
• 1.3 mp webcam (my Blackberry Curve has a much better camera)
• 802.11g wireless networking

That’s hardly a computer. I know it’s a NET-book, but that’s about it. You can see from all manufactuer’s “netbook” ads that they are not hyping the performance of these barely-usable devices.

The back of Fry’s newspaper ad yesterday has a REAL notebook, a Toshiba with an AMD Athlon processor for $379. Let’s see what you get for the extra $79 bucks. It’s definitely a hard time to be a computer manufacturer with a back stock of laptops.

• 15.4″ screen
• 2 gigs of ram
• Athlon dual-core processor (a real processor designed to run Windows!)
• Windows Vista Home (I’d rather have the “downgrade to xp, but okay)
• 160 gig hd
• DVD recordable drive
• 802.11 b/g wireless

I’d say that’s a hard sell on the Dell-io. And if you are a parent planning on buying a Netbook for your student, STOP!

The cost savings are not worth it! Buy a real computer. Leave the netbooks for exotics who already have a real machine and want something bigger (not necessarily faster) than their mobile phones to carry around. The idea of syncing a laptop and a netbook has seemed like a problem from the start for me, but I’m not the target market. And I won’t be… Until…

Here’s what’s going to put the netbooks and the Kindle DX down for the count.

Apple’s iTablet. And it’s not a fantasy any more. Expected before the end of September, Apple’s entry into the lower-cost mobile computing market is too late to compete with the back-to-school promotions offered by Best Buy, Dell, HP, Fry’s and such. But mark my words. The Netbook mistake will be done by this time next year. If in 2010 we are still hearing about Atom-powered sub-compact netbooks will be gone, I’ll jump in the lake with my MacBook Pro in my hands. Even Android won’t be trying to deliver it’s magic on a “netbook.” Perhaps a “phone-book” or a “thin-book” but the dog days of sub-computing computing are done.

Happy computing.

@jmacofearth
permalink to uber.la: http://bit.ly/last-netbook

More fun with Dell:

• Dell Has Gone Stark Raving Brand Crazy (Reviewing the Dell Studio XPS 16)
• Netbook Fun: DELL’s Inspiron 10v Reviewed and Pawned (perhaps check out this review if you’re really interested in the 10v)
• Dell Mini-9 or Vostro A90 or the Mac OS X Netbook
• Dell’s Adamo Is Cold Black Steel – 85% Still Say “So What!”
• Netbook Wars Heating Up or Melting Down – Where the Heck is Dell?

Posted via web from jmacofearth's posterous

The LAST Netbook Back-to-school Promotion EVER! (Dell's 10v Netbook Revisited)

Well you can’t fault Dell for putting their heart into the netbook fiasco.

A quick check of Dell.com still reveals no fewer than 5 Netbooks in the Dell line.

1. Mini 12
2. Mini 10
3. Mini 10v.
4. Vostro A90 (the Mini 9 in disguise, perhaps they still had more to unload)
5. Latitude 2100 Netbook (a new low for Latitude branding)

Not sure how the Mini 10 is “New” but okay.

The problem is this…

The LOWEST POSSIBLE PRICE on a netbook from Dell is $299 for a Mini 10v. Here’s the scoop on that underwhelming package.

• 10.1″ screen
• 1 gig of ram
• 1.6 GHz Atom processor (designed for smart phones and that’s about the performance to expect)
• Ubuntu (okay, but Dell has done something wonky to it so you can’t update it like a normal Ubuntu load)
• 8 gig Solid State Drive (wow, I think an MS Office is bigger than that by itself)
• 3-cell battery (you could add a 6-cell battery for $35, but who knows what that means?)
• 1.3 mp webcam (my Blackberry Curve has a much better camera)
• 802.11g wireless networking

That’s hardly a computer. I know it’s a NET-book, but that’s about it. You can see from all manufactuer’s “netbook” ads that they are not hyping the performance of these barely-usable devices.

The back of Fry’s newspaper ad yesterday has a REAL notebook, a Toshiba with an AMD Athlon processor for $379. Let’s see what you get for the extra $79 bucks. It’s definitely a hard time to be a computer manufacturer with a back stock of laptops.

• 15.4″ screen
• 2 gigs of ram
• Athlon dual-core processor (a real processor designed to run Windows!)
• Windows Vista Home (I’d rather have the “downgrade to xp, but okay)
• 160 gig hd
• DVD recordable drive
• 802.11 b/g wireless

I’d say that’s a hard sell on the Dell-io. And if you are a parent planning on buying a Netbook for your student, STOP!

The cost savings are not worth it! Buy a real computer. Leave the netbooks for exotics who already have a real machine and want something bigger (not necessarily faster) than their mobile phones to carry around. The idea of syncing a laptop and a netbook has seemed like a problem from the start for me, but I’m not the target market. And I won’t be… Until…

Here’s what’s going to put the netbooks and the Kindle DX down for the count.

Apple’s iTablet. And it’s not a fantasy any more. Expected before the end of September, Apple’s entry into the lower-cost mobile computing market is too late to compete with the back-to-school promotions offered by Best Buy, Dell, HP, Fry’s and such. But mark my words. The Netbook mistake will be done by this time next year. If in 2010 we are still hearing about Atom-powered sub-compact netbooks will be gone, I’ll jump in the lake with my MacBook Pro in my hands. Even Android won’t be trying to deliver it’s magic on a “netbook.” Perhaps a “phone-book” or a “thin-book” but the dog days of sub-computing computing are done.

Happy computing.

@jmacofearth
permalink to uber.la: http://bit.ly/last-netbook

More fun with Dell:

• Dell Has Gone Stark Raving Brand Crazy (Reviewing the Dell Studio XPS 16)
• Netbook Fun: DELL’s Inspiron 10v Reviewed and Pawned (perhaps check out this review if you’re really interested in the 10v)
• Dell Mini-9 or Vostro A90 or the Mac OS X Netbook
• Dell’s Adamo Is Cold Black Steel – 85% Still Say “So What!”
• Netbook Wars Heating Up or Melting Down – Where the Heck is Dell?

Posted via web from jmacofearth's posterous

My Musical Passion Catches Fire: Buzzie Live at the IPO Festival in CA

My son Jason shot some video of our show at the Orange County Fair. He wasn't so focused on the show but was making some great comments along the way. I don't know if he was going for an art piece, but he sure got one. This was shot on a Flip video camera and edited with iMovie. Click on the image below to watch the video on YouTube.

The Buzzie musicians are:
John McElhenney: vocals and guitar
Robbie Rist: guitar and vocals
Derrick Anderson: bass
Marc Joseph: drums

The song "Just Another Day" was written and performed by John McElhenney.
©2009 All Rights Reserved, Happy Mac Tunes (ascap).

Many thanks to David Bash and the entire staff of International Pop Overthrow.

The video is also available on

Vimeo
Yahoo
MySpace
Blip.tv

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/buzzie-live

The photostream is also available on Flickr.

And now by popular request is the raw footage of She's Gone, the song behind the video, un-edited and narrated by Jason.

Vimeo
YouTube
Blip.tv
MySpace

Posted via web from music as fuel

Smartest Guy in the Room vs Teamwork

Scott Berkun has some amazing posts about managing Rockstars, leading the "smartest guys" and basically working with awesome teammates without pissing them off.

And sometimes the TEAM comes before the Rockstar.

Here's Scott's Teams and Stars essay on the subject and a short excerpt.
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">It’s hard to understand good teams until you’ve been on both good and bad ones. You can often find frustrated people on good teams and happy people on bad teams: they don’t have enough perspective to see where they are for what it is. Some stars, people of high talent, are poor judges of teams because they’re tempted by the desire to stand out rather than the desire to succeed. Despite this, a common managerial temptation is to hire big talents, challenging the balance of needs for a successful team.</p>

I once was part of the Best Team in the World. And since then I know that at least two of my previous teammates and I have struggled to regain some perspective on our TEAM work.

Once you have been part of an Agile team it is hard, maybe impossible, to go back to a dysfunctional team. In the Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team the core foundation for TEAMing is TRUST. I assert that this issue is the same in social media, or collaborative communities online, where we must find tools and take risks to establish the trust between ourselves and our potential teammates. When the TRUST is threatened the entire TEAM is threatened.

Here is a graphic of Lencioni's hierarchy.

It's only through TRUST is the team willing to have CONFLICT. And without the ability to disagree the TEAM cannot work through difficult tasks.

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/teams-stars
<ul>
<li>Scott Berkun's Teams and Stars</li>
<li>Patrick Lincioni's Table Group</li>
</ul>

Posted via web from jmacofearth's posterous

Smartest Guy in the Room vs Teamwork

Scott Berkun has some amazing posts about managing Rockstars, leading the "smartest guys" and basically working with awesome teammates without pissing them off.

And sometimes the TEAM comes before the Rockstar.

Here's Scott's Teams and Stars essay on the subject and a short excerpt.
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">It’s hard to understand good teams until you’ve been on both good and bad ones. You can often find frustrated people on good teams and happy people on bad teams: they don’t have enough perspective to see where they are for what it is. Some stars, people of high talent, are poor judges of teams because they’re tempted by the desire to stand out rather than the desire to succeed. Despite this, a common managerial temptation is to hire big talents, challenging the balance of needs for a successful team.</p>

I once was part of the Best Team in the World. And since then I know that at least two of my previous teammates and I have struggled to regain some perspective on our TEAM work.

Once you have been part of an Agile team it is hard, maybe impossible, to go back to a dysfunctional team. In the Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team the core foundation for TEAMing is TRUST. I assert that this issue is the same in social media, or collaborative communities online, where we must find tools and take risks to establish the trust between ourselves and our potential teammates. When the TRUST is threatened the entire TEAM is threatened.

Here is a graphic of Lencioni's hierarchy.

It's only through TRUST is the team willing to have CONFLICT. And without the ability to disagree the TEAM cannot work through difficult tasks.

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/teams-stars
<ul>
<li>Scott Berkun's Teams and Stars</li>
<li>Patrick Lincioni's Table Group</li>
</ul>

Posted via web from jmacofearth's posterous

The "Value-Add" Consultant vs. The Smartest Guy In the Room

These are lean times for business.

As the "recovery" begins the long task of pulling us up by our consumer-driven bootstraps, it is easy to see how businesses are taking fewer risks and hiring fewer full-timers, opting instead to hire consultants. And within many companies that distinction can make a world of difference.

I recall a meeting a while back when my team was meeting with the VP of our division for the first time. The VP was very excited by what our team was doing, and during the discussion I too became enthusiastic and quick to respond to the VP's ideas and questions.

After the meeting adjourned I stayed back and chatted with my mentor/manager.

"Was I too much?" I wondered, knowing that I had reached for the sparkle with the VP.

Later in our 1 x 1 my mentor talked about the "consultant role" as something that I needed to out grow.

"We all know you are smart. We hired you because you are smart. But sometimes you need to listen to the question the VP, or executive, asks and answer just that question?"

More recently I have had some "consultant" moments that have caused me to reflect on what I could have done differently to "answer just that question."

The first one was an informal "job interview" with the CEO that was arranged by a friend and champion within the company who was inspired to have me join the team.

The hour flew by with the two of us jumping across many topics. At one point I used my computer to show this person some examples of the work I had done and was doing with WordPress and Google Analytics. We ended with an enthusiastic call to "have you back" to further the discussions.

Then something happened. This person rushed around the office looking for one of his senior people that he wanted me to meet before I left. After about 5 minutes the CEO came to the front desk and said the person was not available and would be at least another 15 minutes on the phone if I wanted to wait. Joining in the excitement and confident in the "have you back" talk I said that I would prefer to meet with this person when I returned.

SNAP! That was it. Something about my desire to do something else, rather than sit and wait had sullied the deal. In a phone conversation several weeks later the CEO lectured me on "listening" better. Rather than what I had felt was a collaborative discussion, the CEO now framed our meeting as a job interview and was schooling me on being a better listener.

A mutual friend later said, "Perhaps they didn't like not being the smartest guy in the room."

In a more recent example, a COO brought me in on a job opportunity and grilled me for over 3 hours. By the end of the 2nd interview we were white-boarding the organizational structure of the marketing side of the business. I thought things had gone swimmingly and was told they were going to do some due diligence before making any moves.

A couple days later the COO sent me an email about "setting up more interviews this week and next week" to insure that the company was confident in making such a big move, in hiring someone like myself. The position was going to require that the COO give up some of his control in order to make a place for a Creative Director or Marketing Director as we had outlined TWO rather than ONE position on the whiteboard.

I immediately fired back an email requesting we jump into the role immediately and "test drive" my creative side while solving some of the urgent design issues facing the company. My rate and the company's penchant for consultants made the offer too good to refuse. I started the next day and jumped headlong into the details of a creative project.

Over the course of the next few weeks I scored some major victories. Even the COO said, "You solved a problem a lot of designers had failed on."

But as a consultant I also quickly reached my limit with some of the changes that needed to happen to make the Creative Director position a successful one. The current "designer" had been hired and was being somewhat protected by the COO. And while I was being told to manage this person the COO continued to give direction and projects outside of our relationship.

When I called the COO on the issue, he agreed with me, but I could see I had not won any points. In fact, many of my tasks continued to be dependent on meeting with the COO, and often I was put in COO-watch mode, literally waiting for this person to get out of meetings. A crisis point came when I was asked to wait until 6pm to meet. And it was 6:30 when the door opened signaling the arrival of the COO.

Having kids and a baby sitter who turned into a pumpkin at 7, I was somewhat frustrated with the hurry-up-crunch-time-and-then-wait-on-me mode. I let my consultant mode slip, just for a second and allowed my frustration to show. That this person's significant other is a full-time parent, and that no other employee in our group had kids, put me at somewhat of a disadvantage to this type of wait-for-me management.

That could have very well have been the SNAP with this position as well. While my contract lasted beyond the initial 3 weeks, when I returned after a week off I got an email from the COO that said "I have decided to go another direction."

So again, perhaps I had run into the smartest guy in the room. And this time I had not played fully to their strengths and allowed them the "leadership" they needed to feel comfortable with me as an employee rather than a consultant. So their job opening is back on the web, in "another direction" that sounds a lot like the direction I was brought in on. Hopefully the COO will find someone a bit more hungry, a bit more compliant, a bit less familied.

Anyway the miss was unfortunate. The self-expressed need for the COO to "confidently relinquish this responsibility" had not been fulfilled. As a consultant I did not have the base to stand on when the issue of the designer's performance and workload came up. As a full-time employee the COO would've had to answer to his own call to "relinquish" control and perhaps he was just not ready to admit that someone else might be at least as smart as he was.

@jmacofearth
permalink to uber.la: http://bit.ly/consultant-role

Posted via web from jmacofearth's posterous

The "Value-Add" Consultant vs. The Smartest Guy In the Room

These are lean times for business.

As the "recovery" begins the long task of pulling us up by our consumer-driven bootstraps, it is easy to see how businesses are taking fewer risks and hiring fewer full-timers, opting instead to hire consultants. And within many companies that distinction can make a world of difference.

I recall a meeting a while back when my team was meeting with the VP of our division for the first time. The VP was very excited by what our team was doing, and during the discussion I too became enthusiastic and quick to respond to the VP's ideas and questions.

After the meeting adjourned I stayed back and chatted with my mentor/manager.

"Was I too much?" I wondered, knowing that I had reached for the sparkle with the VP.

Later in our 1 x 1 my mentor talked about the "consultant role" as something that I needed to out grow.

"We all know you are smart. We hired you because you are smart. But sometimes you need to listen to the question the VP, or executive, asks and answer just that question?"

More recently I have had some "consultant" moments that have caused me to reflect on what I could have done differently to "answer just that question."

The first one was an informal "job interview" with the CEO that was arranged by a friend and champion within the company who was inspired to have me join the team.

The hour flew by with the two of us jumping across many topics. At one point I used my computer to show this person some examples of the work I had done and was doing with WordPress and Google Analytics. We ended with an enthusiastic call to "have you back" to further the discussions.

Then something happened. This person rushed around the office looking for one of his senior people that he wanted me to meet before I left. After about 5 minutes the CEO came to the front desk and said the person was not available and would be at least another 15 minutes on the phone if I wanted to wait. Joining in the excitement and confident in the "have you back" talk I said that I would prefer to meet with this person when I returned.

SNAP! That was it. Something about my desire to do something else, rather than sit and wait had sullied the deal. In a phone conversation several weeks later the CEO lectured me on "listening" better. Rather than what I had felt was a collaborative discussion, the CEO now framed our meeting as a job interview and was schooling me on being a better listener.

A mutual friend later said, "Perhaps they didn't like not being the smartest guy in the room."

In a more recent example, a COO brought me in on a job opportunity and grilled me for over 3 hours. By the end of the 2nd interview we were white-boarding the organizational structure of the marketing side of the business. I thought things had gone swimmingly and was told they were going to do some due diligence before making any moves.

A couple days later the COO sent me an email about "setting up more interviews this week and next week" to insure that the company was confident in making such a big move, in hiring someone like myself. The position was going to require that the COO give up some of his control in order to make a place for a Creative Director or Marketing Director as we had outlined TWO rather than ONE position on the whiteboard.

I immediately fired back an email requesting we jump into the role immediately and "test drive" my creative side while solving some of the urgent design issues facing the company. My rate and the company's penchant for consultants made the offer too good to refuse. I started the next day and jumped headlong into the details of a creative project.

Over the course of the next few weeks I scored some major victories. Even the COO said, "You solved a problem a lot of designers had failed on."

But as a consultant I also quickly reached my limit with some of the changes that needed to happen to make the Creative Director position a successful one. The current "designer" had been hired and was being somewhat protected by the COO. And while I was being told to manage this person the COO continued to give direction and projects outside of our relationship.

When I called the COO on the issue, he agreed with me, but I could see I had not won any points. In fact, many of my tasks continued to be dependent on meeting with the COO, and often I was put in COO-watch mode, literally waiting for this person to get out of meetings. A crisis point came when I was asked to wait until 6pm to meet. And it was 6:30 when the door opened signaling the arrival of the COO.

Having kids and a baby sitter who turned into a pumpkin at 7, I was somewhat frustrated with the hurry-up-crunch-time-and-then-wait-on-me mode. I let my consultant mode slip, just for a second and allowed my frustration to show. That this person's significant other is a full-time parent, and that no other employee in our group had kids, put me at somewhat of a disadvantage to this type of wait-for-me management.

That could have very well have been the SNAP with this position as well. While my contract lasted beyond the initial 3 weeks, when I returned after a week off I got an email from the COO that said "I have decided to go another direction."

So again, perhaps I had run into the smartest guy in the room. And this time I had not played fully to their strengths and allowed them the "leadership" they needed to feel comfortable with me as an employee rather than a consultant. So their job opening is back on the web, in "another direction" that sounds a lot like the direction I was brought in on. Hopefully the COO will find someone a bit more hungry, a bit more compliant, a bit less familied.

Anyway the miss was unfortunate. The self-expressed need for the COO to "confidently relinquish this responsibility" had not been fulfilled. As a consultant I did not have the base to stand on when the issue of the designer's performance and workload came up. As a full-time employee the COO would've had to answer to his own call to "relinquish" control and perhaps he was just not ready to admit that someone else might be at least as smart as he was.

@jmacofearth
permalink to uber.la: http://bit.ly/consultant-role

Posted via web from jmacofearth's posterous