An awesome cover of Blue Oyster Cult’s Don’t Fear the Reaper by Samurai Guitarist.
All the sounds in the performance were made on the artist’s iPad, again showing that the iPad is a superb device for creating as well as consuming content.
iPadI love this comic about Photos from xkcd…
It speaks on many levels—obviously starting with the fact that people can enjoy the same event differently, having very different but equally valid experiences.
It also asks an important question—how does someone else enjoying something differently than you affect you? (Unless of course their enjoyment causes harm to you or others).
In a similar way, the way people make photographs will vary according to their vision. Three people can make three very different photographs of the same subject at the same moment, depnding partly on their equipment, their skill and (most importantly)
photography XKCDA few weeks back I posted about my Return to Google following my move away from it in 2012. I have been growing increasingly wary of Google’s creepiness, especially relating to its free offerings and the fact that it is collecting enormous amounts of data which it uses to filter search results, and to sell to advertisers.
At the time, I had decided that I was perhaps overdoing things a little, so decided to allow Google back into my life in some areas, while spreading out my data. And using paid Google services where possible. Just 4 days later, Google announced the closure of Google Reader, along with discontinuation of several other services/products. I, like many users, was disappointed with this.
Inspired at least in part by Ben Brooks’ post You Can’t Quit, I Dare You, written in response to Marco Armant’s post Your favorite Thursday sandwich, I have taken on the challenge of De-Google-fying my online life to as a great an extent as is feasible. Marco made the provocative statement:
Want to really stick it to them? Stop using Google. All of it. Search, Gmail, Maps, the works. Delete your account and start using Bing. Ready?
…
Yeah. That’s the problem. You won’t. I won’t. Nobody will.
Now I would have to agree that it is virtually impossible to completely remove Google from your life, because they are ubiquitous and deeply embedded into so much of the online culture. But I think it is important that we pay careful attention to where we store our data, and what information we give freely (perhaps in return for a free service) to any single company or organisation.
For me, that means that I am de-Google-fying1 to a large extent. Here’s where I am at so far:
My preference is to use DuckDuckGo wherever possible due to its well regarded privacy policy. I have made it my default search in both Safari and Firefox. Firefox makes it easy to do so, by way of an extension. With Safari I had to edit the hosts file to make DuckDuckGo the default search engine.
My iOS devices now use Bing as the default engine. I have also installed and use a DuckDuckGo action for Drafts, and use the DuckDuckGo app for iOS.
All of my email (from multiple domains) redirects into my Fastmail account - a paid service. As my Google Apps subscriptions expire, I will direct the domains directly into Fastmail, and bypass Google altogether. I no longer use Google for a front end. I also use the CloudPull app to grab all my historical data down from Google.
I am using Airmail as my front end email client on OSX, and the native iOS Mail app.
All have moved back to iCloud. I look forward to full 2 factor security for all iCloud data, along with all other Apple ID related services.
I wasn’t a huge user of Google Docs, at least in recent times, and instead use Dropbox and, to a lesser extent, iCloud. CloudPull has ensured that I have my historic documents.
I have moved back to my own Fever installation. I had been using Fever for a while, but moved back to Google Reader due to the limited number of front end apps for Fever, particularly on OSX and for iPad. I am using the excellent Reeder app which supports Fever on iPhone2, and I am using the browser interface on OSX and iPad for now. Rumour has it that Ashes app is being rebuilt to support Fever on all iOS devices3.
I have moved all of my website RSS feeds away from Feedburner to Maxime Valette’s uri.lv service. I’ve taken on a Premium account for the additional services, and so that I can support the developer.
Another easy one for me, at least on my iDevices. I’ve gone back to Apple Maps. They’ve improved in many areas, and it’s up to users to keep using and providing feedback so they continue to improve. I don’t use maps on desktop that much, and will probably use Google for that wherever needed. I’ll reconsider if and when Apple comes out with a true alternative.
I love this app, and do use it some of my training activities. I’ll probably keep using it. As a standalone app, it’s not really that connected to the big picture view of the data stream coming in.
I am not a big fan of Google+. In some respects G+ represents the essence of the so-called creepiness factor about Google. My social networks of choice are ~~App.net~~ and Twitter, and I rarely use Facebook or Google+, although I do have accounts.
G+ has some fantastic photo sharing capabilities, and some wonderful groups for photographers. With that said, Flickr is still my preferred photo sharing site.
The thing I do like about G+ is the hangouts. So I keep it around mostly just for that.
I surf Youtube. I have a paid Vimeo account for hosting and sharing my own videos.
I use Safari and Firefox as my browsers of choice. Neither are logged into any Google account. I use Chrome exclusively for Google, Google+ and Youtube.
Google provides an excellent app called Google Authenticator, which allows you to establish and access 2 factor passwords for a variety of services. At this time, I haven’t found an alternative that I feel comfortable switching to. Since I don’t have to logon to a Google account to use the app, it’s a standalone island on my iPhone. So I am not uncomfortable using it, as I don’t believe Google to be likely to gather or maliciously use this data.
Played around with this some time back on a couple of my sites. I’d rather do selected, targeted promotions of offerings I like and use through referral programs and/or sponsorships.
My sites are on Squarespace or are self-hosted Wordpress sites. I get all the analytics I need from the built in Squarespace tools or the Jetpack analytics on WP.
I have used these on occasion for my Karate Dojo in Sydney and my scuba instructor training courses. I probably will again.
It’s still early days, but I have already moved substantially away from Google. I feel comfortable that my data is more distributed, largely amongst service providers who are committed to providing quality products, at a fair price and with an appropriate level of security/privacy.
I am not trying to “stick it to” Google. For many years I was a major Google advocate, and in fact encouraged others to adopt Google services. I don’t regret this - it was the right choice at the time. But times, people and organisations change. They continue to do a lot of good things, but some fundamentals have changed, causing me to reconsider my own stance.
Gabe Weatherhead expressed his reasons for his move away from Google beautifully in his post Getting Off the Google Juice:
Why go to this effort? Is this a conspiracy? No. Google is just being true to their mission: provide ever increasing information to advertisers so as to increase adverting revenue. I just don’t feel like being part of that. I’d rather pay for anonymity and data privacy. Google has not earned my trust and Apple, DuckDuckGo and Wolfram have.
I am simply (and similarly) taking ownership of my own data and online identity. In so doing, I want to to support providers who support users, and who have “earned my trust”. I hope others will consider these factors and make appropriate decisions. For those that choose free products, from Google or any company, I would encourage them to consider the true price of free.
I’d be interested to hear your views - are you de-Google-fying? To what extent? What apps/services have you adopted to replace Google services? Let me know in the comments.
I am not trying to create a new word using a Google trademark. I’ll leave that to the Swedes 😃↩
Reeder for iPhone supports Fever. The developer has confirmed that Fever support, along with Feedbin support, is coming for iPad and OSX versions of Reeder.↩
I am a beta tester for Ashes. The app is looking beautfiful, and the developer advises that Ashes is feature complete. It has released release candidate stage and is being prepared for launch.↩
Have you ever been waiting in a queue for service for some time, only to have to wait a bit longer because the assistant stops to take a phone call? When I’ve experienced this I’ve often been frustrated, and I think this is because I wonder why the person on the phone gets priority over those waiting in person.
Following a link from John Gruber I saw this article at Vanity Fair about the iPhone of Dave Morin, the founder of Path.
When asked about his ring tone, Morin replied:
I don’t use a ring of any kind on my phone. This is so that I am always on offense and never defense
I gather that Gruber was not impressed with Morin’s opinion. Personally I thought that the statement about always being on offense was a bit dicky. It kind of felt like he tries to always be offensive….
With that said, I keep my iPhone in the silent mode 95%+ of the time.
One of the key things in personal productivity is managing interruptions. In many respects, we live in an attention deficit society. Mobile phones ring, email alerts pop and alerts twirp incessantly. And we all tend to allow ourselves to be interrupted.
When I present, conduct training, chair a meeting or act as an MC, I ask people to put their phones in silent mode or turn them off altogether. Sometimes I joke that I offer a half day training course in how to do this. Or a week long residenetial off-site course for managers and executives…
The “interuptitis” epidemic is a key barrier to real productivity in the 21st century. One popular suggestion is, as described by Leo Babuata of Zen Habits, to
I think this applies just as much to the phone as it does to other notifications.
When I advocate this, people ask what happens if I miss a call. There are three options:
Although my phone is on silent I do leave the vibrate function on. As my phone sits near me on my desk, I hear it vibrate if I am close enough. If I don’t hear it, or if I am focused on something else, then the above three options kick in.
When I am on-the-go, my phone is generally in my pocket. I’ll feel the vibrations, and will take the call if I am in a position to do so. When I am presenting or conducting training the phone is usually in Airplane mode to avoid interuptions altogether.
Now I occasionally I do switch the silent mode off. That’s generally reserved for when I am expecting an important call. If I am with other people, I explain this up front, if possible, and I will leave the room or the immediate area if the call comes in. For the sake of the other people, and the important call coming in, I will quickly silence any calls from other parties.
Phones, email, text messaging, RSS feeds and social media are all tools that can be important parts of our productivity setup. And they can all very easily become time sinks, or what I call productivity sink holes. Use notifications, ring tones and alerts wisely, and never be afraid to turn them off.
With the proviso that the message has to have a relevant purpose and call to action. For example, I won’t generally return cold calls unless the call-to-action is clear and relevant.↩
Shuri Castle is a reconstruction of the original castle of the king of the Ryukyu Kingdom - an independent country (that paid tribute to both China and Japan) until 1879.
This image was made on our trip to Japan in 2005. Although I had lived in Japan for almost two years in the early 90’s, this was my first trip to Okinawa - homeland of karate.
Australian airline Jetstar recently got media attention when a gate attendant apparently acted rudely to a customer, actually several customers, while they were boarding a flight from Sydney. The fracas was apparently over carry-on luggage. When the customer, a Ms Mesha Sendyk, proved the carry on was within limits, the gate attendant started to rant on, and ultimately had the passenger kicked off the flight even after she boarded. Other staff stood by powerless, as the police were called!
Ms Sendyk then had to pay for a last minute flight to her home destination, and then sat down to write a letter of complaint to Jetstar. A psychologist by training, the letter outlined Ms Sendyk’s perspective, and was backed up by independent accounts by other passengers!
Jetstar’s response was prompt but unacceptable. In essence, the letter offered to refund the original fare, but did not offer any compensation for the alternate, more expensive, airfare on another carrier. The response further threatened her with a total ban from flying Jetstar in the future.
To Ms Sendyk’s credit she didn’t drop the fight, and an article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald. Publicity was not good for Jetstar, especially given other customer service complaints against Jetstar in the media.
To Jetstar’s credit senior management has taken stock of the issue at hand and taken positive action. A senior Jetstar executive personally phoned Ms Sendyk and apologised to her. She was advised that the gate attendant in question was suspended pending an investigation of the incident.
A good response from Jetstar in the end, but the incident should never have happened in the first place. I wonder how many customers who witnessed this incident will think twice before choosing Jetstar next time. Certainly Ms Sendyk and her family!
As Ms Sendyk said:
It hasn’t been pleasant but I’m happy with the response.
For the other 5999 Jetstar staff, thank you for looking after us in our travels, a good flying experience really is important.
I’ve personally flown Jetstar a number of times, and can honestly say I’ve only had good experiences. This shows that one bad apple can have a major effect, publicly!
Customer complaints are an opportunity to engage in a dialogue with the customer. By complaining the customer has volunteered to talk with you, and a positive response can enhance your image.
Words by Des Paroz