I think by net 90 this thing will be rooted and debian will be on it. Its a ARM based processor so Debian is a good choice. As I said in other places, if it ran Android I would buy it yesterday. As it is, I’m sure that millions of Mac lovers and their geeks will buy it. I’m not overly impressed with what it does, how it does it, and the fact it runs on ATT&T’s 3G network. After net 120, ubuntu will be hacked on it. These Linux guys love challenges. By net 150, it will actually be useful and you’ll be able to mount up file systems remotely using samba, be able to run processes simultaneously, and actually get some use out of it.

Its not a platform either that can be improved upon. Its a phone with no phone. Its a single use thing that will only run a single application at a time. Its 499.00 for a big version of the iPhone OS. Somehow I cannot imagine some iBig version of the iPhone OS.

At a humorous level, the news has been full of a MAD TV show three years ago where Apple developed a feminine hygiene product called…

The iPad!!

Heh heh…

A second thing to try is Evernote to track your rapidly changing digital information. Evernote is orders of magnitude better than OneNote because its smartphone clients actually do something and OneNote locks you to a single OS. There is now an Evernote Client on the Android which works remarkably well. You fire it up with a 3G or Edge or wifi account and it sync’s the notes. If you don’t have a net connection it will then sync the changes when you do.

Finally, to share what you should be doing and are not tracking and if you either are or are not fond of GTD or my nGTD advances (notGetting Things Done) which focus more on not emptying your brain but finding reasonable receptables for the information you have to track, assigning statuses to each one, tracking it, and then finishing it without worrying about contexts and Nexts; try Astrid plus Remember the Milk. RTM by itself allows you to track that evolving and distinct bits that make up your various lives. We all have various lives that cycle around work, pleasure, fun, personal. I track things by using this combination. I guess you could use it for GTD but why bother. By the time you find the right desktop, web, and smartphone client all the “things” you must “Get Done” will be overdue

Finally, I see that Apple may have a tablet. Who cares? They always have some rumor that they incite with. Who cares about another silo? Another iPhone experience where you are locked into one OS, one experience, one view. I’ll take the original Slate tablet and carve into it using stone tools instead.

I’ve not wanted to openly advertise because I’m still deep in preparation for the trip. I’ve done similar things in the past when I did archeology. I left once for months, traveled all the way up to Montana or Wyoming and then returned through Las Vegas. Hiked one time from Barstow all the way to Vegas. Spent a few months in Needles, California out by the Colorado River. There was a  town I still remember there called cal-nev-ari. An unusual place to be sure. I met a hard rock geologist there who was walking down the road after doing some work elsewhere. I stopped in my rental car and asked him if he needed a ride to Needles. He had this grizzled scientific look, sparkling blue eyes. He smiled and we rode together. We talked geology, archeology, and meeting points. We ended up drinking beer together in Needles. I digress though.

This trip will commence on Friday and then I’ll be gone for some bit of time. I’ll be summering in Chennai and taking a few holidays here and there. I’ll be back but be blogging still from points over there. I’m very excited at this trip and the potential to do a thing I used to do which was travel and live in places. Thanks to the best job, boss,  and co-workers in the world for making this happen.

Anyways, Pondicherry is very interesting, full of history, chalked full of archeology; but we won’t see those parts sadly. It means another trip will have to be made by me alone.

Today we end the social touring thing and go back to being our own individual beings. Wish us well. Hey Jeremy, if you reading this, check out the wikipedia page on Pondicherry. I’d like to see what you think and your impressions.

Now I’m sitting in a hotel in Hong Kong I got for the day. I ate a too big burger and some fries and two cold beers. Now its getting closer to the time I must go. I need to head over to the airport at about 8pm or so. Then its about 12 or so hours on the high flight and I’m home. I think I will be able to sleep this time. On the flight today from Singapore to Hong Kong I did some naps for over an hour. I was really exhausted but after eating, showering, cleaning up; I’m feeling pretty good. Still tired though. Did not really sleep last night and flew from 11:15pm to 6am from Chennai to Singapore.

Its the last big flight on this trip and then I’m home. But next weekend is SCALE7x and I’m so there!

When I get back, I go to SCALE 7x the following weekend. I’m really looking forward to this year’s SCALE. It just gets better and better and the folks that do the show are very committed to making it evolve, attract more open source participation, and also ensuring it stays true to a community sense.

Getting Things Done in an Active Sense

I have a new post I’m working on which ties together how I’ve implemented a nice mix of tools which borrows from the Zen to Done and classic Getting things Done into a set of tools which focus on OneNote 2007 and Outlook 2007. I’m going to post the diagram when I’m done with it. I think people want to find easier ways than 12 actions, flushing the brain and ideas, and committing to a very intensive process to be more productive. My take is that anyone ™ can do what I did with the tools and it works! I managed a very time-critical project using it and was not late on any deliverables or actions.

I’ve given thought to how we Americans are programmed to do work. Its such a slippery slope for our lives. Work is a necessity and we’re basically socialized to expect a lifetime of 9 to 5 and then a few precarious years of wishing perhaps it was back. Can it be that there is more than just the 9 to 5 and then missing it? I’m at the point where I wonder what to do next. Do I just continue to do technology? I could see a point where its fundamental attraction leaves me. Where I would want another contribution. What would that be? I’m sure my wife wonders. She is dedicated to her career and I like seeing someone with that level of focus. For me, the whole work thing is good now; but I can see past it.

Perhaps my day dream is to have a thing which is more, less,different. Some thing which is a job but encompasses more. A dream? Of course. We’re americans and thus programmed to live those Thoreau “lives of quiet desperation”. There is nothing left for us as we reach those other years of ages. We’re locked in and locked down.

But our spirits and consciousnesses stream far away and into the clouds and sun and dimensions. I’m sure that our indomitable spirits see much more than even our day dreams show. Perhaps I’ll find that “other thing” that seems to hover forever right out of reach. Time will tell.

Yesterday a work colleague took me for Southern India cuisine for lunch and it was very good and spicy! I had tandoor lamb and rice last night cooked to perfection served with abundant beers.

Now I’m playing the waiting game to get on to Chennai Int’l Airport which can take as an hour to get to in traffic and then there is the waiting around for customs.

I’ll be back in Singapore for one night tonite and then I’m homeward bound. Catch you in Singapore for some final thoughts and perhaps a Chilli Crab or two

Tomorrow I go back to work and I’ve thought a deal about my last week traveling. I’ll be glad to get back home in a week or so. I miss the family unit and it’ll be good to see them. The little spats, arguments, family time is good when you don’t have them. But I also have enjoyed the “me time” on this trip. I’m on to Chennai India for a few days later this week and then back to Singapore for a evening and then on to home next Saturday. In the global sweep of time, I get in an hour after I leave from here. Its really kinda strange how that works but it all leads up to a few days of roaming, waking at strange hours, and trying to acclimate.

I’ll be blogging each day I think which is more than what I’ve been able to do when I’m just at home @ work. That seems good since I feel less blogstipated when I take the daily dose.

I built a manifesto for a emerging product we have which is based on Linux. I felt that the products were not understood, sold, managed at a few levels like our more entrenched windows products. Why? They need product management expertise at the basic level. Someone that could:

define their basic roadmaps, definitions, and goals
reach to a set of early stage companies that may have similar interests
build out a community based set of forums, bug reporting, and collaboration

What this does is align product management, engineering, sales, support into a common vision. You cannot sell something you don’t understand or grok or get. How do you sell something that is so foreign and different that even the people charged with support cannot manage supporting it. Its difficult. You need a product vision. I’m not saying I’m some visionary product manager. I struggle with basic premises of product management but I also know what I see. We cannot expect emerging products to suddenly be revenue generators. They take time to “sink in, become known, gain a following”. How does one do that?

Its damned difficult. But I’m committed to it above all else. I’ve seen many open source project like Open Office.org, Mozilla, The GIMP, reach critical mass. Why do they? Part of my so-called vision. They have a community behind them that sees and shares. I would argue that each of the products is “disruptive” in nature and to manage a disruptive product requires innovative and integrated thoughts, plans, roles.

Leaving Las Vegas (or SF…)

I’m leaving next Friday for Singapore to go to training on our products. I’m excited because I’ve never been there. I’m also going on to India to meet with our India development team. I’m flying out from SFO next Friday and I’m very thrilled that I work for a company with such a presence. I’m having fun at work and extending things to places I want to work while still supporting sales and SE activities.