Halloween Engineer way to clean a garage

So, I was doing my pre-spring cleaning of the garage that I always do.  This time the purpose was to get the car actually in the garage.  In any case, I am a "holiday engineer", which basically means that I build things (typically dead and scary), along with kid-friendly creatures, for Halloween decorations at the house.  Back in 2000, I built this guy:

He was sitting in my garage for many years.  I would pull him out for halloween and them back in the garage he goes.  Well, this year, I decided it was time to let him go. So, off I went working on cleaning the garage today and I get to him.  He is too big to fit in the dumpster I rented.  He is made of chicken wire, wood, drywall plaster and Great Stuff expanding foam insulation. I decided the best course of action was to start breaking him down into manageable pieces.

I break out the handy reciprocating saw, put on the safety glasses and go to work, starting on his arms.  I cut off the arms at the elbows, thereby releasing the candles.  I then move onto the lower part of his body and start cutting away.  I look up and see several of my neighbors watching with looks of horror. I share a glance and go back to work on him.

The coup de grace was when I cut off his head and and then carried the head by the neck stump with everyone still watching.  I still had a little fake blood left in the in the sack attached to the neck, so that was dripping a little bit, which just added to the fun.

In the end, the kids in the neighborhood explained to their horrified parents what my "candle-dude" was.  You see, when I build these things, I do it so all can see them going together.  It helps to minimize the frightening of ToTs (Trick or Treaters).  It also allows them to be in the know when things light up for Halloween.

Crayon Physics

I just stumbled across this today though it has been available since 2008.  I have been enthralled with the game demo. Basically, the game comes with several levels of "playgrounds".  In the playgrounds, you have an objects (usually a ball) that you need to get to a star object as the goal.  There are objects missing (shapes) in order to complete the goals.  It is up to you to determine what is needed to reach the star.  The fun part of this game is that you use the crayon (mouse or tablet pen) to draw the missing pieces.  Once you release the pen or mouse button, the piece you just drew is dropped into the playground. From here you can either push the ball to start it rolling or if the object you drew was above the ball, when it drops, it will force movement of the ball depending on how the object falls.

There is also a playground for you to submit your own playgrounds as well as download those of other users.  Some of these playgrounds can be quite elaborate and tricky.

Check out the video on the main page for a sample of what this thing does.

Windows 7 God Mode - Um, yeah....not really

Over the last week or so, I have been seeing a number of posts (Twitter, Facebook, blogs) talking about gaining access to hidden features in Windows 7 that has been termed "God Mode".  Some have even called it "Super Admin" mode.  After seeing all of these posts and realizing that many have moved directly into Windows 7 or migrated from Windows XP, they do not realize that this "feature" was available in Windows Vista as well.

Let's first show how we gain access to it then we will kill the rumor and lay it out for what this "God Mode" really is.

In order to get access to this you simply do the following:

• Open C:
• Create a new Folder
• Rename the folder name to GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
• Browse all the wonderful things Windows 7 can do for you

Ok, as far as the folder name, you could name it FooBar. or David. or whatever.  The piece that makes this work is the {ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}.  What exactly is this?  You may say it looks like a GUID used in Windows and found in the registry.  Yup. That is exactly what it is.

So, what exactly is this telling us? The folder name we used is basically a reference to the GUID listed in the registry.  The System.AppUserModel.ID is pointing to ControlPanel. When we open the new folder, it is simply opening a link to Control Panel and displaying the items in a list view.

Here is a listing of what the new "God Mode" displays.

In the end, there is no "God Mode" or "Super Admin" mode, only a different view to your Control Panel.  Oh, this was also available in Windows Vista, so it is not even a new thing.  It just goes to show how popular Windows 7 is turning out to be.

FTC worries about cloud data

ars technica has a great story about the FTC believing consumers don't have a clue about the privacy implications.

While cloud storage is not a very new concept, the use of the cloud by consumers is picking up now that pricing for these services is acceptable for most.  I am just talking about personal storage from services like Amazon and Rackspace.  Personally, I keep backups of my blog and associated plugins, etc. on Amazon S3.  For any development work I do, I also store out on S3 and light up BitTorrent streaming to others I am working or sharing code with.  Once the seeding is complete, I shut down the BitTorrent in S3 to save on Data Transfer Out charges. In the end, I don't keep a lot of data in the cloud myself because of this. Oh, I did consider dumping my local NAS content (MP3s, videos, photos, etc.) out there, but I could get a few external USB drives for what it would cost to store all that.

In any case, the article uses the Nexus One (Google Phone) as an example. How timely, huh? All of the personal data, browser history, contacts, etc are backed up to the cloud so that the data could be restored to a different phone in the event the current one is replaced.  Of course, many carriers are taking this approach to backup your phone data to assist in changing phones.

ars makes a good point about that data being accessible to Google for search (definitely), hackers (possibly), and law enforcement (watch the privacy disclosures).  If you have Google accounts (GMail, Calendar, Docs, etc.), you know that data is searchable and that Google will attempt to hold back law enforcement unless an active investigation or subpoena is enacted, but privacy terms also change.

What do you think? Is your data protected in the cloud like it would be on your own systems?

Business Strategy 2010

Well, here it is, the second week of 2010 and I am finally getting around to posting my first entry of the year.  One of my resolutions was to post much more frequently.  For this entry, I am stepping away from my technical content and providing my thoughts on long-term item, business strategy.

We need to understand what "strategy" means.  In general terms, a strategy is a plan to reach a goal.  This is fine, but it does not provide a roadmap to how you actually do this.  What is missing is a "tactics" component.  To further extrapolate this, let's consider a strategy as where we are going and the tactics are how we get there. This is still somewhat incomplete to me.

A strategy should be a plan that maximizes the effectiveness of your resources, taking into consideration  environmental factors (including your competition), risk, and core competencies.   Strategy is also about deciding what you will NOT do.  This also means you need to stick to that decision.  Resources and products should be focused on your target audience and not try to be everything to everyone.  Taking an idea from Sun Tzu's "Art of War", if you spread your resources too thin and try to attack from all angles, you will not win. In essence, you will be nothing.

Tactics should be tied to your strategy in order to be successful.  What differentiates tactics from strategy is that tactics are the decisions that are made while implementing the strategy.  Strategy is your roadmap and tactics are the actual route being taken based on internal and external inputs.

Strategies have several traps that are easy to get caught up in.

EVERYBODY WILL BUY ONE

There is nothing that everyone buys. Not even water! Yet, time and time again, organizations insult us with claims that their product is so fantastic that everyone will not be able to live without it. The problem is that it is a misconception and one that may cost you greatly. The "idea" is the trap. Study the market and isolate those people who will buy your product.

JUST ONE PERCENT OF THE MARKET

How many times have you heard someone mention that the sales for {insert name here} were {insert high dollar value} and then make a comment something similar to, "If I could only get one percent of the market, I'll ... "? Ok, the arithmetic may be correct, but reality is a different story. That one percent proves to be more difficult to sell than originally thought. These statements prove nothing other than the fact that you can do simple arithmetic. Don't talk about how much of the market you need, show everyone how much you can get.

UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS

No purpose is served by developing elaborate strategies that an organization cannot execute. They must be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, tangible). Money limits strategic alternatives. You must live within your pocketbook. You must live within your own capabilities. Make your strategies fit your organizations talents.

Strategy alone will not make you successful. Great strategies will fail if not adeptly executed. It doesn't matter so much what you do but how well you do it. There is no single Master Strategy.

In the end, You do not want to engage  unless you have the advantage.