Category Archives: internet

FORMer CONTACT

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Contact forms eliminated incoming email spam

We all quickly discovered that posting e-mail addresses on our websites made them the target for spam. This ushered in the contact form. Contact forms historically were filled out by sales people who built a relationship to the point where the potential customer would give them the information. Web designers hoped that they could force users to fill out the forms by blocking access to the website until that was accomplished. This worked the first time. Users quit filling out forms when they discovered that giving out their e-mail only made them a target for spam. The impersonal nature of the contact form and the lack of actual response by the company was to blame. This brings us to where we are today. Clicking on “CONTACT US” brings up the “HTTP/1.1 New Session Failed” error. Companies do not bother to even fix the website functionality. What went wrong with the contact form? The answer is embedded in the name. Potential customers make inquiries. Salesmen fill out contact forms. An inquiry is actually a question. Questions are one of the best indications of buying interest. In this COVID 19 era is is better to replace “CONTACT US” button with an “MAKE AN INQUIRY” button. Educate your sales people to build a relationship by trading timely response to questions asked for contact information. This is the best time to train your sale staff in remote selling. (they cannot visit in person) Yes web developers, cookies can be used to send answers to the questioner the next time they log in without pressuring them to give out their e-mail upfront. Trust takes some time and effort to rebuild. A “BUY NOW” button to replace the “CONTACT US” button only applies if you want to to do the massive investment needed to take on web players like Mc Master.

Bait and Switch

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Having done some fishing as a child, neither gummi worms or a real worm installed on a hook improperly would result in catching any fish. If you are going to catch anything using bait, it has to be a believable simulation of the real thing. Technique is important as well Yes, a worm is the real thing but if the fish can nibble on it without swallowing the hook, you are just feeding the fish, Many times the only thing you catch is a cold. Also tried ice fishing. Successfully caught some ice.

Internet advertisers are modern day fishermen. The item you post must be a believable simulation of what is the search object. If you post an ad for an engineering manager position in Kingston Georgia, the people who live there will know that the town lacks a company that has a position with that title. Re-posting the same deception after it is taken down, still will not make the commute from Kingston Georgia to Kingston Washington where the actual job is possible for anyone who does not have a Space X rocket for the commute. The real looser is the headhunter site that gets linked to the spam filter list, because they have chosen to not curate their content.

Cooking the Books

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Cooking the Books


As an engineer, I have always wondered whether cooking a book would make it easier to digest. Technical books in general are pretty dry. Boiling in water is a sure way to add moisture. Not sure that it is worth trying, based on the sloppy mess that occurred when some of my books got wet.
Tongue in Cheek aside, the expense of creating and publishing a hard cover book insured that the information within the book was heavily vetted and edited. Yes they were expensive to buy at the bookstore, but everyone covered the cost of curating and compiling useful information. These days you can obtain information for free from the internet. It is worth every penny that you pay for it. I am not suggesting that there is not useful information available on the internet. What I am saying is that the insignificant cost of distributing information via the internet, has buried the useful information in terabytes of heavily biased opinion.

Smile You’re on Camera

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Smile for the camera

Smile for the camera


It used to be that average people were photographed for special occasions like weddings. Elaborate staging and costuming accompanied the event. This was related to the high relative cost of film and processing. We gathered the precious photos in scrapbooks which were kept in our libraries.
This all changed with the advent of digital photography. In the beginning it was not much different. The floppy disc storage media could only hold a dozen or so pictures. Not much different than a film camera expect that the result was fuzzy. However, Moore’s law marches on and we all have thousands of pictures stored in personal digital media. Most everyone has a smart phone that takes selfies.
1984 has arrived. Big Brother is watching. Smile.
Security cameras are a feature of most buildings an parking lots

Security cameras are a feature of most buildings an parking lots


Actually it did not turn out to be the government that was watching. Most of us want the security that come from monitoring. A friend of ours recovered her stolen purse using the security camera footage of the thief in the process of using her stolen credit card. This was within a hour of the theft. Most of us no longer notice the cameras.
I have also heard funny stories about attempts to hide activity by placing cups over the visible camera enclosures. Security camera technology has advanced rapidly. The large enclosures that you see are no longer needed. A plant that I know of was plagued by early shutdowns by a saboteur who liked to quit early on Fridays. Covering the big security cameras enclosures with coffee cups did not block the view of the actual cameras that were hidden up in the rafters. The dismissed temporary employee quit objecting when he was shown the pictures of him literally throwing a monkey wrench into the works.
It is easy to focus on the occasional negative example. On the positive front, a Go Pro video camera has evolved into a powerful training tool. In this era of rapid change we are constantly in a learning mode. Watching a Go Pro video made by the first person to become proficient at a task, speeds the transfer of the knowledge to the rest of the team. This is particularly effective because watching others perform a task is one of the most effective training methods. The ability to use the same video to establish industrial engineering standards without the invasive timing stopwatch is a secondary benefit.
Everyone is now able to be the photographer. The camera in our cell phone create better pictures than the Instamatic cameras of old. We are just beginning to create the apps that will unlock the usefulness of the camera in the smart phone.
Most smart phones have sophisticated cameras

Most smart phones have sophisticated cameras

Just Logical

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Binary digital numbers easily represent yes and no choices

Binary digital numbers easily represent yes and no choices


Most people understand how to use the binary system to make logical choices. —— 1=YES 0=NO —— Pretty Simple —– It starts that way. Ah, that life could be broken down into a simple YES/NO choice. Add in semiconductors with large scale integration and a few megaflops later we are drowning is a sea of data. Is our life any better? Even though the amount of data at our finger tips has propagated into the terrabyte range, many of the decisions we make are still yes or no. Arehere any bits buried within the myriad of big data that can improve our life? The data contained within the big data set is the beginning of the answer.
As humans we are born with unlimited wants. Unfortunately we were not also born with a list of what those personal wants are. This is where big data fits in.
Only the big data that is related to us sparks our interest

Only the big data that is related to us sparks our interest

I suspect that Google with its invasive collection of my search behavior, might have a better idea of my wants than I do. I find it fascinating to watch which ads that it sends my way. Its memory is a lot better as well. Many times I forget what I was doing yesterday. Google is still presenting ads related to equipment I was buying last year. Surprising targeting ads is a win-win. Both the presenter and viewer benefit by having a better match. If it takes big data to get the job done well so be it.
The adoption of more big data processing is all about benefit. For example your car produces about a terrabyte of data in its lifetime. This data is already used by the computers on board to adapt to the fuel composition and the weather so that the vehicle runs smoothly with low emissions. This use of the data by the car does not prevent other uses. In my connected car offering – www.mileagetrakker.com – our users typically gain a US$ 9700.00 tax deduction simply because they have a IRS format record of the mileage that their vehicle traveled.
Capture your full mileage deduction

Capture your full mileage deduction

Yes. the IRS will accept a paper log. Most people find that it is a whole easier to let the processing of big data from the cars computers to do it for them.

Chasing Unicorns

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Unicorns take on a mythical aura because most people have not seen one

Unicorns take on a mythical aura because most people have not seen one

“We are looking for the best and brightest talent to join our unicorn hunt. Our compensation package is north of 6 figures and we offer the standard start-up percs of free pizza, gym, air hockeym ping pong etc.” Other offers to the starting engineer read “A career with our firm as a manufacturing engineer starts with an unpaid internship. Those people who progress (read survive) to the point where they have senior talent can look forward to a $50,000 salary with unlimited overtime.” Mind you, unicorn hunting is not easy. It requires that you are flawless in writing the latest code. can pivot on a dime when you hit a dead end, and can spot a path where others cannot see one. Surprisingly a tiny number of engineers pick option B. I suspect they are the ones who do not understand financial profit. The legacy companies continue to follow their stodgy path because they choose not to acquire the top flight talent needed to grow. The employees in those firms become mired in a system of layoffs, pay cuts, cost cutting, reorganization etc.
Gold rushes are not a new phenomenon. The first prospectors who worked the California gold fields in 1849 could earn 10 to 15 times what east coast wage earners made at the time. This level of financial incentive motivates many people.
panning for gold is profitable for the first people who work the claims

panning for gold is profitable for the first people who work the claims

Unicorn hunters are in the same category. The success of the original “Facebook” entrepreneurs launched many copycats. Just as the late arrivals to the California gold fields discovered, the big financial success is enjoyed by the pioneers. Currently there are about eight million apps offered for sale. Fewer than three percent of those apps had enough sales to recover the $100,000 investment needed to create the app. This herd mentality sets the stage for the next gold rush. The big salaries funded by venture capitalist have siphoned away the engineering talent that normal companies need to survive. A persistent talent vacuum sets the stage for a big disruption in unexpected sectors.
Napoleon Hill in his book “Acres of Diamonds” did a great job of explaining how this happens. In his book a farmer sells his land to search the world for diamonds. He returns 20 years later to discover that his land is now a diamond mine. Similar stories will be told about today’s unicorn hunters. After a string of unicorn hunts in regions where all of the unicorns have been harvested, searchers will return to discover that the best opportunities are in places that have not been trampled by the herd.

Diminishing Returns

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Stone monuments served as the earliest computer guiding the planting of crops in the spring.

Stone monuments served as the earliest computer guiding the planting of crops in the spring.


The planting of crops was of critical importance to early societies. At Stonehenge an early computer was built to determine accurately the correct date to plant the crops. As a tourist you can visit and see for yourself the stones that were erected. Visually sighting the position of the sun at dawn establishes the season. Over many generations this computing instrument evolved into the smaller Astrolab.DIMastrolab Standing on the backs of giants, the concepts of the earth as a spinning sphere orbiting the sun were reflected in matching Astrolab geometry. Today using the accuracy of cesium atomic clocks we can use our computer technology to calculate the arrival of spring to the nearest billionth of a second. Diminishing returns have set in. Choosing the correct time to plant crops is every bit as important to our society as it was to early societies. Using more sophisticated computer techniques to calculated the date to higher accuracies has ceased to add any value to the original task of choosing a planting date.
Maybe the answer is “Big Data” Most farmers use long range weather forecasts to hedge their bets. This is all great until a volcanic eruption like the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa fills the upper atmosphere with reflective dust. No amount of current computer horsepower can factor in climate change, solar light emission variation, soot deposition on snow, or other causes we haven’t fathomed yet.
The pendulum swings. After a long run of disruptive computer based changes to society, more of the disruption will come from other sectors. In true “overnight” fashion advances in battery technology, materials, coatings, biology,medicine will splash onto the scene. Yes, the computer will have some role in these advances but it will not have the primary role. We are seeing the season start to change. Many of the new offerings being showcased at start-up conferences like South by Southwest include hardware becoming more than just software. My own www.mileagetrakker.com is based on a connected car hardware device which overcomes many of the frustrations of using an APP. This is not to say that there isn’t some good APPs among the 12 million or so offerings on Apple and Google. Most creators of APPs fight the “discoverability challenge.” Diminishing returns have set in.

Digital Key

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Digital security will protect our connected devices from theft

Digital security will protect our connected
devices from theft


There has been much media attention applied to the massive hacking of various web sites to steal data. A lot less attention has been showered on the thieves that use radio receivers to capture and duplicate the electronic codes used for key-less car ignition. As a prudent strategy if you own a car that does not have a physical key, you should always avoid using the remote to lock the vehicle. This is especially true in a parking lot where it is impossible to detect whether a car thief is lurking in a nearby car. The current reality is unfortunate because our smart phones have the potential to increase security. It will take a lot more sophistication than we currently apply. We may need to delay the disabling of the device for a few days to enable a return trip home on a electric bicycle when your cell phone has died.
Electric bikes are less attractive as a theft target if they become disabled

Electric bikes are less attractive as a theft target if they become disabled


Just like insurance has a cost, it may be necessary to subscribe to a cloud security service. Within the cloud it is possible to store unique key codes series for each device. The location capability of the cell phone system, combined with a suitable app, can create a cloud based log that records the cell phone number and when and where the device was unlocked which will enable multiple users. We will hear stories about stupid thieves who use their cell phone to activate stolen devices.
As a teenage at Halloween, we thought it was funny to do a drive-by garage door opener run. This worked because the system was based on only a few codes, and a collection of remotes would result in enough matches to be fun. If the activation codes are ever changing, there is no advantage in thieves listening in. Thieves who use a radio (or blue tooth) to obtain a code will discover that it has been changed. In the transition period, not everyone will want to use a cell phone based key. A chip key should also be included such that the device is active when it is plugged in. Obviously, the advantage of the cloud database is that it becomes possible to sell replacement keys. The cell phone based replacement can happen quickly but a physical chip based key requires delivery. We can all relate to loosing a key sometime or other.

Warm and Fuzzy

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Automation has replaced armies of clerical workers (the new pink collar workers)

Automation has replaced armies of clerical workers
(the new pink collar workers)


We all know the drill ” Thank you for calling Modern Company. If you know your party’s extension please dial it now. For sales dial 101, for service dial 102, for HR dial 103, for accounts receivable dial 104, for shipping dial 105, for scheduling dial 106 —- if you wish to hear the options again press 1″ Usually none of the listed extensions match our needs, so we pick one in desperation only to hear a recorded message “Your call is important to us, please call back when our operators are not busy.”
In today’s lean world, nobody has time to sit at their desk waiting for the phone to ring. If you look at the sea of desks they are mostly unoccupied. Many of the players are simultaneously sitting in teleconferences while answering the daily bombardment of 2 to 300 internal e-mails. This overload is unsustainable and the pendulum will swing back to add new controls. Back in era of large companies, the chain of command was expected to correctly filter the information flow. Sending communication to higher than your boss’s boss was not permitted.
It would be nice to think that an instruction manual would be sufficient to accomplish a simple installation like a computer display screen. In the industrial automation arena, equipment is expected to live 7 years with first rebuild giving another 7 years. When you are matching a new display screen to equipment and controls that are more than 10 years old, a generation miss match occurs. Usually a live local technician with many years experience is needed to resolve the problems, especially if the set-up is complicated by having a defective replacement display screen to start with. This is why we pay a premium to buy industrial display screens because warm and fuzzy help is usually needed to get the repair done. Even good live help, last week we lost three days of production sorting out the replacement of a dead computer display screen.
This is an opportunity that start-up companies can use to grow. Most customers want a warm and fussy feeling and react favorably when they are serviced by knowledgeable people who are not remotely located in a call center. The UX (User Experience) movement is all about having your development staff interact with a representative group of users. As we performed the www.mileagetrakker.com beta test we personally got to know all of the beta testers. Since most people learn by interacting with other people, it was natural for the www.mileagetrakker.com beta testers to acquire the knowledge that they needed. As we scale beyond the beta phase, we continue to test which of the introductory activities can be automated on the website and which training and set-up actions require personal involvement by the sales staff. Even though is is possible to accomplish all of the actions needed to acquire a Mileage Trakker device by interacting with the website, the vast majority will join us due to the activity of the sales staff.
Capture your full mileage deduction

Capture your full mileage deduction


The new battle ground in the marketplace will be establishing the correct balance between efficient computerized automation and warm and fuzzy human support. Monopoly power can force customers to fight with faceless computerized non service, but this jeopardizes the continuation of the company. The pendulum will swing back to creating new employment roles for people.

SaaS- Software as a Service

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You shall enjoy the fruit of your labor

You shall enjoy the fruit of your labor


We are migrating to an economy where more of our intellectual property is embodied in digital format. The practitioners who create this intellectual property are not second class people who are undeserving of the fruits of their labor. Even though the developers who created companies like Twitter were compensated, the venture capitalists who funded this style business model are running out of money. I am aware that many of these start-ups planned an advertising funded business model. However, the available total advertising dollars available means that less than 25% of them will survive. Since the first world nations elected to offshore their manufacturing, insuring that compensation is paid for intellectual property is even more important in reversing balance of trade deficits and eventual bankruptcy.
US trade balance

US trade balance


Enter the SaaS- Software as a Service business model. We are aware that most of the creation cost of intellectual property in digital form is spent making the first copy. Our modern communication and computer technology has reduced the cost of making duplicate copies to almost nothing. This has resulted in an elimination of more than 1/2 of the revenue stream in fields like music, motion pictures and pharmaceuticals. Having seen the fruits of the efforts to create intellectual property siphoned away, prudent planners choose to insure that they will retain the fruits of their effort. “Sometimes the questions are COMPLICATED and the answers are SIMPLE” Dr Seuss Geisel. People who need food on their table and roofs over their heads cannot afford to give away the effort that funds their life. New software will only be sold as SaaS. The development effort to create the first copy will be shared by all users because it will be the only copy. Unfortunately, SaaS is too late for Windows 95, Android, Office that already have generic copies in the marketplace. It is too late to close the barn door after the horses have left. Some of the first SaaS offerings will be in Internet Security. The current system of maintaining defenses on everyone’s computer will fade. The embedded back doors in the basic computer operating systems are the problem. Once the intruders use the back doors to gain control, the first action they perform disables the defenses. Users who wish to enjoy the benefits of secure data and reliable computer operation will discover that SaaS can deliver a service that isolates them from the web hackers and dangers using encrypted links. All communication to the unprotected web will be routed through the proxy server with a resident up to the date SaaS protection program. It is very possible that it will be necessary in the short term to add Wifi or internet dongles to circumvent the unsecured communication hardware that came with the users device. I can picture the entire industry migrating back to a new variation of its roots. In the very beginning, computer users used dumb telex machines to interact with time-sharing computers that housed all of the programs and data.
A Teletype Model ASR_32 by Jamie-Flickr

A Teletype Model ASR_32 by Jamie-Flickr