Southwest Virginia Blogs

For the last few days, when I have had some spare time, I have been working on a movie using some footage that I shot a few weeks ago, along with lots of still shots that I have taken this fall.  I am trying to do a house, neighborhood, and area tour.

I have always been intrigued with creating the feeling of a special place for someone who has never been there.  I think I first got interested in this in the fall of 1970 after a college roommate and I returned from a trip across the west and up the Alcan Highway to Alaska.

If you have lived on the east coast most of your life, it's hard to comprehend the huge open spaces of the west from a photo. Showing someone pictures or even slides on a screen does not really do the job unless the person has a context that helps them understand the setting of the pictures.   It's also hard to really appreciate North Carolina's Crystal Coast unless you have been in a place with as much open water and blue skies.

Today we have far better tools mostly thanks to Steve Jobs and his iLife suite of applications that were the original digital lifestyle tools.  When you combine them with iTunes, you can create an amazing experience for someone who has never visited a place.  I guess the next step in making the experience even better is creating a podcast with interviews of the local characters who can add some color to the virtual tour.

Using iMovie HD, iPhoto, iDVD, and some tunes from iTunes you can create an impressive DVD that can be played on almost any television including fancy widescreen ones. The first DVD projects that I tried, I used a lot of video, now I am much more judicious with my use of video.  Of course if I had an HD video camera, I might use more video, but you can create a wonderful DVD with mostly still shots and a little video to tie it together.  If you can match some great music to it, then you're much closer to giving a person a feeling of place that isso hard to achieve with simple photos even good ones like the ones I have on my Sunrise Mountain photo site.  I haven't done voice overs yet, but they will probably be my next step.

If you're going to try this, you will not find products nearly well as integrated as they are on the Mac side.  There's no question you can do it on Windows, there are just more pieces to puzzle.

We've come a long way in technology the last 35 years, it's pretty amazing that we can suck video, photos, and music into our computers and put it on a DVD that family or friends can easily watch on their home entertainment systems.  I never would have guessed that this would be as easy as it is.  While it's popular to stick movies up on the web, putting up one that is ten minutes long with audio and high quality video isn't something that I would want to try. DVDs are cheap, easy to distribute, and allow you to see the high quality video on large screen high quality components.

A couple of Christmases ago, I took the time to go through our old video tapes and put together a DVD of the kids growing up.  It took a lot of time, but hopefully someday it will refresh some great memories for the kids just when the memories are starting to fade.  It will also allow the memories to be shared with the next generation.

With the power of this technology, I am really surprised that businesses, especially real estate firms aren't taking advantage of the power of this technology which in my mind is far more powerful that desktop publishing.  A real estate firm could easily bring this technology in house as a relatively inexpensive way to market upper end houses.  Based on the one that I'm working, I think that they could be an exceptionally powerful tool for real estate agents in the tough market that we have today.

With my most recent DVDs, I was fortunate to be able print picture labels directly on the DVDs with my new HP 5160 Photosmart Printer which I got on a deal at Staples for $59.95.  It certainly added a professional touch to my project.

The biggest danger I see is that these projects are so easy to tinker with that you end up spending more time than you want trying to perfect them, but maybe that just my personality showing through.

Probably the most difficult thing for any employee to handle is a manager who does not level with them.  You usually see it in two cases.  One is in large corporations where they are usually afraid to let you know where you stand since you might have an opportunity to question their inscrutable plans for you.

The second case is with immature managers who do not have the confidence to deal with employees one on one.  They end up going through some interesting contortions to keep from having to deal with their own insecurity and business situations that they just have not learned how to handle.

I managed to help several employees leave Apple Computer.    By far the easiest technique was to sit down and tell them the job was not working out for them, and to ask them if they felt changing some things would give them a chance to succeed or did they feel like it was time to move on to another job.  Every single employee that I talked to but one made the decision to go to another job.

Often asking an employee to move on, means they haven't been able to adapt to your environment or that you aren't smart enough to figure out how to use them.

I was reading in the paper today that one of the biggest problems in government is that policies are not decided by robust debate among near peers.  If it is a problem in government, it is an epidemic in business.  Usually when the CEO (or executive VP) makes a decision, his executive lieutenants fall all over themselves trying to associate themselves with the CEO's decision.  It often does not matter whether the decision is a good one or a bad one.  The important thing is that it is the CEO's or VP's decision, so everyone falls in line.

It's far better to have serious challenges to the CEO's ideas.  No CEO, no matter how much they think of themselves, is infallible.  The months they often waste in figuring out their own mistakes is a tribute to their unwillingness to have competent, strong people working around them.  It is much easier to have people who wouldn't consider anything but agreeing with the CEO's ideas. They will do anything to implement the CEOs ideas, no matter what the consequences.  Their loyalty is to the CEO not the company.

I'll never forget the time Apple's enterprise sale teams got sent off to peddle iMac kiosks to the enterprise.  Those who tried to question the plan did not have enough power, and those with enough power to challenge the idea were too far under the spell of the VP who had proposed the iMac kiosks.

The VP only lasted a short time, but the damage from his folly filled policies probably can still be seen years later at Apple.  Unfortunately Apple isn't the only company to have this problem.  You might also deduce from the Apple example that stock price isn't necessarily a measure of excellence in management.

You would not think that it would take two very geeky guys two hours to get to this screen in what should have been a relatively easy change to a home entertain system.

Increasingly I am not surprised when some little problem ends up taking hours to resolve.  In this particular case, my fellow geek who had installed our home video system was just as frustrated as I was.  He needed to be in at least four other places since he had just spent a week being trained on more electronic gadgets which also probably will require lots of extra effort to get working properly.

Our home system is sometimes controlled by a Logitech Harmony remote.  The Harmony is supposed to rule the roost but it doesn't until the Sony quiets down.  After our big flat panel Sony stops saturating our living room with IR, the Harmony usually works.  That usually takes ten minutes which is a little irritating but according to the Sony folks, just something we have to live with these days.

My fellow geek, Mitch, dropped by after I had our cable box replaced with one which had a DVD-R and a HDMI interface.  The hope was the HDMI cable would improve the picture quality of the non-HD television channels.  Mitch managed to get the HDMI cable installed without a lot of problems.  It did help the picture quality on all channels.

After we got the television back on the wall, the only job remaining was to reprogram the Harmony Remote.  Mitch had forgotten his Powerbook which we used to program the Harmony the previous time.  We had tried unsuccessfully to use my MacBook the last time so I whipped out my PB G4.  We logged on to the Logitech site without a problem and downloaded the software.  After some more downloads and updates, we got to the point where we saw a message "no skin available."  The result of the strange message was that we couldn't see what was happening with the controller.  Since I was using Firefox and Mitch had used Safari the last time, we switched to Safari and went through the same process.  We did manage to get the setting done properly on the web, yet we ran into the same problems with Safari that we had with Firefox.  We had no luck updating the Harmony remote.

We then went up to my  upstairs office and went through the same process with my Dell desktop.  We went straight to IE 7 this time and it seemed to be working until it blocked a pop-up and then hung  We eventually got it working on IE after restarting IE.  Finally were able to see  the controller being updated and verify when it was finished.  The process took two hours.  It should have been two minutes.

Technology does not need to be this hard.

You would not think that it would take two very geeky guys two hours to get to this screen in what should have been a relatively easy change to a home entertain system.

Increasingly I am not surprised when some little problem ends up taking hours to resolve.  In this particular case, my fellow geek who had installed our home video system was just as frustrated as I was.  He needed to be in at least four other places since he had just spent a week being trained on more electronic gadgets which also probably will require lots of extra effort to get working properly.

Our home system is sometimes controlled by a Logitech Harmony remote.  The Harmony is supposed to rule the roost but it doesn't until the Sony quiets down.  After our big flat panel Sony stops saturating our living room with IR, the Harmony usually works.  That usually takes ten minutes which is a little irritating but according to the Sony folks, just something we have to live with these days.

My fellow geek, Mitch, dropped by after I had our cable box replaced with one which had a DVD-R and a HDMI interface.  The hope was the HDMI cable would improve the picture quality of the non-HD television channels.  Mitch managed to get the HDMI cable installed without a lot of problems.  It did help the picture quality on all channels.

After we got the television back on the wall, the only job remaining was to reprogram the Harmony Remote.  Mitch had forgotten his Powerbook which we used to program the Harmony the previous time.  We had tried unsuccessfully to use my MacBook the last time so I whipped out my PB G4.  We logged on to the Logitech site without a problem and downloaded the software.  After some more downloads and updates, we got to the point where we saw a message "no skin available."  The result of the strange message was that we couldn't see what was happening with the controller.  Since I was using Firefox and Mitch had used Safari the last time, we switched to Safari and went through the same process.  We did manage to get the setting done properly on the web, yet we ran into the same problems with Safari that we had with Firefox.  We had no luck updating the Harmony remote.

We then went up to my  upstairs office and went through the same process with my Dell desktop.  We went straight to IE 7 this time and it seemed to be working until it blocked a pop-up and then hung  We eventually got it working on IE after restarting IE.  Finally were able to see  the controller being updated and verify when it was finished.  The process took two hours.  It should have been two minutes.

Technology does not need to be this hard.

You would not think that it would take two very geeky guys two hours to get to this screen in what should have been a relatively easy change to a home entertain system.

Increasingly I am not surprised when some little problem ends up taking hours to resolve.  In this particular case, my fellow geek who had installed our home video system was just as frustrated as I was.  He needed to be in at least four other places since he had just spent a week being trained on more electronic gadgets which also probably will require lots of extra effort to get working properly.

Our home system is sometimes controlled by a Logitech Harmony remote.  The Harmony is supposed to rule the roost but it doesn't until the Sony quiets down.  After our big flat panel Sony stops saturating our living room with IR, the Harmony usually works.  That usually takes ten minutes which is a little irritating but according to the Sony folks, just something we have to live with these days.

My fellow geek, Mitch, dropped by after I had our cable box replaced with one which had a DVD-R and a HDMI interface.  The hope was the HDMI cable would improve the picture quality of the non-HD television channels.  Mitch managed to get the HDMI cable installed without a lot of problems.  It did help the picture quality on all channels.

After we got the television back on the wall, the only job remaining was to reprogram the Harmony Remote.  Mitch had forgotten his Powerbook which we used to program the Harmony the previous time.  We had tried unsuccessfully to use my MacBook the last time so I whipped out my PB G4.  We logged on to the Logitech site without a problem and downloaded the software.  After some more downloads and updates, we got to the point where we saw a message "no skin available."  The result of the strange message was that we couldn't see what was happening with the controller.  Since I was using Firefox and Mitch had used Safari the last time, we switched to Safari and went through the same process.  We did manage to get the setting done properly on the web, yet we ran into the same problems with Safari that we had with Firefox.  We had no luck updating the Harmony remote.

We then went up to my  upstairs office and went through the same process with my Dell desktop.  We went straight to IE 7 this time and it seemed to be working until it blocked a pop-up and then hung  We eventually got it working on IE after restarting IE.  Finally were able to see  the controller being updated and verify when it was finished.  The process took two hours.  It should have been two minutes.

Technology does not need to be this hard.

I am beginning to think this is the year of returning to my inner geek. 

First I went to work at Webmail.us where I ended up bringing my own computers, network hub, and even an Internet phone.  Since I was one of only a couple of Mac users, I ended up figuring some of the printing and other technology issues with only a little help.  I actually wrote about that on Applepeels in the post, "Heterogenous Apple nirvana, well almost."  Then we moved the Webmail.us outside sales office to Roanoke, and I ended up setting another office for myself.

Since I do a fair amount of web work, I usually need three machines to survive, a Mac desktop, a Windows box, and a Mac laptop.  When we got a place in the fall on the White Oak River near Cape Carteret, NC, it was obvious that I needed another office.  I decided to leave a Mac at home in Roanoke to drive my big Epson printers, but I felt that I need my dual G5 and my Dell desktop.  My youngest daughter confiscated my Dell laptop for her business classes at UNCC.

I actually enjoy technology when I can make it work.  I'm usually persistent enough to eventually achieve that.  I can move pretty easily from Mac OSX to Windows XP to Ubuntu Linux.  In fact when I want to procrastinate I will often lose myself in technology challenges.  I spent a lot of time in 2004 getting Linux up and running, and experimenting with SUSE and Xandros distributions before settling on Ubuntu as my standard.  When I recently did some upgrades on all three operating systems, I was convinced that Ubuntu was as easy if not easier than Mac OSX.

For my coastal office printers I went with an Ethernet equipped Brother 5250N and a HP AIO Photosmart C6180 which also supported Ethernet.   I installed  a router with firewall and four ports, one of with goes to an Airport Express and another to a small hub.  We are using a cable modem hooked to Time-Warner.  I also have a Vonage Internet phone to go along with our land line.  We are using an AT&T two line wireless phone system which works great.

So far everything seems to be working fine.   The biggest challenge was the  HP AIO which I wrote about in the post, "HP AIO Photosmart C6180 and Mac OSX."  Last night I got the fax working.  Unfortunately I first tried to set it up using the Mac.  That turned out not to work.  I used the Dell to get it going.  The Windows Wizard had another setting which seemed to fix things.  I had already confirmed that the printing works, both text, color, and photo.   Still the HP software for the Mac seems very intrusive.

The HP scanning does work.  Other than the feature to scan directly to iPhoto, which I like a lot, I felt like I was missing my good friend VueScan which I have used in Roanoke to drive my Epson scanner since Mac OSX came out.  I tried to see if VueScan would see the HP C6180 scanner on the network but it did not, even with the most recent version.  Tonight I read through the HP manual to make certain there was no reason to not use the USB port on the AIO while the Ethernet port was active.  I could not find any warning so I hooked up my MacBook using the USB cable from my recently deceased Sony camera.  VueScan saw the scanner and I was in business.

The only thing left is to try is to see how well the printers work with Ubuntu.  There is no rush on that.  That might be a good winter project for a lazy Saturday. 

One of the interesting things that I have run into is that it seems every that every hardware manufacturer, including those who do printers, computers, and cameras has its own suite of consumer digital photo tools.   They're all similar, and it gets a little weird with all the choices of how to manage your photos.  Once you throw in Adode, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, you have to wonder if the market can support this many solutions.  Actually my guess is the market will figure it out. The support people might rightfully view this proliferation as scary.  Just imagine a Mac running Parallels Windows software.  You could have Nikon, Sony, HP, Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, and Google software all fighting for control of the same photos.

Invariably the client based software doesn't seem to work nearly as well managing photos on the web as the true web based solutions like Flickr and Picasa Web Albums.  That's the case even in the with the iPhoto, iWeb, and dot Mac from Apple who used to be the digital content king.  I wrote about this recently on Applepeels in the post, "My problem with Apple."

I am not  sure why the companies are spending so much money on this segment.  My guess is that there  will be some shakeout, but that's the subject of another post.

Right now I am proud of my new office, and I would recommend all of the products that I am using.  The only exception would be the Parallels Desktop software which turns the MacBook into a Windows box. The problem is probably caused by the measly 1 gig of ram on my MacBook, but I doubt I will figure that out for a while since I have my Dell box running.

I do not have a lot of tolerance for technology gadgets or companies that fail to meet my expectations so expect to see a post or at least a comment if I run into challenges like the IE crash that I had last night after installing Internet Explorer 7.  I did like some of the new feature of IE, but crashing is not a good way to win my confidence.

The office even looks good since I even ran the cables through the desk.  This is the neatest office that I have ever had.  I must be mellowing with age.  Just getting it working used to be the most important task and often the only thing that mattered.   Just do not ask my kids about my old cable tree.

I am beginning to think this is the year of returning to my inner geek. 

First I went to work at Webmail.us where I ended up bringing my own computers, network hub, and even an Internet phone.  Since I was one of only a couple of Mac users, I ended up figuring some of the printing and other technology issues with only a little help.  I actually wrote about that on Applepeels in the post, "Heterogenous Apple nirvana, well almost."  Then we moved the Webmail.us outside sales office to Roanoke, and I ended up setting another office for myself.

Since I do a fair amount of web work, I usually need three machines to survive, a Mac desktop, a Windows box, and a Mac laptop.  When we got a place in the fall on the White Oak River near Cape Carteret, NC, it was obvious that I needed another office.  I decided to leave a Mac at home in Roanoke to drive my big Epson printers, but I felt that I need my dual G5 and my Dell desktop.  My youngest daughter confiscated my Dell laptop for her business classes at UNCC.

I actually enjoy technology when I can make it work.  I'm usually persistent enough to eventually achieve that.  I can move pretty easily from Mac OSX to Windows XP to Ubuntu Linux.  In fact when I want to procrastinate I will often lose myself in technology challenges.  I spent a lot of time in 2004 getting Linux up and running, and experimenting with SUSE and Xandros distributions before settling on Ubuntu as my standard.  When I recently did some upgrades on all three operating systems, I was convinced that Ubuntu was as easy if not easier than Mac OSX.

For my coastal office printers I went with an Ethernet equipped Brother 5250N and a HP AIO Photosmart C6180 which also supported Ethernet.   I installed  a router with firewall and four ports, one of with goes to an Airport Express and another to a small hub.  We are using a cable modem hooked to Time-Warner.  I also have a Vonage Internet phone to go along with our land line.  We are using an AT&T two line wireless phone system which works great.

So far everything seems to be working fine.   The biggest challenge was the  HP AIO which I wrote about in the post, "HP AIO Photosmart C6180 and Mac OSX."  Last night I got the fax working.  Unfortunately I first tried to set it up using the Mac.  That turned out not to work.  I used the Dell to get it going.  The Windows Wizard had another setting which seemed to fix things.  I had already confirmed that the printing works, both text, color, and photo.   Still the HP software for the Mac seems very intrusive.

The HP scanning does work.  Other than the feature to scan directly to iPhoto, which I like a lot, I felt like I was missing my good friend VueScan which I have used in Roanoke to drive my Epson scanner since Mac OSX came out.  I tried to see if VueScan would see the HP C6180 scanner on the network but it did not, even with the most recent version.  Tonight I read through the HP manual to make certain there was no reason to not use the USB port on the AIO while the Ethernet port was active.  I could not find any warning so I hooked up my MacBook using the USB cable from my recently deceased Sony camera.  VueScan saw the scanner and I was in business.

The only thing left is to try is to see how well the printers work with Ubuntu.  There is no rush on that.  That might be a good winter project for a lazy Saturday. 

One of the interesting things that I have run into is that it seems every that every hardware manufacturer, including those who do printers, computers, and cameras has its own suite of consumer digital photo tools.   They're all similar, and it gets a little weird with all the choices of how to manage your photos.  Once you throw in Adode, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, you have to wonder if the market can support this many solutions.  Actually my guess is the market will figure it out. The support people might rightfully view this proliferation as scary.  Just imagine a Mac running Parallels Windows software.  You could have Nikon, Sony, HP, Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, and Google software all fighting for control of the same photos.

Invariably the client based software doesn't seem to work nearly as well managing photos on the web as the true web based solutions like Flickr and Picasa Web Albums.  That's the case even in the with the iPhoto, iWeb, and dot Mac from Apple who used to be the digital content king.  I wrote about this recently on Applepeels in the post, "My problem with Apple."

I am not  sure why the companies are spending so much money on this segment.  My guess is that there  will be some shakeout, but that's the subject of another post.

Right now I am proud of my new office, and I would recommend all of the products that I am using.  The only exception would be the Parallels Desktop software which turns the MacBook into a Windows box. The problem is probably caused by the measly 1 gig of ram on my MacBook, but I doubt I will figure that out for a while since I have my Dell box running.

I do not have a lot of tolerance for technology gadgets or companies that fail to meet my expectations so expect to see a post or at least a comment if I run into challenges like the IE crash that I had last night after installing Internet Explorer 7.  I did like some of the new feature of IE, but crashing is not a good way to win my confidence.

The office even looks good since I even ran the cables through the desk.  This is the neatest office that I have ever had.  I must be mellowing with age.  Just getting it working used to be the most important task and often the only thing that mattered.   Just do not ask my kids about my old cable tree.

I am beginning to think this is the year of returning to my inner geek. 

First I went to work at Webmail.us where I ended up bringing my own computers, network hub, and even an Internet phone.  Since I was one of only a couple of Mac users, I ended up figuring some of the printing and other technology issues with only a little help.  I actually wrote about that on Applepeels in the post, "Heterogenous Apple nirvana, well almost."  Then we moved the Webmail.us outside sales office to Roanoke, and I ended up setting another office for myself.

Since I do a fair amount of web work, I usually need three machines to survive, a Mac desktop, a Windows box, and a Mac laptop.  When we got a place in the fall on the White Oak River near Cape Carteret, NC, it was obvious that I needed another office.  I decided to leave a Mac at home in Roanoke to drive my big Epson printers, but I felt that I need my dual G5 and my Dell desktop.  My youngest daughter confiscated my Dell laptop for her business classes at UNCC.

I actually enjoy technology when I can make it work.  I'm usually persistent enough to eventually achieve that.  I can move pretty easily from Mac OSX to Windows XP to Ubuntu Linux.  In fact when I want to procrastinate I will often lose myself in technology challenges.  I spent a lot of time in 2004 getting Linux up and running, and experimenting with SUSE and Xandros distributions before settling on Ubuntu as my standard.  When I recently did some upgrades on all three operating systems, I was convinced that Ubuntu was as easy if not easier than Mac OSX.

For my coastal office printers I went with an Ethernet equipped Brother 5250N and a HP AIO Photosmart C6180 which also supported Ethernet.   I installed  a router with firewall and four ports, one of with goes to an Airport Express and another to a small hub.  We are using a cable modem hooked to Time-Warner.  I also have a Vonage Internet phone to go along with our land line.  We are using an AT&T two line wireless phone system which works great.

So far everything seems to be working fine.   The biggest challenge was the  HP AIO which I wrote about in the post, "HP AIO Photosmart C6180 and Mac OSX."  Last night I got the fax working.  Unfortunately I first tried to set it up using the Mac.  That turned out not to work.  I used the Dell to get it going.  The Windows Wizard had another setting which seemed to fix things.  I had already confirmed that the printing works, both text, color, and photo.   Still the HP software for the Mac seems very intrusive.

The HP scanning does work.  Other than the feature to scan directly to iPhoto, which I like a lot, I felt like I was missing my good friend VueScan which I have used in Roanoke to drive my Epson scanner since Mac OSX came out.  I tried to see if VueScan would see the HP C6180 scanner on the network but it did not, even with the most recent version.  Tonight I read through the HP manual to make certain there was no reason to not use the USB port on the AIO while the Ethernet port was active.  I could not find any warning so I hooked up my MacBook using the USB cable from my recently deceased Sony camera.  VueScan saw the scanner and I was in business.

The only thing left is to try is to see how well the printers work with Ubuntu.  There is no rush on that.  That might be a good winter project for a lazy Saturday. 

One of the interesting things that I have run into is that it seems every that every hardware manufacturer, including those who do printers, computers, and cameras has its own suite of consumer digital photo tools.   They're all similar, and it gets a little weird with all the choices of how to manage your photos.  Once you throw in Adode, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, you have to wonder if the market can support this many solutions.  Actually my guess is the market will figure it out. The support people might rightfully view this proliferation as scary.  Just imagine a Mac running Parallels Windows software.  You could have Nikon, Sony, HP, Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, and Google software all fighting for control of the same photos.

Invariably the client based software doesn't seem to work nearly as well managing photos on the web as the true web based solutions like Flickr and Picasa Web Albums.  That's the case even in the with the iPhoto, iWeb, and dot Mac from Apple who used to be the digital content king.  I wrote about this recently on Applepeels in the post, "My problem with Apple."

I am not  sure why the companies are spending so much money on this segment.  My guess is that there  will be some shakeout, but that's the subject of another post.

Right now I am proud of my new office, and I would recommend all of the products that I am using.  The only exception would be the Parallels Desktop software which turns the MacBook into a Windows box. The problem is probably caused by the measly 1 gig of ram on my MacBook, but I doubt I will figure that out for a while since I have my Dell box running.

I do not have a lot of tolerance for technology gadgets or companies that fail to meet my expectations so expect to see a post or at least a comment if I run into challenges like the IE crash that I had last night after installing Internet Explorer 7.  I did like some of the new feature of IE, but crashing is not a good way to win my confidence.

The office even looks good since I even ran the cables through the desk.  This is the neatest office that I have ever had.  I must be mellowing with age.  Just getting it working used to be the most important task and often the only thing that mattered.   Just do not ask my kids about my old cable tree.

I am beginning to think this is the year of returning to my inner geek. 

First I went to work at Webmail.us where I ended up bringing my own computers, network hub, and even an Internet phone.  Since I was one of only a couple of Mac users, I ended up figuring some of the printing and other technology issues with only a little help.  I actually wrote about that on Applepeels in the post, "Heterogenous Apple nirvana, well almost."  Then we moved the Webmail.us outside sales office to Roanoke, and I ended up setting another office for myself.

Since I do a fair amount of web work, I usually need three machines to survive, a Mac desktop, a Windows box, and a Mac laptop.  When we got a place in the fall on the White Oak River near Cape Carteret, NC, it was obvious that I needed another office.  I decided to leave a Mac at home in Roanoke to drive my big Epson printers, but I felt that I need my dual G5 and my Dell desktop.  My youngest daughter confiscated my Dell laptop for her business classes at UNCC.

I actually enjoy technology when I can make it work.  I'm usually persistent enough to eventually achieve that.  I can move pretty easily from Mac OSX to Windows XP to Ubuntu Linux.  In fact when I want to procrastinate I will often lose myself in technology challenges.  I spent a lot of time in 2004 getting Linux up and running, and experimenting with SUSE and Xandros distributions before settling on Ubuntu as my standard.  When I recently did some upgrades on all three operating systems, I was convinced that Ubuntu was as easy if not easier than Mac OSX.

For my coastal office printers I went with an Ethernet equipped Brother 5250N and a HP AIO Photosmart C6180 which also supported Ethernet.   I installed  a router with firewall and four ports, one of with goes to an Airport Express and another to a small hub.  We are using a cable modem hooked to Time-Warner.  I also have a Vonage Internet phone to go along with our land line.  We are using an AT&T two line wireless phone system which works great.

So far everything seems to be working fine.   The biggest challenge was the  HP AIO which I wrote about in the post, "HP AIO Photosmart C6180 and Mac OSX."  Last night I got the fax working.  Unfortunately I first tried to set it up using the Mac.  That turned out not to work.  I used the Dell to get it going.  The Windows Wizard had another setting which seemed to fix things.  I had already confirmed that the printing works, both text, color, and photo.   Still the HP software for the Mac seems very intrusive.

The HP scanning does work.  Other than the feature to scan directly to iPhoto, which I like a lot, I felt like I was missing my good friend VueScan which I have used in Roanoke to drive my Epson scanner since Mac OSX came out.  I tried to see if VueScan would see the HP C6180 scanner on the network but it did not, even with the most recent version.  Tonight I read through the HP manual to make certain there was no reason to not use the USB port on the AIO while the Ethernet port was active.  I could not find any warning so I hooked up my MacBook using the USB cable from my recently deceased Sony camera.  VueScan saw the scanner and I was in business.

The only thing left is to try is to see how well the printers work with Ubuntu.  There is no rush on that.  That might be a good winter project for a lazy Saturday. 

One of the interesting things that I have run into is that it seems every that every hardware manufacturer, including those who do printers, computers, and cameras has its own suite of consumer digital photo tools.   They're all similar, and it gets a little weird with all the choices of how to manage your photos.  Once you throw in Adode, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, you have to wonder if the market can support this many solutions.  Actually my guess is the market will figure it out. The support people might rightfully view this proliferation as scary.  Just imagine a Mac running Parallels Windows software.  You could have Nikon, Sony, HP, Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, and Google software all fighting for control of the same photos.

Invariably the client based software doesn't seem to work nearly as well managing photos on the web as the true web based solutions like Flickr and Picasa Web Albums.  That's the case even in the with the iPhoto, iWeb, and dot Mac from Apple who used to be the digital content king.  I wrote about this recently on Applepeels in the post, "My problem with Apple."

I am not  sure why the companies are spending so much money on this segment.  My guess is that there  will be some shakeout, but that's the subject of another post.

Right now I am proud of my new office, and I would recommend all of the products that I am using.  The only exception would be the Parallels Desktop software which turns the MacBook into a Windows box. The problem is probably caused by the measly 1 gig of ram on my MacBook, but I doubt I will figure that out for a while since I have my Dell box running.

I do not have a lot of tolerance for technology gadgets or companies that fail to meet my expectations so expect to see a post or at least a comment if I run into challenges like the IE crash that I had last night after installing Internet Explorer 7.  I did like some of the new feature of IE, but crashing is not a good way to win my confidence.

The office even looks good since I even ran the cables through the desk.  This is the neatest office that I have ever had.  I must be mellowing with age.  Just getting it working used to be the most important task and often the only thing that mattered.   Just do not ask my kids about my old cable tree.

I read an article, "Lost and forsaken in Canada," in today's Toronto Star.  It was about an immigrant to Canada who in despair had jumped to his death from a bridge into Highway 401 traffic.  The Toronto paper described him in this manner.

Jiang Guobing was well-educated. He had a doctorate in nuclear engineering from a prestigious U.S. university but apparently that was not enough for Canadian employers.

Having immigrated to Canada from Honduras as a child, I understood his despair. Coming to this country with very well-educated parents and watching them struggle and never achieving their dreams was very hard...

I think that's what happened to Jiang Guobing. He lost his way. He felt like a failure, not only to himself but to his family.

Having lost a job in corporate American myself, I find it easy to guess some of Jiang's feelings.  I'm sure being highly educated and probably successful, he felt very frustrated not being able to work in his chosen field. 

I am one of those high tech people, who no matter what the company said, really got rid of me because I was too old and expensive.   I was also a little too ethical for their tastes, complaining loudly when they mistreated people working on my team or when they played around with the financial results.

When you've been very successful all your life and have been in same company for twenty years, losing your seat at the whim of new under forty manager who was also your fifth manager in two years is a little galling, but it is a regular occurrence in corporate American.  If you are over fifty and in the technology business, you're probably an endangered species.  It doesn't matter how successful you are, likely you are considered a dinosaur even if you are very technical.  If that isn't the case, consider yourself very lucky to be working in an enlightened company.  I can assure you Apple wasn't and probably hasn't changed.

Leaving Apple wasn't the end for me.  It has been the beginning.  Though not everything has been perfect or worked out as planned, I can say that in spite of the many challenges, 28 months after leaving Apple, I continue to put bread on the table, and the future is very bright.

I have learned a tremendous amount since I left Apple.  I actually can talk from experience about Linux, Windows XP, lambda speed networking, and how to market products through the web.  I continue to believe that my sales techniques can be of great value to companies, and I recently provided some sales help to a telecommunications company.  I even manage to sell a few of my own  high quality prints by the web.  Now I am just finishing up some last courses in real estate so I can take advantage of the broker's license that I got by passing the North Carolina state exam in September.  Going back to school, while intimidating, hasn't slowed me down.  I think it has accelerated the changes brought about by my developing web presence.

In fact I would have to say that beyond my close friends and family, the family I developed from friendships on the web has been key to keeping me from being lost and forsaken at 57.

My writing for the web allowed me to develop a new identity to replace the one that I lost when I left Apple.  It kept me from becoming just another anonymous old guy who got replaced at tech company.

I've written lots and been written about enough to drive my numbers to the point that I'm very excited about my web stats.  On Feedburner, I have 1,385 subscribers to my two main blogs.  Just this week, Typepad has recorded over 22,000 visitors to my two main sites, and the numbers seem to be increasing rapidly.

Writing for no monetary compensation has given me something to fall back on whenever I was between jobs.  It's been a great way to get my thoughts sorted out and to find a great support group of people who believe in the intrinsic value of communicating through the web.

I don't pretend to have any great secrets or wisdom to share with the world through my blog.  I do hope that my observations help others enjoy another perspective. Usually it has some pretty neat pictures of the mountains or ocean attached.

Filling in the blanks of knowledge that have been created by our increasingly mobile and fractured society is one of things that I believe blogs do best.  We've become a society where Google is the local authority.  I think blogs to it better if you can find the right one.  The conversations I've had on the web have been good ones that would be hard to duplicate if I were limited to just the people in the this geographic area.

I fill more connected because of my web presence.  That along with absolutely stellar family, friends, and business associates has helped smooth my transition from the dysfunctional world of Apple to a new life where I can't wait to get up every morning and see the sunrise, whether it is over the mountains or the water.

I wish Dr. Guobing had been as lucky.

On another note, this is post 1,001.  I made it over the top.

I read an article, "Lost and forsaken in Canada," in today's Toronto Star.  It was about an immigrant to Canada who in despair had jumped to his death from a bridge into Highway 401 traffic.  The Toronto paper described him in this manner.

Jiang Guobing was well-educated. He had a doctorate in nuclear engineering from a prestigious U.S. university but apparently that was not enough for Canadian employers.

Having immigrated to Canada from Honduras as a child, I understood his despair. Coming to this country with very well-educated parents and watching them struggle and never achieving their dreams was very hard...

I think that's what happened to Jiang Guobing. He lost his way. He felt like a failure, not only to himself but to his family.

Having lost a job in corporate American myself, I find it easy to guess some of Jiang's feelings.  I'm sure being highly educated and probably successful, he felt very frustrated not being able to work in his chosen field. 

I am one of those high tech people, who no matter what the company said, really got rid of me because I was too old and expensive.   I was also a little too ethical for their tastes, complaining loudly when they mistreated people working on my team or when they played around with the financial results.

When you've been very successful all your life and have been in same company for twenty years, losing your seat at the whim of new under forty manager who was also your fifth manager in two years is a little galling, but it is a regular occurrence in corporate American.  If you are over fifty and in the technology business, you're probably an endangered species.  It doesn't matter how successful you are, likely you are considered a dinosaur even if you are very technical.  If that isn't the case, consider yourself very lucky to be working in an enlightened company.  I can assure you Apple wasn't and probably hasn't changed.

Leaving Apple wasn't the end for me.  It has been the beginning.  Though not everything has been perfect or worked out as planned, I can say that in spite of the many challenges, 28 months after leaving Apple, I continue to put bread on the table, and the future is very bright.

I have learned a tremendous amount since I left Apple.  I actually can talk from experience about Linux, Windows XP, lambda speed networking, and how to market products through the web.  I continue to believe that my sales techniques can be of great value to companies, and I recently provided some sales help to a telecommunications company.  I even manage to sell a few of my own  high quality prints by the web.  Now I am just finishing up some last courses in real estate so I can take advantage of the broker's license that I got by passing the North Carolina state exam in September.  Going back to school, while intimidating, hasn't slowed me down.  I think it has accelerated the changes brought about by my developing web presence.

In fact I would have to say that beyond my close friends and family, the family I developed from friendships on the web has been key to keeping me from being lost and forsaken at 57.

My writing for the web allowed me to develop a new identity to replace the one that I lost when I left Apple.  It kept me from becoming just another anonymous old guy who got replaced at tech company.

I've written lots and been written about enough to drive my numbers to the point that I'm very excited about my web stats.  On Feedburner, I have 1,385 subscribers to my two main blogs.  Just this week, Typepad has recorded over 22,000 visitors to my two main sites, and the numbers seem to be increasing rapidly.

Writing for no monetary compensation has given me something to fall back on whenever I was between jobs.  It's been a great way to get my thoughts sorted out and to find a great support group of people who believe in the intrinsic value of communicating through the web.

I don't pretend to have any great secrets or wisdom to share with the world through my blog.  I do hope that my observations help others enjoy another perspective. Usually it has some pretty neat pictures of the mountains or ocean attached.

Filling in the blanks of knowledge that have been created by our increasingly mobile and fractured society is one of things that I believe blogs do best.  We've become a society where Google is the local authority.  I think blogs to it better if you can find the right one.  The conversations I've had on the web have been good ones that would be hard to duplicate if I were limited to just the people in the this geographic area.

I fill more connected because of my web presence.  That along with absolutely stellar family, friends, and business associates has helped smooth my transition from the dysfunctional world of Apple to a new life where I can't wait to get up every morning and see the sunrise, whether it is over the mountains or the water.

I wish Dr. Guobing had been as lucky.

On another note, this is post 1,001.  I made it over the top.

I read an article, "Lost and forsaken in Canada," in today's Toronto Star.  It was about an immigrant to Canada who in despair had jumped to his death from a bridge into Highway 401 traffic.  The Toronto paper described him in this manner.

Jiang Guobing was well-educated. He had a doctorate in nuclear engineering from a prestigious U.S. university but apparently that was not enough for Canadian employers.

Having immigrated to Canada from Honduras as a child, I understood his despair. Coming to this country with very well-educated parents and watching them struggle and never achieving their dreams was very hard...

I think that's what happened to Jiang Guobing. He lost his way. He felt like a failure, not only to himself but to his family.

Having lost a job in corporate American myself, I find it easy to guess some of Jiang's feelings.  I'm sure being highly educated and probably successful, he felt very frustrated not being able to work in his chosen field. 

I am one of those high tech people, who no matter what the company said, really got rid of me because I was too old and expensive.   I was also a little too ethical for their tastes, complaining loudly when they mistreated people working on my team or when they played around with the financial results.

When you've been very successful all your life and have been in same company for twenty years, losing your seat at the whim of new under forty manager who was also your fifth manager in two years is a little galling, but it is a regular occurrence in corporate American.  If you are over fifty and in the technology business, you're probably an endangered species.  It doesn't matter how successful you are, likely you are considered a dinosaur even if you are very technical.  If that isn't the case, consider yourself very lucky to be working in an enlightened company.  I can assure you Apple wasn't and probably hasn't changed.

Leaving Apple wasn't the end for me.  It has been the beginning.  Though not everything has been perfect or worked out as planned, I can say that in spite of the many challenges, 28 months after leaving Apple, I continue to put bread on the table, and the future is very bright.

I have learned a tremendous amount since I left Apple.  I actually can talk from experience about Linux, Windows XP, lambda speed networking, and how to market products through the web.  I continue to believe that my sales techniques can be of great value to companies, and I recently provided some sales help to a telecommunications company.  I even manage to sell a few of my own  high quality prints by the web.  Now I am just finishing up some last courses in real estate so I can take advantage of the broker's license that I got by passing the North Carolina state exam in September.  Going back to school, while intimidating, hasn't slowed me down.  I think it has accelerated the changes brought about by my developing web presence.

In fact I would have to say that beyond my close friends and family, the family I developed from friendships on the web has been key to keeping me from being lost and forsaken at 57.

My writing for the web allowed me to develop a new identity to replace the one that I lost when I left Apple.  It kept me from becoming just another anonymous old guy who got replaced at tech company.

I've written lots and been written about enough to drive my numbers to the point that I'm very excited about my web stats.  On Feedburner, I have 1,385 subscribers to my two main blogs.  Just this week, Typepad has recorded over 22,000 visitors to my two main sites, and the numbers seem to be increasing rapidly.

Writing for no monetary compensation has given me something to fall back on whenever I was between jobs.  It's been a great way to get my thoughts sorted out and to find a great support group of people who believe in the intrinsic value of communicating through the web.

I don't pretend to have any great secrets or wisdom to share with the world through my blog.  I do hope that my observations help others enjoy another perspective. Usually it has some pretty neat pictures of the mountains or ocean attached.

Filling in the blanks of knowledge that have been created by our increasingly mobile and fractured society is one of things that I believe blogs do best.  We've become a society where Google is the local authority.  I think blogs to it better if you can find the right one.  The conversations I've had on the web have been good ones that would be hard to duplicate if I were limited to just the people in the this geographic area.

I fill more connected because of my web presence.  That along with absolutely stellar family, friends, and business associates has helped smooth my transition from the dysfunctional world of Apple to a new life where I can't wait to get up every morning and see the sunrise, whether it is over the mountains or the water.

I wish Dr. Guobing had been as lucky.

On another note, this is post 1,001.  I made it over the top.

I recently wrote a post, "Attack of the all in one machines & customer service," about my purchase of a HP C6180 AIO, printer, scanner, copier, and fax.  The past weekend I had a chance to install it and try most of the features.

As is often the case, it turned out not nearly as easy as one might expect.  There were a couple of interesting challenges, one that was HP's fault and one that was likely mine.

The good news, as is often the case in technology, is that I kept working on it until I got everything working.

First off  I actually read the instructions and followed them.  The HP 6180 can be set up wireless on a 802.x network or wired as part of a standard network.  I just to hook it to my newly installed Ethernet network.   

The network has a cable modem hooked to a router with four ports.  One of the ports feeds an Airport Express.  I am running OS X version 10.4.8 on all the Macs.  The first system I attempted to install the software on was my dual G5 which I admit to neglecting by not upgrading it to at one gig of ram.  The first thing I notice is that didn't get very far in the installation before I was presented with was a drop down menu that would only let me select C7100 as the model for my printer.  Obviously that was not a good sign, but I went ahead an installed the software.  Of course when I tried to set up the printer, the HP software couldn't find the printer.  Being the clever Apple guy that I am, I used Bonjour to get the printing working.  Unfortunately when I went to use the scanner, it wouldn't initialize.

At this point I decided to backtract.  I un-installed the software that I had just finished installing and went to HP's website and downloaded the latest software for the 6100 series.  When I started installing I was presented with the correct choice of printer in the pull down menu.  The picture above is a scan of the disk that was in the box.  Unfortunately it appears that the wrong software is on the cd-rom even though the label is right.

Next I tried to install the software on my laptop wirelessly. It never could find the printer so I grabbed an Ethernet connection and the software installed correctly.  I went back to having my laptop on our wireless network and couldn't print.  It took me a while, but I eventually figured out that my Airport Express was distributing IP addresses so I ran Airport Admin and turned off the IP address feature.

So far I really pleased with the quality of the text.  I also have a Brother 5250DN laser on the network for quality printing but I'm not sure I need it.  The text coming out of the HP is much better than indicated in all of the reviews that I read.  Of course it's pretty hard to beat a laser for being really professional.

The photo printer also works well on the HP.  My wife is pleased with that.  Mixed color and text also looks very sharp.  The scanner works well and can scan directly to iPhoto.  I think my dual G5 might get an upgrade to 2 gigs on ram since the HP apps seem to be memory sensitive.  They work well on my MacBook that has 1 gig of ram but not on the dual G5.  I need another connector before I can test the fax, but I have little doubt that it will work.

Technology continues to get better, but there always seems to be a few glitches which require remembering stuff that I would just as soon forget.  My nightmare is one of these days I'll wake up and not be able to do this stuff.

As soon as I can "borrow" my Windows laptop back from my daughter I see how everything works with Windows and Linux.  I did install the Parallels software and Windows XP on my MacBook but I believe it needs to get upgraded to 2 gigs of ram to be really functional, and I need my genuine Windows serial number off the bottom of my Dell laptop to validate the software.

This stuff is never easy.  By the way, I don't see lots of people using the Parallels solution on a regular basis unless they're sophisticated software users.

I recently wrote a post, "Attack of the all in one machines & customer service," about my purchase of a HP C6180 AIO, printer, scanner, copier, and fax.  The past weekend I had a chance to install it and try most of the features.

As is often the case, it turned out not nearly as easy as one might expect.  There were a couple of interesting challenges, one that was HP's fault and one that was likely mine.

The good news, as is often the case in technology, is that I kept working on it until I got everything working.

First off  I actually read the instructions and followed them.  The HP 6180 can be set up wireless on a 802.x network or wired as part of a standard network.  I just to hook it to my newly installed Ethernet network.   

The network has a cable modem hooked to a router with four ports.  One of the ports feeds an Airport Express.  I am running OS X version 10.4.8 on all the Macs.  The first system I attempted to install the software on was my dual G5 which I admit to neglecting by not upgrading it to at one gig of ram.  The first thing I notice is that didn't get very far in the installation before I was presented with was a drop down menu that would only let me select C7100 as the model for my printer.  Obviously that was not a good sign, but I went ahead an installed the software.  Of course when I tried to set up the printer, the HP software couldn't find the printer.  Being the clever Apple guy that I am, I used Bonjour to get the printing working.  Unfortunately when I went to use the scanner, it wouldn't initialize.

At this point I decided to backtract.  I un-installed the software that I had just finished installing and went to HP's website and downloaded the latest software for the 6100 series.  When I started installing I was presented with the correct choice of printer in the pull down menu.  The picture above is a scan of the disk that was in the box.  Unfortunately it appears that the wrong software is on the cd-rom even though the label is right.

Next I tried to install the software on my laptop wirelessly. It never could find the printer so I grabbed an Ethernet connection and the software installed correctly.  I went back to having my laptop on our wireless network and couldn't print.  It took me a while, but I eventually figured out that my Airport Express was distributing IP addresses so I ran Airport Admin and turned off the IP address feature.

So far I really pleased with the quality of the text.  I also have a Brother 5250DN laser on the network for quality printing but I'm not sure I need it.  The text coming out of the HP is much better than indicated in all of the reviews that I read.  Of course it's pretty hard to beat a laser for being really professional.

The photo printer also works well on the HP.  My wife is pleased with that.  Mixed color and text also looks very sharp.  The scanner works well and can scan directly to iPhoto.  I think my dual G5 might get an upgrade to 2 gigs on ram since the HP apps seem to be memory sensitive.  They work well on my MacBook that has 1 gig of ram but not on the dual G5.  I need another connector before I can test the fax, but I have little doubt that it will work.

Technology continues to get better, but there always seems to be a few glitches which require remembering stuff that I would just as soon forget.  My nightmare is one of these days I'll wake up and not be able to do this stuff.

As soon as I can "borrow" my Windows laptop back from my daughter I see how everything works with Windows and Linux.  I did install the Parallels software and Windows XP on my MacBook but I believe it needs to get upgraded to 2 gigs of ram to be really functional, and I need my genuine Windows serial number off the bottom of my Dell laptop to validate the software.

This stuff is never easy.  By the way, I don't see lots of people using the Parallels solution on a regular basis unless they're sophisticated software users.

I recently wrote a post, "Attack of the all in one machines & customer service," about my purchase of a HP C6180 AIO, printer, scanner, copier, and fax.  The past weekend I had a chance to install it and try most of the features.

As is often the case, it turned out not nearly as easy as one might expect.  There were a couple of interesting challenges, one that was HP's fault and one that was likely mine.

The good news, as is often the case in technology, is that I kept working on it until I got everything working.

First off  I actually read the instructions and followed them.  The HP 6180 can be set up wireless on a 802.x network or wired as part of a standard network.  I just to hook it to my newly installed Ethernet network.   

The network has a cable modem hooked to a router with four ports.  One of the ports feeds an Airport Express.  I am running OS X version 10.4.8 on all the Macs.  The first system I attempted to install the software on was my dual G5 which I admit to neglecting by not upgrading it to at one gig of ram.  The first thing I notice is that didn't get very far in the installation before I was presented with was a drop down menu that would only let me select C7100 as the model for my printer.  Obviously that was not a good sign, but I went ahead an installed the software.  Of course when I tried to set up the printer, the HP software couldn't find the printer.  Being the clever Apple guy that I am, I used Bonjour to get the printing working.  Unfortunately when I went to use the scanner, it wouldn't initialize.

At this point I decided to backtract.  I un-installed the software that I had just finished installing and went to HP's website and downloaded the latest software for the 6100 series.  When I started installing I was presented with the correct choice of printer in the pull down menu.  The picture above is a scan of the disk that was in the box.  Unfortunately it appears that the wrong software is on the cd-rom even though the label is right.

Next I tried to install the software on my laptop wirelessly. It never could find the printer so I grabbed an Ethernet connection and the software installed correctly.  I went back to having my laptop on our wireless network and couldn't print.  It took me a while, but I eventually figured out that my Airport Express was distributing IP addresses so I ran Airport Admin and turned off the IP address feature.

So far I really pleased with the quality of the text.  I also have a Brother 5250DN laser on the network for quality printing but I'm not sure I need it.  The text coming out of the HP is much better than indicated in all of the reviews that I read.  Of course it's pretty hard to beat a laser for being really professional.

The photo printer also works well on the HP.  My wife is pleased with that.  Mixed color and text also looks very sharp.  The scanner works well and can scan directly to iPhoto.  I think my dual G5 might get an upgrade to 2 gigs on ram since the HP apps seem to be memory sensitive.  They work well on my MacBook that has 1 gig of ram but not on the dual G5.  I need another connector before I can test the fax, but I have little doubt that it will work.

Technology continues to get better, but there always seems to be a few glitches which require remembering stuff that I would just as soon forget.  My nightmare is one of these days I'll wake up and not be able to do this stuff.

As soon as I can "borrow" my Windows laptop back from my daughter I see how everything works with Windows and Linux.  I did install the Parallels software and Windows XP on my MacBook but I believe it needs to get upgraded to 2 gigs of ram to be really functional, and I need my genuine Windows serial number off the bottom of my Dell laptop to validate the software.

This stuff is never easy.  By the way, I don't see lots of people using the Parallels solution on a regular basis unless they're sophisticated software users.

Living a life without trust would be a huge challenge.  I don't think even the most wired and connected individual can survive without trusting a few real people. 

Still finding a real person to trust is a lot harder now that families are scattered around the world.  I've never thought of trust as a national trend, but Sebastian Mallaby's article, "The Decline Of Trust," in today's  Washington Post makes some interesting points about the decline of trust in today society, in both business and government.

And the absence of trust can feed on itself. Leaders function under stifling oversight; this causes them to perform sluggishly, so trust continues to stagnate. But occasionally there is a chance to escape this trap: A shock causes trust to rise, leaders have a chance to lead and there's an opportunity to boost trust still further.

We've recently had a double opportunity. The boom of the 1990s boosted trust in business; the 2001 terrorist attacks boosted trust in government. But CEOs and politicians abused these gifts with scandals and incompetence. Such is the cost of corporate malfeasance and the Iraq war: Precious social capital is destroyed by leaders' avarice and hubris.

I often found it strange that my former employer, Apple Computer, would bring in high level management people from outside the company and trust their opinion far more than employees who had been working for the company.    I don't know if the  steadily declining trust that Apple showed it employees is mirrored at other companies, but I am sure that the lack of trust hindered productivity in Apple field teams.

Mallaby also talks about the Internet encouraging "acerbic negativity."  On the one hand Mallaby might be right if you let yourself listen to only certain parts of the Internet.

However, I would make the argument that new communication techniques arising from the Internet actually encourage building new webs of trust.  While there are parts of the Internet, like anncoulter.com, that I'll likely avoid, there are lots of other communities where I can find kindred spirits.

As someone who doesn't like large government, but believes that if we are going to have government it should be good government, there aren't any political parties locally where I really feel at home.  Yet through contact established from my Internet presences, I've met a number of people with similar beliefs.

Most of us who regularly post have communities of readers who have self selected to the point that  our audience cares about many of the same things that we do.  I trust  the opinions of many of my regular blog friends more than I do any politician.  I value their opinions as highly as I do some well known pundits.

So while Sebastian Mallaby might be right to indict part of the modern world, there are many on line communities where modern technologies are driving new levels of trust and cooperation.  Besides blogs, you cannot  discount the social changes happening through instant messaging and on line communities.

Technology hasn't created a virtual southern village yet, but I have a confidence in new ways of communicating that will bring us closer together rather than drive us farther apart. 

I don't believe we'll end up a nation of people listening only to their individual iPods or screaming at the rest of the world from our blogs.

Living a life without trust would be a huge challenge.  I don't think even the most wired and connected individual can survive without trusting a few real people. 

Still finding a real person to trust is a lot harder now that families are scattered around the world.  I've never thought of trust as a national trend, but Sebastian Mallaby's article, "The Decline Of Trust," in today's  Washington Post makes some interesting points about the decline of trust in today society, in both business and government.

And the absence of trust can feed on itself. Leaders function under stifling oversight; this causes them to perform sluggishly, so trust continues to stagnate. But occasionally there is a chance to escape this trap: A shock causes trust to rise, leaders have a chance to lead and there's an opportunity to boost trust still further.

We've recently had a double opportunity. The boom of the 1990s boosted trust in business; the 2001 terrorist attacks boosted trust in government. But CEOs and politicians abused these gifts with scandals and incompetence. Such is the cost of corporate malfeasance and the Iraq war: Precious social capital is destroyed by leaders' avarice and hubris.

I often found it strange that my former employer, Apple Computer, would bring in high level management people from outside the company and trust their opinion far more than employees who had been working for the company.    I don't know if the  steadily declining trust that Apple showed it employees is mirrored at other companies, but I am sure that the lack of trust hindered productivity in Apple field teams.

Mallaby also talks about the Internet encouraging "acerbic negativity."  On the one hand Mallaby might be right if you let yourself listen to only certain parts of the Internet.

However, I would make the argument that new communication techniques arising from the Internet actually encourage building new webs of trust.  While there are parts of the Internet, like anncoulter.com, that I'll likely avoid, there are lots of other communities where I can find kindred spirits.

As someone who doesn't like large government, but believes that if we are going to have government it should be good government, there aren't any political parties locally where I really feel at home.  Yet through contact established from my Internet presences, I've met a number of people with similar beliefs.

Most of us who regularly post have communities of readers who have self selected to the point that  our audience cares about many of the same things that we do.  I trust  the opinions of many of my regular blog friends more than I do any politician.  I value their opinions as highly as I do some well known pundits.

So while Sebastian Mallaby might be right to indict part of the modern world, there are many on line communities where modern technologies are driving new levels of trust and cooperation.  Besides blogs, you cannot  discount the social changes happening through instant messaging and on line communities.

Technology hasn't created a virtual southern village yet, but I have a confidence in new ways of communicating that will bring us closer together rather than drive us farther apart. 

I don't believe we'll end up a nation of people listening only to their individual iPods or screaming at the rest of the world from our blogs.

Living a life without trust would be a huge challenge.  I don't think even the most wired and connected individual can survive without trusting a few real people. 

Still finding a real person to trust is a lot harder now that families are scattered around the world.  I've never thought of trust as a national trend, but Sebastian Mallaby's article, "The Decline Of Trust," in today's  Washington Post makes some interesting points about the decline of trust in today society, in both business and government.

And the absence of trust can feed on itself. Leaders function under stifling oversight; this causes them to perform sluggishly, so trust continues to stagnate. But occasionally there is a chance to escape this trap: A shock causes trust to rise, leaders have a chance to lead and there's an opportunity to boost trust still further.

We've recently had a double opportunity. The boom of the 1990s boosted trust in business; the 2001 terrorist attacks boosted trust in government. But CEOs and politicians abused these gifts with scandals and incompetence. Such is the cost of corporate malfeasance and the Iraq war: Precious social capital is destroyed by leaders' avarice and hubris.

I often found it strange that my former employer, Apple Computer, would bring in high level management people from outside the company and trust their opinion far more than employees who had been working for the company.    I don't know if the  steadily declining trust that Apple showed it employees is mirrored at other companies, but I am sure that the lack of trust hindered productivity in Apple field teams.

Mallaby also talks about the Internet encouraging "acerbic negativity."  On the one hand Mallaby might be right if you let yourself listen to only certain parts of the Internet.

However, I would make the argument that new communication techniques arising from the Internet actually encourage building new webs of trust.  While there are parts of the Internet, like anncoulter.com, that I'll likely avoid, there are lots of other communities where I can find kindred spirits.

As someone who doesn't like large government, but believes that if we are going to have government it should be good government, there aren't any political parties locally where I really feel at home.  Yet through contact established from my Internet presences, I've met a number of people with similar beliefs.

Most of us who regularly post have communities of readers who have self selected to the point that  our audience cares about many of the same things that we do.  I trust  the opinions of many of my regular blog friends more than I do any politician.  I value their opinions as highly as I do some well known pundits.

So while Sebastian Mallaby might be right to indict part of the modern world, there are many on line communities where modern technologies are driving new levels of trust and cooperation.  Besides blogs, you cannot  discount the social changes happening through instant messaging and on line communities.

Technology hasn't created a virtual southern village yet, but I have a confidence in new ways of communicating that will bring us closer together rather than drive us farther apart. 

I don't believe we'll end up a nation of people listening only to their individual iPods or screaming at the rest of the world from our blogs.

If you have memories of cool fall days and crisp apples like I do, you're probably like me and always on the hunt for the perfect apple.  When we lived in Canada, there was a wonderful apple that had pink streaks in the flesh.  It was one of my favorites in the fall.

Recently during the winters I've enjoyed New Zealand Pink Ladies.  However, last year I got introduced to Honey Crisp apples.  They're absolutely delicious, very crisp and juicy.

They're one of the more expensive varieties, but in my mind they're worth it.  I would tend to agree with the Seattle Bon Vivant blog.

They are the closest one can get to eating Apple Cider. Refreshing and a bit tart, yet sweet and with a lovely finish.

As far as I'm concerned no other apple that I've tried comes close.  They even have the DrukenBlog produce seal of approval.

If you have memories of cool fall days and crisp apples like I do, you're probably like me and always on the hunt for the perfect apple.  When we lived in Canada, there was a wonderful apple that had pink streaks in the flesh.  It was one of my favorites in the fall.

Recently during the winters I've enjoyed New Zealand Pink Ladies.  However, last year I got introduced to Honey Crisp apples.  They're absolutely delicious, very crisp and juicy.

They're one of the more expensive varieties, but in my mind they're worth it.  I would tend to agree with the Seattle Bon Vivant blog.

They are the closest one can get to eating Apple Cider. Refreshing and a bit tart, yet sweet and with a lovely finish.

As far as I'm concerned no other apple that I've tried comes close.  They even have the DrukenBlog produce seal of approval.