1. Technology bully

I can’t stand when companies take advantage of consumers when it comes to hardware and software.  That’s the biggest reason why I am not an Apple fan and fitbit reached the same level.

fitbit badges with flights

fitbit badges without flights

About a week after my team bought 30 devices, fitbit released their new Ultra device.  In addition to tracking steps, the new Ultra device tracked the number of flights climbed along with a few other bells and whistles.  We all felt somewhat betrayed, but we would got over it.

My frustration spiked when one of my team members explained there is nothing new about the Ultra device.  After a little digging, I found that my public page gave me badges for flights climbed, but on my personal dashboard told me such stats were unavailable.

What do I mean by technology bully?  A company collecting data about you and claiming it is unavailable unless you purchase a new $100 device is a bully.  Nobody likes a bully.

2. Selective responses

In today’s world, you can’t be blatantly selective in your Twitter responses.  Either address them all or ignore them altogether – especially in a conversation.  My Twitter conversation with fitbit is documented below:

Once I found out about the hardware differences in point 1 from above, I said

@fitbit nice hardware - I am on to you

October 4, 2011 10:18 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@drbeagle

Cameron Hall

To which fitbit replied

@drbeagle Cameron! We're more than happy that you are enthusiastic about us! Bring it! #FitbitFriend #AwesomeHardware

October 6, 2011 4:26 pm via AssistlyReplyRetweetFavorite

@fitbit

Fitbit

To clarify, I came back with

@fitbit you know my flights without the ultra. why don't you show it on my dashboard?

October 6, 2011 5:44 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@drbeagle

Cameron Hall

And fitbit came back with… nothing. Maybe I fell off their radar, I get it I’m not that important.

A week later, I encountered a flaw in the TSA process when I walked through security with my fitbit in my pocket.  I casually tweeted

Walked through security with my @fitbit on - no alarm

October 11, 2011 5:40 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@drbeagle

Cameron Hall

To which fitbit quickly replied

@drbeagle Yep! We love doing that too when we travel Cameron, no detection! The frequency is too low. So no harm! #FitbitFriend #FitbitTrave

October 11, 2011 1:30 pm via AssistlyReplyRetweetFavorite

@fitbit

Fitbit

Wait a second.  Fitbit replied to all of my tweets except for the one that I really wanted to know about.  Could you have a normal conversation with a friend and simply not answer when they ask you the hard question?  This isn’t acceptable in the real world and it isn’t acceptable in today’s social media world.*

3. I lost it

fitbit in inner jean pocket

There isn’t much to explain.  My fitbit had survived a 40,000 step day, but it couldn’t handle two bars and Qudoba.  At some point, it became separated from my inner jeans pocket and left my person.  I went back to each of the establishments and nobody had it. So is life.

Needless to say, after points 1, 2, and 3, I no longer support fitbit, their devices, their practices, or Qudoba.  My fitbit certainly made me more aware of my steps and fitness, but I won’t stop walking my dog (literally) because I don’t have it.

*Note that their tweets use Assistly, but as a consumer I don’t care who answers as long as they are consistent.

This is also the first OHWOL tag for my posts.  That means that this post is likely some type of rant or argument that I will form in One Hundred Words Or Less.  And here, we, go.

At career fairs, students should aim to learn specifics about jobs and get their foot in the door while employers screen for interviews. Too often students state their major and ask, “What jobs do you have for me?” [Un]fortunately we have opportunities for nearly every major, but students must be prepared.  Before you talk to employers, visit the company’s careers website (on your smartphone) and learn about their positions.  Whether or not they are hiring specifically for those positions, you will sound more informed. We love working with you rather than for you. Maybe next year will be different.

I am all about getting consumers the best deals, but at what cost? Tracking your each and every move might be a little troubling to the privacy freaks out there, but that’s not even what got be fuming. Groupon, you ruined everything.

By everything I mean my battery, but if you take away my battery, you take away my phone and therefore take away everything.  The Groupon app has some type of serious battery drain issue. From what I can tell, it locks your GPS and will easily consume over 50% of your battery.  Groupon enabled the GPS feature for their latest local deals function.  Essentially, the app finds deals that are close to you, so you don’t have to do the searching. Nice in concept, but what good is it if you can’t turn on your phone.

Yes, I am upset because this caused me and inconvenience, but Google, phone manufacturers, and other apps should be the most upset.  This could drastically chance someone’s perception of the OS, a device, or another app. How often does a user think, oh man that app that has been on my phone for ever is all of a sudden killing my battery?

Congrats on being irresponsible Groupon. Good news is I found a little work around; uninstall the app and check their webpage on a daily basis for the latest deal. Until you, Groupon, fix the problem in 1.7.2 consider this one less app install. If I was a real man I would boycott the service… but the deals are just too good.

(function() {
	var s = jQuery.sub();
	s.fn.extend({
		build: function(a) {
			this.css({'height': a.height, 'width': a.width});
			var c = new google.maps.LatLng(44.6745, -103.8527),
				xl = -181,
				xt = -91,
				nl = 181,
				nt = 91,
				map,
				am = [],
				aw = [];
				mo = {
					zoom: 9,
					center: c,
					mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP
				};
			map = new google.maps.Map(this.get(0), mo);
			$(a.markers).text('');
			$.each(a.json, function(i, r){
				$(a.markers).append('<li><a rel="' + i + '">' + r.name + '</a></li>');
				var m = new google.maps.Marker({
					position: new google.maps.LatLng(r.location.lat, r.location.lng),
					map: map,
					title: r.name
				});
				am[i] = m;
				var iw = new google.maps.InfoWindow({
					content: "<h3>"+ r.name +"</h3><p<"+ r.location.address +"</p>"
				});
				aw[i] = iw;
				google.maps.event.addListener(m, 'click', function() {
					iw.open(map, m);
				});
				xl = (xl > r.location.lng) ? xl : r.location.lng;
				nl = (nl < r.location.lng) ? nl : r.location.lng; 				xt = (xt > r.location.lat) ? xt : r.location.lat;
				nt = (xt < r.location.lat) ? nt : r.location.lat;
			});
			var sw = new google.maps.LatLng(nt,nl),
				ne = new google.maps.LatLng(xt,xl);
			var bn = new google.maps.LatLngBounds(sw, ne);
			map.fitBounds(bn);
			$(a.markers+" a").click(function(){
				var i = $(this).attr("rel");
				for(x=0; x < aw.length; x++){ aw[x].close(); }
				aw[i].open(map, am[i]);
			});
			return this.show();
		},
		alert: function() {
			alert('ahhhh');
			return this.show();
		}
  	});
	jQuery.fn.gmap = function(){
		this.addClass("s");
		return s(this);
	};
})();

This isn’t a final version of the code, but I should be enough for you to tweak as you need.  Happy coding.

Settings

Delicious username

The username whos bookmarks you would like to search.

Funny word

Since Google caches webpages, a “funny word” can be used to reset the cache. If you most recent bookmarks are not showing up, change your funny word.

Font size

Lets you adjust the font size of the resulting links in pixels. It is recommended to use 8px.

Settings

Location

This can be any location that is recognized by Google Maps. A specific address works, but a simple zipcode is recommended. This is required but can be overridden by a specified latitude and longitude setting.

Latitude

You can specify a specific latitude value to create a specific geographic location for the center of the map. This setting is not required and should be left blank if not in use. It is recommended that latitude values are positive (e.g. 42.438) since the weather only displays in the United States. If this setting is used a valid longitude value is also required.

Longitude

You can specify a specific longitude value to create a specific geographic location for the center of the map. This setting is not required and should be left blank if not in use. It is recommended that longitude values are negative (e.g. -36.5) since the weather only displays in the United States. If this setting is used a valid latitude value is also required.

Alpha

The inverse of transparency (i.e. 20 is 80% transparent). Higher values result in more solid colors. Values may range from 0 to 100.

Zoom

The initial magnification of the map. Values may range from 1 to 13 with the former being the entire earth.

Height

The height in pixels of the map. A value around 200 is recommended for an iGoogle page.

Display

The weather layer added to the map. These values include satellite, satellite_radar (i.e. satellite and radar), radar, and others. The first two layers load 10 images for animation, while the last will load 22.

Map

The ground layer loaded for the map. The options are either road or satellite. Road is recommended as it provides better contrast with the weather layer.

Animation

Check this box if you would like to load the map with animation by default. An unchecked box will load the latest image available.

Settings

Font size

Pretty self explanatory, but this will change the size of the description text. Any integer value is acceptable.

Max height

The two constraints to the image size are the width of the container and the defined max height. All integer values are acceptable.

Settings

Font size

Pretty self explanatory, but this will change the size of the description text. Any integer value is acceptable.

Max Height

The two constraints to the image size are the width of the container and the defined max height. All integer values are acceptable.

First, I retired my wiki instance.  It was originally bombarded by spam, so I implemented a CAPTCHA plugin.  It helped cut down the amount of spam on the site, but I was still seeing it on a weekly basis.  Additionally, I was deleting spam more than I was updating the site (once). It was intending for it to be a channel where I could manage my portfolio while also receiving social feedback.  I also wanted to start blogging more and instead of managing two CMS platforms, I decided to migrate what development work I did have in my wiki to my blog.

Second, I consolidated my blogs and abandoned the thought of it ever becoming more social.  I was hoping to manage multiple blogs that would each have their own personality, but specificity lead to complexity and a lack of attention.  I consolidated all my blogs into this single instance and used categories to distinguish them from one another.

Last, I will be updating my main site to better manage my internet presence.  I will slowly migrate content to this blog over time. The goal is to have a more manageable domain that effectively illustrates my brand.

Consider this my hello world.