Display Industry's Squandered Opportunity

I just got an ad from Amazon for monitors, but I didn't look at any of them because I was pretty sure they were all 1080p monitors. This infuriates me because the display industry has wasted an opportunity in the name of standardization. What opportunity was wasted? We should have had higher resolutions 5 years ago.

In 1995 when I bought my first computer it took me an extra paycheck to get a 15" monitor instead of the standard 14" that everyone else was buying. It was a pretty big deal because the 15" had a resolution of 1024x768 whereas the 14" was limited to 800x600.

Since that time I have been upgrading my monitor to bigger screens and higher resolutions, because I knew that screen real estate was key to productivity. If I had money to spend on upgrading equipment, the first thing I looked at was the monitor or video card.

By 1999 I was using two monitors, a 19" and a 21", both with a resolution of 1280x1024 and they were both CRTs so they took up a lot of space on my desk. It was only a few months ago when I gave up my second monitor so my son could have one, that I have had a single monitor on my desk.
Around 2000 my office started upgrading to flat panels. This was about the time that HDTV started getting mentioned in the BestBuy ads. We got 20" flat panels that had great resolution, 1600x1200. I was in heaven. My next job was the same. Bigger flat panels and more pixels.

Then the wide screens started showing up and the race for more pixels pretty much stopped. The display makers figured out that not only would consumers settle for 1920x1080 (or 1080p), but they would also think that they were getting a good deal because the television makers were telling them that resolution was the best.

Then Apple came along with their 30" Cinema display. The resolution was at 2560x1600 and it was beautiful. Dell followed with their own 30" but that resolution never made it down to smaller screens. Apple would eventually release a 27" 2560x1440 screen for their iMac line, but that was as far as the industry would go.

The race for more pixels died. All of the display makers were happy with 1080p and Apple happily had the top end to themselves. The normal progression was for the resolution to be compacted to fit into smaller and smaller screens and then the bigger screens would start to have more resolution. Our video cards are faster than ever, and yet 2560x1600 is the best that you can buy for $1000.

The next 1080p will be called 4k (4096x2160). 4k displays should have been available 5 years ago. Everyone should be sporting a 4k monitor on their desk right now, but the television makers made it easy for all the monitor makers to stop at 1080p. Instead of more pixels the screen the industry got side tracked on 3D. Consumers got conned into thinking 1080p was the best. You can get 1080p on a 4" cell phone now, but good luck finding more resolution for your desktop at a good price.

Now things are about to change. There are two players who are going to bring 4k onto the desktop.
The first is a little company named Seiki. It is offering 4k televisions for low prices. I wanted to buy a 39" 4k to use as a monitor since it was only $699. (Buy it from Amazon here: Seiki Digital SE39UY04 39-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz LED TV Full disclosure, that is an affiliate link). Forget watching TV, I want more room for my computing. The Seiki has a resolution of 3840x2160 which is more screen real estate than ever before.

The second company is Apple. Apple will lead the rest of the industry into 4k. They dropped a hint during the announcement of the MacPro. That hint can be seen in the product information for the MacPro. What is this hint? The MacPro will support up to 3 (three!!) 4K monitors. None of the press mentioned the monitors. When Apple announces the release of the MacPro I am betting there will be a new Retina Display to go with it. That Retina Display will be a 4k display that will look fantastic when powered by the new MacPro. Dell and all of the display companies will hurry to make a similar device. They will be playing catchup yet again.

I don't know why the industry doesn't move forward. I don't know why it waits on Apple. Any of the display companies could release a 4k monitor tomorrow and rake in the cash. Gamers, movie makers, photographers and programmers will all buy. I say, restart the pixel races. In the mean time, I am waiting on the Retina Displays.

Restaurant Alternative

I went to dinner with some friends tonight. Then somehow got hijacked into going to Karaoke night. My friend that was singing was pretty good. But some of the other drunks getting up there were just ruining good music. But that isn't what this post is about. I want a place to hang out and talk with my friends. A place that is loud enough that people can't overhear our conversation but quiet enough that I don't have to yell to be heard or strain to hear my friend sitting across the table from me. I want to be able to drink and eat while not feeling like I am being rushed out of the restaurant. But that is the problem, most restaurants want you to get out as quickly as possible because they aren't making as much money if you are just sitting there. Theoretically, the longer you are there the more you are going to purchase but there gets to be a time where the beers slow down, the food has been consumed, and I just want to sit and chat with my friends. I want a restaurant that charges me for using the space. Let's say $4 per person every 15 minutes. Coffee, Tea and Soda are free. If you order food a multiplier is added for the next 15 minutes. Appetizers are x2.5. Burgers and sandwiches are x2.5. Entres range from x4 to x10. Sides are just x2. The multipliers are additive. Booze is sold the normal way. The goal of this structure is to slow down the meal. Sure, the restaurant would make more money by pushing out more food, but they are still making a nice profit if you are just sitting there consuming soda. This may actually be one of the dumbest ideas I have ever come up with, but if you think you can make it work, let me know. I am interested.

Google + Hardware = Not a Bad Idea

Google didn't buy just a phone company. They bought a hardware company whose best known for phones. Google bought a hardware company. Why would Google buy a hardware company?

So much of Google's software business depends on hardware. All of their search engine software sits on hardware. Those servers can now be looked at by a team of engineers. And let's not forget all of the forward looking hardware. Self-driving cars require hardware. Hardware components that need to be miniaturized.

What other projects might those crazy engineers want to launch that requires hardware? Only time will tell. While everyone is worried about Google screwing over their phone partners, I am betting they are working on something else entirely.

Why all the hate for Google Motorola merger?

Is it just me or is the media really pouring sour grapes on the Google Motorola deal? I have seen more negative speculation/news on this purchase than most other deals. Is it just that it is a high profile/stakes play? I mean I understand why the Apple and Microsoft lovers would not be fans of the deal, but really? Do we need an article on the 5 ways the deal could go bad? Or speculation that while the other handset makers are saying they support the deal, in reality they are all suspicious? Because Microsoft is going to be a better partner? More secure platform? More profitable? Lower cost? Easier to customize for your customers?

When Nokia and Microsoft signed their deal most of the media thought the Nokia/Microsoft deal was a desperation move on Nokia's part and cast shadows of doubt on whether or not Microsoft had a viable platform. However when Google buys Motorola to protect themselves from litigation suddenly Microsoft's platform is somehow better? Give me a break.

Why chase the dream?

I have been having a conversation with a good friend about future plans. He is a couple of years ahead of me in experience and dropped some insight that challenged me to answer a question: Why chase the dream of owning your own business?

Growing up I was exposed to the entrepreneurial spirit. My grandfather started his own business while working full time. He ended up passing the business on to my uncle. Was it as big or profitable as the consulting company I work for? Not by a far stretch, but it employed 30-40 people each year and was a good place to work. More importantly though the business was a legacy to me and my family.

As a family we were proud of the business. We were proud of my grandfather and what he had built. My uncle took it to a new level when he took over and we were proud of that too. Pride in accomplishment of the family is what we had. I miss that feeling and that is what I am looking to achieve. I have been on this search for a while without knowing what it was that I was looking for. I knew I was looking to build something that I could call mine, but I didn't know why.

Why are you chasing your dream?

Product Development Lesson: Abigail's Purse

A little over a year ago I sat with my daughter after dinner one night and we chatted about entrepreneurship. She was 13 going on 14 but she understood the concept and started to run with it. We talked about what would be a good product. She was going through a very crafty phase. Not crafty as in mischievous, but crafty as in she was painting, building origami, and making artsy things. She enjoyed it and I suggested we should find one of those craft projects that other people might like and turn it into something people would like to buy. We decided one particular project had promise. The craft project was a handbag woven with plastic strips.

She got to work trying to change a craft project into a product. The first discussion was the materials. I told her we were never going to be able to find plastic strips, but we looked on the internet anyway. Nothing was available. I thought we would have to have the strips made for us specifically. So we started talking about alternatives to plastic strips. She came up with using ribbon instead. I liked it because I thought it would make the purse soft and warm vs the cold hard plastic. So we made a trip to Michael's and purchased a ton of ribbon. Problem number two, we had to find a better supplier of ribbon, Michael's was expensive.

She started making the purse out of ribbon and quickly found the next problem. Ribbon doesn't stand up like plastic does. Being the trooper that she is, she tried to make that work as hard as she could. Finally she mentioned that she was having a problem. She needed some kind of support system to allow her to weave. We spent a week or two thinking about this problem and talking about solutions. We tried a couple and failed and some how ended up ruining the ribbon.

This time we went to Joanne's for the ribbon. Who knew ribbon would be so expensive. We got a couple of blocks of styrofoam from Michael to serve as the support system. We cut the styrofoam to the size of the purse, wrapped it in plastic wrap and off Abigail went to build another purse.

This time it was a success. We talked about the fit and finish, it needed a liner, and some kind of tough base. What we ended up with was the purse you see above. I thought it was pretty awesome. She started using it to carry all of her dance gear. And then we stopped working on the purse.

Yesterday we were walking through Wal-Mart and we saw rows and rows of woven bags. A year has gone by since we started working on the purse. But the first thing Abigail said to me when she saw the purses, "They found the plastic strips." The bags are bigger. They are for going to the beach. They are rugged and cold. And they are $7. Each of Abigail's purses were in the $30 range just in ribbon.

The night before the trip to Wal-Mart Abigail mentioned she was ready to do the purses again. That night I searched for ribbon again and I purchased a ton of ribbon that I had found very cheap, 1/40th the cost of Michael's and Joanne's. The ribbon will show up some time soon, and we will make a couple more purses. Hopefully someone on eBay will find them as wonderful as we do and pay a decent price for them.

Lessons:
* Someone always has the same idea
* Get your product out as quickly as you can
* Keep searching for lower cost materials (without sacrificing quality of course)

Skinny User Stories, Fat Unit Tests

One of my colleagues is continuously trying to improve the processes on his project. It is a large enterprisey project with requirements people, testers and a few developers. My friend places high value on knowing exactly what needs to be done and therefor has strived in the past to have very detailed user stories that includes expected behavior and constraints as well as test criteria. He and I had a conversation that restarted his consideration of the user stories. He likes that they are defining the "truth" in only two places, the user story and the code.

While you are defining the truth in two places, I would say that only one of those places has any long term value. The code. As soon as the sprint is completed, your requirements, especially if they live in a tool like Rally, only exist for the sprint where the code is written. After that sprint, it is doubtful that documentation will ever be read again. This is why specs should be light weight. They are only used for a moment in time. Any time that you begin talking about the specs again, you will have to repeat yourself because invariably one person in the conversation will not have a full understanding of the requirements and you won't have the time to send them the requirements to read. Now is a developer going to go through Rally, or any other tool for that matter, to read the requirements for code? No.

The best place to store requirements is in the Unit Tests. Theoretically, you hope to only have one truth, and that one truth has to be the Unit Tests. Every other type of spec is disposable or maybe a better word is perishable. The specs will go away. The contract will go away. The shall statements will go away. The tasks in Rally or JIRA will go away, but the tests will always remain. "Why does this code do
this?" Should always be answered by "look at the test." This doesn't mean leave comments in the test, it means make the test methods the spec.

I've never really been able to put a finger on why I am so against requirements. It seems irrational and crazy. But I think I understand it better now. I have known subconsciously that the requirements are perishable. That they change. They change as soon as you put it in front of someone and show them how it works. The requirements are never absolutely correct. And if they are right, have you put to much time into managing them?

Lessons Learned:
* Requirements are perishable, their shelf life is the length of a sprint.
* Tests are the ultimate "truth" of the requirements of a system.

Getting Creative

My son and I were having a conversation about some of his writing the other day. I told him that he needed to be more creative in his writing, and one of the best ways to do that is to give yourself constraints. Here is a great article about why constraints are a great way to get creative:

Next, creativity is all about connecting things. It is about knowing x and knowing y and then figuring out that if you put x and y together you will have something awesome. Often x and y are completely unrelated, but just knowing them helps. That means you have to start to learn lots of x's and y's. And they don't really need to be anything in particular, just... learn.

Open your mind to consuming information. And practice. Then put yourself in a position to create something and then CREATE! And do it by giving yourself constraints and using things that you already know.

VMA + Twitter = New Day for Marketing

I believe that the scandal that Kanye created with Taylor Swift was staged by Mtv. I would guess that Kanye and Mtv were in on it at a minimum, but it is possible that all four (Mtv, Beyonce, Taylor and Kanye) were all in on it, but I doubt it. The Rhapsody commercial that followed ("this is Taylor Swift's time") immediately following the incident seemed a little like an apology.

But the change for marketing came at the end when Mtv showed that they were *measuring* the Twitter traffic and pointed out that the traffic really jumped when Kanye did his thing. Mtv just proved to the rest of the world that if something big enough happens a measurable amount of
chatter will be generated. Granted, few people will get the level of traffic that Mtv generated, but I don't think that makes it any less important for businesses of all sizes.

Ad Space

I needed a synonym today so I decided to hit up my favorite synonym site: thesaurus.com. I did the search and the result came back and I found a word to replace the one I had. But I had difficulty finding the answer on the page.

The grayed out portions of the image are all ads or whitespace. 78% of the screen is taken up by ads! I didn't even count the popup blocker at the top of the page which was blocking another ad. Some may point out that the content on the left is actually navigation to other words, but these lead to dictionary.com and all cause a popup ad. It is a gray area (pun intended) but I counted it. It constitutes about 15% of the screen so if you want to give it to the content side of the equation you are still talking about 63% in ad space. Worse still is that they break up the useful parts of the page with a huge ad. That little sliver that tells you what you searched for and the actual answer that brought you to the site is separated by an ad that interupts your flow and makes it difficult to actually find the information you are looking for. Making it hard to find the value on your page isn't a good thing.

Having 78% of the screen taken by ads is the equivalent of a one hour television show having 45 minutes of commercials. Google has succeeded as a search engine and done so well as a business because they don't take up that much space with their ads, they don't blink and they are actually relevant. This argument seems late to the game, but obviously service providers are not understanding. Please, if you are going to put ads on your page, make them relevant, give me easy access to your content (which is where the REAL value lies) and don't flash things at your users.