John Turner

I deactivated my Facebook account today. As long as I don’t log in during the next two weeks, the account will be deleted. At least, that’s what Facebook says will happen. We’ll see. Why did I break up with Facebook? I’m not interested in letting Facebook pimp out my personal information for their gain. Article 1, Article 2, Article 3. Knowing me, Twitter and all of the other sites that a person of the 21st century allegedly can’t do without will follow. I’ll probably keep LinkedIn because I use it for work. Otherwise, I’ll pass. My new title: Social Networking Hermit.

This past semester in my MSIA program pretty much kicked my butt. It felt like I was writing a 10-12 page paper every week. In one of the classes, I spent almost 25 hours on the mid-term (I go online so exams are open book). I am just glad it is over and I don’t start up again for about 5 weeks. Final grades: Intrusion Detection and Intrusion Prevention = B, Cryptography = A. I had the grades in the IDS class, including a 96.25 on the final but got dinged pretty hard for lack of participation. Rats! I will do better next time. 3 classes to go!

Today is the last day of the spring term. I have one more 12-page research paper to turn in today, and then I’m free and clear (school-wise) until the summer term starts in June. However, my motivation level to finish the paper is essentially zero, and the distraction level is maxed out. Ugh.

On the good side, only three more classes to go for Master’s #1. On the bad side, still need 3 classes after that for Master’s #2. I just want to be done with school!!!!

Finally set my laptop’s Time Machine to back up to a FW drive connected to a Mac mini I’m using as a file/print server. Works pretty well, no muss, no fuss.

I don’t normally comment on pop culture tabloid stuff, but the recent ruckus over Jesse James’ alleged 11-month affair with Michelle “Bombshell” McGee is proof that life is stranger than fiction. Here’s a guy that was nobody who works his way to somebody and then basically does better than hitting the lotto by marrying an Oscar-winning actress, and he (allegedly) screws it up by having an affair with an (alleged) white supremacist tattoo model. Surreal. I guess I was right never buying into the West Coast Choppers/Monster Garage hype!!! And now he’s got Betty White pissed off at him…that is not something I would wish on my worst enemy!

If you’re driving, don’t drink. If you’re drinking, don’t drive. Simple.

Just watched the trailer for the movie “Lemmy“. Can’t wait to see it!!

While doing research for my paper due in a couple weeks, I ran across this old web page from Microsoft: The 10 Immutable Laws of Security. It is amazing how many people, even so-called “I.T. professionals”, do not grasp even these simple concepts. Strike that…”amazing”? More like scary, considering that a lot of these folks are responsible for some pretty big and pretty critical systems.

OK, so Apple’s iPad and upcoming foray into eBooks aside, let’s consider the Kindle. I’m an avid reader. I read practically anything, fiction and non-fiction both. I read just for fun…not just for school or for work. I’m also a published author. In short, I love books.

However, there are three reasons I won’t buy a Kindle. Or even any other eBook reader.

Reason #1: I have thousands of dollars invested in printed books. Some I no longer read, others I keep around for nostalgia and glance at occasionally, and others I refer to frequently. There is no way to convert this significant investment in printed books into some sort of eBook format. I feel this is a key flaw in the eBook business model which touts convenience. Sure, it is convenient, but only for books you buy after you buy the reader. For the thousands of dollars you already have invested, tough. What are your options then? Recycling? Sharing or trading? The point of a book is to have access to knowledge. Either you keep the physical copy around so you have it for later, or you get rid of it. If you get rid of it, you “lose” that knowledge.

Reason #2: There’s no option to get a book’s Kindle version later, for a discounted (or even free) price. Let’s say I want to buy a book, but the publisher hasn’t released it for the Kindle yet. No problem…as I pointed out above, if it is a book I want, I have no problem buying the hard copy, reading it, and storing it on my shelf. However, I’d probably be a lot more inclined to buy the book in the first place, especially for those books that are more “that sounds like a good read” vs. “I definitely want to read this” books, if I was offered a future Kindle version for a discounted price or better yet, free. Something like “Not available on Kindle, but buy now for $14.99 and we’ll ship if for free and when it does become available on the Kindle, you’ll get the Kindle version for just $1.99.”

Reason #3: This is more of a deficiency in Amazon’s web site than a problem with the Kindle. I have a fairly sizable wishlist with books as the overwhelming majority of items. Scrolling through my wish list, there’s absolutely no indication whatsoever whether any of the books are available on the Kindle. Why not? If I was looking through my wish list, and saw that 60% of the books were available on the Kindle, I might seriously consider buying one and getting the books that way. Further, there should be options on my wish list, like “Purchase all books from your wish list that are available on Kindle”. It is this type of library management that Amazon is lacking. Something like iTunes gets it, though. I can log in, and iTunes will tell me that X number of songs I purchased earlier are available at a higher bit rate and without DRM, with a “one-click” option to upgrade all of them. I don’t see this at Amazon.

The Kindle is a great idea. It just seems to me that Amazon is seriously missing some opportunities for better marketing tie-ins and web site integration with the product.

Apple announced the iPad today, their version of the tablet computer. It looks awesome. Starting at $499 for 16GB and WiFi only, going up to $849 for 64GB w/ WiFi + 3G cellular support. 10 hour battery life. I think I am in love. I was going to buy a Kindle, but now I won’t. I realize they are apples to oranges, the point is that a Kindle DX is $400 and it is just for books and grayscale. Who wouldn’t spend another $100 to get a computing platform with a full color touch screen? I’ll probably sell my MacBook Pro, too, and buy an iMac. iPad + iMac + smartphone (Android, iPhone, etc) sounds like the perfect mix to me. Heck, get a decent headset and use Skype and you don’t need the smartphone.

You have to wonder what other companies are doing when Apple consistently is first to market with pretty amazing technology. Yes, other companies get some cool stuff out (Archos media players, Nokia tablets) but Apple is the only company that consistenly gets the whole experience out first and integrates it into a person’s life. That’s the key right there…they get the technology out and the user doesn’t worry about it: it just works.