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“December 20, 2007 – PRESS RELEASE: Apple and Think Secret have settled their lawsuit, reaching an agreement that results in a positive solution for both sides. As part of the confidential settlement, no sources were revealed and Think Secret will no longer be published. Nick Ciarelli, Think Secret’s publisher, said “I’m pleased to have reached this amicable settlement, and will now be able to move forward with my college studies and broader journalistic pursuits.”

It is sad in a bitter kind of way. While obviously Apple should protect its trade secrets, the last few years have seen Apple Legal shoot at anything that moves – and, in the process, results like this one are being seen.

Obviously – and demonstrated via other actions as well – Apple, and thus steve jobs, has decided that the same Mac fandom and Evangelism that kept Apple Computers alive during years of bad OS and lousy product lines are no longer of any use to Apple, Inc.

Nor does Apple show more consideration to long time resellers.

I wrote this before, and it is more pertinent now than ever: With the name change came a mentality change as well. Whereas user experience was priority #1 for Apple Computers, Apple Inc has become just another bottomline-focused electronic company, albeit one that usually pays more attention to details and design than the others.

Thus, I strongly believe that any form of Mac zealotry (or anti-Apple obsession, at that) is so “last millennium” as to be entirely irrelevant in this day and age.

Yes, I still believe Apple makes the best and most ergonomic consumer computer platform in the market. But I can hardly show the same interest and passion as I may have had in my Mac Evangelist days. That’s for PRODUCTS. Since I am not a shareholder, my interest for Apple as a commercial venture is at best lukewarm.

In short: I no longer feel any sense of attachment or loyalty to Apple, as I may once have. And I am not alone in this.

The rest of the POSIX universe, the Open Source movement, copyright (and copyleft) – that’s where the brave new frontier lays. Large, closed platform will go the way of the Atari and 8-tracks: Something to remember with melancholia while we’re using the next best thing.

Two done, 154 to go: My commitment is for three years, after that we’ll see.

So far so good. The group as a whole received so flack for high levels of absenteeism (not my problem – I have been assiduous); got involved with a bit of back-and-forth with our WoW playing Microsoft product champion, and apologized for it (Note to self: When a company pays someone to evangelize, expect them to evangelize!); and got addicted to beef and potatoes skins from the cafeteria’s machine. Altogether, entirely acceptable.

Big changes ahead however – early next week, as the rest of this promotion indulges in sales training, I should get my bump upstairs and join the Gov group at last. While this has been fun, and large number of topics did not relate to the specificity of the job for which I have been hired. So now, I go where the metal hits the meat.

Positive side-effects: My high speed walk to get to work in the morning, combined with regular use of the stairs instead of elevators, have led to a modest weight loss. And stronger calves too, I bet. This is good news, my cardiovascular system needs all the reinforcement it can get.

I dunno. Maybe it’s me.

Just tried to explain something that is at the core of how I function to someone I care a great deal about, only to be rebuffed and put down for it. Painful.

Here’s the underlying principle: Time is the great equalizer, the closer of doors.

Before beginning, of your own volition, any important change in your life, you must have a great deal of enthusiasm for the potential this change can bring.

“Of your own volition” means this excludes life changes imposed upon you by external factors. A break-up, illness, death of a close one – all major changes, but not things you would anticipate with any pleasure.

Desire precedes changes. At any given point your life seeks some form of equilibrium, and at least enough to satisfy the basic needs as described by Maslow: At the very least you must have air, sleep, food, water and at least some sense of safety.

Once you get those things, and only then, you can consider achieving higher goals and filling higher needs.

Equilibrium, even in some dysfunctional form, can become quite comfortable, and to risk breaking this nice and known routine implies an attractive payoff at the end.

It’s a risk/reward thing: If you don’t see the reward as worthwhile, there will be no motivation to incur the risk.

Now to more personal implications: For me to take the plunge, break equilibrium and take a chance on a new project, I simply MUST be enthusiastic about that project. And for me to be enthusiastic about a project, I must see all the positive potential it may have, because I am cautious by nature, and what really jumps at me are the pitfalls, the risks.

It’s not being blind, understand – I see both the good and the bad, in potentia. That’s how I evaluate a project at the outset, right? I don’t jump blind, I do my research, I compare notes…

However, what happens is that some facts can only be gathered first hand, and the only way to do that is to be inside. How often have you been real gun-ho on something, only to find out stuff that turns you off later? That happens to me on a regular basis, simply because I also try new stuff and look at new projects on a regular basis as well.

It’s nothing but a normal curve: 50% of all solid looking opportunities turn out below average. Of the remaining half, only a few will turn out to be stars.

The disappointment issue happens when a project that started by looking like a great candidate to stardom goes to the dogs. You’ve taken a calculated risk, paid the cost of taking that chance, and don’t get the payoff.

That’s what I mean by Time being the closer of doors. As you embark on a new venture, the world is yours, and many wonderful possibilities seem open to you., both short term and long term. I let my mind wander and smile at those things that could be, later, if only…

And then Time comes in, and as you gather those facts missing from your original analysis of the situation, those that can only be gathered once inside and those you simply missed, the scope narrows, as some things you saw as possible are no longer available to you.

If you think negatively, then that’s all there is to it, this narrowing of possibilities, this closing of doors, until that wonderful new adventure becomes an other equilibrium anchored in predictable routine.

Meanwhile you are missing on the unexpected new doors that ALSO open along the road.

There are of course situations where you were absolutely, entirely wrong. You made a mistake, misjudged your leap and fell on your face. There is no point in looking at the sky and screaming “Why me?!?” with your fist raised in anger: Dust yourself and get back up. We all make mistakes.

So I was accused of looking to far ahead at those ‘What if…” things, getting enthusiastic about possibilities that may never be realized, and ending up disappointed. This is partially true: I do that, and had my share of let downs after getting girlish-giddy at the start of a new venture.

However, I don’t mope about it: I made mistakes, and hopefully learned from them. In business school they were called KITAs: Kicks In The A… and remain one of the best way to learn and grow. Others call it the School Of Hard Knocks. Graduates will know what I’m talking about.

And I’ve also had my shares of winners. As I said, it’s a normal curve.

What matters here is that if it was not for this enthusiasm for potential, I could not take those chances, and in fact I would probably never get out of bed again. So what kind of life is that? Get a small basement studio and go on welfare until I die?

No thanks.

This is not about the new job, by the way, though I guess it applies. I’d rather think the best until proven wrong, and so far nothing in this career change is proving it wrong, quite the opposite!

So first day of work, and 31 cm of snow swallows the city. Makes me glad to be four subway stops away!

Flashback: My HEC graduation was held at Salle Wilfrid Pelletier of Place Des Arts, full with family and friends. As each graduation was called to the stage by diploma category – Marketing, Finance… – a long procession of students would make it up the ramp to receive their scroll. When my time came, however, they called up the sole representative of the “Individual Option” program. The whole room laughed. I walked up bravely.

Felt the same way here: Of 35 sales rep in the room, I’m the lone guy going to government sales, everyone else going to SMB, Small/Medium Business.

While the training is interesting, since A) few reps have an IT business background and B) as stated above, the framework in which I will operate will be quite different from retail sales, I’d say at best 15% of what was shown was new to me or actually applied to my situation.

Think positive: Since training retention is about 20% of the information presented. I’m 5% ahead of the game!

Many forms to fill. PC mall has us sign as received and read pretty much anything and everything. Few loopholes either, and no way to get out of signing a pretty stringent non-compete agreement. I hate those things on principle, though I do understand the necessity.

One form was for mandatory, binding arbitration of any dispute. This one I didn’t mind all that much, since the scope of term applications is rather limited in Quebec by prior legal decision, all the way to the Supreme Court.

Minor points. Again it’s a matter of expectations: It’s a call center, and looks like a call center. If you expect it to look like a lounge, you’re set for a heartbreak. As well, it’s pretty strictly regimented, and task order for your days are pre-ordained. But they have a method that works, and working that method can make you a whole lot of money, so hey!

It’s a trade off – glamour for hard cash. As my friend Sam, who has more major awards than mantelpiece square footage, says, all that fame and recognition doesn’t put butter on your table. Absolutely right.

Of course the trainers will only tell you about the success stories, since part of the job is to motivate you. But even factoring that, it’s hard not to get enthusiastic about the potential of achieving a 100K/year salary in 3 years…

And if it can be done, I’ll sure try to do it. If I got to wake up in the morning, brave a snowstorm, and work a long hard day, I’ll make sure I make it worth my while. Otherwise – what the heck am I doing there?

Full article: BBC NEWS | Technology | Hackers hijack web search results

Hackers hijack web search results
By Mark Ward © BBC MMVII

A huge campaign to poison web searches and trick people into visiting malicious websites has been thwarted. The booby-trapped websites came up in search results for search terms such as “Christmas gifts” and “hospice”.

Windows users falling for the trick risked having their machine hijacked and personal information plundered. The criminals poisoned search results using thousands of domains set up to convince search index software they were serious sources of information.

The criminals who bought the domains convinced the indexing software used by Google, MSN and Yahoo they were good and popular sources of informationy. They accomplished this using comment spam on blogs to push the pages up the search index rankings.

The booby-trapped websites were thought to be in operation for about 24 hours before Google began stripping them out of its search index. Some of the trapped websites are believed to be still turning up in searches carried out on Yahoo and MSN Live.

This attack was likely to be a harbinger of many more.

Down with paper: A review of the Sony Reader