Addictions come in many flavors: smoking, drinking, drugs, reading, exercising, email, watching tv, news. Yes, I did say reading, exercising, email, watching tv and news can be addictions. There are probably a few others we don’t typically associate with the word “addiction”. I believe doing too much of any one thing is an addiction, if that thing negatively affects you or your surroundings. That’s my opinion. But, we commonly misconstrue the idea of an addiction to be smoking, drinking, drugs, etc. This is related to what I’ve heard people refer to as having life balance. But, regardless, I’m not qualified or smart enough to bore you with the social ramifications of “addiction” and what a true “addiction” is or is not.

Actually, I’m writing to solicit your help in what I consider my most recent addiction: personal measure and monitoring. I’m going to ask for your feedback on tracking tools you use to monitor individual accomplishments or events.

But first, a little background-

Let me say right from the beginning: my latest addiction is focused on tracking myself and not comparing myself to other people. It’s about measuring and monitoring myself and only myself. I’m competitive, but this is not about other people.

I wrote a post a while back about the impossibility of determining if an event, project, task, etc. was successful if there were not pre-determined expectations going in to it. I mean, how do you honestly know if you don’t have a measurement? Sure, on an emotion level, it’s easy to determine if the event was pleasant or not. But, I’m talking about using benchmarks to measure and monitor. This way we can go beyond the emotional level in order to determine success along the way and after the fact.

Besides, you can use this data to grow on the next occasion.

As a participant in communities, groups and teams, we use all kinds of tools to measure and monitor, but I’m curious about what tools people are using to track themselves individually? You know, some people use Quicken or Wesabe to track personal finances. Some people use online logs to track their runs before a marathon. You might track golf rounds, geocache findings or honey hole fishing spots.

With these examples, hopefully you have a reference to what I’m talking about. The following are my paraphernalia for personal measure and monitor:

Measure and Monitor Sleep with Sleeptracker PRO

I’m what you might consider an early riser; 5am most days. I originally purchased the Sleeptracker because of the vibrating alarm. I thought my family would appreciate not having their sleep interrupted from my alarm. It also allows you to set an awake time “window” which I thought sounded pretty cool. (it is) But lately, I’ve been using the Sleeptracker to measure and monitor my sleep. It allows me to easily record data about things that might have affected my sleep the night before: things like temperature, big meal, whether I had a scotch or two, stress, etc. I’m starting to notice patterns which are interesting to me.

Measure and Monitor Tasks with GTD/Vitalist

By now, I imagine you’ve heard of Getting Things Done. GTD. I’ve been a believer and follower for about 2 years now. I started out using Yahoo Notepad with @ in front of folders and then moved to Google Docs. I even tried the Outlook plugin for a bit, but due to a variety of circumstances (reads: I use multiple devices, operating systems, access points and the idea of synchronization doesn’t seem DRY to me), I dropped it pretty quickly.

I tried Remember the Milk, but found Vitalist easier to use for GTD. Also, recently I’ve started to use the Jott Link to record to Vitalist from my mobile phone. Really handy!

Measure and Monitor Heart Rate with Polar

I measure and monitor my heart rate during runs using an old Polar S150. I’m actually looking to improve this initiative though. I purchased the S150 when I ran a marathon a gazillion years ago. At the time, I also used a free, online, ahem, crappy run log. I’d like to be able to use one device to measure and monitor heart rate and distance. This SmartSync Heart Rate Logger with PC Download gizmo seems like a good candidate to try. Anyhow, I benefit from being able to measure and monitor my body using a tool during exercise rather than rely on my mental attitude towards the particular workout.

Measure and Monitor Thoughts with FreeMind

Ok, I’m fairly certain on not being capable of improving my thoughts. Which means, I’m sure to continue to have bad ideas along with the occasional good ones. In any case, mind maps are a beneficial way to organize my thoughts. I’ve been using FreeMind.

Measure and Monitor Music Listening with Last.Fm

Frankly speaking, I don’t have the social network I did in college and high school anymore. At that time, it was easy to find new music due to the amount of exposure. Those days are gone. Gone, but not forgotten! Anyhow, where was I? The Last.fm recommendation engine is fantastic. By monitoring (scrobbling) my listening habits, I am able to receive recommendations for new music. Well done, Last.Fm. Must admit, I had a difficult time switching from Pandora, but I’m glad I did.

Conclusion

The measure and monitor of sleep, tasks, heart rate, thoughts, music are beneficial to me in a variety of ways. In short, it’s a positive thing so far. However, I am trying to be cognizant of what I believe is my latest addiction. Also, just realized I’m probably a dork with this kind of addiction. Not the first time! Anyhow, help me go a bit further? What tools are you using for personal measure and monitor?

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Err, that’s not how it’s suppose to go. As far as I remember, it’s suppose to be “show me who your friends are and I’ll show you who you are”. At least, that’s what I’ve always heard. But, back to the point - hopefully, you have heard this saying (or something similar) in the past. The concept or premise remains the same: I can assume things about you based on the company you keep.

Background

As we experiment and grow with social networking applications, there will be attempts to make personalized recommendations based on the tastes and experiences of people in one’s network. For example, if 5 people in my world have recommended the book Atlas Shrugged, the application would recommend I might enjoy it as well. (By the way, I do recommend it).

It’s important to note this recommendation is different than the “people who purchased this book also purchased a,b,c” cross sell recommendations (aka: collaborative filtering) that are prevalent in e-commerce sites.

In this case, recommendations based on your network, the recommendation is more personal, carries more credibility and might be more accurate.

Implementation

The code would need the ability to gather and process hobbies, interests, travel experience, likes/dislikes from people in your network. The recommended book example has already been provided. But, this could be taken much, much further. The application could make recommendations on what classes you might enjoy, movies, tv shows, vacation ideas, groups you might be interested in joining and so on.

The application could also pull tastes and experience from people (people to be determined similar) outside your network as well. In this case, the application might be add-on or augmentation to existing collaborative filtering solutions.

Privacy

Help me out here? I’m thinking the data gathering could be done in a way that still protects privacy. Or am I missing something?

Focus

* Company marketing and branding efforts could enhance their community development initiatives by developing specific applications for recommended ways to use their product, add-ons or partner products and services. And still, the application could gather from a variety of social networking applications. Am I thinking of a widget here? Is this the kind of application that fits into Open Social?

* Affiliate. Build it ourselves and recommendations lead to affiliate commissions.

Conclusion

After 13 years of coding, developing and hearing startup ideas, I don’t place much emphasis on my application ideas. I do respect when others want their ideas to be kept secret. But, for my ideas, I place emphasis on whether it can implemented and executed rather than the idea itself. Furthermore, this isn’t a game changing idea. I imagine there are plenty of people working this kind of product. In fact, Chris Anderson of The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More, doesn’t seem to care for the idea.

I learn from everyone I meet. Let me know what you think? Who is working on something like this? Or, should we build it? Or build a few of them?

Final Thought

Show me who your friends are and I’ll show you recommendations. I guess your recommendations for books, music, activities, etc. might be enlightening because they are being made to you based on the people in your network. It might be interesting in a stare-at-your-own-navel-kind-of-way. Will these recommendations further show you who you are based on who your friends are? Or, who cares, as long as the recommendations are worthwhile?

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Don’t you find it impossible to determine if something was a success or failure if you have no expectations going into it? Sure, it’s easy to determine if the emotional experience was pleasant or uncomfortable, but I’m talking about something beyond the emotional level. How do you know if something was successful or not? I think it has to do with what your expectations were going into the process.

After 13 years in web development, I still see client expectations vary greatly when it comes to outsourcing website design, development and hosting. It makes we wonder what kind of experiences they’ve had in the past that have influenced their expectations today.

It’s 2007 and here are 3 things you should expect if you are building or upgrading a 1-25 page website:

1) Professional, Clean Design

It doesn’t matter if you are doing it yourself or hiring a freelancer or engaging the trendiest ad agency. You should expect to see a few rounds of composites (aka: “comps”) of the design. This can be thought of as screenshots of the website. No functionality is in place, just a preview of what the site will look like once programmed. Comps give you chance to pick which look-and-feel you like the best and facilitates communication for the next round of revisions.

Cost: Good design is something that can be offshored for $500-$1,500

2) Hosting with Functionality Tools

Next thing to expect is choosing a company to provide monthly hosting of your website. In other words, an entity who manages and procures the computers and infrastructure that serves www.yourcompany.com. In addition, the monthly hosting should include tools/applications designed for a non-technical person. I’m talking tools beyond email. Simple, easy to use tools to make content changes (aka content management system or cms), manage calendars or events, process contact forms, sell or display products, blog, manage mailing lists, provide a support knowledge base, etc.

The types of functionality tools you need will be particular to your industry.

With the plethora of open source applications available, you should expect a hosting company to provide these tools as part of their monthly hosting charge to you. The hosting company should be knowledgeable in the tools they provide.

Cost: With quality hosting infrastructure and open source tool knowledge, you should expect to pay $75 to $250/month.

3) Fantabulous Support

You should expect responsive, competent, non-technobable support from the company you choose to design and host your website. This is the area where companies can really distance themselves from competition. Expect the company you choose to be aware that another company will be thrilled to provide good service to you.

See point 2 for cost. The cost of fantabulous support should be included in monthly hosting fee.

Conclusion

Expect 1) Great Design 2) Solid Hosting with functionality tools the layman can use and 3) Fantabulous support.

If your expectations are not being currently met or you are interested in learning more about these 3 points, contact this company.

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Like many gaijin living in Japan, I earned some money as a conversational English tutor. Granted this was over 10 years ago, but have times have changed that much? I imagine people trying to learn English still wish to practice with a native speaker. And although my language studies are more in the realm of computers now, I certainly would the appreciate the opportunity to speak with a native speaker when learning a new language… and I’d pay for it.

Well, I believe we now have the technology where anyone can become a language tutor or student while being anywhere in the world. Take your pick - start a new line of business as a foreign language teacher or improve your language skills by connecting with a native speaker from the comfort of your own home.

Skype has just a released a new service call Skype Prime. It facilitates the invoicing of time when receiving calls over Skype. So, when someone contacts you to speak with a native speaker (English in this example), everything is taken care of for you.

From the Skype website:

With Skype Prime™ Beta you can share your skills by setting yourself up as a call provider offering services to other Skype users - and earn money in the process. You can use it to offer all sorts of advice, from teaching others about the rules of football to giving a one-to-one cookery class over a video call.

Ok, it probably seems obvious now - teaching foreign languages would be ideal application of this technology.

If you are interested in pursuing this idea further or have any questions, feel free to contact me

The logo below will take you to the Skype Website:

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Everyday there are opportunities to learn. These opportunities might active- read a book, research a problem, watch a documentary, study a foreign language. Learning experiences might be passive as well; in other words something unexpected produces a valuable lesson. I’ve been reflecting on the Game of Risk recently and 3 things it has passively taught me.

First, a brief history of Risk an overview on how to play from Wikipedia:

Risk is a commercial strategic board game, produced by Parker Brothers (now a division of Hasbro). It was invented in the early 1950s by French movie director Albert Lamorisse. It was originally released in 1957, as La Conquête du Monde (The Conquest of the World), in France.

How to Play
Risk is a turn-based game for two to six players, and is played on a board depicting a stylized Napoleonic-era political map of the Earth, divided into forty-two territories, which are grouped into six continents. Players control armies, with which they attempt to capture territories from other players. The goal of the game is to control all the territories—or “conquer the world”—through the elimination of the other players. Using area movement, Risk ignores realistic limitations, such as the vast size of the world, and the logistics of long campaigns. Compared to other military board games, Risk is relatively simple and abstract.

3 Life Lessons the game has taught me:

1) If I don’t take any chances or worry about what other people think, I’m not going to acquire or learn any thing significant. In the game of Risk, significance means countries, continents and cards. Similarly, if I do not take chances in Life, I will not experience things that make me a better, stronger, more well rounded person.

2) If I stretch myself too thin across many borders, it’s nearly impossible to defend and I will most likely loose the game. In Life, I’ve learned focusing on too many things usually leads to all things suffering. I try focus and excel at a few things at time in business and personal life.

3) There are things in the game that you cannot control, which dramatically affect the outcome. These things include: the cards you’re dealt, the role of the die and being caught in the middle of a battle between 2 other players. The parallel to Life is obvious- there are many things outside of my control and I must try to let go of these things. Although, I must admit… it’s difficult.

There are tens of thousands ways to learn today. These learning activities might active or passive. By paying attention to passive opportunities: you might just pick up some valuable lessons - even from a board game.

In case you are interested in some active learning, here are links to Risk Game and great products for learning a foreign language:

Risk Board Game

Learn a Foreign Language - Rosetta Stone

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If you are in or near the Twin Cities, Minnesota on Nov 25th, 2006 the USA National Bandy team is playing the Canadian National Team on the John Rose Oval. It starts at 4pm and is family friendly. I think it is free - more info here- http://www.usabandy.com.

Bandy (Bandy Wikipedia Link) reminds me of a combination of soccer and ice hockey.

“The OVAL is the largest refrigerated sheet of ice in the world … there is 110,000 square feet of ice at the OVAL“.

I’ve just started to play bandy and am having a blast. It’s a fun, fast sport and the Oval is such a wonderful and unique outdoor rink. If you are in the area, I highly recommend stopping out at the Oval this weekend.

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