Usher Blogs

The Lights are On...

And Comcast is not home...

In all fairness, since switching to Comcast's triple play, I've been very pleasantly surprised by just how good the offer is.  But that's not what got me to write this.

You see, Comcast arrived - as scheduled - not long ago to hook up the phone, cable, and Internet.  Everything was working smoothly for two days and then BAM, nothing.  This happened one night after a long day at work, so I figured there's something wrong with their network so I went to bed.  Next day, no service.  So I call, and they're helpful and they send someone out to fix the problem the next day.

I knew, just knew what the problem was but had to wait for the new tech to confirm it...seems the cancel order from the last occupant of my house was executed *after* my install order had been executed.  The tech went so far as to explain that he's sat in his truck doing paperwork after an install and seen another Comcast van arrive to promptly snip-snip his work.  The result for the techs is that they get a black mark for a poorly done install and customer support gets an irate phone call.

Come on, this seems like an easy fix, just some pairing in the database.  Of course, nothing is as easy as it seems from the outside but I gotta figure that it costs less to fix than it does to maintain the status quo.

Credit Report

I was paying my Amex bill online (and changing my address, etc....the joys of moving).  Anyway, I was checking the other services I could perform online.  Lo and behold, I could check my credit score, nice service you might expect from my credit card company (who gets saddled with mucho costs should my identity be compromised.)

Anyways, I was very surprised to find out that Amex doesn't provide this free of charge...yes, its a service and it probably costs them money.  But what are the aggregated costs when consumers have their identities stolen.  Shouldn't credit card companies be most interested in educating and training their customers to pay attention to their credit scores and be vigilant against the many threats that surround us?  If so, wouldn't one easy thing (that by the way would improve my brand loyalty immensely) be to offer my credit score free, and perhaps even print it on my statement? 

It certainly would make me trust Amex more and not feel like they're just trying to gouge me for one more service.

Career Move

It is with a mix of sadness and excitement that I write this post. It is not my last post, but it is my last post in my current role. Effective at the close of business today (March 23, 2007) the Usher Group will cease normal business operations, and I am taking a one week vacation.

 

Effective April 2, 2007, I am assuming the role of Sr. Manager Corporate Communications at eBay with resposibility for technology PR. I am not yet clear how, if at all, this will affect my personal blogging, though I suspect not much at all.

 

At any rate, I thought it good to inform my 3 or 4 regular lurkers along with the several thousand of you who keep coming back to look for information on the other Usher (how come no one ever finds me looking for Edgar Allen Poe analysis...not that I have too much to add there except that the Fall of the House is like all of Poe's a rather sordid tale.)

 

I am looking forward to my new role and the challenges and adventures ahead. Until my next post, enjoy the moment.

 

In the future, the best way to reach me will be via personal email: usher(DOT)lieberman(AT)gmail(DOT)com.

Beg Forgiveness or Ask Permission?

I like Microsoft's play here as it perhaps offers insight on how Microsoft will poke at Google over the coming years. 

Microsoft will protect you, Google will expose you.  That's today's message from Microsoft to the American Association of Publishers

In the future I expect Microsoft to assert that by buying their software they will protect your privacy, whereas Google gives away its software in exchange for your privacy, which they resell at a tidy profit.

The ultimate question will be whose story is more credible, because I also like Google's message that by exposing more of your content (at least for publishers) you will actually sell many more legal copies of your protected works.  Seems to be a successful model at iTunes anyway.

I Like DRM

I like DRM

 

I do. As a concept, it works. Given the problems I’ve had with iPods (including the one I smashed – on purpose in anger) and iTunes, you might think I hate DRM. I don’t. 

 

I hate hardware. It breaks, gets lost, is stolen, or becomes obsolete. Sure I like shiny new hardware, but that’s not the point. 

 

DRM obsoletes the worry about buying into hardware platforms that suck while making it easier for all of us to buy new hardware (we don’t have to worry about losing our existing investments in software and content). DRM is a mechanism for individually licensing the limited, hardware-independent, private, non-commercial rights to media content. DRM means that your digital rights can live in the cloud, and the content can live anywhere…on the memory-rich devices you regularly access and as identity-specific IP media streams network accessible when you’re away from your primary hardware.

 

Copyright owners of course make a lot of money by reselling the catalog again and again. Fine, but I’d be willing to pay more upfront for a DRM schema that treats me as a customer, not a potential criminal. 

 

DRM also opens up opportunities for things like an aftermarket for private, non-commercial rights. If I purchased some music and don’t want it any more, I should be able to resell my rights, perhaps auction style. I’d gladly pay an automatically withdrawn royalty from the transaction to the copyright owner, and all of my digital copies of the music would be disabled and/or deleted. Well, maybe major record labels would never go for it, but artists that rely on word-of-mouth marketing might find it an attractive model. 

Usher Get's a Speeding Ticket...

I didn't get a speeding ticket (well, I got one over the summer with my 3 sons in the car which has of course led to countless retellings of the story by my sons and their constant questioning as to how fast I'm going...) but that's not what I'm blogging about.  You see Usher Raymond got a speeding ticket too, to which most of my 3 regular readers will agree with me in saying "who cares?"

Well, judging by the traffic on my blog coming from referring sources such as this, apparently quite a number of people do care.  Of course the page they're landing on is to one of my favorite posts, but I'm pretty sure followers of Usher Raymond could give a hoot about my thoughts on modular, distributed, nervous systems.

Of course, what this post is likely to do is simply raise my traffic for people looking for information on the "Other Usher" and his aforementioned run in with the law.  If you're interested in that story, I recommend looking here.

What About a Plebiscite?

The Iraqi government has proven incapable of providing any semblance of law and order quite probably because their democratically elected leaders cannot or will not make the tough decisions necessary to stop the violence and find a "political solution". 

I'm not a counter-insurgency or civil war expert by any means, but giving American forces a freer hand in battling militias is certainly one viable approach to slowing the carnage.  But as long as we continue to respect the sovereignty and prerogatives of the internationally recognized government in Baghdad, our hands are tied.  Increasing, maintaining, or drawing down our troop level in this context is immaterial to the outcome because they can't act decisively while leaving our soldiers without a sense of mission. 

So, why don't we ask the Iraqi people a simple question in a free and fair plebiscite. 

Do you want American troops to remain in Iraq, and if so are you willing to confer upon them the legitimacy to take whatever actions they deem necessary to restore law and order?  The authority to impose martial law as needed would be renewable every 18 months. 

This wouldn't be like a referendum in the states where hyperbole and innuendo rule the day.  The information campaign describing what American generals truly believe is necessary to restore law and order would be sober and presented dispassionately. 

Moreover, a plebiscite might give Iraqi leaders the political cover (and American protection detail) that allows them to make some really tough and necessary choices, or alternatively provide US with the mandate to come home. 

One [potentially] Giant Leap Forward...

For investor and public relations pros, individual and institutional investors, industry watcher, and others...but it could be a leap back for some of us too.

Jonathan Schwartz is the CEO of Sun Microsystems, who along with his general counsel are certainly bloggers of note.

Jonathan's most recent post entitled "One Small Step for the Blogosphere" reveals a formal letter sent to SEC Commissioner Christopher Cox, which requests a clarification RegFD which currently defines the legal ways in which a public company must make material information available for public access (i.e. ensuring everyone in the public has access to material information at the same time.)

Jonathan's request aims to have corporate blogs recognized as a legal mechanism for  providing "non-exclusionary distribution of the information to the public," something they currently are not.  I have no doubt that this will get a fair hearing and that at some point in the future the SEC will recognize that self-publishing Web sites that are well-established as the voice of a corporation can be considered compliant with RegFD for material information.  I think this is generally a good thing, as a blog can better articulate company vision than a press release, and in a voice that is comparable to a conference call but with better accessibility in many ways. 

It will be interesting to watch how the tool develops at that point and what sort of voice earnings reports end up taking.  It is a looming challenge and terrific opportunity for us corporate communications types.

Kill it, please

The Daily Show's Seat of Heat consistently interrupts interviews with national and world leaders that are honest, funny, and usually more revealing than those appearing in 'serious news'.  Stewart gives great interview, but the Seat of Heat just plain sucks. Please kill it. 

Consultants rake in $1.78B in 2004 cycle - Yahoo! News

Link: Consultants rake in $1.78B in 2004 cycle - Yahoo! News.

...I am appalled.  Not that this kind of money is being spent on politics (we're all grownups here and have known this is the sad reality for too long).  No, I am appalled at the quality of media advice the dems got for $150MM.  Seems that kind of cash just doesn't buy what it used to.