Drew Rattray
| News and views on design vs. functionality balance across the communications and technology space.
May 2009
You are browsing the archive for May 2009.
Racing for a Cause
May 20, 2009
I took Tuesday off this week to take part in a very special charity fundraiser event to support the Special Olympics of Connecticut. 7 friends of mine, 4 of whom where stationed in Iraq last year, and I put together 2 teams to take part in an Endurance Karting challenge. The challenge took place at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut, where 14 teams of 4 drivers raced for 4 hours straight. The only requirement was to have 15 driver changes throughout the race. All proceeds from the team entry fees and anything else we could put together went to supporting the Special Olympics of Connecticut being held at Southern Connecticut State University this year. Thank you to everyone who helped out.
You couldn't have asked for a better day to race, the weather was perfect. The karts in this race are not your average kart. These use a DINO Racing Chassis and are mounted with a torque 10 horsepower 270 cc Honda Engine. Top speeds on these karts reach 50 mph. The race began with a Le Mans start at 1pm, and for the next 4 hours we drove full throttle (mostly), drifting and sliding and screeching around the various hairpin and blind turns around the track. As pathetic as it sounds, I'm still sore and cramped.
We were up against some steep competition (4 out of the 8 of us were rookies), but the main aim of this was to just have fun and support a good cause. There's not much a bunch of rookies can do against a handful of teams of professional drivers. Some of these teams brought helmet communication devices, full racing apparel all the way down to the shoes, personal lap timers that plugged right into the transponders on the karts, and various other pieces of racing equipment that brought this to a whole serious level I hadn't expected. Our teams placed 7 and 12 out of a field of 14.
Standings and lap times can be seen here, and additional photos of the event will be hosted here soon. If you are interested in further supporting the Special Olympics please check out their planned giving website.
You couldn't have asked for a better day to race, the weather was perfect. The karts in this race are not your average kart. These use a DINO Racing Chassis and are mounted with a torque 10 horsepower 270 cc Honda Engine. Top speeds on these karts reach 50 mph. The race began with a Le Mans start at 1pm, and for the next 4 hours we drove full throttle (mostly), drifting and sliding and screeching around the various hairpin and blind turns around the track. As pathetic as it sounds, I'm still sore and cramped.
We were up against some steep competition (4 out of the 8 of us were rookies), but the main aim of this was to just have fun and support a good cause. There's not much a bunch of rookies can do against a handful of teams of professional drivers. Some of these teams brought helmet communication devices, full racing apparel all the way down to the shoes, personal lap timers that plugged right into the transponders on the karts, and various other pieces of racing equipment that brought this to a whole serious level I hadn't expected. Our teams placed 7 and 12 out of a field of 14.
Standings and lap times can be seen here, and additional photos of the event will be hosted here soon. If you are interested in further supporting the Special Olympics please check out their planned giving website.
Time to Abandon the BlackBerry Storm?
May 15, 2009
I've been a strong supporter of the BlackBerry Storm since it's announcement last year, but it may be time for me to cut my loses. I expected a buggy phone with it being the first generation model. But... I also expected RIM and Verizon to fix said bugs with OS updates. The last update for this phone was firmware version 4.7.0.75, back on December 5, of 2008.
Now, it's been announced that the long awaited next official update to OS version 4.7.0.113 was rejected by Verizon. However, Canadian service providers, Bell and Telus, approved and rolled out the update. Apparently it failed Verizon certification testing, but with how buggy my phone is, I can't imagine it could have been worse than what I am running right now. If it's good enough for Canada, it's good enough for me.
Hey Verizon, just give us something. You don't have to get it perfect, infact I doubt you could even if you wanted to. Just start fixing a few things at a time and send us a small update every once in a while. Show us that you're doing something, hell...
Now, it's been announced that the long awaited next official update to OS version 4.7.0.113 was rejected by Verizon. However, Canadian service providers, Bell and Telus, approved and rolled out the update. Apparently it failed Verizon certification testing, but with how buggy my phone is, I can't imagine it could have been worse than what I am running right now. If it's good enough for Canada, it's good enough for me.
Hey Verizon, just give us something. You don't have to get it perfect, infact I doubt you could even if you wanted to. Just start fixing a few things at a time and send us a small update every once in a while. Show us that you're doing something, hell...
Kindle DX: Big Screen, Bigger Price Tag
May 8, 2009
The third version of the Kindle was announced this week, featuring a larger screen and an even larger price tag. The Kindle DX is designed specifically for making newspaper and magazine reading easier and more familiar for the Kindle user. It features a 9.7 in screen versus the 6 in screen on the Kindle 2, but it also costs $130 dollars more with a price tag of $489.
While I've never used one, I'm very interested in the Kindle. I love gadgets, and I love to read. But, there's something comforting about having a paper back that can fit in my back pocket and that I can dog-ear to hell. Then there's that price tag... I couldn't bring myself to buy the Kindle 2 at $359, and now this bigger and better version is being released with an even steeper price.
Now I'm not frugal by any means. I'm one of those dumb consumers that loves his tech. Big, shiny, fast, HD, Wireless? I love it all. I buy the newest, I buy the biggest, and I buy it as soon as I can, way before the reviews come out that would warn me not to. But this Kindle thing I've held back on, because I just feel like it's going to fail. I have no proof, in fact I have quite the opposite.
Kindle sales are up. There are currently 245K books available for the Kindle, and 35% of the sales for those titles are Kindle sales. That's huge. If it does take off, it could save sections of the Publishing world that are currently drowning. The most expensive fixed cost of printing a magazine or newspaper is the paper. Editors and writers come through like there's a revolving door, but that press runs ever day. Entire publishing companies could end up being exclusively Kindle.
The Kindle is an interesting little piece of tech, but I don't see Amazon convincing people like myself to abandon our paperbacks unless that price starts dropping.
While I've never used one, I'm very interested in the Kindle. I love gadgets, and I love to read. But, there's something comforting about having a paper back that can fit in my back pocket and that I can dog-ear to hell. Then there's that price tag... I couldn't bring myself to buy the Kindle 2 at $359, and now this bigger and better version is being released with an even steeper price.
Now I'm not frugal by any means. I'm one of those dumb consumers that loves his tech. Big, shiny, fast, HD, Wireless? I love it all. I buy the newest, I buy the biggest, and I buy it as soon as I can, way before the reviews come out that would warn me not to. But this Kindle thing I've held back on, because I just feel like it's going to fail. I have no proof, in fact I have quite the opposite.
Kindle sales are up. There are currently 245K books available for the Kindle, and 35% of the sales for those titles are Kindle sales. That's huge. If it does take off, it could save sections of the Publishing world that are currently drowning. The most expensive fixed cost of printing a magazine or newspaper is the paper. Editors and writers come through like there's a revolving door, but that press runs ever day. Entire publishing companies could end up being exclusively Kindle.
The Kindle is an interesting little piece of tech, but I don't see Amazon convincing people like myself to abandon our paperbacks unless that price starts dropping.
Twitter Needs Filters
May 1, 2009
I jumped on the Twitter wagon a month or so ago and like almost everyone else in marketing, I used twitterfeed to abusively spam topics of interest across the Twitter interface in an attempt to gain exposure and social prowess in my field of expertise. I've had a change of heart.
While now unethical in my eyes, my strategy worked. I basically set my Twitter on auto pilot. My twitterfeed would pull from 5 or 6 of my favorite rss feeds every hour or so. It would automatically take a recent story and send the title of the article or blog and a link to with a tweet. I also used socialtoo to auto follow anyone that followed me. Both services combined made it actually look like I was involved and was socializing with the the rest of the Twitter world. My followers were increasing at what I thought was a fairly impressive rate.
But then something happened. I actually wanted to socialize with Twitter. I discovered that people like me were just...
While now unethical in my eyes, my strategy worked. I basically set my Twitter on auto pilot. My twitterfeed would pull from 5 or 6 of my favorite rss feeds every hour or so. It would automatically take a recent story and send the title of the article or blog and a link to with a tweet. I also used socialtoo to auto follow anyone that followed me. Both services combined made it actually look like I was involved and was socializing with the the rest of the Twitter world. My followers were increasing at what I thought was a fairly impressive rate.
But then something happened. I actually wanted to socialize with Twitter. I discovered that people like me were just...
