ORACLE-BASE Blog Aggregator » Jake

BYOD Is Absolutely Top-Down

Jake — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:31:00 +0000

I’m glad someone finally pointed this out about the BYOD movement: Who Has Apples at Work? In Many Cases, It’s the Bosses (h/t Between the Lines)

From my long-past days in IT, I remember the added pressure of supporting executives, regardless of what they were carrying.

When it came to support, we jumped, e.g. I once was called to an offsite meeting to work on the COO’s non-standard Thinkpad; we used to support different printer configurations for execs and their admins; certain small laptops (now called ultrabooks) were only for high-level execs, etc.

From what I’ve seen, IT makes no bones about giving better support to execs. After all, these people can get you fired if you refuse to support this or that non-standard device, and similarly, they remember you later as a go-to person, which never hurts.

So yeah, BYOD is driven top-down; IT will sit up and take notice if the CEO is using an iPad exclusively, not only because it might break, but also because, it means every other exec will follow suit very quickly, if only for the cool factor. It might take 1,000 line managers to get the same level of attention.

What have you seen in your BYOD experience?

Find the comments.Possibly Related Posts:

Is Siri a Disappointment?

Jake — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:16:25 +0000

Well, this is interesting: Is it time to say goodbye to Siri?

A few months ago, when I finally upgraded my wife’s OG iPhone, I initially bought the 4, but settled on the 4S because she thought Siri sounded useful and cool. I told her my opinion, basically that voice was a neat feature that no one ever used consistently beyond the first week or so.

I recall telling Anthony (@anthonyslai) the same thing about Android’s voice input feature years ago too.

For a while there, Siri looked like the exception, not the rule. I’ve been eagerly watching hackers do very cool things with Siri, all the while noticing that my wife never uses Siri. When I quizzed her, she said it was good enough, i.e. down a lot, wrong, slow.

Even though Siri is awesome technology and by far the best voice-based interface I’ve seen to date, it’s still not good enough to create new behaviors, at least for her. Now, I’m reading similar stories from other people, purely anecdotal, but still curious.

So, is this your experience with the 4S or what you’ve heard from people who have one?Possibly Related Posts:

Trending, Unplugged Vacations

Jake — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:57:23 +0000

I suspect many people now take workcations, given how common tablets and smartphones are and how easy it has become to do work on the go, and similarly how hard it has become to disconnect from the internets.

One trend I wholeheartedly endorse is the rise of the unplugged getaway, which is tougher (and pricier) than you think.

Have some fun imagining yourself at one of these places: 5 of the World’s Best Unplugged Getaways.

Years ago, I went to a tiny little coral cay off the coast of Australia and experienced this type of disconnection. No TV, phone, internet or even air conditioning in the rooms, which happily made it absolutely imperative to get out and enjoy the beauty of the Great Barrier Reef.

It was liberating and refreshing, and I’d highly recommend it.

Thoughts on forced, but recreational disconnection?Possibly Related Posts:

Hello There LinkedIn, It’s Been a While

Jake — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:44:09 +0000

Attending an enterprisey conference means exchanging and collecting lots of business cards. I usually carry stickers, but somehow they’re not in my laptop bag anymore.

Anyway, one guy I met decided to connect to me on LinkedIn, a brilliant reminder of that professional network that I’ve neglected over the last half decade. I’m really glad he did because I was then reminded that most of the people giving me business cards, also are on LinkedIn.

So, I’ve been building my professional network like a boss.

Interestingly, like Facebook, LinkedIn’s search leaves much to be desired; it’s great if you’re within two hops of the person, but if not, good luck to you.

Google, however, is really good at searching LinkedIn, which tells you a lot about why Twitter decided not to renew their search agreement. On the one hand, you could argue that allowing Google to index your content brings people to your site, makes you relevant, etc. If you go this route, why even have search at all?

On the other, if Google decides to tweak (ahem, socialize) its algorithm, then your results could suffer. Most services offer search, but why does it have to be so bad? I wonder if LinkedIn has hidden some results based on the degrees of separation. They do try to upsell you when you try to connect to people outside your immediate network.

Anyway, search always needs to be better. My LinkedIn profile needs more attention, etc.

Thoughts?Possibly Related Posts:

Where’s the Halo Exactly?

Jake — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:44:38 +0000

Apple’s earnings noted a halo effect, a.k.a. as the iPhone as a gateway drug.

Enterprise iPhone 4S activations spike, highlight Apple’s halo effect | ZDNet

Since its release in 2007, the iPhone has served as the perfect gateway drug to other Apple products in the home. Apple is now seeing this among enterprise buyers too.

I spend a fair amount of time attending enterprisey gatherings, so I get a nice sample of the hardware people rock for work. Years ago, I was among the very small number using a Mac. That has changed, but PCs still dominate these gatherings, by a large margin.

I see a ton of iPhones, like 95%, and iPads are very common too. Macs, not so much though, maybe 10-25% depending on the attendees.

So, if there’s a halo, I’m not seeing much of it.

I also get the sense that very few people BYOD, at least to conferences, e.g. many of the Macs I see have corporate inventory tags on them.

You? Comments?Possibly Related Posts:

SunSpace Moves to WebCenter

Jake — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:10:54 +0000

Over on the WebCenter (@oraclewebcenter) blog, Peter (@peterreiser) has a detailed look at the migration of SunSpace to WebCenter, definitely worth a look if you’re interested in what WebCenter can do.

He even includes pictures of SunSpace communities on Chris’ (@cbales) Spaces iPhone app, which I personally love both as a go-to app and as a case study for WebCenter’s REST APIs, which I’ve been pumping up to user group leaders all week at the IOUC leader summit (@iouc_conference).

Anyway, check out Peter’s post and follow him for updates on the newly-migrated communities and for WebCenter tips and tricks.Possibly Related Posts:

Do More with Oracle WebCenter

Jake — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:09:34 +0000

Last week, our own Christian Finn (@cfinn) gave a webcast called “Do More with Oracle WebCenter,” but if you missed it, don’t fret, Do More with Oracle WebCenter: Expand Beyond Portals – Webcast QPossibly Related Posts:

WebCenter Resources in the Wild

Jake — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:54:23 +0000

Aside from the official WebCenter blog (@oraclewebcenter), Peter’s blog (@peterreiser) and sometimes Matthias’ blog (@mprove), there are a bunch people out there in intertubes land writing about WebCenter.

Here are a few good voices I’ve read recently, along with some that I’ve been reading for a while in no particular order:

Yannick Ongena (@yannick_ongena)
Andrejus Baranovskis (@andrejusb)
WebCenter Architecture Team, a.k.a. the A-Team
John Sim (@JRSim_UIX) and Fishbowl Solutions (@fishbowle20)
Bex Huff (@bex)
Billy Cripe (@billycripe)

So, if you want to learn more about WebCenter, how people use it, tips and tricks, experiences, all that, add these people to your favorite feed reader and to the Twitters, if you’re into that.

Did I miss anyone? Find the comments and educate me.

Update: I’ve promoted John Brunswick‘s (@johnbrunswick) work here before, but yeah, you should read his stuff too.Possibly Related Posts:

In Defense of the Logitech Revue Remote

Jake — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 00:52:13 +0000

Here I am defending the Google TV remote again.

To be clear, I’m talking about the Logitech Revue remote:

The Logitech Revue remote

Not the Sony one:

The Sony Internet TV remote

First off, I have a Logitech Revue, which Google sent me after Google IO 2010. I like the idea of Google TV, and the latest bump to Honeycomb has cleaned up the experience quite a bit. Protip: having Netflix makes Google TV awesome. Google needs to line up more content for Google TV, and I’m more bullish now than I was initially. Still, the device has an uphill journey.

Back to the remote, I read some criticism of the Sony remote coming out of CES, and it reminded me to write this post.

The Logitech remote looks bulky and inconvenient, but believe me when I say it’s awesome. I wish more remotes would follow in its path.

What do I like about:

It’s starkly utilitarian and uncompromising, no bells or whistles or tiny keys.
It’s a full-size keyboard (unlike the Sony remote) so typing is comfortable, and the keys are tactile, not rubber, which I prefer.
It’s easy to learn how to use because it’s a known quantity, a keyboard. Look at your remotes and see how similar they are; you basically have to relearn the major functions for each remote.
It’s wireless so unlike most remotes, there’s not IR line-of-sight limitation, which is a nice feature.
It’s size makes it much harder to lose, a common remote problem. It’s lightweight and thin so you can operate it with one hand, but its dimensions keep it from sinking into the couch.

It’s not just me either. My wife loves this remote too. I was actually shocked when she told me this because generally, she dislikes learning new gadgets.

Logitech got it right with this remote, whereas I’m not so sure about the Sony version.

Anyway, the point here is that utility trumps beauty in everyday devices.

Anyone out there have a Google TV? Care to comment?Possibly Related Posts:

The History of SunSpace

Jake — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 00:19:42 +0000

Peter (@peterreiser), one of my fellow WebCenter evangelists, shares the history of SunSpace, Sun’s internal community/Enterprise 2.0/social site, over on his blog.

Sun was an early social adopter, and SunSpace was/is a very active community. I first met Peter a shortly after the Sun acquisition was announced. As social community managers, we shared tips and tricks, and we talked about adding his Community Equity layer to Connect. That never happened, since Connect has been a side project for several years, but Peter and I kept in touch.

I’m stoked to be working on the same team with Peter now, where we can pool our collective experiences with social in the enterprise and apply our knowledge to WebCenter.

Anyway, check out Peter’s tribute to SunSpace, and stay tuned for updates on how the community is progressing with WebCenter.Possibly Related Posts: