DITCHWALK

A Road Less Traveled

Topics / Books / Docs

About / Archive / Contact

Copyright © 2002-2023 Mark Barrett 

Home > Archives for ~ Tangents > Non Sequiturs

Google is the New Microsoft

May 14, 2015 By Mark Leave a Comment

Two days ago I went to log into Gmail and found that the login screen I had been using for, what — an entire decade? — was suddenly behaving differently. Now, as a longtime web user I’ve been taught that any time something seems phishy I should make sure that what I’m seeing is actually what it purports to be. That is in fact the lesson all large web companies preach — be vigilant!

The problem, of course, is that the level of criminal sophistication perpetrating such deceptions keeps growing, to the point that almost anything seems possible. How do I know that someone hasn’t figured out a way to show me the appropriate URL, then redirect my traffic or keystrokes to a hostile server? I mean, I’m a reasonably sophisticated web user, but that only means I’m that much more aware of what I don’t know.

As it turns out, the change to my Gmail login ritual was not only initiated by Google, it was rolled out on the sly without, ironically, so much as an email that a change was coming. Meaning I had to get on the internet to find out that other users around the country and around the world were being confronted by that same autocratic change before I knew it was safe to log into my Gmail account.

Somewhere in the high-tech bowels of Google a group of very highly paid people got together and decided that they would roll out a new login scheme which requires twice as many clicks as the old scheme, that they would do so without giving notice to anyone who used that scheme, and that they would give no reason for doing so. That is exactly how the world ended up with Windows 8, and a whole host of other Microsoft initiatives to win market share and own technology spaces in complete disregard for its customers.

I suspect that the Gmail change has something to do with Google’s recognition that the world is going mobile, but the real story here is the contempt with which Google views its users. That is in fact the signature moment in any tech company’s life cycle — the one where current users are considered to be, at best, nothing more that a population to be exploited, and at worst, a hindrance to corporate goals that have completely diverged from the products and services being offered and utilized.

In terms of righteous indignation this barely qualifies as a 2, so I’m not suggesting anyone leave Gmail, but simply that you take a step back and get your mind around the contempt that any company would have to have in order to suddenly change the portal to your email account. Because those are the same people who have said they are not reading your hosted emails, or personally identifying your web traffic, or doing anything else you wouldn’t want them to do because they promised they wouldn’t be evil.

Update: It occurred to me last night that the new Gmail requirement that users click on two separate screens in order to log in, instead of only one as before, may have been initiated as a means of encouraging people to stay logged in all the time. While presenting as an initial annoyance, once users gave in and complied it would strengthen Google’s brand association with email products and the user’s reliance on same, preventing people from migrating to other platforms for chat and video, etc. The downside, obviously, is that it would actually make Gmail accounts significantly less secure if an always-logged-in device fell into the wrong hands.

— Mark Barrett

Filed Under: Non Sequiturs Tagged With: Google

The Ditchwalk Indignation Scale

March 19, 2015 By Mark 3 Comments

Following up on the previous post, about how 90% of the internet is righteous indignation and ridicule, I thought it might be useful to provide some context. While ridicule is of course childish in all instances, there are times when righteous indignation is warranted. Unfortunately, those times are few and far between when compared with the perpetual tide of indignation surging across the internet.

Not everything is worthy of true indignation, though it is admittedly easy to get lost in an argument and forget that what you’re talking about is meaningless. So next time you think you may have lost your bearings, or you’re not sure if flaming someone for their opinion about an espresso machine is appropriate, take a deep breath and consult the Ditchwalk Indignation Scale:

Practically speaking, the benefit of the Ditchwalk Indignation Scale is to remind us all that when we’re arguing about a 1 — which is pretty much all we ever argue about — we’re arguing about a 1. In fact, you can even use that point to express your righteous indignation. For example: “I’m sorry, but I have more important things to do with my time than argue about a 1.” At which point the other person may slug, you, allowing you to continue your discussion on a more substantive basis.

— Mark Barrett

Filed Under: Ditchwalk.com, Non Sequiturs Tagged With: scale, social networks

The Best Blog Post Ever

July 6, 2014 By Mark Leave a Comment

This is the best blog post ever. Now you know.

You now also know how keywords work. And don’t work.

— Mark Barrett

Filed Under: Ditchwalk.com, Non Sequiturs Tagged With: blogs

Amazon Catches Fire

June 18, 2014 By Mark 1 Comment

While the world’s landfills can always use more toxic waste, Amazon’s introduction of the Fire phone strikes me as particularly problematic for people in airplanes, airports, hospitals, restaurants, foxholes, firing squads, artillery batteries and crowded theaters.

It wouldn’t surprise me if someone gets tossed off a plane for saying the wrong word at the wrong time. I would also like to believe that Amazon simply didn’t game out the possible implications beforehand, but given the amount of free publicity such an incident would generate I think it’s more likely that they did. Fire indeed.

— Mark Barrett

Filed Under: Non Sequiturs Tagged With: fire

Pono Kickstarter Update

April 16, 2014 By Mark Leave a Comment

The Pono Kickstarter closed today, netting the third largest amount ever at $6 million.

While it’s still the only Kickstarter project I’ve funded, or even paid attention to, and it certainly had obvious advantages over rank and file projects, I think it’s a good example of how to approach Kickstarter funding at any scale. Or at least it seems to be from what I’ve read about such things over the past month or so.

It was obviously easy for the Pono team to add new rewards and new artists that had name recognition, but they did so in a well-paced manner that seemed appropriate to the project. There wasn’t a lot of fanfare or publicity involved, and I think that was in keeping with the overall tone. Welcoming, positive, maybe even a bit corny at times, but never slick or overbearing.

Updates were also regular, at 27 over the 30-day run of the project. Most of the updates were informative rather than sales driven, and several of them took pains to answer questions that bubbled up in the comments — another smart move given how eager trolls are to destroy anything they can get their hands on. On no occasion did I take the time to read an update and find it pointless or pedantic.

A certain amount of marketing-savvy and pre-production must go into high profile Kickstarter projects, but even at a much smaller scale I think the same process applies. Have a few new rewards in mind at launch, and if backers come up with others that are doable be prepared to shift gears and respond. Stay engaged with comments and answer trolls and backers as necessary, but always in a tone that makes you seem like the kind of person someone would want to give money to.

— Mark Barrett

Filed Under: Non Sequiturs Tagged With: Kickstarter, Pono

Google Mail #825 Error | 2 Workarounds

November 18, 2010 By Mark 2 Comments

A few days ago I started getting an error at the top of my Google Mail page. The error displays after I look at any message in my inbox, then attempt to return to the inbox. The error reads as follows:

Oops… the system encountered a problem (#825)

The error also displays a countdown notice that it will retry the operation in five seconds, and a button to retry the requested operation immediately. Neither waiting for the clock to count down and retry or retrying on command resolves the problem.

Workaround #1
I do not allow third-party cookies on my machine. Until recently disabling third-party cookies proved compatible with Google Mail. Now that seems not to be the case.

Changing my cookie settings to allow third-party cookies resolves the problem. Because I do not want to allow third-party cookies, and because I don’t think you should either, I do not recommend this workaround.

Workaround #2
When the error displays, clicking the refresh button will load the requested window, and seems to resolve the problem for the current session. Leaving GMail and returning reproduces the problem, but it can again be resolved with a single refresh of the window.

I don’t what change Google made to prompt this behavior. I found a thread on Google’s support site earlier today but both then and at the time of this posting no explanation was given for the error, or for any third-party cookies that Google may be allowing on Google Mail.

Update: I am no longer getting the error message as of 11/18. Hopefully the issue has been resolved, if not explained.

— Mark Barrett

Filed Under: Non Sequiturs Tagged With: Google

On Willow Street

August 9, 2010 By Mark Leave a Comment

I am a pigeon. A big-city pigeon.

I am walking. Another pigeon is walking behind me. We are looking for food.

When I stop walking you may notice I stand with one foot up, as if I am injured. When I walk, you may notice that I am dragging a small branch with me.

The branch is stuck to my foot. I don’t know why it’s stuck to my foot, but it is. I am dragging it around with me when I walk, and holding it up off the ground when I rest.

I walk in a straight line, just back from the curb. The pigeon behind me wanders. If you stop to look at me and my branch I will walk around you and continue in a straight line.

If you move in front of me again I will stop and wait to see if you leave. If you don’t leave I will wait longer. If the other pigeon sees something to eat lying on the sidewalk in your shadow I will run to the food and eat.

If you come too close I will fly a few feet away. I won’t fly any farther than I would otherwise, but you will see the little branch is not keeping me grounded.

If you stay back just a bit more, I will stop and hold my foot up. If you move around you will be able to see my foot, but you will not be able to see what is keeping the branch attached. It may be a wire. It may be that one of my toes is stuck through a split in the branch. I don’t know.

If you stay where you are, I will stay where I am. If you wait, I will wait, too.

And I will look at you and you will look at me and I will look at you and you will look at me and I will look at you and you will look at me and I will look at you and you will look at me and I will look at you.

— Mark Barrett

Filed Under: Fiction, Non Sequiturs Tagged With: Brooklyn

The Missing iPad Review

May 11, 2010 By Mark 12 Comments

I get the utility of hype. If you can work people into a frenzy about a given brand in a crowded marketplace, you sell more of that product. Fair enough.

But after you’ve got that spanking new Ferrari parked in the garage you’ve still got to take your three kids to school, including their sports equipment. After you’ve had that delicious pedicure or manicure, you still need to plant your garden or rake your leaves. And of course there’s all that gizmo-driven exercise equipment in your basement, which you used exactly twice.

Point being: it’s one thing to buy yourself something cool and another thing to use it in your day-to-day existence. Products that require a lot of care and maintenance generally get neither, meaning we tend to avoid those products or destroy them in short order.

Now that all of those how-the-iPad-will-change-the-fabric-of-the-universe-twice posts have faded into the coffers of Steve Jobs, I find myself confronted with a deafening silence on more banal points like utility and usability. If you’ve had an iPad for a while, and you’re using it regularly — or, alternatively, not using it regularly — I think you could corner the market on iPad news by answering any or all of the following:

  • What’s it like to lug an iPad around?

    It weighs 1.5 pounds. You can talk all you want about how that’s super-light for a laptop, but it’s still 1.5 pounds. The average person is not built to carry a weight like that, let alone manipulate it in one or both hands. (If you think I’m kidding, grab yourself a much-easier-to-carry 1.5 pound barbell and lug it around for a day.)

  • [ Read more ]

Filed Under: Non Sequiturs Tagged With: iPad

Weekend Reads

May 1, 2010 By Mark 1 Comment

It’s an interesting time. Spring is busting out. Oil is washing ashore.

I’ve been in a low gear for quite a while now, partly for reasons of my own and partly due to circumstance. I feel like an upshift is coming, and that I’m personally ready to pick up speed, but the corners are still blind.

Do I need to keep my foot on the brake, against the straining engine, or can I drop the pedal and go? An interesting question, which I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to answer in advance.

It’s an interesting time.

  • The Big Picture: April 30, 2010

    I would give the first image a Pulitzer on the spot. The last image — if the hurricane-shaped sprawl is indeed oil — is rife with irony.

    If you’re wondering how hard it’s going to be to clean up this oil spill, imagine that a crude-oil bomb has exploded in your closet and your job is to clean your clothes. The immediate response you just had — that you would simply throw away your clothes and start over — is not available to flora and fauna. They have to wear it.

  • Shakespeare: The Question of Authorship

    A book review about a smart book that takes apart all those entertaining claims that Shakespeare could not have been Shakespeare.

    Every mystery is not a secret. Every silence is not a lie. The play’s the thing.

  • [ Read more ]

Filed Under: ~ Tangents, Non Sequiturs, Publishing Tagged With: Weekend Reads

Weekend Reads

April 24, 2010 By Mark 4 Comments

Welcome to the independent writer’s life. Put up your short story collection at the beginning of the week, get pounded by malicious code injections the rest of the week.

To help keep your own chin high and lip stiff, I offer herewith a helping of distractions and items of interest that could very well make or break your ability to ever again confront the horrifying solitude of the keyboard. Drink up.

  • FINALLY: The Difference between Nerd, Dork, and Geek Explained by a Venn Diagram

    Found this via a tweet by Levi Montgomery. Easily one of the Top 5 most useful bits of information ever posted on Twitter.

    You laugh. I’m serious. Who can keep these things straight?

  • How To Correctly Pronounce Authors’ Names

    Another absurdly useful post. Bookmark it, or print it out for study in the library. (Make flashcards if you’re serious about name-dropping and party chatter.)

    On the platform subject, does it help or hurt an author to have an indecipherable name? Does it make people less likely to reference you, or does it make them more likely to talk about you, if only relative to the difficulty of pronunciation?

  • [ Read more ]

Filed Under: ~ Tangents, Non Sequiturs, Publishing Tagged With: Weekend Reads

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • Next Page »