Is My Filter Too Tight?

By I.J. Hudson

A frequent topic these days is TMI, too much information.  How do you cut down on the stuff coming in so you can really focus on the things that are important?

I’m going to take a slightly different position:  filtering the content coming to you is a wonderful and dangerous thing. 

          Filtering can improve the odds that you see only what you think you want to see.

          Filtering can improve the odds that you will NOT see things that are not of immediate interest, BUT could be important to your long term goals, just fun or a new, previously unknown interest.

Let’s fast backward to a time when bandwidth was slim, storage was sparse, and you were still fighting between buying the morning paper or reading online.  Services like PointCast let you choose sources within categories/topics of news to be delivered to a “ticker” on your machine.  The warning back then, as it is now, is that you shouldn’t “check” too many boxes or you’ll be flooded with information.

It’s a little like using a net to catch fish.  You catch the big ones, the fish you really want, but all the little ones get through.  Sometimes the little ones are really important – spark a new interest or mesh with a bigger objective.

I’m not saying filtering incoming stuff isn’t important, I’m just suggesting that occasionally we need to adjust the filter to let some “new” things come through.  Many important discoveries have begun with a search for a solution to problem A, only to have that search produce a great product that solves an entirely different problem.

Filter for your future. 

2001: Texting, DVDs, ServerVault and More.

By I.J. Hudson

2001 was a busy year for technology – heck, they have all been busy.  But 2001 planted a lot of seeds that spawned technologies we use a decade later.

iRhythm was a 2001 transceiver that picked up Internet radio or mp3s from your computer and transmitted them wirelessly to a stereo system.  Now, we can do that with Netflix and other video sources.

Security was all the rage.  ServerVault was getting ready to open in Sterling, VA. It would be a 10,000 square feet bunker for servers – protected against weather, power issues and cyber terrorism.  Even the servers were protected by Lampertz (a kind of Kevlar) to keep projectiles out – if anyone ever got inside. It was acquired in 2009 by Carpathia Hosting.

For local Washington, DC area folks, Cable TV Montgomery was ushered aside and Comcast took its place.  The new guys promised download speeds of at least 1 megabit-per-second, and no phone line would be required for the upstream side.  Amazing!

Zairmail served as a bridge for those who had email to those who didn’t.  At the time, perhaps half of Americans didn’t have email.  Now Zairmail seems to be all about direct mail.  Send us your message, your address list (or we have lists) and we’ll send out the direct mail for you – not to inboxes, but to mailboxes.

Hey, did you ever hear of texting?  Verizon started pushing it in 2001 with “free” texting over Valentine’s Day (and a few weeks beyond) to let your “fingers do the talking.”  Looks like after a decade it may have caught on.  According to the CTIA, in 2010 Americans sent about 187.7 billion text messages a month. 

Under the category of something that’s taking longer than we thought – paperless Dr.’s offices.  The promise was quicker diagnosis, notes translation, bills, insurance submitted, tests ordered and set up.  And perhaps, most importantly, it would produce a legible prescription.  Some doctors I know use tablets to look up drug interactions, take notes, etc., but few are totally wireless. 

And the transition from CDs to DVDs was underway.  Software folks realized DVDs could hold more than movies – and that a few DVDs could replace dozens of CDs for programs and storage. Of course, we now have thumb drives that hold more than our early computer hard drives.

And that's just at the beginning of the year.  More to come.

May I Have a Word(s) With You?

By I.J. Hudson

I’m going to begin this post by saying there is no point I’m trying to make.  I’m just putting down a few words as they come to my mind.  I’ll figure out how to arrange the words later.  Maybe I’ll actually put some thought into what I’m writing.   

That’s as far as I’ll go before saying….when trying to make a point (or sell something):

Start with a blank sheet or screen.  Try to make every word, every phrase, every image you add earn its space.   Anything that doesn’t bring strong support to your message doesn’t belong.  

Sometimes an image is stronger than words. We may remember an image longer than words.  But it’s not really a matter of a balance between the two.  It’s a matter of effect. Which combination works best at telling your story?  Maybe it's only words.

When you’re competing for attention, it’s all about getting the message across accurately, concisely and making it memorable enough to make it worth passing along.  

Anything extra just gets in the way. Often, saying less is actually letting MORE come through.

I can write all day ----------- but that won't hold your attention.

But a few well-crafted phrases can.