Curious Creature

I picked this book up the other day at the library because it caught my eye on the shelf and quite frankly I brought it home because of the design and not the self-help qualities it may posses. I finally flipped through it tonight and boy what garbage.

Quickly: he recommends incandescent/halogen lighting over fluorescent and while claiming you should buy things that are good quality and have multiple uses vs. quantity he also recommends buying items often as they become more efficient. He lost me right with the lighting bit. The fact that someone in this day can be so flippant about these issues really gets me. One of the easiest changes to make in energy consumption is using CF lightbulbs.

At least the book as bright colors….

I’ve not bought anything at the last couple of Tuesday markets. I’ve been extremely busy at work and did not have the time to make it over the prior two weeks. I finally got a chance to get there this past Tuesday and Fall was in full effect in the vegetables available at the market. Lots of apples, squash, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, etc.

My friends at Nichols Farm had their usual, wonderful selection of apples and I picked up about 6 to try some heirloom apples that I haven’t had a chance to try yet as well as a newer variety.

• Roxbury Russet
• Fameuse
• Suncrisp

The Suncrisp variety is a pretty new (in the scheme of things) cross of the Golden Delicious and Cox Orange Pippen apples. Fameuse, also known as a Snow Apple because of its white flesh, is a very old variety mainly grown in Quebec. Roxbury Russet is known as the oldest apple variety in the United States, first being planted in Roxbury, MA (now a neighborhood in Boston) during the 1600’s. Both Fameuse and Roxbury are supposed to be great dessert apples.

4 more weeks to go for the market. It wraps up for the year on October 31st and boy will I miss it once it’s gone. But then there is always something to look forward to next May…

I just wrote about the public “beta” for mint.com and it got me thinking…is there really any meaning to the term “beta” anymore as it applies to software?

In my mind beta means feature-complete but has bugs that need to be worked out. Mint.com doesn’t seem to apply there. I can’t believe their launch was just going to be the small feature set that is currently on display at that website. There isn’t much there for a personal finance application.

So what does beta mean? Is release candidate the new beta? Should we even be using the term beta anymore?

A couple of days prior to their melt-down, um, I mean before their public beta started after Techcrunch, I received an email inviting me in to the private beta of mint.com. Lets face it, this was one site that almost everyone wanted in on and who could resist the pull of pain-free personal finance. They say “put your finances on autopilot”. How about starting with “put your finances on self-destruct” followed up with a dollop of “wow….this is what everyone was foaming at the mouth over?”.

First off let me say that the site itself is very nice looking. They have done a great job with the look. Green makes me feel calm. I feel calmer just looking at their front page. If looks were everything then they’ve hit a home run. However once I created an account the beauty contest winner started looking more like Miss South Carolina in the Miss Teen USA 2007 competition.

I Personally Believe…

The first time I logged in to Mint I couldn’t add any of my accounts. No Chase. No LaSalle. Nothing. Not one of the sites would connect to get my data. I realize that this type of system is highly dependent on the financial institutions not changing their sites but I never even received a notice that there were any problems. It’s a beta guys and you should be able to notify your customers a bit better than having to look in the forums to see what is going on. Beta? This felt like Alpha.

Some people out there in our nation don’t have maps…

After the site launch at Techcrunch the problems only became worse. Not only could I not get any financial data but I couldn’t even use the site. It was inundated with new people trying to get signed up and logged in. At the very least they finally, after a day or two, managed to get a note up on the front page letting us know that due to overwhelming demand they were having problems and were working on fixing them. Good. Maybe though with a known waiting list for the private beta they could have anticipated this? Awful job all around so far and I haven’t even talked yet about the actual site.

…the Iraq everywhere like such as and…

So I finally got in. I was able to get my accounts set up and had transactions downloaded. Now what? I can:

• See some nice graphs of spending trends
• Categorize transactions that haven’t been automatically categorized
• Label/tag transactions
• Find ways to save money

Spending Trends

This feature is so underwhelming I really don’t have much to say. They show you nice graphs that are animated when you drill down into them but thats about all that happens. There really isn’t much more to that area of the site. Boooo!

Transactions and Categories

Great. I can view transactions from multiple bank accounts/credit cards. I can already do that in lots of other places. I can categorize but only with the categories Mint has chosen. You read that right. I can’t create my own categories in a “personal finance” application. And this is a “beta”?

Everything else

I found out today in the forums that there is no way to cancel an account via the website. “We’re in beta” they tell us. “Email us and we will remove your account.” They’re keeping very sensitive personal financial data and the only way I can cancel an account is to email someone. Again this is a beta?

…so we can build up our future…for our children…

Mint has a long way to go and I simply can’t believe the fuss that was made over this site. I’ve been using Yodlee for awhile and their MoneyCenter site stomps Mint into a muddy pulp (and funny enough Mint is powered by Yodlee). I want to like Mint. I really do but it’s all looks. There is no depth there. Now just need to email them my cancellation….

Update: The only way to contact Mint is via the contact form on their website. No email address, phone numbers, or addresses seem to be located anywhere on their website. How shady is that?

Update 2: I was contacted via the comments by Anton Commissaris from Mint. He commented to correct my information and apparently Mint does have an email address and phone number on their site – on the Privacy and Security page. I was in error that there wasn’t a phone number/email address but to be honest when I want to find a phone number for a company I am dealing with I would expect it to be on the more conventional, Contact Us, page. If I want a mailing address I also expect to find it on the Contact Us page. Why would those bits of information be buried on a page about privacy and security? Come on Mint, get with the program.

Mr. Commissaris also states that Mint uses the email route of account cancellation for security purposes. I don’t buy it. Maybe I am incorrect here but a way to cancel my account online, where I have already authenticated, should be as secure as an email if not more-so. At the very least make it more obvious how to cancel an account and have a email address that makes more sense such as “accounts@mint.com” for example. It would also be helpful if the guy running the Mint forums knew this information instead of giving information such as given here.

At work we just finished a very large programming effort that is now out there, live, and being used by our clients. Great. Now we’ve got a bit of breathing room and because we’re moving into a period of code freeze for the next several months we now have time on our hands to work on some smaller tools to be used by my coworkers in the important task of doing their job on a day-to-day basis.

You’d think that in everyone’s mind these would be important applications even if they’re small. You’d think that increasing efficiency in how someone does their job would be important because ultimately it saves us money and makes us look better in they eyes of our clients. (Well…you might not think these things but I certainly do). You’d be wrong on all accounts apparently.

The applications are being discussed as one-off little tools that won’t require much thought, time, or effort (read: crap). Ridiculous. They should be getting just as much design and coding effort as any other application given their ultimate importance. Furthermore there should be some attempt at unifying these under one system. I can see this being a really nice place to use a portal framework. Lots of unrelated tools that should have some consistent interface elements, where that can be done, as well as one place for the users to log in.

One application has already been started, in Ruby on Rails (odd given we’re supposed to be developing in Java), with no input from anyone but the guy who is doing it. Why? (Rhetorical question really….I already know the answer). I really wish we would be learning our lessons from doing things this way in the past. I just don’t understand the attitudes I’m seeing. Maybe I’m too idealistic.

Damn you Zeldman and company. Two days of civility in Utopia and now I feel like I’m back on a desert isle, floundering in a pit of quicksand.

I was reading an article today about the launch of Google Presentations and the author noted that

I’ve complete abandoned using Microsoft Office altogether, but I do have NeoOffice installed for offline usage (mostly when flying).

Hmmm…Mac user maybe? Not sure why he’d want to abandon Microsoft Office in favor of NeoOffice but hey to each his own. But then he goes on to mention that the Google offering doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles of PowerPoint but that somehow makes it more appealing. Then somehow he puts in another dig at Office with

Anyone who has used the Microsoft Office 2007 ribbon is able to explain their frustration at what at first is a bizarre interface that takes a fair bit of learning.

I’d counter that based on all of the conversations I have had with people who have switched to Office 2007 (or articles I’ve read) that in fact the interface takes minimal learning.

Here is a snapshot of part of the ribbon for Word 2007 (click for the original screen capture)

Clearly this is a different paradigm than the traditional text menu with a graphic toolbar below it but would it really take a fair bit of learning? Options are actually presented more clearly than in any other version of the Office applications. Most importantly everything you can do with the application is provided in the ribbon (preferences aside). There is no hunting through many layers of menu items.

Items are logically grouped (with a text label at the bottom indicating the grouping) and the most important options are provided to the user with more visual feedback. Items used more often are larger while items used less often are smaller. In addition all items can be collapsed at once if the user wants to concentrate on what they’re writing.

Microsoft invested a significant amount of time researching and designing the ribbon (3 years). For more information on their research see this posting from Jensen Harris at Microsoft.

Near the end of his article the author of the Google presentation software “first impression” says

…like Docs and Spreadsheets before it is straight to the point

right after the quip about the Ribbon in Office 2007. Actually Microsoft made it to the point prior to Google Presently and with all of the features of Office intact. The Ribbon allows you to get more done in less time. How much more to the point can they get?

I finished reading This Moment on Earth: Today’s New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future by John and Teresa Heinz Kerry and wanted to post my thoughts here.

I have to say that I had high hopes for this book and was disappointed when I finished. The book basically revolves around different people and/or groups that are doing their part (and then some) for environmental change. The book also talks (predictably) about the ridiculous stance that the current administration is taking on environmental change. Unfortunately none of this is new material.

Maybe I’m being too harsh because the book has had a lot of good reviews on amazon.com but I was just hoping for more. I’ve heard these stories before and I’ve heard about what the Bush administration is doing (or not) for the environment. Given that I’m pretty aware of these issues I guess that I’m probably not the audience for this book but they do get a little light on the good information at times such as when they are discussing the US, Brazil, and ethanol.

On page 151 they state:

Washington has not only neglected to promote more efficient automobiles but has also avoided making any serious commitment to alternative renewable fuel sources. E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol alcohol, is a homegrown, domestic, completely renewable source of engine fuel that burns cleaner than gasoline. Today in this country, nearly 6 million vehicles can be fueled by E85, but less than 1 percent of the service stations have even a single E85 pump.

Corn-based ethanol, which Kerry is certainly referring to since cellulosic ethanol is nowhere near ready for mass production techniques, is an awful example of an alternative fuel. Just for starters the output you get in energy from burning ethanol is almost equal to the inputs required to produce the ethanol. Gotta get the energy to grow the corn somewhere and right now most of that is coming from, you guessed it, oil. Oil to power the vehicles harvesting the corn (for example). Oil used in the production of pesticides sprayed on the corn. Et cetera.

On page 152 they go on to talk about how Brazil is using lots of ethanol and they do point out that it is sugar-cane-based ethanol which is important. Sugar-cane-based ethanol gives a much higher output per input and certainly is a more valid oil alternative for fuel. Last time I checked though the United States isn’t producing quite as much sugar-cane as Brazil

This is actually the only really glaring thing that bothered me about this book. Clearly they didn’t need to jump on the (corn-based) E85 bandwagon. At this moment E85 isn’t a real option here. We need more fuel-efficient vehicles via changes in CAFE standards more than we need E85. We need electric vehicles more than we need E85. Thankfully they point these things out as well in the book.

Overall I think the book was good but I think it was aimed at a different audience than the one I belong to. That is not the fault of the authors. I just wish the book would have been a bit meatier.

I am just furious right now and so tired I wish I could write more eloquently about this but in the interest of going to bed with this out of my system I just have to say what the f**k is with people like Senator Kit Bond of Missouri?

Senators John Warner and Joe Lieberman are co-sponsoring legislation that would require 70% cuts in greenhouse gases by 2050 and the are seeking comments from other senators. Kit Bond’s answer is that doing so would hurt the economy.

Who the fuck are these people kidding? Are they so clueless that they can’t see the business opportunities staring them in the face? Are they so beholden to corporate lobbyists and their own contributors that they’re willing to sell their grandchildren and the rest of us down the river? It is simply appalling.

What happened to the United States taking a leadership role in this whole thing? Terrorism is a spit in the bucket compared to whats coming down the line at us if we (the US and the world) continue on the course we’re headed.

I am so flabbergasted by this crap I can barely think. Seriously. This stuff is just criminal.

A funny thing that $100 rebate. Was is surprising that people got really pissed off when Apple dropped the price of the iPhone $200 after two months when there wasn’t a reason to except for maximizing profits?

Here is a wonderful analysis from Steven Levitt. I think he’s dead-on (I’m not an economist but it makes sense). The biggest question on my mind that he brings up in the article is why the hell did Apple go halfway? If they were going to offer a coupon why didn’t they offer $200 intead of $100? As he points out the cost to them is minimal given that the coupons are only for use on other Apple products. Many of those would certainly go unclaimed.

How can a company that gets it so much with product design be so god-awful stupid when it comes to customer care? It really blows me away that someone thought the timing of this price drop was good. There has been no indication that parts prices suddenly dropped so much to warrant this.

Either wait until the next generation is out or do better for the early adopters. Wow.

I am not understanding why anyone would set their home air conditioner to maintain 72 degrees.

While listening to a podcast from NPR Climate Connections about the energy costs of heating and cooling they discuss the impact to the environment, in terms of CO2 production, of both heating and cooling your home. The bigger cost was from heating coming in at a whopping 6,400 pounds of CO2 for natural gas heat (they don’t mention what temperature setting this coincided with). What got me though was not the cooling cost but the temperature they use as the baseline to determine your energy savings if you increase that temperature. You guessed it: 72 degrees.

I find it almost insane that someone would keep their house that cool in the summer. I have a small house and if I kept the thermostat set at 72 not only would I be absolutely freezing but the AC would run far too much. I have talked to several people though who do keep their thermostat set at 72 (and some even lower). Pardon me but that is just nuts.

I keep my thermostat set at 77 and it cycles on and off too much for my tastes And we have a small house… I just can’t imagine the cost of cooling a large house to 72 degrees during summer. Not only a huge hit to the pocketbook but also to the environment.