Made for Hollywood: Ben Mezrich
August 25, 2008
Lots of you ask, “What are you reading these days?” Yesterday I managed to finish Rigged, by Ben Mezrich. Ben has been a favorite ’summer’ author of mine for quite some time. He wrote ‘Bringing Down the House’ also called ‘Busting Vegas: The MIT Whiz Kid Who Brought the Casinos to Their Knees’ in 2005. The book was turned into a movie called 21. Around the same time as ‘Busting Vegas or Breaking Vegas (as it was known in paperback) was released he wrote ‘Ugly Americans: A True Story of High Stakes, Dirty Deals and One Man’s $500 Million Gamble.’ His books are interesting on a number of levels. First, they don’t take much attention to read (i.e. you don’t have to concentrate very hard to enjoy them). Second, they are ALWAYS ‘high concept’ involving youth, money and risk - BUT you get a payoff in that you learn something. Ben’s latest book is called ‘Rigged: The True Story of an Ivy League Kid Who Changed the World of Oil, from Wall Street to Dubai‘.
Rigged was a fun little book from start to finish. Ben’s description of the New York Merchantile Exchange was facinating. Amazon explains it better than I would, “After conquering the hallowed halls of Harvard Business School, he enters the testosterone-laced warrens of the Merc Exchange, the asylumlike oil exchange located in lower Manhattan. A place where billions of dollars trade hands every week, the Merc is like a casino on crack, where former garbagemen become millionaires overnight and where fistfights break out on the trading floor. This ordinary kid has traded Brooklyn for the gold-lined hotel palaces of Dubai. He keeps company on the decks of private yachts in Monte Carlo—teeming with half-naked girls flown in by Saudi sheiks—and makes deals in the dangerous back alleys of Beijing. But the Merc is just a starting place. Taken under the wing of another young gun and partnering with a mysterious young Muslim, the kid embarks on a dangerous adventure to revolutionize the oil trading industry—and, along with it, the world. Rigged is the explicit, exclusive, true story behind the headlines that dominate the world stage.”
Fun, light reading that will surely find its way onto a theater screen near you next summer!
Careerbuilder, wonderfully exasperating!
August 19, 2008
Yesterday our operations manager suggested I post three openings we had on Careerbuilder. Instead of turning over the task to our in house recruiter I decided to post the jobs myself. Three 30 day job postings were over $1,000! Anyway, I completed the forms and entered my AMEX information into the site. I received an email indicating that the jobs would be posted in a couple of hours. Around 8PM I received this email:
From: “CareerBuilder Site Integrity” <CSI@careerbuilder.com>
Date: August 18, 2008 3:22:00 PM CDT
To: “Alexander Muse”
Subject: CareerBuilder Order RejectionThank you for choosing CareerBuilder.com. We apologize for any inconvenience; however, we need more information in order to complete our verification process for Order Number: CT-1233356 . Please contact our Trust & Site Security Team at 1-800-891-8880, Monday through Friday, between the hours of 8 AM to 7 PM EST; Saturday and Sunday, between the hours of 4 PM to 6 PM EST. We welcome the opportunity to speak with you directly so that we may gather the necessary information. CareerBuilder’s Site Integrity and Compliance Team. This is an automated message. Please do not respond to this email address.
I called the number and was advised that EVERY order over $1,000 is rejected and the customer is sent the same standard email requiring a call to their 800 number. Really? Why bother taking orders online over $1000? Why not tell me that I need to call to verify my order IMMEDIATELY? Why waste a full day? The funny part was that the person I talked to NEVER actually verified my identity, instead he only asked if I was aware the charge was over $1,000. I told him I was and that was the end of the call - he accepted the order. My advice to Careerbuilder:
- Since you don’t sell anything physical (i.e. a TV) there isn’t much risk in taking the order. If AMEX declines the charge you simply take down the posting. There is no additional cost to taking the order.
- If you must phone verify orders over $1,000, offer to do it at time of purchase or at least generate an outbound call. Do NOT require the customer to call an 800 number with long hold times the day after you take an order. It is just rude.
- Also, don’t have your operators say, “How can I provide you wonderful service today?” It is a stupid thing to say and falls on very cynical ears.
Why DISD is failing our kids. . .
August 17, 2008
Failing your kids anyway, I wouldn’t send my kids to DISD if you paid me and I live in the district. DISDs new grading policy is plain crazy:
- Homework grades should be given only when the grades will “raise a student’s average, not lower it.
- Teachers must accept overdue assignments, and their principal will decide whether students are to be penalized for missing deadlines.
- Students who flunk tests can retake the exam and keep the higher grade.
- Teachers cannot give a zero on an assignment unless they call parents and make “efforts to assist students in completing the work.”
- High school teachers who fail more than 20 percent of their students will need to develop a professional improvement plan and will be monitored by their principals. For middle school the rate is 15 percent; for elementary it’s 10 percent.
Lots of folks agree including Ms. Floyd from the Dallas Morning News and Tim Rogers from D. Tim’s explains, “My favorite directive is this one: homework grades should be given only when the grades will “raise a student’s average, not lower it.” Hinojosa says, “Our mission is not to fail kids.” The district’s stance is that students who get bad grades fall behind, lose hope of catching up, and simply give up. The district’s solution, in short: don’t give students bad grades. This is worse than absurd.”
I have written about DISD before, noting that the district only graduates 44% of students who attend. I assume that if they stop flunking kids they assume their graduation rates will increase. Great stuff guys!
My 3G iPhone Review (EDGE RULES)
August 13, 2008
When the first iPhone was released I got my hands on one two hours after it went on sale. This time it took me two weeks to finally get on my hands on the 3G. It wasn’t for lack of effort, but the mandatory in-store signup slowed the process to a crawl meaning that there were still lines last week at my local Apple store (I haven’t been this week, but Best Buy is going to start selling them). Now that I have had my 3G iPhone for a couple of weeks I thought it was time to offer my thoughts.
First, the speed is quite a bit faster. Side-by-side comparison with my father’s EDGE iPhone saw at least a 25% speed increase. We were never able to witness the 100% (i.e. double) speed increase Apple claimed. I suspect this is due totally to AT&Ts network here in Dallas. The problem is that the speed increase is only available in 3G areas - my house, church and work are not covered that well by 3G (i.e. all are within the Dallas city limits). When I try to connect to websites and applications the connections are often impossible to make without switching back to EDGE. So in theory the 25% speed increase is certainly not worth the limited coverage one will experience in a top ten US city.
Second, the phone consistantly drops. I can’t take calls at my desk when 3G is enabled. I can’t take calls downstairs in the cafeteria when 3G is enabled. My wife, who got the 3G at the same time, has experienced more and more dropped calls - something she did not experience with EDGE. When I drive on the tollway I will drop a call at least three times (once around Lemmon, another time around Mockingbird and then again around Lovers Lane). This was not the case with EDGE.
Third, the battery is always empty. I have BOSE charging stations (i.e. that connect to our stereo system) throughout the house. Over the past year I have made it a habit to place my phone in the charging station in whatever room I happen to occupy. This meant that the phone was a) always in the same place (I lose things) and b) always charged. Guess what, the new 3G iPhone is incompatible with the BOSE charging station. Are you kidding me? What changed? Why doesn’t that work?
Finally, in the end the 3G iPhone has been a huge disappointment for me. It cost me a few hundred bucks, $10/month more than my old iPhone and has LOTS of problems. But I found a solution. In the Settings/General menu you can turn off 3G and go back to EDGE. I did this yesterday and my iPhone worked like my old one - like a champ. WTF? So I have my old iPhone back for a few hundred dollars more. My advice, buy the new 3G iPhone ONLY if you don’t have the old iPhone (the new iPhone with EDGE enabled is an awesome phone - the best I have ever owned). Dump your Nokia or Ericsson POS and get in the game.
eCommerce is confusing; why Chris Pirillo is wrong about PayPal.
August 1, 2008
I have been fascinated by Chris Pirillo’s uStream work for quite some time and I follow his blog. This morning he wrote a post titled, “PayPal Denies $450 of Unauthorized Charges” where he explains how someone stole $450 from him. He believes it is PayPal’s obligation to refund his money and at first glance it would seem he is right, but I will argue he is dead wrong.
Here is the story: Chris connected his iTunes account to PayPal (i.e. to make it easy to buy stuff). Anytime he clicks ‘buy’ on iTunes Apple debits his PayPal account and his iPod is loaded. The other day someone obtained his iTunes password from Apple (due to a strange password retrieval process) and purchased $450 worth of gift cards. Chris got Apple to secure his account and made a claim with PayPal. PayPal determined NO unauthorized access had occurred, since Apple WAS authorized to pull money from Chris’ PayPal account.
Chris is pissed suggesting, “Apparently, PayPal is so focused on making money for themselves that they cannot be bothered to care when ordinary people like you and I lose ours via illegal means.”
I think Chris is off base. Why? He allowed Apple unfettered access to his account at PayPal. How can he hold PayPal responsible for Apple’s actions? If PayPal allowed a criminal access to his account then I fully agree they would be responsible, but in this case they simply followed Chris’ request to give Apple access to his money. Chris trusted Apple to do the right thing, but Apple clearly didn’t. For some reason Chris isn’t upset with Apple, instead he is upset with PayPal. Still confused? Let me explain it this way:
You give me $1,000 and ask me to hold it for you. I agree and take the money. I am going to charge you $100 for keeping your money. I now have been paid to safeguard your funds. Now you call me up and say give whenever Jim wants money just give it to him, you have my permission. Periodically Jim asks me for money and I give it to him. You never complain. Then one day Jim asks me for $450 and I give it to him. Jim then gets robbed on his way home. You call me and ask me to give you the $450 back. Huh? Why is that my problem? Why should I give you money that Jim lost. I am not party to your relationship with Jim and I certainly have no control over his security procedures. Get it?
I love and hate PayPal, but thought it was worth responding to Chris’ current complaint. My advice to Chris is to hold Apple accountable for allowing someone access to their systems, which are connected directly to his PayPal account. Chris trusted Apple and they didn’t uphold their obligation to keep his account safe, especially one connected to his PayPal account. Don’t get me started about letting eCommerce providers direct ACH access to your account (i.e. don’t do it, or at least set up a transactional account with no money in it). Oh and BTW I really like Chris Pirillo…
ServiceGuy Update
July 29, 2008
It has been a hot summer for ServiceGuy. You might not have noticed, but we have more than doubled in size (so much so Mike had to create two columns on the city selector). In the last two weeks we have added Sacramento and St. Louis to a total of 22 cities including: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, San Francisco, Seattle, Silicon Valley, St. Louis and Washington DC.
Of course it isn’t all roses. We are struggling to fill the contractor ranks in the new cities with quality individuals. The biggest problem with a downturn in the economy for our business is the explosion in people looking for side jobs. Many of these people are great, but there are a growing number of unqualified and sometimes unscrupulous people looking for work. Keeping them out of the system is a challenge and it has the negative effect of slowing down contractor recruitment. Here are two strategies we are using:
Step One: Focus on inviting the best people. Our people utilize other contractor referral systems and advertisements to recruit people who ‘appear’ to be qualified.
Step Two: Track feedback and start building reputation scores for contractors already in the system. By calling each ‘consumer/client’ who was connected to a contractor (one to four weeks after their call) and asking for a rating (1 scam artist, 2 unqualified but honest, 3 average, 4 good, 5-9 great result) we can eliminate bad contractors and promote goods ones. Anyone with a 1 is immediately suspended from the system pending review by our team (i.e. we can a) listen to their call with the client, b) contact both the client and the contractor and c) determine if we want to ban or rehabilitate the contractor.
The downside is that this reputation management has reduced the number of contractors called in each city and makes new recruitment even slower. The solution? Throw more recruiters in the mix. We plan to grow our contractor recruiting staff by 60% by this fall. Hopefully this will make ServiceGuy even better!
Big in Japan Update
July 28, 2008
Several of you noted that we hadn’t updated the Big in Japan blog since April of this year. Oops. I have been doing my Big in Japan updates (i.e. Whitebox, ServiceGuy, SocialTones, Fan Podcast, SimpleTicket) here and didn’t bother to update the Big in Japan blog (sorry about that). Anyway, there is quite a bit going on so here goes:
First, we are actively growing ServiceGuy - now in more than 21 cities around the United States. WhiteBox is launching WhiteForm this week to several auto dealers. Fan Podcast, now in its third year, is being featured on FX’s hit series The Shield this season. We continue to manage custom technology for LEGO and their LEGO Universe project. Finally, we are actively developing SocialTones for the new Google Android phone platform.
What is next for Big in Japan? Look for exciting progress on SimpleTicket (our VERY neglected trouble ticket system) as well as some interesting work on Nagios (the network monitoring system we have used for years). Our new coworking space is open (our first tenants are moving in on Thursday). Anyway, lots going on. Almost too much to cover in a simple blog post.
Hiatus: Washington DC
July 25, 2008
You might have noticed I haven’t been blogging for a few days. Brad (WhiteBox) and I have been entertaining our kids in Washington DC. Our trip preceeds the release of WhiteForm 1.0 (more on that next week).
Craziest thing I ever did. . .
July 18, 2008
I was an undergrad at the University of Texas during the first Gulf War and I decided that I would enlist in the United States Marine Corps (MCRD San Diego, MOS 0331). Wow, what was I thinking. Perhaps the most amazing experience of my life, an experience I think any young man (and certain women) would benefit from. What was the craziest thing you ever did?
Many famous Americans, such as the composer John Philip Sousa who directed the U.S. Marines band for 13 years, have served in the Marine Corps. Tom Monaghan, the founder of Domino’s Pizza, is a Marine. In politics, Senator Zell Miller, pundit James Carville, Secretary of the Navy and U.S. Senator Jim Webb and military analysts Anthony Zinni, Joseph Hoar and Bernard E. Trainor are Marines. Donald P. Bellisario the creator of Quantum Leap, Magnum P.I., JAG and N.C.I.S. is a veteran Marine. Baseball Hall of Famers Tom Seaver, Ted Williams, Rod Carew, Roberto Clemente, Eddie Collins, and Bill Veeck all served in the Marines. Professional boxers Leon Spinks and Barney Ross both served in the Marines, and so did former heavyweight champions Gene Tunney & Ken Norton. Six astronauts, including Senator John Glenn, Charles F. Bolden, Jr. and Fred Haise, are Marine aviators. Several have succeeded in the entertainment industry, including actors Steve McQueen, Tyrone Power, Don Adams, Gene Hackman, Harvey Keitel, Lee Marvin and Drew Carey, talk show host Steve Wilkos, rock and roll singers The Everly Brothers, former Ramones member Christopher Joseph Ward (C. J. Ramone), and reggae musician Orville Burrell (Shaggy). R. Lee Ermey and comedian Jonathan Winters were both drill instructors prior to their renown.
Solution for American
July 16, 2008
Earlier this week I vented about my experience on an American flight this weekend. I think it was my most commented on post in the history of my blog (very sad in many respects). Anyway, I have decided to offer an alternative solution to American. Why not segregate passengers from one another. The seats located below do not take up additional room, but offer passengers enough segregation that larger passengers won’t intrude into other passengers seat. So my message to American ~ fix your problem! Don’t make it mine.
Dallas iPhone Status (SOLD OUT!)
July 16, 2008
Despite what the Apple website says (i.e. that North Park has all three models of the 3G), they don’t have any iPhones. I gave in and showed up at the North Park Apple store to see if I could get the iPhone and was surprised to see a line. The line, to my surprise, wasn’t for the iPhone, but for a little card that says you are on the waiting list for an iPhone when then arrive. I guess the problem for the North Park store was that Apple thinks (or thought) that they had plenty of phones and as a result didn’t ship any to the store last night. Ouch.
My follow through. . .
July 15, 2008
This evening I got an IM from a local ‘deal guy’ who was annoyed that I didn’t send him a business plan I promised to send him last Monday. I completely forgot to forward the plan to him. For this I am sorry, but I am as busy as a dog. If I owe you something PLEASE email and call me - DO NOT TAKE OFFENSE IF I FORGET. I know this is sort of ridiculous, but it is the reality of my current workload.
Of course it might make sense to put my workload in context. I get between 10 and 20 business plans or executive summaries each week - I read most of them. I blog extensively (more than 14 posts a week on average). I read blogs extensively (my reader has more than 700+). This past week I talked to more than 25 angel-type investors all located in the Dallas area. I managed the build out of our new office expansion at the INFOMART. I am involved with more than five startups. I have a 6 year old and a 6 month old. I officially have too much going on, but for some reason I am still happy to help an entrepreneur here, a startup there and even a ‘deal guy’ who I think might be interested in a business plan I received. I will continue to provide as much assistance in the community as possible, but if you absolutely, positively need something from me ~ please don’t sit quietly on the sidelines waiting for me to remember, kick my butt. I reserve the right to explain that I don’t have the time to help, but at least I have a fighting chance of helping. Hope this makes sense.
The Simple Path by Stephen Harvill
July 15, 2008
I will be out of the office for much of the day attended Steve Harvill’s seminar called The Simple Path. I talked about the program previously, I will talk more about it after I finish.
Dry Powder. . .
July 15, 2008
On Friday a friend of mine asked for advice on what sort of companies he should look to acquire. I suggested that he hold onto his cash until the current ’storm’ cleared. Today you may be aware that the DOLLAR HAS DROPPED TO A RECORD LOW. President Bush will be going on television today at 10:20am in an attempt to calm investors and restore confidence in our banks. My advice? Keep calm, but stay liquid.
Online video WILL be big?
July 14, 2008
I think May 2008 will be seen as the month when online video BECAME big. Comscore is reporting that Americans (i.e. just us) watched 12 billion videos online in May. Really? Wonder how this number affects productivity? When will the Federal Reserve begin tracking our internet usage and factoring that number into our countries productivity numbers?
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