Jeff the Great Educates His People on the State of the Internet in 2013

An important conference in the technology sector kicked off this week. Its called D: All Things Digital (also called D11, for the 11th annual showing). Its an executive focused conference, a real who's who. One of the presentations was a great one by Mary Meeker of venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. She presented on Internet Trends, 2013.

Her presentation is one of the most valuable gems I've found on the internet this year. Its a 100+ slide presentation chalked full of great industry insights. Its the kind of data that research firms charge $5k+ for. If you are starting an internet company anytime soon, this presentation should be where your research begins.

Because its a long presentation, I've taken the time to highlight some of the slides I found most interesting and or helpful. A lot of this is based on what is important to my business, so if I excluded something it doesn't mean it isn't valuable or interesting, just not for me. Finally, please note that these slides and the included data are not mine, they are borrowed from the full presentation that I have linked back to in multiple forms.

Video & YouTube

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In 2012, I was fascinated by the fact that every minute, users were uploading 70 hours of video to YouTube. Thats 1 minute, 70 hours. Guess what? Just 1 year later, we are now uploading 100 hours of video content to YouTube every minute. A 43% increase from 2012 to 2013. Stats like this make the $1.65 billion dollar purchase of YouTube in 2006 a bargin for Google.

Global Internet Usage

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Its no surprise that internet access is peaking in the United States. If you want internet in the US, you can get it. Most people can afford it at some level. Guess what? Much of the rest of the world is still catching up. China is experiencing 10% year over year growth of internet use. China currently has more than twice as many internet users than the US does, and still only 42% of Chinese people use the internet. Imagine when China hits 78% penetration like the US has! India is another one to note. Only 11% of Indians use the internet, but thats growing at a rate of 26% per year. Soon, the US will only represent a small fraction of total global internet usage. Companies better be prepared for this.

Global Leadership in the US

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The US is a country of immigrants. In fact, 99% of us are either decedents of immigrants or are immigrants ourselves. The above chart shows us that 15 of the 25 largest technology companies in the US were founded by either 1st or 2nd generation immigrants. Apple, Google, IBM....all founded by 1st or 2nd generation Americans. Intel, eBay, Yahoo...the list goes on and on. America is lucky to count these people as citizens.

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However, a problem is looming. At the same time we are turning away talented skilled technology workers, we aren't producing nearly enough computer science graduates ourselves. Looking forward through 2020, for every computer science graduate that gets a job, nearly 2 more jobs go unfilled. We could fill this gap by increasing the number of highly skilled technology workers we issue visas to, but for some reason we aren't. Not only are those brilliant people not filing these open jobs, they won't be able to start a company in the US, for our benefit. This is a huge problem.

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Culture of Sharing

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One of the most exciting trends over the last year or two has been the emerging culture of sharing. It started with Yelp, then Facebook, and then Twitter. Now, however, the culture is shifting in a fascinating way. We have wearables...fitness trackers like the Jawbone UP and the Fitbit that track our every movement, even our sleep, and share the stats with our friends on Facebook and Twitter! The above graphic shows that just one device, the Jawbone UP, is already tracking billions of steps every day, and hundreds of thousands of hours of sleep. Guess what? Its just the beginning. I think we'll see HUGE growth of wearables over the next year or two. I'm talking 30%-50% growth, if not more. Big, big trend.

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Don't believe me that we'll be sharing more and more details like our daily activity? Check out the above chart. There are 14 countries who's citizens share more of their daily lives on the internet than American's do. In fact, we are nearly 10 points lower than the world average!

Computers

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The way we compute is changing. The orange line in the above chart is tablets. Look how fast they emerged. They have already outnumbered desktop shipments and they are neck-and-neck with laptops. The tablet category didn't even exist a few years ago, and now it dominates. I expect desktops to continue to decline while laptops will continue their volatile performance but ultimately continue to be a major player for the next few years.

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 With the change in hardware comes a change in operating systems. The above chart shows us that Microsoft is loosing importance just as fast, if not faster, as it gained it in the 1980's. Just as Atari and Commodore where players in the past, I suspect future years will have Playstation, Xbox, and Roku emerging on this chart as the living room becomes as important to the internet as the office.

Tech Company Finances

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So what does this all mean? Well, in a relatively short amount of time, tech companies can earn a lot of money. Facebook, in just 9 years has grown to $12 billion in annual revenue. In comparison  the 25 year old software company I worked for prior to becoming an entrepreneur was the largest in its industry with $3.5 billion in sales. Facebook not only has $12 billion in revenues, they have relatively low R&D expense and high gross margins compared to traditional companies.

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LinkedIn is a great example of the financial success that tech companies can achieve in a short period of time. More than 200 million registered users, and more than 85% gross margin. These impressive numbers account for their $18 billion valuation, and strong quarterly performance has resulted in an 80% in stock price since their IPO about 2 years ago (both the DOW and the SP500 are up under 25% over the same time period).
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Well, thats it...thats the state of the internet in 2013. Big thanks to Mary Meeker and KPCB for their hard work and providing it to us for free.

The Future is Here, Proclaims Jeff the Great

Google is one step closer to directly connecting our brains to all of the information in the world. Thats the end goal...just think about something and you'll automatically just know all. It will pop into your brain from nowhere.

Think I'm crazy? Well, I probably am but thats not the point. One of my favorite books is called The Big Switch written by Nicholas Carr. Near the end of the book, about how computing is following a similar path towards a ubiquitious commodity, Carr talks about Goolge and their founders vision for our future. Long story short, organizing the world's information, their stated mission, is only a means to the real end. The real end goal of Larry and Sergy is to 'plug' our brains directly into the internet. Google Glass is the next major step in that direction.

Here is the idea. First, we store and organize all the world's information. Next, add cameras and microphones to our daily lives. Then, begin monitoring our brain waves in order to connect brain patterns to what we see, hear, and say. With enough data and enough processing power, we can start to connect the dots between our thoughts and information.

Google Glass is a significant step in that direction. Glasses with a camera, microphone, and a heads up display. Without any action on your part, they'll be able to identify a person standing in front of you, and display relevant information about that person automatically. This is not some futuristic device that a bunch of nerds are dreaming about. Google Glass will ship to its first set of customers in the summer of 2013, with general availability by the 2013 holiday season.

Next step will be the ability for the glasses to analyze your brain waves. They'll record how your brain behaved when you saw the person standing in front of you, and how your brain behaved when the info about that person was displayed to you. With enough data like that, from you and hundreds of millions of other people, they'll eventually be able to know when you want info purely based on brain waves. Google is essentially the worlds largest research project to map the brain. Its a project that I consider to be bigger than sequencing the human genome, as the US did from 1990 through 2003.

So in the very near future, when you see me or someone else wearing those odd looking Google Glasses, dont laugh at us. Remember that we are contributing to humanity's largest research project that will lead to your grandkids having a direct thought connection to all the information ever recorded in human history.

This is gonna be big.

Jeff the Great says "Good Riddance" to Newspapers

As you have probably heard, today was the last day for a print edition of the Seattle P.I. newspaper. Less than a month ago, the Denver Rocky Mountain News shut down for good. With Seattle and Denver being major US cities, I'd say we are entering a new age of news and media.

What I don't get though is the sadness surrounding these shutdowns. I've read story after story that says we should be sad and unhappy about these changes. That the economy we are facing is to blame and if not that, it must be the owners that are to blame....awful people that don't care about you and me! The Rocky Mountain News even produced a (great) video that I can only presume was meant to make us feel bad for the employees of the now defunct paper.

The reality is that it's not an economic issue or an ownership issue. The real issue is a failure to adapt. The failure to adapt is a failure of the leadership. Traditional newspapers that don't adapt are being slaughtered both on and off the web. People are not reading less news. People are not caring less. There is no lack of news, there is no lack of interesting stories. Companies still advertise, people still want to sell their stuff.

So why should I feel bad because these companies had poor leadership that made poor business decisions? Should I feel sorry for an industry that fought long and hard to ignore new technology and hold onto the past?

In the case of the Seattle P.I., they are going to an online only model. If I were them, instead of saying "woa is me, we have to go to online only, isn't that sad" I'd proclaim that the paper is a leader in the industry. That the paper should be looked at as an example of how to adapt, how to be on the cutting edge.

But no....woa is them.

-Jeff the Great

Jeff the Great Wonders about Amazon.com

I absolutely love Amazon.com, I try to buy as much from them as possible. I buy books, music, electronics and so much more.

One of the things that Amazon.com is known for is their recommendation engine. They look at your past purchases, items you've recently browsed, items you've reviewed and so much more to recommend other purchases to you. This concept really works in the favor of both the consumer and Amazon.com. They get more sales and we get products that make sense for us. Win, win.

I noticed today when visiting Amazon.com that they had some new suggested items for me. I viewed a gyroscopic air mouse the other day and this is what they are now telling me:

I looked at a $150 mouse for my computer and I should now look at a case of PowerBar's and an electric razor? Come on Amazon.com, it wouldn't be that hard to limit this type of recommendation to at least the same general category!

I have a bunch of other ideas on how Amazon.com can further improve their recommendation engine but I'll save them for another blog post (or for when they hire me).

-Jeff the Great

Jeff the Great is High on Speed

A good friend of mine posted some impressive internet speeds over at his blog so I thought I'd do the same. Both of our speeds make most internet users in the US incredibly jealous.

I am running FiOS from Verizon. I am actually disappointed in this test since I am paying for 5mbps upload and as you can see I only got 3.2. Oh well, still faster than most.

-Jeff the Great

p.s. Steve...I'm still faster! j/k

Jeff the Great Launches CitySpeek.com

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you've probably heard me mention a "super seekrit" project that I was working on. Well, today I am proud to announce that the project is now live on the web, ready for you to check out! Since August, my biz partner Jeremiah and I have been working late nights and exhausting weekends on CitySpeek.com.

You might recall that last year we developed a site called Goboz.com to positive reviews and good visitor traffic. As soon as we launched Goboz we realized how much we had learned, the things we did right and all the things we did wrong.

In the meantime, Jeremiah and I both became big fans of micro-messaging. Essentially, micro-messaging is staying in touch with your network through frequent and short messages. Typically things you want people to know but not something important enough to compose an email about. We quickly found the shortfalls in current micro-messaging platforms and realized the potential that was out there...specifically as a medium to connect small business with customers.

Jeremiah began working his design magic in August, we started to hash out the features we wanted and in October we found an advanced web developer to make the vision a reality. Without going into the specifics I can tell you we really stepped things up this time and did this project 'right'.

So, what is CitySpeek.com you ask?

CitySpeek is a micro-messaging service that allows you to stay in contact with your friends, co-workers, teammates and customers through an efficient means of communication. CitySpeek is different than other micro-messaging services in many ways. CitySpeek encourages communication in communities by offering a rich user experience. Messages can include integrated pictures or video and are sent as one of six different categories.

What are you waiting for, come give the site a try! Start by clicking JOIN on the site and filling out your user info. You will then get a confirmation email right away, click the included link and we'll walk you through the rest of the process. Then, find friends or interesting people to follow (me) and start 'Speeking'!

Finally, I want to thank you for your support of me in everything I do. I couldn't appreciate my network of family and friends any more than I do.

-Jeff the Great

Jeff the Great is Alll a Twitter

The Oregonian has a great story in today's (Sunday) paper about twitter and its Portland area users. Steve Woodward, Oregonian writer also known as @oregoniansteve on Twitter, followed Portland's own Rick Turoczy (@turoczy) for a few hours to see how he used the hot new service in his daily life.

Steve does a great job profiling the web site that allows users to post short, 140 character messages about what they are doing at the moment...or really anything else. Steve also talks about how some local businesses are using Twitter and he mentions the Justin Hickox Studio as one example.

Here is the link, enjoy: @everyone :-) twitter is tweeter

-Jeff the Great

Jeff the Great Gets His FiOS TV

My FiOS TV was installed on Friday and I am happy to report that I love it! Installation took a few hours so be prepared (and my installation was considered easy since I already had FiOS internet plus CAT5 and coax in every room). I received a fancy new wireless router during the install and they even left me with the old D-Link router.

So far what I love about FiOS TV is the channel line up. I think it is around 223 channels for the standard premier package. I honestly never finish watching an entire show because I am always surfing around to see what else is on during commercials.

Here are just a few channels that I am excited to have and that I didn't have with Comcast:

• NFL network (wish I had this a few weeks ago)
• Speed Channel
• Fox Business News
• BBC World
• BBC America
• ESPNU
• DIY
• Fine Living
• ...and so many more!

I had heard that the delay time when selecting channels or doing things with the on screen guide was non-existing. It is shorter than Comcast but there still is a delay.

I am also not too happy with the on screen guide. Maybe it is because I don't have any big fancy TV's so it appears small on my screens but I just feel like they crammed too much in. I sometimes have to get up from the couch to see what the heck it says.

Picture quality is great, though I haven't seen anything in HD. Not sure if this is urban myth or not but I swear it looks better than Comcast did.

The remotes are great and cable boxes are just like you'd expect (Motorola). I used the multi-room DVR and love it but noticed a delay when pausing and skipping ahead/back when watching recorded shows in a second room.

Pricing is great....$42.00 for 223 channels with FiOS verse $52.99 for 70 channels from Comcast.

BOTTOM LINE: I love it! If they would just clean up the on screen guide a bit it would be perfect!

-Jeff the Great

Have we gone too far?

I came across this when posting a comment on another local blog. It is called a CAPTCHA which stands for "Completely Automated Public Turning test to tell Computers and Humans Apart." Gotta love the acronyms that geeks come up with!

I thought this one to be particularly ridiculous. Are spam posts really that much of a problem? I author 3 blogs and have not turned CAPTCHA on for any of them. As a matter of fact, I don't even have comment monitoring on!

So is this ridiculous or is it just me?

-Jeff the Great

Jeff the Great says Goboz.com is So Goboz!

So Goboz.com updated it's homepage the other day in an attempt to make it easier to find businesses. The old layout is pictured to the left. The idea of the new layout is to always show both the top businesses in each category as well as the latest businesses in each category.

There are still some tweaks to be made, but check it out and let the Goboz team know what you think!

-Jeff the Great

Jeff the Great is So Goboz!

I wrote recently about a cool new gadget for your iGoogle homepage, brought to you by Goboz.com. On Thursday the 6th, Goboz.com launched in the Portland Metro Area.

Goboz.com is basically 2 things: first it is a local business search site, similar to Citysearch and Yelp. Second, Goboz is a 1 stop shop for Portland area news from all the top sources like KATU, the Oregonian, and the Willamette Week.

What makes Goboz different is the way the site communicates to you what businesses people like and what news people care about. It uses a voting system inspired by Digg.com and the great thing is that you don't need to be signed into an account to vote. One click of the mouse lets you voice your opinion.

Goboz also stands out because it allows users to submit businesses and news that is not already on the site. So if you read a great article about Portland in the New York Times, share it with others at Goboz.com. Love the local coffee shop and think everyone else in Portland needs to know about? Just submit it in 1 quick step and it is available for voting immediately.

I love this site. I think they way they deliver this information is the next evolution in local information on the web. Don't trust me though, check it out for yourself.

Other blog coverage: Silicon Florist

-Jeff the Great

Jeff the Great says LivePDX is DeadPDX!

If you have watched much TV in Portland lately, you've probably seen ad's for LivePDX.com. The site is like citysearch, you use it to find restaurants, shopping, etc. So I've done some research, checked out their site a bit, thought I'd post my thoughts for all to read.


First thing that I noticed and I think deserves mention is that LivePDX.com is affiliated with Fox12 (KPTV). The parent company is the Meredith Corporation and LivePDX is a pilot project for them...if all goes well they'll launch the same web concept in other cities they serve with local media.


Next thing that jumped out at me was their contact page that implies they employ at least 5 full time employee's.


Finally, while looking through their site I noticed something startling; they only have restaurant and bar information on their site. No shopping, no beauty, no nothing other than food and drink.

At this point you are asking "why this is all important?" Here is my point: with all the money and support they have from their parent company, with 5 full time employee's, this is all they could do?


With all do respect, this site is awful! I couldn't find ANYTHING I was looking for. No exaggeration, couldn't find a thing. Their site implies they have information beyond just food/beverage, but nothing. They don't even bother to say "coming soon" on those pages. The submit page, which allows users to add to their directory, is awful. The page is not specific to the type of business you are submitting, and a submission I made about a month ago is still not showing on their site.


The local search market is so crowded these days, you'd think a big company like Meredith Corp would give it their all. If LivePDX is "their all," I'd sell their stock ASAP.


-Jeff the Great

Jeff the Great brings Goboz to iGoogle!

So there have been a lot of rumors floating around about a new Portland area startup called Goboz. Well, the creators seem to be seeding the blog world with some hints to what they have to come.

Today I received an email from their site inviting me to add their new gadget to my iGoogle homepage. So I did, pretty cool stuff! The gadget sits on your custom Google homepage and provides a live feed from the news section of Goboz.com. The gadget gives you the news headline, and they tell me when their site goes live next week, clicking on the headline will take you to the news section of their site. Right now, they block us normal folks out...you have to email them to get a beta invite.

My understanding is that Goboz.com isn't even focused on news. Apparently they are a new way to search Portland for restaurants, salons, etc. Sounds like a Citysearch killer if you ask me!

If you want to add the Goboz News gadget to your iGoogle page, follow these instructions:

1. Log into Google and go to the iGoogle page.
2. Click "add stuff" in the upper right corner
3. Click "add by URL," which is to the right of the search box/button
4. Copy and paste this URL in: http://www.dapper.net/transform.php?dappName=GobozJustPublished&transformer=GoogleGadget&extraArg_gadgetName=Goboz%20Portland%20News%20Feed&extraArg_gadgetDesc=Feed%20of%20locally%20submitted%20news%20to%20Goboz%20Portland&extraArg_fields[]=Title&extraArg_fields[]=Description&extraArg_fields[]=Publication_Date&extraArg_fields[]=Item_Link&extraArg_showLabels=1&extraArg_template=default&applyToUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fportland.goboz.com%2Fnews%2Frss.php

Enjoy,

Jeff the Great

UPDATE: Found more info about Goboz at http://www.aboutus.org/Goboz.com

Jeff the Great goes Naturally Curly!

I've been working hard on a marketing project for a local Portland fashion and beauty icon and am excited to report today that we have hit a milestone!

The Hickox family and their salon partners have been cutting the locks of the Portland elite for over three decades. What you might not of known is that Justin Hickox, owner of the downtown boutique salon Hickox Studio, also sells a line of world class, private label hair care products.

Today the globally renowned web site for women with curly hair, NaturallyCurly.com, featured Phat Hair in their new products section. Phat Hair is a styling mousse that was developed for all types of hair, but turns out to be one of the best products on the market for curly hair!

NaturallyCurly.com gets about 3 million page views per month and is growing by about 30% per month! They are looked to as the world wide authority on curly hair so this exposure is fantastic for us!

Check out the product mention at NaturallyCurly.com [here] and visit the Hickox Studio web site to buy a bottle for yourself. Shoot me an email for a 20% off coupon code!

-Jeff the Great

Jeff the Great: Steve Jobs was iWrong

For the iPhone launch Apple set up a web site for customers to find out which Apple stores are in stock with the iPhone. The way Steve Jobs talked about the iPhone, I expect that just about every Apple store would be sold out.

I checked Apple's site today and guess what I found? Oregon, all Apple stores are in stock. California, in stock. Washington, in stock. New York, in stock.

You probably get the point. So was Steve Jobs wrong when he said that stores would sell out? Or is this just a marketing ploy by Apple to get people into the stores?

Check it out for yourself: http://www.apple.com/retail/iphone/

-Jeff the Great

Jeff the Great and an iPhone?

Time for Jeff the Great to weigh on on the iPhone debate. The coveted device drops on June 29th and is being called by some the most anticipated consumer products launch of all time.

I know you are all waiting to hear if Jeff the Great approves of this new Apple device. In a word, 'No.' It is my prediction that the Apple iPhone will fail miserably, and here is why (in no particular order):

1. AT&T: This wireless company has struggled more than any other in the past 10 years. Just a few years ago they became Cingular, and they are again AT&T. Anyone confused yet? Buyers of the iPhone will most likely be virtually forced to sign a 2 year contract with AT&T. Too bad AT&T isn't the largest or best wireless carrier in the nation.*citation coming soon

2. AT&T, part 2: AT&T operates on GSM technology. GSM is great for making phone calls but terrible as a high speed data technology. On Verizon Wireless or Sprint/Nextel users can get up to 1.5megabits per second. I am hearing that on AT&T you are looking at 300k-700k per second (or only half as fast in a best case scenario). The web won't be nearly as fast as the Apple commercials would like you to believe.

3. Price Tag: Take a look at the web site of any wireless carrier out there...Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc and look at the prices of their phones. See much? That's what I thought. So who does buy the rare $300 or $400 phone? Business people on the go. Why do they buy these phones? For email capability. Anyone excited to type an email to their boss on a virtual keyboard? It may be okay for typing in a phone number or texting your friend, but good luck responding to your clients concerns while waiting for a flight.

4. Storage Capabilities: Or lack there of. The iPhone comes with two options, 4gig or 8gig. More than most cell phones, yes, but hardly an iPod. Go to the Apple web site and you'll see you can pick up an 80gig device.....ten times more memory than the larger of the two iPhones. So in addition to storing all of your contacts, cached files from web surfing, and attachments from emails, how many songs and/or videos will you be able to hold? About 90% less than a regular iPod?

UPDATED

5. No Outlook Sync: A friend of mine informed me today that word on the street is the iPhone will not be able to sync with MS Outlook out of the box. This may be updated by Apple or a 3rd party app might be released, but this is a big hit to the previously discussed business users that rely on Outlook in their office enviroment.

UPDATE: A Reader has pointed me to Apple documentation proving #5 wrong. Thanks to reader "RO."

In conclusion, if you are a business person you might spend $500 on a cell phone but wont get the iPhone when you could spend $100-$200 less and get a Palm Treo or Blackberry. If you are a hipster you might be interested in an iPhone to use it for its media capabilities. But why when it has the short battery life and small amount of memory like a cell phone?

Instead of $500 for a device that is okay at everything, I'll spend my money on a PDA cell phone that rocks and an 80gig iPod.

-Jeff the Great

updated 6-19-07, added point #5

updated 6-21-07, #5 incorrect, see link

Jeff the Great predicts the Death of the Wiki!

The hottest thing on the web right now is the Wiki. For those of you new to the concept, the idea is to have web pages created and updated by any and all web users that would like to contribute. It is a self policing community that has been growing like crazy in the past few years.

I've used the most common Wiki, Wikipedia.org, on occasion. The other day I visited to get some information on Portland, Oregon. I know of a great news web site that is all about Portland so I added it as one of many external links. The next day I receive this message when returning to Wikipedia.org:

"Please do not add inappropriate external links to Wikipedia. Wikipedia is not a mere directory of links nor should it be used for advertising or promotion. Inappropriate links include (but are not limited to) links to personal web sites, links to web sites with which you are affiliated, and links that exist to attract visitors to a web site or promote a product....If you feel the link should be added to the article, then please discuss it on the article's talk page rather than re-adding it...Thank you. Katr67."

Needless to say, my addition to the page had been removed.

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't removing my link counter productive to the entire philosophy of a wiki? I read "Katr67's" profile and she says she spends her time editing and monitoring Oregon related web sites. So guess that makes the Portland, Oregon page on wikipedia HER page, not Portland's page.

So how can I trust a wiki if users like Katr67 decide what does and doesn't get listed? Further more, if I can't trust the site I wont visit, and if I don't visit advertisers don't get their money's worth. When that happens a web site dies. I really wonder how local wiki sites like aboutus.org and portlandwiki.com will show their investors a return on their investment?

-Jeff the Great

Jeff the Great names Minister of Defense!

Its amazing how much security can be found on corporate networks these days. I am sure it's needed but I wonder to what extent.

My [high tech] company has deployed a great little tool on our computers that keeps track of all our passwords so we don't have to type them in at each site. At last count, I have 32 different applications or sites that this software gives me easy access to. It's nice because we need passwords for everything; corporate chat, the HR web site, expense reports, sales information, and on and on. It's unbelievable....32 different programs!

But I found out the downside to an application that stores all our passwords. I was logging into one of these 32 different programs and was prompted to change my password. To do so, I had to enter in my current password then enter in the new one.

NEWS FLASH: I don't know my password case that stupid program remembers it for me!

I had to call tech support and have my passwords reset.

Just because technology allows us to do it, doesn't mean we should.

-Jeff the Great

Jeff the Great goes (fire)Fox hunting!

I've decided that the computer world is changing. This weekend I downloaded Mozilla's Firefox internet browser. I did this after a couple months of fighting with Microsoft's Internet Explorer. After a few days with Firefox, I can proudly report not a single problem or issue. With IE, I could expect 2 or 3 program crashs and at least 1 restart directly related to Internet Explorer. The funny thing is that my problems with IE began when Microsft automatically pushed the IE upgrade down to me while doing a routine Windows Live Update.

The real story behind all of this is that Firefox is a FREE download from Google or Mozilla. I am also using 2 spyware programs which were FREE downloads (Spybot & adAware). So how is it that some of the best software packages are free while other companies spend billions developing and then forcing us to use their crap?

And that is why the world of computers is changing. We are going from a time when shareware/freeware programs were clunky homemade app's to being some of the worlds best. If I were Microsoft, I'd be very afraid.

So what is next? We have Firefox for web surfing, Google has provided us with a whole host of free programs including Doc's and Spreadsheets, all I need now is a free operating system and I am good to go. Any suggestions?

-Jeff the Great

Jeff the Great says "Honesty is the best Policy"

I absolutely love this! I read an article the other day about a new online dating service that promises to be different than anything you've seen before on the web.

HotEnough.org launched with the intention of setting up beautiful people with other beautiful people. The founder thinks there are too many uglies looming in the shadows of the current online dating sites.

Before you start calling me superficial and pig, let me explain. I don't love the business, I love the fact that someone has the guts to say and do what so many are thinking! You've got to know that the internet is not teeming with drop dead gorgeous people as the tv and online ads would like you to believe. Finding a mate online is probably like seeing the commercial for that new fast food burger, only to go get one and find out it isn't nearly as big and juice as on the commercial.

So if you're single, head on over to HotEnough.org and see if you are beautiful enough to be part of the club. Gotta love truth in advertising!

-Jeff the Great