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Visualising Information Technology

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Image of Bagger-garzweiler mining equipment - By User:Martinroell [CC BY-SA 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons

Bagger-garzweiler mining equipment 1

Hi and welcome to 2015, I want to share some thoughts and examples of technology visualisations and some background to visualising information technology but before I start I want to share a story.

In 1986 we moved to Queensland. We were young, just married and looking where to start on the adventure of a lifetime. At the time, I was an engineering draftsman with a background as a tradesman and had never really used the hands on experience of the trade as I had been promoted to the drawing office not long after completing my apprenticeship.

Within two weeks of arriving in Queensland, I won a job at a large mining engineering company as a machinist. My role was to take large blanks of metal and turn them into gears for mining equipment. The process took around two weeks.

In my two weeks of being on the job, I had to dig deep into gear and screw thread theory where I had to refresh my earlier trade training memory and skills on gear attributes such as:

  • Circular Pitch,
  • Face Width,
  • Pitch circle,
  • Addendum Circle,
  • Pitch Surface,
  • Bottom Land,
  • Chordal Pitch.

Image of Gear - Visualising Information Technology

Figure 2 –  A Gear with terminology 2

Fortunately I had another Tradesman mentoring me and within three weeks we had created my first gear.

The thing that sticks out in my memory about creating gears, were the technology diagrams of the gear design. We had the product diagrams and we also used machinery’s handbook with it’s diagrams and tables of gear attributes.

These resources were instrumental in allowing me to understand how to  set up the machinery to create the gears.

Visualisations in Information Technology

Around 20 years later I moved into Enterprise Information Technology. I remember walking into a project and asking the question, “where are the drawings”?

It wasn’t long into the project that I found some concept drawings but nothing I could put my hands on to show what we were building.

Image of Network Operations

Figure 3 – Network Operations Room 3

I soon found out that Information Technology back then seemed to write a lot of documents with code than use diagrams to explain software development.

I set about undertaking my project management role for a team developing a software server and developing diagrams to explain to people what we were doing.

Working with the developers in the team, we went about creating some visualisations that assisted the team and other stakeholders to understand how our software server fitted in with the overall software architecture.

That was my first experience of using visualisations in Information Technology.

What is Visualising Information Technology?

The term visualisation is used a lot today in Information Technology circles, it is a term that’s growing in popularity.

You will find lots of terminology for visualisation from a number of sources around the web. The Macquarie Dictionary, starts with the verb (visualising); “to call up or form mental images or pictures or to make visual or visible”. Visualisation is the noun.

If we put technology together in the mix, it’s all about making technology visual or visible.

In its basic form, here’s the best description that I use and one I can easily relate to,

“Visualising Information Technology is a technique involving a visualisation to tell a technology story”.

Is it any different to a drawing, a diagram, a picture or an image used throughout history. Aren’t these visualisations?

Visualisations have been a scribble in the dirt, a drawing in a cave, a painted picture, a sketch. Closer to our history, it has been a diagram, a technical drawing, a map, a photograph or a video.

Visualisation is such a generic term and needs to kept that way, any point of categorising it to one discipline runs the danger of redefining the term to something that it isn’t.

Why Technology Visualisations?

For centuries, engineering has relied on the nut and bolt, in the common terms they’re called, fasteners. A nut and bolt allows two pieces of material to be joined or clamped together through a threaded hole in the nut with the external thread on the bolt.  A hole in both pieces of the material allows the bolt to pass through the material allowing the external thread to attach to the nut. When you screw the bolt into the nut, the two pieces are joined or clamped to together.

Image of an Internal External Screw Thread - Visualising Information Technology

Figure 4 – An Internal External Screw Thread 4

The development of screw thread was most probably accelerated when people were able to draw images of the screw thread and apply logic to drawing such as:

  • Thread form,
  • Angle,
  • Pitch,
  • Lead, pitch, and starts,
  • Diameters,
  • Classes of Fits,
  • Thread Depth and Taper.

 

Can you imagine a couple of artisans in the Renaissance sharing each other’s designs, one from Switzerland saying, “we build our threads this way”, the other from Rome saying, “we do it this way”, then they draw it on a piece paper and figure out the differences.

Image of Leonardo da Vinci's Helicopter - Visualising Information Technology

Figure 5 – Leonardo da Vinci helicopter  5

The visualisation, in this case the drawing, became the vehicle that allowed them to check the differences and show the commonality.

For sometime I’ve been involved creating and helping people use visualisations to describe Information Technology. These amazing experiences and opportunities have helped people get on the “same page” for describing what technology was built and being built. It has help solve many problems.

Why Visualisations? They help people understand Information Technology easily and quickly.

Visualising Information Technology, Tangible or Intangible?

In general engineering when I created gears, I could touch them, I saw the original design drawings then after two weeks of machining I saw a blank piece of metal transformed into a gear you find in a gearbox or transmission. I could see the differential gears I created fitting together into the equipment.

When I moved into Information Technology, I was able to touch a screen, a keyboard, I could touch the paper of a print out, however, I couldn’t touch the code that performed the operations, the software code wasn’t tangible. I could visually see a field on a screen where you enter your name, but couldn’t touch a data set. I could see the output of an instruction, it appeared on a screen or on a print out.

I was starting to see for the first time that Information Technology and other related disciplines, have a high degree of intangible elements, you can’t touch them.

This raised the thought in my mind, how do I see intangible elements of Information Technology?

Visualising Information Technology provides clarity

It seemed to me, people needed to try to understand Information Technology in a way that made sense. A better way was needed.

My concerns were also the concerns of industry. At the time, the industry started moving to adopting and developing a number of notations such as Unified Modelling Language (UML) to help people understand software development and related disciplines.

Image of UML Diagrams - Visualising Information Technology

Figure 6 – UML Diagrams 6

People were coming to grips with using a notation like UML to describe software architecture, it was also what I was learning at University at the time.

It seemed that it was going to take some time to see the usage of visualisations such as diagrams and drawings gain maturity to aid in building and maintaining technology systems.

As I’ve moved further into different areas of information technology, I’ve found myself creating information technology visualisations such as diagrams, drawings and presentations. Here’s what I’ve found;

  • Visualising information technology helps me to describe technology systems. It focuses my thoughts and my thinking on what I perceive is the current or future state of a technology,
  • Visualisation help people understand more clearly what is there or what we want to move towards. That’s probably one of the best benefits. I’ve provided a picture, put it on the table and watched the conversation be totally focused on discussing whatever was on that paper,
  • Visualisations offer a level of authority. Correct or incorrect, visualisations provide a platform for challenging what’s on the paper. Ideas and thoughts are just that unless they are acted upon. One of the best ways of getting those ideas and thoughts together is to express them visually. If you’re the author, then as soon as you release a sketch, a picture, diagram or drawing they become the authority.

The clarity that a visualisation brings to Information Technology is powerful, it allows those intangible elements of technology to be described and understood.

From an audience of senior executives to developers, clarity helps people make better decisions in designing and delivering technology systems.

How will you start visualising Information Technology?

Some people say; “I find it hard to draw a picture, I can’t get my thoughts down on paper.” I can understand that.

I remember doing Art in high school and it was difficult trying to express my thoughts putting them into either a sketch, a pastel drawing or an oil painting.

When I took my Technical Drawing class, I found I needed a structure to help me put my thoughts together and express them on paper. Once I starting using the structure consistently it made it so much easier to produce a drawing.

So the first place to start is to have structure where you can learn how to visualise information technology.

The second place is to practice drawing those ideas and concepts. Start our sketching, draw some lines and boxes together and see how they come together in describing some technology.

The third is do a course that will teach you how to communicate information technology using visualisations such as diagrams and drawings. This is where I do some shameless self-promotion.

The Visualising IT Course 3 day course will help you

I’m teaching my course called Visualising IT, Information Technology.  Visualising IT is a 3-Day course where participants learn the theory and application related to creating and delivering visualisations such as diagrams, drawings and presentations. On day 3 participants have the opportunity to gain hands on experience creating visualisations and presentations in a scenario based role play.

Make sure you visit the Project Performance website where you can find out where to sign up for the Visualising IT course.

In the mean time, make sure you check out the collection of Technology Visualisations I’ve been collecting from the web to put you in the picture.

Keep your eye out on further articles on Visualising Information Technology on this blog.

Chris

PS. IT Visualisations Board on Pinterest

Click on this link to visit my board on IT Visualisations at Pinterest.

or you can also click on my name below to go directly to the Technology Visualisations, Diagrams, Drawings and Images Board.

I’m keeping a collection of interesting visualisations I find on the web.

Chris Mundy’s Pinterest Boards.


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  1. Figure – Bagger-garzweiler mining equipment – By User:Martinroell, CC BY-SA 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5), via Wikimedia Commons. ↵
  2. Figure – Gear with terminology. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gear#mediaviewer/File:Gear_words.png  (Drawn by the uploading party.) GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/), via Wikimedia Commons. ↵
  3. Figure – Operations Room By Gsmith 1 of 2 at en.wikipedia, Public domain, from Wikimedia Commons. ↵
  4. Figure – Image of an External and Internal Screw Thread By William Rafti of the William Rafti Institute CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons. ↵
  5. Figure  – Leonardo da Vinci helicopter by Leonardo da Vinci – ausschnitt aus, via Wikimedia Commons. ↵
  6. Figure  – UML Diagrams by Kishorekumar 62 – Own work. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:UML_Diagrams.jpg#mediaviewer/File:UML_Diagrams.jpg Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. ↵

Audio books changed my reading

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Audio books changed my reading to listening in 2013. Here’s how it happened. Being involved in Technology, I subscribe to This Week in Tech Podcasts TWIT Network.

Image of happy radio listening to Audio Books

As a regular listener, the range of programs keeps me current with Technology informing me on topical technical issues; real handy when you’re involved in technology.

Besides Podcasts, I subscribe to a number of online journals and news feeds which I find beneficial as well.

Podcasts started for me just as I purchased my first iPhone in 2008. I quickly found podcast content that interested me and I was on my way to listening and learning.

I soon found listening to podcasts changed my commute. It’s around that time I stopped listening to the local radio. Getting to the client’s workplace mentally stimulated me with contextual brain food for the day.

As TWIT relies on advertising revenue, one of the products they advertise is Audible an Amazon company, an Audio book supplier, when an Audible segment was featured, one of the team would share some information on the book they were listening to.

While listening to program every week,  I kept saying to myself, “I must read/listen to that book sometime.”

The reality was my reading was declining, however, my listening of podcasts increased.

I said to myself, when would I get the chance to listen to any audio books? I was also challenged that I needed to listen to a more broad range of subject matter in particular, biographies and autobiographies.

My first Audio book

My first audio book came when I was given for my birthday in 2011, Steve Job’s biography by Walter Isaacson on CD. After converting the CDs to listen to the book on my iPhone, I was taken in by how much I enjoyed listening to audio books.

I found myself arriving home and doing a could laps of the block to finish a chapter of a book. After getting through the book I found myself mentally exhausted but wanting to listen to another book.

The next opportunity to listen to another audio book was a while later when we were en route to a funeral in Armidale NSW.

It was at the end of 2012 I made a commitment, I needed to improve my overall reading. I was starting books but not completing them. Besides listening to Podcasts, I needed another form of mental stimulation and learning, so I purchased my first couple of Audio books.

Audio books are enhanced by using YouTube

With a book like “Steve Jobs” I found a way to bring “reality” to the book. Books have a wonderful way of allowing your mind to make a mental picture based on your understanding, nothing wrong with that, however, to get a feel for the real situation like when Steve Jobs returns to Apple and speaks at the Apple developers conference, you can go on to YouTube and watch the keynote when Steve spoke, nice. In some ways it tempers the biographers view and how he or she conveys the story to the reader.

So with all my Audio books, I now look at the web to watch any supporting media making sure not to spoil the story.

Downloading my first Audio book, “Long Walk to Freedom” by Nelson Mandela

I purchased this audio book through the iTunes store. This book was downloaded through iTunes, The narrator was Danny Glover.

Talk about a life challenging read. I learnt so much about Nelson Mandela, his motives his leadership the time he spent in Prison his political rise, and the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.

The standout for me was the graciousness and forgiveness by Mandela against those who persecuted him.

“What’s it all About” by Michael Caine

The second, that book was “What’s it all about” the story of Sir Michael Caine the actor.  Caine has always been a fan of mine since my early years with a steady diet of the Italian Job and Zulu. I then purchased his second book “the Elephant Hollywood”.

The great thing about listening to Sir Michael was his early story of overcoming hardship for several years before any opportunities arose and always being grateful for what he has today.

The other thing that appealed to me listening to his story was that Michael Caine was the narrator making the story more authentic in his east London accent.

Using Audible for Audio books in 2013

With our 2013 travel plans set to visit the Mediterranean in September and October, it was time to commit to an Audible Account, a monthly commitment of $14.95. The monthly Audible membership means they give you a credit to buy any books valued above or below monthly membership fee of $14.95.

Going on a long flight, I wanted to read one book, however, I purchased another for the next read.

Here’s what I read while travelling to and from Europe.

One Crowded Hour: Combat Cameraman, Neil Davis

The best-selling biography of one of the world’s greatest cine-cameramen and an extraordinary Australian. For over 20 years, journalist Neil Davis covered the conflicts in South East Asia.

Always at the battle front, he brought enduring images of the full horror of modern war to the world. Ironically, in September 1985, having survived so much war, Neil Davis was killed filming an attempted coup in the streets of Bangkok.

As a teenager I remember Neil’s footage vividly as he filmed amazing footage of the Indo China in the early 70s and most memorably the tanks entering the old Presidential Palace in Ho Chi Minh City in 1975 when the North captured South Vietnam.

A couple of amazing things happened while reading this book travelling to and from Europe,

  1. The book was that engaging that I only watched two movies on the in-flight entertainment, the rest of the travel time, listening to the audiobook. If you travel lots, get a set of Noise cancelling Headphones, they cut out all the cabin pressurised Air Conditioning noise common with Airplane travel.
  2. When we came back from Europe through Ho Chi Minh city(Saigon) in Vietnam, the leg prior to landing was taken up by me reading about his life around the time of the liberation of South Vietnam by the north and the places where he worked and stayed being the Caravelle Hotel and Majestic Hotel. So to my amazement when I joined the dots and realised we were staying at the Majestic Hotel and we drove past the Caravelle Hotel, that the penny dropped and realised the connection between the previous chapter and our current status in Ho Chi Minh City, wow!

So listening to “One Crowded Hour” by Tim Bowden was amazing, another great thing about the narrative was Tim Bowden the Author was the reader.

Operation Mincemeat: The true spy story that changed the course of World War II

Operation Mincemeat was the most successful wartime deception ever attempted and certainly the strangest.

It hoodwinked the Nazi espionage chiefs, sent German troops hurtling in the wrong direction, and saved thousands of lives by deploying a secret agent who was different in one crucial respect, from any spy before or since: he was dead.

I first read this as the story of the “Man who never was” by Ewen Montagu. The intrigue of this story was the resourcefulness of the British to effectively deceive the Germans through the esiponage and diplomatic channels of the Spanish, Italian and German governments. If you love CSI, love a good war drama, and a spy story, you will love Operation Mincemeat.

My next reads

It was time to change to some stories of human endeavour. I had marked a book to read on my wish list “Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond”.

However Audible throw you a curved ball with specials and offer you added reads for prices like $4.95 so I quickly read an overview of one of the books available for $4.95 called “Running for My Life: One Lost Boy’s Journey from the Killing Fields of Sudan to the Olympic Games” seems like it would be a good read/listen, unknowably realising it was a game changing book for me.

Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13

Gene Kranz was present at the creation of America’s manned space program and was a key player in it for three decades. As a flight director in NASA’s Mission Control, Kranz saw firsthand the making of history. Kranz was flight director for both Apollo 11, the mission in which Neil Armstrong fulfilled President Kennedy’s pledge, and Apollo 13.

He headed the Tiger Team that had to figure out how to bring the three Apollo 13 astronauts safely back to Earth. (In the film Apollo 13, Kranz was played by the actor Ed Harris, who earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance.)

I have my Apollo 11 badge from my boyhood and remember watching Neil Armstrong step onto the moon. After watching Apollo 13 the movie I wanted to find out more. I had worked with a guy who spent time working for NASA on the early space shuttle programmes so I wanted to find out more.

The thing that amazed me was in the beginning there were bunch of very smart people working on space program however, it seems they weren’t working together as a team. The book shows of the lows and highs of the teams as they developed into powerhouse to put man on the moon and beyond.

It you love learning about teams, projects and programmes, you soon realise there is a difference between management and leadership and what it takes to accomplish the impossible.

Running for My Life: One Lost Boy’s Journey from the Killing Fields of Sudan to the Olympic Game

Running for My Life is not a story about Africa or track and field athletics. It is about outrunning the devil and achieving the impossible: faith, diligence, and the desire to give back.

Lopez Lomong chronicles his inspiring ascent from a barefoot lost boy of the Sudanese Civil War to a Nike sponsored athlete on the US Olympic Team.

Though most of us fall somewhere between the catastrophic lows and dizzying highs of Lomong’s incredible life, every reader will find in his story the human spark to pursue dreams that might seem unthinkable, even from circumstances that might appear hopeless.

The thing I loved about this book was the story of faith in God and hope for the future from a young boy. The bottom line is the the boy should have died several times over, however, overcame the most incredible obstacles to eventually end up at the Olympic games.

You come away shaking your head in amazement to his resilience to life’s situation all based on this faith.

This audio book is loaded with surprises.

Where to from here with audio books

Audio books have become a great source of learning for me so I’m going to share any reviews in future posts. Stay tuned.

Benefits of an Audible Audio books Account

If you are reading my post and contemplating listening to Audio books, I would go for the monthly account of $14,95 US per month. Here’s why:

  • Any book just one credit – Your plan gives you one or more credits to spend toward books every month.
  • Exchange any book* – If a book doesn’t meet your expectations just return it, no questions asked
  • Never pay full price – Save 30% off regular price when you buy books without credits.
  • Members-only deals – Enjoy discounts and sales offered exclusively to members.
  • Free audio newspaper – Get a daily subscription to The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times

How to start an Audible Audio books account

Do you have an Amazon account? Your already on your way. Audible is an Amazon Company that specialise in Audio Books.

If you don’t have an Amazon Account, go to the link here to find out how to sign up.

Recommendations

I’ll only recommend books that I’ve personally read myself, however the ones that I do recommend I’ll provide a link.

What’s next?

Start listening to Audio books today, Chris 

How long do you keep a Smartphone?

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How long do you keep a Smartphone? My first Smartphone was an iPhone 3. My wife inherited it as the 3Gs came out on the market. Earlier this year my iPhone 3Gs died. I bought it in 2009 in the last quarter. It has been a wonderful piece of technology.

Here are some of the things I’ve been able to do with my iPhone 3Gs:

  • Make Phone Calls (obviously)
  • Messaging
  • Email
  • Photography
  • Movie  filming, e.g. mounted on the Motorcycle
  • USB type storage
  • Integration to cloud services
  • Music media
  • Journal/Note Taking
  • Travel and trip updates
  • Health tracking
  • Weather Tracking

The interesting thing about a lot of this is that I’ve done  a number of these activities, Photos, Filming and Music when the Smart Phone was mounted on the handlebar on my Motorcycle. This is an environment with a lot of vibration.

So when my iPhone 3Gs died while being used on my Motorcycle trip to Tasmania earlier this year, I wasn’t surprised. I can’t say the timing was great, however, it happened, that’s life.

Growing up in a generation that questioned consumerism and working for a company in the 70s and 80s that reduced its product warranty from 10 years to 5 years to 1 year for one of its core products, I’ve always attempted to try to get the most out of any technology with effective asset management, in other words make it last as long as possible, that’s my approach.

Image of Mobile Phones

How long do you keep a Smartphone for?

Let’s look at it from this perspective, when do people most probably replace their smart phone?

People usually:

Replace the Smartphone when its been damaged

Did a cup of cold water tip on the desk where your phone was sitting and it penetrated the phone or you mishandled the phone and it fell out of your pocket, or did you drop it on the road as it fell out of your pocket while riding your motorcycle? Yes it happens. I saw this in Tasmania following another rider; we picked up the phone and it still worked, cracked gorilla glass, however still workable.

Tech Republic has an infographic and article  on how smart phone incidents occur.

Infograph on how Smart Phone Incidents occur

One point about regularly damaging and breaking your phone is it can be very expensive, especially if you are a repeat offender. Insurance can only cover so much damage, and if you do it often the insurance people will start questioning your motives.

Replace the Smartphone when it has a fault or it fails

Warranties and extra care plans can be handy. Usually the manufacturers will replace the phone within the warranty period. They are keen to make sure you have a pleasant customer experience with the device to ensure future purchases. We’ve had to do that a couple of times and its been a question of  “no problems”, however, we have to wait a week or two for a replacement.

If its out of warranty, sometimes you can get someone to repair it, however, the inevitable will occur and the phone will most likely fail in the future. If it doesn’t then that’s a bonus.

If you’ve gotten more than two years out of your smart phone then you are on a roll. If you’re looking at 3-4 years, then you’ve done well.

Replace the Smartphone when the contract ends

Most smart phones are on a contract, if you work in an environment that uses the phone often, then it’s probably wise to change it around the time of contract. Replacing at the end of a contract also ensures you have the latest and greatest technology.

What to do with your old Smartphone

Apple have a tendency to want you to keep up with their wave of technology so expect to get 4 years max out of your iPhone. I guess that Android and Windows SmartPhones would be following something similar.

Give it away

You can give the phone away to someone you know or give it to an organisation who will pass it on to someone else. In Australia, Mobile for Charity is one such organisation.

Repurpose it

Reuse it for some other purpose, e.g. in the case or an old smart phone, you could use it as an MP3 digital music player, an iPhone for instance can become an iPod.

Sell it

The best bang for buck is to try to sell it.

Sometimes that’s harder than expected. You can try eBay or the local selling site.

In the United States Galleze.com purchases old Smartphones and Tablet devices. In Australia “Cash a Phone” does something similar and in the UK there’s Sell My Mobile Phone.

Recycle it

There are lots of programs that recycle old smart phones, for instance, its my understanding Apple has a global recycling program.

In Australia, Apple collects old iPhones at their stores or you can print a label from their website, pack it and take it to Australia Post.

Purchasing the replacement Smartphone

Did you know the typical Smartphone has 16,000 times more processing memory than Apollo 11 had when it landed on the moon in 1969. You’re not purchasing a phone but you’re purchasing a mini computer!

Am I buying into an eco-system?

For me its the eco-system, the Apple eco-system for me provides continuity between my devices; I go from my iMac personal computer to my iPad to my iPhone and can look and use the same documents, contacts and calendars seamlessly.

Google likewise take the same approach between their Android platform and their smart phones and Google Accounts and applications.

All these manufacturers are wanting your commitment and buy-in for the long-term.

So something to consider is, what eco-system am I buying into?

What will I use it for?

This is an important question as it determines how much memory you will need.

My usage works out to be this:

  1. Email
  2. Calendar
  3. Podcasts
  4. Audiobooks
  5. Music
  6. Photos
  7. Videos

The best bang for buck for me is to have 32 gigabytes of memory, that seems to work well. As I work in the Apple realm, the next step up is 64 gigabytes of memory that means more cost in the purchase and contract.

For me, less memory means more management of music and audiobooks, more memory means less management, I don’t have to manage how much music, photos or  audiobooks are on my device.

By determining your usage patterns will help you discover how much memory you will need and of course decide how much you will need to spend.

Will I buy it on contract or will I buy it outright?

Cash flow seems to be the determining factor to this. Most people prefer to buy a smart phone on a contract from 1 to 2 years. One thing to consider when you buy on a contract  is insurance. In the first 12 months, warranty will cover phone failure, however, if you are on a two-year contact and the phone fails in the second half of the contract, be prepared to pay for repairs, that can be a bit of a “gotcha”. Alternatively you can buy an extended warranty to cover your bases in the second half of the contract.

My current iPhone 5, I purchased outright. I also purchased the Apple Care that extends the service and support coverage to two years from the date I purchased the iPhone. This also meant I only needed a 12 month contract with the telco for usage.

My phone has gone missing!

Back in the 90s I found high-end Nokia Phone in an English Taxi Cab in London. I imagine the pain the owner went through looking for the phone, hopefully the cab driver was able to hand it in after his shift.

Consider the value of insuring the phone. Before you purchase the telco’s insurance, you may find that your home insurance may have provision for loss of mobile devices, you could save yourself some money.

So in closing, how long do you keep a Smartphone for?

There is no definitive answer or approach to this question as it is different for everyone and how they use the Smartphone. The main point is to decide what best suits your usage requirements and from there how long you need to keep the phone.

What I can say from my experience is, look after your phone and it will look after you.

My iPhone 3Gs still looks good considering it has ridden many a mile on the motorcycle handlebar, the only issue is the pin inside has collapsed, rendering the phone unusable.

I hope these tips help you before buying a new Smartphone.

Chris Mundy

Segway personal transport and tourism

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Hey, we’re heading out later this year to Europe and I found out you could hire a Segway for personal transport and tourism in some European cities.


The idea came while going through Trip Advisor, a great source for trip planning. It occurred to me that we could use a Segway, a cool technology, to get around and see a lot more.

After thinking “this is a cool idea” I checked out the local Segway Tours in Canberra, rang them and made a booking.

Here’s a little video I put together from my Segway Cam!

[youtube width=”600″ height=”400″]http://youtu.be/bSMGSaTk06Q[/youtube]

First Impressions: We had a small tutorial and after five minutes you get an idea of how they work:

  • You step up on the Segway, gently lean forward and it moves forward.
  • Lean back and it slows down or comes to a stop.
  • Turn the handle left or right, and it turns in that direction; and that’s it.

The instructors at Seg Glide ride  at Canberra said they can go a couple of hours on a charge.

When you’re riding along you certainly get a few looks. A Segway certainly has a certain Wow factor to onlookers.

After the ride, I found the soles of my feet sore, obviously they need more exercise :-).

Afterwards, a cup of coffee at Questacon and a debrief with our friends.

Think about the personal transport possibilities if you live in near to your work?

Here’s a couple of ads to show you what they cost.

Based on the prices above, consider the travel time, the cost of ownership, the parking.

I reckon its got a lot of possibilities in the future. What do you think? Would love to hear your comments.

Now I’m looking forward to using one on our European trip.

Google Reader will shut down however I found Feedly

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March 13 2013 saw the announcement that Google Reader will be shutting down, however I found an alternative, Feedly.

When I heard the news I took a deep breath and realised I needed to start looking for an alternative. My primary tool for bringing all my RSS Feeds together using Google Reader as the aggregator was a tool called Reeder, a great Mac app.

For those who don’t know what Google Reader is it’s a Web-based aggregator, capable of reading Atom and RSS feeds online or offline. When a website publishes a new article, it uses an RSS Feed to tell Google, “hey there’s something new on this site”. The search engine can read the feed and use it to index the content. If you add a web site to Google Reader or a tool like Reeder using the RSS Feeds from the site, means you get an instant notification that the website has been updated. Nice. Web blogging platforms like WordPress use this technology.

Why the deep breath when Google said it was turning off Reader? It has been my source tool for collecting key technology information across the web. I could get an update on where the local National Broadcasting Network (NBN) roll-out was up to, when new Motorcycle products were out on the market and when the latest technology is being released. Google Reader via Reeder keeps me on top of my game, however, the real reason for me being annoyed was I had the RSS thing all sorted out and now I have to change.

I forgot one thing, technology is like surfing, there is always a better wave coming through, you just have to catch lots of waves to get the best rides. I was lulled into a false sense of security of this technology platform being stable, true, tried and tested and not going away; I got too comfortable. I had sat on my surfboard just paddling but not catching waves.  After I had figured why I had reacted the way I did, it was time to go surfing again. The first wave I caught was Feedly, and boy, I’m glad I did.

Feedly is a RSS news aggregator application for a number of Web browsers and mobile devices running iOS and Android.  So how different is it than Google Reader? Currently it uses your Google Reader RSS feeds, however to survive post the closure of Google Reader, it will need a place to manage feeds. To do this they have a project Normandy. This will be the tool to replace Google Reader. Presumably there will be some monetization as the Feedly Service along with Apps is currently free, however, they will probably monetize by selling the app or selling premium space on their service. Whatever way, they will be winners as people will seek alternatives to Google Reader.

Why Feedly impressed me?

The first reality check for me was it allowed me to import all my Google Reader RSS Feeds easily. That was the first tick of approval. The second thing was it was more web-based than my Mac App, Reeder. Reeder was only limited to being used on my iMac, Macbook Pro, iPad and iPhone. That’s OK, however when I was away from my Mac environment, I had to use Google Reader in its native format on platforms such as Windows 7; very vanilla but not as powerful as Reeder on the Mac.

So I set up Feedly on the Browser, imported my RSS Feeds from my Google reader account, download the iPhone and iPad apps from the App Store, installed it on my devices and off I went. It took a couple of uses to get the hang of it.

After a month of using Feedly, I really like it. The features that stand out for me are the different views to check your feeds; you can have lists, magazine views and other choices. It allowed me to quickly acknowledge the article as “read” and move on to the next article.

When reading an article in detail, it can take you to the source article in a Browser window. This makes it easier for me to trigger Hootsuite, my social sharing tool.

Lastly, its a great looking program. I like the User experience and how it works. See the image below.

So for me, it’s Feedly. If something else comes along that’s better, I will give it consideration, if it has some value added functionality that Feedly doesn’t.

Click the image below to go the Feedly website.

Link Image to Feedly page

 

To view Feedly for the iPhone and iPad in the iTunes Store, click here.

 

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