Torgersons.com

May 16, 2012
by jeff
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Music and technology coming together in a big way for me

Today was my last day at Microsoft.  One of many jobs that has shaped my career.

I’ve been in the tech space for quite some time now.   To be more precise, I have really been focused in mobile for the past 14 years.  My life in mobile started out in 1998 when I was working as a developer on the AT&T Pocket Net Service.. the first yellow pages on phones in the US.   Think back to 1998.. were you using data on your phone?   Most likely not (a reason that product never really took off I guess)   I am pretty sure my family and friends thought I was on crack for wanting to bring mobile sites to cell phones.

It was a long-fought journey to get to today… but for all the pain and lack of glory, I am thrilled with the accomplishments I have made to mobile.  The things users got to do based on work that was done by teams I worked with.  Strategy and planning that ultimately panned out.   As many of you know, mobile is a passion, not for the feint of heart.   If you don’t LOVE it.. and I mean TRULY love it, you will burn out.   It’s a pain.

For the first time in well over a decade I am going to be doing a new job that is not 100% focused in mobile.  Sure, there will be some mobile components to it, but it’s just a portion of what I am doing.   I am heading over to Rhapsody.   WOOT!   I have been a Rhapsody subscriber for nearly a decade.. love the product and I am thrilled to have a chance to work with the team.

I’ll get more details out on @torgerson on Twitter as things get rolling.  It is an amazing opportunity and I can’t wait to start.   Bringing my passion and experience in the industry I know.. to learn a whole new business.   I am up for the challenge.  There is something to be said for doing what you love.

 

March 26, 2012
by jeff
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Don’t get religious on your stance for web design

While responsive web design has been around for  a while, it really seems  like the past 6 months or so it’s bounced back into the spotlight.  I have seen a lot of articles talking about the pros and cons of using such approaches. Some of these articles are quite prescriptive on the approach.   For those who are less familiar with it, let me give a quick summary.

Responsive web design is a technique that can leverage standard markup, CSS, and Javascript.  There is no magic or trickery..other than the actual know-how to get such a site designed and built properly.  By no means do I know a ton about Responsive Web Design, I am merely using this as a tool to help make my point.

Many groups recommend you actually start with the mobile view first.   The mobile first movement suggests you look at the key things your user will want to do in mobile (assuming the most simplified view) and then build up to the tablet or desktop view from there.

Progressive Web Design is another tactic that is leveraged in these common approaches outlined above.  The idea here is to use basic markup; then based on browser capabilities you can “enhance” the experience.  In simple terms start with a basic level 1 experience, then you test to see if your browser is advanced enough to get experience level 2 (or 3, or whatever you want to name it) and then if so, the code gets executed.

This seems like a great approach to solve my problem of building multiple websites!  Right?  Well, all good things come with a catch.   If you think about a news style site, like SmashingMagazine.com, it doesn’t matter if the user is on their desktop reading articles or on the bus viewing the site on their phone.  They are doing the same tasks, just optimized for a screen type.  If you have different scenarios for your mobile users that are unique, does this mean it’s broken?

This is where my frustration comes in on the articles I’ve seen.   Too many people are taking the view on one of two dimensions.  FIRST:  Responsive is the end all be all approach and really solves world hunger. (ok, maybe a touch over blown).   Yes, it does great things that appear magical, it helps me build to a single code base and it helps my SEO story with a single URL approach.    SECOND:  Responsive doesn’t help me because I need to optimize my business for mobile differently than I do on the desktop site.

By all means.. both views are important, and both have merit.   What you need to realize is this:  Getting religious on how people should build sites is a bit like.. well, getting religious about your religion vs. someone else’s religion.  Neither one of you may be wrong.. but you have your beliefs.

I’d say take what you need from each approach.  (back to the tech talk here, not religion).   There is no reason you can’t leverage the great flow layouts from a responsive web design and still have very mobile specific approaches to solve for specific scenarios that are different across device types.   These can be handled on the server side with some intelligent code at run-time.

Leverage Progressive for building up capabilities on the fly.  Be smart, be adaptive.  Leverage business intelligence at the server layer to make content choices, optimize images, custom deliver CSS and optimize where you can.   Finally.. go with Responsive for a single code base for rendering across devices.   PAR… this approach of Progressive, Adaptive and Responsive is a way to be smart while still leveraging what others have done without handcuffing you to a single approach.

The purist view of responsive means you do everything client side to determine what shows on devices and how it renders.   We just know that we have certain things we want to be smart about given ample opportunity. This is why with an adaptive approach you can:

  • Not send a single image and scale it via % widths from desktop to mobile.  Do try to optimize and load the right JPG based on device width
  • Use EM for fonts.
  • Using @media-query options is great at run time.. but could you save code on the download and optimize on the server side based on device width?  (rather than user-agent)
  • Be smart about content, not all content has to be sent back.   Send content ABC where it makes sense and mix/replace XYZ with proper events when triggered.

So.. this is just a suggestion, but don’t get overly critical about how people are approaching their site design and implementation.   Personally I have always found the thing that works best is to leverage the best of all approaches and make it work for me.  PAR just happens to be a good blend of capabilities as I see it.

 

 

March 14, 2012
by jeff
0 comments

Android tablets won’t see the success of the Android phones

There is no doubt that Android is killing it in the phone space.   They have come to market with an open platform that allows the flexibility for OEMs to bring a variety of devices to market.   These devices can be a low end 128mb Smartphone for free to consumers (or very cheap on the open market) all the way up to a high end device with fantastic processors, large amounts of storage, NFC and stunning design.  If you are on the market for a Smartphone.. Android will have one that fits your pricepoint.. and arguably can do it quite well for that price.  It doesn’t mean it’s a better phone than an iPhone or Windows Phone 7.. but it is good enough for the price.

The challenge standard Android tablets are running into are partially due to some of the same things that are making the phones a success.  When users look at a “luxury device” like a tablet, they are falling into two buckets.   People who want basic email/browse capabilities with a few applications, or the power users who want a lot of applications and the ability to be more productive with them.  The problem is, Android is unable to compete for the consumer market with either one of these scenarios.

iPad is killing it with market penetration on tablets right now.   They have captured the hearts of the general consumer and are getting people to spend the money to get the best tablets available on the market to day.   Many people will argue these are not full computers.. and are limited to content consumption.  I disagree.. with the right applications, you can be very productive.  The iPads are easy to use, accessories are everywhere and they just work.

Windows 8 tablets will be here.. well, eventually.  No solid dates but we all know they are coming.  Microsoft released the Windows 8 consumer preview this week and it’s getting great reviews.   The benefits to Windows 8?  Well, first off.. it IS a real computer.  Not some limited device.  This literally will be a take-along device that is your full system.  Accessories will be everywhere for them and people will get to know the OS  very well.  I am excited about what will come with these new tablets/slates.

Standard Android tablets .. where does this leave you?   Sure.. you can try to compete against a $399 iPad price point.. but with weaker hardware and an outdated version of Android.  Do you think that will get much more market share than geeky devs looking to toy around?  Have you ever tried to hook an SD reader to an Android tablet?  Did it work?  Fragmentation, an open source OS and hardware limitations are going to be the death of Android tablets ever making it fully mainstream.  Sure there will be people buying them.. but in a year, the items you will see people carrying are going to be Win8 and iPad primarily.   The iPad will have a nice low price point with great hardware.. and Windows 8 tablets will be covering those who want a real computer with them.  This doesn’t leave much room in the market for mainstream products.

One tablet I left out was the Kindle Fire.  While technically this is an Android tablet, I put this into  special category.   Amazon was smart.  Leverage the base of an open OS and customize the heck out of it to target a more niche play.  Curate the app store to protect your users and focus on some key scenarios.  (quality apps, kindle book reading, media)   This is the one area I think you will see Android succeed.  If there are niche markets to be had.. Amazon is the one figuring it out.   The Fire is a great device.   Now.. if only they could contribute back to the Android source code.

March 13, 2012
by jeff
0 comments

Twitter Acquires Posterous – good timing for me

If you didn’t read.. Twitter bought up Posterous today.  I gotta say.. it was quite good timing on my part.  Yesterday I started migrating off of Posterous back to my own WordPress blog.

Don’t get me wrong, Posterous was great.  I was always torn between running my own WordPress instance, Tumblr and Posterous.  In the end.. for a couple years I kept Posterous around.  The ability to email in your posts was quite nice.   I finally decided that more control is what I wanted.. and so I am in the process of moving back to WordPress.

One small beef with Posterous?   I couldn’t easily export my data out.  In this day and age that is a complete FAIL!  Frustrated to say the least.   Oh well.. live and learn.

Original Post:  http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/03/twitter-acquires-lightweight-blogging-service-posterous.ars

December 6, 2011
by jeff
0 comments

The USPS is a business, run it as one

I am annoyed at all the press lately about the USPS and how upside down they are.   The government is doing it’s effort to try and turn things around, but in a big typical government fashion.   Don’t get me wrong, doing all the assessment of the full operations for the USPS is not my intent, but I wanted to show a couple of key things that irritate me.   Let’s take a look as if I were actually running a business in this space.

 

I didn’t have all the USPS data at hand online, I will update if I find more data.  

 

What I did pull was a comparison from the USPS Annual Report, Fed Ex and UPS data to compare.  I am a Product Manager by trade and have had to deal with the pressure of showing profitability on products or a plan to get there.   When you are investing and growing a business it is not uncommon to lose money for a period of time.  When you are a mature business, trend lines on projections should definitely be one of your bellweathers of things to come.

 

First.. if I am comparing myself against competition, how do I stack up as a business.  I have general mail (high volume/low price) delivery.  I have some specialized products that have more competition in the industry from the likes of Fed Ex and UPS.   I also have direct shipping which is exactly in the line of site for my main competitors.  Again, we are running a business here.   How does my top line revenue stack up against my competition?

April 4, 2011
by jeff
0 comments

RANT: Securely storing Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

Quick rant here.  I came across another article about a company and their data being compromised.   I use “THEIR” very loosely here, as it typically means OUR data (read for what I mean with PII).  

Tivo had their email database hacked, which is leading to a bunch of spammers getting access to valid email accounts.  While this isn't as bad as the Gawker incident, it is still a concern. My email address and password had to be changed on their site due to the security breach.  It is a hassle. (and risk)  PII is largely talked about with regards to health care and HIIPA, but in my view, people storing your personal information should be as concerned about protecting their customer data as those in other, more secure sectors.  

There are some best practices when it comes to storing and retrieving data, but by all means.. storing passwords in clear text has to be the dumbest rookie move ever.  (GAWKER).  Beyond that, let's try to get people to be responsible.  I'd like to see a certification of sites that safely store my PII.  At least that way I know how often and who I need to watch when storing certain data.  

Word of the day?  Encryption.  Hell.. at least use and MD5 hash or something!  :)  

Tivo-hacked

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April 4, 2011
by jeff
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I dig this concept.. very nice

I came across this “spotify box” concept while reading through some blogs tonight.  First off, I gotta say how nice of a concept this is.  

Img_4347

The idea is simple.   A small box to get your internet streaming from a source, pre-configured and as easy to use as possible.  In this case, they are using Spotify for the example.  Spotify is a competitor of someone like Rhapsody or Mog.  Basically a subscription music service that gives you access to millions of tracks for a flat fee per month.  I  have been a long-time Rhapsody subscriber, so I can appreciate this a ton. 

The clever thing here is the use of RFID tags that are magnetic and can be configured based on color to be your “selector” buttons for radion stations.  What I don't think this shows in detail, and maybe I am taking this a bit beyond where the inventor was thinking.. but simple programming of the RFID chip to be your “source URL” for music makes a possible way to allow me to bring my subscription easily with me to other friends houses.  Think of this:  You go over to your friends house, everyone has their “chips” for music, and every radio is programmed to read the RFID chips with built in authorization.  Now when I go to my friends house, even if he doesn't have Rhapsody, I can still play my music at his place with MY account.  

Short post.. killer concept in my view.  I'd like to think more about how to extend this out.  Very clever Spotify box, and I hope they bring it to market as an extensible platform for others as well.  

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March 8, 2011
by jeff
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APAC Mobile Tour Lesson: Don’t do Product Management from your office

I've been spending the past week traveling around meeting with a couple of our customers and a variety of content providers in the APAC region.  Keep in mind, I've been involved in the mobile space for over 12 years now..  but even after all the knowledge transfer from co-workers, reading of countless articles and a good solid effort to understand pre-paid markets, there was one thing that stood out for me.  Music and radio in India over the voice channel.  

The concept of someone dialing into a number to listen to songs on their phone was baffling to me.. but then again, it is a different market and even I should have known better than to be stunned.  Most of the users of this service have no other means for internet. So.. how do you listen to your radio station when you don't have a radio, don't have internet?  Just dial a number and burn some pre-paid credits with live radio.  It's a few seconds (ten-ish) delayed.. but very useful for those markets with a similar demographic.  

I've become immersed over the past week in many great conversations with smart people.  It goes back to the philosophy that you can't do Product Management from your office.  I try to practice this road trip education as often as I can.. no better people to learn from than the actual markets and customers.  

Continuing week two.. let's see the joy and fun this brings.  

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