TiVo and Netflix a dynamic duo

Posted on July 6, 2009 by Wes Johnson

Congratulations TiVo team for a job well done.

First, the user interface is so simple, anyone in my household can use it.  It isn’t complicated at all.  The audio & visual feedback help make it so easy.

Second, teaming up with Netflix to provide video on demand was such a great decision.  My wife and I have the two DVD plan.  While the discs are in transit, we can still watch movies on the big screen.

Finally, the video on demand feature from Netflix has been running flawlessly for my family since last Christmas.  My wife loves browsing Netflix for videos to  watch on our TiVo.

Of course the best thing about TiVo is the ability to pause and resume where you left off whenever we have the time.  This works the same for video-on-demand, previously recorded shows or even live TV.  I figured this out a while ago.  I’ve been telling my wife, “Hey, it’s TiVo,  it’ll be there when we get back”  She finally said it to me today.  Now that’s progress.

This one feature has brought a lot of hapiness to our house.

Till next time, keep up the great work TiVo Team

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Two heads are better than one

Posted on July 5, 2009 by Wes Johnson

Over the past few weeks, I have been collaborating with one of my colleagues at Professional Resource Network.  We have been developing a personal marketing presentation with a follow-on workshop.  This has been a very educational experience for me.  In order for anyone to teach a subject, they really need to understand it themselves.  They not only need some head knowledge but some practical experience as well.

While I may have lots of great ideas, I also realize that you can develop better ideas if you receive and apply feedback you receive from others.  It is amazing how well my colleague and I work together.  He questions areas that are weak and need more development.  He has helped to clarify areas that need more explanation.  He also confirms ideas that are clear and helpful to the entire presentation.  He is planning to show this presentation and run the workshop.  Both of us are gaining practical experience by following our own suggestions.

If I had done the entire presentation on my own, I wouldn’t have grown as much as I have.  I’m sure the presentation and the workshop would be good, but not as great as it will be.

Till next time,  don’t forget collaboration with others is one of the keys to success

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Teamwork saves the day

Posted on July 4, 2009 by Wes Johnson

Even the go to guy can’t do everything by himself.  Well, he could but it would take a lot longer.  The smarter thing to do, is for him to bring in his team to help work on the problem.

The other day, one of our projectors started acting funny.  It wasn’t responding to the remote control and it wasn’t showing the video.  We have a dual projector setup.  One S-Video signal going out of a computer into an S-Video signal splitter then an S-Video cable connected to each projector.  This setup has been running beautifully for years.

I was able to resolve the remote control issue but we still had the video issue.  We determined that the signal wasn’t getting to the projector for some reason.  To figure out what was going on involved looking around in the crawl space between the exterior roof and the interior ceiling.  I threw on some overalls, grabbed a light source and a walkie talkie.  After several minutes of maneuvering around the duct-work, I was able to inspect the cables.  While I was doing all this work, I was in constant communication with my team via walkie talkie.

We verified that the front projector S-Video cable condition was pretty bad and needed to be replaced.  The cable going to the rear projector had been replaced not too long ago, so it didn’t cause any problems for us.

Fortunately, we were able to devise an alternative solution that would work while we are ordering the replacement cable.  There was still some VGA cable that was still in the attic from a previous projector installation.  We decided to take advantage of this cabling and a few minutes later the video was restored.

While we were wrapping it all up, my team suggested I plug the S-Video cable in just for fun.  It turns out that it was working again.  When I was in the attic moving around the cables, I must have touched the area that was shorted.  We don’t like intermittent behavior in our technical equipment, so we’re still going to get the replacement cable.

If I didn’t have the team to help me, I would have been working all day trying to resolve this issue.  With the help of the team, we got it done in only three hours.

Till next time, don’t forget your team is the key to your success

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Get up and play an hour a day

Posted on July 3, 2009 by Wes Johnson

I recently looked at our local newspaper and saw an add that had the heading “Get up and play.  An hour a day.”  It showed several atheletes on the picture of the ad.  They provide a link to www.smallstep.gov This website has all kinds of links to outdoor activities and diet suggestions as well as an activity tracker.

As I viewed this add I thought, this is really good.  I am already pretty active physically and plan to increase my fitness level.

I thought about yesterday’s article “I’m the go to guy.”  It discusses a person’s reputation, their public message and their personal marketing campaign.  Since, I plan to increase my outdoor activity level, I should start documenting these activities better.  I have decided to do more blogging about my outdoor adventures along with pictures.

Till next time, I hope to see you outside

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I’m the go-to guy

Posted on July 2, 2009 by Wes Johnson

I don’t know exactly when it happened, but over time I have developed a reputation.  I am recognized by others as the go-to guy.  This is not necessarily a bad reputation to have, except when people think you can solve anything.  Usually, when someone comes to me with a problem to solve, I have them describe or show me the situation.  If it’s in my domain of knowledge or expertise I will usually accept the challenge.  If it’s not, I will refer them to someone else that I feel is better suited to help resolve their issue.

Most of the time, the issues people bring to me involve some kind of technology.  Either they want advice, or they need me to fix something.  Many of these issues are related to User Interface problems.  Either the interface is non-intuitive or non-existant.  Most of these issues are relatively easy to resolve once the device is properly configured.  Since I have been using and writing software for consumer electronics for many years, most of the time, I understand what the software is supposed to be doing for the user.  Many times the user just needs to be trained in how to use the device.

However, there have been other times, when a user brings a laptop to me and says, “I don’t know what happened, please fix it”  Most of the time, there is at least one virus on the machine.

Lately I have been developing a Personal Marketing campaign.  The question comes up as to what my message is or will be.  How do I want to present myself to others, both personal and professional?  What core strengths do I want to advertise or publicize?  I’m still working the message out, but one this is for sure.  I like my reputation, so I’ll most likely capitalize the fact that I’m a go-to guy.

Till next time,  what does your reputation say about you?

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