Creative Facebook security feature

Kudos to Facebook for using some of the insane amounts of data they have stored about its users for a good purpose.  I tried logging in from India a few weeks ago and was prompted to identify Facebook "friends" shown in randomly tagged photos using  a multiple choice list of names.  It was easy, fast, and virtually impossible for a bot or some random hacker to crack effectively.

The Power of Words

In the past few weeks I've read several articles about the recent tech boom and startup craze (thanks to Wired and The Economist, my two favorite magazines).  For example, LinkedIn just exploded during it's recent IPO, Skype was just acquired by Microsoft for $8 billion, and Groupon turned down a $6 billion offer from Google.  Online deal sites are exploding in popularity, I've personally used Living Social, Groupon, and BuyWithMe in the past 6 months (learn more with a great NPR Planet Money Podcast found here). It amazed me to learn that these sites make 50% of the purchase price.  No, that isn't a typo, FIFTY percent is a typical cut.  Just to be clear, that means if you pay $50 for your hour long massage on Groupon, the company giving the massage gets $25 and Groupon gets $25.  With margins like that, you can see why Groupon turned down the Google offer.

What had not been answered to me previously is what Groupon feels separates itself from the competition.  If they get a 50% cut, what's preventing the next guy from only taking 45%?  Eventually, basic supply and demand should level the playing field and take away the huge subscriber advantage that Groupon currently has.  So what is Groupon's answer?  Words.  According to this NY Times article, they seem to feel their main competitive advantage is how they craft their latest deals in each city.

My opinion?  Groupon should take the money and run, as I don't think time will be too kind to their wallets.  I'd say the same for LinkedIn, a company valued at 200 times its earnings.

Outsourcing. Yes, we all do it

A relatively controversial topic still in IT today is outsourcing, and as a manager of a team of developers in India I have lots of opinions on this, especially after a recent two week trip to Bangalore to visit my team (more coming soon on that).  However, this post is about a different type of outsourcing, one that we all do on a regular basis.  It's something I've struggled with a lot lately:  how valuable is my free time?  Or, more specifically, should I try to fix my leaky fridge myself and should I consider hiring a housekeeper? Almost all of us have paid for a haircut, taxi, or a restaurant cooked meal.  Many of us have paid for a car repair, oil change, computer tech support, a basic plumbing repair, furniture delivery, or a babysitter.  So the question is, where does one draw the line?  Does one hire someone to do a relatively easy to learn task like painting a room?  Making a decision on what to outsource is much more complicated than calculating simply calculating the value of one's free time based on how much I earn (although that is definitely part of the equation).  A few minutes brainstorm came up with some of the following factors:

• moral/ethical reasons - am I comfortable willingly subjecting someone to a disgusting task like cleaning my bathroom?
• discretionary money leftover in your budget - regardless of how much money I make, can I afford this?  What else could I be spending (or saving) my money on?  Does the market price make sense?
• amount of free time - am I outsourcing because I'm lazy or because I'm too busy doing other things
• technical skills - do I have the skills and knowledge to fix my fridge?
• tools - if fixing my fridge costs $200, but requires a $250 tool to replace a $10 part...
• risk - is the risk of potentially damaging my fridge worth the potential savings?
• security - am I comfortable leaving my home and its possessions in the arms of a complete stranger?
• satisfaction - will doing the job myself bring some sort of satisfactory reward
• who you are outsourcing to (local or independent business vs. large company) - am I directly supporting a fellow human struggling to get by or am I helping some unknown shareholders?

So, what else do you factor in when making decisions like this?  What's the most interesting thing you've outsourced?

For the record, I think I'm going to hire someone to fix my fridge, but stick to cleaning my own bathrooms

The Power of Peer Pressure

For those that know me well, they will know that I rarely give in to peer pressure.  Perfect example:  I somehow went my first year and a half at college before finally deciding that drinking was an activity I wished to participate in (at least from time to time).  Looking back, I still have no idea how or why I did that.  So, I've surprised myself by so easily caving into the encouraging words of the author (a good friend) of the somethingsbrewing.com blog to start my own.  Here goes nothing....