This past weekend I had the opportunity to drive from Salt Lake to Gooding, Idaho. Ever hear of Gooding, Idaho? No, I didn't think so. The only reason I know it is there is because my wife's sister lives there with her family. There was a family event up there and so we made the relatively short drive to get together. During the quick trip I was surprised at how I found myself comparing life in small-town Idaho with life in Salt Lake and life in the Bay Area.
One may be tempted to believe that cities are much more civilized than small towns. After this trip, I believe the opposite is true. The first indication was the traffic and speed limits. While the distance I traveled was around 250 miles, the trip only took around 3 hours each way. That same trip in California would have taken over 4 hours. Why? Because the speed limit in Utah and Idaho is 80 miles per hour. It is only 65 in the Golden State. Furthermore there was no need to fight any sort of traffic as there were relatively few cars on the road. The last time I left the Bay Area headed to Salt Lake, I spent an hour or so fighting traffic just to get out of the Bay Area. I thought that was ridiculous given that I left at 9:30 pm.
My next observation came when we stopped for dinner. We pulled off the Interstate and found a relatively popular family dinning restaurant chain. There is an identical restaurant found near my home in Salt Lake as well as one near my office in the Bay Area. The menu is the same at each of the 3 places and one would think the food and service would be as well. Nope, not even close. This small-town restaurant in the middle of Idaho had significantly better service and the food actually matched what I saw on the menu. When does that ever happen? The menu always looks awesome and then the food gets to you and one would think it was run over by a truck before arriving at the table.
I thought about the joys of civilization as I drove to the motel to check in for the night. While I could find a much higher quality place to stay in both Salt Lake and the Bay Area, there wasn't a chance I would find the same quality for the price I was paying. The motel had clean rooms and a very nice swimming pool with attached hot tub. Again, a point for small-town America.
My final check was to pull out my smartphone and check the Internet connection. It was LTE speeds with a stronger signal than I get at my office in San Mateo, California. I did a quick check to see if there were any Uber drivers in the area. That is the one short-fall of a small town: no Uber. Of course the town was so small you could walk from one end to the other in a few minutes and so a taxi or Uber would be pointless, but I had to check.
With all of the technology we have available to us, why do small towns continue to shrink while large cities continue to get bigger? Can't we have more telecommuters? What is wrong with us? Small-town America is much more civilized than our overcrowded cities. Maybe we might want to start taking advantage of that.
Monday, August 31, 2015
Friday, August 14, 2015
Limit Smartphone, Laptop, and Tablet Usage
Yesterday I got some disturbing news. My oldest daughter recently was hired for a new job but only lasted 4 days. My wife and I assumed there were budget issues and our daughter was let go because of them. Then my wife visited someone associated with the company, which is where my daughter originally found out about the job in the first place. According to our friend, our daughter was let go because of not paying attention in the new hire training because she was spending time on her smartphone. Naturally there are two sides to every story and so my wife called our daughter to see if there was any truth to it. Of course my daughter didn't see it that way as she explained that "she wasn't using her phone any more than anyone else in the training." When I heard that, a buzzer in my head went off, followed by the phrase, "Wrong answer!"
While there may be other reasons why my daughter was let go from her job, her response shows that we could all use a little education on smartphone etiquette. Meetings and training classes can get boring. Trust me, I spend way too much time in them and I am often looking for something else to do. However I find that when I do pull out my phone is exactly the time that I miss some important information that often needs to be repeated and makes an already long meeting last even longer. That means I am being rude to the presenter as well as everyone else in the meeting.
I was ruminating over this thought today when I opened up one of my wife's health magazines and came across an article about how being glued to your gadgets can be bad for you. Northwestern University found that people who were exposed to blue light right before or during dinner felt an increase in hunger. For those that don't know, blue light is the type of light emitted by smartphones, tablets, and laptops. What this means is that our little gadgets are making us more hungry than we really are. No wonder I want to snack every time I sit in front of my laptop.
One anecdotal story does not make a trend but I imagine there are a number of missed opportunities because of being glued to our electronic gadgets. This coupled with the fact that our devices are making us hungrier ought to cause us to pause and think about it before we use them.
While there may be other reasons why my daughter was let go from her job, her response shows that we could all use a little education on smartphone etiquette. Meetings and training classes can get boring. Trust me, I spend way too much time in them and I am often looking for something else to do. However I find that when I do pull out my phone is exactly the time that I miss some important information that often needs to be repeated and makes an already long meeting last even longer. That means I am being rude to the presenter as well as everyone else in the meeting.
I was ruminating over this thought today when I opened up one of my wife's health magazines and came across an article about how being glued to your gadgets can be bad for you. Northwestern University found that people who were exposed to blue light right before or during dinner felt an increase in hunger. For those that don't know, blue light is the type of light emitted by smartphones, tablets, and laptops. What this means is that our little gadgets are making us more hungry than we really are. No wonder I want to snack every time I sit in front of my laptop.
One anecdotal story does not make a trend but I imagine there are a number of missed opportunities because of being glued to our electronic gadgets. This coupled with the fact that our devices are making us hungrier ought to cause us to pause and think about it before we use them.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Video Game Ratings
One of my good friends just posted something on a popular social media site that I found interesting. Here is the sentence that caught my attention:
"How are we the only parents that think Call of Duty for a 12yo is a bad idea?"
Let me preface my remarks with a reminder that I currently work for a large video game company. While I do not work for the same company that publishes "Call of Duty," my comments also apply to our own games that are similar and I am not trying to single this game out as a bad game. I actually like "Call of Duty" and have played several of the various titles. There is a reason it is one of the most popular video games.
Video games come with a rating similar to movies, never mind that most American's ignore movie ratings. In the United States we use the ESRB system and "Call of Duty" is rated "M" for mature. That means that the game is meant for those 17-years old or older. My friend's son is only 12. Now I know that not all 12-year old boys are the same. However not a single one that I have ever met has the maturity that the ESRB expects from a 17-year old. Furthermore a lot of actual 17-year old boys lack the maturity the ESRB expects from them.
You can argue that first-person shooters like "Call of Duty" are rated that because of violence and strong language. That doesn't really make it acceptable for your 12-year old to be playing it. Some parents want to be their kid's friend and think that getting a video game will help strengthen those bonds of friendship. Guess what? Your kids have enough friends and sometimes need you to step up and be a parent. This is one of those times.
So if your kid comes to you asking for a game that is meant for someone older, grow a backbone and tell him, "No." When he throws out that his friend's parents got the friend the game, tell him, "Your friend's parents are idiots." You can quote me on that.
"How are we the only parents that think Call of Duty for a 12yo is a bad idea?"
Let me preface my remarks with a reminder that I currently work for a large video game company. While I do not work for the same company that publishes "Call of Duty," my comments also apply to our own games that are similar and I am not trying to single this game out as a bad game. I actually like "Call of Duty" and have played several of the various titles. There is a reason it is one of the most popular video games.
Video games come with a rating similar to movies, never mind that most American's ignore movie ratings. In the United States we use the ESRB system and "Call of Duty" is rated "M" for mature. That means that the game is meant for those 17-years old or older. My friend's son is only 12. Now I know that not all 12-year old boys are the same. However not a single one that I have ever met has the maturity that the ESRB expects from a 17-year old. Furthermore a lot of actual 17-year old boys lack the maturity the ESRB expects from them.
You can argue that first-person shooters like "Call of Duty" are rated that because of violence and strong language. That doesn't really make it acceptable for your 12-year old to be playing it. Some parents want to be their kid's friend and think that getting a video game will help strengthen those bonds of friendship. Guess what? Your kids have enough friends and sometimes need you to step up and be a parent. This is one of those times.
So if your kid comes to you asking for a game that is meant for someone older, grow a backbone and tell him, "No." When he throws out that his friend's parents got the friend the game, tell him, "Your friend's parents are idiots." You can quote me on that.
Monday, August 10, 2015
Printed Airline Tickets
This morning I got up and boarded my usual flight to Oakland from Salt Lake City. My son flew with me and we had a nice flight together. As we headed through the airport I noticed a number of differences between our experiences. I always print up a paper ticket after checking in online. My son sent his ticket to his phone and saved on the cost of a sheet of paper. I thought I would comment on the differences seen today.
My son woke up at 7am yesterday and checked in for his flight using his mobile phone. I knew I was going to print my ticket and so I waited until I was near a computer before I checked in. As I fly a lot more than my son, I still had a better boarding position on Southwest because of my "A-List" status. If I needed to check in exactly 24 hours before my flight, I would have used my phone and then had to print a ticket later. Mark this as a win for the ticket on the phone.
We got to the airport this morning and I pulled out my ticket to hand to the TSA representative along with my government issued ID. The security person took my ticket and wrote all over it as she verified my name on both documents. My son had to pull out his phone and hold it so the TSA agent could verify his name with his ID. It actually took a bit longer than my process but not enough to make a difference.
The last and final spot where an airline ticket is needed is when boarding the plane. I just pulled my ticket out, handed it to the gate agent, and boarded the plane without slowing down. My son had to pull out his phone, unlock the screen, find his ticket, hold it just right so the scanner could read the digital code, and then boarded the plane. It is this last process where the paper ticket wins out over the one on the phone.
If I look at the score for each method of presenting an airline ticket, it seems to be a draw. However since I don't rely on checking in at a set time due to my frequent flyer status, the paper ticket has a slight advantage when it comes to boarding the plane. Perhaps I should give the ticket on my phone more of a chance and see if I prefer it though. That is something I will definitely think about.
My son woke up at 7am yesterday and checked in for his flight using his mobile phone. I knew I was going to print my ticket and so I waited until I was near a computer before I checked in. As I fly a lot more than my son, I still had a better boarding position on Southwest because of my "A-List" status. If I needed to check in exactly 24 hours before my flight, I would have used my phone and then had to print a ticket later. Mark this as a win for the ticket on the phone.
We got to the airport this morning and I pulled out my ticket to hand to the TSA representative along with my government issued ID. The security person took my ticket and wrote all over it as she verified my name on both documents. My son had to pull out his phone and hold it so the TSA agent could verify his name with his ID. It actually took a bit longer than my process but not enough to make a difference.
The last and final spot where an airline ticket is needed is when boarding the plane. I just pulled my ticket out, handed it to the gate agent, and boarded the plane without slowing down. My son had to pull out his phone, unlock the screen, find his ticket, hold it just right so the scanner could read the digital code, and then boarded the plane. It is this last process where the paper ticket wins out over the one on the phone.
If I look at the score for each method of presenting an airline ticket, it seems to be a draw. However since I don't rely on checking in at a set time due to my frequent flyer status, the paper ticket has a slight advantage when it comes to boarding the plane. Perhaps I should give the ticket on my phone more of a chance and see if I prefer it though. That is something I will definitely think about.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Are There Benefits of Video Games?
This week I have been spending a lot of time playing video games in the evening. I got to a point Monday night and had to ask myself if I was having fun or just killing time. To be honest, I really felt like I was just killing time and felt like I could be doing something more productive. It turns out I wasn't making any progress in my game and when I figured out what I was doing wrong, it became much more entertaining. However it got me thinking about if there are any benefits of video games.
Video games have been a part of my family since I was very young. My Dad had a DEC PDP-11 computer installed in our house and I used it to play a Star Trek game when I was about 10 years old. There were a few other games but Star Trek is the one I remember the most. Later we had an Atari 400 computer and it had the arcade version of Pac-Man. My dad wanted to know if there were any benefits of video games and had a hypothesis that they could help you read faster. He used Pac-Man to test it. Every so often an item appears in the Pac-Man maze and if you eat the item, you score points. The first item is a cherry and it is worth something like 100 points. The more points an item is worth, the faster everything goes. The nice thing about the Atari 400 version of Pac-Man is that you can choose which item you want to appear in the maze without having to start with the cherry. That means you could set the game to the "key" or highest level and everything moved amazingly fast.
My dad would bring in a bunch of kids from the neighborhood and time them reading several pages out of a book. Then he would have them play Pac-Man at key level for 30 minutes followed by having them read different pages out of the same book. I forget the exact numbers but there was a significant increase in reading speed for everyone my dad tested. My siblings and I used that as justification for playing more video games.
Now I find myself wondering if there are more benefits to playing video games. We all have only 24 hours in a day and I would not recommend spending all of that time doing one single thing. I know that after a busy day at the office I just want to relax. In the past I have watched television or read a book. I still enjoy reading and have been keeping that up. I have completely given up on TV though. I figure that replacing television with playing video games is a fair trade. Am I wrong? Comments welcome.
Video games have been a part of my family since I was very young. My Dad had a DEC PDP-11 computer installed in our house and I used it to play a Star Trek game when I was about 10 years old. There were a few other games but Star Trek is the one I remember the most. Later we had an Atari 400 computer and it had the arcade version of Pac-Man. My dad wanted to know if there were any benefits of video games and had a hypothesis that they could help you read faster. He used Pac-Man to test it. Every so often an item appears in the Pac-Man maze and if you eat the item, you score points. The first item is a cherry and it is worth something like 100 points. The more points an item is worth, the faster everything goes. The nice thing about the Atari 400 version of Pac-Man is that you can choose which item you want to appear in the maze without having to start with the cherry. That means you could set the game to the "key" or highest level and everything moved amazingly fast.
My dad would bring in a bunch of kids from the neighborhood and time them reading several pages out of a book. Then he would have them play Pac-Man at key level for 30 minutes followed by having them read different pages out of the same book. I forget the exact numbers but there was a significant increase in reading speed for everyone my dad tested. My siblings and I used that as justification for playing more video games.
Now I find myself wondering if there are more benefits to playing video games. We all have only 24 hours in a day and I would not recommend spending all of that time doing one single thing. I know that after a busy day at the office I just want to relax. In the past I have watched television or read a book. I still enjoy reading and have been keeping that up. I have completely given up on TV though. I figure that replacing television with playing video games is a fair trade. Am I wrong? Comments welcome.
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