Now, we’re in the process of replacing literally all of the hard drives in our servers that are more than 18 months old. Even though our monitoring capabilities will advise us of drives that may fail in the future, we’ve opted to move to a new, standardized hard drive system. By installing the same make of drive in every server, we can more easily manage performance and reliability. Drive technology has evolved quite a bit, and for many of our drives, replacing them will add benefits such as increased speed, larger cache capabilities, and longer drive warranties.

Once all of the drives have been replaced, we’re going to add several new services which will be available to our clients beginning with our next renewal period. If you’re interested in a preview, send us a note and we’ll arrange a discussion or meeting to review the various options available.

There are some important things you might consider regardless of the tool or tools you’re using. The first is exactly that: You’ve got to use the tools if you expect them to do anything. In a recent meeting withe a client, when the topic of their Facebook page came up, one staffer asked, “who maintains our Facebook page?” The CEO replied without batting an eyelash, “nobody.”

If you don’t use it, it won’t work. And, it takes more than just using it. You need to know what you’re doing and why. We are often able to help our clients increase their return on investment (ROI) via a series of simple steps. One of them is to go back to earlier posts, videos, etc., and to establish how those elements faired against competitive examples. As one example, imagine you have added a video to YouTube about surfing in Hawaii. It’s a popular theme. Six months later, your video has received 3,500 views. You expected 100,000. So, what to do?

Example of Rcom's improvement to social media status of a client

We’ll evaluate other videos in the same space. That means evaluating the categories, the search results, and most important, the popularity. Then, by “editing” the video post, we can evaluate if making these changes will create an uptick in popularity. Recently, we reviewed a series of videos for a client, and discovered that they were posting all of them in the “film” category of YouTube. We changed some keywords, and most importantly, changed the category to “entertainment.” Within ten days, the number of views had increased tenfold. That’s 10-X. That’s awesome!

The most important trick is to stay on it. If you can’t do it yourself, get someone who can. We’re more than happy to discuss ways to help you increase your social media success metrics.

In short, this is a brilliant move.

Facebook is not an automatic avenue to success. But it does have millions upon millions of users, and anyone can access a facebook page now, so the timing is right. And, Ford’s use of Facebook is what makes this product introduction so special. Starting late last night, Ford began launching short videos every few hours on both Facebook and YouTube. Not only is this cool because each video focuses on a specific aspect of the vehicle, but it will help Ford determine what kind of interest, and from what aspect of Facebook, people are coming. If you watch one video, you’re not likely an early adopter. If you watch every one, Ford will expect to see you in a dealer’s showroom with a credit app or checkbook.

We want our clients to likewise use social media appropriately. This is just one example of a terrific use of the Internet, not to mention a powerful way to introduce a significant new product without having to sort through 45 product intros on the same day. I would consider this a warning shot across the bow of every trade show. As Apple learned to use its showrooms to reduce costs and improve revenue, Ford can do the same. If you have questions or an interest in applying this type of solution to your product, give me a shout via email at davidb @ rcomcreative dot com.

There are essentially two components to the monitoring solution: internal network testing and monitors, and external up-time monitoring. We use a powerful set of tools to accomplish this important and time sensitive task.

Externally, we monitor every site, every server box, and the network itself via two independent sources. This is important, because it is possible for connectivity to be interrupted by issues external to our data center. By using two independently and geographically separated sources, we reduce the chances of an external interruption creating confusion for either our engineers or our clients.

The real power comes via our new hardware/software solution internally. Allow me to put on a techie cap for a few moments…

R/com uses a hierarchical data tree of ‘entities’ to store monitoring data. At the top of the tree is our Customer – and a software container for all monitoring data related to a single organization or installation. Beneath the Customer are the various individual Sites, which contain Devices (read that as hardware). Each Device is a single logical or physical node on your network that Lithium is monitoring (for example a Server, Switch, Router, or Storage Array). Within each Device is a hierarchy of Containers, Objects, Metrics and Triggers. Containers hold groups of Objects of the same type such as Network Interfaces or CPUs and each Object is a unique item of that type. A Metric is a polled or calculated value that relates to the operation of that Object (e.g. Percent Used, Input Packets Per Second, Temperature, etc). Triggers define conditions under which an Incident or fault condition should be raised for that Metric.

I know it’s a bit over the top in terms of techno-speak, but essentially, what we’re doing is monitoring every element within each server and within each website to determine if anything either will go wrong (a warning), or has gone wrong (a notification). An example might be a hard drive. Our new system will let us know if a drive is getting too full – but is not yet at capacity. We can then, in turn, share this information with our customer, hopefully resulting in their approval to make adjustments and to prevent a failure or problem.

Each monitored server and related component has an Operational Status of Normal (Green), Warning (Yellow), Impaired (Orange) or Critical (Red). The operational state of an Entity is controlled by the Triggers that are applied to the Metrics being collected or calculated for the device. Okay – say that quickly ten times. If there’s a problem, we’ll find out! We can also adjust the metrics so that each server and in turn, customer, can determine the “line in the sand” that we need to be aware of.

As this solution learns more about how the devices in our network are operating over time, we can extract trend analysis that predicts when a given Metric will reach the defined Trigger values. For example, we can perform a predictive trend analysis on a particular Storage Resource and provide a prediction on when that Resource will hit the Warning, Impaired or Critical trigger conditions set for it. We’ll consider this aspect of our solution active 90 days after our launch date (which is today).

Recorded Metric values are written to disk using the open-source RRDtool file format. Unlike other monitoring systems where the resolution of historical data is lost or truncated over time, our solution keeps track of every recorded sample from the moment it is activated. Data is stored in a rolling file-per-year and file-per-month data storage format in a very neatly arranged directory structure that follows the Customer, Site, Device, Container, Object and Metric hierarchy of monitored entities.

All in all, we’re very excited about this solution. We strongly believe it will provide added value and functionality to our hosting and support services, and will benefit all of our clients. Note that these capabilities are being provided at no additional charge to any of our annually hosted customers.

Cloud-based computing offers tremendous upside opportunities for developers. By offering a subscription rather than a disc or download local solution, a relationship with the client is created. Renewal marketing is reduced. Packaging and shipping are eliminated. Service options are increased.

But all of this predicts the user will always have access to the Internet. And, that such access will be of a high quality. Before that happens, the quality of Internet connectivity must not only improve, but stabilize. Mobile companies in particular must put on big-boy pants and recognize their clients for what they are: users of technology, not dependents without choice or options.

There is a group of people who believe we’ll all be living in the clouds fairly soon. A recent survey by Elon University of more than 900 Internet and technology experts found that 71% predicted the majority of people will use web-based and mobile apps by 2020. Working in conjunction with Pew Research Center, the experts predicted that entities like Google will own the airwaves not only as a conduit, but as a destination for personal and business users.

Make no mistake, we’re very strong supporters of Software as a Service. At the same time, the ability to utilize applications on a local level remains equally important. It isn’t a game of lessor or greater – it’s an apple to an orange.

Overall, our record for keeping websites up and running is excellent. We average 99.958% up-time during the past eight years. That’s high. But it isn’t perfect, so why does this happen?

Website security is so challenging because there are a tremendous number of variables that can affect a site’s performance. The Internet itself, access to the Internet, the health of the hardware in use, the switch, the routers, the cables, the power supply (direct and indirect), the performance of the applications, the impact of users visiting the site, hackers trying to kill the site, etc. We work diligently to ensure we keep all of the above in balance, and it is that balance that provides the greatest degree of comfort and security.

Most clients want their websites to work, and they don’t care how that happens. If something does happen to their site, it is never their fault. We try to encourage that level of responsibility, but internally, we are always studying ways to improve. We’re in the midst of an upgrade, in fact. A new switch system, upgraded cables (we replace them over time, not when they fail), updated OS installations, and continued testing of the network are just a few of the activities under way at the moment. And all of it designed to ensure that the most important thing happen to your website when hosted with us. Nothing.

Our team understands this issue, and we’re working diligently to move a number of our products and services forward. To that end, this summer will see some significant evolution in how we support our clients.

Actually, before noting what we’re going to be doing this coming quarter, let me quickly review what we’ve already done this year… We’ve completely converted our media production to a tapeless workflow. All of our media capture is now sans tape.

We’ve spent a lot of time focusing on the quality of work we produce, and the recent spat of awards and trophies for our work product is both gratifying and supports the effort. Our team is very much on the quality bandwagon. We want that to translate to better products and services for you, our clients.

We’ve also just completed a completely new hosting and server environment. We’ve created a completely new set of cabinets, server architecture, wiring, firewall, switch, etc. The immediate result will be improved performance for all of our clients. The more long-term result will be announced over the course of the coming few months.

So, on to the new stuff that is coming…

The first step will be a completely new web environment for R/com. We will launch the new site in June. It will be very simple, but will clearly communicate what we do with our client and prospect base. And, we are adding some important support services, for both web and media clients.

The second step will be the addition of a new Internet environment for our content management software. It will focus on the capabilities of the software, as well as offer training and support for our existing and new clients.

The third step will be a new revision of our content software overall. We’ll be implementing some new ideas, combining various capabilities into object-oriented presentation of “ideas” via the web. Imagine being able to automatically create families of information (PDF, video, data, etc) around an object (product) and then to present that to the viewer.

There’s more to follow, but in the short run, that’s what we’re up to. And, we invite you along for the ride.

Using the iPad to show HD video on a large TV at LAFD headquarters.

Per my previous post on the iPad, everyone here that uses one has been enjoying the experience. However, there’s no doubt that our use is not “average.” Separate from development, we use the iPad to review video with clients, to deliver presentations, to connect to our servers and server farm, as a slate during video production, as a teleprompter, and so on.

On Tuesday of this past week, it all changed for me. My Macbook Pro (nearly 3.1 years old), suffered a miotechnical infarction. It had a CPU attack – and died. As a side note, I find it bizarre that it would die within a few days of its AppleCare protection expiring, not to mention on the same day as the new MacBook Pros being introduced by Apple.

Getting a new computer would be easy, but in the midst of the huge number of projects, the last thing on my mind was getting a new laptop. Worse, the prospect of migrating several hundred megabytes of data and applications was not inspiring.

It got worse. No matter what we did (the dealer and I), we could not get the content of my old Mac to transfer to the new one. Meanwhile, I had work to do. So, I decided to see what I could accomplish using the iPad. I left the migration project with my dealer, who diligently attacked the problem.

I have an iPhone and it’s great for email. I rarely use it for longer email notes. So, with the iPad in hand, I decided this would be a good test. Apple Mail is not my favorite app (on the Mac), but on the iPad, it was refreshing and even, careful now – fun. Apple gives tremendous thought to the process of their products, and it makes all the difference in the world. I love the way the in-box displays, the images pop up, etc. It’s very slick. The big trick was using the built-in keyboard.

For the first few email notes, I was not impressed. It seemed that I was missing keys and looking for other keys that weren’t there. Well, they were, but you had to swap overlays to see and use them. After three email notes, I answered the phone and walked away from the iPad.

When I came back, it was as if I had suddenly mastered typing on the keyboard. It was a cross between iPhone email and the Mac – the auto-spell-check worked nicely, and the graphical display and orientation of mail was easy to follow. In fact, it made sorting and responding to email far easier than on my desktop app (Entourage). So, using the iPad for email proved to be a snap.

Speaking of keyboards, I have been working on several reports, and thankfully, copies were stored in my mobile me account. So, I connected and transferred the files to my iPad. That was easy. But, then, after two pages of typing on the graphic keyboard, I started to get frustrated. I can type quickly. I cannot type quickly when using the iPad. Roadblock.

Then, I remembered I could use a bluetooth Mac keyboard. So, I drove to our office and snagged one from a workstation (sorry!), and brought it home. I plugged the iPad into the neat little stand you can get, and connected the keyboard. Now, I was typing quickly again. And Apple Pages for the iPad is totally cool – and it’ll cost you ten dead Presidents, so it’s cheap, too.

The next morning, in my email, I received a film budget in Excel format. Jeez, now what? Oh, I remembered that Apple Numbers was available – I already had Keynote and Pages. So, I tapped on the Apple iTunes Store (remember, we no longer click – we tap), and within a few seconds (literally), I had purchased Numbers (also ten dollars), downloaded it, and was reviewing the spreadsheet. I made some changes, and then sent it back to my finance guy. So, although I wasn’t editing video, I was doing many of the things I do with my laptop. And this is in between all of the things I’ve discussed in my previous post – keynote, video, audio, networking, etc. I was doing all of that, too.

After two days, my new laptop was ready to be picked up, but I was pretty surprised and pleased with the iPad as an everyday communications device. I would note that using it that way is not its strength. It’s really ideal for the other types of uses previously described, but when called upon, it stepped up and for the most part, was a workable solution.

Would I stop using a laptop? Nope. But, the iPad has changed the way I look at computing. The devices have started to fall into different use categories. My MacBook Pro is essentially my primary computing device. I can take it from home to the office. If working on a film production, I can take it on location. However, when running around town, meeting with clients, etc., I don’t take the laptop. The iPad is far more convenient, and workable. There is no doubt it will help us build our business. But, that’s a different story for another time.

Jessica Sanders "make.believe" commercial was shown all over CES

The new year began well enough, with a trip to Las Vegas to work for both clients and our own technology interests at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES). It was a nice change from recent shows, with lots of positive energy, not to mention a wealth of new and exciting technology. In a time when people are out of work, tempers are on edge, and people are distrustful of almost everything, it was really nice to speak to so many upbeat people, see so many fun, new products, and in general, to start the year off on a great note.

From a techie perspective, there was a lot to like. Let’s touch on a few of the more memorable things. Sharp’s QuadPixel technology was really terrific to see. Bright and even perhaps overly colorful, there are a ton of possible applications. The LG OLED television was similar in terms of being both impressive and perhaps too colorful. Images tended to look like they were painted on the screen. Nobody every looked that bright in real life – but it looks cool!

On the phone front, the appearance of the Android operating system (based on Linux) in phones from Motorola (like the Backflip) and others was really great to see. On the other side of the coin, I would say that Palm is dead, but perhaps still staggering along. It’s odd that so many former Apple execs are at Palm, and the company is to totally out of the mix moving forward. Oh, well!

There were “tablet” computers everywhere, from HP, Lenova, ICD, Dell and others. Essentially, they’re all laptops without the folding case. With a touch screen and fast display refresh, some are interesting to see, but I think the thing that’s missing is that each of these new boxes seem to be focused on the hardware specs, rather than the user experience. It will be interesting to see what Apple comes up with later in the month, when they are expected to introduce a similar type of device.

Lots of manufacturers were showing off 3D television. Panasonic had a 152-inch (yup!) plasma 3D television. It was a movie theater screen – but sharper. I don’t know how any of us feel about 3D, as you need two eyes for it to work and everyone must wear those silly glasses.

On a related note, Panasonic was showing off a prototype of a prosumer 3D HD video camera, and that was freakin’ awesome. If 3D is gonna be a big hit, producing shows must be simple and straight-forward.

There was lame stuff too…

Intel was showing off a medical monitoring system that permits patients to be linked to their physician via a secure link. The doc sees his patients daily health stats in a sort of triage view (red, yellow, green). It isn’t web enables, is expensive, and is just, well… so 1995. The concept is awesome and powerful, but isn’t not what the world is doing now… Docs want to see this type of data on their mobile device, and they want to be able to click and point and adjust appointments, meds, etc. Relying on a dedicated piece of hardware and software is… well, I already said it.

The folks at Visteon are still in business, but their technology is two years old – they showed off the same stuff we collaborated with them on more than a year ago. No doubt they have new things in the pipeline, but it wasn’t obvious at the CES. We wish them all well, however!

The BING section of the Microsoft booth was nearly always empty. The BING exterior display and transport stage was always empty.

If you haven’t been to one of these shows before, they’re beyond what anyone can take in during a single visit or even over four days. There are the main show floors, where you can take in Microsoft, Intel, Panasonic, Sony, etc. Adjacent to the main floorspace, there is an auto pavilion, which was also filled with iPhone and related solutions – including a projector for your iPhone. Actually, we saw three examples of the iPhone projection hype, and they all suck. Keep pushing though, as the idea is a good one (unless the new Apple iSlate or whatever is better).

At the Venetian Hotel, the top floors are jammed with audio manufacturers. Each one rents a suite and inside, they show off their speakers, mono amplifiers, DVD players and even, um… turntables. That’s right – vinyl is back. It sounds great, but the turntables cost what a laptop does – a good one! So, walking these floors is kind of odd – lots of geeks and people who like to sit alone in their “audio rooms” and so on. We did get to check out lots of hot audio, however.

For us, the coolest thing we saw at the show was in the Sony booth. First, they offered a glimpse at the consumer version of their new AVCHD HD video camera. It rocks the planet. Our team will certainly use the the new professional version. Just going through the paces with the prototype was worth the trip.

The second thing we saw that we loved was a Sony feature on its new marketing endeavor. Called make.believe, it features a series of creative film directors, including my half-sister, Jessica Sanders. Her commercial spot is really fantastic and was a huge hit at the show.

There was other stuff that made Vegas fun…

First of all, if you haven’t been to the new City Center, stop everything and check it out. It’s freakin’ amazing. There are so many interesting angles, fresh oranges in the walkways, amazing shops, and a really fun atmosphere. It’s crazy, just like everything in Vegas, but it is really worth a look.

City Center is the most expensive private real estate venture in the U.S.A.

And not only is City Center cool, the new Aria Hotel and Casino is just about the coolest hotel (except for the Four Seasons!) you’ll find anywhere in a big city. It’s totally hip, has a great waterfall, water “fireworks” and the best restaurants anywhere in town. When there, you must try out Julian Serrano, one of the most remarkable places to enjoy some wine, good friends (thanks Ronnie V and Melissa) and great food.  In addition to the Aria, the new vDara Hotel is also pretty cool.

The folks at Kinoma are doing well, and it was a blast to share a great dinner with Mitchell Weinstock, an old and dear friend who runs BizDev for the Kinoma clan.

The Golden Nuggett opened their new Rush Tower and it’s fantastic – really nice. If you’re headed to Vegas for any reason, it’s worth checking out.

So, the year started out well in Vegas. There is new techie stuff coming, and people seem to be eager for optimism. It will take some real energy, including new jobs to make a difference, but the spirit was good! Here’s to a great 2010. Be good to your friends and family.

This holiday season, our team is focusing on looking forward to a better 2010 for our clients and personal relationships. It is our wish that all of us can collaborate on things that will help us see these challenging times through – and will ultimately lead to a better future for those we love and care for. Regardless of religion, ethnicity, employment or political affiliation, there is plenty of common ground on which we can stand together.

Nearly 100 years ago, the world was at war. In 1914, the British and French were engaged in what would soon be outdated combat with the German army. The loss of life was beyond comprehension, and the most tragic battles were still to come. Yet, something remarkable happened at Christmas in 1914.

photo credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

In many places, beginning on Christmas Eve, enemies and combatants stopped fighting. It is now historically referred to as, “The Christmas Truce.”

In the Ypres area of Belgium, Germans and British soldiers were hunkered down in trenches just hundreds of feet from one another. During the early evening, Germans began decorating their trenches. They put candles in trees and began singing Christmas carols. As their voices carried across the battlefield, the British were amazed to hear “Still Nacht” (Silent Night). The British responded with their own rendition of the much-loved song.

Singing escalated into holiday greetings shouted across the “no man’s land” of the battlefield. And shortly thereafter, soldiers from both sides climbed out of their trenches, walked exposed and without shelter into the night and began to greet their “enemies” with handshakes and in fact, gifts. Whiskey, bread, jam, chocolate and cigars were traded, along with more song.

The truce spread along the lines. Wounded soldiers left on the battlefield earlier in the day were rescued and removed to have their wounds treated. And the dead were buried. Proper burials for soldiers on both sides were performed, and both sides stood, side by side, to pay their respects.

It has been reported that on that Christmas day – December the Twenty Fifth, Nineteen Hundred and Fourteen, instead of firing bullets and shells at one another, the British and Germans played football. Apparently, there were many matches played all along the lines, and more food, song, and drink were shared. So too were addresses, as many soldiers befriended those they were shooting at just days before – and promises were made to visit once the war was over.

Although there is no concrete evidence to support the length of the truce, some written reports indicate the cessation of hostilities lasted until New Year’s Day.

The following year, a similar truce occurred, this time between French and German troops. A repeat of the previous year’s truce took hold in some places, and in fact, through to the end of the war, soldiers collaborated in multiple areas with informal armistice agreements. While the politicians and senior commanders were continuing to plot war, the combatants were plotting peace.

An unknown British soldier wrote home about the truce, and in part, his letter reads:

This will be the most memorable Christmas I’ve ever spent or likely to spend: since about tea time yesterday I don’t think there’s been a shot fired on either side up to now. Last night turned a very clear frost moonlight night, so soon after dusk we had some decent fires going and had a few carols and songs. The Germans commenced by placing lights all along the edge of their trenches and coming over to us, wishing us a Happy Christmas etc. They also gave us a few songs etc. so we had quite a social party. Several of them can speak English very well so we had a few conversations. Some of our chaps went to over to their lines. I think they’ve all come back bar one from ‘E’ Co. They no doubt kept him as a souvenir.

I exchanged one of my balaclavas for a hat. I’ve also got a button off one of their tunics. We also exchanged smokes etc. and had a decent chat. They say they won’t fire tomorrow if we don’t so I suppose we shall get a bit of a holiday… perhaps. After exchanging autographs and them wishing us a Happy New Year we departed and came back and had our dinner.

We can hardly believe that we’ve been firing at them for the last week or two. It all seems so strange. At present its freezing hard and everything is covered with ice…

And so, in this new century, with new challenges and obstacles to overcome, I would like to wish you the happiest of times possible. Reach out and find someone in need of a smile, and share something festive with them. Their smile will certainly be contagious and hopefully we can all enjoy the holidays together. And may 2010 bring you new prosperity, hope, and good health.

Kind regards,
David Barrett & everyone at R|com Creative!

P.S. If the Christmas Truce is of some continuing interest to you, the “Truce” is dramatized in the 2005 French film Joyeux Noël (nominated for “Best Foreign Language Film category at the 78th Academy Awards). The Christmas Truce was also briefly portrayed in Richard Attenborough’s 1969 film Oh What a Lovely War.

A number of books have been written on the Christmas Truce, including Stanley Weintraub ‘s Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce, which chronicles the event itself from first hand accounts.