DominoKeys.com

This is one of the funniest, most clever things I’ve seen IBM do! There are a few other examples of this concept out there (Disney had a great one last year, too) but the idea is that you enter someone’s name and it is inserted into what appears to be a news report personalized to be all about them.

You can check out the one I put together for my alter-ego by clicking the screen shot below. You can also create your own for your team’s IT superstars.

Tags: funny, ibm, team-building

About three years ago, I did a post about TiVo-Life integration. The premise was simple: as you integrate TiVo into your life, you go through specific stages that seem to be common among people. I find that I still get people who discover this after being new to DVRs and agree with the stages I proposed.

Three years later, I’ve got another one: iPhone & Life Integration.

Stage 1: Contract bustin’

Persons in this stage are often heard using the following phrases:

• “I’m going to get an iPhone, I’m just waiting for my contract with (insert non-AT&T carrier) is up.”
• “Yeah, I’m gettin’ an iPhone, just gotta wait ’till my company supports them.”
• “I’m going to get the new iPhone, I hear it comes out next month.” (that one can be used at any time of the year)

Stage 2: Love is blind

Once the iPhone has been obtained, activated and synchronized with contacts, email, etc.; the user falls so in love with the iPhone that they fail to see its shortcomings, including things like spotty AT&T reception, lack of 3G networks in some areas, call dropping and poor audio quality. They simply accept all of these things as “normal” for any phone. In fairness, the iPhone isn’t that much better or worse than other phones you might have used … its just not “far better” despite the comments people in this stage might make; stating “Dude, its the best phone ever! Call quality is awesome!”

Stage 3: Apps? Yes, please!

This stage always starts with the following questions:

• “What are apps?”
• “How do I get apps?”
• “What apps should I get?”

Other iPhone users will help out, offering their choice as some of the “must have” apps. Devious iPhone users may even recommend expensive apps, just to get their friends to shell out money. However the app-acquisition process begins, it always ends the same: app addiction. The iPhone screen becomes a potpourri of applications. Some helpful. Some silly. Some completely useless. And Facebook.

Stage 4: Accessories & Upgrades

Complete with at least 4 home screens full of applications, the user now branches beyond what’s INSIDE the iPhone to what is OUTSIDE. Persons in this stage can be found wandering between different choices for cases, bluetooth adapters or even power cords as they search for something to modernize their iPhone. This is often done because they are so committed to the iPhone, they lack interest in looking at other cell phones as frequently as they once had.

Ultimately, this stage leads to an iPhone upgrade, where the user convinces themselves that they need a new one. Perhaps for space, color or some new feature. Even if they have the latest, largest and most best-est version out there, they anxiously await their Apple news blog dujour for news about iPhone upgrades that might be coming … and begin listing the reasons for why they need to upgrade their phone. This will often be accompianed with a listing of phantom problems with their current one.

I feel compelled to mention that when I went from the EDGE iPhone to the 3G one, it was because my screen was completely cracked due to an accident. That was all legit. Honest.

Tags: funny, iphone

One of the challenges of being a centralized IT shop in a global organization is finding business partners in the countries you do business in that are just as strong as the ones you’ve partnered with at your corporate location. Thank goodness, there’s Google and links to business partners on sites like Lenovo’s.

This morning, a couple of us sat down to find a new business partner for our Singapore location. I thought I’d share the journey via my blog. I highly suggest following the links as we go so you can see what we did, first-hand.

First stop, Lenovo’s website where it was easy to zero in on Singapore and get to a listing of their business partners. It struck us as odd to see that most of the places listed were apparently in shopping malls. — I did select “Singapore” and not “Orange County, CA” right?

We opened up a flurry of tabs for companies listed near the bottom of the Lenovo page. First, we went to SiS Technologies, Asia’s Leading Distributor, or so they say. I couldn’t help but notice the … eh… world-class graphics at the top:

Next up, “UIC” at uicacs.com. Notice the use of occassional sound effects on their side menu.

Moving on, we found “JOS” or Jardine OneSolution. They have a nice looking website and a great logo. Only one question though… is this guy wearing a pleather jacket?!

Then we found “SCS” who’s slogan is “living technology.” I don’t know what that is but it both sounds cool and frightens me. I’m having flashbacks of the movie iRobot. Here’s what I love about this company… their charter page shows two interesting items… note #5 and the final thought in green:

We then moved to JK Technology, which I’m not sure if that’s really their name or if they’re trying to set the stage early with the texting shorthand. “JK” as in “just kidding, we really don’t do technology.” Also, talk about setting the bar high… notice how they define what products they have:

Next up was “Whizzwork” which prefers that you think of them as “WE” (Whizzwork Enterprises). I’d really be selling this site short if I didn’t let you see the flash intro first-hand for yourself. Turn up your speakers and enjoy.

I think we should all agree now that flash intros can completely go away and no one would miss them. Finally, we found OPUS who’s very proud of how they came up with their name. The story (“Opportunity” + “Us” — yeah, that’s it) is all over their site. Here’s my favorite part: their “Client testimonails” page has one single testimonial… from someone at IBM, who spun off their PC business to Lenovo; and who still hosts the webpage that got me to OPUS’s site as I triend to find a business partner.

Incase you’re wondering, we sent a request for proposal out to all of these people and I’m anxious to see what kind of response we get from them.

Tags: funny, websites