Cathy: "I smell a skunk! Oh, it’s your coffee."
Author: Doug McCaughan
Father of 5.
Juggler.
Ticked off at blogger.com.
From the mouths of babes
College girl has come home for Thanksgiving.
Evan, 8 years old: "Mom! Sarah has different boobs. Sarah’s boobs are fluffy."
I’m really hoping I misheard that and he really said "boots."
All this technology is making us antisocial
Telecommuting Advocate No More?
I have a deadline today. I cannot find the document I need to complete my deadline. A cat wrestles my shoe lace. Another cat climbs my leg to pounce the shoe lace warrior. My eldest son turns on the Keurig
I’m a huge telecommuting advocate. I believe so much can be fixed by encouraging telecommuting. We can do just as much business as we do today with much less infrastructure. Less need for buildings. Less need for road expansion. Fewer cars on the road meaning cleaner environment. Happier lives. I can go on and on.
The challenge with telecommuting becomes managing your family. Basically it requires a separate room. I’ve started to believe that I need to rent a small office down the road or buy the house beside me. But that thinking negates some of the benefits to begin with.
Week off
I’m on vacation. Let the cleaning commence!
More upset than I expected
We all have our time. It comes. It goes. I’m pragmatic. I’m stoic. So I am surprised at how upsetting today has been to me. I am also a romantic. A philosopher. The physical manifestation is just that…something expected and done. The problem is the metaphorical interpretation of today’s event reaches too deeply into my being. I require downtime. And distraction. But responsibilities have to be dwelt with first.
Weekend Accomplishments
- Hung a bedroom door
- Cleaned a room
- Cleaned the driveway
- Repaired the van tire
- Client work
Feels like more was done. It’s Sunday night. I’m exhausted. So much more needs to be done tonight.
So little to do. So much time. Strike that. Reverse it.
Coin answers the waiter question
Update 11/20/2013: Read more at Engadget.
Coin has responded to people’s concerns about a waiter accidentally or intentionally selecting a different credit card.
One question we’ve been hearing is “What if a waiter/waitress accidentally — or worse, INTENTIONALLY — changes the card you want to charge your meal to?”
Here’s where Coin has you covered: The mobile app will allow you to configure an auto-lock feature that will disable the Coin button to toggle based on proximity; when the waiter walks away he or she will not be able to toggle the card selected.
I think there are better solutions but this one is adequate.
Breaking Bad Alternate Ending
All Breaking Bad fans must watch:
Freekah Da Americans Out
Freekah Da Americans out. Put Ziyad Brand in your grocery.
Coin and user interface improvements
Update: Coin already has this covered. They’ve responded to the numerous people asking this question.
One question we’ve been hearing is “What if a waiter/waitress accidentally — or worse, INTENTIONALLY — changes the card you want to charge your meal to?”
Here’s where Coin has you covered: The mobile app will allow you to configure an auto-lock feature that will disable the Coin button to toggle based on proximity; when the waiter walks away he or she will not be able to toggle the card selected.
I’ve pre-purchase Coin because for years I have said that we should have a single magnetic swipe card for all purposes. I’ve gone so far as to suggest we be issued an id card at birth that becomes our permanent id and holds all our credit cards and so forth. Why have multiple cards when one with a programmable magnetic strip would suffice?
Coin holds 8 swipe cards at once. There is a button on the card which allows you to select the card you want to use. Perhaps card one is your primary credit card, card two is your business credit card, card three is your door entry key for your office, card four is a loyalty card, card five is that rebate card you were sent instead of receiving a check or cash, card six is your department store card, etc. Pressing the button cycles through these. The recurring question being asked is "What if I hand it to the waiter and he accidentally selects a different card?" Coin answers this question in their FAQ:
Q. Can someone accidentally change which card is selected on my Coin?
A. We’ve designed the button to toggle cards in a way that makes it difficult to trigger a “press” unintentionally. Dropping a Coin, holding a Coin, sitting on a Coin, or putting the Coin in a check presenter at a restaurant will not inadvertently toggle the card that is selected.
To me, the answer is inadequate. The user interface could be altered ever so slightly to address this concern.
The solution: For those who want to lock it in, I should be able to program a lock sequence into the button. For instance, make switching cards a short press (that way I can rapidly cycle through the 8 loaded cards). I go to my Coin app on the phone and define a lock sequence of a 3 second press, followed by two tabs, a long press and a final short tap. Now the card is locked on the chosen card. Unlocking works the same way. Because I can define the sequence of short and long presses, I effectively have a pin code for locking and unlocking the card.
Perhaps Coin will consider this in the future.
For those asking, what is Coin? Please read One Card to Rule Them All.
Update: Lauren Puff suggests the use of finger print technology like that of the iPhone 5s. While I think that would be cool, it would require a hardware change to the Coin which would probably add to the manufacturing cost and may not work with the form factor. The lock sequence I propose would use the existing hardware and would be some minimalist programming changes to the device itself and the iOS/Android apps.
The Weekend Is Here
It’s not a picture perfect weekend. The ground is damp from last night’s drizzle. The air has a chill. None-the-less, I think it would be a great day for yard work. Definitely a wonderful day to clean and fix up the house. I’d like to be playing with the children. Getting them away from the computers and doing something memorable. Alas, I find myself on the computer with goals of making clients happy and creating billables.
Valley Wag Fails to Understand Coin in Neo-Luddism Fashion
Gawker’s Valley Wag misses the boat on Coin in a way that screams poor journalism. Why do I say poor journalism? Take this ValleyWag quote: "It’s also inherently riskier than carrying a few cards on you, as one lost Coin means everything is gone at once." Obviously ValleyWay did not even look at Coin’s FAQ or attempt to talk to someone at Coin.
- Coin can alert you in the event that you leave it somewhere.
- Coin will automatically deactivate if it loses contact with your phone for a period of time that you configure in the Coin mobile app.
My response to ValleyWag:
ValleyWag is completely missing the point. Not only is this a great solution to reduce the size of your wallet but it brings great security to your physical financial transactions. Imagine leaving your credit card at a restaurant. We’ve all done it. You know the fear of someone having access to your bank accounts while we rush back to the store, the hassle of being on hold with the credit card company to cancel the card, etc. With Coin, if it detects that it is away from your phone for a set amount of time, the card deactivates until you reactivate it. It becomes a useless piece of plastic! Also if you start to walk away from it, your phone beeps to warn you that the Coin has possibly been left behind. When we hand a card to a waiter, as they walk away from your table they could be texting your credit card number to a friend who could be making large purchases online before you even get to sign your check. With Coin, only the last 4 digits of the credit card number are ever shown so this type of theft becomes impossible.
ValleyWag also misses that this is not just a credit card, it is a programmable swipe card. If I get to my office only to realize I left my door entry card at the house, with Coin, I simply need to load my access card onto Coin from my cell phone and I’m back in the building for the day without having to run back home.
We collect loyalty card after loyalty card then get rid of them by using phone apps that are slow to open and only scan by the cashier half the time slowing down the line behind us. Coin will replace loyalty cards also.
This is a great product that everyone needs.
Read more about Coin at this post: One card to rule them all!
One card to rule them all!
Early adopters buy one now! Pre-orders are half price at $50 instead of $100.
Coin is basically a programmable swipe card. You store all your credit cards, building entry cards, loyalty cards, etc. (anything with a magnetic strip) in your smartphone. The physical Coin card can hold up to 8 cards in its memory. If you need to swap one out, you plug the Coin swipe device (think Square) into the headphones jack of your smartphone, select the card you need, and swipe the Coin and it is now programmed with the correct card.
Imagine leaving your credit card at a restaurant. We’ve all done it. You know the fear of someone having access to your bank accounts while we rush back to the store, the hassle of being on hold with the credit card company to cancel the card, etc. With Coin, if it detects that it is away from your phone for a set amount of time, the card deactivates until you reactivate it. It becomes a useless piece of plastic! Also if you start to walk away from it, your phone beeps to warn you that the Coin has possibly been left behind. When we hand a card to a waiter, they could write down the numbers on the card. With Coin, only the last 4 digits of the credit card number are ever shown.
Coin makes your wallet smaller and your transactions more secure. Buy yours today!.
Disclaimer: I’ve pre-ordered mine. Each of the links to Coin in this post includes my referral link. I receive a $5 credit from Coin for each referral that makes a purchase which means once ten people have purchased through my link, my Coin becomes free. If you are going to purchase one, please do it with one of these links. Thank you!
The Snugg – iPhone 5S Bamboo Case Review
Disclaimer: This is not a paid review; however, The Snugg provided the case to me for review.
Snugg, founded in early 2010, specialises in the retail of high quality, form fitting cases for the iPad, iPhone and other recent tablet devices as well as unique gifts such as Wine Aerators, Beer Pong Tables and Virtual Laser Keyboards.
TheSnugg has provided an iPhone 5S Real Bamboo Wood Case for review (also available at Amazon
A real Bamboo, wooded case from The Snugg. Built specifically for the iPhone 5S, with cut-outs tailored to fit buttons, switches, speakers and the new lightning charger port.
Created from highly sustainable bamboo wood, this is a product to be proud of. It’s durable, handmade and gives an individual finish to your iPhone 5S.
The case is fitted to your phone in two interlocking pieces, making it easy and quick to install and ensuring it locks onto your phone in a Snugg, form fitting fashion.
The Snugg is a simple yet effective case. It is two pieces of shaped bamboo which accommodate all the buttons, speakers, charge port, camera and flash, and headphone jack of the iPhone 5s. The case is smooth…no rough edges. It is beautiful. The two pieces fit snuggly around the iPhone and has a felt pad on the inside to protect the back of the phone. I give The Snugg a high recommendation for an elegant phone case.
