Business Hacks

Welcome to Guy Vs. Guy! In this recurring feature, Rick and Dave square off on the business and technology issues of the day. This week’s topic: The race to the bottom. Is technology making it harder for creative professionals to survive in today’s economy? Or is it just a matter of learning to adapt and, well, working harder?

Dave: Last month, Conde Nast Publications shut down Gourmet Magazine, which has been on newsstands since 1941. It’s getting a lot harder to be a writer these days — the magazines that remain typically pay a fraction of what they did just 10 years ago. And writers aren’t alone: photographers, videographers, and graphic artists also see their paychecks shrinking. Technology is making it harder for creative professionals to earn a living. Should we be freaking out that tech really is taking away our jobs?

Rick: I’m of two minds about this. As a longtime magazine writer, I am indeed freaked out by the rapid disappearance of so many tech journals. I mean, I cut my teeth writing for the likes of Computer Shopper and PC Magazine, and both are now newsstand memories (though PC Mag lives on as an electronic publication). On the other hand, consider the old saying: When a door closes, a window opens. I’ve been lucky enough to shift my writing career to the online world, and while the pay might not be quite as good, the jobs are still there. And I think that’s the lesson here: creative types need to learn to to adapt, Borg-style.

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While in Paris 10 years ago, I had to randomly choose items off the menu because my traveling companions — which included fellow Biz Hacker Rick — sadistically refused to translate anything for me. If I’d only had my iPhone back then, it would not have been a problem.

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Welcome to Guy Vs. Guy! In this recurring feature, Rick and Dave square off on the business and technology issues of the day. This week’s topic: The startling, sudden, and nearly disastrous loss of data on T-Mobile Sidekick phones. Obviously someone screwed up, but do users share some of the blame? Who’s ultimately responsible for protecting your data?

Rick: So by now most people have heard that thousands of T-Mobile Sidekick users have lost all their data, with little to no hope of getting it back. (Or so it seemed when we first started writing this. Now it appears that a recovery is indeed underway.) Ouch. This was the result of a server crash — and Microsoft owns the Sidekick data service that owns the server. Because this is America and we’re all about finger-pointing, Microsoft is already getting the brunt of the blame. But whose fault is it really?

Dave: That’s one of the most meaningless questions I’ve ever been asked. Heck, it’s not only inscrutable, but also totally irrelevant. Here’s the deal: Hitachi actually did the work on the botched server upgrade. If you’re looking to pin responsibility on someone for a plumbing disaster, you can’t get much more responsible than the person that turns the wrench, right? But, well, responsibility also flows uphill. Microsoft outsourced the work, so they should take responsibility. Except that ultimately, it’s T-Mobile’s product. They are the face the customer sees and the ultimate hot seat of responsibility. So, there you go. And, err, what’s the point of assigning blame, exactly?

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Welcome to Guy Vs. Guy! In this recurring feature, Rick and Dave square off on the business and technology issues of the day. This week’s topic: The iPhone. Maybe you’ve heard of it? A recent flap in the UK raises the question of whether the iPhone can succeed in business (though some say it already has). Why does Apple insist on avoiding the office?

Dave: The iPhone is without question the most hyped mobile device in the history of technology. But deservedly so: I find mine utterly indispensable, from its better-than-Windows Mobile Exchange Server support to killer apps like TripIt. It’s the most awesome phone ever made, and essential for anyone who takes his or her business out of the office. Period.

Rick: I hope you’re not expecting me to disagree with you. What, you think I’m going to say that, sure, the iPhone is nice and all, but it hardly has a place in business? That it’s really intended for consumers, not suits? What kind of moron would say something like that?

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Welcome to Guy Vs. Guy! In this recurring feature, Rick and Dave square off on the business and technology issues of the day. This week’s topic: The Amazon Kindle. Recent headlines haven’t done the beloved device — or the company that sells it — any favors. How can Amazon recover from this PR fiasco, and how can other businesses learn from its mistake?

Dave: Did you hear the news? Last week, all the people who had bought a particular book from their local bookstore woke up to find that employees of the bookstore had broken into their homes, stolen back the book, and left a refund on the kitchen table. Actually, the culprit was Amazon, and the books were removed wirelessly from their Kindles — but it’s the same basic idea. Way to go, Amazon — you just demonstrated the single worst example of customer service I’ve ever seen in my entire life. What’s next? Setting a basket of kittens on fire?

Rick: And not just any books, but George Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984. Talk about burying the needle on the Irony Meter! At first I figured this had to be a joke, if not the work of some hacker out to prove a point about Orwellian companies.

Of course, the reality is that these two books were sold by a non-U.S. publisher in violation of U.S. copyright law, and consequently Amazon had every right to pull them from the Kindle Store. But to silently reach digital fingers into customers’ Kindles and remotely erase the books, without notification or explanation, is inexcusable.

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This is what I like to call a win-win. First, a recent study found that workers who trade instant messages with their bosses are more productive than those who don’t. Second, it’s proof positive that Dave lost yet another debate.

In case you missed that one, Dave argued that instant messaging was disruptive and a productivity-killer. But check out the research from no less than MIT and IBM:

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Welcome to Guy Vs. Guy! In this recurring feature, Rick and Dave square off on the business and technology issues of the day. This week’s topic: Twitter. It’s everywhere these days, but does it have any practical value? Can businesses (and business people) leverage it as a cheap, unique marketing tool, or does the dearth of active users make it much a-tweet about nothing?

Rick: When a technology lands on the cover of Time Magazine, as Twitter did last week, you know it has officially “arrived.” It took a couple years, but Twitter has definitely entered the mainstream consciousness. And herein lies an awesome opportunity for savvy business users. You can go ahead and call Twitter a “pointless waste of time,” but remember: That’s what people said in the early days of blogs and social networks, too.

Dave: It’s interesting that you are using Time, poster child of the Old Media, as some sort of yardstick for measuring tech relevance. The fact that Time is only covering it now, a year after Twitter “went mainstream,” is ample evidence that the magazine is an out-of-touch dinosaur. This much is true: I’ll never accuse your thought processes of having dangerous levels of clarity. Where was I? Oh, right: Twitter is a pointless waste of time.

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We’ve done social networking. We’ve done cell-phone bans. We’ve done instant-messaging and PC power conservation. In fact, we’ve covered a whole host of topics in our mega-popular, smash-hit, even-our-Moms-like-it Guy Vs. Guy debates.

And now we want to hear from you: What should we do next? We’ve got some ideas banging around, but we’re curious to know what you think our next topic should be. So cast your vote in our latest Business Hacks poll. And if you’ve got an idea of your own (trust me, Dave and I can argue just about anything), be sure to share it in the comments!

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Welcome to Guy Vs. Guy! In this recurring feature, Rick and Dave square off on the business and technology issues of the day. This week’s topic: dialing and driving. More and more states are ordering drivers to put down their phones. For many businesspeople, that’s a tough act-of-government to swallow. But is it necessary?

Dave: A handful of states are adopting legislation that rolls back your right to talk on a phone while driving. I find this a fascinating example of random governmental nannyism. You, I’m sure, favor such rules and would never even think of using a cell phone while driving a vehicle, even though having business conversations during commutes is an essential part of our lives today. So: Ready, set, crazy talk!

Rick:  Yeah, I hate it when the government tries to save people from themselves, like with those pesky seatbelt laws. If I want to go through the windshield, that’s my constitutional right, dammit! The inescapable fact is that when you’re monkeying with a cell phone while driving, you’re not paying attention to the road. My only hope is that you’ll pile into a tree and not the oncoming minivan containing my family.

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Welcome to Guy Vs. Guy! In this recurring feature, Rick and Dave square off on the business and technology issues of the day. This week’s topic: instant messaging. Sure, it’s a handy and convenient way to communicate, but it’s an inherently productivity-disrupting technology. Should you use it anyway?

Rick: I love instant messaging. It’s the ultimate business-communication tool, offering faster and more detailed conversations than you get from e-mail. Plus, it’s much less intrusive than a phone call. And yet you refuse to IM with the outside world, instead limiting yourself to your dinky little intranet messaging tool. Lucy, you got some ’splainin’ to do.

Dave: Bah, humbug. I suppose IM is fine for some people, but it just doesn’t suit my style. I hate the way IMs randomize me; I’ll be intent on some project, focused on work, and then my IM client beeps at me because you are bored and want to tell me that you had tacos for lunch. IM just makes it too easy for everyone with a question or a comment and the self-control of a ferret to disrupt my workflow continuously through the day.

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