I am not getting paid for this endorsement, but I needed to book some intra-Europe plane tickets yesterday, and found these sites. It made the process 100 times easier.

This site is excellent:
http://www.dohop.com/

And so is this:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Discount_airlines_in_Europe

The government of the United States increased it's own credit card limit today, adding another $781 Billion to it's limit. Why $781 Billion and not $800 Billion? Well, their credit limit now stands at $8.97 Trillion. Who wants to be the one to make it hit $9 Trillion?

From Bloomberg:

The government will spend $217 billion on interest on the debt this year, according to the Congressional Budget Office. By contrast, federal spending for the Department of Education is $83 billion.

Mind you, the U.S. Military spends approximately $663 Billion when you add up on-budget and off-budget items. For instance, the cost of the war in Iraq is done through appropriations and is not part of the official budget. So interest payments don't look too big when compared with that number.

I don't know exactly when it happened, but I do know that it has been a gradual change over the past 6 to 8 months. The actual final switch has taken place in the last month or so.

I stopped watching traditional broadcast television. Entirely.

There used to be periods of intense television watching - when Survivor, Amazing Race and two versions of The Apprentice were on at the same time. My VCR was working overtime then since I was never home to catch them at their original time. I would sit down once per week and watch six hours of television at once. My finger on the fast-forward button to skip commercials.

Now, I have missed this entire season of Survivor. I haven't even seen 5 minutes of it. Amazing Race has started and I'm missing that too, and Apprentice. I have stopped watching ALL of the shows I was addicted to 6 months ago. And I can't be the only one.

Two things have really happened to get me off my addiction to my VCR and television.

1) Podcasts and video casts. I got myself an iPod, and since I had heard so many things about podcasts, I found a few good ones and started listening at work. Podcasts led to video casts. The whole concept of television shows created and produced by individuals and shown online (IPTV) has really really taken off in the past 6 months. I don't have a video iPod, but I watch the shows on my computer. In fact, I am falling behind a bit on my subscribed content! I have more content per week than I have time to watch per week!

2) Bittorrent.

Ah, bittorrent. Who knew that this thing would be the unstoppable technology to destroy the movie and television industries. But it will. It's on its way of doing that, mark my words.

It started innocently. I think it was the show “Joey”. (Please don't laugh. I liked Friends, and so Joey was at least a “poor man's” version of it.) I saw the entire first season on NBC Thursdays and liked it. Then the second season started last September, and I never really got around to seeing it. I started to fall behind. One day, I decided I would get “caught up” again with the show so I downloaded the episodes I had missed off bittorrent, watched them, and intended to keep up with the series on TV real-time. And then it got cancelled.

Then came the New Battlestar Gallactica. I had completely missed out on the first season of it when the second season started. Everyone was raving about how good it was (and it is very good!). So I downloaded the complete first season and caught up on that.

Then there were quirky and hard to find shows - “Dead Like Me” (cancelled after 2 seasons), “Love Monkey” (cancelled after 3 episodes). These shows will NEVER be replayed. Love Monkey will never have a DVD even.

So you see, the problem is quite simple. There is no way for me to get caught up on television shows I like. They get cancelled. Or they appear on U.S. networks months before they are shown in Canada.

I want TV Shows on my terms. If I catch a new show on TV that I like, I would like to be able to see the previous episodes “on demand”. No, not wait 12 months for the DVD to come out. If I see “Love Monkey Episode 2” one night, I want to be able to purchase and download Episode 1 from the Net.

And make it cheap - not $5 or $3. If it's more than $1, it's not worth it. In fact, post the entire show WITH COMMERCIALS in the DRM format of your choice and provide it for FREE. Why not? It's the same as broadcast TV!

So, for me, watching TV is not convenient any more. Picking shows I like from bittorrent and letting them download overnight is. And besides I get many hours a week of Internet Television (VidCasts). Even the addictive shows of TV (Survivor, Apprentice and Amazing Race) have lost me.

I want to wish my nephew Johnathan a Happy Birthday.

15, eh? You're getting old kid.

I'm busily studying for the next MCPD upgrade exam: 70-552. I took 70-551 last week.

Now you don't have to take both (one is for Web and one is for Windows Forms developer)... but since they are free I figured “why not?”

And since the questions on both exams overlap, taking 70-551 actually gives me an advantage for the exam tomorrow. I have seen 1/3 of the questions before.

So if I didn't pass 70551 (or barely passed it), I should have a better score on this one.

Last year Seth Godin did a presentation to the folks at HP. Apparently, he told them HP wasn't remarkable, and in fact HP didn't have much of a reputation in the market one way or another. I would agree with that. If someone asked me, “What do you think of HP?” My answer would be, “I don't.”

HP seems like the kind of company that would be considered a fore-runner in technology - like Apple, IBM, Microsoft... But although they have a reputation for leading-edge research, not much comes of it when it comes to products. What does HP sell?

Well, there is printers. My father bought an HP LaserJet back in the early-80s and it is still working today. My mother mentioned to me this past Christmas that she is thinking of throwing it out. Is there any market for antique computer components? Would the HP Museum be interested in picking up an original “HP LaserJet II“.

Then there is digital cameras. They make the Photosmart brand.

Computers of course. A niece of mine has an HP desktop.

The iPaq Pocket PC.

They probably make more things. But I've reached the limit of my HP product knowledge.

So, here's some ideas for HP. Free. What I would do if I were in charge of HP.

I would come up with designer printers. Hire a really innovative product designer. There are two target markets for this. (1) Uber-geeks who must have the coolest gadgets out there. If you create an uber-cool printer, they will come. And (2) the fashion-conscious computer owners who want their technology to fit into their home decor. If my office has a “japanese art” theme, is there a way my printer could look like it fits in? Or executive theme? Or stainless-steel theme? Or a glass theme? (A glass see-through printer.... Cool!)

Oh, while I'm on the subject... stop screwing consumers on printer ink cartridges. Make cartridges reusable and refillable. Make them standard across all printer lines. Make them cheaper. Noone enjoys having to fork over $50 for a tiny cartidge of ink - ink has been around for 500 years! $50 is outrageous. Maybe I'm madder at Epson, but still. Stop it.

I would make some really funny commercials for your products. Try something new, something daring. You're a big company and you got the money. Hire a really hip ad agency for your Photosmart camera business, and go out there are set yourself apart from the competition. The problem with HP and camera is that you are not known for cameras. HP = Printers. Canon = Cameras. Minolta = Cameras. You have an inherent disadvantage in the field. So what? Go out there and play with it. Do something different.

Let me ask you this. Why do people who own Apple products love them so much and so vocally? Why does someone with a Sony Wega TV want everyone that comes over to his house knows he owns a Sony? Why do Acura MDX owners spend 20 minutes on a freezing cold day in March hand washing their cars outside?

Because they love love LOVE their products. They LOVE the companies that make them. Does HP make anything people love? If anyone did love their HP product, is there any way to show it? Why don't you cultivate a market for people who love HP. Start a special mailing list. Offer special benefits and incentives. A forum, a web site. Mail a glossy catalog. Give special one-on-one attention to your biggest fans and they will gladly shout their love of HP to everyone they know.

How about opening an HP Store? Sony is doing it. Apple is doing it. Does HP have enough products to support their own retail environment? If you had a steady group of people who loved you, like Apple does, an HP Store would sustain itself. But you don't, at least not yet. But going into the boutique space is not a bad idea.

Develop some amazing and innovative products. Set yourself apart from the competition using cool marketing. Find the people who love your products and/or your company, and spoil them. And let the cycle of profit growth sweep you off your feet...

And then when this all works, HP, you can hire me as a consultant to thank me...

Tonight, my wife was complaining about the application she uses at work. Her IT department should stand up and take notice, because what she says she needs fixed should be pretty easy to do.

But what made me laugh was her description of the application. “It is supposed to be user friendly. But right now it is user make-an-enemy.”

I've never heard an application described like that - it cracks me up. When your users consider your application an enemy, you know your application is poorly designed.