http://www.jacobhanson.com Business in the front, technology in the back. Sat, 05 Jan 2008 21:46:30 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en GM just launched a major new campaign called GMNext, to signify its 100th Anniversary. Over the next year, General Motors will celebrate the start of its second century through GMnext, a dialogue-based campaign that engages people via social media and interactive experiences. As a platform to showcase GM’s commitment to ... http://www.jacobhanson.com/2008/01/portfolio-project-gmnextcom/ So, I needed to view a PDF on a new machine today and, of course, I head over to Adobe to snag a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader, or Adobe Reader, or whatever it's called today. Version 7 is out now, unbeknownst to be me, and Adobe has apparently invented ... http://www.jacobhanson.com/2007/01/adobe-reader-is-a-bloated-sack-of-crap/ So, I'm trying to find some decent Jazz tickets the other day and I run into their captcha test. That's "completely automated public Turing test to tell computers and humans apart", of course. Unless you're the programming-type, this will probably help: Over the course of my visit to Ticketmaster, ... http://www.jacobhanson.com/2007/01/hassle-your-users-with-captcha/ In the middle of taking my third economics course, I'm (again) reminded of the fickleness of college courses. You'd think that the knowledge I've gained in other courses would be directly applicable to this one, wouldn't you? But my third economics course from my third economics professor introduces yet another ... http://www.jacobhanson.com/2006/09/what-im-learning-in-college/ I've been thinking about failure lately. Given that each of us has finite energy each day, I wondered how much of it I expend avoiding failure. The answer is a lot. This has had the deliberate effect of causing more successes than failures at the end of the day. But ... http://www.jacobhanson.com/2006/05/failure/ Ok, ok, so the title is a bit strong. The truth is, I think everything sucks to some extent. And I should mention that I'm a long-time Flash RIA (Rich Internet Application) developer. Now that we have that out of the way, I still think AJAX is pretty cool. I ... http://www.jacobhanson.com/2006/03/why-ajax-sucks/ Love him or hate him, Bob Parsons is an interesting guy. I was browsing his blog last night and caught an old post of his about Sony (How Sony Got to be Great). He quotes Sony co-founder Masura Ibuka who said, “You never succeed in technology, business or anything by ... http://www.jacobhanson.com/2006/02/more-innovation-less-imitation/ Two weeks ago I started a new weightlifting routine: day 1 - light 1. squat 3 sets x 15 reps 2. power shrug (pull) 3 x 5 using light weight 3. shoulder press (push) 3 x 15 4. calf raise 3 x 15 ... http://www.jacobhanson.com/2006/02/new-routine/ I remember when I was 17 and I worked in the paint department at Ernst (think Home Depot). I'd get into these future-oriented conversations with a co-worker. He was older, maybe 2.5 times my age. We'd talk about starting our own businesses and he had a lot to say about ... http://www.jacobhanson.com/2006/02/the-glory-of-being-an-entrepreneur/ See, I have this thing with Wal-mart. We don't get along. I hate it. Sure, hate is a strong word. But, when it comes to Wal-mart, it flows so easily whether I'm walking down one of their God-forsaken aisles or if I hear about their latest crime against society in ... http://www.jacobhanson.com/2006/02/me-and-wal-mart/