Sometimes big means little...

Today I was reminded the hard way what it means to "be diplomatic" and not to kick someone in the teeth when they seriously piss you off.
I had recently terminated the contract of someone who was working for me. Somehow the twerp did not agree and kept insisting that his contact wasn't terminated and that I should still be paying him. I behaved in the "correct" manner and sent him a letter via registered mail outlining the reason for the termination. Surprisingly he refused to accept this letter. Being a lawyer he should have known that this does not make a lick of difference and that notice is considered served within 48 hours of said letter having been sent via registed mail.
By this point I was seriously questioning my judgement in hiring him (he was recommended by a good contact....) as I have better things to do than getting involved in yet another dick-wagging contest.
Now, he kept sending me deadlines via emails even after I had notified him that I would only correspond via registered mail. He consequently threatened with legal action. I duly ignored these deadlines and threats because I new that he would not have a leg to stand on in court.
Now, today I got a call through Skype from our previous CEO who is also our largest shareholder. The gobshite had gone ahead and called him to whinge that I was not giving him the TLC he so deeply craved. I gave a short outline of the way this had a gone and was advised that he was threatening to put a lien on the company. Now being an SEC registered company we have to report any litigation to the SEC. This information then becomes publicly available and might influence investor confidence.
I was adviced just to pay him off to avoid litigation, even though he DID NOT HAVE A LEG TO STAND ON!
Oooh man, this sucks in a major way!
Had ours been a private company I would have invited the twerp to step outside, rolled up my sleeves and given him a long overdue whooping.
But being a publicly trading company I have now got to be nice and pay him off. As CEO I have a lot of freedom but I also have to account to our shareholders and keep the "best interest of the company" into consideration. That leaves me with no choice but to give the two-bit hustler enough to make him go away.
Sometimes it's just not funny anymore....

E.

Which way for wireless broadband?

There's an interesting article on Silicon.com's "Radioactive" about the possible ways forward for wireless broadband and wimax in particular. It touches upon such issues as licensing, the difference between the uS and Europe, the huge investment in Clearwire and also covers a few competing technologies.
It's a good article that for once doesn't jump on the Wimax bandwagon.
More here...

I'll be back...

Or at least that is what I thought when I started this blog.
Then it took me nearly 4 months before I found the time and energy to put up another post. Pretty damn lazy if you ask my but then my life has been mad busy for the last few months. Between developing my business, the kids being home on holidays and the social pressure of outdoor BBQ's I have had not time to come up with a posting of interest.

So, whats on my mind......
Lots of stuff really. About a month ago I bought my 2nd iPod. Nice 'n cheap 40Gb jobbie. It was a refurb jobbie but in very good nick and at a good price. I also bought a rake of accesoires; Itrip, 2 docks, cover etc..
Now the iPod has gone the same way as the first one I bought: it's at the bottom of a drawer soemwhere.... Why? Several reasons really, I did not buy the iPod to serve as a "personal music player" as I hate plugging in and switching off. I did it when I was young(er) but nowadays I like to be aware of what's going on around me. Blocking of my auditory senses is not part of that game.
I bought the iPod to function as a way to play my collection of MP3's while driving. Pretty simple really; upload the music to the iPod, plug in the iTrip, tune in the radio and Bob's yer uncle. All pretty straightforward...NOT!!
First uploading my MP3's to the iPod took ages for some reason. Then it turned out that the iTrip that I bought (the latest model) plugs into the bottom of the iPod and not into the top like the old ones did. This made it impossible to use and charge my iPod at the same time which made me fall foul of the iPod's ridiculously short battery life. On top of that the iPod is so feckin' hard to use in the car that it is not funny any more. 40 Gig's hold a huge amount of music so in order to put any structure in my listening experience I had to do the following:

1. Create playlists: I'm too busy to do this. Technology is supposed to make life easier and not create more work for me.
2. Keep navigating between songs & albums: with the iPod's fiddly controls and little bitty screen I might have well been driving blind..

So that was that, iPod relegated to a drawer. I might resurect it one day as a portable harddrive but that's about it.

E.