Hail Cricket, Farewell AT&T

AT&T LTE Bandwidth

I've used AT&T Wireless service since the first iPhone was released, exactly ten years ago, yesterday. AT&T offered unlimited data and then, a couple years later, they instituted limited data plans. I stayed with AT&T since they grandfathered me in with their unlimited data plan. Even today, I still had an unlimited data plan with AT&T, but they'd throttle it at a certain point. The data would still come through, but at a much slower rate.

However, data was never a big selling point for me. The real issue for me was monthly cost. Phone companies utilize a price elasticity business model, which means they figure out how to charge the most they can to maximize their profits. If they charge too little, they leave money on the table. If they charge too much, then customers will switch to another company. 

Cricket LTE Bandwidth

Generally, cutting edge smart phones cost $500 – $1,000 or more. To defray these costs, the wireless carriers will subsidize the price of the phone by having their customers sign a two-year wireless service contract. This works well since many people do not frequently hop from wireless carrier to wireless carrier. But I like the idea of not being committed to a single carrier. So, I typically purchase an unlocked phone. Purchasing an unlocked phone means I had no service contract commitment, plus I can insert any companies' or countries' SIM card.

About two years ago, my AT&T bill was a very ridiculous $150/month. I never used up my minutes so I dropped my plan down to a moderately ridiculous $95/month which kept creeping up until it recently hit $111/month due to inflation. That's when a couple friends told me about Cricket Wireless which is now owned by AT&T. Cricket utilizes nearly all of AT&T's cell towers meaning that I'll have the same level of coverage. But they key selling point of Cricket is that it costs way less than AT&T.

Switching

So, today, I made the switch from AT&T to Cricket. It took less than an hour for me to go to the local Cricket store and return home with my phone number and service ported.

My monthly bill dropped from $111.42, with AT&T, to $35 with Cricket. But there are some slight differences.

Cricket Cons

1. AT&T LTE down stream bandwidth clocked in at 13.4 Mbps. Cricket advertises that their LTE tops out at 8 Mbps. In practice, I'm seeing about 7.8 Mbps download with Cricket which is very respectable.

2. No more unlimited data. I now pay Cricket a total of $35/month for 4 GB of data. I looked at my AT&T bills from the past year and I was topping out at less than 3 GB of data/month.

Cricket Pros

1. Unlimited voice minutes. (I was paying AT&T $40/month for 450 minutes, with unused minutes rolling over.) Most of my talking is over WiFi since I use either FaceTime or Facebook Messenger, so voice minutes was never a big selling point for me, but I do like that I now have unlimited talk minutes.

2. Unlimited texting. (I was paying AT&T $20/month for unlimited SMS/MMS text messaging; with Cricket, that's all rolled into the $35/month plan.)

3. Cricket utilizes nearly all of AT&T's cell towers, so I should see no connectivity differences.

Today, I ended up paying about $75 to Cricket, out the door, for the $35/month plan due to one-time activation charges. Let's see where it goes from here.

Apple ID Two-step vs Two-factor Authentication

I recently had a slew of unauthorized attempted logins on my iCloud account which kept locking me out, requiring a password reset. I called AppleCare and the CSR asked me if had turned on two-factor authentication. I told him that I did and, after looking at my account details, he told me that I didn't have two-factor authentication turned on. Instead, he said that I had two-step authentication enabled. Hmm, I didn't know there was a difference.

The key difference is that Apple's two-factor authentication is more secure than two-step authentication. Two-factor authentication is built into iOS. However, if you have an Apple ID for, say, the iTunes Store, but you don't have any Apple devices then you can't take advantage of two-factor authentication; instead, you can use two-step authentication.

Throughout history, people have authenticated themselves in one of three ways (knows, has, is):
1. Something a person knows (a combination to a lock).
2. Something a person has (a key to a house).
3. Something a person is (I walk though the front door of my house and my family recognizes me).

With two-factor authentication, a person needs two things to prove who they are. We experience this when we withdraw money from an ATM since we need our ATM card (first factor) plus our PIN (second factor). With a two-factor Apple ID login, I need to know both my password and I need to have my iPhone handy so I can see a verification code sent to me when I log in.

Without realizing it, we might use three-factor authentication to get into our home by entering a code to drive into an apartment complex, followed by using a key to open our front door, and finally being recognized by another family member or roommate once we enter our home.

Once I switched over to two-factor authentication, which the CSR at AppleCare walked me through, the password resets immediately ended.

This is so Easy

Earlier this month, my octogenarian mother had to give up her defunct decade-old MacBook that she inherited from my father. Before 2007, she had never sent or received an e-mail – so high tech is still new to her. My sister and I were a little hesitant to move her from her laptop to an iPad due to the UX change, but it's working out better than expected.

Today, she called me asking about the Epley Maneuver on YouTube. She called on a POTS line and then I switched the call over to a FaceTime video call, which she enjoyed. After I told her how to watch the YouTube video that I sent her ("Simply click the link in the e-mail, mom.") I then told her how to hang up and she enthusiastically said, "This is soooo easy." There was almost a hit of "why didn't you switch me to an iPad sooner" in her voice.

Innovation is something that reduces the cost of a transaction in terms of time or money. And that's exactly what the iPad has done for my mother.

Future-proofing Naïveté

How naive we were, ten years ago, to think that URL shorteners needed to withstand the apocalypse. Even back then, we called it future-proofing. Today, clicking on a ten year old link typically yields a four-oh-four unless you're visiting the website of an Internet power-player with a keen interest in archival like the NYT or Wikipedia 

While shortened links may last a decade or longer, web pages have a much shorter shelf life. As technology quickly changes, so do server-side URL naming schemes that break links. Today's working links will eventually become tomorrow's orphaned links.

404 Solution

I saw a fix to this problem when working at a corporate conglomerate. Every morning, someone analyzed a list of all the 404s from the past day and then did their best to fix the "referrer." Usually that was easiest done by fixing the source, if it was an internal brand webpage. If the broken link was on an important, external website then we set up a web page, where the 404 was landing, to redirect the user to the correct destination. Fix the problem at the source, and when you can't then fix the symptoms rather than shifting the blame.

In The Future

Soon, it'll be common for digital anthropologists to piece together the Internet puzzle, from days long gone, to document the digital history of a culture. No different than a traditional anthropologist, except dealing with electrons instead of atoms.

The web is what it is, it is us who need to adapt our thinking to be inline with online. 

My Luck With Banking

Last month, I withdrew $200 from a San Diego ATM. Unlike New York, where ATMs dispense $20, $50, and $100 bills, San Diego's ATMs have always spit out $20 bills, in my experience. But, last month I got a pleasant surprise when, instead of receiving ten $20 bills, I received nine $20 bills and one $100 bill. Suspected jackpot! 

My first thought was that I had either received $280 in cash or, perhaps, I received $180, plus a counterfeit $100 bill. I immediately spent the "Benjamin" without any problem. On Friday, I looked at my bank statement and saw that I was debited $200, as expected. I spoke to a local corner market owner who refills his store's ATM and he told me that there would be no record of the extra $100 bill since the ATMs can't distinguish between bills – everything's a $20 bill to the ATM. Reaffirmed jackpot!

I figured that I would be free-and-clear of the extra $80, but it wouldn't surprise me if, at some point in the future, that money might be debited from my bank account without notice. So, I sent a message to my bank, describing what happened and this was their response:

Dear Mr. Moreno,

Thank you for your message.  I appreciate your honesty!

As it turns out, [we] can file a dispute when you are not paid enough, but we do not have a resolution process when you are overpaid [...] it sounds as though you may have had a lucky draw!  

Confirmed jackpot!

Bad Luck With Banking

In the mid-1980s, I withdrew some money from a Marine Corps West Federal Credit Union on Camp Pendleton. I heard some paper crunching inside the machine as the money was dispensed, jamming up the cash dispenser. When I walked into the bank to report the issue, the banker looked at me with suspicion and skepticism as I told her what happened.

"We'll look into it," she said, dismissively.

About a week later, I followed up with her and she made me whole. She seemed a little defensive when I asked what happened and how they confirmed it. She simply said the extra money was discovered jammed in the ATM cash dispenser feeder. A minor hassle for me before the age of e-mail, but it all worked out. 

One day, I'll write about how, in the mid-1990s, my landlord deposited my rent checks, but he wasn't credited for them. My bank, which was a different institution than his, was adamant that he was "almost positively" lying. He wasn't, but it took a couple months to reconcile. 

PS – Did you know that you can make actual size, hard copy reproductions of US bills in black and white? You can also make color reproductions of money as long as the one-sided reproduction is more than 25% smaller or 50% larger than genuine bills.

Advice to USNA Class of 2017

Today's USNA '17 Graduation: Those covers (hats) fly high.

Advice to USNA Class of 2015
Advice to USNA Class of 2016

Today, the US Naval Academy Class of 2017 graduated. What would I tell these eager second lieutenants and ensigns? So many things. I learned some key leadership tricks while at the Academy. Some were hard to do in real-life, like Damn XO. Others were simple like the advice that General Krulak told us: when checking into a new unit, get the record books of all of those in your charge and read through them. They'll be impressed when you talk to them, for the first time, about their past, civilian or military. This would simply be a gimmick, though, if you don't stay on top of what's going on in the lives of your Marines. Take the time to know your Marines, even if you need to take notes to remind yourself of their details.

Management vs Leadership

As a new 2nd Lt or ENS, you will be face new and unfamiliar leadership challenges as you move from being an individual contributor to a leader. As an officer, you're more than a manager. In some cases, there are similarities between managers and leaders and in other cases these roles are completely different. An example of where a manager, in a civilian corporation, isn't a leader is an account manager which might be the job title for a sales person with no direct reports.

So, what about the similarities? What's the difference between a leader and a manager of people? The key thing to remember is that leadership transcends levels of an organization. When I worked at Apple, my manager's name was Tony. Since Steve Jobs was four levels above me, he was not my manager, but he was most certainly my leader.

As a new leader, you'll have to learn to take recommendations from your Marines and then decide what to do. Sometimes your subordinates will give you great advice and sometimes they'll give you some not-so-great advice. You'll learn; many times, you'll learn from your mistakes. Just don't repeat them.

My last piece of advice is don't take yourself too seriously. One way to do this is by subordinating your ego which is harder than you think. Here's one way to do it: when telling others about your personnel, refer to the Marines under you by saying "us" or "we" instead of "my Marines." In other words, don't say, "My Marines inventoried the warehouse," rather, say, "We inventoried the warehouse." It's a minor issue, but unless you're the CO then you're part of a the team, not the commander, and your Marines will follow your example.

Prime Now, Amazon Flex (One way to spend money. One way to make money.)

Signed, sealed, and delivered.

A friend told me that she recently started driving for Amazon Flex which is like Uber for Amazon package delivery. As a contract driver, she simply drives to her local Amazon warehouse and loads up her car. She scans each package, using the Amazon Flex app, as she places it in her car and the app determines the optimal driving route. Drivers have three hours to finish their delivers and return with any undelivered items.

As I looked into Amazon Flex, I noticed that Amazon Prime Now delivers groceries, similar to Amazon Fresh. I gave it a try since Prime Now offered free delivery for orders over $20 (plus an additional $5 tip).

I started putting items into my shopping cart, yesterday afternoon. When I went to resume shopping, this afternoon, I noticed that a couple items were no longer available which was clearly displayed. After adding a few more items to my cart, I checked out at 1:30 PM with a 2 PM – 4 PM free delivery window. I had the option, for $7.99, for delivery within the hour.

Ding Dong

Cooler bag for dairy.

About 75 minutes after I placed my order, which was 15 minutes before arriving, I received a text message that Ryan was on his way, with a link to track him that updated in near real-time. I went out to meet him when I saw that he had arrived. As he walked toward me I said, "You're Ryan, from Amazon, right?"

"Yes... this was an easy delivery," said Ryan.

"Do you drive for Amazon Flex?" I asked, catching him off guard.

"Um, uh, yeah... do you know me, personally?"

He was a bit baffled as I explained that I did not know him but I understood how Amazon Flex worked. Best part is that my delivery was exactly what I ordered, plus the dairy was in a cooler bag with ice.

Programming My Honda's Keyless Entry Remote

My self-programmed Honda remote.

The last time I took my Honda Accord in for servicing, my keyless entry remote stopped working. But, I didn't realize the problem until about an hour later when I tried to use the remote to unlock my car. Since I was still near Carlsbad, I took my car back to the dealership. I've always had great service at Hoehn Honda in Carlsbad, and this was no exception.

My service rep immediately recognized the issue – he jumped into the driver's seat, fiddled with the key while it was in the ignition and, voilà, my keyless remote fob was working. The reprograming process went so quickly that I didn't catch what the service rep did, but it was clearly a series of steps that took about 15 seconds to complete. When I asked him for the details he said that it wasn't easy to explain. I didn't pursue it since I was happy that the problem was solved quickly.

Last month, my Accord's remote stopped working, again. I figured that I'd wait until I brought my car back to Carlsbad for its next servicing since I could simply use the physical key to unlock the doors. But, that changed when I got a hankering after watching this Arby's ad around lunchtime, so I headed to Mission Valley for some roast beef. As I left Arby's, I noticed a Honda dealership next to the freeway. I drove up to the service department and spoke with a rep who did not understand my issue. Finally, I asked if, perhaps, there was someone else around who might have an idea of how to fix the remote? He went into the office where I could see him speaking to a Honda technician for a few minutes. They both came out and asked me if I'd ever had service done at that dealership. No, I told them. But I didn't tell them the obvious, which is that I always go to Carlsbad since dealerships do not share any customer records. The technician told me that I'd need to bring in both keys so they could be reprogrammed, together. After asking them, three times, what the reprogramming process entailed I caught the clue that they weren't going to elaborate beyond the fact that it would take about an hour and cost $95. No, thank you, and I headed home.

Programming My Remote

Once I got home and parked, I pulled up this Honda document on my phone: "Keyless Entry System Owner’s Manual." After a few unsuccessful tries, I was able to reprogram my car's keyless entry fob. The process is as simple and quick as what I saw the service rep do in Carlsbad, a few months ago. Basically, I repeated the same three steps of turning the ignition on without starting the car (referred to, in the Honda vernacular, as  the  "'ON' (ΙΙ) position"), pressing a button on the remote, and then turning off the ignition. Once I repeated this three times, with no more than five seconds between each step, my power door locks cycled and my remote was paired (programmed) to my Accord. All's well and now working as expected.

Give a man a fish...

Kickstarting The Undercover

Moderating a panel of 3rdSpace crowdfunding entrepreneurs.

About five years ago, I joined the 3rdSpace coworking community in University Heights. Around that time, we noticed that some of our fellow members were attempting and failing to raise funds for their Kickstarter projects. So, a couple of us started the monthly San Diego Kickstarter Meetup which spawned a weekly Inventors Club for entrepreneurs actively engaged in Kickstarter projects. At our peak, we had six simultaneous crowdfunding campaigns live on Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

The Undress – The Undercover

The most notable Kickstarter campaign, that taught our group some valuable lessons, was The Undress which is a dress that allows women to change clothes in public, without getting naked. They raised $615,663 in 2014 for their first campaign and then they came back the following year, with an even better version, and raised an additional $248,704.

As a guy, I felt like I was missing out. I wanted a men's version of The Undress – something better than wearing a towel around my waist. Lo and behold, the makers of The Undress launched a Kickstarter campaign, last fall, for The Undercover which is more than a glorified towel for men. The secret to their products is the pockets which allows the wearer to reach inside the garment so they're not scooping under the bottom of a traditional towel and inadvertently exposing themselves to the world. Also, both The Undress and The Undercover are both secured to the wearer so they won't fall off (a common problem that surfers know all too well). The added bonus of The Undercover is that it also doubles (triples?) as a backpack and shorts; and, in a pinch, women can use it to change clothes, too.

What gets me most excited about The Undercover is that mine arrived yesterday and it works exactly as expected. Only an entrepreneur can appreciate how much complex thought goes into producing such a simple product.

Here is The Undercover in action...


The Undercover from Joe Moreno on Vimeo.

Disclaimer: I paid full price for my two Undercovers and I was neither solicited for this post, nor received any compensation.

Donjo Bolero

This is a test of the Google search engine: Donjo Bolero

CV: http://joemoreno.com

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When I first started working at Apple I thought the company was about design. I knew that design was more than how something looked (industrial design) – I knew it was also about how it worked: user interface (UI) design, ergonomic design, etc. But there was more to Apple than just design. It took me awhile to figure out that Steve Jobs cared about one thing above all else: best possible user experience (UX). Steve extended this beyond the user by thinking of all users as customers. In 1997, at the Apple developers conference, Steve made it clear when addressing the developers:

You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology. You can’t start with with the technology and try to figure out where you’re going to try to sell it. And I’ve made this mistake probably more than anyone else in this room and I’ve got the scar tissue to prove it.

High praise at Apple was, “This doesn’t suck too bad.” Engineers tend to make things “engineer ugly.” A technical product may satisfy the written requirements, but many times we know it could still be much better.

One story sticks out in my mind from 2006 when I worked as a software engineer at the Apple Online Store in Cupertino. We planned to roll out updates to the online store for Steve’s upcoming Keynote. My boss’s boss had just returned from a “Steve meeting” with news. Steve said that customers needed to be able to get to any product in the online store within three clicks. Steve knew that a good base metric for usability was how many clicks and how long it took a customer to find what they were looking for.

We, the engineers – the talent – contemplated the impact of Steve’s directive. We wanted to solve this problem before it became a real problem.

I started counting clicks. I entered “headphones” into the text field and clicked the search button. That’s click number one. Nearly 200 results were returned paginated into batches of 25. In-ear headphones, on-ear headphones, over-ear headphones, noise canceling headphones, and so on. Click, click, click, click, click. “Damn, why does the iPod have to be so popular?” I mused. If I narrowed down the headphone search to a specific type, it worked – I would get perhaps a page or two of results. But that wasn’t good enough.

Why not display all of the results on a single page? Hmm, that might work for Steve but our servers wouldn’t forgive us – It would be too much load for them to handle and a waste of bandwidth, memory, disk I/O, and CPU power. Trying to convince Steve that he needed to reconsider would be easier than trying to scale our servers to handle that load. So, both of those options were nonstarters.

One engineer in our group who’d recently joined us from Sun Microsystems found a solution. It was called infinite scrolling and it dynamically loaded content “below the fold” which is the part of the web page you have to scroll down to see. As a customer scrolls down a web page we’d load more and more products. Infinite scrolling wasn’t invented at Apple, but it solved our problem in an elegant fashion that met Steve’s requirements. For his efforts, the engineer received an internal innovation award.

Apple taught me that design was just a means to an end; and that end was best possible customer experience. Frequently, engineers come up with solutions that satisfy the requirements on paper but we know it could be better in practice. And we settle.

Steve never settled.