There’s just one problem: Not one person has been able to answer those two questions with enough clarity for me to make a recommendation. It usually takes a much longer process. So, I thought I’d pull back the curtains a bit and get you a little further down the road once the decision for a new machine has been made. The amount of information has forced me to split this article up into multiple parts. This is part one and covers why to buy a new machine and whether to focus on a desktop or laptop.

Let me also say one thing here. This article is focused on helping to make the very best purchase based on need. If you don’t much care or are made of money, just go get something that fancies you. If you’re on a budget and dropping $1,500 – $2,00 on a computer is a big deal, then the work described in these articles should prove valuable.

NOTE: If you see a term here that you don’t understand or just want to brush up for the SAT, visit the Computer Glossary I put together that defines the basic computer components. I included a handy UPGRADE SCORE for each component that is used in designing your next computer.

WHY BUY?

First things first – what is behind the decision to get a new computer?

Typically, people are upgrading from a 5-7 year old computer that is too painful to use. It’s slow, ugly, has served it’s purpose well, but it’s time to get current.

If your needs are minimal, a rebuild of that old computer may be sufficient for your needs. You should be able to expect a faster, more reliable experience – much like what you experienced when you first got it. Most people discount this option because they can’t imagine their dinosaur being able to act like a spring chicken again, but it is possible and costs much less than a new machine. Additionally, you can add more RAM and a faster hard drive and you are back in business.

If that isn’t you, it’s probably safe to assume that you genuinely need a more powerful system. The rule of thumb in this scenario is to plan for the future.

LAPTOP OR DESKTOP?

LAPTOPS
Everyone wants a laptop – their sexy and portable and the possibilities are limitless, but there’s a price for all that beauty…literally a price. You can expect to pay 1.5X – 2X more for a comparably equipped laptop when you compare apples to apples (not Macs…we’ll get to that).

Additionally, the number of upgrades you can do to a laptop to extend it’s useful existence is quite limited – in fact, memory is just about all you can change on a laptop if you want to respect the manufacturer’s specifications. Maybe a bigger hard drive of the same speed, but again, typically not much that would affect performance.

Only the very high-end laptops by the likes of Alienware allow you to swap out components and for the money ($2,500 – $3,500),  one would hope so.

So, the rule of thumb is to buy as much laptop as you can afford and spend your money on processor, video card and screen because your computing needs will probably be dramatically different three years from now than they are today. More power means more life and a delay from having to go through this process all over again.

DESKTOPS
When looking at performance, desktops win every time. The options are greater and the number of configurations are literally limitless. From triple video cards to 32GB of RAM to dual CPUs (not dual core) to 3+ hard drives…you name it, you can probably get it. If your needs are in the gaming, video creation/editing or 3-D worlds, a desktop is the only option. This limitless configuration also ensures that you can upgrade your components down the road to more powerful ones that ultimately lead to longer life.

Furthermore, desktops are much less expensive and that’s due in part to the generic needs to build one – there’s just less to engineer when you don’t have to cram it all into a 6″x10″x2″ box. The number of suppliers for components is also much higher.

Obviously, the portability factor is kinda low (my desktop weighs in at about 40lbs and sits on wheels) and a big metal box isn’t very sexy. So, the rule of thumb here is to get into the current family of technology with just enough power to do what you need in the next year. You’ll be able to upgrade based on need down the road.

Once you’ve made the decision to buy a new computer, the decision between a laptop and a desktop comes down to the need to be mobile because all other factors make it an easy choice – the desktop wins every time. Don’t underestimate the power of this decision – it sets into motion the rest of the process, which is explained in the next post. Stay tuned…

• Properly targeted and strategically sound
• Based on an idea that resonates with key audiences
• Reinforced in every corner of the enterprise through all channels

Regardless of the message, you must understand the audience, their natural concerns and questions as well as how they will receive the message given other workplace factors.

PAYOFF
The payoff for the increased preparation and effort is greater adoption of the message combined with a higher degree of consistency across the enterprise. For certain messages, this can translate into higher levels of engagement and effectiveness of the Acxiom workforce.

REQUIREMENTS
Sustained Communication requires new tools and new channels to ensure important messages have the best chance of being heard and subsequently adopted. These tools include, but aren’t limited to:

• Interactive website where articles can be discussed (blog-style)
• Video – capture event footage, provide live-streaming of roll-out events
• Podcasts – leadership, business strategy, LOB, Market, etc.
• Microblogging and Social Media

PRICE
The price is content – to keep today’s workforce engaged, there must be a sustained flow of new information through channels that lower the barriers to consume, invite conversation and raise the levels of emotional connection. Above all, it needs to be simple to the consumer, which translates to a great deal of work in strategic planning and implementation.

RISK (of not changing)
The risk of attempting to use the current communication template (e-mail and PPT decks) is a low adoption rate due to behavioral ambivalence. This template is both one-way and utilizes overused channels, which have ample evidence of their ineffectiveness.

Shake things up and stay plugged in to the trends of how people are seeking information. It isn’t just about what you want to say – you have to factor in what they want to hear because choice makes it easy to turn you off.

As the head of a multi-racial family, I hope our culture advances beyond even noticing skin color, but for now, it seems, this is still something at the top of mind for some. But I have to wonder just how much headway is gained when you force a business to be diverse in it’s makeup.

From the businesses standpoint, there is extra cost in the form of compliance adherence and that can lead to resentment. For the hired, I wonder how it feels to be hired in large part because of your race and not solely on your ability to do the job better than anyone else. That’s got to produce some doubt and maybe some frustration as well.

Finally – this seems to keep the issue of race near the top of the list in our culture, which I think is counterproductive…but I’m a white male in my thirties…what do I know?

I’m more interested in what you know…am I way off base on this? I’m serious about learning something here.

I love the term used by Star Trek captains to signal a jump to warp speed. ENGAGE! No matter how many times I see it (reruns of TNG are on KARZ at 10:00 CST locally), it makes me smile each and every time. I think it must be the fact that they are about to travel faster than light and as a Physicist, that’s pretty darn cool – theoretically impossible, but cool nonetheless.

This term is also used to describe how motivated employees are to perform at their very best day after day. Engagement levels are now something that organizations around the world actively measure and care about. It’s because they now realize that engagement is directly tied to the organization’s ability to achieve it’s performance goals. In my job as part of HR, this is something we spend a lot of time thinking about and it turns out it isn’t as easy to improve as one might think.

Almost across the board, the economic conditions of the past two years have been responsible for engagement levels dropping off. As people see their peers lose their jobs and are themselves forced to take pay cuts, motivation to give 100% wanes quickly. The obvious contributor is money – employers are trying to cut costs because there isn’t as much revenue and employees are then forced to make corresponding lifestyle changes that don’t feel good.

But I don’t think engagement levels can be solely tied to money. There has been a ton of research around why people stay at a job year after year and it turns out it has very little to do with their salary. It’s the other things that contribute to something called job satisfaction. Some are tangible and easy to grasp (great benefits or perks) and some not so much (personality mesh with a leader), but regardless of what it is, to ignore them will certainly invite disaster.

The cumulative summation of all of those non-financial contributors to job satisfaction can be summed up in one word – culture. It is the “feel” of a place that permeates each and every action, which can change over time to be more positive and productive to more negative and toxic. I don’t have time to go into all of the things that make up and go into an organization’s culture, but engagement levels is one metric that can help you understand whether you have a positive or a negative one and, if you track this over time, which direction you are headed.

To that end, I’ve put together a little diagram called the “3 C’s of Culture” – the basic ingredients that I believe every member of an organization needs and wants. Here it is:

Conversation | It is my contention that employees want to be part of a dialog and not the recipient of a list of orders. To give them a voice that speaks into not just how something is done, but why it is done can communicate worth, pride, trust and perhaps love. Having an open and safe place to voice your opinion and relate your story is key to building trust, which is one of the cornerstones of a great culture.

Contribution | There’s nothing worse that giving effort to a task that is meaningless. Human nature desires to accomplish something with our labor and in business, it better be tied to the bottom line. Making sure everyone knows how their job relates to success is absolutely critical in building a winning culture.

Compensation | As the old adage says, “An honest days labor deserves and honest days wage.” Today, we talk about the equity principle – making sure that we internally feel it is worth our effort for what we get in return. What we get in return includes salary, recognition, equipment, bonuses and other things that meet core needs we all have. A thriving culture will have programs and processes in place that allow for all of these to be awarded as well as leadership committed to making sure they get used.

Ratio | I drew this diagram in equal parts because I believe there is a balance between these ideas that must be maintained for a healthy culture to exist. For example, too much emphasis on conversation will lead to a place where everyone thinks it needs to be their way and yet, there is only one way it can be.

An over emphasis on contribution might mean that the housekeeping items could get less attention as the focus shifts to more bottom-line activities. Think the Cobbler’s shoes.

And I don’t think I’ve ever seen an 0ver-emphasis on compensation, but it might look like bankruptcy if it ever got there.

At any rate, this was just one way for me to put into a visual some of the big ideas that go into creating a positive culture that promotes higher engagement. It’s not perfect and there are other components. This issue’s complexity is directly proportional to the number of employees. Then add in an international component and you have yourself a whopper of a problem to solve.

Do you know how I know? Money. If you would consider just for one second the motivational aspect behind the “debate” – you’ll soon conclude that stirring people up about climate change is just another ponzi scheme orchestrated by environmentalists that have long been frustrated about the lack of credibility they have been able to muster. That lack of credibility has resulted in very little capital investment, which has hampered their ability to advance their cause.

So, they got their heads together and got a spokesman who spent time in the White House, made a movie or two and created a script that everyone read verbatim ad nauseam everywhere from the nightly news to the cartoons on public television. I have my 4 yr. old son telling me about turning off lights to save the planet because Sid the Science kid’s Teacher Susie is preaching it every day from 7:30 – 8:00 am.

And it’s working – government subsidies for alternative energy sources have soared through the roof. We have windmill fields cropping up everywhere and driving people out of their homes due to the 80+ decibel noise each mill creates. We have electric cars that have a range suitable for a trip to the grocery store. We have solar panels that generate enough wattage to recharge your iPhone. All of which can’t make enough sense to consumers to get real funding and consequently have no real incentive to produce any tangible results.

Sorry – didn’t mean to get sidetracked by government spending and lofty goals with no accountability. Anywho – back to climate change.

Fact: the climate does change. The biggest influence on our weather is our sun and a star has a life cycle and goes through patterns of change, which are influence everything from temperature to magnetic pole strength. Do some research sometime on solar flares – fascinating stuff!

Fact: our planet has gone through both warmer and cooler seasons ever since we’ve had the capacity to keep track and, guess what, we’ve been in a warm one.

Fact: most high-profile environmental activists live very wasteful lives. Al Gore has several houses and flies on private jets all over the world. Why not sell some of those houses and give the money to solar panel or energy storage research? BECAUSE HE DOESN’T BELIEVE IT EITHER, but it sure pays well!

Fiction: mankind has the power to influence nature. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see us develop technology to control the weather like on Star Trek. Need rain for the corn crops in the midwest – no problem, I’ll just submit a request to the weather satellite. Wouldn’t that be sweet!

Simply put – human nature is fond of making itself out to be God and to think we can control the system (either destroying or fixing) He put in place is ludicrous and arrogant. It is the oldest lie we’ve ever bought and now, we’re being sold it again. Some of us are able to recognize it for what it is and deny it any place in our lives. Others…well, are buying it hook, line and sinker – even (and perhaps more poignantly) our kids.

Do we need to ramp up the development of energy alternatives to replace a finite resource like oil? Sure. That’s called being prepared. And there is a right way to do it – it’s called Capitalism and using the Free Market Economy to prove your idea has merit rather than work everyone up in a frenzy about how life on this planet is in peril unless we help those who refuse to contribute get a free ride putting up wind farms in our back yard.

I feel a point of clarification might be needed. I am and desire to be a good steward of the resources given to me. So, I turn off lights, use CF bulbs and turn the water off while I brush my teeth – but not because my heart breaks for a polar bear’s habitat melting. I do it because for every watt of electricity and gallon of water I’m punished financially each month when I get my bills.

Don’t be fooled and don’t drink the Kool-Aid. Remember, if you can find anyone benefiting financially from a crisis – resist the urge to call it a crisis. If it was, help would be free and clear and nothing about climate change is free and it is anything but clear…

Below is a graphical representation of that framework. The core is critically important as it provides the basis for all other parts. Integrity among the elements of the core will help to ensure that the Strategies and Tactics are unambiguous and clear results can be achieved.

I was working for a guy named Lance McGonigal at the time. Lance is a wise man, a great leader and a friend to this day. After my run-in with Mr. Puffhead, I walked into Lance’s office with my tail between my legs and proceeded to recount the incident. He listened and responded with words that have stuck with me to this day. He said, “Steve, you work for me and you’re doing a great job. If anyone has a problem with how you do your job, you tell them to come see me and I’ll handle it.” Just writing these words, the emotion is almost overpowering.

For the first time in my life, someone really had my back. I can’t tell you how confident I felt from that day forward and how freeing it was to go to work every day knowing that I had an ally who trusted and believed in me enough to put his name on the line right next to mine. It was like I had Lance standing behind me all the time waiting to step in should things get too dicey. (Think Mr. Clean commercials)

A few years ago, God took that lesson and made it even more special. The more I’ve learned about Jesus and what He did on the Cross, the more confident I live my life. I realized that I am living my life for Him and if anyone has a problem with it, they can take it up with the Big Guy standing behind me. God has put his name right next to mine when He saved me and gave me an advocate in Jesus. This is true when I am living rightly and when I screw up royally.

How confident are you that God has your back and desires to see you win? How often will you let a Mr. Puffhead make you feel 2″ tall? Next time it happens – just remember that you have the creator of the universe standing right behind you ready to defend and speak Truth into the situation. He’s the one you are living for, not anyone else.

During our 2 1/2 hour conversation, I found myself using examples from some of the most innovative companies around to help add understanding to some marketing concepts. I thought it would be fun to get these thoughts down on “paper”  and let you take a whack at them.

DISCLAIMER: What I’m about to share in no way tells the entire story about either the company or the product/service in question. In the tech arena in particular, I know more than most about the “whole” story behind these situations, but for obvious reasons chose to pull out small bits and pieces to bring clarity to this particular conversation.

MICROSOFT
We started talking about how to package the different parts of this particular product – whether or not we should tailor the solution to specific audiences and pre-choose the options available. The thinking is that this helps show how all of the product brings value and there is very little irrelevant options, which would in turn increase the perceived value and allow you to customize pricing to fit the situation.

I thought about MS’ Office suite of products. For any given user, they probably use no more than 20% (generous) of the features of Word or Excel or PowerPoint. But if you look at all of the users that use the product, I bet the feature utilization is near 100%. Someone somewhere is using each and every feature in each of the products in Office and are not shy about asking for new features to be included in the next release.

THE POINT: Today’s users want to have both the choice and freedom to use the product according to how they operate. In other words, they want the product to fit them, not having to fit the product and deciding which options ahead of time is too limiting. Tailoring solutions to niche groups is a bad idea for another reason. It’s expensive. Think of the time and energy it takes to bundle, sell and maintain 20 product versions for 20 different user groups versus one large suite of products that get’s 20% utilization per customer, but 100% utilization across all customers.

APPLE (Yes – I’m an equal opportunity geek)
Yesterday’s release of the iPad was another stunning example of why Apple’s stock hasn’t taken a nosedive like everyone else’s. While the product lacks some very key elements, there is no denying the emotional draw to own one from the minute I laid eyes on it. After watching the promo video, I started to scheme about how to pay for it. About an hour later, I came to my senses and wondered how it would really make life better.

In the part of our discussion about what stage of the game to reveal your product, I was reminded of just how polished everything Apple seems to be at launch. They work out the kinks, test the user interfaces and even design packaging BEFORE we ever see it. I’m sure they have a secret society of product testers, but the rumor mill is always buzzing and nobody ever actually knows enough details until Apple wants them to.

There is a healthy amount of paranoia that Apple has learned to integrate into their product development cycle. By being the king of the hill (by most accounts) on product design, the world is ready and waiting to knock Apple off their perch. Apple doesn’t give them much of a chance to get to market with a competitive product because nobody knows what to fight against.

THE POINT: If you believe you have a great product that is unique in the marketplace, don’t show your cards too soon. Gather feedback and do proper product testing and market research, but be smart about it. Underpromise and overdeliver. Tout your strengths and don’t apologize for what’s missing.

ADOBE
At one point, the conversation came around to how to acquire customers – how do you get your foot in the door to a group of people that don’t even know they necessarily need your product? Adobe instantly came to mind. In my opinion, they are the most innovative company out there because they build the tools that everyone else uses to build theirs.

I had a chance to attend their annual geek conference called MAX one year and I was blown away with their vision for the future of their role in the way people communicate, relate and conduct business going forward. They are a crucial key player in making our dreams become a reality with decreasing complexity, time and effort.

And they know it. If you look at the price point of their software, you quickly understand that a serious intent on playing is required to get in the game. They are a premium software company with a premium price. And yet, they offer fully-functional, 30-day trial versions of almost all of their products.

On first glance, that seems risky – what happens if their security measures are hacked and people are able to use their goodies for free? Sure, there are laws that supposedly protect Adobe from that type of behavior, but an examination of any BitTorrent site will tell you nobody’s really worried about Johnny Law knocking on their door.

If you look at it again, it’s brilliant. It’s actually the oldest selling trick in the book. Give them a taste to whet their appetite and for those that can’t live without it, they pony up the big bucks. And once Adobe has them, they do their best to keep them by offering discounts on upgrades to existing customers, software assurance that makes upgrades cost nothing and a vibrant user community that is always doing something very cool.

THE POINT: Whether you are an established market leader or a newbie wanting to gain market share, giving potential customers a way to play with your product with very little risk goes a long way to converting them into paying customers.

DELL
When putting together a product, you obviously need to consider the different components and how they fit together and then how each of the components adds value to the whole. When thinking about how to price the idea last night, I thought about the innovation that Michael Dell brought to the personal computer market back in the day.

At the time, there were really two ways to buy a computer. Either go to a big box store and pull one off the shelf or build it yourself. The former lacked customization and the latter was incredibly complex (at the time). Mr. Dell saw an opportunity and his brainchild completely revolutionized the way we buy computers. First, he didn’t make his product available at retail outlets – online only. Second, he gave the consumer the ability to “build” the perfect computer via Dell’s website without the need for a degree in Computer Science.

Needless to say, it was an instant success. Dell’s influence in the personal (and eventual business) computer marketplace can be seen in every computer manufacturer still alive today – even Apple. People want the ability to customize their purchase to get the biggest bang for their buck and ensure that their purchase meets their individual needs. Dell gave them that ability and now it is a perceived “right” all computer buyers believe they have.

Michael Dell didn’t reinvent the personal computer, just the way people bought them. He gave them choice at an individual component level. Wow!

Big retail stores still sell plenty of pre-built computers because there are plenty of people that just want a computer for Internet access, e-mail and the occasional greeting card. And today, you see Dell computers right there beside the others.

THE POINT: Developing a product delivery plan that is flexible enough to allow savvy users to get exactly what they want is worth the time and energy required to set up the associated flexible pricing plans that go along with it. Having a base product that people can walk up and buy and walk out is very important as some of your customers won’t care enough or have the experience to know what is best. For the rest, customization is what can differentiate you in a way that is completely separate from what problem your product addresses.

SUMMARY
Great ideas need great marketing to thrive. Great marketing needs experience and creativity to be effective. Getting “it” right isn’t easy and you’ll know you’ve been successful when you have made it look easy. Microsoft, Apple, Adobe and Dell have all shaped our lives over and over again and innovation, hard work and perseverance are all hallmarks to their success and legacy.

Learn from the best because you will have plenty of your own challenges to overcome. I like Thomas Edison’s approach to invention:

“I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give others… I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent….”

Consider the impact to the world before the impact to yourself and the latter will take care of itself.

Thoughts???

SWFObject has been around since October 2004 as a JavaScript method to detect not only the presence of the Flash Player, but minor versions of the Flash Player for feature readiness. Since then, it’s evolution has continued to add features that cover today’s ever-increasing code complexities. To get the SWFOjbect code as well as all other resources for this very useful tool, head over to http://code.google.com/p/swfobject/

As I stated in the overview article, this is my preferred method for Flash detection for the iPhone. This method is used on all of your SWFs and therefore inherently takes care of all detection and alternate content substitutions as part of the solution. In short, it’s simpler.

Obviously, the first thing to do is download the code and get it on your site. There are great instructions on the Google site on how to setup the include files and you also get some demo files that show how your code should look when using either the static or dynamic method.

I used hyper-linked images that looked similar to the Flash content as the alternate content so visually, there wasn’t much missing. Other than that, there isn’t much to it other than following the instructions and choosing the method that suits your content and situation better. There will probably be some trial and error that you’ll need to go through, but given an hour, you should have it just like you want it.

Here’s the JavaScript code on my example site (put inside <head> tag):

<script type=”text/javascript” src=”/Scripts/swfobject.js”></script> //the include JavaScript file
<!–Button 1 Code–>
<script type=”text/javascript”>
var flashvars = {};
var params = {};
params.wmode = “transparent”; //sets the SWF file to have a transparent background. Default is “opaque”
var attributes = {};
swfobject.embedSWF(“/assets/multimedia/PTT_Button1.swf”, “myContent1″, “174″, “40″, “9.0.0″, “”,  flashvars, params, attributes);
</script>
<!–Button 2 Code–>
<script type=”text/javascript”>
var flashvars = {};
var params = {};
params.wmode = “transparent”;
var attributes = {};
swfobject.embedSWF(“assets/multimedia/PTT_Button2.swf”, “myContent2″, “174″, “40″, “9.0.0″, “”,  flashvars, params, attributes);
</script>

And the associated content code (alternate content defined):

<!–Button 1–>
<div id=”myContent1″><a href=”html/FindTip.asp” style=”padding:4px”><img src=”assets/images/PTT_Button1.jpg” alt=”Defeat the Diaper | Find a Tip” width=”174″ height=”40″ border=”0″></a></div>

<!–Button 2–>
<div id=”myContent2″><a href=”html/GiveTip.asp”><img src=”assets/images/PTT_Button2.jpg” alt=”Defeat the Diaper | Give a Tip” width=”174″ height=”40″ border=”0″></a></div>

Given that, there is one piece of advice I can give:
Make sure you enclose the content you want SWFObject to examine in <div> tags. For those of you that code using tables, don’t try to affect a <td> as the SWFObject’s default behavior is to hide the element and this will destroy the table’s structural integrity and therefore produce undesired results.

For an example of a site that this method has been used, you can go to defeatthediaper.com – my community potty training tip site. I hope this helps and don’t forget to add the <meta> and CSS mods outlined in the overview article.

When you publish your Flash content, you have the option of publishing HTML and in the associated option for HTML publishing, there are several check-boxes related to which version of the Flash Player you want to target and whether or not you want the resultant HTML to check for the presence of the specified version or above. FIG. 1 shows what you would check to get the HTML file that checks for the presence of a version of the Flash Player.

FIG. 1

Provided you check the box shown in the figure and publish your content, you’ll get an HTML file that has the detection code in it. As you examine the code, you’ll see that the detection script looks for a specific minimal version of the Flash Player, not just the presence of the Flash Player. So, the detection script can “fail” for two reasons: 1) An insufficient version or 2) the absence of the Flash Player altogether.

Therefore it is a good practice to include the GetFlashPlayer icon linked to Adobe’s site in case they were sent to this page because of a version problem and not the absence of the Flash Player. I guess you could use the CSS mod outlined in the overview article to hide a <div> tag that includes the icon if you don’t want your iPhone users to see something they can’t act on.

The next step is to copy all of the detection code including the conditions to another HTML page and save it as the site’s default page – typically index.htm or default.htm. From there you can send your users to either the regular home page (successful detection) or an alternate page (failed detection). The alternate page is where you can customize an image-based version of the home page that can be seen by mobile browsers that don’t support the Flash Player as well as explain why they were sent there.

I then went a step further and set a session variable and checked it on every other page on the site that had Flash content so I could either substitute alternate content or hide the Flash content altogether. This has an inherent problem as the session will at some point time out and if the iPhone user closes Safari and comes back, they could be faced with a site that doesn’t know they are a non-Flash user.

To overcome this, you could call a modified version of the Flash Detection script on each of those pages that resets the session variable if the detection fails, but that starts to get pretty cumbersome and is why I eventually went to the SWFObject route. You can read about that method in THIS POST.

To see a site that uses this method, go to www.americanpiepizza.net – a Central Arkansas pizza joint with a killer menu.