Blogger has been out of commission during my regular weblog writing time, so this is not a typical log entry. Instead I want to write a rant about how Google, being a search services company, should understand how to run a software service like Blogger, but I’m not sure how vicious I want to be about it. The Pyra idea is that they are busy moving things to new servers and improving the service. But, as a paying Blogger Pro customer, I have had to deal with continued outages, minimal communication about such outages, and loss of SSL login capability. Running a software service is difficult; I work for such a company myself. You have customers wanting 99.99% reliability while you struggle with resource allocation, growing server CPU and disk space needs, and security concerns. But it is possible to create procedures to guarantee excellent uptime. If Google were down for even an hour, you’d hear about it. If Blogger wants to grow to the point where it’s newsworthy that it is down for an hour, they’ll need to get their service in better shape. Are any Google veterans even helping the Blogger team out with understanding how a well-run software service should function and how it is possible, with the new resources of Google, to use staging servers and quality assurance procedures to test everything out before it goes live? Based on recent experience, when my “pro” subscription runs out, I am going to seriously consider alternatives. I am trying to be understanding, and I was very forgiving when I knew Pyra did not have the resources for support, but it’s a fact that now that I know they have Google behind them, I am expecting more. Much more. They must live up to the Google name and reputation.

Behind the scenes of Seattle’s public school kitchen. It’s a new, almost $5 million centralized facility of 40,000 square feet to serve all of Seattle Public Schools. Every day: 8,000 breakfasts, 21,000 lunches and 4,000 after-school snacks. The dishwasher runs in five minutes and they claim it could hold a small car.

I drove by the new IKEA site in East Palo Alto today and they are making visible progress. There are even distinctive IKEA-blue exterior walls up already. The site seems small until you see one of the workers perched on the top of the skeleton, dwarfed by the size of the structure. IKEA has made good on promises to hire local contractors and to conform to city-mandated construction hours to reduce noise. Scheduled opening is this summer.

A decade after its first issue, Wired gives us a look at the state of the tech culture in 1993. I remember the ads in their first issues were mostly for high-end liquor (fancy bottles of vodka), and I wondered what their target market really was. Eventually the tech and design ads showed up and I felt much better.

Yawn. Can we get a better spin for a Game Developer Conference article than “Attracting more women customers remains a challenge?” I don’t mind the continued insight that women don’t like playing computer games, but until someone thinks of something new, like making radical efforts to hire female game designers, well, this isn’t news to me. And, while I’m carping over this article, it isn’t just game developers conferences that have no lines in the women’s restrooms. It is like that at all “co-ed” software developer conferences. The only time I’ve had to wait in line at a technical conference was at the Women In Technology event. Sometimes I wonder if we need more women in tech jobs just to break the cycle of men hiring men. Let’s fill up those bathrooms! If it means more female-friendly computer games, I’ll happily wait in line.

I’ve always felt stuck with my Verizon Wireless phone service. Their coverage is excellent and consistently outranks competitors. But their phone selection has always been lacking. Whereas it seems everyone else carries the cute, stylish phones, Verizon seems to be dragging along with clunky looking models. But this NY Times article on cell phone reception may have the explanation. Verizon Wireless will only carry cellphones with external antennas. Most of the newer, chic models have internal antennas which illustrate the article’s point that cute doesn’t mean better reception. By dedicating themselves to their exemplary coverage, Verizon has resigned themselves to the fashion doldrums. We’ll see how long they hold out — or if the phone makers will pony up the goods on fancy phones with great reception.

I’ve been successfully brainwashed by Thermador’s marketing materials for their Star Burner, their star-shaped gas stove burner that efficiently directs heat to the center of the pan. I had not paid much attention to gas burners before, and this collection of burners was enlightening. Artist Raymon Elozua has been collecting these for many years, often pulling them out of appliances abandoned on the streets of New York. Standing on their own they are indeed visually striking. And that Thermador burner loses its innovative edge. (A Yahoo daily pick)

Virtual Orchestras
If the stagehand union and Actor’s Equity had not shown solidarity for the Broadway musician’s strike, most producers had “virtual orchestras” ready to keep the shows going. What is a virtual orchestra really, beyond being a computer? And what are the operating costs? The 1987 contract negotiations allowed synthesizers (before the virtual orchestras) into the Broadway orchestra pits and their use has expanded. Orchestrators will often plan them into their scores, which gives you an idea of the mindset that the orchestra union is trying to counteract to salvage their livelihood. The new virtual orchestra systems are already being used for many touring companies, sometimes completely replacing live instruments, sometimes supplementing a few solo players. The striking Local 802 website lists the companies and individuals that it does not wish its members to associate with. These are the virtual orchestra creators.

Music Arts Technology was founded by former union member Brett Sommer. A laptop computer and a piano keyboard are hooked into the theatre’s sound system. The show’s score is programmed into the software and playing parts on the keyboard triggers the entire playback. Disney has been working with Sommer’s technology for their Broadway productions (Aida, Beauty and the Beast). Music Arts quoted Broadway producers costs of $35,000-$50,000 up front, plus fees of $890-$1,000 a week. A conductor or piano player must also be hired to operate the system.

Bianchi & Smith/RealTime Music Solutions’ virtual orchestra is more complex than Music Arts’. It uses networked computers and multi-channel speaker playback to more closely approximate the different instruments and their ranges. In a performance of “Evita” at New York Technical College, 35 loudspeakers (16 for the strings) replaced live instruments. A conductor can control the tempo to match the live performance of the singers. Their cost quote: ”$21,000-$50,000 depending on amount of music in show, plus $15,000 to $20,000 in equipment costs, which can berecouped from weekly fee on run of show or subsequent production.” RealTime’s charges a weekly fee of $1,500.

Hiring 24 to 26 musicians for a pit orchestra costs $30,000 to $40,000 a week.

New York Times writer Martin Arnold has written his final “Making Books” column. Blasted a few years ago by Salon for not having his finger on the pulse of the industry, Arnold wraps up his five years on the column with a few statements on the state of the world of publishing and his hopes for its future. And his final words are meant to ring in the ears of his many critics. He quotes Emerson: “Tis the good reader that makes the good book;…in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakably meant for his ear” and then states: “this column has not been for the few hundred in the publishing industry — who often haven’t liked it — but for that good reader. I know a woman, who happens to be a writer, who always carries a book with her wherever she goes. This column was written for readers like her.”

A November 2002 Business 2.0 article took a behind the scenes look at Ikea’s process for creating new products. The company name comes from founder Ingvar Kamprad’s initials, plus the first letters of the names of the family farm and the village where he grew up. Not surprisingly for such a cost-conscious company, Ikea begins with the price. Their three price ranges (high, medium, and low) and four styles (Scandinavian, modern, country, and “young Swede”) are used to plot their product line on grids to discover holes that can be filled with new items. Kamprad had such early success with his cheap price points that his Swedish furniture-selling rivals prevented manufacturers from selling to him. So he turned to Polish furniture makers, a fortuitous tactic that led to multiple low-cost manufacturing locations who compete for Ikea business, thereby further reducing costs.

Once a price and manufacturer for a product is defined, internal designers compete to create the new item. Designs may then be further refined to optimize how much product can fit on a pallet, flat pack being the name of the game. Then the store decor is worked into the mix, pushing a frugal but fun lifestyle for its customers. Ikea has been an astounding success, and continues to dominate in each country it enters. The store we patronize has been doing twice the amount of business originally forecast, and two more nearby locations are in the works. Ikea has already conquered what is often the most difficult biggest business boundary to continuing expansion: internationalization.