Really. Did you think it existed?
Truth is: There is none.
Huge security flaw in Google revealed by TechCrunch. Ooops. And Google has yet to respond. Remember. This is the company that was “accidently” sucking other data from users as they were updating Google Maps.
Turns out I’ve been ahead of the curve. Never set out to be a trend setter. Simply trying to be practical and make my life convenient.
When you mention the term “cloud computing,” most people still scratch their heads and shift their gaze. They may have a vague idea, or so they say. Others feel it’s this grandiose, rather esoteric concept to only be grasped by the dedicated folks in the depths of a corporate basement IT department.
Fact is, millions of people have been “cloud computing” for years, just without the fancy name affixed. In its simplest form, Cloud computing is the practice of using web-based or Internet servers and resources to house and run programs and files.
I was reminded of the fact when I purchased a new computer and began working to build it from the ground up. My last computer had died suddenly (Well, suddenly is a relative term. It was made by HP so I had been waiting for it to die from the day I bought it).
My software had been severely out-of-date and I decided to splurge. As I was wrapping up my purchase, the clerk asked, innocently enough, about my email. You see, I hadn’t purchased a program or upgrade for a tool like Outlook. Did I have a gateway by which to access my email? I had a similar question when I shared with a friend that I wasn’t bothering trying to recover my computer’s contents. Wouldn’t that be inconvenient? What about all the email I lost?
The interesting thing is, more than a decade ago, I began doing what many now would call “cloud computing.” All of my email accounts are housed outside of my PC. Many of my documents are too.I hadn’t lost more than a few photos, which I had lazily left on my desktop. My bad.
My “cloud computing” was originally done out of necessity. High school student and then a college student. Always on the go. I didn’t always own a laptop, but wanted ease of us to my emails, contact lists and papers regardless of where I was.
I don’t have stats, but I’m sure the number of people who only access their email via the web is sizable. Why do so many people marry themselves to a program which downloads their email and saves it to their computer? Are they afraid someone will gain access to their highly confidential, noble prize-winning secrets? Yes. That’s probably it, and by the sarcasm in my tone, they shouldn’t worry. Cloud computing has been deemed largely secure. Nothing is hundred percent. Even email saved to your computer.
What started out of necessity, has now become a growing segment of the technology industry. Not everyone is on board yet, though they will be soon. After all, somebody had to be Facebook’s first friend.
I’m not Jewish by birth. But for the past seven years, I’ve been a transplant into a community with a large Jewish population. The community has been kind to me. Friends have jokingly told me I’m an “honorary member of the tribe.” I can now drop words like “schmaltzy” and “mitzvah” into sentences like nobody’s business, without batting an eyelash. My Yiddish is coming along. I know what Gefilte fish is and have eaten my fair share of kugel.
But it still came as a surprise to me when I realized how appreciative of Jewish traditions I had become and how comforting they were to me – how much of the Jewish culture I have actually come to embrace. And it was while I was attending a Jewish funeral and about the same time I realized I had probably attended the same number of Jewish funerals as non-Jewish funerals.
The thing about the Jewish funerals in our region is that they occur at one of three locations. Depending on your group of acquaintances, likely one of two funeral chapels. In a Christian funeral scenario, the funeral home could be one of hundreds selected. Family members may have a funeral home of choice, but due to geographic distances, it’s very unlikely you’ve attended a funeral at a facility more than a few times and different families have countless funeral homes of choice. I had never heard of people being flown home to be buried, unless they had been off at war or just recently moved out-of-state, before working with funeral homes in the Jewish community. Members of the Jewish community have a penchant for making their burial chapel allegiance known in advance and family member often fly the deceased back to be buried at the location of their request.
Jewish funeral attendees know the name of the directors, largely because they are members of the community and quickly become extended family members. You see them in the grocery store, at the post office and at PTA meetings. Their names need no further elaboration. If someone mentions they were at “Dorfmans” or “Kaufmans,” the meaning is understood and usually responded to by solemn looks and an understanding nod.
These funeral directors are the first people you call when the unthinkable has happened and are the first people you look to to provide support and reassurance the world has not, in fact, stopped. You let them into your home before the unthinkable has reached your conscious and you’re still in shock.
Attending a Jewish funeral, at least in our community, is like a home-coming of sorts, a ritual which brings comfort and understanding. A death occurs. You return to a familiar place-a safe place.You’ve been there many times before. It’s where you go when someone has died and you’re still reeling from the unbelievable nature of loss. . And you are enveloped in the warmth and support of friends.You mourn with familiar people (because everyone you know from the community seems to be there too). There is no suffering alone. It feels right. This is where you belong. This is where you are supposed to be to come to terms and reflect and remember. This is where you go to let the healing begin.
I’ve had the opportunity to wear many different hats in my lifetime, sitting on both sides of the table. I was an intern, now I run the intern program. I managed a retail store, now I provide PR counsel to clients in the retail industry.
It’s been sad to see so many retailers struggle in recent years. It’s been downright painful at times to watch them grapple with business strategy-what do you do differently to stay afloat? Where’s the magic key and what’s the magic number?
Too often, retailers attempt to differentiate their product lineups into categories that don’t logically connect. Retailers add product which distinctly goes against the established reputation of the company as a last-ditch effort to keep the doors open and payroll covered.
In college, I managed a niche retail store at a high-end shopping center. The short version of the story goes something like this: This particular company was bought by another well-recognized retailer. This well-recognized retailer soon began changing the product lineup dramatically-”value added” merchandise. During a corporate visit, one of the company’s top management folks ask me, “What would it be convenient for you to carry?”
“Well,” I replied. “It would be convenient for us to carry bread and milk, but it’s not practical.”
The fact of the matter was that this company, like so may others. . .and understandably so. . . set out to score big profits. They wanted to capture every dollar they could from every customer walking in through their front doors.
The challenge becomes that not every store can be Walmart or Meijer. And not every store was meant to be. When retailers begin to differentiate their established product lineup in such a way that it confuses their customers (i.e., does Smith & Sons sell shoes or do they sell watermelons), the last-ditch attempt to continue on with the business is lost.
Customers walk away from businesses that have “too much going on.” If, as a retailer, you want to add line extensions to give your business a little boost. Outstanding. But track the feedback from closely from your customers. And stay within the product family – don’t stretch it and, please, avoid trying to be everything to everyone. That was my point when I replied to the corporate executive who wanted to know what it would be convenient for us to carry. We could have added coolers for bread and milk, even offered to do an oil change for every customer, but where would we stop?
The reality is that we needed, like so many current retail businesses today, not to differentiate to infinity, but take a step back and assess what we sold and how we sold it. If the industry had changed, we needed to change with it. If our customers weren’t going to shopping malls any longer, did we need to go to them? I could rant for several paragraphs about what the company I worked for at the time needed to do, but it’s long it the past.
I’d just like to see our struggling retailers today take a step back and evaluate their business models before they differentiate themselves into oblivion.
JL Cherry