Hot Koehl

Fwd:Vault’s been listed on the startup review site Discovering Startups, which is cool in and of itself. However they also run a monthly contest for most popular startup, and the winner gets front page facetime on their site. All you have to do is click the badge below to visit our review, then click the “Vote” button in the upper righthand corner. No site registrations necessary.

And tell your friends to hit the site as well! It only takes a second, and you’ll be helping out the little guy!

Update: We’re out to an early lead! Make sure you vote from work and home!

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In my off-hours, I tutor a very talented young man on computers, programming, and IT. Our work is usually short exercises, but every now and then we drum up something that might be of use. The download today is one of those unique pieces. It started by simply playing around with installers, which by design create and delete files. In the process we found the hooks for file metadata, and played around with those. It eventually turned into a nice GUI on the file properties window, which we wrapped up in an installer.

FileTime allows you to edit the Created, Modified, and Last Accessed date/time for any file on a Windows system. After running the installer, right click on any file, choose “Properties,” then click the “FileTime” tab.

It’s pretty straightforward from there…

It’s definitely one of those programs that is worthless to the vast majority, but pure gold to the one with a specific need. I honestly have no idea if this would be useful to anyone, but have been doing this way too long to assume that it wouldn’t be useful to someone, somewhere.

FileTime has only been tested on Windows XP. Windows Vista and Windows 7 users are on your own.

Download FileTime installer
Download FileTime DLL (advanced users only)

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…but I totally called it.

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When the new and often unexpected come around the corner at me, fear never dominates my reaction, because change presents opportunity.

Anytime things change — at work, at home, in society at large — some part of the board that is your life gets reset. The pieces all go back to starting positions, the scoreboard gets reset to zero. For a brief time, you are on equal footing with everyone else who experiences that change.

For a brief time.

What you do with that starting period determines how that change will affect your life going forward. Some people hole up, deny what’s happening in front of them, and whine about who moved their cheese. These people get left behind, usually left to moan about how the change ruined their life.

I take stock of what I lost due to the change, then quickly proceed to consider as many new routes as I can, because whatever I might have lost is overshadowed by the limitless possibilities of the new game. Figure out what you can do, make a decision, and start moving.

This world moves really fast. You have to learn to embrace, not fear, change. It’s going to come at you whether you like it or not, so get comfortable with it. Once you’ve done that, you must learn how to quickly adapt to the newness, make it work in your favor as much as possible. Use that brief realignment time to get as much of a headstart on everyone else as you possibly can.

I’ve only recently crystallized this process in my own life, and I’ve learned that it helps eliminate fear and stress of change while setting yourself up for wild new success. Once you experience this “success as a result of change” for yourself, you’ll actually embrace change, go looking for more of it. Think about how far ahead of the pack you could get when you’re making turns that others don’t even see yet.

I’ll give you an example wrapped in a prediction. We’re going through a pretty lousy recession right now, and a student of history can see that the government is making many of the same mistakes it did that caused the Great Depression. Things will probably get worse before they get better. Don’t be surprised to find old standby brands replaced with young bloods who handle this torrent of change more effectively. Take a look at the history of these companies around 1930: General Motors, Sears, General Electric, Proctor and Gamble, and Wal-mart.

Change is an inevitable part of life. Accept it, then leverage it, then you win.

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I hear Toyota is contemplating a quick makeover to their current logo and tagline…

Wish I could take credit for it, but at least it comes complements of fellow PSL member Eight Eleven.

Update: I complimented the author Aaron, and the following conversation ensued…

Aaron:
I’m going to end up in a lawsuit with Toyota for sure on this one.

Frank:
As a design firm, what a boon for business THAT would be!

Aaron:
Yeah, I can see the headlines already: “Japanese automaker Toyota files lawsuit against New Jersey based Advertising and Marketing Agency, Eight Eleven Inc., then mid-suit, hires them to execute a new branding campaign.”

Fantastic.

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My wife says I’m too much of a cynic. That may be true, but this is one beef that, after 200,000+ flight miles, I simply cannot ignore any longer. Why should anyone suffer needlessly? I spent the last week visiting my sister out in Denver, thus necessitating the need to fly out and back into Philadelphia International (PHL).

I’ve had bad experiences, but after this last trip, I’m going to do everything in my power to avoid this travelers’ hell-hole in the future.

I flew out Monday morning, which is one of the most popular days for business travelers. That’s not necessarily a problem, as these types of travelers are experienced and jump through the check-in and security hoops with relative ease. However, PHL has recently made the genius decision to consolidate their security checkpoints in the various terminals down to a single checkpoint.

Many airlines use this layout, but do so in buildings designed to handle that type of arrangement. The PHL terminals are like unique islands, without one main entry. None were intended to handle all the passenger traffic, so to force everyone go through one is pretty shortsighted. The space they chose, outside Terminal C, can only accommodate 3 scanners, and the inevitable line extends across a walkway back towards baggage claim at Gate C.

To make matters worse, they decided it would be a great idea to break convention by redefining the security lines. Most airports have a separate, faster line for first class passengers and employees. Everyone else gets into a general line. PHL breaks up the “general” line into two subdivisions: “expert travelers” and “newbie/families” (my terms). The difference here? Absolutely none: anyone can get in either line. However the “expert” line layout is shorter, so it typically goes faster, but you can’t see that until you’re in line, since the expert one sneaks around back of the snaking, Disney-ride-like “newbie” line. I learned this the hard way.

Let’s put this silliness in perspective: My destination, Denver International Airport (DEN), has a massive entrance atrium with no less than 12 security positions, and they separate the waiting lines into the usual “Employees/First Class” and “Everyone else.”

I fail to see the efficiency improvement, how about you?

Fast forward to my return flight, which was completely painless up until we landed on the tarmac at PHL, at which time the pilot told us that our gate was “occupied.” He put it best: “I don’t even know what to tell you about that, folks.”

Anyone who’s flown anywhere other than PHL knows that this is a prime situation for a fancy technique called the “gate change.” We were slated to go into Gate C28, but I could see from my window that C27 and C29 were available. I’m pretty sure they can make the same observations from the control tower, seeing as how it’s, y’know, a tower. With huge transparent windows.

Instead, we cruised the tarmac, past untold empty gates, for about 30 minutes. Again to put it in perspective, 30 minutes after my arrival in Denver, I was in the car, out of short term parking, and on on the highway with my sister.

Oh, but they saved the best for last.

If PHL is generally lackluster, they become out-and-out incompetent when it comes to baggage claim. Let’s start with the comparison up front: Denver had my bags on the carousel within 15 minutes, including oversized ski gear. And I had to take a tram to get to the baggage area.

PHL made me wait 70 minutes for my bags.

Let that one sink for a moment.

Fun with math: My entire flight was 3.5 hours, or 210 minutes. That means my bags essentially “flew” an extra 1/3 of the flight I just finished.

It seems almost non-sequitor to even mention the fact that the newly-installed LCD’s over each baggage carousel weren’t updating the flight numbers, instead showing flights from hours earlier. Hey guys, that fancy new technology is only cool if it’s actually working. Oggling flat screens simply because they are flat stopped being cool 5 years ago.

It’s a damn shame that natural market forces are unable to correct this problem-child of an airport. In a sane world, PHL would be bankrupt and/or under new management. Instead, regulation and lack of competition have allowed this wreck of a business to limp along, disappointing passengers and providing a horrendous first impression to Philadelphia visitors. Between this place and Newark, an airport located in South Jersey or northern Delaware would do awesome business.

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We all know most TV is pretty banal, but every now and then something comes along that provides insight, makes you think. So if you ever wondered what it’s really like to be the boss, you need to watch the latest episode of House. They’ve done an excellent job (based on my experience, anyway) capturing the reality of being in charge. Everyone looks to you to fix problems they can’t handle, and everything that goes wrong is ultimately your fault. It also gets really lonely at times. If you’re one of those people who think that the boss just sits at his/her desk and collects a big paycheck, this is a must-see.

The show’s writers and producers get extra bonus points from me for taking on the issue of healthcare, and having the stones to come right and say, “This is a business, and we need to make money.” They even couch the message in a scenario that most people should be able to appreciate from both sides. Very timely given all the discourse surrounding healthcare reform.

44 minutes, well worth it.

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Today is something of a landmark for me. Just a few minutes ago, I launched my first full-time commercial venture when I flipped the switches and took Fwd:Vault out of beta. There’s an announcement over at the official blog if you’re interested in the details. Here I’d rather talk about what’s going through my mind, lest any of you are proceeding down a similar path.

First off, this has been 14 months in the making. I started working on this shortly after the startup I was working for went belly-up in November 2008. Like so many people these days, I found myself facing a lean job market. Starting a business has been a lifelong dream of mine, so after talking it over with my wife — a world-class vet with double my brain power — we agreed that the timing was right for me to pursue my dream.

So many startup publications talk about “taking the plunge,” of overcoming the fear that holds people back from getting started. This was not the case for me, and I’m not sure why it has to be the case for anybody. If you think and plan ahead, you can avoid the worst of the action-paralyzing fear. I wanted to run my own business since I was a kid, which instantly diffused fear around the general concept. I kept trying to come up with viable business ideas until I had one that stood up to scrutiny, decreasing some of the fears of failure. I worked on it in my free time until the opportunity to go full-time presented itself, removing the fear of having no income. Knowledge and understanding are they key. If you fear the unknown, know more.

Other people on the entrepreneurial road falter when they look at the work involved. Admittedly, looking back on the last year ‘n change, I’m astounded at how much I’ve done. My subversion repository had 700 commits when I launched. The site and service cover 1200 files in 175 folders (that doesn’t include framework stuff, I wrote every one of those). I taught myself a library’s worth of new tech, including automated recurring billing, search engines, email syntax, Amazon S3, daemonizing, undocumented PHP functionality, and even more HTML/CSS/JS techniques. On the business side, I registered an LLC, got a business address and phone number, bought servers and domains, began proper bookkeeping practices, won a competition, dealt with consultants, performed basic market research, investigated advertising venues, taught myself basic SEO/SEM, and learned to analyze traffic.

That’s simply a staggering amount of work to think about at once, and I never would’ve gotten any of it done if I tried. You simply cannot look at it as a whole all at once and keep your sanity. Every day was just one or two tasks: get a page working: fix an email processing bug, and so on. You know where you and where you want to go. In between is simply a mountain of very tiny to-do’s. As long as you keep an eye on the prize — launching a business — the task list sorts itself.

Finally, I put the most important exercise in the title of this post. Every time you complete a page, add a feature, piece together another part of your business structure, celebrate it! Relay your latest conquest to your wife, family, friends, whoever will listen. Write a blog post about it (you’ll find tons of posts on this site inspired by my startup efforts).

Even if they don’t care — my wife glazes over every time I get into technical stuff — or nobody listens — this blog averages less than 100 hits/day — you’ll feel energized knowing that you were able to proclaim “I finished something, I took a step.” That’s so crucial, because of all the naysayers you will meet, the worst one is your own self-doubt.

Then, when you finally reach your big goal, mark the calendar, and celebrate that day every year. Savor it when facing your next mountain. And write a blog post, leave a mile marker for the next guy.

My next hill starts tomorrow. For now…

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…I suggest you do so immediately. We’ll have a major announcement by the end of the day, and the perks that come with signing up beforehand will go away at that time. Basically this is your last chance to get into the Fwd:Vault Beta, and enjoy the perks we have planned for our beloved early adopters.

Not-so-subtle hint: Beta users will have the chance to enjoy a serious lifetime discount.

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Avatar was a fantastic movie. A feast for the eyes and a halfway decent storyline, Hollywood actually got it right. But I don’t think that I was as amazed at the imagery as the larger population, and I can trace that disillusionment back to one place: my time in the World of Warcraft and a lifetime of gaming in general. So if you thought the stuff you could do and see on the world of Pandora was bad-ass, take a short walk with me through Azeroth.

Let’s start with the whole concept of an avatar. The Dictionary.com definition lists its use in computer circles as “a graphical image that represents a person, as on the Internet.” Geeks use the term to refer to the icon next to a forum post, or to describe the polygon representation you control in a gaming environment. James Cameron’s movie takes that concept to the next level. So to get started in World of Warcraft, you need to build your avatar.

And unlike the movie, you don’t have to grow them in tanks, and you get an even wider selection of far less human forms to choose from. Fans of the Na’vi will want to go with a Draenei. They’re big, blue, have tails, and actually are aliens in Warcraft lore.

Another big part of Avatar is the connection that the Na’vi have with the environment around them, flora and fauna alike. WoW’s got you covered there as well. Every WoW avatar plays as a certain class, which dictates all the battle actions you can take. Mages cast spells, Warriors hit stuff, you get the idea. There are 10 classes in all.

A Na’vi fan will want to choose a Hunter (“at home in the wilderness and have a special affinity for beasts”) or a Druid (“shapshifters with an affinity for the plant and animal kingdoms”). Hunters can tame and train nearly all the wild animals they’ll come across in Azeroth to fight by their side, and fight primarily at range with a bow. Hunters also have the ability to track any living thing: animals, beasts, even undead. Their training would do Neytiri proud. And some of the beasts you can control look like they belong on Pandora, like the Warp Stalker.

Meanwhile, Druids use nature-inspired abilities to attack enemies and heal allies. An “attack” druid will transform into a cat or bear, while a healer-style druid will transform into the Tree of Life. That’s right, a walking, talking tree.

And you though the voices in the Tree of Souls were cool.

You do have a bit of a decision to make, though. If you want your big blue Draenei, you can be a hunter, but not a druid. If you want to go the druid route, your choices are limited to the Night Elf (who’s big and blue without a tail), or Tauren (Huge! With horns and a tail, but not blue).

To finish off the “connection with the environment” motif, I would consider skinning and herbalism for your professions.

Much was made of the colorful settings that we saw Jake Sully and Neytiri stomping around, but again, WoW has left me jaded. Everyone thought that the floating “Hallelujah Mountains” were cool, but I’ll be impressed when they build a city on top of those rocks, like Dalaran.

Of course you need a way to get up to Dalaran, and Azeroth natives don’t have access to banshees. No, instead we just use dragons

…and hippogryphs

…and gryphons

…even a phoenix

And there’s plenty more. Personally, I don’t think Turok has a prayer.

Of course Dalaran is just one of the locales you can soar around, and some of the destinations in Azeroth would give Pandora locales a run for their money. Avatar fans will particularly enjoy exploring and questing the alien landscapes of the Outlands, especially Zangarmarsh and Terokkar Forest.

Finally, there’s one aspect of Pandora and Azeroth exploration that is identical: the smell you have from spending way too much time wandering around either one. To that end, Dr. Augustine and I provide the same advice: get up, shower, have a bite to eat.

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