The last year has been very busy around Miller Consulting Services, and I would like to take a moment to thank those of you who had the projects that kept me that way. However, with the increased work came an increased need to be “available”.

Last summer I was sitting in woods on a family vacation checking my email and answering emergency phone calls. I have no less than two Internet connected devices sitting next to my bed at night and it’s not unusual for me to be carrying at least that many throughout the day. I am connected.

The new normal
A constant connection to others is the new normal. Most people carry a small computer that used to be a phone (and if you don’t, just wait, you will). Others carry tablets or laptops. Your refrigerator can order groceries when you are getting low on milk, and your toaster might talk to you. It’s a brave new world indeed, but this is just the tip of what’s to come.

Studies show that most people surf the web while watching TV – as if TV doesn’t make our attention spans short enough. Your email is just a touch away. How many seconds does it take between getting an email notification and reading it? There is no “alone time”.

The future is bright
I don’t see this constant connection becoming any less, it’s too addicting. I look forward to walking down the street in a new city and seeing restaurant reviews in my glasses as I look for a place to eat. Checking the weather and news in a touch enabled mirror as I shave and brush me teeth seems like the perfect use of my time.

In the decades to come the devices we use today will become more powerful and smaller. They will become integrated even more in your day to day life, and as that happens, you won’t even notice when everything in your home is talking to the world. I can’t tell you what technology we will have in the future, but I do know that we have started on this road and there is no turning back now.

My name is Mike and I’m addicted to technology
I admit it, I like gadgets and technology. I usually know more about the rumors of what is new and coming out than most people. At times it can be overwhelming.

It has become too easy to answer the phone while talking to someone, or stop mid sentence to check a new email. In the process of being connected, we are loosing our connection to those around us.

My challenge to you today is to find a time, at least once a week, to disconnect. Turn off the phone, the tablet, the laptop, and the Internet connected TV. Have a conversation with someone you love. Ignore your email for a bit, it will still be there when you get back. To keep our sanity we must cultivate our personal connections as well. It sounds so simple, but ignoring the ping of a new message is not easy. Take it one step at a time and soon we will have the balance between our lives and technology that we would like.

I think I’ll go outside and play with my kids now.

Miller Consulting Services recently launched two new websites for Hecla Mining Company.

With the design skills of Anderson Mraz Design, Miller Consulting Services developed and launched a complete redesign of the Hecla Mining Company website along with  a private intranet site for deploying current information to employees at various locations.

While developing the sites, Miller Consulting Services worked with third-party vendors to integrate investor relations data and news feeds. Content management systems were used to provide an editing environment for Hecla as well as access control.

Established in 1891, Hecla is the largest and one of the lowest cash cost, primary silver producers in the U.S., with exploration properties and operating mines in four world-class silver mining districts in the U.S. and Mexico.

I’ll admit it – I’m a geek. I enjoy implementing new technology before it becomes mainstream. I canceled my cable service about a year ago and I haven’t looked back. It has been replaced by media servers and streaming systems that give me more choices than I ever had before. I’ll go over some of those choices and show you just how easy it is to get started.

The Revolution is Here
We are on the brink of a media revolution and it’s probably not what the media industry wants to hear. For decades we consumed video content by what was given out to us at the time. We could go rent a movie but for the most part it was easier to watch what the cable or satellite provided. Now we have the opportunity to watch what we want, when we want it. Streaming and on demand video is changing how we view and perceive our entertainment. While the technology is still in its infancy, there are plenty of ways to integrate the new systems or maybe replace your old one forever.

Stream Baby Stream
For the average consumer the biggest change is the ability to stream video on demand to where ever you are. Services from Netflix, Amazon and Apple can bring content to you at a fraction of your monthly cable bill. And with the convenience of starting and stopping anytime and watching on multiple devices, it just gets better. With new hardware hitting the streets you are no longer limited to watching just on your computer screen – from your phone to flat screen TV, you’re covered.

What Do I Need to Get Started?
The hardware is everywhere and sometimes it can be hard to figure out what you need. To start you’ll want at least a basic broadband connection – the faster the better. Once connected you need to figure out what service provides the best options for you. By far Netflix is the leader at the moment. At as little as $9 a month you can stream an unlimited amount of content and their library is getting better each day. Both Amazon and Apple have new release TV and movies and rent on a pay-per-view basis.

For the hardware you have more options. Many TVs are coming out with Netflix integrated in them. If you don’t have that, a small box about the size of an external hard drive will take care of all the heavy lifting for you. Roku was the first to provide a set-top box for Netflix to your TV. Since that time they have included Amazon and other providers. Their new XDS box will provide 1080p high-def video and play back content from a connected USB device. Western Digital has come out with their WD TV Live Plus that not only has Netflix support but can stream just about any type of video file from your local network or USB device. If you are in the Apple ecosystem the new version of the Apple TV might interest you with support for Netflix and pay-per-view from the iTunes store. All these devices are very affordable with prices ranging from $99 to $120.

What are the Downsides?
As with anything new it takes a little getting used to. You have to think a little bit about what you want to watch. You don’t just turn on a channel and watch whatever is on. Live sports are still very limited if available at all, so if you are a sports fan you might want to keep the cable. Also, first run content such as recent movies and TV shows come at a premium. If you enjoy talking about last nights show at work you might be out of luck.

Despite the slight growing pains, this is the future. It won’t take too long before most video is delivered this way and the new technology has made it easy to integrate in to your existing infrastructure, whether you decide to cut the cord or not.

A Note on Google
The new Google TV is coming out soon and this looks pretty exciting. Although I’m not too impressed with the first piece of hardware announced, there is real potential. Once the remote is simplified and you have access to Android applications on your TV, this could really take off.

I’ve written a lot about social networking lately; both my skepticism and how I finally broke down and joined the surge. Just a little while ago I came to a realization: none of this is new. We’ve all heard the phrase “there’s nothing new under the sun” but when it comes to services like Facebook and Twitter, isn’t that something new? Let me explain.

Time for a trip in the “wayback” machine
One of the biggest complaints about social networking is the loss of privacy. I’m right there trying to limit my exposure to the outside world. Social networking is still a form of voyeurism, but let’s be clear, privacy is a new concept.

Go back 100 years. If you lived in any kind of city or town you knew everyone around you. Even in a large metropolis you would know about the personal lives of the butcher and grocer in the corner shops. In small and medium sized towns there were no secrets. It wasn’t until after World War II that we started to isolate ourselves and felt that we had a right to privacy.

60 years ago saw the expansion of the suburb and the rise of the box store. We could travel and do our shopping without anyone knowing who we were. That brought about mail order and then e-commerce. Today, I can sit at the side of a lake and order a new hard drive on my phone – never talking to anyone. We have the capacity, with our advanced communications, to be more disconnected than ever before.

You can’t stop human nature
So, what happened? We don’t want privacy! Millennia of human culture have created a social beast. We found a way to be heard. By creating virtual neighborhoods we reaffirm our humanity. We set boundaries for ourselves and establish cultural expectations.

So what have I learned?
From a business standpoint, creating a connection with your clients creates loyalty. Not only does it hold you responsible to your clients but they have a greater sense of responsibility to you. It’s not a bad thing to share a personal side in your business. We are creating the new corner store. Mom and Pop haven’t been driven away, they have just gone virtual.

Some of you have been putting the social business in practice for many years and some of you may just be stepping up to the plate, but now more than ever, we need to embrace our social side to survive. It’s a new day in the old world.

Today I want to get on my soapbox. I hope you will forgive me if I stray out of the tech realm just a bit – although most of what I will talk about is related to technology in our lives.

Oh those spying eyes…
Most of you have probably heard and maybe even followed what has been happening in the Lower Merion School District in Philadelphia. For those of you who haven’t here is a quick refresher. It seems that the school district issued MacBook laptops to all its students. These were mandatory and could not be substituted with a personal laptop. A piece of “security” software was installed on the laptop so that if it was reported stolen a photo could be taken with the built in webcam of the person using the computer. This software would be remotely activated by the IT staff at the school. The problems started when one student was called in for disciplinary action for “inappropriate behavior at home.” The student was shown pictures of himself at home as proof of indiscretion. (At this time we do not know what those pictures entailed but the student has said it was of him eating some Mike & Ikes that were mistaken for drugs.) A class action lawsuit was filed and the FBI and every civil liberties group known to man are now involved.

It doesn’t matter what you think of class action lawsuits or whether you think the student is trying cover up something that he did wrong. The fact is you should be scared silly that a government entity is taking pictures of people in their own home without a warrant or proper procedure. Even the manufacturer of the software involved has said that you should not take the recovery of stolen equipment in to your own hands. If the laptop had been reported stolen (reports indicate that it had not been), the information should have been turned over to the police.

Security?
This is just one case of the troubling trend of sacrificing our liberties for security. We are afraid of bombs on planes so we chemically test baby formula before it can go on a plane. We take off our shoes because one person tried to light theirs. We except the fact that much of our email is being analyzed by the government because we think it will help catch some bad guys. And last but not least in the next couple of years you will be essentially photographed naked before you get on a plane with the new full body scanners that are now rolling out to the airports.

We have given up so much so that we can feel safer. We don’t even really know if it has made us safer or just given the illusion of safety to placate us.

Gimee, gimee, gimee
What is even more disturbing may be that we are willing to sacrifice our liberties for “stuff”. I will be the first to admit that I am in the same boat. I have subscribed to many “free” services from Google and as we all know this is really just selling our personal information.

Some of the parents in the Lower Merion School District have come out and said that they don’t care about the webcam access because their children get a good education. I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that their kids are given a free laptop too. For so many things these days we are willing to give up our choice and our privacy just because someone will give us something.

At what point in time do we say enough is enough? And for that matter, how do we say it? What form will it take? I won’t venture a guess but the time will come when we have to decide what is more important to us, freedom or security.

We all do it in one way or another. Watching the neighbor out the window, listening to the cell phone conversation of the person next to us, or even just reading the latest news. It’s all a form of voyeurism. We want to know what is happening and what other people are doing, and one part of us wants to think that we can do it better.

With the rise of communications, our ability to keep track of other people has become greater and our desire to do so is insatiable. Every second is filled with email, Twitter, cell phone calls, Facebook posts and customer satisfaction surveys. We have seen the rise of socially acceptable voyeurism.

Where do you stand?
For a number of years I’ve seen my time slowly taken away by a constant surge of communication demands. Don’t get me wrong, this is of my own doing. I decided to start a business and I chose technology as my focus. I have also chosen to limit my exposure. I am the last person I know that doesn’t have a data phone. I have resisted, with a passion, getting a Facebook account and I just don’t get Twitter.

I know these things can be helpful from a business perspective and I know they can help you keep in touch but at what point is it too much.

Digital Peep Show
Almost every day we talk about privacy. You are sent a new privacy policy from your bank, or someone feels like their privacy has been invaded. The straight fact is that we have less privacy today than we did a decade ago. With our own personal privacy disappearing we find ourselves searching out for others that we too can watch. All you have to do is look at the popularity of reality – or “unscripted” – television to see what I mean. The wall between personal and public life has come down and now we feel it’s our right to know everyone’s dirty little secrets.

On Facebook, not only do you see what your friends are saying but you see their friends too. You accept an invitation to be someone’s friend when you don’t even really know them because it makes you feel more important when you have a bigger list of people that you can watch. With a Twitter account you feel obligated to tell the world when you are having a cup of coffee because you have people that have said they want to watch you.

Next month five reporters in France are being isolated for a week with only Twitter and Facebook access to see if they can still report the news. I can only imagine how wildly distorted your view of the world will become when this is your only source of information.

Caught in the Trap
Now, it’s time for a little bit of honesty. About two weeks ago I signed up for both a Facebook and Twitter account. Why did I do it? I have friends that I haven’t seen in ten years that my wife talks to on Facebook and I have clients that have asked if I have a Twitter account. It has come down to my own personal need to be a voyeur – at least the socially acceptable kind.

This last week I spent two days out on calls and didn’t get to check in to my email and I was starting to go in to withdrawal. The fact is that I’m hooked on the data line and I can’t disconnect. So, think about me as I go shopping for a data phone.

Although it’s tempting, this is not a tirade on Battlestar Galactica vs. Terminator’s Skynet. This is about computers and electronics and what they mean to you everyday.

It’s no secret that we are all becoming more reliant on computers each and every day. As our appliances and televisions become smarter, everything becomes a computer. Larger production means lower prices and now what used to be the realm of the geek enthusiast becomes a necessity in your home and office.

I have a theory: As computers become cheaper and cheaper to build and prices come down, they become no different to you than your toaster. Let me explain – unless you have a serious problem I don’t expect you to be making toast with your computer. If one day you wake up and stick a slice of bread in your toaster and it doesn’t come out warm and crispy, you go to the store and buy a new one. What would it cost you to replace a heating element in a toaster? Would you even be able to? Is the part available or can you even open the toaster up without breaking it completely?

Lately, I’ve seen a trend when I go to fix someone’s computer. Let’s call it disposable computers. If someone has a software problem – hardware works perfectly – I see it happen more and more that they junk the computer and just buy a new one. As computers become more of an appliance and less of a luxury, more and more people don’t have any idea how to fix them when things go wrong. They have no idea how to troubleshoot an error or reinstall the operating system. It becomes easier and sometimes less expensive to just buy a new one. For example, I had one client that had a hard drive go out. Once a new hard drive was ordered, the operating system was reloaded and updated; it was going to be about the same price to just buy a new computer. Now, as a self proclaimed geek who likes to play with these things, that idea makes me shudder.

Seriously, on a regular basis I see computers on sale for under $500 that are considerably more powerful than my day to day production machine (and no, it’s not an ancient boat anchor.) So, next time something breaks on your computer, will you fix it or just replace it? And then what do you do with the small server farm of old computers in the basement?