Cutting the Cord

I cut the cord with my cable television provider in October of 2010.  In my brief 27 year existence on this earth, I've been "blessed" to have had Comcast, TimeWarner and RCN as cable providers.  As a customer, I can unequivocally say that RCN is the best and cheapest of those three providers-RCN provided me with consistent service and billed me at a standard monthly rate.  As a result, I was pretty happy to be with RCN; they seemed to be at the top of their industry.

The crazy thing is that consistent service and standard rates do not generally result in a company being at the top of its industry.  Consistent service and standard rates are the rule, not the exception, except in the cable television industry.

Since there are a bunch of news articles and press regarding cutting the cable cord, I thought I'd share my thoughts: 

-  Netflix.  Yes, Netflix and other methods of streaming content are the wave of the future.  I ordered Netflix when I cut the cord (I didn't get the DVD plan) and purchased a Roku a few months later to stream Netflix directly to my television.  Netflix Instant was weak when I originally got it back in 2010.  It has come a long way, but has much further to go.  Still, streaming Netflix is incredible.  It takes me less than 30 seconds to decide what I want to watch, and then to have that content appear on my television in HD quality.  The more titles it gets, the more obsolete cable will become.  

-  I'll never go back.  I shouldn't say never, but I can't see myself signing up for cable again.  Watching commercials seems barbaric, and having 1000 channels and "nothing on TV" seems ludicrous.

-  Fuck you.  Fuck you cable companies, for making me subscribe to the Animal Planet, UPN, Oxygen and MTV.  I only want like 10 channels and you make me pay for 150.  Of those, 140 suck, so fuck you.  If I had the chance, and it wouldn't harm anyone, I would throw a rock through the CEO of Comcast's window.  Fuck you.

-  I would never invest in a cable company.  Those 10 channels realize who they are, and they are looking to cut their cord with the cable companies too.  I would like to have the broadcast channels (NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox), ESPN and possibly HBO.  ESPN and HBO already have apps that allow you to watch television on an iPad (ESPN's allows you to watch live television and HBO's lets you watch something basically as soon as its aired on HBO).  At the moment, ESPN and HBO require you to have a cable subscription in order to access the app.  That will unquestionably end at some point in the future. When it does, and when the broadcast channels can provide more consistent service with a pair of rabbit ears, cable's dominance will be at an end.  Alea iacta est.

-  Comcast may think that by buying NBC, its preserving cable's dominance.  They're wrong.  Either Comcast will do what every other channel is doing with content (i.e. come out with apps, allow live TV to be streamed, etc.) or NBC will die.

Cable companies should die.  They do not provide content, they merely provide distribution.  And a majority of what they distribute is something people don't want but have to pay for.  Once they have a method of getting only what they want, cable companies will perish, and it will be their own fault.  Cable companies have chosen not to adopt a la carte pricing.  They have chosen to double down on their bet that they can charge you $50 for 140 channels of garbage.  They have chosen not to live in this century. They deserve it.

My Greatest Achievement

Someone once told me that my greatest acheivement in life will have been attending Harvard Law School.  I'm going to prove them wrong.

The Ultimate Sophistication is Simplicity

It's really hard to make simple things.  In fact, it's a lot harder to make simple things than it is to make complex things.  

Take facebook for example.  Facebook could be so much more than it is - it could do email (like Gmail), reviews (like Yelp) and news (like the New York Times).  It could provide for fantasy sports (all of your friends are already on facebook, after all) and it could allow me to post this blog entry.  It could be a one-stop webpage, but it's not.  Instead, it's focused on one thing: social networking, and it does that really, really well.  Imagine how cluttered the site would look if it tried to combine Gmail, yelp, and the New York Times!  

Take the ipad as another example.  Before Steve Jobs became CEO of Apple again, he told Apple to kill the Newton which was, at the time, Apple's tablet device.  The Newton used a stylus and the Newton was supposed to recognize user's handwritting.  Aside from it not being able to recognize handwriting very well, Steve Jobs said "God gave us 10 styluses [referring to his fingers], lets not make an 11th."   

A new carwash service called Cherry was introduced yesterday, which allows users to have their car washed wherever the car is for a flat fee of $29, including tip.  That's an incredible idea!  No one wants to waste time going some place to get their car washed and sitting there while the car is actually being washed.  I want it to happen without having to spend so much time and effort getting it done.  Why not just have my car washed, wherever it is, while I'm not using it!  Genius!

Cherry is a fantastic idea but the best part is how simple it is.  It's website is incredibly easy to use, and there is a flat fee, including tip.  You can rate the car washer afterwards, and his/her tip is based on your rating.  Thus, the washer still has an incentive to wash the car really well.  So simple. 

The only complication relates to unlocking doors.  If you don't want your interior cleaned, great - leave your doors locked and that's that.  If you want it cleaned, you can either (i) leave the doors unlocked, in which case the washer will clean the interior and then lock the doors or (ii) come out to unlock the doors when the cleaner comes to clean.  Ultimately, very simple and user-friendly.  

Simplicity is sublime.  

"Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life or come with me and change the world?"

That's the question that Steve Jobs pitched to John Sculley before Sculley left his job as President of Pepsi for Apple.  It's an amazing question...and it epitomizes Jobs' personality - hubris, arrogance, vision and courage.  

For the past week, I've been sporadically reading Walter Isaacson's biography, "Steve Jobs."  I'm only about 20% of the way through but I’ve come to understand that Steve Jobs was an asshole.  While Apple fanboys may disagree, he really was.  He lied to Woz about the amount of money they would make on “Breakout” (so he could pilfer some of it), he abandoned his 23 year-old girlfriend when he impregnated her and he adamantly denied he was the father even after a paternity test indicated the chances of him being the father were over 94%.  He was an asshole. 

Jobs and I have that in common, as I’ve also been an asshole for many years of my life.  It may seem counterintuitive, but from my experience, I’ve learned that it’s much harder being an asshole than being kind.  Ask any asshole, including myself, whether we’d rather be an ass or kind, and we’ll choose the latter.  Being the former is torturous; it’s lonely and full of regrets.  You have fewer friends than you do fingers and you always reminisce about something you said that was incredibly hurtful to another person.  I would much rather be kind than be an asshole, and my New Year’s resolution for about ten years running has been to change that about myself.  Alas, I’m sure I’ll resolve to do the same thing for the next ten years, but I only hope that I can be better at executing it in the future than I have been in the past.  Kind people are more enjoyable to be around.  It’s as simple as that.  They may make fewer dents in the world individually, but collectively, they have a greater impact than asses.

But Jobs wasn’t just an ass.  He also was a leader of men.  He had a vision to make beautiful products, the courage to push aside anyone who doubted him and the genius to execute his vision.  I hope I don’t just have the ass part.  

Civil War Love Letter

My very dear Sarah,

The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days-perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I am no more.

I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans on the triumph of the Government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing-perfectly willing-to lay down all the joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt.

Sarah, my love for you is deathless. It seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield.

The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most grateful to God and to you that I have enjoyed them for so long. How hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when, God willing, we might still have lived and loved together, and seen our sons grown up to honorable manhood around us. I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me-perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar, that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and that when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name. Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have often times been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness.

But, oh Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the gladdest days and in the darkest nights...always, always. And if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath, and as the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for me, for we shall meet again.

- Sullivan Ballou

He died one week after writing this letter.