A few thoughts on the business of technology from my UI to yours…
Create your own or just read through the miles of useless but somewhat humerous trivia. Who knows, maybe a golden nugget out there…http://graphjam.com/
Per my previous post on twitter’s instability, perhaps some new blood (and money), mentioned over at twitter’s blog, will get the site up and running. I’m not sure I ‘get’ twitter (yet) but certainly want to -or at least find out if its worth ‘getting.’ With Jeff Bezon (Bezos Expeditions, Amazon) and Bijan Sabet (Spark Capital) on board - perhaps there will be enough uptime for me to effectively kick the tires…
I am a firm believer in intellectual property as an incentive to innovate and was pleased by the bipartisan efforts of a number of senators who were working to improve IP protection in the US (Business Week). PRO-IP is an acronym for ”Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property,” a bill established to increase penalties for IP theft and to provide more resources to government agencies to combat such activities. In light of the estimated 750K jobs and $250 Billion lost by the US economy due to IP piracy, a number of senators are proposing bills to establish a key White House role to oversee programs to protect IP. This role would have greater authority than the current Coordinator of International Intellectual Property Enforcement and be in a better position to cross-coordinate among a number of disparate government agencies. The role would also have about 30x the budget (today = $1MM, proposed = $30MM). Not great as government programs go, but certainly a start.
Now that I’ve paraphrased (and if you didn’t click above), the full article can be found here…
Since I posted on the subject of fitness recently, I thought I would share a small milestone in my own efforts to get in shape. I used to be an avid swimmer but have barely touched the water in recent years. A few days ago, I headed to the pool with the family and decided to try a full length lap underwater (25 meters). Needless to say I couldn’t quite make it - but was pretty close. I tried again yesterday, however, and hit it twice. Not bad. I dug around on the web and discovered that this is a standard distance for certain types of diving certifications. Probably not the easiest activity for many people, but also probably not impossible. I was pleased nonetheless and have now set a goal to hit 50 meters (with a flip turn) by the end of the summer. Apparently this distance is one of the first in a series of increasingly difficult navy seal fitness standards (without a kick-off from the wall), so I think I have my work cut out for me. Slow and steady…
If you have any interest in corporate finance, or more specifically, understanding the mind of a VC, you should check out Brad Feld’s blog (if you’re in this space you probably already have). He wrote a great series some time ago that broke down strategies / issues / concerns related to the term sheet. He recently created a compilation of that series (links included) into a single post here: http://www.feld.com/blog/archives/2008/06/revisiting_the.html. A good read and worth checking out.
Communications Magazine (an output of the ACM) had a smart viewpoint piece entitled “Give Me Information, Not Technology.” Reading through it, I think its a great reminder that technical bells and whistles don’t always equal value in the minds of customers, but rather it is what the technology can provide in terms of greater efficiency for information access, application, or aggregation. The article discussed business needs specifically, but it made me think a bit about my own experience as a heavy user of various technical tools. Echoing the feedback from CIO’s in the paper (stating that the real value of IT - regardless of the technology - was how well it supported the information management needs of the business), I find myself drawn to the same types of technologies - things that help me stay organized and on top of my own interests and activities. Granted, I don’t spend a lot of time looking for new things to test but when I come across one that I like, I generally stick with it. That said, here are a few technologies that have helped me organize my own information recently:
Check them out. If you have a tool to recommend, let me know - would be interested to kick the tires.
- BP
I’ve just started playing around with Twitter and have been floored by the number of times I’ve gone to the site and it has been down, or collapsed in real-time, while I try to update a post. Sitepoint has provided some interesting insight on Twitter’s underlying ruby architecture which may explain why.
I’m a bit very, very behind on this, but following up on my original post exploring the health benefits of the Wii system, it looks like Nintendo was working on this all along. Now your Wii is your personal coach. As Covert Bailey might say “any activity is better than no activity” - so combining video game play with exercise seems like a great way to get the kids off the couch (and some 30 somethings for that matter). More info from the source - moveyourwii.com. If anyone has actually tried this thing, drop me a note. At first glance it appears a bit cumbersome - but what fitness equipment doesn’t, right?
I met Kentaro at Hartsfield International Airport while waiting for a delayed flight to New York. We were in the terminal for the better part of an hour (having already boarded and de-planed another aircraft). While checking email, I noticed a fellow nearby sifting through a backpack. In the next moment he appeared to be juggling two objects simultaneously that looked like they were somehow tethered together. It turns out he is a nationally ranked yo-yo champion, and had decided to practice for a few minutes while we waited on the plane. We talked for a bit and it turns out he had been involved in a competition that week and was heading home. Watching his drills certainly made the time pass by and I think several parents were thrilled that their children had something to keep them occupied. Kentaro is a member of the team at yoyonation.com and offered that he would have a signature yo-yo coming out soon. not your typical toystore hardware, his will be retailing for $100+. Something to be said for finding your passion and sticking with it. I dug around online and found this clip – impressive!!
A great demo showing an OpenXML file on Apple’s iPhone. If you are not familiar, Open XML is the new default file format for Microsoft Office and also an international standard (see the ECMA website here). There are translators available for the open document format and additional support through a number of projects on Sourceforge.
If you’re on facebook, check out the OpenXML community here (complete with graphic novell). And of course there is more on youtube here.
Also see: http://www.openxmlcommunity.org and http://openxmldeveloper.org for more info.
